ESCAPE FOR THY LIFE by David Paulson, M.D.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · May 3, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 18.

"ESCAPE FOR THY LIFE."

By David Paulson, M.D.

It seems to me that if it is our privilege to be instruments in the hands of God of reforming society, of being the salt of the earth, we should know as far as possible, in a clear-cut way, what is involved in this responsibility, so that we may know just at what to aim. Our vessels that were down in Cuban waters won their victories because of their superior marksmanship. Likewise, in order to reform society, we must have a definite aim. I think sometimes that the world is wiser in their plans than we are in ours. The Lord has given us each some definite object toward which to work in the regeneration of society. The Lord has told us what to aim for. These things were written for our admonition. Now if we do not aim our reform work to those things about which the Lord has told us how, can we hope to have success? The Lord does not want us to waste our ammunition, and therefore He has told us certain wrong principles at which He wishes us to direct our efforts.

John the Baptist laid the ax at the root of the tree. Sometimes growth is actually stimulated by trimming the tops of the tree; so there is a way in which you can actually stimulate iniquity by trimming off the top. We must get at the root of the matter.

The great tree of iniquity has just four roots (Eze. 16:49): "Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." There is so much in this verse! It is the key-note to all our work for modern Sodom.

The first thing mentioned is pride. How are we going to cure pride? Not by telling a person to take off this or that ornament. That would be merely trimming the leaves. The one who is proud of his humility has the most dangerous form of pride. The man whom Christ makes humble is humble indeed. Then there is intellectual pride. I used to think the pride of wealth was the worst kind, but I have found that often persons of great wealth are the least proud. The professed Christian people that are proud of their religion, of their goodness, of their humility, I think are far more common than those who are proud of their wealth. The child is educated in pride of intellect from infancy. He will do something, and the people will say, "How cute the little thing is!" Then it will cut up a few more capers, and some one will say, "How smart that little child is!" Thus it becomes proud of its intellect, proud of its shrewdness. When this child gets to be a student in school and advances high in his classes, he looks down upon the others and virtually says: "How mean you are! If you had studied as I have you might have been up here too." But the fact is he has not one thing except what was given him. When we get hold of the fact that every little piece of goodness and all the intellect that we have is given to us, then there will be none of us flaunting it around in other people's faces. We will tell them to go and buy it for themselves, "without money and without price." The real wisdom that Ingersoll has is given him by God. We want people to see that the knowledge they possess is not their own, that it is all given them. As soon as we get a man to appreciate that fact, he is humble; and, furthermore, that the only righteousness we possess, we have by faith. That is the only kind there is, anyway. When you get a man to realize 1 Cor. 4:7, boasting is excluded. "For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" We have no wisdom or intellect but what is given us, and therefore we have no reason to be proud of it.

There was a time for Lot to get out of Sodom, and if he had not left at that time he would never have escaped. Is it going to be any easier to get the masses out of Sodom now? Are people going to be any brighter in this age of the world? If anything, it is going to be harder, for their minds are going to be a little more obtuse. Yet this is to be accomplished in an amazingly short time, because we are going to succeed in making the "vision plain," making it so plain that everybody who has a desire to do so can comprehend it. The angel put his hand on Lot and compelled him to come out. The time has again come for a compelling message. What is going to make it so compelling on our part? We will be able to make it so plain and clear-cut that they can not help but see it. God wants people who can take the truth and so "rightly divide it" that it can be approached from any point of view and yet people will be able to see that it is the truth.