OUR EUROPEAN MISSIONARIES.
By James White
These men of God, Elders Andrews, Bourdeau, and Matteson, who have left their relatives and friends in this country to go to Europe to preach to hearts as hard as steel, and to stand up for God amid the moral darkness of the old world, deserve our sympathy, our prayers, and our support. We should not, however, regard them as orphans, and wholly dependent on us. No, God is their father. Christ, who said to men more than eighteen centuries ago, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel,” said also, “and lo, I am with you alway.” These dear embassadors for Christ learned all this by experience before they left us. And may the blessed Saviour let them feel the strength of the promises ever. But it is right that they should feel that they have the moral support of their American brethren. Full and frank expression of our confidence and love has been made and still should be. We know these men. We have stood shoulder to shoulder with them here in battle for truth, and we can never cease to love them and pray for them. And the prayers of their brethren should go up to Heaven for them from the family altar, from the prayer-meeting, and from the “closet.” These dear brethren should rest in Christ, and in the confidence of their brethren. They feel deeply, and must guard against over-sensitiveness. And in order to succeed in this they must have confidence in their brethren. It is men that feel in every nerve, whose feelings are fine, that God calls to do his exalted work. And indispensable to their prosperity is confidence in God and in his people. Such men generally have a vivid imagination. Here again, confidence in God and in those who are appointed to take the general supervision of missions must exist. John Wesley once said, “If you would have faith, preach faith, and talk faith.” Our assurances of the confidence of the whole American army of brethren can hardly be stronger than they have been. It is the privilege of these men to triumph in the mighty God of Jacob, and feel that their brethren confide in them, pray for them, and would as far as possible enter into all their hardships and privations. God bless our dear missionaries in Europe, to which twenty thousand of their brethren in America respond, Amen. J. W.