LABORERS WANTED by Stephen Nelson Haskell

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 6, 1880

LABORERS WANTED.

By Stephen Nelson Haskell

OUR Christianity is manifested by works. Those embracing it have before them two distinct objects. These objects blend in one harmonious action. It should be a distinct object of the Christian to be Christ-like in character. Our spirit should be molded by the truth of God accompanied by His Spirit. And, in proportion as we are partakers of Christ's Spirit, we become anxious to carry forward the work of Christ on the earth. Therefore the do-nothing system is no part of the Christian religion.

God had a definite object in committing the gospel to mankind, and there should be a united action on the part of the Christians to carry out this object. Every man, woman, and child, should take hold of the work. There is now opportunity to do something. The way is all open. Subscribers should be obtained for our periodicals. Our pioneer sheet should be placed in the hands of those who wish to read. If we do not do this work it is simply because the will is lacking on our part, and if the will is lacking what does it show but that we are not converted?

The first impulse and the abiding principle of a converted soul is to help his fellows, and tell what the Lord has done for him. In this way the gospel began. After Jesus, the great shepherd, had come down to give his life a ransom for the world. John pointed him out to two of his disciples as the Lamb of God. They followed him. One of these was Andrew, and he first went to his brother, Simon Peter, and brought him to Jesus. The next day Jesus found Phillip and enlisted him in his service. And the first work of Phillip was to hunt up Nathanael and bring him in.

So it has been and so it must be. Those who have been recipients of the truth must make it known to others. He who sits idly by and sees his fellow men going down to ruin, without an effort to save them, is not cultivating the Spirit of Christ, and is not preparing to enter the joy of the Lord.

"And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as stars forever and ever."

Shall we let the present opportunities pass, and the stars we might secure fade from our crowns of rejoicing, and the crowns themselves recede from our reach, and life and all its joys be lost forever? You answer, No; but the answer to be effectual must be not in words only, but in works also.

"O God, my inmost soul convert, And deeply on my thoughtful heart, Eternal things impress, Cause me to feel their solemn weight, And tremble on the brink of fate, And wake to righteousness." S. N. HASKELL.