p. 306 | Untitled article by Jos. Clarke

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, October 29, 1867

UNION.

By Jos. Clarke

“BEHOLD how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.” Psa. cxxxiii, 1.

Review, No. 16, has just arrived from Battle Creek, and with much interest and pleasure we have glanced over its pages and laid it aside for a more thorough perusal on the morrow, the Sabbath.

Very many pleasant thoughts crowd in upon the mind upon this hasty perusal of the Review, and one above them all fills the soul with unalloyed happiness. It is this: the perfect harmony and union of all, and the sweet spirit of love apparent in every line of this paper.

One’s thoughts recur to past scenes of deep trial and affliction, and then coming from these scenes, so necessary to our purification, to the present, when we behold the good hand of God in raising up Bro. White from almost an incurable malady, and strengthening him again to preach, and write, and labor in the good work, thus making a clear opening for the pure testimony again to sound among the churches; to see good brethren rallying around him; to see the brethren almost faint with labor and care at the Office, out in the open air, regaining their health and spirits for future labors, and finding in this a noble opening for usefulness in attending the meetings at the far West, where they will mingle usefulness with the pursuit of health; and not the least ingredient in our cup of joy is the thought that there yet remain at the Office, those who can keep matters moving in their wonted order and regularity.

Again we look over the Review and there is the sermon, replete with instruction; articles, all bearing upon the same great theme, preparation for the great events of the future; reports from laborers in the wide harvest-field, encouraging our faith and trust.

In looking over these considerations, we feel an unusual hopefulness, which we believe is founded, not in a vain, boasting spirit, but in the firm conviction that God is in this work, as it progresses from one stage to another.

The Health Reform is doing a silent, but mighty work. Organization had its difficulties, and its triumph. So had the Systematic Benevolence scheme.

These difficulties and victories are all matters of history. So it will soon be with the Health Reform. God is at work in the hearts of his people. These are but the outward signs of an inward work. These are not revolutions, but advances, upward and onward. At each victory the union is stronger among the remnant people of God, and each triumph is so hardly contested, that God’s people press together more closely, at each successive step. Love and harmony increase with each costly lesson of humility and truth; and each one inwardly realizes, to-day more than yesterday, that the work is of God, not of man.

This thought gives sublimity to the work as a whole, and presents the details in harmony and order. The individuals, as such, are lost sight of, and only recognized as a part of the body, as colors blend in the rainbow. God is to be magnified, and his work greatly admired.

But at this particular time we are more than usually impressed with the union, love and good will, which to us seem so apparent, not from any one evidence alone, but in all we behold. Thus it is, when our leaders are encouraged, we also feel to rejoice, because the Lord is helping them; but if they are smitten down, we mourn and faint also.

Seeing this is so, we promise to pray for them, and will endeavor as a people, not to add to, but to lighten, their burdens, by our humility, and love, and faith, and labor, and self-denial, and obedience.

JOS. CLARKE.