Adventist Pioneers
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positions in His work. They have stood faithful amidst storm and trial,
and are among our most valuable counselors. How thankful we should
be that they can still use their gifts in the Lord’s service!
Let not the fact be lost sight of that in the past these earnest
wrestlers sacrificed everything to advance the work. The fact that
they have grown old and gray in the service of God is no reason why
they should cease to exert an influence superior to the influence of
men who have far less knowledge of the work and far less experience
in divine things. Though worn and unable to bear the heavier burdens
that younger men can and should carry, their value as counselors is
of the highest order. They have made mistakes, but they have learned
wisdom from their failures; they have learned to avoid errors and dan-
gers, and are they not then competent to give wise counsel? They have
borne test and trial, and, though they have lost some of their vigor, they
are not to be pushed aside by less-experienced workers, who know
very little about the labor and self-sacrifice of these pioneers. The
Lord does not thus lay them aside. He gives them special grace and
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knowledge....
As those who have spent their lives in the service of God draw near
the close of their earthly history, they will be impressed by the Holy
Spirit to recount the experiences they have had in connection with His
work. The record of His wonderful dealings with His people, of His
great goodness in delivering them from trial, should be repeated to
those newly come to the faith. The trials also that have been brought
on the servants of God by the apostasy of some once united with them
in labor, and the working of the Holy Spirit to make of none effect the
falsehoods told against those who were holding the beginning of their
confidence firm unto the end, should be related.
The old standard-bearers who are still living should not be put
in hard places. Those who served their Master when the work went
hard, who endured poverty and remained faithful to the truth when
our numbers were small, are ever to be honored and respected. I am
instructed to say: Let every believer respect the aged pioneers who
have borne trials and hardships and many privations. They are God’s
workmen and have acted a prominent part in the building up of His
work.
The Lord desires the younger laborers to gain wisdom, strength,
and maturity by association with the aged laborers who have been