ENCOURAGEMENT by Sel.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 11, 1875

ENCOURAGEMENT

By Sel.

“He that laboureth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto eternal life.” John 4:36.

Lo! the harvest of the summer Whitens over all the land. Even thou, O latest comer, Join thy wavering hand.

Wherefore art thou idly weeping? Thinkest thou that God will scorn Thy few sheaves of humble reaping In his ripened corn?

Fearest thou that long and vainly Thou wilt seek for work to do? Lo! our Saviour speaketh plainly, “Laborers are few.”

From the lion-like Achilles To the man of lowliest birth, Every being must fulfill his Purpose on the earth.

Let no weak mistrust be lurking With thy faith its doubts to blend; Thou canst see how all is working To a perfect end.

Linger not within the shadow Of the pleasant rustling leaves; Go, like Ruth, into the meadow, “Gleaning scattered sheaves.”

Though the noonday sun is burning, And no shade of rock is nigh, Work thou till its slow returning In the eastern sky.

Grieve not, like the prophet Jonas, For the gourd-shade’s faintest edge, Nor although thy toil be lone as Bird in winter’s hedge.

Slowly creep along the dial Minutes of the passing day, Yet the burning of the trial Cannot last for aye.

Thou wilt go to endless wages, God will call thee to behold Thine own name upon his pages Traced in lines of gold.

—Sel.