Exchange Earthly Poverty for True Riches
By H. S. Boyd
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: Jesus calls, and although we are now poor, we can be rich, have the tried gold, the white raiment, and be made kings and priests to God, overcome and sit down with him in his throne, as he overcame and is set down with his Father in his throne. Fellow Christian, will you refuse to relinquish the pleasure and vanities of this sin-cursed earth, which are so soon to be destroyed, or will you exchange them for an enduring substance, for the tried gold, the white raiment, the palm, the crown, and all the glories that are to be found in the Paradise of God? Are not the joys that are set before us enough to arouse the dormant, to wake up the lukewarm, encourage and strengthen the weak and disheartened, and to cause all to be zealous and repent? Jesus has been gone these eighteen hundred years to prepare a place for his disciples. He will soon come again and receive them unto himself, that where he is they may be also. He now offers us salvation without money and without price; yea, more, even to hire us to open our hearts and let him in. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. We can now exchange our poverty for riches that will endure when the pleasures, the fashions, the wealth, and the glories of this world shall have passed away. For one, I desire the true riches that will not fade, while I behold them, and feel that the religion of Jesus Christ is worth striving for, worth suffering for, a religion that will sustain its possessor in the trying hour of affliction. I think that I have felt some of its influences for a few months past. Although my outward circumstances are far from enviable, yet while suffering much from ill health, I have felt to leave all with Him who doeth all things well, and trusted I should soon be where pain and sorrow will be known no more. O that the call of the true Witness may be heard and heeded in the church from center to circumference, and a deep and heart-felt reform follow. I hope to share richly in this blessing, and be cleansed from every sin and secret fault; and should I live, that the rest of my life may be faithfully spent in the service of God, is the prayer of your unworthy brother.
H. S. BOYD.
Lyme, N. H., Feb. 2d, 1857.