p. 139 | Procrastination

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 18, 1870

Procrastination.

THE late Dr. Clark, of Philadelphia, in one of his sermons, illustrates the absurdity of deferring the work of salvation, by the following striking fact. He was present on an occasion when a most solemn appeal was made to the young, to seek God without delay; the preacher urging as a motive, that, should they live to be old, difficulties would multiply, and their reluctance to the subject would increase with their years. As the preacher descended from the pulpit at the close of the service, an aged man came forward, and extending his hand to him, with much emotion, remarked, “Sir, what you said just now is unquestionably true. I know from my experience. When I was young, I said to myself, I cannot give up the world now, but I will by and by when I have passed the meridian of life, and begun to sink into the vale of years; then I will become a Christian; then I shall be ready to attend to the concerns of my soul. But here I am, an old man, and am not a Christian. I feel no readiness nor disposition to enter upon the work of my salvation. In looking back, I oftentimes feel as though I would give worlds if I could be placed where I was when I was twenty years old. There were not then half as many difficulties in my path as there are now.” But though the big tears burned down his cheek as he gave utterance to these truths, the emotions that were then stirred within him, like the early dew, soon passed away. He did not turn to God.