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Counsels on Stewardship
My heart says, No, no. I cannot contemplate this question without a
burning zeal to have the work go. We would not deny our faith, we
would not deny Christ, yet we shall do this unless we move forward as
the providence of God opens the way.
The work must not stop for want of means. More means must be
invested in it. Brethren in America, in the name of my Master I bid
you wake up! You that are placing your talents of means in a napkin,
and hiding them in the earth, who are building houses and adding land
to land, God calls upon you, “Sell that ye have, and give alms.” There
is a time coming when commandment keepers can neither buy nor
sell. Make haste to dig out your buried talents. If God has entrusted
you with money, show yourselves faithful to your trust; unwrap your
napkin, and send your talents to the exchangers, that when Christ shall
come, He may receive His own with interest.
Cheerful Liberality in the Closing Work
In the last extremity, before this work shall close, thousands will
be cheerfully laid upon the altar. Men and women will feel it a blessed
privilege to share in the work of preparing souls to stand in the great
day of God, and they will give hundreds as readily as dollars are given
now.
If the love of Christ were burning in the hearts of His professed
people, we would see the same spirit manifested today. Did they but
realize how near is the end of all work for the salvation of souls, they
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would sacrifice their possessions as freely as did the members of the
early church. They would work for the advancement of God’s cause
as earnestly as worldly men labor to acquire riches. Tact and skill
would be exercised, and earnest and unselfish labor put forth to acquire
means, not to hoard, but to pour into the treasury of the Lord.
What if some become poor in investing their means in the work?
Christ for your sakes became poor; but you are securing for yourselves
eternal riches, a treasure in heaven that faileth not. Your means is far
safer there than if deposited in the bank, or invested in houses and
lands. It is laid up in bags that wax not old. No thief can approach it,
no fire consume it....
In obeying the Saviour’s injunction, our example will preach louder
than words. The highest display of the power of truth is seen when