Instruction to Workers
207
Let not those become disheartened who have labored so earnestly to
bring the work in the Southern field to its present state of advancement.
Let all do their best to place the work at Nashville on a solid basis. The
Lord has in charge those who have striven valiantly to do that which
so greatly needed to be done. In His pity and kindness and love, the
Lord has mercy on them. He still accepts them as His co-workers. He
knows all about every one of them. They have had to pass through the
fire of affliction, as they have done the breaking-up pioneer work. God
will be glorified in those who have been laborers together with Him in
breaking up the ground in fields that have never before been worked.
Brethren, we have a great work before us in the Southern field, a
work that as yet we have only begun. We must not continue to stand
as we have stood for years, dreading this work. There are those who
have done stern, hard labor, and the Lord recognizes and commends
their self-sacrificing efforts. He has blessed them. They have received
their reward by seeing those they helped placing their feet on the Rock
of Ages and in turn helping others.
My brethren in the Southern field, I ask you, in the name of the
Lord God of Israel, to quit you like men. The Lord is at the helm.
He will give His servants grace and wisdom. It is God’s purpose that
men entrusted with responsibility should counsel and pray together in
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Christian unity. In unity there is a life, a power, that can be obtained
in no other way. There will be a vast power in the church when the
energies of the members are united under the control of the Spirit.
Then will God be able to work mightily through His people for the
conversion of sinners.
God lives and reigns. He will open the way for the neglected
Southern field to be cultivated for Him. Let the workers there come up
to the help of the Lord and with joy proclaim His truth. The Lord is
soon coming. Talk it, pray it, believe it. Make it a part of the life. You
will have to meet a doubting, objecting spirit, but this will give way
before firm, consistent trust in God. When perplexities or hindrances
present themselves, lift the soul to God in songs of thanksgiving. Gird
on the Christian armor, and be sure that your feet are “shod with the
preparation of the gospel of peace.” Preach the truth with boldness and
fervor. Remember that the Lord looks in compassion upon this field
and that He knows its poverty and its need. The efforts you are making
will not prove a failure.