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Work of Faith

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Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · May 22, 1879

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 5, No. 21.

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Work of Faith.

By Stephen Nelson Haskell

THE work of God is a work of faith. Webster says faith is an implicit reliance on the testimony of another. The Bible, which is the highest authority, says: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith will make the testimony of God a living reality. The individual does not walk by sight, but the word is a lamp which lights up the path of every one who believes. Faith is practical; therefore faith will lead the person not only to see the light, but to walk in it. It is a living, active principle.
Every step taken in the cause of God is as much a step of faith in the nineteenth century as it was when God led Israel through the wilderness. Our faith grasps God's testimony concerning the present truth. Are there scores everywhere who will embrace the truth? Will the number of faithful men and women swell to one hundred and forty-four thousand, who, out of the last generation, will finally stand upon Mount Zion? Does the word teach us that we have reached the last part of the last generation of men that will live on this earth? Our faith says, Yes. It becomes us, then, to act accordingly.
Had we a score of years in which to talk about warning the world, there would be more consistency in dallying along for a year or two. But the providence of God is far in advance of us, and we have no time to lose. Many are the expressions that show that the work of God will move with great celerity near its close; and it becomes us to act accordingly: "For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness; because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth." "Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city."
God has committed this truth to men and women, and if you, dear reader, are a believer in it, then you thereby become responsible to enlighten others. God will hold you to an account. The day of Judgment will reveal that talents were lent us of God to use in his service. We have not a moment to spare.
S. N. HASKELL.