m eant when he said, “ I am debtor to th e Greeks and to the B arbarian s; both to th e wise and to th e unwise. So, as much' as in mq is, I am ready to preach th e Gospel to you th a t are a t Rome also.” Rom. 1:14-15. Again, I believe in missions for the good they have done me. I never would have had all these Christian privileges today if someone had not been w illing to come to m y ancestors w ith th e Gospel hundreds of years ago. I m ight have been living in the' woods of Germany in heathenism , as the American Indian used to be here, if it had not been for th e foreign m issionary sp irit prompting someone to come to us. Then, again, w hat X ate for b reak fast makes me a friend to foreign mis sions. I had coffee from th e Island of th e Sea, tea from China, fru it from the O rient and spices from o ther coun tries. If some m issionary had not opened these ports to th e Gospel we m ight have been eating th is morning for breakfast, only oat meal and buck w heat cakes, and drinking cambric tea, viz. ho t w ater. Now where did your gunpowder come from th a t you enjoyed using on th a t last rabb it hu n t of yours? F irs t from China of course. How about th a t evening paper, or th e book you so much enjoyed reading last nigh t? The a rt of prin ting first came from th e Chinaman. We are daily using m ultitudes of things th a t first came to us from the foreign lands, and we would not have had them if it were not for th e m ission aries. Now as to my church, it was dead before we secured a pastor th a t began to teach us about th e evangelizing native w orkers in foreign lands. They
While waiting a t a bank window to have some foreign d rafts made out, the cashier looked up to me and said. “ I can’t see for the life of me why people are so interested in missions. Why do they send th e ir money out of the coun try to the heathen who do not appreci ate it, when we have so g reat need for the money rig h t h ere ?” This was a very in tellig en t business man, who saw only as far as his nose, and who looked a t everything in the ligh t of dollars and cents. I replied, “W hat you lack is bread th of vision.” I said to him, “ Suppose the Apostle P aul had - gone east ra th e r th an west preaching the Gospel, then you and I would have been in heath en darkness, and China would have had our Chris tian civilization. But suppose P au l had not believed in missions a t all, where would we have been?” He replied, “ I never though t of th a t.” But, said X, “You do business w ith foreign coun tries, do you n o t?” “Yes,” said he. “Well, do you know th a t every port th a t has been opened to th e world for business and commerce, was opened by a m issionary? The man who believed in missions w ent in first w ith th e Gos pel, and the tradesm en followed a t his heels.” I believe in foreign missions and pu t as much tim e and money into it as I can possibly spare, because, first, I have something th a t all o th er people need. Every man who discovers a cure for a disease, owes it to th e world to make known his panacea. He would be a crim inal who would w ithhold a cure for consumption, when thousands are dying io r w ant of the same, and the man who knows and lives in th e pardon and power of th e Son of God, is a debtor to pass on th a t knowledge to his fellow man. This is what P aul
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