LETTER FROM BALTIMORE.
“MATERIAL AID.”
Dear Brother Thomas:
I have noted with concern the apprehension expressed of the discontinuance of the “Herald.” This ought not so to be, and yet it is very much to be feared it will so eventuate, unless the believers in “the Kingdom of God and the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ” do their duty. It is the only periodical that contends for this glorious theme, and we are as much bound to contribute to its support as you are. It is obviously no money-making matter with you, but a free-will offering of your talents and time to the Lord, and it is manifestly our duty that you should be kept free from any pecuniary embarrassment in carrying on this work. The cause is not your’s but that of our glorious Lord: who is it then that believes in his appearing that will not be anxious to share in this labour of love? and prove his readiness to abound in the work of the Lord?
In order, therefore, to ascertain what can be done, I propose that the brethren will declare to what extent they will contribute, annually, to the support of the “Herald,” apart from previous subscriptions, and commencing with the present year 1852; the remittances to be made within the year. If you approve of this plan you may put me down for one hundred dollars.
Yours affectionately,
Wm. P. LEMMON.
Baltimore, June 8th, 1852.
“WE PAUSE FOR A REPLY.”
Brother Lemmon says truly, that the cause in which I am retained is not mine, but that of the Lord of glory. It is this consideration that sustains me in the singlehand combat I have been waging with the enemy. Does the reader imagine I would have placed myself in a position to be made the target of Satan’s bowmen, if I did not believe that in so doing I was warring in his service who will hereafter shortly himself make war in righteousness? Are slander, reproach, and insult, so very agreeable as to be encountered for their own sake? —to be sought for without profit or advantage to their victim? No, I do not like to be blasphemed either by great or small, especially when I get nothing by it but evil; but when I reflect that the invincible truth, for whose advocacy I am denounced as utterly worthless, is God’s eternal truth, and no tradition of mine, I accept joyfully the reproach, and thank God and take courage. Firmly and conscientiously believing, then, that we are advocating the truth, I feel no misgiving as to the issue of the fight. With a few wholesouled brethren, like Mr. Lemmon, we fear neither Dragon, Beast, nor False Prophet. We have but one fear, and that is, lest they who profess to believe should fail to hold up our hands in the war with Amalek—Exodus 17: 11-12. They ought to feel as much anxiety as we do for the upholding of the rod over the enemy; for they are not a whit less responsible in the case than we; and seeing that some of them have plenty of money, and no literary ability to serve the truth, the obligation lays more bindingly upon them to contribute liberally of their funds to enable those to work who can. Who among them has soul enough to imitate brother Lemmon’s example? You profess to believe that the world will be yours—2 Corinthians 3: 21-22—when the Lord appears, have you not largeness of heart enough to contribute a hundred dollars to the carrying on of “the good fight” whose victory is to enrich you for ever? Will you allow the editor to excel you who has neither property nor income? and who, without fee or present reward, bears the burden and heat of the day? Do you really wish to be saved—to inherit the kingdom of God? Then you must do sacrifice, work, and suffer for its sake.
It will take a thousand dollars a year to carry on the Herald. Who will respond to bro. Lemmon’s suggestion? Surely in this age of gold there can be no difficulty in raising the deficit of so inconsiderable a sum! A club of young men in Albany presented as much to Kossuth, the other day, for purposes of insurrection in Hungary, in whose fate they have no personal concern; will believers do nothing effective to aid in combating against ignorance and superstition, the powers of darkness, which oppress and trample in the dust the struggling and suffering cause to whose fortunes they profess to be united! “We pause for a reply.”
EDITOR.
