Our Duty to the Missionary Work
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In obeying the Saviour’s injunction, our example will preach louder
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than words. The highest display of the power of truth is seen when
those who profess to believe it give evidence of their faith by their
works. Those who believe this solemn truth should possess such
a spirit of self-sacrifice as will rebuke the worldly ambition of the
money-worshiper.
My soul is burdened as I look over the destitute fields here in
Europe, and see the poverty of many, and the difficulties they must
meet in keeping the Sabbath, and then think how the way to reach souls
is blocked up for want of means. The Lord has made provision that all
may be reached by the message of truth, but the means placed in the
hands of his stewards for this very purpose has been selfishly devoted
to their own gratification. How much has been thoughtlessly wasted
by our youth, spent for self-indulgence and display, for that which
they would have been just as happy without. Every dollar which we
possess is the Lord’s. Instead of spending means for needless things,
we should invest it in answering the calls of missionary work.
As new fields are opened, the calls for means are constantly in-
creasing. If ever we needed to exercise economy it is now. All who
labor in the cause should realize the importance of closely following
the Saviour’s example of self-denial and economy. They should see
in the means they handle a trust which God has committed to them,
and they should feel under obligation to exercise tact and financial
ability in the use of their Lord’s money. Every penny should be care-
fully treasured. A cent seems like a trifle, but a hundred cents make
a dollar, and rightly spent may be the means of saving a soul from
death. If all the means which has been wasted by our own people in
self-gratification had been devoted to the cause of God, there would
be no empty treasuries, and missions could be established in all parts
of the world.
Let the members of the church now put away their pride and lay
off their ornaments. Each should keep a missionary box at hand, and
drop into it every penny he is tempted to waste in self-indulgence.
But something more must be done than merely to dispense with su-
perfluities. Self-denial must be practiced. Some of our comfortable
and desirable things must be sacrificed. The preachers must sharpen
up their message, not merely assailing self-indulgence and pride in
dress, but presenting Jesus, his life of self-denial and sacrifice. Let