p. 13 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 8. (2/20/1901)

Earlier text: NOT A PROGRESSIVE RELIGION

The Christian’s Debt.

By I. H. Evans

Said Paul, “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise;” and the Saviour said no less when He charged His disciples, “Freely ye have received, freely give;” and again, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”

The follower of Christ has received large gifts of God’s grace. From the wretchedness of his lost condition he is now made partaker of the divine nature. Adopted into the family of God, he becomes heir of God and joint-heir with Jesus Christ. The inheritance of his riches is so vast that even inspiration declares: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.”

These rewards are all unmerited by those who receive them. They are God’s free gift, while the recipient buys without money and without price. Yet the gifts of God are not brought to men without infinite cost to heaven. “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, tho He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye thru His poverty might be rich.” And who can think of poverty more deep than Christ confessed to one of His would-be followers,—“The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.” His life of suffering and self-denial, the scene in Gethsemane, the traitor’s kiss, and Peter’s oath, His mock trial, and Calvary, all tell the tale of the cost of man’s redemption.

Shall the life of the Son of God be traced by suffering and by penury and by blood all for others, and His followers enter the haven of eternal rest with no self-denial for their fellow-creatures? Shall we be partakers of His riches with no share in His poverty? Shall we enter into His glory with no lot in His suffering?—No, never!

Christ has laid on His adopted children the work of saving others. All that we have received from God, above the most benighted heathen, is our obligation to those heathen; nor can one Christian claim exemption from duty while another must bear a heavy load. If to one, why not to all, the divine charge, “Freely ye have received, freely give”? The multitudes of the lost in heathen lands must be a witness against many of us. With no knowledge of God, no Bible, no Saviour, no intercessor, they live and die without hope, without part in the world to come.

Not infrequently do we hear the Christian saying: “But we have sinners all about us. If we labor for these, we have done our duty. Are not their souls as precious as the heathen?”—Certainly. But still there is a great difference between those outside the church in America and those in the darkness of heathendom. Here are opportunities innumerable. Every town and hamlet has its church spire pointing heavenward. The Word of God is to be had for the asking. Sunday-schools and the ministry of the Word and Christian literature are so free that they only have to be accepted to be received. But the heathen have nothing. There, idolatry and superstition reign supreme. The education and inheritance of ages have only led them farther and farther into the wilderness of utter confusion. The midnight darkness of sin locks them in its dungeon of hopeless despair.

Think for a moment: Had Paul and the early church turned their steps eastward, toward India and China and Japan, instead of westward, where would we have been to-day? Without Christ, we would be like the heathen nations of earth. Only because others have sacrificed to bring us the Word of God and teach us the way to a better life, are we different than they.

What, then, is our individual duty regarding the vast hosts of heathen who are still in darkness?—Plainly, to in some way become a partaker in their deliverance, to become to them a light-bearer, either by a personal presentation of Christ, or by a consecration of our means that others may go and teach these natives the way of life. What the church has received, that she is to impart. Not only collectively, but individually, are we indebted to all men who have less of the saving knowledge of God than ourselves. Let every one inquire, “What am I doing to pay this debt?”

Let the despairing cry of a thousand million of perishing souls stir our natures to action. Suppose in yon burning building one thousand human beings are suffocating with heat and smoke, and soon must die unless deliverance is brought them by some one who has the power to save them, but he who has the power will not stir, nor sense his obligation. The flames grow fiercer, and the dying wails more despairing, but he is all unmoved. What anathemas would be hurled at him from every side! But see, one thousand million of heathen with conditions unspeakable, with danger greater than that of physical death, stand with open doors, appealing to the church militant for deliverance. The way to heaven is blocked by ages of superstition. Their foolish hearts are darkened, and they worship only the creature. Every follower of Christ has the power with which to overcome every obstacle and let the heathen into the way of life.

Brother, sister, have you led one heathen into the secrets of God’s redeeming love? Will eternity show labor bestowed, self-denial endured, means laid on the altar for work among the benighted nations of earth? Have you canceled your debt to these lost souls, so that when they cry to God you will escape His rebuke? Have you seen sprinkled the lintels of their hearts with the blood of Christ that the destroying angel may pass by?

The Gospel of Christ is for all nations. Are not the people of God at fault that so few have His message of mercy? We ask, Have we fully paid our debt to all these nations? Stands there against us in the ledger of heaven no obligation for the salvation of the heathen? Do you consider that our sacrifices already made have met all demands? He who said, “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise,” never considered his debt canceled till he was led, in a foreign field, to the fatal block, and the headman’s ax was his passport into eternity. If our obligation is lifelong, then let the Macedonian cry enlist our sympathy and service in behalf of these benighted souls.

I. H. EVANS.

THE MISSIONARIES NOT TO BLAME.

MRS. J. W. RAGSDALE, wife of the United States Consul at Tien Tsin, a few days ago said:—

“It is not so much religion as land-grabbing on the part of the powers that has aroused the ire of the Chinese. The missionaries have been unjustly blamed for the cause of the recent troubles in the great far Eastern empire. They have been used as an entering wedge for commercial development and aggression.”

Mrs. Ragsdale has resided in China for some time, and was one of the foreign colony that was besieged in Tien Tsin. Her statement of the case is based upon personal observations, and her opinions, therefore, should have weight.

A person may claim to be a missionary, and may pass as such, without being one indeed. The true missionary will not try to represent any earthly kingdom, nor present himself as belonging to any earthly government. He will recognize the value of the governments of earth, and seek to uphold them in their rightful sphere. “The powers that be are ordained of God;” then why should he not seek to sustain and uphold law, order, and government? But while he will do all this, he is wholly engaged in doing the business of his Father in heaven. He will be so intent on that work that he passes by the broils that get men into trouble politically. He recognizes the fact that he is an ambassador from Christ, and to the work of representing His kingdom he gives himself devotedly.

The fact that some who claim to be missionaries pay more attention to politics than they do to their appointed work should not obscure the real worker for Christ. And missionaries should not be blamed for what is done by politicians that have the name of being missionaries. It has been the good fortune of nearly every one at some time in his life to meet a missionary that had spent some of his best years in a foreign land, working to advance the knowledge of salvation. Any one who has met one of these true missionaries, regardless of the particular church that he may have belonged to, has found that creeds did not count for much with him, and that politics

did not enter his mind. He was all absorbed in working for Christ.

Truly these real missionaries have not made any trouble in China, and the Lord will need them to work there till the end of time. They must not be discouraged or faint-hearted. And, what is better than all, every one of us must hold himself or herself ready to respond to a call to labor there if the Master should indicate it as our privilege and duty.

JERUSALEM, THE CITY OF THE KING.

By T. R. Williamson

O the ripples, how they dance, How the silvery sunbeams glance, And the heavenly splendors blaze Thru the happy golden days In Jerusalem, the city of the King!

How the breezes as they blow Whisper blessings to and fro, And each brilliant palace shines Down the crystal streets so fine In Jerusalem, the city of the King!

How the faces glow with truth, Rosy with immortal youth, Lustrous crowns on foreheads fair, Sparkling in the holy air In Jerusalem, the city of the King!

O my Saviour’s glorious home, By thy river I would roam, Where my loving Father’s face Blesses all who win a place In Jerusalem, the city of the King!

T. R. WILLIAMSON.

CONDITIONS IN MEXICO.

By T.

JOHN S. CHEAVENS, Baptist missionary in Mexico, has the following to say in regard to industrial conditions there:—

“‘An invasion of ideas’ can not be resisted. The ‘industrial revolution’ is striking at the ancient order of things. The cities along the lines of railroad are progressive, the remote interior cities and villages conservative in the superlative degree. In Saltillo, for example, we have electric lights, street-cars, the city is now putting in a sewerage system, building a market-house, a corporation is building a hotel and bank building in the modern style, and a railroad is being built between this point and Torreon. This kind of work is going on all over Mexico. On the ranches twenty miles from here they use wooden plows, cut wheat with a sickle, tramp it out with horses, and bring it to town in a wooden-wheeled ox-cart. However, the American plow, self-binder, and steam-thresher are coming into use.

“The forces at work are many. Mexico is cosmopolitan in these centers of reform. I buy my daily paper from a Swiss news-dealer; my hardware, from a German; my watch was repaired by an Italian; my clothes are laundered by a Chinaman from Canton; our butter is made by a Texan; I have eaten ice-cream made by a Greek from Athens, the walls of the adobe house being adorned with photographs of ancient Greek statuary. I have bought gents’ furnishing from a Turk from Bethlehem of Judea. Nor is the native Mexican an idle spectator. The poor peon’s part is to dig a ditch at fifty cents a day, while the patrician, whose wisdom permits these changes, gets rich and sends his boys to New York, Paris, or London to be educated.”

Concerning the need of Christian schools in Mexico, Brother Cheavens says:—

“The government schools should not be depended on to train Christian workers. The workers so trained are not Christians. Some sad cases of good boys going into infidelity show us what to expect from government schools. I am speaking now of the more advanced students.”

While these industrial changes are going on, and such industrial activity is being manifested, the missionary work should be pushed in Mexico. It will be much easier now than later on to advance the kingdom of Christ in that field. T.

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THE FEELING IN INDIA TOWARD AMERICA.

By T.

The Congregationalist tells of the feeling in India toward America in the following paragraph:—

“A remarkable advance in cordial feeling between the two countries is one result of the famine. And this advance is closely associated with a favorable interest in the Christian religion. Three years ago when the famine came to an end the Hindu newspapers expressed a prevailing prejudice against the missionaries’ retaining care of the famine children. The cry was, ‘Save them from the missionaries.’ Funds were raised by the natives, and some small orphanages were started for this purpose. But no such cry is heard now. Very kindly references are being made in the native press to the service rendered by the missionaries. The Indian Spectator, the leading Parsee organ, declares that the sympathy and intelligence with which missionaries entered into the work of famine relief has been a revelation to them all. The assistance from America is again and again gratefully referred to.”

The work that has been done during the past year in the way of sending relief to the famine-stricken members of humanity in India is the true expression of Christianity. It is the crystallization into sympathetic deeds of the true sentiments and teachings of the Saviour of mankind. It is doing just such work as Christ Himself did when He was here upon earth, and just such work as He enjoined upon all His followers to do.

And now if the so-called Christian powers that are going into China and other heathen lands with the sword and death were only representing the name they bear by going there to help those poor people, what an uplifting influence it would have! These thoughts should strike deep into every true Christian heart. Every good influence should be exerted to the utmost to have the true principles of the true Christ represented in those lands where so much of the false and misleading is being practised. T.

A DOUBTFUL EXERCISE OF AUTHORITY.

By A. B. Leonard

[A. B. Leonard, in Gospel in All Lands.]

It is to be feared that the attempt of our officials to satisfy the demands of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in the Philippines is at the risk of alienating the best class of people in those islands and impressing them with the idea that the archbishop of Manila is more the ruler of the country than President McKinley. The American newspaper Freedom, published in Manila, gives a recital of facts that are calculated to arouse suspicion in the minds of all loyal Filipinos. The archbishop seems to be practically in control of the public schools, if such they may be called, and the treatment that the children receive in some instances at the hands of the friars seems to be little less than brutal.

It is held by the Democracia, a loyal native Manila newspaper, that it is the duty of Americans to rid the country of friars, who are the cause of nearly all the trouble from which the natives suffer. It was generally supposed in Manila that the Roman Catholic archbishop secured an order from the provost marshal to compel the Democracia to retract certain statements, but the paper named replied that there was nothing to retract, as what they had printed agreed with the facts. The answer came back from the authorities, “You must retract!” so the Democracia, under the heading, “Forced Publication,” printed the order from the provost marshal, and the next day, in place of the usual issue of the paper, a handbill was sent to each subscriber stating that they would suspend publication until such time as they could find out by what system justice was exercised in Manila.

The United States should be in better business than suppressing proper freedom of the press in the Philippines at the behest of a Roman Catholic archbishop. When a loyal paper is placed under ban by a United States official because it criticizes the brutal treatment of the native children by cruel priests, he is engaged in a very un-American business.

OUR WORK AND WORKERS.

SEVEN have been added to the church in Syracuse, New York, by baptism.

A CHURCH of twenty-seven members has been organized in Muncie, Indiana.

BROTHER A. A. MEYER reports three additions to the German church at Woollam, Mo.

PASTOR J. A. HOLBROOK reports the baptism of four young people at Union, Oregon.

UNDER the direction of Pastor J. M. Reese the new church at Appleton City, Mo., was dedicated, on January 27.

Six persons were recently baptized at Cadillac, Michigan, as the result of Bible-readings that have been held with the individuals.

AT Morden, Manitoba, a number have united with the church during the past few months, and a new church building has been erected and is nearly paid for.

THE brethren at Florence, Mo., are agitating the matter of erecting a church building. Already a number of pledges have been secured for that purpose.

BROTHER W. S. CRUZAN reports six additions to the company of believers at Mt. View, Mo. The brethren at that place are erecting a house of worship.

PASTOR H. K. WILLIS recently baptized twelve persons, who united with the church at Carthage, Mo. The church-school at that place is in a prosperous condition.

AT Juniata, Alabama, Pastor Woodford has concluded a two weeks' series of meetings. Nine persons were baptized and a church of twenty-seven members was organized. At Fruithurst several have commenced the observance of the Lord's Sabbath, and it is desired to organize a church there soon.

THE president of the Tennessee River Conference, Pastor W. J. Stone, says that the year just closed has been the most prosperous for several years. The tithe was increased by one-fifth and the debt of the missionary society was materially reduced. A goodly number of members have been added to the various churches in the conference, and one new church has been organized.

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