No Cross, no Crown by Mary E. Kelsey

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 15, 1873

No Cross, no Crown.

By Mary E. Kelsey

“Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” Heb. 12: 6-8.

How often we hear people complaining of the many trials and disappointments through which they are called to pass, when, in reality, they are but blessings in disguise. When an earthly father chastens his children, he is not confined to one kind of punishment, or two, but each receives a punishment suited to his or her disposition. Likewise our Heavenly Father has blessings especially adapted to the wants of each of his children. Some have a naturally proud heart with which to contend, and in mercy he visits such with some humiliating affliction; for he knows how little true happiness is enjoyed by the proud, either in this life, or in the world to come. And if the desired effect is not produced by the first visitation, another, still more humiliating, is sent, and still another, until they fully realize the truth of the words of Peter: “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”

But while some are proud, others are selfish, covetous, boasters, blasphemers, and the like, Paul says that these things shall be signs of the last days. Then, as we draw near the consummation of all things, we must expect to see these traits of character more fully developed in man. But do they tend to happiness? Look at the covetous man, who spends all his time and strength in scraping together a few of the transitory things of earth. Is he truly happy? Far from it. He is neither happy himself, nor has he any time to make others happy; no time to spend with his family; no time to speak a kind word to the sorrowing; no time for prayer. It is hurry, hurry, from morning till night, week after week, year in and year out. When he lays his head upon his pillow at night, it is not to be refreshed by sleep, but to pass the night in sleepless anxiety. He rises early, partakes of his breakfast in haste, and proceeds to his business without a parting word, or even a prayer that God will protect his family or direct his own steps. Does such a man expect to have the prospering hand of God in his business? Does he expect to have the honor and applause of this world, and in the next, to wear the victor’s crown? I think not; for Christ has said that “a man cannot serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

Thus it is, that while our minds are filled with thoughts and plans of this life, we lose sight of the promises of God and of the eternal inheritance, which, as John Wesley says, “will be more beautiful than that ever beheld by Adam.” Then who would not be willing to exchange all the pomp and royalty of an earthly king for a home in that beautiful paradise, and a crown far surpassing in worth and beauty that ever worn by mortals? Let us then bear cheerfully all the crosses and trials thrown in our pathway, knowing that they will work out for us “a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

MARY E. KELSEY.

Battle Creek.