MODERN MISSIONS. MODERN MISSIONS CHAPTERS ON THE MISSIONARY WORK OF THE CHURCH. SELECTED FROM THE BEST BOOKS ON MISSIONS, AND P UBLISHED FOR THE EP WORTH LEA GUE READING COURSE. TORONTO: WIIvLIAM BRIOGS, Wesley Buildings, Montreal: C. W. COAXES. Hal.fax: S. F. HUESTIS. 1896. tTAOK DEC 19 1949 INTRODUCTION. Believing that a missionary book should have a place in the Epworth League Reading Course, the Committee appointed to arrange the Course examined a number of excellent volumes, but could not find any one that exactly met our needs. It was then decided to publish a book of our own, the matter to be selected from the best missionary material avail- able. ^ We believe that we have here a book that will provide much valuable information to the young people of our Church, and that will stimulate them to greater activity in the cause of missions. Our thanks are due to authors and publishers who have kindly permitted us the use of valuable chapters. CONTENTS. Chapter I. page The Christless Nations ^ Chapter II. Missionary Possibilities - ^ " " ' " " Chapter III. The Voice of the Master 63 Chapter IV. The Call to all Disciples 70 Chapter V. Transformed Communities 93 Chapter VI. Answers to Prayer 124 Chapter VII. New Incentives to Giving - ^ - - - - 150 Chapter VIII. Medical Missions 163 Chapter IX. Pastor Harms and His Work 175 Vlll CONTENTS. Chapter X. PAOB The First Hundred Years of Modern Missions - - 195 Chapter XI. ■:h\^: " ■- Striking Facts, Contrasts and Sayings - - - .248 Chapter XII. Canadian Methodist Missions 260 Chapter XIII. The Stufient Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions 279 MODERN MISSIONS. CHAPTEK I. THE CHRISTLESS NATIONS.* OME years ago an elderly minister who wished to ^ devote his latest years to the advocacy of the missionary enterprise, asked me what, in my opinion, was the strongest plea for missions which could be presented to intelligent persons in Christian lands. He had just been surprised and almost startled by hearing me say that it was a mistake to suppose that a faithful portrayal of the moral state of heathen nations was the surest way to enlist the sympathy and aid of Christians in America, and he even seemed a little per'^lexed by my willing testimony in favor of some praic ^worthy virtues which I had found among the people of India. It is too often assumed that Paul's terrible arraignment of heathenism as it existed in some parts of the Roman empire, and especially in Rome itself during the first century, must serve as * This chapter and the one following are from a recent missionary book by Bishop Thoburn, entitled "The Christless Nations." 10 MODERN MISSIONS. an accurate description of the moral state of all non-Christian nations in all ages of the world. This, however, is a great mistake ; and even if it were true it would not constitute a healthy basis for an appeal in behalf of an immediate and determined effort to evangelize the world. Various motives might fairly enough be appealed to in such a case and a multitude of facts cited to show how much ail nations need the blessings which only the Gospel can bestow; but if asked to state in few words what it is which makes the condition of the non-Christian nations most de- plorable, and at the same tiuie places all Christian nations under the strongest obligations to help them, I should simply say that such nations are, as Paul reminded the Ephesian Christians that they had once been, " without Christ." It is not that they have never heard of his name, that they have never felt the influence of what we call Christianity, that they have never been brought into contact with Christian institutions or Christian civilization, but that Christ is not personally known to them, is not among them in the sense in which he promised to be with his people for evermore, and that they are deprived of all the unspeakable privileges which those who enjoy personal fellowship with him so freely receive. CHRIST STILL ON EARTH. The personal presence of Jesus Christ among his living disciples is the greatest fact in the religious THE CHRISTLESS NATIONS. 11 world to-day. It is not so much a great truth as a great fact, around which the leading truths of the Ohristian system gather, and on which they must always largely depend when prenented to an unbe- lieving or doubting world. Nothing could have been more explicit than our Saviour's farewell assurance to his disciples that he would be with them always, or than his earlier promise that he would be present in every assembly of his people, even though the number should not exceed two or three. This promised presence was not to be visible, but it was to be none the less personal and real. In his farewell discourse our Saviour comforted his disciples with the assurance that after a brief separation he would return to them again, and, while invisible and un- known to the world, would be manifested as a living presence to his own, with whom he would establish a fellowship never to be broken. In harmony with these teachings we find the early Christians familiar with the idea as well as with the experience of com- panionship with the risen Son of God. They did not merely believe on him — they knew him. When Paul was defending his ministry among the Galatian Christians he appealed to the time when it pleased the Father to reveal his Son to his inner conscious- ness, and when, in old age, he was about to depart he was able to say in holy, confident triumph, " I know whom I havj believed." He had been stopped in his blind career by this same Jesus on the Damascus highway ; he had seen him in vision in the temple ; 12 MODERN MISSIONS. had been commissioned by him to go far hence to the Gentiles ; and again, in the tower of Antonia, when an infuriated multitude clamored for his blood, this same Jesus had spoken to him and told him how he must yet bear witness in imperial Rome. The apostle Paul was an exceptional man, but in knowing his risen Lord and walking in fellowship with him his happy lot was only exceptional in some of its peculiar phases. Millions of living Christians are to-day able to bear witness to a personal know- ledge of Jesus Christ. As in the case of Paul, this knowledge is sometimes subjectivo and sometimes objective. To most there seems to be a mystical, and yet very clear and personal, manifestation of Christ to the inner consciousness. The awakened sinner seeks a Saviour, hears of Jesus, believes the testi- mony, and emerges into light. His sins vanish, his darkness flees away, and he discovers a newborn love in his heart for the Saviour in whom he has believed. He does not pauso to analyze his thoughts, but he is conscious in his heart of hearts that he loves Jesus Christ as a divine Saviour. Very soon, pos- sibly at the same moment, he discovers that he loves God as his heavenly Father. He knows nothing of theology, has never given a thought to the subject of the Trinity, but he opens John's gospel and reads, " If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." The new disciple finds that the promise given at the beginning has been THE CHRISTLESS NATIONS. 13 verified in his own experience. He knows God as his Father and Christ as his Saviour, both being revealed to him by the Holy Spirit. This personal Saviour is sometimes recognized as an inner mani- festation, made, as it were, in the very holy of holies of the believing heart ; but oftentimes it is more like the outward presence of a companion or guide. The experience of the two brethren walking out to Emmaus at eventide is often repeated in our day. The risen Lord may come as a loving friend, or he may pass on before as a faithful guide, or he may assume the form of a victorious leader ; but in every case the distinctive fact which we need to note is that he lives among his own, knows them and is known of them, and through them carries forward his great designs concerning the future of the human race. FOUND ONLY AMONG HIS OWN. Just here, however, we are confronted by a most momentous question. If the world's Messiah is in very deed alive and present in our world, is his pre- sence confined to those regions where his disciples are found? Is he not the rightful sovereign of all the world, and did he not assure his followers that all power in earth or heaven had been given into his hands ? In what sense, then, can we say that whole nations are without Christ ? As heir to all things in earth and heaven, and as the disposer of human affairs, our Saviour, Christ, is no doubt in this world to-day ; and we do well to reflect 14 ■ MODERN MISSIONS. that he who walked abocit the villages of Galilee is to-day walking about among the nations, disposing of crowns and thrones according to his sovereign will, guiding in all the events, great and small, which take place among men, and causing all things to work together so as to hasten the consummation of his great purpose to make all the kingdoms of this world his own. But as the world's Saviour he is found only with his own. We need not pause to ask why this is so, but we cannot give too earnest heed to the startling fact that since the day of Pentecost Jesus Christ has been made known to the world only through the medium of his own disciples. He may go before them, may prepare the way for them, as in the case of Cornelius, but the disciple and the Master are inseparable in the ordinary administration of the Master's work. He has chosen us as co-workers with himself, made us his visible representatives among men, and assured as that we shall do his work if we are careful to do his will and work in his name. The disciples of to-day differ from those who walked in visible fellowship with Jesus in Galilee in that they are more highly favored than the first disciples. The latter walked and talked with the Master, shared his power, and at times performed wonderful works in his name ; but they labored under all the limitations which time and place imposed. The Saviour could only be present in one place at a given time, could only minister to one group of disciples, and could only engage in one particular undertaking THE CHRISTLESS NATIONS. 16 But under the present dispensation the Spirit reveals his personal presence in a million hearts or a million homes at the same moment. There is no limit to his " wheresoever " save the condition that living disciples must command his presence; but this condition* bound up as it is in his first great commission, is invariable in all climes and all ages. We are thus brought face to face with the startling fact that on the disciples of Jesus Christ rests the responsibility of giving Christ to the nations which as yet do not know him ; but before considering the full measure of this responsibility it may be well to take a glance at the condition of those most unfor.- tunate multitudes who belong to what might be called the Christless nations. In losing the knowledge and personal presence of Christ, what else do these nations lose ? What has this presence been worth to us or to the nation to which we belong ? WHAT IS THE LOSS OF NON-CHRISTIANS ? Tn the first place, those who are without Christ lose his personal ministrations. The Jesus who meets his people invisibly to-day is the same Jesus who journeyed with them in visible form in the days of his humanity. There was only one Bethany in Judea, but every vilJage in a Christian land becomes a Betha y in our more favored day. There was only one Nain in Israel, but the Man of Nazareth now stands waiting to meet and comfort every funeral procession which wends its mournful way to the 16 MODERN MISSIONS. village cemetery. That which was exceptional in Galilee has become universal in Christendom. The risen Son of God waits to enter every abode of poverty, to shed light upon every darkened home, to comfort everyone that mourns, to walk serenely upon the waves of every stormy sea, to rescue every endangered soul, to lift up the fallen, to strengthen the weak, to reclaim the erring, to turn despair into hope, darkness into light, and out from the very shadow of death itself to bring a life radiant with immortal joy. We thus see that the nations have more at stake than a mere question of fact concern- ing the resurrection of Christ. If Jesus lives ut all he lives to minister to the most needy of the human race, and every community which has failed to receive him is daily and hourly losing blessings compared with which every other form of earthly good is but worthless dross. In the next place, we are to remember that Christ lives and works among men in the person of his dis- ciples. Every true believer bears the name of his Master, and is solemnly reminded that he cannot gain access to God's mercy-seat in any other name. He is made a child of God, a member of the heavenly fam- ily in which God is the Father and Jesus Christ the Elder Brother. As such he becomes heir to all that the Elder Brother inherits ; he bears his spiritual image, and in an important sense shares his mission. As it was a part of the Master's mission to manifest God, so it became a most important part of the dis- THE CHRISTLESS NATIONS. 17 ciples' mission to manifest Christ to men ; and as the Master lived to save the perishing, and to minister in every possible way to the wants of those in need, so the disciple, if true to his calling, will ever be found absorbed in doing the same kind of work. For such a life, or rather for such a mission, he receives a special call and a special anointing ; and he goes forth to bear his part on the busy stage of life upheld by the promise that he shall not only do the works of his Master, but even greater works than any which the people of Galilee and Judea ever witnessed. We thus see how it happens that an immense mukitude of Christian men are blessing the world by their active work and silent influence to-day. Their presence and their usefulness are owing solely to the fact that Christ is with them. The world does not know and cannot understand how much it owes to these disciples. Each one is a glowing light in the midst of dense darkness. They are truly the salt of the earth, the one conserving element in the midst of corrupting agencies of a thousand kinds. They are the helpers of universal humanity, and many of them show such power in grappling with the powers of evil, such courage in facing danger, such hope in battling against despair, and such divine resources in saving the sinning and the perishing, that even worldly men often feel constrained to admit that they are supported and directed by a power and wisdom which must come from above. 18 MODERN MISSIONS. THE INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. The presence of Christ in a Christian nation is still further attested by what is sometimes called the " influence of Cliristianity," which is but another name for the influence of a personal Christ. There is nothing tangible about this influence, nothing that can be formulated in either figures or words, and yet it is felt everywhere. It is found embodied in the spirit of every code of laws in Christendom; it is exhibited in the constantly increasing eleemosynary institutions of all kinds; it pervades the literature of the day ; it animates every reform movement ; it softens the rough hand of war ; it refines and ennobles civilization, and, in short, seems to per- meate the very atmosphere with a healthful spirit of life and hope. Childhood becomes sacred wher- ever the story of the Babe of Bethlehem is known. Womanhood becomes ennobled wherever the history of Mary of Bothany, or of Mary of Magdala or still more of Mary of Bethlehem, has been told. The poor are moved by new aspirations, and humanity seems animated by new hopes. Wherever the name of Jesus Christ has been carried man has learned how to open the prison house of despair and to see light beyond the darkness of the grave. This invisible and yet wonderfully pervasive influx ence has been strikingly illustrated in the astonishing political transformation which Japan has experienced during the past forty years, Ahm ftmQiig ali nou- THE CHRISTLESS NATIONS. 19 Christian peoples the Japanese have frequently accepted Christian ideas, and, to a great extent, Christian institutions, and have thus made a great stride in the direction of Christian civilization, although not yet formally accepting the Christian religion. The result is marvellous beyond anything yet witnessed in human history. Of all non-Christian peoples it may be said that, since the, beginning of our era, at least, none of them have, without external aid, been able to make any advance in the arts of civilization, none have been able to display the slight- est inventive genius, and none, except a very small minority, have been able to rise above the low level of grinding poverty. Century after century passes without a single invention, no matter how simple, among one-half of the human race. Century after century passes only to witness the gradual but steady and relentless subsidence of the masses of people into utter poverty and wretchedness. Christ among men is not only the hope of immortality to mankind, the eternal pledge of a better life than that of earth, but he is the hope of the industrial world, of the social world, and of the intellectual world. Without him the nations have no better future than their dismal past, and all hope of future progress may as well be dismissed from the thought of the world. In whatever direction we turn we are met with ever-increasing proofs that our world has great and urgent needs which only can be met in the presence cf the Saviour of men. 20 MODERN MISSIONS. TEN HUNDllED MILLIONS WITHOUT CHRIST. These and other considerations of like character will no doubt bring very vividly before the mind of a Christian believer a sense of the unspeakable loss of those who are born and grow up without Christ ; but, after all, the strongest appeal of this kind is that which is made to our own hearts as individual Chris- tians, What is Christ to each of us to-day ? What has he been to us since we have personally known him ? What was his presence with our parents worth to our childhood ? Where and what would we as individuals have been to-day had we never found him ? What would our lives be to-day if Christ were taken out of them ? What would this world bo to us, what would life be to us, what would our future be, if we were suddenly and completely bereft of our Saviour, Christ ? What would existence be to us if thus bereft ? It would be day bereft of the sun, and night disrobed of stars. To take Christ away from a believer is to take life and joy out of the heart and sweetness and peace out of the life. And yet this is the lot of uncounted millions of our race. We may say, it is true, that they are unconscious of their loss ; but this does not change the facts as God reveals them to us, or lessen our responsibility in the slightest degree. It has been estimated that there are ten hundred million human beings in the world who, so far from knowing Christ as a personal Saviour, have as yet THE CHRISTLESS NATIONS. 21 never even heard his name. Ten hundred millions of human beings without Christ ! The very thought of such a multitude of souls groping in darkness is over- whelming; and yet the mind fails to grasp the full import of the words. It has been said that no million- aire ever comprehends the full extent of his wealth aftei' it passes the million-dollar line. The figures ex- presii a certain numerical statement, but to the mind there is only an array of figures, an arithmetical expres- sion instead of a clear perception of distributed values. We (iannot take in at a glance this vast multitude of Christless men and women ; but we may possibly gain a clearer view of the almost endless throng by look- ing at them in detail. Let us, for instance, take up a position where all these millions can pass before us with military precision. Let them be formed in ranks with thirty abreast, and let them pass before us with rapid step, so that thirty shall pass every second. I take out my watch and note the ticking away of sixty seconds; eighteen hundred persons have passed by. I watch the minute hand till sixty minutes are gone ; one hundred and eight thousand now have passed. I stand at my post and watch the ceaseless tread of the passing thousands till the sun goes down, till midnight comes, till dawn and sunrise come again, and there is never a second's pause. Another day and another night go by; the days lengthen into weeks ; the thousands have long since become millions ; but there is still no pause. Summer comes, with its sunny days, to find the long procession 22 MODERN MISSIONS. marching still. The flowers of summer give place to autumn's frosts, and a little later the snow of winter is flying in the air ; but morning, noon and night we hear the awful tread of the passing multitude. Spring comes round again ; a year has passed, and yet not for one moment has that procession ever paused. " Will that awful footfrJl never cease ? " some one asks. We take a glance out to see how many yet remain, and find seventy-five millions patiently wait- ing their turn ! That is a faint attempt to grasp the meaning of our words when we speak of ten hundred million human beings. MERELY NOMINAL WORK WILL NOT DO. We sometimes hear it said that the great commis- sion to proclaim the Gospel to all nations has been almost completed, and good men and women may be seen even now gathering outside the closed gates of Thibet, eager to enter at the earliest possible moment and preach the Gospel to the last remaining nation which has not yet heard its joyful sound. God forbid that I should say a word to disparage either the spirit or the work of these earnest men and women, one of the most daring of whom is working under my own superintendence ; but as Christians we must not deceive ourselves. Thibet is by no means the only nation to which the Gospel has not been preached. A nation is not reached when one or more men preach in a given place, nor does the mere proclamation of a message of truth constitute the Gospel so long as THE CHRISTLESS NATIONS. 23 Christ is not made known to the people. A nation is reached when the people of the nation are reached, and not when a certain territorial line is crossed. I have over and over again found villages within but a few miles of prosperouf^ mission stations in which not a single person could be found who knew anything of Christ, or had even heard his name. The prophets in old time were always most explicit in recording God's precious words of promise, and the preaching which they foretold had nothing of a perfunctory character about it. They looked forward to a time when all kingdoms, and nations, and peoples, and kindreds, and tribes, and languages, should receive God's Word and serve the coming King ; and we dare not limit pro- mises so full of hope to the Church and the world. We should remember, too, that the word " nation " does not always mean a political division of the world. We may often find nations within nations. India is the oldest of modern mission fields, and yet its tribes and peoples and castes, among whom Christ is still unknown, are numbered by the hundred. It will not do to reckon India as simply one of the nations of the earth, and then calmly to assume that we have done our full measure of duty to her in that the Gospel is proclaimed in many places and in many tongues throughout her extended borders. Only a year ago I had my attention drawn to an extensive region lying to th^ eastward of the Centi'al Provinces, composed, for the most part, of a group of small native States, and said to be wholly destitute of 24 Modern missions. missionary labor. After careful inquiry 1 a-sked three experienced missionaries to make a tour of exploration through that part of the country, and report the result of their observations. They did their work carefully and thoroughly, and in due time reported to me that they had found six millions of people to whom no messenger of the risen Saviour had ever gone. The whole region was as destitute of Christian privileges as it had been when Jesus gave the great commission to his apostles; and among these neglected millions were petty kingdoms, differ- ent tribes, separate castes, and diverse tongues, all included in the old-time promises, and yet all desti- tute of the Gospel, which must be carried to the whole human race. A careful search in other lands would no doubt lead to similar discoveries. There can be no doubt that the sad fact confronts us that the evangelization of our v/orld, so far from being nearly complete, has hardly passed its initial stage. The liiighty task can be done, must be done, and done quickly ; but we must not try to persuade ourselves that it is already nearly complete. BEARING CHRIST TO THE NATIONS. Having thus briefly considered the unspeakable loss of the earth's teeming millions who are without Christ, let us try for a moment to obtain a clear view of our personal responsibility, or, perhaps it would be better to say, of our transcendent privilege, in being commissioned to convey God's great gift to these destitute nations. It is not that we are to send THE CiiRlSTLESS NATIONS. 25 Bibles across the sea, or that we are to send a certain number of men to preach what is called " the Gospel," but rather that we are placed under a solemn obli- gation to carry Christ himself to those who know him not. When Jesus fed the multitude it would have been as easy for him to have had the bread conveyed by invisible hands to the hungry people as it was to multiply the loaves ; but a lesson wf).s to be taught to his disciples of all ages, the full significance of which should never be overlooked. The bread had to be distributed by human hands, and the incredu- lous disciples were taught, in a manner never to be forgotten, how the divine and the human are made to co-operate in feeding a famished world with the bread of life. The scene upon the grassy hillside was to be re-enacted a million times as the ages passed by. Other multitudes were to be found, worn and weary and ready to perish, and other disciples were to go to their help with, not the bread that perisheth, but the living Son of God, the ever-blessed One typified by the ancient manna. Some of you still remember how, in the sad days of our civil war, we used to sing Mrs. Howe's " Battle Hynm of the Republic." As the hymn was printed and re-printed all over the country it so happened that one word became involved in doubt, and thus, while some were singing, *' In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea," otliei*s would say, ' ' In the beauty of the lilies Christ was borne across the sea." 26 MODERN MISSIONS. In a song so highly poetical it is possible to admit either word ; but, whatever the true rendering of the words may have been, we are able in our missionary era, not only in poetic phrase, but in sober prose as well, to conceive of our Saviour bein^^ borne on many a bark to distant climes as the companion of devoted messengers who go forth in his name. Every ship which carries a band of riissionaries contains an invisible pillow for the head of the unseen Master. The timid maiden who leaves her village home in obedience to the Spirit's prompting, and goes forth to teach a few of the world's forsaken outcasts how to find and serve their heavenly Father, bears with her in holy companionship the Saviour of men, the King of all nations, and the Sovereign of all realms. This, and nothing less than this, is what every true missionary is called upon to do, and this is what sc "es upon scores are actually doing to-day. As we think of the character which the mission- ary's work thus assumes we cease to think of duty ; we almost forget the word and become absorbed in the thought of the transcendent privilege which is thus set before us. As we would take a physician to the sick or dying, a guide to the belated and wander- ing, a comforter to the sorrowing, a teacher to the ignorant, a friend to the friendless, or a lielper .to the helpless, so are we conmiissioned as Christians to go out to every needy tribe and nation, taking with us One who is able and infinitely willing to receive every member of the human race and supply every THE CHRISTLESS NATIONS. 27 human need. We cannot all go, it is true, but every missionary who goes abroad does so in the name of those who send him, and we all alike are thus per- mitted to bear a part in the most glorious work which God has ever put within the reach of human beings. Perhaps nothing in all God's plans for the human race is more mysterious than the fact that this un- speakable power, this hallowed privilege, has been intrusted to mortals. Angels celebrated the advent of Jesus to earth, angels ministered to him when among men, angels proclaimed his resurrection, and angels hover around every scene of his active work in our world still ; but not to angels, but to men, is i given to introduce him to the sinning, suffering, and sorrowing children of humanity, and thus achieve the highest possible ministry in which men or angels can engage in a world like ours. OUR PRIVILEGE SLIGHTED. With such a ministry set before us, a ministry which angels might covet, with the doors of nearly all nations thrown wide open to invite our entry, with the Spirit, the word and the providence of God alike urging us forward, it would be but reasonable to expect to see a great missionary movement going forward in all Christian lands. There surely ought to be no room for doubt or hesitation here. From the doors of every Christian nation the glad mes- senge of Christ ought to be seen hastening forth, bearing in their earthen vessels the precious treasure 28 MODERN MISSIONS. of the divine presence. But when we look around us what do we see ? Almost every possible form of Christian work is put forward as a substitute for that which takes precedence of all other t)bligations. One stands forth to plead for the city " slums " (par- don me for using the word, but it has become cUi.rent, and has no present equivalent) ; another advocates the claims of our foreign immigrants ; a third tells of want and suffering on the frontier ; a fourth repre- sents the wants of the illiterate colored population, while a dozen of other voices are heard in behalf of as many other blessed enterprises, all good and deserving in their way and in their proper place ; but no one of them, nor all of them put together, can take precedence of the one great work which our risen and ascended Lord intrusted to his disciples, the supreme and paramount duty, binding upon all Christians in all ages, to make him known to those who have no knowledge of him. Christianity is utterly inconsistent with its own claims so long as it fails to comprehend the urgency of its own mission on earth, or pauses in its onward march to complete details which are hindered rather than helped by the mistaken policy which their promoters adopt. It often makes me feel sad and almost faint of heart when I hear intelligent and devoted Christians calmly excuse themselves from any obligation to support the efforts of the Church to evangelize the heathen world. " I think," says one, " that I can do more good in this, that, or the other way. I am not very sure about THE CHRISTLESS NATIONS. 29 foreign missions. I think mv duty lies nearer home." Now, substitute for the i rm " foreign missions " Jesus Christ, and see how it will sound. Try to realize, even for a moment, what it is to assume that great nations, that hundreds of millions of our fellow-men, can be left century after century without Christ, without a knowledge of God, without a hope of immortality, while we are making desultory efforts to perfect the work which our Saviour in his infinite mercy began in our own land in ^he days of our fathers — try, I say, to realize what this really means, and soon it will begin to seem as if a veiled spirit of daring atheism were invading the Church of Christ. No form of unbelief or error is so pernicious as that which is elaborately illustrated in the practical life of Christian men and women. Better teach and preach the doctrine of a limited atonement than limit the effects of Christ's universal atonement by our delib- erate refusal to make him known to those for whom he died. Better deny the mission of Christ to earth than resolutely to adopt and defend a policy which must, for many long centuries, shut off two-thirds of the race from even a knowledge of his name. It cannot be said too often or too emphatically that as Christians we have little to fear from men of Mr. Ingersoll's class. Such men do harm, no doubt ; but they avow their purpose, they work openly, and they use no concealed weapons. It is better to deny Christ in express terms than solemnly to avow our belief in him and yet practically deny him by ^0 MODERN MISSIONS. discrediting his work, limiting his mission, putting territorial limits to his love, and deliberately and persistently ignoring the terms of his farewell com- mandment to his apostles, and through them to his disciples of all ages. Let no one misunderstand me and suppose that I depreciate Christian work in its many forms in our own and other Christian lands. God forbid that I should for one moment fall into the fatal error of thinking that one good cause can be built up by pulling down . nother. The work of God on earth assumes a thousand forme, and yet it is one work. To injure it at one point is to injure it at every point ; and it is for this reason we need to give the more earnest heed to God's missionary call upon his people in all parts of the world. This call is in universal terms, it requires immediate obedience, it concerns the universal Church of God, and it cannot be disobeyed without causing serious injury to all forms of Christian work to-day. The surest and the best way to promote all forms of Christian work in Christian lands is to give effect to the great commis- sion which takes precedence of every other obligation. The best way to help the work at home is to obey God by making Christ known to the nations which sit in darkness. In pleading for the Christless nations I am really pleading for this city, for this State, for all the States of the Union. THE CHRISTLESS NATIONS. 31 WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN NATION ? It will be said, no doubt, as it often is said, that our country is by no means Christianized as yel; and that we are in reality obeying our Saviour's com- mission so long as we are engaged in bringing those who know him not to a personal knowledge of him. This raises the very practical question. What is a Christian nation ? We have seen what is meant by a Christless nation, that is, one in which our Saviour is wholly unknown ; but it is not so easy to define in exact terms what it is which entitles a nation to call itself Christian. Time will not admit of a full dis- cussion of this question ; but a few points of contrast will at least enable us to appreciate our advantages. Every man and woman in England and America who wishes to be guided to the world's Saviour can find a willing guide within a few minutes, or, at most, a few hours. Living Christians are met everywhere, and those who are willing and anxious to' be led can always find some one who will be glad to lead them to the Saviour, as Philip led Nathanael. It is very different in non-Christian lands. Millions upon millions might ask for such a guide in vain. At the very worst here and there an individual may grope in darkness on our side of the globe, but on the other side we see the sad and startling spectacle of groping nations. A few years ago a question wap raised among certain missionaries in India concerning the bound- 82 MODERN MISSIONS, aries of their respective mission fields. It had been tacitly assumed that when a given field was occupied by one party of workers others should refrain from entering it ; but in some cases misunderstandings occurred, and it became necessary to define the word "occupy." Some contended that if one or more missionaries established a station in a district con- taining a million inhabitants they occupied that field and should be left to evangelize the people in their own time and way ; but others took a very different view and insisted that no occupancy should be respected unless a practical effort was made to plant out-stations at suitable points. In the course of the discussion which followed, the most liberal proposal that was made was that a field should be considered (..pen so long as provision was not made for placing at least one Christian within ten miles of every home in the district ; or, in other words, the Christian workers should be so distributed among the people that no one need go more than ten miles from his home in order to find one. This proposal, however, did not I'^eet with favor, chiefly for the reason that it seemed impossible to make such a provision for any known mis.sion field. It seemed too much to hope that helpers and guides could be placed within reach of the people even if they were disposed to seek them. But, unfortunately, they are not so disposed. The order of the Gospel is that we must go to the lost and perishing, not that we should wait for them to come THE CHRISTLESS NATIONS. 33 to US. In times of famine hundreds of thousands of the poor people in India remain in their village homes and die of hunger, while camps for the free distribution of food are established within ten miles of them. Hunger and physical weakness seem to render them incapable of effort and indifferent to their fate, while in the case of many a journey of ten miles from home seems like setting out for a distant and utterly unknown country. If it is so hard to induce those who are ready to die to go away from home to obtain bread, what possible use is there in expecting those who are perishing for want of the bread of life to go ten miles from home to inquire concerning it ? Now and then we meet with such cases, and as time passes they may become more frequent, but at best they will be exceptional. America and England are but imperfectly Chris- tianized, it is true, but they have all the elements within them which are needed to complete the work, and in at least a relative sense they are now Christian nations ; but in contrast with them the condition of the most favored of non-Christian lands is such as should move the deepest sympathies of everyone who bears the image of Jesus Christ upon his heart. Now, as in the days of our Lord's ministry, it is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master, for the servant that he be as his Lord. The love of Jesus Christ for the human race is world-embracing ; let ours be the same, Let us mq^intajn the s«,me 34 MODERN MISSIONS, attitude toward this momentous question that he maintains, and the unbelieving world will v^uickly begin to realize that Christianity is consistent with itself, and thrt Christians no longer dishonor the sacred name which they bear by refusing or neglect- ing to make it possible for all nations to crown him as both their Saviour and their King. CHAPTER II. MISSIONARY POSSIBILITIES. THE present time is opportune for a careful and candid discussion of the practical value of the great missionary movement. The second century of modern missions has recently opened, the sphere of missionary work has been immensely enlarged, young men and women are enlisting for service abroad in constantly increasing numbers, and the friends of the cause are becoming more and more importunate in their demands upon the public for pecuniary support. Under such circumstances it is certainly reasonable that we should be asked to show that money given for this cause is not spent for naught; that young men and women who go to the foreign field do not, or at least need not, toil in vain ; and that success, in the highest and noblest sense of the word, may be achieved as certainly, and in as large measure, in the mission field as anywhere else in the wide domain of Christian effort. The missionary enterprise occupies very high ground, and after a century of heroic effort it certainly ought to be well able to show by accom- plished results not only that it has achieved success 36 MODERN MISSIONS. in the past, but that it enters upon its second century with greater possibilities within its reach than were dreamed of a century ago. # CAREFUL INQUIRY NEEDED. A statement of the missionary possibilities which God is now setting before the Church is the more needed in view of the doubts which not a few avowed friends of Christianity have in recent years expressed with reference to the ultimate success of the enterprise. Canon Taylor, of England, may be taken as a fair spokesman of this class, and it must be admitted that he has many followers. His arith- metic is faulty, no doubt ; and yet, when he compares the results thus far achieved with the gigantic task which has been taken in hand, it must be confessed that he makes out a strong case, and there is too much reason to fear that his presentation of the question has created serious misgiving in the minds of many sincere Christians. While admitting that some good is done, that a few idols are thrown away and a few heathen brought to Christ, thousands and hundreds of thousands of intelligent Christians are unable to see any promise of ultimate success in a work of such magnitude. Others, again, with hazy notions of Christianity and without any sympathy for the idea of a common faith for our common humanity, regard the missionary enterprise as chimerical, if not worse, and do not dream of its ever making an impression of any importance on the world. Another class of MISSIONARY POSSIBILITIES. 37 doubters may be found among the supporters of mis- sions themselves. Many who believe in the duty of sending missionaries to the non- Christian nations have yet but little hope or expectation of success in the work. They practically believe that while in this work all things are possible not many things are probable. They do not expect success, a. d some even think it wrong to look for it. " I have nothing to do with results," is practically the motto of thousands who find in these mistaken words a ready excuse for their want of success. The Christian worker has very much to do with the possible results of his labor, and in the great missionary field it is most important that the highest possibilities should be clearly set be- fore him and kept constantly in view. If it should seem to anyone that this is ignoring the rule of faith, or putting sight in the place which faith should occupy, I need only reply that faith should not ignore the ordinary laws of human intelli- gence. Unbelief is blind and works in the dark ; but faith has a clear vision and loves the light. It is not the work of faith to select a barren field, or to work in a wrong way, or to persist in a fruitless task, or to ignore the lessons of the past, or to refuse to see the tokens of the present. It would not have been an evidence' of faith, for instance, if the disciples had refused to cast in the net on the right side of the ship, and had persisted in fishing at the spot where they had spent a long night of fruitless toil instead of obey- ing their Master and thereby making success assured. 38 MODERN MISSIONS. The Church of Christ, standing as she doos near the threshold of the tv/entieth century, needs the encouragement which an intelligent survey of her opportunities and possibilities cannot fail to give her. Faith is said to laugh at impossibilities, but this is only when seeing the promise of God. If we would stimulate the faith of the Christian world to-day, and thus prepare the way for a great advance throughout the world ; if, in short, we would make the twentieth century the missionary century of the world's history, we should keep constantly in view the Saviour's great commission to make him known to all the nations, and also constantly call attention to the tokens of his presence in the world's great missionary fields of the present day. There certainly seems to be grave reason to fear that many of the best friends of missions, in- cluding not a few leaders, are too easily satisfied with any measure of success, so long as it falls short of actual failure. For instance, one of the latest esti- mates of the results of the past century of missionary labor places the total number of communicants at 900,000, and adds the expression of a hope that the increase will ere long reach 50,000 a year. Taken by itself, this looks like success; but when we think of all Christendom being represented in this effort the result appears extremely meagre, and it is not strange that many who are familiar with the glow- ing promises of God feel almost disheartened by such an outlook. But no one need feel disheart- ened. The results are better than they seem, while MISSIONARY POSSIBILITIES. 39 the possibilities of achieving greater results are within easy reach. THE HOME SITUATION. In talking a survey of these possibilities it may be best to begin at home. The initial step in the great undertaking is that of selecting and sending forth messengers of Christ to nations and peoples who do not know him ; and it is just here that the enterprise often seems the weakest. The volunteers for service are increasing, but a large majority of those who offer are, for various reasons, found disqualified. The contributions of our Churches are at best extremely moderate, and bear no proportion to the gigantic work which has been taken m hand. The cost of the work does not dimiijish with success, but, on the other hand, increases materially, and to many careful observers it begins to appear as if a deadlock had been reached and further progress rendered impos- sible. As a matter of fact, most of the great mis- sionary societies of the world are able to do little more than hold their own. A majority of them are in debt, and but few signs of elasticity can be found in their finances. Under these circumstances it may seem untimely to try to show that greater things should be attempted ; but it is for this very reason that I venture to begin at this point. If we consent to accept the present financial status of the leading societies as normal, if we abandon the hope of brighter days and of greatly enlarged resources, we 40 Modern missions. may as well confess our failure and abandon all further thought of making Christ known to all the human race. But such a thought cannot be enter- tained for a single moment. So far from the resources of the Churches having been exhausted, they have hardly been touched. The methods employed in the past may have been found insufficient; the policy pursued may have been unsound in some particulars ; but the ability of the evangelical Churches not only to maintain the work as it is, but to double it, or even to increase it tenfold, can hardly be questioned. In trying to form an estimate of the financial possibilities of the missionary situation as it is at the present day, it is useless to take into consideration the mere ability of the present generation of Chris- tians. If the question were one of ability only the problem would be solved in a second. The Christians of America alone are abundantly able to maintain enough missionary agencies of various kinds to complete the evangelization of the world before the close of the next century ; but the practical question before us is not one of ability merely, but of willing- ness to give and of the best means to adopt in gathering up the oflferings of God's people. It has been demonstrated over and over again that a tax so light as to be almost nominal laid upon all the evangelical Christiana in the United States would not only suffice to maintain all the missionary work now in existence, but increase it two, ten, or even twenty-fold. It would be easy to select ten profess- MISSIONARY POSSIBILITIES. 41 ing Christians in the United States on whose produc- tive property a tax of one per cent, would yield enough revenue to double all the American missions in the world and carry them forward in a state of high efficiency. But statements of this kind, while very suggestive, do not practically help us in the present discussion. The missionary cause has never become debtor to any serious extent to men of colosr,ai fortunes. It has from the first been chiefly dependent upon the masses, including the poor and persons of very moderate means, and it is to the masses that we must now turn. A STARTLING ILLUSTRATION. If we take the Methodist Episcopal Church, with which we chance to be most familiar, as an illustration, we find a people who profess to believe in the mission- ary enterprise, whose missionary enthusiasm is easily stirred, and yet whose average annual contributions for each member do not exceed fifty cents per year. Such a discovery is more than disheartening, it is positively alarming. When we remember that many give most liberally, and that at the public collections but few doMors give so little as fifty cents, the infer- ence is unavoidable that the majority give absolutely nothing. It may be said, no doubt, that in many families there is only one purse-holder; but this ought not seriously to afiect the average. What, then, is wrong ? Where is the blame to be placed ? And when the actual is so humiliating, what can be said for the possible ? 42 MODERN MISSIONS. For one, I cannot for a moment believe that there is no relief to the present strain. I have mingled with c people from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and have never found a congregation indifferent to the missionary enterprise. No other appeal so readily kindles the enthusiasm of the people, and no other meets with a more liberal response in the shape of freewill offerings. Perhaps more prayers ascend for the missionaries than for any other body of Christians in the world. The people are not indifferent. They are abundantly able to give twice as much as is now given, and a proposal to double the missionary work- ing force of the Church would meet with an enthusi- astic response. But enthusiasm alone can do very little. It can neither devise nor execute. It may even become a source of weakness if depended on too implicitly. Fifty years ago the plan was adopted by our missionary leaders of putting forth special 3fforts on a special occasion, once a year, in each leading church, and this plan is followed to the present day. Some of the meetings are very notable, and ! retimes the collections are princely, but in the long run this policy must fail. It has all the defects of spasmodic effort ; it often creates a hurtful reaction ; it accus- toms the people to the notion that they cannot do their duty unless acting under the spur of a special stimulus ; and it fosters the idea that the missionary cause is dependent on the leading churches and the more wealthy classes. The right policy, the only policy which can permanently succeed, must be one that enlists all the people in support of the cause. MISSIONARY POSSIBILITIES. 43 A PRACTICABLE PLAN. For the sake of continuing an illustration with which we chance to be familiar, let us look further at the present missionary situation in the Methodist Episcopal Church. The membership, including pro- bationers, amounts to 2,680,000, but for the sake of easy computation let us put it at 2,500,000. Next let one-half of these be deducted as non-givers, such as the very poor, young children, and those members of families in which the bad practice prevails of having one member give for all. We have still left a mighty army, 1,250,000 strong. Let us now divide the per- sons into eight classes, arranged as follows : First, let us set apart 500,000 who can give, at the least, a nickel every month. The aggregate gift of this class will be $300,000. Next, let us take 500,000 more who may be expected to gi^e ten cents each every month, and we are surprised oo find their aggregate contribution footing up no less than $600,000. In the third class let us include those who can easily and freely give twenty -five cents a month, or three dollars a year, and let us include in this class 150.000 persons. Their aggregate offering will amount to $450,000. In the fourth class let us put 75,000 persons, and estimate their contributions at fifty cents a month, or six dollars a year. The total amounts to $450,000. In the fifth class we put only 15,000 persims, and assign them one dollar a month, or a total of $180,- 000. The next class is a very small one, only 5,000 ** MODERN MISSIONS. persons, giving two dollars and fifty cents each, but making an aggregate of $150,000. The remaining 5,000 are divided into two classes of 2,500 each, giving respectively five and ten dollars each, and making an aggregate of $450 000. We have thus the following result : 500,000 at 10.05 each monthly $300,000 500,000 at .10 each monthly 000,000 150,000 at .25 each monthly 450,000 75,000 at .50 each monthly 450 000 15,000 at 1.00 each monthly 180 000 6,000 at 2.50 each monthly 150,000 2,500 at 5.00 each monthly 150,000 2,500 at 10.00 each monthly 300,000 1'250,000 $2,580,000 These estimates are extremely low, and are only made after one-half of the entire membership has been set aside as non-givers ; but it becomes evident at a glance that if such a scale of giving could be adopted it would double the missionary income of the Church at a stroke, and open the eyes of the Christian world to possibilities of which very few persons have ever dreamed. But can such an estimate ever be realized ? Has it any practical value ? Is there any reasonable prospect, for instance, that the small sum of five cents a month can ever be collected from a vast multitude of five hundred thousand persons scat- tered all over the country ? This exact plan may not be found the best in all its MISSIONARY POSSIBILITIES. 45 details, but I am persuaded that we shall never see a healthy state of missionary finance until a determined and persistent effort is made to enlist the masses of the people in support of the cause, and to collect their offerings. It is a well-known maxim that taxes will not collect themselves, and the same is true of benevolent contributions. The average donor will not take the trouble to walk round the corner with his offering, but will pay it cheerfully enough if called upon at home. Just at this point we discover the great need of the hour. It is not givers so much as collectors, men and women, and boys and girls, who will undertake the simple task of gathering up once a pionth the stated offerings of a given number of donors. In every church let such a staff of col- lectors be selected, and not only orju'anized but drilled for the service, and the work will be done. The pre- sent plan of assigning the duty to overworked or possibly indifferent pastors, or to perfunctory commit- tees appointed with the tacit understanding that no work shall be exacted from them, can never prove successful. It has been found a mistake to try to lay this responsibility upon the pastors as a merely incidental part of their many duties. The whole machinery should be constructed anew, and the responsibility placed in the hands of persons who believe in the missionary enterprise and who feel per- sonally called to support it. All this may require a little time, but three or four years ought to suffice to accomplish it, 46 MODERN MISSIONS. DEMAND FOR WORKERS. In the next place, let us consider the demand for additional workers. It can no longer be said, at least in an absolute sense, that the laborers are few ; but comparatively, they are still very few indeed. In the early days of the missionary movement it was thought necessary to send out a man and wife for almost every non-Christian neighborhood ; but that policy has been in a large measure given up, and now, in most of our great fields, the missionaries would be more than thankful if they could get one foreign missionary for each half million of the people. But to muster even this slender force would require a very large reinforcement from the home field, so large, indeed, that to many it will seem almost useless to discuss the question. But if the means can be found for a great forward moment in the foreign field, it is certain that men and women can be found for every vacant place. They may not be found in a day, or, if found, may not be prepared to go abroad on a day's notice ; but they can be enlisted and placed under drill, and can be sent to the front when fully prepared. The difficulty which has usually been experienced in finding young missionaries has been chiefly owing to the haphazard policy which has been pursued of picking up young men at short notice and hurrying them to the front without sufficient preparation. A systematic enlistment of young men and women, with Q, course qf trQ,ining suited to tb^ wants of each MISSIONARY POSSIBILITIES. 47 Ccandidate, would not only provide all the workers needed, but would greatly reduce the probabilities of failure after reaching the field. THE world's gates OPENING. Turning now to the foreign field, we reach the point of chief interest in the minds of most peisons who are studying the question of missionary possi- bilities. First of all, let me call your attention to the remarkable manner in which obstacles have been removed out of the way during recent years. Com- paratively few persons seem to be aware that, until very recent years, by far the greater part of the world was inaccessible to the Christian missionary. A century and a half ago there was not a spot on the great continent of Asia on which a Protestant Christian could set his foot without the consent of rulers, nearly every one of whom was hostilo to missionary eflfort in every form. Fifty years ago two-thirds of Europe was closed against the evan- gelical missionary, while vast portions of the world were so little known that no attempt had ever been made to penetrate their depths in search of any possible people who might be ready for the mis- sionary. But during the present generation the doors of the nations have been opening to us in a wonderful way. During the comparatively short period which has elapsed sincp I became a mission- ary, obstacles of various kinds have been taken out of. the way, untij now I can look q-broa-d s^nd see ^ 48 MODERN MISSIONS. way of easy access to seven hundred millions of the human race, all of whom would have been beyond my reach had I desired to go to them in the days of my youtli. And this process is still going on. High walls are falling into ruins at the quiet approach of Christ's messengers ; remote regions are coming nearer ; hostile people are becoming friendly ; preju- dices are melting away, and thus the opportunities set before us make it possible to accomplish things which would have been considered wholly impos- sible even as late as the middle of the present century. A still more important advantage is found in the more ready access which the missionary has gained to the hearts and minds of the people. For many years after southern and eastern Asia had been thrown open to the missionary, the people seemed strangely inaccessible. In China able men toiled for ten, fifteen, and in some cases twenty years without gathering any tangible fruit or seeing any tokens of future success. More than fifty years after William Carey had landed in India the Protes- tant converts were very few in number, and con- version to Christianity was dreaded by all classes (juite as much as the leprosy. The missionary was among the people, and yet he seemed separated from them by an impassable gulf. There seemed to be no possibility of wide success under such conditions, and these conditions seemed to be beyond the possibility MISSIONARY POSSIBILITIES. 49 of change. But to-day we see a whole world of new possibilities. Only a few years ago the favorite ' objection to Indian missions was that converts could not be made; to-day the cry is that the converts are coming in such numbers that in the very nature of the case most of the alleged conversions must be spurious. In both India and China the missionary has won a position where he is in touch with multi- tudes of the people. He may not be in touch with all classes, but it can no longer be said that all classes, high and low alike, hold aloof from him in his character as a religious teacher. More men and women in China can be reached and won in a single day than were formerly secured in a decade. More persons in India are asking for Christian teachers and preachers to-day than were formerly brought into the Christian fold in half a century. Even in the depths of Africa the same religious phenomenon may be observed. Whole tribes and nations of what were rude savages a quarter of a century ago have been brought under Christian in- fluences and are eagerly entering upon the pathway of Christian progress. These changes in the attitude of non-Christian peoples are so many and so widely extended that they can neither be overlooked nor misunderstood. They indicate changed and changing conditions, and, as far as missionary possibilities are poncerned, amount almost to a complete revolution. 60 MODERN MISSIONS. BETTER PLANS COMING INTO FAVOR. Another feature of the present outlook which is full of encouragemen£ is seen in the character of the plans which many missionaries are learning to adopt. In spiritual warfare, as in the strife of armies, very much depends on the plan of campaign which is adopted. If no plan is formed, if no systematic method is pursued, if the efforts put forth are desul- tory and disconnected, and if the field of operations is contracted almost to the verge of absolute insignifi- cance, no great result can be expected, and success on a wide scale cannot be hoped for. In the past very much of the missionary work of the world has been weak in this respect. A band of missionaries settle down at some point and begin to work on a very contracted scale, hoping at the very utmost to win a few hundred converts, organize a few churches, as near as possible on the home model, and thank God for whatever measure of success they meet. They plan for little, expect little and receive little. Such men are often the best of good men ; but it is not by such plans that kirgdoms are to be subdued and em- pires founded. The task to be accomplished is one of gigantic proportions, and plans should be formed for a campaign worthy of the enterprise in hand. This fact is beginning to be realized. In various parts of the world the spectacle can be witnessed of missionary organizations which extend their operations over a nation, a kingdom, or an empire. These organization^ MISSIONARY POSSIBILITIES. 51 may be only in outline now, but provision is made for filling in all vacant places as the years go by, and thus extending the line until every non-Christian agency is confronted by an active Christian force, working with all the advantages which careful organization, experienced leadership and quenchless zeal can give. Take India, for example, with its nearly three hundred million people. It seems at firat glance a hopeless task to attempt the conversion of such a multitude ; but when we meet Christian young men and women who expect to live till they form part of a militant host of a hundred thousand Christian soldiers all enlisted in India, and all eagerly pressing forward with the instinct of victory in their hearts to achieve the spiritual conquest of an empire, their enterprise ceases to seem impracticable, and their campaign at once attracts attention as one of the grandest attempts ever made by a Christian people to overthrow evil and establish good. The mention of one hundred thousand possible Christian workers, enlisted, organized and engaged in actual service in India or China, calls our atten- tion to the fact that God is teaching the present generation of Christians some important lessons in regard to work and workers in the Master's vine- yard. The Church is rapidly outgrowing the old-time notion that a few men constituting an order called " the ministry " hold a virtual monopoly in the Christian labor market. One of the most striking developments of the present day is the extraordinary 52 MODERN MISSIONS. manner in which men and women of all ages and all ranks are coming forward to take up Christian work in various forms, both old and new. In this respect most mission fields are in advance of the home fields. Women are frequently employed, and in large num- bers. Men of half a dozen different grades are sent out to preach, and scores of unclassified men, some of them but recent converts who cannot read a line, are successfully at work persuading their kinsmen and neighbors to abandon dumb idols and turn to the living God. If we attempt to limit the work in India or China by the conventional notions which prevail in America it may, no doubt, be very long indeed before the spectacle of one hundred thousand workers is witnessed in India ; but neither in India nor America is the old notion going to prevail. The Teacher who delivered the great sermon at Jacob's well saw not only the Samaritans of Sychar around him, but no doubt looked down the ages and saw the times in which we live ; and to us as well as to his first disciples was the exhortation addressed to pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into the whitening harvest fields. The prayers of milliv s are ascending, and God is answering by raising up men and women for the mighty task set before his people. Only three months ago one of our Annual Conferences in India resolved to put one hundred and fifty young men into school, with a view to training them for their work as Christian workers. Their course of study will extend over only two years, MISSIONARY POSSIBILITIES. 53 but this will suffice for the kind of work which they will be expected to do. There seems to be no difficulty in finding the men, and the wives of many of them will study with their husbands. Here in the United States you can hardly realize what this means. You can hardly conceive, for instance, what it would mean if an Annual Conference in the State of New York were to determine to select one hundred and fifty young men and set them apart for a course of theological study extending over two years, with the expectation of having the men collected and the work in actual progress within two or three months. But in the great mission fields of the world the con- ditions are such that urgency becomes imperative. If the millions are to be reached workers must literally be thrust out among them. If not highly educated they will yet be far in advance of those to whom they go. They cannot learn very much in two years, but the most of them can lay the foundation of an education which will command respect in village communities and fit them for lives of usefulness in their Master's service. POWER OF A CHRISTIAN MINORITY. But the thought will probably occur to you that, after all, one hundred thousand men and women, even if gifted and devoted in the highest sense, will be almost lost to the sight among the millions of such a country as India, and thus the problem of ultimate success will remain almost as far from solution as 54 MODERN MISSIONS. ever. I trust, however, that no one will make sc great a mistake as to forget that one true Christian counts for as much as a hundred persons of any other faith. A tiny little lamp is more than a match for a room full of darkness. The Chri::tlans in nearly all communities are in a minority, and yet in most matters they give tone and character to the whole community. Add to this the consideration that in the problem before us the Christian .vorkers are organized and possess all the advantages which organization gives, and it will be seen that the ultimate conversion of India is by no means so im- probable or so remote an event as it is usually assumed to be. The wholly unexpected and extraordinary result of the war between Japan and China affords a very instructive illustration at this point. China was in almost every respect the stronger of the two com- batants at the outset. Her vast population, her great armies, her exhaustless resources, and the pres- tige which her position as the leading Asiatic power gave her, all combined to make the world believe that Japan was entering upon a conflict in which success was impossible ; but events have demonstrated that success was not only possible but comparatively easy. How are we to account for the success of Japan and the failure of China ? The Japanese were united, had a single purpose in view, &nd above all were organized for victory. The Chinese, on the other hand, had a very imperfect organization, had no missiojstarv possibilities. 55 delinite purpose, and, as a people, practically took no part in the struggle. Under such conditions thirty- five million Japanese were equal to four hundred million Chinese. In the impending struggle between Christianity and the non-Christian faiths in India, and to some extent in all non-Christian lands, very similar conditions prevail, and similar results may be anticipated. A small Christian force may always be estimated as fully equal to a very large non- Christian body, especially if the former is truly Christian. I have sometimes even ventured to ex- press the opinion that when the Christians of India amount to a total community of ten millions they will exert more influence and wield more power than the whole non-Christian mass of the population. ESTIMATING RESULTS. Many good Christians doubt the wisdom of all attempts to estimate the results of Christian labor. They are willing to sow and plant in springtime and to estimate the amount to be gathered in harvest; but in the spiritual world they shrink from the very thought of calmly sitting down to calculate results in this way. To some it seems too mechanical, to others irreverent, while to others it probably appears as too uncertain to be depended on. And yet God encour- ages us to expect success, and has given us a whole galaxy of promises to strengthen us while we toil. Of all living men the missionary ought to feel most assured of success. He may be mistaken as to 56 MODERN MISSIONS. details, but his commission is given by One who shall never fail nor be discouraged till judgment is set in the earth ; and this One is his daily companion and his victorious leader evermore. Night may cease to distill its dews, but the rich dews of heavenly grace will never cease to refresh the spirit of the Christian toiler or fail to water the precious seed which he scatters in human hearts. The wind may cease to blow where it listeth, but the Spirit of God will never cease to attend the steps of the humblest dis- ciple who goes forth as a messenger of Jesus Christ. Storm and tempest, hail and frost, blight and mildew may defeat the plans and mar the hopes of other toilers ; but all things in God's universe, from the starry systems above us to the minute events of our daily lives, move together in harmony with the best possible interests of every work which we carry on in the name of Jesus Christ. With these facts before us, why should we shrink from the thought of using our confidence as a basis for action ? Why should we hesitate to make use of all the elements of certainty which enter into the prosecution of such a work as that which the missionary prosecutes ? Many years ago a friend in a city in upper India submitted for my inspection a plan for the erection of a large manufacturing establishment. All the details had been carefully elaborated, and the proba- ble results of the enterprise were boldly tabulated. In due time a company was formed, capital invested, buildings erected, and work commenced ; and for MISSIONARY POSSIBILITIES. 57 more than twenty years the plans elaborated on paper have been successfully illustrated in action. We are not surprised at this, and no one dreams that the first promoter of the enterprise did an unwise thing in planning for the future. About the same time a Christian worker went to another city in India to lay the foundations of a great Christian enterprise. His working capital consisted almost wholly in the promises of God. He confidently expected success, and began his work as if it were already assured. His enterprise also proved success- ful, and goes on apace, gaining constant headway to the present day. These two men worked on similar principles, one in the commercial world and the other in the spiritual. Did the Christian commit an error in assuming that one of the children of light might venture to be as wise in his generation as the chil- dren of this world ? OUR OPPORTUlNil'IES. If now we turn to the great missionary world, look at our possibilities, and form plans accordingly, we can hardly fail to be impressed with the conviction that no men and women since Pentecost have ever enjoyed such opportunities as those which God is setting before his people. Practically there is no limit to the vast field which presents itself to our vision. If we ask for a region in which people may be found who ask for instruction, not in a general sense, but definitely, for the purpose of becoming 58 MODERN MISSIONS. Christians, we may find a score of such districts in India, a number in China, and other equally hopeful people in the interior of Africa. If the workers could be found ready to receive them one hundred thousand candidates for baptism could be enrolled in India alone before the close of the present year. Intelligent observers in China assure me that the outlook in some parts of that empire is rapidly becoming almost equally hopeful. Let it be conceded that these people are very ignorant, very poor, and very weak in moral character ; but the fact remains that they are inquir- ing the way to Christianity, and that thousands of other poor creatures of like character have become genuine Christians. The one conspicuous fact which confronts us is that tens of thousands of people whom we call heathen wish to become Christians, and are willing and ready to receive instruction at the hands of the Christian missionary. Putting aside all other more distant possibilities, and considering only those regions where willing thousands await our coming, I do not hesitate to say that a forward movement on the part of all the