OUR MISSION by Annie L. Holberton

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 24, 1883

OUR MISSION.

By Annie L. Holberton

LET our mission be to stand With a firm, unflinching hand 'Mid the mustered ranks of those who love the Lord; And "To love is to obey" Be our watchword day by day, As we march to meet the foe with one accord.

We are few but we are strong With the strength that doth belong To all those who work for God by His own light. We pursue no single theme, Held in popular esteem, But accept the Scripture whole, unchanged, as right.

We advance before the world With our banner wide unfurled— Sabbath, Temperance, Education to uphold: One an ordinance of God, Though vain paganism trod Where the feet of desecration still are bold.

It is ours to work and pray For His holy Sabbath day— For the day which He has sanctified and blessed. And our own the sacred part To awake the Christian heart To acknowledge and restore that sacred rest.

We would arm with sword and shield, And the ready will to wield Heaven's force against man's formidable foe, The foul scourge which sweeps our land With the tempter hand in hand, Intemperance, that grim messenger of woe.

In the light of wisdom taught, Seeking higher realms of thought, We aspire to untried fields and wider sphere, To extend the gospel sound Where benighted souls abound, Till immortal life shall crown our mission here.

Annie L. Holberton, in Sabbath Recorder.