THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
By J. H. Waggoner
THOUGH circumstances, with which the readers of the SIGNS are sufficiently acquainted, compel me to be absent for a season from the Office, I have not ceased from my labors for the paper, nor lost any of my interest in it. I have of late had opportunities to learn, in person, how the paper is esteemed by the missionary workers and friends of the cause in general. I am very happy to know that it is not losing in interest or in usefulness. It is doing a great work, the importance and extent of which will never be fully realized until we “shall know as we are known.” It is my intention to return to the Office as soon as the condition of my health will warrant; and I would not now absent myself did I not know that it is the only means by which I shall be able to serve the work successfully in the future. In the meantime I must congratulate the readers of the SIGNS in its continued interest and prosperity. It is my daily prayer that God will bless and guide those who are laboring so faithfully in Oakland, and I ask all who feel an interest in the paper to join me in this prayer. God has blessed them, and he will bless them. I would say a word to the friends in California in behalf of the coming volume. At this period in the work of the third angel’s message the possibilities of a year are immense, and we cannot afford to let such opportunities pass unimproved. Let us stand by our paper which has been blessed to the good of so many who are now rejoicing in the present truth. God is favoring us with great opportunities. He gives us a season of peace and quietness in which to labor for his truth, and for the salvation of our fellow-men. In the light of prophecy, we must look for a change not long hence. The nations are making great preparations for the coming “time of trouble,” which they all dread, but which none can avert. Dan. 12:1; Jer. 25:15–33. But the most important preparation is that which God’s people are making, that they may “stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.” Eze. 13, etc. And he works best for himself who works most for his fellow-men. Now is our opportunity; and let us work in faith, imitating our Saviour who was not discouraged (Isa. 42:1–4,) though, to all human appearance, his efforts made but little impression upon the world. Results are with God. Trust in him; delight thyself in him and in his work, “and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”