Certainly; for so the scripture affirms. But there is a qualifying clause that takes from the passage every repulsive feature: “Not slack, . . . as some men count slackness.” With men, or in the sense in which men use the term, slackness is a very unsavory feature of one’s character. A man who is slack, is described as “one who is backward in action, lacking in promptness and diligence, negligent, remiss.” He is spoken of as “languid, limp, feeble, lacking in briskness and activity.” “Slackness” is defined to mean, “the character, or state, of being slack.”
To charge the Lord with being slack in the sense of any one of these human characteristics, would be the height of impiety; this is the way men count slackness. But when the scripture says, “Not slack, . . . as some men count slackness,” it bars out all these features from the divine character.
And yet there is a sense in which the Scriptures use this term as applying to the Lord, or as characterizing his course of action. The passage containing that which implies this, is 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
The very fact that such conditions and limitations are so carefully specified in this case, is conclusive evidence that there is something in God’s ways which men would be prone to misinterpret, and so come to regard God as dealing in a manner with his plans and purposes, his threats and promises, that might be pronounced wavering and dilatory. So while there would be in God’s dealings with the children of men that which would be covered by the term “slackness,” abstractly considered, we are hereby taught not to attribute it to any of these wrong principles by which men account for delays and failures in their dealings with their fellow men. “The Lord is not slack, . . . as some men count slackness.”
Notice, also, how the language is limited in another particular: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise.” When the Lord has given a promise, he ever bears that in mind. He does not forget it, nor grow careless about its fulfillment. And that promise is sure to come to pass; for God can not deny himself. But how difficult it is for us, whose existence is cut up into mere fragments of time, to view the progress of events from God’s standpoint, with whom a thousand years is as one day, and one day as a thousand years; and how ready we are if some promised, and expected, good is long in coming, to grow impatient, and fall into the despairing mood described by David, when he says, “Will the Lord . . . be favorable no more? is his mercy clean gone forever? doth his promise fail forevermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?” Ps. 77:7-9. In answer to this, one of the latest of the New Testament writers says, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise.”
Consider also the reason why God often seems to be slow in the fulfillments of his promises. Peter gives the reason: “But is long-suffering to us ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Therefore the immediate bringing to pass of God’s promises would be to cut short the probation of multitudes of people who are not yet ready for their account to be closed up, but whom God hopes by delay to bring to repentance, and finally to salvation.10Our waiting is consequently the salvation of others; and if, by foregoing a while the fruition of our hopes, we can give time for others to be reached and saved, who would not cheerfully accept that situation?
But if God is not slack concerning his promise, neither is he slack concerning his judgments and his punishments for sin. The wicked think he is; and how many are making this fatal mistake! “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” Eccl. 8:11. They count God’s long-suffering and forbearance, even as men count slackness; and they attribute the delay in the execution of the sentence to the same cause which leads men to carelessness and indifference. They say in their hearts that God does not see, or does not care for, their evil deeds, and is indifferent to them, and will never call them to account for them. They belong to the class described by David, who say, “God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.” Ps. 10:11. So they flatter themselves that all things continue as they were from the beginning, and that such a thing as his coming and their destruction will never overtake them.
But though God is, in one sense, slack, or seems so, on account of his waiting through his long-suffering and forbearance, and will wait before probation closes till every soul will have repented who will, or would, repent if more time, or any length of time, should be given, let none who are looking for any good despair, nor any who are worthy of condemnation flatter themselves that the account will never be closed and settled, and they receive their just deserts. God is not slack in these things as men count slackness. But all will be finished and closed up in its appropriate time,—the righteous glorified and saved, and the wicked banished forever from the presence of the Lord. “Say ye to the righteous,” exclaims the Lord by the prophet, “that it shall be well with him,” but “woe to the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.” Isa. 3:10, 11.
On the phrase, “not slack concerning his promise,” George McDonald says: “Never be discouraged because good things get on so slowly here; and never fail to do daily that good which lies next to your hand. Do nothing in a hurry; but be diligent; enter into the sublime patience of the Lord. Be charitable in view of it. God can afford to wait; why can not we, since we have him to fall back upon? Let patience have her perfect work, and bring forth her celestial fruit. Remember that the grand harvest of the ages shall come to its reaping; and the day shall broaden itself to a thousand years, and the thousand years shall show themselves as a perfect and finished day.”
The mercy of the Lord is designed to lead men to repentance; and the so-called slackness of the Lord, to lead men to salvation. Is not the reason good enough, and strong enough, and philanthropic enough, why the Lord should delay the culmination of his grand and glorious plans and purposes long enough for those so disposed to charge the Lord with slackness in carrying forward his work, and to give him reason to send back the challenge that “the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, . . . but is long-suffering to us ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”?
This will be the keenest pang in the remorse of every lost soul,—that God was not willing that he should perish, but used every means within the limit of his almighty power to bring him to himself, and to induce him to accept of his offers of infinite life and glory; used all his power to induce him to do this, short of forcing him to accept his grace; which, for obvious reasons, he can force no one to do; and besides this, has waited, and waited, and waited, for all to come, till men began to call him slack, tardy, and untrue to his word, and all the universe was wearied with the delay, and raised the cry to him: “How long, how long, O Lord, how long?” before he would give them up, and let them perish. And then they will see that it was their own doing to reject his offers of mercy; that they set up their own wills against the will of God; and by that will they could, and did, not only nullify all God’s efforts in their behalf, and seal their own destruction, but grieved and distressed that heart of infinite love, the heart of their best well-wisher in all the universe; and when they apply to their own cases that challenge which God addressed to his ancient apostate church, “What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?” they, like their prototypes of old, will be speechless.
Thompson, on 2 Peter 3, remarks: “The certainty of this coming destruction should cause us to lead unworldly, godly lives; the delay of it should discipline our faith, and lead us to improve the time in bringing men to holiness; the fact that it will come suddenly, should keep us watchful against sin; the prospect of the glory beyond should make us delight in the service of Christ.” U. S.
A REMARKABLE TESTIMONY.
By Stephen N. Haskell
Jeremiah, the “mournful prophet,” lived when Israel went into Babylonish captivity. His soul was burdened for the sins of his people and the welfare of the holy temple. His prophecies not only referred to the time in which he lived, but also to the time when the Jews would reject Christ, to the scattering of the Jews, and to the final gathering of the people of God in the last days. Three times the Lord told him not to pray for the people for their good; for he would not hear him (Jer. 7:16, 11:14; 14:11). But in this saying of the Lord, like Moses, he saw hope for the people (Ex. 32:9-12), and so he kept on praying; for if it was necessary for him to cease praying for the people, that God might destroy them, then there was hope that his prayers would save them.
“Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord. And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel.” 2 Chron. 36:11-13.
During the king’s wicked reign the Egyptians came to help Jerusalem. And the king sent a man of the priesthood to the prophet, saying, “Pray for us.” “Then came the word of the Lord unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to inquire of me: Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land. And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire. Thus saith the Lord: Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart. For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.” Jer. 37:1-10.
It will be noticed that the king thought he had a way of escape from the Chaldeans. It was by the aid of the Egyptians. God had previously said that Nebuchadnezzar was his servant, and would come against Jerusalem and take the city. Instead of the king and the people humbling their hearts, they remained in their wickedness and sought help from another source; so this was the testimony returned to the king. It seems that Jeremiah now became discouraged about rendering them any further assistance. “Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to separate himself thence in the midst of the people.” Verse 12. He was taken, and falsely charged as having gone to fall into the hands of the Chaldeans. The princes took the prophet and put him into the dungeon, where he remained several days in a cell. Then Zedekiah sent and had him taken out, and inquired if there was any word from the Lord. The reply was, “There is: for, said he, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.” The prophet asked what he had done to receive such treatment at the king’s hand? Zedekiah’s heart was touched, and he began to feel for the prophet of the Lord. Another testimony came, assuring them of the sword, famine, and pestilence, which would surely come upon Jerusalem, for which Jeremiah was thrust into a dungeon, where in a short time he would die.
The king’s heart relented, and he had Jeremiah taken out; and now, doubtless under Jeremiah’s direction, the king undertook to carry out the scripture concerning the jubilee, and release every servant and those in debt or in any way oppressed. This had never been done since the time of Moses.
After this came another testimony from the prophet entirely different from anything he had ever before received. Zedekiah said to the prophet, “I will ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me.” Here they entered into a covenant, the king promising not to deliver again the prophet into their hands, but to follow the light God would give. Then there came this wonderful testimony:—
“Thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon’s princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thine house: but if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand.” Jer. 38:17, 18.
The king did not dare obey, for fear of the people. The prophet besought him to do this, assuring him, “They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the Lord, which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.” Here was Zedekiah’s last hope. It was the last offer to spare the city. The king himself was responsible for its salvation. But it was not his way,—the way he would choose,—and he refused because he feared the people. This showed that while he professed great faith at this time in the prophet, yet here was a test altogether too close for a heart in which was a secret unbelief. Let the thirty-fourth to the thirty-ninth chapters of Jeremiah be studied, and a most wonderful lesson will be found, which should guide us in the last days in our relation toward the humble instrument through whom God has spoken for the last half-century, and also toward the Testimonies which have been sent to the leading men and people.
Our institutions, Conferences, and Foreign Mission Board are financially involved. The only way of escape has been pointed out. How many are laying it to heart? For the last three years especially, has the servant of God been presenting the needs of Australia as an important field, from which missionaries are to go forth to the inhabitants of other climates similar to that. Have we seen any more importance to this field than others? The Southern field has also been mentioned by the Lord; and it seems as if we become almost dazed at what is said. Do these Testimonies have the weight they should upon us? God began the work that would have brought relief all around, at the last General Conference; but Satan “trigged the wheels” by turning the attention from individual sacrifice to one man. Who now, in this time of extreme need, will come with help and relief?
Already God is drawing the line in the earth between him that believeth and him that believeth not. The judgments are abroad in the land. Is it not high time we take these Bible lessons and apply them to ourselves, and prepare to meet God? Either the work of present truth is all a deception, or it is high time to awake out of sleep and prepare for such a time as we have never before experienced. Our history as a people and as individuals is written out in the Scriptures, which we hold in our hands; and repeatedly we have been told that they should be studied as never before. Shall we not do it? These golden opportunities are fast passing into eternity, when selling and the giving of alms will be over. Money is now needed in every branch of the work. Men are needed. A zeal even beyond that of apostolic times should characterize the remnant. While a few more days of probation are left us, may the Lord have mercy on us, and stir our hearts to activity in the cause of Christ; for what we do must be done quickly. S. N. H.
Christ Rejects Earthly Kingship
The following passage from a sermon by the late Thomas Hewlings Stockton presents an infinity of truth; and is worthy to stand forever in letters ablaze with eternal glory:—11
There was one sacrifice too great for Christ to make! He was willing to leave the throne of the universe for the manger of Bethlehem; willing to grow up as the son of a poor carpenter; willing to be called the friend of publicans and sinners; willing to be watched with jealous eyes, and slandered by lying tongues, and hated by murderous hearts, and betrayed by friendly hands, and denied by pledged lips, and rejected by apostate priests and a deluded populace and cowardly princes; willing to be sentenced to the cross, and to carry the cross, and be nailed to the cross, and bleed and groan and thirst and die on the cross. But he was not willing to wear an earthly crown or robe, or wield an earthly scepter, or exercise earthly rule. That would have been too great a sacrifice! He did, indeed, endure the crown of thorns and the cast-off purple and the reed, and the cry, “Hail, King of the Jews!” But this was merely because he preferred the mockery to the reality; so pouring infinite contempt on the one, not only by rejecting it in the beginning of his ministry, but also by accepting the other at its close.
The Ceremonial Law in Colossians
By E. J. Hibbard
(Concluded.)
THAT the true ceremonial law of God is connected with this chapter in Colossians is evident from the fact that it says, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” Comparing this with Heb. 10:1, 4, and calling to mind our study on the same in a former number, all will see this fact. But when it came to the matter of judging Christians for nonconformity to those shadows of the body of Christ, the persons who did the judging, judged the Christians according to the rabbinical interpretation of that ceremonial law. And this involves all the additional laws concerning which we have studied, together with an infinite number that we have not studied. “They had added tradition to tradition, . . . till the commandments, ordinances, and service of God were LOST in a ceaseless round of MEANINGLESS rites and ceremonies. Their religion was a yoke of bondage.”—Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. II, page 108.
How do we know that the judging here referred to would involve all this ceremonialism of which we speak?—Simply because man is not the judge of his fellows. “He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is ONE lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?” James 4:11, 12. It is therefore evident, since there is only ONE JUDGE, that when man begins to judge his fellow man, he usurps the place of Another. When he does this, he arrays himself against God; for he “speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law.” And in his self-appointed office, as judge, he must construe the law, that is, interpret the law. This, in the days in which the book of Colossians was written, would throw the Jew, or the Jew who professed Christianity, back upon the mass of interpretations and traditions that we have already considered. This was what did happen in the church of Antioch, and formed the basis for the council recorded in Acts 15. This was also what troubled the churches in Galatia. For these facts, see “Studies in Galatians,” which have been running in the REVIEW for several months. When the Pharisees judged Christ and his disciples in reference to their Sabbath-keeping, or in reference to the washing of hands before eating, it was always according to the “tradition of the elders.”
Thus it was that, having “made void the law of God by their tradition,” their whole mass of “meaningless rites and ceremonies,” which were “connected to the laws of God by the thinnest thread,” became, as is expressed in Colossians 2, only “the commandments and doctrines of men.” But the “philosophy and vain deceit,” which was “after the rudiments of the world,” the “worshiping of angels” (demon, or ancestor worship, as the case might be),—this, together with the “punishing, or not sparing, the body,” introduces us to the philosophy and asceticism of the pagans. With one mighty sweep, therefore, the man who is delivered from the sins of his flesh, through the cross of Christ, is also delivered from all the commandments and doctrines of men. Not from civil law, unless it is in conflict with the law of God; but from all ecclesiastical law founded on the precepts and doctrines of men.
Whence came the doctrine of purgatory? of prayers for the dead? of the invocation of saints? of Mariolatry? Whence came the doctrine of infant baptism? of sprinkling for baptism? Whence came the Sunday sabbath? If these things are not found in the word of God, are they not of “the commandments and doctrines of men”? Will not every man who is delivered from the “body of sin,” from the “law of sin,” from “the carnal mind,” which “is enmity against God,”—yes, IS he not delivered from all the traditions and ceremonies that are the outgrowth of the natural mind? “If ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, after the commandments and doctrines of men?”
“The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me FREE from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” And why was all this?—“That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8:2–4.
In the first six articles, the ceremonial law of God was shown to be a remedy—strictly, the type, or shadow, of the Remedy—for the transgression of the law of God.
In the last six articles we find the ceremonial laws of men, springing from the carnal mind, which is enmity against God, and not subject to his law. We find that this carnal mind, with the laws which it originates, IS the transgression of the law of God. Christ has delivered us from the “law of sin” which is in our members; and from all the outward forms of that law, in the deliverance from the “law of sin” which is in our members. And this is done in order that the “righteousness of the law [of God] might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
And last, but not least: Among those who have “put on Christ,” “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: FOR YE ARE ALL ONE IN CHRIST JESUS.”
In such, and among such, there are no partition walls of race, nation, creed, party, or class. But, as with the traditions and ceremonies, so with the partition walls; we abandon them no faster than we are separated from the law of sin which is in our members. “If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but, if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” E. J. HIBBARD.
Honesty in Service
The Scripture says, “Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh.” When I am employed, whether by an institution, by a brother, or by a man of the world, that work is not my personal property; it is my employer’s. I am not the owner, I am not the employer; I am the servant; and it is an essential point in being honest, that I take care to do that piece of work exactly as the employer wishes it done. When I know what his mind is as to how the work is to be done, then in all my work I must conform to his will as closely and as honestly as I possibly can.
You are employed by him to do his work, not yours. You engage yourself to do his work for a certain amount of pay. To be honest, then, you must do his work precisely his way. You can not fairly ask him to pay you for doing his work in your way. Since, then, the work is his, you must conform strictly to his will in the doing of it. “Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh.” Be honest.
HOW SHALL WE SPEND THE LONG WINTER EVENINGS?
By W. S. Sadler
Working for Professors—Bible Readings.
THE Bible reading is a heaven-born idea. This plan of studying and teaching the Bible is a most valuable means of clearly bringing before the minds of men and women truths with which they were acquainted. Christ sought to clinch many of his great utterances by directing to his hearers some searching and pointed question. Sometimes a question asked, although left unanswered, is a means in the hands of God of arousing inquiry on the part of some honest soul.
The great danger of the Bible-reading idea is that it is liable to become stereotyped; that is, we simply copy from some printed book or manuscript the arrangement of the questions and the scriptures which was prepared by another mind. This Bible reading may have been very useful and greatly blessed of God in the hands of the one who originally prepared it; and it may also be of some value to you and me; but for us to take this cut-and-dried arrangement of Scripture and seek to use it as our own production, in the work of bringing gospel light to darkened souls, is certainly a plan not to be recommended.
A Bible reading, to be a success and used by the Spirit of God to convict men and women of truth, should be full of “meat in due season” for those to whom it is given. It must, as it were, be a reading specially prepared by the Spirit for the particular opportunity and occasion, given through you as an instrument, and attended with the power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit. It is not by might nor by intellectual greatness nor power of argument that men and women are won to the gospel or any point of truth. This work must be accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Give the gospel in your Bible reading. The third angel’s message is the gospel for the last generation. If your Bible readings do not contain the gospel, and are not followed by converting power, then it is evident that they do not contain the spirit of the third angel’s message, which is the spirit of the gospel. When an opening presents itself for a Bible reading, go to God on your knees, and ask him for that enlightenment of his Spirit and for that guidance of his wisdom that will enable you to go before a company that is hungering and thirsting for righteousness, with a presentation of truth fresh from the looms of heaven, woven with neither the threads of another’s mind nor the idle speculations of your own mind.
Present the great truths and doctrines from the gospel side. Make Christ the center of every effort. So present these things that men and women will be able to recognize on their very face that they contain the necessary power to enable all who accept them to meet the required standard. In presenting the great Sabbath truth, make it clear and plain that the Sabbath is the sign between us and God of what God is to us. It brings to light God, both as our Creator and as our Redeemer. God says that it is a sign that he is the Lord that doth sanctify us. Unless we are sanctified, saved, kept, and daily growing by his power, we can not keep the Sabbath; and it is in proportion as we are sanctified that we can keep the Sabbath. The Sabbath is inseparably linked to the great truths of the redemption and the sanctification of the body, soul, and spirit.
In our efforts to present advanced truths to those who know something of the Bible and of the gospel let us be careful that we do not close any doors that might be open to us, by antagonizing those who are more or less unfamiliar with our real position and belief. Let us remember that “he that winneth souls is wise,” and if “any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not.” You had better lose your argument and win a soul, than to lose a soul by winning an argument. People will recognize the truth of God and the Spirit of Christ by their favor. A truth that is conscientiously lived up to and practiced in our daily life, has that power and favor about it which makes those with whom we come in contact hungry for it. And the promise of God is that they who “hunger and thirst after righteousness . . . shall be filled.”
So let us make use of the Bible-reading idea to the very best advantage at every suitable opening, always bearing in mind that while we may learn from the Bible readings of others, and thus gain many valuable suggestions, it is the plan of God to give us, as it were, a new reading for each new opportunity we have of pointing a soul to the Lamb of God. W. S. SADLER.
NOTES OF TRAVEL.
By S. M. I. Henry
I ARRIVED in Ogden, Utah, on Thanksgiving day, which was especially observed by our people in the celebration of the first annual anniversary of the mission. The exercises were held in the court-house, and consisted of music, reports, and addresses. The part assigned me was to give a critical study of the poem entitled “The Man with the Hoe,” together with the reading of my poem upon the same subject. On Friday evening, and twice on Sabbath, I addressed our people in their place of worship, which is the mission hall.
The Thanksgiving festivities interfered with the arrangements for a meeting with the W. C. T. U., but word was sent to me that if I could give them the Sunday night a week later, the First M. E. church could be secured for us. This I could not do, however; so I spent all the time with our own people. I found an excellent spirit among them, earnestness and consecration, which has resulted in a genuine interest on the part of the people of the town.
The night after the Sabbath I went to Salt Lake City, where I had again the satisfaction of being at home with my son’s family, and of speaking for him, and also for the W. C. T. U.
Early Wednesday morning I took the train for Chicago, arriving in that city on Friday morning. I went directly to the mission at 1926 Wabash Avenue. I had just time to take off my wraps before going into the lecture room to conduct a Bible study.
Miss Durland preceded me to Battle Creek, so as to get a day’s start in the piled-up work. I remained until Sunday, giving a study each day to a most interesting company of young people, who are preparing for work by taking heartily hold of it in the very beginning of their training course.
I found a great contrast to the first day of this work, when the Conference presidents and laborers from all over the country came together to spend a week in consultation and study, and to dedicate this mission. Then, the mission workers were but a mere handful; now, I had before me an audience of actual laborers as large as had come together from the whole wide field. This is only one of many indications that the work is everywhere progressing, and that we have reason to take courage and go forward with faith and confidence.
On Sunday afternoon I completed the last stage of my long journey, arriving at Battle Creek in the evening. In accomplishing the commission upon which I was sent out, I was absent from home five months; traveled over nine thousand miles; have spoken two hundred and fourteen times; was subject to nearly all conditions of living and climate, which would test the strength of the most robust, and yet have returned in good working order. I would not hesitate to start at once on another tour if circumstances required. After one day of rest I have taken up the work which is waiting for me in my office, without any sense of especial weariness, and with a consciousness of strength and courage for all that is before me; for all of which I am profoundly thankful to Him who evidently planned the journey, and led me all the way; for I have received many tokens of the fact that each stage of it had been divinely ordered.
I am thankful for the opportunities that have been afforded to make the acquaintance of so many of my brethren and sisters, and to come to an understanding of what is involved in the message as viewed from the many different standpoints to which my work has led me. I have seen it from the standpoint of the camp-meeting, of the school, of the sanitarium, of the local church, of the home, of the individual laborer struggling against great odds in a hard field, and the isolated, who can know but little except what comes through the printed page and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; I saw it from the platform of the N. W. C. T. U. convention, set in a light, and surrounded with clouds, upon which hangs a bow of promise, and from which rolls a voice of warning. From these various standpoints I have taken observations, with which I close these notes of travel.
As laborers together, it seems wisest to study how to be practically helpful instead of laying needless burdens upon one another. There is no help in an evil report, or in a report of evil; nor in the exchange of evil surmisings, or of bitter criticisms. It is better to be able to present to those who have these things to exchange, a front which is like a blank wall, from which discouraging rumors will bound like a rubber ball.
It is unprofitable to furnish soil in which slander can grow and mature its poison fruit. Hence, let us covenant with one another that we will never pass one word from ear to lip, from lip to ear, that can hurt instead of heal. But if one can not avoid listening to things that can not help, one can avoid being himself poisoned or hurt by them, and refrain from passing them on to any other soul. It is a good thing to keep the eyes fixed upon the spiritual outlook, and to refuse to see those things that beget discouragement. Discouragement, when it is finished, brings forth despair.
I do not know how many times I have been asked, “What do you find to be the most discouraging features of the work?” to which many years ago I learned to answer, “I do not find the discouraging features, because I will not. I have ceased to look on that side of it. Discouragements are too heavy for human hands to carry. These are the burdens which we are invited, yea, commanded, to cast upon Him who alone is able to bear them.”
The reputation of any fellow laborer, or of his children, should be safe in the hands of our people. It is a serious thing to throw suspicion upon any man or woman, but especially on the youth who are growing up among us. Our boys and girls — and those of our brethren are ours — have a right to be protected, in their innocent heedlessness, from the stain of a bad reputation. To say that a boy or girl who has become a source of especial anxiety to parents or teachers is “fast,” “bad,” or “getting reckless,” is greatly to multiply the burden that must necessarily rest upon the hearts most interested, and to build up a barrier between the church and the youth, and interfere with the salvation of many souls. For any one to hear disparaging remarks concerning another, will cause him to lose confidence in the one who has uttered them. More than once I have heard some one say, “Is that the way he talks about folks? Then I shall be very careful what I have to do with him!”
As time shortens, and the importance of every word and opportunity increases, it behoves us as a people to see that we put away everything that can possibly be a hindrance, and cultivate most assiduously those qualities, habits, and methods of work which will carry the good news the most quickly and most effectively.
As a rule, I have found my brethren and sisters ready to listen when I have presented the claims of those who are considered “outside,” but I would like to make one more appeal to all who have been interested in my work, that they will cease to think that any one is outside. We are all needy and lost together, except as we receive the abundant grace by which we are saved. The only difference between one man and another in the sight of God is in the fact of the acceptance or rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every question of doctrine is swallowed up in this one, “What will you do with Christ?” This settled right, everything that is involved in eternal life and the blessed hope inevitably follows.
