HERALD OF THE KINGDOM AND AGE TO COME.
Shall the Herald live, and its editor continue to “preach the word of the kingdom,” or shall it die, and the proclamation be abandoned? The yea or nay of this inquiry will be determined by the developments of 1852. We cannot purchase paper, and pay the printer and binder with promises; nor can we afford to present the public with 200 volumes gratuitously. We should rejoice were we able to publish 20,000 without price, but such is the constitution of things in the world, that not having yet discovered the philosopher’s stone, we find it as impossible even to “preach the word” by the Herald or the living voice, without the needful, as it is for farmers, mechanics, and professionals, to live upon the air. It is true that this is an age of wonderful invention. We do not intend to dispute this; but still we honestly believe, that it is still a desideratum in the economy of life—the existence of an editor and the publication of a paper by the convertibility of oxygen and nitrogen into food, and raiment, money and materials. Though we have discovered the solution of several problems in the word that have nonplussed the brains of greater heads than ours in this and generations past, yet how something is to be evolved out of nothing is a discovery to which we candidly confess we have not the slightest claim. Seeing therefore that we are so helplessly at fault in this department of knowledge, or rather of things unknown, it is evident that if we are to carry on “the good fight of faith” our friends must do something more than form a ring, or take up a safe position on a distant eminence, as spectators of the fight. The warfare in the valley may be a very exciting and interesting scene to them beyond the reach of harm; but it is life or death, victory or defeat, to the combatants below. Are there any of our friends who would adorn their brows with the victor’s crown? They must “fight if they would win.” It is not the spectators of a combat, but the warriors of the fray who show not the white feather, who turn not their backs upon the enemy, that win the prize. Fighting is a painful operation, though an animating one in a good cause. It is painful to the flesh through the wounds inflicted on the character and purse of the Woman’s Seed; but when their spirit, not their blood, is up, they glory in the cost and suffering of the contest, and take joyfully the wreck of their possessions, in doing battle for the truth. Nothing appals them, but the timidity or treachery or ice-heartedness of their fellows. With the sword of the spirit it is pastime and delight to hew Agag in pieces, which of course is far from agreeable to him, or to those whose minds are leavened with the word-neutralising traditions of the Apostasy.
Who then will come to the help of the Lord’s truth against the enemy? If we are to make any abiding impression upon his works it is only by patient perseverance, and sacrifice it can be effected. A subscription of two dollars a year by a believer, worth his hundreds or thousands, towards carrying on the publication of the gospel of the kingdom, make him a hundredfold more a debtor to the truth than before, and convicts him of “covetousness which is idolatry,”—a sin which is as sure to exclude him from the kingdom as murder or adultery—Ephesians 5: 5. Such a pitiable contribution operates thus, because his subscription ends in selfishness. He subscribes just enough to gratify himself; and obtains a hundredfold more than his subscription is worth, both in workmanship and the information given, which he could never elicit for himself. For our own part, we would hide ourselves if possible, rather than enter the Lord’s presence with the charge against us, that, though abundantly able, all we had contributed for the diffusion of the knowledge of his truth was a pittance of two dollars per annum, for which outlay the sole benefit was our own! We know not whose head this cap may fit, or whose toes the shoe may pinch; but one thing we do know, that neither shoe nor cap is ours. Be they theirs to whom they belong. We would not have them as a gift!
What shall we say of those who subscribe, but never pay? The least said of them the better. Perhaps they will repent—who knows? We do not, but will hope the best. They may conclude it is not wrong an editor to pay; if so we shall doubtless be the gainer.
Well, the time is come for our real friends to renew their subscriptions, our terms being payment on receipt of the first number. Let it be remembered that the Herald cost last year $122.95 more than the subscriptions received. Is this to be repeated—yea or nay? If “the Ayes have it” we vanish from the scene, and say “Adieu till the day of doom!”
EDITOR.
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