My Dear Brethren :

Do we realize our privilege and our responsibility concerning the truth which God, in His grace, has so blessedly given into our hearts and hands? I fear some of us do not.

While multitudes of professing Christians about us are wandering in the maze and by-paths of doubt, skepticism, higher criticism, unbelief, and infidelity, we, through God's mercy, have been given to know and enjoy the truth of the inspiration of every word of the Scriptures; of the eternal and essential deity of the Lord Jesus Christ; of His virgin, miraculous birth; of His holy, spotless life; of His atoning death on the cross for our sins; of His glorious bodily resurrection; of His ascension as a Man to the throne of God; of His glorious coming again in power, and His peaceful reign yet to come. All of these truths have we been given, as well as the facts of our own sinful condition; the impossibility of self-betterment ; the actual possession of eternal life; the absolute, eternal security of all who are in Christ; their union with Him by the indwelling Spirit, and other precious blessings. For some of these truths many of our ancestors in the Christian faith laid down their lives, while we are permitted to hold and practice them with full liberty and in peace. Thus, while Satan has robbed the multitude of the riches of God's grace in Christ, we have them in their richness and beauty, and enjoy them. As one said to me recently, "I often wonder why God chose me to receive such rich truths, while I see many all around me, far more worthy, who are ignorant of most of them. I marvel at the grace of God."

As a rule, such is the mind of every one whose heart is opened by the Spirit of God to receive the truth in its blessed fulness. But now, having realized the blessing, do we also realize the responsibility which always goes with the blessing? The talent given to each servant was not given to be buried, but to be put to use-to trade with it. Now traders, we all know, are men who ever seek to draw other people to their goods. We may not be able, like some, to stand before an audience and properly present these great treasures of truth; but we have books, pamphlets and tracts in large abundance, which, instead of a dry, unattractive theology, present these truths in a most readable, attractive form, and carry the reader along into the very heart of the word of God. Every one of us can be a preacher of marked gift by circulating these publications. A Baptist brother to whom I passed a copy of this magazine was so blessed by it that he spoke of its pages as full of life everywhere, and worth the being read over and over again. It gave his soufood. Another, to whom I did the same thing, now says that he watches with much desire for the coming of the next number. Another, a Christian lady in northern New York, to whom Help and Food, Messenger of Peace and Simple Testimony were sent, was so richly fed in her soul by them during nearly two years of enforced confinement at home that she realized it had been great profit to her to be shut out of her former means of ministry. She then sent some of her copies to a clergyman in a neighboring town, and got back a request for any back numbers she might have, as he was especially interested in the series of articles on "Holiness" going on in them. He had never seen anything, he said, which met the subject so fully, and by the honest and intelligent use of Scripture. Now her magazines are sent to him each month, and he is enjoying their precious ministry in his own soul and passing their substance on to others.

These instances might be multiplied greatly. Often Christian people, perplexed by one or the other of the many antichrists of our times, and knowing my connection with our tract work, come and say to me, "Have you anything on Christian Science ? or Millennial Dawn ?" or on something else. And how glad they are of the Scripture help given them by what I am able to put into their hands! Recently one borrowed of me five of our books to help him in his studies on the Revelation.

Brethren beloved, our privileges are wonderful, but they make our responsibilities equally great. The truth committed to a people is a great trust from God. We should realize it. We should make every effort to disseminate it. Amid all the ruin, God, in grace, is still working. It is through the truth, and that alone, that He blesses; and we who possess it should be in the fullest sympathy with that grace. To whom much is given, of him shall much be required. Indifference may shelter itself behind God's sovereignty, but indifference in such great matters is great guilt. If a famine of bread occurs in China, or in India, we sympathize, and send them some help. How much more important the bread of eternal life! And while the higher critics are destroying the bread, there are still many who hunger for it, and who have a special claim upon us. Then,

"Shall we whose souls are lighted
With wisdom from on high-
Shall we to men benighted
The Word of Life deny ? "

Let not our tracts and books sleep on the shelves. Let us not allow the bread to grow moldy while some are yet hungering. From all our assemblies let not only worship and praise ascend up to God and to His Son from our lips, but let also our hands be busy scattering His truth about with the energy of love. Let none wait for the other. Let you lay hold and begin. Others will follow.

We may not be rich. Woe be to us if we are and spend it on our lusts instead of investing it for heaven. If we are poor, we can cut off a little here, and save a little there, and open our small account in heaven's savings-bank. We will find it there with all interests accrued. Every gathering, no matter how small, should have a similar account from which the tract-box can have its share. The Publishers who furnish us are ever ready to help us start, and a suitable stock can be carried in every meeting-room, under the care of a faithful and energetic brother or sister. Thus the precious things of God will run and bless men, and we too will be blessed in the doing. Much of this is already done we well know, but let us abound in it. Let our literature be found everywhere, that every soul in need may have it at hand. Let us but love men as God does, and we will find an ever-open field in which to scatter the good seed.

Dear brethren, I leave my exhortation with you. To the Lord alone, who gave Himself for you, is, of course, your account to be rendered, but I would have you able to render a good account when the time comes; and that 'seems very near at hand.

Yours affectionately in Him,

Ferdinand L. French