The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1920-02-20

been told that in Palestine you "can'
always sometimes" tell who is rlct
and who is poor. But l think / risl
nothing in saying that the great body
of the farming people of TINS country
are suffering from grinding poverty
Those of the larger cities are recover
ing more rapidly from the Turk anc
the war.
Mohammedanism is a greater curse
to a people than the Turk, and it has
been the fate Of poor Palestine tc
suffer for ages from both. No religion
that the world has ever seen can make
a people more content with evils than
that of the false prophet. It can at
the same time create the deepest pre-
judice and fanaticism against pre-
thing not itself. The result is that
the Musselman is hard man to con.
vert. It is most difficult to get him
even to adopt the material blessings
of Christianity. He sees those bless
ings but he seems not to care for
them. Take, for instance, the appli-
cation of the laws of sanitation which
we in America have found so neces-
sary in preventing disease and conta-
gion. The Mohammendan meets dis
ease and contagion as in the
will of God and he does not
care to prevent them. This is only
a sample of hundred other things
and it pointsh to the fact that before
much can be done for the improve
ment of the condition Of Mohamme-
dan people you will have to get bet
ter religious ideas in their heads. But
their fanaticism and prejudice against
Christianity is so intense and univer.
sal that to convert them has been up
to this time the greatest problem our
religion has ever faced.
Let US look at this problem as it
is. The Episcopal church has been
at work in Palestine for the Moham-
medans since 1856. / have met sew
eral of the missionaries Of this
church and have been impressed with
their genuine worth. They have
built good houses of worship, have
established schools, have done hospi-
tai, orphanage and relief work. I
asked one of their missionaries how
many Mohammedans had been con-
verted by their mission since it began
in 1856; and she told me twelve.
Only twelve in sixty-iVe years! !
asked why it was that results had
been so neagre; and she said that one
reason was because when liohaa1-
nle3aa becomes q Christian it is at
once the duty Of every oc5sr AoAa"l-
ma3an, duty erjojred by the
Korean, to Kill him; ard so iar, it
has been duty which he Moham-
medans have lived up to. Heretofore,
where need occurred, the Turkish gov
ernment has assisted them to dis
charge it. l was told Of several cases
where converted Mohammedans had
been done away with. There was one
case where a man, government Off
cial, had become Christian. The
mission succeeded in protecting him
for a while and he was thought to be
safe. The government offered him
promotion which he accepted and he
and his wife started to Beirut to enter
on their new work; but neither of
them has ever been heard of since.
l was told of another who when con-
verted and pursued by his neighbors
fed to the mission for protection. He
was safe there. But after some time
his neighbors persuaded him to come
home, assuring him that their ami
mostly was past and he was safe. He
went and in few days died viii
"heart failure" The knife, a cup of
poison, or any convenient weapon
will be used to do the work. No Off
cial investigation is possible because
the whole community, including the
village physician, is under common
duty to do away with such an Of
fender. Besides, under the Turks, the
government would gladly be party
to such murders.
This method on the part of the
Mohammedans in offsetting the work
of missionaries has made it impossible
to ever get together nucleus OF
converted Mohammedans to form 8
church of. A start can not be made
as in other lands. When individuals
are converted they have to be sent
at once to some other land if they
are to be saved alive. l can not i'm
agine more difficult undertaking
than to do work in a Mohammedar