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Title: The Call of the World
or, Every Man's Supreme Opportunity
Author: W. E. Doughty
Release Date: July 23, 2010 [EBook #33237]
Language: English
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The Call of the World
_OR_, _EVERY MAN'S
SUPREME OPPORTUNITY_
BY
W. E. DOUGHTY
EDUCATIONAL SECRETARY, LAYMEN'S MISSIONARY MOVEMENT
REVISED EDITION
NEW YORK
Missionary Education Movement of the
United States and Canada
1913
PUBLISHED JOINTLY BY
MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT
AND
LAYMEN'S MISSIONARY MOVEMENT
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
CHAPTER I
THE WIDENING SOVEREIGNTY OF CHRIST
WORLD CONDITIONS FAVORABLE TO THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY
An accessible world, 2--A plastic world, 4--A changing
world, 4--Increase in Christian populations, 9--Spread of
English language, 9--Geographical control of the world, 11.
THE MULTIPLYING AGENCIES OF THE KINGDOM
The number and growing efficiency of missionary societies,
13--Resulting in unity and coöperation, 14--A science of
missions, 14--The application of the principles of strategy,
15--The number of missionaries, 17--Money, 18--Translation
of Scriptures, 19.
SIGNS OF WORLD-WIDE VICTORY
Progress by centuries, 20--Recent victories, 21--The native
Church, 25--Humanitarian institutions, 27--Social reconstruction,
27--Conclusion, 29.
CHAPTER II
THE CHALLENGE OF A GREAT TASK
Unity of the race, 34--Explanation of terms, 34--America's
home problem, 37--Mexico, 43--South America, 44--Africa,
47--Asia, 50--Near East, 50--Central Asia, 52--India,
53---Bhutan and Nepal, 55--Indo-China, 55--Japan, 55--Korea,
56--China, 56--Summary, 59.
CHAPTER III
AMERICA'S POSITION IN THE WORLD BATTLE
The United States and Canada, a Common World Task, 66.
AMERICA'S POSITION OF LEADERSHIP SHOWN BY STRATEGIC LOCATION
AND OTHER GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS
America faces the two great oceans, 67--Is near to undeveloped
parts of the world, 68--Has many world harbors,
68--Navigable rivers, 69--Is isolated from other commanding
powers, 69.
AMERICA HAS QUALITIES OF CHARACTER NEEDED FOR A WORLD TASK
The pioneers, 70--Mechanical genius, 71--Public school, 72--The
home missionary, 72--Home of world movements, 73.
AMERICA HAS RESOURCES FOR A WORLD TASK
Size, 75--Mineral resources, 77--Railroads, 77--Wealth,
78--Agricultural products, 79.
AMERICA MUST HAVE VISION AND CONSECRATION ADEQUATE TO HER TASK
A spiritual enterprise, 82--America's share of the world task,
83--Men and money needed, 84.
CHAPTER IV
A MAN'S RESPONSE TO THE WORLD APPEAL
Efficiency experts, 87--A fourfold program, 89--WIDENING
HORIZON, 90--Studying the Church, 92--The missionary
committee, 93--UNWITHHOLDING CONSECRATION, 95--Principles
of stewardship, 98--Methods, 101--UNENDING PRAYER,
103--Calls forth and energizes movements, 106--Finds a
way out in hours of crisis, 107--Fills gaps in thin line of
battle, 107--Togo's telegram, 109.
FOREWORD
The four questions which the author has most frequently heard in
discussing world problems with men are the following:
What progress is the missionary enterprise making?
How much remains to be done?
What is America's share of world responsibility?
How can men relate themselves in a practical way to the spread of
Christianity throughout the world?
It is to give a brief answer to these four fundamental questions that
the following pages have been prepared for use in Missionary Discussion
Groups, Men's Bible Classes, Brotherhoods, Missionary Committees, and
groups of Sunday School Officers and Teachers. It is also confidently
expected that many men who cannot meet to discuss these problems in any
of the groups mentioned will read and study the book in private. In
preparing the manuscript the author has had in mind a large number of
men who are now or should become public advocates of missions. The book
presents information which they may use in addresses.
Many of the facts given have been taken from the _Report_ of the
Edinburgh World Missionary Conference, _The World Atlas of Christian
Missions_, _The Statesman's Year Book, 1912_, _The Decisive Hour of
Christian Missions_, by John R. Mott, and _The Unoccupied Mission
Fields of Africa and Asia_, by S. M. Zwemer.
The author is indebted to his friend, the Rev. W. R. Dobyns, D.D., of
St. Joseph, Missouri, for the design on the cover.
It is the hope of the writer that the reading and discussion of the
topics outlined in these pages will inspire many men to undertake to
master the world plans of Christ and lead them to enthrone at the
center of life the missionary purpose--the one purpose around which a
man may build all the facts of his life and to which he may cling and
let everything else go when he is hard pressed.
New York, September, 1912.
THE CALL OF THE WORLD
CHAPTER I
THE WIDENING SOVEREIGNTY OF CHRIST IN THE WORLD
In a discussion concerning the elements of an effective speech, Dr. C.
H. Patton, of the American Board, gave the following outline:
An effective speech must be made up of
Facts,
Big facts,
Human facts,
Related facts.
These suggestions apply not only to speeches but to any case which is
to make an effective appeal to men. What subject is there which so
perfectly illustrates the principles stated by Dr. Patton as the
missionary theme? Nowhere else in all the realm of thinking and action
are there such big, human, related facts as in the enterprise which
has for its goal the world-wide propagation and naturalization of
Christianity.
Christian business men are constantly asking certain pertinent questions
about any business undertaking. Is it honest? Is it safe? Will it pay?
Is it big enough to be worth while? Will it succeed? Will it last?
Men have a right to ask such questions about business. They have an
equal right to make the same thorough and searching investigation of
the proposition to evangelize the world. Confident of the power of the
cause to capture and hold men when once it has had a chance at them,
believing that this is the greatest case that has ever challenged the
manhood of the world, some of the evidences of the widening
sovereignty of Christ in the world are marshaled here. The Scriptures
unmistakably indicate that God has pledged universal dominion to his
Son. The facts which follow are concrete illustrations of the truth of
the missionary principles of the Bible. The gathering momentum of the
Kingdom makes an irresistible appeal.
For convenience the facts may be grouped under three general heads:
WORLD CONDITIONS FAVORABLE TO THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY
THE MULTIPLYING AGENCIES OF THE KINGDOM
SIGNS OF WORLD-WIDE VICTORY
I. WORLD CONDITIONS FAVORABLE TO THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY
=An Accessible World.=--1. Improved means of intercommunication. That
we live in a contracting world is strikingly illustrated by the fact
that when Robert Morrison went to China it took him seventy-eight days
to reach New York from England, and four months to go from New York to
China. Hunter Corbett, of China, who was six months on his way the
first time he took the trip, made the journey a few months ago in
twenty-one days. It is now possible to go from Peking to London in
twelve and one-half days over the Trans-Siberian Railroad. A recent
journey around the world was made in less than thirty-six days. When
Jules Verne published _Around the World in Eighty Days_, the journey
described was laughed at as an impossible feat. To-day it is possible
to circle the globe in less than one half the time of which Jules
Verne wrote in his book. It took the old Greeks forty days to go the
length of the Mediterranean Sea in their swiftest triremes. The
greatest stretch of open water in the world is 10,000 miles in the
Pacific Ocean. There are vessels afloat to-day that can traverse the
10,000 miles in one half the time that it took the old Greeks to go
the length of the Mediterranean Sea.
2. The nations of the earth are accessible because of changed sentiment.
There are to-day no lands in the world which are closed entirely to
modern influence and only a few which do not at least tolerate the
Christian missionary with his advanced ideas of civilization and
progress. It is difficult to estimate the amazing changes in sentiment
in lands where missionaries have been at work even for a generation,
as in Korea, or for a century or more, as in India or China.
It is unthinkable that there should ever be another Chinese wall
shutting out all world contact. Edicts in force as late as 1870 ordering
the death of Christians in Japan are now exhibited only as relics of a
buried past. The twentieth century is making hermit nations impossible.
3. A mental attitude has been created in the non-Christian world which
nothing but Christ can satisfy. This may be only an indefinite
restlessness and dissatisfaction with existing conditions in many
cases, but it is apparently true that the principles of the Christian
gospel have created an altogether new mental attitude in the world. It
is stated by one of the great missionary authorities in India that
there are millions of people in that land who are intellectually
converted to the gospel who have not yet yielded personal allegiance
to Christ. This mental attitude is an enormous asset to the Kingdom.
=A Plastic World.=--The nations of our day are plastic to a degree
never before witnessed. Heat, pressure, and decay, are some of the
forces which make physical substances plastic. There are intellectual
and moral and spiritual forces which produce a like effect on men and
nations. As great heat applied to metal fuses it, so the ideas and
forces of the twentieth century have fused the non-Christian world.
Pressure, such as foreign aggression, world commerce, and modern
science have helped to bring about the present plastic state in vast
sections of the world. Added to these two and accompanying them are
the forces of disintegration and decay in the old religions, old forms
of government, and the customs and habits of centuries. In itself this
present remarkable state of the non-Christian world has no moral
quality. The significant thing is that, while nations are in a plastic
state, they offer special opportunity to put the stamp of Christianity
on them before they harden again, and to determine the direction their
civilization shall take by building into them the principles of
Christian civilization and the Christian faith.
=A Changing World.=--One of the most impressive evidences that the
leaven of Christian civilization is at work in the non-Christian world
is the fact that there are wide-spread changes taking place. God has
been shaping and preparing the nations in the interests of a world-wide
gospel. The extent and character of these changes make the present the
most momentous hour in the history of the non-Christian world.
_The extent of the changes_ may best be illustrated by comparing the
present awakening with other great historic movements of the last two
thousand years. In naming the epoch-making movements of the Christian
Era the following could not be omitted: The Renaissance, The
Mohammedan Conquest, The Crusades, The Reformation, The American
Revolution, The French Revolution, The Wesleyan Revival, and The Rise
of Popular Governments. On examination it is discovered that each of
these movements was confined to a comparatively limited geographical
area, one or two of the countries of Europe, or certain racial
sections such as the Anglo-Saxon, or the countries bordering on the
Mediterranean Sea, or, as in the case of the American Revolution,
England and America. While these movements were all of far-reaching
significance they affected directly only a few countries. But to-day
all Asia is awake, Africa is stirring with life as never before, and
the South American lands are in the midst of a period of commercial
activity and of progress unparalleled. Instead of a limited area
millions of square miles are in the midst of far-reaching changes.
The great awakenings of the last twenty centuries influenced directly
only a few millions of people in contrast with the awakening of to-day
which affects _THREE FOURTHS OF THE HUMAN RACE_. _From the standpoint
of the vast populations involved as well as of the immense territory
affected the world has never seen an awakening of such magnitude as
that which is taking place in our time._
In _character_ also the present movement is eclipsing all former
awakenings in history. One of the most satisfactory ways of measuring
the power of any movement is to analyze it in relation to the
fundamental institutions of society. Reducing civilization to its
simplest terms society is built around five great institutions. In one
column the institutions are named, in the other the human relations
which each represents.
The Home--social.
The State--political.
The Shop--commercial.
The School--educational.
The Church--religious.
While the illustration must not be carried too far, yet in a striking
way it is true that the great awakenings of the last two thousand
years have been characterized by only one or two central and
controlling principles. The Renaissance was an intellectual awakening,
thus changing the educational life of Europe. The Reformation was
religious and profoundly influenced the Church. The Rise of Popular
Governments was political and began a new era for the state. So on
through the list. By way of contrast, we are to-day in the midst of an
awakening which radically affects all these fundamental institutions
of society. In China, for example, a movement is in progress which is
not simply affecting the state, or the social life, or the religious
character of the people, but is transforming all five of the
fundamental institutions of life. As Dr. J. E. Williams, of Nanking
University, puts it: "If we could conceive of the Renaissance of
learning after the dark ages, the interest in literature that came
with the study of Latin and Greek, and the awakening of thought that
followed upon the discovery of new worlds--material and
intellectual--and then add to this the new forces of the Reformation,
the reconstruction of men's moral and religious ideas and ideals and
the recovery of the right of the individual conscience, and if to
these we could conceive as added the French Revolution--the break-up
of all that men had regarded as final in social and political
organization; and if to these again could be added the movement of
modern science, which began with Lord Bacon's _Novum Organum_--and the
application of the inductive method in the discovery of the forces and
laws of nature; and, if further we could conceive of these great
forces as operating, not at different times, in different countries,
through a period of several centuries, but as combined and
concentrated in a brief decade or two in one country upon a great
people, we should have a more adequate conception of the magnitude and
significance of the present Revolution in China."
A significant fact is that most of the revolutionary forces and agencies
which have brought about the awakening have come from Christian lands.
The most powerful single force at work has been the missionary. He has
carried with him the finest ideals of Western civilization, and has been
able in an unusual way to bring the latest ideas in all realms of life
to bear upon the non-Christian world. A condition exists which
Professor Ross, in _The Changing Chinese_, a book which it will pay
every man to read, finely describes in the following words:
"The crucifixion was two hundred and eighty years old before
Christianity won toleration in the Roman Empire. It was one hundred
and twenty-eight years after Luther's defiance before the permanence
of the Protestant Reformation was assured. After the discovery of the
New World one hundred and fifteen years elapsed before the first
English colony was planted here. No one who saw the beginning of these
great, slow, historic movements could grasp their full import or
witness their culmination. But nowadays world processes are telescoped
and history is made at aviation speed."
All this makes it clear that we have come to an hour of crisis in the
relations between Christendom and the non-Christian world. What is a
crisis but a point of time in the history of the human race when great
issues are at stake, when there is an unprecedented break-up of
civilizations, when Christian nations must make great decisions about
their relations with the non-Christian world. We find everywhere
conditions that are passing and that will not return. It is the time
of all times for men who love Christ to make him known to the ends of
the earth. The situation is summarized in "the Message of the
Edinburgh Conference," in the following language: "The next ten years
will, in all probability, constitute a turning-point in human history,
and may be of more critical importance in determining the spiritual
evolution of mankind than many centuries of ordinary experience. If
those years are wasted, havoc may be wrought that centuries will not
be able to repair. On the other hand, if they are rightly used, they
may be among the most glorious in Christian history."
=The Increase of Populations in Christian Countries.=--At the beginning
of the nineteenth century the entire population of the United States and
Canada was only about 5 millions; to-day it is 100 millions. In the same
period of time the populations of Europe have increased from 170 to 450
millions. During this same hundred years the population in some parts of
the non-Christian world has declined, in others remained stationary, or
the growth has been very slow. While the birth rate is much greater in
many non-Christian lands, the cheapness of human life, the lack of
sanitary and other conditions for safeguarding life greatly increase the
death rate. The population of the world at the end of the eighteenth
century was estimated to be approximately 1,000 millions. During the
nineteenth century the numbers increased by about 600 millions. Europe
and North America together increased in population by nearly 400
millions during that century. These figures for the world are only
estimates but are given by the most reliable students of such matters.
While exact figures for the non-Christian world cannot be given, the
significant fact is that there has been a marvelous expansion of
Christian nations within the last one hundred years, far outstripping
the expansion of other parts of the world. The nations which know most
of Christ and his gospel have increased in numbers as well as in power
out of all proportion to the rest of mankind.
=The Spread of the English Language.=--We quote from a leaflet entitled
"The Seven Wonders of the Modern Missionary World," by Dr. A. W. Halsey.
"The spread of the English language is one of the wonders of the age.
The English language is spoken at the present time by nearly
200,000,000 people; each year sees large additions to the group of
English-speaking peoples. In the Philippines more people to-day speak
the English language than spoke the Spanish language after three
hundred years of Spanish rule.
"In all higher education in India, English is compulsory; in the
secondary schools in India, English is taught. In China, the government
has made English a part of the regular curriculum. In Japan, the
students are eager to learn English. It is the avenue through which the
missionary frequently is able to reach the educated classes. In Syria,
one of the boys in the classroom wrote on the blackboard, 'God is love'
in his own language, thirty boys followed, each writing the text in his
own language; yet these boys sooner or later will all speak the English
language. A speaker at the Edinburgh Conference declared that some
missionaries read the Lord's command as though it were written 'Go and
teach all nations the English language.' Macaulay says that whoever
knows the English language has 'ready access to the vast intellectual
wealth which all the wisest nations of the earth have created and stored
in the course of ninety generations.' The English language is the
language of liberty, of law, of morals, of high ideals. The English
Bible, which has molded Anglo-Saxon civilization, is making no small
impress on world civilization.
"The Greek language became the vehicle in which the gospel story was
borne to the educated world of the first century. The English language
seems destined in the providence of God to be the bearer of the
gospel to the races of the twentieth century."
The following table indicates the remarkable growth during the
nineteenth century of the English language as compared with other
tongues. The estimates are given by Mulhall and John Bartholomew of
Edinburgh and appear in the 1912 _World Almanac_.
1801 1901
French 31,450,000 52,100,000
German 30,320,000 84,200,000
Italian 15,070,000 34,000,000
Spanish 26,190,000 46,500,000
Portuguese 7,480,000 15,000,000
Russian 30,770,000 85,000,000
English 20,520,000 130,300,000
In the light of these figures the total given by Dr. Halsey quoted
above is perhaps too high. It will be seen, however, that the number
speaking German has multiplied nearly threefold and the number of
those speaking English six and a half times in the century under
review. Since an overwhelming majority of missionaries speak either
English or German or both, the significance of the spread of these
languages is apparent.
=The Geographical Control of the World.=--One of the most inspiring
evidences of the widening sovereignty of Christ is that he has passed
over the control of the territory of the world to the Christian
nations. According to Gulick's _Growth of the Kingdom of God_, in 1600
only 7 per cent. of the territory of the world was controlled by
Christian nations, but to-day 82 per cent., so that the growth of
Christian control has passed in three hundred years from 7 per cent.
to 82 per cent., while the control of non-Christian nations has
decreased from 93 per cent. to 18 per cent.
The increasing control of the world by Christian nations is due in no
small measure to the fact that they are masters of most of the great
waterways and highways of the world. The Suez and Panama Canals and
the Khaibar Pass in India are striking illustrations.
In 1800, four hundred millions of people were governed by Catholic and
Protestant Christian powers; in 1912 at least one thousand millions,
or two and a half times as many as were thus governed in 1800. In
1500, there were no Protestant political powers in the world. To-day,
England, Germany, and the United States rule over about six hundred
millions of the population of the world. These three Protestant powers
alone now have dominion over more millions of people than are ruled
over by all the non-Christian nations of the world added together.
The Mohammedan world furnishes a startling illustration of this
shifting control of the world. A few generations ago Mohammedan
political and religious control were coextensive. To-day over three
fourths of the Mohammedans of the world live in lands which they do
not rule politically. The passing of Mohammedan political dominion
from Africa is of profound significance for that continent. France has
extended and consolidated her African possessions by taking Algeria
and establishing a protectorate over Morocco, which is one of the
greatest strongholds of orthodox Mohammedanism. Italy has now taken
full control of Tripoli. Only a few of the forty or more millions of
Mohammedans in Africa are under Moslem political rule. Italy has
already begun the construction of 400 miles of railway in Tripoli. In
Algiers and down through the Sahara toward the Sudan the steel lines
are being laid by France. God is evidently preparing his people for a
great advance among Mohammedans. The great question now is whether his
Church will be equal to the emergency.
II. THE MULTIPLYING AGENCIES OF THE KINGDOM
=The Number and Growing Efficiency of Missionary Societies.=--More
than two hundred years ago Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and his colaborer
Plütschau were ordained missionaries to India in the city of
Copenhagen; and two years later, in 1707, at Tranquebar, the first
Protestant Church of the non-Christian world was established in South
India among the Tamil people. Later the great Schwartz and others
carried on the work resulting in the founding of the missionary work
of the present day in India.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century there were two important
missionary organizations in Great Britain. On the continent the
Lutherans and Moravians were struggling heroically in the carrying on
of their missionary operations. There were scarcely more than a dozen
missionary societies altogether in the whole world, either well
established or just beginning. It was a very small and feeble list of
organizations compared with that of the present day. The Edinburgh
Missionary Conference reported that there were 994 missionary
organizations in Christendom in 1910. These have nearly all come into
existence within the century.
Among the indications of increased efficiency the following may be
named:
1. Unity and Coöperation. It has been well said that "The three dominant
notes of our time are unity, reality, and universality." That there is a
growing spirit of unity in the home Church is illustrated by the way the
mission boards are coöperating in the work of the interdenominational
missionary movements, by the growing number of interdenominational
training-schools for missionary candidates, and by organizations like
the Home Missions Council and the Conference of Foreign Mission Boards
in which there is interchange of ideas and plans and methods among the
leaders of the home and foreign missionary activities.
Nowhere have Christian unity and practical coöperation made greater
progress than in the foreign missions of American Churches. In several
lands there are now conspicuous illustrations of the practical working
of this spirit in the organization of union colleges, theological
seminaries and training schools and in united campaigns of many
different kinds.
In Korea a union hymnal was issued some time ago and the first edition
of 24,000 copies was sold within the first few weeks. In this same
land, in dividing the territory between the different missions, the
Methodists and Presbyterians exchanged several thousand converts, and
now, Korean Christians moving from a territory occupied by one mission
into that occupied by another automatically transfer their membership
to the other denomination.
2. The Science of Missions. Modern Missionary leaders are doing much
to create an interest in and to develop the science of missions. The
Edinburgh Conference took a great advance step when it appointed the
Continuation Committee. This committee represents Christendom in
making a scientific, continuous and united study of missions. _The
International Review of Missions_, a quarterly magazine, is the
Committee's organ for reporting investigations to the Christian world.
The committee has appointed a number of commissions which are at work
on the various problems of missions. Their reports from time to time
are awaited with great interest.
3. The Principles of Strategy. There never has been a time in the
history of the missionary enterprise when the principles of strategy
in the promotion of missions were so well understood and applied as
to-day.
The Edinburgh Missionary Conference called special attention to these
strategic principles and pointed out how they apply to the
evangelization of the world. The application of these principles is
another evidence of the fact that the leaders of the Church are facing
in a thoroughgoing way, not a fragment of the plans of Christ, but his
total program for the world. Some of these principles are quoted here:
(1) "Accessibility, openness, and willingness to attend to the gospel
message. During the past ten years the people of pagan Africa have
been peculiarly ready to listen to the presentation of the facts and
arguments of the Christian religion.
(2) "The responsiveness of the field. Korea and Manchuria are examples
of nations in which the people of every community show readiness to
yield to the claims of Christ when presented to them.
(3) "The presence or concentration of large numbers of people.
Obviously, the Chengtu plain of the westernmost province of China,
with its population of 1,700 to the square mile, or the densely
populated valleys of the Ganges and lower Nile, should receive
attention commensurate with the massing of the people.
(4) "Previous neglect. With a gospel intended for all mankind the
policy of the Church should be influenced by the existence of any
totally unoccupied field, like extensive tracts of the Sudan.
(5) "Conditions of gross ignorance, social degradation, and spiritual
need. Christ came in a special sense to seek and to save that which
was lost, and the history of the Christian Church has abundantly shown
how the blessing of God has attended efforts to reach the most
unfortunate and depressed classes and peoples, such as the Pacific
Islanders, the outcasts of India, the lepers, and the aboriginal
tribes of the East Indies.
(6) "As has already been made plain, the Church, while recognizing the
importance of advancing along lines of largest immediate promise,
should, under divine guidance, direct special attention to the most
difficult fields of the non-Christian world. In the light of this
principle, Moslem lands present an irresistible appeal to the Church.
(7) "The prospective power and usefulness of a nation as a factor in
the establishment of Christ's kingdom in the world, and the probable
weight of its example as an influence over other nations. Japan is
especially fitted to become, in intellectual and moral matters no less
than in material civilization, the leader of the Orient. This attaches
transcendent importance to its attitude toward Christianity.
(8) "The principle of urgency should as a rule have the right of way;
that is, if there is to-day an opportunity to reach a people or
section which in all probability will soon be gone, the Church should
enter the door at once; for example, if there is danger that the field
may be preoccupied by other religions or by influences adverse to
Christianity. Equatorial Africa in a most striking degree is just now
such a battle-ground. It is plain to every observer that unless
Christianity extends its ministry to tribes throughout this part of
Africa the ground will in a short time be occupied by Mohammedanism."
=Increase in the Number of Missionaries.=--Not only does the expanding
spirit of conquest express itself in organizations to extend
Christianity, but also in the increasing number of lives that are
dedicated to the service.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century the missionary force was a
mere handful. There was not one representative of the churches of
North America anywhere in the non-Christian world. The Buddhist world
and the Brahmin world were closed, and the millions of the Mohammedan
world were practically untouched. The vast regions of South America
and Africa were almost unknown. To-day there is an army of 24,000
missionaries, counting wives, or about 17,000 missionary families and
single missionaries scattered over all the continents, and in almost
every country of the world.
In North America the evidence of the growth of conviction regarding
foreign missions is seen in the following record of the Student
Volunteer Movement. In the report made by that Movement every four
years the following facts appear:
Number of Volunteers Sailed
1898-1902 780
1902-1906 1,000
1906-1910 1,286
In the year 1911 the total reached was 410, indicating the fact that
the goal of two thousand sailed volunteers for the quadrennium is not
an impossible number to expect to see go out before the next
convention in 1914.
[Illustration: Gifts for Foreign Missions 1891-1912]
=Money Devoted to Missions.=--One hundred years ago the total
contributions to the foreign missionary enterprise from all the
Christians of the world amounted to about $100,000 annually. To-day the
regular annual income is over $30,000,000, or three hundred times as
much per year as one hundred years ago. Great buildings are being
erected at a cost of millions of additional capital to house colleges
and hospitals and printing-presses and all other institutions necessary
for the propaganda. In 1911 these special contributions from North
America amounted to at least five millions of dollars. In all this vast
enterprise the cost of administration at the home base averages only
about 8 per cent. of the total of the regular receipts. The cost of all
other big business is much higher than this. There are perhaps some
cases where the efficiency of the mission Boards would be increased if
more money was spent on the cultivation of the home constituency.
=Translation of the Scriptures.=--The Bible is the missionary's book,
and translated into the language of the people is an indispensable aid
to his work. The Bible Societies on both sides of the Atlantic have
done and are doing a magnificent and enduring work the benefits of
which all the churches are reaping. In 1800 the Scriptures were
translated into 66 languages; to-day the Scriptures in part or in
whole are available in more than 500 languages and dialects. One of
the most striking intellectual achievements of the world has been made
by the missionaries in the translation of the Scriptures, to say
nothing of their tremendous contribution to science and all the
branches of knowledge by the reduction of languages to writing, by the
translation of text-books, and by the publication of many other books
in the vernaculars. When it is remembered that the Edinburgh
Conference declared that there are 843 languages and dialects in
Africa alone and that only about 100 of them have been reduced to
writing, a glimpse is given of the magnitude of the intellectual task
remaining before the battle is won. The difficulties have been very
great. Milne, a colaborer of Morrison, has this to say regarding the
learning of the Chinese language:
"To learn Chinese is work for men with bodies of brass, lungs of
steel, heads of oak, hands of spring steel, eyes of eagles, hearts of
apostles, memories of angels, and lives of Methuselah!"
III. SIGNS OF WORLD-WIDE VICTORY
=Progress by Centuries.=--The following table used by Gulick in _The
Growth of the Kingdom of God_, indicates the onward sweep of
Christianity throughout the last two thousand years. Of this table
Gulick says: "The table does not give the number of professed
Christians or church-members, but only the number of those who may be
fairly said to have accepted the Christian standards of moral life
whether attempting and professing to live up to them or not. The word
'Christianity' is used in its broadest, loosest sense."
The first column includes the period to the end of the century named.
The second column gives the number of millions of Christians of all
faiths:
2nd century 2 millions
10th century 50 millions
15th century 100 millions
18th century 200 millions
19th century 500 millions
A glance at these figures reveals the following inspiring facts.
The number of Christians reported at the end of ten centuries was
doubled in the next five centuries. The total was doubled again in the
next three hundred years. At the end of the nineteenth century the
number was two and a half times as great as at the end of the previous
eighteen centuries.
=Recent Victories.=--While the survey of the progress of the kingdom
by centuries just given is inspiring, recent years have witnessed an
unprecedented response to the Christian appeal.
Looking at America first we discover that one hundred years ago there
were 364,872 communicant members of the Protestant churches out of a
population of 5,305,925, or one in fourteen. To-day one in four of the
population is identified with the Protestant church. These are not
nominal Christians, as in the paragraph above, but actual Protestant
church-members. These figures make it clear that the forces of
aggressive Christianity in America have realized a tremendous return
on their investment. If we include Catholic and all other religious
bodies the total communicant members reach 36 millions in round
numbers, or about two fifths of the total population.
One hundred years ago only one in ten of the college students in
America was a communicant member of the Church; to-day practically
every other college student is a member of some church. It is
certainly encouraging that fifty per cent. of that small fraction of
our population which will furnish an enormous percentage of the
leaders are church-members to-day, or five times as large a proportion
as a hundred years ago.
The situation in the non-Christian world to-day is summed up, on the
basis of the statistics in the chart below, as follows: It took about
ninety years to gain the first million converts (1793-1885). The
second million were added in twenty-three years (1885-1908). They are
now being added at the rate of a million in ten years.
[Illustration: WORLD MISSION PROGRESS
GAIN IN PROTESTANT COMMUNICANTS
SINCE 1800 IN THE FOREIGN FIELD]
At the beginning of the nineteenth century there was not a single
Protestant in Japan, not one in China, only a few in India, and the
great non-Christian world was practically closed to the Protestant
missionary. Three of the five continents of the world were
inaccessible and a large part of a fourth largely untouched.
Protestant Christian work began in Japan in 1859. In 1913 there are
73,000 Protestant communicants,--among them twelve members of the
Japanese Parliament. The influence of the Protestant Christians in the
Empire is out of all proportion to their comparatively small numbers,
because Christianity began with the ruling classes in Japan. There are
to-day in that one country more Protestant Christians than there were in
all the non-Christian world at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
Morrison, the pioneer missionary to China, entered that land in 1807.
At the end of thirty-five years of effort there were only six
converts; at the end of fifty years there were less than fifty, but
to-day, according to the China Year Book, there are 195,905
communicant members of the Protestant churches, and Dr. Timothy
Richard has publicly stated that he thinks there are not less than two
millions of people in China who accept Christ as Savior, although many
of these have not as yet united themselves with the Christian Church.
One missionary in North China reported recently that he had seen more
Chinese accepting Christ in the last nine months than in the previous
nineteen years of his service in China.
In Korea, on Christmas Day, 1887, the first seven men were baptized in
secret; now there is a Christian community of 300,000. There has been
an average of one convert every hour of the day and night since
Protestant missionaries entered Korea. The Korean Christians are an
evangelistic, self-sacrificing, Bible-studying, prayer-loving people.
The training-classes for Bible study and preparation for Christian
work have been wonderful in their attendance and power. One church has
developed into five churches in its short history. The members of a
single church in Seoul preach the gospel in over a hundred villages in
the vicinity of the city. Pingyang was not entered until 1895. At that
time it was said of the city that every other house was a wine shop.
In the short time since the first missionary entered the city such
progress has been made that it is now said of Pingyang that every
other house has a Christian in it, and that at least one sixth of the
population may be found in the regular church services every Sunday
morning. The great challenge presented by Korea is to press the
advantage at this point in the far-flung battle line, in confident
expectation that Korea will be evangelized in this generation.
India furnishes many thrilling illustrations of the victorious
progress of Christianity. On a journey around the world two years ago,
a Christian leader saw one church record in the Baptist mission among
the Telugus in which there were the names of 19,000 Christian
converts. Forty years ago there were not more than a half-dozen
Christians in that section of India.
Uganda in Central Africa has made great progress since the days of
Stanley's discovery of Livingstone. Recently an eight-days' meeting
was held in one of the stations. The attendance ranged from 3,500 the
first day to more than 6,000 on the last day. In the five years
ending September, 1907, there was an average increase in membership of
6,000 a year, and in 1909 the total increase reached 8,000.
Even the Near East which has for many years been so comparatively
unresponsive to the appeal of the gospel, is more ready than ever to
receive the gospel message and especially the missionary school. On a
visit to the Near East in 1911, Dr. C. H. Patton, one of the
Secretaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions, addressed some inspiring audiences, in one place a multitude
numbering three thousand. At Aintab, the crowd was divided into three
audiences so that all could hear. There was a total attendance of four
thousand. Among many other encouraging signs Dr. Patton found forty
sons of pashas and members of the Turkish parliament in one school.
Where a very few years ago there were hatred and hostility, there is
now not only toleration but in many places a growing spirit of welcome
to the Christian school and the Christian missionary.
These examples are typical of a world-wide response to the gospel
never known before. The simplest and most evident proof of the
widening sovereignty of Christ in the world is the number of those who
are uniting themselves with the Christian Church. It is an inspiring
record, but only the beginning of the indications that the kingdom of
God is spreading over all the earth.
=The Native Church.=--Further progress is indicated when it is
remembered that there are now about 100,000 native workers in the
various non-Christian lands. The calling forth and training of these
workers is the greatest and most urgent single task on the field, for
the chief hope of Christianizing the world is in the multiplication of
the numbers and the increasing of the efficiency of the native workers
in all non-Christian countries.
Powerful native leaders are arising in many lands. This is a most
heartening evidence of the progress of Christianity. Men like the Hon.
T. H. Yun, the statesman, of Korea, Ding Li Mai, the evangelist, of
China, Bishop V. S. Azariah of India, and the late Bishop Honda of
Japan are the type of leaders who may well inspire hope in the success
of Christianity in the lands from which they come. Native leaders are
in the forefront of the great social and moral reforms and
evangelistic campaigns among their people. The dependence of China
upon her Christian leaders in this present hour of great crisis has
thrown a great light upon the value of Christian institutions and
teachings. The sacrificial giving of the native Church is a revelation
of the great depth and sincerity of their Christian life. Dr. Alva W.
Taylor in his very valuable recent book, _The Social Work of Christian
Missions_, calls attention to the fact that in China, while the
membership of the Protestant Church has increased eleven times in
thirty years, the rate of native giving has increased thirty times.
Every land has a contribution to make before there can be a complete
interpretation of Christianity. Christendom is as yet only beginning to
realize what enrichment of life is to come from Africa and the East,
from Mohammedan lands and the islands of the seas, when the living
energies of Christ have been brought to bear adequately upon their life.
=Humanitarian Institutions.=--One hundred years ago there was not one
hospital or trained physician in the non-Christian world; to-day there
are 675 hospitals; and 8,000,000 treatments in these hospitals were
reported in a single recent year. The relief of suffering, the
prevention and cure of contagious diseases, the successful war against
plague, asylums for the insane and blind, for the deaf, homes for
lepers and consumptives, rescue homes, prison work, famine relief--all
these are recent forms of Christian service and are rapidly extending.
=Social Reconstruction and Progress.=--Dr. S. M. Zwemer has well said,
"Fifty years ago in the study of missions the emphasis was on
theology, to-day it is on sociology."
The expanding influence of Christ in the world is not only shown by the
statistical evidences of the growth of the missionary enterprise, but
there are also certain large and general aspects of the case which must
not be overlooked. Volumes have been written on the subject of humane
progress, such as _Gesta Christi, A History of Humane Progress_, by C.
Loring Brace, and _Christian Missions and Social Progress_, by J. S.
Dennis. But two of these humane ideas are enlarged upon here.
1. The growth of the idea of liberty. The freedom of the masses is
possible only in those lands where Christ is known. From the days when
the influence of the Christians put a stop to the sacrifices and
gladiatorial combats in Rome to the wiping out of human slavery among
all the civilized nations of modern times is an inspiring record of
the expansion of the Christian spirit of liberty. Dr. Josiah Strong
says "At the end of the eighteenth century slaves were held in Russia,
Prussia, Austria, Scotland, in British, French, and Spanish colonies,
and in North and South America." To-day no reputable Christian nation
tolerates slaves.
2. The elevation of womanhood. Wherever Christ's ideas of the
sacredness and value of womanhood have penetrated, women have risen to
a place of power. Christ found woman the plaything and drudge of man
or worse and has lifted her up to be a queen in the home and a
powerful influence in society. To a gentleman who asked a woman in
Turkey what her life was like she replied, "Our life is hell." Let her
answer stand for the life of millions upon millions of women and girls
where the purity and love of Christ are unknown.
In the introduction to _Gesta Christi, A History of Humane Progress_
by Brace, the following summary is given:
"There are certain practises, principles, and ideals--now the richest
inheritance of the race--that have been either implanted or stimulated
or supported by Christianity.
"They are such as these: regard for the personality of the weakest and
poorest; respect for women; the absolute duty of each member of the
fortunate classes to raise up the unfortunate; humanity to the child,
the prisoner, the stranger, the needy, and even the brute; unceasing
opposition to all forms of cruelty, oppression, and slavery; the duty of
personal purity and the sacredness of marriage; the necessity of
temperance; the obligation of a more equitable division of the profits
of labor, and of greater coöperation between employers and employed; the
right of every human being to have the utmost opportunity of developing
his faculties, and of all persons to enjoy equal political and social
privileges; the principle that the injury of one nation is the injury of
all, and the expediency and duty of unrestricted trade and intercourse
between all countries; and finally and principally, a profound
opposition to war, a determination to limit its evils when existing, and
to prevent its arising by means of international arbitration.
"Ideals, principles, and practises such as these are among the best
achievements of history."
=The Conclusion of the Whole Matter.=--Under the weight of this mass
of proof we may accept the interpretation of history given in Isaiah
xiv. 26-27. He is answering that question which has challenged
thinkers in all ages, What is the vocation of the nations? Isaiah
concludes that all nations have a place in God's purpose and that all
peoples contribute to his plan.
"This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth; and this
is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For Jehovah of
hosts hath purposed, and who shall annul it? and his hand is stretched
out and who shall turn it back?"
No man who is willing to accept the facts which have been stated can
escape the conviction that Christ is possessing the world in an
unmistakable way. Although there are still great battles to be fought
out, and problems to be solved,--greater probably than men have ever
grappled with in the history of the world,--the final issue cannot be
in doubt. In the midst of all the disturbing forces, when many leaders
are bewildered by the swiftly moving scenes incident to the
transformation of great and ancient civilizations, at a time when the
cries of race and clan are deafening and when there is a struggle
between age-long forces on a gigantic scale never before witnessed,
serene and confident of the outcome moves our Christ.
As Mr. Robert E. Speer puts it, "Christianity is moving out over the
earth with ever-enlarging agencies, with ever-increasing success, and
with open and undiscouraged purpose to win the world."
With the change of a single phrase we may join in the song of Christ's
triumph which Longfellow left as an inspiring heritage to the world.
"And him evermore I behold
Walking in the midst of the world,
Through the cornfield's waving gold,
In hamlet, in wood, and in wold,
By the shores of the beautiful sea,
He toucheth the sightless eyes;
Before him the demons flee;
To the dead he saith: Arise!
To the living: Follow me!
And that voice still soundeth on,
From the centuries that are gone,
To the centuries that shall be."
FOR ADDITIONAL READING AND FOR REFERENCE
Edinburgh Conference Report (9 volumes). Missionary Education
Movement, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York. $5.00.
World Atlas of Christian Missions. Student Volunteer Movement,
600 Lexington Avenue, New York, $4.00.
The Statesmen's Year Book, 1913. Macmillan Company, 64 Fifth
Avenue, New York. $3.40.
Taylor, Alva W. The Social Work of Christian Missions. The
Foreign Christian Missionary Society, Cincinnati. $0.50.
Gulick, Sidney L. The Growth of the Kingdom of God. Fleming H.
Revell Co., 158 Fifth Avenue, New York. $1.00.
Brace, Charles Loring. Gesta Christ, A History of Humane
Progress. George H. Doran, 25 West 32nd Street, New York. $1.00.
Ross, E. A. The Changing Chinese. The Century Company, 33 East
17th Street, New York. $2.40.
Dennis, James S. Christian Missions and Social Progress (3
volumes). Fleming H. Revell Co., 158 Fifth Avenue, New York.
$6.25.
Dennis, James S. Commerce and Missions (A Pamphlet). Laymen's
Missionary Movement, 1 Madison Avenue, New York. 5 cents.
Goucher, John F. Growth of the Missionary Concept. Eaton & Mains,
150 Fifth Avenue, New York. $0.75.
CHAPTER II
THE CHALLENGE OF A GREAT TASK
One of the best tests of the measure of a man is in his relation to
great forces and opportunities and tasks. A small man will either be
unconscious of their presence and significance, or will be overwhelmed
by them, and therefore inactive or inefficient. On the other hand a
man who is really alive will rejoice that it is given to him to relate
himself to life's greatest forces and opportunities and tasks.
It would be difficult to conceive of any combination of human and divine
energies, of golden opportunities and inspiring tasks, comparable with
those centering in the world-wide propagation of Christianity. In our
day more men are undertaking with relentless courage the whole program
of Christ than ever before, notwithstanding its immensity, its
bewildering complexity, and its taxing difficulty. The first long step
toward a solution of the missionary problem is this willingness to face
the total issues involved without reserve and without fear.
The following pages present a condensed and swift survey of the
unfinished task of the Church of Christ. The size of the task is
sketched in its bold outlines. In this chapter is heard the cry that
is flung out across the world to every Christian man. It is a cry of
neglect and need, of urgency and crisis, the united voice of
multitudes among whom the forces of the new age are battling for
mastery. The limits of the chapter make it impossible to discuss many
important features of the missionary task, such as the social evils of
the non-Christian world, the inadequacy of the vast religious systems
to meet the deepest needs of mankind, the strength of the customs of
centuries, and many more. The reader is referred to the books listed
at the close of this chapter for a discussion of these elements of the
problems. These pages will give but a glimpse of the task but enough
surely to strike a high note of summons to every man to whom Christ is
indispensable to make Christ known to all other men in the world to
whom he is also indispensable.
=The Unity of the Race.=--In this survey it will be of great value to
remember that God "made of one every nation of men" (Acts xvii. 26).
The unity of the race is a great and solemnizing truth. Men can not be
classified by the color of their skin or their language. It is
impossible for a scientist to tell the difference between the blood of
an Arab, a Chinese, and an Englishman. Sin is not a heathen
characteristic, it is a human characteristic. If the gospel had gone
eastward instead of westward civilization would have traveled that
way. As we speak about the backward races let us remember that the
chief difference between them and us is that we have Christ and they
have him not.
=Explanation of Terms.=--It is essential that the meaning of three
terms which are current in the literature and discussion of missions
be understood before we proceed. These terms are, _the evangelization
of the world_, _the naturalization of Christianity_, and _the
Christianization of the world_. What do these terms mean, and whose
task is indicated by each?
=The Evangelization of the World.=--This phrase means the giving of
every person in the world an adequate opportunity to know and receive
Jesus Christ. This is the present and urgent task of all Christians. It
is a universal obligation organic in the gospel. By this we do not mean
simply giving the message of Christ once in the hearing of all men. That
is not adequate. There must be repeated instruction in the gospel, until
the need of Christ is made clear and influence brought to bear upon the
will so that an intelligent decision to accept and follow Christ is made
possible. Many will reject the message, no doubt, but the responsibility
of Christians to any man is not discharged until that man has had
opportunity to know and receive Jesus Christ. Wherever there are belated
countries and races, or religions that do not meet the deepest needs of
mankind, wherever there is no adequate opportunity to enjoy the
deliverance from sin, the freedom, the intelligence, the purity, the
safety, the justice and equality, the rewards of honest labor, which the
gospel of Christ brings, it is the duty of those who possess all these
to pass them on to others.
=The Naturalization of Christianity.=--By the naturalization of
Christianity in a country is meant the permanent planting of the
Christian Church and Christian institutions in that land. When a
foreigner becomes a naturalized American he must meet certain
educational and financial requirements and take the oath of allegiance
to the United States, in return for which he is guaranteed the
privileges and rights of citizenship. The process of Americanization
is not completed by this act of naturalization; it is only well begun.
Many years are required to thoroughly assimilate the spirit of our
institutions and life. Naturalization is a first not a final process,
Americanization is the goal.
Christianity may be said to be naturalized in a land when the native
Church has reached the point where it is capable of governing and
supporting itself and of completing the work of evangelizing the
country. Therefore the naturalization of Christianity is the joint
task of the foreign missionary and the native Christian Church. In the
process the foreign missionary must decrease, as the native Church
increases.
=The Christianization of the World.=--This involves the application of
the principles of the gospel to the total life of mankind. In a strict
sense this is not yet true in any country. There are of course many
countries where the evangelization of the people is being vigorously
carried out and the naturalization of Christianity is without
question; but the complete redemption of society is not yet a fact.
This final stage in the missionary enterprise is the task of the
native Church in each land. There will still be fellowship with the
Church in all lands and interchanges of ideas and service. There will
no doubt be greater unity than ever, but the final responsibility
rests with the naturalized Church in each land to complete the
Christianizing task.
While the definitions given must not be interpreted too strictly,
since the processes overlap and there is no absolutely sharp line of
distinction between them, in general it is true that it is the duty of
each generation of Christians to evangelize its own generation; it is
the joint duty of Christendom and the native Church to naturalize
Christianity in every land and among all races, and it is the task of
the native Church in each land to press with all possible urgency the
Christianization of the country. Evangelization and naturalization are
the immediate aim: Christianization the final aim of the Church of
Christ in the world.
I. AMERICA'S HOME PROBLEM
A primary missionary obligation is to purify the fountains out of
which the missionary streams flow. Unless there is a genuine Christian
civilization in America the impact of America on the non-Christian
world will not be life-giving. As Dr. Love well says, in _The Mission
of Our Nation_:
"The man who minimizes the importance of any department of missions
leaves himself without ground for the strongest appeal for any
department of missions.
"We shall never be able to develop a great conscience concerning any
one department of our missionary work, except we develop a great
conscience concerning it all.
"Though he may not think so himself, a man whose appeal is wholly for
foreign missions may be as truly provincial as one who is all for home
missions, for his field does not comprehend the whole world."
No man who has candidly studied the home problems in Canada with all
their significance to the future of the Dominion, and the splendid way
in which the Canadian leaders are seeking to solve those problems can
talk lightly of the task there. The total immigration to Canada in
1910-11 was the largest in its history,--311,084. While the large
majority were from England and the United States, the total included
representatives of 64 nationalities. The Bible has been called for in
110 languages in the Dominion. There are about 900,000 Protestant
Church members out of a total population of 7,200,000. The Catholic
Church claims 2,538,374 members. There are about 3,000,000 French
Canadians. Montreal has 70,000 foreigners; Winnipeg, 50,000. There are
12,000 Orientals in Vancouver. The great western provinces have all
the problems of the frontier.
Looking at the situation in the United States we are confronted with
the fact that there are 34,796,077 people over ten years of age who
are outside the membership of all the churches. That in itself
constitutes an enormous spiritual opportunity and responsibility. Tens
of thousands of these people are unreached because the Church has not
seriously attempted to reach them. Recent investigations have shown
that thousands of our country churches are entirely abandoned, and
that in large rural sections the rising generation is practically
deprived of all religious training. Until America solves its rural and
city church problems, it will be greatly handicapped in its world-wide
missionary operations.
There are certain neglected and overlooked groups in American life,
such as the Mountaineers of the South. Concerning these sturdy
Southerners, who are serving an altogether too long apprenticeship,
and who have remained in isolation while modern progress has rushed by
them, W. G. Frost says, "I expect to see the mountain regions of the
South as peculiar a joy and glory to America as old Scotland is to
Great Britain."
The Mormon menace is appalling. Every citizen should read Bruce
Kinney's _Mormonism, the Islam of America_, and then do his part to
eradicate this evil from the land.
Several millions of illiterate Negroes sorely need education and
Christianity if the civilization of the country is to be safe. Progress
in the solution of these problems has been great, and the Churches are
addressing themselves to the task with growing conviction and power.
The loudest call to missionary devotion in the United States is
presented by the unprecedented tides of immigration from all corners
of the globe. While Canada is feeling this pressure in an unusual
degree, the magnitude of the problem in the United States is much
greater, not only because of the great numbers but also because of the
character of the immigration. The sheer size of the task may be made
concrete by comparing the numbers of people who have come to the
United States in the last few years with some of the other great
migrations of history.
The leading of the children of Israel out of Egypt was one of the
outstanding movements of a great population in ancient history.
According to the census figures in Numbers i. 46, there were 603,550 men
of twenty years of age and upwards. Some were heads of families but many
of these were single men, so that, if we multiply the number given in
the Bible by five, it will probably give the approximate number of the
entire population, or 3,017,750. In the last ten years nearly three
times as many people have come to America as the number Moses led out of
Egypt. Furthermore, immigrants to America are not all of one race as in
the case of Israel, but represent a Babel of races and languages.
[Illustration: RELIGIOUS CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES
SHOWING PROPORTION OF THE POPULATION REPORTED AS PROTESTANT, ROMAN
CATHOLIC, AND "ALL OTHER" CHURCH MEMBERS, AND PROPORTION NOT REPORTED
AS CHURCH MEMBERS FOR EACH STATE AND TERRITORY. PUBLISHED BY THE
UNITED STATES CENSUS BUREAU]
The hordes of barbarians which overwhelmed Rome have left a mark on
Europe that can never be forgotten. The size and vigor of the
movement made a profound impression which history cannot outgrow, and
yet Genseric, one of the greatest of their leaders, never had more
than 80,000 warriors in his palmiest days.
There have been great successive waves of immigration into China and
India from the plains and the mountains of the north and east, but so
far as we have knowledge of the numbers they dwindle into comparative
insignificance when measured by this greatest of all invasions.
The numbers involved in the Norman Conquest of England would hardly
make a ripple on the sea of races and populations crowding to American
shores.
The Crusades stand out as epoch-making and unparalleled up to that
time in the number of nations disturbed. They covered a period of more
than a century and a half and involved several millions of people, but
more men, women, and children from other lands have come to the United
States and Canada in the last six years than swept across the face of
Europe in a century and a half in the Crusades.
To assimilate and Christianize these multitudes is one of the supreme
tests of the reality of our faith and the vitality of our national life.
The glory of immigration is fourfold:
1. _God has written much history in terms of migratory peoples._ It is
the impatient, unsatisfied, vigorous peoples that have made the history
of the world. If the meaning of the past is correctly interpreted, then
the blending of these races together on a Christian basis into one
united people is America's superlative opportunity to make history.
2. _Immigration is compelling America to study the languages, the
history, the achievements, the religions, and the characteristics of
these multitudes of people._ Such study is imperative in order that
America may adequately bear to the incoming millions the deepest
message of her religion and her Western institutions. This fact in
itself furnishes an intellectual and moral task of transcendent
importance. On this continent the modern gift of tongues must be given
if America fails not her Christ.
3. _Immigration is leading millions to study the English tongue._ This
is of great importance if the multitudes of future Americans are to
understand and appropriate the principles of democracy and
Protestantism enshrined in English literature. The German and
Scandinavian and other tongues will contribute to America the best
they possess, while at the same time they are themselves greatly
enriched.
4. _The mingling races are challenging America to demonstrate the
truth of those principles of freedom and democracy of which such proud
boast has been made in days gone by._ The principles of democracy can
scarcely be thoroughly and finally tested among people who are of the
same race and have a common speech and who have a more or less common
purpose. Democracy can be adequately tested only amid the complexities
of race and clan, of diverse speech and history. These principles of
democracy have never been literally applied in any large way yet, but
one of God's greatest challenges to the manhood of the United States
and Canada to-day is that literal application of the principles of
democracy shall be made to the whole population gathered within their
vast domains. Here is a call for statesmanship and spiritual passion
worthy of the finest life America has produced.
[Illustration: SIZE OF PARISHES AT HOME AND ABROAD
Figures Give the Number of People to Each Protestant Minister]
II. MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA
These lands lying to the south are America's nearest foreign
missionary field.
In each case in which the number of missionaries is mentioned in this
volume, unless otherwise stated, it may be understood to include all
missionaries, both men and women, except wives of missionaries. This
is thought to be fair, not because missionaries' wives are not as
devoted as their husbands or other workers, but because it is not to
be expected that a woman with household cares should be responsible
for the same amount of direct Christian work that is expected of other
workers on the field. In other words, the family or the single worker
is considered the unit.
The people in Mexico are nominally Roman Catholic, the census returns
showing thirteen and a half millions of that faith. Conditions are
difficult for Protestant missions. The population of Mexico is more
than fifteen millions. Among these millions there are 249
representatives of Protestant Christianity. In 1895 more than ten
millions in Mexico could neither read nor write, and while conditions
have improved somewhat since then, it is safe to say that seven out of
every ten of the population are illiterate. In Central America,
including Panama, there are 96 missionaries.
These simple facts will illustrate the truth that there are still
parts of the North American continent inadequately cultivated by the
Protestant churches.
III. SOUTH AMERICA
The South American lands are nominally Roman Catholic. They know
considerable of the phraseology of Christianity, but its vital truth
has not been largely realized. Here are seven million square miles of
opportunity which call loudly for the Christian application of the
Monroe doctrine. While the majority of the people are of European
blood (if we do not count the unknown numbers of millions of
Indians), every principle of justice indicates North America's
obligation to hasten the redemption of South America. These lands
followed the example of the United States in adopting the republic as
their ideal of government. They have not hitherto enjoyed our
religious freedom along with our republican form of government. Free
government cannot be fully and permanently enjoyed by any people
without actual religious liberty. Freedom of conscience produces the
intelligence and virtue essential to a democracy. The South American
lands have lacked such freedom. This in itself constitutes a real
challenge to the faith of North American Christians.
A brief glimpse of two or three of the lands will indicate the
character of the problem a little more clearly.
Brazil, the greatest of the South American lands, about 2,700 miles in
extent from east to west and fully the same from north to south, with
an area nearly as great as the entire continent of Europe, has,
according to the _Statesman's Year Book_, a population of more than
twenty-three millions or nearly one half of the population of the
continent. Its great forests and mineral wealth are but little used.
According to the _World Atlas of Christian Missions_, there is but one
Protestant mission station near the mouth of the Amazon River and not
a single missionary in all the vast territory through which that river
and most of its tributaries flow. Algot Lange, who has spent many
months exploring the Amazon Basin, says there are 373 tribes speaking
a variety of languages in the Amazon territory. These are practically
all unreached by the gospel. The mission stations are scattered along
the coast with very few in the interior. The majority of the
missionaries are within three or four hundred miles of Rio Janeiro.
Eighty-five per cent. of the population is reported illiterate.
Bolivia, which is fourteen times as large as the State of New York,
has only sixteen workers, counting wives, so that each worker in
Bolivia has a parish larger than the entire State of Pennsylvania. The
same proportion would give five workers to the Province of Quebec.
Since these words were written however a party of three new
missionaries sailed from New York to enter this field.
The Argentine Republic is the most advanced and prosperous country of
South America. It has, according to figures given by Mr. Robert E.
Speer at the Rochester Student Volunteer Convention, a per capita
export three and a half times as great as the United States, one
hundred and twenty times as great as the Chinese Empire and the total
exports were nearly equal to those of the entire continent of Africa.
The Argentine Republic has but one worker to every 8,737 square miles.
The illiteracy of this, the most enlightened land of South America, is
50 per cent. of the population. Thus it is seen that the brightest
spot in South America has appalling need of Protestant Christianity.
Looking at the problem in the large, there is in South America a
population of approximately 49,000,000. In the whole continent there
are only 881 Protestant missionaries. If we omit the wives of
missionaries from the calculations this gives to each worker a
population of 83,050 and a field of 12,450 square miles, or more than
nine times the size of Rhode Island.
New York State has 42,558 primary and high school teachers. If we
omit the teachers in the two lands farthest north in South America;
namely, Venezuela and Colombia, New York has as many teachers as all
of the South American continent.
The illiteracy of the United States, even including all those who
cannot read or write among immigrants and Negroes, is only 10.7 per
cent., while the lowest per cent. of illiteracy in any country in
South America is 50 and the highest nearly 90.
It would perhaps be a fair estimate to say that at least three out of
four people in the South American lands live where they will probably
not hear the message of Christ from Protestant missionaries in any
adequate way in this generation unless the Church greatly multiplies
its missionary agencies in South America.
IV. AFRICA
There are three Africas, each with its difficult problems.
_Christian Africa_ is at the southern end of the continent where live
nearly five and one-half million people. This is more nearly
evangelized than any other portion of the continent. Some notable
Christian leaders have been developed in South Africa, of whom the
Rev. Andrew Murray is one of the most widely known. In Abyssinia is
the old Coptic Church which is without much real Christian life.
_Pagan Africa_ comprises the greatest solid mass of paganism on the
earth.
_Mohammedan Africa_ numbers at least forty millions of population
spread over the vast regions from the Equator to the Mediterranean
Sea. With the exception of Abyssinia, Liberia and Sierra Leone,
practically the whole of North Africa is under the sway of the false
prophet and even in the lands mentioned the pressure of Mohammedan
invasion is rapidly growing more severe.
The intellectual task on this educational frontier of the world is
indicated by the fact that there are 843 languages and dialects on the
continent. The Edinburgh Conference estimated that in Pagan and
Mohammedan Africa combined there are a hundred millions of people
without a written language or even an alphabet of their own.
On the whole continent of Africa there are 3,244 missionaries, each
with a parish of 3,614 square miles and 46,239 people. There is only a
handful of missionaries to guard 3,000 miles of Mediterranean coast
from Egypt to Gibraltar. From Khartum to Uganda, along the rich Nile
valley, a distance of 1,000 miles, there are about a dozen missionaries.
As far as the proportion of missionaries to population is concerned,
Africa is much better supplied than Asia, yet in Africa there are five
great blocks of territory which are unoccupied and other areas with
missionaries only around the fringes or reaching only a small fraction
of the people. These areas are irregular in shape and the lines
bounding them have been drawn so as to exclude all mission stations.
Some of the people in them no doubt are hearing the gospel, but there
are no resident missionaries in any of them, according to the maps of
the _World Atlas of Christian Missions_.
The smallest of these five unoccupied areas is in Portuguese and German
East Africa. It is four times the size of the State of New York.
A second near the west coast, south of the equator, has three times
the extent of New England.
The third near the west coast, south of the equator, would make eight
States as large as Iowa. In Iowa there are at least 4,000 ordained
ministers, to say nothing of other Christian workers, but in this
block of territory, eight times as large as Iowa, there is not a
single ordained missionary.
Another region, some distance north of the one just mentioned, without
missionaries, is 1,500 miles long and 500 miles wide.
Last of all, if we omit the mission stations on the Nile and a few
scattered workers around the fringes, there is in the upper half of
the continent a block of territory nearly as large as the United
States but with a scattered population estimated at fifteen millions,
without resident missionaries. Starting from the Nile River, 1,000
miles from its mouth, a traveler could go directly westward through
the heart of the continent nearly three thousand miles before reaching
the next mission station on the west coast. If he started at the mouth
of the Sobat River, about 2,000 miles from Cairo, the nearest mission
station to the west is 1,500 miles away, in Northern Nigeria. In all
those weary miles there is not a single church spire pointing toward
the stars or a home where a missionary family lives.
Taking the continent as a whole, there are at least fifty millions of
people who are not only entirely outside the reach but even of the
plans of any missionary society now at work on the continent.
V. ASIA
In Asia live more than one half of the human race. Accepting the
figures of the _Statesman's Year Book_, the population of the world is
1,698,552,204. The population of Asia is given as 958,781,233. Of
every hundred people in the earth fifty-six live in Asia. Of these
fifty-six, forty-three out of every hundred live in China and India.
Asia as a whole has 9,013 workers, according to the _World Atlas of
Christian Missions_, each having an average parish of 1,781 square
miles, containing an average of 106,377 people. Let us survey the
continent, "beginning from Jerusalem."
=1. The Near East.=--The Asiatic Levant, or Near East includes
_Turkey_, _Persia_, and _Arabia_. This territory has an area of
2,381,310 square miles and a population of a little more than
thirty-four millions. This region where Christ was born and wrought
his mighty works is to-day in desperate need of his message and life.
(1) Turkey has an area of 693,610 square miles, and is therefore more
than eighty-six times the size of Massachusetts. This great area has
only 2,836 miles of railroad, while Pennsylvania with one fifteenth
its area has 15,415 miles. Turkey includes Asia Minor, Armenia,
Kurdistan, Mesopotamia, Syria, and a portion of Arabia. Turkey has a
population of 17,683,550, fourteen millions of whom are Mohammedans
and the rest divided among Christian churches; a majority of these are
in Asia Minor and Armenia. There are only 354 missionaries, including
wives, in all Turkey. The Mohammedan population is practically
untouched, since a majority of the missionaries for political and
other reasons have devoted comparatively little of their time to them.
(2) Persia is nearly as large as Turkey but has not more than one half
of the population. The country extends about 700 miles north and south
and 900 miles east and west. Millions of the people are difficult of
access because Persia has only six miles of railroad, and political
conditions have been unfavorable to missionary effort. This railroad
was opened in 1888, and since that time no other railroads have been
built. Not only are there no railroads but only a few good carriage
roads. Twelve of these cities have a population ranging from thirty
thousand in Kashan to two hundred and eighty thousand in Teheran, the
capital. Four of the large cities have not been occupied by
missionaries. There are eighty-four missionaries for the more than
nine and a half millions of population.
(3) Arabia includes a territory 1,500 miles long by 1,200 miles wide.
Much of this country is only partially explored. The eight millions of
population are almost all Mohammedans. Of the six provinces only three
are occupied by missionaries, and in the coast-line of 4,000 miles
there are workers in only four centers--Aden, Muscat, Bahrein, and
Busrah, and not one in the interior. Along the 1,500 miles of Red Sea
coast from Suez to Aden, passing the Sinai Peninsula and the forbidden
city of Mecca on the way, there is not one missionary. From Aden to
Muscat is a journey of nearly 1,500 miles, from there to Bahrein is
550, and Busrah is 400 miles further on.
The judgment of the Edinburgh Conference was that at least six of the
eight millions are beyond the reach of the present missionary force.
Unless there is adequate response in Christendom six millions of our
fellow beings in this one land must lie down and die without a
knowledge of Christ.
=2. Central Asia.=--Between the Near East and the Far East is Central
Asia. The lands located here are comparatively little known, and in
part unexplored. They have an area of 2,700,000 square miles, nearly
as great as the United States. Out of this area we could carve
fifty-two Englands, or nearly eight provinces the size of British
Columbia, or twenty-four countries as large as Italy. The population
is quite dense in the oases and along the rivers, but in other parts
widely scattered, so that the numbers are not nearly so great as in
the countries with which its geographical area has been compared.
There are, however, 23,368,000 people. We have here a bewildering
array of races and languages.
The most important of these lands are Afghanistan, Chinese Turkestan,
Tibet, and Russian Turkestan. The entire region is overwhelmed by the
intellectual stagnation and moral rottenness of Mohammendanism, except
Tibet, which is the stronghold of Lamaism, a corrupt form of Buddhism.
In all this region there are only three mission stations, and not a
physician or hospital anywhere. It is 2,000 miles from the Moravian
station at Leh to the first outpost of the China Inland Mission in
China. From the last station of the Church Missionary Society in North
India it is 1,000 miles northward to the next missionary outpost.
In this territory there are some cities of considerable size like
Bokhara, which has 10,000 students and 364 mosques, but no Christian
church, and Tashkend with a population of more than 155,000. There are a
dozen or more cities with populations reaching from 25,000 to 200,000.
Afghanistan is unoccupied by Christian missions. Fanaticism and hatred
of Christ hold sway everywhere. According to Dr. S. M. Zwemer, 94 per
cent. of the people are illiterate. Mohammed has swept the field. Only
fearless workers can win this land.
Tibet is still the Gibraltar of the non-Christian world, and although
a line of missionary outposts is drawn around it, in one place there
is a gap of 1,500 miles between stations.
=3. India.=--India is the burning heart of Asia. It has a genius for
religion unsurpassed in the world.
India has been called the Mother of Religions. Of the four great
faiths which were born in Asia, two came from India.
India is a menagerie of races and languages. According to the
Edinburgh Conference Report there are 147 languages in India. Some of
these are spoken by only a few people, but there are ten languages,
each of which is spoken by ten millions or more.
The census of 1911 gives the population of the country as 315,132,537.
Of every hundred people in the world eighteen live in this one land.
Among them there are two hundred and seventeen millions of Hindus,
more than sixty-six and a half millions of Mohammedans and 3,876,196
Christians. There are ten millions of Buddhists in Burma. George
Sherwood Eddy says there are four and one-half millions of mendicants
or holy men. These figures are all the more startling when it is
recalled that the holy men outnumber the Christians by several
hundred thousand.
The caste system makes India one of the most difficult mission fields
in the world. There are 2,378 principal castes and tribes, but all
these are subdivided so that there are 100,000 caste divisions in
India and no two of these can intermarry. The Brahmins have 886
sub-castes. Of the 144,000,000 women, in 1901, according to the
_Statesman's Year Book_, there were 26,000,000 widows, or one in six.
On account of the fact that they are not allowed to remarry and other
hard social conditions their lot is pitiable indeed. Of these widows
it is reported there are 115,285 under ten years of age, 19,487 under
five, and 1,064 under one year of age.
India has only 3,555 newspapers and periodicals of all kinds, while
the United States with less than one third the population has more
than six times as many. Only about five out of each hundred people can
read or write. Of 39,000,000 children of school age, 28,000,000 are
growing up without schooling.
India has 5,200 missionaries, counting wives, or one to every 60,293
of the population. If wives are not counted, each worker has a parish
of 93,901. The preamble of the constitution adopted by the National
Missionary Society of India two years ago, states that only one third
of India has been reached by missionaries and that one third only
partially. There are whole districts, densely populated, where there
is no missionary, and in some not even a native Christian.
In the Bombay Presidency it is reported that there are thirty
districts, each with a population of over 50,000, in not one of which
is there a missionary or a native worker. In Sind there are 3,000,000
people and only three mission stations in the province. "In northern
Bengal," says George Sherwood Eddy, "there is only one missionary to
every two million of the population."
The problem of determining the exact situation for the whole of India
was so complex that the Edinburgh Conference was not able to give a
definite statement regarding even the approximate number of people who
are not reached, but considering all the facts it seems a fair estimate
to say that there are living to-day in India at least 150,000,000 people
largely untouched, none of whom can hope to know of Christ unless the
force of missionaries and native workers is greatly increased.
=4. Bhutan and Nepal.=--These two wholly unoccupied states north of
India are usually overlooked, yet Bhutan has a population of 250,000,
and Nepal, which is not quite as large as Michigan, has five millions
of people, or twice as many as there are in that State.
=5. French Indo-China.=--This portion of Asia is six times as large as
New York, with a population of about sixteen and a half millions.
Roman Catholics are allowed in all parts of French Indo-China. In all
this region there are but two Protestant mission stations, one in
Annam and one in Laos. Except in the two missions mentioned, there is
not a hospital or even a physician or trained nurse in the whole
territory. The attitude of the government has been unfriendly to
missionary effort. Vast populations are absolutely ignorant of Christ
and his gospel. No Protestant mission work is carried on in Cambodia,
Cochin-China, or Tongking.
=6. Japan.=--Everyone who has studied the geography of Asia has been
impressed with the strategic geographical position of Japan. This
line of islands circling the seacoast of Asia from Siberia to southern
China is truly the gateway of the Orient. The Japanese Christians and
some of the missionaries have strongly advocated independence and also
the union of the Christian forces.
Many think that Japan is largely evangelized, but one fact will make
it clear that this is an erroneous idea. Half of the population of
Japan are farmers and have scarcely been touched at all. It will be
readily seen why this is so when it is stated that 60 per cent. of the
missionaries are in eight cities, Tokyo alone being the headquarters
of 279 of the total of 1,029 missionaries in the Empire. These figures
include wives.
=7. Korea.=--This land, only slightly larger than Kansas, was closed to
foreign influence until twenty-five years ago. It has a population of
approximately twelve millions. There are 307 missionaries, including
wives, two fifths of them in the south, in one fourth of the area of the
country. Korea is a conspicuous example of an entire nation divided up
among the missions at work in it. That division is now complete, and the
eight denominations having representatives in the country each have a
clearly defined territory. Responsibility for every foot of soil is
definitely assigned, although millions of the Koreans have not yet had
the gospel preached to them in an adequate way.
=8. China.=--This is the world's newest and largest republic. Bishop
Bashford's statement is no doubt true that the greatest compliment
ever paid to the United States in its history was when the leaders of
China's new era accepted its form of government as their model.
According to the _Statesman's Year Book_, the population of the
Chinese Empire is 433,533,030, with an area of 4,277,170. If we omit
India alone there are more non-Christians here than in all the rest of
the world. According to the _World Atlas of Christian Missions_ there
are at present in China 4,197 missionaries of all classes. This gives
a total of 103,300 people and a parish of 1,018 square miles to each
missionary. All the provinces and, except Tibet, all the dependencies
have some mission stations, yet there are great populations which are
yet unreached.
Let us look at two or three sections of the problem.
Sin Kiang has thirty-eight walled cities, but there are missionaries
in only two of these cities.
Mongolia, twenty-four times the size of the State of Iowa or six times
as large as the Province of Ontario, has but ten missionaries. One's
heart is deeply moved as thought goes back to the time when Gilmour
began his heroic labors in Mongolia. When he came within sight of the
first native hut he fell upon his knees and thanked God for a redeemed
Mongolia. In our time there is need of a thousand Gilmours with the
same daring of faith and uttermost devotion of life to carry the
gospel message to these vigorous and wonderful people just now
emerging into the light of modern life.
Manchuria has a population estimated at 20,000,000, but only the
southern and western portions are occupied at all. One of the
missionaries in reporting to the Edinburgh Conference says that two
thirds of the population in his field have not even been approached.
Dr. Fulton reported to the Edinburgh Conference that within 140 miles
of the scene of the labors of the first missionary to China, Robert
Morrison, there are three counties containing some ten thousand
villages, averaging two hundred and fifty inhabitants each and so near
one another that in some cases from a central point six hundred
villages may be counted within a radius of five miles. He says that in
hundreds of these no missionary or Christian preacher has ever set foot.
Some time ago a striking map appeared in _China's Millions_, and is
reproduced in _The Unoccupied Fields_, contrasting England and Wales
with the province of Honan. While conditions have changed somewhat
since the map was made, it is still sufficiently accurate for
illustration. On this map are shown 1,846 villages and cities. There
are 106 walled official cities, only twenty-six of which have resident
missionaries. Three other large towns are occupied as mission
stations, only twenty-nine places occupied out of the 1,846.
ENGLAND AND WALES HONAN
Area 58,309 sq. miles 67,940 sq. miles.
Population 32,526,075 (1901) 35,316,800 (1901)
Ordained Ministry 32,897 112 missionaries
(including wives
and single ladies)
Local Preachers 52,341 159 Chinese helpers
(including women)
Average area of parish 1-3/4 sq. miles 1,788 sq. miles.
Average population of parish 1,000 929,389
The dimensions of the task remaining in China are sufficiently
summarized by stating that there are 2,033 walled cities in the Empire
and that only 476 of them have missionaries, leaving 1,557 of the
principal cities unoccupied.
SUMMARY OF CONDITIONS IN THE NON-CHRISTIAN WORLD
1. _Fields Unoccupied but Open_
(1) Large portions of Mongolia, Manchuria, and Central Asia
(2) Many parts of Africa
2. _Fields Unoccupied by either Protestant or Catholic Missions
because Closed to All Christian Work_
(1) Tibet
(2) Nepal
(3) Bhutan
(4) Afghanistan
3. _Fields Unoccupied by Protestant Missions because of Government
Opposition_
(1) French Indo-China
(2) French Possessions in Africa
These three lists represent the work _yet to be begun_.
4. _The Religion Least Reached is Mohammedanism_
Conservative estimates state that not less than 150,000,000 Mohammedans
are not being reached in any adequate way by the Christian gospel.
5. _The World as a Whole._ (1) The Edinburgh Conference Report says
that there are 119,000,000 people in Asia and Africa who are not even
included in the plans of any missionary society on earth. (2) There
are many more millions--and no one knows accurately how many--who are
included in plans which have not yet been carried out. (3) In view of
the facts presented it is probably a safe estimate to say that with
the present forces in the field 500,000,000 people will pass out of
this generation without having a fair chance to know Christ and his
message of redemption, unless the Church pours out a princely offering
of lives and money and prayer to give them that opportunity.
[Illustration: RELIGIOUS CENSUS OF THE WORLD
World Population, 1912 1,700,000,000]
When it is remembered that there are such multitudes of people who have
never had a chance to adopt a living creed adequate to the facts of
life; that there are still whole nations which are the habitations of
nameless cruelty; millions for whom as yet Christ died in vain; vast
regions where there are a starless sky, a bottomless need, a life full
of fear and a future without hope--this certainly presents a task which
may well test to the utmost the vitality and devotion of Christendom.
One look at the immensity of the problem drives us back upon the
measureless resources of God. Over against the greatness of the task we
place the greatness of our God. He alone is sufficient for these things.
The great question to be answered now is whether or not there have
been developed in Christian lands a faith and power sufficient for
this most momentous hour for the human race. The supreme question of
missions is the development in Christendom of a vitality equal to
carrying the faith of Christ to the last man in the world.
Is my Christianity equal to this task? Will the Christianity of my
Church go to the limit of devotion to the plans of Christ? Is American
Christianity strong enough so God can anchor a planet to America
without wrecking America? In this great hour you must answer and so
must I and so must the Church. Accepting the great opportunity with an
unmoved confidence in final victory, let every man joyously put his
hands between the King's hands to follow him forever.
Some questions in parliamentary law are undebatable. Having been faced
squarely and the decision made, the vote is cast in silence. When a
Christian man has once understood what the call of Christ is, and what
moral and spiritual demands that call makes upon men, the only possible
attitude which a real man can take is _obedience without debate_.
BOOKS FOR ADVANCED READING
Carrying the Gospel to All the World. Vol. 1. Edinburgh
Conference Report.
Zwemer, S. M. The Unoccupied Mission Fields of Africa and Asia.
Student Volunteer Movement, 600 Lexington Avenue, New York. $1.00.
Barton, James L. The Unfinished Task. Student Volunteer Movement,
600 Lexington Avenue, New York.
Dennis, James S. Social Evils of the Non-Christian World. Student
Volunteer Movement, 600 Lexington Avenue. $0.35.
Moscrop, Thomas. The Kingdom Without Frontiers. Eaton & Mains,
150 Fifth Avenue, New York. $1.00.
Eddy, Sherwood. The New Era in Asia. Missionary Education
Movement, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York. $0.50.
Pott, F. L. Hawks. The Emergency in China. Missionary Education
Movement, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York. $0.50.
Winton, George B. Mexico To-Day. Missionary Education Movement,
156 Fifth Avenue, New York. $0.50.
CHAPTER III
AMERICA'S POSITION IN THE WORLD BATTLE
That was a great day for the world when the Pilgrim Fathers started on
their history-making journey across the Atlantic to America. There is
no more thrilling scene in the beginnings of the history of any
nation. A service of solemn consecration was held in the church. Then
the immortal company marched to the sea led by their pastor, John
Robinson, reading from an open Bible those words in Genesis xii. 1-3,
which must have had a prophetic meaning to every man within the sound
of the pastor's voice.
"Now Jehovah said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from
thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will
show thee; and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless
thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing: and I will
bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse:
and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed."
It was a summons across the centuries to a new and profound application
of the principles of religion to nation building. The conviction burned
in their hearts that God was sending them out on a divine mission and
that they were to found on this side the sea a nation which should bear
an important part in the world plans of Christianity. There are no
words in the Bible which have a more wonderful meaning in the light of
the expanding purpose of God for America than these words of commission
to Abraham which were accepted as God's commission to the Pilgrim
Fathers. In the days that followed God was as good as his word and the
Pilgrim Fathers were as good as theirs.
There is a growing conviction with many leaders in America that one of
the central features of our religious life should be this sense of
mission. In the history of the expanding Kingdom, God has evidently
given to America a commanding place of leadership and power. This is
nothing less than a divine appointment. To have such an appointment as
this in a time like ours, from our God, is to have a share in a task
like no other task the world has ever seen. To make men see that the
redeeming of America is strategy of a high order is to strike a high
note of summons to extend the sway of Christ to the remotest bounds of
our own continent. To hasten the time when this conviction shall
leaven the thinking of American Christianity and when this sense of
mission shall liberate the measureless spiritual and material energies
of America to bless the world should be the aim of every Christian
American.
What are some of the signs that America has been called to a place of
leadership in the Kingdom? Are there certain principles according to
which God selects men and nations for the fulfilment of his world
purposes? Do these principles and purposes emerge in God's dealing
with America? The answer to these questions has a deep missionary
significance.
Among the principles which God has evidently applied in choosing his
prophets through the ages, the following are unmistakably clear:
1. PROPHETS ARE STRATEGICALLY LOCATED.
2. PROPHETS ARE CHOSEN BECAUSE OF A CERTAIN FITNESS OF CHARACTER.
3. PROPHETS HAVE RESOURCES SUFFICIENT FOR THEIR TASK.
4. PROPHETS REMAIN SUCH ONLY SO LONG AS THEY HAVE VISION AND
CONSECRATION ADEQUATE TO THEIR TASK.
These principles apply to the outstanding prophetic figures of all
times. Amos and Hosea, Isaiah and Malachi in the Old Testament, Paul
in the New, Luther and Wesley in modern times, all illustrate the
working of these laws.
The principles stated above apply to nations as well as to individual
men. Israel may be taken as an illustration. Palestine was the
crossroads of the world. Israel was centrally located so that she had
an unusual opportunity to influence the known world. Her leaders had a
message and a spiritual insight unique in their day. They were a
people chosen not for privilege but for service, and when in the
supreme test the nation failed to understand and accept its world-wide
mission, God was compelled to move westward in his choice of a new
prophetic race to bear his message to the world.
There is a tradition that Christ died with his face turned westward.
Whether this be true or not, men in these Western lands, with the
missionary principle at the center of life, may well be steadied and
strengthened by the thought that Christ saw across centuries and
civilizations the new peoples in the West who were to be called to a
prophet's place in his Kingdom. At any rate the westward movement
outlined in Acts and later history, from Palestine to Europe, to the
Anglo-Saxon race, to America, is an unmistakable indication of God's
plan. For two thousand years this movement has been gathering momentum
for impact on the mighty East.
The United States and Canada are standing together solidly in all the
great religious and missionary movements of our time. In the
discussions that follow there is no thought of minimizing Canada's
position of leadership. She has vast dimensions and almost unlimited
latent resources. Her response to the call of world-wide missions is
inspiring. The national missionary policy adopted by the Canadian
churches at the conclusion of the National Campaign of the Laymen's
Missionary Movement in 1909 set a definite goal for the Dominion which
is much more nearly realized to date than that suggested for the
United States by the National Congress in Chicago in 1910. These two
nations are inseparably united in common missionary ideals and plans
and in a common missionary purpose. On both sides of the border
Huntington's hymn may be sung with real sincerity.
Two empires by the sea,
Two nations great and free
One anthem raise.
One race of ancient fame,
One tongue, one faith we claim,
One God whose glorious name
We love and praise.
Now may the God above
Guard the dear lands we love,
Both east and west.
Let love more fervent glow
As peaceful ages go,
And strength yet stronger grow
Blessing and blest.
Canadians will find it easy to apply to their own land the principles
here stated. Some of the illustrations are taken from Canada, but of
necessity a majority refer to the United States. A pamphlet entitled
"5,000 Facts About Canada," published by Canadian Facts Publishing
Co., Toronto, is illuminating reading.
AMERICA'S PLACE OF LEADERSHIP IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS INDICATED BY
HER STRATEGIC LOCATION AND OTHER GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS.
Provincialism has no place in true statesmanship, especially the
statesmanship of the kingdom of God. It was Salisbury who, in the
English Parliament, took as the basis of one of his greatest speeches
the phrase "Study large maps." It was Carey who said that he received
his call by studying the Bible beside the map of the world. Gladstone
had great power of discriminating judgment and it was he who said,
"America has a natural base for the greatest continuous empire ever
established by mankind."
The strategic position of America is indicated by the following facts:
1. The United States faces the two great oceans. So does Canada, but
with that exception there is no other commanding nation that has a
great coast-line on both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. With many
miles of coast-line on the east, America looks out toward the
history-making nations of the past. Westward she faces that sea upon
which look out the eyes of one half of the human race where life is
all athrob with the new awakening.
The six great naval powers of the world in the order of their strength
are Great Britain, Germany, the United States, France, Japan, and
Russia. The coast-line of the United States is very extensive on both
the Atlantic and the Pacific. It is surely significant that God has
given America control of so much coast-line on both oceans and so many
harbors for commerce and as distributing centers for the gospel. The
most significant thing about our past is that we grew out of the best
life of Europe and inherit the intellectual and moral fiber of the
Anglo-Saxon. One of the most significant facts about our future is
that with three thousand miles of coast-line we face toward the Orient
where the coming world conflicts are to be waged.
2. The United States is the nearest commanding power to the
undeveloped parts of the world. The great undeveloped regions are the
Canadian Northwest, Alaska, Siberia, Australia, South America, Africa.
All these face on the Pacific Ocean except Africa, and in the
aggregate America is nearer to them all than any other great
Protestant Christian power. The Panama Canal will make the nearness
all the more significant since its completion will bring Shanghai much
nearer New York by boat than it is now.
3. The United States has many great harbors. Not one of the nations of
Europe has more than two or three great harbors, several of them have
none. Russia is too far north. Germany is at a disadvantage because
she has no direct access to the Atlantic. Great Britain commands that
ocean. The United States has several harbors on the east coast, and
the Gulf of Mexico on the south, while on the west coast there are two
of the most important harbors in the Western Hemisphere opening into
the Pacific Ocean--San Francisco Bay, where come and go the navies of
the world, and Puget Sound, the Mediterranean of America, with its
1,500 miles of coast-line.
4. Navigable rivers. The _Encyclopedia Britannica_ says that the
Mississippi River with its branches affords 35,000 miles of navigable
waterway. All Europe has 17,000 miles, or less than one half the
length of the great central waterway of the United States. It is no
wonder that Napoleon said, "The nation which controls the Mississippi
Valley will be the most powerful nation on earth." There are only two
navigable rivers flowing into the Pacific Ocean in the Western
Hemisphere, the Yukon River, navigable for thirteen hundred miles, and
the Columbia, opening into a great inland empire. Almost the entire
navigable extent of both is within the territory of the United States,
although they drain great sections of Canada.
5. Isolation from other commanding powers. The favorable location of
the United States for internal development is equaled by no other
nation in the world, because of the fact that it is separated by many
thousands of miles of sea from the other world powers of our time.
Great Britain, Germany, France, and Russia must continually guard
their frontiers and are never for a moment free from the tremendous
pressure of mighty and aggressive peoples. Our nation has been favored
with the one great block of territory in the North Temperate Zone,
capable of vast development and with almost infinite variety of soil
and climate, remote from other powers. Otherwise it might have been
necessary for America to devote her strength to defense rather than
the development of her vast resources.
AMERICA HAS QUALITIES OF CHARACTER NEEDED FOR A WORLD TASK
As Emerson has well said, "The true test of civilization is not the
census, not the size of its cities, nor the crops, but in the kind of
men the country turns out." Leroy Beaulieu has this to say about
Americans:
"The history of nations like the history of individuals proves beyond
peradventure that no economic strength, no material prosperity, is
lasting unless it be sustained by real moral worth.
"Moral worth, which includes the recognition of duties as well as of
rights, self-respect and respect for one's fellows, has contributed
fully as much as the magnificent resources of their country to the
brilliant success of the American people.
"Of the qualities that have coöperated to elevate them so rapidly to
such a commanding position, the most impressive is a great, a tireless
energy."
1. Our debt to the pioneers. The early history of American life has
many wholesome chapters for modern men to read. The religious basis of
the state was a much more evident and vital fact in the life of the
founders of the Republic than of many modern leaders. Quotations from
the early charters make it clear that there was a wonderful religious
significance in their nation building. "This thing is of God," said
the London Trading Company to the Pilgrim Fathers. "In the name of
God, Amen," are the opening words of the Mayflower compact, and that
document ends with these words, "For the glory of God and the
advancement of the Christian faith." The early settlers of North and
South Carolina declared themselves to be actuated by laudable zeal for
the propagation of the gospel. America owes much to the character and
vigor of the German and Scandinavian elements in her population as
well as to those of English parentage. No land has had a higher grade
of founders than has the United States.
Leroy Beaulieu says, in _The United States in the Twentieth Century_:
"The Americans have been the product of a selection and of a double
selection. Only the boldest, the most enterprising of men have the
courage to traverse the sea for the purpose of carving out a new life
in an unknown and distant land. Then, having arrived, only the most
energetic, the wisest, and the most gifted in the spirit of
organization succeed in a struggle which is more severe, more
merciless to the feeble, in new countries than in old ones. Thus
America, so to speak, has secured the cream of Old World society. That
is why the human standard is higher there than in other countries."
2. Mechanical genius. In the world-wide propagation of the gospel the
ability to master the forces of nature and so make modern progress
possible has a place in the fitness of character displayed by American
life. A large number of the modern labor-saving inventions have come
from America as shown by the fact that in one of the great International
Expositions five gold medals were offered for the greatest labor-saving
inventions. When the awards were made, it was discovered that all of
them were bestowed for inventions in the United States.
3. The public school. It is generally acknowledged that whatever may
be the faults and imperfections of our intellectual life, the American
public school has demonstrated to the world on a larger scale than
ever before the possibility of the education of the masses. Japan was
quick to see that this was one of the secrets of the power of Western
nations. Nowhere is there a more marvelous example of an entire nation
going to school than in recent years in Japan, where probably a larger
percentage of children of school age are actually in school to-day
than in any other country in the world. It is generally acknowledged
that America has set the pace for the world in her system of common
schools. Education, not ignorance, is everywhere the mother of devotion.
4. The character of the home missionary. The United States and Canada
have produced a great race of home missionaries, such as Robertson,
who helped to dot the land with Presbyterian churches, and whose name
is a household word in Canada, or John Eliot, who wrote the first book
published in America, of whom the poet Southey says, "No greater man
has ever been produced by any nation;" David Brainard, whose life of
prayer has been an inspiration to many thousands of students of
missionary history; or Sheldon Jackson, with his eye ever on the
horizon, but with practical zeal, not only preaching the gospel
throughout the vast regions of the West but introducing the reindeer
into Alaska, thus making a great economic contribution to the blessing
of mankind. These men are typical of those intrepid heroes, who on the
prairies of western Canada, in the mining sections of the United
States, or in the heart of great cities, are the founders of empires
as well as the builders of churches; as Dr. C. L. Thompson has well
said, "The march of our civilization is to the music of our religion."
When the historian correctly interprets the story of national progress
in the nineteenth century, he will first of all take account of the
home missionary. No one has helped more than he to make the nation
great and strong. As J. Wesley Johnston puts it, "The home missionary
was a founder of schools, a builder of churches, a maker of states, a
signer of treaties, an unfurler of flags, and always and everywhere a
genuine American."
5. The home of great world movements. It must not be forgotten that
out of American faith and courage and vision were born the most
conspicuous missionary movements of modern times. The Moravians and
Lutherans in Germany and William Carey and others in Great Britain
blazed the way for the modern missionary uprising. In America the
movement for world evangelization was greatly quickened and expanded
by companies of students at Williams College and Andover Seminary. The
purpose of these young men to carry the gospel abroad when North
America was not represented by missionaries anywhere in the
non-Christian world, was at the same time a mighty challenge to faith
and a rebuke to the narrow vision of American Christianity one hundred
years ago. Since that day practically all the conspicuous
interdenominational missionary movements have begun their career in
America. What student of missionary history can forget that the
Student Volunteer Movement was born in a conference called by Dwight
L. Moody! This Movement caused America to dream of a union of college
men throughout the world for the world-wide propagation of the gospel.
The fruition of that vision is The World's Student Christian
Federation, binding together the students of many lands and thousands
of institutions of higher learning. Let it not be forgotten that God
planted here the conviction that missionary education is central in
the life of the Church and that ten years ago at Silver Bay on Lake
George, began what was then known as the Young People's Missionary
Movement but which has recently been renamed the Missionary Education
Movement of the United States and Canada. This Movement has spread to
other lands. In North America alone in the ten years, more than one
million copies of text-books and large numbers of other publications
have been circulated by this Movement.
The latest of these evidences of the missionary life of North America is
the Laymen's Missionary Movement, which is now organized in fourteen of
the principal denominations of North America, with affiliated movements
in three others, and in six other lands, with the first steps taken
toward the forming of three additional national organizations. Never,
until the Laymen's Missionary Movement flung out the challenge have
Canada and the United States so powerfully felt the call to proceed
seriously to undertake to evangelize their share of the world.
AMERICA HAS RESOURCES SUFFICIENT FOR THE TASK OF A CHRISTIAN WORLD
POWER
There is abundance of intellectual, moral and spiritual power
available. Here are great vigorous churches with many millions of
members. Without any thought of minimizing all these moral and
spiritual resources, let us think of the problem first from the
standpoint of the "sinews of war."
1. Size. Bigness is not always to be mistaken for greatness, yet size
gives a great advantage to a powerful people. There are vast regions
of the earth that will probably never be inhabited by a dense
population because they are too far north. This fact puts a limit on
the future population of the Russian Empire that is not true of the
United States. Brazil has a territory nearly equal to the United
States, but it is in the tropics, and it may be generations before the
vast regions in Brazil are opened up to civilized life. China is the
one formidable rival of the United States because of her size and
enormous resources. It will, however, take a long time to develop her
powers. The character of the territory of the United States, capable
as it is of almost infinite variety of agricultural productions, in a
most favorable location in the North Temperate Zone, with so little
waste territory, may lay claim to favorable possibilities, equaled
perhaps by no single political unit in the world except China. In
short, it is not only size that counts but a combination of great
extent with other favoring forces. If we add together the eighteen
provinces of China proper, Japan, European Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece,
Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany,
Austria, Denmark, and Great Britain, they equal only about the same
geographical area as the United States exclusive of Alaska and our
island possessions. In the countries named the census shows a
population of more than 700,000,000 people. A few illustrations may be
illuminating at this point.
There are only three States west of the Mississippi as small as all
New England.
California is three fourths as large as France. There are forty
millions of people in France, only a little more than two and a third
millions in California.
Arizona is about the same size as Italy, and New Mexico is only
slightly smaller than Great Britain.
Oregon has only 672,765 population now, but if it were as densely
populated as New Jersey there would be thirty-two millions of people
in Oregon.
If the United States, including Alaska and the island possessions,
were as densely populated as the island of Java, we would have in this
country one and one-half times the present population of the entire
globe, and yet the United States would not then be more densely
populated than Belgium.
Taking the State of Texas as an illustration, if France were an island
and Texas a sea, and the island were in the midst of the sea, the people
on the island would be out of sight of land in every direction. Counting
the population of the world as seventeen hundred millions, if all the
millions of Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, North America, etc.,
were in the one State of Texas,--not a man, woman or child anywhere else
in the world,--there would be only ten to the acre!
Sections of America are not capable of sustaining a large population,
it is true, but on this topic we quote a third time from _The United
States in the Twentieth Century_:
"If the dry lands of the West account for one third of the 3,000,000
and more square miles of the United States, at least four fifths of
Australia and the same proportion of South Africa are far more barren
than this arid zone; three fourths of Canada is unfertile, or rendered
so by cold; one half of Argentina consists of steppes or semi-desert
country; and, finally, fully two thirds of the enormous Russian Empire
is uncultivable, either by lack of heat or by lack of rain.
"More than this, in respect to mineral wealth, in respect to water
power, and in respect to agricultural possibilities, all of the
countries just mentioned are far less endowed than is the United
States."
God has made America a giant in size that America may do a giant's
share in the world-wide propagation of the Gospel.
2. Mineral resources. The United States furnishes the world to-day
with 63 per cent. of its petroleum. Copper is indispensable in this
electric age, and 57 per cent. of the world's supply comes from the
United States. In the production of coal, America leads the world, and
according to the _Statesman's Year Book_ all Europe has only one
fourth as much coal as the United States. The gold output of the
United States is many times that of any other country, except the
Transvaal in Africa.
3. Railroads. Railroads are an indication of wealth and progress and
power. Canada has more railroad mileage than all the continent of
Africa. Almost 38 per cent. of the total mileage is in the United
States; or, putting it in another way, the United States could
duplicate all the railroad mileage of Asia, Africa, South America, and
Australia and then have enough left to build a single track line three
and three-fourths times around the globe! The United States has six
and one-half times as many miles of railroad as any other country in
the world There are no railroads where Christ has not gone.
[Illustration: WEALTH OF THE UNITED STATES 1850-1910]
4. Wealth. According to the latest summary prepared by the Bureau of
Statistics of the Department of Commerce and Labor, the wealth of the
United States equals 42 per cent. of the total wealth of all Europe.
In 1910 the deposits in savings banks exceeded the amount for 1900 by
sixteen hundred and eighty millions of dollars. The depositors
increased more than three millions in the same period of time. The
latest figures show that the people of the United States as a whole
are now saving an average of about nine million dollars a day. The
statistics of wealth as represented by manufactured products show that
our nearest competitor is Germany, but that the United States
furnishes millions of dollars more of manufactured products annually
than any other country. The trade of the United States with foreign
lands and its own island possessions, according to reports of the
fiscal year ending June 30, 1912, set a high-water mark of
$4,000,000,000.
As an illustration of the growing wealth of a single city, a statement
is in circulation that in 1885, according to the city records, there
were only twenty-eight millionaires in New York City; now there are
more than two thousand.
5. Agricultural products. Two of the staple agricultural products are
corn and wheat. The United States had two and four fifths times as
many acres of corn in 1910 as all the rest of the world. According to
figures given out by the Bureau of the Census the cotton crop of the
United States in 1909 was five eighths of the total grown in the
world. Russia alone of all the countries in the world grew a few more
bushels of wheat last year than the United States.
The value of the farm products of the United States in 1909, according
to the report of the Department of Agriculture, was $8,760,000,000.
The farm products have considerably more than doubled in ten years,
equaling in value eighteen times the world's output of gold. In
commenting on these figures, a writer in the _Literary Digest_ gives
the following concrete illustration of what they mean: If the money
were all in twenty-dollar gold pieces, it would make a pile 720 miles
high, and if the gold pieces were laid on the earth touching one
another, the value of the farm products of that one year would make a
line of twenty-dollar gold pieces reaching across Alaska, Canada, the
United States and Mexico to the Isthmus of Panama, and there would
then be enough of these coins left to make a line of gold from New
York to San Francisco, and some pieces would fall off into the Pacific
Ocean before they were all used! Even this fabulous amount of wealth
produced on the farms was increased by one hundred and sixty-eight
millions of dollars in 1910.
These few facts, startling as they are, are only the beginning of an
exhibit of the prodigality of power centering here. The moral and
spiritual meaning of these resources constitutes a challenge to our
best civilization.
God needs tremendous financial resources for the work of winning the
world. Vast resources are needed for the educational, evangelistic,
philanthropic, and industrial work of missions. There seems to be no
place on earth where in our time there are such available resources
for this task as here in this land.
One of the supreme tests of our civilization is the use we are making
of this God-given treasure, for cash and consecration should increase
in proportionate ratio. How to be rich and religious at the same time
is one of the burning issues in our land to-day. The release of a
legitimate portion of this wealth for the blessings of mankind and
the refreshing of the thirsty earth is evidently a part of the purpose
of God. If the riches of America are to be a resource and not an
incubus, a highway and not a terminus, American men, to whom God has
given the ability to get great wealth, must be brought face to face
with the challenge of the needy world in order to save them from the
disaster of selfishness and sin. God is not grieved when his men get
rich, but he is grieved when riches are not invested for the
enrichment of the world. It seems inconceivable that America could
throw away this supreme opportunity for service. "Napoleonic energies
require an international program."
AMERICA CAN RETAIN HER PLACE OF LEADERSHIP IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD ONLY
BY DEVELOPING VISION AND CONSECRATION ADEQUATE TO HER TASK
It will be well for American Christianity if it learns the eloquent
lessons which are written on many pages of the world's history, telling
of the setting aside of nations and men who have had a great opportunity
but have failed to carry out the divinely appointed commission.
All the facts given above emphasize the imperative necessity for
greatly enlarged home missionary effort. The world battle cannot be
won unless the attack upon sin and the defense of the bulwarks of
righteousness at home are aggressive and victorious. The home battle
and the world battle are one.
_What then is America's share of the world task?_ How much will be
required of money and men if America does her duty to the
non-Christian world?
How to determine a nation's share of the world task is a very complex
problem, and mathematical statements have many serious limitations. In
the first place it is no doubt true that whenever the Christian Church
really sets out seriously to obey Christ's command there will be such
a pouring forth of the power of the Spirit as will upset all numerical
computations. Again, the varying conditions in different parts of the
field make any uniform standard impossible. In parts of Africa and
Asia where the populations are scattered, perhaps one missionary to
every 5,000 people will be necessary. In other fields a large and
sudden increase in missionaries might precipitate an anti-missionary
uprising, which would greatly retard the growth of the Kingdom.
Mission boards are by no means unanimous in judgment as to the most
effective way to present the appeal. The condition of the native
Church is another factor which is variable in different lands. Account
must be taken of quality as well as quantity in the work.
Since this is a spiritual enterprise and dependent upon superhuman
forces, no arithmetical statement can be considered as authoritative
and final. The great resources in this task are the spiritual energies
which God alone can give. But the following study at least has the
virtue of being a definite and concrete statement of some factors in
the problem. Men are thinking and acting in the realm of the concrete
in business and professional life. The call of God is not less sacred
when it is stated in terms of every-day life which grip and hold the
mind and conscience. The task may be accomplished much more rapidly
than now seems probable. That is clearly a possible thing with God.
But stating the best judgment of some of the most spiritually-minded
men in the conflict as to the visible resources needed is not
limiting God.
Therefore as a temporary estimate, leaving the way open for adjustment
and reconstruction as new light is thrown on the problem, the
following statement may be helpful.
It is the conviction of many that the smallest force of missionaries
which can make possible the evangelization of the world in this
generation is one for every 25,000 of the population.
Looking at North America's share of this world task, the following are
factors in the problem.
1. In view of the fact that North America is now furnishing nearly one
half of the Protestant foreign missionaries and about one half of the
foreign mission contributions, and also in view of the fact that the
resources of North America are greater than those of many other parts
of Christendom, it is probably fair to estimate North America's share
of the non-Christian world as 500,000,000 people. This includes the
portion of the world now being evangelized by American missionaries on
the field.
2. Toward the evangelization of this vast number of people there are
now abroad, representing the churches of the United States and Canada,
approximately 6,000 single missionaries and missionary families. On
the basis given above these 6,000 missionaries can evangelize one
hundred and fifty millions in this generation. This leaves three
hundred and fifty millions still to be provided for or seven tenths of
the whole number for whom America is responsible.
3. In view of the above facts, in order to occupy their field the
churches of North America will therefore need to multiply by two and
one third their output, that is, to send out and maintain 14,000
additional missionaries, making 20,000 in all.
4. For the support of the missionaries from the United States and
Canada now on the field the Mission Boards spent in 1912 about fifteen
millions of dollars, or an average of a little more than $2,000 per
missionary. This does not mean that each missionary received a $2,000
salary. Missionary salaries average only half or less than half of
that amount. The balance was spent for all other expenses such as
traveling, equipment, etc. If we accept this amount as approximately
what will be needed for each new missionary sent out, the United
States and Canada must increase the amount of money given to about
forty-three millions of dollars annually.
_Can America furnish the men and the money?_
There are about twenty-two millions of Protestant church-members in
the United States and nine hundred thousand in Canada, about
twenty-three millions in all. In order to secure the required number
of missionaries American churches must send out and maintain about one
in 1,150 of the membership. This is clearly possible and has been
largely exceeded by the Moravian Church. This leaves 1,149 out of
every 1,150 church-members to carry on the work on this continent.
A majority of the volunteers will come from the colleges and
theological seminaries. There were 195,724 students in these
institutions in the United States in 1909-10. It would therefore take
about one in fourteen of these students to furnish the 14,000 workers
required to secure America's share of the missionaries.
As far as the financial problem for America is concerned the support
of 14,000 new missionaries involves increasing our annual offerings
from about $15,000,000 a year to approximately $43,000,000 a year.
When reduced to actual figures the average per church-member is
pitifully small. To secure the entire budget for 20,000 missionaries
would require an average gift from the twenty-three millions of
church-members in the United States and Canada of a little less than
two dollars per year or two postage stamps a week! And this for the
redemption of the world! Many thousands of Christians and hundreds of
churches should go far beyond this average.
"Shall America Evangelize Her Share of the World?" This is the ringing
challenge flung down to American Christianity.
O America, America, stretching between the two great seas, in whose
heart flows the rich blood of many nations, into whose mountain safes
God has put riches of fabulous amount, in whose plains the Almighty
has planted the magic genius that blossoms into harvests with which to
feed the hungry multitudes of earth, nursed by Puritan and Pilgrim,
defended by patriot and missionary, guided by the pillar of cloud by
day and of fire by night, sanctified by a faith as pure as looks up to
heaven from any land, O America, let thy Master make thee a savior of
the nations; let thy God flood thee with a resistless passion for
conquest; let thy Father lead thee over mountains and seas, through
fire and flood, through sickness and pain, out to that great hour when
all men shall hear the call of Christ, and the last lonely soul shall
see the uplifted cross, and the whole round world be bound back to the
heart of God!
BOOKS FOR FURTHER READING
Love, J. F., The Mission of Our Nation. Fleming H. Revell Co.,
158 Fifth Avenue, New York. $1.25.
Coolidge, The United States as a World Power. Macmillan Company,
64 Fifth Avenue, New York. $2.00.
Van Dyke, Henry, The Spirit of America. Fleming H. Revell Co.,
158 Fifth Avenue, New York. $0.50.
Reinsch, World Politics. Macmillan Company, 64 Fifth Avenue, New
York. $1.25.
Stead, W. T., The Americanization of the World. Horace Markley.
New York, $1.00.
CHAPTER IV
A MAN'S RESPONSE TO THE WORLD APPEAL
The efficiency expert is a familiar figure in modern big business. His
function is the checking up and scaling up of commercial enterprises.
His one study is business organization, methods, management and
output. His life is built around such problems as these: Are the
capital and force at work in this business bringing adequate returns?
What combinations are possible so as to reduce expenses without
reducing returns? Is there waste? Is there duplication of effort? Is
the product satisfactory as to quality and quantity? Is there anything
the matter with the organization? Has the business too many officials
or too few? Are there unimproved opportunities? Is the advertising all
that could be desired? In short, his function is to study business
with a view to securing a maximum of efficiency with the expenditure
of a minimum of time, force and capital.
Why not apply the same methods and skill and intense application to
the work of the kingdom of Jesus Christ? There is no business in the
world comparable with it from the standpoint of immensity--there are
hundreds of millions of people involved, and not a foot of soil where
a man lives is excluded from the plan of Jesus Christ. There is no
enterprise which promises such inspiring and enduring returns from
the investment. Its complexity and baffling difficulties are a
challenge to the passion for mastery that is central in every real
man. Christian men might well ponder deeply and then take as a guiding
principle in life that sentence of the late Mr. J. H. Converse of the
Baldwin Locomotive Works, "When Christian business men devote the same
skill and energy to Christian work which they now give to their
private business concerns the proposition to evangelize the world in
this generation will be no longer a dream."
It may be well to approach the study of this final topic in the spirit
of the favorite sayings of two famous modern generals. One of the
principles of a great German tactician was, "First ponder, then dare."
The motto of another well-known general was, "Know your geography and
fight your men." It is of the utmost importance that there be
developed in the Church of Christ such a militant temper as shall make
it capable of carrying out the plans of Christ to naturalize
Christianity in every land. It is an urgent necessity that Christ's
soldiers ponder world conditions in order that they may release their
lives for the carrying of the gospel to the world. Men must know the
geography of the kingdom of God if they are to apply the principles of
strategy to the carrying out of the last command of Christ.
Some of the outstanding facts related to the evangelization of the
world have passed in review in the preceding chapters. The time for
action has come. What is needed now is not more rhetoric but more
reality of conviction; not more facts, but deeper purpose. The
crucial question in this whole discussion is how every man may relate
himself in a practical way to the winning of the world to Christ. The
carrying of the gospel to all the world is every man's opportunity.
There is no monopoly of a chance to serve in this war. This is the one
opportunity which makes it possible for every life to influence the
whole world. What then are the moral and spiritual demands which a
world like ours makes upon men?
The answer to this fundamental question takes us back to the
principles stated by our Lord. How did he expect men to relate
themselves to this, his world task? What were his missionary commands?
Stated in their logical and chronological order they are:
"Lift up your eyes and behold the fields!"--Study.
"Pray ye the Lord of the harvest that he thrust forth laborers into
his harvest."--Intercede.
"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel."--Give and Serve.
Reduced to their simplest terms then, the missionary principles of
Jesus demand four things of men. If men relate themselves to the whole
task of our Lord a fourfold program, in which every man will have a
share, must be carried out in every church.
A program of Education.
A program of Finance.
A program of Service.
A program of Intercession.
It is one of the tragedies of language that the great phrases get
frayed out with constant use. They lose their grip and their power to
stimulate thought and action. For the sake of variety these familiar
ways of expressing the missionary obligation are stated in a
different way, yet so as to retain the fundamental principles
enunciated above. The world to-day demands of men:
WIDENING HORIZON--STUDY
UNWITHHOLDING CONSECRATION--MONEY AND SERVICE
UNENDING PRAYER--INTERCESSION
I. WIDENING HORIZON
The hour in which we live makes it imperative that men study world
conditions. It is almost impossible to keep pace with changing
conditions and new opportunities unless one is constantly in touch
with the progress of the Kingdom throughout the world.
There are at least seven good reasons why every man should plan to
devote time to the study of missions.
=1. Christ's Missionary Program Includes Study (John, iv. 35).=--If a
man cannot be thoroughly loyal to Christ without active participation
in the spread of the gospel in the world, it is equally true that a
man is disobedient to the missionary call of Christ who does not study
missions. Information is essential to intercession and intercession is
the greatest human missionary force. "Facts are the fuel with which
missionary fervor is fired and fed."
=2. Missions Is the Greatest Living Issue.=--There is no question
before the world to-day which involves such large forces, such
multitudes of people and with such tremendous issues. There is nothing
greater to which a man may relate his life.
=3. The Study of Missions Is the Only Possible Way to Keep in Touch with
World Progress.=--In order to read the magazines and newspapers
intelligently constant study of missions is necessary. Progress in our
time is largely along Christian lines. The progress of the world is only
another way of saying that Christ is increasingly possessing the world.
=4. Men Cannot Be Qualified for Leadership Without Study.=--There
never was such an urgent call for leaders or such unlimited
opportunities for the investment of talents as in our day in this
greatest of movements. Real leadership is trained leadership and
training involves study.
=5. World Conquest Is the Biggest Business Proposition Before the
Church.=--The enterprise has in it all the elements that go to make
big business so fascinating to strong men. Here is an opportunity not
only of displaying the business talents which men have, but to display
them in an enterprise which brings the most satisfactory returns to
men in the way of the enrichment of their own lives. The keenest
sagacity of business men is sorely needed in all the councils of the
Church to-day, and in no place is the need more urgent than in the
service of world-wide missions.
=6. Investigation Will Suggest Definite and Practical Missionary
Activities.=--It is not enough to be sentimentally interested in
missions. That day has gone by. The calls of our time demand definite
and practical plans and methods and there are no members of the church
who are in a position to render larger service than the business men.
=7. It Furnishes Intellectual Outlook and Spiritual Uplook.=--One of
the great drawbacks of modern business life is that the horizon is
narrowed and life made provincial. There is but little in ordinary
business to furnish spiritual stimulus. A church service one day in
seven is not sufficient to cause the springs of spiritual power in a
man's life to burst forth into activity. Here is a cause which brings
the keenest intellectual and spiritual delight. The study of missions
will give men a greatly enriched Bible because they will discover that
it is the great missionary Book. This fact and the consequent
intellectual and spiritual stimulus justify any amount of time spent
in studying the program of Christ.
=Studying the Church.=--The Word, the World, and the Workman--these
are both the sources of information and the objects for study. Not
only must modern men study the world and the Word, but also the Church
which is God's appointed instrument for achieving his world purposes.
One of the first problems confronting a man who desires to relate
himself to the world program is the study of his own local church to
see how he can make possible the relating of the whole church to the
whole task in such a way as to release the full power of the whole
constituency. This will necessitate careful study of the present
missionary organization and life of the church to which each man
belongs. He is now determined to become an efficiency expert in the
matter of the world-wide propagation of Christianity. He will apply
the same principles to this study that he applies to his daily
business. In some cases it will be discovered that there is very
little efficient organization, or if there are organizations, they
will be found to be sadly lacking in a big and definite objective.
They have been content if they have done as well this year as they
did last, or if their record compares favorably with the record of a
neighboring church. In other words, their achievements have been
measured by some standard which has seemed a possible goal at the time
rather than by the great and final aim of getting the whole task of
Christ accomplished.
It is also often true that the church is not organized to reach the
entire community in which it lives. One of the first duties will
therefore be to relate the church in a vital way to the entire
community. The church is not a field but a force with which to work
the field. The field is the community, the state, the world!
In some cases it will be necessary to create new machinery for this
work. However, it is much wiser to use the existing organizations of
the church if they can be made effective.
=The Missionary Committee.=--The one type of organization in the local
church which has met with most general approval by Christian leaders is
what is called "The Church Missionary Committee." Even where several
distinct missionary organizations exist in the local church there is
still urgent need for this committee for two very important reasons.
1. It unifies the missionary activities of the church. The most
fruitful way of organizing the committee is to have representatives of
all the existing missionary organizations upon it. The pastor should
by all means be a member of this committee but ordinarily not the
chairman. The committee should always be definitely appointed or at
least confirmed by the official body of the congregation. By thus
bringing together all the leaders of the various activities, a
unified and well-articulated missionary program is made possible.
[Illustration: THE CHURCH MISSIONARY COMMITTEE
ITS FIELDS (INNER CIRCLE)
ITS FUNCTIONS (OUTER CIRCLE)]
2. The missionary committee represents the entire congregation. In the
past it has been true that only a fraction of the congregation has
been enlisted in definite missionary activities. Only small groups
have been organized for missionary service. The men especially have
been unreached. Obviously the first move to make if the church is to
meet its full missionary responsibility is to plan to enlist the
whole constituency. This committee should have enough meetings to plan
a comprehensive policy for the entire congregation, including all the
lines of activity indicated in the missionary commands of Christ to
which reference has been made, also to check up results. A meeting for
the whole congregation should be held each year at which reports are
made and plans projected for the succeeding season. The pamphlets on
the Missionary Committee and its work listed at the end of this
chapter are earnestly recommended to the thoughtful study of every man
who desires to relate himself effectively to the problem of making a
missionary church. The policy outlined by the committee, after a study
of these pamphlets, should be adopted by the official body, presented
to the whole congregation, and explained at a regular church service.
To make the preceding suggestions effective calls for a high type of
ability and the conspicuous and continuous application of all those
traits of character which have been developed in the business and
professional men of the church.
II. UNWITHHOLDING CONSECRATION
Your money and your life! What greater gifts can a man bring? God
cares more for men than for anything else in the world. It is life
laid down for him which gives joy to the heart of the sacrificial
Savior. But money represents life--nay, it is coined personality.
Millions of money beyond any previous gift will be needed before the
world can be won. Here is the hardest personal battle for a multitude
of men. After the personal battle is over others must be persuaded by
the victor to share in the enterprise.
[Illustration: A PLAN FOR THE ORGANIZATION AND WORK OF THE CHURCH
MISSIONARY COMMITTEE]
As a result of experience in thousands of churches in all parts of the
United States and Canada it has been demonstrated that the Every
Member Canvass is the most effective financial method now being
employed by the churches. No program of finance in the local church is
complete without an annual Every Member Canvass.
The adoption of sound principles of stewardship, and life brought into
deepening harmony with those principles is a part of the price of
victory in this war. Such principles are essential to the development
and enrichment of character and necessary if there is to be proper
expression of character in doing the will of God.
There is hardly any outstanding question in the Church about which
there is such confusion and therefore so nerveless an appeal as the
subject of stewardship. It is a difficult question and an unpopular
one. Inadequate thinking is very common and practise is even more
inadequate than thinking both in pulpit and in pew.
The fact that little constructive attention is being given to this
subject by the leaders of the Church was well illustrated at one of
the Silver Bay Conferences a few years ago. In a group of about
seventy-five men, where the subject was under discussion, the leader
of the conference asked how many of the men had ever read a book on
Christian stewardship. Not more than one half of the men raised their
hands. When asked how many had read a book on tithing not more than
one fifth responded in the affirmative. If such a representative group
of picked leaders is uninformed or uninterested in so vital a matter,
the rank and file of the Church must surely need their attention
powerfully called to the subject.
The Bible gives a much larger place to the matter of giving than is
generally supposed. Some one who claims to have counted the Scripture
references says that giving is mentioned 1,565 times in the Bible. One
of the significant things about the parables of Jesus is that thirteen
of the twenty-nine have some reference to property.
A group of men recently worked out a statement of the principles of
stewardship and the methods of applying these principles to life.
These principles are worthy of careful study and wide adoption. In
May, 1912, they were adopted by the governing body of one of the
denominations as the guiding principles and methods for that church.
=Principles of Stewardship.=--_God is the Giver and is the Absolute
Owner of All things._--This invincible conviction lies at the base of
all correct thinking about stewardship. To commit oneself to the
inspiring idea that God is the owner of all things is to take all
bitterness and drudgery out of stewardship. When a man realizes what
kind of a God he has, that he purposes his best for every man and
wants him to know how rich and powerful and loving his Father is, the
practise of stewardship becomes one of the enriching joys of life. The
base-line of all geographical measurements is the level of the sea;
prairies or mountains or canyons are all measured from this same
base-line. It is a unit of measure. Likewise the ownership of God is
the base-line for all measurements of truth about property. Having
laid down and accepted this fundamental proposition that God is the
owner of all there follows another truth or corollary, namely,
_Under grace man is a steward, and the steward holds and administers
that which he has as a sacred trust._ Life is a trust, not a
possession. We are stewards of money, not creators. Receiving a trust
and rendering an account are inseparable. Responsibility and
accountability are twin brothers.
_God's ownership and man's stewardship are best evidenced by the
systematic application of a portion of income to the advancement of the
Kingdom._ Giving should be _regular_. All educational processes are made
effective by continuous repetition. The needs of the work are also
regular and therefore call for regular contributions. This application
of a portion of income should be _stated_. It is a definite transaction
with a real personal God. It involves amounts, totals and increments. It
should be _worshipful_, remembering who he is to whom we bring the
returns of our labor, and in order that there may be the largest
blessing every offering should be an act of worship. It should be
_sacrificial_, bearing in mind that no fraction set aside can exhaust
our responsibility or express the depth of true love for God.
_Biblical and extra-Biblical history point to the setting aside of the
tenth of the income as a minimum, and indicate a divine sanction of
the practise and the amount._ The tenth and _Beyond_ is the Bible
rule! The Old Testament emphasis is on the _Tithe_, the New Testament
emphasis is on _The Beyond_. The Old Testament asks a tenth, the New
Testament demands less but expects more. The one tenth tests our
obedience, the nine tenths tests our consecration. The Old Testament
principle is, "The tithe is the Lord's." The New Testament principle
is, "He that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be my disciple."
If the adoption of any principles of stewardship are to be adequate,
every man must finally go the whole length as expressed in the words
of Jesus just stated. The sooner this is done the better, but the full
conception of stewardship breaks into life gradually with most men and
a large majority begin by setting aside a small proportion of income.
The adoption of a regulative principle, even though inadequate at
first, is a powerful spiritual force in a man's life. When the
practise of systematic and proportionate giving is begun, the first
important step is taken which often leads to complete devotion to God.
_There should be careful, intelligent, personal, and prayerful
consideration of the uses to be made of the money thus regularly set
aside. This will require study not only of the local situation, but
also of the missionary and benevolent work of the Church._ This
principle provides for a thorough-going educational process and is
indispensable if the Church is to improve her great opportunity.
Individuals, churches, nations cannot come to the highest efficiency
without recognizing and accepting their world responsibility.
_Consistent use of the balance of the income not set aside._ All the
preceding principles are undermined if a man does not adopt this last
principle as a safeguard. It pries down deep into men's lives and
uncovers their secret motives. If men are to have an adequate program
of stewardship, it must be adequate educationally, spiritually, and
financially. It is believed that the six principles stated are
adequate, in the sense just described, because:
1. These principles are taught in the Bible. They are a summary of
the total message of the Scriptures on the subject and especially of
the essence of the teachings of Jesus.
2. The testimony of history, both Scriptural and extra Biblical history,
gives sanction to the principles stated and the amount set aside, always
remembering that the New Testament emphasizes _The Beyond_.
3. These principles are accepted because of their effect on character.
No life can grow rich and strong without increasing giving. God is
much more interested in the making of a man than he is in the making
of money and the adoption of sound principles of stewardship is vital
to Christian character.
4. The adoption of these principles by Christians generally would meet
the practical needs of our time for the spread of Christianity
throughout the world so far as money can ever meet the needs of mankind.
=Methods for the Application of These Principles to the Life of the
Individual Christian.=--_The Actual or Constructive Separation of the
Proportion of Income_ which complies with the foregoing principles.
This does four things:
1. It preserves the integrity of the proportion set aside and guards
against the evil of only estimating what is due.
2. It is a concrete and vital expression of the principle. Mere mental
assent to a principle without practical expression is deadly to the
spiritual life.
3. It provides regularly for the regular needs of the Kingdom.
4. It is the best antidote to selfishness.
_A pledge in writing, in advance, of the amounts to be applied to the
regular work of the Church (current expenses, missions, and
benevolences)._ These pledges should ordinarily be considerably less
than the whole amount to be devoted during the year.
_A weekly payment of the amount so subscribed, deposited as an act of
worship at a public service._
_Payments from time to time, out of the sums set aside, but not
previously pledged, to special causes as may be desired._
_The plan of keeping a separate "Lord's Treasury" is recommended for
those who cannot attend the services of the Church._
_Free-will or thank-offerings._
This method is a safety valve for those whose income is growing and
who can easily afford to give large sums in addition to their regular
offerings. God expects cash and consecration, gold and goodness,
riches and righteousness to increase together.
"Give, give, be always giving,
Who gives not is not living,
The more you give
The more you live,
Give strength, give thought, give deeds, give self,
Give love, give tears and give thyself,
Give, give, be always giving.
Who gives not is not living.
The more you give, the more you live."
The propagation of the principles and methods of stewardship is an
important part of the program of every individual Christian and of the
Church Missionary Committee. Thorough agitation on the subject should
always precede the annual every-member canvass. Many churches have
received unprecedented spiritual blessings because of the adoption and
practise of higher standards of giving. Finally, it should not be
forgotten that the missionary appeal is one of the most powerful
motives to stewardship. The appeal for the two should go together.
III. UNENDING PRAYER
The sovereign summons to men is the summons to prayer. It is a call to
use the great unused human resource of power. It is a call to every
man to walk with the tread of a giant "an open but unfrequented path
to immortality." Other lesser calls must die out in us if the present
spiritual world crisis is to be met. Practical men of business say
that this is the work of the minister or the missionary, but Christ's
call to prayer was not limited to any group of individuals or to a
special section of the Church. The men of our time are discovering
that they have a wealth of talent of which they did not dream,--to
bring things to pass by prayer. Intercession has ever been what Arthur
Smith calls "The deeply buried talent."
Let us in the beginning frankly face the fact that there is no call
which involves more of unwithholding consecration than the life of
intercession. There is no service which demands so much of a man, which
digs down so deep into his life, which floods with such a searching
light all the methods and principles by which men govern their lives.
On the other hand let it not be forgotten that there is no human means
of releasing such measureless forces among mankind. We are in the
midst of a spiritual conflict, and prayer is the determining factor
in that conflict. This involves not simply a prayer for ourselves in a
few hurried sentences at night, when too tired to remember what has
been prayed for when the words are said, not a few fragments of time
given to this most important occupation, but prayer, central in life,
having a clear space in which to live and breathe and yet not confined
to times and seasons but mingling with the whole of life. Sadly it
must be confessed that intercession is not yet the passion of our lives.
Prayer gives quiet confidence that things really happen when men pray.
It is as vital as muscular force, as real as electricity. It wrenches
men loose from their limitations and projects personality into distant
lands. It is the lever of God to pry continents and dead civilizations
up into newness of life. It is the power which helps to lift history
out of its bed and puts it down into new channels where it belongs. It
is of this force which John R. Mott speaks when he says: "The supreme
question of missions is how to multiply the number of Christians who,
with truthful lives and with clear unshaken faith in the character and
ability of God, will, individually or collectively, or coöperatively
as a church, wield the force of intercessory prayer for the conversion
and transformation of men, for the inauguration and energizing of
spiritual movements, and for the breaking down of all that exalts
itself against Christ and his purposes."
J. Campbell White says: "Prayer is the first and chief method of
solving the missionary problem. Among all the methods that have been
devised none is more practical, more fruitful than this. If we could
get a definite group of people at home into the habit of supporting
by prayer each missionary in the thick of the fight, by this simple
method alone the efficiency of the present missionary force could
probably be doubled without adding a single new missionary."
In bringing in a report on the place of prayer in missions, a
committee of men at one of the conferences of the Laymen's Missionary
Movement submitted the following: "Prayer is the only element which
can quicken information into inspiration, transmute interest into
passion, crystallize emotion into consecration, and coin enthusiasm
into dollars and lives. Resolved, that we seek by every means to
convince every man that, whatever may be his contribution of money or
service, he has not exercised his highest influence, performed his
whole duty, nor enjoyed his highest privilege until he has made
definite, believing prayer for missions a part of his daily life."
As we remember Jesus Christ, and recall the kind of tasks he has given
his men to do, the kind of men he expects us to be, as we lift up our
eyes and look into the upturned faces of the thousand millions of
people who know not God and remember that we are the men who must
bridge the racial gulf and capture the world for Christ, we may well
be moved by a solemn sense of our responsibility. It is our duty not
simply to nurse the wounded but to stop the battle. If we are to face
our tasks with inflexible courage and a growing devotion we must
cultivate the vital processes and bring to Christ the flawless
wholeness of unshared hearts.
One of the old Greeks said that every speech must begin with an
incontrovertible proposition. Three such propositions are stated here.
1. _Prayer has Called Forth and Energized All the Great Spiritual and
Missionary Movements of All Times._
The history of the Moravian movement, of the great missionary awakenings
in Germany, and the modern missionary uprising in Great Britain shows
that they were all born and given power because of prayer.
On this side of the Atlantic it should never be forgotten that the
three great interdenominational movements which have had so much to do
with the arousing of America to her missionary responsibility were all
called forth by prayer, and whatever of vitality and power they have
displayed still depends upon the energies of God poured forth in
answer to prayer. The Student Volunteer Movement grew out of an
unusual volume of intercession on the part, first, of a small group of
individuals, and then of a conference assembled at Northfield in 1886.
It was from a small group of men meeting for prayer and counsel in New
York and later at Silver Bay on Lake George that the Missionary
Education Movement came into being. It was in a prayer-meeting in the
Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, on November 15,
1906, that the Laymen's Missionary Movement began its career.
Two principles have been increasingly emphasized in all these
movements, and men may well take them to heart and ponder them deeply
before deciding that there is any other way in which they can exert so
powerful a world influence as in prayer. These principles are:
_God has accomplished most by the men who have adventured themselves
most upon God._
_Men must commune with Christ if they are to communicate Christ._
2. _Prayer Finds a Way Out in Hours of Crisis._
The history of the way in which victory has been achieved in the great
spiritual crises of the world is a record of answered prayer. There is
no more impressive picture in the Old Testament than that of Moses,
the great leader of Israel, in the midst of a desperate battle with
his hands lifted in intercession. When he wearied and his hands were
withdrawn, Israel was defeated, but so long as his hands were upheld
and there was an unceasing stream of intercession, Israel prevailed.
Crowded into that one incident is one of the greatest single spiritual
lessons which God would teach mankind. There is no other way than this
to meet the spiritual crises of the world victoriously. The great
battle of Jesus was not won at Calvary but in the garden in prayer.
The crowded record of achievement in all the home and foreign mission
fields of the Church is full of incidents of the truth of the
principle just stated. Since it is the judgment of the missionary
leaders of to-day that there never has been such an hour of crisis and
opportunity in the world, then there never was a time when there was
such need that men should covenant with God to wield the force of
intercession. The victory which is achieved at the front of the battle
will be commensurate with the volume of intercession in Christian lands.
3. _Prayer is the Only Power that can Fill the Gaps in the Thin Line
of Battle._
The second study in this little book reveals the tremendous unmet need
of the world. The line is very thin in many parts of the field, in
many sections of the world it can be said to be nothing more than a
picket-line. If qualified leaders are to be thrust out into these
fields, if the Church is to recover the lost frontiers in the great
cities and country districts of the home land and in the Mohammedan
and pagan world abroad, if every man in the world is to be given an
adequate opportunity in his lifetime to know our Christ, then the
great crucial problem is how to multiply the number of those who will
enlist as intercessors and then devote themselves to the enlistment of
others until the whole Church is committed to this task.
Is it too much to expect that every man in his place should have the
spirit exhibited by Alexander Duff when he said: "Having set my hand
to the plough my resolution was, the Lord helping me, never to look
back any more and never to make a half-hearted work of it. Having
chosen missionary labor in India, I gave myself up wholly to it in the
destination of my own mind. I united or wedded myself to it in a
covenant the bands of which shall be severed only by death."
May our Living Leader give to his men the spirit expressed by Edmund
Burke when he said: "The nerve that never relaxes, the eye that never
blenches, the thought that never wanders: these are the masters of
destiny."
In Ladd's _Rare Days in Japan_, reference is made to a telegram
received by Mr. Matsukata, the President of the shipbuilding company
at Kawasaki, from Admiral Togo just two days before the battle of the
Sea of Japan. Admiral Togo had received the following order from the
Emperor: "Find and destroy the Russian fleet." Because of the weight
of his responsibility it is said that Togo ate or slept but little for
several days after receiving the Emperor's order. His mind must have
been filled with thoughts such as these: "Where was the Russian fleet?
Where could he find it? And if he did find it, how could he destroy
it?" In those hours of anxiety he formed one plan and abandoned it,
thought out another scheme and gave it up. Finally he determined upon
his course of action and wired Mr. Matsukata, "After a thousand
different thoughts now one fixed purpose."
There are a thousand demands upon the time and strength of the modern
man. They are bewildering and often conflicting. The Christian man is
not less busy than the man of the world, and insistent calls are
ringing in his ears every hour. The Church is increasingly needing his
strength and leadership. The state calls, the city makes large drafts
on his strength. What shall he do? What causes are most worth while?
How shall he spend his energy and his money? What is the most alluring
task? Let him choose the highest and the greatest way to spend his
life. _If the missionary principle is not unalterably entrenched in
the citadel of your life will you not resolve before you put this book
down that henceforth all life shall be built around the one purpose
which is most worth while;--to let life run out to the end rich and
deep and full in the plans of God for the world?_
Breathe through the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and Thy balm;
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire,
Speak through earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still small voice of calm.
In simple trust like those who heard
Beside the Syrian Sea,
The gracious calling of the Lord,
Let us, like them, without a word
Rise up and follow Thee.
"AFTER A THOUSAND DIFFERENT THOUGHTS NOW ONE FIXED PURPOSE."
INDISPENSABLE LITERATURE FOR MISSIONARY COMMITTEES
The Church Missionary Committee, Missionary Education Movement,
156 Fifth Avenue, New York, 5 cents each.
Manual of Missionary Methods, J. Campbell White, Laymen's
Missionary Movement, 1 Madison Avenue, New York, 5 cents each.
What Can the Missionary Committee Do? Laymen's Missionary
Movement, 1 Madison Avenue, New York, 5 cents each.
Essentials in an Adequate Plan of Missionary Finance. Laymen's
Missionary Movement, 1 Madison Avenue, New York. 1 cent each.
Prayer and Missions. A packet of nine pamphlets. Laymen's
Missionary Movement, 1 Madison Avenue, New York. 25 cents per
packet.
Stewardship. A packet of thirteen booklets and leaflets. Laymen's
Missionary Movement, 1 Madison Avenue, New York. 50 cents per
packet.
Forward Mission Study Courses
"Anywhere, _provided it be_ FORWARD."--_David Livingstone._
Prepared under the direction of the MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT OF
THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: T. H. P. Sailer, _Chairman_; A. E. Armstrong, T.
B. Ray, C. L. White, J. E. McAfee, A. R. Gray, G. F. Sutherland, H. P.
Douglass, W. E. Doughty, W. W. Cleland, J. H. Poorman.
The Forward Mission Study Courses are an outgrowth of a conference of
leaders in young people's mission work, held in New York City,
December, 1901. To meet the need that was manifested at that
conference for mission study text-books suitable for young people, two
of the delegates, Professor Amos R. Wells, of the United Society of
Christian Endeavor, and Mr. S. Earl Taylor, Chairman of the General
Missionary Committee of the Epworth League, projected the Forward
Mission Study Courses. These courses have been officially adopted by
the Missionary Education Movement, and are now under the immediate
direction of the Editorial Committee of the Movement. The books of the
Movement are now being used by more than forty home and foreign
mission boards and societies of the United States and Canada.
The aim is to publish a series of text-books covering the various home
and foreign mission fields and problems and written by leading
authorities.
* * * * *
The following text-books having a sale of over 1,200,000 have been
published:
1. THE PRICE OF AFRICA. (Biographical.) By S. Earl Taylor.
2. INTO ALL THE WORLD. A general survey of missions. By Amos R. Wells.
3. PRINCELY MEN IN THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM. (Biographical.) By Harlan P.
Beach.
4. SUNRISE IN THE SUNRISE KINGDOM. Revised Edition. A study of Japan.
By John H. DeForest.
5. HEROES OF THE CROSS IN AMERICA. Home Missions. (Biographical.) By
Don O. Shelton.
6. DAYBREAK IN THE DARK CONTINENT. Revised Edition. A study of Africa.
By Wilson S. Naylor.
7. THE CHRISTIAN CONQUEST OF INDIA. A study of India. By James M.
Thoburn.
8. ALIENS OR AMERICANS? A study of Immigration. By Howard B. Grose.
9. THE UPLIFT OF CHINA. Revised Edition. A study of China. By Arthur
H. Smith.
10. THE CHALLENGE OF THE CITY. A study of the City. By Josiah Strong.
11. THE WHY AND HOW OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. A study of the relation of
the home Church to the foreign missionary enterprise. By Arthur J.
Brown.
12. THE MOSLEM WORLD. A study of the Mohammedan World. By Samuel M.
Zwemer.
13. THE FRONTIER. A study of the New West. By Ward Platt.
14. SOUTH AMERICA: Its Missionary Problems. A study of South America.
By Thomas B. Neely.
15. THE UPWARD PATH: The Evolution of a Race. A study of the Negro. By
Mary Helm.
16. KOREA IN TRANSITION. A study of Korea. By James S. Gale.
17. ADVANCE IN THE ANTILLES. A study of Cuba and Porto Rico. By Howard
B. Grose.
18. THE DECISIVE HOUR OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. A study of conditions
throughout the non-Christian world. By John R. Mott.
19. INDIA AWAKENING. A study of present conditions in India. By
Sherwood Eddy.
20. THE CHURCH OF THE OPEN COUNTRY. A study of the problem of the
Rural Church. By Warren H. Wilson.
21. THE EMERGENCY IN CHINA. A study of present-day conditions in
China. By F. L. Hawks Pott.
22. MEXICO TO-DAY: Social, Political, and Religious Conditions. A
study of present-day conditions in Mexico. By George B. Winton.
23. IMMIGRANT FORCES. A study of the immigrant in his home and
American environment. By William P. Shriver.
In addition to these courses, the following have been published
especially for use among younger persons:
1. UGANDA'S WHITE MAN OF WORK. The story of Alexander Mackay of
Africa. By Sophia Lyon Fahs.
2. SERVANTS OF THE KING. A series of eleven sketches of famous home
and foreign missionaries. By Robert E. Speer.
3. UNDER MARCHING ORDERS. The story of Mary Porter Gamewell of China.
By Ethel Daniels Hubbard.
4. WINNING THE OREGON COUNTRY. The story of Marcus Whitman and Jason
Lee in the Oregon country. By John T. Faris.
5. THE BLACK BEARDED BARBARIAN. The story of George Leslie Mackay of
Formosa. By Marian Keith.
6. ANN OF AVA. The story of Ann Hasseltine Judson. By Ethel Daniels
Hubbard.
* * * * *
These books are published by mutual arrangement among the home and
foreign mission boards, to whom all orders should be addressed. They
are bound uniformly and are sold at 50 cents in cloth, and 35 cents in
paper; postage, 8 cents extra.
Transcriber's Note:
* Text enclosed between equal signs was in bold face in the
original (=bold=).
* Pg iii Added comma after "race" in "Unity of the race".
* Pg iv Added period after "66" in "a Common World Task, 66".
* Pg iv Removed period after "CONDITIONS" in "AND OTHER GEOGRAPHICAL
CONDITIONS" for consistency.
* Pg 15 "thoroughgoing" and Pg 100 "thorough-going" left as printed.
* Pg 114 Added periods after listings "8" and "20".
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