CALL OF THE BACKWARD RACES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 178, 14 August 1937, Page 11

CALL OF THE BACKWARD RACES

Tlie following sermon was delivered in Spring Road Methodist Churcli, Maivern, Yictoria, reeently by the Rev. Mansley M. Bennett. He took as his text: Rom. I, 14: fI ara debtor both to the Greeks and the barbarians .... for the gospel is the power of God to everyone that believeth." When John Wesley said "the world is my parish, he was emphasising a plain truth, Tevealed to us in the Word of God, that the Kingdom of God is world-wide and universal, having no boundaries, that i,n the mind of God the world is a unity. "God hath made of one blood all nations of tho earth." An- Afriean proverb says: "The earth is- a beehive; we ■ all enter in by tho same doo.r, but livo in different cells." The black" and white races are vastly di^erent, ' yet face the -same probleins^ have similar qualities of life and hopes for the future. The same spirit of humanity is ,;in all "races. We are brothers all. No backward race is outside the reach of the Gospel, which is designed to change the lives of all races, . because universal "in" i,ts ecope. "It is the power of God to overyono that believeth." • - The divinity of the Christian religion is demonstrated by its facili.ty of adaptation to all human - races. Jesus Christ is too big for any one nation. Like a grain 'of wheat, which " will" grow in' pra'ctically every clime, so the Ghris tian religion can be cultivated among all Tgces. The Christian faith is the only one that is cosmopolitan. No other religion is adapted for wotld-wi.de propagation. Life that - is cheap emphasises tho Call ' of Backward Races, ' wliero the needs are tremendous.. .Dan Crawford, the Afriean missionary, quotes this as an instance "in point. "Four Luban natives were seized and killed in a spirit of retaliation by a chief. Their daughters were 'turned into slaves and wives for the chief. Soon afterwards the chief 'died, ' so ' these young.girls, pulsating, with ; life, . were or.dered to be buried alive with the body of the murderer ■ of their f athers. One of them . escaped to the.Mission House with tho story; the rest went to their' sad fate with . a . hopeless sob ' of sorrcrw. TheSo ignorant .and cruel customs call to our Christian- eompassion; -Jesus stated the Christian law: "Do unto others as you would that they should do to you, To put outselves in their stead emphasises the call. Abyssinia vcalled to the .worH: ;-"Tli& wreckers are 'here,'" but

strong empires stood aside. The peril of intervention was too great. And yet, perhaps, in refusing to save the weaker race and Tisk our own we probably suffered spiritual loss. UNRELIEYED SUFF^RING IJnrelieved Suffering is another call from the Backward Races. Dr. Albert Sweitzer, one of the world 's most cu.1tured men, a Doctor of Music, Theology and Medicine,. wrote in his book, "On the Edge of the Primeval Eorest," an aceount of 30 years' labour amongst one of the most backward races of Africa. At the call of Christ he is trying to pay the debt we owe to the un*' relieved sufferers of that land. : If we suffer we ring a doctor or hospital, and are ministered to with speed and skill. In those regions . pationts havo walked 600 miles to .the '.Mission for treatmont. Some died on the way. To suffer without hope of relief is tho daily lot of tens • of thousands among the backward races. They are waiting for the light we possess, waiting for out ministry of love, . to share our knowledge and scientilie prpgress. We hold the remedy — they wait to receive it. Dr. E. W. Gault, of our own city, has just been accepted as a Medical Missionary to Azamgarh, India, where he will take charge of the Mothodist Mission Hospital. Superstitious fear is a . fii^ther call to Christian faith. from the Backward Races. Christian i * faith ' ' is tho ' surrender of our lives to the grace and love of the Saviour,.a faith that trans--forms the whole of life, and gives a cairn peace that outrules worry. There is nothing1 like this .in the backward races. They hang a bunch of charms round their .necks, hoping to appease the an'ger of the evil spirits they imagine people the air, and will wroak vengeance on them if they do not do weird and f oolish things . to, propitiate their gods. *. Superstition and fear go together- Likewise faith and peace. Men--tal and spiritual darkness and terror are a definite Call from the Backward Races. Missionari.es say there is no happy savage. He does not exist. Perhaps saddest of all are the old men and women who, clinging to superstitious fear^ wave'you off and say, "Too late, not for me." It is too bewilderingly new, and the heatheh look's on the novel idea with suspicion, as ]f you are a denizen oi . another planet. The slavery of to-day is real in the bactkward 'races.: Slavery is ' by nQ means abolished. Human beings are bought and teold in some countries to>' day. A missionary in Africa quotes, this case of injustice: — A woman slavo is ill-treated purpbsely, s® that run away she must. Then woe to the village that' harbours her.3^ They are called npon to pay as penalty ten slaves and roany goods in addition. Thus a premium is put on the maltreatmcnt of slaves— it. 6s profitable. Slavery is hard and unregonrate in its effects. It cheapens' lives, and only the Gospel af Christ can raise human values, particularly so in woman 's welfare ahd social status. . In India. her lot is .of ten • one of drudgery, particularly among the 60 million " Untouchables. " Y«u can judge a race— or a religion— by its effe.ct upon, the women ,of the land. The backward races are strangers to . the spirit of British ju'stice, which is a commonplace in our courts of law. There crime is winked at, and bloodshed, ,too%— but, tho guilty go unpun-: ished. DORMANT RACES STIRRING. Backward Races are waking! Races Iong dormant aro stirring. Agents from China, Japan, India and Africa aro visiting leading countries of tho world and taking back our methods of education (China has most up-to-date Schools), ideas for methods of warfare, railways and industrialism. But they do not take back our religion. Too of ton we have nbt_recommended it &uf5ciently. If backward races make material progress while the inoral tono is low, they may become a menace to the peace of the world. There is a rising tide of colour with a definite prejudico against white rule. In India the cruelty of the casto system of Hinduism is a definite negation of human progress and the spirit of brotherhood. If the moral light is dim, and blind forces of racial projudice work against the mbre civilised races, a clash might mean a gigantie race war, especially if thesc backward races beqome equipped with scientifie weapons of destruetion, and education djvorced from Christian infiuenccs. For the backward races to awako to new life and power without the Christian spirit of forbcarance and peace may aecentuate the peril of the world, which is in a divided antagonism among the nations. The problem of the world is how to Uve in peace and harmony. j-The world is fast -coihing into a- closer relation-. ship through the inventions. of wireless, aviation and telegraphy, but the most' unifying force of all is the Gospel1 Of love and brotherhood- proclainied |by the Saviour. Our best contributibn to racjal understanding and . peace is | to live the doctrines of the • Universal •Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man, irrespective of cl^ss ' creed 6r"colour. , The best security for peace" is not in military preparations, but in the dissemination of the Gospel" of Christian love. A few million pounds devoted through the missionary spirit of the British Empiro to cementing friendships among alien races, and' proclaiming the Christian Gospel of love, might be the most effeetive method of seeuring lasting peace. Christianxty, as taught in Christ 's Sermon on the Mount is a solution of the world »s problems. Sin is at the root of all our perile and problems. A revived Christian spirit and example such as is spreading through the Oxford Group Movement is' the beginning of better understanding among tho nations. NEGLECTED ABORIN GINAL The '"AustTalian aborigjnal, who as a backward race has been sadly negleet-j cd and puslicd further back into the

inhospitable interior, calls for our pro- ! tect'ion and Christian servico. Ihom the human standpoint, apart from the Christian, his benighted state has apparently appealed to us in vain. More mission stations must be opened at i strategic points to help improve theirmental, social and spiritual status. The Christian obligation is "the strong for the weak, and not to please ourselves, for even Christ pleased not himself." Too often the strong of a Christian country have exploted and subdued the weak of backward lands, so ~mueh so that not . benevolence, but .atopement for our sins towards them^ is the im-: perative, call. Men'," M'otxey, Service and Love are the .answer,to-the call of the Backward Races, who - may -yet ' contribu'te largely to the establishmeat of the Kingdom of God throughout the world. What- a contributibn 'cbuld be'-made through the intellectual sublety.of the Hxndu, the clever workmansfiip and the organising genius of • the Japanese, together with his aesthetic qualities, or the patient persistence' of , the homelovxng, peace-loving •. Chinaman. In God 'a providence all • backward Taces will yet unite in building a .better world, united and dedicated to bring ' happijxess, righteousness and peace to all races and individuals. . . To this end the" Christian Church must unite to > be the Voice of God to these backward. races, (who are yet strangers to the light and glory of Christian- Civilis'a-. ti.on. It- is a huge ta^k, but -in, these wonderful days nothing is impossible to men of faith and . initiative. . Wer must answer the call of the Backward Races,- or perils undreamed of may lio at our .door. God give us "Wisdom, Courage'and Consecration for the task.