The Spirit of Sacrifice.
By James White
At a very early period in the history of fallen man we see the plan of redemption demanding sacrifice. The first sons of Adam brought their offerings to the Lord. Abel's was acceptable. Cain's was not. Noah, the ancient preacher of righteousness, spent one hundred and twenty years in an almost thankless ministry, and at the same time invested a fortune in the ark. And at the close of his year's confinement in that dismal old ship, he made an altar and sacrificed one-seventh part of all the clean beasts and fowls which had been secured in the ark. This was a great sacrifice for the patriarch to make under the circumstances. His investment in the ark was not then worth one per cent. True, he had a large amount of real estate in the market, but in bad condition, and sales for a long time must have been very limited. The unclean beasts, such as swine, were preserved in the ark in pairs. These were of no available value to Noah. They were saved as scavengers. The clean beasts and fowls went into the ark by sevens. These were of immense value just then. Provisions secured in the ark must have been getting short, and the naked soil, which had been drenched for a long year, could afford but little, if any, immediate sustenance. It was under these circumstances that righteous Noah made a burnt offering of one-seventh part of his precious stock. As we go back to consider the circumstances of this thank-offering of the patriarch, we are impressed with the fact that those sacrifices which God has required and accepted of his people in past time, were those of the greatest value. The great sacrifice for sinners on the part of Heaven was divine, perfect, immense. It was the highest, holiest, and most costly that could have been made. And it was freely made. The offering of the Son of God was ever to be an example to sinful men in the presentation of their sacrifices to the Lord. They should not only be freely given, but should be of that which is of the greatest value to the giver. Some men will consecrate their most doubtful dues to the Lord, with the vow that they will give all, or a certain per cent, if collected. So they virtually send Providence over the road on a collecting trip! Their best dues are put into their own pockets. If some of the bad ones are collected, and these men do not change their minds, the sums are coolly, and perhaps noisily thrown into the Lord's treasury. The sacrifice of Christ was immense. And self-denial and bearing his cross are the great conditions of discipleship. The early disciples left all that was most dear and followed Christ at the expense of their lives, excepting John. The holy martyrs made the dearest sacrifices possible. The reformers were men of toil and sacrifices immense. And when we come down to the last generation, to those who are to witness the destruction of all earthly treasures by the seven last plagues, and the transition to the eternal value of the immortal state, how appropriate are their sacrifices, in a tenfold greater degree and of that which is dear to them, in the accomplishment of the last great, world-wide warning. The cause of God requires means in order to its advancement. And the greater the work to be accomplished in a short time, the greater the demand for means. But money, by no means, is the greatest sacrifice that men can make. God calls for laborers, men who will cheerfully deny themselves of ease, luxury, and, if necessary, even the common blessings of this life, and wear and grow prematurely old in the service. Men suffered exposures and hardships, and lived two years in one, and hundreds of thousands gave their lives, in the recent American war. Where are the men who will do half as much for Christ, Heaven, and for poor sinners? Here is true sacrifice. But few of our ministers are making any real sacrifices. Our system of benevolence secures to them a support, and the larger portion of them are taking the work leisurely. Some of them are living a far easier life, and are taking things more leisurely than their brethren who toil ten or more hours six days in the week to obtain a livelihood, and that they may have means to support their ease-loving ministers. More recently we have seen the hand of God in calling penniless men first to the work of the third angel's message. Eld. Joseph Bates, first in this cause, sat down to write his first pamphlet upon the Sabbath question with only a York shilling in his purse, all he possessed in this world. About one year later we commenced to publish on a small scale, and with Mrs. W. to travel in second-class cars, with money earned chopping wood and in the hay field. The cattle on a thousand hills were the Lord's twenty-eight years since, the same as now or in David's time. If necessary, God could have rained gold and silver from Heaven in 1846 for the pioneers in this cause to use in publishing and in traveling, as easily as he set a table in the wilderness for the vast camp of Israel. But it was God's plan, in choosing the pioneers in poverty, to set an example of faith, humility, and perseverance, to all those who should afterward enter the field. He designed to have men of faith, of sacrifice, and power of endurance, in his last great work. Probably no one thing has so seriously threatened the welfare of the cause as unconsecrated laborers with their eyes upon a full treasury. And now as the cause is branching out and calling for men to enter the different departments of it, God's dealings with the pioneers must not be lost sight of. When the work was commenced in the English language, it was by penniless men in great humility. And Bro. Matteson commenced the work with the Danes under the greatest discouragements. Neither the Wisconsin Conference nor the Publishing Association gave him that encouragement that his mission really demanded. But he went out among the Danish people, and, by the grace of God, made his friends and his patronage. The few converts from that people raised him about one thousand dollars. With this he went to the REVIEW Office, and learned to set the types. He translated, and set the types, and paid for the stock and printing of editions of our works in the Danish language, amounting to more than one thousand pages. And when all was paid for, there were three hundred dollars left, which was made over to the general book fund. In this, our dear Bro. Matteson followed the example of those before him, and also set an example for those who should follow. And when the time had fully come for the work in the Swedish language, God chose Bro. Lee in poverty and in the furnace of affliction. He went out on foot, and suffered weariness and hunger, and sometimes slept on the ground in the midst of his long journeys for want of a few shillings to pay for a shelter and a bed. And one of the most interesting memorials now at the Review Office is the very suit of clothes in which Bro. Lee stood in converting nearly two hundred of his countrymen to God and his truth. This was exchanged for a suit given him less than a year since. This is kept for the benefit of those who can afford to do the work of God only for cash. We called for twenty-five hundred dollars to give the work a good start for the Swedes. The money is coming in, and the donors who have cheerfully given of their means have a right to expect the same, or, at least very similar, sacrifices and labors on the part of those who are using it in publishing, as was seen in those who led off in the work in the English and Danish languages. And now there is a call for a paper and publications in the French language. If the men can be found who will take hold of this work in the true spirit of sacrifice, as others have done before them, our people are all ready to help them. They need not go to the office to set the types, as Bro. Matteson did. Neither need they look to the few converts from the French to sustain the work. But they may depend upon it, there is toil in such an enterprise that planning and shifting, and traveling long journeys, will never accomplish. This may expend means and make a show; but will not accomplish the work. The General Conference will do the planning and furnish the means when the men can be found to do the work. Bro. D. T. Bourdeau is feeble and can do but little alone at present. But God has lifted up men who were lower in the scale of health. Could his brother and family, with a new and full consecration, join him in the work in French, under the good counsel of the President of the General Conference, and one or two of our western young men go to Vermont, a much better state of things might exist in that good old State, and a good work be accomplished among the French in our country. We are fully aroused to the fact that the treasury must be sacredly guarded. It was a terrible calamity that befell the cause in 1866-9, when the general management and handling of means fell into inexperienced and unconsecrated hands. The waste of means bears hardly the slightest comparison to the shaking of the confidence of those who had furnished it. Right there more than a score of our rich men got a blow from which they have not recovered, and probably will not. They still nominally observe the Sabbath; but are too far benumbed with the spirit of this world to respond to the calls for means to carry forward the several branches of the work. In order to push forward the work in all its numerous branches and new enterprises, a great amount of means must be raised. The spirit of sacrifice must therefore be encouraged among our people. And nothing will contribute to this like the manifestation of the true spirit of sacrifice on the part of those who are supported by the liberalities of a confiding people. To shake their confidence would be a terrible blow to the cause.