Take the Rags Off

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 15, 1883

Take the Rags Off.

The Texas Christian Advocate says that “one of the funny things going the round of the papers is the proposal of the nervous old lady, who is having some carpentry work done on her house, to tie some rags around the heads of the workmen’s hammers so they will make less noise, and nobody will be disturbed. She thought she was making things pleasant, but the workmen were of the opinion that they could do more and better work with the rags off, and then the noise began again, to the old lady’s great annoyance.

Many people are afraid of the racket that sometimes attends faithful preaching, either from the pulpit or the press. An earnest preacher often makes the hearts of the people quake as he denounces sin and warns the sinner. The faithful minister often points out the popular vices of the day, and there is a racket in the gambling hell, and no small stir in the drinking saloon. The man of God must smite hard if the nails of truth are driven home and firmly clinched. Some people will not like it, and timid people will be alarmed lest complaint will be heard against the church, and hard things will be said about the pulpit or religious press. But they must get used to it. The gospel was not designed to sooth people to sleep, but to wake them up. The preacher is not sent to please the world, but to point out its peril. God’s word is a fire and a hammer, and this hammer needs no cushioning or padding; it is designed to strike hard blows, and to break in pieces the flinty rock. Hearts are hard and must be broken. Let every earnest workman take off the rags from his hammer-head, and strike mighty blows for God and for his truth.— Selected.