p. 124 | Untitled article

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 8, 1859

CONSECRATION. No. 5.—FRIENDS.

PERHAPS we have come to the hardest trial. Have we near and dear friends, those whom we love better than life? I had, and O, how I tried to give them to God, till I finally determined I would let go of self and submit all; then the task was easy. In my own case I have ever found the hardest part of, I believe I may say, every cross lies in the determining to take it up. Awhile since I heard the cross compared, and I thought aptly, too, to Aaron's rod. Often while on the ground, before we attempt, or too feebly attempt, to take it up, it is like a serpent, dreadful to look upon; but when once the hand has been stretched forth and really takes hold of it, how easy! it has lost all its terror; it is but a rod, and further, it is a delightful rod; for it buds and blossoms, and afterward yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness. I can assure you, dear friends, when we have formed the resolution to do the whole will of God, lying all the time passive in his hands, then it is we find his yoke is easy and his burden light; but by trying to serve God and self at the same time, do you not see the cross is much of the time on the ground? Oh, how many struggles we might avoid by keeping it in our hand: in remaining in a state of perfect consecration and submission continually.

Dear brother or sister, have we now come to a step that you feel you cannot take? Are your friends so dear that you could not consent to part with them should you even know it to be your Father's will? If so, where are your highest affections? Hear the Saviour. Matt. x, 37: "He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me." With equal propriety he might have said, He that loveth husband or wife, lover or friend, more than me, is not worthy of me. Do you not remember it took all to buy the field? Just so it is with the kingdom of God. Will you spare yourself the sacrifice now, and live on as pleasantly as you think it possible in keeping your dearest treasure to yourself for a short space, and then have "trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish," yourself, and perhaps friends too, "driven into darkness," sinking under the fierceness of God's wrath? and may be it will have been all occasioned by want of decision on your part.

I should think, dear reader, if you are really striving for eternal life, you would be afraid to cling to anything earthly, fearing God in mercy to you might cross your willfulness and take from your embrace the cherished object of your affections. O, how much better it would be to give all, of your own free will, and receive in return the sweet consciousness of God's approval, than to be brought to submission through judgments.

Again, we profess to be of that class of whom it is said, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Shall we then refuse to obey the "first and great commandment, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind;" i. e., supremely, above everything else? I assure you we do not give him such love while we refuse to submit to him anything of all we possess, and everything, since he requires it. Do not be afraid to trust the Lord. O, remember he is faithful, and cannot betray our trust. Earthly friends may prove like a broken reed, which, when we lean upon it, either cannot, or will not, sustain us; but the Lord is "the Rock of Ages." The human heart is deceitful, and those we love best may at length turn from us in coldness; (like Peter, we do not know our own hearts till tried;) but our Father will, and can, never leave nor forsake us. Earthly friends may, in all their warmth of human affection for us, wither under the hand of the enemy whom they have no power to resist, and be laid away from our sight, while our trusting, aching spirits feel in their desolation, the vanity and instability of all things below; but the Lord, in that he ever liveth, is a sure and an abiding refuge. "Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor heighth, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Praise his blessed name! there's one in whom we may always fearlessly and unreservedly trust. Is it not an unspeakable privilege to lay our all in the hands of one so good, so faithful, so perfect? Will we not then yield into his hands our friends, and if there be anything else (let us search ourselves) shall we refuse to submit it to God? A state of complete submission to the divine will, is the highest possible creature attainment; and while we sacrifice everything, do not suppose we are losers thereby. The Lord takes us and gives himself; and we may rejoice in an exchange by which we gain a portion just equal to his superiority over us, perfection over imperfection, which is infinite.

There is a point here I would speak of, as many seem to stumble over it and are thrown into darkness. We will suppose we have decided

now to become entirely the Lord's, and to live in doing his will. We come to him and try to give ourselves away. We then wait for the evidence of our acceptance, perhaps not thinking our sacrifice could be accepted and we not realize it. But let us reflect a moment. God is perfect; his word cannot be broken. "All the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen." Now if he has made us a promise, based on conditions, and we perform those conditions, is it possible for him with his perfection to do otherwise than fulfill on his part? Our feeling it, would have no bearing on the question. We need trouble ourselves no farther than to know we have complied with the conditions. Then we may know without waiting to feel it, that the Lord performs all that he has promised. God has said, "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart;" i. e., when we come, giving all the heart without reserve. Then when we have fulfilled these conditions, let us by faith take hold upon him, and whether we feel him near or not, we may know we have found him and he accepts us. This is faith, and the Christian's life is a life of faith. Shall we not be satisfied to receive the evidence of God's approbation whenever he sees fit to give it? This is feeling God's Spirit, the "Spirit of adoption," bearing "witness with our spirit that we are the children of God." But we are not to wait for this witness before we can claim the promise. Let us believe our acceptance with him because he has promised, not because we feel it to be so. Shall we grieve the tender Spirit by distrusting the word of the Lord, after performing our part of the covenant God proposes in the above passage? I hope this point is so plain that all can see the difference between faith and feeling. If so, we can understand how it is that from the first we are to live by faith, feeling being no guide to christian duty.

Having consecrated all, we are henceforth to make an effort to keep all upon the altar, continually consecrating and consecrated. We are not required to look forward and imagine future trials and sacrifices; (God has all-sufficient grace to give with everything we shall meet in the future;) perfect present duty only embraces present consecration of all we now have and are, and faith, without which it is impossible to please God. O, how easy it is to live when our all is resting in his hands who is abundantly able to take care of us, and can do so much better for us than we, in all our little strength, could do for ourselves. Come ye who desire to be the Lord's, and sigh for a better land than this, come and cast all your care upon him, temporal and spiritual. Make him your counselor, your guide and protector. In every doubtful question of duty pertaining to body or soul, go to your sympathizing Father for wisdom. The more you cast your care upon him, the more will you love him as you see how and when he careth for you, till you can at length truly say you love him with all the heart. And if you love him you will long to see him, will you not? and his approach will look bright and glorious and very dear to you, while you can exclaim,

"Fly swifter round, ye wheels of time, And bring the welcome day." M. E. S.