The Urgent Call of Missions
ONE eighth of the human race is Moslem. The proportion is increased yearly. In Africa, Islam is leaving Christianity far behind in the race. Mohammedanism is absolutely dominant in the Persian Empire. Many more native Indians are becoming Mohammedans than are turning to Christianity. These conditions call urgently for Christian missionaries. A FEW years mark great changes in some of the mission fields. “Twenty-seven years ago,” writes C. L. Butterfield, superintendent of our Korean Mission, “mission work in Korea was begun. There were then no roads, either wagon or rail, no telephones, no telegraph lines. Mail to that first mission station was delivered once a month by pony. There were no wagons nor carts in the country; in fact, not a wheel turned in all Korea. But here, as elsewhere, ‘the entrance of Thy words giveth light;’ and the coming of the missionary, bearing the glad tidings of salvation through Christ, meant not only spiritual light, but life and joy in Christ; and it also meant that the dawn of a better day had arrived. Now there are nearly a thousand miles of railway in this small country, and more is being built each year.”