In 1904, William Whiting Borden, then heir to the famous Borden dairy fortune, graduated from high school in Chicago Illinois. As a graduation gift, his parents sent him on a cruise around the world. While on this cruise, God began to open William's eyes and heart to the masses of unsaved people around the world. William wrote to his mother about his desire to be a missionary. In one of his early letters he wrote, “I think God is calling me to be a missionary.” In his final letter he wrote, “I know God is calling me to be a missionary.” One friend expressed amazement that William was throwing his life away by choosing to become a missionary.
When he returned home, William enrolled in Yale University, where he was instrumental in starting campus prayer and Bible study groups and evangelism initiatives. He also worked with the least of these on the streets of New Haven and founded Yale Hope Mission. Henry Wright, a professor at Yale, said, “It is my firm conviction that the Yale Hope Mission has done more to convince all classes of men at Yale of the power and practicability of Christianity to regenerate individuals and communities than any other force in the University.” While in school, William renounced his fortune in favor of missions and wrote two words in the flyleaf of his Bible - No Reserves. William wanted to live by faith and trust God for everything in his life.
William attended a Student Volunteer Movement conference in Nashville, where he learned about the great number of Muslims in China. He felt God wanted him to go to China, where he hoped to work with Muslims. When he graduated from Yale, he had many lucrative job offers, including the opportunity to take over the multi-million dollar family business. However, he was determined to fulfill God's call to serve as a missionary. Once again, he opened his Bible to the flyleaf and wrote two more words - No Retreats.
In the fall of 1909 he was twenty-one years old and a seminarian at Princeton Seminary. By 1912, William Borden was twenty-five years old. He had completed a trip around the world, earned his B.A. at Yale, and his M.A. at Princeton Seminary. It was time to leave his family fortune behind and pursue his calling to minister to the Muslims in China.
William set sail for China on Dec. 17, 1912. Part of his plan included a stop-over in Egypt to study Arabic so he would be better equipped to work with Muslims. While in Egypt, William contracted spinal meningitis and died on April 9, 1913, at the age of 25. Years of training, a promising future, and William never made it to China. Charlie Campbell, one of William's closest friends from college, received his Bible after his death. When he opened it, he found what William had written in the flyleaf. In addition to the words No Reserves and No Retreats that William had jotted down during his college days, he found two more words that William had written just before he died - No Regrets.
Although William Borden never made it to the mission field in China, he touched hundreds of students at Yale University and Princeton Seminary who when on to become missionaries. Because of his families wealth and noteriety, the news of his death was published all over the world and many people wrote letters to his family expressing how their lives had been influenced by William's story of faith and commitment to the cause of Christ. His story continues to inspire selfless service for the cause of Christ.
Some will say William Borden’s life was wasted, futile, accomplishing nothing more than death at a young age. Borden, an heir to great wealth, rejected a life of ease in order to bring the gospel to Muslims both in Egypt and eventually in China. He refused even to buy himself a car during his college and seminary years, and gave away hundreds of thousands of dollars to the work of missions. He understood what many of us seem slow to comprehend... as 2 Corinthians 4:18 admonishes us.... "We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen; For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
William’s life did not leave lives untouched. Even though he never made it to China, by God’s grace, he was given a burden for missions which led him to study at Yale and in turn his passion inspired hundreds of students to take up the call of missions. Numerous memorials were held all over the world after his death, all packed with people who heard the inspired story of his short life. Even in death, William Borden sowed the seeds of the gospel... that others would cultivate and harvest. In God’s plan no one is ever wasted. In Isaiah 55:8 we are told, “for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.”
Even today,nearly 100 years after his untimely death, William Borden continues to inspire those who seek to serve in the mission field. As believers may we truthfully confess with William Borden, No Reserves... No Retreats... and No Regrets.
"Do not put out the Spirit's fire." -- 1 Thessalonians 5:19
