ADMONITORY PARAGRAPHS by J. CLARKE

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 6, 1861

ADMONITORY PARAGRAPHS.

By J. CLARKE

It is a false humility which needlessly depreciates one's self (very few are liable to do this); God is not pleased by it, nor is the individual benefited by so doing, but rather weakened. A due degree of self-respect is necessary and right, and in accordance with God's plans, and this self-respect is consistent with humility, and necessary to the courageous soldier. The good man strives to hold fast his integrity. In the majority of instances, however, what should be only a consistent regard for the talents committed to us, and a sense of responsibility therefor, becomes by incessant cultivation an arrant self-esteem, so strong as to drown most of the benevolent traits of mind; thus as generations of men pass away and leave their impress upon their successors, selfishness becomes more and more potent, until it fairly rules all that is good.

"The wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night, until the morning." Lev. xix, 13. Generally those who work out are in immediate need of their wages; and withholding wages for one day often causes more sorrow and poignant misery, than the unthinking (and often selfish) employer ever hears of. First, do not hire unless your ability to pay is probable, or at least fully understood by the laborer; then fulfill this obligation with as much fidelity as you would minister to the wants of your own appetite.

RELIGION A RADICAL PRINCIPLE.—Christ, in the parable of the sower, has clearly illustrated the manner in which the truth of God operates upon the hearts of men, and has thus proved that the same truths (good seed) dispensed in like manner upon each mind, produces different effects, because of the condition of the mind (soil) which receives it.

In that parable are three kinds of hearers, the wayside, the stony ground, and the thorny ground hearers, who could not endure for the reason that the radical principle (the root) was either not set at all in the earth, or the ground being stony, or thorny, or barren, refused to give sustenance to the root.

Thus we see, and no doubt it will be more and more apparent, that all those who try to hold on to the truth, with inadequate or secondary motives, are as sure to give way to persecution, and to faint under trial, and so leave the narrow way, as the wheat-blade will be scorched, which vainly sends its roots in quest of moisture among the dry, hard rocks of Judea, where months of drought succeed each other.

It is an awful thought that so many who set out with flattering prospects so soon fall off; and others who seem to continue for a season do finally succumb to trial, and, fretting under discipline, lay aside the armor, and return to the world, which after all was the object of their affections all the while.

Religion (undefiled) has its root in the heart; and to live and succeed, it must have an unencumbered soil; it cannot exist long as a secondary affair. It cannot, or rather it will not, elbow its own way among the crowd of rival principles (thorns) which thrive in the carnal heart.

The present condition of the people of God is such as will soon develop the true character, and will show what kind of soil the truth falls upon. Such is the nature of present truth, and such the surrounding influences, as to put to the testing ordeal every individual who endeavors to obey it.

No matter how sincerely the truth is embraced; no matter how firmly believed, or how zealously upheld, unless the truth finds a proper and prepared soil, unless it is the great and ruling principle of the heart, unless it reigns absolutely and unrivalled, it will sooner or later wither and die, or be choked out of existence in such a heart.

A person may desire and long for a home in the beautiful city; may as he supposes fully embrace the truth, and yet some foul clump of thorns (cares, or carnal desires and passions) may spring up, and finally root out by degrees, silently and unobserved as it were, this goodly plant, and leave the heart once so lighted up with the truth in midnight darkness.

Truth must reign in the heart and life, or be exterminated. We cannot serve God and mammon; and the cause of God is first in the heart or it is not there long. The Spirit may strive long with the half Christian, but this is not the communion of the saint, but rather a struggle between good and evil; and so it should be regarded. It is unsafe to rest satisfied while this struggle is continued. While this contest is yet undecided let us beware of the drowsy stupor peculiar to enchanted ground.

Our lives are the index of our hearts, and our actions and words betray to ourselves and to others the character of the fountain within, and happy is he who severely or justly weighs his own character in the scales of the word, and reprimands his own departure from right, and omissions of duty, before his sins become stereotyped in the record of unpardoned and unpardonable sins.

Hypocrisy is the sin of the age we live in. It is licensed and legalized, and stalks forth in all low and high places, with stubborn and shameless effrontery, and we are so steeped in the same by education and habit, that it is often a besetment to be overcome. But woe to him who expects this low and disgusting sin to be harbored now in the church. He who rebuked the proud Pharisee with the appellation of "viper," stands as our only advocate, and he as much detests this sin as ever, and is as much a sin-hater now as eighteen centuries ago.

The truth of the present time is peculiarly a testing truth, and it calls for room in the heart; it cannot occupy a corner. He who truly embraces it will make his arrangements accordingly. He will not make any arrangements to do his worldly work first, and attend to religious duties if possible; but will see to it that nothing shall stand in the way of the performance of every duty binding upon him; and the world must stand aside whenever they meet upon the same track. He who takes such a course has the evidence that so far he can hope; and if in addition to this he has the witness of the Spirit in his heart, he may conclude it is genuine.

THE POINT AT ISSUE.—It seems to me that the whole matter in question turns upon a single point, viz., that defending our property, and defending our religion, are very distinct matters.

The world has as just views of the right of property as any person can have. They acknowledge a just system of weights and measures, and although in practice they often defraud, yet in theory they see it would be suicide to theorize incorrectly, consequently their laws relating to property do not conflict with justice as a general thing, therefore to do business under just laws is consistent for those who acknowledge God's law as their guide.

In religious matters the case is different. To defend one's religion by law, and to incorporate a church as such, for the purpose of asking the protection of the strong arm of law relating to religious matters, would be stultifying our own teachings; but to incorporate a body merely to carry on monetary affairs, is distinct in its nature; for while we ask for authority to buy and sell, to borrow and lend, to sue and be sued, as citizens of the world, we at the same time may plainly state and show that for our religious doctrines we ask no protection from the powers that be, but rely solely on our God; and if the same disorder prevailed in this world on financial affairs that does actually prevail on religious, we should of course carry out the principle here, and ignore alike our country's finance and religion.

In law all regulations respecting property (except the slave) are as fairly adjusted as they can be by man. O that it were carried out in practice. Were it so, and were laws on religious matters as just and true, then indeed might we hope the seven last plagues might be averted, and a temporal millennium might yet rescue our race from Satan's power.

But no, for although man in instinctive desire to hold and secure his money and home, has made just laws for this cause and to this end; yet his sagacity and foresight seem to have failed him when he began to legislate where his present, immediate and selfish interest did not so clearly present itself to his blinded mind.

Nothing is more clear than that the mark of the beast is a breach rather of the first table than of the second; that is, it is a blow aimed by the enemy against God himself, rather than at the rights between man and man, and from the tenor of prophecy it is the beast that is to prohibit commandment-keepers from buying and selling, not that the saints are to cut themselves off from the benefit of just and equitable laws.

Let us go on, then, buying and selling, and taking to ourselves all just benefits, and investing on the Lord's side what we can of right and justice, only rendering to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and to God the things that are God's.

As to mistakes and errors of opinion in the past, let us say with the apostle, forgetting the things that are behind, let us press forward to the things that are before, and opportunity will present itself for each one to show the consistency of advancing from one step to another in the race for perfection, not counting ourselves to have attained, bearing in mind that mistakes do not require what willful sin does, only correction and humility.

MISAPPLICATION OF SCRIPTURE.—"Rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Tim. ii, 15. All forms of error have their origin in perversion of scripture. Even the oppressor seeks to hide his sins under some precedent found in the inspired records. The polygamist, the fatalist, and the universalist, the papist, and all the isms of modern theology, find their foundation in some misapplication of scripture.

When we view the grievous evils which have befallen the church from this perversion of its doctrines, we are warned of the dangers which attend a superficial view of any or the least of its precepts.

O how we need the anointing, the eye-salve, as says David, "Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law."

Long have the Scriptures been abused and perverted. The man of sin has led the way, and has opened the flood-gates of error. He has made the Bible a book of dark sentences, a puzzle, a game of chance, and each ism has more or less followed in its wake, until each has peculiar views of his own, and prides himself in this originality, as it is often called.

But it cannot be expected that the church can arise until the Bible is more thoroughly studied; not read only, but studied. How many who have begun to taste its sweets, come to a halt, having attained to a knowledge of some of its cardinal doctrines, they rest here, having, as they suppose, the work nearly accomplished.

Let us consider the effect of a single mistake in interpreting scripture. Paul says to Timothy, "Them that sin, rebuke before all, that others also may fear." This was addressed to Timothy, an elder, a man full of wisdom and the Holy Ghost, a man of judgment and discretion, not to the whole church. Christ has given the rule for the church, that an individual having anything against another, repair to him in private, and then and there settle their differences; and then when that fails, to follow out the course laid down in Matt. xviii, 15–18.

What a broad ground there is for Satan to work upon with such a perversion of scripture. If each individual member may cast his private grudges out in the social meeting (often they cannot be understood except by the contending parties), and thus poison the atmosphere and invite hell itself to partake of the feast spread only for the children of God, gladly does Satan enter in, and who is able (until scripture is rightly divided) to cast him out?

On the contrary, if my brother sees that I come to him in private with my complaints, and in public he sees that I spare his delicate feelings by forbearing to make public his fault, and all my brethren understand that it is the edification of all which we seek, he will appreciate the kindness, and his heart is won to me.

But the Timothy must often make public those sins which call for public rebuke, and so fulfill the word. Let us therefore fear God and do his will.

CHEAP RELIGION.—Those who expect a cheap religion have made a sad mistake in embracing the third angel's message; for the time is soon coming when the line will be drawn so closely between the church and its foes, that property will be unavailable, and the rich, and all who have withheld their Lord's dues, will sigh in vain for an opportunity to perform neglected duties; duties which, had they been cheerfully performed, would have been a lasting treasure in heaven.

The popular churches make so much of money, and salaries, &c., that some are in danger of falling into the error of supposing that in this work all such calls for money are a departure from the faith, and a step backwards toward the Babylon we have left behind. Nothing can be more fatal to the best interests of the individual than such an error. It is contrary to scripture and reason. Examine the Bible from first to last, and all is full with the sentiments of liberality and self-sacrifice.