Sunday, June 1, 2008

Keep At Your Work

"The Lord has given to every man his work. It is every man's business to do his work, and the devil's business to hinder him if he can. Be sure as God has given you a work to do, Satan will try to hinder you if he can. He may throw you from it; he may present other things more promising; he may allure you by worldly prospects; He may assault with slander, torment you with false accusations, set you at work defending your character, employ pious persons to lie about you, editors to assail you, officials to accuse you, and excellent men to slander you. You may have Pilate and Herod, Ananias and Caiaphas, all combined against you, and Judas standing by, ready to sell you for thirty pieces of silver; and you may wonder why all these things come upon you. Can you not see that the whole thing is brought about through the craft of the devil, to draw you off from your work and hinder your obedience to God?

"Keep about your work. Do not flinch because the lion roars; do not stop to stone the devil's dog; do not fool away your time chasing the devil's rabbits. Do your work. Let liars lie, let sectarians quarrel, let corporations resolve, let editors publish, let the devil do his worst; but see to it that nothing hinder you from fulfilling the work that God has given you.

"He has not sent you to make money. He has not commanded you to get rich. He has never bidden you defend your character. He has never set you at work to contradict that which Satan and his servants may start to peddle. If you do these things, you will do nothing else; you will be at work for yourself, and not for the Lord.

"Keep about your work. Let your aim be as steady as a star. Let the world brawl and bubble. You may be assaulted, wronged, insulted, slandered, wounded, and rejected; you may be abused by foes, forsaken by friends, and despised and rejected of men; but see to it with steadfast determination, with unfaltering zeal, that you pursue the great purpose of your life and object of your being until at last you can say, "I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do."

3 comments:

cheese said...

Who is HMS Richards, Sr.? Are these not the words of President Taylor?

Pliggy said...

Well, I got the name from another website that published it. I would give a link but I can't find it again.

You may be correct, as I only used that site for a reference. I will remove the name from the post

Anonymous said...

Messenger and Advocate.

KIRTLAND, OHIO, OCT. 1836.

We have frequently had occasion to notice the vast difference there was between men of liberal minds, and the narrow minded sectarian bigots of this very religious generation in which we live. All, or nearly all, profess to be republicans in principle, to allow every man to think as he pleases in matters of religion, and to worship God agreeably to the dictates of his own conscience, but no sooner than one comes forward and pleads for the religion of the bible, the plain unvarnished truth as taught by the Savior and his apostles, than those whose crafts are in danger, whose systems are schemes devised by men, and cannot bear investigation, set up the stale cry of false prophet, false teacher, away with him. A little sober reflection, we should suppose, would teach them two things: first that their great uneasiness when any system differing from their own is brought to view, is a good witness to the world of their consciousness of the falsity of their own. And, secondly of the wickedness and corruption of their hearts in continuing to embrace it.