STATUTES AND MEN | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 27, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 21.

STATUTES AND MEN.

BY *

THE possession of a thing for which one has no use, or of which he makes no use, is, of course, to him a useless possession. That is evident on the face of it. In fact, if the individual is aware of his possession at all, it must be to him only a burden; for a burden is simply a thing for which one has no use, and the possessor is conscious of its non-utility. The more he realizes its uselessness, the greater the burden. Were it possible, and it is, for him to be almost or totally unconscious of even the possession, then in that degree and to that extent he becomes not a man, but a statue. For "their idols [graven images, statues] . . . have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; they have ears, but they hear not; noses have they, but they smell not; they have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk not; neither speak they through their throat." Ps. 115:4-7.

Thus the difference between a statue and a man is that the one possesses, but uses not, whereas the other uses what he possesses. And in proportion as he fails to use what he possesses, just in that proportion he takes on the likeness of a statue. Therefore, when one has the form of an eye, or an ear, or a mind, but uses them not, or, if he uses them at all, sees only what some other man tells him to see, hears only what he tells him to hear, thinks only what he tells him to think, such an one becomes only a graven image, or, at best, merely an echo of the other. Should the man discover that he had eyes of his own, or a mind of his own, for the use of which he was individually accountable to God alone, the very discovery of such ability to use would but increase his condemnation, unless he exercised his manhood by looking and thinking. And a failure to use these things when conscious of an ability so to do, makes the man only a partially animated image, or, if you please, the shadow of another. A total unconsciousness of individuality makes a man a statue. Of such it is said:—

"Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not." Jer. 5:21.

"Therefore speak I to them in parables; because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive." Matt. 13:13, 14.

And the reason for it is given in the next verse:—

"For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them."

That describes human statues; and the difference between that kind of a statue and one of marble is, the one is voluntarily such, the other involuntarily. The next verse describes a man in the blessed and free use of his faculties: "But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear." How comes this deliverance from slavery to freedom, from unconscious entity to conscious manhood, from statues to men? "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." John 8:36. Blessed assurance!

Know you of any such human statues? There are plenty of them. One evening not long ago, while presenting before an audience the evidences of a deep-laid conspiracy of the churches for the destruction of civil and religious liberty, and showing how the highest branches of our government had already yielded to their clamor, and therefore the necessity of every servant of God giving the warning cry against it, there sat in the congregation a minister of a somewhat popular denomination. After the meeting, to the question, "Have you given any attention to these things?" he replied in language to this effect: "No, I have not. I pay no attention to politics."

When those who should be watchmen are thus asleep to the importance of the very message God wants given, is it not true indeed that "eyes have they, but they see not"? They see not in the message of God the dangers against which it warns, but confound it with things of this world. And there are some who have had great light, and yet are not awake to the times in which we are living. "Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." Eph. 5:14. The Lord calls for faithful watchmen, not dumb images, for men, and not statues. God wants your eyes, that he may give you sight; your ears, that he may give you hearing; your minds, that he may give you understanding. He wants to make men out of you—new men in Christ Jesus. Statues may be beautiful, but they are far from useful. And utility is manifest in all of the creations of God. He makes men, not statues. He alone can make men. Men can make statues only.