Earlier text: The SermonThat's All.
By D. H. Lamson
THESE words escaped the lips of a minister a few days ago, while reading the Review at the house of a friend. The lady of the house loves the Advent faith and the Sabbath, but the husband, to whom these words were addressed, does not profess to love either. The above expression was called forth by seeing in the paper, a report of meetings, in which it was said that several had commenced to keep the Sabbath. "That's all," he repeated, to ears that do not need to be prejudiced. "Only keep the Sabbath and you are all right. No faith, no repentance, is required; only keep the Sabbath." The wickedness of the insinuation is no less apparent when we consider that it came from the lips of a professed minister of the gospel of Christ. Had he, and others who ever since the rise of the Sabbath reform have echoed these words, had a due regard for the second great commandment, we should not be thus foolishly charged; and had they had even a slight regard for the first, the fourth command, which goes far toward making its fair proportions, would not be so lightly esteemed. To the really ingenuous soul, it would be far more gratifying to believe in a degree of honesty in our religious opponents. But let us try this gentleman, and all others who, like him, are continually rearing this chaffy obstacle in the way of truth. Suppose he or you, reader, were sent, as a missionary to a land where every moral duty was professedly practiced but one, and that one was the requirement to have no gods but the Lord. You see the false gods revered, and temples for their worship reared in every hamlet, town, and city. These people may say they worship the true God through the idol; but would you not cry to God for help in arguments and for influence that should induce them to forsake their unhallowed worship and regard only Him who made the heavens and the earth? Suppose, too, that you were sometimes successful; that before your eyes the idols were cast away, the temples razed to the ground, or turned into a place of worship for the true God, would there be any joy in your heart? If you had an organ through which you could proclaim such good news to the world, would you not say that so many had turned away from idols to the worship of the true and living God? Would it not be the burden of your work to bring this about? And would it not be your chiefest joy, to see it, in some cases, accomplished, especially if you knew that it was done for the sake of Christ and the truth? Suppose you were met by some of the more zealous, yet misguided, with the question, "Why don't you preach faith and repentance? Why don't you preach Christ? Why so much about our idol-worship? We worship the true God through the idol, and do you not think the Lord will accept it? We are certainly sincere." Oh! how blind they are, you would say, if they cannot see that Christ was manifested to take away just such work and sin as this. It is just for this reason, and no other, that we say so much about the Sabbath. The command to observe it could be couched in no plainer terms than it is. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. Almost all men are disregarding it. We believe that the Lord requires its observance at their hand; and believing thus, should we not preach it? And when men are constrained to leave the Sunday substitute for the genuine Sabbath, should we not rejoice just as much as though there had been a turning away from the transgression of any other commandment? A man's loyalty to an earthly government is shown by the way he regards its laws, and that man is the best citizen, who obeys them most faithfully. He is not seeking for evasions or substitutes, and will not be satisfied with them, but becomes in his own character their best exponent. Certainly no man was ever yet justly condemned by human law without a precept to show his duty or forbid the act. The true Christian will seek to know, and is anxious to do, the will of God. He needs only the precept that points out his wrong, and he turns from it. He is filled with sorrow, if, through ignorance, he has been led to lightly esteem a single command of God. Now will this gentleman, and others who are like him, be benefited by a few passages of Scripture? "Christ was manifested to take away our sins." 1 John 3:5. "Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. The law says, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work." Ex. 20:10. S. D. Adventists endeavor to do and to teach all the other commandments also; Matt. 5:19; and they know very well, as others ought to know, that the blood of Christ will never avail for those who are unwilling to do this. It does not matter how loud the profession, or how zealous a man may be, obedience will be found to be the final test. A careful reading, and critical examination, of 1 John 2:4, is recommended as an excellent remedy for self-deception, and then, "let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God; for he will abundantly pardon." Too many persons confine the word "unbelief" to the rejection of those truths which refer to the Lord Jesus Christ, and no doubt the term is occasionally so used, but I would employ it now in a larger sense,—it is applicable to those who reject any portion of God's holy Word. Selecting portions of Scripture for belief, and rejecting portions as unnecessary, is the beginning of a great deal of evil. It is so in the case of the commandments. Persons will object to the violation of the sixth; they will have a horror of the breaking of the seventh; they will denounce any one who violates the eighth; but the breaking of the third is considered a mere trifle; the disregard of the fourth may even be encouraged; and in regard to the second, charity prevents its transgression being considered idolatry. So it is with many other portions of God's holy word. I cannot help thinking that we may profit by the warning given by Jehoshaphat, "Hear me, O Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; believe in the Lord your God, and ye shall be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper." Believe his prophets; believe those who have warned you of the suddenness of the Lord's advent, and of the unexpected time of his appearing; believe these things, and let your belief be of that practical character which will show itself in your lives. Remember, "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. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." This is the description given us of the last times; do you believe it? Do you practically believe it? If so, you will be able to say, "We, according to God's promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness;" and the very path in which you should go will be made clear to you. If we believe practically that there is but one way of salvation, and that by the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,—if we believe practically that man must be born again before he can enter into the kingdom of heaven, and if we look around us and compare the state of mankind with what God says about being born again, there must be, and there ever will be, on our part, untiring zeal and earnestness in endeavoring to win souls to Christ.—Hon. and Rev. Montagu Villiers, D. D. VICTORY over self is victory over the world. It is not the outward enemy, but the traitor within, that storms or undermines the citadel of spiritual life. Alas, that the gates are so often unbarred for the hosts of evil to enter! Alas, that the soul should so easily surrender, and suffer itself to be laid waste! As in the conflicts of nations, the conquering army re-inforces its own strength by the munitions of war taken from the vanquished foe, so does the victorious soul gather new forces from every temptation. Yet the victory is gained—not by self-confidence and spiritual pride, but by humility and self-abnegation. The humble soul alone is truly strong, and safe from fall. What outward power can abuse him who, while he reverences the nature God has given him, still is lowly in his own eyes, "esteeming others better than himself"? What circumstances or condition of life can be adverse to him whose will is merged in the will of God? To him the tide of life flows "like a broad river's peaceful might," through sunshine and through storm, bearing steadily on its appointed course. His abundant peace is not stoicism: He is still a being of smiles and tears—tenderly alive to the joys of human sympathy, both in giving and receiving the blessed charities of life. At leisure from internal strife, he has a word of courage for the tempted, comfort for the sorrowing, reproof for the hardened sinner, hope for the penitent.—Monthly Religious Magazine. "Praise God from whom"—and all through the congregation there is a general stir to find hats and draw on overcoats, so that by the time those who have nothing more important to do than to join in the singing have come to—"Praise Him all creatures here below"—a number of these same "creatures" are in a deadly wrestle with sleeves and lining by a backward measurement of arms. Much they are thinking about praising the Highest! Their chief concern seems to be that they shall be ready to dart out as soon as the benediction is pronounced to stand on the sidewalk in front and criticise the people as they come out, or hurry away to some less "tiresome" place. Well, well! and the saints above—"Ye heavenly hosts,"—how pitiably they must look down upon this contest between overcoat and praise to God! Hearing the appeal of a divided, half-hearted congregation coming up from beneath some heaven pointing spire, it is likely their pure spirits will be wrought into greater devotion and thankfulness? We need not answer. What is a doxology for, if not to express gratitude to God! And if this gratitude be felt by only a few, had not the pastor better preach a series of sermons on "The Duty of Thankfulness" or in some way awake those who are careless to a sense of their irreverence? The very words—"from whom all blessings flow," silences all question as to the duty; and who can indulge much religious sentiment in connection with a mental problem of economizing time? We believe it to be thoughtlessness, principally. The devil has gained some advantage in the souls of believers, and from making them wander in their prayers toward the last, finally gets behind begging to assist them on with their overcoats! And this is the same spirit of darkness now urging the shortening of God's time, who will ere long jeer over the too late repentance of a lost soul. Who shall say but some of these may be among the number of his victims—these who irreverently consider the ordinances of God's house?—Methodist Recorder. The Chinese have a saying that an unlucky word dropped from the tongue cannot be drawn back by a coach and six horses. A Touch of The Whip.
By Congregationalist
I NOTICED once, when riding on the top of a stage-coach, that the driver, at certain points on the road, gave one of his forward horses a slight touch of the whip, and, as the horses were going at a fair pace, I asked him why he did it. He replied that the horse had been in the habit of starting and sheering at something seen or imagined at that place in the road and a touch of the whip, just before arriving there, gave him something to think of, so that he passed by without noticing what had before startled him. And is it too much to believe, that He who is conducting many sons and daughters to glory, notices all the perilous points they pass, and when the case requires it, directs their thoughts and purposes from dangerous directions, by giving them such things to think of as will break the force of temptation, and secure them from wandering? A sad bereavement, a bitter disappointment, a serious illness, a pecuniary loss, as the hour of temptation is at hand, is the touch of the whip. It awakens serious thought. It drives the soul to prayer, dims the false brightness of things earthly, and gives fresh vividness and power to things heavenly and eternal; so that, under such spiritual influences, the points of danger are safely passed, and the rest of life’s journey is traveled all the more safely, and the prospects of heaven are made all the brighter.—Congregationalist. Mr. Moody, at one of his meetings in Glasgow, turned to Matt. 17:1–9, and after reading the account of the transfiguration, observed: “Luke says, ‘Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep.’ Asleep while Jesus was transfigured before them! Jesus in a glorified state, and they asleep so near the glory! This is a striking picture of the church of Christ in the present day. We are near the glory. No one can read the prophecies of Scripture with their eyes open and fail to perceive that the second coming of Christ and the glory of the millennium are near at hand; and yet those who ought to be watching are asleep.” Rev. F. Whitefield, M. A., in an address before the London Prophetical Conference last May, said: “The grand thought before us is—the Lord is coming. Are we living in the blessed hope? Are we putting off everything that will not bear the searching character of that day? Oh, it will try us—all of us! It will try our hearts, try our principles, try all within us and all without us. It will bring a blush on thousands of faces, even of God's own children! It will make many an important thing now lighter than the small dust of the balance! Oh, that day, that day! How it will make everything now in each one's history fall into its right place, if only we bring it into everything! May each member of the church of Christ do this more and more, ‘as we see the day approaching.’” Dr. Horatius Bonar is the author of these remarks: “The church's pilgrimage is nearly done, yet she is not less a pilgrim as its end draws nigh. Nay more so. The last stage of the journey is the dreariest for her. Her path lies through the thickest darkness that the world has yet felt. It seems as if it were only by the fitful blaze of conflagrations that we can now shape our way. It is the sound of falling kingdoms that is guiding us onward. It is the fragments of broken thrones lying across our pathway that assure us that our route is the true one, and that its end is near—that end, the morning with its songs; and in that morning, a kingdom; and in that kingdom, glory; and in that glory, the everlasting rest—the Sabbath of eternity.”—Messiah's Herald. The Remedy.
By James White
BEWARE of the false notion that doubting is a virtue, and that a spirit of watchfulness and jealousy for the faults of those who are standing under the burdens of great responsibilities, is a Christian grace. No man should believe without evidence. But when once committed for sufficient evidence, it is a great weakness and wrong to doubt without good reasons, and fall back simply because Satan pulls one back. How much better to go forward confidingly, unless good reasons can be assigned for halting, and fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life. We heartily recommend the grace of God to those who are so busy with better people’s faults that they have but little time to search for and attend to their own. "Resist the devil," dear friends, "and he will flee from you, draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands ye sinners [in Zion] and purify your hearts ye double-minded." These poor double-minded souls will lose Heaven unless they discharge Satan, and come so nigh to God that he can make a hedge about them, as the Lord did about his tried servant Job, so that the wicked one can not touch them. Come, dear complaining, whining, fretting souls, so very near to the Lord that you can drink from the heavenly fountain of love, and feel and know in your own experience the power of divine grace, and holy trust expressed by the Psalmist when he says: "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust. His truth shall be thy shield and buckler." Ps. 91: 1-4. J. W. The Fall of Demas.
By John Nevins Andrews
Among the fellow-laborers of the apostle Paul was one who bore the name of Demas. His biography is given us only in the following texts:— Col. 4:14: “Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you.” Philemon 23, 24: “There salute thee Epaphras, my fellow-prisoner in Christ Jesus; Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellow-laborers.” 2 Tim. 4:9, 10: “Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me; for Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica.” These texts teach us a lesson of awful solemnity and warning. Here is the record of a man worthy to unite with Paul in saluting the brethren in two of his epistles; worthy to be ranked with Aristarchus, Paul’s companion in travel (see Acts 19:29; 20:4; 27:2; Col. 4:10); and with Mark the author of the second gospel; and with Luke, the beloved physician, the author of the third gospel, and also of the book of Acts; and what is still more, he was counted worthy by Paul to be called a fellow-laborer in his sacred work. Yet this man made utter shipwreck of his faith, and for the present world gave up his interest in the world to come. Such a case suggests the most serious thought. 1. This man was eminent as a minister of Jesus Christ. Not Paul merely, but the Holy Spirit by whose inspiration Paul wrote, gave to Demas so honorable a place that we cannot doubt his high standing as a minister of Christ. He was acknowledged by Paul, as a “fellow-laborer.” As such he could not have been otherwise than eminent in gifts, in graces, and in Christian experience. 2. He was a highly-favored man. He enjoyed a personal acquaintance with the most eminent Christian minister that ever lived. He205 was even honored with his confidence, and counted worthy to share in his labors in the work of the gospel. He knew everything pertaining to the foundation of the Christian religion. He knew all the things promised in the blessed hope. He knew the purity of the doctrine of Christ, and the blameless life of the apostle with whom he was associated. He knew the excellence of such men as Mark and Luke, who were his fellow-laborers. 3. It was not a light thing that he could associate with Mark and Luke. These two men were called in the providence of God each to write a life of Christ. It is possible that Mark, on account of his youth, was not an eye-witness of all he wrote, though the fact that his home was in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12) indicates that he must have had personal knowledge of much that he has written. But the fact of his intimate connection with the apostle Peter (1 Pet. 5:13) made Mark thoroughly acquainted with all the facts in Christ's life. As to Luke, he wrote the gospel as an eye-witness. Luke 1:2. 3. He was competent to write also the book of Acts, containing the history of one generation of the Christian church. To have these two men for his fellow-laborers was to have such an opportunity for knowing of Christ as none of us in these days have ever begun to possess. 4. But to live in the society of such a man as Paul, and to converse with one who had had such views of Paradise, was still another wonderful opportunity to learn the deep things of God. He was an eye-witness of his mighty miracles; he had the most perfect opportunity to understand his godly life and his unselfish devotion to his Master’s cause. 5. Demas must have understood the greatness of the reward promised the people of God. No man was ever better prepared to give instruction on this point than was Paul, and Demas had the benefit of his teaching. He must have understood the awful fate of the transgressor. He knew that the wages of sin is death. He knew that the wicked shall be punished with everlasting destruction. He knew the brevity of human life. He knew its liability to end at any moment. He knew the perishable nature of everything pertaining to the world that now is. He knew its unsatisfactory character. He knew the folly and vanity of riches, of honors, of pleasures such as our earth has to give. 6. He knew the value of the Christian religion. He had felt its power upon his heart. He knew by personal experience what is meant by the forgiveness of sin. He had even been called of the Holy Spirit to the work of the Christian ministry. He was, in the providence of God, assigned a place among the most eminently pious and excellent of the earth. He shared the fellowship of the most eminent of the apostles, and was counted by him a fellow-laborer. 7. Demas, beyond all doubt, had high hopes of the kingdom of God. He confidently expected to wear the crown of life. He expected to be made a partaker of immortality. He had no idea that the second death would be his final portion. He did not expect that the vanities of earth would overcome his love for the world to come. He had no idea that he should ever sell his soul for the empty and worthless things which Satan offers to men in exchange for the kingdom of God. 8. But it is nevertheless true that this man so highly favored of God, so honored in his associations with three of the writers of the New Testament, so privileged with the precious knowledge of divine truth, so thoroughly instructed in the deep things of the Spirit of God, and so eminent as a minister of Christ that he was permitted to be a fellow-laborer of Paul, did, after all these great blessings from Heaven, make utter and probably irretrievable shipwreck of the faith. Here is the sad record of the ruin of Demas: “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica.” We may well ask, How could such a lamentable apostasy ever have occurred? 1. In some way Demas was thrown off his guard and ceased to watch against sin. Perhaps because he was associated with such excellent men he felt certain that he was all right. He was very sure that they would be saved, and he expected to be saved because he was so intimately associated with them. 2. It is by no means certain that Demas had not allowed himself years before his open apostasy to cherish in his secret life some favorite sin, which he took for granted was not very displeasing to God because Paul who possessed such a gift of discernment of spirit had never pointed out and rebuked that sin. 3. The apostle has stated the cause of the ruin of Demas. He “loved this present world.” How strange that when he had once loved the world to come he could ever give this world the affections of his heart. He had once loved the heavenly Jerusalem with its infinite glory. Now poor perishing earth was taken in exchange for it. How ruinous the exchange! And how could a man of the capacity of Demas make so fatal a mistake? We must remember that when faith is not in exercise, the world to come is out of sight, and the world that now is alone appears in view. What the present world has to give, is offers now. What of good things the next world offers to give must be waited for till that world comes. Demas could not wait. 4. He “loved this present world.” He did not understand that the whole tenor of the Bible is “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.” 1 John 2:15. Or if he understood the real voice of God’s word on this vital point, he flattered himself that there was no need of such great strictness in the matter. Perhaps, like Solomon, he thought this a very safe precept for others to follow, but one quite unnecessary in the case of such an experienced Christian as himself. 5. Should what had the world to offer, that Demas should accept it? The apostle John has told us: “All that is in the world” is “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” 1 John 2:16. And could Demas accept of these? It appears that he did. How could he thus demean himself? It was the deceitfulness of sin that thus beguiled him into a ruinous exchange of eternal glory for a momentary enjoyment of worldly pleasure. 6. It is not possible to determine certainly which of the three kinds of sinful pleasure was sought by Demas. The lust of the flesh is the appetites and passions of the carnal mind. The world offers in many ways the gratification of these sinful propensities. The lust of the eyes is the desire for those things that make a show before men; as splendid houses, fine clothes, gay trappings, and vain ornaments. The pride of life is the honor that comes from men. 7. It is not very likely that the pursuit of worldly fame was the cause of the ruin of Demas. It may be, indeed, that he had in his heart a much stronger desire for the praise that comes from men than for the honor that comes from God. Yet we can hardly conceive that in that age of persecution, there were many honors in store for a man who had been the fellow-laborer of Paul. Nor is it very probable that the desire to possess money, lands, costly furniture, fine clothes, and whatever else can make a display before men, was the grand cause of the ruin of Demas. Wealth and honor might indeed have offered themselves to Demas, but we can hardly accept these as the most probable cause of his ruin. 8. That which John places first and foremost of the good which the present world has to offer seems to be the most probable cause of the fall of Demas. The gratification of the base appetites of the carnal mind certainly seems more likely to have been the cause of his ruin. Here Satan could approach him by imperceptible advances. Here sin could allure with its soft arts. Here he could fall under the power of the tempter, and be bound hand and foot before he was hardly aware of his being in any danger. 9. Paul kept his body under lest after he had preached to others himself should be a castaway. 1 Cor. 9:27. It is probable that Demas failed in this very thing. He allowed his animal nature to remain unsubdued, or rather he decided perhaps that so strong a Christian as himself had no need of such care as others must use. At all events the barrier which separates between virtue and ungodliness was broken down, and Demas who had set himself apart for God was now in unrestrained possession of whatever good thing the pleasures of sin can furnish. 10. It is a most humiliating confession that ministers of the gospel have shown themselves often to be men of unsanctified hearts and unsubdued passions. They have, like Demas, loved this present world because it offered immediate gratification to some wicked desire. And so the very men that have warned others of the deceitfulness of sin have shown themselves ready to fall under its power at the first attack of the enemy. 11. We may be sure that the ruin of Demas was not accomplished all at once. Far from it. This fellow-laborer of Paul had certainly long hidden sin in his heart. While Paul was agonizing to enter in at the strait gate, Demas must have been comforting his heart with the idea that he was sure of Paradise, though he suffered evil to exist in some secret acts of his life. And so when Paul had finished his course of self-denial and cross-bearing, and waited in the Roman dungeon the ax of the executioner, Demas forsook him, and not him only, but Christ also, and returned to Thessalonica, probably his own native land. How awful this spectacle! He turns his back on Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and on Christ also who had bought him with his own blood. He loses sight of the next world and grasps this as his solace and his joy. Poor infatuated Demas! He drops the substance to grasp the shadow, and he leaves a name to be a warning to Christian ministers in all coming time. 12. One grand practical lesson should be drawn from this sad apostasy. If one of the fellow-laborers of Paul, who had been honored and trusted by him, could fall into sin and make utter shipwreck of the faith, it is by no means impossible that we shall be called to witness cases of apostasy equally fatal and distressing. But let every one who fears God remember that however men may dishonore the cause of Christ, that cause is still dear and precious, and that divine Redeemer is still worthy of the best affections of our hearts. J. N. A. Progress of the Cause.
By James White
In July, 1849, we carried the first edition of our little paper, entitled The Present Truth, to old Middletown, Conn., Postoffice, in a common carpet-bag. And when the press was established at Rochester, N. Y., in 1852, we could put all the copies of the Review (then nearly as large as the SIGNS) that we sent west of Buffalo, N. Y., in the crown of our hat. Now Michigan alone, to which State the press was removed in 1855, is one-fourth of our entire denominational strength. Seven years since, word reached our General Conference, then in session at Battle Creek, Michigan, that there were four or five Seventh-day Adventists in the State of California, and with this information came a request to our Conference to send a minister to the Pacific Coast. Soon Elders Loughborough and Bourdeau were on board a steamer from New York to San Francisco with a sixty-foot tent, and a quantity of our good publications. Up to this writing not less than seven tons of our books have been sold in California, and the denominational strength gained upon the coast is such as to warrant the publication of THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES, the legal institution of the Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association, and the immediate investment of $25,000 in a publishing house and steam printing office complete, located at Oakland, California. And while the work has been moving westward the cause has been perfecting a healthy growth at almost every point where it has obtained a footing, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. About twenty-five large congregation tents will be manned the present season, which will move from town to town, and from city to city, and offer free seats and a free gospel to the people. And there will be held not less than fifteen general gatherings of our people in camp, which are regarded by all our friends from ocean to ocean, as grand feasts of tabernacles. And besides what has been done on this continent the principles of the Third Angel's Message are taking strong hold in Europe. After a church of more than sixty intelligent believers had been raised up in Switzerland, through the labors of Elder M. B. Czechowski, (an educated Pole, who received the word with all gladness in America and returned to Europe ten or more years since,) two young Swiss were sent to this country to be educated in the English language and to return to labor in Europe. One of them, James Ertzenberger, mentioned by Elder J. N. Andrews in his reports from Europe, was a member of our family for nine months. God bless him and keep him. We may need him some day to speak through as interpreter to the German and French friends in Europe. The field is the world, and the ripening harvest calls for the sickle of the laborers, and everywhere the truth for this time is preached, souls are being gathered. May great success attend the labors of Elder Andrews in Europe, and may he see a strong force raised up to help him carry forward the work. As in America, he will find that the right arm of the strength of the cause in Europe will be publications adapted to the capacity and wants of the common people. We should prize very highly duplicate electrotype plates from Europe of pure translations of our tracts in German and French. God help Bro. Andrews and the friends of the cause there to lay broad plans, and execute them with faith and energy. Our American people have had a Foreign Mission fund waiting in the Treasury for four or five years. As fast as needed let the funds be drawn out to give room for more to be thrown in. All our deliberations upon matters of vital interest to the cause should be with much earnest prayer, and due caution. But the vastness of the work and the providence of God evidently opening our way, and inviting us out into the field of labor, demands broader plans, and energy in their execution. Let earnest prayer go up to the God of all grace for divine guidance. And may the servants of the Lord have faith, hope, courage, and well-tempered energy in their labors to urge on the work and build up the cause. What Has Hindered.
By James White
WHAT has most retarded the cause from the very first has been a want of real faith in the message on the part of our people, and in the integrity of those whom the Lord has employed to carry it forward. Satan's most powerful artillery against those who have had to venture out in this work by faith, and take great responsibilities, has been the feelings of jealousy which he has succeeded in creating in the minds of those who have been so far from God that he could tempt them at pleasure. In many jealousy has ripened into rebellion, and not a few well-meaning people, at several stages of the cause, would become leavened, more or less with the leaven of malice. These things have brought crises in the cause, and generally some loss of members, and painful detentions of the great work. But God is the same gracious author of truth and righteousness. Human nature, in all its weaknesses, is the same. And Satan is the same. And, as we near the final triumphant close of the work, the determined general of the powers of darkness does not appear to lose either courage or vigilance. This may be necessary after all to prove and perfect the true and faithful who come out of great tribulation and stand in white before the throne of Heaven, having washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. But the Lord warns his disciples in these words: "It is impossible but that offences will come; but woe unto him through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones." Luke 17 : 1, 2. And no offence is so offensive, and no wound is so deep, as that coming from those who stand in the same church relations. "For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him." And yet the toilers must toil on in hope and courage in the Lord. He knows every heart, and sooner or later will vindicate the right, and reward the faithful. Some apparently regard it a virtue to be profound doubters, and finished complainers. And they seem to entertain the false idea that they can enter the eternal city of the saved, while all the way the greatest burden of their souls appears to be to look to the right and left for something to stumble over, and complain of. While constantly searching for something to detain them, they remind us of a spiritless horse, urged into town by the driver's whip, anxiously watching for a hitching post. We make these painful remarks as a warning to those who are not fully consecrated to the Lord and to his work. J. W.