The Outlook
We are nearing the close of this earth’s history. We have before us
a great work,—the closing work of giving the last warning message to
a sinful world. There are men who will be taken from the plow, from
the vineyard, from various other branches of work, and sent forth by
the Lord to give this message to the world.
The world is out of joint. As we look at the picture, the outlook
seems discouraging. But Christ greets with hopeful assurance the
very men and women who cause us discouragement. In them He sees
qualifications that will enable them to take a place in His vineyard.
If they will constantly be learners, through His providence He will
make them men and women fitted to do a work that is not beyond their
capabilities; through the impartation of the Holy Spirit, He will give
them power of utterance.
Many of the barren, unworked fields must be entered by beginners.
The brightness of the Saviour’s view of the world will inspire confi-
dence in many workers, who, if they begin in humility and put their
hearts into the work, will be found to be the right men for the time and
place. Christ sees all the misery and despair of the world, the sight of
which would bow down some of our workers of large capabilities with
a weight of discouragement so great that they would not know how
even to begin the work of leading men and women to the first round
of the ladder. Their precise methods are of little value. They would
stand above the lower rounds of the ladder, saying, “Come up where
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we are.” But the poor souls do not know where to put their feet.
Christ’s heart is cheered by the sight of those who are poor in
every sense of the term; cheered by His view of the ill-used ones
who are meek; cheered by the seemingly unsatisfied hungering after
righteousness, by the inability of many to begin. He welcomes, as
it were, the very condition of things that would discourage many
ministers. He corrects our erring piety, giving the burden of the work
for the poor and needy in the rough places of the earth, to men and
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