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Evangelism
that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Ask those who attend the meetings to help you in the work that you
are trying to do. Show them how evil habits result in diseased bodies
and diseased minds—in wretchedness that no pen can describe. The
use of intoxicating liquor is robbing thousands of their reason. And yet
the sale of this liquor is legalized. Tell them that they have a heaven to
win and a hell to shun. Ask them to sign the pledge. The commission
of the great I AM is to be your authority. Have the pledges prepared,
and present them at the close of the meeting.
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One man should not try to do this work alone. Let several unite in
such an effort. Let them come to the front with a message from heaven,
imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit. Let them draw with all their
strength, with words made eloquent by the Spirit’s efficiency. Let them
ask their hearers to assist in the work of warning the cities. Let men
and women be shown the evil of spending money in indulgences that
destroy the health of mind and soul and body....
Not by outward display, not by worldly patronage, is the kingdom
of Christ established, but by the implanting of Christ’s nature in hu-
manity through the work of the Holy Spirit. “As many as received Him,
to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Here is the only power
that can work for the uplifting of humanity. And the human agency
for the accomplishment of this work is the teaching and preaching of
the Word of God.—
Manuscript 42, 1905
.
Experience in Helping Tobacco Users—In Australia I met a man
considered free from everything like intemperance, except for one
habit. He used tobacco. He came to hear us at the tent, and one night
after he went home, as he afterward told us, he wrestled against the
habit of tobacco-using, and obtained the victory. Some of his relatives
had told him that they would give him fifty pounds if he would throw
away his tobacco. He would not do it. “But,” he said, “when you
present the principles of temperance before us as you have done, I
cannot resist them. You present before us the self-denial of One who
gave His life for us. I do not know Him now, but I desire to know
Him. I have never offered a prayer in my house. I have cast away my
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tobacco, but that is as far as I have gone.”