The Move to Washington by G. B. Starr

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Oct 6, 1904

The Move to Washington

By G. B. Starr

The Trumpet Call

G. B. STARR

“AND the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps. And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” Num. 10: 1-3.

At the dedication of the temple one hundred and twenty priests sounded with trumpets, and it is written: “It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth forever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord.” 2 Chron. 5: 13.

This is as it should be in all the movements and journeyings of modern Israel to-day. When the Lord commands the trumpet to sound for the camp to move into new territory, every watchman should repeat the call, and all should be “as one, to make one sound to be heard,” that all the people may be united in heart and soul in praising God, that not one soul should be confused by a discordant note.

The work of God must advance steadily into new territory. It must also increase in power and glory, and achieve greater conquests and victories along the way. The latest camping place must witness its greatest triumphs, not by way of disparagement or unfavorable contrast upon any past work or place of encampment, but by way of growth, healthy growth, and certain advancement to the point of final victory.

Those who advance with the work will and do rejoice in its progress. Those who fall behind and question the leading hand of God will, by this very act, bring about unpleasantness and unnecessary comparisons. By endeavoring to hold old camping grounds, and refusing to throw the weight of their influence along with the new moves, individuals will make issues that God never designed should exist; and these issues they will attribute to those who are moving in the order of God. With every soul who professes faith in the present truth it ought to be as with Ezekiel’s cherubs: “Whithersoever the Spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go.” It was no hardship for them to go; for their spirit was in harmony with the move.

We are one people throughout the world, baptized into one body by one Spirit. We move and act in concert, and this oneness is the very best credential that we could present to the world of the divinity of our commission from Jesus Christ to carry to the world the latest invitation to his marriage feast. This union does exist, and we have no fears of its ever being broken or in any way seriously shaken. Individuals may be shaken entirely out of it, and they may imagine that the union of the entire body is as weak and as shaky as they; but instead of this being the truth, the fact is that God is simply shaking out everything that can be shaken, to immediately replace it all with better timber, solid timber. Let no one be deceived, the body is not being seriously shaken because you feel so. Everything is being steadily shaken more compactly and strongly together, so that every joint will be knit so firmly that the very gates of hell shall not be able to secure an entrance at any point. If the place you hold is weak, because you are weak, then you must become strong, or be removed, to give place to some one who will be strong under trial and pressure, and who under no circumstances would prove untrue, or permit the enemy to take his place of trust.

God lives. Christ, the triumphant Conqueror, lives. The Holy Spirit lives, and will carry to perfection the work committed to him. And the third angel, chosen of God and entrusted with the last message of mercy to men, will not fail nor disappoint Heaven, but will accomplish the work of gathering out a people who will triumph over the beast, the image, and the mark. In the sight of an apostate world the third angel will bring out a people who will “keep the commandments of God, and hold the testimony of Jesus.” Neither of these will they be persuaded to relinquish; for they are the distinctive accompaniments, and powerful and effective agencies of the third angel with which he brings to a successful issue his herculean task under the adverse surroundings of the last generation of men.

Some of us in distant fields, on the outskirts, as it were, of the world’s work, wish it known that everything is steady at the outposts. We feel no uneasiness. God is here, and our spirits rejoice in the movements from center to circumference, to push the work on and on into the “regions beyond.” Now is certainly the opportune time to work the cities, the strongholds of Satan, and to gain conquests for the kingdom of Christ, trophies of his grace. The battle must be pressed to the very gates; for souls are perishing there, souls that might be rescued. We ought to move and act as men inspired by a great and mighty commission. We ought to let the world know by unmistakable evidences that we firmly believe that we hold a royal commission to warn them, and thus save them from the certain destruction that awaits the finally impenitent. If our words and message are full of energy, the people will be stirred.

Definiteness is what trembling souls are waiting for. We live in an age of compromise and indefiniteness and vacillation. Let all the trumpets give a certain sound, and all give the same sound,

and the people will prepare for the battle.

Let us move in the order of God. “Let the good work go on.” Let the builders at Washington be encouraged, and sing and praise God as they work in faith to carry out his plans. His good Spirit witnesses to the move. Our prayers, our donations, and our rejoicings mingle with yours. May God hasten the work.