Jerusalem and Judea, yet he left them and went to Europe. He could have built churches in the homeland and established the work at home first; but he left all and went with the gospel to those in distant lands. And thank God he did, for if he had developed the home work first, we might have still been heathen. Oh, my friend, let me urge you in the few short years that remain, to turn from everything else, to bend every eifort to send out the gospel, for this is the one and only task that Jesus left His church to do. This, and this alone, is the most important work of the hour. Languages and Tribes Still Unreached Do you know how many languages there are in this world of ours? Let me tell you. At the present time there are at least 2,974 major languages. Do you know how many of these lan guages have the Word of God, or any portion of it? Up to the present time only 1,185. How many, then, does that leave without a single portion of God’s Book? It leaves 1,789. Think of it, if you will. After nearly two thousand years of mis sionary work and world-wide evangelism, there are still 1,789 languages into which the Word of God has never yet been translated. And what does God say? “ Faith cometh by hear ing and hearing by the word of God.” “ How shall they be lieve except they hear?” But how can they hear if they do not have God’s Word? It has been found that there are still' over 1,000 tribes with out the gospel. Moreover, these tribes have been located. We know where they are. I want you to think of them, if you will, as I mention them, and remember, no missionary is working among them and none of them have the Word of God. As a matter of fact, they have never even heard the name of Jesus. There are 350 tribes in Africa—tribes that have still to be reached. In South America there are 300 tribes. Most of them are Indians. There are 100 tribes in India. In Siberia we have found 75 tribes. Then in China, French-Indo China and the Philippine Islands there are another 175 tribes, or more. Hence, at least 1,000 tribes are still waiting in darkness and midnight, gloom for the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Brazil alone there are 1,500,000 pure blood Indians and more than 100 tribes. Bolivia has almost 1,000,000 pure blood Indians. Peru has an Indian population of 2,500,000. In Co lombia there are 100,000 Indians, mostly in a savage and primi tive condition. There are also 500,000 highland Indians in a semi-civilized state. But how are they to be reached? Only by the young people of our churches, our Bible schools and our seminaries. It is the young who can go. Movements like Inter-Varsity Fellow ship and Youth for Christ must challenge them. Mission boards everywhere are pleading for workers. That is why I toured Great Britain and appealed to the young people there until 948 of them responded. That is why I have gone all over the United States and Canada. “ The labourers are few.” We must have more. That is why I am giving myself first and foremost to missionary work. The world must be evangelized. Our only hope is in the young people. Unless they go, the job will never be done for no one else can do it. God is calling the young. The youth of our country must respond. Let us remember that practically all the disciples were young men. Jesus chose them in their youth, They had their lives before them and they lived them for God. May we, too, accept the challenge. May we give our best. God had an only Son and He made Him a missionary. Can we do less? There are many who would go if they could be pioneers. They have read the life stories of men like Livingstone, Moffat, Carey, Judson, etc. My friends, may I say that the Missionary Societies are calling for a thousand pioneers right now, for there are still a thousand tribes to be evangelized. Why not concentrate on the unoccupied areas? Why not be a trail- blazer? When I was in Sumatra I heard of a town to which no one had gone, and I penetrated back through the jungles until I reached it. Never will I forget the thrill that was mine as I crossed the threshold of that town, realizing that I was in all probability the first messenger of the Cross to have done Page Twelve
"If I have eaten my morsel alone," The patriarch spoke with scorn; What would he think of the Church were he shown Heathendom — huge, forlorn, Godless, Christless, with soul unfed, While the Church's ailment is fulness of bread, Eating her morsel alone? "Freely ye have received, so give," He bade who hath given us all, How shall the soul in us longer live Deaf to their starving call, For whom the blood of the Lord was shed, And His body broken to give him bread, If we eat our morsel alone! so. If I were a young man today, I would not want to go to a field where others had labored, except to become “oriented.” I would ask, as Livingstone did, to be sent to new fields, for I would want to be the first to reduce the language to writ ing, translate portions of the Bible, and give the people the gospel. I, too, would be a pioneer. Why waste your life here in America or Great Britain? Why settle down to the humdrum and the monotony of mak ing money? Why not get a vision? You can go where no one else has gone. You can invest your life in something really worthwhile. If you stay here you will be treading on some one else’s toes. If you go out there, you will have plenty of elbowroom. Why not live a life really worth while? You, too, can be a pioneer. Oh, I know what you are saying. I have had it said again and again. You are quoting Acts 1:8; but you are not quot ing it right. This is the way you quote it: “Ye shall be wit nesses unto me first in Jerusalem, then in Judea; after that in Samaria, and last of all, to the uttermost part of the earth.” But that is not what it says. Let me quote it for you now: “ Ye shall 'be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” It is not, “first,” but “both.” And what does the word both mean? It means at one and the same time, does it not? In other words, we are to evangelize Jerusalem, and, at one and the same time, Judea, and Samaria, and the utter most part of the earth. We are not to wait until we have com pleted the work here, before going there. We are to work both fields; the home and the foreign together. May I remind you of the fact that for the most part there is only the United States and Canada left to do it. Germany at one time sent out many missionaries. Germany can do noth ing today. Great Britain was in the forefront of the battle for decades; today Great Britain can make but few advances. Sweden and Switzerland can do very little. We are confronted, therefore, with the appalling fact that we can only look to the United States and Canada to evangelize the world. How much then depends upon us! Home or Foreign—Which? Do you realize that all can hear here, if they want to? Since the advent of radio, all anyone has to do, even in the most remote place, is to tune in on a gospel program and listen to the message. But I have been in countries where there are millions of people and no radio, either sending stations or receiving sets; and where the people could not hear if they wanted to. Why then be so concerned for those in the homeland, who for the most part are not interested, and so little concerned for those in distant lands who would be interested if they had a chance? I would rather spend money any day on the publication of foreign booklets than on those in the English language. Out there, they will read anything. Here, gospel literature in most cases is lightly tossed aside. Only recently the students of a well known Bible school took their stand on the street corners and gave away thousands of tracts. In a few moments the street was littered. Most of the tracts had been thrown away. Many of them had been torn in two. I have never T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S —Archbishop Alexander
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