Our task is finished. It has not been a disagreeable, unpleasant one, but joyous. Many times our soul was blessed and lifted up as the Spirit set before our mind the wondrous beauty of Christianity. In our soul we experience a deep sense of gratitude to God for his aid and guidance in this work. Many were the prayers we offered unto him for the aid of the Holy Spirit in the prosecution of this work. He has heard and answered our prayer, and we are satisfied. Praises be unto God! We lay no claims to literary ability; we have not studied to display such talent in this volume. We have only endeavored to give simple, plain truth respecting a holy life. We have endeavored to lift up true Christianity to its proper plane and to remove as far as possible, the clouds of error that have long obscured its beautiful, pellucid light. How far we have succeeded we leave to the reader. This work would not be much of a production for some minds, but for ours it is quite an achievement. It is much more original than we at first intended it to be: however, we have selected from the Gospel Trumpet the following subjects: "Woman's Freedom," "Eating of Meat," and "The Sin Against the Holy Ghost," which were written by Geo. L. Cole, Russel Austin, and A. L. Byers, respectively. All other selections are, we believe, properly acknowledged where they appear. Seventy-six pages of the original manuscript were lost in the mail. This, at first, presented itself as a discouragement, but we at once remembered that all things work together for good to them that love the Lord, consequently we concluded that the Lord wanted some truth brought out that was not contained in the first writings; so we set to our task of reproducing the lost pages with a will, and God has crowned our efforts with a much greater satisfaction to ourselves. We now feel we have done what we could, and as this manuscript leaves our hand it shall be with a prayer that God will make it a rich blessing to many hearts. Should this book be the means of lifting up some weary, despondent soul, or succeed in turning some sinner from the error of his way, or helping some deceived one out of his deception, or inspiring some fallen one to a truer, nobler life, I shall be many, many times repaid for my labor, and shall indeed give God the glory. If some one detects an error in this work do not be hasty in condemning me, but write me, thus giving me opportunity of explaining the supposed error, or of humbly confessing my fault. With deep affection in my soul, I pray the God of heaven to bless every reader of this book, and kindly ask all who pray to pray that I may do all the good I can in this world and gain an eternity in the blissful fields of heaven. Yours in Christian love, Chas. E. Orr, Federalsburg, Md. |