SEVEN SHORT RULES FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS by Brownlow North

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 12, 1878

SEVEN SHORT RULES FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS.

By Brownlow North

1. Never neglect daily private prayer; and when you pray remember that God is present, and that he hears your prayers. Heb. 11:6.

2. Never neglect daily private Bible-reading; and when you read remember that God is speaking to you, and that you are to believe and act upon what he says. I believe all backsliding begins with the neglect of these two rules. John 5:39.

3. Never profess to ask God for anything you do not want. Tell him the truth about yourself, however bad it makes you; and then ask him for Christ’s sake to forgive you for what you are, and to make you what you ought to be. John 4:24.

4. Never let a day pass without trying to do something for Jesus. Every night reflect on what Jesus has done for you, and then ask yourself, What have I done to-day for him? Matt. 5:13-16.

5. If ever you are in doubt as to whether a thing is right or wrong, go to your room and kneel down and ask God’s blessing upon it. Col. 3:16. If you cannot do this it is wrong. Rom. 14:23.

6. Never take your Christianity from Christians, or argue that because such and such people do so and so, therefore you may. John 21:22. You are to ask yourself, “How would Christ act in my place?” and strive to follow him. John 10:27.

7. Never believe what you feel, if it contradicts God’s word. Ask yourself, “Can what I feel be true?” and if both cannot be true, believe God and make your own heart the liar. Rom. 3:4; 1 John 5:10, 11.

—Brownlow North.