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The Call of the Hour

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Dec 7, 1905

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 82, No. 49.

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The Call of the Hour

By C. F. McVagh; Wm. A. Westworth; H. S. Shaw; A. J. Breed; W. M. Adams; G. W. Reaser; F. S. Bunch; O. O. Farnsworth

Brief Messages From Conference Presidents
What It Means
ONCE more the week of prayer and the time for our annual offering are at hand. What does this mean?—It means that we are one year nearer to the cutting-short of the Lord’s work in righteousness. Soon we must reach the last week of prayer. Think how much the disciples lost by their failure to appreciate the meaning of that opportunity to watch and pray with Jesus the last night in Gethsemane. We are admonished, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Heb. 10:25. If this should be the last annual week of prayer, can you afford to be found sleeping? Let all God’s people press together for one grand, united effort at home, and give a liberal, consecrated offering for the work in the fields beyond, to finish the work. C. F. McVAGH, of Western Pennsylvania.
Earnest Prayer Needed
THE necessity of the week of prayer is greater to-day than ever before, from the fact that we have before us a mightier effort against greater odds than our work has ever known. The burden of our prayer is for a deeper work of grace that a fuller consecration may be our condition. God has promised that when his people rise and shine, the riches of the Gentiles shall come to them. When our own hearts are consecrated, we shall withhold nothing. If, therefore, there is a lack of means in the treasury of the Lord to-day, it is because we are not showing our consecration in very deed, or because we are not in such a condition that the Master can trust us with the gold of the nations about us. Then may this week of prayer be a constant cry, a heartfelt petition, an earnest wrestling with God, that we may be so filled with his Spirit that complete consecration may be seen in our lives, that we may go forth with great energy to this, the final triumph. WM. A. WESTWORTH, of Southern New England.
Improve the Opportunity
IN Mordecai’s day God’s people appointed a special season of prayer. Every soul engaged in it, and their cause was sustained. Now again, so nearly does our cause resemble theirs, that it is said that “the Protestant world to-day see in the little company keeping the Sabbath a Mordecai in the gate.” Do we not need special seasons of prayer, such as has been appointed for December 9-16? Let us not allow this great opportunity to slip by unheeded, and afterward we shall be heard to say, “And as I was busy here and there, it was gone.” H. S. SHAW, of Minnesota.
The Most Important of All
WE have had many such occasions in the past, and they have been great blessings to those who have engaged heartily in them; but surely this occasion is more important than any preceding one. Not only is there a great need of means to carry the work to all parts of the earth, but there is a great need of laborers as well; and we ask our brethren, as they assemble during this time, and as they look upon the fields already white for the harvest, especially to pray that God will lay the burden upon others in Upper Columbia to give themselves to this work. We have a number of young men and women who have been educated in our schools, with no other object in view but to have some part in the message, but as yet their way has not fully opened. Let us remember such before God at this time, asking that he will open the way before them, and that many may respond to the call that is now coming from all parts of the world. How much we need the outpouring of the Holy Spirit for service! Word came to us years ago that it awaited “our demand and reception.” Shall we not especially pray at this time that we may have a large measure of the Holy Spirit, that we may be enabled to carry forward this work more successfully, and if another year ever dawns upon us, we may look back and see that a greater measure of success has attended our efforts? A. J. BREED, of Upper Columbia.
Seeing the Day Approaching
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Heb. 10:25. What will be the incentive to cause “the assembling of ourselves together”?—“As ye see.” See what?—“See the day approaching.” Then it is evident that the clearer we “see the day” drawing near, the more often will we assemble “ourselves together.” We are not only to see, but we are to know. “Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep.” Rom. 13:11. As surely as we know “the time,” just so surely there will be an awakening. Why?—“For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” “For my salvation is near to come,” saith the Lord. Isa. 56:1. The Lord is soon coming, and the message to prepare a people for that event must be given to the world in a short space of time. We must have more power so the worker need not stay years in one place to develop the work. But how shall we get the power?—“Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1:8. But how shall we receive the Holy Spirit?—“I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you.” “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” Luke 11:9-13. These scriptures make plain to all why a special season of prayer and seeking God is appointed. The answer is, We “see the day approaching,” and we also see the vast numbers of people who do not see it. We know “the time,” while so many are in darkness. So we assemble together to plead with God for pure hearts and clean hands that we may go forth with power to make known to others the meaning of the signs which are all around us. The appointment of a week of prayer is the most natural course by a people who “see the day approaching.” It is also true that every one who knows the time will meet with those who assemble, and will seek God most earnestly. “Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.” Zeph. 2:3. W. M. ADAMS, of Manitoba.
The Paramount Need
IF we were to appoint a time for meditation upon the necessities of the “little flock” who are commissioned of heaven to proclaim the last, and therefore the most important, message ever given to our race, upon what would our mind focus as the paramount need of the hour? We can not hope to give the message force by overwhelming numbers of believers, nor by securing the talent of the world to espouse our cause. We can not wield a money power in erecting imposing institutions that will give impetus to the message. But this people, who stand numerically as one to twenty thousand of earth’s teeming millions of judgment-bound mortals, should, by being surcharged with a power that transcends the motive force back of the mighty pulse-beat of the commercial world, make their influence felt wherever a son or daughter of Adam’s race finds abode. We exist for a specific purpose. To espouse the cause comprehended in the last announcement of salvation to the race, from the motive simply and solely of self-salvation, might prove futile in securing salvation. At least a higher, nobler motive than this should form the mainspring of our lives. He who professes Christianity should be inspired by the motive power of the Author of Christianity, else what righthas he to take the name? To be a Christian means to be Christlike. It is written, “If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” To be Christlike means to be swallowed up in that blessed work which made him the Saviour of men. In speaking of his mission, he said, “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.” Why should I, by taking the title “Christian,” profess Christlikeness, and then not be consumed with the impulses, the undying life-purpose, which made him the Christ, the Saviour of men? If seventy-five thousand people counted fully that their very existence was for the purpose of winning souls, this message would receive a new impetus. A drawing power will surely accompany every one who lifts up the Saviour. Should not our commandment-keeping be the revelation of the life and love of Christ to the world? The life of devoted sacrifice will bear fruit, even as the sacrifice of Christ is fruitful in the salvation of every believer in him. My special burden for the welcome week of prayer is that the people who are commissioned of heaven to carry the message of salvation to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, shall fully awake to a true sense of their mission, and by faith, through prayer, receive that baptism of the Spirit of Christ which alone will energize them for their heavenly calling. As we contemplate the millions of souls yet to be warned, the work yet to be accomplished, and the necessity of the development of that faith in the remnant people which may truly be called the “faith of Jesus,” who can but pray, “Lord, increase our faith,” and send forth more laborers into the great, white harvest-field? G. W. REASER, of Southern California.
The Time Has Come
THE conviction has been growing upon me during the weeks just past that the time has fully come for us to rise and quickly finish the work. This week of prayer ought to be, and I believe it will be, the greatest inspiration we have ever had to faithful service in carrying this precious message to the world in this generation. F. S. BUNCH, of Western Oregon.
Claim the Promised Blessing
WHAT should this coming week of prayer be to us? To me it would seem that the time had come for the invitation in Joel 2:12-14 to be accepted by turning wholly to the Lord, and the promised blessing claimed by the Lord’s waiting children. Are we not fully warranted in expecting this? Then the deliverance foretold in verse 32 will be realized, and the captives bound in sin will be set free, all who are longing for freedom, and then will the Lord be able to close the work in triumph. O. O. FARNSWORTH, of Chesapeake.