The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1931, Page 95

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

95

The Need of Medical Missions in India. — In
Central India there are twenty-six small native
States, with a population of almost five million,
without a medical missionary. From 1915 to 1924
two and a half million died of the plague in India,
three and a half million were victims of the cholera,
and other diseases of a contagious nature carried
off two more million. Thousands upon thousands
died of smallpox and leprosy. There are said to be
no less than a million lepers in India. In 1928
alone influenza found seven million victims in India.

With the Bible-Workers in China.

Yesterday a prominent minister said to me:
“Until recently I did not believe in the work the
Bible societies are doing in the wide-spread distri-
bution of Gospel portions at a merely nominal price.
But I have been converted by the experience of one
of our highest provincial officials, who in the days of
Yuan Shih-k’ai fell under that powerful ruler’s dis-
pleasure. It became necessary for him to flee from
Peiping [Peking] with nothing but what he could
carry in a small hand-bag. In his destitution and
loneliness he threw open his bag. On top of his few
possessions lay a little book which some hours before
he had bought from a despised pedler on the train.
He began to read the Gospel-story. It laid hold of
his heart. The message met his need. He sought
out a church and a Christian pastor and has become
an earnest member of a leading Church. Every-
where he is known as a Christian.”

Year after year, millions of copies of the Scrip-
tures are distributed in this way. We are told that
much of the good seed falls by the wayside; but so
long as the harvest continues, it is worth while to
use every means available to insure a sowing of the
seed. Our field secretaries are finding hundreds of
faithful men and women who are ready to help in
this task. Our reports for 1929 show that during
the year 1225 volunteers shared in the distribution
of five million and more copies of Scripture sent out
by the China Agency. All but sixty-five of these
“were Chinese.

In Yuncheng, Shansi, there is a band of twenty
(Christians who go out regularly in the winter
months to sell the Scripture portions, and quite a
mumber of people are brought to Christ in this way.
IMany times these volunteers are greeted with scorn
nd even with violent attack. During the past year,
Thowever, the reports more frequently tell of the
Wook’s being received with signs of eagerness.

. popular.

A missionary physician who for sixteen years has
persistently distributed gospels among the pas-
sengers whenever he travels on a river steamer re-
ported as a novel experience that in 1929 he had not
met with a single rejection.

The Church has become increasingly conscious
of its opportunity in the distribution of the Scrip-
tures. Through the Chinese religious press we have
been put in touch with many readers, and the steady
cultivation carried on through these recent years is
showing itself in a Church actively engaged in
Scripture distribution, resulting in an annual circu-
lation that makes us fairly gasp. The number of
foreign missionaries in China is 20 per cent. less
than was the case three years ago, while the circu-
lation figure for Scripture portions is 30 per cent.
greater.

All over the country there is evident an in-
creased interest in a widening field of thought and
activity. Newspapers are more numerous and more
The means of communication have been
greatly improved. The stirring events of the past
two or three years have shaken loose men’s thought
processes and even those who are most pessimistic
with regard to the revolution are forced to admit
that the stolid peasant has been introduced to a
bigger world than he knew before. These awakened
minds are receptive to the truth, and the Book of
Truth has a new appeal.

This improvement in the circulation of the
Scriptures would naturally be taken to indicate a
marked improvement in political and social condi-
tions throughout China. In general terms that is
a correct inference. Nevertheless the story still has
its shadows. A glance back over the record of nine
years past shows it to be full of pathetic details of
China’s suffering — suffering from famine, flood,
warfare, hatred, and wickedness of every descrip-
tion. Were we to gather together all these bleeding,
weeping words, they might with appropriateness be
used again. The reports which come from the so-
ciety’s helpers do not tell the half of what the
people of China are still enduring under the heel of
the military chieftains and their mercenary armies
or under the bloody sword and fiery torch of brig-
ands and outlaws, many of whom are the product of
recent wars and rebellions. Nor do they tell how
wide-spread and deadly has been the famine in sev-
eral of the provinces. They do not tell how many
faithful missionaries or Chinese business men’ and
children of the wealthy have fallen into the hands
of bandits to be held for high ransom. They do not
tell of continued attacks on Christian gatherings