p. 12 | Fatal Parley

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 16, 1909

Fatal Parley

It is dangerous to parley with the enemies of righteousness. One who is doing a good work and living a good life will often hear propositions from the enemy. Many have been deceived by such plausible invitations. Young men living a pure and honest life are frequently invited to hold a conference with those who are living another kind of life. They like to tell what they know about the tricks of business, the pleasures of sin, and the ways of the world. Why not hear what they have to say for their cause? Of course, you will not be persuaded to join them. Your mind is made up, and your choice settled. But what harm can there be in hearing what they have to say? It is a dangerous snare.

Nehemiah was invited to such a conference with the enemies who had tried to hinder the building of the walls of the city. They pretended to desire to communicate to him something which would be beneficial to both sides. They were for settling the matter by a parley. But Nehemiah understood the scheme. If they could get him outside of the walls of the city, they could easily lay hands on him and put a stop to the work. His reply was memorable. This is what he said: “I am doing a great work, so that I can not come down: why should the work cease whilst I leave it, and come down to you?” He was too busy. He was busy about great things. The work was urgent. He could not be spared for a day; no, not for one hour.

This reply has been a lesson to the people of God in all subsequent ages. The way to defeat such wicked schemes is to be busy. Be busy about some great thing. Trifling occupations may not be sufficient to fortify one against the proposition of the enemy for a parley, but a great work will hold the worker. Some one may say, I have no great work on hand. Moses had a great work to do, and so had Daniel and Paul and Wesley, but my work is trifling. The student, the clerk, the mechanic, the business man, has nothing very important in hand. The works of most men are mere trifles. The president of a great college said the other day that a student came to him not long ago and asked, “What is worth while?” Sure enough. The busy tribes of flesh and blood seem like so many ants building little mounds to be washed away by the first rain.

But it is not really so. There is something worth while, and every one may engage in it. We are indeed all engaged in it. We are building, not a wall such as Nehemiah built, but a character. We are making, not only a living, but a life. Every thought we think, every word we utter, enters into that structure. If you leave your work to go down for a parley, even the parley will enter into the temple. We are doing a greater work than Nehemiah did. Each one may say to those who solicit him to leave it for a conference, “I am doing a great work; . . . I can not come down.”—Christian Advocate.