The Captive Hasteneth by R.

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · May 12, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 19.

The Captive Hasteneth

By R.

THE captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit.” Isa. 51:14. This is the natural law of captivity. Man loves freedom and hates restraint. If his liberty is taken from him, and he is shut in a dungeon, under all ordinary circumstances he is glad and ready and eager for release. When the day comes that ends the prisoner's sentence, he waits with eagerness for the moment when the warden will come, open the door, and let him forth to freedom. At such a time he needs no earnest invitation; he “hasteneth.”

But there is a captivity with which men seem satisfied. The proclamation of soul-emancipation has been issued; the door stands open; the bonds are loosed. But the “captive . . . hasteneth” not; he loves his imprisonment; he has been a captive and a slave so long that he prefers it. When the news comes that tells him he is free, he still sits in his dungeon. “Shake thyself from the dust; arise, . . . loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive.” Isa. 52:2.

In 1903 three colored people were found in Mississippi who did not know that nearly forty years before they and all their race had been set free by the sovereign power of the United States. They had been picking cotton on a plantation many miles from any community. No one came to tell them they were free. If they tried to get by the patrols on the outskirts of the plantation, they were whipped and sent back to work. Finally they planned an escape that proved successful. When they reached the outside world they met with a gigantic surprise. For many years they had been slaves, altho made free by the highest power of the land.

Even more fully and absolutely every human being in this world is set free. God through His Son Jesus Christ has issued an emancipation proclamation, bidding the oppressed go free and that all bonds of the soul be broken. It is extremely sad that there are yet many who do not know this blessed truth. There are thousands of souls in benighted lands who do not know of the blessed Gospel of freedom from sin’s bondage. It is the duty of every freeman of Christ to send to these speedily the news of their glorious emancipation.

But what shall be said of him who knows of this glorious freedom of the children of God, and yet will not accept it? What shall be said of him who prefers, instead of liberty, the awful bondage of corruption? There are thousands who know that they may be free, at least they have heard the message, but they hasten not. “Loose thyself, . . . O captive.” O speed to thy freedom, lest thou die in the pit.

“Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear.” Rom. 8:5. No, no, a thousand times no! God has not sent forth the spirit of slavery; there is not a suggestion of fear or slavery in it or about it; He has sent forth “the spirit of adoption,” and whoever receives it hastens to his freedom, crying out his gratitude to the great Emancipator.

“Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32. Christ comes, on His own confession, “to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and . . . to set at liberty them that are bruised.” Luke 4:18. He Himself proclaimed that liberty, and bids us, His followers, proclaim it to the utmost bounds of the earth.

Man need not be a slave to any circumstance. Under God he is the king of all circumstances that oppose his soul-bought freedom. Such circumstances he is to rule as a sovereign, and not cringe before them like a cowering slave. The history of the ages shows that the Christ-freed soul triumphs over the most frightening circumstances. The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is a glorious roll-call of the countless heroes who once were slaves, but who under the impulse of a holy faith moved up to a mighty and enduring freedom.

It is a miserable acknowledgment of failure when a mental genius like Byron confesses:

“My days are in the yellow leaf; The fruit, the flower of life, is gone, The worm, the canker, and the grief Are mine alone.”

The picture of the wasted poet, pining out his life, is indeed a sad one, but it need not have been. We put beside it the picture of one who lived for God. As life closes we hear him sing his song of triumph. “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.” 2 Tim. 4:7, 8. Byron is moaning out his failure; Paul is shouting his victory.

We make our lives failures or victories. There is no question about this. A man reaps what he sows. There is no effect in denying the fact. There is no changing the law because we do not see or realize it. We may know it, for God’s word plainly declares it. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Gal. 6:7.

“The tissues of the life to be We weave with colors all our own, And on the field of destiny We reap what we have sown. Still shall the soul around it call The shadows it has gathered here; And painted on the eternal wall The past shall reappear.”

Habits bind men with an iron chain, and these habits are the results of one’s own living. It is proof enough that our imprisonment is voluntary. We have willed it so. But even so, there is hope. Christ has given command to “break every yoke.” He is able to save unto the uttermost those who come to Him. Heb. 7:25. O soul, accept His blood-bought freedom. Arise, O captive, hasten to be free, “loose thyself,” lest thou die in the pit. R.