Our Dialect by J. W. Raymond

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 23, 1856

Our Dialect.

By J. W. Raymond

TO THE YOUNG.

(Concluded.)

As sobriety is a characteristic, opposite to levity, we will cite a few texts from the Word upon that point. A text of scripture that inculcates sobriety is equivalent to a prohibition of levity and mirth. The word sober is sometimes used in the Bible as a prohibition of inebriety; but the following passages are intended as a prohibition of levity. "Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded; in all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works; in doctrine shewing incorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you." Titus iii, 6-8. "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 1 Pet. i, 13. "But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer." 1 Pet. iv, 7. As the tongue has something to do with our conversation, we will cite a few passages of scripture in regard to that: "Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile." Ps. xxxiv, 18. "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof." Prov. xviii, 21. "Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth his soul from trouble." Prov. xxi, 23. "If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain." James i, 26. "For he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile." 1 Pet. iii, 10. "I said that I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue; I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me." Ps. xxxix, 1. Says James, [chap. iii, 2.] "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able to bridle the whole body." In verse 6 we read, "And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity, so is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell."

The Apostle here uses language which impresses upon our minds the fact that of all the evil and unruly members which we possess, the tongue is the chief, so much so, that if we obtain a victory over that, so as not to offend in word, we shall be able to bridle the whole body.

Now in order to be prepared to participate in the saints' inheritance, to stand acquitted before the King of kings, and Lord of lords, to be holy in life and in conversation, a victory over the tongue is indispensably necessary. But says the same Apostle, [chap. iii, 8.] "The tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison."

As necessary to our salvation as is the taming of the tongue, we here meet with the fact that no man can tame it. Man may bring all the power he possesses to bear upon this one point, and yet he is inadequate to the task: he cannot tame the tongue. If man cannot tame the tongue, God only can. But how does he tame it? By cleansing and purifying the fountain—the heart. This is the only way the tongue ever has been, or ever will be, tamed, so as not to cause its possessor to transgress the requirements of God's word, by indulging in unholy conversation.

But it is one thing to tame the tongue, and quite another to keep it tame. The first act devolves upon God; the second, through his grace, upon us. We cannot tame our tongues, from the fact that we cannot cleanse and purify our hearts; but after God has once cleansed and purified our hearts, and thus rendered this otherwise unruly and belligerent member tame, we can, through his grace, keep them clean and pure, and thus keep it tame. We may labor ardently and incessantly to trammel our tongues, so as to be holy in all manner of conversation while our hearts are corrupt; but our efforts will be futile and unavailing. The fact is, the work of regeneration must commence precisely where the work of degeneration commences, which is in the heart.

Says the Saviour, [Mark vii, 21-23.] "From within, out of the heart (mind) of man, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these things come from within and defile the man."

Of the 144,000 it is said: "In their mouth there was found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of God." Said our Saviour while on earth, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." How it becomes us to address ourselves to the task of seeking for purity and holiness of heart: knowing that none but the pure in heart will ever see God. And we should bear in mind, that what we do to prepare ourselves or others for eternal life, must be done now. Procrastination is extremely dangerous.

We are living in a solemn time; and I apprehend that if we had a just and vivid conception of the shortness of probationary time and the solemn scenes just before us, we should feel that we had no time to squander.

What! is it true that we are living in the last days—living under the proclamation of the Third Angel's Message, the last message of mercy, when, yet a little while, and husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, will be called to part, and to part to meet no more? May our heavenly Parent help us to so live and conduct ourselves before those with whom we have to do, as to clear our skirts from the blood of their souls.

O how thankful we should be to our heavenly Father that he has brought us to see the Third Angel's Message, and where we are not in darkness that the day of Christ's coming should overtake as a thief; while the great mass of the youth are being deceived and led down the broad way to destruction. Do we appreciate the love of God? Do we realize the shortness of time? I hope we do. Glory to God! the time is not far distant when "the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness; and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."

But between this and the time when "sorrow and sighing shall flee away," intervenes a time of trouble such as never was. Some of the scenes which are to transpire during this time of trouble, are graphically portrayed in Rev. xvi. And it is no trivial affair to be prepared to meet these scenes. It is no small thing to obtain that preparation which will exempt us from suffering the seven last plagues brought to view in Rev. xvi.

There is but one way that leads to eternal life, and that is the straight and narrow way; and they that walk therein must lay aside and forego unholy conversation, pride and the love of the world, and lead a self-denying and cross-bearing life. A little way from this and there will be a mighty stir in the charnel-houses, and the righteous dead will come forth clothed with immortality, and the righteous living will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and with them be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and be taken to that New Jerusalem which is above, which is free, which is the mother of us all.

May the Lord in much mercy grant us strength to so live that our lives shall comport with the Word, that we may at last greet each other on mount Zion, where glory will deck the brows of the immortal saints, and together walk the streets of the New Jerusalem. Your unworthy brother, seeking for eternal life. J. W. RAYMOND.