Sacrificing by J. CLARKE.

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 15, 1857

Sacrificing.

By J. CLARKE.

“Present your bodies a living sacrifice,” Rom. xii, 1. A sacrifice consumes. Does the body consume away in being offered as a sacrifice? Let Paul answer, “In much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in fastings.” 2 Cor. vi, 4, 5. The physical system, together with the mental powers, are all laid upon the altar to be worn out in the Lord’s work. This sacrifice does not directly disappear, as did the Jewish offerings, upon altars of stone; but the devoted saint is no less a sacrifice still. Young Samuel was devoted to God in infancy. So was Timothy. It may be said that they increased continually: therefore they could not be a sacrifice. This would be a play upon words. Herein is the great beauty of the work of Christ. Here is a true offering. “The wise shall understand.”

A sacrifice must be without blemish, holy. Can this body be fed with poison, or hacked with razors, for fashion’s sake, and still be without blemish, holy? Truth and candor answer, No! Can it be decked with gold, and jewels, with silks and laces, “with broidered hair,” and “costly array,” for fashion’s sake, and still be an acceptable sacrifice? No, truly.

Oh, how terribly has man defaced his moral and physical image. Oh, how are we sunk in the dregs of Papal—Babylonish mire. Our very consciences are seared. Truth must be like a thunderbolt before we hear it. J. CLARKE.

Portage, Ohio.