The Great Need of the Hour by L. R. Conradi

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 7, 1907

The Great Need of the Hour

By L. R. Conradi

If ever the words of our Saviour, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few,” had their proper application, it is at the present time. In the first place, the world never was such a great world, and the harvest, therefore, never was such a great harvest, as at present. When the Saviour spoke these words, Rome ruled the world; but that empire, in the height of its glory, covered only half of Europe, the northern part of Africa, and a small portion of Asia. What was its population of perhaps one hundred and twenty millions compared with the four hundred and

twenty millions of Europe, or the eight hundred and twenty-six millions of Asia? Even dark Africa, with its great deserts, musters one hundred and thirty-three millions. And since the time of Christ the great continents of America and Australia have been discovered; not only have they been brought within the vision of man, and opened to the gospel, they have also become strong factors in carrying the gospel to the world. So we may truly say that to-day the world is greater, and the harvest is greater, than ever before.

Special significance is to be given to the conditions in our time, if we note the progress that the last century has seen. It was once quite an achievement for a man to make a trip across the ocean. Vast regions of the world were yet unexplored. But to-day not only are Europe and America covered with railways, but the Asiatic continent, six thousand miles from west to east, is crossed, and the iron horse is running to and fro in China, Japan, and India, and railways are getting to be more and more the fashion in Turkey. Hundreds of steamship lines are entering and leaving the many ports of every continent.

Perhaps most marvelous of all is the development of Africa. Not long ago, it was known in truth as the Dark Continent, whose interior was wholly sealed to the outside world. To-day only a few hundred miles more remain to be finished, and then the Cape-to-Cairo telegraph line will be completed; in fact, wireless telegraphy will make it unnecessary to finish putting up the wires. In the wake of the telegraph follows the Cape-to-Cairo Railway, over two thousand miles of which are in full operation from the south, coming as far north as Broken Hill, near the Kongo boundary. From the north the line is in operation from Alexandria to Khartum, a distance of seven hundred miles. There is the Uganda Railway, having not only six hundred miles of track, but so connected with the lake steamers that inside of two weeks from the coast the missionary may land on the other side of Nyanza, right into the very heart of Africa. France, Germany, and Portugal are all building, or planning to build, hundreds of miles of African railways. I have just read that the emperor of Abyssinia is hardly able to wait until the railroad will reach his capital; it is already half way up there from the sea. What wonderful advantages this generation has over any previous generation, in being able to make a short work of carrying the everlasting gospel!

The needs of the wide world appeal to us for ministers, physicians, nurses, and teachers. We believe that our greatest lack is not the means to send the men, but it is the properly trained men, fitted to answer the calls that come to us from Europe, Africa, and Asia. It may be true that a goodly number of young people, in their fervor and zeal to see these countries and their peoples, are willing to offer themselves to go; but, after the excitement and novelty of sight-seeing have worn off, and they are confronted by the rigors of the climate, by the difficulties in their way, and by the degradation or apathy of the people for whom they have come to labor, then they begin to think, “How nice it was back home! How much better I had it there than I find it here! I shall return.” What we need to-day is men and women so constrained by the love of Christ, and so inured to hardship, that they will gladly face all hindrances and obstacles that may come to them in a new and untried field, and, having inscribed on their banner the words of Paul, as a motto, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me,” they may be able to overcome the hindrances that are before them.

Note for a moment what the “all things” were that Paul could do. Let us all learn the great lessons that he learned in the school of Christ. He could say: “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound; everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” He had learned to “endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”

Students who have finished such a course are called for in the cause of God to-day. In every country we have entered, we need young men and women who know what it is to fight the good fight of faith, and to teach others how to fight it. A whole army of such youth are needed. As the young people flock to our schools, our earnest prayer is that they may there be able so to submit to the will of God for them, that they shall come forth sharpened and prepared for the struggle against darkness, superstition, unbelief, ready to respond to the Master’s call, and willing to remain at their post until they have finished the work he has committed to them.

L. R. CONRADI.