THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT by Mary Martin

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 25, 1881

THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT.

By Mary Martin

We profess to have the most solemn truth ever committed to man, but where are those among us who are willing to make such sacrifices as have been made among other denominations? Let us look at the Judsons and many others, and where among our people shall we find parallel instances of sacrifice and devotion?

Distant Burmah may not hold out her hands for help; but from many directions we hear the cry, “Come over and help us;” and if we possessed the spirit that those did whom we have mentioned we might readily find a field of labor. To hear the Swedes, Danes, and Swiss, who have been converted to our faith, pray with such earnestness that “this dear truth” may be carried to others of their own nationality, is enough to touch any heart, and cause us to ask what we can do to aid in the work of saving souls.

If we were not so self-caring, so unmindful of what has been done for us, so wrapped in indifference, we might more easily hear the call of the suffering and needy around us, and we would not be so oblivious of the fact that many around us are raising the inquiry, “What must I do to be saved?”

The work is fast hastening to its accomplishment, and some one will have a share in the trials and burdens by the way, and also in the “far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,” when it is said, “They have done what they could.”

Shall we remain with idle hands and unfeeling hearts, waiting for the tide to land us on the shore of “the better land,” or for some strong hand to lift us safely over the thorns and brambles that lacerate the weary feet of the workers? or shall we be among those who will be “faithful unto death” and receive a “crown of life?”

MARY MARTIN.