Efficiency!—Each passing yeal- confronts the gospel worker of this movement with increasing difficulties. The well-nigh universal religious apostasy ; the secularized, godless education that is dominant; the rising tide of national, racial, and class tension that is sweeping over the world: the steadily mounting encroachments upon human life and liberty, together with the ever-lifting level of general education, all conspire to make extraordinary demands upon the preacher of today. The training, equipment, and attitude of yesteryear will not suffice for this new hour when feverish intensity has taken possession of mankind. We must study, pray, and work with an earnestness and an effectiveness commensurate with the intensity of the times.
City Evangelism!—The day of large city evangelism has not passed. Those err who suggest that lay efforts in the homes of the people are about to supersede public preaching to great assemblies. The two are not antagonistic. There is need, imperative need, for both. The attention of the great masses in the metropolitan areas will be arrested by men of God's choosing. The multitudes must be quickly reached. Evangelism is a distinct gift of the Spirit placed by God in the church. It cannot be set aside except at greatest loss and peril. The hour has come to set our faces to finishing our task of warning the world. This calls for a new stress on sound, aggressive, Spirit-indited city evangelism. And this means that men of God's choosing, employing methods He approves, are needed as never before.
Common Fire!—Crave is the responsibility of the evangelist who, in proclaiming the third angel's message, persists in using "common fire" instead of sacred—especially when admonished by his brethren to desist from such a wrong course. Recourse to secular attractions to gather a crowd, turning jokester instead of remainino-'' proclaimer of the most sobering truth on earth. and making a vaudeville stage or a circus out of the sacred desk, are each and all offensive to God, repugnant to the great majority of our ministers, and distressing to hosts of our spiritual-minded people. He who employs sensational methods allures those who are attracted by the cheap. No individual worker has the moral, or ethical, right to flout the accepted and declared principles of a truly representative presentation of this message, and to make a caricature out of the third angel's message. It is tragic when the laity has a higher standard than some evangelists, and when pastors demur against having certain evangelists come to their districts. This is not a personal matter, but a denominational problem.
Youth!!—Have faith in youth —in their ultimate conversion and success in the Christian life, and in their future service, power, and steadfastness. And express that faith in them. How can they know you believe in them, if you do not tell them so? If you have any doubts as to God's ability to transform and to use careless youth, think back to your own youth—unless you be one of those pious exceptions, who only prove the general rule. Think of the heartaches you caused your parents, the anxiety you brought to your older friends and well-wishers, and the concern you gave your teachers and your pastor. Then think of what God has done for you and for your old schoolmates, and proclaim anew your faith in the youth of today.
Divisive!—Mark the man who charges our tried and true leaders with departure from the faith, while in contrast he proclaims or implies his own sound orthodoxy in the message, his superior loyalty to the Spirit of prophecy, and his own contrasting fidelity to the teachings of the pioneers. Such ego, built upon the derogation of one's brethren, is simply modern Pharisaism—"I thank God that I am not as some other Adventists are; I believe all the truth; I follow all the Testimony counsels," etc. Let none be deceived thereby. Such a spirit is fundamentally wrong and unsafe. Mark likewise the man who resorts to abusing his brethren when they differ from him upon pet positions or evidences that he champions, Instead of quietly but effectively meeting evidence with evidence, and reason with reason, he resorts to condemnation, charges, and ridicule. The fundamental weakness of his own position is thus disclosed, while the spirit manifest is revealed as from beneath and not from above. Let none be intimidated by such tactics. Such attitudes are alien to this message, and are not to be condoned. If persisted in, they will ultimately lead the one who harbors them out of the message. We are to press together, not apart. We are to minimize, not magnify, minor differences. We are too small a groUp to inflate upon inconsequentials that the Spirit of prophecy depreciates.
L. E. F.