Ao\'\3.»V ARABIA’S CHALLENGE to the SEMINARY MAN By REV. H. A. BILKERT BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA 25 East 22nd Street New York Arabia’s Challenge to the Seminary Man FIE marching orders to the Church from her Commander-in-Chief are, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel!” As far as Arabia is concerned these orders are still largely unfulfilled. The occupation of seven centers by less than two score of missionaries can in no sense be construed as adequately preaching the Gospel to the eight millions of Arabs who constitute the population of this vast peninsula. These vast unoccupied stretches of country and the multitudes of unreached peoples constitute a challenge which should come with peculiar force to those whose life work it is to proclaim the salvation of Christ. The blood tingles at the challenge of this very faith which for thirteen centuries has withstood all the advances of Christianity. Withstood? Who can forget those days when the fate of Europe hung in the balance at Tours and again at the gates of Vienna when the surging Moslem hordes were beaten back in their fanatic zeal to overthrow the power of Christianity in the West, as it had already done in large sections of the East. And who can forget those battles which drenched Palestine in blood as the Cross wrestled with the Crescent for the guardianship of the holy places of our faith. And even today battles no less fierce, if less bloody, are being fought for the supremacy of the Dark Continent. Or nearer home, suave Moslem teachers of the new school come even to America to propagate the faith of the false prophet and Detroit and Washington know the witness, “There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet.” There is a challenge in a faith so virile which still aggressively denies the faith once delivered to the saints. There is a challenge in the opportunities of the present day in Arabia. This is the day of open doors in this ancient land. Arabia too was drawn into the meshes of the great world war. And out of that war has come a new Arabia, an Arabia which has suddenly awakened from the deep sleep of the seventh century to the broad mid-day of the twentieth. On every hand there is a thirst for western knowledge. Where the question to the newcomer in the old days was generally, “Are you a doctor?” today it is liable to be “If God will, you are a teacher?” Young men carry English primers in their pockets, laboriously spelling out new words and phrases. One hears the roll of drums and down the street come the schoolboys, resplendent in khaki uniforms — the Boy Scouts of Arabia. There may not be much of the real Scout’s self- reliance, nor do they understand, perhaps, all the implications of the Scouts’ oath, but none the less it shows what they are seeking. The danger of the situation is that they will adopt the shell of western learning and institutions without catching the spirit which has given the West its leadership. The call is for Christian teachers who can give a Christian emphasis to all this reaching after a larger share in the life of the world. Arabia needs today men of high ideals who can direct into channels of lasting good these impulses; who can give standards of values to the coming generation which will mold their lives after the pattern of the Master Man. Arabia needs ambassadors of Christ to point to higher things than the passing, material and physical. Open doors beckon in other directions too. More and more the great province of Nejd, the vast interior of Arabia, is looking to the world outside its desert wastes. At present her needs do not go beyond the healing of the body which modern medicine can bring. But once that wedge has entered it is not long before the evangelist may enter too for the healing of men’s souls. The whole peninsula is open, with the exception of the sacred cities, to him who has the courage to take the Word of God in his hands and go out to preach the Word. There is too the challenge to strike a blow at the very heart of Islam. Although behind many other nations in learning and cultural advancement, Arabia is still the cradle of Islam. It was here that the faith was born, it was here that the prophet arose and taught and died, it was from Arabia that there poured forth those first triumph- ant hordes who planted the Crescent in every quarter of the Orient and made the name Moham- med sacred to millions. And it is still toward Arabia that the two hundred millions of faithful turn their faces five times daily as they pray. Deep in the heart of every Moslem, wherever he may dwell, is the wish, the prayer, the purpose that he may one day set foot on the sacred soil of Arabia and tread the ground his prophet trod. And the Moslem of Arabia is the aristocrat of all believers. Others may believe, but it is from him they learned the faith. Others may boast of that faith, but it is in his land that it had its source, and he is sure that here only, in Arabia, is the pure religion and undefiled. To strike a blow for Christ in this land, then, to win a convert to our King from the midst of this people, is to awaken influences which will have consequences further than we can see. Mohammed prophesied that in all Arabia there should never be but one faith. Every time a group, be it ever so small, gathers to call on the name of the Triune God they give the lie to his prophecy. And yet, he spoke better than he knew. For that prophecy will one day see fulfillment, albeit that single faith will be other than the one of which he prophesied. The challenge of Arabia is still the challenge of the difficult. Through the passing years, lives rich in power and unwavering in purpose have been poured out for Arabia. And yet the Kingdom delays. As, the anvil wears out the hammer and is itself unshaken, so Islam has been the colossal anvil upon which the splendid steel of many a noble life has been worn away. And it may be that many another one will be thrown away before the anvil itself is broken. But the promise is sure that Islam too shall fail and crumble into dust before the glory of Jehovah and the triumph of Christ. But more hammers are called for, more life is needed. Move to the fore. Say not another is fitter than thou, Shame to thy shrinking, up, face thy task now. Own thyself equal to all a soul may. Cease thy evading, God needs thee today. Move to the fore. Move to the fore. God Himself waits and must wait till thou come; Men are God’s prophets though ages lie dumb; Halts the Christ-kingdom with conquest so near? Thou art the cause then, thou soul in the rear. Move to the fore. There is urgency too in the present opportunity. The currents and cross-currents of political strife and chicanery are playing across this land. Forces are contending for the political mastery of the country. No one dare predict in this hour what may be the situation tomorrow. In the flux of the present there is religious freedom, and open doors for all who wish to enter. But it is not certain that these doors will remain open when the policies of the government are determined. The policy of the closed door to Christian missions may be adopted, as it has been adopted by governments in Moslem lands ere this. But until that occurs the door is open for all who wish to enter, and once it is closed those who have entered are not turned out. All the more urgency then to seize the present opportunity and make it powerful against an evil day. Nor is the urgency of the world situation to be ignored. The East, including Arabia, is disillusioned. After weary years of war, the purposes of which they but remotely understood, they heard of the wonderful peace which was to usher in a new world. The Fourteen Points, the privilege of self- determination, the rights of small nations, were words to conjure with, the “Open Sesame” to a new era. Years have passed. Rumors came from Paris that the Fourteen Points were an ideal of fine language in the heat of conflict but hardly the guiding principles of astute statesmen at the peace table. All the benefits the Arab is receiving — and they are many — do not compensate in his eyes for what he had hoped to achieve. But, happily, in all his discontent, there is still the deepest respect and admiration for America. He still looks to America as the champion of oppressed peoples. And that too spells opportunity. While the halo of romance is still upon all things American let America’s best come out and prove to the Arab that his dreams are not mistaken nor his high esteem unmerited. But let it be America’s best, America’s faith in Christ. More powerful than the political urgency is the spiritual urgency of the hour. Islam is changing. The shock of the war is felt among these stern monotheists. The faith of the seventh century is not adequate for the twentieth. The new wine is attractive and inevitable, but Islam has only old ■wine skins. These old skins are worn and thin and the alchemy of the new wine is tearing them to shreds. Old restraints are giving way. Under the illusion that Islam was powerful and a world influence, men kept the requirements of the faith. But in the mighty current of the war there has come disillusionment. Islam knows itself to be weak among the many factors of world importance. And with that knowledge the old is passed by and external things, the symbols of a conquering power, are adopted. The fast month comes and Arab officials hedge it about with restrictions, injunctions and penalties that the faithful may shrive their souls. But the faithful have but little concern for their souls and the fast is openly broken and covertly sneered at. A sheikh, a leader of his people and a man of wide influence, boasts of his close contact through the years of the war with the white man. And what has he learned? He has cultivated a taste for the white man’s liquors and laughs vacuously as he chatters the drinking phrases of his new friend. Mascat boasts of its atheists’ club. From a blind faith the pendulum swings to the other extreme. “Is there a God? And if there is does he know anything about me,” asks the new Arab. Atheism and agnosticism creep in and challenge us to give the Moslem something vital to replace the faith which he finds inadequate. In answer to this challenge of Arabia and the urgency of the opportunity the Church has sent nine clergymen to this land. The labors of the doctors and the heroic efforts of the women workers are not despised nor ignored. But this land of religion demands men trained in religion. To defend the divinity of Christ to a group of Moslems is not the task of a novice. The attacks upon the integrity of God’s Word are unsurpassed in fierce- ness and subtlety by the products of the German Universities in the past two decades. From a simplicity in presenting the message that the simplest soul may grasp it to a defense of the truth against the philosophical attacks of religious teachers, Arabia challenges the best minds our Seminaries can produce. And in the past ten years just one clergyman has come to swell the forces which oppose the mighty , system of Mohammedan- ism. Is there no vision among those who are the leaders in the Kingdom? Is there no appeal to red-blooded consecration in the lure of the difficult, in the challenge of a large task? “My people perish where there is no vision.” Arabia’s millions perish because in the homeland the vision is bedimmed, because there is none who cries. It’s great to be out where the fight is strong. Out where the heaviest troops belong. And to fight for God and man. Arabia lies in flux now and he who comes today may have a share in the moulding of a new people, in the rebirth of a nation. Nay rather, in the birth of an Empire. For the old things have passed away in Arabia, and from a sleeping desert she will become again one of the cross-roads of the world. He who comes today captures an empire for Christ. And after all, the real challenge of Arabia must lie in our love for Him. Have we really learned to know His love for us? Have we entered into the fellowship of His sufferings, have we shared with Him in the work of redemption? Has our response been whole-hearted love and whole-hearted consecration? Then we will know the challenge of Arabia. Then Arabia — barren in its faith and hungry for love calls you to bring to her the knowl- edge of Christ. The strings of camels come in single file. Bearing their burdens o’er the desert sand; Swiftly the boats go plying on the Nile, The needs of men are met on every hand. But still I wait The messenger of God, he cometh late. I see a cloud of dust rise in the plain. The measured tread of troops falls on my ear, The soldier comes, the empire to maintain, Bringing the pomp of war. the reign of fear. But still I wait The messenger of peace, he cometh late. They set me looking o’er the desert drear Where broods the darkness as the deepest night. From many a mosque there comes the call to prayer; I hear no voice that calls on Christ for light. But still I wait The messenger of Christ, he cometh late. Amara, Mesopotamia, January, 1922.