Advance! by F. I. RICHARDSON

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 10, 1908

Advance!

By F. I. RICHARDSON

F. I. RICHARDSON

At the close of the first day's battle of the Wilderness, the Union army was much discouraged, for the battle had gone hard with them. When the officers met that evening for consultation in General Grant's tent, they expected to receive orders to retreat. After talking discouragement and planning retreat for an hour or more, imagine their surprise to receive the command for a general advance all along the line at daylight. The result was a decisive victory for the Union arms.

Thus it has ever been with the Lord's work. The command has always been, “Go forward.” And it has nearly always been under such conditions that the ordinary mind would say that the difficulties in the way rendered advance impossible. But to those who have advanced in harmony with God's Word, the result has always been a glorious victory. Note a few illustrations:—

“Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house.” Few realize the magnitude of that work. The ark was nearly as large as the wonderful “Mauretania,” the largest vessel in the world. Then to build such a monster boat with the avowed object of saving certain people and animals from a flood of waters that was to come on all the earth, when such a thing as falling rain had never been seen,—I imagine I hear the people scoffing, mocking, and saying, “Preposterous!” “Ridiculous!” Yet the flood came; and those who had obeyed the command of God were saved.

To Abraham the Lord said, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee; and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great.” How many objections Abraham might have raised to taking such a step,—leaving his home, his friends, his native land, to go he knew not whither, among strangers and heathen who might rob him of all he possessed, and even take his life. Nevertheless he went; and how truly God fulfilled his promise to make his name great. He was called the friend of God, and his name will continue great through the endless ages.

When the Israelites were encamped, with the Red Sea in front, the mountains shutting them in on each side, and Pharaoh with his mighty army coming up in the rear, the Lord said, “Go forward.” How ridiculous seemed the command. But the people rose up and went. “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel

this song unto the Lord, . . . He hath finished the work which thou gavest me to do.”

When Christ said to his disciples, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned,” he revealed God's purpose to man. That message has always been unpopular, and has been attended with difficulties. Serious obstacles have been placed in the way of its advancement. As we near the end, we are told that opposition to the blessed work will increase, so much so “that the love of many shall wax cold.” Deceptions will be practised to such an extent “that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” The reason for all this is that an enemy is seeking to rob each one of the grand victory.

“The Lord has given to every man his work. It is his business to do it, and it is the devil's business to hinder him if he can. So sure as God has given you a work to do, Satan will try to hinder you. He may throw obstacles in the way of the work, or he may try to divert you from it; he may present other things more promising; he may allure you by worldly prospects; he may assault you with slanders, torment you with false accusations, set you at work defending your character, employ pious people to lie about you, editors to assail you, officials to accuse you, and excellent men to slander you. You may have Pilate and Herod, Annas and Caiaphas, all combined against you, and Judas standing ready to sell you for thirty pieces of silver; and you may wonder why all these things come upon you. Are you so simple? Can not you see that the whole thing is brought about through the craft of the devil, to draw you off from your work, and hinder your obedience to God?

“Keep about your own work. Do not flinch because the lion roars; do not stop to stone the devil's dogs; do not fool away your time chasing the devil's rabbits. Do your own work. Let liars lie, let sectarians quarrel, let corporations resolve, let editors publish, let the devil do his worst; but see to it that nothing hinders you from fulfilling the work that God has given you.

“He has not sent you to make money. He has not commanded you to get rich. He has never bidden you to defend your character. He has not set you at work to contradict every falsehood which Satan and his servants may start and peddle. If you do these things, you will do nothing else; you will be at work for yourself, and not for the Lord.

“Keep about your own work. Let your aim be as steady as a star. Let the world brawl and babble. You may be assailed, wronged, insulted, slandered, wounded, and rejected; you may be abused by foes, forsaken by friends, and despised and rejected of men; but see to it that with steady determination, with unfaltering zeal, you pursue the great purpose of your life and object of your being, until at last you can say, ‘I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.’

“The dust will blow away by and by, the darkness will be past; the true light will shine; and on the hill-tops of eternal gladness you shall stand with the redeemed, the crown-wearing, harp-bearing multitude. You will need no certificate then. Nobody will trouble himself there about the assaults you may have endured, the false accusations which may have been brought against you, the newspaper lies which wicked men have told, the censures which mistaken men have imposed, or the slanders which mischief-makers may have peddled. All these things will be in the past, forgotten, and never remembered any more; but the truth which you have told will remain; the work which you have done will abide; and the souls which have been saved through your instrumentality will shine like the sun; and throughout all the glad ages that are to come, when lying lips are put to silence, and when liars and lovers of falsehood are gone down in the lake of fire, the man who has done his Master's will, and finished his Master's work, will stand accepted, redeemed, glorified, crowned in the kingdom of our God.”

San Diego, Cal.