Your ShelfYour Projects

SOUL WINNING

5%

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 13, 1900

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 77, No. 7.

Read the full edition

SOUL WINNING.

By Anna C. White

ANNA C. WHITE, (Battle Creek, Mich.)
Never in the history of the world has rung more clearly than in these last days, the call, “Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day. . . . I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God.”
Too few realize the significance of the present state of affairs in the world. Too many are heedless of God’s oft-repeated warnings. Few are earnestly carrying forward the message of present truth to a dying world. Many of those who really believe the message fail to see its great importance and the urgent need of active service in behalf of others. Consecrated zeal, and a willingness to do or say, anywhere or at any time, something that will lead to the extension of the Master’s kingdom, and win a soul for Christ, should be the purpose of every Seventh-day Adventist at the present time. As earnest bearers of great truths, we should be instant in season, watchful of opportunity, and ready at any time to sacrifice our own pleasure and comfort for the sake of carrying forward this great work.
We are to conquer in the end. A divine Leader is in command, controlling and directing in this great movement; and in spite of all opposition, through all persecutions, in the face of all satanic wiles, we shall be led forth conquering and victorious in the end.
“Careless seems the great Avenger. History’s pages but record One death grapple in the darkness, ’twixt old systems and the Word,— Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne: Yet that scaffold sways the future; and behind the dim unknown Standeth God, within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.”
New light brings added responsibility, and every truth that God gives his people, and every Testimony that is borne to them, deepens the obligation resting upon them to be faithful and true in the use of these things. We are responsible, not for the success of our work, but for fidelity in performing it to the best of our ability.
“Have you heard this tale,— The tale of the Holy and True? He dies, but his life in untold souls Lives on in the world anew. His seed prevails, and is filling the earth As the stars fill the sky above. He taught us to yield up the love of life For the sake of the life of love.”
If we have entered this life of love, if we have heard this tale, let us go forth in joy, repeating the glad news that all may know what a dear Saviour we have found. Let us who have the sunshine of God’s love in our hearts and souls pass it on to others. We can and must do it. It may be that we can not do it in just the way we think best; but if we have the willing spirit and the understanding heart, God will use us for his own honor and glory.
In the mission the other evening an incident was related in connection with the singing of the song, “There is sunshine in my soul.” A young girl had just returned to Chicago from Australia. A great sorrow had fallen upon her young life, blotting out all the roseate hues of future years, disheartening and disabling her for the battle of life, leaving her desolate, discouraged, broken-hearted.
Her mother said to her one day, “My dear, have you ever heard the song, ‘There is sunshine in my soul’?”
“No,” she replied, “and do not care to hear it. What have I to do with sunshine in my soul?”
“But,” persisted the mother, “it is a lovely song. There’s a young man next door who sings it so beautifully, and I wish you could hear him.” And then she told her daughter the sad, yet glad, story of the young man’s life.
It seems that he had been converted while very ill, and had become most gloriously happy in his new-found love. To all appearances he began to gather strength, later on, and showed signs of recovering his former strength. He laid plans for the coming days, and was never weary of talking, to those who came to see him, about his new Friend, and the many things he would do and say for him when he should be able to be around. Never again should his time be wasted,—not a moment would he lose,—but would sing and work, plead and pray, to bring others into the same haven of rest in which he himself had anchored.
His physician heard him thus talking one day, and spoke to his family about it. Said he, “It is too bad to let the poor fellow hope and expect all this when it is not possible for him to recover. What is more, his days are even now numbered: they are few.”
The friends discussed the matter, and finally, as gently and kindly as possible, broke the news to the young man. At first he could not and would not believe it: but when the full realization of their statement came to him, and he knew that all his plans were as nought; that he must give up all his hopes of an active Christian life in the coming days; abandon all his cherished expectations of winning souls for his beloved Master, even, as he thought, relinquish the hope of radiating from his chamber the silent and peaceful influences of a shut-in, the poor boy covered his face with his hands, and turned away in utter despair. The minutes passed silently, the stillness of the sick-room broken only by the sympathetic sobs of the mother, who knelt by his bed.
Suddenly the lad looked up, and with all the sunshine of God’s love in his soul shining in his face, and with all the triumphant glory of a battle fought and won glowing in every feature of his countenance, he lifted his voice in a clear, full, sweet burst of song, “There is sunshine in my soul to-day.”
The young man died, but not before the girl had learned, in that chamber of victory, her lesson of patient endurance, of conquering grace, of God’s strengthening love, and the Father’s power in all times of need. To-day she is a happy Christian, serving Christ with singleness of heart, and with her voice and pen passing on the rays of sunshine gathered at the side of that sick-bed.
So may we all do. It may not be my way, it may not be your way; but yet in His own way, if we are faithful to opportunity, willing to serve and anxious to be obedient, God will cause our lives to serve his purpose, and use our influence in his work to win souls to his kingdom.
We read in the story of Esther that the posts who were sent out with the message of salvation for the Jews were “hastened and pressed on by the king’s commandment. . . . And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews.”
How much greater is our message of salvation! How are we pressed on by our King’s commandment! Shall not our message also bring joy and gladness and peace to those who hear it? “Follow me” is the first command, “Go ye” is the second, in Christianity. “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”