Servants of God
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integrity and faithfulness to God. Jeremiah would speak the words
which God had put into his mouth, and his plain testimony so enraged
the king and princes that he was cast into a loathsome pit. Stephen was
stoned because he would preach Christ and Him crucified. Paul was
imprisoned, beaten with rods, stoned, and finally put to death because
he was a faithful messenger to carry the gospel to the Gentiles. The
beloved John was banished to the Isle of Patmos “for the word of God,
and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
These examples of human steadfastness, in the might of di-
vine power, are a witness to the world of the faithfulness of God’s
promises—of His abiding presence and sustaining grace. As the world
looks upon these humble men, it cannot discern their moral value with
God. It is a work of faith to calmly repose in God in the darkest hour—
however severely tried and tempest-tossed, to feel that our Father is at
the helm. The eye of faith alone can look beyond the things of time
and sense to estimate the worth of eternal riches.
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The great military commander conquers nations and shakes the
armies of half the world, but he dies of disappointment and in exile.
The philosopher who ranges through the universe, everywhere tracing
the manifestations of God’s power and delighting in their harmony,
often fails to behold in these marvelous wonders the Hand that formed
them all. “Man that is in honor, and understandeth not, is like the beasts
that perish.” No hope of glorious immortality lights up the future of
the enemies of God. But those heroes of faith have the promise of an
inheritance of greater value than any earthly riches—an inheritance
that will satisfy the longings of the soul. They may be unknown and
unacknowledged of the world, but they are enrolled as citizens in the
record books of heaven. An exalted greatness, an enduring, eternal
weight of glory, will be the final reward of those whom God has made
heirs of all things.
Ministers of the gospel should make the truth of God the theme
of study, of meditation, and of conversation. The mind that dwells
much on the revealed will of God to man will become strong in the
truth. Those who read and study with an earnest desire for divine light,
whether they are ministers or not, will soon discover in the Scriptures
a beauty and harmony which will captivate their attention, elevate their
thoughts, and give them an inspiration and an energy of argument that
will be powerful to convict and convert souls.