222 Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists
Shall we falter and become laggards now, in the very last scenes of
this earth’s history? 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 intrusted
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. 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 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.
Some have selfishly retained their means during their life-time,
trusting to make up for their neglect by remembering the cause in their
wills; but not one-half the means thus bestowed in legacies ever comes
to the objects specified. Brethren and sisters, invest in the bank of
heaven yourselves, and do not leave your stewardship upon another.