Our Children for God by H. M. Aldrich

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

Our Children for God

By H. M. Aldrich

Last evening we heard of the death of our dear son, Mr. Watson. We know that it is well with him; for it was his love for the cause and work of God, and his devotion to it, that caused him to accept what he believed to be a call from God to go into the heart of Africa. We tried to dissuade him, on the ground that he did not have the physical constitution for such a climate; but he would not be turned from his purpose, so we could only bid him Godspeed, and hope and pray, which I have ever done, that he might be successful in bringing some of the natives of Central Africa to the knowledge of a soon-coming Saviour. We now mourn their loss, and then, too, our aching, bleeding hearts go out for our dear daughter and our little boy in that far-off land, with no friends or relatives to administer sympathy and comfort and advice in this sad experience. She will have to lean the more heavily upon God. And how long will be the two months she will have to wait before she will have any word from home; and we, too, must wait as long before we shall learn any of the sad particulars of his death.

It shall now be the purpose of my life to see that our little boy receives that training and education that will enable him to do something for the cause of God; and perhaps he may yet accomplish what I have all my life longed to do, but keenly felt my inability to do; for we read in “Great Controversy” that God made use of the children in the carrying of the first message; and will he not do the same in the closing message?

The following I had already written, and was intending to send it to the REVIEW this week. This sad news only intensifies the thoughts which I have tried to put in writing, perhaps for the benefit of some other parents who may be called to part with their children for the cause and work of God, and so I send it without change:—

It was my privilege to be present at the reception given to Dr. George and Dr. Thomason prior to their departure for their foreign fields of labor. This reception was held at the Sanitarium, and a mention of it is found in the last number of The Medical Missionary, which caused me to think that perhaps I might be allowed, through the REVIEW, to give expression to some of the thoughts which came into my mind as I listened to the remarks of those who spoke on that occasion.

I was there not as a member of the Sanitarium family who had come to say good-by to those with whom I had been associated in a professional way, either as physician or nurse; but I was there because I was more intimately related to one in whose honor the assembly was called, and who was so soon to sever his connection with his fellow laborers, and with the institution he had learned to love, for a similar work in a foreign field.

If there is anything on earth that we hold dear more than another, and with which we are loath to part, it is our children; and we are now called to part with the last we have, and this makes six — all for Africa: Dr. Thomason and his wife and little girl, and Mr. Watson and his wife and little boy, who are already in charge of our mission at Cholo, British Central Africa.

The words of Jacob when about to send Benjamin with his other sons to Egypt, where Simeon was already detained in prison, came forcibly to my mind: “If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.” In referring to these words of Jacob, I would not leave the impression that I was not willing to part with them. I can not say, as did Jacob, “All these things are against me;” for I call to mind how many, many times upon the bended knee I have given my children to God, and asked him to use them in some way for the furtherance of his cause and work in the earth.

Allow me to make one more comparison from the life of Jacob. God called his children down into Egypt. I trust he has already called mine out of Egypt. He has now called them from their country and from their kindred, and has pointed them to the land of promise that Abraham saw afar off; and they have made one more dash for Canaan,—this time, if I may so express it, by way of Africa,—and I can only hope that, as God blessed Abraham, so he will bless them, and make them a blessing.

We read that “children are an heritage of the Lord,” and in the same connection it says, “Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.” There is joy and happiness in taking care of God’s heritage even while they are children; but there is somehow a comfort and consolation that comes in bereavement when we realize that our efforts to train them for God have been so far successful that they are willing, if need be, to go to the ends of the earth for the cause of God. From our recent experience in parting with a small family, we can only judge of the happiness of those parents who have trained a large family for God. But though the quiver is now empty, the happiness still continues as we watch these arrows sent so far away, and pray that they may bring some good results to the cause of God.

We read, too, concerning Jacob, that he was permitted to go to his children, where his last days were his best days, and where he was not only a blessing to his family, but to all Egypt. And even the father of Abraham was permitted to go with his son when God called him from his country and from his kindred. So if God has work for me to do where he has called my children to work, well and good; or if he chooses to use me elsewhere in his cause, I can only say, “Thy will be done.”

H. M. ALDRICH.