p. 152 | DO WE REALIZE IT?

Publishing Committee · Rochester, N. Y. · May 30, 1854

DO WE REALIZE IT?

We have reason to believe that many who profess to believe that Christ is at the door, do not realize it. This doctrine must be taken to heart with a living faith, to understand its power. When we feel a continual consciousness of standing in the presence of the Lord and his coming glory, the circumstances that bind us, and the whole machinery of earth, will appear to us as the dust of the balance, and the necessary preparations, our only purpose and strife.—When the Son of man cometh, shall he find this faith among Adventists? Shall any of this consecrated band faint and grow weary through long watching, or sink under the trials incident to all who are mere sojourners—pilgrims, seeking a better country? If we really believe that we are to be with Christ so soon, we shall most intensely realize that our home is not here. All the unsettled anxiety of the stranger's heart, the earnest desire to attain our desired haven, and the indifference to the passing allurements of the way, will be increasingly ours, as we get a nearer view of our glorious inheritance. Then let us not sleep as do others, nor faint, nor grow weary, for "we have need of patience, that, after we have done the will of God we may receive the promise, for yet a little while and he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry." And again, "the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him."