The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-09-20

lay them down at the Masters feet to
be spent in loyal service for those VINO
knew Him not. 1t is not necessary TO
discuss the need for }aborers; this is
| so apparent that it needs no discus
sion. What we need to-day IS to
know the remedy and then apply 1t
| to the disease. More than one earnest
| minister of the Gospel has presented
the needs Of his field, and then sup
posed that the people would flock to
| his support, only to be sadly dIsap-
| pointed. No, the Masters way is the
best way. He did not tell the disciples
| to 60 out and exhort the people to be-
| come laborers for Him; He sent them
to the owner of the vineyard with
| request that he send forth laborers
| into his harvest; Pray ye therefore
the Lord of the harvest that He send
forth laborers into His harvest"
Prayer is the divine method, and be-
lieve that more wOrkmen have gone
| forth in response to definite. earnest
petition offered by men and women
| who have felt the need for laborers
than by the use of any other method.
| Let the members of the church begin
| to feel the multitudes without, let
them begin to pray that the people may
be saved, let them ask the Lord OF the
harvest TO send forth laborers and
hundreds Of those who are to-day with
in the very shadow Of our churches
will be led into the way Of life.
| And now, in conclusion, may l say
that those who are led to pray for the
multitude are usually LED into larger
service on their behalf. Thirty years
ago, SAYS recent writer in religious
paper, the region about London docks
contained as large a population as any
district in Africa. Back Of the huge
warehouses were innumerable courts
and alleys filed with fog and dirt, and
every horror of sight and sound ana
smell. It was a rendezvous for the
lowest types of humanity. The wealthy
and influential classes in this settle
ment were the rumsellers and gam
blers. Children were born and grew TO
middle age in these precincts WHO
never heard the name Of Jesus except
in an oath. Thirty thousand souls We're
included in one parish here, but the
CLERGYMAN never ventured out OF the
church to teach. A young man named
| Charles Lowder, belonging to an oId
English family, happened to pass
through the district just before leaving
| Oxford His classmates were going
into politics, or the army, or the par,
| full of ambition and hope, to make a
name in the world; but LoWder heard'
as he said, "a cry Of mingled agony,
suffering. laughter and blasphemy
coming from those depths, that rang in
his ears 60 where he would" On his
knees before his Maker he asked that
helm might be sent to those who were
diving for the Water of Life. God gra-
| ciously led him to see that the man
| who felt the need the most would be
the one who could do the most lot
| the people, and be gave up all plans
| for his life and went to labor among
those for whom he had prayed. He
! took a house in The lowest slums and
! lived in it. he preached every day IN
the streets, and for months was pelted
with brickbats, shot at and driven pack
with curses. BE had unfortunately
no eloquence with which to reach them'
he was a slow, stammering speaker,
but he was bold, patient and in earnest.
Even the worst ruffian learned to re-
spect the tall thin cuTate, whom he
| saw stopping the worst street tights,
nursing the victim Of Asiatic cholera
and facing mobs bent on taking his
life.
Mr.. Lowder lived in London docks
twenty-three years. Night schools were
opened, industrial schools and refuge
for drunkards, discharged prisoners
and fallen women. A large church was
built and several mission chapels. alS
chief assistants in the work were tue
men and women whom he had rescued
from the paths that abut on nell: a
visitor said that the church dlHerea
| from others in that "all were in sucn
deadly earnest" Mr.. Lowder broke
down under his work and died n a VII
lage in the Tyrol whittier he had gone
for rest. He was brought back TO
the docks where he had worked so
long. Across the bridge where he had
once been chased by mob bent on
taking his life. his body was reverently
carried while the police were Obliged
to keep back the crowd of sobblnS peo-
ME who pressed forward to get
rIimpse Of "Father' Lowder. as they
called him. No such funeral, says
London paper, has ever been seen IN
England. The whole population or
East London turned out, stopping work
for that day; the special trains run to
Chiselhurst were filed, and thousands
followed on loot, miserable men and
women whom he had lifted up from
barbarism to life and hope. -.
| Charles Lowder had seen the mutt,
tude, the compassion Of Christ had
filed his heart. his prayer had been
answered, and if he could have looked
over the battlements of Heaven tnat
dav he would have realized that MS
labor had not been in vain in the Lord.