What About Tomorrow—
Saved
We are not to be altogether passive, thinking that there has been no task allotted to those who would win immortality. No; no; God calls upon us to do our best with the powers that he has given us,--to put to the stretch every faculty, and exercise every ability, that we may not fail of everlasting life. That man can be saved in indolence, in inactivity, is an utter impossibility. There is a constant conflict before those who would win eternal life. Faith and works go hand in hand. That man has nothing to do but to believe, is a fallacy and a most dangerous doctrine. Faith without works is dead. A man saved in his sins would be out of harmony with the plan of redemption and the work of God. Sin must be hated, and put away. The works of the flesh must be warred against. The Christian cannot be an idler. No sluggard ever engages in a determined opposition to inclination and folly. He will not be found on the defensive when Satan presses his temptations upon the soul. Those who would inherit eternal life must subdue pride, conquer passion, walk in the light as God is in the light. They must run in the way of God's commandments. They must make use of all the helps that providence has placed within their reach, looking constantly unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of their faith. Christ says, "Without me, ye can do nothing."
ARSH October 30, 1888
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There can no such evil as idleness exist in the heart, mind, or character of the champion of faith who is actuated by the consciousness that he cannot repent or be pardoned without Christ. But the task, to the soul seeking for heaven, is prescribed, that he go under all and every circumstance to Christ for help. And though the path is obstructed through existing inclination, he must press he must urge his way; he must abase his will, his desires; he must feel his helplessness, his nothingness, and look alone to the Author and finisher of his faith. It is noble to seek repentance and salvation through the merits of Jesus Christ. We cannot say to the youth or those of mature age, You have nothing to do yourself in this great work. We urge to constant effort. You must be diligent to make your calling and election sure, else you will be found without God and without hope. The youth must become intelligent in the Scriptures; they may, if sanctified through the truth, become living channels of light, and they must strive for the mastery. There will be a work done in the hearts by the Spirit of God, a change wrought in the character. "I thought on my ways, and turned my feet to Thy Testimonies." The great danger with many of our youth is, they do not study the Scriptures and meditate, like David, upon His testimonies. So far as eternity is concerned, they seldom think of it. If they will make the Scriptures the subject of careful study, they will make it a subject of meditation. Once make them anxious for their souls, and they will labor to be saved; and when this point is reached, angels in heaven sweep their harps in exultation that a soul is saved.
The Youth's Instructor
August 31, 1887
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While our salvation is wholly dependent upon Jesus, we have a work to do in order that we may be saved. The apostle says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." The work that we are to do is not independent of what God is to do, but a work of co-operation with God. The power and the grace of God are to be wrought into the heart by the divine worker; but some go astray here, claiming that man has a work to do that is wholly independent of any work of God. Another class take the other extreme, and say that man is free from all obligations because God does the whole work, both the willing and the doing. But the true ground to take is that the human will must be brought into subjection to the divine will. The will of man is not to be forced into co-operation with divine agencies, but must be voluntarily submitted. Man has no power of himself to work out his own salvation. Salvation must be the result of co-operation with divine power, and God will not do that for man which he can do for himself. Man is wholly dependent upon the grace of Christ. He has no power to move one step in the direction of Christ only as the Spirit of God draws him. The Holy spirit is continually drawing the soul, and will continue to draw, until by persistent refusal, the sinner grieves away the tender messenger of God.
B.E.S.T. November 1, 1893
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What a wonderful reverence Jesus expressed in his life mission for human life! He stood not among the people as a king demanding attention, reverence, service, but as one who wished to serve, to lift up humanity. He said he had not come to be ministered unto, but to minister. I am sure that the great lesson of forgiveness must be learned more perfectly by us all, and we must practice the Christian graces. Wherever Christ saw a human being he saw one who needed human sympathy. Many of us are willing to serve certain ones,--those whom we honor,--but the very ones to whom Christ would make us a blessing if we were not so cold-hearted, so unkind and selfish, we pass by as unworthy of our notice. We do not help them, though it is our duty to do this,--to bear with their rudeness, while seeking to cultivate the opposite traits of character. We must work the works of Christ. The greatest wrong we can do others, if we think ourselves injured by them in any way, is to be unforgiving. This is a most dangerous position for professed Christians, because just in the manner that they treat their brethren, so will the Lord of heaven treat them. We are seeking here in these meetings to instruct, not merely with regard to the theory of the truth, as to how we shall practice the truth; but the question that is of great and vital importance with us now is,
What must I do to be saved?
ARSH April 12, 1887