The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-07-26

a purely sentimental basis. A body OF
actual information is essential.
Whoever possesses a fair and repre-
sentative knowledge concerning Chris
tan missions Is sure to be ad advo-
cate of the enterprise.
OF the many-sided services which
foreign missions have rendered to the
homeland none has been greater than
the charging and vitalizing of the con-
ception of patriotism. Canada has seen
no more nationalIy-useful event for Il
decade than the recent missionary con-
gress in Toronto THOUSANDS of men
in the southern states have caught
| their first real glimpse of America s
character and destiny at the great mis-
| sionary conventions The best patriot
is the least provincial; he understands
| the relation of his own land to the
whole earth. The foreign missionary
thus has been minister to the best
| national spirit at home, as we'll as to
! the national prestige abroad.
Flour mills need grain, looms need
thread and minds need themes for
thought. Would it embarrass the aver
age person if somebody with authority
were suddenly to demand of him what
material he has for profitable mental
operations? Baseball is not an adequate
grist for the mill OF the male mind nor
clothes for the brain of his sister. The
trivialities of gossip; food and daily
routine are, broadly speaking, wholly
insufficient. II ones intellectual ma
emery is to do the work for which it
is designed, it must have something
worth while to operate upon: and
something objective at that. whittier
this thought leads is plain. The priu-
ciples, the personalities and the per-
fOrnances of Christian missions are a
vast and profitable subject for thought
They constitute, with their correlativcE,
an adequate life interest. They are
broad and broadening; deep and deep
ening; high and heightening. They de-
liver from small mindedness, and ex-
pand ones intellectual horizon. Mis-
siOns are point of contact with all
that makes earth and all that makes
heaven.
To have great friends is inspiring |
Most of US, however. cannot know in |
person lives which the world has ac-
knowledged as great. Through HI |
ography this is possible. An intimate |
acquaintance with some of the heroes |
of missionary history is possible to |
even those persons who com plain |
most about the narrowness of their lot |
Increasingly, missionary news gets |
on to the cables Because it is not |
labelled missions some persons fail |
to recognize it Thus, China's call for |
prayer was perhaps the most single |
significant piece of missionary intel |
igence that has come out of Asia /
within a century. The alert friends of /
missions will watch the daily press for /
''tidings from affair"
Profound truths may Turk beneath /
commonplace facts. Thus. the bare
report of conversions to Christianity
upon the mission field carries with it |
the tremendous principle that the Cos
pei has power to overcome pagan
faiths and to transform heather lives.
than this. 1t vindicates the PROPOSE
ton that Christ is still alive in the
spirit of men and He can make sinful |
men holy. Thus there is fresh vitaIi-
Zation for our dearest beliefs in the
facts of missions.
All kinds of information-ethni |
political, social, economic, industrial
and curious are wrapped up in the
commonplace phrase. Missionary In
telligence.''
All kinds of information, both at
home and abroad, is what the topic
calls an essential. The people to
whom the gospel is carried need the
contained in the Bible and
in church history. The converts who
stand unshakable are those who are
grounded deeply in the truths of Scrip
ture. News of present day Christian
progress promotes the solidarity of
the church in the foreign field with
the church in Christian lands.