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God’s Moral Looking Glass, October 16
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth
therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this
man shall be blessed in his deed.
James 1:25
.
At Dusseldorf we changed cars, [
Written during a journey in europe.
]
and were obliged to wait two hours in the depot. Here we had an oppor-
tunity to study human nature. The ladies came in, changed their outer
wraps, and then surveyed themselves on every side, to see that their dress
was faultless. Then extra touches of powder must be put upon their faces.
Long they lingered before the mirror in order to arrange their outward
apparel to their satisfaction for the purpose of appearing their best when
looked upon by human eyes. I thought of the law of God, the great moral
looking glass into which the sinner is to look to discover the defects of
his character. If all would study the law of God—the moral standard of
character—as diligently and critically as many do their outward appearance
by means of the looking glass, with a purpose to correct and reform every
defect of character, what transformations would most assuredly take place
in them. “For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto
a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and
goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was”
(
James 1:23, 24
)....
There are many who view themselves as defective in character when
they look into God’s moral mirror, His law, but they have heard so much of
“All you have to do is to believe” ... that after venturing to look into the
mirror they straightway go from it retaining all their defects, with the words
on their lips, “Jesus has done it all.” These are represented by the figure that
James has marked out—the man beholding himself and going away and
forgetting what manner of man he was.... Faith and works are the two oars
that must be used to urge the bark against the current of worldliness, pride,
and vanity; and if these are not used, the boat will drift with the current
downward to perdition. God help us to take care of the inward adorning, to
set the heart in order as carefully as we arrange the outward apparel
[296]
20
The Review and Herald, October 11, 1887
.
305