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NOT DISCOURAGED

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 6, 1876

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 47, No. 14.

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“NOT DISCOURAGED.”

A young woman of very yielding and amiable disposition, who belonged to my congregation, became alarmed about her condition as a sinner, and set herself to seek the Lord. I visited her, and conversed with her repeatedly. Her seriousness became deeper and deeper. I left her one day with a very strong expectation upon my mind that the next time I should see her she would be at peace with God. I thought so because she seemed to realize that God’s law justly condemned her as a sinner, that she was dependent upon sovereign grace, and that she ought to repent and flee to Christ. I thought so, also, because she appeared to me just as others, with whom I was conversing every day, had appeared immediately before their hopeful conversion to Christ. She seemed to me to know and feel the truths of the gospel which are addressed to unconverted sinners, and therefore I believed the Holy Ghost was with her, to lead her to salvation. I left her with the urgency of the text, “Behold, now is the accepted time,” pressed upon her conscience and heart with all the emphasis my words could give it.
The next time I saw her—a day or two afterward—her whole appearance was altered. Her solemnity was gone, her anxieties were diminished. She met me with a smile that surprised and pained me, and, directly contrary to her former habit, she began to speak of some common matter.
Said I, “Have you given Christ your heart, Mary?”
“Oh, no, not yet,” said she; “but I don’t feel as bad as I did.”
“Why not?” said I. “What reason have you to feel any better?”
“I don’t know as you would think I have any reason, but I hope to be a Christian by-and-by. I don’t feel in so much haste as I did, and I am not so much afraid God will cast me off, and the sinfulness of my heart does not trouble me so much.”
“My dear Mary,” said I, with astonishment and pain, “how is this? I expected different things! Evidently your seriousness is diminished. You care less for salvation than you did. What has altered your feelings since I saw you?”
“Why, when you left me the last time you were here, and told me to repent that day, I was dreadfully troubled. I felt that my heart was opposing God, and I was afraid to think of living without Christ another hour. Your last words, ‘To-day, to-day,’ rang in my ears; I could not get rid of them. But pretty soon Miss —— came in, and I told her how I felt; but she told me not to be discouraged, only to keep on seeking the Lord. She said I was doing very well, and I ought not to feel so; and if I did not feel discouraged I should soon find religion.”
“And you believed her?” said I.
“Yes, I believed her; and I have felt better ever since—a great deal better.”
“Felt better, Mary! You are resting on a lie! You are miserably deceived! Doing well! How can you be doing well while an impenitent sinner, rejecting Christ, and exposed every moment to the wrath of God forever? Your friend, as you call her, has been doing the work of the great deceiver. She did not talk to you as the Bible does: ‘To-day, to-day, if ye will hear his voice.’”
I aimed to arouse her, but it was all in vain. Her anxieties departed; she ceased to pray, and in a few days more she was as careless and worldly as ever.
It is not true that a convicted and praying sinner is doing well while without faith in Christ. Something more is needed. He must repent and believe; and certainly, if prayerless, he is doing ill.
The young woman who misled the yielding and affectionate Mary was a professor of religion, and one of those who are very apt to be busy in times of revival. Doubtless she meant well, but her influence was very unhappy. No one is ever safe in giving any counsel to impenitent sinners unless he be careful to talk just as the Bible talks. Otherwise we may do more harm than good.—Sel.