TH E K I N G ’ S BUS I N ' ES S
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V ARIOUS ingredients are neces sary for making either a good cake or a good missionary. I surely like them both. After the mix ing comes the baking, the trial by fire, and many a cake that started out well subsides unexpectedly into something not very digestible. This I learned to my sorrow when once I essayed to make a marble cake for my farmer brother on the Midwest prairies. My promising concoction looked like mar ble, all right, beautifully streaked, when it emerged from the oven, but alas! it also felt like marble, hard, unyielding. Perhaps my cake was too well done, like some well-meaning but unteach- able would-be missionaries. T h e y have been over-exposed to so 'much admiration, appreciation, education and exaltation that they have lost the vitamin value of the good cake. A missionary friend was jogging along a jasmine-scented country lane in India in a two-wheeled pony cart, on his way to meet Dr. Robert H. Glover, missionary statesman, who wâs visiting old Hindustan. Suddenly the Bible school student with him ex claimed: “ Sahebji, numi jaow” (Dear Sir, bow down). He had seen a low branch ahead. The m i s s i o n a r y ducked just in time to aviod a nasty bump on the head. God allows obsta cles in the path of every missionary candidate as a reminder that there is safety in a humble attitude toward a spiritual ministry. Other prospective missionaries ap pear to be “not done enough.” The Word describes them: “Ephraim is a cake not turned.” Nobody wants a pancake; that has been cooked only on one side. Thé dear Lord deliver us from missionary visionaries who have never taken any interest in anybody except themselves! Let us be submit ted to the will of Christ, through and through. Between these two extremes of spoiled and over-raw recruits is am ple room for thousands of wholesome young people who love the Lord and wish to serve Him. They are like J. Hudson Taylor to whom Christ spoke in these words when he was eagerly thinking of life service: “I am going to China and you may have the privilege of going along with Me.” . Most missionaries go to the field in
he gave the Lord the glory. This most lovable (iideon is a thrilling encour agement to all who may not be bril liant but are truly yielded. You may have heard Arthur speaking at one of the great Youth for Christ rallies. The crowd sees a dynamic speaker—Ar thur knows that his power lies in keeping filled with the Spirit. Yes, he can fix a broken launch engine, but he solves his problems in prayer. He is a rare and invaluable combination of the practical and the spiritual. There is a very high code of honor among missionaries. They have all read the biographies of their prede cessors, and they are inspired by the example of brave pioneers. In ad dition to this, missionaries are often stationed in places associated with noble characters. They are challenged by the exploits of men of faith and daring. The man who built the little tile-roofed bungalow, where I first lived in India, died of overwork, rescuing thousands in the great fam ine. One could not do less than his utmost under such sacred influences. That saint “Praying Hyde” of India, spent one night in that same little bungalow years before i arrived. In stead of sleeping, he spent the night on his knees, pouring out his heart in prayer for revival. “Who follows in their train?” Sacrifice is not a virtue claimed by busy missionaries. They feel that they have been called to such a joyful, worth-while ministry that all they can give is too little. I know a missionary in South India who has endured so many deprivations for twenty-five years that I do not think he is even
their twenties. The average works out at about twenty-six, the age at which David Livingstone sailed to Africa. There are many exceptions, for God does not wish us to become stereo typed in our methods. He often does the humanly impossible. My uncle, Isaac Hess, a staunch Pennsylvania Dutchman, journeyed to China at the tender age of forty-two. He sold his farm, gave the proceeds, $20,000, to
Child Evangelism Material in China missions and stepped into the offering basket himself! For twenty-two fruit ful years he had a glorious time in the hills of South China, latterly as chairman of his mission, and then went home to Heaven, content that he had given his all to Jesus. But (and a big BUT) before he went to China, he took time to attend Bible school and finish the full course. Yes, I believe in the necessity of training. “Study to shew thyself approved.” Arthur, also, knew that he should study. He was an expert carpenter in Pasadena, but he was not ready to preach and teach the Word. The Bible Institute of Los Angeles welcomed him. One of his teachers láughingly confessed to me that he had not been a promising student. He did not make outstanding grades, but he made THE grade. In a very remarkable manner, he developed into a most ad mirable type of missionary. His field was a seven days’ journey from the coast in Borneo. In about five years, he brought to Chr t 4,200 wild Dyak head-hunters and organized them into eleven fully self-supporting churches. He was the first Protestant missionary to reach the headwaters of the great Kapoeas River. How did he do so much? He discovered that the Holv Spirit would multiply his talents if
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