BROKEN PLEDGES by A. H. Hall

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 8, 1877

BROKEN PLEDGES.

By A. H. Hall

The difficulty with some of our brethren is that they think that the church has no right to claim obedience to the rules in the church. In regard to the use of tobacco, some make solemn pledges to God and the church, then go and break them. Such will have to confess to God that they have broken that vow made before God and men, before they can ever get into his kingdom. But God says, he that confesses and forsakes his sins shall find mercy.

There are men that would be in the church to-day, were it not for their idol, tobacco. It will surely keep them out of Heaven if they do not forsake it. Let such read the fifth chapter of Galatians. You all admit that it is a filthy habit; and God says that no unclean thing shall ever enter into the kingdom of Heaven.

They feel hard when we talk of carrying out the rules of the church; but God will hold us responsible for this work. We have got to stand before God in the Judgment. In our zeal for the cause and to report success, there is danger of taking persons into the church that never ought to be there. This makes labor for some one following after to perform, and it is the hardest kind of labor.

I believe that all the success we have we should report to the REVIEW, but in organizing we should use wisdom.

A. H. HALL.