HE GOES BEFORE by W. H. M'Kee

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 20, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 20.

"HE GOES BEFORE."

By W. H. M'Kee

BY W. H. M'KEE.

ALONG all the paths of life He leadeth them who are His. However commonplace and familiar the road, or however strange, His feet have trodden it before, and His footprints are there to guide, strengthen, and comfort those who follow. Where His feet have been is sacred ground, and no harm can befall those who, carrying His message, tread the same hallowed path. In the crowded cities, where the lords of wrong have held visible sway so long that every stone and brick of all the buildings, and every paving stone of all the streets, might drip with the heart's blood of those who, in sorrow, and pain, and care, and hunger, have handled them over and over, and where every room of every house, from the palace to the prison, might cry out, and echo back and forth from every wall the wail and outcry of lost souls, and where nightly, even now, the gathering voices of the sons and daughters of Belial are heard through all the traveled ways,—yet all this accumulation of terror, which, if it but had expression, would so shake these walls and pavements that not one stone would be left upon another, is held by Him in abeyance until the feet of those who do His will have passed by upon their errand of mercy, and have told His message of love and salvation on their way.

On the lonely level plains where the sun beats hot, and the wind blows cold, where the prince of the powers of the air rides in the tornado and his imps play their wild freaks with wind and lightning, there, unharmed, amidst their wild game of destruction, the messengers of the Lord carry the word of his truth.

Across the seas that have hungered for men's lives since they fed upon the life of all the world at the flood, speed the winged ships that safely carry the consecrated missionary, while he fears not wind or wave or hidden reef; for that same Christ who once brought the little boat load of those who loved and called upon him, safely to land, will equally protect those who go forth now, the last time, to teach that he is the way and the truth and the life.

As Paul shook from his hand the poisonous serpent, and, though they looked to see him fall dead, felt no harm, so again, amid pestilent miasms, and ravenous beasts, and ravening wild men, shall the messengers pass unhurt who tell the last tale that is to be told, and, following the blessed feet that have gone before, seek out those who will listen, from every kindred, tongue, and people.

Wherever they carry his message, to whomsoever they bring it, under Indian suns, or through Siberian snows, African jungle growths, or Argentine treeless plains, mountain heights that boldly look the sun in the face, or quiet shadow of the valleys between,—through all the strange paths that must be trod, He goes before.