p. 572 | TELL IT TO OTHERS by Ellet Joseph Waggoner

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 16, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 36.

TELL IT TO OTHERS.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

BY ELDER E. J. WAGGONER.

‘SACREDNESS does not mean secrecy. Many persons suppose that sacred things are profaned by the violation of their secrecy. There is truth in this sometimes. But there are souls to whom the utterance of some of our most sacred thoughts or experiences would be a life blessing. The question is, Sacred to what, or to whom? Every high and holy experience ought to be sacred to a high and holy purpose, and that purpose is not always to be attained by burying an experience utterly out of the sight of men.’

The Scripture admonishes us to tell others what we have seen and heard from the Lord. ‘Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.’ Ps. 66:16. ‘Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.’ Mal. 3:16. God blesses men, not for their own sake, simply, but that they may be a blessing to others. Let the language of every lover of the Lord be, ‘O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.’

What shall we tell? Jesus said to the disciples of John, ‘Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard.’ Luke 7:22. That is all that any gospel worker has to do. He has not to strain himself to make a learned discourse; he has not to theorize and speculate; he has only to tell what he has seen and heard, not what he has heard men say, but what he has heard from the Lord. The command is, ‘Hear him.’ Tell only what you know from personal acquaintance with Jesus. This was the source of the apostles’ power. They had been with Jesus, and they said, when forbidden to teach, ‘We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.’ Acts 4:20. You may not have heard and seen very much, but that little will be as effective as the greater amount that another has seen and heard.

But do not think to add to its effectiveness by adding something that you do not know from personal knowledge. That will weaken the whole. The testimony of the man in court, who knows only one thing about the case, and who sticks to that one thing, is as useful as any man’s testimony could be. But he throws discredit on what he does know, as soon as he begins to tell something that he does not know. This wonderfully simplifies Christian work, and provides a place for everyone. ‘Go your way, tell those things which ye have seen and heard.’ ‘Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.’