EARNESTNESS by Eliza H. Morton

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 13, 1878

EARNESTNESS

By Eliza H. Morton

“’Tis not for man to trifle, life is brief, Our age is but the falling of a leaf; We have no time to sport away the hours, All must be earnest in a world like ours. Not many lives, but one have we; How precious, then, should that one be.”

A wealth of meaning is expressed in the above simple lines. They breathe solemn warnings to the careless and indolent, reprove frivolity, and tell of the shortness of life and the certainty of death.

Earnestness is the spirit of success. Viewed from a worldly stand-point it leads to wealth, fame, and honor. An earnest man, even in a bad cause, gains many friends and followers. If earnestness is necessary in matters pertaining to this life, how much more is it needed in the cause of God. The preacher, most of all, needs its burning fire. Earnest words from the heart attract attention and reach the heart. Earnestness of manner fastens conviction on the soul, makes the sinner tremble, and gives power to the thoughts expressed.

Every true life is an earnest life. Our Saviour was deeply in earnest when he gave his life for fallen man, and shall not we, his followers, manifest some of that spirit? The church “fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners,” must be an earnest church. It is earnestness, accompanied with the Spirit of God, that will waft the sound of the third angel’s message over valley and plain, and cause it to echo and re-echo from hill-top to hill-top, until the “loud cry” is merged into the glad, triumphant song of the redeemed.

The last prayer of the sinner will be an earnest one, but it will be all in vain. Now is the time to labor earnestly, faithfully, and perseveringly. May a holy enthusiasm strengthen every heart and hand, and lead to a renewed consecration to God.

ELIZA H. MORTON.