56 Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists
of the most precious souls that are to be found anywhere. I have seen
places there where our tracts and papers were scattered. A divine
power seemed to accompany them. I have seen persons upon their
knees with the tracts before them, the tears rolling down their cheeks
as they read, for an answering chord had been touched in their hearts.
They knew that what they read was truth, and that they ought to obey
it. Whether these scenes have already taken place or are still in the
future, I cannot say.
There is a mighty power in the truth. It is God’s plan that all who
embrace it shall become missionaries. Not only men, but women and
even children can engage in this work. None are excused. All have an
influence, and that influence should be wholly for the Master. Jesus
has bought the race with his blood. We are his; and we have no right
to say, “I will not do this or that;” but we should inquire, “Lord, what
wilt thou have me to do?” and do it with a cheerful, willing heart.
Success does not depend so much upon age or circumstances in
life as upon the real love that one has for others. Look at John Bunyan
inclosed by prison walls. His enemies think that they have placed
him where his work for others must cease. But not so. He is not
idle. The love for souls continues to burn within him, and from his
dark prison-house there springs a light which shines to all parts of the
civilized world. His book, “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” written under
these trying circumstances, portrays the Christian life so accurately,
and presents the love of Christ in such an attractive light, that hundreds
and thousands have been converted through its instrumentality.
Again, behold Luther in his Wartburg prison, translating the Bible,
which was sent forth as a torch of light, and which his countrymen
seized and carried from land to land to separate from the religion
of Christ the superstitions and errors with which Romanism had en-
shrouded it. Thus, in a variety of ways, God has worked mightily for
his people in times past, and thus he is ever willing to work with those
who are laboring for the salvation of souls.
The trouble with the workers now is that they have not enough
faith. They are too self-sufficient, and too easily disturbed by little
trials. There is in the natural heart much selfishness, much self-dignity;
and when they present the truth to an individual, and it is resented,
they too frequently feel that it is an insult to themselves, when it is not
themselves, but the Author of truth, who is insulted and rejected. In