One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollar Fund by H. T. LITCHFIELD

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 9, 1907

One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollar Fund

By H. T. LITCHFIELD

For Special Work at Home and Abroad

Heaven’s Example in Giving

“God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” In fulfilling this scripture God made an infinite sacrifice; he surrendered the one who to him was the most precious being in the universe, and this gift was for eternity; for we read in “Desire of Ages,” page 25: “In taking our nature, the Saviour has bound himself to humanity by a tie that is never to be broken. Through the eternal ages he is linked with us. God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son. He gave him not only to bear our sins, and to die as our sacrifice; he gave him to the fallen race. To assure us of his immutable counsel of peace, God gave his only begotten Son to become one of the human family, forever to retain his human nature.”

Behold the Creator of heaven and earth condescending to bestow such a priceless treasure upon the fallen race, knowing full well that the great majority of mankind would not only not appreciate such wonderful love, but would actually curse God, and finally put his dear Son to death in the most ignominious manner possible. Ought not such love, such an infinite sacrifice in our behalf, cause us who profess to be his children, who believe and teach that soon all who are living will see him who was slain from the foundation of the world coming to take us to the mansions that he has gone to prepare,—ought not such love to cause us to be willing to make some sacrifice for him?

Many calls are being made upon our people to give of their means to spread a knowledge of God’s truth, and I fully believe that such calls will continually increase until probation closes. How easily God could take the gold which lies hidden deeply in the earth (for he knows where every nugget of it is) and place it in the hands of those in charge of his work in the earth; but he sees some better way. He knows that that old malignant disease, selfishness, with which the human family is afflicted, can never be cured but by the one remedy, sacrifice. Still he is saying, “Make a covenant with me by sacrifice.” Still the calls come, and will continue to come until God’s people willingly yield up not only themselves, but all their means as well, on the altar of service.

Need we fear that if we do this, God will take any advantage of our generosity and deprive us of food and raiment? No, for our “Heavenly Father knoweth ye have need of all these things;” and when the time comes that we can neither buy nor sell, he has promised to feed us. God will never rob man; but how often we rob God!

Sometimes we estimate very carefully our tithe, and after paying that into the treasury, we forget that possibly we are still robbing God. A call has come to us now as a people for one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. It looks like a large sum of money, but divided among all our people, it amounts to only $2.53 apiece. When I read that, I said, “I can pay that much now, and I believe nearly every member of our church can do the same.” The next Sabbath I brought the matter before our church, and one brother immediately said he would pay for six. We very soon had half our amount raised. Our church-membership is thirty-six, so it will amount to $91.08. Our members are somewhat scattered, and many of them I have not seen yet, but I believe we shall soon have the whole amount raised.

If all our local church officers would take hold of this matter, I believe they would be surprised to see how readily their portion might be raised. And instead of being eighteen months in raising the $150,000, as was the case in raising the $100,000, it might be nearly completed in a month. Then the facilities which this money will supply for spreading the message can be at work, and perhaps many souls be saved who might go down in death and be lost while we are getting ready to warn them. The King’s business demands haste. It is my prayer that by reading an account of our experience in this matter many may be led to act immediately.

H. T. LITCHFIELD.