A LITTLE WHILE by Almon D. Farrar

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 19, 1867

A LITTLE WHILE.

By Almon D. Farrar

A LITTLE while, dear fellow pilgrim, tossed about by life's troubles and cares, bearing up manfully against the snares and temptations that beset thy way as thou toilest in thy Master's vineyard, now rejoicing, at times sad,—a little while and He that shall come will come and take thee to those bright mansions that he has gone to prepare for his faithful ones. No more tears shall fall for thine own, or others', sins, for there all will be pure and holy. Here thy pathway is often beset with trials, thy noblest efforts sneered at, thy best motives misconstrued; and when thou art conscious that God approves thy course, others look coldly on and chide thee. In those bright mansions thou wilt have none of these heartaches.

“No more fatigue, no more distress, Nor sin nor death can reach that place, No tears to mingle with the songs That warble from immortal tongues.”

A little while, fellow pilgrim, art thou old, or young; rich, or poor; learned, or ignorant; and thou wilt be led by the good Shepherd into the green pastures, and beside the still waters of paradise. A little while and this old earth will be changed. The three-fold curse that has so long rested upon it will be removed. Man, now degenerate, will walk the new earth in all his primeval beauty and glory. The flowers of paradise will spring forth where now is nothing but jagged rocks and barren hills. The desert shall blossom as the rose. In short, this old earth will be brought back to its Eden state.

Dear fellow pilgrim, shall you and I be there? Shall we have come up through great tribulation, having our robes washed white in the blood of the Lamb? Surely we must suffer with Christ, if we would reign with him in his kingdom. It is blessed to think of the glorious inheritance of the children of God. It is good to talk about it. It is richly worth striving for. It is worth a long life of toil, suffering, and faithful allegiance to our Creator, to obtain it. Yes, it is worth even the laying down of our lives as a sacrifice to secure a title to a mansion there. Then let us prove faithful to that God who has watched over us from the earliest moments of our lives, and in a little while, through the grace of our Saviour Jesus Christ, we shall be there.

ALMON D. FARRAR.

Kingston, Wis., Jan. 27, 1867.