A Testimony of Faith by P. D. Lawrence

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 21, 1858

A Testimony of Faith

By P. D. Lawrence

From Sister Lawrence.

BRO. SMITH: I prize the Review. It is my comfort in my loneliness. I am alone in my belief in this place; but the hope I have bears me on, for soon the voice will be heard. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. O blessed! I hope to be one among those who enter.

And who are the righteous nation? God says by Isaiah his prophet, Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. Fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings; for the moth shall eat them like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but my righteousness shall be for ever, &c.

The good old prophet foresaw what we should have to bear, and has given us good advice not to heed them, for there is enough to crush the weak. I am trying to live for God, and to die daily, and though I feel I have many besetsments yet to overcome, I mean by the grace of God to be an over-comer, and sit at the supper table with Jesus and all the happy ones.

O when I think what God has done for all mankind to save them, and yet how few are dying to sin and living to his glory, it makes me weep. We who have light in our dwellings ought to die, surely, to everything unlike God. If we will not be conformed to the world, but transformed by the renewing of our minds, we may know what God's perfect will is concerning us. Yes, this conforming to the heathen round about kills the life of religion, and God cut off his ancient people for it, of whom we are the antitype.

Psalm lxxviii is enough to make us weep to see the likeness so fulfilled in these days. God is truly of long compassion, or he would not bear. Jeremiah says, Give glory to the Lord your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride. Jer. xiii, 16, 17.

God grant that I may live by every word of his mouth, and have an abundant entrance into his kingdom with his people. Only through the merits of his dear Son Jesus Christ can I obtain it.

Yours hoping for redemption at the coming of Christ. P. D. LAWRENCE. Falmouth, Mass., Jan. 2d, 1858.