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    August 15, 1889

    “Continue” Bible Echo and Signs of the Times 4, 16.

    E. J. Waggoner

    “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.” Thus wrote the apostle Paul to his son Timothy. There are thousands of honest souls who would be well off if they would but heed that injunction. It would seem to be the most natural thing in the world to do, and yet there are few who do it. If a man has learned a thing, and is assured of it, it would seem as though he would cling to that under all circumstances; the more the clouds and mists gathered about him, the more that darkness covered his way, making it almost impossible to discern anything, the more closely should he cling to those things that he has been assured of.BEST August 15, 1889, page 250.1

    Usually, however, the contrary is just the case. A person is as well assured of some things as he can possibly be of his own existence, but suddenly he is confronted by something which he does not know how to “harmonize” with what he already has. The new thing may be only a spectre, but it has proved sufficient to frighten him from all that is substantial.BEST August 15, 1889, page 250.2

    There are a great many who can never become reconciled to the idea that they are not omniscient. They rest content for a while in the things that they are assured of, simply because those things bound their horizon. But when they become conscious that there are things that they do not know, and things that they with their finite minds cannot understand, they give up everything. They will know everything or nothing. Unfortunately, when they have thrown away those things that they know, and are the nearest to knowing nothing, they imagine that they are the nearest to knowing everything.BEST August 15, 1889, page 250.3

    Henry Ward Beecher tells of a lesson which was once given him in regard to continuing in the things which he knew. When he was a boy, he had a very original teacher in mathematics. One day Henry was demonstrating a problem, when his teacher suddenly interrupted him with an emphatic No! This disconcerted him and he began again at the beginning, but was very soon interrupted by another emphatic contradiction of his statement. Wholly discouraged, he sat down, and the problem was given to another boy, who demonstrated it in the same manner and was met by the same contradictions on the part of the teacher. This boy, however, paid no heed to the interruptions, and completed his demonstration and was commended. “Why,” said young Beecher, in an injured tone, “that’s just the way I did it.” “Yes,” replied the teacher, “but you didn’t stick to it.”BEST August 15, 1889, page 250.4

    That is the way with many Christians. They go along very smoothly so long as there is no breath of opposition; but as soon as they meet with a sharp contradiction, they don’t know what to do. They act as though they thought that nothing can be true unless everybody believes it. It isn’t, however, because the things that they are assured of are attacked, that they give up the truth, but because something else is declared or insinuated to be the truth, and they cannot harmonize the two. Doubts and fanciful theories are presented to them, and they straightway leave the solid ground of truth, to chase the will-o’-the-wisp into the bogs of error. How much better off people would be if they would only heed the apostle’s injunction to continue in the things that they are assured of. Is not that the only common sense way of doing?BEST August 15, 1889, page 250.5

    It is only those who patiently continue in well-doing that God will reward with eternal life. Eternity in the kingdom of God will be continual progression in the truths which have been learned on earth. No man who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is worthy of the kingdom of Heaven; because if he cannot continue for a few years in things that he has been assured of, how can he continue in the same things throughout eternity?BEST August 15, 1889, page 250.6

    Happy is the man who continues instant in prayer, “watching thereunto with all perseverance,” and is thus “steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.” Have you been assured of one thing? Then cling to it and continue in it, even though it be the only thing you know. Better be assured of one thing, than to be in doubt of every thing. Does somebody say, “Well, I don’t know about that”? Then do you reply, “Well, I do know about it.” Does somebody taunt you with your ignorance of many things? Tell them that your ignorance of many things shall not overthrow your knowledge of the one thing. Whatever is said and done, “continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of.” Only by so doing can you hope to know any thing more.BEST August 15, 1889, page 250.7

    Above all things, continue in the knowledge of God. “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.” Titus 3:8. Oh that all who profess faith in Christ might so know him whom they have believed that they would “be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is the head, even Christ.”BEST August 15, 1889, page 250.8

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