p. 141 | BREVITIES by J. CLARKE

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 19, 1861

BREVITIES.

By J. CLARKE

SYMPATHY is a good trait, but we must direct it aright, or often it leads astray; as when on the side of justice, it is a virtue; but when ill-directed, it becomes a vice. The Judge upon the bench would be guilty of a heinous offense, if he should allow his sympathetic feelings to arise in the discharge of his official duties. Not less guilty is the christian who does not control his sympathies. Love is an excellent trait, and should be in its purest sense exercised towards all; but there are certain kinds of love that are limited, as "conjugal love." Now what would be the condition of that person who would cease to confine this particular kind of love to its proper limits? All can see this. Sympathy is not less mischievous when at large and unbridled.

Can those be engaged in the message who do not understand it? Can those understand the message who do not study it? Can those study the message who do not feel interested in it? Neglect of duty is as deadly as sin—as presumptuous or willful sin, and as fatal, perhaps more so. The soldier who does not use prudence, and neglects to use means of defense, is soon subdued by his foe; for bravery without caution is as dangerous as cowardice.

Pride is the fuel for fanaticism. Seek righteousness, seek meekness, it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger. Pride is exceedingly hateful to God, and often he gives the proud over to Satan. Oh, how exceedingly dangerous to be complimented and flattered, when the best of men, as Job, says he abhors himself; and Daniel says his comeliness is turned into corruption; and Isaiah says, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. If you wish to be the target of devils, and the burden and grief of the good, cultivate pride and self-conceit. Let careless compliments sink deep into your bosom, feed upon praise, and sweet words, and soon Satan entices you into his parlor, and makes you think it is the outer court of heaven.

Bro. Fanciful had a series of dreams and powerful impressions; but Brn. Caution and Experience held him in check; and now they can work in union, as they all feel the necessity of moving understandingly and cautiously, and in harmony with the body.

When an army contemplates a grand attack upon the enemy, concentration is the order of the day; and as the fight approaches, and the armies begin to close in, in deadly conflict, all stragglers from the main body are viewed with suspicion; and no sane soldier or officer will rush upon the enemy singly, but with close rank and phalanx, all move with order and precision; and woe to the careless soldier or disobedient, ambitious officer, who, to add laurels to his own brow, causes a diversion, and thus tramples upon the order of the day.

DUTIES.—Unfulfilled duties are like a dead weight to sink the soul beneath the waves, while duties well and promptly performed, are like buoyant life-preservers, and when duties are conscientiously performed, then the life-preserver is expanded, and buoys up the person; but neglected duties are like so many life-preservers from which the air has escaped, and the more you have of them, the deeper you sink.

Not that I would affirm that we can be saved by the performance of duties (by the grace of God it is we are saved), but in the performance of them it is God has seen fit to manifest his glorious presence, to christian warriors and worthies in the past. Abraham was a good man, but he must prove himself so, and God tried his confidence in the contemplation of sacrificing the favorite Isaac, and in the fulfillment of the duty comes the fulfillment of the promise. Not in the abstract consent of the mind alone (although many duties are necessarily mere consent of the will), God will have proof, visible proof, both to the individual, to the church, to the world, and to God himself, and in every positive experience such as God is now granting his people, and such as stand on ancient record, this fact is prominent, that God reveals himself most clearly to the most thorough and patient worker. Witness Moses, David, Cornelius, Paul, John, &c., and one fact is quite remarkable (to the natural heart) that these worthies

always performed these duties as a privilege, a pleasure, not as merits, not as prices; and the gifts of God were always received with thanksgiving, with the fact always in view, that all on man's part is dependence and unworthiness; all on God's part is free gift and boundless love and benevolence.

WELL KNOWN.—Did you ever think of it? that your character is truly daguerreotyped in heaven? Every word and act, habits of thought, that inward but hidden spite against your faithful brethren, that secret lust, that self-complacent glance in the looking-glass, that envious look at your neighbor's house and furniture, that hidden corner of your heart where burn occasionally, old grudges, unforgiven injuries, unlawful loves, impure remembrances, unholy desires and passions, which you would blush to confide to your most intimate friend, all faithfully transcribed in heaven! As the artist portrays every lineament of the face in the daguerreotype, so truly and impartially is every part of the church, in all its deformity or excellence, inscribed in heaven, and what is encouraging to the humble seeker for holiness, is that every victory, every secret sigh for freedom, every groan and tear on account of sin and temptation, every struggle for emancipation, every longing for light, every agonizing prayer for the presence and leading of the Spirit, is also recorded in heaven, and noticed by Him who condescends to call us brethren; and the great Jehovah, whose piercing eye enters every heart, with impartial justice, views the hidden springs of action and motive. Lame apologies, and limping self-justifications, little leanings towards self-favoritism, "small ephahs," and "great shekels" [Amos viii, 5], false shame before the wicked, but distrust of God, and light treatment of his messages, with all the black catalogue of sin, with the progress of its opposite holiness, is written in living characters in heaven. There it will stand as evidence to condemn or acquit.

Now brother, sister, let us all endeavor to keep our garments, so to inspect our hearts, that we may see them as they are viewed in heaven, and live as always in this light. J. CLARKE.