“In all that pertains to the success of God’s work, the very first victories are to be won in the home life.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VI, p. 354.
The greatest strength of the church does not consist in its impregnable doctrines, in its excellent organization, nor in the fact that we know what will be the final outcome of the world’s present strife and turmoil. The greatest strength of the church consists in the genuine virtues and graces that appear within the family circle, indicating a preparation of heart to meet the coming issues, and showing to the world that we are preparing for the coming of the Lord. After all, the world is more impressed by what the church lives than by what the ministry preaches. And the church is judged by the influences that flow from its central fountain—the home.
The home is the most important institution in the world, because it has more to do with the formation of character than all other influences. It is the real university in which men and women are trained for life. “To the lack of right home training may be traced the larger share of the disease and misery and crime that curse humanity.”—“Ministry of Healing,” p. 351. On the other hand, the strong influences for righteousness that have blessed the world and carried on unrelenting warfare against evil, have come largely from well-disciplined Christian homes. Many a man and woman has been kept true to principle in the conflicts of life by the influences of a godly home.
“O precious voice of the fireside!
Sweet spirit of calm and cheer!
Though the wild wind roars o’er the pathless wastes,
What matter, so thou art near?
Thy voice ne’er stills, though the years go on,
When the patter of falling rain
Drips from the eaves and trembles the leaves
And rattles the windowpane.
Holy and sacred the voice of home,
It steals to our hearts again.”
Home Life a Test of Religious Experience
A little girl who was asked what it meant to be a Christian, replied: “For me to be a Christian is to live as Jesus would live and behave as Jesus would behave if he were a little girl and lived at our house.”
Perhaps no better definition of practical Christianity could be given. It is comparatively easy to be a regular attendant at church and Sabbath school, take part in devotional meetings, and yet utterly fail in the daily routine of home life. The real test of the genuineness of our religion is in the home, where we constantly have experiences that vex and annoy us, and where it is not considered necessary to keep our inner thoughts and feelings hidden.
Husband and Wife
The key to a happy Christian home is love—unselfish love between husband and wife, between parents and children. In “Ministry of Healing,” pages 360, 361, we read: “Though difficulties, perplexities, and discouragements may arise, let neither husband nor wife harbor the thought that their union is a mistake or a disappointment. Determine to be all that it is possible to be to each other. Continue the early attentions. In every way encourage each other in fighting the battles of life. Study to advance the happiness of each other. Let there be mutual love, mutual forbearance. Then marriage, instead of being the end of love, will be as it were the very beginning of love. . . .”
“Neither the husband nor the wife should attempt to exercise over the other an arbitrary control. Do not try to compel each other to yield to your wishes. You cannot do this and retain each other’s love. Be kind, patient, and forbearing, considerate, and courteous. By the grace of God you can succeed in making each other happy, as in your marriage vow you promised to do.”
In the sunny days of courtship many imagine that nothing can ever mar their love and happiness as they travel down life’s road together. But cares, perplexities, and disappointments come, and they find that something more than human power is required to enable them always to keep sweet tempered and manifest that tender regard and mutual forbearance which at first seemed so natural. It is easy to lose self-control in the free atmosphere of home, and to think that it does not matter. We have “careful thought for the stranger,” but often “for our own the bitter tone.” Even when no cross words are spoken, there is frequently a great lack of endearing expressions, compliments, and even the simplest courtesies which do so much to make life worth living. We should, by the grace of God, always be at our best among those we love the most.
A little boy came running in from his play and said, “O mamma, I’m so hungry to see you! Won’t you kiss me?” How often our dear ones at home are hungry for a warmth and tenderness which they do not receive! Of many a tired mother or father who has laid down life’s burdens, it might truthfully be written, “Died for want of love.”
The apostle’s admonition is, “Husbands, love your wives.” Eph. 5:25. Love is not despotic, and does not put its object in a servant’s place. Love serves. Love “seeketh not her own.” The Scripture says, “Love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church.” What a standard for husbands to strive to attain! As Christ gave himself for the church, so the true husband will give himself for his wife in self-denial and whole-hearted devotion. There are husbands who in a great crisis would gladly give up their lives for their companions, and yet they fail to give themselves in the best sense by manifestations of tenderness and expressions of love. It is this only which satisfies the soul’s heart hunger.
But the lack of happy homes is not by any means always due to a failure on the part of the husband. It frequently happens that the wife fails to sympathize with the husband in his work and to appreciate his love and protection. Sometimes she lacks vision to see the larger affairs of life, and allows the little details of everyday life, with which she must constantly deal, so to harass and annoy her that she cannot form just judgments in regard to the great problems of life. Often she falls far short of complete victory over ill temper and petty jealousies.
Again, there are women with a mistaken ambition for some independent work outside the home, who overlook and neglect the exalted work which God would have them do,—the training of their children and the coöperation with their husbands in their work.
The happiness of thousands of homes is marred because the problem of handling money is not correctly solved. And while a stroke of the pen cannot settle this economic problem in the homes where these words shall be read, there is a fundamental principle that can be stated which lies at the basis of the problem. It is this: Marriage is a partnership in which the individuality of16neither party is lost. Both give their best for the benefit and happiness of the firm, and both should share in whatever dividends result from their mutual toil, whether it be happiness, comforts, or money. And yet wives are constantly subjected to humiliation in regard to money, although there is no reason why they should be, even from the standpoint of justice and fair play, to say nothing of religion.
Whatever may be the individual financial ability of either husband or wife in any particular case,—and every observer knows that greater wisdom in financial matters sometimes rests with one, and sometimes with the other,—there is no justice in taking away all the wife’s independence in money matters by compelling her to act as a suppliant and a beggar in the home where she spends longer hours and in more nerve-wearing employment than the husband.
The home should be “the holy of holies of a man’s life. There he may shut himself in from all the world. There he comes in from the cold and strength-sapping strife and work of the outer world. He warms himself at love’s fires. He renews his strength in love’s atmosphere. He rests both spirit and body in love’s faith and confidences. It is his starting point out on his errands in the world, and his returning and retiring place for the nourishing of his life afresh.”
Training of Children
“Training a child is the highest and holiest and most fascinating of all occupations.” How important, then, that all the influences, examples, and teaching in this home training school should be Christian. “Above all things else, let parents surround their children with an atmosphere of cheerfulness, courtesy, and love. A home where love dwells, and where it is expressed in looks, in words, and in acts, is a place where angels delight to manifest their presence. . . . The atmosphere thus created will be to the children what air and sunshine are to the vegetable world, promoting health and vigor of mind and body.”—“Id., pp. 386, 387.”
This sacred work rests largely upon the mother, especially in the earlier years. Here is a beautiful message which should comfort every tired mother’s heart: “If you are a mother, train your children for Christ. This is as verily a work for God as is that of the minister in the pulpit.”—“Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 359.”
The task is more baffling and disheartening when left to the mother alone. In the parable of the prophet to King Ahab, he said, “As thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone.” This will doubtless have to be the plea of many fathers when they stand before God. Too often they are busy here and there with their affairs, their plans, their ambitions, leaving the rearing of the children to the mother, the schools, and the outside world.
There is perhaps nothing in which we more often fail than in not making our children companions. It is far better that mothers should take time to engage with their children in innocent pleasures than to spend their energies on the adornment of the family or the decoration of the house. To fathers it is written, “Give some of your leisure hours to your children; become acquainted with them; associate with them in their work and in their sports, and win their confidence. Cultivate friendship with them, especially with your sons. In this way you will be a strong influence for good.”—“Ministry of Healing, pp. 391, 392.” No doubt thousands of boys and girls have been lost because of a lack of such friendship.
BAPTISMAL SCENE IN SOUTHERN JAPAN
Brother B. P. Hoffman is officiating. A church
was organized here, Nagoya.
“And what if their feet,
Sent out of houses, sent into the street,
Should step round the corner and pause at the door
Where other boys’ feet have paused often before;
Should pass through the gateway of glittering light,
Where jokes that are merry and songs that are bright
Ring out a warm welcome with flattering voice,
And temptingly say, ‘Here’s a place for the boys’?
“Ah, what if they should?
What if your boy, or mine,
Should cross o’er the threshold which marks out the line
’Twixt virtue and vice, ’twixt pureness and sin,
And leave all his innocent boyhood within?
Ah, what if they should, because you and I,
While the days and the months and the years hurry by,
Are too busy with cares and with life’s fleeting toys
To make round our hearthstone a place for the boys?”
God said of Abraham, “I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him.” Gen. 18:19. He governed them, it has been said, by the “combined influence of authority and affection.” What a contrast to Eli, who, though a good man, only remonstrated with his sons, but did not control them, thus permitting them to bring disgrace upon their father and upon Israel. The bishop must be “one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity” (1 Tim. 3:4); and every father should strive for the same ideal.
Family Worship
Every Christian home is a house of prayer. God blesses and shelters the household where he is worshiped. “Prayer weaves a roof of love over the home, and builds walls of protection about it.” Obed-edom made a place for the ark of God in his house, and God blessed his home, and made it a blessing to the nation. On hearing how God had blessed Obed-edom’s house, David renewed his efforts to establish the worship of God in Jerusalem. “Fathers and mothers, however pressing your business, do not fail to gather your family around God’s altar. Ask for the guardianship of holy angels in your home. Remember that your dear ones are exposed to temptations. Daily annoyances beset the path of young and old. Those who would live patient, loving, cheerful lives must pray. Only by receiving constant help from God can we gain the victory over self.”—Id., p. 393.
The Importance of Good Books in the Home
Parents should seek to bring to their children the very best material for building strong characters. It is very important that they should be taught the reading habit, and then be led into the riches of the Bible and good books. A story is told that a soldier of Cyrus found a casket which was said to be full of valuable treasures. It was opened, and out of it came a poisonous atmosphere which caused a plague in the army. There are bright-covered books and magazines in many homes that emit poisonous influences. One of the last burdens on the mind of our beloved Sister White was that our children should have books selected for them which would have a sanctifying power upon their lives. We have been admonished to “form a home reading circle, in which every member of the family shall lay aside the busy cares of the day, and unite in study. Fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, take up this work heartily, and see if the home church will not be greatly improved.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VII, p. 64.
Duties of Children
While the burden of making a happy Christian home rests entirely on the parents when children are young, as these children grow up, a due share of the burden rests upon them also. So important is the relation which children should sustain toward their parents that it has been given a place in the holy law of God: “Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” This means that children should always obey and respect their parents. Jesus, who is our example in all things, even after comprehending his mission at the age of twelve, went down to Nazareth, and was subject to his parents for eighteen more years. For him his “Father’s business” during those years was to live in subjection to his parents while engaged in the lowly duties of home life. And on the cross, Jesus paid his last tribute of love and honor to his mother. In the midst of his own anguish, he thought of her and provided for her declining years. “Amid the dark scenes of the cross his example shines like a star in the bosom of the blackest17clouds, saying to us, ‘Honor thy father and thy mother.’”
Ministry of the Christian Home
True religion in the home makes it a beacon light in the moral darkness of this world, pointing men and women to a Saviour. In a special manner are sympathetic Christian homes able to uplift young people.
“Our sympathies are to overflow the boundaries of self and the inclosure of family walls. There are precious opportunities for those who will make their homes a blessing to others. Social influence is a wonderful power. We can use it if we will as a means of helping those about us.
“Our homes should be a place of refuge for the tempted youth. Many there are who stand at the parting of the ways. Every influence, every impression, is determining the choice that shapes their destiny both here and hereafter. Evil invites them. Its resorts are made bright and attractive. They have a welcome for every comer. All about us are youth who have no home, and many whose homes have no helpful, uplifting power, and the youth drift into evil. They are going down to ruin within the very shadow of our own doors. . . .
“If we would show an interest in the youth, invite them to our homes, and surround them with cheering, helpful influences, there are many who would gladly turn their steps into the upward path.”—“Ministry of Healing,” pp. 354, 355.
A Promised Revival
That there is to be a great revival of genuine home religion among Seventh-day Adventists we confidently expect from the prophecy of Malachi. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” Mal. 4:5, 6. Brethren and sisters, why not let the Spirit of God begin that revival in our homes today—let it come in the spirit and power of Elijah, to prepare us, and through us to prepare the world, for the “great and dreadful day of the Lord”?
Illustrate the perfectness, the promptness, and the completeness with which the angels do the will of the Father in heaven, by referring to Eze. 1:4-28, emphasizing particularly verses 9, 12, 14, 20, 21; and Ps. 103:19, 20.
If we desire the will of God to be done on earth as it is in heaven, we must do that which God would have us do, as faithfully as the angels do their work.
How God makes it possible for us to do his will. Eze. 11:19, 20.
The Lord's Prayer
Children's Lesson — No. 5
The Lord's Prayer
“GIVE us this day our daily bread.” Memory Verse: Rom. 8:32.
This prayer acknowledges our dependence upon God day by day.
Trace the development of a loaf of bread from the planting of the seed containing the life-germ placed there by God's hand, in God's earth, and nourished by his sunshine and rain, through the various stages,—growing grain, wheat kernels, flour, bread.
How appropriate this prayer when “only one summer-blessing of God stands between the world and starvation.”
In this prayer we recognize the Father's loving care for the creatures he has made:— 1. He provides food, drink, clothing. Matt. 6:25-30.
2. He sends rain, sunshine, snow, and wind. Ps. 147:8, 16, 18.
3. The world is fed directly from God's resources. Ps. 104:27, 28.
“Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.” Mal. 3:7-9.
It seems fitting at this annual time of seeking God that we give prayerful consideration to these words of an ancient prophet. That this scripture has an application to the last days seems clear from the fact that, after rebuking the people for robbing God, the prophet brings before us the awful day of God, and when the wicked will be consumed like stubble, and the earth cleansed from sin.
This is a fearful indictment the Lord here brings against his people. To rob our fellow man is a great sin; but surely it is infinitely worse for a man to rob his Maker.
How have we robbed God? Listen to the answer: “In tithes and offerings.” Brethren and sisters, are we guilty? Have we been robbing God? Have we withheld our tithes? We must meet these questions in the judgment.
If withholding the tithe in the days of the prophet Malachi was robbery,—was really a transgression of the commandment which says, “Thou shalt not steal,”—then it is so still. The Lord has not changed; it is still robbing him to withhold from his treasury that which he has declared holy and has reserved for his own work. It brings upon the transgressor the curse of Jehovah,—“Ye are cursed with a curse.” It is a terrible thing to be under the curse of God. How can we expect a refreshing from God at this week of prayer if we fail to give to him his own? It truly must be a sad spectacle for the pure and holy God to behold a man claiming to believe in the Son of God, to be washed from sin in his blood, to be preparing for translation into a kingdom where the very streets of the eternal city are made of pure gold and its gates of pearl, yet so covetous that he robs the treasury of God of that which is holy, that he may use it for his own selfish purposes.
That some are withholding from God the sacred tithe and bringing upon themselves and the church the curse of God, the following from the Spirit of prophecy makes quite clear:—
“Many who profess to be keeping the commandments of God are appropriating to their own use the means which the Lord has intrusted to them, and which should come into his treasury. They rob God in tithes and in offerings. They dissemble, and withhold from him to their own hurt. They bring leanness and poverty upon themselves, and darkness upon the church, because of their covetousness, their dissembling, and their robbing God in tithes and offerings.”—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. III, p. 269.
“Many” of those who profess to keep the Sabbath and to look for the Lord to come, guilty of robbing God! Members of the church, praying for a blessing, yet ruled by covetousness and defrauding the Almighty! No wonder the power of the Holy Spirit is withheld. Shall we not at this very meeting repent of this terrible sin, restore to God, so far as we can, that which we have withheld, and receive from him the promised blessing? The Lord does not ask us to pay tithe because he needs the money. He could rain gold from heaven. But he has instituted the tithing system because we need the blessed experience of recognizing God in all we do.
The example of Achan should be studied carefully in this connection. The Lord had said that all the silver and gold and all vessels of brass and iron found in Jericho were consecrated to him, and should “come into the treasury of the Lord.” Joshua 6:19. But Achan said, “When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels’ weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.” Joshua 7:21. How sad to think that one who doubtless had marched around Jericho and helped raise the triumphant shout of victory when the Lord gave them the city, should do this wicked thing! But covetousness caused him to do it. The Lord tells us this was sin, transgression, stealing, dissembling, and that he would be with them no more unless they destroyed the accursed thing from among them. See verses 11-13. This was why Israel could not stand before their enemies. There was a robber in the camp, one who had among his own stuff that which belonged in the treasury of God.
This record of Achan’s sin should lead us to a careful examination to ascertain if we, like Achan, through covetousness have hidden among our stuff that which belongs in the treasury of God. We greatly fear that an honest search will reveal that the sin of Achan is in our midst, and that for this reason Israel today is weak and unable to push the work of God as it should be.
It is quite evident that the Saviour did not in any way change or abridge the sacred obligation of paying tithe. “Woe18unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” Matt. 23:23.
“These,” that is, “judgment, mercy, and faith,” the “weightier matters of the law,” ought ye to have done, but not to leave the “other,” paying tithe, undone. The Pharisees were particular in this matter, tithing even the smallest garden herbs; and Jesus did not say they were too particular. He did not tell them that it was of no importance, that it was a part of the types and shadows which were soon to meet their antitype and pass away. He did not intimate that the Lord was not particular in such small matters. Far from it! Indeed, he said that it was an obligation that they should not leave undone. In what stronger language could he have enforced the strict payment of tithes than in the language here used? And surely if scribes and Pharisees should pay tithes, those who believe in Jesus as their Saviour, and who are looking for him soon to return in the clouds of heaven, should do so. And that which Jesus says we are not to leave “undone,” cannot be left undone, except at the peril of our souls.
Further, we should not overlook the lesson taught by God’s dealings with Ananias and Sapphira. The story of their sin and its punishment is recorded for our instruction fully as much as is anything else which took place under the spiritual awakening in the early church after Pentecost. They had vowed to give to God a certain amount. But Satan suggested that this was too much; that they could pretend to live up to the vow made, and yet keep back part of the price received for the land. Covetousness led them to conspire together to do this wicked thing. The rebuke administered by the Lord indicates to the end of time how the Lord regards the terrible sin of lying to the Holy Ghost and failing to fulfil one’s vows.
The lesson is for the church today. “The hearts of men become hardened through selfishness, and like Ananias and Sapphira, they are tempted to withhold part of the price, while pretending to come up to the rules of tithing. Will a man rob God? Should means flow into the treasury exactly according to God’s plan,—a tenth of all the increase,—there would be abundance to carry forward his work.”—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. V, p. 150.
It is sad to think that, regardless of the terrible judgment which God administered as a warning against this sin, it is being repeated among us. Some hearts are being hardened as were those of Ananias and Sapphira, and while pretending to pay tithe, such individuals give only a part. Some, we fear, lay down at the end of the week, or the month, or the quarter, a sum, saying, “Here is my tithe,” when it is not a true tithe. Let us not pass this lesson over lightly, but by the aid of the Holy Spirit bring it into our own lives.
Notice, further, that we are told that we have robbed God not only in tithes, but in offerings as well. Not only have we withheld tithes from the treasury of the Lord, but our offerings have not been so liberal as they should have been. Of Cornelius it was said, “Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.” Acts 10:4. Doubtless liberal gifts accompanied the prayers of Cornelius. His prayers were not hindered by scanty giving, because of covetousness. Here is another impressive statement from the Spirit of prophecy:—
“There is a burden upon my soul in regard to the destitute mission fields. . . . There is great need of funds to advance the work in foreign fields. Our foreign missions are languishing. The missionaries are not sustained as God requires they should be. For want of funds, workers are not able to enter new fields. . . .
“God’s people are on trial before the heavenly universe; but the scantiness of their gifts and offerings, and the feebleness of their efforts in God’s service, mark them as unfaithful stewards. . . .
“I appeal to our brethren everywhere to awake, to consecrate themselves to God, and to seek wisdom from him. I appeal to the officers of our conferences to make earnest efforts in our churches to arouse them to give of their means for sustaining foreign missions. The Foreign Mission Board needs to carry a continual responsibility in this line. Unless your hearts are touched as you see the situation in foreign fields, the last message of mercy to be given to the world will be restricted, and the work which God would have done will be left undone.”—Special Testimony.
The scantiness of our gifts marks us as unfaithful stewards. This is a very sad condition. Surely, at this week of prayer, with a world in the last throes of dissolution, we should make such a liberal offering that this reproach will be wiped away.
These solemn words of the servant of the Lord, written years ago, should touch our hearts at this time:—
“The angel said, ‘Destruction is coming like a mighty whirlwind.’ I begged of the angel to pity and to save those who loved this world, who were attached to their possessions, and were not willing to cut loose from them, and sacrifice to speed the messengers on their way to feed the hungry sheep who were perishing for want of spiritual food.
“‘As I viewed poor souls dying for want of the present truth, and some who professed to believe the truth were letting them die, by withholding the necessary means to carry forward the work of God, the sight was too painful, and I begged of the angel to remove it from me. I saw that when the cause of God called for some of their property, like the young man who came to Jesus (Matt. 19:16-22), they went away sorrowful; and that soon the overflowing scourge would pass over and sweep their possessions all away, and then it would be too late to sacrifice earthly goods, and lay up a treasure in heaven. . . .19Then again was held up before me those who were not willing to dispose of this world’s goods to save perishing souls by sending them the truth while Jesus stands before the Father pleading his blood, his sufferings, and his death for them; and while God’s messengers are waiting, ready to carry them the saving truth that they might be sealed with the seal of the living God. It is hard for some who profess to believe the present truth, to do even so little as to hand the messengers God’s own money, that he has lent them to be stewards over.
“‘The suffering Jesus, his love so deep as to lead him to give his life for man, was again held up before me; also the lives of those who professed to be his followers, who had this world’s goods, but considered it so great a thing to help the cause of salvation. The angel said, ‘Can such enter heaven?’ Another angel answered, ‘No, never, never, never. Those who are not interested in the cause of God on earth, can never sing the song of redeeming love above.’”—Early Writings, pp. 49, 50.
Souls dying for the truth, and we who believe the message letting them die, by selfishly clinging to our means! Such cannot enter heaven, said the angel. No wonder the sight so pained the servant of God that she begged the angel to remove it. It ought to pain our hearts, and lead us to repentance and greater liberality to advance the cause of truth.
We have been accustomed to apply the warning in James 5 to those who are amassing great fortunes, and doubtless it has its application there, but not wholly. Read the following comment:—
“I was directed to James 5:1-3: ‘Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.’
“‘I saw that these fearful words apply particularly to the wealthy who profess to believe the present truth. The Lord calls them to use their means to advance his cause. Opportunities are presented to them, but they shut their eyes to the wants of the cause, and cling fast to their earthly treasure. Their love for the world is greater than their love for the truth, their love for their fellow men, or their love for God. He calls for their substance, but they selfishly, covetously, retain what they have. They give a little now and then to ease their conscience, but have not overcome their love for this world. They do not sacrifice for God. The Lord has raised up others that prize eternal life, and that can feel and realize something of the value of the soul, and they have freely bestowed their means to advance the cause of God. The work is closing; and soon the means of those who have kept their riches, their large farms, their cattle, etc., will not be wanted. I saw the Lord turn to such in anger, in wrath, and repeat these words: ‘Go to now, ye rich men.’ He has called20but you would not hear. Love of this world has drowned his voice. Now he has no use for you, and lets you go, bidding you, ‘Go to now, ye rich men.’
“‘Oh, I saw it was an awful thing to be thus forsaken by the Lord,—a fearful thing to hold on to a perishable substance here, when he has said that if we will sell and give alms, we can lay up treasure in heaven. I was shown that as the work is closing up, and the truth is going forth in mighty power, these rich men will bring their means and lay it at the feet of the servants of God, begging them to accept it. The answer from the servants of God will be, ‘Go to now, ye rich men. Your means is not needed. Ye withheld it when ye could do good with it in advancing the cause of God. The needy have suffered; they have not been blessed by your means. God will not accept your riches now. Go to now, ye rich men.’”—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. I, pp. 174, 175.
In all the Book of God I know of no greater promise of reward for faithfulness than is promised to those who give to God his own. The very windows of heaven will be opened upon them, the devourer rebuked, their barns be filled with plenty, and blessing unmeasured poured out upon them. It is hard to understand how the Lord could place before us any more abundant blessings than he has been pleased to do here by the mouth of his servant. It is indeed sad that man’s heart by selfishness and covetousness becomes so hardened as to withhold from the Lord his own. Surely if we fulfil our part, the Lord will make good his promise.
The Lord is coming. The year of jubilee hastens. There will soon be a time when things earthly will be of no value. Now while probation lasts should we not make the liberal contributions to his treasury which will rejoice our hearts in the day when we meet Jesus face to face? It will take all to buy the treasure in the field. We cannot have this world and the pearl of eternal life also. The time is not far distant when men will throw their silver and gold to the moles and the bats, and crawl into the cracks and crevices of the rocks to hide from the presence of the Lord. It is no time now to hold on to worldly things. “In this way, then, every one from among you who is not bidding adieu to all his own goods cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:33, Rotherham’s translation.
A little time remains in which we can use the talent and earthly treasure with which we are intrusted by the Lord for the salvation of lost souls. Let our response to the call of the hour be liberal, that the work may not be hindered.
