THE TRACT AND MISSIONARY WORK IN ILLINOIS.
By B. F. Merritt
For eight years we have had a T. and M. society operating in this State in behalf of the present truth. As we look over the field of our labor, we are glad to know that our efforts have not been in vain. In proportion to the labor put forth and means expended, perhaps no State has a better showing. But we have not done what we might have done. Who can say that he has taken such an interest in this work and put forth such efforts for its advancement as its importance demands? It is sad to contemplate the lost opportunities of the past eight years. May God be merciful to us. Most of our brethren know the relation they sustain to this work, but how easy it is for us to slacken our hands and close our eyes. Could we see the snares now set for unwary feet, and realize how numbers of our fellow-mortals are daily being entangled in these snares, never to be released, we would not be indifferent. How great the responsibility of those who deny to benighted souls the Word of Life—the light from Heaven—when it is in their power to give it! Dear brethren, let us be aroused. See how infidelity, with boastful words and scornful smile, leads mortals down to ruin. See intemperance by its power destroying all that is noble in men, and filling the land with suffering and woe. See how false religion, with all its flattery and show of piety, is deluding souls. See how Freemasonry is slyly fastening its bands upon unsuspecting young men, and searing their consciences forever. See how error in its many forms is shutting away from souls the joys of the religion of the Saviour of the world. See how it benumbs the finer sensibilities of man's nature. See how it arouses the baser passions, perverts the appetite, quenches holy aspirations, and destroys all the noble faculties of the soul, debasing man made in the image of God. Can we not see that error makes earth a hell, while truth would make it a Heaven? Oh how can we sink down in indifference when such an active force of terrible foes is arrayed and at work before us? Yea, when Providence has placed in our hands means of defense for the pulling down of the strongholds of the enemy, and a glorious conquest is certain if we will only act. Brethren, in the name of Israel's God, let us go to work. Let us engage in the strife. More can be done in six months, if all our army would go to praying, talking, letter-writing for God and his truth, scattering publications, visiting the needy and ministering to their wants, than has been done in the past eight years. Who will work?