Page 232 - Neglected Arabia 1906-1910 (Vol-1)

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CLOSED DOORS.

REV. JOHN VAN KSS.
W lion \vc think Iiow tlio Suez Canal was dug tlirough Arnbiau
soil and thousands ot the Maria Tliercsa dollnrs. used to pay the
laborers, have penetrated into the inland and become the coin current
of the Ncjd; wlicn we remember that tobacco was not introduced into
the Orient till Sir Walter Raleigh had been doused with a pitcher of
water by a servant who thought that his master was burning up. and
that now its fumes curl about the tent-poles ot Sliammar and Ancizch ;*
when one learns tliat thousands ot bales ot Boston goods labelled
Smith and Hogg are yearly transported on the backs of camels from
katif on the Persian Gulf to the bazaars of Ibn Saotid. one wonders
why the Gospel messenger still knocks vainly at the gates, he who, of
all, has most right to enter! When we analyze the ease as a military
commander would who bears unbounded allegiance to his sovereign
from whom he holds his commission, ancl who has the highest con­
fidence in his countrymen and his army, are there, can there be, any
closed doors?
1. IVho is our Lord?
The king of glory, creator of heaven and earth, Who holds in the
hollow of His liand raging billow ancl fuming volcano, by Whose finger
were traced the orbits of flaming comets and at Whose slightest beck
the whizzing worlds would tumble pell-mell from space into oblivion.
All power is given unto Me, said Jesus, go ye. And then He left His
spilt .blood on the earth as a pledge that He will redeem that earth.
Can a puny man, or a group of puny men, all but a speck on a speck,
•oppose or change or delay or modify the fulfilment of that purpose?
2. Who is the true disciple.?
He who realizes* the greatness of liis Lord and looks to Him ancl
trusts Him for what He can and will do, and he who, on the other
hand, feels himself a debtor to all men, wise and nnwise, bond and
free, white or black or brown. Such a disciple will not regard hunger,
thirst, scourging, prison, reviling, anything, but the flag of his Leader.
Given then an omnipotent Lord, and a true disciple, who or what can
ever effectually close a door before them?
3. IVhat is a closed door?
One whose opening is opposed ? Then Europe and America, and
you ancl I and the world, all of us, would still be immured behind
Gothic ancl Teutonic heathenism and sin. Or does the presence of diffi­
culties mark a door as not destined to swing back on its hinges? Then
Christ would not have trod the Via Dolorosa and the gates of glory
would still be securely locked and barred.