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THE LUTHER.AN PIONEER A Happy New Year! .
God grant you, dear reader, to taste the riches of God's love in Christ as you have neYer experienced them before; may He grant you grace to say to Him more boldly and confidently than you ever haYe dared to do in the past, "Abba, dear Father!" God grant you grace to see that you are His own and that He has the first claim upon you; that all you are and all you have, your powers, your gifts, your time, all belongs to Him. May your service of Him bring true satisfaction to your heart; and may you ever realize that, as you serve your fellow-men for • Christ's sake, you are actually serving your God and Savior! May you find it a delight in this new year to help that your prayer may be more and more fully fulfilled: "Thy kingdom come !" May you come to the •blessed realization that the more yo11 help in bringing the kingdom of God to others, the more will the kingdom of God fill your own heart ! May this new year of grace bring you nearer to living so that all who will may see that you are convinced of the truth of the words, "To give is to live; to deny is to die" l ----,.,---F. J. L.
"To Give Is to Liv~!" I ·venture to say that many of our renders have read the classic story of the painter who was asked to paint the picture of a dying church. To the great surprise of many, instead of putting on the canvass the picture of a shabby old ruin, surrounded by a weed-grown lot and a tumble-down fence, the artist painted a stately edifice of great beauty. Through the large open doors could be seen a hand-carved pulpit of most beautiful design, a rich altar, a handsome organ, magnificent stained-glass imported windows, and comfortable-looking pews; in short, an exterior and interior to satisfy the most critical eye and most esthetic ta·ste, an edifice that was truly a poem in stone. Just within the grand entrance, in the generously proportioned vestibule, or narthex, was an offering-plate of exquisite design for the offerings of the worshipers. Beyond the offeringplate, suspended on the wall, was a square box, plain and simple, bearing the words, "For Missions." Over the slot, through which the contributions for missions should have gone, - and here the artist gave expression to his idea of a decaying church, he paintetl a cobweb I Dear reader, do you think the artist could have painted a more expressive and correct picture of a dying church? A church that
permits the cobwebs to grow over its contributionbox for missions is dying and, unless the grace of God intervene, will surely die.
"To Deny Is to Die!" Ti1e history of the Church unmistakably shows that no religious body can live long when once it begins to shut itself off from others and lives only for itself. Stagnant water soon loses its usefulness; the heart that no longer sends its life-giving stream through the body soon ceases to bent; the farmer who no longer sows will cease to reap. The old adage is and remains true to the end of days, "To give is to live; to deny is to die." When, years ago, a man said in objection to Foreign :Missions that we had no r eligion to spare in this country, but needed more for ourselves, he was correctly answered by another that just because we have so little religion, we ought to do more to send the Christian religion to others; for the more we should send away, the more we should have. This answer was fully in accord with the words of Jesus, who told us to bring the Gospel into all the world; and He plainly declared that, as we measure, it shall be measured to us. Losing Life is Saving It. A number of years ago the following testimony was given as to the great service missions had rendered the churches that carried them on : "One hundred years ago the New England churches were called to the mighty task of missions; and whatev~r that great enterprise may have done for heathen lands, it has done quite as much for the spiritual life of the churches at home. Never was the truthmore clearly demonstrated that the losing of life is. the saving of it. The life of the home churches may be quite accurately tested by the flow of gifts toother lands." And what is true of the churches of New England is just as true of the churches generally throughout this country and Europe. Here is the· testimony of a London editor bearing upon the influence of mission activity upon English churches: "The churches of England derive great strength from their mission-work. ·It is so ehtirely disinterested and unselfish. To a great number of other-• wise ordinary men and women this taking a part in the great work of missions is an important avenue : into the higher and nobler life of unselfish service to others. They learn to pray and give for no narrow personal result, and thus thought of self is weakened, and the desire is strengthened to be a true · disciple of Him who gave His Hfe as a sacrifice for-
