To the Front by F. G.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 4, 1907

To the Front

By F. G.

MEN more than money are needed in the work of this great last message of salvation to the world. By this we do not say that money is not needed. It is needed to support the men and women who give themselves to the finishing of this movement. But money is a dead thing that has no choice as to its use for good or ill, and men and women are living, vital beings that have given to them the right of selecting the avenues in which the powers of their being are to be spent. Let men and women elect to spend their energies in the service of truth, trusting to the leadership of their Captain, and their support is at hand.

In the midst of the sordid cares and the rush of our daily lives, it is far too easy for us to lose sight of the fact that the mightiest struggle, the final conflict of all time, is on. We are in the midst of it. It will be finished in a short time. God has given to those who believe that this is a fact, the work of warning the world of its impending and awful doom. And it is a mighty work. Its greatness is attested in many ways. For instance, one can ride continuously on a fast express-train from one to two days in many portions of the world, and not pass a place where this last message has ever been heard. The thought should wonderfully move us to action. “In this generation”—these words are very familiar to our people. We must, however, not let them become common ones, for upon our sense of their meaning will depend the intensity of our efforts. The work will be finished in this generation whether we act our part or not. But we must act well our part.

God will cut the work short in righteousness. Evidences are multiplying daily that he has begun the finishing of the work. There is now being issued a call for volunteers. Hundreds of young men and women should be placed on the frontier, in the forefront of the battle, within the next two years. India, China, and Africa must be invaded by armies of consecrated soldiers of the cross. This is no figure of speech, but rather a living fact, and it is a solemn one too. “Can we whose souls are lighted with wisdom from on high,” longer deny the light of life to those who know it not?—No; a thousand times no. To do so is to quench our own lamp of life. God is now going to send out his saving light to all nations, and the choice as to whether we bear the torch must now be made.

It is a work full of dangers and hardships to which this call is being made. There are great privations to be met; there are great sacrifices to be made; and only courageous-hearted men and women should apply, for only such can be used. The experience of Paul as recorded in the sixth chapter of his second letter to the Corinthians will be the experience of those who do go to the front at this time. Paul was not the only one in his time who possessed the graces of character portrayed in this chapter. There were hundreds and thousands of men and women whose lives had been touched and transformed by the love of Christ. So in this day God is providing those for his work who so completely yield themselves to his spirit of love that he can use them in his service.

The message must go in the same thorough way in all lands that it has gone and is going in the United States. But it must go far more quickly. Where we have had one worker in the home land, we must have hundreds in the foreign lands. These workers must be prepared and sent forward at once. Our schools must have, this coming year, many hundreds of new students, together with those now attending whose courses of study are not so far advanced as to properly qualify them for immediate service. This means that there must be an earnest spirit in every Seventh-day Adventist home all over the world to send out an army of true-spirited workers. If this spirit were to really exist as it might and should, there might be a force of at least fifteen hundred strong, sturdy young men and women placed in the benighted lands of the world within the next two or three years, and to this end we must work.

The crown of righteousness is promised to those only who love the appearing of the Lord, and those who do really love that appearing will work for it. They will have the spirit of Gideon's band of three hundred faithful warriors, and their eyes will continually be on the enemy. Young man, young woman, you can not avoid the test, even though you might so desire. We have a great and fierce conflict, but it will be a short one. Let every true-hearted person respond at once to the call for help, and prove himself a true, valiant soldier in the army of the Lord.

F. G.