p. 9 | More for Missions by E. K. Slade

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 3, 1910

More for Missions

By E. K. Slade

E. K. SLADE

In a recent speech made by Rev. Principal Gandier, of Knox College, in London, expression was given to the following words:—

“Britain could keep two hundred twenty thousand men in South Africa at a cost of one million dollars a day, to look after a little corner of the empire, but all that Protestant Christendom can muster in the mission field is twenty thousand men to-day. Britain spent more money and sacrificed more lives in three years to conquer a little handful of Dutchmen in South Africa than the whole of Protestant Christendom has given or sacrificed in the past one hundred years to missions for the whole heathen world.”

Such startling comparisons should arouse serious thoughts. The nations of the earth seem to feel justified in spending vast sums of money for the accomplishment of ends that may seem of slight importance. A million dollars a day to maintain a national prestige may be politically justified. A million dollars a day and many thousands of souls is a tremendous price to pay, and yet that nation feels the investment was a good one.

In connection with the closing gospel work which is to take place in the last generation of the greatest epoch of all the ages, an entire world is to be warned and made acquainted with the saving truth for this time. Is it unreasonable to expect that a work of such magnitude should call for large supplies for this warfare, in the shape of men and means? The magnitude of the work to be finished in this generation has not been properly estimated.

To proclaim an unpopular truth to one billion five hundred million souls in the face of seemingly unsurmountable obstacles is a task that calls for serious and earnest consideration on the part of those to whom such a work is committed. The nations of the earth can not be expected to enter into the sacrifices largely, but those who have come to know and love this cause, and who have enlisted in God's service, will manifest a loyalty and show a willingness to sacrifice that should compare favorably with the practises of those engaged in a less worthy cause.

As we enter upon the year 1910, our world-wide work calls anew and more emphatically for more men and more means for missions. Those who have a proper grasp of the situation will confidently expect large developments in the missionary operations in connection with this closing work in the year to come, and they will faithfully work to that end.

Holly, Mich.