TWO AND TWO | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 28, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 22.

TWO AND TWO.

Two ARE better than one when they are both well-disposed toward each other and toward the truth. If a long journey is to be made, or a difficult lesson to be mastered, or a hard task to be performed, two are better than one. They will encourage one another with mutual sympathy and friendship. They will drive away the dreadful feeling of loneliness which robs the strong man of his strength. They will support one another in time of struggle, and strengthen one another under heavy burdens. The strength of two is more than double the strength of one.

When two are well matched, each one is the complement of the other. Each will possess valuable qualities and capabilities which are lacking in the other. One furnishes cool judgment, the other throbbing impulse. One has a poetical imagination, the other a logical reason. One may be a powerful speaker, the other a sweet singer. One may be a masterly organizer, the other a tireless worker. It was so with Peter and John. They are often mentioned together in the New Testament. Peter was a fiery evangelist; John was a warm-hearted brother. Peter was the embodiment of zeal and strength; John, of love and wisdom. One was the right hand, the other the left. One furnished brains, the other heart. Neither was sufficient without the other.

When God has serious business for men on the earth, He usually sends them forth two and two. So He sent forth Moses and Aaron. Paul and Silas were companions during a large part of their missionary career. Luther had his Melachthon, John Wesley had his brother Charles, Dwight L. Moody had his friend Ira D. Sankey. There was true philosophy in the method of the early Methodist itinerants. They were sent out two and two. Usually one was a man of experience, while the other was a young man of superior energy and force. It is a hard lot when one must stand alone. This sometimes happens. There was a time when Paul stood alone, toiled alone, suffered alone. That is a pathetic passage in which he relates his experience under such a trial, “At my first answer no man stood with me.” Few men can stand alone. They falter and faint under the burden. But when a good man is supported by the strong arm, the tender sympathy, the constant fellowship, the unswerving fidelity of a true yoke-fellow, his strength is as the strength of ten.—Christian Advocate.