The Missionary Volunteer Work a Preparation for Service
By I. H. Evans
There ought to be none in the rank and file of our denomination who are not familiar with the splendid work being done by our Missionary Volunteer Department. While this department has been in operation but a few years, the work that it has accomplished, the influence that it has exerted, and the souls that it has been instrumental in saving are far beyond what we expected when the department was organized. It has taken hard work and much planning on the part of those who are responsible for this department, to bring it to its present state of efficiency. There is scarcely a conference in the North American territory—we might almost say scarcely a mission field in the world—that is not reaping the fruitage of the work of this Young People's Department; and in the day of reckoning, when awards will be distributed, it seems certain that many of our young people who have been induced to enter the service of God will give credit to the Missionary Volunteer Department as the active agency which brought them salvation through Jesus Christ. The object of the Missionary Volunteer Department is to save our young people. The work of this department is evangelistic. Its purpose is to win souls to18Christ, and to persuade young men and women to seek a training that will prepare them for their Master's service in this life, and for eternal life in the world to come. There is something in this soul-saving work which should command the respect and attention of every lover of truth, and of every church and every parent believing the third angel's message. Nothing ought to appeal more earnestly to our own people who have children unsaved than the work that is being done by the Missionary Volunteer Department. The aim of this department is to win the unconverted to Christ and to persuade those who are church members to seek a training that will fit them to become workers in the cause of God. Next to the joy of being crowned with eternal life will be the unspeakable pleasure of seeing souls saved in glory, for whom we have labored. Compared with this, all our other life work will seem less than vanity. Everything else must perish. Nothing of this earth can last eternally, but the souls saved in the kingdom of God. It is true we are not able to appreciate in this present life what eternal life will mean to the redeemed, but the Word of God has revealed to us little glimmerings of the joys of the saved. Yet our sin-dulled senses can comprehend but the merest shadows of this revelation. When the prophet Daniel tells us that “they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever,” we can only say, “What does this mean? How can it ever be?” It means that God is to give great glory and honor to the winner of souls. We see about us on every hand those who are lost, stricken with the leprosy of sin, stung by the deadly, fiery serpent of transgression, which means eternal loss, eternal ruin to all who do not find a Saviour. These victims are without hope, they know no Saviour, but are death-smitten, and must perish before our eyes unless we can persuade them to accept salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Some of these poor souls may be within the touch of our hands. These very words to which you are listening today may be falling on deaf ears, deadened by sin, while you can both hear and understand. There may be a sin-smitten, lost soul in your home today. He may be flesh of your flesh, blood of your blood, and yet a victim that is smitten to death by sin. Sin has fastened its poison fangs into his very heart, and this friend, this son or daughter, is dying in your home. Will you bring to him a physician? Will you find a balm for your child? If he were physically ill, you would. No skilled surgeon would be beyond your endeavors to secure. If you had no money to pay for help, your tears and importunities would move a heart of stone to come to your aid. You would say, “O Doctor, my son is sick unto death, but he doesn't know it! Look at his eyes, and see the delirium there. Test his blood, and see the deadly poison that he cannot eliminate. Test his heart, and you will hear every throb foreshadowing death. You are a great physician. I implore you to come, and save my boy. I can never pay you for your help, but save him, O save him!” Yes, you would do this and even more for your sons and daughters if they were physically ill. How, then, can you shut your eyes and heart to the eternal salvation of your own flesh and blood? Shall we feed and clothe and nurse our own through all the ills and vicissitudes of childhood and youth, and then turn them into a world of sin, unsaved, after they leave our parental roof? Will this church be satisfied and content with itself while it has boys and girls out of Christ belonging to the families of our church membership, perishing in sin?—No! no! Shall we not rather this very day undertake to persuade them to accept Jesus? Let us go to them in tears, with the love of Christ burning in our hearts, and invite them to accept him who died to redeem them from sin. Much can be done through personal service. Many a young man and many a child has been led to Christ by the importunities and pleadings of a godly, consecrated parent; and it is our duty to bring these young people to Christ, that they may be trained for service. Once I had led a Friday night meeting during the week of prayer. We had had the reading, with comments, prayer, and testimonies, and had reached the close of the meeting. All was in due form. The benediction had been pronounced, and we were about to separate to return to our homes. A father was present, who belonged to the church. He was uneducated, could hardly read, and spoke in a very stammering way. When the meeting had been dismissed, he arose and said, “I am much concerned about our young people, and somehow I feel impelled to say a word. Will you forgive me, dear friends, and wait a moment while I speak what is pressing so heavily upon my heart?” Then he went on to tell that he expected to go to heaven, that his wife was expecting eternal life through Jesus Christ, and that they were waiting for and expecting the Saviour soon to come and take them to their eternal home. “But here are our children,” said he, “for whom we have gladly toiled, and these children could not go with us if Christ should come tonight. What should we do? We could not bear to leave them to perish, and Jesus could not take them with him. Somehow this seems awful.” He then went over to his eldest son, a young man about eighteen years of age, put his arms around his neck, and said, “My son, I love you; I entreat you to give your heart to God.” The boy broke down, and said, “I will; I will.” He then went to his daughter, a girl about sixteen years of age, put his hand on her head, looked down into her face, and with tears in his eyes, said, “Daughter, I want you to give your heart to Christ. Tell me you will do it now.” She went aloud and said, “Yes, father, I will. Pray for me.” He then went to the other child, and said almost the same words to him, and this young boy gave his heart to God. It was one of those after-meetings that fastens itself in the memory forever. His three children were brought to Christ by his own pleadings, his own heart was filled with the Holy Spirit, and these young people have been faithful and true in their service to God these many years. Why should not this day be a day when souls are born into the kingdom of God? The prophet said that when Zion (meaning the church) travailed, she brought forth children. We cannot expect our young people to come to Christ until the church travails for souls. Our Missionary Volunteer leaders are very anxious to persuade young men and women to accept Jesus Christ, that they may receive a training that will qualify them to enter the Master's service as soul-winners. Every church in the land should set itself in order, and never give up its labors nor cease praying until every young person belonging to the families of believers finds salvation. In your private devotions lay these unsaved ones before the throne of God in earnest, continual prayer. Never let your faith give way, but keep your petitions constantly before the Lord, that he may save these young people and bring them to his fold. The Missionary Volunteer Department is resolved to spare no means nor effort to reach these unsaved ones. Will you not give them sympathy? Will you not strengthen their hands by your prayers? Will you not invite these secretaries selected from among the most God-fearing and consecrated young people that we have in the denomination, to come to your church, come to your home, and labor in behalf of the lost? We believe that you will, and we believe that the Missionary Volunteer Department will be a great blessing to your church and to your families. But remember, in order for it to accomplish its work, you must give it your support and sympathy.