The King's Business Requires Haste by Daniel Nettleton

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 19, 1914

The King's Business Requires Haste

By Daniel Nettleton

DANIEL NETTLETON

"The sunset burns across the sky; Upon the air its warning cry The curfew tolls, from tower to tower; O children, 'tis the last, last hour! "The work that centuries might have done Must crowd the hour of setting sun, And through all lands the saving name Ye must, in fervent haste, proclaim. "Ere yet the vintage shout begin, O laborers, press on, press in! And fill unto its utmost coasts The vineyard of the Lord of hosts. "It is a vineyard of red wine, Wherein shall purple clusters shine; The branches of his own right hand Shall overspread Immanuel's land. "The fields are white to harvest. Weep, O tardy workers, as ye reap, For wasted hours that might have won Rich harvest ere the set of sun. "We hear the footsteps on the way; O, work while it is called today, Constrained by love, endued with power, O children, in this last, last hour!"

This is an age of hurry, haste, and intense activity. Time- and labor-saving machines are in demand, and the demand is being supplied. As you stand on the corner of a business street in any large city, you will observe few, very few, persons walking slowly. The prophet Daniel, speaking of our days, says, "Many shall run to and fro." This is an age of rapid transit. Listen! hear the roar of the approaching transcontinental limited train. It comes like a flash; it goes as quickly. See the electric cars dashing down the street. Observe the thousands of automobiles flying in every direction. This is not a slow and sleepy age. In fact, the things most difficult to obtain in our cities are rest and sleep. The train that can save him an hour between cities, is the train the business man takes; and on the way, he sleeps on wheels. Time with him is money, and money is everything. It is not only so in business, but in pleasure. It is the merry-go-round, the moving picture show, the exciting ball game, that draw and hold the crowds.

This hurrying, this haste and intense activity, is not only a characteristic of the world and its work, but of God and his work. This is the hour of his judgment. He has written his vision so plainly that he may run that readeth it, and to him to whom the vision may seem to tarry he says, "It will surely come, it will not tarry." See Hab. 2: 2-4. God's last book of prophecy opens with the words "Behold, he cometh," and closes with the cry "Surely, I come quickly." Of God's work of reckoning with the nations, Paul says, "He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth."

The angels, or messengers of the judgment, are said to fly. The angel that represents the great advent movement, stands with one foot on the land and the other on the sea, and solemnly swears, with hands lifted to heaven, that there shall be delay no longer. In Christ's parable of the great supper, the marriage supper of the Lamb, the Lord said to his servants, "Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city," and bring in the guests to the wedding. The King's business requires haste.

The Christian life is represented as a race; we are told to run with patience the race that is set before us. Now, it is speed in a race that wins, and it is not the first part of the race that solicits and awakens the enthusiasm and intense interest of the spectator, but the finish. It is generally on the last quarter that the race is won. Paul says, in 1 Cor. 4:9, "We are made a spectacle [or theater] unto the world, and to angels, and to men."

"All heaven is represented to me as watching the unfolding of events. A crisis is to be revealed in the great and prolonged controversy in the government of God on earth. Something great and decisive is to take place, and that right early. If any delay, the character of God and his throne will be compromised. One word has Justice to speak, and there will be terrific representations upon the earth of the wrath of God. Every movement in the universe of heaven, is to prepare the world for the great crisis. Intensity is taking possession of every earthly element. While a new life is being diffused, and is springing up from beneath and taking fast hold of all Satan's agencies, preparatory to the last great conflict and struggle, a new light and life and power are descending from on high, and taking possession of God's people. The people who will now see what is soon to come upon us by what is being transacted before us, will no longer trust in human inventions, and will feel that the Holy Spirit must be recognized, received, and presented before the people, that they may contend for the glory of God, and work everywhere in the byways and highways of life for the saving of the souls of their fellow men."—"Special Testimony for the Church."

Now, in this time when many are making a rush for worldly gain and pleasure, we are to make a rush for the kingdom of God. "Transgression has almost reached its limit; confusion fills the world, and a great terror is soon to come upon human beings. The end is very near. God's people should be preparing for what is to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise. Our time is precious. We have but a few, very few days of probation in which to make ready for the future immortal life. We have no time to spend in haphazard movements."

We are to learn a lesson from Lot's experience in Sodom. "Remember Lot's wife," says Jesus. Lot's great and fatal mistake was his lingering spirit. He trod the plain with slow and unwilling

steps; he was not in haste. The angel said to him, "Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain." His tardiness cost him the loss of his wife and nearly all if not all his family. "If God abhors one sin above another of which his people are guilty, it is the sin of doing nothing in case of an emergency. Indifference and neutrality in a religious crisis are regarded of God as grievous sins." Meroz was cursed, not for uniting with the enemy of God's people, but for their neutrality, for not coming to the help of the Lord.

Now is our time to watch and work for the salvation of our neighbors and friends. We are not only to pay our tithes and make offerings for foreign missions, but we are to speak a word in season to him that is near us. The donation of money cannot take the place of this earnest personal work for our neighbors. Some seem to think that if they give money to the cause of God that is all they are required to do. Paul said that though he gave all his goods and had not love, it would profit him nothing. Love for the souls of our fellow men will lead us to help them by personal efforts to win eternal life. We may not have much money to give, but we can by kindly deeds and words win souls for Christ. He that winneth souls is wise. And we should watch for opportunity to do this work.

I had an experience in New York City which illustrates this. I went to the top of the highest building in the city, over seven hundred feet high. The trip cost me fifty cents. I believe that fifty cents was given to a good cause, for it seemed to me when I stood on the top of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company's office building, that I had left New York and America—if not the earth. I believe, however, that God sent me to speak to a man who, perhaps, otherwise might not have heard the message of Christ's soon coming and kingdom. He was the watchman set to watch and care for the people who come to the top of that high building to see New York City. I also am a watchman, set to direct people on the right way to the heavenly Jerusalem. As he stood by my side, telling me of the great city of New York, which, like a beautiful panorama, was spread out before us, I thought I must tell him of the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem. I told him how John was carried away in the Spirit, to a great and high mountain, and was shown that great city, the heavenly Jerusalem, descending from God out of heaven. I told him of the new earth, and what Jesus has done to bring us there. As I talked, he became intensely interested; in fact, we both for the time, forgot New York City and our surroundings. God gave me a message for him. I also gave him some gospel tracts, and told him to read Revelation 21 and 22 and Isaiah 35. When we clasped hands to say good-by, I felt he was my brother. I believe he had caught a glimpse of another city. He promised to read the tracts and the chapters to which I called his attention, and to seek God, and meet me in that city which is more beautiful and glorious and far greater than Greater New York.

As I returned again to the street and mingled with the hurrying throngs, I thanked God and prayed for that man up there seven hundred feet from the earth. I may never see his face again, but I shall look for him when God's dear saints mount up the steeps of light and enter the pearly portals of that city where there are no more partings or tears. O brother, haste thee! The opportunities to speak the word of life to some needy soul may never come again. God may say to that one, "This night thy soul shall be required of thee," and through your neglect he may not be ready. Probation's hours are fast closing, and every case is about to be eternally decided.

"Ask not to be excused, There's earnest work to do; Stand ready to be used Where God may station you."

"The harvest fields are white, The laborers are few; Let this be thy delight, The Master's work to do."

Remember the mistake of the five foolish virgins. They were too late. While they went to buy oil—that which they could have done while they were waiting—the bridegroom came, and the door was shut. There are important and supreme moments in these common, everyday lives of ours, moments that are fraught with eternal consequences to ourselves and others. The most valuable thing in all this world just now is time. O, let us not waste an hour of this precious probationary time! A little later many would give millions of dollars to have one of these weeks which now they are spending in mirth and foolishness.

Many of the professed people of God, I fear, will wish for the year 1913 again. It slipped away so quickly, moment by moment, and is gone forever, with all its opportunities and privileges. Now we stand within the portals of 1914. Let us remember that the King's business requires haste. Let us write on our calendars, "The hour of his judgment is come." O, let us, dear brethren, take up anew the work of telling the glad tidings of the soon-coming King to all this world! O, let us do more in 1914 than we did in 1913 for our neighbors, and to send the joy of his salvation to the nations that sit in darkness, that they, too, may see the King in his beauty; for "with long weeping their eyes have grown dim." Their needy conditions appeal to us to send to them the glorious gospel, which will make a marvelous change in their lives, so that they, too, may rejoice with us in the blessed hope. And as we go on to finish the work in this generation, let us toil with the sunlight on our faces and joy in our hearts.

Port Townsend, Wash.