http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Bailey/John/Carlos/1903/Articles/othersh.html
"Others have Labored
and Ye are Entered into Their Labors"
This is the language of Jesus to His disciples following His conversation with the
woman of Samaria. The work the apostles did would not have been possible if it had not been
for the prophets of the Old Testament. Their work would not have been possible without the
work of John the Baptist. Then their work would not have been possible without the labors of
Jesus Christ Himself.
Many people wonder how we could have gone to India about 11 years ago and have
had such a harvest of souls. Let me say as Jesus said: Others have labored and we have entered
into their labors. We shall probably not pay tribute to all the men who have made possible our
present ingathering of souls, but I think that those whom we mention will help you to see why
we have this harvest.
Those who study Restoration history have read of an Englishman by the name of
Sandeman who led a movement in England that was very similar to the movement led by the
Campbells in America. This man was a rich man. He spent considerable money sending workers
to India. Unfortunately we have never been able to find any trace of his work. However, that
does not say that his work did not play a part in making ready for the work that we did.
After World War I had started, but before the United States entered the war, there were
three men who went to India from the United States. I do not recall the one name but the other
two men were Jelly and McHenry. Jelly spent some time in India. He lost his first wife. He
married an Indian and returned to America. He raised a large family and one of his children
supports the work we are trying to do in India. McHenry and his companion turned to the
Seventh Day Adventists. These three men labored in the Poona area of India. There is now a
thriving work again in this area. After more than 50 years some churches have been found that
did not apostatize and others that followed McHenry into Adventism have now returned to the
New Testament way. McHenry is now an old man living in one of the Southern States. Brother
Carl Johnson visited him not long ago. He still holds to the Seventh day Adventist doctrine.
There was a brother who went to India some years later. I do not now recall his name
but I found a place where he had labored. This man was sickly when he came to India. He grew
worse and return to the U.S.A. and soon died.
In a very providential way we learned about an indigenous work in the State of Assam.
There was a brother in Shillong who was told that there were churches of Christ in America.
These brethren had broken with the Welsh Presbyterians. Brother Presnshon Khariukhi sent a
letter to the church of Christ in Abilene, Texas. This letter was delivered to Glen Wallace.
Correspondence took place. These brethren were visited by two brethren. I think each brother
stayed for three months. They did much to teach these men the way of the Lord more perfectly.
However, the church in the U.S.A. missed a wonderful opportunity to get into India, for at that
time the door into India was not closed to American missionaries. Not only was a wonderful
opportunity missed at that time, but just at that time American missionaries were being chased
out of China. Some Christian Church men left China and came into the Shillong area. The work
was badly crippled because of these men.
There was a well-educated Indian from the State of Kerala who came to the U.S.A. to
attend a denominational school in America. He learned of the church of Christ and attended the
Harding Graduate School at Memphis as well as either Vanderbilt or Peabody in Nashville. He
came back to India about three months after I arrived there. He has done a good work in the
state of Kerala. While this work by brethren may have had some influence in the work that has
been done since I went there, their influence has been limited. True, if it had not been for the
work in Assam, I would not likely have gone to India. For about ten years these brethren had
begged for someone to come over and help them. Several had tried but they were not able to
enter, only as visitors. Members of the Commonwealth had special privileges (that is how I
came to go). There are two men who made our work possible much more than what was done
by our own brethren. First I want to mention William Carey. He was an English Baptist.
In his time India was not ruled by England but by the English East India Company.
They did not want any missionaries in India. So William Carey had to land in a small enclave
that was under the authority of the King of Denmark. After some time, Carey got permission to
enter India. India was not then a field white unto harvest. It took Carey seven years to make a
single convert. India at that time still burned widows with their dead husbands. The first-born
child was still thrown into the River Ganges if the first-born was a girl. INDIA WAS NOT
ASKING FOR THE GOSPEL. This man Carey was not a professional preacher when he went
to India. He had been a shoe cobbler. He was a remarkable man. In his lifetime he translated the
New Testament into at least 14 of the India languages. This was the main thing in making our
work possible. One of the languages that Carey translated the Bible into was Telugu. So before
we went to India, the Telugus had been blessed with the Bible for more than 150 years. So
these people were ready for the plea: The Bible as it is, is sufficient for man as he is. They had
the Bible in their mother tongue and could, and did, check each Scripture that we presented.
Unfortunately William Carey did not preach all the truth but that did not keep him from
faithfully translating the Bible into the various languages of India. Our work would not have
been possible without Wm. Carey. This man, though a young man when he went to India, never
returned to England. He had an idea that when a man goes to another country to preach he
should live off the country where he lives. I am sure that there is just as much Scripture for this
as for the idea that you cannot support native preachers with American money. If men who go
to a foreign field had to thus live I am sure we would never hear one word again about not
supporting native preachers with American money. If God is no respecter of persons then why
should we be supported in another country when the native cannot be supported to preach?
Truly, the legs of the lame are not equal. Carey also started a College in India that survives to
this day. It has fallen under control of Liberals. Carey was persecuted by the Clergy of his day.
They despised the poor shoe cobbler. He lives in the hearts and lives of millions of people. His
tormentors have so faded that their names are largely forgotten.
There is another man to whom I would like to pay tribute. His name was Clough. He
was an American Baptist. There were not many converts made in India up to his time. The
MISSION idea reigned supreme. When a group came to India they obtained a piece of land
from the government and started with a school. Then a hostel. If possible a hospital. Any
converts were brought to the Mission Compound and often those living on the compound
would number into the hundreds. This man Clough came up with the idea of village evangelism.
The result was that a few years after this plan was started the Baptists baptized 2,222 at one
time. If this work had been pushed, the Baptists might have won several millions of people to
the Baptist Church. However, liberal elements prevailed and the social gospel became the order
of the day. For many years there has been little growth either in the American Baptist Mission
or the Canadian Baptist Mission. The Lutherans kept up their evangelistic thrust better than the
Baptists and they are now much larger than the Baptists in India. These men, Carey and Clough
did not preach the true gospel. They could not bring the knowledge of the New Testament
Church, but God did use them to prepare the way for the work that we have done.
God wants men to be saved. God has given His church the work of preaching the
gospel.
Now I would like to tell you about a Canadian Prime Minister who helped pave the way
for our going to India. This man was named William Lyon Mackenzie King. He was Prime
Minister of Canada longer than any other man. Shortly after India got her independence in 1947
there was war between India and Pakistan. Nehru, Prime Minister of India, thought that
England and the United States favored Pakistan in that war. I do not know if that was true or
not. I am merely reporting. Nehru came to the Commonwealth's Prime Ministers' Conference
not knowing whether he would take India out of the Commonwealth or not. The Prime
Minister of Canada persuaded Nehru to stay in the Commonwealth and out of this meeting
grew the special concession for missionaries from the Commonwealth. So God uses men of the
world that He may save the souls of men. Little did Nehru dream that he was being used for
this great harvest of souls. Nehru may have nominally been a Hindu, and seemed to turn more
toward religion in his latter days. His funeral was conducted according to the rituals of the
Hindu faith but he was more an agnostic than anything else during his lifetime. William Lyon
Mackenzie King was a Presbyterian but according to numerous reports was a Spiritualist. So
God has His way still in the kingdoms of men.
If the Lord tarries in years to come, can it be said of you that you labored and others
have entered into your labor?
We need your fellowship in the work in India.
J. C. Bailey, 1975, North Weyburn, Sask.
(http://www.oldpaths.com)
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