p. 4 | Help in a Crisis by S. N. Haskell

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Nov 10, 1904

Help in a Crisis

By S. N. Haskell

The greatest opportunities in life occur in the time of a crisis when much depends upon immediate action. At such times those who are prepared to step in and cast all their interests into the work of God secure to themselves great blessings. Of Simeon and Levi, God said, “Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret: unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.” Gen. 49:5-7. When all Israel made and worshiped the golden calf, the tribe of Levi alone stood firm for God; they stood in the gap and defended the honor of God.

Many years later the honor of God was at stake, and Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, again arose and vindicated God. And when he did this, God said, “Behold I give unto him my covenant of peace: and he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.” Numbers 25.

A few years later, at the close of the life of Moses, we hear him speaking of Levi as follows: “Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Massah. . . . They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar.” Deut. 33:8-11.

This was very different from what Jacob had said; for Levi had risen in the time of a great crisis, and risked their all to vindicate the honor of God. Instances of like note are found all through the Bible. Circumstances arise when the honor of the cause of God is at stake. It is then man's opportunity to arise, and show where he stands.

The present time, in the history of the third angel's message, is the greatest opportunity for men of means to go forth and assist the cause of God. There never was a time like the present. In the onward march of present truth, never before was such an opportunity presented for men of means to help the cause of God. God has most signally given temporal prosperity to his people, especially in this country; for on them rests the burden of extending the knowledge of the truth to the most unenlightened portions of the earth.

Missions have been established in every civilized country, also in the darker portions of Africa and in Asia. Institutions are to be erected in different portions of this country, and in other

portions of the earth. The call for means in Washington is according to the spirit of prophecy, but this represents only one important phase of the work. New fields are still to be opened, and the truth is to be carried to earth's remotest bounds. Our foreign missions are to be sustained, and at the same time our home work is not to be neglected.

Our people know but little of the conditions of the South. Twenty thousand dollars would be but a very small sum to meet the present necessities of the Southern field. The condition of things in the South is fast coming to the place where the work will be closed up, and what is done for the South must be done speedily. Much has been done, but the present demand is greater than in any other one portion of this world. It is greater because the work is closing.

Our brethren in the North can not appreciate the condition of things in the South any more than our brethren in America can appreciate the condition of things in other countries, where the customs and civilization are entirely different from what they are in America. God has spoken concerning all of these enterprises. Our annual offerings are soon to be taken from all parts of the world to be given to these different fields. There are not sufficient funds with which to begin to build the colored sanitarium in the South at Nashville, about which the spirit of prophecy has spoken so plainly. Neither are there funds to build the sanitarium for the white people outside of the city limits of Nashville. Money should be raised to meet all these calls. Twice the sum is needed that has been set to be raised this present time of annual offerings. Will our people come up to this crisis, and make a lift that will bring relief to the cause in all its branches? Should there come a reverse, a financial crisis such as has been sometimes in the past, in less than six months there would be hundreds of thousands of dollars lost by financial depression. Why not place it where it will advance the cause of God?

To secure God's continued favor, it is necessary that God's people now make use of the blessings that they have received to bless others. This is not only true financially, but in putting forth efforts to scatter the rays of light. Now is man's opportunity to step in and secure the favor and blessing of God, so that even where God may have spoken by way of reproof, he would regard the efforts put forth, and would turn curses into blessings.

In 1844, within a few weeks of the time it was expected the Lord would come, thousands and tens of thousands of dollars were brought to the old Signs office in Boston, Mass., and laid on the counter, the owners begging the brethren to take the money and use it in the cause of God. But they were met by the statement that they had enough money to carry them over the twenty-second day of October, when they expected the Lord would come; so the money was pushed back, and they had to take it away with them. This may be the case with many in the history of this work.

There are plenty of men and plenty of means in the ranks of present truth, if all could appreciate the condition of things, to accomplish God's purpose in scattering the rays of light in a very brief period of time. It is the golden opportunity for the remnant of God's people. Where are men of means who will arise and invest their substance in a crisis like this? Such ones God will honor.

S. N. HASKELL.