The Covington leader. (Covington, Tenn.) 18??-current, 1920-12-16

THE OPEN DOOR
8 NAAANAANNAANNNANA
(Published by Request. J


Published by Request.)
Behold / have set before thee an
open door, and no man can shut il"
We call the attention Of our read
ers to-
The open door Of salvation. We
need be in no doubt as to what this
is, for our Lord expressly says, 81
am the door; by me if any man enter
in he shall be saved, and shall 20 in
and out and find pasture" And what
an inviting picture this is! Not a
door closed and barred on which we
must knock and knock before en-
trance will be given; not even an
open door which leads into a strange
house where We may not be sure of
our welcome; but loving, gracious
Saviour standing with outstretehed
hands to welcome the unsaved sin
nerl This door stands open wher-
ever His gospel is preached, for he
himself is always there. ready to
make good in his own loving per-
son the gracious invitations of his
word
And this door no man can shut.
No one can come between YOU and
Christ: all the powers of hell can not
separate YOU from him, nor prevent
your obtaining salvation through him,
if you will only come and enter bv
the door. Thank God for this open
door Of salvation!
Behold the ark of God.
BehOl5 the omen door.
Hasten TO gain that dear abode,
And rove, my soul, no more
The open door Of worldwide Op-
portUnitv. The day has been when
the whole world seemed closed to the
gospel High walls of prejudice
barred the way, bitter enmity and
persecution awaited the missionaries
even if they succeeded in getting
foothold in the great heather nations
Of the world, and from many of them
they were absolutely excluded, Often
when there was an easy entrance for
the trader and merchant. the door
was closed to the missionary. Thus.
the East India Company did it's best
to exclude Carey and his fellow work
ers from beginning their work
among the Hindoos. Japan had her
exclusion laws. making it death even
to enter the Sunrise Empire and to
ATTEMPT to preach the gospel there.
And China was almost sealed land,
in which the missionary was consid-
cred "a foreign devil" even If he was
temporarily tolerated.
-
All this is in the past, and the pres
en- Is the day Of marvellous oppor-
tunitv and of eager interest and
hearty welcome for the missionary
Of the cross.
AS to Japan, Kanamori sayss 1.-THE
mighty power Of the HOLY Spirit as
an undercurrent is surging through
Japan. There is great harvest
white and ready for the reaper"
As to China. there is universal
testimony to show the eagerness of
the people to receive the gospel. The
whole nation has been humbled bv
the sense Of her weakness, through
her recent bitter experiences in the
face of Japanese and other foreign
aggression. Even the proud literary
classes are turning to the gospel Of
Christ as the one hope Of China. Mr.
Fletcher RrOckman. renorting his
work in China. saws: az have held
evangehstic meetings ia nearly every
country in Europe. all over America
and the Orient. and in all nv ex-
perience ] have never seen any audi
ences that Appropriated those which
! recently addressed in China. in
their earnest and almost unanimous
response to the gospel appeal."
| From Africa, from Latin America
comes the same story. The eager
and unceasing demand for gospel
workers is far beyond what the
church has vet been able to supply.
Buildings have been erected in Africa
which rOtted down before the evange-
list could come and use them. Depu-
tation after denutation from unevail-
gelized tribes has been turned away
dissatisfied from the mission stations,
without the teachers and preachers for
whom they were asking. Not only
ETHIOPIA Fps. 6S:3N almost the
whole world is now stretching out
her hands unto Cod"
The open heart. the omen eve and
the open hand. These three THINGS
are needed if we are TO enter the
omen door We need harris respon-
sive to the worlds call and to the
Saviour's command: we need eyes to
see IS well as hearts to feel. vision
of the worlds need and our opuor-
tunitv: We need an erlaroed libar-
alitv which opens its hands tn give
IN scale commensurate with the
laonness Of the oppnrtunitv.
IF there is one thirc. therefore.
which should arrest attention. arouse
interest and stirtulate orr fuller
conservation y lis this Cell Of the