THE KING’S BUSINESS
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Workers in Persia \\T E are thinking today o f the little * * band o f men and, women in Persia. A great moral force, holding back the waves o f fanaticism, ignorance, avarice and brutality. Let your imagination play a lit tle in thinking o f this noble band o f your fellow Presbyterians and fellow Christians, standing for righteousness, feeding hungry thousands, and maintaining that rigjit and not might must* rule the world. Let your imagination picture what is being done by the group o f Christians in the interior of Kamerun. All the savage instincts o f a pagan race have been aroused by the unnat ural war—with the German and Bulu on the one side, and the French and Fang and English on the other. The American Missionary stands there, holding the Cross o f Christ as the world’s only hope. Kindle your imagination as you think o f these mod ern crusaders,- without an army, without world resources, sustained by the mission spirit, and "by love, for those ideals for which life alone is worth living. Word, has just been received that at the April Com munions there were present at the Interior stations, at Metet, 2,500; at Lolodorf, 2,200; at Elat, 6,400; and at Fulasi (the newest station), the “usual crowd.” In Syria your missionaries are feeding the hungry, caring for the sick,-sheltering the persecuted, enduring hardship. The only altruistic man in the Oriental world today is the man who has gone forth in the name o f Christ. Picture in your mind; cultivate the imagination and you will get a little o f the inspiration which every mis sionary advocate must have, be he a com mitteeman in a little country church or a great preacher pleading before the world powers for the saving o f the integrity o f a great republic like China. George D. Gelwicks, Hengchow, China, writing to Over Sea and Land : Little Fu Cheng feared devils, and had never heard o f Jesus. It was night, his father was
dying, and everyone was frightened. The priests came and lighted incense sticks before the idols and candles and lamps, but still it was all dark in their hearts. His mother.'and sisters were crying and wailing in the room. Everybody forgot the pretty robes o f the priests, and found no com fort as they blew flutes or chanted prayers. When the coffin was carried to the grave the priests went ahead beating gongs, this terrible noise being to scare away the dev ils. Behind the coffin came men scattering paper money on the ground, not real money but the kind burnt in offerings to false gods. They hope that greedy demons com ing to catch the dead man’s soul will stop to pick up» the money and lose the way. When a boy is born a piece o f wild pine apple leaf is tied on the outside o f the front door, with a piece o f red paper. A boy is often given a girl’s name or one ear is pierced and an earring worn, to deceive the evil spirit. Instead o f kissing a baby, they smell the baby’s neck. The Hainanese live in constant fear o f evil spirits, but when they hear the gospel and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, all fear and superstition is taken away. That is what the gospel does for these poor, ignorant people. The knowledge o f the Truth frees them from all fear and super stition. Since September, 1913, 93 people have been baptized in the district covered by the Nodoa church. On the I9th o f the month when Nodoa market was formally opened for business, there was an idol pro cession and in the evening, fireworks just in front o f the chapel. That day an elec tric cross was put up on our tower, and in the evening, while the heathen had fire works in honor o f their idols,' ever and anon the cross flashed its light over the crowd in honor o f the Saviour o f mankind. As one o f the Christians; said: “ God’s light,” meaning the cross, “was much stronger, more beautiful and more endur ing than the light o f the idols.”
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