Advent Review and Sabbath Herald-1886

48. Article Title: The Old Year and the New

Another year has nearly closed. The history of every one's life has been registered in the books of heaven. This record we are soon to meet. What does it testify of you and of me? Does it bear witness of self-denial for Christ's sake? Does it testify that you have been laborers together with God? To each of us some work is assigned in the vineyard of the Lord. There is enough for all to do; none need to stand idle. Not one is excused. Have you been faithful to your appointed task, doing what you could to win others to the truth? How many have been led to the cross of Christ through your individual efforts? Have you by precept and example pointed your fellow-men to the Lamb of God, or have you, by assimilating to the world, directed their thoughts and affections into a wrong channel? The men and women whom we have met day by day are Judgment-bound. They will stand before the great white throne to testify against us if we have been unfaithful to duty, if our example has led them away from the truth and from Christ, or to bear witness that our fidelity has encouraged them in the path of righteousness. These souls will either live to offer praise to God and the Lamb through ceaseless ages, or they will perish with the wicked. Christ suffered and died that they might enjoy a blissful eternity. What sacrifices have we been willing to make for their salvation? It is not alone in distant lands that there is need of light-bearers. There are honest souls living close by our own doors who have never yet heard the reasons of our faith. The people are perishing for want of knowledge. Thousands are in ignorance of the Scriptures. They accept the teachings of their ministers, and many of these are trying by every means to lead the minds of the people away from the plain "thus saith the Lord," to human doctrines and traditions. We see multitudes sunken in vice and ignorance, without hope and without God in the world. Yet provision has been made that they may become children of God. His mercy is still lingering for them. He still invites them, weary, heavy-laden with sin, to come to him for pardon, rest, and peace. To us he has given the message of truth, the invitation of mercy, to bear to these perishing souls. Here is the work before us. I call upon you who have a knowledge of Christ, to engage in this work as never before. Labor earnestly, with a spirit of self-sacrifice, to save the souls that are perishing around you. Do not wait for them to come to you, but go out and search for them. Study to devise ways and means of reaching them. Dig deep for those buried up in error; bring them up to the broad daylight of truth. Point them to the lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. During the past year how much time that might have been devoted to this work has been given to self serving! How much money has been needlessly expended on trifles to gratify taste and

please the eye! How much has been spent for the indulgences of appetite! For all this what account can be rendered to God? Notwithstanding the advancement of the cause, and the increasing need of funds to push the work in new fields, many are still binding up their means and absorbing all their energies in worldly enterprises, burying their talent in the earth, as if they designed thus to keep it from God's treasury, as if God had no just claims upon them. They seem to look upon their ability and possessions as their own. By their actions, and in their hearts, they echo the charge of the unjust steward, "I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strewed; and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth." God penetrates their motives, and understands the thoughts of their hearts. They may make trivial excuses for their course, but God reads their selfishness and covetousness. They charge him with being a hard master, because he claims their possessions and their service. But we can bring nothing to God which is not already his. Everything was lost by sin; man forfeited his title to every blessing. It is only by divine grace, through the infinite sacrifice of Christ, that we could be re-instated in the favor of God, and be permitted to enjoy his gifts. We are not our own. Christ has bought us with his precious blood, and we belong to him. All that we possess, our mental and physical powers, all the blessings of the present and the future life, are delivered to us stamped with the cross of Calvary. Therefore the charge that God is a hard master, reaping where he has not sown, and gathering where he has not strewn, is false. When God calls for our gifts or our service, he is only claiming that which is his own. "All things come of thee," said King David, "and of thine own have we given thee." The means which God has furnished for the advancement of his cause are placed in the hands of his servants. He has entrusted them with his goods, and made them his agents, the dispensers of these goods to advance his glory. The cause has waited for years for men to get ready to do, and work that ought to have been done years ago is not done yet. How many more years will God wait the convenience of moneyed men, who are doing their best to lay up treasure on earth in direct opposition to the command of Christ? All now have an opportunity to use their means to advance the cause of God, but those who wait till some future time will be too late. Let the stewards critically examine the use they have made of God's entrusted capital. Have they embezzled it? Have they squandered it by mismanagement? Are they guilty of robbery toward God? There have been some who have done what they could with self-denying, self-sacrificing effort. God is not unmindful of their works of love and devotion. Of Cornelius it was said that his prayers and his alms had come up in remembrance before God. Every act of self-denying benevolence and loving service is precious in the sight of God. Some have ever manifested a willingness to do for his cause, and the Lord has prospered these willing ones, making them channels for his gifts, that they might continue to do and be blessed in doing. They can say with David, "What am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort?" "God is not unrighteous," said the apostle Paul, "to forget your work and labor of love." Neither will he overlook the lack of these labors in the members of his church who make themselves first and his cause second. Every one will be rewarded as his works have been.

Those who have failed to present to God the tithes and offerings which belong to him, should awaken to a sense of their duty. Wherever there has been any neglect on your part to give back to the Lord his own, repent with contrition of soul, and make restitution, lest his curse rest upon you. Many are in a cold, backslidden state on account of their robbery of God; and now the Lord calls upon them to redeem the past. "Bring ye all the tithes into the store-house," he says, "and prove me now herewith." When you have done what you can on your part, withholding nothing that belongs to your Maker, you may ask him to provide means to send the message of truth to the world. The spirit of self-denial and self-sacrifice should be cultivated in the church. It must be encouraged in the young. God has claims on the service of all,--men and women, youth and children,--and the earlier they are led out of and away from themselves, and taught to exercise self-denial or engage in unselfish labor for others, the nearer will they come to fulfilling this holy commission. If we desire to engage the hearts of the youth in the cause and work of God, we must teach them to sacrifice for it. That which costs little we have no special interest in; but that in which we have invested our means will claim our interest and attention, and we shall labor to make it a success. Children should be trained to habits of self-denial for Christ's sake. Let the Saviour's life of sacrifice and unselfish labor be often presented before them as the example which they are to copy. Teach them that without self-denial and cross-bearing we cannot be his disciples. When they would foster vanity by needless display in dress, let parents show them from God's word its sinfulness. Educate them to have beautiful characters, to seek the adorning which is precious in God's sight. As they are brought in conflict with the fashions and customs of the world, let not Satan gain control, but let honor be shown to Jesus by obedience to his precepts. Children will learn to love that which the parents love; to value that which they value. If fathers and mothers desire their children to place eternal above temporal things, they must set the example. We are approaching the beginning of a new year. What shall be the nature of its record? Many have made great mistakes during the past year. Shall these be repeated during the year upon which we are soon to enter? We need to examine ourselves carefully to see what is the tendency of our course. The Spirit of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, and it will reveal to us our standing and the nature of our work. It is not yet too late for wrongs to be righted; and while Jesus our mediator is pleading in our behalf, let us do our part of the work. Let us confess and forsake our sins, that we may find pardon. Brethren, 1886 [2012] is almost gone. Improve its few remaining moments in making restitution for wrongs. Make thorough work for eternity. Every act, every word, must stand the test of the Judgment. Set your houses in order. Set your hearts in order. Make thorough work while Jesus is ministering in the sanctuary. When we will bring our hearts into unity with Christ, and our lives into harmony with his work, the Spirit that descended on the day of Pentecost will fall on us. We shall be strong in Christ's strength, and be filled with the fullness of God. Then the new year will be welcomed by us all as the commencement of a year of higher, better principles. We shall give ourselves to Christ, making an unreserved consecration of all our property, all our capacities, to his service. We shall make good our profession of faith; we shall serve God by serving those who need our help. Then we shall let our light shine forth in good works.

God alone can tell what will transpire during the year 1887 [2013]. It may be in our lives and in the history of our cause more eventful than any that has preceded it. During the past year we have seen special evidences that the Lord is a work; but this should not lead us to settle down satisfied and at ease. The light of truth is to go into remote and darkened corners of the earth. Each unfolding of His providence, each token that His hand is in the work, to move it forward with power, is designed to arouse us to greater zeal and earnestness, while we look for still more wonderful and glorious triumphs of the truth in the future. Will each of you who believe present truth earnestly inquire, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" His Spirit is at work upon minds, preparing them to receive the truth. Let your efforts be fully up to the openings of his providence. Do something, do it now, and let the record of the new year be one that you will not be ashamed to meet. Torre Pellice, Italy.