MISSIONARY by James White

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 19, 1859

MISSIONARY.

By James White

Still we plead for the West. The brethren in Iowa are awake, and ready to do something. The brethren in Wisconsin and Illinois are more numerous and able, and would raise means for missionary labor, some way, if they felt their duty to sustain the cause as they should. Admitting all that may be said in regard to Hard Times, yet they can sustain their ministers and Tent Operations if they try. Let their efforts and sacrifices be in proportion to the Hard Times, and the work is accomplished. The work must not stop, nor be hindered. Bro. Isaac Sanborn writes:

“Bro. Ingraham and I have visited and talked with the brethren North and South, concerning the Tent enterprise, and we neither receive a dollar nor the promise of one, and yet most all would like to have a Tent-meeting in their vicinity, and they would like to have the cause prosper, and they are sorry, &c., &c.

“This reminds me of a circumstance: a man's barn was burning down, and his neighbors said, one after another, ‘I am sorry,’ ‘I am sorry.’ A Quaker stepped up and said, ‘I am sorry ten dollars, and here it is.’ Bro. Ingraham says he is sorry, and will find two horses and harness, and go himself with the Tent. I also will find one horse, and go myself with him, and preach during the Tent season, and charge nothing.

“Brethren, are you sorry ten dollars? or five? or one dollar? Show how much sorrow you have. But some one says, ‘We have not got it by us.’ Well have you made as much effort to get it as you would if you had three hundred dollars at stake, and five would save it, or redeem it? We have more than that at stake, Eternal life! Brethren, you must be aware that we cannot run the Tent without money. It does seem to me that brethren in Ills. and Wis. can raise the means if they will. Now brethren send on your tens, fives, threes, or ones, to the Office, that every thing may be ready to start the Tent by the first of June. We shall watch the receipts. If the money does not come, we shall make other arrangements. Come, brethren, let us take hold of this matter in earnest!”

What an exposure of blindness, nakedness and poverty, is contained in the above extract! If the testimony to the Laodiceans can ever have a fearful application, it must on such a people. What, believe the Third Message, with its dreadful threatening, applicable to this time?—They profess to believe.—And fail to raise the small sum necessary to sustain the cause! What a stain upon the precious cause! God notices the hypocrisy of those whose high profession is denied by their works.

We would say to Brn. Ingraham and Sanborn, Fit out your team and your Tent, and go right out in the name and strength of the God of Elijah, and proclaim the last message of mercy to dying men, and we will send you money as you want it during the Tent season, any where from one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars, and we will look to the friends of the cause to forward it to us as soon as they can. We believe the message, and fear not to venture. God will sustain it.

We would suggest as the best course, not to go into places where Sabbath-keepers have made a high profession, and by their works have given unmistakable proof that theirs is a dead faith. Go out into the Lord's big harvest field, and be God's free-men, free from the blighting influence of dead faith, and with your own souls baptized with the Holy Spirit, pour forth the burning truth of God, and raise up an army who shall honor the cause, and sustain it. God loves the cheerful giver. He hates that covetous, stingy soul who talks so much about this message, while his works give the lie to his profession. These words may seem harsh, but they are burning within us like fire, and we must let them out. We have too long kept silent. The testimony to the Laodiceans has been given. All felt its force, and vowed to God. Some have been paying their vows, others have fallen back. God has been long-suffering. He has given his people time to develop character. Solemnly, in the light of heaven, we can see nothing for those who are falling back into stupor and covetousness, but the dreadful threatening, ‘I will spue thee out of my mouth.’

Money sent to the Office for the cause is either receipted in the REVIEW, or credit given on our book. As we appropriate, we charge on our book, so that the whole matter is open to the inspection of the Committee. We have not appropriated a dollar to our own personal wants; but have with much reflection and prayer applied what has been put into our hands as the cause seemed to demand. Within the last year we have received of Bro. B. of Vt., $200; of Bro. P. of N. Y., $200; of Bro. H. of Mass., $39.70; besides the many small sums which have been applied to different objects, as receipted in the REVIEW. Much has been accomplished the last two years, and yet much must be done the coming year to meet the wants of the cause. God bless you, brethren. The safest place to deposit your surplus money is in the bank of heaven.