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God’s Unspeakable Gift, December 25
Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
2 Corinthians 9:15
.
Last night the Christmas [Eve] celebration was held in the [Battle Creek]
Tabernacle, and it passed off well—modestly, solemnly, and with gratitude
expressed in everything done and said, because Jesus the Prince of Life had
come to our world a babe in Bethlehem to be an offering for sin. He came
to fulfill the prediction of the prophets and seers, which He had instructed
them to utter to fulfill the counsels of heaven, and in the great mission and
work verify His own word. And for this, every soul is under the most solemn
obligation and gratitude to God, that Jesus, the world’s Redeemer, has pledged
Himself to accomplish the full salvation of every son and daughter of Adam.
If they do not accept the heavenly gift, they have only themselves to blame.
The sacrifice was ample, wholly consistent with the justice and honor of
God’s holy law. The Innocent suffered for the guilty, and this should call
forth gratitude full and complete.
At half past ten [December 25] I spoke to those assembled at the Taber-
nacle. The Lord gave me most earnest words to speak. I tried to present the
matter in the light of God’s Word, that the work of labor for the salvation
of souls does not rest alone upon the delegated minister, but that to every
man God had given his work. The Lord’s work is to be carried forward by
the living members of Christ’s body, and in the great divine appointment
of God each one is to be educated to act a part in the conversion of souls.
He has enlisted in the army of the Lord, not for ease, not to study his own
amusement, but to endure hardships as a faithful soldier of the cross of Christ.
Every private must act his part, be vigilant, be courageous, be true. After I
had occupied about fifty minutes, many excellent testimonies were borne.
We returned home and called to our dinner, Fred Walling, my niece’s son,
his wife, his wife’s mother, and they came with their two little ones, a babe
of three months, and a boy of six years. These were strangers and poor, and
needed this little encouragement.—
Manuscript 24, December 25, 1889
, diary.
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