As we write, another year is well-nigh gone, and a new one about to dawn upon us. To all our fellow-servants and helpers of every kind in the service of this magazine, we send with the new year our hearty greetings. We feel like saying to each one, in the language of the Psalmist, " The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee; send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion; remember all thine offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice. Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel . . . The Lord fulfil all thy petitions" (Ps. 20:1-5). Are not the wishes of Scripture more satisfying than all others ?
The year 1913 has been full of encouragement, and we wish to make you sharers of it, for it renews courage to see the Lord blessing our labor. It has been truly cheering to hear from various parts of the land, and beyond, from persons who have received special blessing through this or that number of Help and Food, or through this or that special article in a given number. What a joy, beloved brethren, to be able, through grace, to feed the flock of God. It is well worth while to go through prayerful exercise about what we may choose as subjects best suited to the needs of that flock, and for ability to develop them to edification. Like Elijah, who forgot none in Israel, but used twelve stones in building his altar, let us never lose sight of the whole Church of God when we write.
It has pleased the Lord to make us His prisoner of late. Not that we would compare our prison with that of the beloved apostle, for ours is under most loving care and happy circumstances. Nevertheless it has been confinement, and has prevented our usual course of labor. Recent years have been strenuous; weighty matters being added to the ordinary course of ministry, and the earthen vessel has called for rest. When questions arise involving either welfare or disaster to the people of God, how can one who loves them at all fail to pass through soul-exercise ? Who can see, for instance, the present tendencies of church union without being stirred through and through ?
The light that shined in the Reformation and formed a fresh testimony for Christ is fast going out. The proof of this is seen in the unconcern manifested in that union movement. It plays fast and loose with the idolatrous system of Popery, and cannot see the ditch into which Higher Criticism is carrying it. Like tendencies in narrower circles produce like exercises, only more keen as they come nearer to the great Center of all truth.
How solemn is all this !How serious it ought to make us! Oh, young men, you who are strong, and in whom the word of God abides, throw away every frivolous thing and identify yourselves without reserve with the testimony of Christ. Accept its responsibilities and sorrows; live no more for yourselves. As to joys, God will see to it that they will not fail you under the burden, and how blessed in eternity it will be to look back upon a path where Christ was all-Christ, the only lasting blessing of man, though, alas, so much refused by man. You will be poor in that path, yet you will make others rich, and in your poverty you will prove your heavenly Father's care in a way which will form sweet links with Him, and make His word so true in every jot and tittle that it will make you have deep pity for those who doubt it.
At the hour of writing, His good Hand in the prospective restoration of our health makes us rejoice at the thought of mingling with you again in the great and glorious conflict of this testimony.
Yet if one's sphere of service is curtailed by being a prisoner of the Lord, labor through the press remains, and we know how truly God owns it by the blessing which He gives through it. It was therefore no small pleasure upon returning to New York in a disabled condition to find the publishing work in fullest activity in every department of it. The Press can never take the place of the living voice, yet it fills a place which the living voice cannot fill. It goes everywhere, in palaces of kings, the dwellings of the poor, and in the cabins of woodsmen. It finds its way among the scattered farm-houses as well as in the towns and villages and cities. The very choicest of Christian ministry is thus made available everywhere at a very small cost, and, through Christian liberality, even free where needful. Each one of us has a responsibility, in prayer and in writing, to help keep it true to its name, "The Bible Truth Press."O brethren, what a treasure to keep, the Truth is!-to keep it for our own souls and for the testimony of our Lord in the world. Shall we not then all unite our prayers for the publishing work, that divine wisdom may be given to those in charge of it for the matter to be or not to be published?-for that responsibility rests upon publishers. When our Lord comes again it will be no small matter to have had a share in what maintained His truth in the world.
Let us seek to write pointedly, and as briefly as is consistent with lucidity. It is good to have something to say for the Lord, and having said it to stop. Let not a multiplicity of words detract from what the Lord would use.
Finally, let us not shrink from the needed controversy necessitated by abounding departure from truth; but let us never forget that it is positive truth which builds up the souls of God's people, and preserves, or delivers, from error. Paul J. Loizeaux
Ever yours affectionately in Christ,