DUTY by Jos. Clarke

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 26, 1877

DUTY

By Jos. Clarke

The importance of always keeping in the path of duty is not as keenly felt as it should be. We all see the necessity of faithfulness on the part of the physician who ministers to the calls of the sick and the dying. We see the necessity of constant vigilance on the part of the engineer who controls the ponderous locomotive, which glides with lightning speed along the iron track with its living freight of humanity and treasured wealth. Every officer and workman on the train is entrusted with responsibilities great and of the most momentous nature. A single omission of duty, a single violation of the rules or of the orders given, might wreck the train; a little slackness in regard to time might cause a great amount of confusion to any of the departments connected with the business of the road; and in certain cases, a variation from promptness in regard to correct time may wreck a train and consign a multitude of innocent persons to a wretched death or cruel mutilation.

It is evident that each of the instances we have mentioned, requires the greatest conscientiousness in regard to duty, and promptness in fulfilling the duties which fall to the lot of such as place themselves where they hold human life and interests in their hands, where a slight mistake involves such vast and important results. The physician, the engineer, the conductor, how carefully they should move! how decisive, and certain, and exact, and prompt should they be in the performance of each duty, feeling continually their responsibility, and that, too, with a continual fear and dread lest they might, by some slight mistake or omission of duty, commit a fatal mistake. This is their safety, to watch continually for the duty of the moment, and to be always ready to discharge such duty, with steady hand and in a calm frame of mind.

In all the walks of life we should look for the calls of duty. They may not, at first thought, seem as important as in the instances we have mentioned; but they may, nevertheless, prove quite as much so in the end. Each returning day and year brings its duties and its weight of responsibility. God wants us to watch for them with an earnest desire to do our work well. We ought to ask him to open our eyes to see the duty of the moment and the best way of doing it.

It is the duty of one to give his treasures of mind or of material wealth into the cause of truth. He must not wait and procrastinate until the Spirit of God has departed; but he must arise and say as Paul did, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Then, like Paul, let him arise and do what duty commands; for duty does command and that, too, in no uncertain terms. Wisdom invites, but each of her invitations is in the imperative mode.

JOS. CLARKE.