GOD has committed to the Seventh-day Adventists a work of immense magnitude and of vast importance. It is to give warning to the world of the near advent of Christ, and to teach the true preparation for that great event. Never was a greater responsibility committed to a body of men than that which God has given to this people. The time for this work is short. It can only be accomplished by the direct help of the Spirit of God.
We have the clearest evidence from the prophetic portion of the Scriptures that the Son of God will shortly return to our earth. There can be no doubt that we are responsible before God for this great light, to make it known to our fellow-men. The world has the utmost need to understand that the advent of the Saviour is swiftly approaching, and that it will very soon be witnessed. When God caused this great truth to be brought to our knowledge, he made us debtors to our fellow-men, to make known to them what he had given to us. This vast indebtedness is upon us, and can only be discharged by faithful, self-sacrificing efforts. And unless we make these efforts without growing weary in our work, we shall find that the blood of souls is upon us in the final reckoning. Those who attempt to teach others must understand the reasons and the facts on which the doctrine rests. And it is their duty to study to show themselves approved of God as workmen that need not to be ashamed. We should labor to prepare our minds for this sacred work by as thorough an understanding of the subject as we can possibly gain; and we should seek the help of the Spirit of God as that without which we can do absolutely nothing. God requires our earnest efforts, and he will bless them if we put them forth in humble dependence on his help.
Others besides ourselves are teaching the near advent of Christ. But they do not teach the commandments of God, nor do they show the true nature of that preparation which we must make in order to stand in the Judgment. They do not understand the three messages of Rev. 14. They do not understand the work of Christ in the sanctuary, nor the relation between the law and the gospel. They have no just idea of the work of the investigative Judgment, nor of the strict examination of our lives in the light of God's holy law when he shall bring into the Judgment every work and every secret thing.
We are called of God to teach these great truths in connection with the doctrine of the near advent of the Saviour. We shall not find it an easy work to perform; for it does not please the natural heart to understand how God regards sin, nor to know that our lives must be in every respect fashioned after the pure principles of God's holy law. Men love the religion of convenience, and do not love that which insists upon self-denial, faithful obedience, and the crucifixion of ourselves to the world.
Our time to work is short. The day of God is hastening. Ruin is coming upon a world lying in sin. Upon us rests the responsibility of setting forth the truth of God in its purity, and of giving to our fellow-men the message of warning which God has committed to us. We cannot hope to find it a work in which our circumstances will be congenial to our natural hearts. We must set ourselves to this work as those who labor to save the perishing, and who think not of their own ease, or convenience, or comfort. God calls us to labor and not to faint. Let us respond to this call.