The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-05-24
(BY VIM. T. ELLIS

sion Wodk at Home and Abroad. V
Industrial Missions" Acts 1S:1-6.
(BY VIM. II. ELLIS.)
The Great Catastrophe of 1913" i!
what DR.. Charles M. Sheldon called {
brilliant allegory which he publishei
! recently in The Independent. It pic
tured the gradual palsying of thu
/ hands that labored. This strange at.
/ Fiction spread from man to man, un,
til all the hands that did the worlds
! work were useless. In kitchen, mill
shop, mine-wherever men and wO
men toiled with their hands, this my s.
! ferrous epidemic spread. When soft
handed brain-workers and employers
| tried to take the place of the laborers
| they too became afflicted. All the
machinery of civilization was stop
| ped within a week. Then, in the
/ darkness of this unparalleled Gala
nifty, the world learned how depend
| ent it is upon the manual worker. I,r
| Sheldon's dramatic sllegory was a
unique tribute to the part industry
plays in life. The great preacher
never uttered from his pulpit a might
! Ter sermon than this gospel of labor
The strength of the church is the
everyday man who labors. Board
| secretaries and ecclesiastical digni-
taries and some pastors may occa-
SlOnaIly faWn upon the rich man, but
the Christian ministry understands
full well that it is the small regular
gifts OF the Worklngmen, rather than
the contributions of the few large
giverS. which pay the expenses of
church wodk. This is true on the fin
ancial side. 1t is doubly true on the
side of service and worship. The great
bulk of the church membership IF
North America is made up of work
mgmen. The best friends and fol-
lowers of the Nazareth Carpenter have
ever been the men who toll.
One of the finest of all poems of
labor is Henry van Dykes 'Toiling of
Felix. These extracts may stand by
themselves
&" Every mason in the quarry, every
builder on the shore,
Every chopper in the palm grove,
every raftsman at the oar,
'Hewing wood and drawing water,
splitting stones and cleaving SOD
All the dusty ranks of labor, in the
regiment of God,
March together toward His triumph.
do the task His hands prepare;
Honest toll is holy service; faithful
work is praise and prayer
They who tread the path of labor
follow where My feet have
trod;
They who work without complaining
do the holy will of God
This is the gospel of labor, ring it. We
bells of the kirk
The Lord of Love came down from
above, to live with the men
who work.
This is the rose that He planted, here
in the thorn-crust soil:
Heaven is blest with perfect rest, but
the blessing of earth is TOLL
On the mission field as everywhere
else. Christianity has to do with men
who work In some lands notably in
India, the missionaries have had to
raj fhnir ;r,+1 fx~,-
of self-support. Rejected from their
old relationships because they have
become Christians, these natives hay e
to be taught other industries. Thus it
is that in India especially there are
great many Industrial missions. some
of which are almost wholly self-sUp-
porting.
Ascend step in choosing a
friend is a wise saying The choice
of Christ by multitudes of pagans
has resulted in their rising to new
and higher plane of life The case of
Christian Indian sons of outcast faith
erS who became converts is in point.
There are young men in the govern
ment service in India today, whose
stimulus to new life and whose educa-
ton were secured through the mis-
sionaries, who are making more
money in a month than their fathers
made in a year. They have risen
above the old despised caste. and have
become honored members of the COM
munity. With them, ever. the Cos
pei has meant largeness OF life, as well
as newness of life.
The old cry rice Christians" is sell
dom heard nowadays. 1t once was
freely charged that ASiatics became
Christians only for gain The strength
and self support and beneVolence of
the native Christians are a sufficient
answer to this. On the whole, the
converts on the mission field give
more, relatively. to the work of the
gospel than the Christians in the home
land.
The lace making of Armenia, China,
India. Japan and Korea-immense in
dustries, which now support tens or
thousands of personS-WaS taught TO
the natives by missionaries. protestant
and Roman Catholic. This is but one
instance of the introduction of new
vocations by the Representatives of the
gospel.
1t was q missionary who invented
the jinricksha. that indispensable We
hicle of Asia, which has given employ
ment to hundreds of thousands of
men.
We may not overlook the native
teachers in mission lands who have
been fired with n passion for service
to their country because of their
Christian training.
The gospel has business with all of
man, as well as with all men. 1t inn
parts self respect, and habits of thrift
and industry, so that, for instance in
Korea today. the difference between
the Christians and the heather is ap-
parent at a glance. IF any man be in
Christ Jesus, he is a new creature
new all the way through.