Yellow worker, have you ever entered into a definite covenant with God? It is significant that those who have made the greatest contributions to the cause of Christianity have, somewhere along the way and usually in the early days of their ministry, entered into definite covenant relationship with God. Such leaders as Luther, Wesley, Carey, Booth, Miller, and scores of others—all leave on record the fact that they carried forward their work in the conscious fulfillment of a definite covenant made between themselves and the living God.
Such a man was William Shaw, who pioneered the cause of Methodism in South Africa. It was just before the dawn of the nineteenth century that this young minister left the shores of England for the Dark Continent. A visitor to South Africa today senses the fact that the name of the Reverend Wm. Shaw is associated with the growth of a strong Christianity that has left its mark through more than a century and a half.
Born in Glasgow, youne, Shaw began work at the age of nine. His father placed him in the King's Regimental Band, where he served for the next nine years. In those days he studied more than music, however, and when but eighteen years of age he gave himself to the ministry. Though he was so young, it was recognized by all that he had a real preparation for his lifework.
Like all Methodist ministers of those days, he kept a journal, and in the pages of this historic document we get an insight into his life. On December 8, 1798, he was accepted into the ministry and shortly afterward left England. Picture this youthful eighteen-year-old mission appointee awaiting transportation but spending the last hours of the old year in wintry England keeping tryst with God. His dedication and covenant occupy four pages of his journal. How God honored this act is written in the history of Africa. Here is the covenant:
"Most dread Majesty ! Most Holy Blessed, and Glorious Trinity, Three persons, and one God! I, a sinful worm of the earth, do now promise in Thy most awful name, and in the strength which Thou suppliest: 1st, to forsake the Devil and all his works; the pomps, and vanities of this wicked world. and, to follow after complete Holiness in heart and life. 3rd, to use those means most likely to keep alive and carry forward the work of grace in my heart. 4th, and if Thou art pleased outwardly to call me, I promise to give myself up this year to the work of the ministry fully, heartily, and entirely.
"Holy God, I have no dependence upon my own strength, or power in order to keep this covenant engagement with Thee, but most humbly, most fervently and most sincerely beseech Thee to ratify this covenant, and accept this sacrifice in heaven, and give me power on earth always to perform my vows unto the Lord—Amen, and let all the angel choirs cry Amen, while I subscribe myself, the Lord's willing servant, William Shaw."
This dedication is a challenge to the ministry of our own generation. O that every Adventist youth today, especially those who are called into the ministry, could enter into such a covenant with God ! We need not comment on the words. They speak for themselves, and are indeed the revelation of a great soul. We bring them to our workers in the hope that, as ministers of the Advent Movement, we too may find the joy and inspiration of a purposeful life in the service which calls us into fellowship with God.
R. A. A.
