Untitled article by L. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · May 11, 1905

By Sacrifice

By L. A. S.

THERE is no easy way in which to advance the work for the salvation of souls. The progress of this work must be marked by continual sacrifice.

There was no easy way for God, omnipotent though he is, to provide for the restoration of lost humanity. He was obliged to sacrifice his only begotten Son, and he did this not without a struggle. He was called upon to endure suffering. Heaven was called upon to surrender its best Gift.

There was no easy way for Christ to carry forward the plan of salvation on the earth. No great wave of success carried him forward on its crest to the goal of his endeavors. No kings espoused his cause; no rich men poured a flood of gold into his treasury. Instead, his course was one of patient toil, of sorrow and disappointment, of enduring the contradiction of sinners against himself. The work of salvation was carried steadily forward, but it found no place of smooth, easy sailing. It moved forward step by step, unattended by anything which relieved its Author from the necessity of continual sacrifice.

As it was with the Master, so has it been with his servants. The cause of true Christianity has never become popular in the world. Its adherents have never been in the majority, have never held the reins of earthly power, or had the wealth of the world at their command. The treasury of the Lord has never been relieved of the necessity of receiving the widow’s mites. His cause has never reached a stage where any of its adherents would have no more necessity of sacrificing for its advancement.

It is nothing strange that to-day, when a great advance move is being made by the establishment of a new and more prominent headquarters for this work, this step should demand a sacrifice on the part of those giving to the world this final gospel message. It is nothing strange that no rich man has come forward with the gift of a million dollars to carry it easily over the financial obstacles. It is the worldly project that receives such gifts. No one need expect that the cause of Christ will suddenly fall heir to a worldly fortune. Its dependence is the tithes and offerings, not of a few, but of all its adherents, even to the humblest, and will be until the time is reached when it has no more use for means, and the wealth of earth’s rich men shall have turned to dross.

There is a necessity for continual sacrifice, and it is proper that it should be so. God could provide gold in any quantity, if that were all that is needed in his work; but the means to carry forward his work must come by the humble gifts of his people, not for the sake of the money itself, but of the sacrifice made in its giving, which is the measure of his people’s consecration. There is sufficient means in the cause to-day. There is abundance of means, but there is not sufficient consecration.

It would be a sad day for the cause of Christ if its adherents were now to be relieved from the necessity of sacrificing for its advancement; and it will be a sad day for those who have not done this when “our God shall come,” and from his seat upon the cloud shall call, “Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”

L. A. S.