Circumspectness the Demand of the Times

"It is not wise to find fault continually with what is done by the rulers of government. It is not our work to attack individuals or institutions... Our work is to prepare a people to stand in the great day of God. We should not be turned aside to lines that will en­courage controversy, or arouse antagonism in those not of our faith... We are not required to defy authorities. There will come a time when, because of our advocacy of Bible truth, we shall be treated as traitors; but let not this time be hastened by un­advised movements that stir up animosity and strife.

"The time will come when unguarded expressions of a denunciatory character, that have been carelessly spoken or written by our brethren, will be used by our enemies to condemn us. These will not be used merely to condemn those who made the statements, but will be charged upon the whole body of Ad­ventists. . . . Many will be surprised to hear their own words strained into a meaning that they did not intend them to have. Then let our workers be care­ful to speak guardedly at all times and under all circumstances. Let all beware lest by reckless ex­pressions they bring on a time of trouble before the great crisis which is to try men's souls.

"The less we make direct charges against authori­ties and powers, the greater work we shall be able to accomplish, both in America and in foreign coun­tries. Foreign nations will follow the example of the United States. Though she leads out, yet the same crisis will come upon our people in all parts of the world. . . .

"The Lord's agents should have a sanctified zeal, a zeal that is wholly under His control. Stormy times will come rapidly enough upon us, and we should take no course of our own that will hasten them. . . Christianity is not manifested in pugilistic accusations and condemnation. .. . Let God have the matter of condemning authorities and governments wholly in His own keeping."—Id., Vol. VI, pp. 394-397.

Let us illustrate. Some worker with burn­ing zeal denounces the wrong course in another nation, or in some other way gets into print as casting his public influence against that nation. The headlines in the newspaper, or the eloquent words spoken before a congrega­tion or over the radio, may be perfectly in keeping with the patriotic public sentiment of his own country, and may seem harmless and even helpful to the cause of right. But if those words were clipped from the paper and reported to an agent of the nation denounced, with the representation that this is the atti­tude of Seventh-day Adventists generally, those seemingly harmless, patriotic words may be sent across the sea to the authorities of that nation, and be the means of causing op­pressive and hindering legislation, bringing forth decrees that will adversely affect our brethren and work in that nation. Such words may even jeopardize the lives of our brethren.

The stone cut out of the mountain without hands will soon smite the prophetic image, and end all earthly nations. We should be very careful that our own hearts are not drawn from the kingdom above and biased by the present world struggles, till we forget our true citizenship and by our words prove traitors to our great King, causing incalculable dam­age to our people and to the work of God in other lands. Our most prominent writers and public speakers, in the pulpit and on the radio. doubtless will be pressed to lend their voices as an influence to such things, but the child of God best serves his own nation who most exclusively represents the kingdom of heaven. There will be plenty of high-spirited public men of ability to set forth the rightness of the nation's cause—men who do not know the solution for national ills, and therefore do not provide any remedy. Our workers may best help all men by setting forth the remedy for present world distress.

None should indulge in speculation beyond the limit of the knowledge clearly revealed by the prophecies. The only certain pronounce­ment concerning the outcome of the present struggle of the European nations in the terri­tory of the old Roman Empire is found in the words of Daniel the prophet as he stood in the presence of Nebuchadnezzar, king of old Babylon. That pronouncement is couched in these momentous words : "In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom." Dan. 2:44. The setting up of this kingdom of God is to take place at the very time when men are putting forth their last ef­forts to weld the iron together—the iron in the feet and the toes of the image. A clear inti­mation of this is revealed in "the strength of the iron" remaining, and in the mingling of "themselves with the seed of men."

Through the centuries men have arisen who believed that they saw enough iron in the feet and toes of the image to take a firm weld, especially should they fuse that iron with the interrelationship of marriages. On several occasions the iron has seemed to predominate enough to be welded, in spite of the presence of the clay, but it has never become wholly strong. Instead, it has remained "partly strong, and partly brittle." Dan. 2 :42, margin. And it will always remain that way till the stone smites the image on the feet. Satan, as well as men, has found it impossible to weld the iron with the clay. The endeavors now being inspired by him to break the pro­phetic word seem to have as their purpose the entire elimination of the clay—that is, the smaller, weaker nations, so that the strength of iron only shall remain to be welded or fused.

In that day when Babylon was rightly known as a golden empire of strength and solidarity, the inspired word prevented the all-golden image of Nebuchadnezzar's ambition from correctly representing the perpetuation of that great world empire. And that same word will surely prevent the elimination of the clay from the present iron-and-clay mixture, and prevent its becoming all iron in one great last­ing world empire, ruled by a centralized power from the territory of old Rome. It may seem that the prophetic statement. "They shall not cleave," is about to be broken, but just at the time when it may seem inevitable, the coming of Jesus will intervene.

It may even seem for a time that the frag­ments of the old Roman Empire have been fused fully and that the word of Daniel has been broken. A great world-peace cry from some imperialistic ruling power may be raised, but there still will be in it the weakness of clay, and it will not hold. We have been told that the "final movements will be rapid ones," and we hear today of "lightning wars," and see the most rapid movements of history. And we hear much about "rings of steel" in the present conflict. "There shall be in it of the strength of the iron." Dan. 2:41.

We do not know the turn, or turns, events may take. We know only the outcome. We know that as a climax to the march of rapidly changing current events, someday, very soon, Jesus will come to this earth. In the little time that remains, ministers and leaders should leave no potentiality for service unemployed. May we mobilize every ounce of strength, every equipment and facility, till nothing we possess or direct shall be an impediment in our preparation for the final conflict. May we place at the disposal of our King, cleansed hearts, consecrated feet and hands and tongues, open purses and bank accounts. Nothing short of this will suffice.

We are to work so faithfully and so loyally in the place we now occupy that when perse­cution finally forces us to remove to another place, the work where we are will have been finished. It is not intended that we leave the work unfinished in any place. God will hold us responsible if this is done. We are not to wait in complacency, expectancy, and idleness, for persecution to come, when the saints will "leave the large cities, preparatory to leaving the smaller ones for retired homes in secluded places among the mountains."—Id., Vol. V, pp. 464, 465. But rather we are to put forth every human effort to get our work done be­fore we are compelled to make that move.