AN ACCEPTABLE SPIRIT by Stephen N. Haskell

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 8, 1878

AN ACCEPTABLE SPIRIT.

By Stephen N. Haskell

The work of God is missionary work. The true missionary spirit is the spirit of Christ. It is laboring unselfishly for the salvation of our fellow-men. The value of the cause of Christ cannot be over-estimated. The price paid for the salvation of man is more than the finite mind can comprehend. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. “We love him, because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19.

It was love on the part of Christ toward rebellious man that brought him from glory to die for a fallen race. His life was one of toil and suffering. “He was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” His life was an exemplification of the missionary spirit. An unselfish spirit is in opposition to the spirit of this world. So of the Christian it is said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

It leads men to go without the camp, bearing the reproach of Christ. It induces men and women to make God’s cause their own. As did their Master, they consider it of greater importance than their own interests, and therefore will not count their lives dear if they can but forward the work of God upon the earth. They will seek to scatter the seeds of truth where they have never been sown, and to lead those to Christ who before have had no practical knowledge of him.

This work is an aggressive one. It makes advances upon the enemy. It goes into new fields—into the regions beyond—and there plants the cross of Christ; and when a victory is gained and truth is there established, it goes farther and continues to make inroads upon the enemy. It requires men of God, men of nerve, men of consecration and devotion to do this—men who value the truth of God more than their own personal interests. Some men in every age have exemplified this spirit. They have taken their lives in their hands and have ventured out upon the promises of God, and upon the enemy’s ground they have preached Christ and him crucified. They have dared to believe the truth, although in many instances it has severed friendships, and destroyed pleasant associations, and has led them to sacrifice upon the altar of truth every worldly prospect.

There stand upon record many noble examples of this. The apostle Paul speaks of his former standing as follows: “Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith; that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” Phil. 3:4–11.

It is not necessary that we go back to the days of the apostles to find such examples. In every age God has had witnesses of his Spirit; and in every work of reform that has been of God there has been a Huss, a Luther, a Zwingle, or a Farel; and scores of others might be mentioned, some of whom have sealed their testimony with their blood. They chose to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

There was a time when God would have the gospel of Christ planted in Burmah. Adoniram Judson gave himself to the work. In 1812, he set sail under the auspices of what is now the American Board of Missions. Mr. Judson, like those who pledged him his support, was a believer in sprinkling for baptism. There was existing, at this time, a strong feeling of sectarian antagonism between the Congregationalists and the Baptists. Mr. Judson, knowing he would have to meet some Baptists, sought to prepare himself by re-examining the subject. As the result, he embraced the view that immersion is the only scriptural baptism. He and his wife were soon to land in Burmah without the slightest knowledge of the language of that country. His change of views would sever his connection with those who had pledged him their sympathy and support. He was wholly unconscious that the Baptists had any organization whereby they could support him, providing they would receive him.

To be left upon a heathen shore, without sympathy or support from his former friends, being counted as a heretic by them, was his future prospect if he was true to his conscience; or he could return to his native land, and enjoy the society of those who would sympathize with him in his present views. He at once decided the question. His love for the cause of Christ led him to renounce all, and cast himself upon the promises of God for protection. He was baptized, and proceeded on his way. Although it was many long months before he could speak in the Burmese language, in due time success attended his labors.

Twenty-one months he was a prisoner, and seventeen months he was bound with irons. He suffered everything but death. When he was released from prison his friends advised him to return to America to recruit his wasted energies. But he would not retire from the field, nor engage in visiting among friends. “Some regretted,” says his biographer, “that so agreeable a man should become a mere devotee; others believed that sorrow for the loss of his wife had made him mad; while others, who understood him better, honored what they considered his self-immolation in a good cause; and, on the whole, he was regarded with a sort of reverential sympathy.” See his life by Frances Wayland, vol. 1, page 447.

His wife was of the same spirit as himself. She died in his absence from the mission. “Her last words were spoken of him, and her last request to Dr. Richardson, her medical attendant, was, that he, Mr. Judson, would never consent to enter the service of the British government [at this time he was seeking to negotiate for the British government with the Burman government], but confine himself exclusively to the duties of his religious mission.” “Tell Adoniram,” said she, “to remember his mission to Burmah.”—Ibid., p. 414.

When a few had embraced the gospel in one place he left them in care of a proper person, and explored a new field. This he understood to be the apostolic method of conducting the missionary enterprise. It was thus that he was the means in the hand of God of sowing the seed of gospel truth over quite an extensive portion of the Burman empire, and of witnessing at the close of his life very many who had embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is such a life of consecration and devotion to the cause of God that is fruitful. We may or may not be called to go to foreign lands, but in either case ours need not be an unfruitful life. The same spirit that characterized Mr. Judson in his labors must characterize every person who enters the missionary work. Self-denial is the first religious duty. The heart needs to be changed. A stream can rise no higher than its fountain. If the motive that actuates the professed Christian be selfish, then the fruit he bears will be of the same character.

To-day the calls for men to enter new fields are very numerous. Sabbath-schools should be organized in a thousand neighborhoods and villages where at present there are none. There are hundreds of cities where a system of colportage should be established. Such openings are increasing daily in numbers and in importance. Where are the self-sacrificing men and women who will heed these calls? Where are those who will venture out, take their lives in their hands, sacrifice friends and worldly interests, and count not their lives dear unto themselves, if they can but win Christ? This work commenced and prospered in the hands of those who possessed this spirit. It is the only spirit that is recognized in Heaven as being genuine. It is the only one that God owns. It is the only one with which his Spirit witnesses.

God is jealous for that spirit, for it brought Christ from Heaven to die upon the cross. It originated in the bosom of God and his Son Jesus Christ. It unites the soul with God. And it were better that a millstone be hanged about a man’s neck and he be cast into the depths of the sea than that he should offend one possessing it. Its fruit is only good. It will lead men to bear all things, endure all things for the sake of Christ and his truth. He that possesses it will go forth weeping, bearing precious seed, and will doubtless come again rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. S. N. HASKELL.