A Good Example by Editor

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 7, 1866

A Good Example.

By Editor

THE "Short Sermon" from Bro. Gurney, in another column is as much to the point as it is short. The quotation he gives from Spiritual Gifts is plain and unmistakable; and the testimony is such as must commend itself to the good judgment of every one. There are those who have been in the habit of spending from $25,00 to $50,00 or more a year, for tea, coffee, and tobacco, and who managed in some way to get along with these worse than unnecessary expenses. They embrace the truth, which leads them at once to renounce these habits, gives them so far a retrenchment of their expenses, with better powers of body and mind to gain a livelihood. Now can they not devote to some good purpose the same amount which in times past they devoted to an evil one, and get along just as well? And could any thing be more reasonable than that they should take the amount which they once sacrificed to the lusts of the flesh, and now sacrifice it to the Lord?

Here is a point for all to consider, and not only to consider, but to act upon. Now shall we look upon the truth, as a certain Methodist is reported to have looked upon religion, when he thanked God for a good religion that had never cost him a cent? Shall we allow the truth to be a source of income to us, and secretly congratulate ourselves over the "good thing" we are making of it, while we complacently pocket the proceeds? Or, in other words, shall we be less liberal with the Lord than we have heretofore been with the Devil? An enlightened reason answers, No; every true religious emotion answers, No; and the Testimonies answer, No.

Of the $50,00 which Bro. Gurney devotes to the cause, as set forth in his article, $10,00 were receipted in last week's Review, and the remaining $40,00 will be found in this number. We commend his example to all those who have ever cherished false habits which the present truth has led them to abandon, or who have indulged in unnecessary expenses, which the same means has led them to retrench.