REVERENCE by Daniel T. Bourdeau

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 12, 1875

REVERENCE

By Daniel T. Bourdeau

BY ELD. D. T BOURDEAU.

Text: “Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.” Gen. 28:16.

These are the words of one who was aroused by a realization of sacred things. They were uttered by Jacob upon awaking from a dream in which he had seen the angels of God ascending and descending upon a ladder that was set on the earth and whose top reached to Heaven. He had also seen the Lord above the ladder encouraging him with these words: “I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac; the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.”

Jacob was fleeing from the face of his brother Esau. He was homeless and friendless, and did not realize that God was so near him; but upon discovering that he was so closely connected with God and sacred things, his soul was filled with reverential awe, and he was afraid, and exclaimed: “How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of Heaven.” But he did not stop here. He made an offering unto the Lord, and made a solemn vow that if God should spare him to return to the spot that he occupied, he would make it a place of worship, “God’s house,” and that of all that God should give him, he would surely give the tenth unto the Lord. After his return from his journey, and from his long sojourn at Laban’s, he took his family, and all that were under him, with him to Bethel, and there sacrificed unto the Lord and engaged in solemn worship. But observe the high sense of sacred things that Jacob manifested to his household and to all that were with him before going to Bethel. “Put away,” said he, “the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments.”

In the case before us there is a remarkable exhibition of reverence, which is that disposition that leads us to respect our superiors and those who are older than ourselves, and to treat sacred things generally with that awe and self-abasement that their nature demands. This is one of the noblest dispositions that human beings can possess, as it grows out of the proper use of the organ of veneration, which stands the highest among the moral organs.

To revere our superiors is to give them their just due. It is to give them what their nature, age, position, and experience, demand, viz., honor and an exalted place in our affections, thoughts, words, and actions. To refuse our superiors that honor that we owe them is a worse crime than to rob them of worldly goods. It is robbing them of their character. More than this, in some instances it is killing their character, and using the worst kind of deception, virtually representing them as occupying the second rank and we the first, contrary to the nature of things and the order of Heaven. If irreverence is so great a crime with reference to man, how exceedingly sinful it must be when committed against the great and holy God! But irreverence, manifested with reference to sacred things, or toward those whom God, for wise reasons, honors and exalts above ourselves, is disregarding God’s order, exalting ourselves above God, and thereby showing him great irreverence. Pride and selfishness are at the bottom of irreverence. It is because men too highly esteem themselves, and are too much shut up to themselves, that they fail to render that respect to others which is their due. And how easy it is for the human heart to be deceived here, and to think that is right which is really wrong; that our rights are disregarded, while we disregard the rights of others; and that others slight and abuse us, while we slight and abuse others. And the more the mind runs in this channel, the greater will be its blindness and deception, until it will even dare to murmur against the Almighty, and almost undertake to tear him from his throne. At least, there is a disposition to do this. The mind has been so shut up to self and selfish interests that it cannot discern the nature of sacred things and the claims of superiors. The selfish organs have been so strengthened by undue and perverted action that their demands are imperative, and all the powers of body and mind must serve them. The moral organs are so weakened by disuse that if they act at all they do not act naturally toward God and superiors, but in a perverted manner, in the slavish and degraded service of self, to which everything must bow as to the supreme object of adoration.

This is by no means a fanciful picture. It represents the condition of the world at large and of too many religionists. How easy it is to manifest, apparently, great reverence toward God and sacred things, while self is the object that is worshiped. The heart is deceitful above all things. We should be very jealous over its workings, and should try its secret motives to know what principles actuate us. We should seek to know whether our religious duties are performed that we may get the praise of men and that our selfish interests may be promoted, or whether all that we do in religion is done to the glory of God, and with direct reference to the furtherance of his cause.

We may determine whether our reverence is directed toward God or toward ourselves by the answers that we return to such questions as the following: Am I as faithful in performing those religious duties which are done where no one but God can see me as I am in performing those duties that attract the attention of my fellow-men? Would I perform certain religious duties were it not for some temporal advantage accruing therefrom? Is my zeal in religion relaxed when I fail to receive the approbation of those whom I esteem? Do I revere my superiors as much when they correct me for my errors as I do when they approve me for my virtues? In short, do I do all religious acts as I should were I in the presence of God and Christ, surrounded by the holy angels who worship with perfect submission and profound reverence, and who keep a strict record of our lives and motives in the books? I greatly fear that if all the motives that actuate us in our religious acts were carefully analyzed and laid open before us as they appear to God and holy angels, we would find ourselves to be more deficient even in reverence than we are naturally inclined to think that we are.

We urge this subject upon the serious consideration of our readers because of the sacred principles that it involves, and because its claims are almost universally disregarded. Irreverence is manifested to an alarming extent in the greater portion of the rising generation. In fulfillment of the divine prediction, 2 Tim. 3:1–3, most of the children and youth of this age are proverbial for their lack of respect for superiors and gray hairs, for disobedience to parents, ingratitude, profanity, and general insubordination. This lack grows up with them as they advance in years; and, having failed to yield to and revere superiors, it is almost impossible for them to submit to and reverence God. And unless persons possessing this trait get thoroughly converted, their selfishness, hatred of restraint, and domineering ways, must cause great unhappiness to themselves and to others, and must be a prolific source of trials wherever they go, especially if they find their way into the church; for of all kinds of irreverence, that kind is the most to be dreaded which is manifested under the cloak of religion, and which often appears in the shape, and under the pretense, of great reverence for God and sacred things, while self is really the great object toward which reverence is directed.

Irreverence is manifested in various ways. It caused Satan and his angels to rebel against the government of Heaven, and it causes the mass of our race to make it a light thing to transgress the law of the Most High, and to consider, as non-essential, those portions of divine truth which conflict with the desires and ways of the carnal heart. It opposes that religion which does not follow the popular channel. It despises restraint and the self-denying path the Redeemer trod. It does not readily discern the difference between the holy and the profane; between what God has sanctified, and what he has not sanctified; between what he has set apart to a holy use, and what he has given man for common purposes. It is dull to see, and slow to restrain, disorder and untidiness in divine worship or in the house of God. It sometimes enjoys coarse ways and expressions in worship. It would regard Jacob as being too particular when he enjoined cleanliness on those who went with him to worship the Lord, and would pronounce Moses proud or over-nice when he commanded the children of Israel to wash their clothes when about to hear Jehovah proclaim his holy law on Mount Sinai, or when he enjoined upon the priests to be clean in person and in dress when they ministered in sacred things.

Irreverence makes children think that their parents are greatly indebted to them, and that it would be too old-fashioned and beneath their dignity to consult their parents or superiors in important matters, or manifest childlike gratitude for favors received. It leads children to regard it as an outrageous thing, as insupportable bondage, to receive instruction or correction from those who have their well-being at heart, and would even give their lives to save them. It induces children to rise up above their parents, and treat them disrespectfully, and overlook their virtues, in view of errors that they may commit while bearing burdens and cares that the young cannot realize until they have had more experience.

Irreverence causes uneasiness in secret prayer, and induces many to rise from their knees before they have realized the blessing of God. It leads professors to read the word of God hastily, as though they were performing a wearisome duty, and to speak carelessly of God and sacred things, in singing, in prayer, and in testimony in social meetings. It prompts some who even have a form of religion, to quote scriptures jokingly, and induces many to withhold means from the Lord’s treasury. It led ancient Israel to murmur in the wilderness, and at subsequent periods in their history, and caused them to speak evil of dignities, and thereby murmur against God; and it does not act less in this direction in these last days than it did anciently. Says Paul, “Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” I Cor. 10:10, 11.

Language, and our finite comprehension are inadequate to fully set forth the evils of irreverence. May God by his truth and Spirit impress our minds with its exceeding sinfulness, and enable us fully to overcome it in all its workings and manifestations. If angels were cast out of Heaven because of their irreverence, can we expect to be admitted into Heaven while our characters are stained with the same shameful and debasing sin?

Before concluding my remarks, I wish to correct one impression that Satan makes upon minds through the deceitfulness of sin, which is this: That true reverence debases the soul, and brings bondage, unhappiness, and misery.

True exaltation consists in bringing all the powers of body and mind into submission to the will of God and in harmony with the principles of holiness, so that all our faculties will be engaged in the exalted service of God in that sphere of usefulness to which they are best adapted, thus answering the noble object for which they were made. And to revere God, superiors, and sacred things, contributes more to bring about this glorious result than any other action of the soul. Is reverence, therefore, a debasing trait of character? Is not rather irreverence that trait which above all others debases the soul in bringing it out of harmony with itself, with its Creator, and with all that is good and praiseworthy? How strange it would be for one to become so perverted in his mental and physical vision as to call Heaven low with reference to the earth. This is not so strange however as for persons to become so perverted in their moral vision as to call reverence debasing and irreverence exalting.

Reverence brings bondage to the old man, but great freedom to the new man. The old man should be bound, and crucified, and wholly banished from us. Unless it is, it will bind us to corruption and death. It will do us good to have irreverence, pride, and selfishness, die in us, and to have the opposite traits reign in their stead. Then shall we be restored to our proper balance. Then shall all our powers act properly and harmoniously with reference to those objects to which they are best adapted in the nature of things. Then shall we find peace and real contentment, our worst foes having been overcome. Then will the Holy Spirit find a place in our hearts, and abide with us with all its comforting and restoring blessings; for we shall turn all our blessings to the glory of God.

The irreverent, the proud, and the selfish, are like the troubled sea that casts up mire and dirt. They are never satisfied, never truly happy. They are out of order, like a machine that needs repairs, and does not and cannot run smoothly. Their conscience condemns them. They crave that which belongs to another; and, if they get it, their better nature says, “There is something wrong; you are man, and not God; you are getting out of your place.”

The honor you seek belongs to your superiors, or belongs to God. To obtain this honor, you undertake a work that you are unable to perform aright perhaps. You take responsibilities that others should bear. Give God the reins and the honor, and fill the place that you are adapted to fill. Then

shall you find rest to your souls. Imbued with the meekness and reverence that Christ possessed, your yoke will be easy and your burden light.

Dear brethren and sisters, sinners and backsliders, when we feel that all is not right, and are inclined to chafe and worry, not really knowing why, let us try the remedy Christ offers us, and learn of Him who was meek and lowly in heart. How many have made sad blunders, and brought sorrow and misery upon themselves by irreverence, by having their own way and disregarding the counsel of superiors.

Let us not be deceived by the thought that there is no pleasure in reverence. Those pleasures are of the highest type which grow out of the proper use of our higher powers. Veneration is that faculty which above all others links us to our Creator. Its proper exercise affords the greatest happiness that rational beings can enjoy. In this largely consists the happiness of angels, who worship day and night with the most profound reverence, awed by a sense of God’s holy and exalted character, and filled with devout gratitude in the free enjoyment of his rich blessings. If we are unlike the angels in character here, how can we expect to enjoy their society in Heaven?