By the Grace of God by W. A. S.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 26, 1902

“By the Grace of God”

By W. A. S.

ONE of the later English Reformers, John Bradford, I believe, was one day preaching by the wayside when the officers of the law came by, leading a criminal to the place of execution. Pointing toward the sad procession as it passed on, the preacher cried out, “There, but for the grace of God, goes John Bradford.”

We shall keep in closer and more sympathetic touch with sinful men and women if we bear in mind continually the fact that the sins of even the most reckless or indifferent are natural to our own flesh, and that only by the grace of God are we saved from seeing the evil tendencies break out in our lives.

So, too, as we meet opposers of the truth, it is needful to remember that but for the grace of God we ourselves would be in the ranks of the opposition, instead of having the blessed privilege of being workers together with God. The more vivid our consciousness of dependence upon God’s grace, the more patiently and lovingly we can deal with the erring and sinful.

This was one of the secrets of Paul’s soul-winning ministry. He knew that he, the chiefest of sinners, had been saved by the chiefest of Saviours. Facing the infuriated mob, as he stood on the steps of the Roman castle in Jerusalem, he reminded those who sought his life of the time when he himself was “zealous toward God, as ye all are this day;” and when he wrote to the church in Corinth of the days when he “persecuted the church of God,” he added, “But by the grace of God I am what I am.”

These remembrances of his own past, and the sense of his present dependence upon the grace of Christ, helped him to feel for those who persecuted and reviled him. When he was stoned at Lystra, how vividly it must have brought to his mind the part he had acted in the stoning of Stephen. And the knowledge that he himself had “obtained help of God,” enabled him to work with all courage for the most violent.

In all our labors for those stumbling in darkness, let us remember that we also were bondmen in the land of Egypt. Too many old believers have too little patience with beginners in the way. Too many parents have forgotten how children feel and think. He who has the keenest sense of the evil from which grace delivers his soul will get closest to sinners, and will be of greatest courage in pursuing those who may seem most helpless, with the loving ministry of the word.

John G. Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides, tells the short story of a native teacher who accompanied him to dark Tanna. The teacher had narrowly escaped death at the hands of a native priest. Mr. Paton urged him to remain at the mission house for a time, instead of venturing into the remote parts of the islands; but he replied:—

“Missi, when I see them thirsting for my blood, I just see myself when the missionary first came to my island; I desired to murder him, as they now desire to kill me. Had he stayed away for such danger, I would have remained heathen; but he came, and continued coming to teach us, till, by the grace of God, I was changed to what I am. Now, the same God that changed me to this can change these poor Tannese to love and serve him. I cannot stay away from ‘Shem,’ but I will sleep at the mission house, and do all I can by day to bring them to Jesus.”

It is the same old story of missionary zeal inspired by a knowledge of personal indebtedness to divine grace. The fruit of grace is just the same, whether in these home lands or among the souls who are waiting for us in the dark lands abroad.

Let me quote two paragraphs further to show that the true spirit of the martyrs glows in many a native heart in the islands of the South Seas, where still much pioneer work remains to be done. This teacher was one day savagely assaulted, and left for dead. Recovering consciousness, he crawled to the mission house. Mr. Paton says:—

“On seeing him, I ran to meet him, but he fell near the teacher’s house, saying, ‘Missi, I am dying! They will kill you also. Escape for your life.’ Trying to console him, I sat down beside him, dressing his wounds and nursing him. He was quite resigned; he was looking up to Jesus, and rejoicing that he would soon be with him in glory. His pain and suffering were great, but he bore all very quietly, as he said and kept saying, ‘For the sake of Jesus! For Jesus’ sake!’ He was constantly praying for his persecutors, ‘O Lord Jesus, forgive them; for they know not what they are doing. O, take not away all thy servants from Tanna! Take not away thy worship from this dark island. O God, bring all the Tannese to love and follow Jesus!’ To him Jesus was all in all, and there were no bands in his death.”

He passed from us, in the assured hope of entering into the glory of his Lord. Humble though he may appear in the world’s esteem, I knew that a great man had fallen there in the service of Christ, and that he would take rank in the glorious army of martyrs. I made for him a coffin, and dug his grave near the mission house. With prayers and many tears, we consigned his remains to the dust in the certainty of a happy resurrection. Even one such convert was surely a triumphant reward for the missionaries whom God had honored in bringing him to Jesus. May they have many like Namuri for their crown of joy and rejoicing in the great day! W. A. S.