A Stirring Appeal

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Extracts from Very Recent Testimonies from Mrs. E. G. White.

I must make an appeal to our brethren, in our great necessity, for means to carry forward the work in these new fields. We have held our first camp-meeting in Queensland, and the healthful influence of this meeting on the community exceeds that of any camp-meeting that has been held. This meeting has been in session one week. Every evening there has been a full tent, often many standing as a wall outside. Some of the best people of the place attended the meetings, many of them coming from localities miles away.

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Brethren and sisters, we must take into consideration the fact that we are on missionary soil as labourers together with God. Just as soon as the standard is linked in one locality, and it is safe to leave the converts new to the faith, we must plan to enter another new field. And we find that it is as has been represented to me in the visions of the night. The words of Christ to His disciples were: «My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.»

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There is no release in this warfare. The work is to be done, and while the angels hold the four winds, we are to work with all our capabilities. We must bear our message without any delay. We must give evidence to the universe of Heaven, and to men in this degenerate age, that our religion is a faith and a power of which Christ is the Author and His word the divine oracle. Human souls are hanging in the balance. They will be subjects for the kingdom of God, or slaves to the despotism of Satan. All are to have the privilege of laying hold of the hope set before them in the gospel, and how can they hear without a preacher? The human family is in need of a moral renovation and a preparation of character. There are souls ready to perish because of the theoretical errors that are prevailing, and which are calculated to counteract the gospel message. Who will now fully consecrate themselves to become labourers together with God?

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. . . . Let all awake to their God-given responsibilities. Let none suppose that they can live a life of selfishness, and then, having served their own selfish interests, enter into the joy of their Lord.

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What gifts God has given to His people! How abundant are the gifts given to us in Christ! In Him God poured upon the world a profusion of gifts and graces; therefore, it is not because Christ has not bestowed His gifts that His church is so destitute of the treasures of heaven that would make her rich in resources. Why is it that the light of truth does not rapidly extend to all the morally destitute places of the world? It is because God’s stewards are not giving their tithes and offerings. Christ has given to us abundantly. He has given Himself, the highest, richest, gift that could be given.

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How Much Owest Thou?

«How much owest thou unto my Lord?» If we enquire, we shall find this a hard problem to solve. Every specification is given in every dispensation. God lays His hand upon all our possessions, saying: «I am the rightful owner of the whole universe; these are My goods. Consecrate to Me the tithes and offerings. Bring in these specified goods as a token of your loyalty, as an acknowledgement of My intrusted goods, and your submission to My sovereignty, and you will be free to retain your portion. My blessing shall increase your substance, and you will have abundance.»

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All around us, souls are perishing in their sins. But how few are really burdened over the matter. The world is perishing in its misery; but this hardly moves even those who claim to believe the highest and most far-reaching truth ever given to mortals. There is a lack of that love which led Christ to leave His heavenly home, and take man’s nature, that humanity might touch humanity and draw humanity to Divinity. There is a stupor, a paralysis, upon the people of God, which keeps them from understanding what is needed for this time.

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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, marks them as unfaithful stewards. If what they are doing were the best they could do, condemnation would not come upon them; but with their resources they could do much more. The world knows, and they know, that they have to a great degree lost the spirit of self-denial and cross-bearing.

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I appeal to our brethren 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.

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The last years of probation are passing into eternity. The great day of the Lord is soon to come upon us. We should now use every ability we possess to arouse our people.

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Christ has brought us into church capacity that He may engage and engross all our capabilities in devoted service for the salvation of others. Anything short of this is opposition to the work. There are only two places in the universe where we can deposit our treasures-in God’s storehouse or in Satan’s; and all that is not devoted to God’s service is counted on Satan’s side, and goes to strengthen his cause.

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If God’s people had the love of Christ in the heart; if every church member was thoroughly imbued with the spirit of self-sacrifice; if all manifested thorough earnestness, there would be no lack of funds for home and foreign missions; our resources would be multiplied; a thousand doors of usefulness would be opened, and we should be invited to enter. Had the purpose of God been carried out by His people in giving the message of mercy to the world, Christ would have come to the earth, and the saints would ere this have received their welcome into the city of God.

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We should now feel the responsibility of labouring with intense earnestness to impart to others the light we have received. We cannot be too much in earnest. Even those who have felt much have not felt enough. They must still feel more deeply. The heart of God is moved. Souls are very precious in His sight. It was for this world that Christ wept in agony; for this world He was crucified. He desires to see those who have had great light flashing that light upon the pathway of their fellow-men. One soul is of more value to heaven than a whole world of property, houses, lands, or money.