164
Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
Where are the missionaries who should be raised up at the heart of
the work? From twenty to fifty should be sent out from Battle Creek
every year to carry the truth to those who sit in darkness. But piety
is at so low an ebb, the spirit of devotion is so weak, worldliness and
selfishness so prevalent, that the moral atmosphere begets a lethargy
fatal to missionary zeal.
We need not go to foreign lands to become missionaries for God.
All around us are fields “white already to harvest,” and whoever will
may gather “fruit unto life eternal.” God calls upon many in Battle
Creek who are dying of spiritual sloth to go where their labor is needed
in His cause. Move out of Battle Creek, even if it requires a pecuniary
sacrifice. Go somewhere to be a blessing to others. Go where you can
strengthen some weak church. Put to use the powers which God has
given you.
Shake off your spiritual lethargy. Work with all your might to save
your own souls and the souls of others. It is no time now to cry, “Peace
and safety.” It is not silver-tongued orators that are needed to give this
message. The truth in all its pointed severity must be spoken. Men of
action are needed—men who will labor with earnest, ceaseless energy
for the purifying of the church and the warning of the world.
A great work is to be accomplished; broader plans must be laid; a
voice must go forth to arouse the nations. Men whose faith is weak and
wavering are not the ones to carry forward the work at this important
crisis. We need the courage of heroes and the faith of martyrs.
[188]