HAVE SALT IN YOURSELVES.
By A. C. Bourdeau
TEXT: “Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.” Mark 9:50. In harmony with this text and its connection, we have the following interesting Scriptures:— “Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” Matt. 5:13. “Salt is good; but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Luke 14:34, 35. The figures used in these texts are very forcible. The salt referred to had the quality of being savory, having a flavor perceivable, as some claim, by the taste and by the smell; and the quality of preserving, as it is used for the preservation of meats, etc. Those who have salt in themselves in the sense of the text have the grace and favor of God. They abide in Christ, receiving sap and nourishment from the Living Vine; believe, and receive the truth into their hearts in the love of it, and practically carry it out in their lives; and thus preserve themselves, and preserve others by having a salutary influence over them. They have the Christian graces, adding to faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, etc.; bear the fruits of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, etc.; are Christ’s, having crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts; and are epistles known and read of all men—the light of the world—the salt of the earth. But many claim to have salt in themselves while they have lost saltness, or savor. They have let the things needful slip; they say, Lord, Lord, but do not the will of God, having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; they grieve away the Spirit of God, whereby we are sealed unto the day of redemption; they sow to the flesh, as the non-professor and the ungodly do, and shall of the flesh reap corruption. They cannot preserve themselves, and have no influence for good upon others; the salt in them is “good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men.” “YE ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH.” The course that our first parents pursued in yielding to temptation and sin, affected not only themselves and their offspring, but the earth also: “Cursed is the ground for thy sake; . . . thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.” Gen. 3:17–19. The course of Cain in slaying his brother Abel also affected the earth which opened her mouth to receive his brother’s blood from his hand. “When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength.” Gen. 4:12. The wickedness of the antediluvians was great in the earth: “And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; . . . and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” Gen. 6:12, 13. The effect of their wickedness, and the traces of the flood which followed, are visible over the whole earth’s surface, which is broken, and has not the appearance that it had before the deluge. And, though after the flood “God said, . . . I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth; . . . and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh” (Gen. 9:12–15); yet had there not been righteous persons—some salt to preserve the earth—all the way along since that time, the whole earth, and the inhabitants thereon, would long since have been destroyed by the terrible judgments of God, as were Sodom and Gomorrah. The sin of those cities was “very grievous;” yet if ten righteous had been found there, the Lord would have spared all the place “for the ten’s sake.” Because that number of righteous persons was not found, only righteous Lot and his two daughters escaped; the Lord “overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities.” Gen. 19:24, 25. In the last days, at the coming of the Son of man, it will be as it was in the days of Noah, and as it was in the days of Lot. The times will be perilous; the love of many shall wax cold; iniquity shall abound; and “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” Only a few will be found having faith, watching the fulfillment of prophecy, and preparing for Christ’s appearing. And, owing to the increasing wickedness upon the earth, appalling changes and phenomena will take place in the earth and in the heavens also. That the wicked course of the people will affect the earth then, may clearly be seen by the following prophecy which evidently applies in the time of the end: “The earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate.” Isa. 24:5, 6. This principle is made further apparent by the blessings that would attend the children of Israel if they would hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord their God, to observe and do all his commandments, and by the curses that would attend them if they should disobey, as brought to view in Deut. 28. To those who would obey, the Lord said, “If thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways, . . . the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground,” etc. We read further: “The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand; . . . if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them.” Verses 9–14. We have this principle illustrated also in a prophecy, which applies in the day of Christ’s coming, and which brings to view a system to raise means for the support of those who labor in word and doctrine, and to aid in the advancement of the cause of truth. Through the prophet the Lord addresses his people, who have gone out of the way in robbing him, and “are cursed with a curse,” and says, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour out you a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground.” Mal. 3:10, 11. The righteous few for whom Christ died, have always in every age been very precious in the sight of the Lord; and though the earth has groaned even, under the curse, ever since the fall, and the wickedness of the majority of mankind has been very great; yet, for the righteous’ sake, the earth has been in a measure preserved, and will not “be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled” (Isa. 24), until that great day when the wickedness of men comes to the full, and their grievous sins come in remembrance before God, to give unto the wicked “the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.” Rev. 16. Then “the earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.” Isa. 24:20. But “the meek shall inherit the earth.” After the great burning day—at the end of the thousand years; for the sake of the righteous the earth will be made new, and will become their everlasting inheritance. Then “there shall be no more curse.” Rev. 22:3; 21:1. Examples of holy men, who had salt in themselves, are placed on record in the Scriptures, to encourage us, and for us to imitate, some of which we may here notice with profit. “ENOCH walked with God; and he was not; for God took him.” Gen. 5:24. And “before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” Heb. 11:5. In his religious experience Enoch pursued a straightforward course. He was not spasmodic; but, constantly and perseveringly he moved along under all circumstances, walking in the way of God’s commandments. And, as one who muses and is communicative with his friend on the way, he always kept near the Lord, and held sweet communion with him; and, in turn, God gave him manifold tokens of his love and approbation, and then translated him that he should not see death. Enoch pursued a course to preserve himself, and had a salutary influence upon others, such as will affect even those whom he represented, who will be translated alive at Christ’s coming. NOAH was “a preacher of righteousness;” hence he kept God’s commandments. He had faith and works; and, having salt in himself, “found grace in the sight of God.” The experience that Noah had—the manner in which he heeded the warning of God about the then coming flood, the course he pursued in preparing the ark on dry land, amid the derisions and sneers of nearly all the beholders, and the welcome he and his house received as they went into the ark, etc., fitly represented the experience that the remnant people of God were to have, in heeding the warning messages of Rev. 14:6–12, in preparing for themselves a shelter against the time of trouble by keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ, fearless of reproaches and revilings, and in the welcome they shall receive into the mansions prepared for the holy and the blest. Noah gladly heard the words, “Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.” Gen. 7:1. And the saints, in the end, will hear with joy the words, “Come, ye blessed of my Father;” Matt. 25:34; “Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.” Isa. 26:2. ABRAHAM was faithful in obeying God’s voice; and keeping his charge, his commandments, his statutes, and his laws (Gen. 26:5), and he pursued a commendable course in commanding his children, and his household after him, that they should keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment. Chap. 18:19. Therefore, the Lord greatly blessed him, making him the father of the faithful in all the nations of the earth, so that they that are of faith, in any nation, are blessed with faithful Abraham. And to him and to his seed, which is Christ, were precious promises made; namely, that he should have an inheritance, and become heir of the whole world. “And if ye be Christ’s,” says Paul, “then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Gal. 3:29. Thus Abraham had salt in himself. His faithfulness was availing in his own case and in the case of all the faithful, and also in reference to the inheritance which will be the future and eternal abode of all the saints. ELIJAH is described as a prophet “who stood up as a fire, and whose word burned as a lamp.” In his time nearly all the professed people of God had forsaken, almost entirely, the faith in Jehovah, and adhered strongly to the foreign religion of king Ahab’s wife’s family, the worship of the Phœnician Baal. The prophet came forward as a witness against this evil. In the spirit and power of his reproofs he was a striking type of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Saviour at his first advent, and a type of the true servants of God who, in the end of the world, are engaged in proclaiming the truth that will prepare a people for the second advent of Christ. He had strong faith in prayer, and God frequently manifested his power miraculously through him; he endured strong opposition; and when he had to flee for his own safety, he was directed to places, by divine guidance, where he was supported in a miraculous manner with which we are all familiar. The prophet’s entire experience in his warfare on earth, before God translated him in a special manner to Heaven, was a striking representation of the experience that the last church will have in their warfare, just prior to the time when they shall be translated as was Elijah. DANIEL was a celebrated prophet. In his early years he was taken to Babylon among the captives of the people of Judah, together with three other youths of rank, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. At an early period he acquired renown for wisdom, piety, and strict adherence to the requirements of God. The prudent proceedings of Daniel and of his three companions, in resolving to abstain from the “king’s meat,” were crowned with divine blessings; and had the most important results. They strictly adhered to temperance in diet during their three years’ discipline, preparatory to their standing in “the king’s palace;” and they were found in all matters of wisdom and understanding that the king inquired of them, “ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.” Dan. 1:21. By the divine aid, like Joseph of old in Egypt, Daniel successfully exercised his gift of interpreting dreams. He also had visions which disclosed to him the future course of events relative to leading powers or universal kingdoms, which would bear rule successively upon the earth, and, particularly, to the kingdom of God which is finally to be established and to be possessed by the saints forever. Among the prophetic periods of his visions, one extended to the end of Judaism (Dan. 9); one to the time of the end (chap. 7:25; 11:40); and another to the period of the Judgment (chap. 8:14). This devoted servant of God frequently engaged in earnest prayer to God. Three times a day he bent the knee in prayer, the windows in his chamber being open toward Jerusalem. Even the enactments of the Medes and Persians could not make him deviate from his course in this direction. And when he was cast into the lions’ den, an angel of God shut the lions’ mouths, that they did not hurt him; but when he was taken out, his accusers were all cast into the den of lions, and were devoured. Thus he was not without the “salt” recommended in our text. “Forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him.” Dan. 6. The three worthies, Daniel’s companions, were also faithful, and strictly observed God’s commandments. And when they were bound162and cast into the burning fiery furnace by the urgent command of the king of Babylon, because they would not fall down and worship the image of gold that he had set up, though the furnace was so exceedingly hot that the flame slew the mighty men that cast them into it, yet the king saw four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they had no hurt; “and the form of the fourth,” exclaimed the king, “is like the Son of God.” They had what could preserve them, even while in the midst of the fire, so that when they came out of the furnace, the fire had no power on their bodies, “nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.” Dan. 3:27. Besides these personages, and many others that we might notice, we have the case of Paul and Silas, who, while they were in prison with their feet fast in stocks, praying and singing praises to God at the midnight hour, were set at liberty by the miraculous power of God, witnessed the conversion of the jailer, and that same night baptized him and all his house. Acts 16. We have also the case of Peter, who was in prison, soon to be killed as James was. “But prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him;” and the Lord, by his angel, brought him out of the prison. Acts 12. These are striking cases of those mentioned in the Bible, who had salt in themselves in the sense of the text. We are evidently living in the last days. Solemn scenes are just before us; and we need to have salt in ourselves. We need to be wholly sanctified by obeying the whole truth, and by availing ourselves of all the means of grace, in order to be preserved blameless through the time of trouble that is before us, until the appearing of Jesus Christ. We should be really in earnest in having the truth affect our words (see Col. 4:5, 6), thoughts, and actions, that we may have nothing in us to molest or annoy, and may ever “have peace one with another.”