About eighteen hundred and fifty years ago two missionaries came to a town
in Greece, called Thessalonica, and began to preach. They did nobody any
harm and only talked about the love of Jesus Christ for sinners. A great
number of people believed and attended their meetings. Some of the noble
and wealthy women of the town also became Christians and for about three
weeks the preaching went on unhindered. However, as soon as the enemies of
the gospel saw that Paul and Silas were meeting with success they did
their best to stir up trouble. A mob collected and with a great deal of
noise and shouting pulled some of the new believers through the streets,
crying: _"They that have turned the world upside down are come hither
also!"_ Just as it was in Thessalonica so it has been in every place where
the gospel has been preached. The word of God does turn the world upside
down. The gospel is powerful and its effect is often at first to stir up
the envy and hatred of men who love not God. When the heathen are
worshipping idols and enjoying sinful pleasures they like to be let alone.
A thief does not like the policeman's lantern. Those who do dark things
hate the light. The Moslem's idea of right and wrong is so crooked that he
does not like to have it exposed.
[Illustration: THE SULTAN'S SOLDIERS.]
Supposing there was a country where all the people wore their garments
wrong side out because they knew no better, and then some one came wearing
his clothes properly and trying to teach these ignorant people, would they
not think _him_ mad and say why do _you_ not turn your coat inside out?
That is the very way Moslems regard the missionary. They often tell us,
"You are so good and kind why don't you accept the true religion and
become a believer?" You must not think that the heathen or the Mohammedans
are anxious to hear the gospel. They do not know of its value and so do
not know what they miss. When they hear that the gospel demands a holy
life and forbids all swearing and lying and uncleanness, they think such a
religion too difficult and prefer their own. All their topsy-turvy ways
and thoughts seem perfectly correct to themselves until God's Spirit
enlightens them.
It is no wonder therefore that there is always opposition and trouble when
missionaries (even such quiet _little_ missionaries as we read about),
come to a village. When you want to put a thing straight that is upside
down there is sure to be an overturning. The farmer is not sorry because
his rude plow breaks the hard soil and bruises the weeds and turns all the
greensward under. Oh no; he does that to make some better green grow. Wait
three months and you will see the whole field covered with a waving
harvest of wheat. Ploughing is pretty rough work on weeds. Opening a new
mission station is pretty rough, I admit, on a false religion. And the
wise men cannot help knowing this and so they repeat the words of the old
Greeks when they see a missionary settle down in their village: "Those
that have turned the world upside down are come hither also ... saying
that there is another King, _Jesus_."
The king of all hearts in the Mohammedan world is their prophet Mohammed.
They love his name and imitate his acts to the least particular. Much more
faithfully, I fear, than we imitate Jesus, our example. The great question
in Arabia is whether Mohammed or Jesus is to rule the country. Mohammed
has had it very much his own way for thirteen hundred years, but now his
dominion is being disputed. God's providence is working in many ways to
help His gospel. I sometimes think that we might call His providence the
plow and His gospel the good seed. For example, what a strange thing it is
for the Arabs to find Christian governments interfering with their slave
trade. Does not the Koran approve of slave holders and did not Mohammed
buy and sell slaves? And then when the big merchant ships come to the
coasts of Arabia and the ignorant Arabs learn of other lands and peoples
and civilisation they cannot help losing some of their pride and
prejudice. They compare the government of England in Aden with that of the
Turks in Sanaa and then--well they feel like turning the world upside down
themselves!
The Mohammedan religion has such a strong hold in Arabia that it will not
be overcome in one day or by one battle. We must expect a long and hard
fight. Before Topsy-turvy Land becomes a Christian land there will be
martyrs in Arabia. Every Moslem who accepts Christ does so at his peril,
and yet there are those who dare to confess Christ before men. When you
read in mission reports of troubles and opposition, of burning up books,
imprisoning colporteurs and expelling missionaries you must not think that
the gospel is being defeated. It is conquering. What we see under such
circumstances is only the dust in the wake of the ploughman. God is
turning the world upside down that it may be right side up when Jesus
comes. He that plougheth should plough in hope. We may not be able to see
a harvest yet in this country but, furrow after furrow, the soil is
getting ready for the seed.
Don't some of you want to come and do a day's ploughing for the King?
There are some splendid stretches of virgin prairie yet untouched between
Bahrein and Mecca.