D. A. BALL by D. A. Ball

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Feb 1, 1906

D. A. BALL

By D. A. Ball

Personal

HAVING formed quite an extensive acquaintance in home and foreign lands, but now being shut in at home by failing health, I have decided to ask the editor of the REVIEW to allow me the use of its columns to communicate with these fellow believers.

I know that the mere intimation of my failing health will be a surprise to many. My life has been an active one, and in looking over my diaries I find that for a number of years my sermons were nearly equal to one each day, two hundred and seventy-one being the smallest number in any one year. I have no desire to live upon the past, for it is but poor food at best, and our best service comes short of real duty; nor do I care to live too much in the present, for it is filled with pain. So I am living in the future to quite an extent, and I find comfort in meditating on the promises of God, which, like the stars, shine the brightest in the dark. I like the words of Paul where he said, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” I also like the Scripture that he refers to in Isa. 64:4, which reads, “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.”

If Adam could have beheld the far-reaching results of his wrong course, he would have better understood the import of those words, “What hast thou done?” Sin is a small word, but it is a seed that produces suffering, and this in turn brings forth death, and death necessitates the grave, where, were it not for the divine interposition, all would end. But here we are cheered with a knowledge of the fact that the Captain of our salvation entered its cold domain, brought its keys away with him, and holds them in his own strong right hand, promising to open the charnel-house and let us free. What a glad day that will be when there will be no griefs nor graves, no sighs nor cries, no crosses nor losses, no births nor burials, but inexpressible joy. Let us see to it that every requirement of our Commander is met, and then we shall have confidence before him at his coming.

D. A. BALL

Lockport, N. Y.