Laborers for Foreign Missions
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lack of the missionary spirit among those who can labor in the German,
the French, and other languages. How can you who have received
the truth, feel so little burden for those of your own tongue in other
countries? Is your interest selfishly shut up to your own family or to
your own church? God pity your narrowness! You should have that
undying zeal, that far-reaching love, that encircles the world. There
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are hundreds of millions of men, women, and children who have never
heard the truth, and multitudes are constantly going down to the grave
without any sense of their accountability to God. How can you who
repeat the Lord’s prayer, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on
earth as it is in heaven,” sit at ease in your homes without helping to
carry the torch of truth to others? How can you lift up your hands
before God and ask his blessing upon yourselves and your families
when you are doing so little to help others?
When Jesus ascended to heaven he committed his work on earth
to those who had received the light of the gospel. They were to carry
the work forward to completion. He has provided no other agency for
the promulgation of his truth. Go ye into all the world, and preach the
gospel to every creature.” “And lo, I am with you alway, even unto
the end of the world.” This solemn commission reaches us in this age.
God leaves with his church the responsibility of receiving or rejecting
it.
The Prince of life once came from heaven to earth, for our sake to
bear insult and mockery and death. Preparation is now being made in
heaven for his reign in glory, and the message must be proclaimed to
all nations, tongues, and peoples. Many seem to rest perfectly easy, as
if heavenly messengers were to come to earth to proclaim in an audible
voice the message of warning; but while angels have their work to
do, we are to do ours in opening the word of God to those who are in
darkness.
The heavenly messengers are doing their work; but what are we
doing? Brethren and sisters, God calls upon you to redeem the time.
Draw nigh to God. Stir up the gift that is within you. Let those who
have had the opportunity to become familiar with the reasons of our
faith, now use this knowledge to some purpose.
Where are our youth? Are they earnestly seeking the Lord, en-
deavoring to obtain a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus that they
may become light-bearers to the world? What is the aim of those who