Victories by One by E. R. PALMER

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Oct 5, 1905

Victories by One

By E. R. PALMER

E. R. PALMER

“ONE shall chase a thousand, and two shall put ten thousand to flight.” Salvation embraces individuals gathered, one by one, from every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. Neither churches nor nations are saved as such, but a member of the true church is found wherever an individual accepts the Lord Jesus Christ, and dedicates himself and his all as an offering to be consumed upon the altar of service.

Neither is the work of God accomplished by great organizations alone. Much may be gained by organization, and any work may gather strength by the united efforts of God’s children; but the great work as a whole is actually done by individuals, many of them isolated in lonely places, who, under the direct leadership of the Master above, undertake his work and become co-laborers with him; and God has ever been pleased to honor these efforts of the individual. Even Jesus has been called “the Discoverer of the individual,” and the Gospel of John is largely made up of the sermons of Jesus to “audiences of one,” among which stand out most prominently the sermon to Nicodemus by night, and another to the woman of Samaria.

It is said of Jesus that “he went about doing good.” He lavished his love wherever he found a need, and the greater share of this work was personal effort with individuals. And he worked practically alone; for although he had a small following during the days of his earthly ministry, these were more as students receiving instruction than as co-laborers; and at last he trod the “wine-press alone,” and “of the people there was none” with him. Yet, single-handed, and even in the hour of his death, he fought the greatest battle that was ever fought, and gained a decisive victory over the most powerful foes ever assembled.

The most interesting, inspiring stories of Bible history are the simple record of God’s powerful working through individuals,—Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Nehemiah, John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, and John, Jesus Christ being the one theme of them all.

The words of the text are not a figurative exaggeration. They contain a plain, literal statement of what God has been doing through all the centuries, and the Bible record of the works of men of God affords frequent illustrations of its plain truth. Solomon tells how the besieged city was delivered by “one poor man.” The chief miracle in the book of Jonah is not the story of Jonah swallowed whole by a great fish, and living to tell the tale. The object of the book of Jonah is to tell us the story of how one man with God’s commission besieged a high-walled city sixty miles in circumference with walls a hundred feet thick, and took it for God.

Samson, single-handed, slew a thousand men. Jonathan discomfited a host, aided only by his armor-bearer. Elijah, alone, withstood Ahab and all his hosts; and for the encouragement of those who feel lonely, and permit doubts to press in upon them, the Holy Spirit has recorded Elijah’s fears, and his complaint that he was all alone. But the Lord assured him that there were seven thousand others fighting that same battle, and conquering. And so to-day a thousand foes are being defeated here by one child of God, and there by another, and the blessed fact remains, notwithstanding our fears, that the hosts of evil are being terribly discomfited by this onslaught from individuals.

And later than Bible times, the whole story of the Reformation is a history of victories by one. Luther, who could defy all the powers of Rome, and withstand and assail the papacy until it was said that the ‘pope trembled upon his throne;’ Wesley, whose parish was the world; Knox, who could stand fearlessly before monarchs; Calvin and Bunyan, Huss and Jerome,—all these, with many others, are witnesses of single-handed victories over mighty hosts.

It has ever been God’s purpose thus to accomplish his mighty works through the most feeble agencies, that it might be evident that the glory was not of man, but of God. In this spiritual harvest-field, the most abundant sheaves are often garnered from the few good seeds that sift through our fingers while on our way to the great field to sow.

A Congregational church in New England many years ago lamented that one little boy was the sole visible result of a six weeks’ revival, but that boy was Adoniram Judson, the pioneer missionary to India and Burma, who gave to India a Bible which has never needed revision. And so that revival, in saving one, was the greatest revival the little New England church ever knew.

There was a year in the little church at Blantyre when but one convert, and that a mere boy, was added to their number; but that lad was David Livingstone, whose name has become an inspiration to all missionary effort, and whose consecration and achievements have furnished thousands of missionaries for the Dark Continent.

A young Sunday-school teacher, a poor seamstress, was unable to secure pupils for her class, and in her desperate determination she gave a shilling to a street Arab to induce him to go to Sunday-school. That boy was Amos Sutton, who was converted, and went as a missionary to the Telegas, and after twenty-five years of labor ten thousand converts were won in a single year.

“There is no work so enormously productive of good results as the turning of a sinner from the errors of his ways, and winning one soul for God. One very stormy winter Sunday in New York Dr. Stephen H. Tyng, on entering his church to begin services, found that no one else had arrived. ‘I will wait awhile,’ he said. ‘Even through this dreadful snow God may send some man, woman, or child needing the gospel message.’ Scarcely had five minutes passed when in stepped a little girl. Big snowflakes lay thick upon Mary’s hat and jacket, but the pretty face was full of earnestness if not of deep, intense anxiety. With a very welcoming smile and with kind words, Dr. Tyng beckoned to her to come and sit down below the pulpit. ‘This child’s soul,’ he thought, ‘is more precious than millions of worlds,’ while most fervently he breathed the silent petition that God would win little Mary for himself.

“The informal service at once began. Quaintly, rather, the old voice and the young sang a hymn together. Then followed the simplest prayer and a chapter from the Bible. What the text was, I can not tell you. I only know that the sweet sermonette was full of Jesus, the child’s Saviour. What was the result?—God saved little Mary’s soul, and that one Sunday there was joy in the presence of the angels over one stray lamb led to the fold of the Good Shepherd. Often afterward did the doctor say that in the whole course of his ministry he had never been so grandly repaid; for the blessing spread on. In the parish, and especially in the Sunday-school, Mary became a most enthusiastic worker. In a few short years she had won no fewer than twenty-five young companions for the Saviour, including Dr. Tyng’s own boy. If we can not preach like Dr. Tyng, let us be as wise in winning souls as little Mary, going to them one by one.”

Much praise has been heaped upon Mr. Spurgeon for the great success of his tabernacle church in London, and much of this praise was justly due; but few are aware of the work of Mrs. Bradley, one of the teachers of a Sunday-school class in that church. In 1873 she had at that time been instrumental in bringing seven hundred men and women into the membership of the church. Her work continued for many years after, and no doubt she brought in “a thousand” before she died. And she was only a plain woman, such as may be found in every church, save in the one quality of enthusiastic consecration to the one great purpose of saving others.

When Mr. D. L. Moody visited Liverpool for the first time, he was instrumental in the conversion of a young man, who, as soon as he had found Christ, determined that he would bring a thousand other young men to hear the great revivalist; and he succeeded. Just as a politician would seek for a thousand votes, this young man sought for a thousand other young men, and brought them to hear the gospel from the lips of the great preacher.

“Many years ago an invalid lady, whose home was in the country, visited a large city near which she lived, on a sultry summer day. She had business in some of the small streets and alleys, and was appalled at the number of pale, puny, and sick babies in their mothers’ arms, who were literally dying for a breath of fresh air. What could she do? ‘I can not save all,’ she said, ‘but I may save one. There is room for a mother and a child at my home.’ She took one mother and her child to her country home and kept them for a fortnight, and then took them back and brought others. Her neighbors followed her example. The next summer the children entertained amounted to hundreds, the next, thousands. Another woman who lived in the city and had no money to give, was vexed that she could not help this most gracious charity. ‘I can at least tell others of it,’ she said. She wrote an account of it for a New York newspaper. A third woman possessed of great wealth sent one thousand dollars to the editor with the request that he open a fund for this noble purpose. The fresh-air charity was the result. The various organizations throughout the United States for the removal of poor children from the poisonous air of the cities to the country, have grown out of this first attempt of a single weak woman to save one baby.”

Indeed, “one shall chase a thousand;” and this simple prophecy has now passed into history which records triumphs and victories of the church in all ages by the achievements of individuals. Do not wait for other members of your family. Do not wait for other church-members, or even for your church officers. Do not wait until you see the great church of God moving in rank and file toward a single object. Begin just where you are. One lone worker in constant touch with the Captain of our salvation and under his leadership and inspiration can chase a thousand, and two such workers can put ten thousand to flight.