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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 29, 1913

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 90, No. 22.

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Economy

By M. HARE

M. HARE
That voice of the divine Teacher, echoing through the centuries down from the grassy slopes of the rising hills near the sea of Galilee, breaks upon our ears, in distinctive clearness, in those words “simply stated, yet involving principles high as heaven and that compass eternity,” “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.”
This command, like all the commands of God, is of binding character and is exceeding broad; and in the keeping of it there is great reward. Its observance in the individual life would mean “the glorious privilege of being independent,” and in the home the smile of gladness and sunshine through the disappearing shadows of poverty and want, while its magic influence would mold into better shape and stability various departments of our institutional work, give uniformity to the efforts and aims of men, and reaching into the beyond, would secure to the faithful a right to the tree of life, with a happy entrance through the pearly gates into the city of God.
All that our Saviour taught during his sojourn among men—the golden rule, the new commandment, God’s care for the sparrows, and the value of the fragments—was but the magnification of the divine precepts, the law of God,— precepts in themselves the embodiment of righteousness and judgment, the principles on which the throne of the Eternal is established. To come into harmony with these precepts is to come into harmony with the divine mind, of which the teaching of Christ is a transcript. John 17:8. Loss, disaster, and ruin come as the result of little things, little digressions from right principles. “It is the little foxes” that “spoil the vines.” “Watch the little outgoes. Stop every leak.”—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. VI, page 206. “A lack of economy will surely bring debt upon our institutions. Although much money may be received, it will be lost in the little wastes of every branch of the work.” “Every man or woman employed . . . should be a faithful sentinel, watching that nothing be wasted.”—Id., page 207.
Very much might be quoted from the Testimonies on this subject, but this is sufficient to show that the commandment of which we speak brings a responsibility upon all anywhere and everywhere who have the privilege of acting a part in the Lord’s work. Would that all could realize this responsibility to the extent of placing Heaven’s estimate upon the fragments, and begin to gather them up.
“Waste not the minutes in talking; wasted minutes mar the hours.”—Id., page 206.
My brother, my sister, can you hear the Saviour’s voice? He speaks of the fragments of your time, “the moments that carry the threads to and fro in the loom of your life.” Are they gathered up for usefulness and gain to the cause of God, or are they allowed to slip through your fingers and be lost, to witness against you? Ah, those wasted minutes, the careless words and their scattering influence, the marred hours and faulty records, registered in heaven! O, that we might sense the truth that the habits which govern our lives to-day betoken our to-morrow and decide our destiny for the ages beyond, and that “slowly the mark of God or of Cain is coming out on our foreheads day by day.” A kind Providence has caused means to pass into your care as a test of loyalty; are you interested in the cause of him “who for your sake became poor”? have you heard the Macedonian cry? and have you gathered up all the fragments, as Jesus taught, or are they lost? Only a little spent to please the taste, and you bow at the shrine of habit instead of at the mercy-seat. A little spent in adornment that the ever-reappearing camera in its pleasing shadows may flatter pride, presenting all that there is untrue.
Quite an amount of means has been expended in multiplying copies of their [the youth’s] pictures. Could all enumerate the amount given to the artist for this purpose it would swell to quite a large sum . . . squandered, invested for self-gratification.”—Id., Vol. II, pages 127, 128.
“Every shilling wasted on self-indulgence , or given to special friends who will spend it to indulge pride and selfishness, is robbing God’s treasury. The money expended for garments to make a pleasing show is so much that might have been used to advance the cause of God in new places.”—Id., Vol. VI, page 215.
Only a little, you say? Only fragments, yet a divine Watcher has his eye upon them. Their value decides the balances, and opens heaven or traces the awful characters of doom on the plaster of the palace hall.
That church which appears in heaven without spot, on whose banners are inscribed the commandments of God; that remnant church, which stands upon the sea of glass and waves the palm of triumph over sin, is composed of fragments from every nation and kindred and tongue and people, gathered up through the obedience of that living word, which sounds to us from the hills of Galilee.
One writer said of economy that it was “the parent of integrity, of liberty, and of ease. Goldsmith, writing to his brother, said, “Teach your son economy.”
O, that humanity would learn to love those magic letters that spell that divine word! not for selfish purposes, but that they might stand where Heaven designs they should stand,—in the interests and for the cause of God. Then very soon would be heard the glad proclamation of emancipation from debt, and we could join in the jubilee. The command, “Owe no man anything,” would become the foundation of the establishment of our institutions, and in advancing light “the wilderness and the solitary place would be glad for them.”
Loma Linda, Cal.