APPRECIATION by Jos. Clarke

The Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · November 27, 1879

FromThe Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 54, No. 22

APPRECIATION

By Jos. Clarke

The great reason we as a race are so unmindful of the offer of salvation, is, that we are so blinded by the affairs of the present life that we do not appreciate the “unspeakable gift.” One is poor, and thinks it sufficient care and labor to supply the wants of his family. Another is rich, and is too busy to meddle with things so “visionary” as the life beyond the grave. The youth is excited in view of the earthly happiness in the future, and the old man is anxious to care for his heirs. So the worldling is wild with ambition for wealth, or honor, or power; and these might not be a clog to the higher aspirations of the soul, if it were not that they seek for them without the fear of God. God is forgotten in the mad haste of the crowd. On, on, we rush, as though all depended on success in the chase; conscience, God, law, and the great fact of man's fall and estrangement from his best and truest friend, are left wholly out of mind. Vain theories supply the place of religion, and so conscience is silenced, and the judgment is perverted.

This spirit of blindness and worldly enchantment is not only in the world, but it often attacks the child of God, unless he is on the watch. It is this which fetters the church, and causes trouble and spiritual decay. We shall avoid it only by following in the steps of Christ. We need a great deal more of the Spirit of God. JOS. CLARKE.