SNAGS by C. P. Bollman

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 21, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 16.

SNAGS

By C. P. Bollman

[Republished by request.]

EVERY one knows what snags are; and almost everything that moves, from the barefooted boy who roams the woods to the largest steamer that navigates the Mississippi or Missouri Rivers, is in more or less danger of being snagged. Snags are constantly in the way, and have to be avoided; even in our towns and cities, care must be exercised if one would avoid injury from things that are closely akin to them, while all know that they are the constant dread of river pilots; and many a valuable steamboat has been lost because of snags.

But snags are not confined to material things, nor is the injury which they inflict always physical. The pathway of each one of us is beset with spiritual snags, and if these are not carefully avoided, we are liable not only to suffer minor injuries, but there is danger that we shall make shipwreck of faith and go down in the dark waters of everlasting death.

But let us examine one of these snags. Perhaps the biggest of all is the inconsistencies of false professors and the failures of true Christians. A great many are wrecked on this snag; and the strangest thing about it is that so few try to avoid it. Suppose that there is a dangerous snag in one of our largest rivers. It can not be removed, but its location is described, and everything that can be done is done to warn people against it. What would we think of a pilot who should deliberately search for that snag until he had found it, and then, with a full head of steam, run his boat right upon it? Every one would say at once that he was a madman. But that is just the way people do in spiritual things. Ask almost any worldly man you meet, why he is not a Christian, and most likely he will tell you that it is because of faults which he sees in this or that person. In short, he has been snagged!

But how did it happen? Well, he once felt that he ought to be a Christian, but was not willing to make the sacrifice required; so he sought for some excuse; he went hunting around for a snag, and presently he found it in the life of a poor, struggling fellow-mortal, who, tho fighting against sin, was sometimes overcome by temptation. He could not see the poor man’s heart; he never witnessed his heartfelt grief, nor heard his broken cry as upon his knees he sought the forgiveness of Him whose law he had transgressed; no, he only saw the mistake, the failure—the sin, if you please—and straightway he says, “There’s a snag; that man is no better than I am; I want none of his religion.” A Christian friend says: “You will not be called to account for another’s sin. The shortcomings of that man will not excuse you; the Saviour alone is to be your example,” etc.; but it makes no difference, he won’t pass that snag; the sensation of being snagged is too pleasant! Of course it wounds his soul and injures his character, but then it eases his conscience, and that is what he wants; and so he steams up full force, strikes the snag head on, and settles down into the mud of infidelity, consoling himself the while that he is about as good as his neighbor; and perhaps he may be, but he is not good enough for a place in the kingdom of God, and never will be till he pulls away from that snag.

But even professed Christians are sometimes snagged. The writer once knew of a man who was led to investigate the claims of the law of God, and was convinced of his duty to obey; but to do so would require a sacrifice, and so, to use his own expression, he began to cast about for “snags,” and where do you suppose he found them? Well, strange as it may seem, tho a professed Christian himself, he sought and found them just where the worldling did,—in the lives of other professed Christians; only, instead of looking among Sunday-keepers, he went snag-hunting among Sabbath-keepers, and, like any one who looks away from Christ and the Scriptures of truth, he soon found what he wanted, and settled down satisfied with himself, his conscience fully at ease and quiet.

But is it not surprising that any one with even a limited knowledge of the principles of the Gospel should seek such an excuse? Such a course can only be accounted for in the light of the declaration that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” The apostle Paul thus condemns those who, by looking at their fellow-men, are enabled to build themselves up on their self-righteousness: “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves; but they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” 2 Cor. 10:12.

Even among the twelve apostles there was one traitor, and one weak disciple who denied his Lord even with oaths; dare we then condemn religion in general, or any special system of faith in particular, because all its adherents are not all that they should be? If we trust now in such subterfuges, what shall be our confidence when the Lord brings to pass that which He has spoken, saying: “Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the

plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand”?

In following Christ we are safe; in keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Rev. 14:12), we have the promise of eternal life. More than this no man can do, and less than this is not acceptable to God; for it is written: “Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Eccl. 12:13, 14.

C. P. BOLLMAN.