A Letter From an Aged Believer
By Wm. Fenner
“Who Will Come Over and Help Us?”
I HAVE recently read in the REVIEW the articles by Elders Daniells and Spicer upon the outlook and the review of the great harvest-field, and these have carried my mind back to the advent movement of 1840-44. I was then living in Dansville, N. Y., and I well remember the enthusiasm that was manifested. Meetings were held far into the night, and the people were so thoroughly convinced that the Saviour was at the doors that converts were baptized in the canal as late as ten and twelve o'clock at night. They did not wish to lose any opportunity in the service of Jesus. After their baptism they began singing and praising God for their deliverance from sin, and for the hope that Jesus was soon coming. My heart is filled with joy and gratitude to think that we are erelong to witness a scene of far greater interest than that; for soon Jesus is to come, with all the holy angels with him, and he will then gather the faithful home, there to live eternally. All who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb will be there; the holy and blessed of all ages will be there, and Jesus himself will be there. Blessed, happy throng, eternally free from sorrow and sin! As I read from week to week the calls from the ripening, neglected fields abroad, earnestly pleading for help to be sent them, my heart is stirred. These people do not know the full meaning of these things. They have caught a glimpse of the blessed light of the third angel's message, and the fact that Jesus is soon to come again; and yet, with only the faint ray of light which they have, they are pleading for messengers to be sent to them, that they may learn of this blessed truth. It makes my heart and soul burn within me, and the tears roll down my face, as I read these things, and I retire to my closet and earnestly pray for the Lord to raise up laborers to go into all the world and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation, that a people may be prepared for his soon coming. Are there not those among our ranks who will respond to these calls, and help to save these perishing, lost souls from the certain ruin to which they are going, and from which they are pleading for salvation? I am made to feel that these calls mean me, and if there is no one in the ranks of our people who will make the proper response to the urgent calls now before us, I will myself respond, and will say, Lord, send me. I am now fourscore and two years old, yet hale and hearty. I have never been sick a day in my life. Surely the promises contained in Ps. 91:15, 16, have been fulfilled to me. I have been connected with this message for thirty-six years, being one of the pioneers in proclaiming the gospel message in California in 1868. I helped pitch the first tent in Petaluma, Cal., and assisted to build the first Seventh-day Adventist church in Santa Rosa, in 1869. Time has rolled swiftly on, and we are now brought to the last generation, and Jesus is even at the doors. Who among our young men and women will respond to the pleading calls now coming for help? Who will go forth to save perishing souls? Who will let their lights burn brightly in the dark places where souls are groping for light, longing for the precious truth which sets men and women free from bondage? Who will go in answer to these calls?