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“Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God."
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You can earn money for your church or for yourself........ through securing subscriptions to T H E K IN G ’S B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E in our WORLD-WIDE SUBSCRIPTION CAMPAIGN Liberal Gash Commissions and Additional Awards furnish genuine incen tive to earnest workers. Additional Awards include Free Board and Room to Students at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Book Room Mer chandise, trips to Alaska, America's Wonderland— Western Parks and The Holy Land— the Land of Lands
T h e H o l y L a n d . . . the very words furnish inspira tion . . . and even as the Holy Land is “ the Land of lands” so is this carefully planned trip “ the trip of trips.” To view the
lem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen
gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.” The p ictu re shows the Mount o f Olives where many times the Lord spent all night in prayer. On the proposed trip, the time spent in Jerusalem will include visits to such historic places as Jericho, the Dead Sea, Bethlehem , H eb ron , Marasthah, the Val l ey o f Elah, Kirjath Jearim. Competent guides will let nothing worth while escape your attention. Our circular, “The Holy Land,” will give you every detail . . . it will be sent to you upon request. Our circular,“ World-Wide Subscription Camp a i gn , ” will give full particulars of each of the additional awards. Send the coupon today.
where the Master lived and died and rose again, verily is the hope o f every Christian . . . and this travel offer is “ the opportunity of oppor tunities” . . . avail yourself of it. You visit the Sea of Galilee . . . Cana . . . Naz areth . . . Shechem . . . Baalbek . . . . Damascus and other historic points. Perhaps the ou tstand ing place of interest in the whole trip is Jerusalem. Today the eyes of the world are turn ing toward this great historic center with keen anticipa tion. Believers are looking for the day when it will once more take a place of prominence as it did in the days of our Lord. It was the city He loved. How beauti fully that love was expressed when He cried, “O Jerusa-
M ount of O lives , J erusalem
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A FRIEND STATES OUR CASE “ I think you omit the most important of all reasons for con tributing to the work (Jewish Missions). That reason is the blessing attached to anything done for that race, which was first promised to Abraham and ratified through Balaam and reiterated in many ways throughout the Bible, together with a curse attached to any injury done them. It seems to me that this could be brought home to the average Gfintile with great advantage to all concerned.” So writes a generous friend of the Mission. We have al ways hesitated to overstress this phase of the subject, for fear of being accused by some thoughtless people o f material-, ism. But when we are rebuked for such hesitation by so faith ful a friend as the one who wrote the above, we feel the least we can do is to pass the letter on to as many of His. children as possible, with a ; prayer that it will be a blessing to them. Our work merits your every confidence. Our field is not only the 2,000,000 Jews of New York, but the 4,000,000 Jews of America. And through co-op erating missionaries we are rep resented, and our Yiddish publi cations are being distributed, in all the important Jewish centers of the world. In America,. Branches are being established; in the larger cities as the Lord?; gives us the means and the:; workers. Your help and pray-.; ers are always needed. “ The? Chosen People,” loved by many Bible students for its helpful in formation on Prophecy and the? Jews, is sent to all contributors. May we hear from you?
afte tòltile Tamii# Tta&asine M otto: “ Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.” —R ev . 1 :5.
Volume XXIII
June, 1932
Number 6
TABLE OF CONTENTS Crumbs from the King’s Table—The Editor.................................... 247 Saints from the Jungle—J. Alexander Clarke................................ 249 Paul’s Attitude toward Missions, and Ours—Robert H. Glover....251 Against a Heathen Background, the Light Breaks Forth —H. Virginia Blakeslee...............................................................254 Islam in India—J. E. Mallis............................................. ..................256 The Man and His Message—L. L. Legters.................................... 258 A New Thing in Latin America— S. B. Strachan..............................259 The Passover— I. M. Haldeman............................................... .........260 Present-Day Fulfillment of Prophecy—Louis S. Bauman.............262 Studies in the Epistle to the Hebrews—John C. Page................... 265 Heart to Heart with our Young Readers— Florence Nye Whitwell................................................................267 Junior King’s Business—Martha S. Hooker............ ....................... 271 In the Jewish World—J. A. Vaus...................................................... 273 International Sunday School Lesson Commentary..........................274 Notes on Christian Endeavor—Mary G. Goodner............................282 Our Literature Table............................................................................. 286 Daily Devotional Readings........... ............................|..........;..............287 Homiletical Helps ....................................................................... ........ 292
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POLICY AS DEFINED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES (a) To stand for the Infallible Word of God and its great fundamental truths, (b) To strengthen the faith of all believers, (c) To stir young men and women to fit themselves for and engage in definite Chritian work, (d) To make the Bible Institute of Los Angeles known, (e) To magnify God our Father and the person, work and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; and to teach the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in our present practical life, (f) To emphasize in strong, constructive messages the great foundations Qf Christian faith.
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John B. Miller, Chairman of the Board of the Edison Company was concluding his dedicatory address and the cornerstone was slipping into permanent position, when Biolachimes commenced to play, "Lead Kindly Light." Hearing the hymn, Mr. Miller said, "That seems to be the benediction." In the confusion of noises from the traffic of the streets, some missed the comment, but Biolachimes had sped their message straight to the heart of the noted business leader and who knows, but that in the providence of God the message of that music is still felt in the affairs of Mr. Miller's or ganization. On the 14th day of last April Mr. Miller passed away. The light of life faded from his eyes just as the light of day was fading in the west. What comfort then the message of the bells: Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encirc ling gloom Lead Thou me on; The night is dark, and I am far from home; Lead Thou me on: Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see The distant scene, — one step enough for me. broadcast; A LADY was listening to one of our broadcasts the other day, when she was called from the radio. She missed a part of the address. Later she wrote and asked us for a copy of it.- We were more than glad to comply with her request, and we would be glad to comply with any similar request even if our complete broadcast has been heard without interruption. It is grati fying to know that the broadcasts are appreciated, and a word to this effect from our friends now and then is most encouraging. thoughtful A W O R D from a friend in Canada— this letter reached the Institute only a few days ago— "Kindly take this ten dollars for the Lord's work and one dollar for the exchange. I only wish it could be more. I would like to say for months you and your workers have been taken every Thursday to God in prayer. God will stand." Wasn't it thoughtful of our Canadian friend to send the $1.00 along with the $10.00 to cover the cost of exchange? And it makes us very happy to know that our friends are remembering us in prayer. Hundreds of you good friends are doing that very thing and we take this opportunity of letting you know how very much we appreciate it. We do need your prayers. — the friendly chat editor.
f r i e n d l y l a t . . .
At eighty-six years I am caring for myself in two rooms on nine tenths of a small income." Instances of this kind occur every now and then. Good friends want to help but they can't. And herein is an opportunity’ for other friends— per haps to make a contribution for the first time or perhaps to make a con tribution a bit larger than usual. biolachimes SPEEDING the Gospel message on the wings of music, Biolachimes have played an effective part in the busy drama of downtown Los Angeles. On June 5, 1930, shortly before noon, approximately fifty persons were crowded together in a small area under rough scaffolding to wit ness the laying of the cornerstone of the Edison building, the magnificent structure now gracing the northwest corner of 5th Street and Grand Ave nue, that one sees looking north from our buildings across the pleasant green of the lawn in Library Park. The event was an important one in
stirring "I HEARD my mother call to me. I saw her loving but frantic eyes search for my little sister, and heard her call for me. Before I could reach her, she was seized and beaten to the floor, a bloody and shapeless mass." With these words Dr. Peter Plotkin, eloquent speaker, talented artist, Rus sian Jew, devoted Christian, describes the death of his mother, that occurred during a massacre of the Jews, in the spring of '88 in Petrograd and that ushered into his career a train of hap penings, strange and unusual, the like of which rarely comes to one individ ual and the climax of which was a stirring conversion to Christianity. Under the auspices of the Institute Dr. Plotkin is now holding services in various churches throughout Southern California. At each service he sketches the stormy story of his life and exhibits the originals of his re cently completed oil paintings "Isa iah," "David," and "The King of Kings." Hundreds of people gasped at his thrilling testimony and marvelled at the matchless beauty of his Biblical portraits at the first of these public services, held on the afternoon of Sunday, May 8th last, in the Institute auditorium. Gladly will Dr. Plotkin come to your church. Prompt arrangements can be made through our business manager, Mr. O. Howard Lucy. loyalty "ANO TH ER old lady in an old peo ple's home intends soon to send in her dollar"— this from the lady, herself! She read of the "anonymous friend" who thought we should not have ac cepted the gold dollar, and the stu dents' money, and she writes us a lovely letter, saying she cannot under stand this attitude on the part of any one— reminding us that the Scriptures themselves have told us the worth of laying up treasures in heaven. challenge "THE W O R K of the Institute has been much on my mind and in my prayers for years," writes an elderly friend. And he adds, "It is real grief that I cannot send material help at this time.
Edison Building, Los Angeles
the history of a great enterprise, the Southern California Edison Company, Ltd., an electrical utility that delivers annually to consumers more than 2(/2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity and that is owned by more than 120,000 stockholders.
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rum L /-om TH E K IN G ’S TABLE . . . By T he E ditor
men are not saved by happy tricks in controversy. The gospel is an answer—you must provide the question. The gospel does not come down, saying, “ Let us start an argu ment.” The gospel is God’s answer to man’s necessity; therefore, “ go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Every creature will not hear it, every creature will not respond to it, but you will find in every house and town and land and empire those who are asking a question to which there is no true answer apart from the cross of Christ. We get into dangerous places when we change one line of the original program of our Saviour and Founder. Christ comes to few men as an argument, but He may come to all men as a blessing. The light does not come as a puzzle in solar physics ; it comes in cheer ing brilliance and warmth to do manifold good in nature and in life. Few men may be great theologians, but all men may be Christians. If your testimony is only a debate, you will have to evade, arrange, and manipulate so as to es cape the difficulties of history and the pressure of im mediate facts. But when you go out with Christ, contented to be only a witness, you will teach, comfort, and bless all with whom you come in contact. You may be weak in argu ment, but you may be mighty in prayer. The clever man ager of words may outrun you in the race o f eloquence, but when the heart is sad, and the night of loneliness is without one star to break its infinite and intolerable monotony, then your comfort will be sought, as men cry for water when they burnwith thirst.
Blessed Remembrance T f t is a good time to cultivate our memory. Let the old sermons that stirred our hearts stir them again. Let the mighty prayers that took us up to heaven’s gate, so that we had a mind to light there and not return, come back, with energy and pressure on the forgetful mind. It always does my soul good to think of the communion Sabbaths that stand out on the plain of time like great mountains, when the aisles of the church were filled with earnest worship ers, singing, as they reverently went forward to the long tables covered with spotless linen. There may have .been many incon sistencies in the lives of the people who constituted that Scotch-Irish congregation, but I have forgotten them. I have not forgotten, however, the impressions of those holy mountain tops of communion, and in remembering them, they are as fresh and helpful as they were in the days of long ago. Do not let your yesterdays die, lest your tomorrows become the darkest of your fears. It was a good thing for the Psalmist to say, “ The Lord who delivered me out o f the paw of the lion, and out of the “I’ll o f salvation take the cup, And on God’s name will call; Will pay to God the vows I owe, In presence of His people all,”
paw of the bear, will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.” Re member the old battles and the old victories, the ancient fears and the light that drove them away like shadows that could stand no longer in their presence, and say with heightening thanksgiving, “ I will re call the years of the right hand of God.” Do not let history be wasted upon you. Do not let your expe rience evaporate and be found no more. Rightly estimated, human ex perience ought to be among the rich est o f human treasures. Not a Debater, but a Witness TP he wisdom of Christianity is ^ not to be continually answering the enemy, but to be telling its own tale, speaking its own gospel, walk ing its own way, healing the hearts wounded and cursed by sin. The Christian pulpit will become what it ought to be when it pays less at tention to the men who hold debates about Christianity, and goes straight forward on its great evangelistic and missionary tour of telling the world that there is balm in Gilead, and that there is a Physician there. Men are not healed\by argument;
The Sin of Slander ere is a man about whom no fault of the usual kind can ever be found, and yet he is continually judging other men, sentencing some to darkness and others to oblivion, and passing various sentences upon those who are about him. In spite of all this, he is sober, chaste, good in all that we can see about him, punctual in his church attendances, exact in his payments, of good stand ing in the market place. How about him? How does Jesus Christ esti mate the censorious spirit? He said plainly that to others it is as a beam compared with a little splinter. The man who is a model in everything else, is always finding fault with everybody else. Now, Jesus Christ says that although he is faultless in all the ordinary senses o f that term, the very spirit of censoriousness that is in him is a great beam across his eyes. The thing that we had imag ined to be no fault at all is our su preme fault. There are people who slander their neighbors by the hour, and still call themselves Christians, never
W e Trust Thee B y A lice E. S herwood
We trust Thee, Lord, When day is breaking, When the sleepy birds awaking Fill the air with song; When the dew is on the roses, Beauties new the morn discloses, To the day belong. We trust Thee, Lord, When the heat relentless Beats upon our brows defenseless From the noonday sun; Parched lips repeat the story O f the Saviour’s matchless glory, Victories are won. We trust Thee, Lord, In twilight dreary, Slanting sunbeams greet the weary, Whisp’ring songs o f rest; Shades o f evening quickly falling, Lonely little night birds calling, O f all times the best. We trust Thee, Lord, .In midnight waking, Darkness deepens, hearts are aching, Tempests fiercely roar; Morn or noon or daylight fading, Midnight darkness all-pervading, Trust Thee evermore.
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dqubting their right to the term. They send heterodox thinkers to hell by the thousands; they slander their neigh bors, and then engage in prayer. It never occurs to them that slander is a deadlier sin than mere intellectual error. Jesus calls the slanderous spirit a beam, compared with which any other mistake is a thin, slender splinter. Here is a man who condemns a poor creature who is overtaken in a fault; he has no sympathy with such. He sees a man take one too many glasses of drink and lose his equilibrium. Instantly there is a call for the excommunication of the erring brother from the church. Oh, you hypocrite! Pluck the beam from thine own eye; then shalt thou see more clearly the mote, the splinter, that is in thy brother’s eye. The church does not lay hold of this great truth suf ficiently. We think that a little slander is of no conse quence. Condemn the drunkard; turn out the man who, by infinite pressure, has committed some sin-^-turn him out—and never go after him, and never care what becomes of him. Let a wolf gnaw him at the vitals— only get rid of him. Who is the great sinner, the drunkard we have just expelled, or the closely shaven, highly polished pro fessing Christian who does nothing but filch his neigh bor’s good name ? The latter. He does not know the mean ing of Christ’s gospel. He has learned a few words which he chatters with parrot-like accuracy, but the gospel, the all-redeeming, all-hoping, all-saving gospel, he knows nothing about. True Riches oe unto the Christian who spends one-half of his life in getting silver and gold, and the other half in watch ing that they do not run away from him. “ Silver and gold have I none,” said Peter. What had he, then? He had divine energy, spiritual life, a saving message, social sym pathy, and a heart to bless those who needed benediction and assistance. The poverty of the apostles was in mate rial substance only; therefore, it was no poverty at all. He is the poor man who has nothing but money. There are no poorer men in all the range of civilization today than those men who are overweighted with prosperity. He is rich who has high ideals and noble sympathies, who lives in the presence of God, and in the service of the gospel. He cannot be alone; there is no solitude for the truly intellectual and spiritual nature. Some men cannot un derstand silence. If you are not forever talking to them, they suppose you are dull. If you do not walk out hour after hour during the day and talk the whole time, they in quire considerately as to your spirit and as to whether there is not something in your temperament that tends toward melancholy. I f men have not on their faces a perpetual grin, they are supposed to be unhappy. The spiritual man has riches in his mind, in his heart, in his thoughts, in his purposes, and in his beneficent plan, and the night is as the day, and the day is sevenfold in brightness. The spir itual man does not know what it is to feel the chill and pain of solitude. One is never lonely while distributing his riches. Peter and John were the happiest men,in Jeru salem, and none were enjoying a finer fellowship as they shared their riches with the beggar. Silver and gold are not the greatest need of men; real riches are in the hands of God’s people. The glorious gospel of the grace of God has been committed to us. The compassion of Christ is ours. We have access by prayer to God, who has said, “ The silver and the gold are mine.” We have the “ joy of the Lord” which is our strength, and we have the right to pass it on to others. The more we give out of what we have, the more we have. I sometimes wish that I could
cultivate the friendship of more millionaires, but I would not trade the dear, old lady in the poorhouse who prays daily and almost hourly for us, and who sent me, for the Institute, her only piece of money—a gold dollar that she had held as a keepsake since girlhood— I would not trade her, I say, for a dozen multimillionaires. The Bible Institute and the Missionary Program T P here are two numbers on the program of the church; 'JL~ first, to witness to the power o f the gospel and to get men to Christ; and second, to teach the converts the message and to send them out to lead others to Christ. Whatever there is of social service or reform, it must contribute to one or both of these objects. Every Chris tian is called to serve Christ in leading souls to Him and in preparing the “ babes” for effective service for others. The Bible Institute of Los Angeles has this vision. We have had 432 young people in our care during the past school year. We are giving diplomas to 115 in June. Most of these young people are going into full-time Chris tian service in home or foreign fields. God is calling many of them overseas to witness in the darker places of the world. Others have heard the call to labor in their native land. They have been, under God, splendidly equipped for missionary service. For many, the vision of world need was clarified and the call to the unreached masses was in tensified during a wonderful week of privilege, known as the Annual Missionary Rally. The vivid picture of condi tions beyond the pale o f gospel light, upon which they looked with eager interest and consecration, is shared with readers of T he K ing ’ s B usiness through this special missionary number. No agency equips and furnishes more missionaries than the Bible institutes of this country and Canada. Will you not remember them in prayer, and in your giv ing to missions will you not remember that the young missionary’s career begins in the institute? Therefore, when you are supporting the Bible institutes, you are sup porting missions. A Pattern of Personal Work Some one has pointed out that the whale that Jonah en countered was an excellent example of the successful per sonal worker, for the following reasons: 1. He was on time. Had he been a minute late, he would have spoiled the whole thing. 2. He concentrated on one at a time. 3. He didn’t pity Jonah. 4. He didn’t leave Jonah until he was praying. 5. He clung to Jonah until he landed him where he be longed. 6. He was modest. He delivered his passenger, and then disappeared. A Correction In the May issue, the article on “ Teaching the Gospel with Objects” was incorrectly credited to Robert L. Wil der instead of Elmer L. Wilder. An apology is due the author. Users of the lesson on “ The Deceitfulness of Sin” will wish to make note of the fact that in order to discolor the gasoline, black oil color is necessary. This was not made clear ip the instructions. Workers among boys and girls will be glad to know that Mr- Wilder has consented to allow T he K ing ’ s B usine $ s to publish in the future other object lessons that have been found effective.
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F A W ord A bout the A uthor I or more than_ th irty years, John Alexan der Clarke has been associated with the Garenganse Evan gelical M i s s i o n , which is the Belgian Congo b r a n c h of Christian Mi s s i ons in Many Lands. He
JUNGLE
was a fellow laborer with such stalwarts as Frederick Stanley Arnot, Walter Fisher, and Dan Crawford. It was Mr. Clarke’s privilege to meet the present King of the Belgians when the latter visited the Belgian Congo as Prince Albert, before he came to the throne. Subsequently, Mr. Clarke helped the Government of. that colony in many o f its attempts to stamp out the dreadful scourge o f sleeping sickness. For this and other humanitarian work on behalf o f the natives of the Congo, King Albert made him a Chevalier o f the Royal Order of the Lion and on the mis sionary’s return to Europe greatly hon ored him by receiving him in person at the Royal Palace in Brussels. This Was an honor indeed, coming from a Catholic monarch and conferred upon an ambas sador o f the Lord Jesus Christ. Mr. Clarke’s recent ministry in Los Angeles was marked by great blessing. The accompanying . article is a steno graphic report of a message which he gave over the radio, from the studio of the Bible Institute o f Los Angeles.
B y JOHN ALEXANDER CLARKE Chevalier De L’ordre Royale Du Lion
i f t is A quite common sight in the early morning, when the missionary leaves his house and steps out on his ver anda, to be confronted with anything from five to fifty men and women. The scene looks much like an open air market. Here is one woman with a basket of sweet potatoes. She puts her basket down and says, “ I want God’s Book.” A little farther along is a man with three or four chick ens. Presenting them, he says, “ My son wants God’s Book.” A chief has sent with a messenger a wretched goat, and it is tied to the side of the house. The messenger comes forward and says, “ Our chief wants ten of God’s Books.” And so it goes on. The British and Foreign Bible So ciety in London has sent us 20,000 copies of the Scriptures. They are going like hot cakes. As far as advanced education is concerned, we, as a mission, do not encourage it. We attempt only to give these people the Word of God in their own tongue, and give it to them at a price within their purchasing power. We believe, as do all the great Bible societies, that that for which a man has to pay, that which costs him something, is usually of much more value to him than that which he receives free. T heology in the J ungle It has been of great and intense interest to me in my study of the people to find that the Africans all believe in God. No African denies the existence o f God. They have many names for God— forty names in one language! Each name indicates some characteristic of God, because names in Africa, as in the Bible, always denote character. So when a man gives you his name, he feels he is giving himself away. That is why the Africans have so many names, because they do not want to give themselves away, except to a friend. When a boy hears of some strange word, such as “ soap,” he thinks that would be a wonder ful name. He uses it for a few months, saying, “ My name is Soapy.” Or one will hear, “ I am Knifey,” or “ I am Forkey.” One of the favorite names is “ Spooney.” The real name is only discovered as you come to know the man, and he opens his heart to you. So it is in these tribes when they speak of God. They say “ the Father of creation— the One who creates and the One who recreates.” The thought is, after we have spoiled the job, He is perfectly able to recreate us. Surely there is the great fundamental truth of regeneration. If we have rebelled and utterly spoiled our lives, we do not need to
be downheart ed. We may cast ourselves u p o n t h e mercy and the grace o f God, and says the A fr ica n , He will create us over a g a i n . This is what o u r L o r d meant w h e n H e s a i d , “ Marvel n o t that I say un
to you, Ye must be born again”—-that is, made over again. It is a very wonderful thing to find this truth in the midst of the African forest. Our African is always projecting himself into the un seen world. He is much more a spiritual being than we, are in this materialistic age. We will scarcely believe anything we do not see or feel. Our African is not so. He is a spiritual being. He projects himself into the great un known world. That intangible, invisible something is a great reality in his life. And yet he is in the dark. He tells us that God gives us food, and He gives us meat, and He gives us our children and our sunshine—and yet, the A f rican has not the full revelation of God that you and I, as Christian people, possess—the revelation that we have in the face of God’s Anointed, when the Word was made flesh and pitched its tent among us and we beheld the glory of the only begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. And so we find these people, every new moon, draw ing near to the little altar, sprinkling the blood, calling out to the great unknown God. Unable themselves to find God, they seek to devise means whereby they may draw near. They become spiritists. It is quite common to hear some one say, “ O spirit of my mother, think of me. Try to get before God and tell Him all about the boy you left down here on earth. Speak to Him on my behalf, and ask that He give me success. I am going out to shoot elephants. Put in a good word for me.” Here at once the missionary has a point of contact. He says there is no mediator between God and man except the Man Christ Jesus. He tells of One who died and lives again, who is now our Advocate in the presence of God.
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When Kapite listened to this story, she was bowed un der its melting power, and she yielded her life to Christ. After her baptism, in a river alive with crocodiles, she immediately set out for her home—about a three hours’ walk. Gathering all her kith and kin, she said, “ Come around me. I want to tell you all about God’s Son. You have' never heard about Him, but I want to tell you.” In a very short time, the whole of that district was wonder fully evangelized through this one woman. To show you her devotion to her Lord, let me tell you this little incident. I had spoken on the text: “ Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich.” I tried to tell of the riches of Christ and all His glories and excellencies. I scarcely observed Kapite as I spoke. But evidently the Word had gripped her heart. The next morning, I found her standing on my veranda. She was clasping a strange-looking object to her breast, s I looked at her I said, “ Kapite, how have, you got up this morning?” “ Oh,” she said, “ I have got up all right. I have brought you something for Jesus.” “What have you brought, Kapite ?” I asked her. She presented me with an old enameled plate, about ten or fifteen years old, badly chipped along the edges. Lying on the plate were twenty or thirty glass beads, the kind that we use for buying food. “What has made you bring this gift ?” I asked. “ Oh,” she said, “ you told us that our Lord was very rich, and yet He became a poor Man—so poor that He had nowhere to lay His head. When I lay down last night, it all came to me, and I said, ‘Here I am, lying here with my head on my little wooden pillow, and my Lord didn’t have even a wooden pillow on which to lay His head.’ It all came sweeping over me that I ought to do something to ex press my appreciation for what He has done for me.” “ But what about this plate, Kapite?” I wanted to know. “Well,” she said, “ I looked about my little black hut
Using that line of approach, the heart of the African is gripped, and he bows and turns from spiritism and super stition and accepts Jesus Christ as Lord. F lourishing I ndigenous C hurches ll over the land today, there are various centers where we find our fellow workers, the missionaries, labor ing. But there aré many other centers. Hundreds of small churches have sprung up, indigenous-churches we call them, where there is no white man, but where the native Africans carry on in their own simple, primitive way. They meet every morning at five o’clock to commend each other to God before they go out to their fields. From ten to two hundred and fifty church members may be found in a vil lage. They have no grand buildings— just simple sheds covered with thatch and ornamented with reeds and bam boo. They are typically African. The natives build them at their own expense.. And God has raised up leaders among the people. Why shouldn’t He ? The Holy Spirit is ^till here, and the great Head of the Church still gives gifts of administration as He will. Oftentimes I have ob served in Africa that a man who could not read nor write, but whb had a prodigious memory, and who stored his mind with the rich things from the Word of God, would be used of the Holy Spirit to draw forth from that fund of knowl edge treasures both new and old. I myself have again and again been refreshed as I have been in one of these simple little African churches, just as a fellow worshiper, and have heard the Africans, one after another, offering praise to God for His great love. E vidences of the S pirit ’ s W ork Take, for instance, the case of our old friend, Kapekele. He evidently was passing through a very deep and serious trial. I knew nothing about it. It was prayer meeting night in this little African church. One after another, the people prayed. Then Kapekele arose to his feet, and addressing God in the most reverent way the African knoiVs, “ Great Chief, the Unraveller of the Mysteries of our Lives, the Ancient of Days,” he thanked Him for salvation and
and I saw my cooking pots that I had made with my own hands, and I said, ‘I will give Him three or four of them.’ Then I remembered that they were of no value at all. You could buy one for two beads. Moreover, these hands made those pots; they are of no value. Then I saw on my floor three or four grass mats that I had made myself. But I said, ‘These are of no value at all. Kapite made t h e m.” Then, master, my eyes caught sight of this plate. I bought it two or three years ago, and the man who sold it to me Said that it took all the wis dom of the white man to
praised Him for the gift of His Son. Then he launched .into another line of thought. Evidently his sorrows began to surge in his mind, and he began to tell God all about them. Then he began to ques tion and to say, “ Why, why, why ?” He seemed to be baf fled for a moment. There was a long pause. Finally, his whole heart burst out in this expression, “ O Lord God, my loving Father, just go right on beating me, because I know You love me all the time!” This was the fruit of the movement of the Spirit of God in that dear fellow’s heart. Another case, that may be
C arriers in the S udan
o f interest, goes to prove that the gospel is still the power of God unto salvation, and that Christ’s touch has still its ancient power. It is the story of Kapite, who was sold three times into slavery. By and by, she came under the sound of the gospel. After listening for three or four times to the marvelous story of God’s love, she declared: “ That isn’t love. That is something transcending. We have love in our land. A mother loves her children. But you speak of God’s loving us when we were in rebellion. We have noth ing in our vocabulary to express that.”
make that plate. It is the most precious thing that I have in my house. I said to myself, ‘I am going to give it to the white man and asked him to accept it for Jesus’ sake.’ ” When Kapite ceased, I bowed my head and worshiped in the presence of such marvelous devotion. Looking at it from a worldly point of view, the gift was worthless. That was Judas’ point of view. But Kapite, like one of old, out of a heart running over with joy and gladness, expressed her love for her Lord and Master by giving tbe best that she had.
T h e
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June 1932
K i n g ’ s B u s i n e s s
• / ) / I l lu d e iow a rd
stons- ■AND OURS
B y ROBERT H. GLOVER* Phi!adelphia£KPa.
I
DO NOT WANT to think of you this morn ing as a large congrega tion, but rather as a num ber of individuals. I should like to ask you ■personally what you con ceive your relation to be to this burning question of carrying out Christ’s last command to take His gospel to the whole
and unconcern among the great majority of professing Christians toward the missionary task. Then there are others who, thank God, view it more seriously, but whose conception o f missions is at best as a charity, a benevolence. They conceive the circle of their duty or obligation to be a much smaller area—their home town, or home state, or at most their home country, and anything they may be dis posed to do or to give for those outside that circle they con sider-a charity, something outside of their responsibility. That was not Paul’s conception. He did not say, “ I am a hero,” or, “ I am a benefactor.” He did not say, “ I want you Romans to appreciate that I am conferring a great favor upon you because I choose to take the gospel to you.” No, he simply claimed to be an honest man and thus ready to pay his debts. He said, “ I owe you the gospel.” I submit to you that there is a world of practical dif ference between viewing missionary effort as a charity and as a debt. As a charity, it is a secondary thing; as a debt, it is primary. As a charity, it is optional; as a debt, it is obligatory. Let us take a homely illustration. I see a man come down this aisle. I turn and look at him. He is clothed in rags and tatters, and holds out a dirty cap. I at once recognize him as a beggar, and put ting my hand into my pocket, I pull out a coin, flip it into his cap, and motion him to be gone. I say, in effect, “ You are a stranger to me. I owe you nothing. Take what I am minded to give you, and please go away.” That is cheap. That is easy. That is charity. ut now I see another man coming down the aisle, holding an envelope in his hand. He hands it to me, and on opening it I find inside a bill reading, “ R. H. Glover, debtor”^—to the amount, let us say, of one hundred dollars. Do I get rid of that man in the same way as the other? Hardly! It is a different proposition. I am his debtor. I owe him a hundred dollars. It is not a matter of giving him anything that I may feel like giving, but of dis charging to the full an indebtedness; not a matter of in difference, but one o f serious concern; not a matter of my spare cash, but of my last dollar, if necessary. My friend, “ how much owest thou thy Lord” ? Are t missions in your “ debt” column or your “ charity” column? j It will make a world of practical difference to your going, i your praying, and your giving, just how you view this en- ' terprise. Have you been acting toward missions as though you owed the heathen something? If Paul was a debtor, are we less? If he was constrained to say, “Necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is me if I preach not the gospel,*’ can we be less concerned ? Let it be borne in upon our con sciences that we owe every man and woman o f our gen eration a chance to hear of Jesus, the only Saviour. We owe them the gospel, first of all, because it is the only and the sure remedy for their ills. What China needs
world. What does the Great Commission mean to you? Has it any personal implication for you ? What is your atti tude toward the work of world evangelization? I want to call to your attention the attitude of the great missionary, the Apostle Paul, as expressed in three verses of the first chapter of his letter to the Romans: “ I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are in Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” I like to call these verses Paul’s missionary creed. Let us strip them down to the bone, as it were, and note those three terse little statements, each beginning with the state ment, “ I am.” “ I am debtor . . . I am ready . . . I am not ashamed.” At once concise and comprehensive, what better expression of a Christian’s missionary creed could we have! They reveal to us that the Master’s Great Com mission and the world’s spiritual need made a threefold appeal to Paul: “ I am debtor” —an appeal to his con science : “ I am ready ”— an appeal to his heart; “ I am not ashamed” —an appeal to his spiritual experience. And I believe God wants the same threefold, appeal to come home to our hearts this morning. “ I A m D ebtor ” TP his is an appeal to our Christian conscience—not merely to our sentiment, or our emotions. Paul here lays the true foundation for missionary interest and effort upon a basis of obligation, of responsibility. There are some who seem to think of missions as a mere hobby on the part o f a few pious folk who, for some strange reason, choose to bury themselves somewhere yonder in heathen lands, when they might have made a decent living at home. There is an appalling indifference *Home Director for North America o f the China Inland Mission. Dr. Glover was chosen to deliver the annual missionary sermon at the Church o f the Open Door, Los Angeles, the substance o f which is given here.
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is Jesus Christ. What Africa needs is Jesus Christ. Noth ing else will suffice. Civilization will not do, education will not do, reformation will not do; they need a living, life- giving Saviour. Thank God, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, no less there than here. hen we owe it to them also because o f what it has done for us. What is the difference between us and a degraded Hottentot or a Fiji Islander? Is there any in herent superiority of Occidentals over Orientals? Are we
agony for China. He had been there and knew the needs. No one was meeting them. 'Finally, he flung himself down on the sands and poured out his heart to God. Then God spoke, and said, “ I am going forth to evangelize inland China, and if you will go with me, I ’ll make you my chan nel.” And that man, a humble, ordinary, obscure man, said “ yes” to God. Little did he dream of the sequel to that surrender— the China Inland Mission as it has since developed, with its 1,285 missionaries, its 300 stations distributed throughout
Westerners made of bet ter stuff than the men and women of the East? No, indeed. Missionaries can give you scores of in stances where converts there put us to shame, even with one tithe of our privilege, by the lengths to which they go in Christian exp e r ien ce , devotion, and sacrifice. No, the difference be tween us and them is one of privilege, of opportun ity. W e have been bask ing in the sunshine of the knowledge and love of God all our lives, while
sixteen great provinces, and all the resultant sal vation of souls and spir itual fruitage. No, Hud son Taylor could not foresee all this, but he said “ yes” to God, and God wrought through him. And if you and I, in the same way, will say, " I am ready, as much as in me i s " I know there are some things that will happen. Some o f us will GO. You say, “ It never oc curred to me that I should go.” That may be
Dare we disappoint Him? Brethren, let us rise; He who died for us Is watching from the skies; Watching, till His royal banner Floateth far and wide, Till He seeth o f His travail — Satisfied!
they have been out in the cold, dark midnight of heathen ism and superstition. But have you thought what it might have meant if that man of Macedonia whom Paul saw in a vision had been a man of Persia or India, and the tide of evangelization had turned eastward over Asia rather than westward over Europe? It would have meant that we would today be bowing down before idols and sunken in the degradation of heathenism, while they would be en joying our gospel blessings. Let each of us ask himself the question, “ Am I doing as much for them as I would hope and expect that they would do for me if the tables were turned, and I this morning were where they are, and they were where I am ?” “ I A m R eady ” Here the appeal is to our Christian heart. The appeal to conscience is necessary, yet it is insufficient. The heart must be reached. Logic must give way to love. hat a splendid example Paul presents of Christian discipleship! No sooner is his conscience convicted of indebtedness than his heart responds, “ I am ready, as much as in me is.” He boasted himself the bondslave o f Jesus Christ. Life and Ueatn were one and the sarne with him, only feat Jesus Chriit might be magnified. Once All o f us will PRAY . We cannot all go, but, thank God, we can all pray. And prayer is, after all, the-might^ iest factor in missions, because the great thing in missions is not methods or money or even men. The great thing in missions is God, and His almighty working, and that work ing is called forth by prayer as by nothing else. " I f ye ask . . . 7 will do.” Prayer is the most potent factor in missions. It is prayer that levels barriers, bursts open closed doors,\ thrusts forth workers, releases money to support them, i sustains their strength, gives power to their message, aiMx leads souls to Christ. We cannot all be preachers, but evefy giveira vision of'Je?usCh~rist and a lost world, Paul n e v e i o n e of us can by prayer project ourself from this room, so. It never occurred to a lot o f young men to go over seas to Europe until something happened in 1914, but then conscription was laid upon them and it became a question, not of “whv go?” but r^Vmr- r,f “ „rhy ^nf- pt >?” Every young man had to be able to give a satisfactory reason why he could not go or why, by staying, he could contribute his quota better than by going. And the divine command is, “ Go.” ^Conscription, moreover, has been laid upon us as Christians and we are not our own'; we have been bought with a price. In the face of the Great Commission and the world’s crying need, are we holding back with less than an excuse such as will prove satisfactory when we come to give an account before Him?
thereafter allowed self-interest to challenge for a single instant the absolute lordship of Christ, that He might achieve His purposes through his life. Are we “ ready, as much as in us is” ? “ How much.is that?” you ask. I cannot say. I do not know how much is in you. But more than that, even you do not know until you give God a Ichance. God does not give us our gifts full grown, but in embryo. Only as-wemse them' do they develop, and do we discover how much God can do through us. D o you think that young man knew how much was in him who, on a Sunday morning in June, sixty-seven years ago, paced the sands of Brighton Beach, England, in an agony o f soul concern for inland China, unlighted with the gospel ? The church bells were ringing, calling the peo ple to worship, but he could not go in. He was suffering
or from our closet, into the uttermost corner of the world and bring to pass things that would not otherwise take place, for “ prayer changes things.” et prayer , I am afraid, is the last thing that some of Oi us do, and the thing that gets the least of our time, Should we not be convicted, when God has given us this blessed privilege, has placed this mighty power at our dis posal, if we do not pray? How much have we really prayed for missions? How much time and labor have we given to missionary intercession? We shall have, like the apostles of old, to “ give ourselves unto prayer,” to make prayer a previous engagement, a fixed appointment, and to safeguard it from intrusion and interruption. It is only when prayer costs that it counts. And we shall also have to be ever on the alert to gather facts and information
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