Experiences, and Results of Earnest Cooperation
THERE is a feeling of joy peculiar to missionary work. Did you ever have that feeling, friends? I have; it was after I had been out with the Thanksgiving Special Signs for the first time. It is this sense of joy that prompts the book canvasser to drop a word for Jesus when opportunity offers. The occasional heart-to-heart talk with some soul longing for truth will drive discouragement entirely away. Yes, I have had that joy, too. It is not always the planned missionary visit that reaps the best reward; it is the right word at the right time. A brother at Keene, N. H., was doing some paper-hanging. The woman of the house chanced to make some remarks about Seventh-day Adventists. The brother then asked her concerning Adventists and what they believed. The woman gave quite an intelligent answer, not knowing that she was speaking with one of that belief. (And by the way, in that city there is a small but active church, using considerable literature. We know not how the woman became so well informed.) Thus the brother learned that she believed much as do the Adventists, and by tactfully arranging for Bible studies on the message, won her to an acceptance of the truth. Her husband is convinced, and is desiring work where he can join his wife in this newly found faith. An isolated sister living in northern Vermont writes that she is conducting a Sabbath-school for the children of the neighborhood. The attendance is quite regular, and some of the parents have asked concerning the subjects of which they hear the children speak. The seed is being sown, and who can tell what the harvest will be? More than a year ago as I went to and from my work in Burlington, Vt., I often met a young man always smoking a cigarette. One morning I stopped him and handed him a little leaflet regarding the injuries of cigarette smoking, and gave my brief testimony against its use. He thanked me and passed on. A few mornings later he stopped me, and with a faltering voice said: “If you had only given me this helpful advice five years ago, I could then have changed. It’s too late now.” I felt sorry for him, but more remorseful for my own tardiness in lending a helping hand. Those words kept ringing in my ears, and I wondered if any one would have these same words to say to me regarding the gospel of Jesus Christ. Friends, if we would deliver ourselves and be free from the responsibility placed upon us of being “lights in a dark place,” we must be alert to catch the opportune time to speak a word or to hand out a tract that will be as a nail in a sure place. Tracts bearing the message might be literally scattered as the leaves of autumn, if all our people would supply themselves with those appropriate to hand out from the desk, or from the pocket, or to be enclosed in the letter to a friend. Surely Jesus has called us to help him bear his message to the world, and has given us assurance of a reward. When he was on earth with the disciples, he said that in his Father’s house were many mansions, and that he would prepare a place for us if he went away, and would come again to take us to our new home when the work on earth had been finished. Paul wrote to Timothy that it was a faithful saying, “For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: if we suffer, we shall also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us.” It is not always necessary for us to wait until Jesus comes to reap some reward of our labors. Sometimes an earnest of our inheritance is given to encourage our faith. Last summer when a tent effort was begun in one of our large Eastern cities, nine persons were selected by one of the Bible workers as likely subjects in special prayer for their conversion. Seven of these persons selected for prayer accepted the truth during the tent effort. Prayer for the change of life in the remaining two was not lessened in the least by the consecrated worker, but rather became the more earnest. Early in the present year many were made to rejoice when one of these sought pardon from sin by the blood of Jesus, and was united with God’s people. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Solomon said, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” My brethren and sisters, is it too great a task to have a part in winning precious souls to Christ? The great need of the church at the present time is a thorough consecration of every individual that he may be a living epistle “known and read of all men,” and that a personal house-to-house work may be accomplished throughout our ranks. May our continual prayer be for God to sanctify our lives to the fulfilment of this high calling in Christ Jesus.