36
Evangelism
enter the cities of the East and of the South and of the North and of the
West, shall we not respond as one man and do His bidding? Shall we
not plan to send messengers all through these fields and support them
liberally? ... All our cities are to be worked. The Lord is coming. The
[40]
end is near; yea, it hasteth greatly! In a little while from this we shall
be unable to work with the freedom that we now enjoy. Terrible scenes
are before us, and what we do we must do quickly. We must now build
up the work in every place possible. And for the accomplishment of
this work we greatly need in the field the help that can be given by
our ministers of experience who are able to hold the attention of large
congregations....
The Lord desires us to proclaim the third angel’s message with
power in these cities. We cannot exercise this power ourselves. All we
can do is to choose men of capability and urge them to go into these
avenues of opportunity and there proclaim the message in the power
of the Holy Spirit. As they talk the truth and live the truth and pray
the truth, God will move upon hearts.—
Manuscript 53, 1909
.
“Highway” Evangelists—Elder-----’s ability as a speaker is
needed in presenting the truth in the highways. When the truth is
presented in the highways, the hedges will be opened and an extended
work will be done.—
Letter 168, 1909
.
Extraordinary Efforts Demanded—In the cities of today, where
there is so much to attract and please, the people can be interested by no
ordinary efforts. Ministers of God’s appointment will find it necessary
to put forth extraordinary efforts in order to arrest the attention of
the multitudes. And when they succeed in bringing together a large
number of people, they must bear messages of a character so out of
the usual order that the people will be aroused and warned. They must
make use of every means that can possibly be devised for causing the
truth to stand out clearly and distinctly. The testing message for this
[41]
time is to be borne so plainly and decidedly as to startle the hearers
and lead them to desire to study the Scriptures.—
Testimonies For The
Church 9:109
(1909).
Opposition, Expense, and Changing Audiences—I dreamed
that several of our brethren were in council, considering plans of
labor for this season [1874]. They thought it best not to enter the large
cities, but to begin work in small places, remote from the cities; here
they would meet less opposition from the clergy, and would avoid