1904-The Mission Year by W. A. Spicer

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Jan 28, 1904

1904—The Mission Year

By W. A. Spicer

W. A. SPICER

“BUT when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.” Matt. 9: 36-38.

With the compassion of Jesus for the multitude filling our hearts, we must by his grace make 1904 a year of distinct missionary advance in the great regions still beyond. It is too soon to tell the results of the week-of-prayer offerings for missions; but the reports from various companies and lonely believers here and there show that the season was a blessed one with them. The prayer circle now girdles the earth with prayer and praise. In many languages the Lord of the harvest is being asked to send forth laborers. The cry of need from a perishing world is also a prayer to heaven for more laborers. What a cry, then, will ascend to the throne of mercy if now seventy-five thousand Seventh-day Adventists join their voices as one to swell the voicing of the world’s great need. Read again that thrilling bugle call given us in “Christ’s Object Lessons:” —

“From India, from Africa, from China, from the islands of the sea, from the down-trodden millions in so-called Christian lands, the cry of human woe is ascending to God. That cry will not long remain unanswered.”

So let us make 1904 a year of special prayer for missions. It is a tower of strength to our workers out in the fields to feel that believers at home are actually thinking of their work and its needs, and bearing the needs definitely upon the heart in prayer to God. Workers are often quite alone—far separated from the occasional associations and counsels with comrades that come in our conference work at home. Then it is

that the heart grips fast hold of the cable of prayer, and feels a joy in thinking that home friends are praying too, and that,—

“Though sundered far, by faith we meet Around one common mercy seat.”

Let us press around that mercy seat, spreading out before it the needs of the world that God so loves. In order to do this we must watch the progress of the work in the great mission fields. Week by week in our papers our workers abroad among the nations tell of the open doors, and bring to our ears the echo of the Macedonian cry, “Come over and help us.” Fifteen or twenty year ago our hearts would have been mightily stirred by just a few of such reports as now are constantly spread before our eyes in the REVIEW and other papers. We must not become so accustomed to hearing from far-off lands that it seems a common thing to us. A study of these reports, with the map spread out before us so that we can see clearly the onward march of the truth, will show us that the pillar of fire and of cloud is indeed leading on to the finished work.

From land to land, and from tongue to tongue, the message is speeding on. The earth is surely being enlightened by the glory of God. If our eyes could be opened, we would see legions of angels pressing on still before us, preparing the way. From now on until Jesus comes, the consuming thought of our lives must be how most rapidly to enter the open doors in all nations. We must study the reports from week to week in our papers until we understand just the order of battle that Providence sets for the hosts of God to-day, and thus in our prayers be able to plead the needs that press most heavily. Definite prayer means something in God’s work. It is not enough to-day to pray for the work in general terms. It is our work, and we should know how to pray for it in a specific way. The Lord gives an instructive lesson in Isaiah 37. The Assyrian army surrounded Jerusalem. It was “a day of trouble, and of rebuke.” There was no might nor power of man to win the victory over the opposing forces. The Assyrian general sent in to Hezekiah a letter threatening utter destruction if Jerusalem refused to surrender. Then we read:—

“And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth. Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear; open thine eyes, O Lord, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God. Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries, and have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou only.”

God heard that prayer. He said, “I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.” And the angel of the Lord went forth and smote the camp of the Assyrians.

Thus it is that men pray in a time of crisis or distress. The heart clings to God for very definite and practical answers to the prayer of faith. It is a time of crisis in our own work. As truly as we live and are in the third angel’s message to-day, the hour has struck to actually do the work that we have known all along would be done sometime. This glorious message is to go with a loud cry to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. John saw it flying in the midst of heaven until the blessed sound reached every ear. In our day, and without delay, this work is to be done. Now indeed “blessed is the people that know the joyful sound,” when God himself sounds the trumpet call for a missionary advance that shall finish the work.

“We have heard the joyful sound, Jesus saves, Jesus saves; Spread the gladness all around, Jesus saves, Jesus saves; Bear the news to every land, Climb the steeps and cross the waves, Onward, ’tis our Lord’s command, Jesus saves, Jesus saves.”

So let us make the week of prayer recently passed but the introduction to a year of definite, persevering prayer to the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into the harvest field. As we become acquainted with the fields through the reports, we shall feel like mentioning them by name and pleading special needs, even as we do in our private devotions as we think of our own dear ones and special friends who are subjects of our prayers. It was the burden of the prayer of Knox, “Give me Scotland, or I die.” Hunt, who was so specially used of God in cannibal Fiji, cried out with his last breath, “O, let me pray once again for Fiji. God, bless Fiji!” And the Lord heard the prayer. When, in 1878, the China Inland Mission saw the need of opening up a work in the interior by women for women, it was felt that possibly Mrs. Hudson Taylor should lead the first effort. But could she leave her little ones to spend months in a new and hazardous endeavor?

“One thing was sure. If God wished it, he could provide for the children. Would he? At first it seemed not, but further prayer removed this obstacle completely. Still some thought it wrong. So they put God to the test. Mrs. Taylor asked the Lord one day to send her the money for her outfit, and to give her also two hundred and fifty dollars for a special purpose—just that, neither more nor less. If he gave her a sign, and did both, surely her way would be clear.”

“That very day a visitor called to see her, and inquired was she really going. On hearing that she expected to go, he handed her a check for the outfit, for that and nothing else—exactly the sum allotted to outgoing missionaries for that purpose. But that was only half her prayer. Yes; but three days later came a check for two hundred and fifty dollars, with express permission to use it for the purpose desired. Is not God more ready to answer than we are to pray?” And on the very day of her departure a gentleman who said he could ill spare it from his business sent five thousand dollars to defray the cost of the new effort.

With hearts warm with love for the souls for whom Christ died, let us keep step with progress in the mission fields, with earnest prayer unto God to send forth the laborers and to provide the means. Our missionary campaign requires a steady and continuous advance. It must not be the subject of a spasmodic effort one year and a dropping back the next. The ground gained must be held, and the line of battle pushed still further outward. The work can surely be done, for God commands it.

Early in this century, when as yet America was doing practically nothing for missions, six young men in Massachusetts met by a haystack in the fields, and prayed definitely that something might be done. They arose from their prayer season for missions with a clear conception of a program of effort that should reach the great regions beyond, and with the rallying cry, “We can do it if we will,” they began a work which was the foundation of all that American missionary societies have done toward the evangelization of the world. Now, with a great work to be done within a few years, and with hearts depending upon the great power of God, pledged to the fulfilment of his own word, let us take as our motto, “We can do it, and we will, by the grace of the Lord Jesus.” Everywhere there is a sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees. It is a time of good tidings, and we must hurry out to the wide world with the message.