Awake, Thou That Sleepest
By Oliver Eaton
“What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God.” Thus spoke the shipmaster to Jonah when he went down in the side of the ship, and found the prophet asleep. How many there are to-day who, like Jonah, are asleep in the ship. The tempests of life may roll, but they are asleep, drifting with the tide, and blown about by the wind. Some day they will wake up to the fact that they are face to face with destruction. If they do not arise, and call upon their God, before it is too late, they will go down with the ship. “I saw that the remnant were not prepared for what is coming upon the earth. Stupidity, like lethargy, seemed to hang upon the minds of most of those who profess to believe that we are having the last message. My accompanying angel cried out with awful solemnity, ‘Get ready! get ready! get ready! for the fierce anger of the Lord is soon to come. His wrath is to be poured out, unmixed with mercy, and ye are not ready. Rend the heart, and not the garment.’”—Early Writings, page 119. “I saw that God’s people are on enchanted ground, and that some have lost nearly all sense of the shortness of time and the worth of the soul. Pride has crept in among Sabbath-keepers,—pride of dress and appearance. Said the angel, ‘Sabbath-keepers will have to die to self, die to pride and approbation.’”—Id., page 120. Christ said to his disciples, when he found them asleep in the garden: “Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” Three times he found them sleeping, and three times he admonished them to watch and pray. At last he came to them, and said, “Sleep on now, and take your rest.” The wrath of the Almighty is hastening on apace, and soon it will fall upon the earth. God bids us now to watch and pray, to shake off the lethargy that is creeping over us, and to call upon him as we have never done before. How sad will be the words, when all efforts to arouse us have been in vain, “Sleep on now, and take your rest”! “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments. . . . Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck. . . . The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” Paul, too, raised the cry to the slumbering people of God: “Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” We are in the shaking time, and all that can be shaken will be shaken. If our feet are planted firmly on the Rock of Ages, if we are awake to the times in which we are living, we shall not be shaken out. It takes wide-awake Christians to keep pace with the message, to live it, and to teach it. “It is no small thing to be a Christian, and to be owned and approved of God. The Lord had shown me some who profess the present truth, whose lives do not correspond with their profession. They have the standard of piety altogether too low, and they come far short of Bible holiness. Some engage in vain and unbecoming conversation, and others give way to self. We must not expect to please ourselves, live and act like the world, have its pleasures, enjoy the company of those of the world, and reign with Christ in glory.” Every Christian must awake out of sleep, watch and pray, and have on the whole armor of God if he expects to join the throng around the great white throne. It will take the meekness of Moses, the chasteness of Joseph, the patience of Job, the firmness of Daniel, and the lowliness of Christ to pass through the trial. The end is very near. There is danger that we may become like the unfaithful servant, who says in his heart, “My Lord delayeth his coming.” If we give way to spiritual slumber, and become drunk with the cares of this life, the day of vengeance will take us unaware. But to the faithful, “to him that overcometh,” the Master says, “will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” Then shall we reign with Christ forever, throughout the endless ages to come. “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. . . . Let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. . . . See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything giving thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”