The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1929, Page 50

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50 THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

The Missionaries.

Out from the doomed Jerusalem, in days of long ago,

By two and two they sallied forth to lands of sun or
snow;

And each slow century since then has seen this loyal clan

Break out to bear the blessed news to all the sons of man.

Beside the slim, tall temples, where the tawny rivers run,

They set their tents where shining stars looked down on
Babylon.

Through Memphis’ linteled gates they passed and sang
a holy psalm

Where carven gods looked down on 1 them in immemorial
calm.

In single file, on lonely paths, they walked through for-
ests dim

And stirred the Saxon silence with their solemn matin
hymn;

The bloom of Irish primroses fell on their wandering feet,

And heather on the Scottish hills made all their garments’

sweet.

Beside the stormy Northern capes they taught the Vikings
bold

And in the English meadows green the wondrous tale they
told;

Amid the cairns, dmong the oaks, chey, reared the holy
crypt

And dared to tell of dying love where Druid altars dripped.

And still o’er all the earth they fare, where’er a soul hath
need.

My heart leaps up and calls to them: O brothers mine,
Godspeed!

What time within the jungle deep ye watch the daylight
die

ms Or on some lonely Indian steep see dawn flush all the sky.

Far is the cry from here to there, yet hearken when we
say:

Ye are the brethren of the Book, in Khartum or Cathay,

*Tis ye who make the record good, ’tis ye, O royal souls,

Who justify the Chronicle, writ in the ancient scrolls.

O missionaries of the Blood, ambassadors of God!

Our souls flame in us when we see where ye have fearless
trod

At break of day; your COE faith our slackened. svalor
shames,

And every eve our joyful prayers are jeweled with your
names. ROBERT McINTyRE,

in Christ in the Poetry of To-day.

Every Member and the Program.

The end and aim of the Church’s program is to
ave men, no matter where they may be, in Ohio,

is based. ‘upon a double conviction: first, that all

ature lie i in darkness ‘and ’ in the shadow

of death and are utterly helpless and hopeless if
left to themselves; secondly, that Christ is the only
Savior, the only Light of the world, and that as
such He belongs not only to me or only to America,
but to the whole world, to all men everywhere.

If this double conviction is in your heart and
in my heart and in the hearts of all that call them-
selves Christians, then sincerity and honesty demand
that we — that they — should do all that can pos-
sibly be done to bring Christ, “the true and only
Light,” to all those who dwell in night, so that
they may enter into fellowship with Him. Christ
said that “it is more blessed to give than to receive” ;
and if we believe, really believe, as we profess, that
we receive light, comfort, and strength through the
Gospel of Christ, then there is nothing left for us
to do but to take these blessings which we have
received through the Gospel—light, and life,
and comfort, and strength—to those who have
them not.

No group of Christians has this world-wide
responsibility kept before them so emphatically and
ceaselessly as we Lutherans. Have you ever attended
a service in which the spiritual helplessness of all
men and the sole Saviorship of Jesus was not men-
tioned and emphasized? Sermon, hymns, and
prayers in every Lutheran service bring out these
facts. A consistent Lutheran must be a friend of
missions. For us to confess the Creed and pray
the Lord’s Prayer and then on the street to say that
we do not believe in missions is simply contradicting

ourselves.
The Motive of Missions.

What is the motive of missions? Why should
we take the truth of Christ to our fellow-men?
The answer is, LOVE. Love and gratitude to God,
who has so graciously delivered us out of darkness,
and love of our fellow-men should be the motive
of our desire to carry on the work of missions.
Paul wrote: “Woe is me if I preach not the
Gospel.” His heart was so full of love that he
felt it would burst if-he did not take the blessings

_and joys which he had in Christ to his fellow-men.

He must give expression to the fulness of love
dwelling in him through Christ. In the light of
these thoughts we begin to realize that the com-
mand of Christ: “Go ye into all the world and
preach the Gospel to every creature” is, in a mea-
sure, no outward command, but a direction which
the Savior gives His believers as to how they may

" best express the new spirit and life that is in them.
In a way, we may say that He furnishes them with

a mecessary channel -~for the: expression of their