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THE FIRST LESSON

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Michigan · Oct 2, 1900

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 77, No. 40.

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THE FIRST LESSON.

By L. Flora Plummer

MRS. L. FLORA PLUMMER.
With this lesson upon the field begins the series of Circle lessons under the new plan are ranged for the winter's work. We hope all our people are ready to begin the study. It is an unfortunate thing for anyone to be behind-hand, and especially so with a series of lessons in which one is to be studied each week, for there is no opportunity of “catching up.” Let this lesson be studied in each home throughout the denomination; thus we shall all keep together, and be ready for advance work when it comes.
I had thought of saying something about the importance of field study, but the extracts from the Testimonies, given under another heading, set before us so pointedly our duty in this matter, that nothing else is needed. As we view the situation revealed in these extracts, does it seem an unreasonable thing to ask all our people to spend one week in each month in a study that will familiarize them with the details of our work in foreign lands, and the needs of these fields? Can we do less than this? Surely no one will wish to do less. Let the field studies be a rallying point for each home and church, and each place where these lessons are studied may be a center of influence in behalf of the foreign work.
The studies may be made intensely interesting. Each family ought to have the new Missionary Map of the World, which has recently been prepared by the Foreign Mission Board. This map shows the location of each foreign mission station, and, used in connection with the field studies or with the general reading of the Missionary Magazine, adds greatly to the interest.
Brethren, sisters, we must wake up. We are hindering the coming of the Lord. We are restricting his work. We are endangering our own souls. “Satan is stupefying our senses, so that we shall not discern the needs of this time.” He is causing us to be so slow about taking hold of the plans of the Lord that we are well-nigh overcome. Shall we not heed the solemn admonitions given us by the Spirit of God concerning the foreign work, and take at least a step in advance by uniting heartily and enthusiastically in the study of the field?