p. 597 | Rudder or Rock?

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 8, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 38.

Rudder or Rock?

He that will not be ruled by the rudder must be ruled by the rock. He who will not take counsel when it is given, must take trouble when it is sent. He who mocks at admonition, rejects advice, hates instruction, and despises reproof, will come at last to reap what he has sown, and to suffer those sorrows which are the lot of the rash, the inexperienced, the head-strong, and the disobedient.

My young friend just starting on the voyage of life, you must take your choice. You must be ruled by something. Shall it be by the rudder, or by the rock? Will you take the way of sin and darkness, and "mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, and say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me" (Prov. 5:11-13); or will you heed the voice of wisdom, which crieth in the streets, obey the commands of God, follow the teachings of his word, and prove by glad experience that wisdom's "ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace." Reader, you must be ruled either by the rudder or by the rock. Which shall it be?—Sel.