The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1926, Page 15

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

15

“Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to
every creature’? Some people seem to think that
Christianity is a Western religion only. However,
we do well to consider the birthplace of Christ and
then to thank God for the Macedonian call which
brought the Gospel to Europe. Therefore, if the
Word is needed at home, that is no good reason why
it should be withheld from foreign lands. If every
Christian would do his part, the need would not be
so great in America, and more laborers could be
spared for foreign fields. Jfurthermore, out of every
2,500 members of our churches only one is sent
abroad. In Africa there is one Christian worker to
every 24,000 people, in China one to every 52,000,
in India one to every 60,000. Surely this is not
unfair to the homeland. Can any one think of
a business man selling his goods only to the people
of his own community? So it is with the Gospel.
Had it been kept in Palestine, where would our own
beloved land be to-day? SEvidently in the same con-
dition as heathen lands. The missionary program
of the Bible is not to convert any one country, but
to carry the Gospel to all lands. Every man,
woman, and child is entitled to a fair chance of
hearing the Gospel; how shall they hear it unless
some one who has already, heard it tells them?

Some, perhaps, will say that the heathen have
their religion and we have ours; why trouble them
with a new religion? Dear friends, we owe the
Gospel to the heathen. Light has been given us,
and will not every unselfish person pass a good
thing along to his fellow-men? Furthermore, “God
will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the
knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and
one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all.” 1Tim.
2,4—6. How many countless thousands, yea, mil-
lions, in foreign lands have perished because they
have not had the blessed privilege to hear!

At one time I had the opportunity of seeing a
heathen pass from this life. The incident is one
which cannot easily be forgotten. The expression
of fear on the face of this young woman and the
grasp of her hands on the cot upon which she was
lying, as though to brace herself against being cast
over a cliff or into everlasting darkness, would im-
mediately bring to the mind of a Christian the
thought that she was going to a Christless grave.
When a member of a heathen family passes away,
the remaining members strike their heads against
the wall and abuse themselves in various other ways.
This, I am sure, is for no other reason than that

they know there is nothing for them beyond the
grave.

The need in foreign lands is indeed great.
Could the people at home see the need across the
sea, more would hear the call, “Come over and
help us.” If it is impossible to go, then give, that
the work may be carried on by others, and let all
pray that the Lord of the harvest will send forth
laborers into the needy foreign lands. What the
Gospel has done for those in the homeland it will
also do for those in foreign lands. lee

* Lutheran Standard.

From a Young Missionary’s Letter.

Ion Keith-Faleoner was the scion of a noble
English family, but his heart was so touched by
the sad condition of those who lived and died with-
out Christ that he gave up honors and ease to spend
his strength in what is usually regarded as the most
difficult of all mission-fields — Arabia. However,
his labors were not to last long. After only five
short months of work in his chosen field, months
that gave promise.that this young man of God
might make a deep impression upon the almost
unimpressionable hearts of the most fanatic fol-
lowers of Islam, his body was lovingly laid to rest
in the British military cemetery at Aden. ‘This
was Great Britain’s first offering to Arabia’s evan-
gelization, and a costly one it was, for in Ion Keith-
Falconer there passed away a courageous warrior,
of a great King, who, with his armor on and his
courage undaunted, fell with his face to the foe.

The following extract taken from a letter
written by this young missionary, who passed to
his reward at the early age of only thirty-one years,
shows the burning zeal that animated his heart:
“Tt is overwhelming to think of the vastness of the
harvest-field when compared with the indolence, in- ~
difference, and unwillingness on the part.of ,most
so-called Christians to become, even in a moderate
degree, laborers in the same. I take the rebuke to
myself.... When we come to die, it will be awful
for us if we have to look back upon a life spent
purely on self; but, believe me, if we are to spend
our lives otherwise, we must make up our minds to
be thought ‘odd’ and ‘eccentric’ and ‘unsocial’ and
to be sneered at and avoided.... The usual center
is self; the proper center is God. If, therefore, one
lives for God, one is ‘out of center’ or ‘eccentric’
with regard to the people who do not.” F.J. L.