p. 13 | The Christians' Idols by Ella M. Robinson

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jun 19, 1907

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 25.

The Christians' Idols.

By Ella M. Robinson

FROM yonder Hindu temple there comes a suppliant's moan; I see a dark form lying before a god of stone. "O Shiva, Shiva, help us!" the man doth vainly cry; "Keep back the famine devil; send rain, or else we die." And still he lies imploring with wild and haunting fears, In agony beseeching,—his god sees not nor hears.

I see a Christian temple, and hear the church-bell ring, And listen to glad praises that little children sing. Hark! now they are repeating those verses, sad and low, That tell of all the suffering in India's land of wo. O, hear the dimes and nickles, with hollow, rattling sound, That fall from jeweled fingers, as the plate is passed around.

I see a dark-skinned maiden with thickly matted hair, And garments coarse and ragged, in the dark hut crouching there; And now a red-hot iron is pressed against her skin— She ate upon a fast day, tho this her only sin. Her life is dark with sorrows and misery untold,— She is a Hindu widow, tho only twelve years old.

Again I see the home church; and one who knows the wo In India's land is pleading, "O, will not some one go To bear the Gospel tidings afar across the sea?" I hear a sweet voice saying, "Lord, here am I, send me." "No, no," a mother whispers, "O, do not go, I pray; For life were lone and dreary with you so far away."

Another scene is coming! O Christians, do you hear The rumbling of His chariot wheels! for God's great day is near. And then how will you answer that awful wail of wo: "O, why did you not tell us, nor ever let us know?" What bitter disappointment when Christ to you shall say, "Go, call upon your gods of gold, of silver, and of clay."

ELLA M. ROBINSON.