An Abiding Hope

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 17, 1913

THE hope of the message does not die out with years. It is encouraging to know the continued active interest which the pioneers in this movement still manifest in its proclamation. Elder George I. Butler, for years the president of the General Conference, although advanced in years, is improving every opportunity of bringing to his fellow men the light of truth for this present time. He writes of the spirit of hearty accord which he feels with the plans that are in operation. Elder J. N. Loughborough continues to labor, as strength and opportunity permit, making our people acquainted with the early experiences connected with this movement. A recent letter from Elder S. N. Haskell tells of the excellent meetings he has been holding of late, and his great burden of heart, a burden he has felt for many years, is the placing of literature in the hands of the people. He says:—

“If I have one burden more than another, it is to get our brethren and sisters to realize the times in which we live, and to work for their neighbors, both in distributing literature and in personal labor. There is no question in my mind that the work is rapidly closing, and many who embrace the truth will do so more from reading and from what they have heard in the past than from any argument and preaching from the desk. In fact, the time is near when our liberties will be so curtailed that we shall be no longer free. To get our brethren to distribute literature is one of the greatest means of preparing the way that I know of at the present time.”

Many a pioneer in this movement we are sure, had he the opportunity, would voice these sentiments and sound the same note of courage and hope. May God bless the pioneers in this work—the men and women who gave their all to it when the work was small, and who have stood by it through all the heat of battle. May God grant that they be privileged to see at his coming him for whom they have so faithfully labored.

WE do not cease our efforts for others till we begin to lose the inspiration of the gospel out of our own lives. A recent letter from Elder D. T. Shireman, of Hickory, N. C., expresses this thought. He says: “As I look back over four-score years, I see many who have run well for a few years, finally grown weary, and fainted by the way, but I have never seen an active worker in this message, doing all he could to place the message before his fellow men, living it in his daily life, and using his means for its promulgation, grow weary and faint. This kind of experience makes one stronger and stronger all the time. There are many avenues of labor open to us. All have spare moments when letters can be written or tracts mailed to some interested friend. In the last fifty years I have mailed many thousands of such letters and tracts, and while I have not heard from the majority of them, from the answers I have received, I have felt well repaid for my work. Every line of prophecy speaks in thunder tones that the time of the end is near. Let us not sleep as do others. May the Lord comfort our hearts and establish us in every good word and work.”