BE CIRCUMSPECT by R. F. Cottrell

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 19, 1856

BE CIRCUMSPECT.

By R. F. Cottrell

AND in all things that I have said unto you, be circumspect. Ex. xxiii, 13.

All the requirements of the Lord are just, and it is perfectly right that he should require the most exact obedience on the part of his creatures. This he has always done. He declares himself a jealous God; and whenever any have taken the liberty to vary from the strictest sense of his requirements, presuming that the Lord will not be so particular as to demand exact obedience from them, they have brought condemnation upon themselves and become objects of his wrath.

If he demand a firstling of the herd, a firstling it must be. If a red heifer be called for, a black one will not do. If "two years old" be specified that must be its age. If he say, "without blemish," so it must be. Although it may be much more convenient to offer a black heifer of three or four years old, which, though not a firstling, is even more valuable than the other, notwithstanding a trifling blemish or two; yet the lame sacrifice will be rejected, and the answer from heaven will be, "Who hath required this at your hands?" Men may offer many sacrifices instead of obedience, still "to obey is better than sacrifice."

When the sons of Aaron were required to offer incense with the consecrated fire from off the altar, Nadab and Abihu were slain for offering strange fire before the Lord. Had he spared them long enough to plead for themselves, they doubtless would have asked, What difference is there betwixt fire and fire? As some in our time irreverently ask, "What difference does it make what day we keep? A day is a day; and I do no see why one day is better than another; and if I keep Sunday as it ought to be kept, I believe it will do." To such I answer, God demands obedience. He required the sons of Aaron to offer the holy fire which he had consecrated; and he commands you to keep his holy day—the day which he sanctified and blessed. In either case, if he had made no difference, there would be none. And since he has not informed us how Sunday ought to be kept, I think it safe to follow his example at the creation and labor on the first day.

In ancient time the transgressor was often made an example, the punishment of death being immediately inflicted; now it is otherwise. Some explain this by saying that in the ancient, rude state of society [the clay and iron age] it was necessary that punishment should be inflicted to deter others from crime; but in the present enlightened and refined state of society [the golden age] men are so much better that such restraints are unnecessary. But those examples were for us as well as for the ancients. They are recorded for our admonition. And with the proofs which we have of the truth of the record, if they do not have their designed effect upon us, we are certainly incorrigible.

But for the present the transgressor passes on unpunished. With the Bible in his own language in his house, he hearkens not to its commandments, and heeds not its awful admonitions. Though its commandments are broken and its warnings slighted, yet the uncomplaining Word lays quietly upon the shelf, beneath accumulated dust, uttering not a syllable to those who have no ears to hear, nor eyes to read. But though unheeded will its threatenings fail? Will not God be avenged on such a people as this? According to the inspired delineations of the world, instead of the golden, we find ourselves in an age of "miry clay." And though the will of God is written in almost every tongue, and on this account the present generation, like ancient Capernum, is exalted to heaven, will it not, like her, be cast down to hell? No generation ever enjoyed so great light and such high privileges as the present; consequently all past generations will rise up in the judgment and condemn this. For this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.

Permit me to exhort you, dear reader, to heed the voice of Divine Wisdom, and be circumspect in your obedience to God. By your love to him who has loved you, and by your desire for salvation—be circumspect. As you would escape all those things that are coming upon the earth, and stand before the Son of man—be circumspect. Do not imagine for a moment that God will accept a substitute, instead of what he has commanded. He demands the most exact obedience, and it is right that he should; and if we choose to vary from his requirements, we choose to do our own will instead of his. Says Jesus, Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Brother, sister, are you trying to live up to the perfect rule that God has given us, or do you think that little variations can do no harm? While God requires us to lay aside every weight, every idle word, and all pride, shall we indulge, in a moderate degree, in those things which we know he hates? By no means. Let us be circumspect in all that we say or do. It is not a vain thing to serve God. Then let us aim at nothing short of obeying perfectly a perfect rule. It is by "giving all diligence" that an entrance shall be ministered unto us abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of God. R. F. C.