JOS. CLARKE by Jos. Clarke

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 30, 1874

JOS. CLARKE

By Jos. Clarke

Discouraged.

WHAT about? Is it because you have met with temptations, and Satan has got the advantage of you? Does not Jesus stand pleading for you? Is this a time for discouragement, when all Heaven is inviting you to come? “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye.” Isa. 55:1.

Soon it will be too late to pray. Then will be a sufficient cause of discouragement when Jesus has left the sanctuary, and puts on his robe of kingly power; but now you have no time to lag behind; you have no time to talk of darkness and gloom. Have you sinned? Hasten to the dear Fountain of salvation. Have you sinned repeatedly? Do not give up; repair again to the Fountain for a more thorough cleansing; bewail your sin and folly; cling to the cross of Christ; plead for purity; plead for a clean heart.

Said a preacher, “The cause of all our trouble is that our hearts are so hard.” Yes; that is it. We are all covered over with selfishness, and the Spirit of God does not get a sufficient hold upon us; the direct influence of God and angels is unheeded by us, or quickly forgotten. O God, forgive our hardness of heart.

How shall we attain to that point of the life of Christianity in which our hearts will be all the time tender, and open to conviction, and to the sweet influence of heavenly messengers? You say it will be when we love God with all the heart, and all the mind, and all the soul. Yes, truly; then will be the fortunate period in our Christian life when our peace shall be as a river (see Isa. 48:18), when we hearken to God’s commandments.

Holy love to God and to our fellow-men is the Christian’s wealth. It is his stock in the bank of Heaven; it is the fine gold, for it is always mixed with faith; without this we fail in spiritual matters and become bankrupt. As cash is to the merchant, so is holy love to the Christian. But you say, “I have so little, alas! what shall I do?” But stay, do not stop here; think what the dear Saviour says: “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich.”

Is not that a magnificent offer? Can you be discouraged with such counsel from that eminent banker, the Lord Jesus Christ? The fine gold of faith and love—all for the asking by the poor, repentant sinner. “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy. When I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.”