MEETING AT GREENVILLE, MICH.
SABBATH, July 11, being the time for a monthly gathering in this place, brethren were present from Stanton, Bushnell, and Orleans. The comfortable house of worship was quite well filled. Brn. Cyphers and Towle from Maine, who have located in the village of Greenville, will, no doubt, prove a valuable accession, and help to this church. Bro. White spoke at the usual hour in the forenoon, designing to occupy about thirty minutes in an unstudied talk upon Heb. xi, 14. “For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country;” which words were impressed upon his mind as he was about entering the house; but he warmed up with his subject, and matter grew upon his hands, till the time was all occupied with a discourse eminently practical, and adapted to the wants of the church at the present time. The way in which we are to declare to all around us that we seek a country, even a heavenly, was plainly pointed out. Is it not, while professing to believe that the end of all things is at hand, that earthly possessions will be of value but a little longer, and that the time for saving men will soon be over, to devote all our energies of bone, brain, and muscle, to gather in and heap up worldly wealth around us, which if the Lord, in his displeasure, does not scatter, the fires of the last day will soon and entirely consume. By so doing we declare, rather, in plainer terms than words can do it, that this is the world we are seeking with all our hearts, that we are expecting to stay a great while here, and have no occasion to seek any other country. The efforts and sacrifices made by the pioneers in this work to advance the truth, when its friends were few and means were limited, was contrasted with the course of many at the present time who are adding wealth to wealth, but doing comparatively little to advance the interests of the last message of mercy in the earth. Then, in some instances, possessions were sold, and put into the cause. Day laborers and domestics could give liberally of their scanty earnings to help on the proclamation of the truth. People did not seem to think it a terrible thing if their capital should gradually decrease on the altar; and some, as the result of their efforts, reduced themselves from a position of independence, to circumstances comparatively limited; but they have had enough even to the present day, and probably will have a sufficiency to the end; and they have had the infinite satisfaction of seeing their sacrifice owned of the Lord, and many souls embrace the truth as the result of their liberality. In this respect the present times do not compare favorably with the early period of the message. “But is it the duty of people now to sacrifice as some did then?” Of no one individual, probably, is so much now required; for believers are more numerous, and the burden need not rest so heavily on a few; but because none are required to do so much, it does not follow that they are not required to do anything. Because we are not required to go to the same extent, we may not conclude that we are not to act at all in this direction, nor especially that we are justified in so devoting all our energies to the accumulation of capital, whatever our occupation, as to be disqualified, from sheer physical and mental exhaustion, for our daily religious devotions, and unfit for the worship of God on the Sabbath. “But shall we not be diligent in business? Shall we not attend to our farms, cultivate the soil and secure the crops?” Certainly; but do not confine all your efforts to this work. Act as though there was another world in which you had an interest; and let your course show on which of these two worlds you place the greater value. Is this life one which is at most but of few days, and full of trouble? And is the life to come one of eternal years, and full of glory? Live and act accordingly. Let the land you occupy be forbidden ground for everything in the remotest degree prejudicial to your spiritual interests. Take time for religious growth. Let your hands be open wide to the cause of your Redeemer, and your treasure going forward to the heavenly land. Thus say to all around that you seek a country, and invite them with you to share in its eternal glories. But some are disposed to entertain feelings of regret, and even express complaints, at the view first presented to them of the coming of the Lord. It was represented as very near; and oh! if they had only known that he would not come in all these long years, how different would have been their plans. They would not have parted with this or that piece of property, they would have added this or that lot of land, and they would have engaged in this enterprise or the other. Very likely; and they would also have gone straight toward perdition. The only thing that has kept them anywhere has been an impression of the nearness of the coming of Christ; and the reason why they are not now in greater spiritual prosperity, why the world threatens to drown them in its cares, is because this great truth is ceasing to be an ever-present, living reality before their minds. This is why spiritual barrenness is apparent in many lives, and the love of the world is rooting out the love of the Father in many hearts. They do not say, with their means, as well as by word and act, that they seek a country, even a heavenly. When will the church declare plainly that they are but pilgrims and strangers here? Near the village of Greenville is quite a large settlement of Danes. About a year since, at the suggestion of Bro. White, the brethren here raised the amount of some twenty-one dollars to purchase, for the benefit of this settlement, a quantity of the Danish works written by Bro. Matteson. They were obtained, and have been to quite an extent called for and read, and Bro. Matteson is now invited to give a course of lectures among them. At Bro. M.'s advice, a Danish brother, O. Jenson, from Wisconsin, who is seeking a location, came on in advance to visit this settlement, and learn the prospect of their being benefited by a presentation of the truth. As he did so, the first one of his countrymen that he met was an aged Bro. Learson, whom he, years since, supposed to be dead, who was formerly a member of the same Baptist church in Denmark, and on their removal to this country, was a member of the same church in Pennsylvania. When they left that place, they lost all trace of each other, Bro. J. going to Wisconsin, and this other individual coming to Greenville. Great was their surprise and joy on meeting, and greater still was Bro. J.'s joy on finding this man already keeping the Sabbath, as the result of reading Bro. Matteson's works. Several others are examining with interest, and are expected soon to take their stand upon it. Bro. J. was present at the meeting Sabbath, and made an interesting and encouraging statement of this commencement of the work among the Danes here. Let us pray that it may progress, and that some from this people may at last join the great multitude which no man can number, out of all nations, and kindred, and peoples and tongues, who will stand before the throne clothed in white robes, and palms in their hands. Oh, the next world! Oh, the heavenly country! What are we saying, brethren, respecting our purpose to enter therein. Do we declare plainly to all around that we are seeking it? Is our conversation in Heaven, from whence we look for the Lord and Saviour? Does our course show that we regard ourselves only as exiles here, working to gain a better state of existence? Or are we content to let our affections, our hopes, our interests, all center here, and we be reckoned among the “dwellers on the earth,” upon whom the great day of the Lord is to come as a thief in the night? A full sacrifice will gain the prize. Nothing short of this will. Let us then make it, that when with song and dance, and palms and harps, and crowns and everlasting joy, the redeemed shall come to Zion, our humble voices, made worthy by the blood of the Lamb, may swell their glad anthem of deliverance.