ADDRESS AND APPEAL, SETTING FORTH THE IMPORTANCE OF MISSIONARY WORK
Page 1
Review and Herald
Jan 2, 1879
Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 2, 1879
ADDRESS AND APPEAL, SETTING FORTH THE IMPORTANCE OF MISSIONARY WORK.
By Ellen G. White
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
(Concluded.)
Women can be the instruments of righteousness, rendering holy service. It was Mary that first preached a risen Jesus. In fulfillment of the divine plan, the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost. If this work was not beneath the dignity of the world's Redeemer, the Creator of worlds, should it be considered too humiliating for sinful mortals? If Christ taught, and if he wrestled in earnest prayer to his Father in behalf of those he came to save, we should engage in the same work. Those who engage with the Son of God in his work, be they ever so aspiring, can have no greater, no holier work than this. If there were twenty women where now there is one, who would make this holy mission their cherished work, we should see many more converted to the truth. The refining, softening influence of Christian women is needed in the great work of preaching the truth. The Lord of the vineyard is saying to many women who are now doing nothing, “Why stand ye here all the day idle?” Zealous and continued diligence in our sisters toiling for the spread of the truth would be wholly successful, and would astonish us with its results. Through patience and perseverance, the work must be accomplished. In this faithful work is manifested the real devotion to God. He calls for deeds, and not words only.
We are so much wrapped up in our selfish interests that our hearts are not allowed to take in the needs and wants of humanity; we are lacking in deeds of sympathy and benevolence, in sacred and social ministering to the needy, the oppressed, and the suffering. Women who can work are needed now, women who are not self-important, but meek and lowly of heart, who will work with the meekness of Christ wherever they can find work to do for the salvation of souls. All who have been partakers of the heavenly benefits should be earnest and anxious that others, who do not have the privileges which they have enjoyed, in seeing and hearing the evidences of truth, should have the truth in papers, tracts, and pamphlets. They will not merely desire that others should have this benefit, but will see that they do have it, and will act their part to accomplish this object.
Those who work for God will grow in moral and spiritual power, while those who devote their time and energies to serving themselves will dwarf, and wither, and die. Our sisters, the youth, the middle-aged, and those of advanced years, may act a part in the closing work for this time; and in doing this as they have opportunity, they will obtain an experience of the highest value to themselves. In forgetfulness of self, they will grow in grace. By training the mind in this direction, they will learn how to bear burdens for Jesus. But those who take hold of this work, whether young or old, must not be above counsel, and refuse to receive instruction. They will need to guard against self-sufficiency and self-importance. When it may come in the line of duty to correspond with those they wish to help, they should be careful not to show a pompous, self-righteous, pharisaic spirit. Those sisters who may be appointed to do work for the church, or tract and missionary work, should be guarded in regard to the tone in which they write. Some quite young persons have shown great weakness on this point. Letters have been written by youth, addressed to old and tried friends of the cause of God, who have carried the banner of the cross of Christ in all worthiness for nearly a quarter of a century, exhorting and advising them to be more zealous in the cause of God, more prompt in duty, in labor, and in reporting. All that was written may have been good in itself, but it was inappropriate; such letters do no good. It is the manner and spirit in which labor is performed that makes it acceptable or repulsive.
The lives of those who are connected with God are fragrant with deeds of love and goodness. The sweet savor of Christ surrounds them; their influence is to elevate and bless. Those are fruitful trees. Men and women of this stamp of character will render practical service in thoughtful deeds of kindness, and earnest, systematic labor. Self-importance, vanity, and pride should in no case be mingled with the sacred work. Those who become lifted up because they can do something in the cause of God, will be in danger of marring the work by their self-conceit, and they will ruin their own souls. All who are connected with the work of God should make their mission as attractive as possible, that they may create no distaste for the truth in consequence of their demeanor. Self must be hid in Jesus, and those who labor for God must have characters with a pleasant flavor. Now is the time to put forth earnest efforts. Men and women are needed to work in the great missionary field with determined effort, praying and weeping, sowing the precious seed of truth in imitation of the Redeemer, who was the Prince of missionaries.
Christ left the royal courts of Heaven; he left his high command, and for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich. He labored in his vineyard among the hills of Galilee, and at last bedewed with his own blood the seed which he had sown. When the harvest of the earth shall be gathered into Heaven's garner, and Christ shall then look upon the saints redeemed, he will see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. He who gives increased talents to those who have made a wise improvement of the talents intrusted to them, is pleased to acknowledge the services of his believing people in the Beloved, through whose strength and grace they have wrought. Those who have sought the development and perfection of Christian character by exercising their faculties in good works, in sowing the seeds of truth beside all waters, will, in the world to come, reap that which they have sown. The work begun upon earth will reach its consummation in the higher and holier life, to endure through all eternity. The self-denial and self-sacrifice required in the cultivation of the heart in doing the works of Christ, will be infinitely overbalanced by the rich reward of the eternal weight of glory, the joys of the life which measures with the life of God.
None of us should feel content to save merely our own souls. Those who appreciate the plan of salvation, the infinite price paid for man's redemption, will not live for themselves alone. They will have the deepest interest to save their fellow-men, that Christ may not have died for them in vain. All Heaven is interested in the salvation of souls, and all who are partakers of the heavenly benefits will feel an intense anxiety that this interest manifested in Heaven may not be in vain. They will on earth co-operate with the angels in Heaven, by manifesting their appreciation of the value of souls for whom Christ has died. They will, through their earnest, judicious labor, bring many to the fold of Christ. Not one who is a partaker of the divine nature will be indifferent in this matter. The world is our field; with a firm hold on God for his strength and his grace we may move forward in the pathway of duty, as co-laborers with the Redeemer of the world. Our work is to spread the light of truth and advance the work of moral reform, to elevate, ennoble, and bless humanity. We should apply the principles of Christ's sermon on the mount to every move that we make, and then trust the consequences with God.
“I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance.” “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” If God and Christ and angels rejoice when even one sinner repents and becomes obedient to Christ, should not man be imbued with the same spirit, and work for time and for eternity with persevering effort to save, not only his own soul, but the souls of others! If you work in this direction with whole-hearted interest, as the followers of Christ, discharging every duty, improving every opportunity, your own souls will be gradually settling into the mold of a perfect Christian. The heart will not be sore and unfeeling. The spiritual life will not be dwarfed. The heart will glow with the impress of the divine image; for it will be in close sympathy with God. The whole life will flow out with cheerful readiness in channels of love and sympathy for humanity. Self will be forgotten, and the ways of this class will be established in God. In watering others, their own souls will be watered. The stream flowing through their souls is from a living spring, and is flowing out to others in good deeds, in earnest, unselfish effort for their salvation. In order to be a fruitful tree, the soul must derive its support and nourishment from the Fountain of Life, and must be in harmony with the Creator.
All who are faithful workers for God will yield their spirit and all their powers a willing sacrifice to him. The Spirit of God operating upon their spirit calls forth the sacred harmonies of the soul in answer to the divine touch. This is true sanctification, as revealed in the word of God. It is the work of a lifetime. And that which the Spirit of God has begun upon the earth for the perfection of man, glory shall crown in the mansions of God. Those who are indolent and self-caring know not true happiness and peace. They are losing, even in this life, and what glory they lose in the future, immortal life. I wish I could speak words to men and women which would nerve them to diligent action. The moments now granted us to work are few. We are standing upon the very borders of the eternal world. We have no time to lose. Every moment is golden, and altogether too precious to be devoted merely to self-serving. Who will seek God earnestly, and from him draw strength and grace to be his faithful workers in the missionary field? Individual effort is essential for the success of this work. The ease-loving and self-caring, the worldly, ambitious ones will be ashamed to engage perseveringly in the tract and missionary work. Some may take hold of it impulsively, but they will not be able to bear rebuffs, and sneers, and contempt. These soon become weary in well-doing, and fall back to their own position of living and caring for self. For such there will be no reward in Heaven, for Christ is to give to every one as his works shall be.
There will be no lazy Christians in this cause, or connected with this work. It is essential that all who have named the name of Christ have a personal knowledge of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. They should understand the Scriptures for themselves. All indifference and lethargy must be overcome. Work, work, is crowding upon the few who are willing and obedient. They overwork because they see so much to do and so few who are willing to lift the burdens and bear the yoke of Christ. Many who see the work for this time, and realize its importance, are pressed under the weight of responsibility as a cart beneath sheaves, while hundreds are dying a spiritual death of inaction because they will not work at all. These might come into working order if they would gather divine strength, and yield not to passing influences. They have the opportunity to cultivate traits of character which would be the opposite of selfishness, which would refine, enrich, and ennoble their lives. These may grow in spirituality if they will accept any burdens of the work where they can best serve the cause of God. Christians, in the fullest acceptation of the term, grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. They love God more and more, and are more and more desirous of taking a part in the great plan of salvation. Intellectual2laziness and spiritual lethargy must be overcome, and as Christ's soldiers we must be faithful to duty, ready for every good work.
If the Christian thrives and progresses at all, he must do so amid strangers to God, amid scoffing, subject to ridicule. He must stand upright, like the palm-tree in the desert. The sky may be as brass, the desert sand may beat about the palm-tree's roots, and pile itself in heaps about its trunk. Yet the tree lives as an evergreen, fresh and vigorous amid the burning desert sands. Remove the sand till you reach the rootlets of the palm-tree, and you discover the secret of its life; it strikes down deep beneath the surface, to the secret waters hidden in the earth. Christians indeed may be fitly represented by the palm-tree. They are like Enoch; although surrounded with corrupting influences their faith takes hold of the Unseen. They walk with God, deriving strength and grace from him to withstand the moral pollution surrounding them. Like Daniel in the courts of Babylon, they stand pure and uncontaminated; their life is hid with Christ in God. They are vigorous in spirit amid depravity; they are true and loyal, fervent and zealous, while surrounded by infidels, hypocritical professors, godless and worldly men. Their faith and life are hid with Christ in God. Jesus is in them a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Faith, like the rootlets of the palm-tree, penetrates beneath the things which are seen, drawing spiritual nourishment from the fountain of life.
The character of the true Christian will be consistent, meek, cheerful, fragrant with good works, and so resolute that sin will find no sanction in the heart, in the words uttered, or in silence. The peace of Christ ruling in the heart of the earnest, working Christian will be reflected upon others; and will elevate and refine the taste, and sanctify the judgment. The faithful sower of the seed will hear the commendation of the Master, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant, . . . enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” What is the joy of our Lord? It is the joy of seeing souls for whom Christ died redeemed in the kingdom of glory. Those who enter into the joys of their Lord will have the blessed satisfaction of seeing souls saved in the mansions of God through their instrumentality. These souls will be as stars in the crown of their rejoicing.
A PSALM OF THE YEARS.
By H. L. Hastings
God of all ages, from whose constant hand
Stream the swift years, like grains of glittering sand,
Thee we adore, our Father, Saviour, Friend,
Thee would we worship, ages without end.
Motes in the blaze of an unsetting Sun,
Swift as the light our earthly course is run;—
Atoms in space, yet close to thee we stand,
Sheltered, beloved, fast hidden in thy hand.
Still hold thou us, as we adoring gaze
On all the glory of thy works and ways;
And stay our hearts if, overcast with gloom,
We walk through pains and sorrows to the tomb.
Safe in thy love we tread the solemn shore
Where beat the ages with unceasing roar;
Knowing that God unseen is yet our friend;
Loving his own, he loves them to the end.
Steady as stars which in their courses roll,
So bound to thee be every trusting soul;—
Then, though stars fade, and suns dissolve in air,
The life unending of our God we share.
Thanks be to God for years of blessing given,
For earth's rich bounties, and the gifts of heaven,
Countless the favors that our paths surround—
Thou hast each year with grace and goodness crowned.
Still thy long-suffering doth the sinful spare;
Still waits to see the fruitless fig-tree bear;
Pleads with the sinful, bids the weary come,
Yearns for the lost, and holds wrath's thunders dumb.
Lo, nations, sunk in sin and darkness long,
Writhe in their pain with dread contortions strong,
Swift falls the stroke from the avenging hand,
Bloodshed and slaughter drench the guilty land.
Yet locked in sleep, besotted, clothed with shame,
Drunken and impious, men despise thy name;
Fear not the storms that gather overhead,
Heed not the woes that come with earthquake tread.
Yet let not men, presuming on thy grace,
Live on in sin, and mock thee to thy face;
To such the deluge once in thunder spoke;
O'er such the fiery storm on Sodom broke.
And so at last when guilt's dark cup o'erflows,
On all the godless comes the day of woes;
When men, unthinking, dream in peace secure,
Destruction cometh, sudden, swift, and sure.
But better hopes the hearts of those inspire
Who have for refuge fled from vengeance dire;
Hidden within the cleft, eternal Rock,
They dread no storm, they fear no tempest's shock.
To them, when storms of sin and wrath shall cease,
Wide swing the gates of righteousness and peace;—
Those holy gates, where angels waiting stand,
To greet them as they reach the better land.
All hail, fair City, hail, celestial home,
Whither the ransomed shall with singing come!
As joys eternal crown them on their way
To greet the glory of a nightless day.
Through time's dark night a holy radiance glows;
The star that over Bethlehem's plain arose
Shines o'er us now, and casts its beams afar;
Herald of day! the bright and morning Star!
Swift may that Star ascend the eastern sky,
Beaming with hope to each worn watcher's eye,—
Shoot to earth's farthest realms its silver ray,
Then blend its brightness with the perfect day.
O day of hope! for thee in solemn tones
Rise loud and long the whole creation's groans;
Earth, shook with anguish, travails to be free,
Saints join the cry for glorious liberty.
Still wait we through each weary, servile year
The joyful trump of jubilee to hear,
When captive exiles shall in peace come home
And sing, “The year of thy redeemed is come.”
Till then, hearts longing wait, with anguish dumb—
Their one great burden, “Lord, thy kingdom come!
Bring in creation's new and better birth,
As 'tis in Heaven, thy will be done on earth.”
—H. L. Hastings.
Leave God to Order All Thy Ways
LEAVE God to order all thy ways,
And hope in him whate'er betide;
Thou'lt find him in the evil days
An all-sufficient strength and guide.
Who trusts in God's unchanging love
Builds on a rock that naught can move.
Sing, pray, and swerve not from his ways;
But do thine own part faithfully;
Trust his rich promises of grace,
So shall they be fulfilled in thee;
God never yet forsook at need
The soul that trusted him indeed!
Philosophical Sects That Rejected the Doctrine of the Soul’s Immortality.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
BY ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.
Nearly all the celebrated philosophers of Greece and Rome and of the schools founded by them rejected the doctrine that the soul is immortal.
The Peripatetics.
Aristotle, a Greek, born B. C. 384, stands first among the Peripatetics. He founded a flourishing school called the Peripatetic, which through many ages had numerous followers. That he rejected the idea of the soul’s immortality is abundantly proved. The Encyclopædia of Religious Knowledge, art. Aristotle, says of him, “The soul of man he considered as an emanation from the Deity, but he says nothing of its immortality.” Dr. Horne says: “Concerning the nature of the human soul, various and most contradictory sentiments prevailed; its existence after death was denied by many of the Peripatetics, or followers of Aristotle, and this seems to have been the philosopher’s own opinion.” Buck says, “They were uncertain as to the immortality of the soul.” Tatian says, “But Aristotle impugns the immortality of the soul.” Watson says, “The doctrine of Aristotle and the Peripatetics gives no countenance to the opinion of the soul’s immortality, or even of its existence after death.”
The learned Ritter, who has carefully investigated the whole subject, says of Aristotle: “No passage in his extant works is decisive; but from the general context of his doctrine it is clear that he had no conception of the immortality of any individual, rational entity.” Mosheim bears this testimony: “Therefore Aristotle’s opinion was not a whit better than that of the Stoics, nor are those in error who consider that the prince of the Peripatetics augured ill of souls, and meant them to be perishable and mortal.”
The Encyclopædia Britannica says: “It may be said, however (and this, perhaps, is the most prevailing notion), that little as the vulgar believed in the doctrine of a future state, it was received and inculcated by many eminent philosophers. But in reality the doctrine never was either generally admitted among the ancient philosophers or satisfactorily proved by any of them, even in the opinion of those who argued in favor of it. On the one hand, not only the Epicurean school openly contended against it, but one of much greater weight than any of them, and the founder of a far more illustrious sect, Aristotle, without expressly combating the notion of a future state, does much more,—he passes it by as not worth considering, and takes for granted the contrary supposition, as not needing proof. He remarks incidentally in his treatise on courage that ‘death is formidable beyond most other evils, on account of its excluding hope; since it is a complete termination, and there does not appear to be anything either of good or evil beyond it.’” “And in the same work, discussing the question whether a man can justly be pronounced happy before the end of his life, he proceeds all along on the supposition that after death a man ceases altogether to exist. * We may collect from his mode of speaking that such was the prevailing and generally uncontradicted belief of the rest of the world.”
The believers in the immortality of the soul were few and far between, and their speculations on this subject were passed by unheeded, as not worthy of notice, by the mass of men both learned and unlearned.
Epicureans.
Epicurus, a Greek, born B. C. 341, was the founder of this school. “The Epicureans … continued to flourish through a long course of years under the Roman emperors.” Paul met them at Athens. Acts 17:18. To their doctrine he refers, 1 Cor. 15:32, when he says, “If the dead rise not, let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die.” They said that would be the end of man; that death was an eternal sleep; that there was no future life of any kind.
These facts are so well known that I need offer little proof upon them. Buck, in his Theological Dictionary, art. Epicureans, says, “They denied the immortality of the soul, and the existence of angels.” Alger says: “Pliny, in his Natural History, affirms that death is an everlasting sleep. The whole great sect of the Epicureans united in supporting that belief by the combined force of ridicule and argument.” Of their numbers in the first century Mosheim says they were “everywhere so immensely great in the age to which we allude that whole armies might have been formed of them.”
Of the doctrine of this philosopher, the New American Cyclopædia says: “The soul is not immortal, nevertheless death is by no means to be considered as an evil, since there remains no consciousness of annihilation after death.” “His system found many followers in Rome, among whom Celsus, Pliny the elder, and Lucretius were the most eminent.” This sect “exercised considerable influence over the Latin world in the decay of the Roman republic and during the first two centuries of the empire.” “No other ancient school of philosophers has evinced a cohesive power equal to that of Epicurus.” “The pupils of Epicurus were very numerous.”
Here, then, was another whole sect, great, popular, and numerous, spread over the civilized world, and flourishing through many ages, which arrayed itself against the doctrine of the immortality of the soul.
Academics.
This school originated with Socrates and Plato. In time it was divided into the Old, the Middle, and the New. We might naturally expect that they would teach the immortality of the soul, but they did not. Mr. Leland justly remarks: “It is remarkable that though there were several sects of philosophers which professed to derive their origin from Socrates, scarcely any of them taught the immortality of the soul as the doctrine of their schools, except Plato and his disciples, and many even of these treated it as absolutely uncertain.” They held everything to be uncertain, and this with the rest. “This they held to be the case even in the most important subjects, such as the soul; and in the most interesting questions concerning it, as whether it was, in its nature, mortal or immortal.” Says the learned Bishop of Gloucester, “The sect was thoroughly skeptical.”
The Religious Encyclopædia bears this testimony: “Among the Academics, the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, the preferableness of virtue to vice, were all held as uncertain. This sect and that of the Epicureans were the chief that were in vogue at the time of Christ’s appearing, and they were embraced and supported by persons of high rank and wealth.” Then at that time the immortality of the soul must have been generally disbelieved.
The Pyrrhonic Sect.
The Pyrrhonic sect was founded by Pyrrho about B. C. 340. (Smith’s Classical Dictionary, art. Pyrrho.) The disciples of Pyrrho doubted everything, and believed nothing. They were purely skeptical. Warburton remarks: “The Eleatic line [of philosophers] was wholly composed of atheists of different kinds, as the Democritic, the Pyrrhonian, the Epicurean, etc., so these come not into the account” as believers in the soul’s immortality. “So highly was he [Pyrrho] valued by his fellow-citizens that they made him their high priest, and erected a monument to him after his death.” Here is another whole school of philosophers who not only did not believe in the soul’s immortality, but utterly repudiated it.
The Stoics.
The Stoics, founded by Zeno, a Greek who died B. C. 264, was another very celebrated and numerous sect of philosophers. Enfield says that “the Stoic as well as the Academic school was patronized by many eminent men in the Roman republic. The most distinguished lawyers were, as we have seen, inclined toward this sect.” Like those above mentioned, they rejected the soul’s immortality. Mr. Jones says, “The Stoics denied the immortality of the soul.” Warburton remarks of Zeno: “We know, too, that the philosophical principle of this school was that the soul died with the body.” Mosheim confirms this testimony thus: “It is well known to the learned world that this [Stoic] sect denied the immortality of the soul.” So Alger asserts: “They all agreed that there was no real immortality for the soul.” Enfield says of this sect that it “became so popular as to threaten the destruction of the Platonic system.” Again he says, “From these and other causes the Stoic sect, in the time of Juvenal, prevailed almost through the whole Roman empire.”
Heraclitean Sect.
This sect was founded at Ephesus by Heraclitus about 504 B. C. He had many followers who took up and taught his doctrine. He taught that souls were perishable. Thus Enfield says: “Human souls are liable to perpetual changes, and when they are loaded with moist vapors, they pass into the watery mass and perish; but if they are purified from these, they return into the soul of the universe.”
Thus it will be seen that nearly all the philosophical sects of ancient times avowedly rejected the notion of the immortality of the soul.
DEGREES IN PUNISHMENT.
By H. P.
The following from the Congregationalist was copied into the Chicago Advance of Aug. 29, as the Congregationalist’s theory of the annihilation of the wicked: “It implies and necessitates a wrong in the treatment of unrepentant men so outrageous as to be a libel upon the divine justice, that simply proposes to have all who are bad treated alike, not merely, but all who are not positively good treated alike. The young man whom the Saviour loved, and who lacked only the one thing needful, and Judas who by transgression fell; the tender girl of pure life and gentle affections who still rejects the Saviour, and dies in that rejection, and the most hardened, bloody, and loathsome scoundrel and villain whose dying ever disinfected earth, it serves alike. One event happeneth to them all. They die, and sleep—together sleep—the sleep that knows no waking. And he who owes a farthing is made as much an everlasting bankrupt as he who owes millions of pounds. ‘Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?’”
These editors seem to think that any limitation of the duration of punishment in a future state would shut up God to the necessity of having the existence of all cease at the same time. It does not seem to occur to them that God could have life and punishment continue one year, or for any period of time which might be necessary to vindicate law and satisfy divine justice; or else they believe our kind Heavenly Father could not be satisfied short of an eternity of torture such as a finite mind can have no conception of.
But they propose no plan of punishing those interesting “almost Christians,” although they denounce what they term “annihilation” as “necessitating a wrong in the treatment of unrepentant men so outrageous as to be a libel on divine justice.” No alternative is left for “that young man whom Jesus loved, and the tender girl of pure life and gentle affections who still rejects the Saviour,” but to suffer eternally with the obnoxious characters described. Admitting the future place of punishment to be a lake of liquid fire, and that young man and girl to be as well protected from fire as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were in the fiery furnace, to spend eternity in such company would be intolerable punishment. If all impenitent sinners must suffer eternally, how are the less guilty to “be beaten with few stripes”? And how is every one to be judged and punished according to his works? H. P.
“HE PURGETH IT.”
By Trench
We sometimes wonder, with regard to God’s dealings with the elect, that he should cast them again into the crucible of trial. It seems to us as though they were already refined gold. But he sees in them that which we do not see,—a farther fineness which is possible; and he will not give over till that be attained. It is just as in a portrait by some cunning artist, which is now drawing near its completion. Men look at it and count it perfect, and are well-nigh impatient that the artist does not withhold his hand and declare it finished, while he, knowing better, touches and retouches, returning again and again to his work. And why? Because there floats before him an ideal of possible excellence at which he has not yet arrived, and he will not rest or be contented till he has embodied it in his work.
It is thus with God and some of his elect servants. Men, seeing their graces, which so far exceed those of common men, wonder sometimes why they should suffer still, why they seem to be ever falling from one sorrow to another. But he sees that which no other eye can see,—the grace which is capable of being more gracious still; and in his very faithfulness he will not deprive them nor suffer them to come short of this. They are fruit-bearing branches, and because they are so, he purges them that they may bring forth more fruit.
My brethren, how blessed must God’s service be when he can give nothing better to his servants in reward of their obedience than the ability to serve him more and better.—Trench.
THE PROMISE PROVED.
A poor traveler called upon a certain good man named Fenneberg, to borrow three dollars. This was the whole amount of money possessed by this modern Nathaniel; but as the poor traveler asked for it in the name of Jesus, he lent him all he had, even to the last penny.
Some time after, being in absolute want himself, he remembered the fact while at prayer, and with child-like faith and simplicity he said: “O Lord, I have lent thee three dollars, and thou hast not given them back to me, though thou knowest how urgently I need them. I pray thee to return them to me.” The very same day a letter arrived containing money, which Gossner delivered to the good man, with these words: “Here, sir, you receive what you advanced.” The letter contained two hundred dollars, which were sent to him by a rich man at the solicitation of the poor traveler to whom he had lent his all. Fenneberg, quite overcome with surprise, said in his child-like way, “O dear Lord, one cannot say a single word to thee without being put to shame.” —Life of Pastor Gossner.