The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-01-16
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

The Christians of America now have
 an opportunity to practice Bible precepts in Bible lands, for the people who now dwell in the Holy Land where Jesus walked and taught, are looking with eag- CT, pleading eyes to the great nation of the west.
 And the west is hardening to the cry of the east. In Jaffa there is an orphan age; in Hebron a medical station and a soup kitchen; in Jerusalem, Jericho, Bethlehem, Caesarea, and almost all towns west of the Jordan, relief work of all kinds has been established. The re- zion about Mt. Sinai no longer echoes to the thunders of the law, but is the
 scene of ministrations to the needy people
 by followers of Him who came not to
 be served but to serve.
 Antioch (Antakia), Ephesus, Tarsus and Smyrna no longer recall to our minds only the missionary journeys of Paul of Tarsus, but the modern ministering to the necessities of saints undertaken 
 in those places by the representatives often missionary-of the Armenian com mittee for the relief of the near east.
 
 The region about Mt. Ararat no longer speaks to us only of the story of the flood and of the ark that came to rest when the waters abated, but of suf- fering and sorrowing population deported from it's home. Babylon, Nimeveh and Ardana ring not only of empires and legends of ancient ages, but of mod
 ern lands where the descendants of an cient peoples cry desperately for help and receive it-from the newest of the worlds great nations.
 deported Armenians, Syrians, Greeks,
 Persians and other destitute of western
 Asia are turning and must turn for aid.
 They ask for bread. Shall we offer them
 stone? Now is our opportunity to show in the lands made luminous by the foot
 prints of Christ and the apostles what
 Christianity means in the twentieth con-
 tury. It is the greatest chance which
 has come since the birth of the Babe of
 Bethlehem to give the gospel to the mingled races of the near east and carry
 on the teachings of the humble Eazarene who went about doing good.
 With America playing the Good Samari tan on a broad and generous scale, with the Christlike healing of the sick and feeding of the hungry we can make royal highway for our God into the are without God and without hope in the
 world lying bleeding and broken along the highways, or hid out in caves and noun tain fastnesses, or wandering in deserts, victims of the awful cruety of the fol- lowers of Mahomet, trained in modern
 methods of destruction under the pitiless system of Prussianism which converted whole lands into shambles.
 If we believe in the teachings of the Master, let us not fail Him now. The sum asked for the work is pitiably small when measured by the need. for the com mittee only asks for $3O,o0o.0oo to supply the pressing needs of nearly 100000 disin- herited ones who are widely scattered and hopelessly destitute. The need of these deported people of the near east. in time of almost universal need, is overwhelmingly greater than that of any other people in the wide world. whole nation is entirely dependent upon the mercy of strangers Tens of thousands have died. The survivors have reached prccarious safety in lands where starva- tion was already following on the heels of war, and where the hosts could only share famine with their guests. viscount James Brice. the diplomat. publicist and statesman. man of rare culture and wide travel. and who weighs
 we'll his words. says: But now from thu