Cloth Bound Edition, 366 pages, now ready. Price $1.00—to TOWER subscribers 75 cents (TOWER one year and book $1.25).
Back orders have all been filled; any who ordered and have not yet received it, should communicate at once. Any mistakes cheerfully corrected.
A Paper Bound Edition will be published, as soon as we receive pledges for 5000 copies, at 35 cents per copy. Send no money for these now; merely say how many you desire, if published.
A perfect deluge of letters and orders followed the announcement in our last issue, that DAWN VOL. II. in cloth binding was ready for mailing. Such an evidence of interest is very refreshing and encouraging to us; for though we labor not for the visible results, but for the Master's approval, whether men will hear or whether they will forbear, yet none are so strong that fruit of labor will not serve to still further strengthen them. All have need to remember, however, that their efforts accomplish more than appears on the surface, and to remember well the apostle's words, that "Our labor is not in vain in the Lord," lest we should become weary or faint in our minds. Seeds of truth like natural seeds germinate out of our sight. It is only when the sprouts and fruitage appear, that we can appreciate, "what God hath wrought" by our feeble efforts.
The additional office work connected with VOL. II., coupled with the fact that many of you would be busy reading it, and the lateness of the December TOWER, led us to make but one issue for January and February. It will count, however, as only one number. As twelve papers constitute a year's subscription, this change will be of no financial loss to any one.
We bespeak for VOL. II. very careful study. Some have written us, that they have read VOL. I. three and four, and some even eight and ten times, with increasing interest and profit. We assure such, that in our opinion VOL. II. will require no less study.
The knowledge that eternal torment is not the wages of sin, and that because of Christ's sacrifice all men must sooner or later come to a full knowledge of the truth and a full opportunity of everlasting life, may have tended to decrease the zeal of some in the great present work of preaching the gospel—especially where they have met with great opposition, before they had caught the spirit of the plan of the ages, or seen that present opposition is permitted to test, develop and discipline us, and to prove our love of and faithfulness to the truth. Relieved from the false strain of error and from unholy sectarian zeal and rivalry, some sink into a spiritual lethargy and may readily become swallowed up in the maelstrom of business, etc., with the majority, and lose the very spirit of the truth which set them free. God has provided "meat in due season" to give needed strength to his saints, to enable them to withstand this tendency of the present day rush and ambition, in the knowledge he provides of the hour in which we are living. The evidences which God gives us of the time in connection with the plan, tend to redouble our zeal in his service, showing us clearly that the time is short, in which we may make our calling and election sure, by faithfulness to the light given us. In a word, the realization, that the Time is at Hand—that we are even now in the "harvest" of the Gospel age, will not only quicken to double service, but also diminish the burden. As we realize that we are now in the eleventh hour, and that soon the rewards will be given, we may cheerfully lift up our heads and rejoice, knowing that our redemption draweth nigh. The day is probably not far distant, when opposition to the truth will be so intense, that the trial will be too great to be withstood by any not strengthened by a clear understanding of the times and seasons of God's Word. Be assured, that no part of the Scriptures were prepared for us in vain. Give this subject, then, not only careful reading, but more—careful study.
One brother wrote that he staid up all the first night after the arrival of VOL. II. and read it through. This, as an evidence of interest, is excellent; but it is not the best way. A more excellent way would have been to read one chapter carefully and critically. Cramming is as unprofitable with spiritual as with natural food. To obtain the greatest nutriment and richest flavors from either kind of meat requires careful and thorough mastication.
Many have written expressing the hope that VOL. II. will be published in the cheaper, paper, binding. And a line [page 1] from Brother Adamson says:—
DEAR BROTHER RUSSELL:—It is late at night and I must go to work in the morning and yet must acknowledge with joy and thanks, MILLENNIAL DAWN VOL. II.—The Time is at Hand.
I have read but a few chapters yet, but I am carried away with you and John the Revelator, to a very high mountain—the Kingdom of God established and blessing mankind through Him (Christ), to whom all the prophets bear witness.
I do hope and partly believe, it will have a large circulation—many times what you expect.
I have from the first assumed that we must have a cheap paper edition—many of them I hope. And now that you call for pledges, I am sure some will expect me to take one fifth of the 5000 to be pledged, but I think it best to make it 500, or one tenth of the amount. I will see what others do—or leave room for them to do—and endeavor to do many times what I have promised before Vol. III. is ready. I expect, strange as it may seem, three classes to want Vol. I., because of having bought or seen Vol. II.
1st, Those who buy from curiosity;
2nd, All classes of Adventists;
3d, The mass of the groaning creation—the world, awaiting deliverance and expecting it in some way.
Received the December TOWER also—another bomb in the centre of the besieged N.C.—a good number. If I did not have full confidence in the justice and love of God in casting off both the stumbling houses, I would shudder at the length of apostasy and rejection to which they will go, or indeed have already gone as a mass. Wait awhile, before you call me "an enthusiast," because I say Vol. II. will in some cases sell Vol. I. But directed by the spirit we shall all do the very best thing to be done—all things considered. In Love, Faith, and Hope, fellowship and service, J. B. ADAMSON.
Brother Rogers, who has been doing a great work with DAWN Vol. I., in paper covers, in Michigan, writes, that if a 35 cent edition is gotten out, he will with the Master's aid become responsible for the sale of 1000 copies during the present year. These and other similar expressions, [R1089 : page 1] with pledges for smaller quantities, seem to indicate that the desired number will come to hand, and the cheaper edition become a fact. We strongly advise and urge, however, that Volume I. be considered the book for all new readers; and that Vol. II. be loaned and sold only to those who have read Vol. I. carefully. No one is really ready to know the time of the fulfillment of God's plans, but the consecrated; and they not until they first see clearly, what is to be fulfilled—in the plan.
VOL. III., the title of which will be "Thy Kingdom Come," is in course of preparation, as we have opportunity. You will need to have a clear understanding of Vol. II., before you will be ready for the next, which will be a continuation of the same subject. Therefore give diligence to make its arguments and proofs your own, by tracing every statement to its source—God's Word.