18 Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists
right by his side, so that the work shall not be moulded entirely by one
man’s mind, and so that his defects of character shall not be regarded
as virtues by himself or by those who hear him.
Unless a speaker has one by his side with whom he can share the
labor, he will many times be placed in circumstances where he will
be obliged to do violence to the laws of life and health. Then, again,
important things sometimes transpire to call him away right in the
crisis of an interest. If two are connected in labor, the work at such
times need not be left alone.
It is Satan’s regular employment to hinder the work of God, and
to work for the destruction of the race. Frequently when the interest
in a certain locality is at its height, he makes it appear to the mind of
the worker that some trifling matter at home is of great importance,
and demands his immediate presence. The eye of the worker not being
single to the glory of God, he leaves the work unfinished, and rushes
home. He may be kept away for days and even weeks, and his former
work becomes raveled and tangled. Stitch after stitch is dropped, never
to be taken up again. This pleases the enemy. And when he sees that
he is successful in making temporal matters supreme in the mind of
this person, he gives him his hands full of trouble. He at once begins
to manufacture home difficulties, so as to entangle his mind, and, if
possible, to keep him away from the work altogether.
God designs that the interest of the workers shall be absorbed in his
will. He says. “I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a
man than the golden wedge of Ophir.” A soul is of more value than all
the world; and to let things of a temporal nature come in between us
and the work of saving souls is displeasing to the God of heaven. As a
people, we have as yet scarcely begun to realize the importance of the
work intrusted to us. Oh that the servants of God might have a new
touch from his divine power! Oh that they had more faith to prevail
with God in prayer, and more, far more, earnestness and perseverance
in their labors!
When souls are deciding for or against the truth, do not, I beseech
you, allow yourselves to be drawn away from your field of labor. Do
not abandon it to the enemy, I might say, even if one lay dead in your
house. Christ said, “Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.” If
you could only see the importance of the work as it has been presented
to me, the paralysis that is upon many would be shaken off, and there
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