There were about four hundred at this session and Brother Russell spoke in part as follows:
Dear Friends: I have a great deal of pleasure in meeting the Colporteurs, intending Colporteurs and Sharpshooters. I will suppose you are not all colporteurs and will have to suppose you are not all intending colporteurs, but I will suppose that almost all are sharp-shooters. By sharpshooters, we mean those who are seeking to introduce the truth in a particular bundle to their neighbors, friends, acquaintances, etc., seeking to use every opportunity to try to reach them. Such an one is a sharp-shooter, in comparison to a colporteur who fires a regular volley, going from house to house, mowing down the ranks. We speak now of mowing them down and not shooting. Our Lord is represented as having a sharp two-edged sword, and with it He will smite the nations. How glad they all will be when they fall down under Him, smitten how glad they will be. Some of us have not needed to be smitten; we have had that element of righteousness, or reverence of God, which led us by God's grace to feel after Him, if haply we might find Him. As in one of the parables, He represents Himself as the king, the appointed king who goes into a far country to receive His kingdom, the authority of the kingdom and to return and exercise that authority. So our Lord has gone [HGL417] into heaven itself to await the time when He will be duly inaugurated and shall take unto Him His great power and reign. You remember how He illustrated the matter: When He was going, He called His servants His own servants, delivered to them His goods and said, Occupy until I return. Did He call all the people or all the world and deliver to them His goods? No. He called His own servants and said to them, Occupy until I return. Then He took His journey. And then after that, some of those who were not in sympathy with Him sent an embassage and said, "We will not have Him reign over us." Who is this? It is the whole world. Is not that the attitude of the world and has not that been their attitude always? "We don't want His reign of righteousness; we oppose Him and His reign; we don't want these stringent rules, love, love, love, etc. no liberty at all in Christ." There is, and there is not, dear friends. Some like to have the restraint that belongs to love and some do not. Those that do not are the ones represented in the parable that sent the embassage and said they did not want or care for Him or His reign. "We want the power; we like the arrangements of this world; we like the prince of this world better than the Prince of Peace." Of course there are others that take a more moderate course who say, "We are not thinking about it; we do not care; we are making money and we will look out for our own." There are a great many who are in opposition to our King and do not want His reign.
You remember in the parable that when He returned at the second coming of our Lord He gathered His own servants, the ones to whom He committed His goods and said, occupy until I return. He did not gather the early saints, the Apostles, etc., but all the representatives today, representatives of the same class to whom he committed his goods, and we have some of those goods now in our possession; they are the talents and pounds we are to multiply and use to the glory of our Father, so that when He reckons with us, we can say, you gave me two and behold I have made two. And some with one talent can say, I have doubled it; I have never had very much, but I have done the best I could. And others with five say, it is doubled and now I have ten, and I gladly lay it all at your feet, glad to do anything.
After getting through reckoning with His servants the Church, the next procedure of the king who begins to exercise His power, after announcing that He is present says, enter thou into the joys of thy Lord. I do not say you have done many things, but you have been faithful and I have proved you, and whether with one talent under trying circumstances or with five, you have used and doubled them; I have seen your faithfulness, and he that is faithful in that which is least would be in that which is much, and vice versa. You have been faithful over a few things, enter thou into the joy of the Lord; have thou dominion over two, five cities, etc., as the case may be.
Where is this dominion? The Millennial Kingdom.
Who are we? Those to whom He committed the goods; those with whom He reckoned at the end of the age.
Then what? Where are those enemies that sent the embassage? Bring them hither, slay them before me. It sounds very cold and heartless, until we find out what kind of sword is to be used; when we find it is the broad-sword that goeth forth out of His mouth. When they find out, they will say, slay us that we may be the friends of righteousness and truth.
One of the Psalms says, (Psa. 45:5) "Thy arrows are sharp in the heart of the King's enemies." Yes, the arrows of the truth will cut deep. Then the psalmist goes on to say that, because of the arrows in thy heart they shall fall. Yes, says the prophet, "Unto Him every knee shall bow and every tongue confess." We are glad that we are not of those that need to be smitten with the sword or stricken down with the arrow. No, His message to us has been different, because we have been in a different condition. He says, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden." Why did not He strike an arrow into our hearts? Because our hearts were already broken and we were in sympathy with Him; we were feeling after Him. Thank God! "Blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear." And let us sympathize with those that have not the eyes and ears, and let us not be unkind or bitter either in thought, word or deed. But we cannot have sympathy with their opposition. Remember that we are not to put the sharp arrows in their hearts. Oh no! That is not for us. By and by, after the King comes in triumph, He shall send forth the arrows. There will be a great time of trouble then. It is not for us to do the kingdom work now, but we are to do the work that He has given us to do. We are some of these servants; we are not all of those servants. Whoever has consecrated himself to the Lord has some talents and pounds, to be used in His service.
Now, dear friends, I speak to you from this standpoint, of those that are shortly to give an account. That will not make any real difference because it is shortly; we ought to be just as faithful as though we knew it was a thousand years. But it helps to make us more keen and wide awake to realize the time is short, that the Lord is looking at us and noting our zeal, enthusiasm, etc., that we are using to invest the talents and pounds. On the other hand, it brings a responsibility that might make us fearful, but it should also bring great satisfaction to realize that we are co-laborers with Jesus Christ.
What a remarkable thing it is that we are permitted to be ambassadors of the Lord, representatives of the Lord. How wonderful it is! I never get through thinking in my own mind, dear brothers and sisters, of the wonderful grace the Lord has bestowed upon us. I can imagine the angels looking at us and almost becoming envious, not that they would wish to take away our part, but that there might be an opening for them to be ambassadors of the Lord to tell the good tidings. The more we take this view of the matter, the more we become impressed with the honor and what it is to be used in the Lord's service, the more it will lead us, as the Scriptures enjoin us, to lay aside every weight, and run with patience the race marked out. What if we do see that the path marked out for us is not one of glory at the present time. We see that our Master did not tread the path of glory. What if we do see that to be on His side is to be misrepresented and misunderstood. The disciple should not expect to be greater than his Lord, and if the great Head should prove His loyalty to the Father by His faithfulness in enduring the contradiction of sinners against Himself, what shall we say about those humble [HGL418] ones who say they are glad He has given us any opportunity at all. What an honor!
There is a legend; I do not know that it is true, that the Apostle Peter met his death by crucifixion, and when the time came to be crucified, at his own request he was crucified head downward, saying, It is too great an honor to be crucified as my Master was. If we could have the privilege of serving or associating with Him in any part of the work, the more humble part or whatever it might be, the privilege of laying down our lives in His cause is so great that the other things are not worthy of comparison. We feel that it is almost too great an honor that we should serve with Him. When we get the right view, we will be glad to suffer and be all that we can for His sake, for the truth and the brethren. Whatever we do to each other, because they are His, it is counted as though it is done to Him on His account.
Well, what has this to do with the colporteur and sharp-shooter work? Oh, it has so much to do with it; it is the very essence of the matter. I can readily understand that those who have not been long amongst us might misunderstand the attitude of the colporteurs. People are so apt to think of everything being done from a financial standpoint. It is so apt to be the case, because everything on earth is done from the financial or business standpoint that it is almost impossible for the people in general to get their minds open wide enough to understand that there are really some people in the world that are really trying to lay down their lives, not to make money, nor to have anything except the Lord's approval. Don't be disappointed if you are misunderstood the Lord and the Apostles were misunderstood. Marvel not if the world misunderstand and hate you, and say all manner of evil against you, but REJOICE and be EXCEEDING glad. You are doing it, not for the world, but you are doing it for the Lord. Primarily you are doing it for those who are not His. How? I mean in this way; you are not doing it for the world, because now is not the time for the world's judgment; that time when the world will have the decision of eternal life or death is the Millenial Age and we who know that can see from the Scriptures that we are not laying down our lives for the world; that is not what the Lord invited us to do, but we are to lay down our live for the brethren. The brethren are those that believe as we do. And how can we lay down our lives for them? There are others of the brethren who are still in darkness, still blinded, still just as you and I were, true brethren of the Lord when we were in darkness and Babylon and saw little of the Divine Plan. Did somebody serve you and me? Did the Lord use some brother to bring the truth to your attention? And as such, as you received the truth, you became the channel or vessel to disseminate the truth to others of the brethren, not the world, for it is not the time to try to reach the world, but it is the time to try to reach those the Lord is going to use. The Apostle Peter says the Lord is taking out from among the Gentiles a people for His name. And, the Apostle Peter tells us more about this kind of people. In what way? He says they are a peculiar people in their zeal for God's work, and that will include good doctrine, as good doctrine makes children of good works, but we are not to put all stress upon doctrine. This peculiar people zealous of good works and good doctrine, is a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Why, Brother Russell, how are we a nation? Well, you know some of us were German and some of us were Scotch, some Irish, some French and some American. Well, what are you now? O, we are new creatures; ours is the heavenly country. Do you suppose that if a man was born in Germany and called a German and was begotten of the holy Spirit that he would not be called of the holy nation. Ours is the heavenly country. If there is any mistake, he made it, but I don't think he made any mistake. This family of God is a new nation, and as a new nation, it has its own peculiarities. We see some peculiarities that belong to the German, English, Spanish, etc. They have theirs and so has the new nation, and those are the ones you and I want to have. Not the kind of peculiarities that some people have when they think they are religious; they wear a certain cut of coat, bonnet, etc. ; but we want to be peculiar in heart, zeal, love and earnestness for the Lord and the Brethren, and willing to lay down our lives. In this way they are to be peculiar; they will do things for the love of the Lord and for the brethren, and they will not do it for money. It is altogether a new doctrine to all except those begotten of the holy Spirit.
As an illustration of this: A minister called to see me in Allegheny, of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and said:
"Brother Russell, I have been requested by the editor of the New York Independent to ask you something about your church."
I said: "Brother, I have no church. That is one fault I have to find with the rest; they make a church of their own, which we do not think is the Lord's."
"Well, you know what I mean; those that believe as you do."
I said: "I hope you believe as I do; we do not recognize any difference in the Lord's people; they are either the Lord's people or they are not, and we recognize all who have the Lord's Spirit and claim to be the Lord's brethren, and so I hope you are one of our church, the church the Lord describes, whose names are written in heaven."
"Well now, Brother Russell, about this organization that believe as you do?"
"Well, I do not know how many believe as I do; we try to believe as near as we can what God says, and we do not even write down their names."
"Well, you have a congregation you take up collections?"
"No, we never take up collections."
"Well, I will tell you. Whenever people get rightly converted and get the truth into their hearts deeply, they are so anxious to do something they say: 'Brother Russell, here is some money; I want to get into the work.' We never ask for money." He looked at me, as much as to say, "do you think after saying that I believe you?" I said: "Brother, that is a fact, we never ask for a cent, and we never take up a collection, and yet the people are anxious to get their money in."
That is so different, dear friends, and the whole thing is so different from anything that you and I ever heard of, or [HGL419] that you ever find anywhere else, and you know it is useless to try to explain it to anyone else.
Last night, a man on the platform handed me some money; I did not stop to look how much it was, and here it is it is a ten dollar bill, and I do not know who the brother is. A number were near me and I was shaking hands and he found my other hand and stuck the bill in it. This is only and illustration.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, what manner of persons ought we to be; that is what the Apostle said and that is what he says to us. We are not trying to flatter you or to make you think you are more than you ought to be. None of us are satisfied with ourselves, and the more you go along the narrow way, the more you will appreciate the perfection of God's great plan and great love, you will see more deeply every step and every day so that you will feel more dissatisfied today than you did yesterday. That is to say, you will see how far short everyone, yourself included, comes from that divine standard of perfect love. I do not mean that you are going backward; I know you are not; I can see this in my general contact with the Lord's people, that they are growing in the truth, in His spirit and the spirit of a sound mind. It is the spirit of love shed abroad in your hearts; not in a little spot, but shed abroad, and you love all that are the Lord's, and not only those who are the Lord's, but those outside who are not yet the Lord's, in whom you can see some element of the right character and the image of God. Also for those who are out of the way, far off in darkness, whom the great adversary has blinded. And more than that, your love is going out toward your enemies. I can see that spirit growing, not only in this convention, but also from your letters.
I suppose our mail at the present time at the Bible House is about 500 letters on Monday, and the rest of the week from 250 to 300 a day. Those letters tell the story of the growth in grace and knowledge and love and the spirit of the Lord. I am glad to tell you that I can see you are making progress; but don't try to measure your progress by how you feel or what you did yesterday; don't fool yourselves, for the Lord is not mocked. We want to think soberly, as the Apostle says. If we are not progressing in love every day, we ought to be afraid. Let it drive us to the Lord, knowing what He has done for us and what His character is.
I am digressing somewhat from what I intended to say. What I wanted to bring to your attention was that, as the love of God and the brethren and the world is shed abroad in your hearts more and more it leads you to want to do more. The person that never gets anything but a good appearance and feeling and never wants to do anything is sure to fail. The Apostle says, show your faith without works; I will show you my faith by my works. That is a fair translation. The Lord is not going to judge us by our translation. The Lord is not going to judge us by our works; if He did, we would all come short, and so much shorter than others; for so many of the Lord's people have but one talent and would come far short. It is not works He is going to judge by, but according to your faith. But not a dead faith that has no works, but a living faith that does as much work as it can, and trusts in the grace of God. These are doing things, realizing that God will reward us according to our endeavors, not by results, but He expects as many results as we are capable of. Faith and works both have their proper place. God is looking to us to work according to our ability and to demonstrate our faith by using our opportunities that come to us, with all the efforts in your lives and in my life. The words of your mouth? Yes. The meditations of your heart? Yes. The conduct in your lives? Yes. They all tell; they may not be telling me, I am not competent to judge; they may not tell your neighbors or your brethren of your congregation with whom you are acquainted, for they are not able to judge. There may be things that hinder you from doing colporteur work, etc. it is none of their business. It is none of my business why you do not engage in the work; that is between you and the Lord. It may be in the volunteer work, it is between you and the Lord. He knows the reason. I do not know how much you are doing, and you do not know how much I am doing. None know about each other, just the Lord, and He it is that does the determining. You and I want to have all our arrangements in accordance with the fact that the Lord knows all about it, and He it is, by and by, that will say, if you are faithful, "I will make you ruler, etc." So let us avoid criticizing others, but let us criticise ourselves. What am I doing; what am I doing to show that I appreciate the fact that He redeemed me with His precious blood, has forgiven my sins, accepted me as a joint-heir with Christ and has given me the privilege of being with my Lord and Master what am I doing to show my appreciation? It is our duty to do all that we can to make it plain to the brethren that they may see. If there is anything in my course that is not all that it might be, I would be glad to explain it, but if I did not, you should not criticize. Let us do all that we can; it is the Lord that pronounces the penalty. The Apostle says, Let us judge, or criticize; ourselves for if we judge ourselves, we would not be judged by the Lord; He would not need to chasten us. But if we are chastened, we are chastened of the Lord. He does it, because He loves us and counts us as sons. What son would not a father chasten, if he saw that he needed it? But those outside may pass on without any chastening. It is also the privilege of the children to show the Father their appreciation in their daily lives, that they will not need to be chastened, that they judge themselves, look out for their own conduct, to see if they are glorifying the Lord in their bodies and minds and spirits, which are His.
Note, this applies to the colporteurs in many ways, for they are laying aside the other cares of life to be ministers of the truth. Why, Brother Russell, do you call them ministers of the truth? Yes. Why, I thought that ministers were always called "Reverend". Not in the Bible. They are called that by others who do not know what the Bible means. In the Bible, the word "minister" means "servant," and if they are serving God, they are serving those who are God's people, ministers of righteousness, ministers of the truth; they believe they have the truth and they believe they are ministering the truth when they are declaring the good tidings hither and thither. Why don't they go to just the right ones? Because we do not know who the right ones are, and the Lord has been pleased to let it be so all down through the Gospel Age. One man said to me, Brother Russell; why do you have so many of these paper pamphlets printed; why do you distribute them all over, trying to pull down the churches? I said, no, we are not trying to pull [HGL420] down the churches. If we pulled down the churches, all the tares would get in and bother us; we do not want the tares. We want to go here and there and pull out a grain of wheat, and the bundle will not miss them, for it will look much more uniform without them. Why then go to them at all? Because this is the Lord's providence and because we do not judge, He judges. All we can do is to scatter the bread, as He said, upon all waters, not knowing which will prosper, this or that; we leave it all to the Lord. And so, we all have a blessed privilege, whether scattering the tracts or carrying the reading matter of a more pronounced character, we are only doing all in our power to spread the knowledge of God and His glorious Plan. We are not responsible for the result that is all with the Lord.
Wherever there is a head of wheat, the Lord knows how to reach it. You would be astonished at the information we get a the Bible House. For instance: A man who had gotten a copy of Millennial Dawn, began to read it, as he did he became angry and threw it into the fire and then went out of the room. It was a boarding-house, and just then the landlady came into the room. The book had caught fire around the edges, but she picked it out of the fire, put out the blaze, kept the book, read it, and she is now a sister in the Truth to-day. Rather a peculiar way.
One of the colporteurs was telling me of a case in New York City; some one had thrown a copy in an ash barrel, and a young man, a foreigner, saw the book and thought, My, a good book put in the ash-barrel! He was a poor boy; he pulled it out, and that boy, through reading that book three years ago, would today astonish doctors of divinity with how much he knows of the Bible. Yes indeed. So, my dear friends, it is not always the books you put into the hand of the people that buy them that bring the fruitage.
I think of another case in Colorado. This party said, I am a poor preacher in the mountain regions, preaching the gospel, and as I go from place to place, the ranchmen would say, come in here, we will always have a bed and a bite to eat. So one place I went in, the ranchman said, I have a book here somebody sent me, and I can't make head or tail out of it, and you many have it. He said to me, "Brother Russell, I made both head and tail out of it; it was Millennial Dawn. The Lord sent that book to me, and not to that young man." We know not which will prosper. He told you and me to go on, confident that the Lord is guiding His work, confident that in this harvest time, the same Great Reaper is superintending the work that superintended the harvest work of the Jewish Age. It is my understanding and your understanding that every Israelite indeed, in whom there was no guile, was brought into contact with the truth and had an opportunity to receive the harvest message then due to be known. It was his right according to the divine arrangement, as said the Apostle, that it should have been preached to you who were natural Jews, necessary because it was God's plan, that those natural Israelites should have an opportunity of coming to Christ first, and to know that it was the harvest time. And just so here; I have every confidence, dear friends, that every Israelite indeed Spiritual Israelite every one that is truly the Lord's, whether in China, India, Iowa, Kentucky, or wherever it may be the Lord knoweth them that are His, and how to get the true meat in due season to them, the harvest message, in their time, and that He will not fail.
Will they get it if we do not do it? Yes. It is the Lord who has charge. You remember that when He was about to ride into Jerusalem before His crucifixion, they spread their garments on the way and as Jesus went along, they shouted, "Hosannah to the King of Israel." The Pharisees said, What are they talking about? Jesus said, If they should hold their peace, the very stones would cry out. Why? Because God had said through the prophet, "Shout, for thy King cometh, meek and lowly, riding on an ass, etc." There had to be a shout, and if they had not shouted the stones would have that prophecy had to be fulfilled. Just so here, dear friends, if you do not wish to take part in the shouting and blowing of the silver trumpet, the Lord will blow. In the Jubilee day, they were to blow a silver trumpet. We are now in the antitype, and the Great Jubilee is about to begin, and the silver trumpet is to be blown. Blessed are you and I if we have an opportunity to blow. Whoever blows or hears gets a blessing. There is no damnation in it. We are not going to have you suppose God is damning 99 out of every 100. We see that the nominal systems, if they are blessing any one at all, they are damning nearly everybody else. This message that is being blown on the silver trumpets by the colporteurs, pilgrims, volunteers and sharp-shooters is all one work. In the literal harvest, there are many different kinds of instruments, reapers, mowers but I guess I had better not say anything about farming, for I do not know much about it. Whatever it may be, dear friends, whatever our connection, the harvest work will go on. If we are disloyal or fail to appreciate the privilege, that is our loss, for the Lord will see that the harvest work is carried on. We have a great God who is not dependent on you or me or any one else; He is Master of the situation, as He says in Isa. 55:11, "My word which goeth forth out of my mouth shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please and prosper in the thing where unto I sent it." That is a great God. How we can trust Him, and we can rest in His all sufficient wisdom and power, and as we feel very humble, we can say, "Lord where can I glean a little?" We may not have a very large weapon only a little sickle, we may not do a large public work, but there are corners of the field that have to be gleaned that otherwise might be passed by, something that the Lord is leaving for you.
Perhaps my work is more like the large mowers, going around, as do also the pilgrims, but there is an individual work, something for each one to do. None are left out. The Lord has made it possible for us all to join in this great work, and be co-laborers with our Lord Jesus, who is the Great Reaper.
I do not know that I ought to make any distinction respecting the value of these different parts of the work, volunteer, colporteur, pilgrim or sharp-shooting work; I think they are all important, but the important thing is for us to see in what way you and I can best glorify the Lord; in which way can we use our time, talents, etc., whether great or small, in the Lord's service. Some are being greatly blessed in the colporteur work, I think of one family where one after another of the family have come into the truth and then entered the colporteur field. Are [HGL421] they doing it for money? No, that I know. What are they doing it for, what hope have they? Love for the Lord, the truth and the brethren.
I could tell you something of the same kind respecting doctors who have given up good practices to engage in the work; and lawyers too, not those who make a bluff at being a lawyer, for a bluffer has no business to give up but lawyers that had good practices have given them up and gone into the work. One of our pilgrim brethren, one who was a lawyer of no mean ability in his state, was glad to give it up. How much salary does he get? I will tell you just a secret between you and me it is a pretty big salary, but most of it is beyond the vail, most of the salary. What does he get this side the vail? He said, "Brother Russell, I think if I put my affairs in shape, I think I have enough money to keep my family, and I think I have enough money to buy my own clothing. You were speaking to me sometime ago about the pilgrim work, and I feel like accepting your suggestion about this pilgrim work if it is still open, and I think the only necessary thing is the railroad fare." Pilgrims come cheap, don't they?
Now they preach twice every day. How many preachers getting five thousand dollars a year preach twice a day? How many go about the country, away from their families for five thousand dollars a year? Why do these do it? O, they are seeking to be in harmony with the Lord's arrangements, seeking first the kingdom of heaven that is, in harmony with it and its arrangements, its privileges, etc., to serve the King and the kingdom class those that are to be the heirs of God, and by the grace of God to be themselves heirs of God, to share with the Lord, as His Bride, the glory honor and immortality and the great work of blessing all the families of the earth. These are the rewards. Do you not see that IT IS A WONDERFUL REWARD, my dear friends. The more you think about the glory, honor and immortality that God has promised to His faithful, the more you will appreciate the fact that it is a high calling, a most wonderful arrangement that God has made, and it does not cost us much.
You know people today are looking for bargain sales, and there are hours for bargain sales. Just so in this matter; there is a great bargain sale and the hour for the sale is the Gospel Age, and it is nearly over. The bargain is the crown of life and joint-heirship in the kingdom, and it is going for a song. What? The cost of your lives. The cost of your lives do you count your lives as a song? Well, not exactly, but you don't count your lives as very much. Well, you say, "I have some money." Well, how much? A thousand or ten thousand dollars. Suppose you had a million dollars, it would not be the snap of your finger in comparison with what the Lord has in reservation for those that love Him not worthy to be compared, said the Apostle Paul. He summed up what he had sacrificed and said, "I do count them all as but loss and dross and dung that I might win Christ." What did he mean by "winning Christ?" How win Christ? Win the Anointed. How? Win a place in the Anointed Body of Christ. Don't we get it here? Only nominally, the real place is beyond the vail. Paul said in Philippians, that he counted it all as loss and dross that he might win Christ and be found in His resurrection. How know His resurrection? How experience His resurrection? By having a part in His death, and having a part in the resurrection from the earthly nature to the heavenly nature, changed in a moment into His resurrection. The same resurrection that is promised to all the members of His Body. If you can win a place in His resurrection, you can count that every thing you have surrendered as loss and dross for a place in the Anointed one, a membership in the Royal Priesthood beyond the vail. All that you can surrender is not worthy to be mentioned. And so with us all. Let us get a right estimate of things. You see people raking together millions of money and they do not know what to do with it, more than they could use in a hundred years if they lived in the most luxurious manner, yet they are busy raking in more and more. It seems to me there is something wrong with them. Then they look on the other side and say, What are you doing? Suffering, my you must be crazy. But we think they are crazy and that they are wrong. If they are right and if everything is earthly and whoever collects together the most money is right, then we are all fooled. Just as the Apostle said, "we are counted as fools all the day long." But if we are right and that great prize is obtainable that you and I have caught sight of, then all the world are fooled and they are casting aside the biggest thing imaginable. They are like the one in Pilgrim's Progress who with a muck rake was gathering in shells and failed to look up and see the better things. The world does not see the right thing. Why? Their eyes are closed- "The god of this world hath blinded their eyes." How do we see it is it because we are so much more brilliant than others? No. Not many great, not many wise or learned. How then do we see? O, you have the blessed eye-salve. The Lord said, "Blessed are your eyes, etc." Thank God! Have we anything to boast of? No. We have the grace of God. It appeared for all men, but all men have not yet seen. We have the blessed privilege of seeing, but ultimately it shall be to all people, the vail will be lifted and all will be able to see the blessing the Lord has for all.
Now is the acceptable time, now is the time for you and I to make a sacrifice if we would gain this great prize. And the opportunity? The opportunity is right at your hand and at my hand. In the Lord's providence He has given an opportunity to every one who has a desire to do so, to spread this harvest truth.
I have been thinking of our various methods, and I said, How does it come that we have all these various things in operation that are so different from other people? I do not know, the Lord has just been guiding it. Take for instance, the enormous circulation of the Dawns at the hands of the colporteurs. How did that happen? We never thought of doing it that way. We tried the ordinary methods in book stores, but the Lord permitted the Adversary to drive them out. We could not sell the books in the ordinary way and did not know what it meant, perhaps did not trust the Lord enough. So now, if something seems to go wrong, we look around to see what is wrong. (See previous reports, "Addresses to Colporteurs," for a fuller description of the early attempts to sell through book-stores.) Then the thought came of some one going out and selling them from house to house, and so it has spread all over, not only in the United States and Canada, but in England, Scotland, Norway, Germany, Australia, etc. The Dawn is even published in Greek. There was a man in Greece running a candy store. A [HGL422] brother went into his shop and bought something and laid down a tract saying, Here is something good to read. After reading it, he asked for something more to read, and was given the Dawn. As a result, he sold out his candy store, and came to Allegheny, laid down $250 and said, Can I do something. Cannot the Dawn be translated into Greek? We arranged the matter with a man connected with Columbia College, but did not succeed in getting it translated, and so the Greek Brother said, I think I had better try it myself. So he went back to Greece and there found a party who has translated the Dawn into Greek and has come into the truth himself. Then our Greek brother wrote us, saying, Here in Athens, all through the season, various people come here by boat, and I want to have books in all languages, and I will find some people who will want to have something to read while on the boats. So he sent for the Dawns in all languages, and he visits the boats and sells Dawns to the passengers in any language they want. That man is a minister of God. How do the colleges make a minister? They take him and train him out of all reason, so that he does not know anything, they teach him that instead of "the soul that sinneth it shall die," that he shall live forever in torment. But God has a way of taking humble things of this world and making them ministers of his, mighty through God to the pulling down of the strongholds. Don't feel too humble, but properly humble. Feel that it is not yours, but the Lord's message, and we are honored to be permitted to in any way tell His message.
We would advise that the brothers go two and two and the sisters two and two, after the manner of sending forth the message by the early Church.