IT IS VERY EASY TO BE MISTAKEN
I HAD this lesson impressed upon me in a manner not very pleasant at the time the General Conference was held at College View. Being anxious to have the proceedings of the Conference, I thought to be prompt with my subscription, so in December I put the money in the periodical fund, noted it down in my cash account, and sent it to the State office with the other periodical money. Having done that, I was at ease; and when repeated admonitions came to be sure to order the Bulletin in time, I thought: That does not mean me, I'm all right; and I felt great pity for any one who could be so careless as to wait so long before ordering the Bulletin; for of course all Seventh-day Adventists would wish it. Time rolled along, Conference convened, and several days passed, but no Bulletin came to me. I said, It will be all right soon, and never thought of blaming any one; much less myself. One day I received a business letter from the State secretary, in which he made a remark about studying the Bulletin in connection with some other work. I replied that I did not see how I could when I did not receive it, that I had ordered it early, but as yet I had not seen it. I soon received word that he could find no such order on his books. Then I began to look my own order book over, and felt deeply chagrined to find that the fault was all my own; I simply had not ordered the Bulletin. I thought there was a lesson in this—not to be too sure that my case is all right in the books above, just because I know the truth and profess to obey it; because my name is on the church record, I observe the Sabbath, and have paid my tithe. No, I need daily to look over my account to be sure my petitions (orders) are all right, lest at last I find that my name is not on the list when Jesus calls His own sheep by name.