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Selected Messages Book 1
of righteousness, his next move must be to repent of his sins, and seek
forgiveness through Christ. Failing to do this, many try to break the
mirror which reveals their defects, to make void the law which points
out the blemishes in their life and character.
We are living in an age of great wickedness. Multitudes are en-
slaved by sinful customs and evil habits, and the fetters that bind them
are difficult to break. Iniquity, like a flood, is deluging the earth.
Crimes almost too fearful to be mentioned, are of daily occurrence.
And yet men professing to be watchmen on the walls of Zion will
teach that the law was designed for the Jews only, and passed away
with the glorious privileges that ushered in the gospel age. Is there not
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a relation between the prevailing lawlessness and crime, and the fact
that ministers and people hold and teach that the law is no longer of
binding force?
The condemning power of the law of God extends, not only to the
things we do, but to the things we do not do. We are not to justify
ourselves in omitting to do the things that God requires. We must not
only cease to do evil, but we must learn to do well. God has given
us powers to be exercised in good works; and if these powers are
not put to use, we shall certainly be set down as wicked and slothful
servants. We may not have committed grievous sins; such offenses
may not stand registered against us in the book of God; but the fact
that our deeds are not recorded as pure, good, elevated, and noble,
showing that we have not improved our entrusted talents, places us
under condemnation.
The law of God existed before man was created. It was adapted to
the condition of holy beings; even angels were governed by it. After
the Fall, the principles of righteousness were unchanged. Nothing
was taken from the law; not one of its holy precepts could be im-
proved. And as it has existed from the beginning, so will it continue
to exist throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. “Concerning thy
testimonies,” says the psalmist, “I have known of old that thou hast
founded them for ever” (
Psalm 119:152
).
By this law, which governs angels, which demands purity in the
most secret thoughts, desires, and dispositions, and which shall “stand
fast for ever” (
Psalm 111:8
), all the world is to be judged in the rapidly
approaching day of God. Transgressors may flatter themselves that
the Most High does not know, that the Almighty does not consider;