WHERE ARE THEY? by OLD SOLDIER

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 12, 1878

WHERE ARE THEY?

By OLD SOLDIER

KANSAS reports six hundred and ninety-five Seventh-day Adventists, and only fifty-one have given anything for the “Dime Tabernacle.” Six hundred and forty-four not heard from! Where are they? Are they all on the sick list? or are they all busy fixing up winter quarters? A battle to be fought, and the army—where is it? The trumpet has sounded, but they do not rally. Only two captains out of thirty have reported their companies. What shall be done? The advance guard has gone into the fight. Shall we rally to the rescue?

Hear the word of the Lord: “Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord.” Haggai 1: 8. Did that people need a house? Yes. Do we need one? Yes. Was their house commenced? Yes. Is ours? Yes. Did they all take hold to help build? No. Have we all taken hold? No. Did God prosper them when they refused to help? No. Will he prosper us? Let us hear what he said to them, and then we can tell better: “for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning.” Rom. 15: 4. Listen to the word of the Lord through the prophet: “This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.” Are we not saying the same by our actions? But what says the Lord? “Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.” “Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.” Haggai 1: 2, 4-6, 9.

Do we want the Lord to blow upon our property, and take it away after we have gathered it? If not, let us take hold and see that his house is built. Are not these things written for our learning, that we may avoid the errors of God’s ancient people, and the curses that came on them for their wrong course? “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” 1 Cor. 10: 12.

Would it not be well for the leader of each society to see that every one in his society has a chance to pledge for the “Dime Tabernacle,” and see to it at once? Will not every one that belongs to no society send donations direct to the REVIEW AND HERALD? If all will do this, when the next Supplement appears, the Kansas army will be reported in the field, rank and file. There is not one of the six hundred and ninety-five S. D. Adventists of Kansas but ought to have his name enrolled in the next Supplement. Who will be absent and not accounted for at the next roll call?

OLD SOLDIER.