p. 181 | Our Usefulness by Jos. CLARKE.

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 3, 1864

Our Usefulness

By Jos. CLARKE.

DOES not depend upon our position merely, but upon our fitness for the discharge of duty.

It is not necessary for one to rise up to some lofty height of preferment, or to occupy a very responsible station in order to be useful; for usefulness is something different from display.

To be useful one must get in close union with the one who guides the hearts of his people, and controls the waves. Without this, the effort to benefit our fellow men will be useless, or if for a time it may seem to prosper, in the end it will prove its want of life and permanent strength and often end in fanaticism or its opposition.

One may without any particular preparation render himself useful in society in various ways, as in kindness to the sick and to the poor, &c., but the usefulness to which I refer is that of labor in the cause of truth and Bible holiness; and I do not separate these, for a rightly informed mind will see that although kind acts do not always give proof of a holy life, yet a holy life will invariably produce kind acts.

To be useful, three things are indispensable: 1. A right frame of mind to perform the useful and holy act of saving a sinner from death. 2. The approbation of Him without whose Spirit the heart cannot be moved; 3. The confidence and esteem of the sinner you would save. Other qualifications might be mentioned, but I think all might come under the scope of these three divisions. Thus you cannot benefit your child if he thinks you are unjust, or if he is alienated from you. The husband cannot benefit the wife whom he has treated with contempt and scorn and tyranny; nor can that woman who neglects her husband's interests, and sets up her own will in opposition to his, and frets at his earnest desires for her improvements, and who disobeys his directions, expect to have much influence over him.

You cannot expect God will give his Spirit to set home truths spoken by you, while you inwardly seek the praise of men. If he should, it would be your ruin; for you would, like Herod, take all the glory, and if your heart is not right it is a mercy to you that he leaves you barren until you see your error.

Some score or more years in the past, while yet the light shone in the churches of America, Dr. — of F —, was a useful minister and much good was effected by his labor. After a time it was whispered in the religious circles, that Dr. —, had lost his spirituality! Why did people think so? Because his preaching had lost its power to affect the mind. He was still eloquent, but the spirit of God did not follow and give edge to the truth. Here was the way people reasoned then, and they reasoned correctly.

In all the history of the church there have been the useful men and women whose hearts were fitted to appreciate the value of the truth, those who bowed under its teachings and trembled at the thought of giving ground to the enemy. It has been those who maintained a close walk with God, and lived in his light, those who were conscientious and discreet, and who strove to fit themselves for usefulness, and to glorify God, whom God has used as instruments to save souls.

Can a man sow daily the seeds of unhappiness and sorrow and yet occasionally stand out in defense of truth? Can a man be bitter at home toward offenses, and yet assume a different phase abroad? Can I be bitter toward a friend or brother and yet cloke it while I love all the other brethren? No, thank God! I must be thorough, for that all-seeing eye knows the heart, and He is without variableness or shadow of turning. It is a high and holy mission to be empowered of God to be fellow-worker with Him, and his glory is above all. Let us seek his favor, who can give us favor, and a good influence.

Jos. CLARKE.