p. 16 | First Fruits in Spain by Frank Bond; Walter Bond

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Oct 22, 1903

First Fruits in Spain

By Frank Bond; Walter Bond

FRANK AND WALTER BOND

OUR courage is good, and we have many reasons for believing that the Lord had begun to prepare hearts here for the reception of the last message of mercy, even before our arrival in this country. Surely he is going before his people. May we ever be ready to enter as he opens the door for us. We have been here less than three months, and the greater part of this time has been spent in studying the language. The Lord has blessed in this, and he has also blessed us in studying his Word with some of these people. Our hearts have been made glad by seeing a whole family accept the message for this time.

They began the observance of the Sabbath two weeks ago—September 5. The man has preached several years for the Baptists, and has spent several years teaching school, and we believe he will be a valuable helper in this field.

When one is comfortably situated, and enjoying the many pleasures of home life, and reads of the great distress and misery in distant lands, of the teeming millions who are daily going down to Christless graves, or perhaps the story of the life of some unselfish missionary, he can not but feel a burning desire in his soul to do something for those people. No one else can, however, feel it so deeply, and be so solemnly impressed by the conditions that exist, as the individual who may be there.

As we see these people in the darkness and superstition of Catholicism, with but little or no knowledge of a living Saviour, not knowing that he is soon coming to make an end of sin and all its consequences, and take his people home, our hearts burn within us. The question arises, How can so many millions, who are so ignorant and careless with reference to their souls’ eternal welfare, receive the light of the gospel during the short period that still remains to this generation before our Saviour appears in the clouds of heaven, as portrayed in Matt. 24: 29-34? We know this will be accomplished; for the fourteenth verse of the same chapter says, ‘And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.’ The Lord says, ‘See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.’ Eph. 5: 15, 16.

Too many of us have been sleeping on guard, and it is high time to awaken. The time allotted for the carrying of the good news to the world has almost expired, but, thank the Lord, it is still possible to redeem, or make up for, some of the wasted moments. In order to do this, every energy of our lives must be wholly devoted to the Master’s service.

There is room in this country, with its millions of souls, for hundreds of strong, self-sacrificing workers. Who will come over and help us? The rapidity with which the message goes will depend upon the relation that we as a people sustain to God, and our nearness to him will depend on the time we spend in communion with him. We should at this time study carefully the way the Lord used Jonah to warn Nineveh. There was that great city, with its more than one hundred and twenty thousand people, and as Jonah, directed by the Lord of heaven, bore the message that God had given him for that people, they gladly received it, and within forty days the whole city was converted. The Lord is going to work mightily for those who will co-operate with him in these last days. Let us look to him earnestly for the outpouring of his Spirit as in the days of the apostles, that the work may be rapidly closed up.

We need the prayers of all God’s people, that the message may go with power in this country.

Barcelona.