One Reason for Hastening On by W. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 20, 1908

One Reason for Hastening On

By W. A. S.

NEARLY the whole wide tropical belt is a zone of unhealthful conditions. Here and there are points of refuge, providentially let down into the midst of fever-breeding areas. But those who are to la'bor among the vast populations of the tropics must do their work in a climate not favorable. Round the entire region of the most populous belt, the conditions are hard upon the health of the native peoples, and for the European are doubly unfavorable.

But through all the history of missions the triumphs of the gospel have been pushed forward notwithstanding natural conditions. And the missionaries in Africa or India, or any part of the tropics, take the conditions as a matter of course, and say little of the wear and tear of resisting heat or malaria, and conditions that a thousand years of heredity in northern climes have by no means fitted them to endure without a continual struggle.

This region is, however, the darkest and most needy, and therefore one of the grandest fields for missionary service. All the workers feel the same about this. Their hearts hold them to the work even when their bodily strength weakens.

The only thing to do is to hurry the work on to the end. It is like an army attacking a line of entrenchments. Here are regiments that must hold a fire-swept zone, where some must surely fall. The quicker the whole advance moves forward, the less the loss upon the field.

We must hasten on with the work across these darkest portions of the earth. With a stronger staff, more frequent relief can be given to workers who are hard pressed, and who have no opportunity to recuperate without a sacrifice of the interests of the work. Such a sacrifice the laborer hopes to avoid by holding on. This is the end to be prayed about, and worked to unceasingly.

W. A. S.