SELECTIONS

Publishing Committee · Rochester, N. Y. · Jul 25, 1854

Voice of Warning.

“And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” Luke xxi, 34-36.

On the meaning of the terms employed in this text we submit the following remarks. The term translated “take heed” signifies “to beware of—guard against.” “Overcharged,” signifies “overload—weigh down—oppress.” “Heart,” the “mind—affections,” &c. “Surfeiting,” includes “excessive eating; excess generally.” “Drunkenness,” includes “intemperance” in general. “Cares,” means “anxieties; solicitude.” “Unawares,” signifies “unforeseen; unexpected; sudden.” “Come upon”—to assault; to be impending. “That”—ekeinos—“that there; that one.” The original words, in the text, warrant these different expressions. We offer the following general remarks upon the text:

A particular day is spoken of.
It involves vast and important interests.
It will come generally when men are not looking for it.
It seems likely to arrive in a time of plenty.
Also, when temptations are many to worldly pursuits and gratifications.
It will be a fatal day to many.
To escape its calamities we must “take heed” to “ourselves”—beware—be on our guard—“lest our hearts,” minds, affections, be overloaded—have a weight upon them that unfits or disables them for that labor and preparation which are necessary to fit us to “stand”—be approved—“before,” or in the presence of “the Son of Man.”

This unfitness, or disability, may be produced— 1. By excess in eating—“surfeiting”—made dull, or heavy, so as not to desire, look for, or see that day in its approach. 2. By drunkenness. This includes the idea of revelling, and intemperance in any matter. 3. By “cares of this life”—anxieties, solicitude. These are the more dangerous because some care is unavoidable and necessary. It is not against all care that our Saviour warns us; but against being “overcharged,” or overloaded, so as to be weighed down, and thus not looking for “that day.” He warns us that it will come “unawares” to some; that is, unforeseen, unexpected, and hence “sudden,” “as a snare.”

That it prove not a fatal day to us, he warns us not only to “take heed,” but also to “watch and pray,” and to do this “always”—at all times.

It is only in obedience to our Lord’s command and injunction that we have any ground to hope that we shall “escape” the coming calamities of that day; or be accepted of him when he appears.

Let us then take heed “lest at any time” our hearts be overcharged with any of the affairs of this life. Let us beware—be on our guard. “To them that look for him”—in the way he has thus marked out for us—“shall he appear the second time . . . unto Life,” or, to give us life, even eternal life.—Bible Examiner.