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A HEATHEN WOMAN'S FACE By MRS.W. M. Turnsum Wave you ever read the sorrow in a heathen woman's face, As you met her eye to eye amid the throng? She who is by sex your sister, though sunder'd far in race, Have you ever wonder'd why she has no song? /' She's a prisoner that beats against the very bars of life, And she longs for death, yet dares not, must not die. She is cursed with cruel curses should she be a sonless wife, And a baby daughter answers cry with cry. She's the daughter of her mother, who before her trod the rod* She%the mother of a daughter who will know All the depths of her own anguish, all the heavy, weary load, Akl the bitterness-a heathen woman's woe 1 No, 'tis not a heathen woman-'tis a piteous, captive throng, In the deserts, jungles, paddy fields and marts, h the lands that know not Jesus, lands of cdtyand wrong, Where there is no balm for wounded, aching heasts. Shall we let tbis stream flow downward in its widening, deathward way? Shall we let this flood of misery hold its throng? We can stem the deadly current if we go and give and pray- They must join us in the glad redemption song I Field Chairman: E. F. EICHER,Akola Editor: PAULC. HAAGEN,Dhandhuka THEINDIA ALLIANCEis published by the Inclia Mission of the C. & M.A. for thb purpose of soliciting prayer and inspiring interest in missionary work in India. The paper is partially supported by free-will donations. All correspondence sh~uldba addressed to: The Chairman, Mission House, Akola, Berar, Madhya Pmdesh, India, or to the Editor, Mission House, Dhandhuka, Ahmedabad District, Bombay Presidency, India. FALL ISSWE, 1950 EDITORIALS Prospects and Promises JAMES LORING:"DO you think the ,prosEects bright for the speedy conversion of the heathen?" ADONIRAMJUDSON: "As bright as the promises of God." The Missionary has no more the exercise of patience the harvest right to expect to reap where he is a sure thing provided we have has not sown nor to gather where used the good seed of His Word. he has not strawed than does the "The husbandman waiteth for the farmer. Fruit is nat hanested by p~husfruit of the earth, and desire nor by presumption. Con- hath long patience for it, until he verts are not won by lettering receive the early and latter rain." C. @ M.A. across the map. The " Word shall not return occupation *of a few scattesed unto Him void. " We have Mission Stations does not auto- a right to expect a harvest- matically evangelize a people. proportionate harvest; not propor- The Missionary task is to plant tionate to the machinery we em- the seed of God's Word with love ploy, but proportionate to the seed and to water it with copious tears we actually sow. of importunate prayer. When this Have we sown the Seed? How is done we have a right to expect mdl~hof the Seed have we sown? a harvest. Due to the unproduc- Has our Sswirig been haphazard tiveness of the soil it may be in trying to cultivate too large a small thirty-fold harvest. Due a field? Have we watered it with to the barrenness of the district bgonizing prayer? Have we taken it may be a delayed harvest. With time to cultivate %heincrease? 2 THE INDIA ALLIANCE May the zea1,of sowing God's ~f,~aharvest will be "as bright' w Word consume our every thought the promises of God." and action! Then th&,pra9pects . * I Hair-splitting or tom-splitting? The more a missionary pleads every hour of life. Words cannot with philosophic minded Hindus raise a respopse in the ignorant wbo delight in allegory and hair- , soul whose ears are deaf to truth, splitting distinctions the more he but prayer like a thundeqous explo- realizes the impotence of man's sion can awaken the slumberer to a wisdom and speech. As a language newness of life in which Christ student he feels that all must yield -,will give him light. Words cannot before his ardent and enthusiastic induce mato pray., but prayer can presentation of the Gospel when bringto the lips of the penitent the be can but present it in the Ian- new-born cry of 'Abba, Father'. page of the masses. As a worker Prayer is of the essence of little he soon finds he is not so strong ' things. It is infinitesimal in the as he had thought. Hair-splitting eyes of the world, "but God hath is a most tedious and exasperating chosen the weak things of the task exceeded only by its un- world to confound the things that profitableness. Certainly there are mighty." (I Cor. 1: 27) Prayer must be some stronger instrument splits the spiritual atoms and than speaking. Oh, for a power releases the inexhaustible power of that would blast and shatter and ex- the Almighty God. Prayer is the pose sin and filth to the purifying secret weapon that gives us rays of the Son of Righteousness i ' superior striking force enabling us There is such a power. It is the to be "more than conquerors" over atom-splitting power of prayer. the adversary of our souls. If we Unimaginable power is locked up are to win the Battle for India, it . within it. The Maker of the will only be thru round-the-clock universe has entrusted this incal- prayer bombardment. culable power into the bands of God ,has designed that every His workmen. He expects us to division of His forces should use use it and holds us responsible if this selfsame weapon. We of the we do not. ground t r o o p s occupying the Words are weak, but prqer is beach heads must use it at close strong. Words are dissipated into range, but our efforts will be too nothingness, but prayer explodes little and too late unless you in the over its target. Words are im- homeland soften-up the enemy potent to check the unleashed by heavy gun fire. The fervent, uprush of passion, but prayer can importunate, effectual prayer of blast out its roots. Words cannot the righteous man is the greatest stem the steady, swift current of force on earth for it is linked with deep gorged habit, but prayer can Heaven. It sets off the Problem- divert the stream into new splitting, atomic power of God, channels. Words can be brought The force of prayer extends 'round to bear on a life but infrequently, the world effecting the "exceed- but prayer can sustain a chain ing abundantly above all we ask reaction through~utevery day and or think." THE INDIA ALLIANCE 3 "What do you need out there?" Spirit, "Lord, give me India or is the thoughtful query in many of I die." your letters. What do we need? "Call unto Me, and I will There is no need to split hairs answer thee. and shew thee great over that question. WE NEED and mkhty things, which thou PRAYER!We need the importunate knowest not." (Jer. 33: 3) prayer which agonizes in the Our Coverpage The upper left hand corner is under the Mogul Rulers. The a river scene at Benares the Holy lower picture is a bazaar scene- City of the Hindus. Behind the the gate and main street of almost ghats the spire of a temple points any large city. Note the woman heavenward. You will recognize carrying the child on her hip. the upper central picture as the She is wearing her saree Gujarati Taj Mahal-probably the most style. The woman who with her perfect structure ever built-a daughter is watching the snake monument to death. In the upper charmer is wearing her s a r e e right hand corner the magnificent Marathi style. 'The third woman Kutab Minar points its rosy finger is a Marwari. These line drawings skyward reminding us of the were prepared by D. N. Walli, magnificence t h a t was India's a Hindu artist. PILGRIM FEET By BERNICEE. STEED Pouring rain did not dampen footprints of a saint of long ago. the spirits of the pilgrim band He was a devotee of Vithoba and gathering in the early morning made pilgrimages to his shrine, gloom at Poona. Two large horses The multitudes still follow in his decorated with blankets of flowers footsteps. AS I saw that pedestrian were touched in worship by many band set their faces toward the hands. Even baby faces were temple one hundred and twenty ~ressedagainst these creatures in miles away, I thought of the stream an act of veneration. There were of souls who had preceded these many pilgrims who bore aloft pilgrims in the centuries past. orange flags mounted on long Each succeeding generation has poles, thus advertising the fact that given its toll of worshippers to the they had taken a vow to make gods of darkness, and still the annual pilgrimage to the temple of procession marches on. Vithoba. Two weeks later I came face to The center of excitement, how- face with these very pilgrims and ever, was an ornate palanquin hosts of others in the sacred city borne on the shoulders of men. of Pandharpur where stands the Why are all those coins and flowers temple of Vithoba. As I saw the being tossed into what seems to be muddy water of the Bhima River an empty conveyance? Pushing in which many were seeking soul- through the crowd and peering cleansing, as 1 moved with the into the same we saw two silver jostling throngs on the Walk of THE INDIA ALLIANCE Merit the pavement of which many years ago and for the faithful seemed specially designed to tor- witness which still continues with ture weary pilgrim feet, as I looked unabated zeal.