Encouragement for the Adventist Ministry
By L. H. Bond
DEAR BRO. WHITE:—I take the liberty to address a line to you, and I do it the more cheerfully because I believe you to be engaged in a great and good work, for which I hope you will receive a blessed reward, when Christ comes in the clouds of heaven, to collect his saints and bestow upon them glory, honor, immortality, eternal life. I do feel to sympathise with you in the arduous and responsible labor in which you and your brethren are engaged; viz., presenting to the world, long concealed truths of the word of God; which has been mystified for ages by the influence of the man of sin, and by the theology of the so-called christian world. We have been taught to understand many doctrines of the Bible in direct antithesis to the plain reading of the text. The Saviour tells us that he will return to the earth, raise the pious dead and establish his kingdom. We are told that this view of the subject is extravagant and that the true meaning is, That he will come in his Spirit and reign triumphantly until the nations are converted to christianity, and it is just the same in regard to many other important doctrines of the holy Book. Hence, my brethren may I not say that you are doing a great work, and although you may wear yourselves out, and perhaps may want the necessaries of life, yet I hope in God that you are pursuing a course that will through the intercession of our great High Priest, secure to yourselves and others, crowns of everlasting rejoicing, which the Lord in that day will give all who love his appearing. May the Lord grant us the Holy Spirit to sanctify our hearts, and prepare us fully for his coming, which will be as a thief in the night to those who do not watch, and are not looking for his appearing. O may the Lord help us to prepare for the event, is my ardent prayer. Yours truly, L. H. BOND. Milton, Jan. 8th, 1855.