p. 55 | AWAKE by Mary E. Guilford

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 14, 1868

AWAKE

By Mary E. Guilford

“Awake oh, awake! now to life and to duty, Faint not by the way till thy labor is done; For quickly the king will descend in his beauty, The warfare be ended—the victory won.”

“Oh! the stupor that is upon the church here is astonishing.” How inexpressibly sad were my feelings as my eye rested upon these words lately penned by a dear sister. I recalled to mind each form and face of that little company who had covenanted together to keep the commandments of God—had taken up the cross of Christ, and gone some little distance of the way to meet their coming Lord and Saviour. Not one, I trust, of that little number, either desires or expects to give up the truth. Each and every one looks forward with earnest longings to the heavenly rest. But whence this stupor? this lukewarmness? Not only among that little number, but throughout our ranks all over the land, may be found those who are asleep to their eternal interests. The day of probation speeds swiftly on. They heed it not. Says Jesus, “I would thou wert cold or hot. So, then, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Ah! let us beware, and heed this faithful message to the Laodiceans. Let us arouse our dormant energies and lay hold of the work of overcoming in earnest. Is not eternal life worth striving for? Who does not want a home in the kingdom of God? Ah! we all want it, we long for it. But oh! the trials in the way, the difficulties to surmount, the crosses to lift, the burdens to bear; ’tis these that rise mountain-like before the trembling soul.

We look forward with wistful eyes to the time when the faithful children of God will stand complete in all the Christian graces, when every difficulty will have been surmounted, every trial removed, and the bright daystar of gladness shed its peaceful lustre upon the victor’s heart; and then, as we view the narrow way, and realize that it requires constant watchfulness to overcome Satan’s devices; that many trials must be endured, many burdens borne; how oft do we sigh in spirit and wish that the golden summit of victory was already gained. But it will never be gained by inactivity. For no one single effort of ours will the pearly gates of Heaven swing back on their glittering hinges, and bid us a welcome entrance therein. Nay,

“Heaven is not reached at a single bound, We must climb the ladder round by round.”

It will require a constant and mighty effort to overcome. We are sinful beings. We are surrounded by an atmosphere of sinfulness. Yea, “iniquity abounds.” We need to guard constantly against the artful devices of Satan. He is working with all power, and signs, and lying wonders. His most cunning subtlety and ingenious devices will be brought to bear upon those who keep God’s commandments. He is not inactive. With arduous zeal he plies himself to work the destruction of precious souls.

This death-like stupor which rests upon some of the professed people of God comes from Satan. He has wrapped his cloak of carnal security about them, and day after day, week after week, they live on in passive indifference and lukewarmness, and make no effort to throw off the shackles with which Satan has bound them. Oh, what shall I say to arouse such to a sense of their lost condition? How shall I entreat them to shake off this dull lethargy of soul, and come up to the help of the Lord against this mighty foe? Alas! my feeble efforts, how weak. Had I the pen of an evangelist, or could I tell them in burning language of the earnest solicitude of holy angels, their tears of sadness as they turn away from them on account of their spirit of levity, their cold indifference, or worldly ease, or could I portray before them in living reality the sad countenance of the lovely Jesus whom they daily crucify afresh by such a thoughtless, selfish, ease-loving spirit, then, perchance, might I arouse them to a sense of their neglected duties.

The following words of inspired testimony stir through the very depths of my soul to-night. “But a small portion of those who now profess the truth will be sanctified by it and be saved.” And why? Is it because the Lord’s arm is shortened that it cannot save? Ah! no, no; it is because sinful, thoughtless man presumes to disregard the requirements of God and choose his own ways; unwilling to deny self, or bear burdens, he seeks a more flowery path, a path of ease and comfort; but alas, that path will end far short of the celestial city.

Warning after warning is given, admonition follows admonition, yet many, very many, of the professed people of God slumber on, unmindful of the earnest, agonizing cry, “O, wake thy slumbering people, Lord,” which continually ascends to Heaven from the earnest, self-sacrificing servants of God.

Dear reader, heed the warning. Be admonished. Break loose from the fetters of Satan, and become an earnest, active, self-sacrificing follower of Jesus. Delay not. Soon it will be forever too late. Oh! let us now awake to our duty, meekly and cheerfully walk in the path which God has marked out for his people, and gird on the whole armor, that we may be armed for the coming conflict with the powers of darkness; and then, with unswerving faith, firmly and manfully press our way onward through the enemy’s ranks, until we come off conqueror through Christ, and receive the glorious reward of obedience.

MARY E. GUILFORD.

Erie Co., Ohio.