p. 8 | Idle in the Market-Place by E. A. Sutherland

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 27, 1908

Idle in the Market-Place

By E. A. Sutherland

E. A. SUTHERLAND

“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” These were Christ’s words only a short time before his departure from the earth. Every kindred and every nation must hear the news of salvation through Christ, that it may be either a witness against them or a means of grace to them.

By whom is the gospel to be carried to the world? The record given in Matthew quotes Christ as saying, “Go ye.” If, then, we are to go, what manner of men ought we to be? Paul, writing to Timothy, when he was answering the call as a missionary, said he must be a soldier,—not a pleasure-lover, not a seeker after an easy life,—but a soldier, trained to hard service and able to endure.

Christ described by a parable the attitude of many who were called to take up this soldier life. He says they all began to make excuse. One had land that demanded attention, another had bought oxen and had to work them. A third claimed that his wife hindered him from getting into the work. All were willing to do a little if they could do it in their own way, but none wanted to give the whole-hearted service demanded of a soldier.

Now the Christians who make these excuses are said by Christ to be standing idle in the market-place. Why do they remain idle? Is there a padlock on the gate? or is the way guarded by some fierce dog, so they can not get into the field?—No, these people who are standing idle are simply waiting for some organization to set them to work, and to assure them support. We have reached the eleventh hour in this message, and yet great crowds throng the market-place, simply standing idle, waiting to be told what to do.

Why does not the man with the yoke of oxen hitch those oxen to an empty wagon, and help with the fruit of the vineyard? Why should not the man who has land turn it over to the Lord’s work, and make it a means of supporting some form of mission work, such as a school or a family of Bible workers? And the man whose wife objects to his leaving home to go into the work should make his home the center of a work, and his wife his helper in some form of gospel teaching.

There are some living on the earth to-day who are going to catch the spirit of reform, and the question of salary will not exert any great influence over them. they will realize that God is calling them to work, and when he calls, he will support.

There have been men and women of this stamp in the past. Such were the Moravian missionaries; such also were the early workers in the hard places in the South; and such were the pioneers to the Indians. Here and there such workers are to be found to-day. Miss Berry and her associates, Professor Ritchie and his co-laborers, and others who are working for Highland boys and girls, belong to this class, as do hundreds of others who might be mentioned by name. It is time to swell the list of salary-independent missionaries with hundreds and thousands of Seventh-day Adventists.

The school at Madison, Tenn., has been established to train men and women to bear responsibility. The spirit of prophecy says: “In the work being done at the training-school for home and foreign missionary teachers in Madison, Tenn., and in the small schools established by the teachers who have gone forth from Madison, we have an illustration of one way in which the message should be carried in many, many places.”

The school is a training station for

youth. Every Christian needs an experience in leading souls to Christ. You can not hire some one to eat your food for you. Neither can you maintain spiritual strength while hiring some one to do your soul-saving work. Men who go through to the end will be called men of wonder. Now is the time to enlist as soldiers.

We have been told through the spirit of prophecy that the South is now the most sorely in need of help. It has been long neglected. There is room here for hundreds, and here, too, is an excellent training field for work in foreign countries.

Madison, Tenn.