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250 , Appendix
what she sorely needs unless we have it to give. And therefore we
must claim a new precedence for things that matter most. Unless in
the hour of trial and in the more momentous reconstruction that will
inevitably come, when the last shot has been fired, a genuinely Chris-
tian spirit of love and forbearance and unselfish ministry is found in
the Allied peoples they will have lost that for which their sons have
died. There will have to be radical changes in the attitude and rela-
tion of nations and churches toward each other. Surely here is a
subject which calls insistently for all the good sense and the grace
Christians can acquire and use. And no object for their service is
more necessitous, more responsive than staggering Russia, coming up
out of the horrible pit and stretching out bleeding hands for the clasp
of the peoples who believe in Him, who taught them the parable of
the Good Samaritan.
RUSSIA’S LATEST APPEAL
Prof. I. V. Neprash reports in "The Friend of Russia" of September,
1918, a letter just received, from a former fellow worker, which is
written from Samara on the Volga, and from which the following is
an extract:
"There have been many changes here, and the situation is growing
more serious every day. The Bolsheviki issued a decree separating
church from state, and have confiscated all church property, and pri-
vate property as well, for the state’s use, and the people no longer have
any legal redress. As a result of this upheaval we can foresee great
financial distress. Traveling is becoming more difficult; the work of
evangelization has to face many hindrances, and if continued, the
evangelist will have to draw on his own resources, for, with the already
impoverished condition of the people, they cannot do much for the
work. Believers recognize the necessity of reconstruction and expan-
sion of mission work so that it may suit the changed political condi-
tions in Russia.
"The whole state of affairs is most disquieting and discouraging.
Wanton destruction continues. Most of the industries are closed, and
it is now almost impossible for the people to obtain work. The causa-
tive factor in all of this is largely the ignorant and superstitious. Ab-
sence of culture, rudeness of character, lack of moral principle and
education have brought matters so far that there is little hope of
reconstruction for the next three or four years. Already there has
begun an exodus to America and Australia, especially among the edu-
cated classes. The Russian ’intelligents’ have suffered unto death for
Russia’s political freedom, and now they are counted as contra-revolu-
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