Lambuth, Walter Russell
1/1/1921
- 1921 |
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| Bishop Walter Russell Lambuth was one of the rarest products of the Christian religion. Born in China of American parents and educated in the schools of America and of Europe, he combined the strange religious intuitions of the mystic with the vigorous intellectual power and practical efficiency of the master of affairs. His own tender heart was stirred by the deepest spiritual experiences of the child of God while his mighty brain was busy with plans for the establishment of the Kingdom God upon earth. The impelling power of a great ideal and the inspiring power great idea were the controlling influences that shaped his life and made it one of the permanent contributions to the welfare of the world. Called of God to the ministry, he naturally turned to the field to which his own father gave his life, and in which he had, therefore, a rich inheritance. Missionary zeal marked his ministry from the beginning, and he soon became a recognized leader in missionary enterprises. His church called him to positions of honor and responsibility in its affairs, but they were to him simply opportunities of rendering greater service to his fellow-men, whom he loved. He became in the truest sense a world-citizen. His passion for the souls of men manifested itself in his ministry to the poor wayfaring sinner as well as in his zeal for the evangelization of a continent. His contribution to the geographical knowledge of the world made him a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, but—a higher honor—his apostolic labors made him a prince in the Kingom of God. In the difficult fields of the Orient, in the Dark Continent, along the remote borders of Europe, as well as in the wide-stretching fields of the Western Hemisphere he was always and everywhere a simple minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We will not say that the death of Bishop Lambuth was untimely, though it seems so to us, for the times are in God’s hand; but the announcement of his death brought sorrow to Christendom. He has passed on to his mansion in the skies—and we are left to carry on the work. As his life brought inspiration to us, his death should call us with renewed consecration to the glorious task of the evangelization of the world. While his great soul is with the shining ones on high, his body lies by the side of his mother in Shanghai, a challenge to the church to make China and all the nations of the earth possession of our Lord and of His Christ. We pay tender tribute to his and memory and thank God for the record of his triumphant faith and victorious death. A new chapter has been written in the acts of the apostles. “Servant of God, well done! |
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| Source: Journal Louisiana Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1921, Page 77, by Henry T. Carley | |
