Brief Moralities by J. Clarke

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 23, 1873

Brief Moralities.

By J. Clarke

THE Christian is a growing character; consequently, you must not view his failings and infirmities as fixed. What you see in him to-day, it may be you will never see in him again. He is daily putting off the old or the carnal man, and is putting on the new man, that is, he is putting on Christ.

To be zealous in the propagation of a correct theory or principle, while indifferent to the vital principles of godliness, such as faith, hope, charity, humility, is, in fact, holding the truth in unrighteousness.

The Christian graces must exist in a cluster or they will not thrive. One of them alone, or all the others together, lacking one, soon fade and die; but, together, they strengthen and nourish each other, and become an Eden in the heart.

There is no danger so great, to which the church is exposed, as that pointed out in Matt. 5:42-46.

It is well for us that God is more just, more merciful and forbearing, more liberal and far-seeing than any of his creatures; infinitely more good and powerful; infinitely better, more full of grace, than the best of his creatures.

The three graces spoken of in Rev. 3:18, the fine gold, the white raiment, and the eye-salve, are placed in proper order. Neither of the two last can, by any means, precede the first, nor can the third precede the second; for the second is a consequence of the first, and the third comes in as a reward of the first and second.

The right performance of duty, on the part of the Christian, is becoming and often admirable; but the Christian has no particular idea of this in his motive, for when he seeks to gain admiration, he wins contempt. True beauty is oftenest unconscious of its own existence.

The omission of a qualifying word, necessary to the sense of a contract or treaty, has often ruined individuals and nations; so the omission of a single element in the formation of character has ruined many a soul.

The greatest men, who have honored their times by lives of usefulness, have been remarkable for their methodical use of and proper division of the time allotted them in this life. Amid the many and pressing duties of life, nothing is more apparent than the shortness of life, the brief time in which to perform its active duties. Shall the Christian be careless in his use of the time given him, and shall it not be applied systematically to works of piety?

J. CLARKE.