THE GOSPEL IN ALL LANDS.

W

AUGUST, 1893.

OUR RISEN LORD'S COMMAND.

BY REV. HENRY LEA, OF PLANO, ILL.

HY did Christ rise? What obligation did his resurrection lay upon the Church? During the forty days subsequent, Christ constantly spoke of the resurrection as good news to be carried—“ Go, go, go." Said the angel at the empty tomb: "Go, tell his disciples and Peter." Said Jesus, when he met them, "Be not afraid; go, tell my brethren." Said Jesus to Mary Magdalene, "Go brethren and say," etc. So over and over he reiterated this idea, until at last it culminated in the great commission, "Go ye into all the world, etc." The Acts of the Apostles is one long record of obedience to this "go" of Christ.

to my

The man who does not believe in missions with heart and soul and pocketbook gives the lie to everything else he pretends to believe. He rejects the Lord's Prayer, the Golden Rule, the long meter doxology, the Bible, the example and precept of Christ, and Christ's promise to be with the Church forever. The Christian who disbelieves in missions has no Christ left, and little of the Bible but the covers.

From Genesis to Revelation the Bible is a missionary book. When God called Abraham it was that "all nations of the earth" might be blessed in his "seed" (the world's Redeemer). That is Genesis! And ere the sacred book was closed, the missionary obligation was laid anew upon the heart of the Church, "Let him that heareth say come." That is Revelation!

But the same is true of all the books between. The psalmist sang of the Messiah's universal kingdom; Isaiah, in rapt utterance, announced the same glorious consummation; Daniel, in visions of the night, saw the kingdoms of the earth fall before that "stone cut out of the mountain without hands," that was presently to "fill the whole earth."

The Christian who does not believe in missions has missed his calling. To say he is ignorant is the most charitable conclusion. God may save him by excluding his ignorance. The Christian who does not believe in missions ought to be put back into the state from which the early missionaries lifted his ancestors. Perhaps a little taste of life without Christ, without the Bible, without civilization, half clad, plowing with a crooked stick, or subsisting upon the simplest roots would open his eyes.

The apostolic Church was enthusiastically missionary; hence its rapid growth. If we have no care for the heathen, our own safety demands that we "go." No church was ever made poor by giving. Who ever saw a man in the almshouse because of what he gave to the Lord? The poorhouses and penitentiaries are filled with the devil's poor, not God's.

A man thoroughly converted has an experience he wants all the world to know.

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Heathen Hearts and Christian Purses.

A man half converted gets so little out of his own religion that he is not especially impressed with the necessity of carrying the good news, either to the neighbor across the street, or to the more distant neighbor across the sea.

One test of a genuine conversion is this new found "go" in the heart. The disciples were so simple as to take Christ at his word, so "they went everywhere, preaching the word." No one who has not learned to juggle with his conscience can rise from a study of the Bible to be other than an ardent missionary.

The task given the apostles in the year 30 A. D. seemed hopeless. The field is everywhere hopeful in the year 1893. Work for souls anywhere is blessed, but doubly so on virgin soil. Money anywhere spent for Christ is well invested, but is by far the most productive on heathen soil. There are needy enough in our own land, but our first duty is to the most needy. The greatest need is abroad, yet of every dollar of sacred money we raise we spend ninety-six cents at home upon ourselves.

We appeal in behalf of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church that shows good business management, actually sending ninety-five cents of every dollar raised into the field. Our appeal is in behalf of the farewell request of our dearest friend, the Lord Jesus, in behalf of the most unselfish of our benevolences; in behalf of millions eager for the Gospel. To-day the last vestige of excuse has vanished. Our Church has done much, yet only little in view of her ability and of the world's supreme need. Let the Church awake to her risen Lord's command!

PRAYER WILL OPEN HEATHEN HEARTS AND CHRISTIAN

T

PURSES.

BY REV. FRANK W. WARNE, CALCUTTA.

HIS morning's mail brought two letters that have suggested this one. One was from an old friend who is now a pastor in the United States. He wrote: “We have a membership of three hundred and fifty, including probationers, and a well-organized church. We had quite a successful revival during the winter, from which I received forty on probation. We had our missionary meeting on Easter Sunday and raised $114. Compared with other years and with what other churches are doing that is good, but compared with what it might have and ought to be it is abominable. Out of three hundred and sixty persons present only one hundred and thirty-seven gave anything, and of what was given my family and one other gave nearly one fourth. The fact is, that most of our people have no conscience on the subject of supporting the missionary cause. Their giving does not represent any conviction; it is simply a put off. How is it that good people, in the face of our pleas and arguments, the evident need and the divine command, the blessed results and the glorious opportunity of having a part in the joy of vic.ory, can be so blind to these things that while they spend lavishly for self are niggardly toward God? It nearly makes me sick for a few days after I have taken a benevolent collection. But there are the other kind, the joyous, generous, hearty givers, who, like a bubbling fountain, give freely and say, 'Come again.' Bless the Lord for such cheerful, hilarious' givers." In several important particulars I take it that my friend and his church are fairly representative:

1. The pastor is ahead of his people in his interest in missions. I suppose that that is true of almost all ministers-at least, one day in the year, that is the day when he has

Heathen Hearts and Christian Purses.

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studied the question enough to preach on it, and is anxious that his church shall have a good report at Conference. There are, no doubt, exceptions to this rule, and the people are ahead of the minister, for he feels that if the people did not give so much to missions more would be given for local work. Such have not learned that with many giving is much like the "leak in the dike," the more that comes out the way is cut for a larger stream.

2. It is again fairly representative in that a large proportion of the people do not give at all. How many ministers count and know how many give and how many do not? In this case only one hundred and thirty-seven out of three hundred and sixty. When a due allowance is made for children there are still a good many who do not give at all. It is a splendid custom to train the children all to give something.

3. In its relations to the whole question this church is representative. My friend says that, "Compared with other years and with other churches it is good, but compared with what it might and ought to be it is abominable." This is true of the collection from the whole Church. Compared with what was done some years past it is good, and the secretaries and the whole Church deserve both thanks and praise; but compared with what it might and ought to be, even the strong expression of my indignant pastor friend is not too severe, "abominable." For instance, the BengalBurma Conference has a heathen population of over one hundred million souls, and the entire grant that the Missionary Society is able to give to them for 1893 is $9,560. Just think of that sum among thirty millions more than the population of the United States, and decide if to call it "abominable" is an exaggeration. Count the number of single churches in the home cities which cost that much for pastor, parsonage, and current expenses each year, and yet some people think that the giving to missions is adequate or overdone when the Society is only able to give that small amount for our part of the work among one hundred million souls.

4. It is representative in that it has "joyous, generous, hearty givers, who, like a bubbling fountain, give freely and say, 'Come again."" Who cannot join my friend and say, "Bless the Lord for such givers?" They are in all the churches. May their number increase continually!

The same mail brought a letter from Bishop Mallalieu, in which he described the New England "monthly concerts of prayer for missions" of half a century ago. The burden of prayer then was that "God in his great mercy would open the doors of the heathen world." It then seemed that if the doors were open the world would soon be Christian. These prayers have been answered, but now we find that the hearts of the heathen have to be opened and also the pockets of the church members at home. Prayer is the key that must be used. If monthly meetings of prayer for the opening of hearts and pockets were held in all the churches God would hear and answer as he has the prayers of half a century ago. The Church then cried mightily to God because the heathen world was largely closed. These prayers have in a marvelous way been answered, and many heathen hearts have been opened, but now the burden of prayer should be that God would open heathen hearts and Christian purses. These prayer meetings can always be opened in greater numbers, with thanksgiving for what has been done.

We must depend on the Holy Spirit in answer to prayer to do the work. If monthly services of prayer for missions were held in all the churches as they were half a century ago in New England, much brighter days would dawn on the mission work. If these monthly meetings cannot be held there could be held one or two meetings for prayer in each church before the missionary collection is taken. This would greatly add to the interest of the Church in missions, and put the amount that should be given on the

conscience. My friend says that to many the giving does not represent a conviction; it is simply a put off. Prayer in this, as in other matters, produces conviction. The same letter says, "We have had a revival and forty accessions." It was earnest prayer and effort that made such a revival possible, so it will be by prayer, united prayer, and faithful teaching of the facts that people will be convicted by the Holy Ghost that they should give more largely to missions. The writer distinctly remembers a collection prayed about at the prayer meeting of the church for two weeks before it was taken, and when the collection was taken and reported Chaplain McCabe, the senior secretary, wrote, "Your church is on the five million line." Prayer that would produce a revival such as is needed on this subject would bring the whole Church to the five million line. Pray, brethren, pray, and heathen hearts in great numbers and Christian's purses will open.

ICELAND.

CELAND is an island about 300 miles long and 200 miles wide at its greatest width, and at the last census it had a population of 72,445. It is 500 miles north of Scotland, 850 miles west from Norway, and 130 miles east from Greenland. Since 1380 it has belonged to Denmark.

In the year A. D. 874 several families from Norway went to Iceland. For seventy or eighty years previously the island had been visited and had some few settlers, but the first colony settled there in 874. Beginning with a patriarchal form of gov

ernment, Iceland remained a flourishing republic for three centuries. Then it passed to the Norwegian crown, and in 1380 was transferred to Denmark.

Iceland has a constitution and administration of its own, the legislative power being vested in the Althing, which consists of thirty-six members, thirty elected by household suffrage and six nominated by the king. The Althing meets at Reikiavik, the capital, every second year, sitting in two divisions. The upper consists of six members nominated by the King of Denmark, and six elected by the representatives of the people. The lower division is composed of the twenty-four remaining members of the Althing.

Reikiavik has about two thousand inhabitants. The houses are generally of wood and but one story high. At certain seasons of the year the air is heavy with the smell of codfish, which is the principal article of export and one of the few sources of wealth. The coat of arms of Iceland is a codfish spread open upon a shield, and surmounted by

a crown.

GIRL OF ICELAND.

Seen from the sea, Reikiavik does not present an imposing appearance. You have before you an ordinary fishing village, made up of a few straggling streets of little one-story wooden houses, browned by the weather or painted black, as if to anticipate its ravages. Close by the sea is a green mound where once was a fort. Back of it stands a long white house-the governor's-with a flagstaff, and a flag flying in honor of our arrival. Sti'l farther back are two small churches, and a graveyard on a hill.

That is all, yet Reikiavik is the great point of contact with the outside world; the commercial, the intellectual, and the political center of Iceland, at the same time hand, heart, and head.

The chief beauties of Reikiavik are not of itself, but of its surroundings. Away to the west, beyond the islands of the harbor, roll the bright blue waters of the Faxa Fjord. Sixty miles to the north rises, as if out of the sea, the single icy peak of Snowfell. Nearer are the slopes of Esja, with their ever varying color-violet, purple, pink, and glowing red. On the land side the view is shut in by black mountains, rough and jagged notches across the horizon, with here and there a volcanic peak as symmetrical as a sugar-loaf. A little way off, from some warm springs, whose "reek" gives the town its name, a cloud of steam floats lazily.

Mr. W. H. Carpenter, who has recently visited the island, furnishes the following information :

The ordinary Icelander is a person who is phenomenally serious, seldom smiles, and neither can take a joke nor make one. In stature and physique he is slighter than the Norwegian. His height is not so great, his shoulders are less broad, and his limbs less brawny. In his costume, except for his shoes of ill-tanned sealskin, there is but little. unconventionality. His suit is of black homespun, for the Icelandic sheep produce wool of excellent quality and length, which the housewives spin and weave during the long nights of winter.

The feminine costume is more characteristic. On ordinary everyday occasions the garb is all of black, relieved only at the bosom by a coquettish glimpse of white chemisette stifly starched. The abundant hair is carefully braided, usually in four strands, which are then caught up at the ends. Matron and maid, the women wear upon the head both at home and abroad a jaunty disklike cap, black in color, and so firmly knitted that it seems to be of cloth; from its center depends to the shoulder a tassel of silk held at the top by a silver slide. The peasant maids, who often have bright eyes and