The Cause on the Pacific Coast.
By Joseph Clarke
THERE is an air of romance in the rapid growth of the empire west of the Rocky Mountains. Only a few years ago, the territory on the Pacific Shore was a vast wilderness; a home for the savage Indian; his ample hunting-ground, where wild beasts held undisputed possession; and roamed abroad in undisturbed freedom, hardly interrupted by the Indian hunter who then had plenty of game, and hardly suspected the greed of the white race which even then pressed upon his borders. Then we old men were boys in school, studying the geographies of those days, when we looked upon the unnamed territory from Arkansaw to the Pacific as an unexplored country never to be wholly known to man. But lo, the change brought about in fifty years! the rapid increase of population by foreign immigration, and the natural growth of the country, has accomplished wonders. It seems a miracle of power, a romantic vision of some enthusiast, that this vast territory is not only taken up by an enterprising people, but opened to commerce by iron roads, upon which is transported by steam power the wealth of the country. Time and distance seem almost annihilated by the rapidity of transit; and by it distant realms are brought within a few days of pleasant travel; and what is more wonderful, news is carried on the wings of the swift lightning. Meanwhile, fertile, inventive genius has brought to our hands wonderful labor-saving machinery, and now brute force or steam facilitates all the heavy work in the shop and on the farm, and the press furnishes us with the latest news from all the world almost as fresh as if it were all at our very doors. But what is more wonderful than all this, within the last fifty years great revolutions in church and State have taken place. Europe has been remapped many times; and many a nation has been reduced to dependence and servitude, while others have risen to power. Romanism has lost its supremacy, and retires like a hunted leopard to some sequestered den, where she may hunt as before for the souls of men. And as the time for her fall approaches, the prophecies speak out in trumpet tones in the three messages of Rev. 14, throwing a bright light upon all the prophetic scriptures; and calling who fear God to a high and holy, though humble, work. It seems wonderful to look back to those early days when little was known of the prophecies, and Adventism was only a common word; when our good fathers and mothers really believed that Sunday was a God-ordained institution, and that infant baptism was a time-honored relic of apostolic practices. They were honest in their way; and God will require of them only for the light they enjoyed. But upon us, in our advanced years, has beamed a great and clear, a heavenly light. The sanctuary in Heaven is opened, and there is seen the ark of God's testimony; the nations are angry; and the time of the dead to be judged is already here. Oh! what events have been crowded into the last fifty years. Within this time, a generation has passed from the stage of action. Our fathers and mothers are slumbering in the grave, waiting the sound of the final trump, and we their children stand up to fill their places. Shall we do the work assigned us? A great responsibility rests upon us who survive. Upon us who inhabit the vast territory, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, rests the responsibility of warning the world. Other countries are also joining in the work, but this land of light stands responsible for the burden of the work. Shall we be behind the times? Shall we faint beneath our burdens? Shall it be necessary for the Lord to set any of us aside, because we are dilatory or willful? It is thrilling to hear of the progress of the truth on the Pacific Coast, and that it has so taken shape that a publishing house is being built, and a periodical is already in circulation. Brethren, let us all come up to the work, with all our offerings, and all our prayers. Then the work in Europe, and the strange work in China; strange because so wonderful, so unexpected. God has many glad surprises for his people in the last days. Shall we not thank God that we have lived to see such wonderful predictions accomplished, and such light upon events just in the future. Success to the cause in the West, and in the East; success to the cause North and South. Let it ring upon the ears of a slumbering world, to prepare them for the voice of God which shall shake the universe at no distant day. Dear reader, where will you and I be then? Let our works decide this question favorably for us. JOSEPH CLARKE.