p. 7 | L. A. S by L. A. S.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 13, 1903

L. A. S

By L. A. S.

The loss of a large publishing house seems like a great calamity, but we should remember that the work of God cannot be burned by fire, nor hindered by any such element of destruction. God himself is “a consuming fire,” and fire is but one of his agencies, to do his bidding. We should remember that the cause of God never advanced more rapidly than at times when there were no great visible institutions connected with it. There is such a thing as trusting in institutions to do a work which can be done only by personal missionary effort. The institution has its place, but it cannot do the real work of advancing the message. The thing of vital importance is not institutions, great or small, but consecration on the part of those who know the truth. God could send down an institution from heaven all ready equipped for work, as he will send down the holy city, or he could rain down gold with which to build institutions, as he rained down manna in the desert; but the one thing he cannot furnish, and that we must provide, is consecration. If the loss of the institution should be the means of awakening our people to a sense of their personal, individual responsibility to spread this message to the world, so that the needed zeal on our part, which alone is what hinders the work, would be supplied, the loss would be no loss, but a great gain.