Earlier text: IT IS VERY EASY TO BE MISTAKENITEMS FROM GENERAL CONFERENCE
MRS. E. G. WHITE: Every soul in every Conference, in every part of the Lord's vineyard, has the privilege of knowing the truth. But truth is not truth to those who do not practice it. Truth is truth to you only when you live it in the daily life, showing the world what those people must be who are at last saved. God help us to restrain our tongues. The voice is a precious talent, and it is to be used to a purpose. It is not lent to you that you may swear; but every one who gives way to an unholy temper might just as well swear. God help us to submit to Jesus Christ, and to have His power right here and now. The word of God is to be our guide. Have you given heed to the Word? The Testimonies are not by any means to take the place of the Word. They are to bring you to that neglected Word, that you may eat the words of Christ, that you may feed upon them, that by living faith you may be built up from that upon which you feed. If you live in obedience to Christ and His word, you are eating the leaves of the tree of life, which are for the healing of the nations. “As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.” You may be exalted to heaven as far as position is concerned, but position does not make the man. Do you obey the commandments of God? Are you one with God? Are you sanctified by the Spirit of God? Those who fill positions in the Conference must have the righteousness of Christ. This gives a man a power in his work. Many of you have been educating yourselves to talk with human beings instead of talking with God. You have built up barriers against the principles which should have been carried into every part of the Lord's vineyard. “Slow to speak, slow to wrath.” It only takes a word to fire up a man who has not made a practice of talking with God. This spirit is as contagious as the leprosy. One and another catch it, and thus dissension and strife and commotion are brought in. God is not in any of this work. Brethren, before we have finished, we shall know whether or not God is handling this Conference. God calls for a straight testimony to be given to those who claim to believe that we are living in the last days of this earth's history. A line of distinction must be drawn between those who serve God, and those who serve Him not. God calls upon His people to put away self-pleasing. When in body, soul, and spirit they will dedicate themselves to God, His power will be revealed in a remarkable manner. Here are men who are standing at the head of our various institutions, of the educational interests, and of the Conferences in different localities and in different States. All these are to stand as representative men, to have a voice in molding and fashioning the plans that shall be carried out. There are to be more than one or two or three men to consider the whole vast field. The work is great, and there is no one human mind that can plan for the work which needs to be done. I ask you what field where the people have never heard the truth, has been searched out and worked? Who has been preparing men to enter the field? And yet upon us rests the responsibility of fulfilling Christ's command, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” After Christ's baptism He preached the gospel to the cities that were round about. He was working and healing—the medical missionary work was bound up with the preaching of the gospel. I am so thankful for the medical missionary work, carried in gospel lines. It is to be taught, it is to be carried forward; for it is the very work that Christ did when on this earth. He was the greatest missionary the world ever saw. You may say, “Why not, then, take hold of the work, and heal the sick as Christ did?” I answer, You are not ready. Some have believed; some have been healed; but there are many who make themselves sick by intemperate eating or by indulging in other wrong habits. When they get sick, shall we pray for them to be raised up, that they may carry on the very same work again? There must be a reformation throughout our ranks; the people must reach a higher standard before we can expect the power of God to be manifested in a marked manner for the healing of the sick. We talk of the Holy Ghost; we preach of the Holy Ghost; but we need to understand better what the office of the Holy Ghost is. We need to understand that we must co-operate with God in every sense, or God can not co-operate with us. “We are laborers together with God.” Now I want to say, God has not put any kingly power in our ranks to control this or that branch of the work. The work has been greatly restricted by the efforts to control it in every line. Here is a vineyard presenting its barren places that have received no labor. And if one should start out to till these places in the name of the Lord, unless he should get the permission of the men in a little circle of authority, he would receive no help. God means that His workers shall have help. If a hundred should start out on a mission to destitute fields, crying unto God, He would open the way before them. Let us tell you, if your heart is in the work, and you have faith in God, you need not depend upon the sanction of any minister or any people: if you go right to work in the name of the Lord, in a humble way doing what you can to teach the truth, God will vindicate you. If the work had not been so restricted by an impediment here, and an impediment there, and on the other side an impediment, it would have gone forward in its majesty. It would have gone in weakness at first; but the God of heaven lives. In every age those men who were a power in gospel work were the men who studied the Bible, and applied it to the issues of their time. They studied the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Wyclif put the whole Bible before the people; but between his time and that of Luther, the Reformers were students of Daniel and the Revelation. And the man to-day who studies Daniel and the Revelation, and gives this knowledge to the world, stands out just as clearly as a reformer, and his work will stand forever. As the closing hymn was announced Thursday evening, there was much confusion caused by many getting up and going out. Then the following word was spoken, which is good for all places where God is worshiped: “There is another word that I must say. Please all wait to hear it: One of the first fruits of that brooding Spirit is reverence for the house of God, and for the service of God that is conducted in His name and by His word. Therefore let us each one be sure to establish such a local self-government as shall keep each one in his seat and place until the services are completely closed, and the benediction pronounced. “And if each one shall find established in himself such a degree of local self-government as shall enable him reverently to bow his head, and say, Amen, after the benediction shall have been pronounced, it will be only so much the better.” A. F. Harrison: One thing has burdened my mind. I have thought and prayed over it more than over any other one thing. It is this: Just as soon as an individual is born into this world, upon whom rests the responsibility of training and educating that child? Every one here would say that it rests upon the father and mother. Then when an individual is born into this truth, who should train him? Does his training not devolve upon the one who brought him into the truth? Our churches are living out the education they have received. The churches everywhere are, every one of them, living up to the instruction they have received. And who educated them?—We ourselves, brethren, have educated them. I feel deeply over this subject. I want to speak to you of another thought that has been pressing itself upon my mind also; and it is this: We have overlooked a certain class of people that are in our ranks to-day. If they were pressed into service, they would solve the problem of our publishing houses everywhere. I wish to read a few selections from first-page articles of the REVIEW AND HERALD, some of them dated as long ago as 1895: “The work of God is retarded by criminal unbelief in His power to use the common people.” Every one should receive that in his heart to-day. Now let me read another expression: “No one who desires to labor for the Master is to be refused a place in this work if he is a true follower of Christ. But let no one feel that because he is not educated, he can not be expected to take a part in the work of God.” I well remember when the message of truth came to me, fifteen years ago in March. While I had no education whatever, there immediately arose in my heart a burden to carry this message to those in darkness. I expressed that desire to my wife, being too timid myself to express it to the minister; and so she carried it to him. With a long-drawn face, he said: “Sister Harrison, it takes an educated man to become a canvasser or a colporteur.” When she brought that news to me, I sank into a slough of despondency, and remained in that condition for twelve months. So I went back to my farming, perfectly discouraged. But thank God for a church elder whose heart burned for this message! It took weeks and months under his prompting, before I could rise to the courage of thinking that I would sell our literature. But, praise the Lord, I found that I could sell one book. I felt so good over that that I have never stopped selling books from that day to this. I thank God for a humble part in this work. As I said before, our churches everywhere are living out the instruction you have given them, whether you believe it or not. God wants His Spirit to take hold of our hearts, so that we shall wake up, not only to this line of work, but to all the different kinds of work that God has for His people to do. W. H. Thurston (Brazil): I want to tell you a little incident that took place: Brother Stauffer began work in a section that I had been through. Three of the brethren went there, and held meetings about two or three weeks, raised up a company, organized a church, got everything in good condition, and started away. When they were taking their departure, they were overtaken by a mob, armed with clubs and sticks, who surrounded them, and demanded them to give an account of themselves, for coming there and teaching a false doctrine, etc. They had not spoken many words before one of the men stepped up behind Brother Stauffer, and with a club struck him over the ear. He fell to the ground, apparently dead. The brethren rolled him in a blanket, and carried him to the house of a friend. After reaching the house, he rallied, and they treated him the best they could. He recovered somewhat, but could not get up, could not walk, and249 did not have his right mind, really; so they went on, and left him in the care of friends. About three weeks later, the officers came there, and wanted him to appear before the court, to answer for what he had been doing. He said he could not walk. They dragged him out of bed; but when they found that he could not walk, but fell to the floor, they put him back in bed, but with the promise that he would appear before the court as soon as he was able. As soon as he could, he took his small satchel and Bible, and presented himself before the court. They began questioning him; and he answered every question right from the Bible, reading to them the word of God. The man who struck Brother Stauffer confessed, and was converted; but during this examination, another man arose and bore a false testimony to what Brother Stauffer was saying; and right then and there, that man's tongue was paralyzed, and he has never spoken from that day to this. That is another experience that shows us that God will stand by His people, and will vindicate His truth. [Voices: Amen! Praise the Lord!] A brother and two helpers went into the northern part of a small state where there was a little interest, and a few accepted the truth. Some of the people became vexed over the matter. A mob seized the brother and his helpers, gave them a thrashing, and struck him several times with a knife, so that the blood ran from his body; then dragged him off, and put him in jail. Afterward the brethren were sent away with the understanding that if they ever returned to that district, they would be killed. The brother soon got well, and that very thing spread the truth more than he could have done if he had stayed there all the time he was home getting well. Brother Spies, in one of his trips, was called to a halt, and surrounded by men armed with clubs, who asked him to give an account of himself. He talked with them a little while, and laughed with them his sociable, good-natured laugh; and they finally made up their minds that they had nothing against him, and let him go. He went on his way rejoicing, and kept on preaching the truth. It has been hard to get a laborer to come and help us. Our hearts were pained when the response came to our pleas, from the Foreign Mission Board, saying, We do not want to come. Brethren, why is that? Why should that be so? Why should any Seventh-day Adventist, when he is called, or when he is asked, to go to a foreign field, say that he does not want to go? I admit that there is a possibility of our not being in calling distance; but I hope and pray that the time has come when every Seventh-day Adventist will not only get in calling distance, but will forever remain there. God is calling for His people to spread out over the world, and give the message to the people. So I hope and pray that from this Conference we shall go forth with greater power, with greater missionary spirit, and greater desire and zeal for the salvation of souls, than ever before. I wish to relate some experiences. They are rich to us, and I believe they will be of interest to you. Although I am not in the habit of relating incidents regarding myself, I must speak of one, simply to show you how God works, and what blessings we receive when we walk out in His fear. For some time my wife and I felt that the Lord wanted us to go elsewhere to labor. We talked it over together, and when we came here to the Conference Bible School about eight years ago, we resolved that if the Lord wanted us to labor elsewhere, we would simply say, “Here we are, Lord; send us.” Before the school had closed, one of the brethren asked us if we wanted to go abroad. We told him we had no plans, no desire, any further than what God had for us. Whatever was God's will was our pleasure. Before the school closed, we were called before the Foreign Mission Board, and asked if we would go to Brazil to open the tract society, and start the depository. We told them, “Yes, if it is the will of the Lord.” We made it a subject of prayer, and asked the Lord to guide us. It seemed that we should go, and so we planned to do so. Arrangements were all made. We felt that it was the will of the Lord that we should go. A few days before we were ready to start, my wife was taken sick. I took her to the Sanitarium, and after a little treatment she appeared some better. But the time was hastening on for us to go. Our tickets were bought, everything arranged, the baggage all ready; and the day before we were to start, my wife had a hemorrhage. “Well,” said one of the brethren, “you are not going now, are you?” I said, “Yes, for anything I know of, we are going.” While on the way to the train, one of our good brethren, an official here, called me one side, and took the privilege to give me a little advice. “Now, Brother Thurston,” he said, “they may think it is time to begin work in Brazil; but I do not think so. If you want to go there and start a depository and a tract society on your own responsibility, all right; but I do not think the time has come to do so. If the undertaking proves a success, then we will father it.” I said, “All right; we are going.” He said, “All right,” turned around, and went back. I was about half-way to the depot, to get on the train. The train was coming. Another brother met me in the depot, who had an inkling of this, and said to me, “I would not go a step.” I said: “We are going. We believe the Lord has called us to this field, and we believe He will care for us, and that He will help us all the way along; and we are going.” The train came in, and we started. And my wife kept getting better all the way. I did not start out on a salary. I was sent to Brazil as a self-supporting missionary. I did not speak German, and did not know a word of Portuguese. And with a little handful of American people in Brazil, you can well know that I could not support myself selling books in English. We did not know a word of Portuguese when we got off the boat in Rio de Janeiro. We stood on the street corner by the docks about an hour, and the Brazilian porters would come up to us, talk as fast as they could, with all the gestures they could get into their talk; but I would say, “Thank you; but I do not know anything you have said.” Finally, one took hold of my arm, and made signs to me, “Come here, come with me,” talking to me in Portuguese. He took hold of my arm, and pulled me along. He put my baggage together, and motioned that he would tie our packages all up, and put them on his head, and for us to follow him, and he would take us somewhere. I said, “All right; go ahead! it is better than staying here.” So he did, and motioned to us to come on, and we followed him. He took us a short distance to the street-car. I had an address with me, but no one knew where to find the place; but he thought he could put me on the street-car, as he knew it went in that direction. Brother Stauffer was to meet me in Rio de Janeiro; but when I got there, he was in a colony about a thousand miles away, and I did not see him until three or four months later. We stayed on the corner about two hours. We could not get on the street-car, as the cars were so crowded at that time of day. When the porter saw the situation, he put our things on his head again, and away he went, tramping through the streets—some of them such as would almost scare a man to go into. They look like some of the narrow alleys in New York and Chicago. But we followed him, and he finally brought us to a place where we felt quite at home. It was a sailors' mission home; and as we went in, my wife saw a motto which read, “The Lord Will Provide.” The porter was as greatly pleased as we were, and rejoiced that he had brought us to somebody to whom we could speak. We went into the mission, and the missionary was happy to see us. But he told us that it was no place for us there. He said he would take us to an English boarding-house, a good place, a little ways from there. So after a short visit, he sent us to this English boarding-house, where we stayed two weeks. Then we found rooms, and began housekeeping on a very small scale. I began work the best I could. Everything was very high, and it was not long before our money was all gone. I did sell one or two books, but traveling through the great city to find here and there an Englishman was rather slow work. The time came when we had nothing to eat in the house, and no money. I do not think I have ever told that before, and I tell it now to show how God will work for those who put their trust in Him. So the next morning I told my wife I would go to the post-office to see if there was anything there. There was nothing. On my way back I met the missionary of the sailors' home (this was Sunday morning), and he invited me to come over to the mission and speak that night. I told him I should be pleased to do so, and went home. That evening I spoke to the sailors on the love of God, and our dependence upon Him; but I made no reference whatever to our condition. At the close of the services, a man came to the desk, and said, “See here, come to my room,” and turned squarely around and started off. He was a missionary who had a room in the mission building. I followed him to his room, and he said, “Here is a little money. I want you to take it and use it until I call for it,” and he handed me a little sack of money—about seven or eight dollars. “Well,” I said, “I did not ask you for money.” “I know it,” he replied; “but every day I am gathering this in, and it is in my way. I want you to take this and use it; you may need it.” Then I told him we did need it, and thanked him for it. I told him we were out of money, and had nothing to eat, and it was just what we did need. We had a very enjoyable little season there, and my wife and I went home and thanked the Lord. From time to time, as I met this man on the street, he would hand me from five to twenty dollars, and say, “Here, take this; I have no use for it; I do not need it; take it and use it; you may need it. Keep it until I call for it.” It ran up to something like one hundred or one hundred and fifty dollars; and when I sent the money to this man, he said, “I never did such a thing before in my life as to hand money out, and not have a scratch of the pen to show for it; but,” he said, “I know how it came; God told me to give you that money because you needed it.” [Voices: Amen! Amen!] Well, we thanked God for this experience, and took courage. I believe God permitted us to go through these experiences to try our faith, to see how persevering we were, and to teach us to go forward, trusting Him implicitly at all times, and in all things. THE KEEPING OF THE COMMANDMENTS
“I AM the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” We have seen that from the days of Constantine to the end of the sixth century image worship had become universally established in the Catholic Church. Thus stood Catholic idolatry when, early in the seventh century, the Mohammedans swarmed up from the deserts of Arabia, executing judgment upon the “idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk.” Rev. 9:20. “The triumphant Mussulmans, who reigned at Damascus and threatened Constantinople, cast into the scale of reproach the accumulated weight of truth and victory. The cities of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt had been fortified with the images of Christ, His mother, and His saints; and each city presumed on the hope or promise of miraculous defense. “In the rapid contest of ten years, the Arabs subdued those cities and these images; and, in their opinion, the Lord of hosts pronounced a decisive10 judgment between the adoration and contempt of these mute and inanimate idols. In this season of distress and dismay the eloquence of the monks was exercised in the defense of images.” Under the influence of the charge of idolatry, which the Mohammedans incessantly urged against the Catholics, some began to awake to the thought that perhaps the charge was true, and strongly desired the reformation of the Church. Besides these there were scattered throughout Christendom true Christians who constantly opposed, with the word of God and the example of primitive times, the worship of images. In a hundred years these influences had become so strong that Emperor Leo the Isaurian, in 727, took his stand, and issued an edict, against the worship of images. Opposition to this movement of the emperor’s caused the famous Iconoclastic Controversy, between the worshipers and the breakers of the images, which continued with bloody and unabated fury for one hundred and twenty years,—726–846,—and which finally resulted in the triumph of the worship of images, and the “religion of Constantine.” The emperor ordered the images to be broken to pieces, the walls of the churches to be whitewashed, and prosecuted with honest but imprudent vigor his design of extirpating idolatry. But a fierce dissension at once raged throughout all Christendom: the monks and the people arose in defense of their images and pictures, and the emperor, even in his own capital, was denounced as a heretic and a tyrant. There was an image of the Saviour, renowned for its miraculous powers, over the gate of the imperial palace called the Brazen Gate, from the rich tiles of gilt bronze that covered its magnificent vestibule. The emperor ordered the sacred figure to be taken down and broken to pieces. But the people from all parts of the city flew to the defense of their favorite idol, fell upon the officers, and put many of them to death. “The women were even more violent than the men. Like furies they rushed to the spot, and, finding one of the soldiers engaged in the unhallowed labor at the top of the ladder, they pulled it down, and tore him to pieces as he lay bruised upon the ground. ‘Thus,’ exclaims the pious annalist, ‘did the minister of the emperor’s injustice fall at once from the top of the ladder to the bottom of hell.’” “The women next flew to the great church, and finding the iconoclastic patriarch officiating at the altar, overwhelmed him with a shower of stones and a thousand opprobrious names. He escaped, bruised and fainting, from the building. The guards were now called out, and the female insurrection was suppressed; but not until several of the women had perished in the fray.” “The execution of the imperial edicts was resisted by frequent tumults in Constantinople and the provinces; the person of Leo was endangered, his officers were massacred, and the popular enthusiasm was quelled by the strongest efforts of the civil and military power.” In 728 the edict of the Eastern emperor abolishing the worship of images was published in Italy. The pope defended the images, of course, and “the Italians swore to live and die in defense of the pope and the holy images.” And thus there was begun a war which, in its nature and consequences, was in every sense characteristic of the papacy. It established the worship of images, as an article of Catholic faith; it developed the supremacy of the pope in temporal affairs. When Leo’s decree against the worship of images was published in the West, “the images of Christ and the Virgin, of the angels, martyrs, and saints, were abolished in all the churches in Italy;” and the emperor threatened the pope that if he did not comply with the decree, he should be degraded and sent into exile. But the pope—Gregory II—stood firmly for the worship of images, and sent pastoral letters throughout Italy, exhorting the faithful to do the same. “At this signal, Ravenna, Venice, and the cities of the exarchate and Pentapolis adhered to the cause of religious images; their military force by sea and land consisted, for the most part, of the natives; and the spirit of patriotism and zeal was transfused into the mercenary strangers. The Italians swore to live and die in the defense of the pope and the holy images. . . . The Greeks were overthrown and massacred, their leaders suffered an ignominious death, and the popes, however inclined to mercy, refused to intercede for these guilty victims.” At Ravenna, A. D. 729, the riot and bloody strife was so great that even the exarch, the personal representative of the emperor, was slain. “To punish this flagitious deed, and restore his dominion in Italy, the emperor sent a fleet and army into the Adriatic Gulf. After suffering from the winds and the waves much loss and delay, the Greeks made their descent in the neighborhood of Ravenna. . . . In a hard-fought day, as the two armies alternately yielded and advanced, a phantom was seen, a voice was heard, and Ravenna was victorious by the assurance of victory. The strangers retreated to their ships, but the populous seacoast poured forth a multitude of boats; the waters of the Po were so deeply infected with blood, that during six years the public prejudice abstained from the fish of the river; and the institution of an annual feast perpetuated the worship of images, and the abhorrence of the Greek tyrant. Amidst the triumph of the Catholic arms, the Roman pontiff convened a synod of ninety-three bishops against the heresy of the Iconoclasts. With their consent he pronounced a general excommunication against all who by word or deed should attack the traditions of the Fathers and the images of the saints.” The establishment of the worship of images as an article of Catholic faith, will be related next week. The word “love” is a common one. It is much used. Its meanings are many and various. Sometimes it implies nothing more than admiration. Often it indicates only greed. It may denote personal sentiment and individual affection between men and women. Frequently it is indicative of the most supreme type of selfishness. It often signifies gross immorality and base passion. In brief, our ideas of love have become so narrow and so low that if the word be analyzed in relation to the emotions, passions, and actions, to which it is for the most part applied, it will be found to express two of the worst traits of human life—selfishness and lust. Even at best, human love is often but little better than a form of selfishness. A man loves a woman—why?—Because of his desire to draw her to himself, to possess her,—to have her for his life companion,—to gain her to be exclusively his own. But the love of God is the absolute opposite of all these things. “God so loved . . . that He GAVE. With God loving is giving. “God is love.” With the Eternal One to love is to give. “God is love.” His life is nothing but love. With Him to live is to love, and to love is to give—living is loving, and loving is giving. Now, therefore, the supreme idea in the love of God is this—It is a love which gives. Any love which does not give is not the love of God at all. It is only human. It is earthly, sensual, devilish. Common affection is not true love. The test of all genuine love is that it has in it the element of giving—yea, that its very essence is self-sacrificial giving. In this, when a man loves a woman it is that he may give to her all human devotion. The word translated “love” signifies “benevolent.” The word “benevolent” comes from two Latin words—bene, which means “rightly” or “well,” and volens, meaning “wishing.” The word “benevolent” is therefore defined as follows: “Having a disposition to do good; possessing or manifesting love to mankind, and a desire to promote their prosperity and happiness; disposed to give to good objects.” Etymologically considered, benevolent implies wishing well to others, and beneficent, doing well. But by degrees the word “benevolent” has been widened to include not only feelings but actions. From these definitions it is clear that the love of the Bible is a love that manifests itself in giving. More than this, right giving—the giving of the Bible—springs from right willing or wishing. There are many in the world who make expensive presents or gifts to others. There are wealthy men who give millions of dollars to different enterprises. Yet much of this giving is pure selfishness. God frowns upon it, because it does not proceed from right wishes, from noble desires of the heart. A gift may be made with the idea of gaining the favor of some one else. Such gifts, whether made to Christ’s cause or to men, are displeasing to God. Many times lavish gifts are bestowed upon great enterprises because the giver desires to become well known and well thought of. This is naught but pharisaism. It is written: “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right doeth; that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.” The love of God therefore is a love which gives—gives because of love and loyalty to the cause and object upon which it is bestowed. This giving love, and it alone, is the love of God. How many times has this and similar testimony been borne in a public social meeting: “I am very happy; I feel so much of the love of God in my heart; this faith grows more and more precious to me day by day.” And yet many who utter such words have absolutely no idea of the responsibilities of the love of God—the responsibility to give. He who does not feel the burden upon him to give of his life, to give of his God-intrusted talents, and to give of his property, of his money, to the suffering cause of God, does not know the love of God, for— My brother, my sister, when you and I kneel down to pray that God will bless the Third Angel’s Message and hasten on its work with power in the earth, how can we have faith that the Lord will be pleased with that prayer when we are withholding the money so necessary to make the work go? It is useless for men to pray to God to bless the work and to tell the Lord how much they love the work when they do not support it by their offerings. Such prayers are an abomination in the sight of heaven. What good does it do to pray for the success of the Third Angel’s Message if we do not freely give the strength and money necessary to forward it in the earth? Any one who does this simply does not believe the Third Angel’s Message at all. Statesmen and army officers have a saying that “money is the sinews of war.” The same is to a great extent true in the warfare now being waged on earth between Christ and His followers on the one side and Satan and his followers on the other side. It is not well-worded testimonies that count. Long prayers may or may not reveal loyalty and devotion to the cause of God. In the Bible it is written: “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” Loving in word and in tongue,—251 merely talking about the love of God,—making a profession of love,—is a very different thing from possessing the real love of God. The real love of God is a thing of deed, not of word. It is a love which does; it is a love which gives. And now, my dear brethren and sisters, one and all, is God calling upon us to love His cause? Oh, yes; we know He is, and we must hasten to manifest that love in the same way that God himself manifests it—by giving. He has said that financial ruin and disgrace are staring His schools in America and the institutions in Scandinavia in the face. He is calling for gifts, both large and small, to succor these instrumentalities and save them to His cause. Here is an opportunity to manifest the love of God in “*deed and in truth,” and the Lord has confidence that His flock will heed His voice and manifest their love. If He did not have this confidence, He would not make the call. Giving on this wise is in itself the gift of God. It is so written in the Scriptures:— “Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit [we want you to understand] of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace [“gift,” margin] also. Therefore, as ye abound in everything [or gift] in [the gift of] faith, and [in the gift of] utterance, and [in the gift of] knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace [gift] also. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.” The desire to give manifesting itself in the act of giving is in itself a gift of God. He who rightly gives to the cause of God is exercising a spiritual gift bestowed on him by the Master. This gift God freely bestows upon all who open their hearts and hands liberally to perform it. Giving is a gift. The exercise of this gift is just as surely the exercise of a gift of God as is the exercise of the gift of faith, or of utterance, or of knowledge, or of prophecy, or of teaching, or of tongues. It is a gift of ministry, and he who exercises it is a minister of the gospel. The gift of giving is the gift which proves the sincerity of our love. To all men and women who wish to prove that they possess the love of God, the great apostle commends this gift. By the exercise of the gift of giving, the redeemed of God can prove to all the world and to themselves that they have the love of God abounding in their hearts in deed and in truth. So therefore, in the language of Paul, I say: “Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have. For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. . . . But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: FOR GOD LOVETH A CHEERFUL GIVER.”