In the year 1795, some Christians in London united to establish a society for the purpose of promoting the preaching of the Gospel among the heathens. This London Missionary Society sought to awaken a zeal for foreign missionary work by spreading writings in many countries. This labor was blessed; the following year they could already send out the first mission ship, upon which eighteen missionaries left England to undertake the journey to the South Sea islands.

Meanwhile, the Society continued to distribute writings in many lands, in which they excited the believers to participate in the mission. These words made a deep impression upon the heart of a Holland doctor, John Vander Kemp. He was the son of a minister of the Gospel in Rotterdam, Holland, where he was born in 1748.

John was a very bright lad. At the age of fifteen he entered the University at Leyden to study medicine. His parents had the highest expectations of such a promising son, but how they were disappointed! Without warning, young Vander Kemp abandoned his studies, threw his books aside, notified his parents that he had decided on a change of career, and enlisted in the army.

The parents were grief-stricken; all their hopes had now vanished. And when the youth plunged himself into the sins of army life, he soon brought his lamenting and grey-haired parents, heartbroken, to the grave.

Having served his term in the army, Vander Kemp returned to civilian life. He went to Scot­land, where he finished his course in medicine, and then he settled as a physician in his native land, Holland.

He now led a better life, but his soul was not right with God; and the Lord deemed it necessary to lay upon Vander Kemp His chastening rod which would bring this "chosen vessel," like an­other Paul of Tarsus, into the dust.

"God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform."

While he and his wife and child were rowing on the river Meuse on a beautiful summer day, they were overtaken by a severe storm. The boat capsized, and mother and child were drowned before his eyes. Vander Kemp was rescued with great difficulty.

Vander Kemp was filled with grief and sorrow, but this sorrow was made a blessing for him. For the first time in many years he attended a church service again. The words which he heard there made a deep impression upon his heart. He now experienced, "For godly sorrow worketh re­pentance to salvation not to be repented of." Deep and painful convictions filled his soul, but in these He was taught that only Christ Jesus could save him. With much earnestness and many prayers he now began to read the Word of God. God's grace cleared up the darkness of his heart; the truth, which he had formerly opposed, became the only foundation of his soul by faith in Christ. Vander Kemp was converted with his whole heart to the living God and now surrendered himself unconditionally unto Him, and His service. His soul was filled with holy shame and wonder.

From that time on, he wished to work in the vineyard of the. Lord. While so many precious years had been spent in the service of Satan and the world, he now had an earnest desire to serve God in the work of extending His Kingdom.

But how? That was the great question for Vander Kemp. He asked the Lord to instruct him and teach him the way to go, Ps. 32. Just at that time he heard, about the call of the London Missionary Society. His decision was soon made with an eye upon the Lord. The board of that society was just ready to establish a mission post in South Africa, and they were very eager to accept the services of such an able and well-qualified candidate. The study and practice of former years had equipped him splendidly for the mission field. A medical missionary is considered to be the most desirable for this work, for the ministration to the needs of the body often paves the way for the fruitful ministration to the needs of the soul. Vander Kemp, as you know, was a doctor.

Having finished a brief course in theology, he was ordained December 28, 1789, and sent out as a missionary. With him went Kicherer, another Hollander, and Edmond and Edwards, who were Englishmen. These four bearers of the Gospel went to South Africa, where the Kaffirs and Hottentots live. These were wretched and ignorant heath­ens, and it was a very difficult and trying task for the servants of the Lord to minister to the spiritual needs of these poor creatures.

It had been the Lord's hand that led Vander Kemp to the regions of darkness, however, and that shame hand guided him in the work. After much toil a church could be built and a congrega­tion organized. Around that church a settlement was built which Vander Kemp called "Bethelsdorp." He also instructed the converts in the rudiments of farming and various trades. It could be seen that some were truly converted; their lives as well las their hearts were changed, and they were not only converted but also civilized.

Vander Kemp met with his share of the obstacles which fall to the lot of a missionary, but the Lord sustained him. He worked diligently and even planned to enter a new field, Madagascar, the large island off the southeast coast of Africa.

The mission was not without its enemies where Vander Kemp and others labored, however, and they began to bring accusations against the missionaries to the government. Vander Kemp and his fellow workers were accused of negligence in their service and were summoned to go to Cape-town to give an account of their conduct. There they had to wait many months before their case could be examined, and they thought with sorrow and concern about the field, of labor which they had to leave; but the needs of the colony were supplied in a way they did not expect. A widow in Cape town seriously felt the need of the Hottentot congregation. After selling all her possessions, she set out for Bethelsdorp to instruct the colony and to read with them the Word of God.

Finally the missionaries were allowed, to return to their mission field, and gradually it could be seen that their labors were not unfruitful. Of the one thousand inhabitants of Bethelsdorp in the year 1808, two hundred belonged to the Christian church.

Vander Kemp's desire to preach the Gospel to the people on the island of Madagascar was never realized, for the Master called him to his eternal home. In the month of December, 1811, Vander Kemp became ill and died. On the last day of his life one of his friends and fellow workers asked him whether it was light or dark in his soul; where­upon Vander Kemp answered with surprising clear­ness, "Light, light, it is all light."

Vander Kemp labored in South Africa for twelve years. Although this was not a long period, he accomplished a great deal. Unfortunately the white people of South Africa, the Boers, as we know them, did not always understand Vander Kemp. They thought that the missionary had too great an expectation of the Kaffirs, for they distrusted the converted natives, This caused a distrust between the missionary and the Boers. Vander Kemp's preaching, however, has laid the foundation for Christianization in South Africa.

The mission work in South Africa was continued by other missionaries after the death of Vander Kemp. The Gospel was preached not only to the Kaffirs and Hottentots, but also to other peoples in Africa. In 1840 a Scottish missionary, David Livingstone, sailed for South Africa under the direction of the London Missionary Society. Through his travels and discoveries on that continent a greater knowledge of the inland was acquired, and missionaries have penetrated more deeply into the heart of Africa to bring the Word of God. A great part of that continent, however, is still sunk in the dark night, of heathendom.

Missionaries began to teach in the capital of Madagascar, in the year 1820. Later the young Christian congregation on that island had to endure severe persecution for many years, but that suffering was made a blessing for her. The number of those who confessed the Lord and the Truth increased, and subsequently the freedom of religion was granted to the Christians on Madagascar.

The mission work in our days is taking on considerable dimensions. This is fully in accord­ance with the command of the King, and it shows a laudable activity on the part of the church. There is, however, a danger in the zeal for missions. The slogan, "The world for Christ," is misleading if all credit is ascribed to what man does and sight is lost of the more important fact that no man but the Spirit of God is the only efficient power in regenerating the heart of the heathen.

True Christians realize this, for in all spiritual work they always rely on the cooperation of the Holy Spirit. Without that the fruit of missions will only be civilization, not Christianization. And civilization is only skin deep, while Christianization changes the heart.

Men and money are needed to carry on missionary work, but they are but instruments to extend the kingdom and never the real power. We cannot dedicate our lives to a more worthy cause than the cause of missions, however, and there is no safer place to invest one's money than in the bank of heaven; for that royal institution will never fail, and it pays the highest rate of interest.