MAKE A STIR by Eld. E. H. Gates.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 21, 1882

MAKE A STIR.

By Eld. E. H. Gates.

BY ELD. E. H. GATES.

No one will believe that we are sincere in our profession of looking for the return of our Saviour, the end of the world, and the pouring out of the vials of God's wrath, unless our deportment and words are in accordance with the solemnity of such important events.

The coming of the Lord means the close of probation, the great Judgment day, the conflagration of the earth, and the final doom of the impenitent, which are events of the most startling importance. If at midnight I see my neighbor's house on fire, while the inmates are unconscious of the impending danger, duty demands that I should make a noise about it. And to convince my neighbor that I am not jesting, my actions and words must show that I am terribly in earnest, and that I realize the danger to life and property. At such a time, who would think of leisurely going to the house, and of indifferently or jokingly telling him that it might be well to get up and see if his house was not in danger? No; there would be a stir.

So it should be in divine things. If we wish to convince others of the solemn truths for our times, we must show by our talk, our actions, and our self-sacrifice, that they are divine realities to us, and not held simply as theories. We may present the truth so clearly that men will be compelled to admit the strength of argument; but some undue levity, some vain or frivolous conversation, may balance them on the wrong side, where they can never again be reached. And it is quite possible that such persons may, in the Judgment, reproach their teachers in the following words: “Yes, we heard you preach, and believed what you taught, and would have accepted and acted upon it; but you laughed and joked just like everybody else, and treated the matter so lightly, that we thought you did not really mean what you taught, nor attach much importance to it.”

Many who might support the cause of truth with their God-given means are swallowed up with the “cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches.” With their mouth they profess to be looking for the return of the Saviour; but down in their hearts they say, “My Lord delayeth his coming.” Their actions preach with a voice that drowns their words, and effectually prevent any one from believing that their profession is anything more than a theory. The following extract from Sabbath Reading is to the point:—

“Among Noah's hearers none were more regular in attendance, nor more outspoken in sympathy and respect, than Sebed-lo-Sabad. Others reviled; he confessed his acceptance of the truth. His conversation with the preacher often turned upon the approaching deluge.

“At first his neighbors believed him in earnest; but they soon noticed that he bated not a jot of interest in his farm or his merchandise. He builded, he planned, he lived as though there were no threatening storm. In vain the preacher warned him to make suitable preparation. He always gave some ready excuse; and meanwhile flattered himself for accepting the truth and honoring the preacher.

“At last the storm burst. ‘Ah!’ said he to his neighbors, ‘I knew it would come! I told you the preacher spake truth!’

“‘Why, then,’ they answered, ‘did you not flee to the ark, and we perchance, would have followed your example?’

“He breasted the storm and reached the ark's door. ‘Father Noah!’ he cried, ‘open to me! I knew, I always said, you spake the truth. Open to me!’

“‘Not so, Sebed-lo-Sabad’ (servant of no service), was the reply. ‘Others disbelieved and are condemned therefor. You believed, but confirmed them in their unbelief by your own disobedience. Yours is the greater guilt. The Almighty hath closed the door.’