Give Ye Them to Eat by J. N. Anderson

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. · Aug 29, 1912

“Give Ye Them to Eat”

By J. N. Anderson

THESE were the words of Jesus when the twelve urged him to dismiss the multitude in the hour of their need. The disciples were intensely anxious to have their Master made king; this they conceived would bring the realization of their hopes. But their minds were sorely distressed by the surging throngs that gathered about Jesus. In their perplexity they saw only one way of escape,—“send the multitude away.” They little realized that the feeding of the multitude was in very truth the bringing in of the kingdom.

When Jesus bade the disciples, “Give ye them to eat,” rather than send them away unfed, they began at once to cast about and calculate how much bread would be required, as if the whole problem was for them to work out, forgetting all the time that with them stood Jesus, the one all-sufficient source of supply. How blinded! How they had misunderstood Jesus! How human were all their ideas of the kingdom! and how little they counted on Jesus even in emergencies!

But are we not in danger of repeating the very mistakes of those devoted but misguided disciples? As we stand face to face with the one billion of heathendom, distributed over those vast areas, are we not sensibly oppressed with the immensity of the task? and in such moods are we not almost on the point of wishing that the kingdom might come without our being under the necessity of giving our lives to the seemingly impossible task of feeding the hungry millions? But, as in the case of the disciples, the multitudes remain, increasing rather than decreasing before our vision of the expanding world field; and the call of the Lord of the harvest comes more and more distinctly, “Give ye them to eat.” This is the will of the Master; there is no alternative; it is the way of the kingdom.

And here again we are in danger of doing just what the disciples did. With a fuller knowledge of the task before us, a clearer and nearer view of the unsatisfied and unsaved masses, it is so human for us to set over against these our own human, material resources. In human fashion we begin to devise ways and means, tabulate our forces, and then calculate our success or failure. Moses did so; Israel did so; the disciples did so. It is the human way, but it is also the fatal way. As surely as the promises of God point to the triumphant march of the gospel of the advent around the world, so surely do they point to Christ as its wisdom and power. How often in the human history of his eternal purpose has God bidden his faithful ones, “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord,” when with outstretched arm he has wrought mightily for the onward march of his kingdom. If we could only see how, in the last few decades, kingdoms have been set up and kingdoms have been cast down; how kings and others in high authority, as well as whole races, have been compelled to make way for the entrance of the gospel of peace, we should in astonishment declare, “What hath God wrought!” Surely the highway of our King is being prepared in all nations, and the kingdom is coming.

But while it is eternally true that the source of spiritual supply and all the power are of God, and that our work is merely to minister these, yet must we bear in mind that God employs human agencies and instrumentalities. The better fitted, the more wisely, carefully, and thoroughly prepared, the more effectively God uses these instruments of his own choosing. Heathen darkness is seated in the mind and heart, members of unrighteousness; by means of these same members, thoroughly trained intellectually, and equipped, furnished with the virtues of the Holy Spirit, God will carry on his warfare against heathenism. These are the human organs, the weapons of the divine energy. They must be consecrated, equipped, and trained.

This, then, brings us to the matter of cooperating with God in the preparation of workers for the great foreign missionary enterprises. Even when we count that the bulk of the work in those foreign fields will be done by native workers, the fact still remains that the scores of untouched mission fields (untouched by all Protestant missionary societies), and the many fields we have entered but only partially occupied, call for a large army of well-trained foreign missionaries. We can not know, nor need we know, how many will be required for this task. Ours is to go forward, and the Lord of the harvest will indicate when we must arrest our steps. At the Centenary Conference held in Shanghai in 1907, the missionary societies operating in China decided to double their force of workers at the earliest possible moment. The larger societies are pressing forward at a strong pace, rushing their forces into China by the scores. Similar plans are being laid for other fields, especially Africa, where Christian missions are under a peculiar urgency to checkmate the swift and vigorous invasion of Islam now sweeping

down from the Sudan. In a word, the present plan of the Protestant missionary propaganda is for a decided advance in every field, and one of the leading reasons for this action is found in the fact that several of the great heathen religions are preparing for what they believe to be a death struggle with Christianity. Buddhism in Japan is seeking a renewal of strength and vigor with which to meet the invasion of the religion of Jesus; Hinduism is doing the same thing in India; and Mohammedanism is seeking to present a united front, armed with modern weapons, against its ancient, uncompromising foe, Christianity. These are days of moral and spiritual intensity throughout the entire world. What are our plans for, and our part in, this world struggle? Our faith is that God has called us to the crucial, crowning part of this crisis. Our faith is splendid; our giving is noble; but are we preparing our forces in purpose, in numbers, as we might, as we should? Has our preparation of missionaries that respect to the special training of the hands, the head, the heart, that it should have?

We have in our ranks a large army of splendid young people. These are our living materials that we must conscientiously and thoroughly equip for this final work. The future is theirs; they bring the highest, the best gift, the gift of life, to this work. The Protestant churches of North America count on no less than twenty million young men, young women, and children under their influence; and in this army they place their confidence as they look ahead into the immediate future of foreign missions. They represent incalculable possibilities; the plan is to educate and train them to the highest point of efficiency for the mission field. Can we do less? In our Sabbath-schools, in our churches, in our Missionary Volunteer Societies, in whatever way we touch our young people, we must seek to impart missionary information, and to inspire them with the work of missions. The study of missions, especially the world missionary movement of our day, in all its phases, should have a large place in all our schools. It is the most momentous enterprise engaging the activities of man. But what is, if possible, of even greater importance, we should have a large class, the very pick of our young people, in special training for the foreign mission fields. We give special training to our prospective physicians, ministers, teachers, Bible workers; and we do well; but are we not slow in recognizing the need of specially trained workers for the greatest and most difficult task before us—the carrying of the message to the entire heathen world? This, indeed, is our work. The one sole reason for our existence as a denomination is that we should carry the advent message to the entire world. All other interests must be made subordinate and contributory.

This special training, in the very nature of the case, can no more be given by the ordinary school than physicians can be trained in these schools. To attempt to do so can result only in waste and disappointment. This work must be done by instructors whose special knowledge of the conditions in the foreign fields and their close touch with our missionary work enable them to train candidates for the foreign field with particular reference to the conditions and needs in those fields. In any case these heathen fields are full of perplexity to the missionary; but the present situation makes them so in a marked degree. Within the last few decades the non-Christian lands have been so largely influenced by the West as to create almost entirely new conditions. Modern education carried forward in many non-Christian lands by up-to-date secular schools whose equipment, methods, and teaching force equal the best we have in the home land, make it impossible, or nearly so, for the mission-school to do its work without the best equipment. The spirit of reform and a deep undercurrent of national awakening are sweeping the heathen lands away from their old civilization, which will be displaced by something better or worse. The entire heathen world is seething intellectually, politically, religiously. It is God's hour.

The irresistible logic of all these facts has led to the founding of the Foreign Mission Seminary at Washington, D. C. This institution stands for one object—the special training of young men and women for the mission fields at home and abroad. And this object, both as to scope and as to meaning, is coming to be more clearly and sharply defined. The managing board and faculty of the Seminary are composed of men who as representatives of our missionary movement stand face to face with the great problem of carrying the advent message to all the world. In policy, subject-matter, and method, the constant aim is to inspire our young men and women with missionary enthusiasm, and to train them to the highest degree of efficiency in the sacred work before them; and all the time our foreign mission work in its various phases is being carefully studied, to the end that the missionary training in the Seminary may be based on a knowledge of the actual conditions in the field.

The unentered and unoccupied fields are calling for scores of our devoted young men and women, the best in our ranks, to qualify themselves without delay for this, the greatest work of the ages. And the Foreign Mission Seminary stands pledged to cooperate heartily and intelligently in this work.