Fathers and Mothers in Israel, and the Missionary Campaign
By William A. Spicer
MARY greatly marveled at the wonderful words which Simeon, by the Holy Spirit, spoke concerning the child Jesus. But as her mother heart thrilled with joy at the thought of the great honor and privilege which were hers, Simeon said, “Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also.” It cost that mother something to give up her child to be the Saviour of the world. As the call comes now from the ends of the earth for consecrated and mature youth to plant the standard of the cross in new fields, many a parent is being brought to the test. Fathers and mothers in Israel are to be brought into this missionary campaign in a very definite and personal way. Will they say to their children, “Go forth, in the name of the Lord to save this perishing world,” or will fond hearts cling to them, and hold them back from the needy fields? It means something to any true heart to see the loved ones go far away. The thought of the separation is a painful one. There is one side of this matter,5however, that we must face. When the work of witnessing is done, the Lord will come. Because we have so long held back from the work of witnessing, the coming of the Lord has been delayed, fathers and mothers in Israel have been growing old and gray, and now they face the fact that they can scarcely hope to prolong their days till the work is done. The separation must come. The home circle will be broken. It is to me one of the most pathetic things in the world to see the passing generation of advent believers, the older fathers and mothers in Israel, with their gray locks and bent forms, still traveling in the wilderness of this world. Then to think it need not have been; that if we had risen up in the strength of God, and sent the forces of the denomination over the earth in one grand, world-wide missionary crusade, the work might have been finished ere this. And now what? Shall the glorious victory be still further deferred by inaction?—A thousand times no. Our acceptance of this truth was an enlistment in a missionary campaign that must keep us in battle array until the Lord comes. How often in national crises fathers and mothers have sent their sons to the front, because they believed in the national cause, and were willing to sacrifice for it. The old Spartan mothers girded their sons for battle with their own hands, and as they put the shield into the hands of the youthful warrior, they told him to come back with it or upon it. Children of this world do these things for the cause of the kingdoms of this world. Shall the children of the kingdom shrink when God calls for the most precious gifts that can be given? It is a costly offering that any parent lays upon the altar of service when a youth, strong, vigorous, well-disciplined, consecrated, is sent forth to battle for the Lord. May the Lord give parents the grace to share in this blessed though painful sacrifice with the loving Father, who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. There is now and then an inclination to hold the workers back. The Lord must so roll the burden of the world upon us that youth and parents will respond unitedly to the call. After all, it is a little world. And then, too, loving thoughts travel ten thousand miles as easily as ten. It is worth something to know that the youth given up to service is representing the grace and love of the home circle and the power of the coming kingdom away out on the frontier line. And heaven and God’s loving heart are equally near to all parts of the earth. “Though sundered far, by faith we
meet
Around one common mercy seat.” The Christian mother who knows that her son is thousands of miles from home, amid the coarse associations of army life, fighting to take the lives of men, in danger from enemies or from malarious climates, must indeed have an aching heart. How vastly different is it when the parent knows that the loved one is giving the life to save the lost, and to hasten the coming of Jesus in the clouds of heaven. O, we must hold back nothing from God, who has given all for us! It is a campaign to which we may heartily pledge our all till the victory is won. The work demands an ever-increasing army of youth to enter new territory and grapple with new languages. Will the fathers and mothers in Israel send them forth with blessings and benedictions, even though the sword of sorrow pierces the heart as the loved ones go?