OBSERVATIONS by S. M. I. Henry

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 23, 1900

OBSERVATIONS

By S. M. I. Henry

[THE following article was handed in by Sister Henry shortly before she left Battle Creek on her last journey alive; and is really the last contribution that she made to the REVIEW AND HERALD. It was put into type at once; but was crowded out of the paper until now. It is well; for thus it comes to us “as a people” as in fact her dying testimony. It is thus of doubly solemn importance; for in itself alone it is too sadly true, and therefore reveals a situation of the most solemn, because of its dangerous, importance. Let all prayerfully study it, and rise to its call to a true Christian experience and work.—ED.]

It is borne in upon me that as a people we are confronted with a most solemn situation, of which we seem to be strangely unconscious.

The steady accelerating march of events emphasizes every word of those prophecies that form the basis of all our hopes, making assurance doubly sure that we are indeed nearing the close of the probationary age; that all opportunity to do anything toward securing our own salvation or that of any other soul will soon be at an end; that the world is still full of people who have never heard these things; and that for some reason the truth, which so intimately concerns them, has been committed to the custody of a handful of people, themselves so situated that even to live seems to require all the effort that the majority of them can put forth. In the “hard scrabble” for bread and a foothold among men, in plain sight the hand upon the dial of time is rapidly moving toward the point upon which is marked the solemn declaration, “No more!”

The emergency would seem to demand that everything else be dropped out of our hands, and that as one body, with one spirit and one voice, we should go out to utter the cry of warning and of invitation, taking our bread as it comes to us on the wing. I would not intimate that business operations should cease, that housekeeping should be neglected, but only that those mercenary motives which flavor these occupations, which should be held sacred among us, shall be eliminated, and that the opportunities they afford for personal intercourse shall be faithfully used for proclaiming the message to those who never knew it, and for “comforting one another” with its precious words.

There is some reason why a people with such slender equipment as this world gives should have been made responsible for so great a trust. It is more than probable that God saw that he could save us in no other way than by just such a correlation of forces and situations as we find ourselves in. At all events, since we can not go back of the divine purpose to discover its secret, there is left but one thing that we can do safely; that is, to fall into line with the march of God among the nations, catch the step and pace that has been set for us, and keep it to the end. Falling in this, all is lost to us; and it would be too bad to have passed through the difficulties involved in becoming Seventh-day Adventists,—the losses and crosses,—to have been such a part of this awful play of destiny which Satan has put upon the boards,—to have stood against him in these momentous days, and at the last, when all is over, be relegated to the ash heap.

“But,” says one, “I am not a candidate for the ash heap. I know I am not just ready for immortality, but I shall line up in time. I shall set my house in order, shape my business, and be ready.”

But when?

There is that letter, its postage as well, which might be sent to help some soul instead of to wound and discourage; there are those precious moments for social intercourse, which might be spent in speaking the truth about Jesus, instead of spreading a questionable report about some fellow laborer, or in carrying to him one concerning himself, his work and family, perhaps in even reading him out of the denomination by saying, “O, yes, he may keep the Sabbath, but he is not really one of us.”

There are the principles upon which a true family, church, and neighborhood life must be based. You know them, but ignore them.

There are the Testimonies of the Spirit, which you profess to believe, with their admonitions with reference to cleansing, keeping, and building up the temple of God, which is your body, which is defiled by the use of tobacco, coffee, tea, and animal foods, as well as by the indulgence of unholy thoughts and lustful habits.

O my brethren, when, when, shall you be ready to meet the closing hour of preparation? It is time that we should draw close and closer to one another; cultivate confidence; love as our Lord loved; cherish one another as those who must soon be scattered like sheep upon the mountains.

Do you marvel at these words—then listen! Within the last few months I have heard from brethren concerning other brethren, even leaders and teachers at whose hands the Lord is seeking to feed his flock, such expressions as these: “Oh, he is queer in the upper story!” “He is going wild over his theory.” “He is a little off.” “She is one of the queer kind.” Expressions which belong to the coarsest chaff of the world’s gossip, not to any grain of the kingdom.

I have seen a company of our people throw away a God-given opportunity to help carry the message to a local W. C. T. U. and other church people, simply because the services were not all “for them.” They were like children who would not “play” if they could not have it all on their own cellar stairs.

“When are you going to talk to us?” I was asked by more than one who voiced the thought of almost the entire company after a meeting under the auspices of the W. C. T. U. and all the churches—several ministers of as many denominations being in attendance.

“Why, I am talking to you all the time,” I replied, in amazement, “as much as to anybody.”

“O, yes; but we want a meeting for our own selves.”

At one place this spirit was so malignant that I concluded to have the word quietly passed around that I would meet our own people at a certain afternoon hour. I would not wound the other Christian people by a public announcement of such a meeting. And when we were alone by ourselves, I read our brethren some instructions which had been sent me through the servant of the Lord to the effect that I should not confine my work to those who have had an opportunity to know the truth.

Then, I am glad to say, these brethren revealed the real, true mettle of character, as they always do sooner or later, by a quick acknowledgment of their error—they called it sin—which they had committed in blowing the frosty breath of prejudice and criticism all through the atmosphere in which I was trying to do my work, instead of breathing it full of the warmth of prayerful sympathy and love for souls. Then they longed to go back to the first meeting and begin right to do their part in the ministry to which I am called; but the opportunity was gone.

Brethren, in the labor that is before us this year of all years, what shall we do? Shall we be ready to meet the responsibility, forgetting everything that can hinder, and help one another with all our hearts, like members of the same family? or shall we stand off and continue to watch critically, and wonder if indeed this new work, this that never was before, really does concern us?

S. M. I. HENRY.