BREVITIES by J. CLARKE

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 24, 1860

BREVITIES.

By J. CLARKE

ANGER.—"Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go, lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul." Prov. xxii, 24, 25.

One who has had a long contest with an enemy, may be expected to be somewhat awake to the power and malice of such a foe. I regret much to say that this has been my besetting sin, and even when enemies opposed the present truth, my anger has often been kindled against those who with false assertions, and bad logic, strove to evade or overthrow the truth.

But I now see that this is all of evil. It is opposed to the sweet, melting, subduing influences of the Spirit. Anger is not for the followers of the loving Jesus. It is not agreeable to the kind persuasive words of the third angel, who with mild but terrible language, warns the world of the mark of the beast, and of the plagues. Anger is not the spirit of the angel who is to lighten the earth with his glory, as he cries, Babylon is fallen; come out of her my people. No, no; sweet and inviting is his message, though awful in its denunciations. Anger has no part in its proclamation.

O come sweet messenger of peace, and fill our hearts so full of the good Spirit that there will be no place for anger in our bosom; for indeed anger is of itself a curse, as it opens all the flood-gates of evil: so when its opposite, the love of God, enters the heart, there is no place left for sin. O then let us overcome evil with good.

Anger excites to fury, kindles the worst passions, drives the lovely and the good away, grieves the spirit of truth, hardens the heart, overturns good designs and resolutions, makes the heart ache, and prostrates also the bodily strength, alienates earthly as well as heavenly friends, turns good into evil, makes a fruitful land a wilderness. O it makes the whole heart and head sick, to think of it in all its causes and effects.

Worst of all, it is contagious. Then avoid the angry man as you would the pestilence. No matter if it is a brother; until he governs his temper, avoid him; it will do him good. And ye, O ye fathers, provoke not your children to anger, nor allow it to dwell in your or their bosoms one moment.

STUBBORNNESS.

"For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry." 1 Sam. xv, 23.

Every one has his weak points, and all have their peculiar besetments, but here we have the words of the prophet Samuel, in proof that rebellion and stubbornness are crying and heinous sins, and Saul, the king of Israel, having added stubbornness to rebellion, was rejected from being king.

Saul was commanded to utterly destroy the Amelekites, and he, failing to do this and having a way of his own which he pertinaciously and stubbornly thought the best, acted accordingly, not imagining that he was passing through a test which was to decide his destiny and future well-being, and that upon this act hung, as it were, his throne and kingdom, as far as he and his family were concerned.

But it is more than probable that Saul had paved the way for this final decisive act, by a long course of obstinacy and self-willed conduct, so that when he failed here, it was, in fact, only one link in the chain of perverseness, which he had been forging for a long time.

Perhaps it might have been a natural besetment, a family trait, not subdued in childhood. No matter for this, he should have taken the more pains to subdue it. God will make no allowance for sin; he requires perfect obedience, he makes no exceptions in favor of natural besetments.

O stubbornness is indeed a hateful sin. How it closes up the avenues of the heart! How it keeps the angels waiting in painful suspense! Rebellion is its twin sister.

Then, O my brother or sister, if you are tempted with these sins, think of Korah and his company, who added rebellion to stubbornness, and were engulfed in the yawning earth. Think of Saul who lost his kingdom and fell in disgrace. Do not be stubborn, lest good angels should be bid to depart from thee, and attend upon some David instead of thee.

MILLERISM, NOAHISM.

Some have a great prejudice against Millerism. I wish all such could have heard this idea stripped of its gloss, and this advent movement compared with the preaching of Noah before the flood, as I once did. We came to the conclusion that those who are ashamed of Millerism would very probably have been ashamed of Noahism, had they sat under Noah's preaching before the deluge.

MORAL COURAGE.

"Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door?" Job xxxi, 34.

The scorn of the world! The contempt of the world! Such is the language of some who are striving to be among the 144,000! Think, O timorous saint, of the moral courage of Job, the perfect man! Think you he would have been styled a perfect man, if he had been afraid of scorn—the scorn of the world? Take it joyfully, courageously, bravely. There will be a change in public opinion by and by, when the scorners will cry for the rocks and mountains to cover them. Do they scorn the Sabbath Adventist? And did not Pharaoh scorn Moses at one time? No doubt his opinions changed somewhat, when his passage through the Red Sea was so suddenly obstructed. Do they scorn thee, beloved saint? Bear it nobly, gladly; only a little while; this moral courage was the great beauty and strength of Job's perfection and patience.

MUSIC FOR CHILDREN.

Parents, do you sing, and cause your children to sing at every morning's family worship? If so, they will learn many musical lessons a year; and if you neglect this important, pleasant and light duty, and your children should fail to learn to sing, who do you think will have to answer for the neglect, and consequent irreparable loss?

WHO WILL PLEAD?

Suppose that my character is aspersed, shall I plead my own innocence? What if I am ceaselessly blamed, shall I fret and discompose myself until patience is gone and passion takes its place?

Shall I go out on the pursuit of justice? Shall the Christian take his cause into his own hands? Shall he plead his own cause?

Job, the patient man, was in deep affliction, from trouble and sorrow, his friends turned his accusers, and were tormenting his mind with keenest anguish; appealing to God he says, "Behold now have I ordered my cause, I know that I shall be justified."

Says David when in trouble from bitter foes, "Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me."

With such a confidence we may go on in the duties of life, serving God, cheerfully and fearlessly, for while we are doing his work he will defend us, but if we come down from the work to defend self, he will leave us in darkness.

J. CLARKE.