Emerson once wrote that for a man to be A useful to his generation he must learn what the centuries are saying against the hours. Like the ominous knocking at the gate in Macbeth, interpreted in such a memorable way by De Quincey in his essay on that theme, the accumulated burden of the centuries of human injustice, of an outraged reverence for the holy, and the vengeful despair of maddened millions knocks loudly on the door of this generation, seeking the why and the whither of human destiny. In this hour of prophetic fulfillment, when the altar lamps of spiritual wisdom glow with certainty and assurance against the background of "gross darkness" that Isaiah predicted would cover the people, God's watchmen on the ramparts of Zion, straining their eyes for the coming of the day, their ears alert to the harbingers of Heaven's evangel, must respond to the clamor at the gate of this generation that voices the fearful and insistent cry, "What of the night?"
"The final movements will be rapid ones." How familiar that phrase has become to believers in the third angel's message, and yet how complacently its fulfillment is observed. Our vocabulary of superlatives is rapidly being exhausted, and the words "crisis" and "challenge" have already become hackneyed. Within the compass of about-three months five of the world's greatest political figures died or were otherwise removed from power. Within the space of three weeks newspaper headlines were filled with startling events in the realm of the ultimate in human achievement or of cataclysmic destruction, as witness the crash of a bomber against the world's tallest building, the crack-up of the world's largest flying boat, the fastest trip ever made by an airplane—a 544-mile journey in sixty-two minutes—and the terrifying effects of the world's most destructive explosive.
With the curve of frequency of such events as these rising ever more sharply—and these are but typical of similar epochal things in social and religious matters—it would seem that the church which has dedicated itself to declare the whole counsel of God has reached the zenith of its opportunity. What a tragic spiritual shame if its ministers in word and doctrine, who in a peculiar sense are stewards of the grace of God, should be found at the nadir of preparedness.
"Study to show thyself approved unto God." Certainly no minister of the gospel can be an accredited watchman if he does not study. His fundamental responsibility is a mandate to study. He must scrutinize the Word; he must closely observe human nature; he must know human problems; he must adapt for himself the best methods of labor; he must acquaint himself with social trends and world affairs. In order to be alert and fully aware of all the factors that help or hinder- his personal efficiency as a laborer for the Master, he must give attention to systematic reading.
Granted that the greatest spiritual awareness can come from no higher source than the Holy Scriptures illuminated by the Holy Spirit, and that this kind of study cannot be superseded by application to digests of what other men think, there is a util= ity to be derived from such sources which contributes to awareness of the world we live in. It is to an awareness of himself as an integrated individual in relation to the suffering need of humanity, an awareness of the cankers that gnaw at the vitals of modern .society, an awareness of age-old controversies that disturb man's thinking, an awareness of spiritual heights revealed in the biographies of major and minor reformers of all time, an awareness of the triumphs of grace in the modern church, an awareness of the mobility of language as revealed in telling phrase and beautiful expression—it is to all these desirable benefits that a preacher's reading should be devoted.
The cessation of war's desolating scourge, with a consequent hushing of the deafening burst of bombs and antiaircraft fire, has only accentuated the steady roar of the printing presses that continue to pour forth an ever-increasing volume of reading material from which he who runs must select, evaluate, and discard or appropriate with systematic discretion that which he apprehends. Of the ten thousand books printed annually, much is trivial, much is insincere, much is valueless from any standard. Even the one in twenty of these books 'which is devoted to religious themes is oftentimes nothing more than a rehash of platitudinous truisms which convert no sinner nor comfort any saint. How shall the busy evangelist or pastor sift for purchase out of his meager salary those published works which would prove most enlightening, most stimulating, and most generally profitable to him as a worker in the nice care of human souls?
At least one directive comes in response to that query, and the advisory council of the Ministerial Association is the sponsor of it. There is the warmth of fellowship in the phrase under which this reading activity is introduced, for it is captioned The United Study Program. It embraces within its matriculates 2,500 workers who annually make this intellectual pilgrimage through a guided tour of books—books that have been selected by godly men of experience—books that warm the heart, stimulate the energies, and illuminate the mind. In this hour when God charges His church to go forward, no gospel worker can afford to be an intelligent isolationist It is in reading the same challenge and in believing the same truths that spiritual solidarity is maintained. The most successful worker will not stop with the reading of the four volumes selected for perusal this winter by the Ministerial Association, but he most certainly cannot afford to exclude them.
Here, for instance, is a new compilation from the counsels of the Spirit of prophecy, Evangelism —according to God's plan. One of the most systematic and thorough pieces of research in both the published and unpublished material of Mrs. E. G. White has gone into the making of this volume. With the greatest evangelistic advance in our history so gloriously just before us, how can we face the task without the counsels of this precious wisdom from Heaven?
The heritage we have received from previous generations of advent believers should prove one of the most comforting and reassuring certainties with which we face the final movements of the church militant. Up to this time our knowledge of advent church history has been fragmentary and detached, but the years of search in the libraries of the world, the many travels to and fro to find original sources of information, the long vigils maintained in the documenting and organizing of this material on the part of its author, L. E. Froom, will make The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers a book of extreme importance to every worker who desires a new source of appeal in presenting the imperative messages of the prophecies.
With spiritual and psychological imbalance claiming so many people as its victims in these strenuous days, it is not strange that the work of the pastor is charged with ever graver responsibility, for the soul burden of the world is felt in every church, very often to the decimation of the membership, and consequent loss of courage on the part of even those who are "long in the- way." A careful analysis of the responsibility and the method of shepherding procedures in meeting the problems of the flock under a minister's care has been made by Andrew W. Blackwood in his book Pastoral Work. It deals with a pastor's labor as an art and a science. As a book of the hour, it should not be overlooked.
"Seek ye the old paths." More and more tenacious to the things held dear by the pioneers of the movement, our workers are turning with eager minds to the early instruction of the Spirit of prophecy as revealed to the developing church of early advent believers. Facsimile reprints of the old volumes of Spiritual Gifts are being made available, and in the latest release, Volumes V and IV have been combined to form one of the units of this United Study Program. Out of these "little black books" came precious instruction that has not been generally available up to now.
The spiritually motivated worker for Qod will not meet the knocking on the gate of this generation in a drunken stupor, as did the porter that fateful night in Shakespeare's oft-told drama, but sober, vigilant, he will uphold the light that streams with the radiance from Calvary, an approved "workman that needeth not to be ashamed."
