Editorial Postscripts

Souls!—All souls are alike precious to God. The one who has missed the way and fallen into serious sin is just as much the object of His solicitude as is he who has never strayed. And such should likewise be the subject of our prayers, our tears, and our entreaties. They already know and believe the doctrinal foundations of the faith—the Sabbath, the sanctuary, the Spirit of prophecy, and all. But sin—ugly personal sin—has over­whelmed and wrought disaster. There has to be severance from every church office, perhaps even of church membership, for a time, but God still loves that soul. Do we? He would go out into the night, down to the valley or up to the mountaintop, to rescue. Would we? We spend hundreds of dollars and weeks of time to convert one African, one islander, or one Oriental. Yet but a little of our time, love, and solicitude—without the expenditure of the hundreds of dollars—might rescue those who have strayed. These reclaimed souls may thenceforth find it necessary to live and wit­ness in the background of inconspicuousness. But they can give and pray and witness and send literature, and be monuments of God's power to save to the uttermost. God holds us accountable to seek their rescue. We must find out if they will respond. Souls are souls, irre­spective.

Idiosyncrasy!—Don't injure your influence by pressing some personal idea during the sermon hour. You have no right to take advantage of the congregation's help­lessness as listeners, because of their loyalty and respect. Many a minister has been seri­ously crippled because of some idiosyncrasy or hobby in prophetic interpretation, or by un­wisely presenting an extreme view of noncom­batancy, divine healing, or some other belief or practice. Let us keep our "private inter­pretations" and speculations to ourselves—or within the confines of worker friends who can analyze our arguments and point out their weaknesses.

Restricted! —Sometimes work­ers of considerable maturity and ability are troubled because they see associates moving cn to greater responsibilities, while they them­selves toil on in the lesser places of service. Audibly or inaudibly they fret over what seems to them to be lack of appreciation, or evidence of prejudice, favoritism, or repression Grant­ing instances of such, often if friends or asso­ciates would but be candid enough to tell them the truth that hurts, they would learn to their distress that it is usually because they are small men; that is, men with limited outlook and constricted vision, men who are not larger than their present jobs, men who are content with a superficial knowledge or outlook, and who do not probe to the bottom of things, men who fail to study widely and deeply, and so fail to keep up with progressive associates, men who are more interested in carrying out the letter of organization than in applying its broad spirit. The underling stays in his small place because of his restricted vision, his rigidity, and often his superficiality. He could not fill the larger place. If he could only be brought to see that he is his own worst enemy, that he is his own restrainer ! But perhaps he could never see, and his friends will not tell him, and he could not understand if they did. And so he frets on in his little place.

Excrescences!--It is high time for us to realize how far time's sands have run out of history's hourglass, and for us to sense how far the shades of night have advanced—night when men stumble along the darkened pathway without light, night when our work becomes more and more difficult un­til we can no longer work. The hour has come to strip away all excrescences from our work, all extravagances that retard the work else­where, or slow its advance along the main line of its endeavor. We must restrict our needs: or, more accurately, our wants.

Fifth Column!—Something is decidedly wrong when individuals, paid from the same salary funds of the cause, persist in sniping at a duly established institution, the conduct of which is in the hands of the most care­ful and representative groups we have. None are perfect, it is true, and there is always room for improvement. But there are proper and inif)roper ways, places, and procedures for voicing complaints and criticisms. There are proper bodies to whom such criticisms should be addressed. To spread distrust and suspicion through implication or agitation among stu­dents in our colleges, or among our laity, con­cerning units of our movement or leaders in our work, is a violation of fundamental min­isterial ethics. Such a policy of disruption and disorganization is simply "fifth column" activity inside the lines. It reveals a distorted concept of proprieties, and disloyalty to organi­zation that should be clearly understood and definitely reckoned with.

L. E. F.