As our Feature in this issue concentrates on the development of daughters and younger sisters in our meetings, we have chosen as our “Our Heritage” article a selection from two addresses written by Sister Jane Roberts, but read by Brother Robert Roberts, for the young women in the Birmingham Ecclesia. The mature guidance they contain is as relevant today as it was then, and has been for all time. These two talks have been published in one booklet and entitled “Sister Jane Roberts to Younger Sisters”. It is available in ecclesial libraries and from the CSSS. We would urge all sisters, young and old, to obtain a copy and read them.
It is everything with us to have the right rule of life before our minds. Natural and spiritual things are for the most part antagonistic in their tendencies. For the most part truly, because there is a place for the natural as well as the spiritual. The great object to be attained is to have them in their proper relations one to another.
There can be no mistake as to which is to have the pre-eminence in our hearts and lives. Our Lord and Master is our authority here, as in everything.
“One thing is needful,” said he to Mary; and that would be his answer to many of his sisters now if they could hear his voice in reply to many anxieties. Many of the things they think very needful to be done, he would not think needful, that is to say, not indispensable. It is not needful in many cases to bestow all the care upon the things of the present which many—nearly everybody—does. We have to study to get a truer view of the present than is presented by our external surroundings, otherwise the sisters of the 19th century [and the 21st century too—Ed] are just in as much danger as was Martha of the first, of giving too much prominence to that which is of a merely passing nature, and leaving too little time and energy for the things of Christ. How many lament that they have not time to read, and the consequent lack of spiritual vigour. They wish the blessed hope of the glorious time that is coming were a greater power with them in every day life, and they have to acknowledge that they do not find time to read as they could wish, yet if any one of that class were to be laid on a sick bed, with the prospect of leaving earthly things for ever, she would see that these earthly things had held too high a place in her thoughts; that less service to the present, with its fleeting concerns, would have sufficed, and she would now have been better prepared for yielding up her mortal life, had she given only a little more of her time to getting acquainted with what she will be face to face with when she emerges from the grave to which she is hastening. She will be likely to think and to say, as I have heard it said in such circumstances, “Oh, if I had my time to live over again I should give more time to reading the Bible”; and, again, in another case, “There are many things I should like to do if I had another chance. I wish I could have another chance.”
Only One Chance
Well, dear sisters, we have but one brief life. Today will never return. There is no safety but in making each day just what we shall wish we had made it when we come to look back upon it from a dying bed, or from the judgment seat. Our life is short—no one knows how short. It is short even at the longest. The young are apt to think there is plenty of time, and that when they get older, they will begin to be more in earnest. The young sister in Christ would do well to be on her guard against this fallacy. You have a great advantage in receiving the truth in your youth, if you wake up to it. Most of you who are young hope to live to be old, if the Lord delays his coming. What age would you like to live to? Fifty? Sixty? Seventy? Eighty? What could you hope to do for Christ at that age? If you put off serving him till you are older, the chances are you will never do anything at all. It is a delusion to think you will serve him by-and-bye—later on in life, when the things of the present will be less attractive. Remember, you will be in the future what you are now, in an intenser degree, according to the direction you are growing in. If you are unconcerned now about being engaged in the service of Christ, you will be more so when you grow old, and you will be less able to begin a different course then, for your energies will be less vigorous, and you will more easily succumb to the difficulties in the way of self-denial. On the other hand, if you are now striving to serve Christ, or are making up your mind that you shall, without delay proceed to make use of your opportunities, however small. The probability is, that if you live to be old, you will find yourself still and more actively in his service—busy even in advanced age in some way or other, showing your love, and faith, and hope. A life-long accumulation of service will then stand to your account, and you will be able to stand in the day of inspection. You will not be ashamed, for you know you have not been idle or negligent. They may have only been little deeds that you have been able to do, still, you have always been doing the little that was possible. What a satisfaction in retrospect, and what a joy to hear the Master say, “She hath done what she could!” What a reward for present self-denial is the prospect of such an ending to mortal toil! Who would not make the attempt to win in such a warfare?
Many Difficulties, Doubtless
There are, doubtless, many difficulties to be encountered which are peculiar to youth, and it is to be feared many are hindered in the path of wisdom by these difficulties. It is well for the young sister to recognise at the outset that the path to the kingdom of God is not a flowery one. There are green spots for the weary pilgrim to be met with here and there; but these refreshing places are only arrived at through the rough and difficult paths of daily duty. Do not make the mistake of expecting the way to be pleasant. If the young pilgrim thinks that by making a wise choice, and picking her steps as it were, she may manage to keep in the sunshine, and with pleasant surroundings all the time, she is apt to be discouraged, when she finds that much cloud and darkness at times beset her. She is apt to think there is something wrong, because she had imagined that if she tried to do right, she would be sure to be happy, and make others happy, too. And, instead of being happy, she is often very much the reverse. It is well, therefore, at the start, to know what you are to expect, and much depends upon a correct view of this matter.
A Wrong Pattern
A young sister, in being introduced to the ecclesia, where there are many young people besides herself, is apt to think that she will have in these a pattern how she ought to act, and that she will be safe in doing as they do. The consequence is that in many things she will be misled; for not many of the called are acting in a way to secure their being chosen at last, and while thinking she is copying one who is on the way to eternal life, she may only be following an example that will ultimately prove her ruin, because many are deceiving themselves and others, whose true position will only be made manifest at the judgment seat.
If she would find true help—the right pattern— she must seek it where it can, without doubt, be found. The Scriptures alone in our day are to be trusted as an unerring guide; therefore, the daily reading of them is indispensable. There is no chance for those who do not read the Scriptures. The things of the present are so incessant and pressing in their claims upon our attention, that without this antidote—this rectifying power—the mind, however naturally gifted, must succumb to the power of the present considerations and present pleasures. Apart from the reading of the Word, regularly and prayerfully, the young aspirant after eternal life will find she has undertaken an impossible task. In the Scriptures she has her pattern, her guide, her model, by which to shape her life. She will have to be very determined to get this daily help, and the effort will have to be kept up, otherwise the apparent urgency of other things will crowd it out of the programme. Let it, therefore, be a fixed rule of life with her, that come what may, she will have her daily reading of the Scriptures. Let some other matter stand on one side, if it comes to be a question of which is to be done and which left undone—the reading or something else. She will find if she acts on this principle, that what some have pronounced impossible, is not only possible, but at last delightful—the one green spot in the day. We all know how things do get put on one side when anything very important happens. Now this daily reading of the Scriptures ought to be regarded in the light of one of the most important things that could happen to mortals in our day. A message from heaven. Shall you take time to hear it? It is more likely that you will win the battle of life if you do. Ten minutes, quarter of an hour, or at the most twenty minutes, will suffice to get into your mind something that will remain with you as a power for the coming day. You will be more ready to remember what you ought to do in any circumstance of difficulty if you have listened to the Spirit’s voice in this form, than if you have not. You will be better able to rule your temper during the day if you have than if you have not. You may sometimes have to lament that your opportunities for serving Christ are few. Here is one way in which you can serve him. Sit at his feet and listen. He commended Mary for doing this, when her busy, bustling sister wanted her to come and do something else. You may, by the power of his words, glorify God by your manifest subjection to his commands; and the constant reading in the Scriptures of what others have done by faith in God, will no doubt lead you to discover ways and means of serving that you had not thought of.
Companions
There is one very great danger to which young sisters are exposed, and that is the companionship of the young, even in the truth. Folly is so natural to youth, that it is next to impossible for the young to get out of it by themselves. They require help. Next to reading, the most important help is proper companionship. It cannot be too strongly impressed upon the young disciple that she is not too young to obey the commands of Christ, and that if she is to secure his favour and friendship, she must be careful in this respect. Whatever helps you in this direction is to be sought after. Whatever hinders is to be avoided. There are two ways of carrying out this wise rule. You can leave the society which you find frivolous and vain. But this is not enough. You ought to be brave enough to speak to your young companions upon the things which constitute our hope. The day’s reading will give you a ready way of doing this. Why not introduce profitable conversation among the young, as well as with the old? Are you to be shamed out of your good resolve, because you may be laughed at for being of a serious turn of mind, as it will be called? If you are wise, you will disregard this reproach, and persevere in your endeavours to make wisdom rule among the young. In introducing topics of a profitable nature, do not be afraid to explain that you do so in order that you all may be helped to do what all probably feel and know they ought to do, and to occupy yourselves in a way that will be well pleasing to God, and that you shall not regret at last. If this may not be, rather be silent than join in foolish talking, which is forbidden. You need not be unsocial on this account; but you can choose your company, and you can keep out of company that is hurtful. The young sisters will find it of advantage to get into the company of those who are older than themselves, when they can avail themselves of that privilege, so that they may accustom themselves to sober ways, and by this means they will acquire the power to engage the attention of their younger companions, and to sustain the effort which this may require. They must be on their guard when in the company of those who are of their own age, not to be drawn into the flippant and smart ways of worldly young people, whose manners indicate a total lack of reverence for God or man. It is some time before worldly ways are got rid of, even by those who desire to do so. Be courageous in this matter. You know what is required of you by the Master, who is now your Lord, and will shortly be your Judge.
Peace of Mind
Nothing will make you happier at the close of the day than the thought that you have been courageous for him—that is to say, if you are truly his; if you have really given yourself to him, and have not merely joined the ecclesia so that you might pass muster as a sister. Some will prove at last to be mere wood, hay and stubble. Such will not continue, if they even begin in the way of wisdom. The parable of the sower explains to us how it is that some who begin in seemingly a right way, do not hold on. They are hindered by the difficulties, and give in when they find that before wearing the crown they must carry the cross. But some will receive the good seed in the right spirit, prepared to go where and to do what their Lord commands. “They bring forth fruit with patience,” they “endure to the end.” These are they who trim their lamps daily, whose light shines with a steady brightness, always ready to reflect the truth in some shape or form—in testimony for its maintenance against error, or in rejoicing in the hope which has been enkindled by its loving reception. They also are the class who take the means to have the seed sown in their hearts well watered, both in the attendance of public meeting, and in the private reading and study of the Word. No wonder that the seed withers up in some hearts. It has been planted down among so many thorns that it is choked, and the thorns, or things of the present, receive all the moisture, and grow accordingly. The two classes have always existed from the beginning, and they exist today. We cannot always distinguish them while they are in course of development. They require time to be manifested; but meantime the process is going on in each case which will ultimately ripen—in the one case, resulting in acceptance with joy unspeakable, and in the other with rejection in anguish unavailing. No one will be rejected but the disobedient, who might by taking heed have been among the joyfully accepted. Be careful, then, that nothing is left undone by you which you can possibly bring to bear to secure this endless life of well-being which will bring you everything you deem desirable now, or could possibly wish to possess. “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” is the language of the true child of God, and at every stage of life this is the language of earnest desire to do the things that please Him. Get into the right way yourself—be sure you are in it, and then see what you can do to help others in it. Continue in this endeavour, however long your day may last, and you will not be found lacking when you are called upon to give an account of your stewardship.