Chapter 86—“The American Sentinel” and its
Mission
God employs various agencies in preparing His people to stand in
the great crisis before us. He speaks by His word and by His ministers.
He arouses the watchmen and sends them forth with messages of warn-
ing, of reproof, and of instruction, that the people may be enlightened.
The Sentinel has been in God’s order, one of the voices sounding the
alarm, that the people might hear and realize their danger and do the
work required at the present time. The Lord intends that His people
shall heed whatever He sends them. When light is presented, it is their
duty, not only to receive it, but to pass it along, adding their influence
in its favor, that its full force may be felt in the church and the world.
The Sentinel is like a trumpet giving a certain sound; and all our people
should read it carefully and then send it to some relative or friend, thus
putting to the best use the light that God has given them.
For three years, warnings have been sounding forth to the world
through the columns of the Sentinel; but those who profess to believe
present truth have not been influenced by these danger signals as they
should have been. Had our brethren used the Sentinel as it was their
privilege to do; and had all been united in recommending it in every
conference and in every church, as God would have them do; had
the attention of our people been called to this work, which was so
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essential to be done for this time; had they appreciated the light which
God permitted to shine upon them in warnings, in counsels, and in
the delineation of events that are taking place, we should not now,
as a people, be so far behind in making preparation for the work.
There have been surprising indifference and inactivity in this time
of peril. Truth, present truth, is what the people need; and if the
startling significance of the movements now in progress in regard to
the religious amendments had been realized by our brethren in every
church; if they had discerned in these movements the plain, direct
fulfillment of prophecy, calling upon them to arouse to the demands of
the crisis, they would not now be in such stupor and deathlike slumber.
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