bound to go abroad. I go as a mis sionary not that I may follow the dictates of common sense, but that I may obey that command of Christ. Apart altogether from choice, my reason for going forth is a matter of obedience to a plain command. In place of seeking to find a reason for going abroad, I’d prefer to say that I’ve failed to discover any reason why I should stay at home.” What a testimony! What an heroic deci sion! Charles T. Stubbs gave away a fortune of $145,000.00. He could have lived at home in great luxury but chose rather to give away all he had and go to China as a missionary. Strange as it may seem, it was a statement of an atheist that started him on his way. The words were, “If I firmly believed, as mission aries say they do, that the knowledge and the practice of religion in this life influenced destiny in another, re ligion would mean everything to me. I’d cast away earthly enjoyment as dross, earthly cares as follies, and earthly thoughts and feelings as van ity. Religion would be my first wak ing thought and my last image be fore sleep sank me into unconscious ness. I would take thought for the morrow of eternity only. I would esteem one soul gained for heaven worth a life of suffering. Earth, its joys and griefs, would occupy no mo ment in my thoughts. I would strive to look upon eternity alone and on the immortal souls around me. My text would be, ‘What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?’ ” Think of an unbeliever looking this way at our Christian ministry. Men are dying all about us. You have the message of life to give them. Will you withhold it from them? Do you feel that you have the nec essary qualifications to take the Gos pel to the lost? There’s the language to be learned. Can you master it? Are you young enough, or is it al
honor. When they were seated, Dr. Duff spoke firmly, “When Queen Victoria calls for volunteers for her Indian forces, hundreds of young men respond. Why is it when Jesus calls, no one goes? Is it true that the fathers and mothers of Scotland have no more sons to give for In dia?” There was silence with no re sponse. The elderly man of God con cluded, “Very well, then aged though I am, I’ll go back there where I can lie down on the banks of the Ganges to die. At least thereby I can let the people of India know that there is one man in Scotland who loves them enough to give his life for them.” In a moment, young men all over the Assembly sprang to their feet crying out, “I’ll go! I’ll go!” ' And although Dr. Duff never saw that beloved land of his missionary conquest again, there were many others who took his place and stood in the gap. Will you go? Has God spoken to your heart? Have you heard His call? Will you answer, “Lord, here am I, send me?” And if you cannot go, will you send a substitute? It’s for you to decided. Why should any one hear the gospel twice before everyone has heard it once? service is concerned? James Gilmore was following God’s will when he went to Mongolia. He reasoned, “Is the kingdom a harvest field? Then I thought it reasonable that I should seek to work where the need was most abundant and workers fewest. To me the soul of an Mongol seemed as precious as the soul of an English man. The Gospel was as much for the Chinese as for the Europeans. As the band of missionaries was few compared to the company of minis ters at home, it seemed I was duty 8 C hapter F ive H ave you ever wondered what constitutes a call as far as God’s
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