Morning, June 27
Go To Evening Reading
“Only ye shall not go very far away.”
Exodus 8:28
This is a crafty word from the lip of the arch-tyrant Pharaoh. If
the poor bondaged Israelites must needs go out of Egypt, then he bargains
with them that it shall not be very far away; not too far for them
to escape the terror of his arms, and the observation of his spies.
After the same fashion, the world loves not the non-conformity of
nonconformity, or the dissidence of dissent; it would have us be more
charitable and not carry matters with too severe a hand. Death to
the world, and burial with Christ, are experiences which carnal minds
treat with ridicule, and hence the ordinance which sets them forth
is almost universally neglected, and even condemned. Worldly wisdom
recommends the path of compromise, and talks of “moderation.” According to this carnal policy, purity is admitted to be very desirable,
but we are warned against being too precise; truth is of course to
be followed, but error is not to be severely denounced. “Yes,” says the world, “be spiritually minded by all means, but do not deny yourself a little
gay society, an occasional ball, and a Christmas visit to a theatre.
What’s the good of crying down a thing when it is so fashionable, and everybody
does it?” Multitudes of professors yield to this cunning advice, to their own
eternal ruin. If we would follow the Lord wholly, we must go right
away into the wilderness of separation, and leave the Egypt of the
carnal world behind us. We must leave its maxims, its pleasures, and
its religion too, and go far away to the place where the Lord calls
his sanctified ones. When the town is on fire, our house cannot be
too far from the flames. When the plague is abroad, a man cannot be
too far from its haunts. The further from a viper the better, and
the further from worldly conformity the better. To all true believers
let the trumpet-call be sounded, “Come ye out from among them, be ye separate.”