16. He that keepeth the commandment keepeth his own soul; but he that despiseth his ways shall die.
The fearing of the commandment is the path of honour. (Chapter 13:13.) The keeping of it is our security. Keep the word, and the word will keep us securely. Our duties are thus identified with our privileges. (Psalm 19:11; 119:165.) This is the first successful effort to shake ourselves from the deep sleep of slothfulness; when we “stir up ourselves to take hold of God, choosing the things that please him, and joining ourselves to him, to serve him, and to love his name.”† Yet the power to keep the commandment is not in a man's self.† Is it not God working in us, through, by, with us?† Thus “all our deeds are wrought in him;”† and nothing is left us, but the thankful, humbling acknowledgment — “Yet not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”† Let then the world know, that we do not exercise obedience in a covenant of works, nor reject it as a system of bondage and despondency; but that keeping the commandment evangelically is keeping our own souls† — the way of present happiness,† the seal of everlasting mercy,† the pathway to heaven.†
But alas! the multitude, instead of keeping the commandment, “go at all adventures,”† careless of their ways, reckless of their end. It is with them scarcely worth looking into, whether God is displeased or not; whether they be walking in the narrow or broad path; and what the end of that path may be. The sight before our eyes defies illustration. The most momentous realities, that could ever attract the attention of an immortal being, stand before him, not in dreaming visions, but in actual demonstration — the favor or the curse of the ever-blessed God — salvation or damnation. They confront him in the presence of God. He sees them in the light of God. He acknowledges the stamp of God upon them; and yet with this tremendous sight, this fearful responsibility, not a serious thought fixes in his mind. Instead of being overwhelmed with the consciousness of his own interest in it (enough — were it apprehended — to suspend almost the power of thought) he is ready for any trifle or vanity that crosses his path. He despises his ways, and dies.
Sometimes men come into this thoughtless world, fresh from the influence of a religious education. For a while they yield alternately to their conscience and their corruptions. They are touched a moment under the convictions of the word, or the corrections of the rod. Yet the want of steadiness and consistency soon sweeps all away into “worse” hardness than before. (2 Peter 2:20-22.) They are “carried away unto their idols, even as they were led” (1 Corinthians 12:2); and, slaves of their wills, their lusts, their fancies, they know not, they care not to know, “that for all these things God will call them to judgment.”†
Young people — “Ponder the path of your feet.” Look to it well at every step, that “your ways may be established” (Chapter 4:26) in converting grace, the only security for Christian steadfastness. (2 Peter 3:17, 18.) Keep the conscience tender, the Divine rule before your eyes, and the promise in the heart. Cherish a pliable spirit for your Father's guidance. How solemn the warning — He that despiseth his ways shall die! Sinner! would that thou wouldest ponder this death! It is no creation of a distempered fancy. It is the death, which sin bringeth forth to perfection. (James 1:14, 15.) It is the harvest from that seed. (Galatians 6:7, 8.) It is the death such as a soul can die — an eternal reality of infinite, unchangeable misery; the extinction, not of thy being (that were a boon indeed!) but of thy happiness. What must it be to be immovably linked with the wrath of God! Yea — to have the wrath of an immortal God filling the conscience of thine immortal soul, with all its power eternally enlarging to receive the full and eternal impression! And whilst thou art “going on frowardly in the way of thine heart” (Isaiah 57:17), remember “there is but a step” — who knows how short a step — how soon taken? — “between thee and this death.” (1 Samuel 20:3.) “Why” then “wilt thou die,” when the oath of thy God testifies, that “he hath no pleasure in thy death,” when his gracious voice to thee is — “Turn and live.† Consider thy ways.”† Oh! listen, ere thou learn the wisdom of fools, to be wise too late.
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