p. 8 | HOW WILL IT END?

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 25, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 46.

HOW WILL IT END?

I ONCE heard an interesting story concerning a noble monarch of Persia or Tartary, I do not recall which. Riding out one day with a number of his State officials, he met a dervise, or Mohammedan priest, who was proclaiming at the top of his voice, "Pay me a hundred dinars, and you shall receive a good advice in exchange." The monarch stopped, and, calling the dervise to him, asked him what good advice he had to give. "That I shall tell you," said the dervise, "as soon as you pay me the hundred dinars." The money was paid, and then the dervise said, "My advice, sire, is this—Begin nothing without first considering what the end may be."

The courtiers laughed heartily at what they thought a piece of clever roguery; but the king reproved them, saying the advice was well worth what he paid for it. He then had the words engraved on the walls of his palace and on his gold and silver plate, and many other places. Some years afterward one of the noblemen formed a conspiracy with his friends to put the king out of the way, that he himself might be king. He bribed the royal surgeon to bleed the king with a poisoned lancet; but just when he was about to make the incision, the surgeon's eye caught the words engraved in the bottom of the dish which was to receive the blood, "Begin nothing without first considering what the end may be."

He was startled, and confusedly changed the lancet he had in hand for another. The king observed his agitation and demanded an explanation, and, under promise of forgiveness, the surgeon revealed to him the wicked plot, but added that if he had not seen the inscription on the bottom of the silver vessel he would have used the poisoned instrument.

The words of the dervise are well worth our remembering and acting upon in all things. To my mind this motto brings home forcibly the question asked in 1 Peter 4:17, "What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" Concerning many courses of conduct respecting the officers of this world, the end is uncertain. But refusal to accept this gospel and to obey its teachings can have but one end,—everlasting separation from God's presence.

Notice how excellent and true this advice is: "Begin nothing without first considering the end." How many are saying to themselves, "Sometime, before I die, I will make my peace with God." How foolish and misleading! It is not how people end their lives that generally determines how they will spend eternity, but how they begin their lives. After you begin a course of conduct it is hard to change. Hence Christ says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God."

My brother, you have begun a journey; which way are you going? You have begun to store up for the future; is it treasure in heaven, or "wrath against the day of wrath?" You have begun to build life's structure; is it founded on the rock or on the sand? "Begin nothing without first considering what the end may be."

"We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."—Evangel and Sabbath Outlook.