There is another count in this subject of indifference to which we at home should give more prayerful consideration.  It is the failure of the churches at home to send out an adequate number of missionaries to reinforce the workers at the front and make it possible for them to take advantage of the opportunities that have come to them already.  What could take the spirit out of a man more quickly than the feeling that those who had sent him out do not care enough about him to give him support and reinforcements for his work?  It is a shame upon us that we at home add another burden to our missionaries by failing to loyally support them.  What must be a man’s thoughts after he has toiled and sacrificed on a field for years and has unceasingly begged for a mere tithe of the helpers he really needs and which we fail to send?

When that brave garrison of English soldiers were shut up in Lady Smith, South Africa, during the Boer War their courage to hold out against overwhelming odds and on insufficient rations through many weeks was kept up by the assurance that the patriotic English nation was doing its utmost to send relief, though the relief was long delayed.  If the thought that their home people were not trying to send succor to them had ever taken possession of their minds, they would have surrendered forthwith.  Their line of communication was cut, but they knew help was coming, and so they held out with grim determination until relief came.

How is it with our missionaries in Brazil?  Their lines of communication are intact.  They know their people at home are able to supply them with the help they need and yet the help does not come.  What must be the conclusion forced upon, them and what must be the effect upon them?  Either the churches, though able, will not give the means to send out missionaries, or the men for reinforcement will not volunteer.  It may be that both causes are at work.  What is the matter when a pulpit committee of a prominent church can have sixty names suggested to it of men who might become its pastor, and a good percentage (save the mark) of these direct applications, when our small missionary force in Brazil is pleading for only ten men to be sent out to relieve them in their strain?  Whatever explanation we may have to offer for these things, the fact remains that our indifference to the call of our men at the front adds an additional weight to their already too heavy load, and yet, in spite of it all, they are standing with unflinching heroism at their posts.

Something must be done to relieve this situation.  Counting all denominations, there are in Brazil fewer missionaries today in proportion to the population than there are either in India or China.  Why this disparity of workers in Brazil?  Is it because the work is not successful there?  The facts show that, taking into consideration the number of workers, it is one of the most fruitful of all mission fields.  Is it because there is less need of the gospel?