Not Very Good, and Not Very Bad.
“From what you have said, John, it seems you think yourself a fair kind of man.” “Well, Mr. F——, I will tell you my opinion about that exactly. I don’t think I ever did much that was bad; nor can I say that I ever did a great deal of good. I think you may call me a middling man.” “That is your opinion, John. But don’t you think that everything that exists must have had a cause from which it sprung?” “Certainly I do, Mr. F——, for old John is not so void of sense as not to know that.” “Well, John, what do you suppose causes a man to be good?” “And what do you think causes a man to be bad?” “The devil, most certainly; for God never made anything bad.” “But, John, what is the cause of a middling man?” “John, I perceive you have got fast there. You say God is the cause of a good man, and Satan is the cause of a bad man, but you say you are neither! You are middling. Doubtless, John, you must have had a cause that made you what you are.” “But as there is no middle being between God and Satan, and only the two revealed causes of good and evil in man, then I am at an exceedingly great loss to know what has been the great moral cause that made you middling.” “Why, sir, I have heard a great many folks like me saying that they were middling, that is, neither good nor bad; but, really, when I think of the matter in the way you put it, I begin to be somewhat doubtful whether I am right. Yet, I assure you, sir, I do not think I should be called a very bad man.” “John, did you ever see a middling gold dollar? Or did you ever see a middling bank-note?” “No, never, Mr. F——; they are always either good or bad. But I have known some bad ones to pass for good ones.” “Well, John, if you never saw middling money, you never saw middling men; that is, as before God. God is a being of perfect holiness, infinite purity, and he judges according to a perfect standard. To be accepted of him we must be perfectly fitted for his approval. He cannot adopt middling men, and call them good. You must be either righteous or unrighteous—either saint or sinner. A middling man has no existence in God’s sight. So, friend John, I want you, when you go home, to think seriously on this matter. You cannot serve two masters. At this moment you are either serving God or Satan. You cannot be a middling man. You have no middling cause, no middling life, no middling death, and no middling destiny!” Reader, as I have said to John, so I say to you. You are, at this moment, either good or bad, righteous or unrighteous, in God’s sight. You cannot be middling. You are either a child of God or a servant of the wicked one. You are pardoned or unpardoned. You are either a subject of God’s grace, or you are under his condemnation.—Child’s Banner.