THE UNEQUAL YOKE
THE UNEQUAL YOKE
Preface
The following paper appeared in a recent number of “The Present Testimony;” but, inasmuch as that periodical is out of the reach of a large number of Christian readers, I have been requested by many, in various places, to send it forth, in the form of a separate tract. One shrinks from multiplying books at a time like the present, when it may, in good truth, be said, “of making of books there is no end;” still, if the enemy is making diligent use of the press, for the purpose of diffusing abroad infidelity, profanity superstition, and impurity, I believe the servant of Christ may feel perfectly free to make use of the same powerful engine for the purpose of disseminating doctrinal and practical truth. No doubt, we have to watch against the evil of allowing human writings to usurp that place in our minds which belongs to sacred scripture alone. We have to remember that the soundest and most excellent of such writings are only the pure ore, beaten out into thin plates, and that they owe all their value, and all their truth, to the fact of their being based upon or connected with, the word of God. But how often does it happen that we read scripture over and over again, and fail to apprehend the truth contained therein, until the Lord graciously makes use of the lips or pen of another to point it out? Thus, for example, how many have read the words, “Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers”, without ever being aware of their just application? The remembrance of this should be sufficient to keep us from despising human writings. We find God using books and tracts for the conversion of sinners, and the edification of His people; and, assuredly, what He uses, we should not make light of There is a great difference between God’s using a book for the purpose of teaching me more of the value, the beauty, and authority of His word, and my abusing the book by allowing it to displace that word altogether. In this, as in everything else, we have to watch against dangerous extremes. We know that “the word of God is quick and powerful”, and that the Holy Spirit makes use of it, and it alone, to quicken, enlighten, and build up souls; but we know also that He makes man’s lips and man’s pen His instruments in bringing that word home to the heart.
In the full confidence that He will graciously use the following pages, I now send them forth to the Church of God.
C. H. Mackintosh Clontarf, March, 1856.