Waiting and Ready for the Lord
By Elias Goodwin
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: I am still striving to be an overcomer, to make heaven my home, and to meet all the dear saints where sin can never come to defile or mar our peace. O sin! what hast thou done? thou hast caused all the misery, and unhappiness that has ever been in the world. I long for the time to come when sin shall be no more, the curse be removed, and all the people be righteous, and inherit the land (the earth made new) forever. "Thrice hail, happy day, when earth shall smile in gladness, And Eden bloom o'er nature's tomb, O hail, happy day." Blessed be God! who hath begotten us unto this lively hope, and enabled us, through his grace, to turn from many of our idols, to serve the living God, by keeping all his commandments, and to wait for his Son from heaven. May the Lord help us to be waiting, in the true sense of the word, to have our loins girt about, and our lights burning, and we like unto men that wait for their Lord, &c. To be waiting implies readiness. "O let us be ready to hail that glad day." There is great danger, that, after all the light we have had on our lukewarm condition, that we still go on in the same careless, indifferent, lukewarm manner that we have for a few years past; or that being aroused and awakened a little by the rebukes and chastenings of the Lord, that many will sink back again into the same state, and finally be spued out of the mouth of Jesus. O God forbid that this should be my lot. I want to be zealous and reform, and be transformed by the renewing of my mind, that I may prove what is that good, perfect, and acceptable will of the Lord. I want to live in that way that I can say in truth, "Jesus, I my cross have taken, All to leave and follow thee: All things else I have forsaken, Thou from hence my all shall be." Dear friends, how many of us can sing this hymn with the spirit and with the understanding? O let us not be deceived, for God is not (or will not be) mocked. Says Jesus, "except a man forsake all that he hath he cannot be my disciple. And again, "why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say." "Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me ye that work iniquity." Brethren and sisters, let us be doers of the work, and not hearers only, deceiving our own selves. It is written, and applies most emphatically to this present time, "Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him." The Laodicean (or just people) have, in a great measure, many if not all of them, drawn back from that faith that they received a few years ago, when they embraced the present truth, or Third Angel's Message; therefore with many of them God has not been well pleased: some have been overthrown in the wilderness, and destroyed by fiery flying serpents, &c., and upon others God has had great compassion, in giving one more call to be zealous and repent, and not fall after the same example of unbelief. O let us heed the counsel and buy of him gold tried in the fire, white raiment, &c. God will not always be trifled with, probation will not last forever; soon the saying that is written will come to pass: "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still," &c. May the Lord help us all, that know these truths, to be found among the righteous ones. There are a few in this wicked city that are still striving to overcome, to heed the counsel of the faithful and true Witness, &c. Although at times it seems next to an impossibility for any one ever to overcome in the midst of so much darkness, and wickedness, as surrounds us here; but if it is the duty of any of God's children to stay here, as their day is so will their strength be, if they trust in him, and live by faith. It now appears to be my duty to go with my team, and draw around, or help take care of the tent in this State this season; and I beg an interest in the prayers of all the saints of God, that I may be useful in my sphere, and shed a godly influence wherever I may be. And now, dear brethren and sisters, let us all be diligent, that we may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless. That this may be our happy lot, is the prayer of your unworthy brother in Christ. ELIAS GOODWIN. Owego, N. Y., May 22d, 1857.