4 - The Call to Surrender

"MATTIE, something seems to tell me the Lord wants you to live and work just for Himself.” It was her Uncle William, a Methodist minister, who sud­denly interjected this remark as they were quietly eating their dinner. Immediately there was rebellion in her heart. To accept this call, she knew, meant to give up the plan she had for her life. On the day after her sixteenth birthday Mattie had left Sand Spring to go to Smith Falls, Ontario, Canada, to live with her Aunt Martha and her husband, the Reverend Wil­liam Blair, so that she might have an opportunity to continue her education in the high school there. Shortly after Mattie’s enrollment in the school, one of the teachers met Uncle William and in the course of their con­versation remarked, “We have a very interesting and bril­liant young girl from the United States in school. She is always ahead of the class.” “What is her name?” “Martha Wing.” “That’s my niece,” Uncle William proudly replied. The following year (1891) Uncle William was transferred to the Methodist Church at Kemptville where Mattie con­tinued her high school course. Evidence of the thorough and methodical study habits she was forming may still be seen in the Botanical Exercise Book she kept while attending Kemptville High School. Some botanical specimens she found in the “woods in spring,” and one in “copses and rich meadows,” another “up river above Kemptville,” and one she found “about 5 a.m. May 19.” All these were carefully and completely classified according to their Latin nomenclature. Study habits thus acquired be­came an integral part of Mattie’s mental processes and were later applied to her Bible studies. Mattie made a brilliant scholastic record in high school. Especially did her literary productions attract attention. Some of these were published locally and were highly praised. All in all she proved most worthy of the kindness shown her by her aunt and uncle. Rev. Mr. Blair was then almost fifty years old and brought to his pastorate at Kemptville a rich experience gathered from twenty-five years of successful ministry, much of it in pioneer fields. A man of wide vision, his interests trans­cended denominational boundaries. One of his greatest desires was to see the people of God united in one fellowship. At the same time he recognized each individual’s need for salvation, “total self-surrender, daily personal communion with God, and devotion and participation in Christian service in the local church.” In the “New Year’s Greeting to My Congregation” which he addressed to the Kemptville Church, January 1st, 1892, he exhorted: “Begin the New Year with total self-surrender to God. Let our motto be: ‘Whose I am and Whom I serve,’ and a good way to serve God is by love to serve one another.” Applying this admonition specifically Pastor Blair urged that each member of the congregation renew his “devotion to Sabbath School, and League . . . making every agency of our church increasingly helpful and prosperous. As a faithful church member, Mattie cooperated in its program. Along with the other young people she attended the Young People’s League and helped to conduct its meet­ings. Finally her turn came to give the talk one evening. Unknown to her, Uncle William stood outside the room where the League service was in progress, heard her message, and was greatly impressed with both its content and the excellence of her delivery. Perhaps it was the next day when Uncle William made the fatal remark which sank, like an arrow, deep into Mattie’s heart: “Something seems to tell me the Lord wants you to live and work just for Himself.” That was all that was said. Nothing further needed to be said, for by those few words the Holy Spirit had done His work. In one moment the frightening possibility arose in her mind that all of her cherished hopes and dreams of years would never materialize. So carefully had she nourished her plans! Quietly but per­sistently she had pursued her goal. She had continued to conceal her efforts, all the while endeavoring to improve her talents. Then one day Nettie accidently discovered some of her compositions and sent them to the local newspaper. The favorable comments which followed their publication served to strengthen her purpose. Confidently she was expecting to become a famous poetess someday! Now her uncle’s simple word, casually spoken, fell like a blow, shattering all her ambitions. “Her world” crumbled beneath her feet. At least, that is what she feared would happen. But that was unthinkable. She could not consider any other course than the one she had contemplated. And she would not. Preemptorily she endeavored to dismiss the repulsive call. But her uncle’s word was in reality the Voice of the Spirit, and that Voice would not be silenced so easily. Try as she might to disregard and to forget it, that “still, small Voice” persistently whispered into her soul: “The Lord wants you to live and work just for Himself.” The year 1892 was a momentous one for Martha Wing. The Lord had sounded the keynote for it in Uncle William’s “New Year’s Greeting” when he issued the call for “total self-surrender to God” to the entire congregation. Later he had been used of God to issue that call to Martha personally. As a result, this seventeen-year-old maiden had entered the valley of decision. She had come into a life-and-death con­flict. From the very beginning she had decided against the call of God. Not that she did not have a sincere desire to please God, for she did. This was clearly revealed in a de­cision she made when it came time for her to return home in July of that year. There were special excursion rates on the trains going to the United States for the weekend preceding the fourth of July, and inasmuch as this fare would be considerably less than usual, the suggestion was made that it might be an opportune time for Mattie to go then. To do so, however, would mean traveling on Sunday. Uncle William left the decision to Mattie. To keep the Lord’s Day holy, Mattie felt, was impossible if she engaged in unnecessary travel. Accordingly she de­cided to take the regular train during the week even though it would be at a greater cost. By so doing she had the inner satisfaction that she was pleasing God. To make such a decision, however, was much easier than to give herself in “total self-surrender to God.” This was the issue which confronted Martha Wing, the thing which was all-important to God and to her future.