God Defended Us

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 23, 1903

JOSEPH CLARK, pioneer of the Baptist Mission, says that their converts are witnesses. When they find Christ, they are taught that they must tell it to others, and men, women, and children go and tell.

When he was arranging to leave Africa, for a while some came to him, telling of a tribe that had never heard of God. “They ought to be told of him,” they said. He replied that he could not go then. “We will go,” they said.

“O, no,” said he, “you must not go without me; they will kill you.”

They had fear of the white man, but the black man they would not listen to, but would destroy him.

“Wait till I come back.”

They were quiet, looking very serious; then came this thought: “It says in the Bible that if a man is doing God’s will, he will take care of him. If we go to tell them of him without you, can not God protect us?”

Though he still saw the danger, yet he could see their faith, and he could not withhold permission from the young men, themselves cannibals but five years previously, to go on their perilous errand that others might hear the good tidings.

In nine days they returned, giving report of having done the best they could to deliver the precious message.

Did they meet with any trouble? “O, yes; they surrounded us, armed with spears, and said they would kill us.”

“What did you do?”

Standing up with arms folded, they said, “We stood—God defended us.”