p. 31 | LATENT MORAL POWER.-

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 11, 1871

LATENT MORAL POWER.—

It is impossible to over-estimate, or rather to estimate, the power that lies latent in our churches. We talk of the power latent in steam—latent till Watt evoked its spirit from the waters, and set the giant to turn the iron arms of machinery. We talk of the power that was latent in the skies till science climbed their heights, and seizing the spirit of thunder, chained it to our service—abolishing distance; outstripping the wings of time, and flashing our thoughts across rolling seas to distant continents. Yet what are these to the moral power that lies asleep in the congregations of our country and of the Christian world? And why latent? Because men and women neither appreciate their individual influence, nor estimate aright their own individual responsibilities.—Sel.