The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1932, Page 18

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18 THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

Prayer for Lent.

Prepare us, Lord, to view Thy cross,
Who all our sins hast borne;

To look on Thee whom we have pierced,
To look on Thee and mourn.

While thus we mourn, we would rejoice,
And as Thy cross we see,

Let each exclaim in faith and hope,
“The Savior died for me!”

The S.O.S. of the World.

The voice of human need constitutes a strong
motive for us to bring the Gospel to the world.
From all around the world the cry for help has
never come to us with such insistence as just now.
Never has the real wretchedness of heathenism been
presented to us so strongly as at this time. The
numbers within the heathen world are so great that
in China alone it would take ten years to put a Bible
into every home at the rate of 25,000 Bibles a day!
And if those who have not the Gospel of Christ
were to pass before us one by one, day and night,
the procession of death would never end; for a new
generation would have grown up before the present
living army could have had time to march by. The
need of these countless millions is so awful and their
lot so sad that no words can describe it and no
figures can fully set it forth.

The Habitations of Darkness.

What a book could be written on the condition
of the heathen world — the cruel treatment of
women and children, the curse of caste, the heart-
less torture of thousands, the barbarous slavery so
prevalent, the degradation of woman in the name of
religion, the numberless cases of infanticide, parri-
cide, and suicide, the unmentionable enormities and
cruelties that make the lands where heathenism pre-
vails the home of devils.

The places of the earth without the Word of
God have been the habitations of cruelty in the
prophetic and apostolic ages, but the darkness that
coyered the earth has never been penetrated before
by the explorer’s light as is the case to-day. The
horrors and abominations which obtain where Christ
is not known should be a stirring incentive for all
of us to put forth our utmost energy and restless
activity in behalf of the Christless world.

We are in a position to render the most blessed
' service to these poor peoples of the earth. We are
not our own. We belong to God and to our brother;

to the former, because of all the advantages we
enjoy; to the latter, because of his need. If God
has given us the Gospel of life, it is our business,
so far as lies in our power, to give it to that part
of mankind that is not so favored. There is a large
and important work for us to do in many countries,
a work that cannot be done by any other body as
well as by us.

“The King’s Business Requireth Haste!”

Another reason why we should work with re-
newed zeal to bring the Gospel to our benighted
fellow-men at this time is the condition of the
heathen world. Everything indicates that we are
living in critical days. More than one thing points
out the danger of delay. Just as God has fixed the
seasons for sowing and reaping, planting and har-
vesting, so also in the mission-field there are special
times for sowing and gathering in. As the farmer
must watch his seasons, so God expects His Church
to watch its opportunities. The farmer is careful
to sow his seed in due time and not after the season
is over; so the Church of Christ should watch the
opportune time and not put off the sowing of the
seed of the Word till this time has passed. ‘Then,
too, the farmer watches his ripening grain lest he
wait too long and the overripe grain be lost; so the
Church should watch the conditions of the mission-
field and provide the reapers who will gather in the
grain that is ripe for the harvest lest the many
precious souls be lost through their neglect. The
Church of Christ has thus far not yet begun to
realize its duty to the Christless part of humanity.
Probably not much less than four-fifths of the un-
evangelized part of the world is still largely unoccu-
pied by Christian missions. In many cases the.
forces of unrighteousness have been more aggres-
sive than the forces that bring salvation. A number
of years ago a Congo native wrote to the Archbishop

of Canterbury a note which most pathetically brings.

out this sad fact.

A Pathetic Letter from “Darkest Africa.”

“Great and good chief of the tribe of Christ:
Greeting! The humblest of your servants kisses

the hem of your garment and begs you to send to-
his fellow-servants more Gospel and less rum. In:

the bonds of Christ, Ugalla.”

Though the forces of righteousness may lie idle,.

the minions of Satan will not rest. While God’s
servants are asleep, the servants of the devil are
busy sowing their tares. And this assiduity on the

part of Satan’s slaves will only increase the diffi--

a hameaur mene tnnerternrmemnsetr ee

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