The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1914, Page 41

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PUBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SyNopicaL CoNFERENCE OF Nort AMERICA.
\ REV. F. J. LANKENAU, EDITOR.

Entered at the Post Ofice at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter.

No. 6.

Vol. XXXVI.

ST. LOUIS,

Light the Night.

Like the glowing midnight sun,
Light the night, O Radiant One!
Shine amidst the city’s gloom;

All its murky sins consume.

Cheer men wrestling with despair;
Grant. the desperate woman’s prayer.
Youths and maidens lured astray,
Lead them to Thy holy way.

Jesus, born ’neath Bethlehem’s star;
Led by night to Caiaphas’ bar,

In the night betrayed, denied,

Now enthroned and glorified, —

Help Thy witnesses uphold
Thy dear Cross in heat and cold.
Light the night, O Radiant One,
Like the glowing midnight sun.
Ernest A. BELL.

vy

The Macedonian Cry.

Not those in greatest need always cry the loudest
for help. Some of the most urgent cries for aid
oftentimes come from those who are altogether ig-
norant of their urgent need of help. ‘Thousands
of people ‘go down to destruction day after day

- without one cry of distress or one call for help ever
coming from their lips. If we Christians would
want to wait till the heathen invited us to come and
preach, the Gospel to them, they would never get it
and we would never have to go. Of the natural man
will have to be said to the end of days what Christ
said of the people of Jerusalem, that he does not
know the things which belong to his peace. Yes,
this is just what must appeal the loudest and strong-
est to the Christian heart, that so many people seem
to be utterly unconscious of their supreme danger
and need.

Take the case of a poor feeble-minded child.
It does not ery for help. It does not ask to be taken
to an institution where proper care can be given it.
Such a poor child is in profound ignorance of its
pitiful condition and hopelessly unconscious of its ©
needs. When kind and loving hands take it from
the parents to place it in a home where it may be
helped, it cries because it would stay in its ‘old
surroundings. What is it that appeals to sensitive
hearts to come to the rescue of the child and help
it despite sits protests? It is those lifeless eyes,
those speechless lips, that vacant throne of reason
— it is the voice of the child’s need that utters the
loud ery for help and makes the strongest appeal
to those who see.

The people of India, the negroes of Africa did
not ery for help. ‘They did not know they were in
distress, they wanted no help. But this very in-
difference to their sad lot was the most appealing
ery and most touching plea to the Christians. The
horrors and abominations, the enormities and cruel-
ties, the human slavery and human torture, the
degradation and superstition prevailing among those
who know not Christ, this is the voice that calls ~
to us in loudest tones to come to the rescue.

And the unbelieving people around us, the mil-
lions of unchurched colored people of. our country,
the thousands of pagan American Indians, are not
asking us for help. Were we to grant spiritual help
to those only who deserve it, our help would not
be given tomany. ‘The Macedonian cry, “Come over
and help us!” is not a vocal cry. But though not
vocal, it is insistent in its wail and comes to us
from every quarter. It is the inarticulate ery of
those who are going down to the pit without God _
and hope in the world. Will this cry touch us to
pain and pity and effort? rite .