DIALOGUE ON ORDER by E. H. Adams

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 16, 1868

DIALOGUE ON ORDER.

By E. H. Adams

Bro. A. Good morning, Bro. C., I hope all is well with your family this morning.

Bro. C. We are all well, Bro. A., but I feel somewhat bad.

A. Why, Bro. C., what is the matter?

C. Well, the last cow I've got is about to die. She got into the barn last night, to the wheat bin, and ate so much wheat I think she will die.

A. I am sorry for that, Bro. C., how did it happen?

C. Well, the door has been broken down some time, in fact she has been in several times, but she never got to the wheat before. I trusted to the boys to fix up the door last night. I was careless in doing so, I should have done it myself.

A. Well, Bro. C., I am glad you have confessed that it was carelessness on your part; for I came over this morning on purpose to talk to you a little on the subject of carelessness, and your lack in not doing and keeping things in order. And, Bro. C., while I talk to you this morning, I want you to feel that I am your friend, and brother, and that I love you. If I did not I would have never taken it upon me to come and see you. I felt it was a great cross to approach you on this subject—but I am here, and I want you to feel that I have come to try to do you good.

C. Speak on, Bro. A., I will listen.

A. Well, Bro. C., I have been acquainted with you for a long time. We have been brethren and neighbors together. I have taken notice that you have been very careless and disorderly, letting things go at loose ends; and by so doing I have noticed many times that you were the loser, as in the case of your cow this morning. If she dies it will be a loss to you. And it all came from not keeping things in order. And, besides, you are setting a bad example before your children, training them up to be just as you are.

C. Well, Bro. A., I know that I am somewhat careless, and there is not very much order about me, but I never realized that there was any harm in being so, or, that it was any sin; for we read somewhere in the New Testament, not to be overcharged with the cares of life.

A. Yes, we read in Luke xxi, 34: “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life.” But, Bro. C., as long as we live in this world, we have to do with the things of this world; therefore we should try to do all things decently and in order. But right here, Bro. C., I would like to ask, Who has the most trouble and trials to bear, and his mind taken up and weighed down with the cares of this life the most, you or I?

C. Oh! I presume that I have; for I don’t see who could have more trouble than I have. Why, Bro. A., every thing that I have, and every thing that is about me seems to be against me. Even my stock has got so unruly it is almost impossible for me to keep them in subjection any more. I have often thought my lot was a hard one, but it seems to grow worse instead of better. In fact, I have no patience any more to bear up under my trials, and it seems that I have no peace of mind day nor night, I am so weighed down with trouble and care.

A. I feel sorry for you, Bro. C., but I don’t think there is any need of all this trouble and care you speak about. In regard to your stock being so unruly, it has come from your past carelessness in leaving your bars down, your gates open, and your fences unrepaired until your stock has become breechy, and now, as you say, there is no keeping them in subjection. These, with other things, bring about all this trouble.

C. All you have said is all true enough, Bro. A., but I don’t see any use of being so particular and careful to keep every thing so neat and orderly. We read about Martha being “careful and troubled about many things, but Mary hath chosen that good part,” &c. I want to be profited by these things.

A. This is wherein you have failed, Bro. C., in not seeing any need of keeping things neat and in order. You have set a poor example before your brethren, and also before the world. Your life in this one particular has spoken more against than for the truth.

C. Bro. A., I fail to see that my example has been a bad one to set before the world. I believe we ought to show to them that we are looking for the Lord to come soon, and that we don’t care much for the things of this world.

A. That is true enough, Bro. C., we are looking for the Lord to come soon, and that is why we should take the more heed that we live an exemplary life, one of neatness, economy, and order. But to prove more fully to your mind that your example has not been a good one before the world, I will relate a little circumstance that happened the other day. Two men passed by your house; they were strangers to me; I happened to be close by, and overheard them. Their conversation was like this: (Stranger.) Mr. Brown, who lives here? (Mr. Brown.) I am not able to tell you, but from the looks of things, I should judge some widow, who had some careless boys to do and manage things for her. (Stranger.) I should think so from the holes in the bars, the door broken down, and I see a cow inside; and look at the logs, rails, and loose lumber lying around over the barn-yard, and the fences too out of repair. Ah! this lack of order is a bad thing. After this they passed out of my hearing, and I heard no more. After they were gone I felt very glad that they did not know that a S. D. Adventist lived here. Now, Bro. C., I hope you can begin to realize your wrong course, and will try to make amends.

C. Yes, Bro. A., I begin to see that my course has been a bad one in a worldly point of view; but I always looked at things about this way—that when a person was so particular, so careful, and so nice to have everything in order, there was danger of their becoming careless and indifferent in the worship of God, and the things that should most interest them.

A. You are mistaken, Bro. C. The scale will turn, I think, the other way. When you see a person that keeps his house neat and clean, that arranges his yards and gardens with taste, not forgetting to keep his barns and farm in order, and also his person neat and clean, such are the very persons you will find coming before the Lord with reverence, and worshiping him in the beauty of holiness. He that is careless and disorderly about his person, and the things of this world, will more or less be careless and disrespectful, and not have that order in the worship of God he should have. But, Bro. C., to make this point still plainer, I will relate a little circumstance that happened not long since. I was at your house, if you remember, not long ago, and as I was passing from the gate into the house, I noticed your two little boys in the yard at play. I passed on into the house, and found you and the rest of your family seated around, and you had your Bible and were reading, and, as I supposed, were talking to your family; for I never once thought you were reading for prayer, or that it was the hour of worship, from the fact of seeing the boys out at play as I came in; but after you got through reading, you spoke to the oldest girl to bring in the boys. After all were seated, to my astonishment you called on me to lead in prayer. Now, Bro. C., can you not see that this kind of order in worship cannot be well-pleasing in the sight of the Lord? His Spirit is grieved, and good angels are driven from the dwelling.

C. I acknowledge that all you have said is the truth, and that you came to talk to me this morning for my good. I thank you for showing me my faults. I mean to be a better man. I mean to reform, and live an exemplary life, one worthy of imitation. And in the future, if I should fail on those points to make that reform that I should, I would thank you for your advice, counsel, and reproof, if necessary, for I want to overcome.

A. I am glad, Bro. C., you see your faults, and have resolved to reform. I am now ready to assist you all I can, to help you to overcome. But remember the help of man is small, but the Lord is mighty, able to save, a present help in time of trouble. Trust in the Lord, he will help and assist you to overcome. I hope Bro. C., that you will prove faithful, and that you and I may at last be overcomers, and be permitted to enter through the gates into the city, and there enjoy the society of the good and the blest of all ages.

E. H. ADAMS.

Pilot Grove, Iowa.