Lightening the Load by United Effort by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 6, 1913

Lightening the Load by United Effort

By Editor

ONE of the joys and blessings of the marriage relationship is that neither the man nor the woman is left to cope with life's difficulties single-handed. Each stands as a helper to the other. In this union family joys are enhanced and the burdens of life are made lighter to bear. This is one test of the true home, the home where love reigns.

This same principle is true as applied to the church of God. As in the relationship of the various parts of the human body, where if one member suffers all the members suffer with it, so in the body of Christ the members bear one another's burdens. The joys of each become the joys of all the rest, and conversely, the burdens of each become the object of solicitude of every other member. And this pulling together, this spirit of united, harmonious cooperation, moves the hard load. Is there a difficult enterprise to be inaugurated, one could hardly attempt it; a score would stand back with hesitation; but with the whole body of the church united in the accomplishment of the work, how light the burden becomes, and how easily the plan is brought to a successful termination.

It is this spirit which has enabled Seventh-day Adventists, by God's blessing, to build up this movement to its present proportions. With this spirit, the work has been established in Europe, in Australia, in South Africa. With this co-operation, it has been carried into the many Catholic and heathen lands of the world. This united effort has resulted in the erection of schools, publishing houses, and sanitariums. It is responsible for the millions of pages of periodicals, tracts, and books that are being circulated yearly. It has created the splendid constituency of young men and women who are preparing for active service in the promulgation of the message.

The exercise of this spirit of cooperation is needed just now in the effort that is being made for the establishment of our medical school at Loma Linda, Cal. In this number there is given a symposium, containing articles from several of our brethren setting forth the needs of this enterprise.

March 15 has been set apart as a day on which a general offering shall be made for the purpose of providing a hospital for this school. Let there be a general rally in answer to this call. Let every one put his shoulder to the wheel, and contribute something toward the moving of this heavy load. If left to a few, the burden will be great. If our people generally and heartily respond, no one will feel the weight of the burden, and this much-needed equipment for the medical school will be provided. Let there be a generous response to this present appeal for help.