Your ShelfYour Projects

An Important Recommendation

5%

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 16, 1906

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 83, No. 33.

Read the full edition

An Important Recommendation

By Arthur G. Daniells

THE most important and the most precious thing in the world to-day is God’s message for this generation. That is the third angel’s message of Revelation 14.
The greatest gift, the greatest fortune, that can come to any one to-day is a saving knowledge of the third angel’s message. Those who receive it are brought under great obligations to God and humanity.
This is the view that was taken by the pioneers of the cause set on foot by this threefold message. They reckoned themselves debtors to all men. They abandoned the pleasures and riches of the world, and addressed themselves to the one great task of making the message known to all the world.
Their view was right, and it must still dominate this people. The supreme question of the hour is the proclamation of the third angel’s message to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. This will require the devotion of our talents, means, and lives to the work. Nothing less will answer the call to arise and finish the work.
Every new day brings a new pressing call to this people for help. That means the consecration of another life to some part of this work. It means the gift of another dollar or more in addition to what we have given. It means that another young man or young woman must leave home for the training-school to prepare for the Lord’s work.
And so the great work we have undertaken moves on with a firm, steady tread. It never stops in its onward march. It never retreats. It does not cease for a moment to press upon us fresh demands. This has been the program of this cause from the first day that it started, and itwill never change until the work is finished.
Who would not be profoundly grateful to be identified with such a cause? Thus far the Lord has enabled his people to meet the demands he has made upon them. Each year these demands grow larger, but each year he increases the power of his people to do. Not one enterprise which the Lord has led us to undertake has failed. This should cause us to meet any and every new call with cheerful courage.
And now comes one of the largest single calls ever launched upon this denomination. But it is not beyond our possibilities by any means. It can be met before the close of 1906. God is blessing this country with a prosperity which enables his people to do great things for him. This call was made by the General Conference Committee at its spring council held last April, in Washington. Owing to the collection that was taken for the Pacific Press, and also the midsummer offering to missions, it has been thought best to defer presenting this call until the present. The action of the General Conference Committee is as follows:—
We recommend,—
1. That a fund of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars be raised for the work in the South, and to complete the work in Washington, D. C.
2. That the first fifty thousand dollars received from this fund shall be donated to the work in the South.
3. That the funds shall be sent to the treasurer of the General Conference, at Takoma Park, Washington, D. C.
4. That our church paper, the REVIEW AND HERALD, The Watchman, The Signs of the Times, and the foreign papers in the United States, open their columns for suitable articles from various persons agitating the raising of these funds, and that a list of these donations be printed in the REVIEW AND HERALD.
5. That the president of the General Conference open up the campaign for this fund by publishing an article in the REVIEW AND HERALD and other papers, accompanied by the recommendations of the General Conference Committee favoring the raising of the fund.
6. That the editors of these papers be invited to make frequent favorable mention of this fund.
7. That in our efforts to raise this fund we earnestly solicit the sympathetic co-operation of our union and State conferences, and of our people everywhere.
This recommendation states the general purposes for which this large fund is required; namely, for the development of the work in the South, and for the completion of the institutions begun in Washington.
Our people will desire to be informed regarding the details. These we shall give through the REVIEW and other papers and documents. We shall explain the use made of the one hundred thousand dollars raised to establish the headquarters in Washington. We shall show why this was not enough for the work here; and we shall give the specific uses it is proposed to make of the One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollar Fund. The plan that has been agreed upon for raising this fund will be fully explained. We believe it will commend itself to our people generally. Although the sum now called for seems large, it can be raised in a short time. Now is our time to do great things for our Master. What a dreadful thing it would be to us and this glorious cause if the shocking state of affairs now existing in Russia were to be transferred to the United States. Besides stripping us of all we possess and destroying our homes and breaking our family circles, it would place us where we could do little or nothing for this cause. Who can contemplate such a situation without a shudder, and without a thankful heart for what we have? Surely we should be a grateful people, and should show our gratitude by liberal gifts and by earnest, whole-hearted service.
A. G. DANIELLS.