p. 11 | Untitled article by N. HIDDLESON

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · December 17, 1867

From Sister Hiddleson.

By N. HIDDLESON

DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: I have made up my mind once more to write a few lines for our comforting paper. I have often been cheered and encouraged by reading the testimonies of those of like precious faith, and have often thought if I had the talents that some have, I would write often for the encouragement of my brethren and sisters, who are striving to make Heaven their home, but I feel my unworthiness and incompetency for the task, and if I was not deeply impressed that it was my duty, I would excuse myself by saying, let those write that can do better than I, but I know it is the willing and the obedient that shall eat the good of the land. I want to be one of that number. Oh! let us all be awake, for we all have a work to do. It is true, we may feel it is not much that we can do in the vineyard of the Lord, but let us remember the little we can do will be required of us, therefore let us improve the little talent that is given to us so that when our Lord comes he may say unto us, Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joys of thy Lord. If we want to partake of the glorious fruit of that heavenly land we must work while the day lasts. I feel that the day is far spent, the night will soon come, and our work will be done. Jesus will soon cease pleading for us; then we will see, if we have been unconcerned about our duty to God in all things, that it will be a trying time for us. I believe that as we near the end of time new duties will arise before us to perform, and the enemy will press hard upon us; he will try to cause us to move too fast or too slow; his plan is to drive us from the narrow path, but faith and prayer will drive him from us. Praise God for his help. My prayer to God is that I may be kept humble, in my proper lot and place; that I may labor in the vineyard of the Lord where and when he bids me. I do want that wisdom that comes from the holy sanctuary above, that I may know the will of my Father in Heaven, and perform every act that will be required of me, that when Jesus comes in the clouds of heaven to receive his children and take them home, I may then look up and say, Lo! this is our God; we have waited for him and he will save us.

Unbeliever, if these lines are read by you, I ask of you to stop and consider what you are doing. Time is short. You have but little time to prepare for what is coming on the earth; if you want to escape God’s wrath and dwell with the righteous on the earth when it is made new, begin to work for the Lord now. Now is the accepted time; improve it while you may. Put not off the day of your return to God, lest you will have it to say, The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and I am not saved. Awful will be the condition of the unbeliever when Jesus comes. Bid unbelief be gone. Believe what God has said, that whosoever will may come and partake of the water of life freely. Haste to the Lord without delay. You have no time to idle away in foolishness. If you want to obtain a home in the kingdom of God, begin to pray and exercise faith in God’s word; keep his commandments and live, and may this ever be our prayer:

Lord take away our unbelief, And give us more of living faith; Then we shall gain the realms of bliss, And forever dwell where Jesus is.

Lonely and weary pilgrim, be of good courage; the angels of the Lord are ever around us to raise us up when cast down, and help us to bear the trials of life. Our Saviour will soon come. Do not let us begin to doubt his return, for he that is to come will come and will not tarry. Do not let your minds be carried away from God, and placed upon the world and pride, and that day overtake you unawares. Let us watch and be on our guard, that we who have started for Mount Zion may come off victorious, and finally obtain a crown of life. It is prepared for us; if we are faithful we shall surely obtain it.

“Affliction and sorrow and death will be o’er, The saints then unite to be parted no more. Their loud hallelujahs, fill Heaven’s high dome, They dwell with their Saviour, forever at home.”

N. HIDDLESON.

Clyde, Ill.