p. 66 | ONWARD! by Anna C. White

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 29, 1901

ONWARD!

By Anna C. White

ANNA C. WHITE (Battle Creek, Mich.)

The twentieth century — the much lauded, greatly talked-of, wonderful new century — has dawned; and the strangest of all is that its days are exactly the same as their predecessors. We go through them hour by hour, meeting the same trials, the same cares, and passing through the same struggles. We find it needs the same grace and power to face and conquer them. Our hearts are just as sore when sorrow comes; our defeats as bitter; our victories as grand and encouraging now, as they were in the days of the old century.

It brings to our hearts a realization of the fact that there is no to-morrow. The day and moment are all we have, hence the necessity of doing our best now. True, the memories of the past and the hopes of the future are stepping-stones for present accomplishments, but in the present only, come our opportunities. That which is neglected to-day, fails to present itself to-morrow; and too late we awaken to find that the opportunity given us yesterday is to-day in the possession of some one else.

Last year’s achievements were neither easier nor more difficult than those of this year will be. The consecration and good sense that carried us over the rough places last year, will meet and conquer the difficulties of this; the same lack of sympathy, tact, foresight, and observation that caused us to fail then, will be our stumbling-block now. Whatever we accomplish will be by no turn of fortune’s wheel, other than reward for hard, painstaking labor and earnest effort on our part.

We have the comfort of knowing that we may go on from glory unto glory, during the coming days. We have to-day a wider range of vision, a broader conception of things, three hundred and sixty-five days more of experience, than we had a year ago. He who stands still, retrogrades; there must be progress if there is to be life. The waters of the dashing, sparkling mountain stream are clear, cold, and life-giving, and in the end reach the great sea; those of the stagnant frog-pond are spawn-covered, miasmatic, hideous, and remain within their own environments until dried up beneath the burning rays of a midsummer sun.

Rocks, overhanging branches, deep declivities, broken places, hills of difficulty, are naught in the onward path of the ambitious brook; all are overcome, borne down, swallowed up, in the one resistless impulse of “Onward! seaward!”

So is the influence of a life in which the Spirit of God has full control. Life may have its drawbacks, missteps will be made, a consciousness of sinful tendencies and weak impulses will be felt, yet no insurmountable barrier can be placed in the path of such a one. Moments of indecision, hours of dejection, days of silent suffering, nights of intense agony, seasons of struggle, defeat, and dishonor, on our part, can not for one instant weaken the power of God’s right arm, nor lessen our knowledge of the fact that we have a Helper, the strong and mighty One of the universe.

That we are constantly seeing our own imperfections; that we every day discover new flaws in our personal characters is strong evidence that God is still leading, guiding, instructing, remonstrating, rebuking, encouraging. Black never shows blacker than when contrasted with white. Impurity appears never so vile as when in the presence of purity. The more we walk with God, the closer the communion with His Holy Spirit, the nearer our relationship to our Elder Brother, the more vividly will our moral shortcomings appear to us; and as we bravely strive every day to overcome each fault as it is shown to us, so shall we grow more and more into the perfect image of Him who hath called us sons. “It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” Walking with God here is a needful preparation for the coming likeness hereafter.

Last night I looked at the beautiful, star-spangled canopy overhead, and noted the wonderful brightness of the moon shining clear and full from its dark-blue background. Whence comes its brightness? I asked myself. The old schoolroom came up before me, and I remembered how, in childish incredulity, I listened as the patient teacher explained the mystery, and told how the moon partook of the sun’s glory and effulgence. But, I thought, the sun has not been shining to-day. What now? — Aye, but he had: the clouds had come between me and his radiant splendor, but not between him and his fair co-worker. And so the gentle messenger told all night long the tale of his shining; and I believed it because before my very eyes was the evidence of the truth.

Is it not a great deal the same in our spiritual lives? Others see not the goodness of God’s providences, the justice of His dealings, the mercy of His plans in behalf of fallen man. Yet if, looking into our faces, watching our daily lives, examining the motives of our every-day actions, they see reflected therein the glory of the Son, the radiance of the Father, and the loving, tender influence of the Comforter, will not they be convinced of the wisdom and love of the Triune God? What an incentive to right thinking! What a motive for right living! What opportunities for the silent living out of God’s principles! What a privilege of witnessing for the Master we profess to dearly love!

Yet we fail and come far short — saddest of facts. Who of us can look back with pride upon a year, a week,—nay, even a day,—and not know within his heart of the faults and omissions with which it is full. And knowing this, we have charity and tenderness for our erring brethren.

It is ours to hourly live, conscious always of sinful tendencies, sorrowfully aware of yearnings for that which is forbidden and wrong, sensible of our proneness to err, but kept from sinning by the power that dwells within, controlling our wills and directing our lives.

Report of failure means one of two things: Christ is weaker than Satan, or else I have failed to make connection with the Source of all true strength.

Conscious of sin, yet kept from sinning by His grace — let us rejoice in it. Let us bear with patience, endure with meekness, overcome with grace, and by His strength rise above those things that tend to make us of the earth, earthy. Dissatisfied with our present conditions, let us seek those higher and better. “Wherever we are, to go somewhere else; whatever we have, to get something more,” is the moving desire of the modern world. Why should it not be ours, so long as we seek the nobler, truer, purer things?