The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-10-28

~E Ma oSAkSV6 SAoS2J4 "a t~-E-F-FFt-&
Grateful, wear it for His sake,
Swcetly bending to, His vii,
Lying still.
TO His own the Saviour giycth, r
Daily strength;
To each troubled soulLhat 1iveth,
Peace at length.
Weakest lambs have largest share
OF the tender Shepherds care,
Ask him not, then, "when" or show"
Only bow.
Prom the German.
Missions, Ii strength Of the Church.
The prosecution Of the work 0i
missions is not less needed fer4the
health and growth Of the Church al
home, than for the spread of Highland
life abroad. Great as is the destitu
tiop of these perishing millions, the
peril Of u own decline and decay is
not less imminent if this mission and
commission be neglected and dis.
honored. If the heather need to-
have the light and life of God, we
need not less to give 1t.
Our Lords last command was sig
ni6cantly coupled with a last promise;
and only so far as that command Is
obeyed is that promise enjoyed. The
witness Of history is loud and clear.
In every age Christ's presence with
His people has been in exact proper.
tion to their missionary activity.
The apostolic age was the golden age
of the Church; it was the missionary
era, when common disciples scattered
abroad went everywhere preachingthe
Word. The dark ages of putrefaction
and petrifaction came rapidly, When
the Church drew herself like a snail
into her shell, and her shell was like
her little world. The great refcrma-
tion would have been followed bySa
great relapse, but that the spirit OF
missions revived; and if another
golden age is before us, it is because
the era Of universal missions is dawn.
ing.
DR.. Duff thundered this apostolic
warning: "The church that is not
eoange1istic will soon cease to be
ecangelicaz," a sentiment SO true both
to the Bible and history, that it rings
like the clarion of Inspiration. Dr..
John Hall said that the "true gauge
of a church's life and vitality is found
in what she is doing outside of her
SELF" Nothing is needed by such
weak churches so much as that unset
fish passion for souls that reacts upon
ourselves.
The church needs. first Of all, a
fuller knowledge of the facts. The
prevailing ignorance as to the condition
Of the mission field, and especially as
to the marvellous triumphs of the
Gospel among the heather, is not only
lamentable, but culpable and shame
full. The opening Of doors, great and
effectual, in every part OF the world
during these last fifty years, and the
repeated and signal seal of Gods
blessing on modern missions, present
the nearest reproduction Of the age Of
miracles since apostolic times.
Of these great facts wehave nj right
to be ignorant; for facts are the fingers
Of God. No truly earnest disciple can
keep himself constantly appraised Of
the facts-can keep his own informa-
ton abreast of the onward movement
of Gods evangelizing hosts-without
finding his heart thrilling with min
gled Joy and expectation. Does he know
what has been done in the Hawaiian
Islands, the Fiji group, and Madagas-
CARP Does he follow the marvels Of
the last two decades in India, China,
and Japan? Does he realize that It
the ratio of concerts in the Celestial
Empire" shall continue thirty years
longer at the rate Of progress since
Robert Morrison first landed at Can
ton in 1907, there will be more than
25,000,000 church members in that
empire in 1918? And China is the
Gibraltar of heathenism! Who among
all that treat foreign missions with
indifference can tell what johnson
saw at Sierra Leone within seven years,
what Powell witnessed at Nanumaga
within the same time, or Duncan iA
Colombia? what Lindley saw among
the Zulus, Clough among the Telugus,
Jessup in Syria, Scudder in Inia, and
McAll in Belleville? No; the bulk of
Christian disciples are as ignorant Of
Gods campaign amid the tottering
walls of heathendom and Popedom as
though this war of the ages were In
progress on another planet.
We must meet this disease Of the
body ecclesiastic with heroic treatment.
This ignorace is a mere negative de-.
fect-a lack of knowledge, and yetit
is doing the most positive and terrible
damage.
Perhaps, after all, the deeper diff
Guilty, underlying all else, is the lack
of prayer. Zeal for missions means
passion for souls, which is the very
blood heat of the heart of Christ. God
will not touch our hearts with that
Celestial coal which sets the whole
wheel of nature aglow with a Divine
ardor and fervor, except in answer to
prayer; and believing prayer is not
,esorted to, to any extent. We preach,
appeal for gifts, solicit subscribers for
our missionary journals, multiply and
magnify the attractions at our month
y concerts, send ont missionaries from
ureoatiOns as living links be-