Chapter 5—Our Day of Opportunity
There are lessons for us to learn at this time from the experience
of those who labored for God in past generations. How little we
know of the conflicts and trials and labors of these men, as they fitted
themselves to meet the armies of Satan. Putting on the whole armor of
God, they were able to stand against the wiles of Satan....
These men who in the past gave themselves to God and to the
uplifting of His cause were as true as steel to principle. They were
men who would not fail nor be discouraged; men who, like Daniel,
were full of reverence and zeal for God, full of noble purposes and
aspirations. They were as weak and helpless as any of those who are
now engaged in the work, but they put their whole trust in God. They
had wealth, but it consisted of mind and soul culture. This every one
may have who will make God first and last and best in everything.
Although destitute of wisdom, knowledge, virtue, and power, we may
receive all these if we will learn from Christ the lessons that it is our
privilege to learn.
The Kind of Workers Needed
In this time we have opportunities and advantages that it was not
easy to obtain in generations past. We have increased light, and this
has come through the work of those faithful sentinels who made God
their dependence, and received power from Him to let light shine in
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clear, bright rays to the world. In our day we have increased light to
improve, as in times past men and women of noble worth improved
the light that God gave them. They toiled long to learn the lessons
given them in the school of Christ, and they did not toil in vain. Their
persevering efforts were rewarded. They bound themselves up with the
mightiest of all powers, and yet they were ever longing for a deeper,
higher, and broader comprehension of eternal realities, that they might
successfully present the treasures of truth to a needy world.
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