THE LORD'S REQUIREMENTS NOT GRIEVOUS.
ARE you tempted to believe that it is a hard thing to serve God and keep his Commandments? We can prove to you that such suggestions come from the carnal mind; for that is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Rom. viii, 7. Perhaps there is no commandment, the violation of which strikes more directly against the honor and supremacy of God than that of the fourth; for by that alone is the true God pointed out to us, and declared to be the maker of heaven and earth; and there is no commandment, the observance of which will quicker stir up the carnal mind. Most Sabbath-keepers have had abundant proof of this. The carnal mind is enmity against God. It has even gone so far in some cases as to utter the blasphemous assertion that it is impossible to keep the Sabbath: in other words, that the just God had imposed upon his creatures a law which they cannot observe. Says the Saviour, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matt. xi, 30. And says a disciple of the Saviour, "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his Commandments; for this is the love of God, that we keep his Commandments; and his Commandments ARE NOT GRIEVOUS." 1 John v, 2, 3. God has not promised man eternal life on certain conditions, and then made those conditions such that man cannot fulfill them, and therefore cannot obtain it! He has not set before us a glorious and eternal kingdom, and made certain duties essential to an entrance therein which we cannot perform! But the condition of eternal life in the kingdom of God is the keeping of the Commandments. "If ye will enter into life, keep the Commandments." Matt. xix, 17. Sin is the transgression of the law, [1 John iii, 4,] and the soul that sinneth it shall die; [Eze. xviii, 4;] but "the Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Pet. iii, 9. Therefore God has given no Commandment, which man, by seeking the aid that comes from above cannot keep in its fullest extent in a manner acceptable to him. Says Dr. Clarke, "The energy of the Holy Spirit is equal to every requisition of God's holy law as far as it regards the moral conduct of a believer in Christ." The whole question then presents itself as follows: 1. Man had transgressed God's law and fallen. 2. God sent his Son to die for man's transgression, the just for the unjust, that a way might be opened before him to life again, by imputing Christ's righteousness to man, when man should exercise faith in him. 3. The conditions on which he is to be re-instated to his former condition before transgression are just, and easy of fulfillment. When therefore we think of the wondrous love of God to us, shall not our love be drawn out to him? "We love him because he first loved us," says an Apostle. And when we love him, we shall keep his Commandments; for this is the love of God; and his Commandments will not be grievous. And when we love him and keep his Commandments then we are fulfilling the conditions of eternal life. And if we sin we have an Advocate with the Father through whom he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins when confessed to him. Eternal life is yet before us, is yet within our reach. A few more days, and but a few are left us to obtain it. Shall we now prove faithless and lose sight of the prize before us? Each one must work out his answer to this question for himself in his own daily life. Eternal life! Comprehend it ye who can! No wonder the Apostle exclaimed, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!"