y Gornell University Library Ithaca, New Yurk CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1876 1918 Cornell. Universit BV 2540.A5A5 190 Addresses delivered at the TT mci ADDRESSES DELIVERED AT THE FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BOARDS OF HOME MISSIONS, FOREIGN MISSIONS AND CHURCH EXTENSION OF THE GENERAL SYNOD OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, AT HARRISBURG, PA., APRIL THE TWENTY-SEVENTH TWENTY-EIGHTH AND TWENTY-NINTH, NINETEEN HUNDRED NINE PRESS OF THE LUTHERAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY PHILADELPHIA, PA, CopYRIGHT. 1909, BY THE LUTHERAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY. THE BOARDS FOREIGN MISSIONS Luther Kuhlman, D. D., President; Ezra K, Bell, D. D., Vice- President ; Henry C. Hines, Treasurer ; J. A. Singmaster, D. D., J. S. Simon, D. D., O. C. Roth, D. D., I. C. Burke, D. D., Mr. Charles A. Kunkel, Mr. Samuel F. Ziegler. L. B. Wolf, D. D., General Secretary. HOME MISSIONS G. W. Enders, D. D., President; L. M. Zimmerman, D. D., Vice- President ; Jacob A. Clutz, D. D., Treasurer; Rev. P. A. Heilman, Rev. J. Bradley Markward, D. D., Mr. Edward Helb, Mr. J. D. Zouck, Mr. J. W. Houck, Hon. John Hubner. A. Stewart Hartman, D. D., General Secretary ; Rev. S. J. McDowell and Luther P. Ludden, D. D., Field Secretaries. CHURCH EXTENSION William S, Freas, D. D., President ; Mr. M. B. Spahr, Vice-Presi- dent; B. F. Alleman, D. D., Clinton E. Walter, D. D., William E. Stahler, D. D., Arthur King, A. M., Mr. J. A. Dempwolf, Mr. G. P. Smyser, George E. Neff, Esq. H. H. Weber, D. D., General Secretary and Treasurer; H. L. Yarger, D. D., Field Secretary. Committees for the Fortieth Anniversary Jubilee HOME MISSION BOARD J. A. Clutz, D. D., A. Stewart Hartman, D. D., Mr. J. D. Zouck, FOREIGN MISSION BOARD Ezra K. Bell, D. D., L. B. Wolf, D. D., Mr. Charles A. Kunkel, CHURCH EXTENSION BOARD William S. Freas, D. D., H. H. Weber, D. D., Arthur King, A. M. OFFICERS Ezra K. Bell, D. D., Chairman; H. H. Weber, D. D., Secretary and Treasurer. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE A. Stewart Hartman, D. D., L. B. Wolf, D. D., H. H. Weber, D. D. Committtee Harrisburg Ministerial Association Rev. S. Winfield Herman, Chairman; E. D. Weigle, D. D., Walter Miller, D. D. THE PROGRAM (As rendered with paging added. ) TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 1909 (AFTERNOON, 2 0’CLOCK) In Zion Lutheran Church, S. W. OWEN, D. D., President of the General Synod, General Presiding Officer Greetings The Hon. Edwin S. Stuart, LL. D., Governor of Pennsylvania. The Hon. E. S. Meals, Mayor of Harrisburg, Pa. The General Ministerial Association of Harrisburg, Pa. The Lutheran Ministerial Association of Harrisburg and Vicinity. The Woman’s Home and Foreign Missionary Society. Historical Sketches By L. B. WoLr, D. D. .. : : 4 . Page 13 By A. STEWART Hartman, D. D. . F . Page 9 By H. H. Weser, D. D. : e : . Page 273 TUESDAY EVENING In Zion Lutheran Church, E. D. WEIGLE, D. D., Presiding Addresses by Representatives of the Boards “¢ Retrospect and Prospect ’’ ; ‘ Page 25 J. A. CLutz, D. D. ‘* The Evangelization of the World”’ : . - Page 151 J. A. StincmastTeEr, D. D. ‘* The Commander and Commission’? . : Page 295 W. E. STAHLER, D. D. Social Feature in Lecture Room—Ladies’ Night WEDNESDAY MORNING In Zion Lutheran Church, ARTHUR KING, A. M., Presiding ‘¢ The Broader Vision and Its Realization ”’ C. W. Hester, D. D. “The Christian Civilization of Our Country’’ J. M. REIMENSNYDER, D. D. “ The Relation of Church Extension to Home Missions” . J. M. Francis, D. D. ‘¢The Lutheran Church and World-wide Evangelization’’ D. H. Baus.in, D. D. WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON REV. P. A. HEILMAN, Presiding ‘« Enthusiasm for Home Missions’’ H. G. DATTAN, D. D. ‘©The Work in Our Cities ”’ J. J. Youne, D. D. «The Development of the Home Church in er Mis- sions Ww. H. ‘Dunzar, D, D. ‘ 3 L. S. Keyser, D. D. ‘«The Unbalanced Ledgers of Home Missions”’ . Rev. Exuis B, BURGESS. ‘¢The Absolute Need of the House of God”’ . REV. CLARENCE E, GARDNER. ‘¢ Missionary Heroes ’’ : é Rev, J. T. HUDDLE. ‘© A Missionary Hero—David A. Day, D. D.”’ GEORGE SCHOLL, D. D. THURSDAY AFTERNOON L. M. ZIMMERMAN, D. D., Presiding ‘‘ Church Architecture ’’ ‘ ‘ W. E. Fiscuer, D. D. ‘« Inspiration for Conquest ’’ 4 ‘ S. P. Lone, D. D. “‘The Apologetic Value of Foreign Missions’? H. C. AttemMan, D. D. ‘« Work in the Suburbs ’’ ; ‘i A. J. Turxez, D. D. “‘ Home Missions and World-wide Evangelization’’ C. S. ALBERT, D. D. THURSDAY EVENING In Board of Trade, S. W. OWEN, D. D., Presiding Page 209 Page 73 Page 349 Page 247 Page 261 Page 363 Page 119 Page 237 Page 375 Page 59 Collation and Impromptu Addresses—Men’s Night THE ANNIVERSARY ON the twenty-seventh day of April, Nineteen Hundred and Nine, the Boards of Foreign Missions, Home Missions and Church Extension assembled in Harrisburg, Pa., to celebrate the fortieth anniver- sary of their establishment and organization. ‘The meetings were attended by large numbers of our ministers from far and near, while the good people of Harrisburg and vicinity manifested deep interest both by their attendance upon the meetings and by the courtesies shown the speakers and representa- tives of the Boards. The local pastors and the Men’s Social Union anticipated every need and did much to make the anniversary a success. The greetings of the Governor and of the Mayor, of the Minis- terial Association and of the representative of the Woman’s Home and Foreign Missionary Society, were most cordial and apropos. The addresses were received with deep interest and expressions of hearty appreciation. The enthusiasm awakened was cumulative. The program was fully carried (vii) Vili THE ANNIVERSARY. out, and not one speaker of the thirty who promised to attend failed to respond. The addresses were unique, marked by originality of thought and ex- pression, and covered a wide range of subjects. They are published that the Church throughout the land may be edified by them. While the flash of the speaker’s eye and the intensity of his person- ality may be missing, still these addresses cannot fail to interest greatly all who are in any way awake to the opportunity and the duty of the day in which we live and in which we must do our work, E. K. B. HOME MISSIONS I HISTORICAL SKETCH HOME MISSIONS. HISTORICAL SKETCH. A. STEWART HARTMAN, D.D. Nearly three centuries have elapsed since Luth- eran people came to the shores of America and be- gan the work of planting the Church of their faith. Dutch Lutherans in New Amsterdam and Swedish Lutherans on the banks of the Delaware, in the first half of the seventeenth century, were the heroic pioneers in laying the foundations of their Church in the new world. Through the long period of nearly a century and a quarter that intervened between the first settle- ment of Lutherans on Manhattan Island, now New York, to the coming of Rev. Henry Melchior Muhl- enberg, recognized as the patriarch of Lutheranism in America, the scattered adherents of the Lutheran faith, who were few and poor, encountered almost insuperable obstacles in maintaining their ecclesi- astical existence and in sustaining and extending their organizations. From the advent of Muhlenberg on the scene, in (11) I2 HOME MISSIONS. 1742, up to the organization of the General Synod in 1820, the work of caring for the scattered and needy of our Lutheran family went forward more hopefully and with a larger measure of progress. During all these years, from the earliest begin- nings, the fathers had a deep sense of the urgent need and imperative importance of missionary ef- fort among the spiritually destitute of their brethren in the faith, in the widely-separated communities in which they had located, and earnest attempts were made, at much sacrifice, to provide for them the means of grace. But because it was impossible at that day to prosecute the work in an organized way, it necessarily devolved upon individual pastors, or churches, or later on District Synods, to undertake and accomplish this Home Mission work. On this account it was quite limited in extent, largely of a desultory, and frequently of a tempo- rary and ineffective character. However, it must be said that by these early pioneer efforts the foundations of our Lutheran Church were laid in many sections along the Atlantic seaboard, notably in the States of New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- vania, Virginia, and even in States farther south. After the organization of the General Synod, in 1820, under the inspiration of the urgent need of a more effective system of Home Mission opera- tions, active steps were promptly taken looking to the devising of plans for “missionary institutions,” HISTORICAL SKETCH. 13 by which was evidently contemplated the organiza- tion of agencies which were deemed desirable and necessary for the wise direction and effective ad- ministration of missionary operations in the Church. In addition to the methods above referred to, some of the District Synods, then organized, had adopted the plan of sending out annually one or two missionaries on preaching tours among the vacant pastorates or the religiously destitute communities in various parts of the country, to minister to them; the cost of such special Home Mission work being provided for out of the Synodical treasuries, or by special gifts. But as their operations were quite limited, no special organization was required to con- duct them. Unfortunately, the proposition contemplating a stronger and more effective organization of the Church for missionary endeavor encountered a very decided and even bitter opposition on the part of a considerable number of the members of the General Synod, and it was not found desirable to press the matter. This antagonism was due to the strong sentiment that prevailed against the centralization of authority in Synods, or in organizations created by them and empowered to act as their representa- tives, such as committees or boards. Such methods were characterized as “ecclesiastical tyranny,” in order to make them appear especially obnoxious to the rank and file of the laity of the Church, and it 14 HOME MISSIONS. was found necessary to abandon, for the time being, these proposed “missionary institutions.” Conse- quently nothing of a definite or practical character in the way of an organized effort to prosecute the Home Mission work of the Church, under the aus- pices and by the direction of the General Synod, was undertaken until nearly a quarter of a century later. In the year 1833 resolutions were adopted by the General Synod declaring that great spiritual destitu- tion prevailed among our Lutheran people in vari- ous places, and urging the District Synods to take steps to meet their needs. At the same time it au- thorized the appointment of a committee to gather and publish information to aid the Synods to ac- complish that work. The committee was appointed, in accordance with that action, but it seems never made a report. Two years later, in 1835, the General Synod recommended that each District Synod appoint a member of an Executive Committee to arrange some feasible method of accomplishing Home Mis- sion work, hoping in that way to promote greater unity and fuller co-operation in its prosecution. But, with a single exception, the Synods failed to make such an appointment, and the committee was never constituted. At that same convention, action was also taken recommending the holding of a missionary conven- HISTORICAL SKETCH. 15 tion at Mechanicsburg, Pa., and this convention was accordingly held and resulted in the organization of what was called the “Central Missionary Society of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States.” The chief purpose of this organization was to send missionaries to the destitute portions of the Lutheran Church in the United States. Its mem- bership was not representative of the General Synod, but was altogether personal and composed of con- tributors to its funds. It had a Board of Directors, and an Executive Committee, the latter of which was empowered to “appoint missionaries’ and “agents,” and to “collect and appropriate funds.” It also contemplated and actually undertook the establishing of “a system of societies throughout the Church.’ But the society has not transmitted to posterity a record of its work, and it seems its career was short and uneventful, and it passed quickly and peacefully away without having either helped or hindered much the cause of Home Mis- sions. Upon the death of this hopeful movement, for which the unwillingness of the Synods to co-operate with it was responsible, all effort to inaugurate any forward movement in behalf of missions was chilled and repressed until eight years later. In the re- port on the State of the Church, made to the Gen- eral Synod in 1843, it was emphatically declared 16 HOME MISSIONS. that, “Much apathy prevails throughout the Church generally on the subject”; but the statement brought forth no fruitage at that time. However, at the subsequent convention in 1845, held in Phila- delphia, the growing sentiment in regard to the necessity of adopting some plan of meeting more satisfactorily the earnest cry of need that kept on sounding in the ear of the Church crystallized in the formation of the “Home Missionary Society of the General Synod.” This society was the direct outcome of a recom- mendation made by the Committee on the State of the Church, and had a constitution and a plan of operation prepared by a committee appointed by the General Synod. It was called a society of the General Synod, yet it was an organization outside of the General Synod and not controlled by it. As its active membership was constituted of those who paid annual membership fees of $1.00, or those who paid $10.00 for life membership, consequently, it was not a representative body, and held no valid authority to act for the Church as a whole, or to ask the co-operation of the Church. This society acted under its original constitution until 1866, when the constitution was amended so as to make the society more representative of the General Synod and the entire Church. Under the amended constitution there were three kinds of members: First, all delegates of the General Synod HISTORICAL SKETCH. 17 from Synods co-operating; second, all ministers, with their congregations, in Synods co-operating ; and third, all life members. This society continued in existence under this amended constitution, until 1869, when at the con- vention of the General Synod in Washington, D. C., that body decided to assume entire control of its Home Mission affairs, and it adopted the plan by which it commits to a committee or Board, as its rep- resentative, the entire direction and administration of the work of Home Missions. That Board is the agent of the whole Church and not a part of it, and is entrusted and charged with the duty and respon- sibility of administering the work of Home Mis- sions for the whole Church. It is authorized to receive the contributions of the entire Church and to administer them in the interests of that work over the whole field, as there may be most urgent need and most favorable opportunity, without re- gard to Synodical bounds, or the measure of Synod- ical contributions. Wherever the opportunity for remunerative and effective work is the greatest, and wherever the need of the Church and the means of grace are the most urgent, there is the field, having the first claim on the Board for aid, and should have precedure in occupancy wherever they may be. This system of administration which has now been in operation for forty years has been attended with most gratifying results, and has fully vindi- 2 18 HOME MISSIONS. cated the wisdom of the fathers of a generation ago, who adopted it. This plan has the special merit, in the first place, of promoting the occupancy of the vast and ever-widening Home Mission field of our Church, in a more equitable and harmonious way, than could otherwise be done; in the second place, being sustained in its work by the whole Church, it is able to meet more promptly and more largely the urgent calls for help that come to it, and also maintain the work which it inaugurates and sup- ports, and protect it from discouragement and dis- aster. The fact, that the Board is appointed by the General Synod, the representative body of all the Synods connected therewith, itself implies that the Board is for the whole Church and really sustains no direct relation to the District Synods, and is in no sense under their control. The action of the General Synod, which is a part of its fundamental law, relating to the adoption of the present system, authorizes and empowers the Board to make the rules necessary to the manage- ment of its own affairs, to elect its own officers, and employ such methods and agencies as in its judgment will best promote the efficiency and suc- cess of the work committed to it; to keep a record of the proceedings of its’meetings, and to make a biennial report of the work accomplished to each convention of the General Synod. HISTORICAL SKETCH. 19 The first Board under the present system, was appointed by the General Synod at Washington, D. C., on Tuesday, May 18th, 1869, and was com- posed of the following members: Revs. A. H. Lochman, D.D., W. M. Baum, D.D., A. W. Lilly, M. Officer, J. H. Menges, and Messrs. E. G. Smyser and Daniel Kraber, all of York, Pa., except Rev. M. Officer. The Board met on June 3d following, and organ- ized by the election of Rev. A. H. Lochman, D.D., as President; Rev. M. Officer, Secretary, and E. G. Smyser, Esq., Treasurer. The missions supported by the Home Missionary Society, of which there were sixteen, and those sup- ported by the District Synods, of which there were twenty-one, namely: four from the Susquehanna Synod, two from the Central Pennsylvania Synod, one from the Central Illinois Synod, one from the East Ohio Synod, four from the East Pennsylvania Synod, two from the New York Synod, two from the Pittsburgh Synod, one from the Alleghany Synod, one from the New Jersey Synod, and three from the West Pennsylvania Synod, were trans- ferred to the Board. During the first biennium thirteen new fields were undertaken, making the whole number receiving aid in the first two years, under the new system of ad- ministration, fifty. The Board was reappointed, with few changes, 20 HOME MISSIONS. at seven successive conventions of the General Synod, and thus its location was continued at York from 1869 until 1883. During those fourteen years the membership of the Board of Home Missions and Church Extension was practically identical, al- though officered differently, except that they had the same Secretary. Rev. Morris Officer resigned the General Secre- taryship in June, 1871. On July 3d following, Rev. J. W. Goodlin was elected as his successor, and entered upon his duties on August Ist. He re- mained in the service of the Board as Secretary until 1883. The office of Western Secretary was created in 1881, and Rev. Samuel B. Barnitz, D.D., was elected to fill it. He continued to occupy the posi- tion until the time of his death, which occurred on June 12th, 1902, a period of nearly twenty-one years. At the meeting of the General Synod at Spring- field, Ohio, in May, 1883, the membership of the Board was largely changed, and the general office of the Board was transferred from York, Pa., to Baltimore, Md. The persons elected at that time to constitute the Board were the following: Revs. C. S. Albert, M. W. Hamma, D.D., J. C. Koller, A. Stewart Hart- man, H. W. Kuhns, and Messrs. Charles S. Weiser, J. W. Rice, L. Z. Doll, and W. M. Kemp, M.D. HISTORICAL SKETCH. 21 Rev. Charles S. Albert was elected President; Rev. Jacob A. Clutz, General Secretary; Rev. S. B. Barnitz, Western Secretary, and Mr. Charles S. Weiser, Treasurer. The location of the Board has remained in Balti- more to the present time, a period of twenty-six years. The membership has, however, entirely changed, and none of those appointed in 1883 are now members; five of them: Revs. J. C. Koller, D.D., H. W. Kuhns, D.D., Messrs. J. W. Rice, L. Z. Doll, and W. M. Kemp, M.D., have departed this life. Two others, Revs. M. W. Hamma, D.D., and C. S. Albert, D.D., have removed from Balti- more. C. S. Weiser, Esq., declined reappointment, and A. Stewart Hartman became General Secretary in 1889, and has continued to fill that office to the present time. After the death of Rev. Samuel B. Barnitz, D.D., in 1902, the Board decided to create the position of Field Secretary, instead of Western Secretary, and divide the whole field into as many districts as might be deemed necessary, giving each Secretary supervision over a district. The field was divided into three districts in accordance with this plan: the Eastern, the Central and the Western. While the whole field is under the general superintendence of the General Secretary, the Field Secretaries are given immediate supervision of their respective dis- tricts. Under this method of supervision of the 22 HOME MISSIONS. work, Rev. S. J. McDowell was elected Field Sec- retary of the Central District, with headquarters at Springfield, Ohio, and Rev. L. P. Ludden, D.D., of the Western District, with headquarters at Lin- coln, Neb. In closing this brief sketch of the work of Home Missions in the General Synod, especially during the forty years that have transpired since the adoption of the present system of administration, and the ap- pointment of the Board, it may be desirable to give a few facts and figures that will reveal at a glance the character and extent of the work that has been accomplished during these four fruitful decades. The twenty-fourth convention of the General Synod held in Washington, D. C., May 13th to 20th, 1869, was in many respects the most eventful and epoch-making in the history of the Church. It marked, in a large measure, at least, the closing of the era of individualism and Synodical independence in the prosecution of the great benevolent enter- prises of the Church, which had retarded the pos- sible splendid progress of the Church in many lines of endeavor, and actually brought serious loss and disaster to many of its agencies; and it inaugurated a new régime of unity and co-operation in admin- istering the work of the Church, and instituted a policy of centralization of its forces and resources under the direction and control of its appointed rep- resentatives, which have so greatly contributed to HISTORICAL SKETCH. 23 its growth and prosperity. At that memorable con- vention our present “Formula of Church Discipline and Government” was adopted and also “The Order of Public Worship,” known as the “Washington Service.” The influence of both these acts had a most salutary effect on the whole Church; the for- mer promoting a more intelligible and effective or- ganization of our churches, and the latter a more churchly and a more uniform order of worship. In the sphere of Home Mission activity, the fol- lowing summary will suffice to reveal the character and extent of the achievements in that department of effort. STATEMENT OF THE WORK FROM MAY, 1869, TO MAY, Igo9. a oO a aa ud dg te a Helis! a °° ae es | Beker So 28/84| By) $28 | Ens +A, = a| <8] Seas & 8 M ze j@d/4e 85) pss | 38 Om EETING OF ae ae 38 388 Ege ae 2 | Generar Synop. ga s4| oe\oem) ESQ $25 B A 214 |4 Au & 1869-1871| Dayton, Ohio...... 21767 12| 50 1731} $3879 00) $71496 co 1871-1873|Canton, Ohio...... 23501 94| 50 1444; 2488 16] 64786 78 1873-1875| Baltimore, Md..... 25727 70| 53 1544| 2311 67| 68258 36 1875-1877|Carthage, Ill....... 21051 99} 46 1123} 2109 40] 74699 58 1877-1879| Wooster, Ohio,.... . 25686 82) 51 205| 1375 1784 31| 55989 52 1879-1881|Altoona, Pa,....... 27035 85] 65 1084} 2576 08) 82108 o5 1881-1883|Springfield, Ohio... 37193 64] 71 1266] 3152 64| 96544 or 1883-1885] Harrisburg, Pa..... 46984 50] 87 2381 4532 63] 114035 09 1885-1887|Omaha, Neb. 61091 83] 103 3176| 7594 49| 203863 86 1887-1889|Allegheny, P. 67175 63| 114] J 4354) 10845 75| 238997 02 1889-1891|Lebanon, Pa. 75977 26) 135} 50) 5385] 13591 81] 265275 84 1891-1893|Canton, Ohio . 77800 34/ 155] 45] 5732| 15958 46] 305020 16 1893-1895| Hagerstown, M 85230 21| 163] 37) 5969] 16246 99| 326481 82 1895-1897|Mansfield, Ohio....| 86665 18} 160] 23) 6496) 21104 73| 327668 87 1897-1899| York, Pa........... 84849 03} 160! 25| 5506] 19179 05] 309558 05 1899-1901|Des Moines, Iowa..| g1222 27; 166) 28] 5410! 22347 65] 323038 10 1901-1903] Baltimore, Md..... 96297 62] 195! 49] 6733] 22073 24] 399079 38 1903-1905] Pittsburgh, Pa..... IO4I5I 13] 212| 51] 7692) 25227 91| 614295 26 1905-1907|Sunbury, Pa....... 131267 go] 212 36) 8271] 31257 55| 481712 07 1907-1909|Richmond, Ind.....] 157390 29] 220) 42] 9381] 34789 44) 571557 75 Totals........... 1$1338065 6512468] 607!1208641$263550 961$4993404 67 24 HOME MISSIONS. The testimony of those forty years is clear and unequivocal as to the momentous importance and insuperable value of the Home Mission enterprise in the growth and development of the Church, and in the promotion of its efficiency in the prosecution of its God-given work. In a very large measure, it must be admitted, the surprising progress that has been made in the last forty years in our Church has been due to the agency whose appointed duty and specific mission has been to explore the land, dis- cover the fields, plant and foster the Church, and thus enlarge the borders of our Zion. The star of our ecclesiastical empire, under the guiding and sus- taining hand of Home Missions, has moved west- ward from ocean to ocean, and in its progress hun- dreds of churches have been established, thousands of souls have been gathered into their fellowship, educational and eleemosynary agencies and institu- tions have been established, fountains of running water have been opened in the desert, and the Chris- tian civilization of our nation has been promoted. II RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT. JACOB A. CLUTZ, D.D. When a traveler, after long climbing, reaches a higher elevation on his journey than any hitherto attained, he may use the advantage of outlook thus gained in various ways. If he so chooses he may use it entirely for retrospect. What time he spends on the summit he may devote wholly to looking backward to see the country through which he has been passing, and to trace, as far as possible, the way by which he has come. Or he may elect to keep his face steadily to the front. Forgetting the things that are behind he may reach forward in thought and vision to those things which are be- fore and occupy himself either with a general view of the country that lies before him, or with an effort to trace the road by which he must traverse it. Or he may combine these two processes. He may look both backward and forward. He may survey the country on both sides of the mountain or ridge on which he now stands and follow with his eye both the roads already traveled and those which stretch away into the distance in the direction in which his journey is still to proceed. If he is a wise and (27) 28 HOME MISSIONS. thoughtful traveler he will likely select this third alternative. As to the results of his observations, the effect they will have upon his own mind and feelings, much will depend on the spirit in which he makes them, whether it be as an optimist or as a pes- simist. If he is pessimistically inclined, as he looks back, he may think only of the difficulties and dis- comforts of his journey thus far, the rough places passed over, the steep hills climbed, the mire waded through, the dangerous crossings of the rivers, the heat and the dust and the sweat and toil of the way. And as he thinks of these he is likely to sigh with weariness in anticipation of the repetition of all these hard and disagreeable experiences as he must proceed on his journey, and to wish that it were all over with and that he were at his journey’s end. If, however, he is of an optimistic temperament, everything will be very different. As he looks back now he will entirely forget all these unpleasant things, or will think of them only as evils put be- hind him, as difficulties conquered and thus make the prophecies an earnest of future successes and triumphs. His mind will be occupied far more with the beauty of the country passed through, with the fertility of the soil, and with the many de- lightful experiences he has had as he journeyed along. And so likewise, in looking forwards, he will think but little, or not at all, of the privations RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT. 29 and hardships and dangers to be encountered as he proceeds on his way, but he will think much and with eager anticipation of the new country to be seen, the new beauties to be discovered and the new pleasures to be experienced. Of course, you have all anticipated the use I wish to make of this figure or illustration. We at this time stand on such an eminence in the history of the development of the General Synod, and es- pecially of its benevolent work, as we come together here to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the present plan of conducting our work, and of the appointment of the three oldest and greatest of our Boards. Hence, in making this opening ad- dress of the evening I want to ask you to look back with me over these forty years of effort and ac- complishment, which have brought us thus far, and then also to take a hasty glance into the future. I want to ask you to do this also in an optimistic rather than in a pessimistic mood, and to look for- ward with the confident faith and assurance that there are still larger and better things to come than anything that we have yet seen or known. Fifteen minutes is a very short time for such a retrospect and prospect, and, of course, we can deal only in the broadest generalities, and in these only in the briefest possible way. In looking back the first thing to which I would call your attention is the growth of the Church 30 HOME MISSIONS. itself during these forty years. I speak only of the General Synod, because we are especially inter- ested in it, and because it is absolutely impossible to speak of the whole Church in the time allowed. A very striking outward or material evidence of our growth is seen in the fact that when I took up the minutes of the General Synod which met in Washington, D. C., in 1869, to get some informa- tion from them I found them to be a small pam- phlet of only 108 pages including the index, while the minutes of the last General Synod make up a stout volume of over 500 pages. But let me give you a few figures from those old minutes of forty years ago. From the Paroch- ial Table, which is itself a very small affair com- pared with the Parochial Summaries which are now published every two years, we learn that we then had 22 District Synods, 591 ministers, 997 congregations, 91,720 communicants, 556 Luth- eran Sunday schools and 485 union schools, with 71,832 scholars. The Lutheran Almanac and Year Book for 1909 gives us 23 District Synods (the three New York Synods having been combined into one last fall), 1315 ministers, 1744 congregations, and 280,978 confirmed members. The latest Sun- day-school statistics available are those published in the General Synod Minutes of two years ago. They indicate 1656 Sunday schools, no mention being made of union schools, with 28,665 officers RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT, 31 and teachers and 219,198 scholars, a combined en- rollment of 244,863. What a story these figures tell of growth in numbers and in influence and power! Not only have we thus grown in numbers, but we have also increased greatly in wealth. With some temporary backsets by reason of financial pan- ics, and consequent business depressions, the re- sources of our country and the wealth of the nation have increased enormously during these forty years. Our American people are now generally recognized as being the richest and most prosper- ous people on the earth, and the richest and most prosperous people the world has ever known. In this general prosperity and increase of wealth our people have shared generously, and as a consequence we are far more able to-day proportionately to give for benevolence and to do larger things for the building up of the Church than we were forty years ago. If, therefore, as is no doubt true, God is laying upon our Church a larger responsibility than ever before, he has also given us a larger ability to meet these demands. In God’s economy, both in nature and in grace, responsibility always keeps pace with, but never goes beyond the ability to respond. This must be so since both are from Him, and He makes no mistakes. I am glad to be able to say, also, that we have grown largely in liberality as well as in numbers and in wealth. A comparison of the giving of to- 32 HOME MISSIONS. day, with the giving of forty years ago, while it may still leave much to be desired, also gives great encouragement and inspires large hope for the future. The Parochial Summary for 1869 contains only three columns for benevolent contributions, reporting for Beneficiary Education $9,920,01, for Home Missions $14,205.02, and for Foreign Mis- sions $3,920.20. Truly that was a day of small things, though, of course, it must be remembered that this report covered only one year, the General Synod having met in Harrisburg in 1868. Speak- ing of the work of Home Missions, which I more especially represent on this program, the $14,205.02 reported evidently included the work done inde- pendently by the several District Synods on their own territory. The report of the Home Missionary Society, which then carried on the general work, and which at that time gave way to the Board of Home Missions, reported receipts of only $3,096.29 from the Synods and $1,752.07 from individuals, a total of $4,848.36 for the year, and 16 missions aided. Now, set over against this the report made by our Board of Home Missions at Sunbury for the pre- ceding biennium showing receipts of $96,378.07 from the Synods, and from all sources $131,267.90, while the number of missions aided was 212. Surely this shows encouraging progress. The totals for benevolence are even more encouraging. The total amount reported for benevolence forty RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT. 33 years ago was $28,117.23 from 91,720 communicant members, or an average of less than 31 cents per member. Two years ago the total reported for the ten regular benevolent objects, including the Woman’s Missionary Society, was $530,905.52, or $265,452.76 for each year of the biennium, from 280,978 communicants, or an average of 95 cents per member. This includes only the amounts paid through the regular channels, and takes no account of legacies or personal gifts made directly to our various Boards. I think that during the past year the Board of Home Missions has received more individual gifts to its treasury ranging in amounts from $50.00 to $500.00 and even $1000.00 than during any previous ten years, not counting special efforts made several times at the General Synod to cancel debts. This is one feature of giving in which our Church has been weak, but we are im- proving here also, and the future looks much brighter than the past. Another very hopeful feature of our work is our better organization for work. The new depart- ure taken at Washington forty years ago was evi- dently in the right direction, when Boards directly appointed by and responsible to the General Synod were substituted for the old ‘‘Societies” with their “Executive Committees,” having really no organic relation to the General Synod. The employment of Secretaries, who should devote their whole time 3 34 HOME MISSIONS. to the work of these Boards, soon followed as a matter of course and of necessity. And now, to speak only of Home Missions and Church Exten- sion, which have always been so closely associated, and which were at first really only one Board, we have five men employed to superintend and develop the work where but one was employed forty years ago, and even that one somewhat irregularly and spasmodically. Besides this, each District Synod now has an Advisory Board or Committee to assist as may be required in the work on their own territory. We have also the Woman’s Home and Foreign Mis- sionary Society, and the work for the Young Peo- ple’s Societies, and the work in the Sunday schools. And last of all, the Laymen’s Movement is putting its strong shoulder to the wheel and beginning to push most vigorously. What may we not expect the next forty years to bring forth with such an organization as this to conduct the work both of raising funds and of administration! I meant to speak also of the growth of the work during these forty years, and of the more inviting and more promising fields that are open to us as compared with those of forty years ago. But time fails me. What can one hope to do with such a subject in so short a time? No doubt some of these facts will be brought out by others in their addresses as the program proceeds. Suffice it to say in clos- RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT. a ing, that as we stand on this vantage ground with our faces to the front all the future looks bright and promising. Every recollection of the past, and every feature of the present, when interpreted in a spirit of loyalty to our Church and to her prin- ciples and polity, in love to our people and to all the people for whom Christ died, and with faith in God and in the rich promises of His word, en- courage us to go forward with cheerful hearts, with hopeful spirits, and with a firm and fearless tread, confidently expecting that with the momentum gained by the successes of the past, and with our greatly increased strength and ability, we shall ac- complish very much greater and better things in the future. Ill A GENERAL SURVEY A GENERAL SURVEY. G. W. ENDERS, D.D. I came prepared to speak at the opening of this convention, but my speech has been decimated by others; and again I prepared an address, and again all my facts and figures other speakers wove into their excellent addresses. I now present only a few thoughts and suggestions in outline and additional. Forty years ago I entered the ministry of the Gen- eral Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1868. I recall the numerical smallness and the largely discouraging situation of our Lutheran Church. I heard the old pastors talk of dissolving the Lutheran Church in America and uniting with other denominations, for said they: “We will never amount to much in this country.” But forty years have passed, and with them the notes of dissolution and amalgamation. The Lutherans of America have awakened and have become conscious of their numbers and strength. There are in America 13,000,000 citizens of Lutheran stock. There are 2,250,000 communi- cants, and gathered in our congregations and Sun- day schools are about 5,000,000 souls. What a force! Canada on the north is becoming an inviting (39) 40 HOME MISSIONS. Home Mission field white unto the harvest. South America beckons us like the man of Macedonia: “Come over and help us.” The United States, from the Lakes to the Gulf, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, are rich with abounding opportunities for Lutheran Home Missions. There are about 50,- 000,000 of unchurched Americans that need our immediate care to shepherd and hold them in God’s “green pastures,” Millions are coming to America in a constant stream of immigration from the Luth- eran lands of Europe. They need and deserve our fraternal hand and aid to gather them here into the Church of their birth. No church in America is so well adapted to do this Home Mission work as our own General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. A mighty opportunity entails a mighty responsibility upon us. Our Church has suffered almost infinite loss in the past two centuries in America. Other denomina- tions have greatly profited by our loss. It is high time to cease “playing at Home Missions,” and it is now time to plant missions in earnest and sustain them vigorously, and bring them to self-support. Every new Home Mission opened is a new fountain of supply for every great and benevolent cause of the Church. While every other cause of the Church is very important and ought to be sustained in the future better than in the past, yet it must be con- ceded that in the General Synod the cause of Home A GENERAL SURVEY. 41 Missions is the fundamental cause of all benevolent work. If our Church will push Home Missions and make them first and successful, then every other Board and cause will have a broad and strong basis on which to operate. If Home Missions are slighted then every benevolent cause must suffer. The apportionment for Home Missions ought to be at least twice and thrice as large as for any other cause of benevolence. If in this twentieth century the Lutheran Church will act wisely, and plant her Home Missions wherever an opportune field offers, then the twenty-first century will see the Lutheran Church not third nor second in denomina- tional strength, but she will easily be first and chief in America, and lead the mighty hosts of God’s great army to victory. What has been accomplished in the past forty years is but a faint promise of what can and will be accomplished in the next four decades. Forty years ago the General Synod had in New York City one congregation, and in Brooklyn one weak mission; she now has twenty-one, and there are about one hundred and sixty Lutheran churches in Greater New York. In Jersey City, Hoboken, Newark and Paterson we had not a Lutheran church; we now have churches in all of them. In Trenton, N. J., we have several churches where we were un- known forty years ago. In Philadelphia we had forty years ago two congregations; we now have 42 HOME MISSIONS. twenty-one, and there is a great company of Luth- eran churches belonging to other Synods. We had nothing in Camden, N. J.; now we have six in Cam- den and vicinity. In Baltimore we had three churches; now eighteen are reported. In Washing- ton, D. C., we had one; now ten. In York and vi- cinity there were four ; now fifteen are reported ; and “still there’s more to follow.” In Harrisburg we had one; now eleven congregations and more in prospect. In Altoona one; now eight and many in the immediate vicinity. In Pittsburgh we had two churches, and we now report thirty, and the whole Pittsburgh territory is a fruitful Home Mission field. In Louisville, Ky., we had nothing forty years ago; we now have, as result of Home Mis- sions, seven congregations and still increasing. In Chicago we had not even a beginning; we now have nineteen organizations and room for many more. In St. Louis we had one congregation; we now have two, but there are many inviting fields for Eng- lish Home Missions in this city of over 1,000,000 in- habitants. And so we could go on to specify and localize in many towns and cities of our land. In- deed, everywhere our Church has made progress. The great Northwest has her doors wide open and invites us to enter. Beyond the Mississippi River the home missionaries have planted six entire Synods, reaching to California and the Golden Gate. Nearly seven hundred congregations have been organized A GENERAL SURVEY. 43 by the Home Mission agencies in the past forty years, or nearly one-half of the churches of the Gen- eral Synod. “What hath God wrought!” Our Home Mission opportunities are not dimin- ishing, but ever increasing. If our Home Mission Board had one hundred well equipped men, and men with the missionary zeal, grit and spirit, it would start one hundred good Home Missions. We have the fields. Out in the great West, and espe- cially in our large cities and centers of population, there is great need of Home Missions. But the cause needs also consecrated money. The debt of $18,000.00 has been canceled, and all obliga- tions paid; but this Board of Home Missions has a pay-roll of nearly $6,000.00 every month, and the Church must continue to pour her prayers to God and her money into the Home Mission treasury if this great cause is to succeed according to the meas- ure of its opportunity and responsibility. Three things the Church needs to do to speed the conquest of America by the Lutheran Church: I. Consecrate your sons to the holy ministry, and give us good common-sense home missionaries. 2. Bring ye all the tithes in God’s storehouse, and furnish the money for this great work. 3. Pray ye the Lord of the harvest for the workers. IV THE VANTAGE-GROUND OF LUTHERANISM THE VANTAGE-GROUND OF LUTHERANISM. EZRA K. BELL, D.D. The Lutheran Church has always occupied a unique position among the forces of Christianity. Born in the heart of Saxon Europe, her arteries of faith and life sent the truth pulsating with quicken- ing power wherever Saxon blood flowed in the veins of the people. Thus she became a polyglot Church and her sons and daughters have erected her altars in all quarters of the globe. This vantage-ground has always been clear, and she has been able to gather millions into the fold of Christ. To the Lutheran Church hence the “field is the world.” Her commission is to preach the gospel to the whole creation. She makes no specialty of par- ticular classes. The Lutheran field is Christ’s field, and the Master said: “The field is the world.” If our Church is to enjoy the continued favor of God she must rise to that high sense of responsibility which aims to take the nation for Christ. The vision must find no horizon until the whole conti- nent is scanned. The entire broad land is Lutheran territory. The farming district, the country village, the inland town and the great city are all fields for (47) 48 HOME MISSIONS. our Church. To neglect the country is to sin against the command; to neglect the city is to sin against reason and against God. Emerson never penned truer words than when he said: “The city would have died out, rotted and exploded long ago, but that it was reinforced from the country. It is only country that came to town day before yesterday, that is city and court to-day.” So we must look well to the country districts if the future city is to be saved. There is no distinc- tion of place with Him who said: “The field is the world.” But what is our opportunity in this great field? While it is manifestly our duty to labor and pray for all men, still it is proper for us to ask whether Divine Providence has not set before us some special op- portunities and given us some special vantage- ground. We hear a great deal about lost opportuni- ties. Without doubt golden opportunities have been lost, but they were not such opportunities as our Church has to-day. In the cities the special oppor- tunities come to us later than to the denominations. The denominations are for the most part English in their origin. The early settlers and the immigrants of the first two centuries were chiefly English- speaking people. The denominations were the churches of their home tongue and of their native land. When our Lutheran people came they were compelled to labor against great odds. They had no THE VANTAGE-GROUND OF LUTHERANISM. 49 literature in the language of the people, no printing presses that published papers and books in the Eng- lish tongue. They were restricted, misunderstood and often suffered under false accusation, while the truth in respect to their character and mission was wrapped up in a foreign language. But the day has come when the treasures of Lutheran theology and of our rich devotional litera- ture are no longer hid in a corner. Instead of our colleges borrowing theological text-books from others, the denominations are studying Lutheran books in all the great schools of the land. No American student can longer remain ignorant of what the Lutheran Church has been and now is. Our Church was planted in America under pecu- liar circumstances. Our people did not leave the Fatherland for adventure or in quest of gold. Per- secutions beyond the seas brought our fathers here. The Salzburgers, the Palatines, as well as the Dutch, left their homes along the Rhine and the Zuyder Zee because their Lutheran faith was dear to them. Crushed by the heel of Roman brutality and despot- ism they became, when transplanted, the unfolding flower of Lutheran faith and piety in the land be- yond the sea. So it would seem that Divine Provi- dence sent them to America, and they came not only to give brain and brawn, but to take a large place in the making of a great Christian nation. The early immigration caused by persecution, pre- 4 50 HOME MISSIONS. pared the way for the larger immigration that was to follow. When Muhlenberg came to gather our scattered people he found about five thousand bap- tized Lutherans, which number has grown to five millions, with as many more who are as sheep with- out a shepherd, and out of communion with the Church of their faith. Fifty years ago our people labored in comparative obscurity and were scarcely taken into account by the religious forces of other churches around them. But they were laying foun- dations, transplanting that which had been torn up by the roots in the Fatherland. Synod after Synod was organized, until the third place has been reached in the great religious bodies of the nation. Our people are of Saxon blood and the Saxon is a remarkable character. In his ancient, historic and ancestral home he has preserved a blood un- mingled with that of any conqueror. He van- quished Rome long ago and sent his brave sons to conquer Britain and place that graft on the Eng- lish tree which changed its products from barbar- ism to the noblest fruits of the civilized world. He has given much to Spain and Gaul, and es- pecially to Scandinavia, and now to America he has turned, and millions of his people are within our domain. He did not come here earliest or in great numbers at first, but he came in time to furnish that Baron Steuben to whom the chaotic Continental Army owed its improved discipline and its later tri- THE VANTAGE-GROUND OF LUTHERANISM. 51 umphs. He came in time to give that brave veteran, Baron De Kalb, over whose grave Lafayette erected a monument and Washington shed tears. He came in time to furnish Muhlenberg, who stripped off his ecclesiastical robes to don the uniform of the soldier and lead a regiment of his own countrymen, the men of his Church, in the field. At the call of Abraham Lincoln he furnished one hundred and seventy-five thousand men in the struggle for a na- tion now wholly free. So that the Saxon has a birthright here, the right to come and the right to stay. In later years millions have come over from the homeland, and no one can tell when the stream of immigration will cease. It is not surprising that under restless conditions in the Fatherland some un- desirable immigrants come to our shores; that out of many millions there should be some who are not what they ought to be. But a few thousand anarchists and free thinkers who keep themselves before the public eye should not cause men to over- look the thrift, the industry and content, the beau- tiful piety which abound wher:ver our people are. Some of you remember wh:n Independence and Thanksgiving Day orators gave all credit for what we have to the Puritans. But that strain of oratory has ceased in later years. At a Puritan celebra- tion in the State of Ohio, 2 son of the Puritans said to his audience that sixty counties in that great 52 HOME MISSIONS. State had been settled by people of German stock and that the industry, thrift, honesty and content of these people had made Ohio so illustrious among the States. These people, largely Lutheran, are still laying foundations and making great States. They are spreading throughout the country like the chil- dren of Israel covered the land of Goshen. The Saxon is not an adventurer, but seeks and makes a home. He has a family of children. He is not only pressing his way into the great Northwest where his Lutheran kinsfolk, the Danes, Norweg- ians and Swedes are, but he is moving toward the South, and wherever he goes he makes the wilder- ness teem with the fruits of his toil. He is even pressing his way into New England, building his cottage under the shadow of Bunker Hill, and is planting the standard of the Saxon hero who broke the shackles of Roman despotism, on Plymouth rock. Who is to look after these people and see that they have their church? Shall we who are their kinsmen and of their faith let them scatter and be lost as sheep without a shepherd? One of our best- informed writers recently said that ‘‘there are more lost or unchurched Lutherans in New York and Chicago than gathered Lutherans in any city in Germany or Scandinavia, if we except Berlin. There are more people of German lineage in America to-day than people from the British Em- pire. England furnished America with her language THE VANTAGE-GROUND OF LUTHERANISM. 53 and her laws, but Germany and Scandinavia are furnishing the citizens. Take the German blood out of the arteries of the two greatest States of the Union, then consider what you have left. In New York City alone there is a German city the size of Hamburg, and two-thirds of them are of Lutheran extraction. In Chicago there is a Scandi- navian city of the size of Stockholm, and in the coun- try there are three millions of these fair and sturdy sons of the north. One-half of them are in the Luth- eran fold, and the other half are either in the denom- inations or out in the world. Take the people of Ger- many and Scandinavia, and hence chiefly of Luth- eran extraction, out of the great valley of the Mis- sissippi, and you remove fully one-half of the clergy, the doctors, the lawyers, the legislators, the teachers, the pupils, the farmers, the merchants, the mechan- ics, and all that give that great section of our coun- try its chief stability and strength. While New Eng- land Puritans and Puritanism are fast becoming a memory, Germans and Scandinavians, with their large families, are filling the depleted ranks and fur- nishing a fresh background for New England’s fut- ure history.” Surely ours is a great opportunity for extending the kingdom right here in our own land. The older cities of the East present fields of richness beyond estimation. In my own city our Lutheran -churches have so multiplied that to-day they rank third, if 54 HOME MISSIONS. not second, among the denominations. Some of you remember when your Church in Baltimore was scarcely known, when our people were often asked who Lutherans were. But you may live to see the day when our Church will take the first place in numbers and religious power in the Monumental City. We are establishing churches where other denominations have failed. And what is true of Baltimore is true of other eastern cities. We can plant churches in almost any of them with assurance of success. New York is one of our greatest Home Mission fields. If our Board had the men and the money it could plant a promising church in New York City every week for a year. As we move toward the great West, the same matchless opportunities are offered. Some of you can remember when the center of our Lutheran population was no farther west than Harrisburg. But where is it now? Shall we find it as far west as Altoona, as far west as Pittsburgh, as far west as Columbus, as far west as Cincinnati? No, to find the center of Lutheran population in this coun- try you must go a thousand miles from the Atlantic coast, and even Chicago will be found east of it. Do we realize it? Can we comprehend what these millions of Lutherans, most of them as yet un- churched, present to us in the way of opportunity and duty in Home Mission work? Who can estimate the richness of the field the Lord has invited us to THE VANTAGE-GROUND OF LUTHERANISM. 55 enter? Who could comprehend this mighty harvest that is ready for the reaper and the gatherer of sheaves? Others have been telling us for years that our Church has the greatest opportunity in the his- tory of modern Home Missions. And the oppor- tunity is increasing. It is intensifying year by year, and shall it be that we at whose door the opportunity is placed shall be the last to recognize its vast pos- sibilities ? The consideration of our field and opportunity calls for an invoice of our resources. The first thing we are forced to think about here is the money that is needed to do our great Home Mission work. While this may not be the most important, still the silver and gold are the Lord’s, and when He has placed them in the hands of His people He means that they shall represent power in advancing His kingdom. The days when the Church could plead poverty are past. Money has been accummulated so rapidly during the past twenty-five years that our people control enormous amounts of material wealth. The Lutheran Church, instead of being poor, has abundant wealth among her people to meet all neces- sary demands. The Church has wealth to such an amount that if the tenth of income were given to the Lord’s work we could build a church every day in the year and gladden the missions and mission- aries by abundant support. We could liberally en- dow every college in the General Synod during the 56 HOME MISSIONS. coming year and at the same time quadruple all our contributions to the various Boards without placing any burden on anyone. It ought not to be said any- where in the Lutheran Church that our people are poor. They have all the wealth the cause of Christ needs to-day, if it were but consecrated to Him who loaned it to His people, that its consecration might bring to them and to His Church the largest bless- ing. Another vantage-ground we have is in this: The Lutheran Church is the church of the people. The marvelous growth of the Methodist Church in past years was due to the fact that it was recognized as the people’s church and not the church of any par- ticular class. To-day where Methodism maintains its interest in the masses its growth continues. But wherever the Methodist Church has become the church of a class, her congregations have ceased to gain from the outside world. The Lutheran Church is becoming more and more the church of the people. Rich and poor are equally welcomed. We have no so-called aristocratic churches where the poor are denied fellowship. The simplicity, yet dignity and richness of our service, the integrity of our membership, the contentment and piety found among our people, make it possible for us to reach the masses and bring multitudes into the kingdom. The last vantage-ground I shall mention consists THE VANTAGE-GROUND OF LUTHERANISM. 57 in our fidelity to the pure word of God. In the midst of theological unrest around us, our Church holds fast to the Bible as the only infallible rule of faith and practice. The uncertain note sounded in the pulpits of so many of the denominations is not found in ours. In the presence of departure from the faith once delivered to the saints, the Lutheran Church cherishes the pure word of God without modification and without sympathy with a destructive criticism of the Holy Scriptures. “Ours is a joyous, hopeful faith.”” Our testimony has that note of certainty which the heart of men will al- ways crave. As one has said: “After the doctrinal liberalism that now floats like a bubble in the air shall have burst, our Lutheran Church, if she re- main true to her heritage, will rise more grandly than ever, for in not one of her twenty-three sem- inaries, thirty-nine colleges and forty-two academies, is there room for a single professor who opposes her faith. Her pulpits ring with a definite message. Our people are fed on the milk and meat of the gospel and not on sociological and ethical pabulum.” We doubtless have our shortcomings, and if that were our theme we might paint a picture whose colors would not be very bright. But we need a great awakening to a realization of our mission and an appreciation of the vantage-ground we occupy, Our future depends largely on the consciousness we have of our limitless field and mighty respon- 58 HOME MISSIONS. sibility. No church has a greater open door in this land. Will we enter it? Will we hold up the hands of our Home Mission Board by generous giving and continued prayer? Shall we not at this Fortieth Anniversary say to the Board, “Go into the ripen- ing fields of the East and Middle West, go at once into the great Lutheran centers of the newer West and plant the Church we love, and by God’s grace and by His help, we will double, treble, quadruple, the measure of supplies and men needed for a mighty forward movement in Home Missions.” Led by the Spirit of God and resting on the Divine promise, our vantage-ground will carry us on triumphant, from victory to victory for the glory of Him who hath loved us and bought us with His blood. V HOME MISSIONS AND WORLD-WIDE EVANGELIZATION HOME MISSIONS AND WORLD-WIDE EVANGELIZATION. CHAS. S. ALBERT, D.D. A mountain looms large in the beginning of Christ’s ministry. It is the mountain of the tempta- tion. A mountain looms large in the end of Christ’s ministry. It is the mountain of Galilee where the risen Jesus met His disciples. From the first moun- tain, the devil showed Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and saith unto Him, ‘All these will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.’’”’ It was the vision of a world-empire founded on force and injustice. Jesus rejected that. Yet, it indicates that the thought of a world-empire was in His mind then. From the second mountain, Jesus the risen speaks: “‘All power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, bap- tizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to ob- serve all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Here, again, is the vision of the world- empire, but to be won by the teaching of the truth, repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus (61) 62 HOME MISSIONS. Christ. This kingdom must be, for only thus can men be saved, this kingdom must prevail, for back of it is the living Christ with all power. Let us never forget the first religion to embrace the world as its own was the Christian religion. Out of one of the smallest and narrowest religions came the One who first grasped this idea. It was a colossal thought, not born of man, but the thought of One who was the Son of the Father, whose thoughts were His thoughts. The idea of the world religion is born of the Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father of all. What has Home Missions to do with this world- wide evangelization? Much in every way. ‘It is needless to dwell on the thought that is common now, namely, that the base of supplies must be en- larged as the advancing army is enlarged and in- creases its field of operations. More missionaries, more institutions of education and mercy, more struggling mission congregations in Asia and Africa demand larger supplies of means and recruits for the missions abroad. The church at home must in- crease to meet the larger demands, and to do that Home Mission churches must be established that will become strong congregations, giving to For- eign Missions their young men and women, their contributions. As the army of advance abroad in- creases, the supplies at home must increase. The more there must be sustained by the more here. HOME MISSIONS AND EVANGELIZATION. 63 Two illustrations suggest themselves. The United Synod, South, has the Foreign Missionary spirit richly developed. Japan is their field, but, be- cause of their comparatively limited resources, they cannot carry on the work without help. The base of supplies is not sufficient. The Pittsburgh Synod is a great Home Mission Synod. It is also a great Foreign Mission Synod. Because they have in- creased so rapidly at home, they are able to do vastly more for missions abroad. Home Missions develop the spirit which is neces- sary to evangelize the world. Before the extensive can be successful, the intensive must precede it. Too often the advocates of Foreign Missions act as though all that is necessary for their successful support is to talk and talk Foreign Missions. Rec- ollect, however, that Foreign Missions is the most beautiful flower of Christian service. The flower can never bloom perfectly without diligent cultiva- tion of the stalk. It needs, in other words, a strong Christian life of service and consecration back of it out of which it must vigorously spring. Unless this be diligently cultivated at home, there never will be the rich and beautiful service abroad that is possible. If we study the formal initiation of Foreign Mis- sion work, the sending forth of Paul and Barnabas by the church at Antioch under the direction of the Holy Spirit, we find it was from a church, serving at home and consecrated, that the missionaries were 64 HOME MISSIONS. sent. Recall its history, its fervor, its care of the gentiles at Antioch, until certain Jewish Christians grew angry, the coming of Barnabas, his incessant teaching wearing him out, until he must needs go after Paul with the flashing eye and great heart to help him. There was a year’s work of Home Mis- sion work. They cared not only for the unchurched in Antioch, but when the Mother Church in Jeru- salem was in want, they gave every man according to his ability to sustain the home church, and sent their collections by the hands of Barnabas and Paul. This church was in a constant revival, ever serving, ever praying. It was to this church, whose life had grown great by intensive cultivation, that the com- mand came to separate their best men for the for- eign field, and the response was immediate. Why not? The church that neglects its own has denied the faith and is worse than infidel. At home there must be developed that spirit of unselfishness, Christ-longing sacrifice, which must be the life of all Foreign Mission endeavor. If we Lutherans will not heed the cries of our own children for the bread of life; if the Lutherans of the Mother churches abroad coming to our own shores are not fed by us; if we have not the Christ-spirit to care for them and give them ministers and churches, we are not fit to enter the foreign field. Their cries will go before God and He will hear and withhold His blessing. But, if we heed these HOME MISSIONS AND EVANGELIZATION. 65 cries and respond, our hearts will glow with Christ’s love for all, and we will be ready to send our best, to give largely that the gospel may be carried to the ends of the earth. The intensive must precede the extensive. The intensive will engender the spirit on which the Church lives and thrives—the achieve- ment of the impossible. The early Christians who went into Antioch, that profligate, wicked and lux- urious city, and built a church, knew by that success that they could achieve the impossible. They were ready for Foreign Mission work and sure that they would overcome all difficulties. Trained and drilled, they were ready for any task. Jowett tells this: “An incident which will become immortal took place at Messina two days after the recent earth- quake. The captain and crew of a Welsh steamboat were passing along the ruined streets of the town when they say two children upon the balcony of a house, the front wall of which only remained. The captain of the boat pointed to the children, and, turning to his men, said, ‘Now, Smith! In a mo- ment Smith was clambering up the tottering pile. But he found the task too great for him. ‘Now, Reid! said the captain, and without a moment’s hesitation another man was climbing the ruins. Let us put ourselves in the place of these men. Our Captain points to the impossible task, and says, ‘Now, Jowett! Now, Y What is our answer? 5 66 HOME MISSIONS. Is it ready obedience? The only difference between our Captain and the captain of the Welsh vessel is that the latter said, ‘Now, Smith! Now, Reid! while our Captain says, ‘Come on, Smith! Come on, Reid! and He is already on the tottering pile before us.” But, this was possible because these men were sailors, trained and drilled to keep their footing on the mast. The daily drill with Christ must be first, then the impossible. Home Missions, moreover, in this land often spells Foreign Missions. I do not mean that the heroic and unselfish spirit which the Home Mission Church develops often culminates in the pastor or one of the flock going into the foreign field, but, be- cause as we have here peoples of all nations, by teaching them we raise up missionaries for the for- eign field. I fear we as Lutherans are too much occupied with “our own,” and forget that the for- eigner in our land, who is heathen, is our care. “To be a missionary to ‘our own people,’ here in America, would mean to be a missionary to nearly every race under the sun. The most interesting side- light in modern life on this phase of Christian work is a new interrelation between Home and Foreign Missions, as a result of missionary activity among our foreigners. It is not an unusual experience that many converts among aliens are possessed with a great passion to go back to their own country and HOME MISSIONS AND EVANGELIZATION. 67 tell the “good news.’ When Paul became a Chris- tian, his first thoughts were for his own people. The illustrations of this point are numerous. The fol- lowing recent incident has these two different ele- ments of interest: “In a mission to the Chinese of one of our great cities two young Chinese came some years ago, and, after months of patient waiting, gave evidence that they had learned ‘the true doctrine’ and became fol- lowers of Jesus Christ. Soon afterward one of them went back to China. He carried with him some Chinese New Testaments and tracts, and after he reached his old home he invited the young men of the village to come to his house to study the Bible. They came willingly enough, but when they realized that he was teaching them the ‘Jesus religion’ they left him quickly and reviled him bitterly. Then he began to gather the people on the streets to tell them the gospel story. They had never heard it before; he was the only Christian in all the district, and they might have listened gladly, but the old men said, ‘No! We cannot have this western religion brought here,’ and they began to persecute him. Many times he was stoned, beaten, spit upon. Once the villagers threatened to burn down his house. Yet none of these things moved him. He continued to teach wherever and whenever he could, and gradually his gentle life won them. Slowly they began to listen 68 HOME MISSIONS. to him, and one day the young men came back and asked him to start the class for them again. “All of this he wrote to his friend in Washington, D. C., and the heart of that young man burned within him. He knew how those villagers needed to hear the gospel story, he knew what their heathen- ism meant. He was only a poor laundryman, spending twelve and fourteen weary hours each day over the tub and ironing-board, yet he wrote to his friend begging him to give up all other work and devote all of his time to telling the people of the vil- lage of the salvation of Jesus Christ. ‘If you will do this,’ he wrote, ‘I will stay here and run the laun- dry, and send you one hundred dollars every year to pay your expenses.’ ”’ Home Missions in our land, to which all nations come, may therefore provide missionaries to the nations that know nothing of God in Jesus Christ, and thus aid in the evangelization of the world. Home Missions are necessary to world evangeliza- tion because they keep the Christian nations Chris- tian and bring to bear upon the heathen the influ- ence of Christian civilization and national power. What, humanly speaking, made the missionary work of the early church possible? The Roman Empire, that by its laws insured them safety. The Church grew under these laws until it could stand by itself. What do we see to-day? We see Christian mis- HOME MISSIONS AND EVANGELIZATION. 69 sionaries protected by the Christian nations amid peoples intensely hostile and ready to kill them. They are safe because these peoples fear the Chris- tian powers. Sometimes the hatred breaks forth, as in the Boxer uprising in China and the Moslem atrocities, but the Christian governments with navies and soldiers restore order and safety. There were failures in earlier centuries of enthusiastic mis- sionaries because they had not this protection. The time was not fully come for Foreign Missions. If India should throw off British rule, India Missions might be blotted out. These later years have brought the heathen na- tions in contact with the Christian nations. They realize there is something in their civilization and methods they have not, and they begin to see it is in their religion the secret of their progress and power of Christian States lies. They are inclined, therefore, to study this re- ligion, as is notably the case with the Japanese. The religious life, therefore, of the home nation must be maintained and increased. We think too oft of the Church as a fixed number, as though it were a great building where stone is laid upon stone and which abides through all time, needing but other addi- tions to make it greater. The truer figure is that of the flowing river, which abides, but, where the drops that form it continually come and go. When the fountains on mountain side and valley fail the 70 HOME MISSIONS. river dries to its bed and is no more. Even so the Church is made up of the souls that to-day are born and to-morrow die. The coming generations must be continually won and trained. The Church is eternal, but it is also ever new. To maintain and increase the work of Home Missions is therefore imperative. And in this nation we Lutherans have a great part to play. For we have set clearly before us and hold unflinchingly to the world-wide truths without which there can be no world-wide evan- gelization. What are those truths which the world needs and Christianity alone has? The revelation of the fatherhood of God through Christ, who has set Him forth by teachings and life; the message of redemption through the atone- ment of Christ; the righteousness through faith, in- ward holiness, the power of the Holy Spirit ta change the sinner and to sanctify the believer. Moreover, that we have a sure word of revelation, the Holy Scriptures, the word of God, that means of grace whereby the Spirit does His work. To maintain this religious life and to increase it is the work of the home Church that Foreign Missions may have behind them the influence and power of the Christian nations, safeguarding them, that the righteousness of our national life may be pointed to as an exemplar of what Christianity is and effects. HOME MISSIONS AND EVANGELIZATION. 7I For these reasons Home Missions claim support that the evangelization of the world may be made possible. We well understand that we cannot stop short of the conquest of the world for Christ. “The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever.” This is the promise that thrills. We, too, lift up our eyes and behold the nations to whom we must bring the light. But, we also see that we must retain what we have. We must infuse into the home Christians a larger spirit. We must go from what we have to the greater work, the winning of the heathen to Christ. VI THE UNBALANCED LEDGERS THE UNBALANCED LEDGERS OF HOME MISSIONS. REV. ELLIS B. BURGESS. The balancing of the ledgers is an important task in every successful business house. The man who collects well is the man who wins. It is the plan of this paper to open up the account of America with the Church of the Reformation and endeavor to strike a just and righteous balance. The Evan- gelical Lutheran Church has been doing business in this western world for many years; not a word has been said as to the desirability of closing up the account; yet it is a matter of general interest to study the ledgers and see how the account stands. If Martin Luther had been born a few hundred years earlier we would be compelled to credit the discovery of America to a Lutheran. As it is, the first entry is credited to Danes, under date of Febru- ary 20th, 1620, when Rasmus Jensen, the first Evan- gelical Lutheran pastor of America, was laid to rest on the shores of the Hudson Bay. It is well to re- member that this was eight months before the Pil- grim Fathers opened their account at Plymouth Rock. The next items of the account are entered in Swedish, in 1638, and charge America with one (75) 76 HOME MISSIONS. Swedish Lutheran pastor, one Swedish Lutheran church, and two boat loads of thrifty Swedish Luth- eran farmers. The handwriting of Dutch next ap- pears in the ledger, under date of June 6th, 1657, when Pastor John Ernest Goetwater began to preach to his Lutheran countrymen, on Manhattan Island. This account seems to have been closed rather sud- denly on May 2oth, 1658, in red ink, with the coun- ter charge, ‘Lutheran minister and some bad women sent back to Holland.” This does not mean that the minister himself was bad; it only means that official New Amsterdam was not able to appreciate the value of Lutheran missionaries as do the New Yorkers of the present day. The familiar hand- writing of our Pennsylvania German fathers does not appear in the ledger until 1683, and then the entries are few; in 1700 we read the name of Falck- ner; in 1742, the name of Muhlenberg; and for the next fifty years the entries come so thick and fast that hundreds of pages are filled, and the great State of Pennsylvania is charged with her very life’s blood. During the two hundred and eighty-nine years that have elapsed since the opening of the account, the Lutheran Church has planted her evan- gelizing forces in every part of the land, and through her more than 80,000 pastors—ministers, directly or indirectly, to fully 10,000,000 of the people of the United States. By her schools and churches she has made immense contributions to the righteous- UNBALANCED LEDGERS OF HOME MISSIONS. 77 ness that “exalteth a nation,’ and won the admira- tion and praise of our greatest national leaders. Now the planting of the Church is, in a peculiar sense, a Home Mission work, and we therefore call your attention to— 1. The open account of America with Home Missions. An open account it is; an open account it ever shall be; for no man can foresee the day when the people of America can afford to close it. Home Missions breathed into this western world the breath of the Christ and America became a Christian land. Of all the nations of the world, none are so deeply indebted to Home Missions as our own. To this agency of the Church she owes practically everything that has made her queen of the nations. A little more than two centuries ago the population of the United States was less than 200,000, and sharply confined to the Atlantic coast. But the spirit of adventure was “bred in the bone” of these people, and soon men like Boone and Craw- ford began to lead the way to the West. After the treaty of Fort Stanvix, in 1768, a perfect stream of hardy pioneers poured through the defiles of the Alleghenies and began to take up the rich farming lands of the Ohio and Mississippi basin. Some came from American homes; many more came from lands across the sea. To follow these people with the gospel, gathering them into regular congrega- tions, and hold the new world securely for Christ 78 HOME MISSIONS. was the work of Home Missions. And no great undertaking of the Church was ever carried out more successfully. The farming people of this, the greatest agricultural valley of the world, are a people whose sturdy Christian faith and robust char- acter challenge universal admiration. A second im- portant task was laid upon the Church when the gleam of yellow gold was first discovered in the streams of California. The news spread like wild- fire, and thousands of bold, adventurous men fought their way through the mountains or made the long voyage around the cape to the Pacific coast. From South America, Europe and China, as well as the Atlantic coast, the throngs poured in. So unpar- alleled was the inrush that in an incredible time there was a quarter of a million of adventurers, energetic, reckless and dangerous. Gambling was a universal passion and indulged in on a colossal scale. . . . The Parker House, a two-story frame building, rented for $120,000.00 a year, gamblers paying for the en- tire second floor. Outlaws poured from every part of the world. Justice could not be properly admin- istered. . . . In 1851, San Francisco found burg- lary, arson and murder so frightfully rampant that the courts seemed to shield rather than convict crim- inals. To reduce this wild outlawry to civilized order and temper it with the spirit of Christ was the work of Home Missions. How well it was done, UNBALANCED LEDGERS OF HOME MISSIONS. 79 let history testify. Beautiful California is the flower crown of Home Missions. Such a mighty agency for good is never idle. And there was never a time in the history of our country when its services were more imperatively needed than now. The problem of the city and the problem of the immigrant are greater problems than Home Mis- sions has ever been called upon to solve before. More than a million of strangers are coming to our shores every year; some of them are lovers of the soil like their German and Scandinavian predeces- sors of a generation ago; many more are settling in the slums of our already overcrowded cities, mak- ing their assimilation a problem of the most serious import. Here is where the call of LutHErRan Home Mis- sions grows luminous, and where the Evangelical Lutheran Church proves her sterling worth to America. With the exception of the Italians, there is scarcely a foreigner who lands at Castle Garden, New York, whom she is not in a position to help be- cause of a previous contact with his people in the mother country. Granting that the best work of the Lutheran missionary is done among the Ger- mans and Scandinavians, it is still true that he pos- sesses an advantage over the missionaries of other churches in ministering to the incoming hosts from Russia, Poland and Austro-Hungary. In spite of 80 HOME MISSIONS. the shifting of the sources of immigration to south- ern lands, statistics still show that 200 out of every 895 persons coming to our shores are baptized mem- bers of the Lutheran Church. If we but take proper care of our own, we have done much to solve the immigrant problem and relieve the anxiety of the nation. Then, again, America is indebted to Lutheran Home Missions as a conservator of the gospel. This is a day of cheap imitations, and even the gospel has not been spared. Thousands of people seem satisfied with the rankest kind of an imitation. But every Lutheran mission established in the land will serve as a living protest against superficial show and as a beacon light to guide the people back to solid ground in religion. Radicalism has spent its force in America; and although we shall continue to pay its bad bills for many years to come, there are evidences of a change in the account. Recently a meeting of the operators of the Connellsville coke region was held at Scott- dale, Pa., the avowed purpose of which was the adoption of more conservative methods of mining. The old “hurry up and get it out quick” methods have resulted in the waste of thousands of tons of good coal as well as hundreds of precious lives, and these operators have at last come to see that there is a tremendous value in conservatism even in coal mining. UNBALANCED LEDGERS OF HOME MISSIONS. 81 Now, then, what these business men propose to do for human life in the coke region, that Lutheran Home Missions is endeavoring to do for the re- ligious life of the nation. The rush of radicalism during the past quarter of a century has been as fatal to our religious as to our business interests. The Church of the Puritan, so long regarded the bulwark of American Protestantism, has been swept from her historic moorings. Andover Theo- logical Seminary has gone down in the wreck; Yale Divinity School is beginning to flutter distress sig- nals, and the end is not yet. All New England has been infected by it; it is the very air they breathe— a subtle, almost indefinable infidelity that is corrupt- ing the very fountains of spiritual life and power. But in the midst of all this change and confusion, listen to the testimony of the Lutheran Church: “Prove all things, hold fast to that which is good.” Mark the loyalty of her more than eight thousand pastors. Not one of them publicly questions the integrity of the Bible or the cleansing power of the blood of the cross. The doctrines of the Holy Trin- ity, original sin, the person of Christ, justification by faith, new obedience, the Church and the means of grace, as outlined in the Augsburg Confession, were never more earnestly believed and taught. These are the principles for which Lutheran Home Mission work stands, and these are the principles that will yet save America and the world. And 6 82 HOME MISSIONS. when the wreck of Unitarian rationalism has finally been cleared away, the people of America will begin to realize and acknowledge the vastness of the na- tional debt to Lutheran Home Missions. And now we desire to make another study of these “unbalanced ledgers” with a view to present- ing— Il. The open account of the Lutheran Church of the General Synod with her Home Mission Board. It is important not only to have a proper under- standing of the obligations of America to the Evan- gelical Lutheran Church at large, but also a clear conception of our indebtedness as a Church to the Board of Home Missions within our own bounds. This Board has been doing business for a period of forty years. During that time it has opened up accounts in many parts of the land and placed the Church under heavy obligations. The first charges are entered under the names of Des Moines and Tipton, Iowa; Van Wert and Urbana, Ohio; Kan- sas City and St. Louis, Mo.; Wheeling, W. Va.; Atchison, Lawrence, Grasshopper Falls and Topeka, Kan., Oakley, Wis.; Elkhart, Ind., and Galesburg, Buena Vista and Princeton, Ill. Some of these mis- sion points failed to develop, but others are to-day numbered among the leading churches of the Gen- eral Synod. An itemized account of the Board shows the extent of its business in the various Dis- trict Synods: UNBALANCED LEDGERS OF HOME MISSIONS. 83 Alleghany Synod ...............0005 Central Pennsylvania Synod.......... East Pennsylvania Synod............. Franckean Synod.............0.0005 Hartwick Synod...............0000% Maryland Synod.............2...4-. New York and New Jersey Synod..... Pittsburgh Synod................0-- Susquehanna Synod................- West Pennsylvania Synod............ East Ohio Synod..............2.005. Wittenberg Synod................... Miami Synod..........-......000005 Northern Indiana Synod............. Olive Branch Synod...............0- Wartburg Synod. .............20006% Northern Illinois Synod............4. Central Illinois Synod............... Southern Illinois Synod.............. Jowa Synod .i..:.:.5..cusesa sade endnoune Kansas Synod. ........... seca eee Nebraska Synod................0005 German Nebraska Synod............. Rocky Mountain Synod.............. California Synod................004. Missions Aided, II Expended. $16,275 9,980 63,876 8,762 20,147 555744 78,544 58,964 29, 254 10,850 35,388 24,500 41, 364 39,016 51,254 6,338 66,737 24,592 450 77,037 105,001 81,441 75172 42,758 89,280 $944,775 oo 00 oO oO oO oO oo oo oO oO oOo oo oO oO oO oO oO 0° 88888 oO 3 8 oo The expenditure of $944,775.00 for the support of 585 missions, embracing nearly 700 congrega- tions, during these forty years of the Board’s history represents merely the investment of its original capi- tal. On the basis of this original investment, the people who were gathered into these missions, even while they were still under the care of the Board, 84 HOME MISSIONS. contributed a round five million dollars for church purposes, a quarter of a million of which found its way back into the benevolent treasuries of the Gen- eral Synod. A business man would call that kind of an investment a bonanza. But that is not a full statement of the account. To these five million dol- lars must be added many millions more which have been contributed by these mission churches after they have reached the position of self-support. Every dollar contributed by the California, Rocky Mountain, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa Synods must be credited to this account, for these Synods were all created by pure Home Mission effort. In the East, the debt seems to be almost as great as in the West. The self-supporting missions of the Pittsburgh Synod last year gave more than 40 per cent. of the entire contributions of their Synod; the self-supporting missions of the East Pennsylvania Synod gave more than 30 per cent. of the total con- tributions of that Synod. If the same proportion holds good both East and West, more than one-third of the entire contributions of the General Synod last year must be credited as a legitimate return from that original investment of the Board of Home Mis- sions. And in addition to these large financial re- turns, here stand incalculable spiritual results, the real end of all Home Mission effort. The spirit of Home Missions puts new life into the individual congregation; it vitalizes the synodical body; it aids UNBALANCED LEDGERS OF HOME MISSIONS. 85 in the development of every other benevolent agency of the Church. The history of the Pittsburgh Synod gives us a remarkable example of this truth. There are two very sharply defined eras in the history of this Synod since the rupture of 1868. The first era, from 1868 to 1885, may be defined as an era of self-preserva- tion; the second era, from 1885 to the present time, may be defined as the era of Home Missions. The year 1885 is fixed as the dividing line because at that time the present aggressive missionary policies of the Synod were outlined and the Indiana county churches from the Alleghany Synod gave sufficient strength to carry them out. A comparison between the results of the last fifteen years of the older order and the first fifteen years of the new order will help us to see how much the General Synod in Western Pennsylvania owes to Home Missions. Between 1870 and 1885 the Synod increased in membership from 3481 to 4499, an average annual increase of only 68 members. That was the actual result of the plan of SeLF-DEVELOPMENT. From 1885 to Ig00, the Synod increased in membership from 4499 to 11,938. Deducting the 1257 communicants of the churches received from the Alleghany Synod, these figures still show an annual gain of 412. That was the actual result of operative Home Missions. In the earlier years of this Home Mission era there were those who openly contended that the Synod was pay- 86 HOME MISSIONS. ing too much attention to Home Missions and neg- lecting the other benevolent work of the Church. But what are the actual facts of the case? Take the Board of Foreign Missions as an example. In the year 1885 the Synod gave to this Board $720.00; in 1895, with the Home Mission spirit beginning to make itself felt among its congregations, it gave $1,116.00; and in 1908, with this spirit becoming a passion in the hearts of many, it gave the splendid sum of $4,022.00. Let every advocate of world- wide evangelization rise and pay his respects to Home Missions. The care of the “lost sheep” of the Lutheran household in America has prepared this Synod to “preach the gospel to every creature” as nothing else could have done. There is not a benevolent Board of the Church that has not felt the uplift of the Home Mission triumphs of Western Pennsylvania. This increase of giving is due not simply to an increase in the number of givers, but also in the spirit of giving. The benevolent gifts of the Pittsburgh Synod, in 1884, amounted to $3,284.00, or 71 cents per member ; the benevolence of the same Synod, in 1908, amounted to $31,- 115.00, or $1.90 per member. And so the account of the Church with her Home Mission Board keeps growing with the years. We cannot close it if we would. And the burden of our obligation will con- tinue to increase until the Church is crushed beneath it to her knees before the throne of God, and cries UNBALANCED LEDGERS OF HOME MISSIONS. 87 out, “Great Head of the Church, bless and prosper this great world-saving cause of Home Missions.” Then, and not until then, will it be possible to bal- ance the ledgers and satisfy the obligation. VII HOME MISSIONS AND THE CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION OF OUR COUNTRY HOME MISSIONS AND THE CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION OF OUR COUNTRY. J. M. REIMENSNYDER, D.D. The future of our country presents the mightiest problem of the ages. It is universally recognized by statesmen of both continents, churchmen and his- torians, that all history and Providence point to this country as the key to the future of civilization. Here the great Anglo-Saxon races have contributed their best blood and centered their hopes. Here the lead- ing languages of the Anglo-Saxon, the English and the German, are spoken by the largest number of our citizens, and are the tongues of our educational resources. Here we have the territory unlimited, as in no other land of the globe. Intelligence, genius, social advantages, avenues of wealth, liberty, free- dom of speech, personal rights, ownership, in fact, all the attracting forces known to man are present in the largest reach. In this new world, with its unlimited acres and unmeasured mines and splendid opportunities, which are drawing the millions of other lands within its borders, with all their foreign elements of character and notions of civilization, the Bible must be our common refuge, our means of safety, our hope of (92) 92 HOME MISSIONS. perpetuating our splendid heritages and the protec- tion of our civilization. Already the census of 1900 shows that out of a population of 76,000,000, 26,000,000 were of foreign parentage, and of this number 10,000,000 were of foreign birth and that in the State of Pennsylvania forty-eight languages are spoken. The Church must meet this wonderful problem with the Bible translated in as many lan- guages as are spoken. This population centers in certain portions of our great cities and in the re- motest portions of our land. To minister to this population of nearly 80,000,000 now estimated, there are about 300,000 ministers of the gospel and as many churches. These figures show at once the vast field for the work of Home Missions, the ac- knowledged greatest factor in their American civilization. No wonder that the Boards of Home Missions in this country of all denominations so earnestly plead for funds. Here is the greatest hope of the nation and of the Church. The admitted hope of the world. Christianity has centered her forces here as for her last stand in the bringing of the world to Christ. This country must be held to Christ and to its fundamental laws and institutions, its religious heritages, at all cost. The thoughtful student of history, the loyal patriot and the devout Christian, alike must see this greatest duty and this divine Providence opening to us in this country the greatest Home Mission fields HOME MISSIONS AND CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION. 93 of the world and the ripest and richest spiritual and eternal harvests of all ages and history. We have _ the wealth and the intelligence and all the needed forces to accomplish this work if we will arise and build. Build for eternal results, for God and our country, the noblest civilization and citizenship of all time. This work presents itself with greatly increased responsibility upon the Evangelical Lu- theran Church. First. She has the greatest responsibility, be- cause she is the Mother Church of the Protestant Reformation, and from her founders came the great Magna Charta of Christian faith and liberty: the Augsburg Confession, the basis of the creeds of Christendom and of civilization. Second. Because she is largely the Church of the Fatherland and the countries from which so many of the immigrants come. She is joined to them by the ties of nativity and of historic faith. Third. Because no other church can carry on the work in more than two or three languages, whilst the Lutheran Church is one of many tongues, doing Home Missionary work in this State in about nine languages and in this country in some nineteen lan- guages. And finally, because of her purity of faith and her noble confession, her Biblical foundation and her beauty and flexibility of worship, she is best adapted to the wants of a diversified population. 94 HOME MISSIONS. Some of the most able theologians of other churches have openly said, that if there is ever to be a union of the branches of the Church of Christ it will have to be upon the basis of the great Lu- theran Confessions. They are the most clearly Bib- lical and free from human dogma or method. These reasons, as well as many others, clearly point to the Lutheran Church as the great agent in this country for Home Missionary labor. Ex-President Cleveland, in an address on Home Missions at New York City, 1896, said: “TI desire to express my appreciation of the privilege of par- ticipating in this conference and of the opportunity thus afforded me of testifying to the value and use- fulness of the work undertaken by Home Missions. As your fellow-citizen, interested, I hope, in all things that deepen the religious sentiment of our people and enlarge Christian influence, I fully realize the transcendent importance of this agency in its operation upon the hearts of men for the salvation of their souls. The long roster of those who have been led into the way of righteousness, through the instrumentality of our Home Missions, are rich tro- phies of successful endeavor. But it is not only as your fellow-citizen, but as the chief executive officer of your government, that I desire to speak, for I am entirely certain that I serve well our entire people, whose servant I am, when I here testify to the bene- fit our country has received through Home Mis- HOME MISSIONS AND CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION. 95 sionary effort, and when I join you in an attempt to extend and strengthen that effort. “No one charged with the duties and responsi- bilities which necessarily weigh upon your chief executive can fail to appreciate the importance of religious teaching and Christian endeavor in the newly-settled portions of our vast domain. These are serious considerations in a country where the people, good or bad, are its rulers. These churches and this religious teaching were never more needed than now on our distant frontiers, where the process of forming new States is going on so rapidly, and where newcomers who are to be the citizens of the new States are so rapidly gathered together. For these instrumentalities at the outposts of our popula- tion, so vitally important in the view of Christian men, as well as patriotic citizens, we must depend to a very great extent on Home Missionary exertion. How can we excuse ourselves if we permit this exer- tion to languish for the lack of proper support?” Admiral Schley, the hero of Santiago, in 1905, under the shadows of Independence Hall, said: “TI am among those who believe that there must have been a Providence in all that these good men did here in working out so patiently, so laboriously, so lastingly well the ideals which make these walls so sacred to us now. I believe, moreover, that the ear- nest prayers uttered within this sanctuary of liberty by these patriots were answered by the God of Bat- 96 HOME MISSIONS. tles in the victories won on land and sea by the forces then organized and set in motion here. If this be true, and there can be no doubt of it, then the republic they builded may be reckoned as like unto that house which the wise man builded upon a rock.” Ex-President Roosevelt, at the rededication of the Memorial Church, Washington, said: ‘From the standpoint from which I am continually obliged to look at matters, there is a peculiar function to be played by the great Lutheran Church in the United States of America. The Lutheran Church came to the territory which is now the United States shortly after the first permanent settlements were made within our limits, for when the earliest settlers came to dwell around the mouth of the Delaware, they brought the Lutheran worship with them, and so with the earliest German settlers who came to Penn- sylvania and afterward to New York and the moun- tainous region in the western part of Virginia and the States south of it. From that day to this the history of the growth in population of this nation has consisted largely, in some respects mainly, of the arrival of successive waves of newcomers to our shores; and the prime duty of those already in the land is to see that their own progress and develop- ment are shared by the newcomers. It is a serious and dangerous thing for any man to tear loose from the soil, from the region in which he and his fore- HOME MISSIONS AND CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION. 97 bears have taken root, and to be transplanted into a new land. He should receive all possible aid in that new land, and the aid can be tendered him most effectively by those who can appeal to him on the ground of spiritual kinship. Therefore, the Lu- theran Church can do most in helping upward and onward so many of the newcomers to our shores; and it seems to me that it should be, I am tempted to say, well nigh the prime duty of this Church to see that the immigrant, especially the immigrant of Lutheran faith from the Old World, may not be suf- fered to drift off with no friendly hand extended to him.” President Taft, to the ministers of Augusta, Georgia (1909): “Leaving out the sectional dis- tinctions, the indispensable presence of church in- fluence in the improvement in our civilization, no one can be blind to what has shared in the slightest the responsibility for government and the responsi- bility for improvement in a people as I have been. . . . It comes over me every once in a while, when I am charged with accomplishing something among a people, how absolutely essential it is that we should have the influence of the Church behind everything that we do.” Hon. David J. Brewer, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, in his lectures on “The United States a Christian Nation” (1905) to the students of Haverford College: “We classify 7 98 HOME MISSIONS. nations in various ways, as, for instance, by their form of government. One is a kingdom, another an empire, and still another a republic. Also by race. Great Britain is an Anglo-Saxon nation, France a Gallic, Germany a Teutonic, Russia a Slav. And still again by religion. One is a Moham- medan nation, others are heathen, and still others are Christian nations. This republic is classified among the Christian nations of the world. It was so formally declared by the Supreme Court of the United States. In the case of Holy Trinity Church vs. United States, 143 U. S., 471, that court, after mentioning various circumstances, added: “These and many other matters which might be noticed add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation. Christianity has entered into and become part of the life of this republic; it came with its beginnings and prompted them; has been identified with its toils and trials, shared in its victories, cheered in the hour of darkness and gloom, and stands to-day prophetic of untold blessings in the future. “Christianity was a principal cause of the settle- ments on these western shores. It has been iden- tified with the growth and development of those settlements into the United States of America, has so largely shaped and molded it that to-day, of all. the nations in the world, it is the most justly called a Christian nation. Indeed, strike from the history HOME MISSIONS AND CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION. 99 of this country all that the Christian Church has done in the interest and to further the cause of peace, and there is not as much life left as was found in the barren fig tree. “Tf in the past it has done so much and so well for the country, is there any reason to doubt that strengthened and extended it will continue the same healthful and helpful influence? It has often been said that Christian nations are the civilized nations, and as often that the most thoroughly Christian are the most highly civilized. Is this a mere coinci- dence? Study well the history of Christianity in its relation to the nation, and it will be found that it is something more than a mere coincidence, that there is between the two the relation of cause and effect, and that the more thoroughly the principles of Christianity reach into and influence the life of a nation, the more certainly will that nation advance in civilization. “This republic has joined in the movement of the age, and we rejoice to speak of her and hear her spoken of as a world-power. In no other way can this republic become a world-power in the noblest sense of the word than by putting into her life and the lives of her citizens the spirit and principles of the great Founder of Christianity.” Our great cities, with hundreds of thousands of population, naturally become centers of great power and molding influence. In politics, in business, in I0o HOME MISSIONS. national affairs and questions of religion they con- stitute great factors. They become the great an- chorage of numbers of foreigners, foreign organiza- tions and activity. Hence our larger cities must receive a large measure of Home Missionary invest- ment. The many attractions and temptations and opportunities for speculation and grasping power, as well as deep sources of moral evil, which large cities present, constitute one of the greatest problems of the Church. Here great wealth accumulates, the rush of business, the throng of pleasure, the spirit of worldliness, and great social functions tend to crowd out the fundamental principles of higher life and the truer civilization. Thousands grow up in the schools of crime, without knowing God, con- science and righteousness, or coming in touch with real Christian influence. Thus are formed deep channels of evil, which annually send forth into the nation’s life most dangerous influences and charac- ter. The Church and the nation dare not allow these elements to develop unchecked or un-Christianized. The hope and the very life of the nation and our free institutions demand the thought and labor of the Church. If the Church and Christian civiliza- tion are to live in the future and exercise potent or saving influence, they must center here. Home Mission work, then, must not only spread abroad over all the land, but it must also crystallize HOME MISSIONS AND CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION. IOI in our great cities and illumine with the truth of God the homes and lives of the thousands of our growing cities, The Christian has a mighty faith back of him, a glorious history of conquest. The most noble characters of history have been Christians. Chris- tian principles and morals have been the greatest influences of civilization. For more than three thou- sand years, through all the founding of nations and the might of this world, these great fundamental principles for which we now stand and plead, were upheld and fostered and carried on from conquest to final victory over false religions, human philoso- phies and so-called science and destructive criticism (higher), until the clouds of superstition, which for centuries have veiled the religious thought of the world, have been broken, and the chains of idolatry cast aside. The truth of God has lived! Christian civilization has encircled the globe. The golden images of antiquity have been thrown down and covered with the desert sands of ages, heathen gods broken, kingdoms and empires destroyed, and mighty nations of civilization and of liberty have been built up by a new civilization of a God-fearing and conscientious people. This is the story and truth of history. In the blood of martyrs and Chris- tian soldiers this history has been written, and the strong arm of Christian faith has wrought wonders. In nineteen hundred years of the kingdom of Christ 102 HOME MISSIONS. in history, more has been accomplished than by all the mighty rulers, nations and civilizations of the four thousand years of the old world. History shows that the missionary spirit and enterprise of the last century have done more for the civilization of the world than in all past history. Great nations with liberty and great principles and splendid moral codes have been established. The work is more than half complete. We now stand with all this founda- tion of truth under us, and the banner of Christ over us, and we must maintain this splendid trust and heritage which our fathers and mothers have be- queathed to us, in the sacrifice of the most sacred and heroic blood. We must not let this vantage- ground be taken from us. Skepticism, infidelity and evil are ever reforming their ranks under new names and influences, if possible, to deceive the very elect. We must remember that our Christian Sabbath, worship, Bible and Christ-gospel, truth and right- eousness are the institutions and forces which alone, by the Holy Spirit of God, have made us what we are. On these principles our ancestors built this mighty nation and the modern patriarchs the present church, and on these same principles and divine institutions can we only perpetuate these great heri- tages. There is a dangerous tendency in this twen- tieth century to get away from these fundamental principles and this orthodox historic faith, to sepa- rate science from religion, to turn nature against HOME MISSIONS AND CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION. 103 God and revelation. These have been associated together in all truth and knowledge in history from the creation. There is a tendency to disbelieve in a personal God and a divine Christ. History shows that these teachings which are as old as sin have been the undermining elements which have de- stroyed all morals and true standards of citizenship in the universal history of the world. A personal God, a divine Christ and Saviour, an inspired revelation, the Sabbath as a divine institu- tion, and the Ten Commandments as the perfect rule of life are the issues so vital to true civilization, that we must stand by them, and the gospel of Christ, eternally. Dr. Francis L. Patton, President of Princeton Theological Seminary, said in a lecture at Buffalo, lately (April, 1909), “The world to-day is facing two problems: whether there is a personal God, and whether He has spoken in the incarnation of Jesus Christ.”” With these he emphasized the doctrine of the atonement. Higher, or destructive, criticism is, however, in our judgment, not presenting new lines of thought, but reasserting and restating the thought or philos- ophy which has characterized the false teaching of the ages of history and philosophy. It is not, in our opinion, so much a matter of belief as it is the evidence of a world-loving spirit, endeavoring to avoid the solemn teachings of eternal truth for a 104 HOME MISSIONS. sin-loving heart to hide behind the shadows of speculative theories. But these tendencies, nevertheless, emphasize the importance of Home Missionary effort in placing in the forefront the fundamental truths of an orthodox, historic faith. This is the only remedy. This alone will save the future from the dreadful destiny of history. The necessity of morals and religion as related to government and citizenship the consensus of the whole world of history attests. The Lutheran Church from its inception is most solidly established on this historic and Biblical faith, and in all its theological seminaries does not have a discordant spirit. She, therefore, for this with nu- merous other reasons, becomes that church destined to lead the noble column in the front rank of modern religious activity. Providence clearly has directed her destiny for this wonderful field and work. Fellow-Lutherans, sons and daughters of the Augsburg Confession, the great Magna Charta of Christian liberty and Christian faith; members of the Mother Church of the Reformation, who bear the name of the immortal Martin Luther and are possessed of his noble self-sacrificing spirit, let us accept this responsibility, discharge this duty, to the glory of God, the salvation of men, and the upbuild- ing of the kingdom of Christ, as well as the safety of our great nation and the free institutions be- queathed to us by the fathers. Vill ENTHUSIASM FOR HOME MISSIONS ENTHUSIASM FOR HOME MISSIONS. HERMAN G. DATTAN, D.D. Enthusiasm is like a wild flower, that, redolent with beauty, covers the barren ground and fills the air with a delightful perfume; and again it is like the bright sunshine that brings out every bud on the trees, covering them with beautiful green, that clothes the earth with a garment of beauty, delight- ing the eyes and hearts of men and filling them with praise and adoration for Him who is enthroned in the heavens and whose footstool is the earth. En- thusiasm is like the storm that carries everything before it, leaving behind a path of destruction; and again it is like a conflagration, that, spreading un- checked, rapidly destroys everything in its path and yet makes the places over which it raged, fertile and luxuriant with growth. Enthusiasm takes out of the heart of man everything that is antagonistic or opposed to the favorite cause and fills the soul with zeal for promoting and carrying out the purposes and ends wished for, a zeal that knows no difficulties, no barriers, no rest, no contentment until its purpose has been accomplished. Enthusiasm is ever op- timistic; it sees nothing but the desired goal, laughs at all opposition and obstructions, and with untiring (107) 108 HOME MISSIONS. zeal and devout consecration puts forth its best ef- forts to reach this goal. Enthusiasm for Home Missions is that love for this great work of the Church that burns like fire in the heart of man, urging him to do his utmost for its accomplishment, that love which fills his heart with sunshine, that grows warmer the more he sees its work progress; that love for this great work of the Church that, spreading from heart to heart, draws an ever-increasing number of people by its charm and power and makes its blessings felt by all... . Have we all this fervent love, this enthusiasm for Home Missions, or are we lukewarm, even indiffer- ent? It is true that hundreds and thousands, yea, it must be said, even members of the Church show no interest in anything that extends beyond the horizon of their own home church and beyond the narrow walls of their own church life; they are satisfied in responding to the needs and wants of their own con- gregation, making no sacrifice for the demands of denominational purposes; they overlook the fact that a Christian, uninterested in missions, is not the true helper of the Church at home as well as at large. It is a lamentable fact that whenever mis- sions in any form are spoken of, many a one with- draws into himself and shuts his eyes and ears against the most urgent needs of the time. Who- ever does so fails to understand that the very life ENTHUSIASM FOR HOME MISSIONS. 109g of the Church will be undermined unless its mer. bers rally “with one accord” to its succor and help, fails to understand how strikingly and truly the words of the Master, “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scat- tereth,” still touch the very center of Christian life and the very existence of the Church. How de- plorable is it, therefore, that in spite of the thou- sands who keep their hearts warm and aglow for this Home Mission work, who make sacrifices for its benefit and unhesitatingly place as much of their means as they can afford at the disposal of its demands, so many more have no interest in this important work and show no enthusiasm for its advancement. We must rise to a sense of the greatness of the general work of the Church. God’s purpose as manifested in Christ is to save the whole world. The end of Christian ef- fort must then be to evangelize the whole world. But how can this be effectively done if the Church has not come to the understanding that the work must be accomplished, first of all, at home? As Professor Austin Phelps, of Andover, Mass., once said: “I confess that the home work does loom up before me with a painful and threatening mag- nitude which suggests the query whether it is rea- sonable to expect much expansion of the Foreign service before the home field is more thoroughly mastered. There is a law of give and take in these IIO HOME MISSIONS. things which is as inexorable in the work of the world’s conversion as in any other. We cannot con- vert foreign lands without a certain amount of spiritual power at home. We cannot give what we have not received. And the power at home must come from a broader and deeper spiritual culture; and this demands time, money, labor and prayer. ‘Beginning at Jerusalem,’ such was our Lord’s di- rection to the apostles at the outset of the great work, and this is the central law of missions for all time. We must keep the home work well in hand, and uplifted above all chance of failure.” Therefore there ought to be no other work of the Church that should speak so appealingly to the hearts of its members as Home Missions. The very word ought to inspire each and everyone with en- thusiasm. Home Missions—is there any follower of Christ not fully convinced that the Church has been commissioned by the Master to fulfill the work He began and subsequently entrusted to His disciples? Is there any doubt in the hearts of any Christian that as the state has its mission to perform for its citizens, so the Church of Christ, so our dear Luth- eran Church has a mission which must be accom- plished under all circumstances and at all hazards? And is there any place in the whole world where more interest for this accomplishment should be shown than at home, in one’s own country? Should not the man who has the welfare of his country at ENTHUSIASM FOR HOME MISSIONS. III heart do everything in his power to promote its in- terests? And should it not be the conviction of everyone who knows life truly and thoroughly, who is aware of the real conditions of mankind, all the weaknesses and all the faults, that earthly means alone cannot lay a secure foundation for any com- monwealth? All honor to the state and its organs, all honor to these human agencies of state laws and regulations, yet they do not strike at the root out of which all the defects of civil and social life grow. All honor to our schools and institutions of learn- ing, by whose efforts human knowledge is spread broadcast and science and education are promoted; they may enable a man to meet the requirements of his daily work and may bring about temporal wel- fare, happiness, wealth, position, honor, and the applause of man, but they never will make him ready to meet the requirements of his soul and to satisfy the needs of his inner life. Here it is that the com- munion of the Church has to play its part, here it is that the work of Home Missions has an opportunity not equaled by any other. And now, I ask you, my friends, are we con- cerned in this pressing need of our country and in its welfare? See, it lies before us in all its beauty and grandeur. Is it not a beautiful sight? Come with me around in the East with its dense popula- tion, busy with its commerce, with its factories, its industries, its institutions of learning; is it not be- II2 HOME MISSIONS. wildering, this picture of human intelligence and skill? Come with me toward the West, this almost unlimited space, and see what the human mind has accomplished there in a comparatively short time, what progress has been made, what vast resources of the soil, what unmeasured treasures hidden in the bowels of the earth, have come more and more un- der the power of man. Are we gazing upon this in- conceivable abundance of blessings, not ready to say, “O Lord, how manifold are Thy works; in wisdom hast Thou made them all; the earth is full of Thy riches!” Should not a country like this be loved by all of us? Loved not only with a love that takes pride in its riches, in its possessions, in its un- limited possibilities, but loved with a love that knows of no more imperative duty than the one to do its best and try its utmost to make all these gifts and resources a real blessing to its inhabitants; not by using them simply for the enrichment of our people, for the enjoyment of life, but by making the people more and more mindful of the higher ob- ligation of turning these earthly blessings into spir- itual and eternal gain. Should not then our love for this country prompt us to make it a garden of God, where godliness reigns supreme, where the word of God abounds and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom? This, then, is the great com- mission the Church has to fulfill; this is the task no other institution can accomplish. ENTHUSIASM FOR HOME MISSIONS. IIl3 How can this be done? The answer should not be a difficult one. Simply by striving to turn the minds of the people from all that is transient and perishable to higher and nobler aims and to the search for things of a life to come. But while the answer is easy the way of solving the task it sets before us is difficult, almost beyond our reach, the task itself almost too great to be accomplished! Think of the millions of unchurched people! In endless streams, in great multitudes, our Lutheran brethren, those of our own household, come from the European countries to our shores. We are now having in our church a Pentecostal time. Danes and Norwegians, Swedes and Fins, Slavs, Germans and French and English—they all hear the wonder- ful words of God spoken in their tongues. God has given special opportunities to our Lutheran Church, and has so laid upon us great responsibilities— greater than upon any of the other denominations in this country. It should be a simple and natural duty to provide for the spiritual and churchly needs of these people. If we fail in this, the boast of our glorious heritage is an empty sound. “The great thing is,’ as Dr. Dunbar in his editorial notes in Lutheran Church Work says: “Not what has been done, but how we are doing the things that are to be done!” Let us realize this responsibility. Thousands of avenues are open to us if we only will enter. Oh, that it might come to pass in our 8 IIl4 HOME MISSIONS. time, as the Lord God says through the mouth of His prophet: “TI will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh ; and your sons and your daughters shall proph- esy, and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams, and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Oh, that this might come to pass! But it cannot unless we are filled with en- thusiasm for the work to be done, this work of Home Missions! Because where we expect a harvest, we need first of all to sow; where we expect the Church to tell the people of those great aims of divine and eternal life, we must first send men, as Paul al- ready says, “How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, ‘How beauti- ful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things!’”’ Our General Synod has a broad field of work, and every member of all our churches ought to have as wide an interest and as glowing an enthusiasm as the work is wide and important. As rapidly as the population of the country grows, as rapidly as cities and towns spring into existence, so rapidly should our church work in Home Missions grow and our enthusiasm keep pace with that wonderful growth. Says Rev. Gruver, our missionary in Oakland, Cal.: “The city seems to be growing very rapidly and ENTHUSIASM FOR HOME MISSIONS. II5 has in it many Lutheran people. But how to interest them in Church work is the great unsolved prob- lem’”—he really strikes the keynote of the present needs of our Church. The great question is: how can we arouse that enthusiasm in the heart of each member of the Church that alone will make them fit for meeting the situation with a determined will, with unceasing zeal, with combined efforts, and with that ardor of faith that is sure of overcoming all difficulties and certain of victory? How is it pos- sible that, confronted with such a situation with its crying appeals for help, year after year a deficit looms up in the treasury of our Home Mission Board? That our faithful missionaries and their dependent families have to suffer for the delinquency of the Church in meeting its obligations to them? How is it possible for a single member of the Church not to recognize the fact that Home Missions is a divine work, having for its prompt prosecution the authority and emphatic sanction of Jesus Himself? Well, in the face of all the woeful features of our times, so much more it becomes our duty to kindle the fire of enthusiasm for this great work. Let every minister’s heart become an altar on which this divine fire is burning, and the flame of it will be- come a shining light even in our congregations, in our communities, arousing men and women out of their indifference. You can kindle this fire in every heart, if you succeed in making it realize that none 116 HOME MISSIONS. can claim the name of a follower of Christ unless this work is regarded by him as a duty that must be performed unconditionally: a duty laid upon us by the word and example of Christ, who emphasizes to be sent to the lost sheep of His own household of Israel; a duty laid upon us by our own sense of gratitude and appreciation of the great benefits de- rived from our connection with the Church which we enjoy daily even though we do not recognize it; a duty laid upon us by the love of our country, the welfare of which is at stake and will be accom- plished only in the same degree as the word and spirit of Christ permeates its life and governs its policy, its commerce, its business, its social rela- tions; a duty the fulfillment of which becomes so much more needful and imperative as we are still engaged in shaping our nation out of divers con- glomerates into one solid mass and in laying the foundations of its progress and destiny as the stand- ard-bearer of Christian liberty and of the inalien- able rights of every human being: freedom of con- science and of the privileges of the children of God. Start the work with the young children of the Church. The hearts of the young are susceptible of good and noble impressions. Consider the good work already being done by our schools and the results accomplished by them in arousing patriotic enthusiasm in the hearts of their pupils. Should not the Church be able to reach the same standard ENTHUSIASM FOR HOME MISSIONS. 117 in kindling the fire of enthusiasm for its great tasks in the hearts of its children? Every Home Mission day which we celebrate in our Sunday schools, with its beautiful services provided by the Board, with its inspiring hymns, with its recitations overflowing with enthusiasm as well as with practical hints and filled with love for the Master’s work—ought to be made the spring of rivers of life, stirring the hearts of our children, making them burn with zeal and determination to become co-workers in this great enterprise of the Church. Set before the young peo- ple of the Church, who have not yet lost their better self in the arduous tasks and in the absorbing allure- ments of this world, who are still inclined to lend their ears to the divine message and their help to the fulfilling of the Master’s command to set this work of Home Missions before them with words that testify of your own earnestness and devotion and love for the work—and surely they will appeal to their hearts and will inspire them with a firm determination to plant the Church in every hamlet and town, to make our Lutheran Church a real stronghold and bulwark not only in the defence but also in the promotion of the real welfare of this their country. And like a spreading fire this enthusiasm will communicate itself to the older people, making the congregations vie with each other in putting forth their best efforts to meet the commanding needs of the Church, of the country, and in the end the whole Church, to r18 HOME MISSIONS. which the work is entrusted, upon which the solemn obligation of caring for the needs of her own people and of the spiritually destitute millions of our land is laid, will realize its duty more and more and ex- perience the blessings of the wisdom and the Holy Spirit of God, by whose assistance alone this su- premely important task can be accomplished. Permit me to close with the words of our faithful and most efficient General Secretary of the Board of Home Missions, as they are recorded in the Lutheran Church Work: “We believe that match- less power of God’s wisdom and strength for service in the glorious cause of propagating the gospel, extending the borders of Zion, and Christianizing our nation awaits the Church, if it seeks it from Him to whom all power in heaven and on earth is given, in the proper way. ‘Our help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.’ ” IX INSPIRATION FOR CONQUEST INSPIRATION FOR CONQUEST. S. P. LONG, D.D. There are three things which we must not forget in this hour: First. To bring this lost world back to Christ is the mightiest conquest that was ever undertaken. Second. To make this conquest requires unusual sacrifice and unselfishness. Hang up a bag of gold in California and it is not surprising to find a man start from Boston on his seventieth birthday and walk every step to get it; but for this conquest we will need men who are willing to walk away from gold and obey God. Third. As to the cry for men, let me make sev- eral suggestions : 1. The world needs first of all in this great twentieth century a host of Hannahs who will pray for mighty men of God to be born. It is time that the pulpit send forth no uncertain sound on this question. 2. The Church should learn a lesson from the world in selecting men. The money powers of the world make no mistakes in selecting men to do their work. God calls His servants, but if He has called all preachers He has undoubtedly made some poor (121) I22 HOME MISSIONS. selections. I believe the same God who saw fit to conquer this world for Christ by the preaching of the gospel through poor sinners saved by grace also calls a Timothy through Paul; and every Lutheran college in this land should have a chaplain who has the special ability of selecting the right young men for the ministry and impressing them with the high calling of God. To select the right young men for the ministry, I believe, is a gift that does not belong to the ministry or the home in general. Let the right man of God go from church to church and into our homes, and the right young men will enter the ministry. 3. And there is one point which I have not heard mentioned in this convention and which I con- sider absolutely necessary, 1f we want inspiration for conquest; and that is, we should not ask anyone to do what we would not be willing to do ourselves. As I look over this program I notice that the speakers have nearly all come from homes where they are very pleasantly located, and we must beware that we do not tell others to do what we would not do ourselves. I am not boasting, but I believe that I am serving as good a Lutheran church as there is in the United States, and our relation is very pleas- ant, and my family love me as much as any family can love a husband and father; and yet I feel that my address must be a total failure, if I do not say here what I wrote to Dr. Weber, that if there is a INSPIRATION FOR CONQUEST. 123 place in the world where Christ is not at all known and no one else wants to go, if He will open the way to me, I am ready to go to that field at any cost. Now, let the rest of you declare the same and send such a resolution out from this convention and there would be such an inspiration kindled for conquest as we never saw before. Let me now lead you to the source of this inspira- tion. You will find it in the first five verses of the 8th chapter of Revelation. We read there of silence in heaven a half hour. Instead of our loud applaud- ing in God’s house, let us have silence. The seventh seal is opened and seven angels stand there with seven trumpets, and the Angel of Intercession, Jesus Christ, takes the prayers of the saints in His golden censer and lifts them up to the Father and then fills the censer with fire from the altar and hurls it to earth; “and there were voices and thunderings, and lightnings and an earthquake.” What does this mean? What else can it mean but this? We can- not pray unless we pray in Jesus’ name, and we cannot pray in Jesus’ name any prayer which He could not pray to the Father, and true prayers in Jesus’ name bring the fire of the Holy Spirit down from heaven and kindle new prayers and inspiration in our hearts that move this world like voices, thun- derings, lightnings, and earthquakes. Every great movement in the Church of God has been preceded by seasons of prayer and inspiration from the fires 124 HOME MISSIONS. of heaven. Let us now look to that altar on high while I blow seven trumpets and give the seventh trumpet seven blasts. The First Trumpet.—This is a lost world! Do you believe this? Do you believe that the natural man is lost to God and lost till he is saved? When your neighbor without any faith in Jesus Christ dies and his body goes down into the grave, do you believe that he is lost—eternally lost? Do you be- lieve the words of Jesus Christ, “He that believeth not shall be damned”? Unless you get the fire from the altar of God into your hearts and believe this truth you can never have the inspiration for con- quest. There are so many christless, ungodly re- ligions in the present day that we must sound this trumpet in the name of God Almighty to waken up this sleeping church and the world. The Second Trumpet.—Jesus came to this lost world! We all know this, but do we stop and warm our hearts long enough at the altar of God to think what Jesus left and found when He came here? As the only heir of heaven do you see Him leave His throne, and the holy angels and all His worlds and glory and come down here to be born in a stable? You have heard this story ever since you were a little child, but did you ever hear it at the altar of God’s fire and catch the spark of inspiration that would move you to leave your home and go any- where to help save this poor, lost world? Dwell on INSPIRATION FOR CONQUEST. 125 this thought as you should and there will be no place on earth that you would not go for Jesus’ sake. The Third Trumpet.—Jesus lived here thirty- three years! A superintendent of public schools in New England went to one of the pastors in his city and said, “Is Phil sick?” The pastor said, “No! Has he not been in school?” ‘Not for three days,” said the superintendent. That evening when Phil came home with his books his father said, ‘Phil, where have you been the last three days?” ‘To school,” said Phil. “My son,” said the father, “you have lived a lie for three days and the next three days you must live in the attic.’ That night the parents could not eat nor read nor sleep, and after midnight the father took his pillow up into the attic and found Phil awake, and they both fell asleep together mingling their tears. For three days the father stayed up there with his boy and carried his meals and ate and slept with him. To-day that boy is preaching the gospel in China. The world was living a lie, and Jesus came here and had no pillow on which to lay His head; but He stayed here till His work was done. He might have gone home, like many a missionary, and never returned, but He stayed. Is there no inspiration in this for us? If we kept this in mind and remem- bered God’s staying love, would we desert our fields, or refuse to stay in unpleasant places? The Fourth Trumpet.—Jesus redeemed this lost 126 HOME MISSIONS. world! Of course, the saved have all been redeemed ; but how about the lost? How about Judas? How about the lost in hell? How about the lowest fallen human beings on earth to-day? How about those bloody murderers in Armenia? Have they all been redeemed? Some churches sing, “I want to be redeemed!” Never sing that song. You do not mean it. You certainly do not want Jesus to come and be crucified again. When He died on Calvary, “He gave His life a ransom for all.’ The fact is that Christ died for all—died for the lost—the low- est of the lost! Oh, what an inspiration for con- quest! When this passion gripped Paul he was willing to be damned to save Israel; Livingstone plunged into Africa; Duff ran into the heat of India; Hudson Taylor penetrated the inner provinces of China. Let this passion grip you and you will reach down for the lowest of the lost. The Fifth Trumpet—Much has been said here about Home Missions and Foreign Missions and Church Extension; but let us listen to the sounding of the fifth trumpet as Jesus says, “The field is the world” (Matt. xiii. 38). The last command of Jesus Christ to His church was to preach the gospel to all the nations and His time to return was to be after this command was fully obeyed. I used to read the Acts of the Apostles as if they never committed any blunders. What a mistake. When they ap- pointed five deacons to take care of the widows and INSPIRATION FOR CONQUEST. 127 orphans and they would give their whole attention to the word they thought division of labor was God’s plan, but it was not. God’s plan was distribution of labor. See how God upset their plans. Stephen was stoned, and with-the whips of persecution Philip, the deacon, was driven to Samaria to preach, and the apostles followed him and took collections for the poor. Division of labor means to shirk re- sponsibility, but distribution means particular work and general responsibility. The apostles were com- manded to begin at Jerusalem and then through Samaria start out to the ends of the world; but there they stayed till God Almighty whipped them out (Acts viii. 1). As Christ is nothing to us at all till He is our all in all, so we are no missionaries at all till we recognize the world as the field. The Sixth Trumpet.—Jesus wakened up the world in the sixteenth century. Small and great events in history are all in God’s hands. The world is not quite certain whether the movable type in printing was discovered by Gutenberg, Faust, Schceffer, or Coster; but this we know, that the Bible was the first book that was ever printed, and God saw to it that we got the printing press. The Bible needed a press to print it and a Luther to translate and teach and preach it, and a home for the persecuted Chris- tians to come and play the last great drama of the world. And no wonder Christopher Columbus had no rest till he planted the cross on American soil. A 128 HOME MISSIONS. man must be blind if he does not see the hand of God in all history, and especially in the age of the Reformation. The Seventh Trumpet.—This world has had four great birth hours: 1. The advent of man. 2. The advent of the Son of man. 3. The Reformation of the sixteenth century. 4. The age of world-wide missions. We are in this last age now, and this is the last trumpet I wish to sound to-day. Let me give this seventh trumpet seven short blasts: 1. Look at the lost heroes! James Gordon Ben- nett said to Henry M. Stanley, “Find Livingstone!” It cost over $50,000.00 and two years of searching to find that man in darkest Africa. A book was printed: ‘Livingstone Lost and Found.” The fact is that Livingstone was never lost. The Church was too slow and sleepy for him. Another book should be written: “How Livingstone Lost the Church.” Let us get inspiration from heroes like Livingstone to conquer this world for Jesus. 2. See God locking the doors of the world open. We usually lock a door shut, but you can swing a gate open and throw a chain around the end of a tree and with a padlock lock it open that no one can shut it. That is what God is doing to-day with the nations: He is breaking down all the walls of par- tition and throwing the gates open and locking INSPIRATION FOR CONQUEST. 129 them open so no one can shut them, and the cry of Providence is, “enter and take possession, my bride, the Church of the living God!” 3. See what God has done with the lowest! Darwin said one time that the Patagonians and the aborigines of Australia and the Malagasy of Mada- gascar and the Fuegians were half monkeys. Then God passed by the half-civilized nations and per- formed a great miracle—He saved these “half mon- keys” and made honest Christian men and women of them, and compelled Darwin to write to Admiral Sulivan before he died, “I could not have believed that all the missionaries of the world could have made the Fuegians honest.” Should this act of God not encourage us to enter the field of conquest? 4. God has reduced the size of the field. The world by swift communication is growing smaller every day. Yonder engine could travel around this globe on one continuous track in three weeks. It took nearly fifteen hundred years to bring the news of Christ’s crucifixion to America. If Christ were crucified now in Jerusalem at 9 A. M., by that same hour in this country it could be read in the daily paper. God said two thousand years ago, “The field is the world.” To-day He says, “The world is a little field.” 5. There are more lost souls in the world to-day than ever before. With all our millions of chris- tians it is hard to believe that there are more people 9 130 HOME MISSIONS. on earth now who never heard of Christ than there were the morning He was crucified. This problem is easily solved when we remember that the world is multiplying much faster than the Church is gaining. When the weeds grow it is good corn weather and farmers must work; and when heathen are multi- plying the Church of God must work and grow faster. 6. The Lutherans have the truth the world needs. To know and believe the Lutheran doctrine satisfies the human soul. What does it mean that God should have 78,000,000 Lutherans in the world now able to preach the gospel in nearly every language? Only one answer: RESPONSIBILITY! 7. The seventh and last blast: The work is great and our time short. Whatever we do must be done soon! Our work is nearly done! The harvest is ripe and the laborers are few. In the ruins of Pompeii a little crippled child was found with noth- ing around it but the arm of a woman. Can you read the story? Here it is: The crippled child could not escape the fires of Vesuvius and a woman picked up the little cripple under her arm, but both were overtaken and the fires consumed all of the woman but the saving arm around the child. The saving arm was saved. Christ has saved us. Oh, let us be found saving others! God give us inspira- tion for conquest. Amen. FOREIGN MISSIONS I HISTORICAL SKETCH FOREIGN MISSIONS HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WORK OF THE BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. L. B. WOLF, D.D. The beginning of the Foreign Missionary enter- prise dates back to the General Synod which con- vened in Baltimore in 1833. A resolution was adopted referring the subject to the District Synods, appointing a standing missionary committee to cir- culate missionary intelligence and urging the hold- ing of a missionary convention at the next meeting of the Synod, at which a sermon on the Foreign Missionary enterprise was to be preached. In 1835, at York, Pa., the subject was taken up more ear- nestly by the Committee appointed, which concludes an eloquent report with six resolutions urging the holding of a missionary convention at Mechanics- burg, Pa., rejoicing in the successful labors of the Rev. Charles Gutzlaff in China and recommending him to the prayers of the churches, and finally deter- (133) 134 FOREIGN MISSIONS. mining upon the establishment of a Foreign Mis- sionary Society by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States. At the Mechanicsburg meeting, a Central Mis- sionary Society was formed, whose object was “To send the gospel of the Son of God to the destitute portions of the Lutheran Church in the United States by means of missionaries; to assist for a season such congregations of said churches as are unable to support the gospel; and ultimately to co-operate in sending it to the heathen world.” What stirred up the Church at home were the strong appeals which came from the “celebrated Gutzlaff,” of China, and “the indefatigable Rhe- nius,” of India, whose efforts called the Church to immediate action in the foreign field. The feeling everywhere prevailed that God was calling us to Foreign Missions. The time for organization had come, and at Hagerstown (1837) the General Synod outlined a policy for the work, recommending the holding of a convention to organize a “Foreign Missionary Society.” At this convention, May 30th, in Hagers- town, a society was organized and called ‘The Ger- man Foreign Missionary Society.” This title was adopted in the hope of drawing all Germans, Re- formed and Lutheran, into co-operation. Mean- while the German Reformed Churches were asked HISTORICAL SKETCH. 135 to join the movement, but without success. The standing committee, through its Secretary, reported to the General Synod at Chambersburg, 1839, ‘‘That the Reformed Church declined the proposed union.” This action led to the title of the society being changed to “The Foreign Missionary Society of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States.” In the spring of 1840, after considerable negotia- tion, the Rev. C. F. Heyer was appointed by the Executive Committee of this Society to go to India as its first missionary. It was resolved by the Execu- tive Committee to transact its business through the American Board, though it was to maintain as an institution its distinct Lutheran character. A basis of union was proposed. Strong opposition to the union soon developed. Fearing its adoption by the bodies and complications arising therefrom in the work, missionary Heyer resigned. It was while these overtures looking toward union were being made, that the old mother Synod, who had main- tained a separate missionary organization, deter- mined to send out Mr. Heyer, who sailed from Bos- ton, October 14th, 1841, the first missionary sent out to the heathen world by the American Lutheran Church. The General Synod’s efforts at union having failed, through no fault of theirs, for a time there was a distinct backset to the work. However, at 136 FOREIGN MISSIONS. the meeting of the General Synod in Baltimore, 1843, a year after Father Heyer landed in India, the Executive Committee was empowered to “ap- point and send out a missionary as soon as possible, and, if expedient, to co-operate with the Missionary Society of the Synod of Pennsylvania,’ and with their missionary in India. In May, 1843, the Rev. Walter Gunn was appointed, and in June, 1844, he joined Mr. Heyer in India. In 1846 Heyer was forced by ill health to return to America, and cir- cumstances changing at home on his return, he was sent out by the General Synod and supported by the Pennsylvania Synod. In 1850, the Executive Committee assumed the support and work of the North German Missionary Society, which was in financial straits, due to dis- turbed political conditions in Germany. This added the Rajahmundry to the Guntur Field, and the Revs. Messrs. Valett and Heise became missionaries of the General Synod. The field then embraced the rich deltas of the Godavery and Krishna Rivers. At the meeting of the General Synod in 1855, the work of the Missionary Society for eighteen years was reviewed, and the whole amount of the receipts was put down at $38,220.00. At the anniversary $500.00 was contributed to the cause on a strong ap- peal being made. The Executive Committee in its Tenth Biennial Report presented the question of the HISTORICAL SKETCH. 137 opening of a mission in China, to which it had been urged by the Synods of New York and Hartwick. The General Synod recommended “that the Execu- tive Committee entertain the project favorably.” But the Civil War intervening made it financially impossible. The spirit of missions in the Church had mean- while been greatly exercised concerning Africa’s evangelization. In 1855, at the Dayton Convention of the General Synod, the Miami Synod memorial- ized the General Synod “‘to proceed to establish a Mission in Africa.” The Synod referred this to a committee which reported at a subsequent session, recommending the appointment of a committee of five to draw up a plan to be reported at the next con- vention. The committee appointed consisted of Revs. Dr. Sprecher, Harkey, Harrison and Messrs. J. D. Martin and F. Gebhart. In 1857, this com- mittee appointed at Reading reported that the Rev. Morris Officer had been at work for two years trying to stir up interest in the project, and that the com- mittee recommended Liberia, Africa, as the place for the school or institute to be established, and that the work was to be under the control of the missionary, and “to embrace, together with a Christian training for the children, the common branches of an English education, and also the common arts of civilization.” At the Pittsburgh Convention, 1859, the committee 138 FOREIGN MISSIONS. was continued, but cautioned to take no decided action “as to the location and the commencement of the mission, without the co-operation of our For- eign Missionary Society.” The committee thereupon met the Executive Committee, and together it was determined to lo- cate the mission as recommended at the Reading Convention, in Liberia. Significant is the state- ment that Brother Officer was “to continue in Africa no longer than is necessary to the healthy superintendence of said Mission.” Accompanied by Brother Heigard he left Baltimore, February 23d, 1860. Practically, the work started under the Executive Committee at this time, but the Africa committee was not formally discharged until 1862, at Lancaster, Pa. The development of the Executive Committee’s work was greatly retarded during the years of the great Civil War, and the disruption of the Church, following the York Convention in 1864. The days in church and state were evil, and Foreign Missions suffered most seriously. The spirit of conquest ex- hausted itself at home and there were neither men nor means available to do the work abroad. In 1869, at Washington, D. C., the Secretary of the Executive Committee presented the following communication: ‘‘Whereas, provision has been made in the new constitution of the General Synod HISTORICAL SKETCH. 139 for Boards appointed by that body to carry on the benevolent operations of the Church; therefore, “Resolved, that the Synod be requested at its pres- ent session to appoint a Board of Management for the Foreign Missionary work to be responsible to that body.” The Synod replied to this communication: ‘Re- solved, that we accede to the proposal of the For- eign Missionary Society and take charge of the For- eign Missionary work and interests.” On May 17th, 1869, the last anniversary of the old Missionary Society was held in St. Paul’s Church, Washington, D. C., and on the 2oth follow- ing, the Board, under the new constitution, was ap- pointed by the Synods. Since then the home end of the work has been in the hands of this Board. The headquarters of the Board continued for some years in New York. In 1875, the number of members was increased from five to seven, and in 1877 the mem- bers appointed to constitute the Board, with two ex- ceptions, were residents of Baltimore, and the head- quarters of the Board were transferred to that city, where it has remained for the last thirty-two years. It is a body corporate since 1882, according to the laws of the State of Maryland. In 1879, the mem- bership was increased to eight, and in 1891 to nine. In 1879, the Board, though repeatedly urged to it, and though considerable money had been received 140 FOREIGN MISSIONS. to start work in Japan, reported “that it would not be wise to undertake any additional work in the new field.” The reasons assigned especially were the need of funds for the work already commenced. The growth of the spirit of benevolence as evinced in the Foreign Missionary work deserves attention. The amount contributed the first year of the organi- zation, according to the first biennial report, was $2,284.00, and it was principally sent to support Dr. Rhenius and his co-laborers who, for conscience sake, had left the Church of England and had es- tablished the Palamcottah Mission. The highest amount contributed under the old organization was given in the biennium 1855-1857, when $11,876.00 was contributed by a communicant membership of 134,000. Since the reorganization the following results have been secured, under the apportionment plan, which the General Synod adopted in 1873: The first apportionment fixed for Foreign Mis- sions was $25,222.00 per year, and the result ob- tained, as shown in the report of the Board in 1875, was $14,384.00 per year, or a little more than half the amount apportioned. The growth of benevolence has been steady dur- ing the last forty years, as revealed in the subjoined table, and the contributions from all sources have risen since 1868 from 6 cents to 36 cents per com- municant member in 1893, the highest point reached. HISTORICAL SKETCH. I4I THE GROWTH OF OUR RECEIPTS AS REPORTED TO THE GENERAL SYNOD. g 3 a g 8 8 aie J 3 ZS ge 5 q S a2 en a 6 Pm q AYO ms vn oO $ g A A = > o < 2 a a 1869...... OUFBO. [ss cee aconce |!) Ga voeacees $5890 31 | .06 1871...... 101369 | $o4rr 81 | ......... 13640 70 | .06 18735 5 vowe 99246 18066 04 | ......... 28014 13 15 ee 107423 | 18687 13 | ......... 28773 09 | .13 TOTP sccisacce 113128 | 20679 73 | ......... 36678 92 | .16 1879...... 122641 21879 75 £133 30 38938 55 | «15 1881...... 117359 | 20640 65 1461 15 30133 55 13 1883...... 130365 42643 05 4795 O1 50741 08 | .19 1835...... 134840 | 41422 79 15355 74 60576 72 | .22 1837 s.05 034% 134710 | 42856 03 9821 28 62196 19 | .23 1889...... 146556 | 44966 37 13568 47 82404 71 | .28 1891...... 155081 49039 57 17363 30 97543 92 | .31 1893...... 158763 | 57159 59 | 22780 45 113987 77 | .36 E895 sG.00es 173408 | 55629 79 | 22292 21 99655 22] .29 B89Q7 ..ccee 184728 | 55195 78 | 20431 21 85121 99 | .23 1899...... 192299 | 63996 21 24566 31 g7015 84 | .25 I9Ol,..... 198428 | 62399 89 | 24160 81 96366 59 | .25 1903...... 209942 | 73921 44 | 24538 o1 122556 41 | .29 1905..... 215847 | 78571 23 | 26923 13 136958 13 | .31 1907...... 228524 | 88563 98 | 36884 93 146341 93 | .32 1909...... 232247 96222 47 44799 22 170697 06 .37 The Children’s Missionary Society was organized in 1872 by the sainted Rowe, in co-operation with a number of Baltimore pastors and Sunday school Since then it has been a great aid to our foreign work and has contributed largely to superintendents. its support. Away back in 1871, the Board recommended the “sending out of females as missionaries when proper persons shall offer themselves” ; and in 1877 it rec- 142 FOREIGN MISSIONS. ommended the General Synod to organize the women of the Church into missionary societies. The General Synod sets forth the triple aim of this valuable auxiliary to be: (1) “To spread the knowledge of our mission work in this and foreign lands; (2) to create more interest in this work; (3) to secure funds to prosecute it.” From the first the work of fostering the cause of Foreign Missions and directing its affairs was en- trusted to a society known as the Foreign Mission- ary Society of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. It held its meetings during the sessions of the Gen- eral Synod and its members made annual contribu- tions to its funds. The President of the General Synod appointed a committee to nominate officers, and its nominees were confirmed by the General Synod. Its work was carried on by an Executive Committee. Prominent ministers of our Church be- came members of this society, and in 1855 among the Vice-Presidents are found such well-known names as Drs. Morris, Krauth, Sprecher, Springer, Jacobs, Lochman, Baugher, and Harkey. The first Treasurer of the society was Mr. Isaac Baugher. He was followed by Mr. W. C. Bouck, who, in turn, was succeeded by Mr. Martin Bueh- ler in 1853, who continued Treasurer of the society and became subsequently Treasurer of the new Board appointed at Washington, D. C., in 18609, holding under both organizations this responsible HISTORICAL SKETCH. 143 office for more than twenty-seven years. In July, 1877, Mr. Oliver F. Lantz was elected to succeed him. He filled the office most efficiently until his death (1907), a period of thirty years. The first Corresponding Secretary of the Society was the Rev. J. Z. Senderling, who remained its efficient and devoted head until 1866. On his resignation at that time he was voted an Honor- arium by the General Synod. At the same time the Synod authorized the appointment of a Financial Secretary, “whose whole time shall be given to the financial department of the mission work and the management of the Mission Journal.” In 1866, the Rev. A. C. Wedekind, D.D., succeeded him as Cor- responding Secretary, in turn to be followed by the Rev. J. A. Clutz, D.D., on the removal of the Board to Baltimore, in 1877. Notwithstanding the above resolution eleven years passed, and yet no full-time Secretary was employed. In 1877, the General Synod passed the following action: “Resolved, that it is the sense of this body that there should be a paid Secretary of Foreign Missions who shall devote all his time to the interests of this work.’ And yet the Board, because of “financial embarrassment,” made no appointment until 1886, when the Rev. George Scholl, D.D., became the first General Sec- retary, and continued to discharge the duties of the office as General Secretary until November, 1901, when the Rev. Marion J. Kline, D.D., was elected 144 FOREIGN MISSIONS. General Secretary, and Dr. Scholl continued as Cor- responding Secretary. The latter held the office of Corresponding Secretary until 1903, when he was made Secretary Emeritus by the Board. Dr. Kline filled the office of General Secretary for nearly seven years, resigning the appointment to take up the active pastorate, June Ist, 1908. Under the Executive Committee originally the president of the Society had little to do with the in- ternal management of the affairs of the foreign work. He and a number of prominent ministers simply backed the Movement in the Church. Famil- iar names like Drs. Baker, Morris, Krauth, Kurtz and Conrad, are found among the Presidents of the Society. The Nominating Committee, in 1896, at Washington, D. C., presented the names of Rev. L. E, Albert, D.D., Rev. A. C. Wedekind, D.D., Rev. I. K. Funk and Messrs. G. P. Ockershausen and Martin Buehler. The first President of the Board was the Rev. L. E. Albert, D.D., who continued at the head of the reorganized work until the Board was removed to Baltimore in 1877, when the Rev. Charles A. Stork, D.D., was elected President of the newly constituted Board, whose membership was as follows: Rev. Charles A. Stork, D.D., Rev. J. G. Butler, D.D., Rev. George Scholl, Rev. J. A. Clutz, Messrs. Martin Buehler, W. M. Kemp, M.D., S. D. Schmucker. Dr. Stork remained President of the Board until his death in 1884, when the Rey. HISTORICAL SKETCH. 145 J. G. Butler, D.D., became his successor. Dr. But- ler continued in office until 1895, when he was suc- ceeded by the Rev. F. Ph. Hennighausen, D.D., who continued President of the Board until 1897, when the present President, the Rev. Luther Kuhlman, D.D., was elected. The Rev. F. C. Heyer sailed for India in 1841. Let us follow him and his colleagues in the establish- ment of our India Mission. Landing in Ceylon in May, 1842, by easy stages he made his way along the East Coast of the South- ern Peninsula, reaching Madras, the capital city of Southern India, early in June, after having visited various mission stations and made a careful study of their methods of work. With a view of doing the most good in the most needy region, after the mat- ter was fully canvassed with the missionaries of the various Madras Missionary Societies, he was rec- ommended to open work in the Telugu country. All this, however, was only done after he found, for many reasons, that co-operation with Rhenius and his co-laborers was impossible. Early in June in a palanquin, a wheelless vehicle, borne on the shoul- ders of the famous India bearers, he started for the Telugu country. What a feeble hope for conquest was this! But nothing daunted, on the 31st of July, 1842, our mission founder set down his palanquin and pitched his tent in the very heart of this vast popu- Io 146 FOREIGN MISSIONS. lation, reaching Guntur and being kindly welcomed by Collector Stokes, the devoted friend of our early missionaries and their work. We can only roughly outline the method of work undertaken, touching the salient features in its development. Taking his cue from other missions, he laid broad and deep the foundation of the work in line with the best tradi- tions of the missions of those early times, and es- pecially of the German Societies. He gathered the children into schools and thus began the work of training and educating the young, which has marked our work to the present time. According to his ability and skill in the use of the language, he early began to preach in the vernacular. When within a year he was joined by Gunn, the two branches, teach- ing and preaching, were developed simultaneously. From this method the mission has never departed. Her schools culminating in her college, and her evangelistic work among the masses, were carried on as the two great arms of her service during the first forty years of her life, and no serious ques- tion has since arisen in regard to her plan of opera- tion. my Special work on behalf of high caste women and children was carried on from the first by the wives of the missionaries, though less effectively organized than at present. In 1875 the more formal organiza- tion of girls’ schools among the better class of Hin- dus was effected, and although workers were scarce, HISTORICAL SKETCH. 147 in 1880, the first single woman missionary worker, Mrs. Kate Boggs Shaffer, Ph.D., was set apart by the Board, supported by the newly-organized Woman’s Home and Foreign Missionary Society, was sent to India. Before she could organize any work, ill health forced her to retire from the field. In 1883, the formal start of the woman’s work was made under the India Conference. Dr. Anna S. Kugler and Miss Fannie Dryden, B.A., were the standard bearers of this new movement. In 1885, the higher educational work, the college, and the medical department, were inaugurated. About the same time the industrial department for Moham- medan women and children was opened. In 1902, steps were taken to supplement the work of the Mis- sion by the establishment of an orphanage in which also industries should be taught. This is an outline of the development of the Gun- tur Mission as it is so often called. To-day every branch of work prospers, and from the central sta- tion at Guntur, our work has spread to Tenali, fifteen miles away; to Sattenapalli, twenty-one miles away; Narasarowpet, twenty-eight miles away; to Chirala, forty miles away ; to Rentachintala, seventy miles away, and to Kanagiri and Cumbrum, one hundred miles away, and stations with bungalows have been opened at Narasarowpet, Sattenapalli, Rentachintala, Chirala, and money is in hand for the Tenali Station, and operation has been begun upon 148 FOREIGN MISSIONS. the building. Sub-stations exist all over the field in which are found 514 congregations. Our struggles in Africa have been many and severe from the day that Officer set foot on the dark continent. A most deadly climate had to be faced by our missionaries, and the progress made was against tremendous odds. The Muhlenberg Mission is an instance of herote sacrifice. Our central school or institute as it was at first called, became the nucleus around which all work moved. Industries were added and a farm cleared, which, from time to time, gave good re- turns in produce of coffee and cassava, furnishing “the arts of civilization,” referred to by the origina- tors of the mission. In 1910, the jubilee of the mis- sion will be celebrated. Officer, Day and Beck have inaugurated and maintained the traditions of the mission from the first. Others whose names are en- tered on the roll of the skies, or whose health forced them to retire, did their work and contributed to the sum of service and sacrifice. The plan of operation has remained unchanged from the first, nor should it be altered except to make more effective both sides of the work. The educational and the industrial and the evangelistic must be maintained in equal efficiency, and only so can the Africa problem be solved. If our experiences on the West Coast have been hard, and if our progress has been slow, we have only repeated the experience of other missions. HISTORICAL SKETCH. 149 This review of necessity is most imperfect. But the main line of development has been followed, we trust clearly and helpfully. If it shall at all awaken interest in the great task of world-wide evangeliza- tion, it shall have accomplished its purpose, and this may God grant. II THE EVANGELIZATION OF THE WORLD THE EVANGELIZATION OF THE WORLD. PROF, J. A. SINGMASTER, D.D. The great commission is still in force. It still throbs with the sacrificial love of Christ for a lost world. It is yet the inspiration and the behest of the noblest service which man can render to man. There can be no modification of it, and no alternative. The Church may at times forget it, or excuse the neglect of it, or obey it in a half- hearted way; but ever and anon the Macedonian phantom awakens her to duty with the touching ap- peal, “Come over and help us.” The evangelization of the world is no slight task. It involves perplexing problems of the most varied character. It calls for the best thought and the richest blood of the Church. It involves ages of time and countless multitudes. No mere physical or financial problem can be compared with it either in difficulty or importance. In a sense it involves all the greatest questions of human thought—-social, political, economic, religious. The innumerable details of the work of Foreign Missions, its confusing geographical, linguistic and political complications, its apparently slow progress and its removal from the personal observation of (153) 154 FOREIGN MISSIONS. the church at home, often leave a very confused impression upon the mind, and may even fill it with feelings akin to hopelessness. Nevertheless, the problem is a comparatively sim- ple one when viewed as a whole and in the light of the Cross of Christ. Foreign Missions are based upon the great truth of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. This may be expressed in two propositions which are so plain that no man can fail to understand them and are so self-evident that no one can successfully contradict them. They are as follows: I. THE woRLD NEEDS THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST. IJ. THE CHURCH MUST GIVE THAT KNOWLEDGE. A thorough conviction of the truth and the prac- ticability of these propositions is fundamental to interest in the great cause of missions. The present occasion does not permit the amplification of these propositions. Our purpose is to utter a prelude to their discussion in their several phases during this great convention which opens so auspiciously to- night. I. The world needs the knowledge of Christ. Our Lord Himself has declared, “Without me ye can do nothing” ; and the response of the saint is, “I need Thee, oh! I need Thee.” It is the undeniable verdict of history that the highest type of manhood and of womanhood and the noblest state of society THE EVANGELIZATION OF THE WORLD. 155 are the product of Christianity. All other religions have failed to satisfy human need and to lift men above the squalor and sordidness of their natural state. 1. Physically. Christ makes man every whit whole. He touches the body and makes it clean and well. His religion promotes health and long life by restricting disease and healing the sick. Plenty and happiness laugh in her train. The heathen, alas! are smitten with a thousand ills. Blindness, leprosy and the plague are ever decimating their ranks. Gaunt famine is always on their track, carrying mill- ions every generation to untimely graves. Five hundred millions lie down hungry every night. Multitudes satisfy their cravings with roots from the forest or with offal, the mention of which awakens horror. 2. Financially. The Christian nations are the bankers of the world. They could literally purchase out of their surplus all the heathen countries taken at a fair market valuation. The poverty of the heathen is proverbial. The wages of the laborer average probably seven or eight cents a day. Even in Japan the poor man hires his bed covering by the night. Unrequited toil, undeveloped resources, the absence of manufacturing and of commerce are the dark background over against the unparalleled prosperity of christendom. 3. Mentally. Illiteracy and superstition rest 156 FOREIGN MISSIONS. like a pall upon the heathen world. There are few schools and few books. The mind is atrophied by the dense ignorance of centuries. Even where there has been some knowledge of science, as in China, its progress has been arrested by the weakness of their moral system or the lack of the supernatural help of Christianity. 4. Morally. The picture painted by Paul of the moral and spiritual state of the heathen is still true to life. Uncleanness, infanticide, murder, ly- ing, theft, the degradation of woman and all other evils fill the heathen world with the miasma which unrestrained sin ever breeds. The heathen are without God and without hope. Their present de- plorable state is the sad prelude to the doom that must inevitably await the unnumbered multitudes who do not live up to the light which they have. And who are these millions, pray? They are our brothers and sisters in distress. IJ. THe CHURCH MUST GIVE THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST. 1. Her exclusive possession. The Church alone has the knowledge of Christ. It is her chief treas- ure. God has committed to her His oracles. Not only in the sacred Scriptures does she have the life- story and the exceeding great and precious prom- ises of her Lord; but she has all holy traditions and history, and much more, the living Christ enthroned in the heart through the regenerating grace of the THE EVANGELIZATION OF THE WORLD. 157 Holy Spirit. If the world is to know Christ it must receive the knowledge from those who know Him. The very possession of this knowledge carries the obligation of its dissemination. 2. Her Moral Obligation. The Church is by nature altruistic. Her good works are the measure of her faith. When she ceases to bring forth these, she has stopped following Him who went about doing good not only to Jew, but also to Samaritan and to Cyro-phcenician. Her fidelity to her trust is the only guaranty of the perpetuity of the Church. When she ceases to be evangelistic, she ceases to be evangelical. Her mission is at an end. She has in a sense ceased to be. Her life is conditioned by her power to re- produce herself. Her converts are the evidence of her self-preservation. It is not simply a question of saving others, but of saving herself. ‘He that loseth his life shall save it.” After all, the chief motive of missions must ever be found in the divine imperative, “Go.” It is ab- solute. It cannot be evaded without peril. We | must either go ourselves or make it possible for an- other to go in our stead. The obligation is una- voidable. 3. Her ability. The ability of the Church to meet the mission obligation cannot be doubted. In- deed, it is evident that without ability there could be no obligation. The Church has the men and the 158 FOREIGN MISSIONS. women to act as her agents. She has them in such vast numbers, endowed with health and brilliant gifts, trained in her schools, skilled in the arts, capa- ble of adaptation to all conditions, that under the leadership of the Captain of their salvation they might go forth a vast and irresistible host, sweeping all opposition before it. The Church has the resources of empire at her control. She can command millions of treasure. She can use the modern discoveries and arts. Steam and electricity, commerce, manufacturing and agri- culture are her allies. A peaceful campaign—indus- trial, educational and evangelistic—employing the vast resources at the command of the Church and administered with the wisdom and enterprise of successful business would revolutionize the world in fourscore years. The supremest gift of the Church is the divine promise. “All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth.” “Lo, I am with you al- ways, even unto the end of the world.” Thus saith our Lord. Moreover, He has poured out His Spirit to abide with us in His pentecostal power until the victory shall have been won. III. How nas THE CHURCH OBEYED THE GREAT COMMISSION? The startling fact stares us in the face that after all these centuries probably two-thirds of the hu- man race are yet without the gospel. A student of THE EVANGELIZATION OF THE WORLD. 159 missions says that there are twenty-five thousand groups of people each numbering twenty-five thou- sand without a single missionary. We ought, however, not to forget the enormous progress made by missions during the last century, nor the present status of the cause. There are now 33,000 stations; 7,000 men missionaries and 8,000 women; 78,000 native workers; 1,400,000 com- municants; Over 1,000,000 under instruction, and over $20,000,000.00 of annual income. These fig- ures, however, can give no idea of the blessed in- fluence of missions in modifying national life and slowly leavening the world. The statistical table furnishes a basis for compar- ison. How small the outlay alongside of the world’s naval armaments and military expenses! The re- cent Boer war cost England 25,000 lives and a bill- ion dollars in money, which is doubtless more than has been spent on the evangelization of Africa in nineteen centuries. Were the whole Church possessed by the spirit of missions as the Moravians are, the world would probably be Christian now. They have one foreign missionary to every fifty-eight communicants at home, and their membership abroad outnumbers that at home nearly three to one. Instead of 15,- 000 missionaries there would be 300,000 if the Church at large imitated the Moravians. 160 FOREIGN MISSIONS. How much good the Church might have done in relieving the sufferings of mankind had she maintained the missionary activity of the apostles! How much evil might she not have prevented! At this very moment the regions once visited by the great apostle to the gentiles are echoing with the lamentations of widows and orphans over the re- mains of loved ones who have been butchered to glut the hate of unbelievers. Is not the Church in Christian nations in a measure responsible for condi- tions which make such awful atrocities possible? The gospel leaven is working throughout the world as never before. This generation has wit- nessed mighty national upheavals. Tyranny and ab- solutism are tottering. Constitutional government is becoming universal. The rights of man are being recognized. Marvelous transformations are taking place all over the world. The heart of Africa has responded to the divine touch, and lo! a hundred thousand at Uganda have become children of light. Amid the crash of empires, the fall of heathen temples, the march of Mohammedanism, the awak- ening of the orient, the greed of European govern- ments, the quickening of the human mind, the fer- ment of the nations—what will the Church do? Will she rise to the opportunity and by her holy commission proclaim the life and the light of the Son of God? Baptized by the Holy Ghost, panoplied THE EVANGELIZATION OF THE WORLD. I61 with the armor of God, endued with the sacrificial Spirit, thrilled by the vision of Jesus Christ, the Church will lay the world as the trophy of His vic- tory at the feet of her Lord. II III THE MODERN SPIRIT OF WORLD- EVANGELIZATION THE MODERN SPIRIT OF WORLD- EVANGELIZATION. PROF. LUTHER KUHLMAN, D.D. The familiar words with which our Lord con- cluded His instructions to His followers may be variously viewed. They are either a summary of divine revelation, or a forecast of the goal toward which all forces, human and divine, move until He come again. In their relation to the theme which I am to consider with you to-night, I think of them as a stirring call to arms. A stupendous conflict is on. The line of battle stretches round the world. It in- volves the destiny of the people of every land. We are in the fight. We cannot retreat if we would. “There are only two alternatives—universal con- quest, or abject surrender.” To gain a juster ap- preciation of this conflict and the issues involved, to convince ourselves that victory is possible, to fortify our courage and increase our devotion, to stimulate our liberality, let us note some of the marks of this modern world-missionary spirit. I have described this spirit as modern, and in the minds of some the question may arise whether I am justified in so designating it. I reply, no, and yes. Certainly it is as old as Christianity. Since the Lord of the Church gave His final command there (165) 166 FOREIGN MISSIONS. has not been a period in which there have not been those choice ones responsive thereto, and yearning to obey it. Nay, this spirit throbs with strong and positive pulsations in the Old Testament. It lives in the great structural doctrines of that inspired record, while visions of its fulfillment, fair and en- trancing, abound in its prophecies. No, in its es- sence this spirit is not modern, but ancient. When, however, we think of the manifestation of that spirit, particularly in this and the last century, it is not inaccurate to characterize it as modern. Dr. Dennis puts my thought strikingly when he likens “the modern world missionary movement to one of those vast continental upheavals in old geologic times. This movement is a veritable new realm of continental proportions. It has come to stay, and its triumph will be the most convincing vindication of historical Christianity,’ Bishop Bashford suggests the same thought when he says: “Astonishing as it sounds, it is yet literally true that the work of evangelizing the race made more progress in the last hundred years than during the preceding eighteen hundred years. Nor is it vis- ionary to anticipate the evangelization of a thou- sand million of people by the close of the present century.” The old spirit, indeed, but it has had a new birth, and exhibits an intensity and energy not surpassed since the apostolic age. And the most impressive testimony to the existence of this modern MODERN SPIRIT OF WORLD-EVANGELIZATION. 167 spirit comes not from missionaries on the firing line, nor from official workers here at home, but from those not directly concerned with the missionary en- terprise. Indeed, in some instances they are indif- ferent, even hostile, thereto. Builders of political empires, promoters of world-encircling commercial schemes, captains of armies, historians, investigat- ors and travelers, all unite in attesting the strength and force of this movement. The claim of all au- thority in heaven and in earth by the crucified One is not empty declamation. He is the King. All forces operative in human life and history flow from His pierced hands, and drive all activities on toward his goal. And while this spirit recognizes fully the need of completing the Christianizing of the nations already accounted Christian, its supreme aim is for the many millions for whom Christ died, and who have hitherto had no adequate opportunity to know and accept the grace of God. Its purpose is that the obligation to the teeming heathen millions, under which the possession of the gospel places the Chris- tian portion of the world should be denied no longer. It can be, and therefore should be, dis- charged, and that promptly. This spirit, as thus defined, has at length come to a pretty clear understanding as to what its task _is. World-evangelization is not a simple, but a com- plex work. It touches and changes the lives and conditions of individuals and communities in so 168 FOREIGN MISSIONS. many ways, brings about so many good results, that it has been easy to lose sight of the essential aim. Does it include the removal of ignorance, the righting of all wrongs, correction of abuses, break- ing of all bonds of every kind, in a word, the com- plete transformation in all its aspects of the whole fabric of heathen civilization or barbarism as the case may be? So it has been thought. The pres- ent accepted aim, however, of the missionary move- ment is narrower than this, and may be put in a few words to be, to preach the gospel of Christ in such measure as that the people of a community or nation may have a fair and adequate opportunity to know, accept and confess Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord, and then to gather these converts into self-maintaining, self-directing, self-extending con- gregations. Just how much preparatory, educational, reformatory, medical or even industrial work will have to be done before the Christian plan of re- demption can be thus presented, and how long time it will require, will depend upon widely differing conditions, but when this stage is reached, and this is the point to be held, then the distinctive task of Foreign Missions has been accomplished. Chris- tianization will not then be complete, in fact only begun, but this is the duty and work of the native church and not of Foreign Missions as such. In every mission field there must come a time when for- eign support and guidance are withdrawn, and the MODERN SPIRIT OF WORLD-EVANGELIZATION. 169 people of the community or nation must work out their own redemption. Again, this spirit takes itself seriously—and that in several directions. For one thing, its claim is that it is an original, constitutive element in Chris- tianity. Eliminate this spirit, and what remains will be something essentially less than genuine christianity. To receive Christ in any adequate sense, is to incur the obligation to communicate Him. These two go together and are inseparable. Missionary sympathy, missionary interest, mission- ary effort, are not the distinguishing marks of a superior class of christians; they are common to all genuine christians. Hence, if there are those who insist that they are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, believe His word, accept His leadership, and then strike from their creed the duty of world-evan- gelization, why, it firmly and frankly disallows their claim to discipleship at all. In such cases it can only apply the Scriptural test, “If any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of His,” and that ends all argument. Serious also when it asserts the supremacy of the task in which it is engaged and which it inspires. I say it deliberately, and with no intention to ques- tion the divine warrant of any other truly Christian line of work, that world-evangelization consents to no second place. Larger, worthier task than this there is not, for it measures the purpose and the love 170 FOREIGN MISSIONS. of the eternal God. No fair and broad interpreta- tion of the Bible can assign this cause a subsidiary place, or make it appear to ultimately flow into some larger cause. It is itself the main stream, attract- ing to and absorbing in itself the results of all other lines of activity as it moves to its consummation at the end of the ages. Wholly serious again is this spirit when it pre- sents world-evangelization as a present, feasible task. Long, weary centuries the Lord’s parting injunction has stood, and certain it is that since the apostolic age no one of the many generations of christians that have come and gone has taken that final com- mand as assigning a work to be actually performed by that generation. Always, as I have said already, some have felt the burden of this responsibility, and by prayer and effort have wrought at it as best they could. Yet little was effected. The progress has been discouragingly slow. Indeed, the task seemed to grow larger as time went on, until now it confronts the christian of this age. And while this new spirit casts no reproach back upon the ages gone, it does say, and is in dead earnest when it says that the time for temporizing is fully past. True, the problem is great, greater than we prob- ably fully appreciate. It is beset by serious dif- ficulties, and others will arise as we go forward. Hostile forces, human and satanic, subtle and strong, will oppose. Sacrifices of treasure and life MODERN SPIRIT OF WORLD-EVANGELIZATION. I71 will be required. Yet it can be, and, therefore, ought to be done. Looked at from the side of the world to be evangelized there are no insuperable difficulties. Circumscribed localities may be unsafe for the missionary, yet the world is open. Hitherto restraining walls, like those of ancient Jericho, have fallen to earth. Numerous preparatory agencies have done their work practically in the entire orient, until now from every important field comes the earnest appeal, “Come over and help us.” Neither is there impossibility from the side of the Church. She can plead the lack neither of men nor women, nor of money to sustain them. The Lord has poured into her treasuries gold and silver almost beyond compute. She has the influence and the power, and all the necessary organization for its prosecution 1s at hand. Given the willingness to do so, and the Christian Church of the United States alone can perform the task. Professor James Orr recently said, in Glasgow, that the British empire spent more money last year for liquor than the whole Church has contributed for conducting its missionary en- terprises during the entire nineteenth century. A startling statement. “If this were a human project men would scorn to waste time in discussing its feasibility.” To build the Congo River Railway, two hundred and twenty-five miles long, required vast sums of money, and four thousand lives, eigh- teen for every mile of road constructed, were sac- 172 FOREIGN MISSIONS. rificed. Has the whole Foreign Missionary enter- prise of the past century claimed so many lives as that, taken away by violence or prematurely? I do not have the statistics at hand, but I very much doubt it. Several years since the management of a great road decided that better facilities for entrance into New York City were necessary, and the en- gineers were directed to devise them. It was no easy problem, but in due time report was made that tunnels could be driven under the river and so en- trance gained into the city. “Is that feasible?” “Yes.” “How much will it cost?’ “Fifty million dollars.” And the thing was done, not talked about and handed down from generation to generation as an unfinished task. Before courage and purpose obstacles remove as the mists of the morning melt into thin air under the influence of the sun. So be- lieve me, friends, I am not daft when I affirm that this project in which we are engaged, great as it is, viewed as a merely human one, can be brought to a successful finish now. And yet this is not a human undertaking. It is God’s work through our agency. His adorable Son, our Redeemer and Lord, set us the task. We go not upon our own initiative but upon His order, and He is with us. If alone, and as a merely human undertaking, we could accomplish it, pray, do His word, His promise, His grace, His presence, render it an impossibility? Has it, then, come to this, that MODERN SPIRIT OF WORLD-EVANGELIZATION. I7 3 we have less faith in God than men have in them- selves? Yet men and women, plenty of them, some of them here, practical people, of hard sense, and upon whose sincerity I would cast no shadow, will shake their wise heads and say, “It cannot be done.” And this with an air of finality. What avails it to urge men to an impossibility! Suffer me while I press this point with some earnestness just for a moment. It is worth while asking, why cannot the Church accomplish this command now—in this gen- eration, so that no one now living should advance to old age without hearing of Christ and His salva- tion? Why has the Church bearing the name of Christ, redeemed by His blood, endowed by His Spirit, with His gospel in her hand, why has she no feet to go, no wings to fly, no mouth to proclaim the tidings? He assigns the task to us now—not to any past generation, nor to one yet unborn, but to us, and we must be equal to it or He would not do so. Christ, upon His return to the Father, placed the completion of His work in charge of His followers. He has made no other arrangements. He trusts His Church. Why shall not the Church answer faith with faith and say, “Yes, I can, and I will”? And do you say, “Yes, your logic is all right; theoretically she can, and she ought, but actually she will not, and we must deal with facts and not with theories.” Very well, and the fact at which we have arrived is, that her will not is her 174 FOREIGN MISSIONS. cannot. Listen while I tell you why her will not is her cannot: the love of Christ in her heart is either dead, or ready to die; she has no passion for souls, and the piteous cry of the perishing millions moves her not; the spirit of sacrifice and heroic en- deavor, the very sign of true Christianity, she has strangled; she is luxurious, ease-loving, pleasure- seeking, mammon-mad, and therefore cold, meager, squalid and selfish. All subterfuge aside, this is why in response to the insistent appeals of this great cause she argues and questions, gives the merest fragments of her treasures instead of her all; this is why she sits dumb and helpless before this colossal and yet sublime and glorious task. It is not pleasant to say this, and I may be condemned for making such an arraignment upon an occasion when felici- tations are in order. If so, I can only affirm that I have no disposition to speak disparagingly of the Church, her work and achievements, and least of all of that church through which I have my spiritual inheritance. Yet I must give expression to convic- tions, not hastily formed. This spirit is also sane and practical. It was not always thus esteemed. The experience of Carey will serve as illustration. To his brethren he seemed a dreamer, one who uttered idle tales. By the ecclesi- astical leaders of his time his views were looked upon as irrational, and his plans as impractical, visionary. When, upon one occasion, he ventured to MODERN SPIRIT OF WORLD-EVANGELIZATION. 175 ask whether the command given to the apostles to teach all nations was not obligatory upon all minis- ters to the end of the world, the aged Dr. Ryland replied: “Sit down, young man. You are a miser- able enthusiast to ask such a question. When God wants to convert the heathen He can do it without your help.” Well, the romantic age—and there was such a period—of missions is a thing of the past. Uninformed sentimentalism expending itself in im- practical schemes has had its day. We have arrived at the time when this vast enterprise is projected along the very best plans, carried forward in the use of the best agencies that clear insight, sound judgment and hard sense have been able to devise. More than almost any other undertaking, world- evangelization has been subjected to searching criti- cism, and much of it unfriendly. Yet the verdict is distinctly in its favor. Men not directly connected therewith and yet in position to know, have spoken in unqualified terms of the care and fidelity, the economy and far-seeing judgment displayed in the conduct of this work. Of course, there has been experiment. Some plans have failed, and had to be abandoned. When we take into account the diffi- culties, and the utterly strange and varied conditions under which the work has been done, the wonder is that the mistakes have been so few, and that the progress has been so great. And it would be too much to say that even now the whole undertaking 176 FOREIGN MISSIONS. has been reduced to a science of missions, complete and exact. Yet a good beginning has been made. The principles that underlie it are understood, and the chief methods and agencies for the conduct of mission work are agreed upon. From time to time there will be changes, but chiefly in matters of detail and by way of adaptation. Worthy of note and commendation also is the willingness of the workers in one field to learn from and profit by the experience of the workers in every other field. The program for the next World Missionary Conference, to be held in Edinburgh, June, 1910, exemplifies this. Eight comprehensive commissions, composed of members selected from all parts of the great field and because of their special qualifications for the particular tasks assigned, have been for many months engaged in preparing their reports. In this way the whole vast project in every feature thereof will be subjected to a fresh and exhaustive study. Unsurpassed enthusiasm, zeal, devotion, and bold endeavor, are balanced by prudence and care, by hard, practical sense and wise statesmanship. Such are some of the outstanding qualities of this modern world-missionary spirit. That instructive and inspiring advocate of this great cause, Mr. Robert Speer, has said, “The Church needs a supreme world purpose, such as this, which will forbid her trifling away the time of God, playing with details while men die.’ When MODERN SPIRIT OF WORLD-EVANGELIZATION. 177 Peter the Hermit aroused Europe to attempt the recovery of the Holy Land from the hand of the infidel his battle-cry was, “It is the will of God.” Again and again nations have been seized by a mighty conviction, and in the white heat of that temper wrongs hoary with age and gory have been righted; injustice has been whipped back into the darkness whence it came, while truth and righteous- ness have been enthroned; and the world has moved permanently upward and onward. To come into some such high and holy mood is the need of the Church. To lift her out of indifference and sordid- ness, to counteract the slow poison of error and unbelief, to rescue her from the profitless discussion of infinitesimals, to cast out the black demon of bigotry and Pharisaism, to allay her strife, heal her divisions, to answer the prayer of her Lord that she may be one, for this she needs a battle-cry. On her banner let her emblazon the appeal of this spirit, “Christ for the world, that Christ may bring the world to Himself.” Observe the order. Christ for the world; that belongs to her. To bring the world to Christ is the function of energies divine. ‘And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.” This will require that the Church place her sons and her daughters, her treasure, her all upon the altar— enter upon the way of the cross. Yes, and there is no other way to complete obedience. And this is the way to her crowning. 12 IV THE LUTHERAN CHURCH AND WORLD- WIDE EVANGELIZATION THE LUTHERAN CHURCH AND WORLD- WIDE EVANGELIZATION. PROF. D. H. BAUSLIN, D.D. The race of mankind has been created so as to need God, and accordingly has, in view of its adap- tation, a right to God. The people who have the best knowledge of Him lie under supreme obliga- tions to make Him known. The men who need have rights that the men who possess dare not dis- regard. The men who have the heritage of life in Christ owe to the men who are destitute of that heritage duties they cannot afford to leave unful- filled. In the work of world-wide evangelization, to believe, as St. Paul believed, is to be bound to act as St. Paul acted. If our belief is that of Augustine, the greatest of the Church fathers, that man was made for God and is not at rest until he finds God, that he is constituted to share in the bene- fits of the redemption provided in Jesus Christ, then it is clearly the duty of such that so believe to help them in their search, so as to bring them to the God they need, to their real and true home in His eternal love and life. Now the religion of our Lord and Saviour is the religion man needs. It has come from God that it may bring to God. Other religions (181) 182 FOREIGN MISSIONS. have risen out of man’s search for God; ours has come out of God’s benignant search for man. God created it for man, and man has now a right to God’s glorious and universal gift. Christian salva- tion is the only salvation worthy of God and ade- quate for mankind, and we who have received it and shared in its benefits dare not quarantine or inter- cept it. In the pathetic cry of heathendom there is the voice of God, and when that voice is heard every true Church of the Redeemer of mankind must obey, or cease to be in any true sense a faithful wit- ness to the facts of the redemptive history. The Lutheran Church claims no monopoly of the resources for the world’s conversion. As all other Churches share in the responsibility for- the work to be done, they also share in the means for doing it. Of the resources possessed by Lutheranism for world-evangelization, of course it must regard its own peculiar apprehension of the gospel and its own distinctive spiritual life as of primary im- portance. If our church takes itself seriously and has any religious convictions worth cherishing; if it be true to its own history and the truth that in all sincerity it confesses, it will assuredly be inspired and impelled in its missionary as in other under- takings, by the belief that it holds to and con- fesses the gospel in a manner and in a fullness that specially adapts it to meet its responsibilities and THE LUTHERAN CHURCH AND EVANGELIZATION. 183 do its full share in bringing the message of salvation to all mankind. Our beloved church is not weighed down in her operations by certain over-emphasized features of Augustinian exclusiveness on the one hand, nor by Pelagian latitudinarianism on the other. Her pre- sentation of the gospel does not demand a meta- physical proposition in mental philosophy nor a sacerdotal manipulation before she can enter upon her work. Our system of Christian truth stands for the disclosure and application of a real grace, which can be experienced and proved in the soul’s life. Its challenge is, “One thing I know, that whereas I was blind I now see.” It stands for the application of a supernaturally designed message of grace which is available for the most poverty- stricken Pariah of India or the most sunken bar- barian in Africa, as it is for the most civilized peo- ples of the west. Its message is that of a divine love which ever outreaches to impart to all kinds and conditions of men God’s own type of blessed- ness in the unfolding of the christian life. We still believe that the principles which underlie the Reformation of the sixteenth century are the prin- ciples adapted to the twentieth century ; that they are such vital principles that they will still give peace to the troubled conscience and calmness to the dis- tressed soul, not only in Ohio and Pennsylvania, but also in India, in Africa, in China and in the 184 FOREIGN MISSIONS. islands of the sea. We believe in all sincerity that a church which still stands in all its integrity for the great truths of the unrestricted love of God to our fallen race, of a general redemption through Jesus Christ, for the fact that the gospel is a great uni- versal absolution which God has proclaimed to all men, which everyone can take to himself and every- one can depend upon as certainly as God is true; for the truth that men are justified freely through faith, and that the means of grace are not symbolical merely, but graciously effective, and for a religion centering in a divine and all-sufficient Saviour, and which can be tested experimentally by the right relation of one’s whole being to that Saviour. We still believe that a religion that thus places its em- phasis is the ideal, authoritative religion for a uni- versal humanity of whatever age, race or clime. Because of this emphasis it is, as it looks to us, so fundamentally right as to be adapted to the purposes and cosmopolitan outlook of a universal religion. And this apprehension of the gospel of the Son of God has proven its adaptability and its practicability in many a mission station from the times of Bar- tholomew Ziegenbalg and Henry Plutschau at Tran- quebar, and Christian Frederick Schwartz at Tan- jore, to our own time and place. Permit me to say, also, that the Lutheran Church is adapted to meet its own share of responsibility in world-evangelization, because of the fact that, THE LUTHERAN CHURCH AND EVANGELIZATION. 185 so far as we can see, she has not been smitten as yet with one of the most specious heresies of our time, as it applies to this work. We find a curious fact in Christian history. It is lucidly stated by Archbishop Whately in his book entitled “The Cor- ruption of Christianity.’ “Whatever opposed Christianity at the outset,” says that distinguished writer, “afterwards tended to mix itself up with it and corrupt it.” “As religion spread,” he continues, “and became less unpopular, and disciples multiplied, there was a continuously increasing number of per- sons, who, though members of the churches, had never fully understood the character of the gospel nor imbibed its spirit. And these introduced into religion the same kind of errors and wrong prin- ciples as had originally been arrayed against it.” The enemy in front became the enemy in the rear. This tendency is always more or less active, and as the learned Archbishop said, never more so than when religion is popular, as it unquestionably is in wide circles to-day. To quote again from Arch- bishop Whately, “The first philosophical cor- ruptors of christianity, as is well known, blended with christian doctrines many of the notions of the pagans, the Persians and the easterners.” But we are now being told by some christian teachers that a new epoch in missionary work is at hand, that the old uncompromising preaching of the gospel is past and that we are to borrow and 186 FOREIGN MISSIONS. assimilate and build on foundations which we find already laid in the lands to which we are to send missionaries. The theory has been amply elaborated and confidently and forcibly cried from numerous platforms and by men of position and influence. Of all religions Christianity is the most distinctively and aggressively missionary. Its aggressiveness proves disturbing. Some have come to doubt its right to encroach upon other systems. They say that Hinduism is as perfectly adapted to meet the needs of Hindus as Christianity is to meet the needs of Anglo-Saxons; that God is as really the author of one set of adaptations as another; that there is nothing more supernatural in Christianity than in Hinduism, and that therefore the attempt of occi- dentals to enter Asia to supplant Hindu by Chris- tian teachings and ideals is an unwarranted imperti- nence and an unnecessary intrusion. Such pleas have become common in our day and are deduced from what is alleged to be the “historical method,” just now very popular in some circles of liberal Christianity. It is really a corollary of the doctrine of evolution extremely viewed. It is contended that the world religions started with elements of truth, and just as studiously avoided that; if so, they now represent dreadful deteriorations and corruptions of their earlier purity. If any experiment in the past has proven disastrous it is just this experiment of blending and borrowing and mixing and building THE LUTHERAN CHURCH AND EVANGELIZATION. 187 on the foundation of religions which have failed to save men and which are almost everywhere falling into decay. This theory that Brahman priest, Taoist confessor, Mohammedan dervish and African witch-doctor each has some contribution of religious truth to make to the aggregate of the world’s ac- cepted religious teaching is a religious delusion and has served only to foster degenerate and degrad- ing civilizations. It was this theory of borrowing and blending which corrupted early Christianity, which marched across the first centuries of its history with heavenly purity and compelling power, glowing love and resistless enthusiasm. It mixed and muddled Chris- tianity, half one thing and half another, has been unable to save either itself or the pagan from whose religion it borrowed what was affirmed to be true and good. With this delusion that is certain to cut the nerve of missionary enterprise and frustrate missionary obedience, the Lutheran Church has not yet been smitten. As a people we still believe that we are not primarily called to Europeanize, or to Americanize, or to socialize, or to commercialize, or to exploit the non-Christian world, but to Chris- tianize it with the one absolute religion, amply attested by its claims and worked-out results. Such is the national pride of nearly every people, that whatever of the foreign be needlessly mingled with the gospel will almost inevitably retard its progress. 188 FOREIGN MISSIONS. We still believe, as a people, that we cannot civilize heathen nations into Christianity, nor educate them into Christianity, nor philosophize them into Chris- tianity or shame them into an acceptance of its doc- trines. We still believe that neither Chinese, Japanese nor Hindus are going to become Christians just to keep up with the more aggressive occidental peoples. We still believe that there is only one way to bring them to Christianity, and that way is to convert them to an acceptance of its faith and God, as the features of the only religion that offers salvation, transformation and reconstruction. We still believe that it is useless to send and sustain men to preach to the heathen a gospel the heart of which has been taken out by an unauthorized method of assimilation and which so far as salva- tion is concerned, is no better than heathen morality. Recently in the Hibbert Journal a missionary of the theologically advanced order indulged in some foolish remarks about teaching a Fijian to “gabble over the Athanasian Creed, in language not deep enough to express its meaning.” If that be a mis- sionary’s notion of what he is sent out to do, we cannot wonder that he should shift the point of his emphasis and favor a religion made up of elements gathered from moribund faiths to be engrafted on to the world’s one absolute religion in which the Holy Spirit is pledged to go with the Word as in the days of the apostles. THE LUTHERAN CHURCH AND EVANGELIZATION. 189 Our great Church still stands on the declaration that there is only one foundation, and that God made; and only one Saviour, and He heaven-sent; and only one plan of redemption for a lost race, and that prepared from all eternity. If we are making a mistake in sending out missionaries on this ancient plan, then the first disciples were mistaken. If they were right, we shall certainly be wrong when we change the plan, which from the days in which they faced with unflinching courage all the rage and scorn of the pagan world, until our day has been a continuously demonstrated success in working the world’s redemption. But permit me to say again, that no church can live on its past or thrive upon the basis of the correctness of its principles. It must live by faith and duty in the present. No church has any right to be called a church whose only claim is historical. Its claim to be a church, fulfilling the purposes of a church, must be based upon present truth and life, upon love, obedience and service. A church is bound by its very definition to be a vehicle of the grace of God, a living center of evangelical energy and force. It is much that Lutheranism awakened the German nation from a deep night of spiritual slumber, and that it enun- ciated and formulated permanent principles of re- ligion and civilization, and led the way from the slavery of the medizval papacy to the freedom of evangelical truth. Igo FOREIGN MISSIONS. But that of itself is not going to constitute much of a factor of evangelization in this advancing cen- tury. There must be right methods. Fervency and devotion need the best channels through which to express themselves. They are certainly robbed of their effectiveness when linked to an unwise and slipshod method of doing things. But there must be something more than correct methods wisely adjusted. Our most urgent need, no doubt, is a larger measure of the mind that was in Jesus, the Head of the Church. No scheme of propagandism with the most approved methods will produce re- sults that are permanently satisfactory and adequate that does not proceed on that line. The Lutheran Church acknowledges it to be a sacred duty to com- municate to others a benefit too good to keep. The conscience of the Church on this subject needs to be educated until every congregation of believers bearing our name shall regard the work of world- wide evangelization as the supreme duty and blessedness of existence, and to the accomplishment of which no amount of service or sacrifice shall be considered too great. That it is the duty of our church to develop and apply its resources for the conversion of the heathen world, is implied in its acceptance of the gospel in the fullness which we claim for it. The duty binding us to seek the salvation of men who are afar off ought to be more deeply meditated THE LUTHERAN CHURCH AND EVANGELIZATION, I9I and taken to heart among us. Until this duty rules the conscience of the Church so absolutely that all considerations of interest and ease shall be put aside, we shall certainly abide in our present unsatisfactory attitude toward this great responsibility. Lutheranism needs to learn to a degree it has not learned hitherto that it is not only called and chosen to conserve the truth in occidental lands, but that it also owes a duty to China, enslaved and impover- ished by a dead and exhausted past; to India, with its awful tyranny of custom and caste; to Islam, with its stern Semitic monotheism and debasing causality; to Africa with her millions, for ages used only for the worst rapacities and lusts of the white man; that our people are debtors to the poor Indian fakir, the superstitious Chinese boxer, the gross South Sea cannibal, and the barbarous African savage. Our people must be constrained to believe more in the cosmopolitanism of the gospel, that it is broader than any one land, that it belongs equally to all lands, and that it deserves to be offered at the threshold of every people, in that ecumenical breadth in which it came down from heaven. Let it as far as possible be spared the impediment and reproach of Nazareth and Rome, that it be neither despised nor feared. We are to hear the Macedonian cry out of the dark night of benighted peoples, and reaching the bright shore of Troas, and saying, “Come over 192 FOREIGN MISSIONS. and help us.” The help did not come from scribes and Pharisees, nor did it come from Athens. It came from Troas, where the Lord’s apostle stands with the divine command and love in his great heart impelling him to preach the gospel everywhere and at all times. That holy conviction and personal call to bring the demanded help brought him over to the Macedonians. It is when we get into the at- mosphere of such a missionary devotion that God leads us up to a shining mount of vision, from the summit of which human forces and methods fade out of view and disclose to us a magnitude of re- sourcefulness for the work of the world’s conversion, compared with which the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire which burst upon the astonished vision of the servant of Elisha is tameness itself. Never is a church so weak as when it loses sight of the kingdom which is to be world-wide. George Adam Smith has well said, “The prophetic spirit al- ways languished when the nation lost its sense of relation to the world and a mission to mankind.” The church that cannot comprehend the world in its sympathies and benefactions has but a feeble message for those who are at home. We emphasize the fact that we are not Christ's because we belong to the Church, but we are of the Church because we belong to Christ, and the Lord to whom we be- long has never countermanded His order to go into all the world and make disciples. We live in a day THE LUTHERAN CHURCH AND EVANGELIZATION. 193 of things close at hand. Not only is the world much larger than in apostolic times: it is also much smaller. It is accessible as never before. The door of almost every nation is open and the means of reaching the threshold safe and quick. All these and other considerations say to the Lutheran chris- tian: Keep in touch with the line of advance. Ob- serve what is going on in the world and see what the claims of the kingdom of God are. The bondage of sin must be broken and its lawless riots brought to anend. Faith is greater than doubt and love is stronger than law. Christ is winning the world. He calls on every man to confess Him, to work with Him and reign with Him. That call, with its attendant inspiration, we must sound out through all our growing Lutheran ranks. We must insist upon its being heard in all our colleges and seminaries, in all our homes, Sunday schools and congregations. The work is vast and difficult, possibly a work that calls for the labor of enthu- siasm, for prayer and tears, and, perhaps, for blood- drops. Contributions of money are not enough. Our very life must be in it, even in the temper of the divine self-sacrifice. Not one whit more actually does our General Synod represent the Evangelical Lutheran Church than do the unevangelized and ungathered multi- tudes of heathendom represent the call of Christ to us. Let all our people be taught that this great I3 194 FOREIGN MISSIONS. world-wide enterprise, in behalf of which I speak, is an absolute necessity, not only for the conver- sion of the heathen, but also and much more for the preservation of the church at home. Christianity is a religion that will not keep. The only thing to do with it is to use it consistently at home and transmit it to the regions and peoples beyond. Its universality is the expression and evi- dence not only of the Fatherhood of God and the Sonship of Christ, but also of the brotherhood of man. All these things, which as a people we pro- fess to believe, are necessarily involved in the truth that there is but one religion fitted and intended for every creature. World-wide evangelization accord- ingly is not an accident of the Church’s life; it be- longs to its essence. As a part of the great Church of the Redeemer we Lutherans have no right to be spectators of missions, but auxiliaries in their prose- cution. V THE BROADER VISION AND ITS REALIZATION THE BROADER VISION AND ITS REALIZATION. CHARLES W. HEISLER, D.D. Long, long years agone, in the land of the Phar- aohs, an old man lay on his dying couch. And now, in the shadow of death, and touched by the Spirit of God, he has a vision that opens up the vista of the centuries, and he exclaims, “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah... until Shiloh come, and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.” The years come and go. A strange people has come up out of Egypt, and the heart of the king of Moab melts within him for fear. In his extremity he hires Balaam to prophesy against them. In vain does this hired prophet endeavor to resist the im- pulse of the Spirit of God, and presently his unwill- ing lips declare: “I shall see Him but not now; I shall behold Him but not nigh; there shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel. . . . Out of Jacob shall come He that shall have dominion.” Years pass by, and the great king is vouchsafed a vision of the glory of the kingdom of his greater Son and Lord: ‘He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the rivers unto the ends of the (197) 198 FOREIGN MISSIONS. earth. . . . The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts’ Then down through the unfold- ing centuries we come to the majestic visions of the son of Amoz, who cries, in view of the coming glory: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. . . . And the Gentiles should come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. . . . The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasing light, and thy God thy glory.” Other centuries roll by, and away over in Baby- lon, amid the luxuries and vices of a heathen court, the vision comes again. A dream troubles the haughtiest monarch that perhaps the world had yet known. His wise men failing to interpret it, a cap- tive from an enslaved people is summoned, and God anoints his eyes with the vision of far-off times, and he interprets the colossal dream—image of the proud monarch. The head of gold may fittingly repre- sent the luxurious empire of Babylonia; the breast and arms of silver, the splendid but corrupt empire of the Medes and Persians; the trunk and thighs, brass, the brazen-mailed Greeks; the legs of iron, the all-conquering iron-hemleted Romans; the feet of iron and of clay, the divided world-powers to the end of time; but the little stone cut out of the THE BROADER VISION AND ITS REALIZATION. 199 mountain symbolizes that world-wide kingdom, which the God of heaven shall set up. “Which shall never be destroyed, and it shall consume all these kingdoms, and it shall never be destroyed.” Is there nothing significant in all this, that the broader vision had appeared to the eyes of the dy- ing patriarch in Egypt, to the false prophet on the plains of Moab; to the pious king in Jerusalem; to the evangelical prophet of Judea, and to the captive prince-prophet in Babylon? Is not this the Old Testament presentation of the broader vision of the world-empire of the promised Messiah? But we move forward now a half dozen centuries to the temple courts in Jerusalem. A young rabbi of Galilee is there teaching. His fame had attracted many to His side. But a great crisis had come on this last day of public teaching. In the midst of it certain Greeks—Hellenes, not Hellenists—came to one of His followers with the thrilling request, “Sir, we would see Jesus.” The Master is told, and be- comes greatly agitated. “The hour is come,’ He exclaims, “that the Son of man should be glorified! . . . Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone; but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit. . . . Now is my soul troubled! Father, save me from this hour! . . . Now shall the prince of this world be cast out! ... And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me!” And there the Son of man had His 200 FOREIGN MISSIONS. broader vision. But the hated cross is now a thing of the past; and the sealed tomb and the glory of the resurrection morning. The risen Lord stands with His chosen ones on Olivet’s slope. The doomed city lies below them in the sunlight of that memorable May morning. An indefinable awe enwraps the souls of the disciples. In low tones the Master speaks, reaffirming the words of the great commission, ‘‘Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be wit- nesses unto Me, both in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.” The words had scarcely died away ere the opening heavens received our divine-human Re- deemer. But that message of a world-wide gospel and of a world-empire burned itself into the souls of those humble followers of the Nazarene. Years afterwards, one of His most devoted serv- ants, the lion-hearted apostle to the gentiles, came in his journeys to Troas, on the extreme western edge of Asia. Below its rocky promontory rolled the restless waters of the AXgean. Beyond those waves rose the faint purple hills of Europe. I can fancy how, day after day, he would look with longing eyes towards that continent untouched as yet with the feet of apostolic heralds. And then came his broader vision and the call of Macedonia, and the call of Greece, and of Italy, and of Spain, and of all THE BROADER VISION AND ITS REALIZATION. 201 Europe; and he dreamed of the day when the em- pire of his Lord should far transcend the limits of the proud empire of the Cesar. Still other years pass by; when a lonely man whose head a hundred years have whitened, has his vision on the rocky sea-girt isle of Patmos. He sees the innumerable throng, encompassing “the Lamb, as it had been slain,” and he hears the new song of the living creatures: “Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof; for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people and nation, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.” And thus the broader vision of the New Testament is essentially identical with that of the Old. From Genesis to Revelation great souls, under the inspira- tion of the Spirit of God, had caught it. And this is true, also, of Christian history since apostolic days. All great and commanding souls in the Church, during the Christian centuries, con- fessors, martyrs, missionaries, have caught it, and their hearts have thrilled at the thought of the con- quest of the world by their Lord Christ. It was this that sent devoted men, in the early days, among the barbarian hordes of Germany, among the pagan dwellers of Scandinavia and the British Isles. And modern missionaries, under the same inspira- tion of the vision of a world-empire for Christ, have 202 FOREIGN MISSIONS. gone down into the dark pit of India; have plunged into the jungles of darker Africa; have lifted the banner of the cross among the teeming millions of China; and have braved the hostility of South Sea Island Cannibals. Seeing this vision, a Francis Xavier exclaims again and again even in his sleep, “Yet more, O my Christ, yet more and more”; and a Schwartz can, with singular and beautiful de- votion, gather the first fruits of India for Christ; a Livingstone can endure toils and trials indescrib- able in his noble efforts to help heal that open sore of the world; a Martyn can calmly lie down to die alone on the sands of Asia Minor. A Carey can go with quenchless enthusiasm into the darkness of India, “expecting great things of God, and under- taking great things for God”; and a Heyer and a Day and a Rowe and thousands of others, in these latter days, can sacrifice home and friends, and life itself, if they may but help to the realization of this broader vision. 1. This broader vision is a vision of the zorld’s sin and the world’s need. The whole race is lost and needs redemption. Men have all gone astray from God, and there is none righteous. The same black pall of human sin and misery and spiritual helplessness and hopelessness lies on men every- where, white, black, yellow, red; in Asia and Africa as in America, in the South Sea Islands as in Europe. And everywhere men are mutely stretching out THE BROADER VISION AND ITS REALIZATION. 203 their hands after God, “if haply they may find Him.” No one, studying this broader vision, can for a mo- ment deny that all heathen need redemption, or con- tend that the heathen may better be left to their own religions. 2. It is a vision of a world’s Saviour, able and willing to bring every human being into fellowship with God and eternal life. The Jew thought of salvation only for the Jew. His Messiah was for the Hebrew alone. Of a world-Saviour, or of a world-wide salvation he had no conception, and lit- tle concern, except as the Gentile might become a Jew, despite the broader vision of his prophetic seers. This vision denies the present-day assumption of a Saviour for the Anglo-Saxon alone. 3. It is a vision of one all-embracing world- power, the universal kingdom of the Son of God. The Messianic kingdom cannot be confined within the narrow limits of Solomon’s dominions. It is to fill the earth. Now and then conquerors have dreamed of a universal empire. The dream is to be realized in the empire of the God-Man. Unto Shiloh shall the gathering of the people be. The sceptre of Israel is to bear sway over all the earth. David’s greater Son is to sit on an everlasting throne, and to rule in a world-wide dominion. The little stone out of the mountain is to fill the earth, and destroy all earthly kingdoms. The uplifted Christ, from His cross, as a throne of glory, is to draw all men unto 204 FOREIGN MISSIONS. Himself. The empire of the glorified Christ is to include peoples of every tongue and kindred, the wide world over. “The splendid imagery of the apocalypse will find fulfillment—the nations shall walk in the midst of the light of the holy city.’— ( Westcott). Christ is to be the Lifter-up, the Redeemer, the Sovereign Lord of all peoples, everywhere. Thus the broader vision gives assurance of a gospel as intended for all, and of the certainty of the ultimate triumph of the glorious kingdom of the God-Man. The realization of this vision next claims atten- tion. What is essential to its realization? What is our relation to it? These two questions must be answered together. 1. First of all, we must personally catch the vision for ourselves. That is, each and every one of us individually, and all of us collectively, as a Church, must come to feel the full significance of this vision. We must realize the imperialness of the kingdom of our Christ. We must come to feel that nothing short of a world-empire can or will satisfy our Lord. “He shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.”” In minor sense, the Son of God is satisfied when any single soul turns unto Him as the fruit of His passion. But how dare we say He will be fully satisfied until He is the univer- sal Saviour? We must stand under the dripping cross of calvary and list to these words until they THE BROADER VISION AND ITS REALIZATION. 205 burn themselves into our souls—‘‘God so loved the world” ;—“Tf I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me.’ We need to pray God to open our eyes fully to see the vision. 2. Secondly, we must recognize overpoweringly the fact that this broader vision is not yet realized. Rejoicing in the enlargement of the kingdom of the Christ, we are in danger of assuming too much. Weare in peril of drawing our circle from too small an arc. We are too much disposed to measure the great world according to the narrow confines of our own little valley. Our Lord has seen abundant fruits of His passion, but the end is not yet. The gospel has permeated human society and influenced modern civilization marvelously, and yet not ab- solutely, justifying the remark of an intelligent Japanese, “If you people of the west were only as good as your Book, we would all speedily accept your religion.” Thank God for the multitudes of loyal disciples of the Christ; yet even in Christian lands other multitudes will not have this Man Christ Jesus to reign over them. We may glory in the results of modern mission- ary enterprise—over 6000 ordained missionaries now in the foreign field; in addition, over 12,000 unordained workers, and 82,000 native ordained and unordained helpers; with a million and a half Christian communicants in foreign native churches. But after all, what are they among so many? What 206 FOREIGN MISSIONS. are a few scores of thousands of native Christians in India to its two hundred and fifty millions of people ; or in China to its four hundred and fifty mill- ions? What are a million and a half of Christians among a thousand millions of heathen? Thank God there are so many; and yet may He forgive us for our share in the responsibility that there are so few! We may jubilate over the fact that all lands are open to the gospel; yes, but millions on millions therein have never heard of the Saviour. It is not enough that some missionary has spoken the word of life in all lands; or even that from among all peoples a small remnant has been gathered unto the Lord. Vastly more than that is required in ful- filling our Lord’s command. With less than two hundred million Protestant Church members out of a billion and a half of the world’s peoples, not yet, not yet is the vision realized. Not yet can we feel that the Lord is satisfied with the travail of His soul. 3. Again, it is essential to our part in the realiza- tion of this broader vision that we personally, and as a church, get next to our Lord Himself. That is horhely phrasing, but I scarcely know how better to express, in a word, my thought. Take your stand close to His bleeding side, and what will that mean? First, that we shall come to feel something of His vast love for lost souls everywhere. Reverently we may say it, He had a holy passion for saving the lost. And so must we have. We shall never rise THE BROADER VISION AND ITS REALIZATION. 207 to our responsibility and privilege in this matter un- til we do have it. And the closer we come to Him in heart and life the more we shall have of it. Secondly, we must come to share His sense of personal responsibility for the salvation of men— of men on far-off shores as well as in our own land. Such a sense of responsibility the apostle had when he cried, “I am debtor both to the Jews and to the Greeks.” Thirdly, we must catch His spirit of self-devotion for the salvation of men. ‘For their sakes I sanc- tify myself,” He cried; and so must we. He came to give His life a ransom for others; and in a sense we must do no less. This spirit of devotion must include self, talents, possessions, everything. And out of all this must come the spirit of prompt, cheerful, loyal, absolute obedience to our Lord’s every command. “Go ye,’ and we must go. “Ye shall be my witnesses,” and we must witness for Him everywhere. 4. And last of all, it is essential to the realiza- tion of this broader vision that we plan and labor for larger things in the extension of His kingdom. We must rise to the imperialism of Christ’s scheme. We must get out of our narrowness and pettiness of conception and execution in the things of the kingdom. We Lutherans are too prone to think of the kingdom as comprising our own fold. Our mission is too much, in our thought, a mission to 208 FOREIGN MISSIONS. Lutherans. We fail to realize our responsibility to the non-churched and non-Christian masses every- where. Someone has said that with respect to For- eign Missions the Lutheran Church is a sleeping giant. That is a severe indictment, but is it not true? And if true, shall not this sleeping giant awake and heed the voice of the Lord? We are too easily satisfied with small undertakings. We jubi- late too easily over petty achievements. We con- gratulate ourselves too readily over small plans and meagre returns. We have been but playing at For- eign Missions. Our men of wealth have not yet gotten their eyes open. They have not yet caught the broader vision. We have not learned to give in princely sums. We have not learned to pray in apostolic terms. We have not learned to plan on the lines of a world-empire for our Christ. We have not caught the conception of Foreign Missions as “a primary work of the Church.”” We have not risen to an imperial policy for Foreign Missions. Larger praying, larger faith, larger planning, larger expecting, larger giving and larger efforts—let these be our watchwords in realizing the vision of the world-empire of the God-Man. VI MISSIONS AND CIVILIZATION MISSIONS AND CIVILIZATION. L. S. KEYSER, D.D. The gospel is not meant to prepare men for the next world only. ‘Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and also of that which is to come.” Christianity has an ante-mortem purpose as well as a post-mortem salva- tion. It is not merely a system of sky-pilotage. Salvation begins in this life, and perdures without cleavage through death. “He that hath the Son of God hath life.” The gospel of the present tense! Therefore, wherever Christian evangelism is car- ried, it aims to do more than to get people ready to die and make a safe transit to the realms above. It aims to transform lives here and now; to make good people, good citizens, good communities, en- nobled states and nations—in short and in fine, a true civilization. A religion that would prepare men to die and not to live; that would get them ready for heaven and leave them useless for earth, would be defective and puerile. On the other hand, a religion that infuses and unfolds the kingdom of God on earth, and then says, “To be continued throughout eternity,” is all-sphered and all-inclu- sive. That is the religion of Jesus Christ. “Thy (211) 212 FOREIGN MISSIONS. kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” A potent religion will produce a life, and the molding of the individual life will produce a com- munity and national life. The religion of Christ is a spirit, an inner principle, which, like a seed, germinates, grows and develops, producing a life that is all its own. In the creation story of Genesis, it is said, “Every tree and herb bearing seed after its kind.” The scientific doctrine of the persistency of type! The divine principle of the gospel is a fertilized seed of life and civilization, and it pro- duces after its kind. The gospel in its fullness of power touches all de- partments of life, just as the sap of a tree permeates the trunk, branches, twigs, foliage, flowers and fruit. It is practical and all-pervasive. Christianity is ramifying with transfiguring grace into all the details of our mundane existence; into individual heart life first, then into home, social, commercial and civic life. There is nothing too common for it to touch and transmute. Just as the garments, per- haps of very common material and texture, that Christ wore on the Mount of Transfiguration were rendered white and glistering like His divine coun- tenance, so the spirit of the gospel irradiates the humdrums and commonplaces of life, making the lowliest duty meaningful and beautiful, chastening it of its dross and uplifting it with a sacred pur- MISSIONS AND CIVILIZATION. 213 pose. Whatever parts of life cannot receive and appropriate the principles of the Christian religion are wrong in and of themselves, and should be de- stroyed; and this negative work is also a part of the mission of the gospel; for the gospel is destructive as well as constructive, a consuming fire as well as a spirit of life. Therefore it both excises the evil and implants the good. Thus the gospel must fos- ter the best, the noblest, the solidest type of civiliza- tion. “Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” Again, the gospel is no scheme of mere socialism. It does not aim to regenerate humanity in the mass. No; it has proper regard for the individual, recog- nizing the personality that marks off every man, and makes him something sut generis. Therefore the gospel way of regenerating and remodeling society is to regenerate and remodel the individual. Make the units of a mass right, and you will make the mass right; especially so when the units are self-conscious human personalities dowered with free moral agency. There is, truly enough, an esprit de corps, a spirit of society; but it is not something extra-individual ; it is the corporate spirit of all the individuals in their mutual relations. A corporate spirit is just what the individuals composing the body make it. Why, even material substance is made up of units called atoms. The gospel, therefore, aims to recon- 214 FOREIGN MISSIONS. struct the social community by making its personal- ities good and true. Now, missionary work is simply carrying this evangel to the nations of the earth, The Church is ever doing mission work, either inner or outer, or both. Therefore missions and civilization are in- separably bound together. Missionary work cannot help producing its own type of enlightenment. But does Mission establishment really bring about a better civilization, or is all that has been said about the transforming power of the gospel upon individual, social and civic life only an “iridescent dream’? Is the Christian religion practical? This question can be answered only by the citation of concrete cases. In the history of the world it is found that, wherever the Bible is an open book and its principles have the freest course, there appears the highest form of civilization; there the arts and sciences and ethics attain their loftiest achievements. Surely this cannot be a mere coincidence, for the reason that the Bible makes direct appeal to life and character, weaving itself into all their minutie. It is not something away off in the wilderness or away up in the air. It touches the life of the child, the youth, the man, the woman, the worker, the business man, the professional man, the citizen, and it says, “Do your duty in all relations of life, and I will give you grace sufficient for your work.” This being so, it must be a traceable matter of cause and effect that MISSIONS AND CIVILIZATION. 215 the foremost nations of the earth are those that have given the word of God the most unrestrained course in molding their life and temper. Look, too, at the heathen nations of the earth. While we see in them varying degrees of civilization, yet all of them, just so far as they are heathen, fall far below the standards of life in America, England and Germany, as well as in general progress and ethical attainments. Perhaps India is the plainest example. Look at its blighting caste system, its polygamy, its system of child widows, its lack of merciful institutions, its want of progress in art, science, machinery, and other improvements, and its low ethical ideals in every stratum of social life; and you will see the difference between a Christian civilization and a pagan. Wherever the gospel touches Hindu life and institutions, there progress begins to operate like a leaven of blessing. Institu- tions of mercy open up, schools and colleges become the vogue, and by degrees the evils of the Buddhistic system give way to the enlightened life of Chris- tianity. Many of the islands of the Pacific afford striking instances of the civilizing influence of the religion of Christ. One-half to three-quarters of a century ago those island communities were sunken in a de- based and cruel barbarism, many of them given to feasting on human flesh. Their experience in many cases was as follows: First, the vicious and avari- 216 FOREIGN MISSIONS. cious traders from Europe, who, though they came from Christian lands, knew no code of Christian kindness or ethics, discovered the islands, deceived the natives, often slaughtered them in the most in- human way; at other times invited them on board their ships, then forcibly carried them off and sold them into slavery. In this way they excited the re- vengeful spirit of the barbarians, so that they wreaked their spite on all white visitors, whether good or bad; so that often the missionaries, who went to the heathen people with only beneficent in- tentions, had to suffer untold horrors on account of those unprincipled adventurers who had betrayed the natives. In many cases it required years before the heralds of the cross could win the confidence of the pagans, who looked upon all white men as alike in character. By and by, however, love and kindness gained the victory, the heathen were con- verted, and, behold, a transformed community where civilization took the place of the previous barbarism. Schools and churches have sprung up; villages have been built; and morality prevails where once lust and cruelty were the ruling forces. Men who are to-day shipwrecked on an island in the Pacific quake with fear of cannibals until they see a church spire pointing to the sky, when their solicitude is at once allayed and they are sure of Christian treatment. Thus, there can be no doubt that Christianity MISSIONS AND CIVILIZATION. 217 exercises a benign influence wherever it truly touches human life. Says a recent writer on the influence of missions: “A little over a hundred years ago, Captain Cook, who found a motive to take him into many parts of the world, wrote: ‘It is very unlikely that any measure of this kind (that is, missionary effort) should ever be seriously thought of, as it can neither serve the purpose of public ambition nor private avarice, and without such inducements I may pronounce that it will never be undertaken.’ How utterly his prediction has failed the history of missions shows. The transformations in character and social condition which have taken place are proof of the operation of a power to inspire effort and change life which many men who are wise in their day and generation may not fully appreciate. But men who are wise in their own conceits must necessarily be void of that faith which would enable them to form a true es- timate of the transforming power of Christianity, and they only stumble in the dark whenever they undertake to exalt their own opinions above the great I AM.” It was a notable tribute which the Chinese Minis- ter to this country, Dr. Wu Ting Fang, paid to Christianity at a meeting held in New York some- time ago in the interest of Foreign Missions. He said in part: “Any church or mission, any corporation, or, 218 FOREIGN MISSIONS. in fact, any body of people, whatever their denomi- nation or creed, who are doing good work, for the benefit of mankind, especially for my countrymen, will receive my sympathy and my help, if it is pos- sible for me to give it. Those who come from for- eign lands to this country as students naturally find themselves in environment of the highest order. The loneliness of those in humbler walks of life—the merchant, the laborer, the servant—is indescribable. These classes are dependent wholly on the churches and missions to furnish good _ surroundings. Churches and schools keep them from bad and bane- ful influences. I am glad to find the Christian peo- ple helping my countrymen, teaching them to be- have themselves, to practice virtue and to be good citizens. We thank you for your work in behalf of our countrymen in this land. And we do not object to Christian missionaries coming to China, for we know they come to teach our people to be good and to do good.” Mr. Winston Churchill tells his readers, in his late book, “My African Journey,” that Uganda was the only country he ever visited where every person of suitable age to go to church went to Chris- tian worship every Sunday morning. He estimates the native Christians in Uganda at 100,000. Bishop Tucker, of that missionary diocese, puts down 62,867 as the number of baptized Christians in the Anglican churches of Uganda, and the average Sun- MISSIONS AND CIVILIZATION. 219 day morning attendance is 52,471. The church buildings of the kingdom of Uganda have seats for 125,851. There are 2936 native Christian teachers and evangelists. And Mr. Churchill, who explored Central Africa last year, says that he never saw better order or happier homes than in this central region of the great Dark Continent, where only a few years ago pioneer missionaries were mercilessly put to death by the natives. Those who know most about the influence of Christian missions are most given to praise of them. It is usually those who have never been near a mission field, or, if they have visited one, have given it very hasty and superficial attention, who are the cavillers and would-be critics. Recently two great civilians of our country have uttered opinions most favorable to Foreign Missions. These men are not ministers, nor are they missionaries in the technical sense of the term, but are statesmen who can have only disinterested motives in their ad- vocacy. One of them is Hon. William Jennings Bryan, who kept his eyes open in his late tour of the world. In many places he inquired into the effect of Chris- tian missions, and has become an earnest champion of them. Perhaps he has not so deep an interest in the eternal salvation of the heathen as you and I have, but he is impressed with the civilizing influ- ence of gospel extension, and is convinced of its 220 FOREIGN MISSIONS. utility and power. His words, therefore, come to us fraught with unusual value. We feel that his conviction must be sincere. The other advocate of Foreign Missions is no less a personage than President Taft himself, who is also a circumnavigator of the globe. He spoke into a phonograph some weeks ago, and it is rather remarkable that, of all the themes he might have chosen, he elected to pay a tribute to Foreign Mis- sions. This is what he said: “T have known a good many people who were opposed to Foreign Missions. I have known a good many regular attendants at church—consistent members—who religiously, if you choose to use that term, refused to contribute to Foreign Missions. I confess that there was a time when I was enjoying a smug provincialism, that I hope has left me now, when I rather sympathized with that view. Until I went to the orient, until there was thrust upon me the responsibilities with reference to the extension of civilization in those far distant lands, I did not realize the immense importance of Foreign Mis- sions. The truth is, we have got to wake up in this country. We are not all there is in the world. There are lots besides us, and there are lots of people besides us that are entitled to our effort and our money and our sacrifice to help them on in the world. No man can study the movement of modern civilization from an impartial standpoint and not MISSIONS AND CIVILIZATION. 221 realize that Christianity and the spread of Chris- tianity are the only basis for hope of modern civil- ization in the growth of popular self-government. The spirit of Christianity is pure democracy. It is the equality of man before God—the equality of man before the law, which is, as I understand it, the most God-like manifestation that man has been able to make.” This is also the opinion held by the late Colonel Denby, who was for twelve years our United States Minister to China, who severely criticised those who found fault with the practical workings of the mis- sionaries in the far east, and said that they were the hope, and would be the salvation, of the people of the orient. Where men of such calibre and such opportu- nities for observation utter words of praise, it is idle for others to cavil, From the viewpoint of the humanitarian, the philanthropist and the statesman, to say nothing of the religionist, we should lend our influence to missionary extension. The man who opposes missions is not only morally and spiritually blind; he is behind the times; he does not under- stand the spirit of his age. A babbler and a prater he, but not a philosopher. It may be said that we have many evils in Chris- tian courtries. We have. Then why does not the gospel rinse them out, if it possesses so great and renovating a power? Cannot the charge of moral 222 FOREIGN MISSIONS. inability, at least, be brought against the Christian scheme of civilization? We reply, no. Christianity is a moral power, but not a coercive power. Indeed, if it forced people to be good and civil, it would no longer be a moral influence; for there can be no moral suasion where there is coercion. Hence, Christianity does not compel the heathen to be Christians, whether they live in Christian or pagan lands. Happen it will, therefore, that there are often bad specimens of human degeneration right under the shadow of our Christian churches. Religion is not a system of police regulation; it is a spirit of persuasive power. It has been said by infidel critics that sometimes the same ships that have carried missionaries to the heathen have also carried rum to degrade them. True, no doubt. But who sent the missionaries? The Christian churches. Who sent the rum? The liquor dealers who cared neither for the church at home nor for the heathen abroad. Therefore there is always room for inner mis- sions as well as outer evangelization. The gospel must not be blamed for the obliquities of those who reject it. You would not blame the laws of hygiene for the ruined health of the man who disregards them, would you? So don’t lay the sins of rejecters at the door of the saving scheme that they repudiate. By degrees the gospel leaven will permeate the body social and the body civic, until the whole lump will MISSIONS AND CIVILIZATION. 223 be transformed, and every community will show forth the moral power of the inner principle. The eye of faith already catches glimpses of the world under the Messiah’s sway, all the rude and crude material refined into the pure gold of a true civiliza- tion which will shine like the sun in the firmament. Vil THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HOME CHURCH THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HOME CHURCH IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. W. H. DUNBAR, D.D. The subject assigned me opens in so many differ- ent directions that for once in my life I find myself involved in an embarrassment of riches. My time is too brief to take a single moment in a discriminat- ing statement of the various trains of thought it suggests. Practically, I presume the subject would resolve itself into this: “The best methods to be employed in working up the cause of Foreign Missions in our home churches.” But the study of methods leads into a barren wilderness. We had just as well rec- ognize the fact at once that methods have no vitality, and therefore cannot in themselves tend to develop- ment. We can kill a cause with methods. Back of methods must be vital principles. The cause is greater than your methods or mine to develop that cause. Two great principles at once occur to us as we take up this subject: The one is what we may call the centripetal power of Foreign Missions—the power which works from without to the center—the power in Foreign Mission zeal which reacts on the (227) 228 FOREIGN MISSIONS. Church to vitalize it and quicken it. We say: “Let a church be interested in Foreign Missions and it will make it a live church.” This is a principle which has been much emphasized. And yet we feel that it is, after all, more of an incident than a prin- ciple. It is to do good that we may get good. It is not the strongest possible appeal to the Christian spirit. The other is what we may call the centrif- ugal power of Foreign Missions—the power which works from within outward—the inherent power of a true church which compels an active, world-wide interest in the salvation of a fallen race. To put it tersely it may be stated thus: “Develop the home church properly and Foreign Missions will be taken care of.” Develop the home church properly and it will develop the home church in Foreign Missions. This morning you had the subject, “The Broader Vision and its Realization.” That subject contains the keynote to the solution of the problem of my subject. The scope of the redemptive work of Christ is as broad as the race. The vision of christian faith is world-wide. The only proper de- velopment of the christian church—of any one church or of all churches—is in the realization of this world-wide vision. The church whose faith is measured and limited by its own narrow confines is not properly developed. Christian men and Chris- tian women, christian ministers and christian lay- men, must catch the larger vision of christian faith. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HOME CHURCH. 229 Break the bonds of limitation of narrow interests, crush out the spirit of selfish enjoyment of privileges, fill a church with the realization of God’s purpose of world-wide redemption, and of our Lord’s mis- sion of atonement for the sin of the race—then only will a congregation be a properly developed chris- tian church. “It is so natural to be narrow; such a work of grace to have breadth of sympathy. We are continually slipping into contracted notions, and making religion a comfortable nest in our parish, our synod, our church.” That is not the true christian spirit. ‘To settle down each into a snug little Zion of his own,” that is not the Christian spirit. “The world, the world—not myself, not my church, but the great, crowded, suffering, perishing world—it was for this Christ died.” In my boyhood days, the near-by mountains lim- ited the world to me. The little village of five hun- dred people was the center of all things. My proud- est hopes did not go beyond. As time went on, I learned of a larger world; seven miles away was a considerable town of probably five thousand people. I remember how as I first beheld the life of that town, I felt the pulse of a larger life from the fact that this was a larger world than I thought. Then came a day when I saw the great teeming town of twenty thousand people, some twenty miles away— and I began to realize that I could not measure the real development of my life in the smaller circle of 230 FOREIGN MISSIONS. my boyhood’s enthusiasms. Then came a day when there opened to me a yet larger world in the rush and bustle of the life of a great city, and I felt how narrow my life would have been in the little world of my boyhood. So the day came when I was permitted to get the larger vision of other lands, of people speaking other tongues, and then I knew that no life could be complete until its vision was as wide as the race. Only in a very mechanical way does this set forth what is true of the Church. Away back on the plains of church history stands one who has come to be known by Jew and Chris- tian as “The father of the faithful.” The centuries have come and gone since “Abram by divine com- mand left his own tent to talk with God.” But the words spoken in that far-away day pulsate with life now as then: “TI will bless thee.” Wonder- ful words to that lonely man! “TI will bless thee.” How? “Thy seed shall be as the stars. I will make of thee a great nation. I will bless thee.’ Why? “Thou shalt be a blessing. In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” Leave that out and Abram’s blessing passes with the voice that announced it, and with the fading glory of his race. “T will bless thee,” that “thou mayest be a blessing,” that “in thee all the families of the earth may be blessed.” Time passes with the slow movement of the years. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HOME CHURCH. 231 Abraham’s seed has become a great multitude. They throng the hills and valleys of that distant world, a mighty host. The tokens of divine favor are everywhere manifest. They are adopted as God’s own people. Led by a mighty hand, they con- quer cities, become the possessors of the fairest land on the then known globe. But ever, through the vision of inspired prophets and seers and priests, is revealed in all God’s favors to them a world-wide purpose. “The nations that sat in darkness have seen a great light; unto them it has shined.” At last that chosen race forgot that world-wide pur- pose, forgot the divine mandate, “In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed,’ drew down about them the thick curtains of exclusiveness, and ceased to be God’s own peculiar people. The centuries roll away. The “fullness of time” comes on apace. The Messiah appears. He lives and dies, rises and ascends. The Holy Spirit comes. The christian church is born. We pause a moment amid the events of those first days. There, if anywhere, we may learn something of the character of the Church, and the divine pur- pose in its institution. It affords a timely study. Men theorize about religious things. All kinds of theories are being advanced, about the Church, about methods of saving men, about the world’s evangeli- zation, even about God. We are talking methods 232 FOREIGN MISSIONS. and machinery until we are becoming mechanical in all our work. What happened in that early church? First came the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. It was a Spirit-endowed church. They were Spirit- filled men. Then came Peter’s great sermon. It was a sermon inspired by the Spirit. It was a clear proclamation of Christ—not a Christ who is the creation of human thought, not a theoretical or poet- ical Christ—but Jesus of Nazareth, a man living a wonderful life among men, delivered to death by the determinate counsel of God, risen again from the dead. We do not hear much of methods, of plans, of duties. They were too near the cross of Calvary for any vague theorizing and methodizing. What came of it? As naturally as vegetation re- sults from the spring rains and the warm sunshine, came the new life to the Church. That life mani- fested itself in two ways: 1. First came a mighty work of grace. Thou- sands were converted and added to the Church. There is the answer to one problem that is troubling the Church—how to win men? How to reach the masses? We have tried to answer it in our own way. We make great preparations for revival work, and at last it is a mere mechanical thing and no last- ing permanent results. Let us get near the cross; let us open our hearts for the Pentecostal fire; let us preach Christ with tongues on fire, and now as then THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HOME CHURCH. 233 hearts will be pricked and men will begin to inquire, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” 2. Then followed the other manifestation of this new life. Christ had given the marching order to His followers in His last great commission. But even the apostles could not obey that order until the new life came. When that came they could do nothing else than obey it. Like a living seed cast into the ground it spread into a world-wide move- ment. Peter gave first expression to it. “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.” It appears that was a new discovery to Peter. He had an idea that God thought much more of some people than of others. He had been trained to that. Some of us have not gotten beyond it. The first vision Peter had of a universal salvation was when the Holy Spirit entered his life. ‘But in every na- tion he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him.”’ Then burst from his lips that great vital doctrine: “To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whoso- ever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.” How that spreads out! It touches the outer edges of the race. It reaches the uttermost parts of the earth. “Whosoever!” Under that great an- nouncement of pardon are included all races and peoples, the red man and the black man, the yellow man and the brown man, as well as the white man. “Whosoever!” The heavenly city will be more 234 FOREIGN MISSIONS. cosmopolitan than any city of earth has ever been. Men of every nation will be there, pardoned and redeemed by the grace of God. “They shall come from the east and the west, and from the north and the south, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God.” So was born the great missionary life of the church, which has guided the course of the Church ever since. And it was brought about, not by any great mission- ary mass meeting, nor yet by a great missionary ad- dress, for the simple reason that the proclamation of the gospel of Christ is the greatest missionary address that can be made, and for the simple reason that a people who have felt the power of the cross are bound to be filled with the missionary spirit. Here, then, is first of all the answer to the great missionary problem of the Church. How shall we develop the home churches in Foreign Missions? By developing it on gospel lines. The Church has the great commission laid upon it. It is a dead thing so long as the Church is dead. Set the Church on fire with the Holy Spirit, gather its people around the cross, proclaim in clear tones the great gospel of a universal salvation, make the Church throb and glow and pulsate with the Spirit’s power, and the problem of Foreign Missions will be solved. We must make the Church feel that the “whoso- ever” of the gospel message of pardon must be car- ried into king’s palace, into the rich man’s mansion, THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HOME CHURCH. 235 into the peasant’s hut, into the criminal’s cell, into the filthy places of the slums. We must make the Church realize that the “whosoever” of the gospel must be carried to Africa and India and China and Japan and to the islands of the sea, for it means all the nations of the earth. There is a sickly senti- mentalism which has caught the hearts of many that one religion suits one race or one part of the earth, and another another part. It is a proposition to which we cannot assent for a moment. That is to surrender the first great fundamental truth of Chris- tianity, that there is one God, and He is the God of all nations. That is to repudiate the very an- nouncement of inspired apostles and of Christ Him- self that “there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby they must be saved.” That is to let go Christianity itself. There is not one way to heaven for the rich sinner and another for the poor sinner. There is not one way to heaven for the sinners of America and Europe, and another for the sinners of Africa and India and China and Japan and the islands of the sea. Let us lay on the home church the burden of a lost race; let us make it hear the cry of universal humanity. VIII THE APOLOGETIC VALUE OF FOREIGN MISSIONS THE APOLOGETIC VALUE OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. H. C. ALLEMAN, D.D. The Christian faith has had to justify itself in different ages in different ways: to the early cen- turies, by the evidence of its response to the hopes and intimations of Jewish Scriptures, and by the joy and constancy in suffering which it was able to create; to the days of the decline and fall of the Roman empire and of the new national beginnings in Europe, by its power to curb and to civilize; to the later centuries, by its abstract moral and relig- ious value. In all ages, however, Christianity has been justified of her children. The argument for the Christian faith from its achievements forms one of the most thrilling chap- ters of apologetics. Christianity has vanquished pagan creeds, civilized barbarian tribes, vindicated human rights, regenerated heathen lands. It came to communities cultured in letters, instructed in arts, mighty in arms, but morally rotten with luxury and lust, and by its worship, its humanity, its mes- sage of hope, its life of purity, struck down the de- lusions and deceptions of the dissolute capitals of the world, and, though it encountered tremendous re- (239) 240 FOREIGN MISSIONS. sistance—of law, argument, invective and persecu- tion on the part of the society it rebuked—it over- came opposition and won to its humble standard the noblest souls of the decaying empire and over- turned the altars of its paganism. If it did not con- vert the Roman empire as such, it won a supreme place in its thought; infused its spirit into the habits, pursuits and customs of the population; exercised a restraining influence on the leaders; increased its converts until they were conspicuous in all vocations and were prominent in the army and the civil serv- ice of the empire; closed the temples and forever discredited the gods of paganism, expelling them from any influence henceforth in the affairs of men. Christianity also civilized barbarian tribes. It is the admission of no less an authority than Gibbon that “the progress of Christianity has been marked by two glorious and decisive victories, one over the learned and luxurious civilization of the Roman empire, the other over the warlike barbarians of Scythia and Germany.” Into the dark forests of the north it went, and across the channel to the British Isles, meeting their savage peoples with a spirit which defied cruelty and everywhere won ad- miration and confidence. It became the civilizer of their barbarism, the teacher of their ignorance and the refiner of their grossness. “The science of lan- guage,” says Max Miller, “owes more than its first THE APOLOGETIC VALUE OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. 241 impulse to Christianity. Its pioneers were those very apostles who were commanded to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Christianity has practically given to Europe its varied and copious languages, fashioning improved vehicles of thought and bringing into existence its civilization and culture. In the words of Mr. W. E. H. Lecky, “The great characteristic of Chris- tianity, and the great moral proof of its divinity, is that it has been the main source of the material development of Europe, and that it has discharged this office alone by the assimilating and attractive influence of a perfect ideal.”” And it was the testi- mony of Lord Macaulay that “To discountenance this religion which has done so much to promote justice and mercy and freedom and arts and sciences and good government and domestic happiness is to commit high treason against humanity and civil- ization.” It is one of the achievements of Christianity that it has vindicated human rights. Lamartine says: “Christianity, finding men in serfage and degraded all over the earth, had arisen in the fall of the Ro- man empire, like a mighty vengeance, though under the aspect of resignation. It had proclaimed the three words, which two thousand years afterward were reached by French philosophy—iliberty, equal- ity, fratermty—among mankind.” Christianity taught that God was no respecter of persons; it 16 242 FOREIGN MISSIONS. recognized the dignity of labor; it ameliorated the condition of the slave, and introduced the leavening principle which has burst his fetters; it redeemed woman from her degradation and made her a fel- low-laborer in the gospel; it exalted and put its seal of sacredness on childhood. From the days of Augustine to our own, the history of Christianity has been the history of the progress of human lib- erty. As for the regenerating power of Christianity, the national and social life of Christendom, what- ever blemishes and sorrowful defects we may find in it, is a standing evidence of the elevating influ- ence of Christian principles. The witnesses simply cannot be heard, in the limitations of this discussion, who are ready to testify to this fact. Not to men- tion the continents of Europe and America and the bright spots in Asia and Africa, group after group of savage islands has been transformed and re deemed, and new men and women have sprung out of a horrid environment of licentiousness and bestiality. If there were no other chapter of gospel triumph in the history of Christendom, this alone would be sufficient to demonstrate the power of Christianity to regenerate society. “It is hardly possible to overstate the importance of the new power thus brought into the moral life of the world. Science forbids us to believe it pos- sible to add any new force to the sum total of THE APOLOGETIC VALUE OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. 243 physical forces already at work in the universe. But it would seem as if we certainly came upon the fact here, that with Christianity there was added to the sum total of energies in action in human history a new increment of ethical force... . It may be difficult to follow through their details the results which have been thus secured, because they are realized in character and in individuals, in spheres of life where record is unusual, and by forces that are silent and unobserved in action. But publicans and sinners transformed into saints of Christian history are by no means confined to gospel days.” —George Burton Adams. And when we ask the question, what is the secret of Christianity’s expansion, the agent of its propagation? there is but one answer—the mis- sionary witness of the Church. “We cannot hesitate to believe,” says Harnack, “‘that the great mission of Christianity was in reality accomplished by means of informal missionaries.” Justin says, what won him was the moral life he found among Christians in general. Not in the first instance by the strength of its intellect, not by argument and disputation, not by force of arms or material power, but by the silent testimony of a life in harmony with its great symbol, the cross of sacrifice. It leavened the whole lump of imperial paganism. Then as now the chief evidence of Christianity was not the evidence, but the Christian. 244 FOREIGN MISSIONS. The apologetic value of missions has always been apparent when measured against the background of the age-spirit against which the missionaries pressed their cause. Of Augustine and his fellow- missionaries among the wild Anglo-Saxons the venerable Bede writes: “They soon began to make some converts, who were drawn to them by the admiration they felt for the holy innocence of their lives and the sweetness of the heavenly doctrine that they taught.” Similar testimony runs all through the centuries, and the witness has never been so bright and shining as at the present day. There can be no question but that the world-spirit of this age is commercialism. As one has said, “Mammon is our god and the hustler is his prophet.” The military state of old has given place to the mercan- tile. The necessities of trade have become the bind- ing law of the nations. “Apart from tips, commis- sions and bribery at home,” says Principal For- syth, “think of the opium trade in India and China, the rum trade in Africa, the ‘blackbirding’ in Queensland. What of the Congo Company and its ways in Central Africa? What of the Char- tered Company in South Africa, of the raid, with its progeny of blood, ruin and grief in a great war? ... What of the Turk who must be allowed to massacre and outrage Armenian and Macedonian because of ‘the commercial convenience and balance of Europe? ... May God send us THE APOLOGETIC VALUE OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. 245 prophets to save the kingdom from the calamity in prosperity and the usurpation by finance!” He has sent the prophets. They are the ten thou- sand missionaries of the twentieth century—the un- equivocal witnesses of the cross of Christ in a self- seeking age. The missionaries die daily as other men do not. They minister at the world-altar of Jesus Christ. They are priests of a sacrificial church. “There is nothing finer nor more pathetic in our life,” exclaims Principal Forsyth, “than the way in which missionaries unlearn the love of the old home, die to their native land and wed their hearts to the people they had served and won; so that they cannot rest in England, but must return to lay their bones where they spent their hearts for Christ. How vulgar the common patriotisms seem beside this inverted homesickness, this passion of a kingdom which has no frontiers and no favored races!’ We do not grasp the central truth of Christ’s gos- pel if we are surprised or shocked by such devotion; we are incapable of comprehending the chief apolo- getic of the Christian religion. What are our pit- tance of money, our doles of charity, our fits of sympathy, our tithing of mint, anise and cummin. beside the long, lonely devotion of this “far-flung battle line’ of the Church militant? James Chal- mers, of New Guinea, whom Robert Louis Steven- son calls “one of the pioneers of civilization and 246 FOREIGN MISSIONS. 2. love,” and ranks among the “heroic bearers of the cross of light and progress,”’ who was finally clubbed to death and eaten by cannibals, in a speech in Exeter Hall fifteen years before his martyrdom, exclaimed: “Recall the twenty-one years; give me back all its experience; give me its shipwrecks; give me its standing in the face of death; give it me sur- rounded with savages with spears and clubs; give it me back with spears flying about me, with the club knocking me to the ground—give it me back, and I will still be your missionary.” If such men do not interpret and vindicate the gospel of Jesus Christ to us, then the prince of this world is not judged in us, then we are yet in our sins, then God has given us up to a reprobate mind. At least they have interpreted the Christ to the nations who knew Him not, at least they are the fire-pillars of the dark continents, and it may yet be that by their lonely graves we shall learn the rudiments of the Christian faith. Ix MISSIONARY HEROES—THE HOLY GRAIL MISSIONARY HEROES—THE HOLY GRAIL. REV. J. T. HUDDLE. One of the most beautiful of our Christian tradi- tions is that of the Holy Grail. According to the mythology of the romancers, the San Greal was the cup from which our Lord drank at the last Supper, and which afterwards received His blood at the cross. In some way it fell into the hands of Joseph of Arimathea, in whose tomb the Saviour was laid, and by him was carried over into Europe, and thence, Sir Thomas Malory tells us, it was taken to England, and Wolfram von Eschenbach says it was taken to Spain. In each case it was placed in a ‘ sanctuary under special guardianship, and if a man could touch or see it he was healed at once by faith of all his wounds. It was incumbent upon those who had charge of this sacred relic to be chaste in thought, word and deed. The tradition of the Holy Grail has been a favorite theme of artist, musician and poet on both sides of the Atlantic. In Richard Wagner’s “Par- sifal,” music and drama conspire to present the power of the marvelous influence symbolized by the cup. (249) 250 FOREIGN MISSIONS. Tennyson was fascinated with the tender beauty of this legend and gave it prominent place in his “Tdylls of the King.” He shows how Arthur in- spired his men with a burning desire for purity of character rather than for pelf or power; how the one all-absorbing pursuit of his knights was the search for the Holy Grail, and with exquisite touch paints the scene in which the vision was granted to Galahad, the knight of the pure heart and stainless shield. Again, in Lowell’s “Vision of Sir Launfal,” we have another presentation of this theme, more in accord with the practical ideas of our western life. The poet pictures Sir Launfal on his pranc- ing charger leaving his castle in unscarred mail to seek in all climes for the Holy Grail. His heart is filled with loathing as he passes a leper beg- ging outside the gate, to whom he tosses a coin in scorn as he rides proudly on. This the leper does not deign to touch, but simply said: “He gives nothing but worthless gold Who gives from a sense of duty.” Through many lands, for many years, Sir Launfal wandered in his quest for the sacred cup, but all in vain. At last, old, gray and poor, he turned his face homeward, a sad, but wiser and better man. It was Christmas time when he arrived at the gate. Another heir sat in his earldom. Strange faces MISSIONARY HEROES—THE HOLY GRAIL. 251 surrounded the fireside, illumined with the yule log’s blaze. The seneschal harshly drove the knight away from his own porch. In the gateway where the leper begged of old he sat all night in raiment thin and spare, and as he sat he mused of a sunnier clime. In the midst of his musings the leper again appeared, cowering beside him, asking for alms. The sentimental dreams of youth fly away as he looks into the eyes of the beggar and says, “I behold in thee an image of Him who died on the tree. And sadly remembering in what haughtier guise he had flung an alms to leprosy: “He parted in twain his single crust, He broke the ice on the streamlet’s brink And gave the leper to eat and drink.” And then, as the old knight sat himself down again in the snow by the gate, a strange light shone round the place and the leper no longer sat by his side, but stood before him glorified. Sir Launfal found the Holy Grail beside his gate in a wooden bowl which he kindly held to a beg- gar’s lips. Here we have two golden keys to the Holy of Holies where reposes in mystic splendor this sacred cup. In Tennyson the indispensable condition to success in this soul quest is heart purity. In Lowell it is heart charity. These two conceptions reflect respectively the spirit of the medieval and the 252 FOREIGN MISSIONS. modern world. In the former we have the ruling idea of the monk and the crusader and the pilgrim; in the latter that of the educator, the philanthropist and the missionary. In the one we find man grop- ing through darkness in search of God, in the other crawling through jungle and wilderness in search of man. In the past man’s eyes were turned up- ward in sentimental quest while he trampled thoughtlessly upon a brother’s rights. To-day his eyes are fastened seriously and practically upon human need while his feet are on mercy’s errands bent and his hands lift up the faint. Which one is right, then, in his interpretation, the bard of England or the bard of New England? Tennyson or Lowell? Evidently both, for while the pure in heart shall see, those that do the will shall know. To visit the fatherless and widows and to keep unspotted from the world are the two fundamentals of religion pure and undefiled. The character of neither of the sisters of Bethany is complete in itself. Martha will do better service if she will only take the place of Mary for a season. And Mary’s contemplation is real and worth while only in so far as it finds expression in unselfish ministry. Getting right with God doesn’t amount to nich if it simply results in sentimental selfishness. In Richard Wagner’s “Parsifal,’’ however, it seems to me we have an interpretation that unites MISSIONARY HEROES—THE HOLY GRAIL. 253 these two elements of personal purity and active charity. Following Eschenbach’s conception the scene is laid in the mountains of Spain. Kundry is the wickedness of the world. Amfortas, with open wound, is suffering humanity. The guileless knight is purity, to whose eyes is granted a vision of the Grail. After this revelation with his sacred spear he touches humanity’s wound and Amfortas, healed, renews his strength as he drinks from the blessed cup. Here we have, it seems to me, a type of him who through purity and prayer has found the cup and with the sword of the Spirit in one hand and the chalice of helpfulness in the other is going into all the world ministering to the physical and spiritual needs of men. No longer actuated by blind sentiment, but spurred on by intelligent sympathy, the missionary becomes the cup-bearer of humanity, the good Samaritan among the na- tions. We are gathered here in this assembly to do honor to this up-to-date knight of the Grail, who, devoid of the selfishness of his medizeval brother, endowed with the practical, common sense of his age, and inspired with the spirit of optimism and fraternal affection, is not wasting time in ecstatic dream or sentimental quest, but energetically doing things for the betterment of his brethren. However bright his armor, proud his charger, strong his spear, sentimental Galahad sinks into 254 FOREIGN MISSIONS. insignificance when compared with this wide-awake modern knight with his raw-boned horse, weather- beaten saddle bags and seedy clothes, traversing the wilderness, making it blossom with school-houses and churches and homes and Christian citizenship. In the inner life of this unselfish character the poet could find material for a creation that would far transcend in beauty and sublimity a Tennyson’s “Holy Grail” or a Wagner’s “Parsifal,” and in this quest of the lowly and neglected the artist, too, could find a subject worthy of his highest genius. No one occupies so high a place in the affairs of the land as this one who fills the lowest. No one has so much to do with the intellectual, moral and spiritual health of the land as.this one who carries the chalice of truth and helpfulness from lip to lip. Comparing the vain sentimentalism of the cup- seeker with the practical sympathy of the cup-bearer, one is reminded of the couplet: “To find a little child and bring him to his own Is a great sight better business than loafing ‘round the throne.” And next to this noble pioneer who gathers and instructs Columbia’s neglected people, is the one who follows in his footsteps and builds the church. As Bezaleel constructed the tabernacle in the desert of old, so through the kindly ministry of Church Extension the sanctuary rears its splendid propor- MISSIONARY HEROES—THE HOLY GRAIL. 255 tions in the midst of the wilderness, and while its deep-toned bell calls men to prayer, its tapering finger points to Him who answers prayer. As a very present help in time of need with words of cheer comes the genial representative of this Board, and ere long the discouraged flock is safely shel- tered in a capacious fold. This cunning artificer, this knight not of the sword and spear, but of the axe and saw, has dotted the country from ocean to ocean with houses of worship, where homesick people from other shores can sing the Lord’s songs in a land no longer strange because of these spirit- ual homes. With the cup, not of cold water, but of cold cash, he travels up and down the States, kindly ministering to faint and struggling congre- gations and making glad the people of God. But our theme touches particularly the people beyond the seas. In imagination we behold all heathendom nailed to a gigantic cross by the soldiers of ignorance, superstition, oppression and sin, and in the midst of anguish unspeakable there comes from parched lips the pitiable wail, “I thirst.” And in response to this appeal heroic men and women are going into all lands, not to search for some mythical Grail, not like the sentimental crusader to wrest an empty tomb from a stranger’s hand, but with the cup of helpfulness to supply human need, of whatever form, wherever found. St. John says of the tree of life, “The leaves of the 256 FOREIGN MISSIONS. tree are for the healing of the nations.” Through the kindly ministry of medicine the missionary is winning his way to heathen hearts. Not only was China opened at the point of the lancet, according to Peter Parker, but the walls of caste and prejudice of all nations are being rapidly undermined by the tools of the surgeon. The blind of the orient, of whom one million exist in China and India alone; the insane, that in the Saviour’s time made the tombs their home; the mute, sick, crippled and old—that unfit portion of the community that formerly was slain by the hand of heathendom or left to die of neglect; the 1,300,000 lepers of the world—those worst afflicted ones of all the chil- dren of God—these and all others that have fallen by the way, are tenderly cared for by the Good Samaritan of medicine and given comfortable lodg- ment in hospitals and asylums, those cities of refuge, found in every land. Seventy years ago the heathen world, with its 800,000,000, was practically without a physician, while to-day there is one for every 2,500,000. And wherever this medical missionary goes he erects dispensaries, hospitals and colleges, circulates medical journals, books on hygiene and sanitation and tracts on special and prevalent dis- eases, emphasizes scientific drainage and pure food and water, vaccinates against smallpox and inocu- lates against cholera, and does everything in his MISSIONARY HEROES—-THE HOLY GRAIL. 257 power to induce the people to lead clean and healthy lives. Again, through the kindly ministry of philan- thropy, another side of heathen life is touched. The missionary is a physician, but he is likewise a reformer, and deals not only with the ills, but with the evils of humanity. The child dwarfed and stunted by oppressive labor in early years; the maiden ruthlessly sold by a selfish parent, or de- voted in the name of religion to a life of shame; the child widow, of whom there were in India 25,000,000 twenty years ago; the prisoner treated with unspeakable cruelty, are all finding an unfail- ing friend in the missionary. Social vice, caste, opium eating, gambling, liquor traffic, slavery, foot- binding, suicide, cannibalism, all the terrible vices that afflict heathen lands, are receiving their death blow from the hand of this modern knight who fights and faces facts instead of chasing phantoms. Not only does the missionary cure the ills of the body and deliver it from the vices of society, but his influence extends to all those departments of life that are for its development and comfort. Someone said, “We cannot expect our people to sit with empty stomachs at the feet of Christ and hear His word.” So through the instrumentality of industrial reform the missionary is giving the na- tive a full dinner pail and a comfortable home, awakening self-respect, dignifying labor and de- 17 258 FOREIGN MISSIONS. veloping aptitude and love for the arts and appli- ances of civilized life; goes with him to the field and shows him how to get a hundredfold from soil that yielded only ten; goes with him to the workshop and teaches the use of tools; goes with him to the mart of trade and shows him the business methods of the western world; goes to his home and reveals to him the comforts and conveniences of our domestic life. The products of our in- ventive skill are carried to all lands to-day, so that the Oliver chilled plow has supplanted the forked stick, the neat cottage the wretched hovel, and the printing press the primitive scribe. The wilderness to-day is being enlivened by the sewing machine singing the song of the shirt; the animals of the jungle are startled with the shriek of the locomo- tive and the whirr of the circular saw, and the tele- graph—that mysterious word roadway of the nations—is creeping into remotest parts, whispering everywhere its message of help and hope. Thus through the ministry of education the hea- then world has been given to drink of a still better cup. Missionaries have translated the Bible into one-fifth of the world’s languages and seven-tenths of its speech, reducing within the present century 219 languages to writing and distributing through the three leading Bible societies 3,500,000 Bibles per annum in 465 tongues. In all lands, by all denominations, missionary presses are in operation, MISSIONARY HEROES—THE HOLY GRAIL. 259 printing 379 religious papers and magazines and scattering tracts among the people as Autumn scat- ters her leaves. At the end of the nineteenth cen- tury there were over 20,000 mission schools, rang- ing from the kindergarten to the university, and training over a million pupils not only in classical and industrial studies, but in the fundamental tenets of the Christian religion. From the thousands of pulpits set up here and there in the wilderness at the cost of bloody sweat of heroic missionaries, there is emanating a leaven that will not cease to work till the whole wretched lump of heathen life is completely transformed. Yes, while from the lips of the victim writhing on this cross comes the wail, “I thirst!” I had a dream which was not alla dream. Being lifted up my eyes beheld the nations of the earth, and moving amid the shadows of the dark lands were strange figures holding mystic cups to thirsty lips, placing neath weak frames untiring arms and whispering words of hope in ears of death. And I said to myself, the discoverer goes into all the earth in search of unknown lands, piercing even polar ice and snow to add glory to his name; the warrior goes to subjugate alien people and add kingdoms to his realm and stars to his crown; the adventurer goes to dig gold and precious stones out of the very heart of the stranger’s home; the scholar goes to study the habits and life of heathen 260 FOREIGN MISSIONS. people as he would those of an insect or an animal: All these, on selfish purpose bent, invade the dark- ness, but like priest and Levite of old pass heedless by the weak and wounded, while this unselfish bearer of the blessed cup is the only one of all the train that comes to give and not to take. And con- sidering this, I said to myself that as far as educa- tion is above exploitation, love above lust, un- selfishness above selfishness, so far is Abraham above Alexander, Paul above Napoleon, Carey above Cesar, Moffatt and Morrison above Marco Polo—yea, that far is the humblest missionary in the service of the cross above the mightiest warrior or adventurer that ever shook a continent with his selfish tread. And I say to you to-day that when the roll is called at the great assize of the nations, the names that stand highest and shine brightest will not, of course, be those selfish giants who paved their way to power with human hearts, neither will they be those sentimental ecstatics that dwelt among the clouds of speculation, heedless of human need, but the names that will lead all the rest in God’s great list will be of these humble cup-bearers of the King, these Good Samaritans that everywhere have un- selfishly labored for the salvation of men. Xx A MISSIONARY HERO—DAVIDA.DAY,D.D. A MISSIONARY HERO—DAVID A. DAY, D. D. GEORGE SCHOLL, D.D. An astute observer and profound student of hu- man nature has defined a hero as “one who can defy the demands of a life so full that it almost smothers him, and can insist upon the definite line along which his life shall be lived.” Goethe says: “Be- lieve me, most part of all the misery and mischief, of all that is denominated evil in the world, arises from the fact that men are too remiss to get a proper knowledge of their aims, and when they do know them, to work intensely in attaining them.” In other words, the man who, taking a broad and comprehensive view of life, including time and eternity, decides what for him is the supreme end of his being, and then presses toward the attain- ment of that end with an unfaltering purpose that counts all else secondary and comparatively unim- portant, has unconsciously enrolled himself as one of the world’s heroes. This, from my intimate per- sonal knowledge of the man, I unhesitatingly assert accurately describes David A. Day. I shall refer to only two instances in proof of this assertion, although his whole career as a mis- sionary bears testimony to this fact. There was a (263) 264 FOREIGN MISSIONS. time when, by some persons in the Church, he was seriously considered for the position of Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions. No one, it was thought, was so well qualified to arouse a lethargic church to an adequate sense of the importance and magnitude of the work. When this came to the knowledge of Dr. Day he did not take a week or even a day or an hour to consider the question, but instantly, with a look that was even more expressive than his words, said to me, “I am a missionary.” Years before he had chosen his calling. His goal was set, and nothing could swerve him from his course by so much as an inch. Personal comfort, family relations, health, life itself, these did not enter into consideration. The proposition had no temptation for him. With another missionary hero of old he, too, could say with equal depth of con- viction and unwavering purpose, “This one thing I do.” The other incident to which I refer is located in Washington. It so occurred that a prominent of- ficial, connected with the United States Weather Bureau, heard him speak at a Sunday evening serv- ice. In the course of his address Dr. Day, in a few graphic sentences, flashed out a brilliant de- scription of an equatorial electrical storm such as occasionally sweeps over that section of Africa. Next day that official called at our stopping place and sought an interview with the speaker of the A MISSIONARY HERO—DAVID A. DAY, D. D. 265 previous evening. He said to me, “That man, I judge, knows more about the meteoric phenomena of the west coast of Africa than any man in this or any other country’; and, after more than an hour’s conference, at which our host, Dr. Parson and I were present, we all discovered to our sur- prise that Dr. Day’s knowledge of the phenomena referred to was not simply of a general and super- ficial character, but, in a large degree, thoroughly scientific. It appeared that he had carefully studied the whole subject as a recreation from his more serious engagements. The conference resulted in the official asking Dr. Day to undertake the work of observing, with the aid of such appliances as the department would fur- nish him, the weather conditions of his section of the country, and regularly reporting the same to the Bureau at Washington. He added, that while there was no provision made in his department for that ‘particular work, he felt confident there would be no difficulty in providing suitable remuneration by a special act of Congress. The work, he thought, could be done without seriously interfering with his duties at Muhlenberg Mission. To this highly complimentary and tempting offer, Dr. Day, with a look, and a smile, and a shake of the head that was quite unmistakable and conclusive in its mean- ing, replied, “I cannot do it. My work is that of a missionary.” 266 FOREIGN MISSIONS. A shallow-minded, materialistic worshiper of the golden calf might have made further effort to per- suade him to accept the offer by the promise of a large salary, but that official was a man who had both heart and intellect, and consequently had not another word to say; for he promptly recognized the fact that he had come up against an Alpine hero who was planted on the Rock of Ages. Our host had planned to take us to the capitol that day to hear a famous debate that was on in the Senate. Later on Dr. Parson said to me, ‘“Aren’t you glad we didn’t go over to the capitol?” and I replied, “Yes, for the United States Senate couldn’t have given us anything half that good.” In the brief time allotted me I cannot do more than hold up before you a few of the noble and self- sacrificing traits of Dr. Day’s life; and I shall do this in the hope that our contemplation of them may broaden and deepen the current of our own spiritual life and beget in us a greater interest in the work to which he consecrated his life. Dr. Day was endowed by nature with one of the prime requisites for the service in which he en- gaged. He was the possessor of a magnificent body. The verdict of one well qualified to judge in such matters was that, tested by the highest stand- ard of physical excellence, comparatively few young men could be found that would measure up to what he was physically. This body, with all its A MISSIONARY HERO—DAVID A. DAY, D. D. 267 capacity for toil and the endurance of hardships, he consecrated to the service of the Master. His intellectual powers were of no ordinary char- acter. Those of us who came into closest touch with him know that, in the breadth of his general information, in the accuracy and thoroughness of his knowledge of the various sciences, his careful observation of the phenomena of nature, his ex- tensive familiarity with the governmental affairs of the nations of the earth, his profound and intel- ligent interest in the sociological questions of the day, and in his clear and comprehensive grasp of well nigh every question that touches human life and interest, Dr. Day had few, if any, peers among those engaged in the same calling of life. These powers of intellect he so fully consecrated to the service of the Master that, with the great apostle to the Gentiles, he, too, could say that he was de- termined not to know anything save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. But it is in heart and soul especially that Dr. Day stands before us as an Alpine character. In faith as simple as a child; his hope unquenchable; a love as broad as humanity; a courage that knew no fear; a will that he ever sought to co-ordinate with the divine will; a heart as tender as a woman’s; and a devotion to his work that left out of considera- tion all personal comforts and temporal emoluments. In short, his was a well-framed body, a diversely 268 FOREIGN MISSIONS. cultured intellect, a great and manly soul, a lofty reason, an indomitable will, a lion-like courage, a burning zeal, a heroic devotion, an iron constitu- tion, a Pauline faith, and a Christlike love. This was David A. Day as I learned to know him through months of close companionship and twenty years of official and personal correspondence with him. The question may be asked—it has been fre- quently asked—is it right to send such a man to such a field? We need not concern ourselves over- much about the answer to such a question. All we need to do is to remember that his Master and ours sent Dr. Day to Africa, and that in going he simply followed the Master’s example and obeyed the Master’s command, with this difference only, that the Master came down from an infinitely higher altitude and descended to a far greater depth of humiliation and shame than has been the lot of any follower of His. Is not this, indeed, the crowning glory of our humanity, the very essence of our religion, that there is in our nature a something or a somewhat that impels us to give ourselves to the work of help- ing and saving our fellow-men without raising the question as to personal reward, or whether saviour or the saved is intrinsically the more worthy? Should we not rather rejoice that there always have been and still are to be found men and women who A MISSIONARY HERO—DAVID A. DAY, D. D. 269 are ready, gladly and joyfully, to take their lives in their hands and go to the ends of the earth in an- swer to the Master’s call—men and women who seem not to have the least trace of the materialistic spirit in them? This heroic spirit of self-sacrifice, I say, is the crowning glory of our humanity. Our pioneer forefathers, who cleared the forests and fought the battles that made this land the greatest nation on the face of the globe, endured indescribable hard- ships and thousands yielded up their lives in the struggle, but they have left us a rich and royal leg- acy. Hundreds of thousands of men left mothers and wives and sweethearts and faced the deadly cannon that this Union of States might stand as one nation: and though they went out from home knowing full well that tens of thousands of them would not return alive, still they went; and those same mothers and wives and sweethearts would have been ashamed of their sons and husbands and lovers if they had refused to go. In the presence of such devotion and sacrifice shall the soldier of Jesus Christ show less heroism? And shall the Church of the living God exhibit less interest in the men and women whom she sends to the field, or accord to them a less hearty and generous support? St. Francis Xavier said, “If the lands of the savages had scented woods and mines of gold, Christians would have courage to go there, nor 270 FOREIGN MISSIONS. would the perils of the world prevent them. Shall love be less hearty and generous than avarice?” Of all others, it seems to me, we of the Lutheran Church should be the very last to show a lack of courage in carrying on this work. Of all others we should not be found wanting in bone and sinew, in moral grit and iron in the blood—we who have our ecclesiastical descent from the indomitable, much-enduring, storm-braving hero of the Reforma- tion days. Such an one was our brother who so courageously stood at his post and endured to the end. Such, too, was his helpmate who preceded him to the celestial world. Only a short time before her passage hence, she, with undaunted faith and Spartan courage, so weak she could hardly wield her pen, wrote to him standing like the hero he was in his place at the front, “Do not come home. Stay where you are. Africa needs you more than I do.” Taking all the circumstances into consideration, did ever mortal lips give utterance to braver and more heroic words —words that sounded the very depth of a self- sacrificing and heroic devotion to the Master’s cause? Of like spirit and character also are the words which, at one time, were thought to be the last ut- terance of Dr. Day. “Close up the ranks—more men wanted—close up.” These utterances are worthy of being engraved not simply on the marble A MISSIONARY HERO—DAVID A. DAY, D.D. 271 tomb that marks their last resting place, but on the living, pulsating, consecrated heart of the Church which they loved and served so well. One word more and I am done. What is the secret of such a life? What molding influence, what shaping hand, what transforming power wrought this miracle? Who was it that took the poor, homeless, ragged, barefoot boy, crying himself to sleep under a horse blanket on his bed of straw in a stall of a livery stable here in Harrisburg, and set him high up on a pedestal of loving hearts as the recognized missionary hero of our church? Only He, by His saving grace and renewing power, could work such a miracle who Himself was born in a stable and cradled in a manger. CHURCH EXTENSION I HISTORICAL SKETCH CHURCH EXTENSION. HISTORY OF THE BOARD OF CHURCH EXTENSION. H. H. WEBER, D.D. The Church Extension movement, like every other great enterprise, had a very small beginning. If encouragement had not come from God’s word not to “despise the day of small things,’ the cause might have been dropped in despair. We know that the best and the greatest achievements in the world have been wrought out through agencies of the humblest sort. Men of renown, of commanding in- fluence and of brilliant talents, have risen up from a low-down scale of life. Three hundred years ago an infant republic set its feet on Plymouth Rock, amid the most dismal surroundings and uncertain future; but that same infant has stepped across the continent, and now, in the pride of manhood, takes in a commonwealth of States. The small immigrant family circle of that day now counts an empire of nearly one hundred million people. It is so in other things as in men and nations. (275) 276 CHURCH EXTENSION. Nothing great is born great. The Church of Christ itself is an illustration. So are the institutions of the Church. Her educational and benevolent organ- izations, in all ages, have grown up from small be- ginnings. The grain of mustard seed applies to other developing forces than the kingdom of heaven. Perhaps no organization in the General Synod had so small a beginning and such a constant struggle to secure support as our Church Extension work. It came into life at the meeting of the Gen- eral Synod at Winchester, Va., in May, 1853. At a meeting, held at Frederick, Md., a few days prior, composed of ministers and laymen of the Church, to discuss the question of inaugurating a Church Ex- tension movement, it was resolved that such a meas- ure was of vital importance to the growing interests of the Church. The Home Missionary Society in Baltimore felt the necessity of such an auxiliary to give strength and permanency to the missions of the Church. And the appeals from all parts of the country for aid in church building were so loud and urgent that the convention framed a constitution and by-laws, which were reported to the Synod for its consideration. The action of the convention was approved, and the constitution and by-laws adopted, and a Church Extension Society formally organized. The organization now had a name, and it was HISTORICAL SKETCH. any given a local habitation, too, but that was all. The scheme proposed a fund of $50,000 to be raised in the churches of the General Synod. From this fund loans were to be made to deserving congregations, for a few years, without interest, and then be re- turned to the Treasurer of the society for reap- propriation. In this early and inexperienced opera- tion of the funds for this cause, it was thought the $50,000 was a large and adequate sum to meet all the necessities of the work. But it did not, and the $50,000 was never raised—no, never as the con- stitution required. The operations of the society were necessarily limited to the amount of funds in the treasury. Only $4,356 was contributed by the churches in two succeeding years, and no appropriations made. But at Dayton, in 1855, the General Synod instructed the Executive Committee to appropriate the funds in the hands of the Treasurer to responsible Luth- eran congregations at six per cent. interest. Two years later, in 1857, at Reading, the society reported total receipts $9,559, and appropriations, in com- pliance with the instructions of the General Synod. to the amount of $7,721 to sixteen congregations. It may be considered a trifling work of four years, but it was a beginning, and no better work was ever done in this line under the circumstances. The Executive Committee was composed of good and popular business men and faithful stewards of the 278 CHURCH EXTENSION. Lord, and men who gave character to the Church Extension movement by their judicious management of its affairs. And looking back to the early be- ginning of this work, when all was new and untried, and seeing to what reach of importance it has at- tained, we need to lay a tribute of grateful recog- nition of the faithful and efficient services of these men who laid the foundation so well. We owe much to these men for their labors. In 1869, at the Washington meeting of the Gen- eral Synod, the work of Church Extension was committed to a Board appointed by that body, to whom were transferred the records, papers, assets and interests, and the society dissolved. This opened a new era in the history of Church Exten- sion work. The objects and general outlines of the case did not change, but the management was changed. During sixteen years of the society’s operations, the ground-work of Church Extension was substan- tially laid. The nature and needs of the cause were made known to the Church. Appeals and collections and donations had, up to this time, amounted to $12,680, covering only a small portion of the $50,- 000 proposed at the organization of the society. The Board, in beginning the discharge of the duties imposed, experienced difficulties and embar- rassments no less than the former Executive Com- mittee did. Two thousand dollars were the avail- HISTORICAL SKETCH. 279 able funds, from which appropriations were to be made. Thirty-two beneficiaries were bequeathed by the ex-committee, aggregating loans to the amount of over $10,000; some due at that time and some not yet due, and some of these loans are unpaid to this day. No apportionment among the churches for this branch of benevolence. No secretary to canvass the synods and congregations. No synod- ical enactments to give the Church Extension cause a front seat in its sympathies and deliberations. The Boards from time to time pressed the claims of Church Extension for recognition equal to Foreign Missions and Home Missions and the Publication Society, and to hold anniversary exercises at the meetings of General Synod. This was finally granted, and the first Church Extension anniversary exercise was held in 1881, at Altoona. And not un- til 1877, at the meeting at Carthage, was there a regular apportionment made for the Church Ex- tension treasury. This Board had no secretary until 1883. Up to that time the only clerical service was given by the Secretary of the Home Mission Board—the two Boards then being composed of the same members; and in consequence a great amount of labor was imposed upon the members of the Boards. But the work was done, and the interest increased, and the contributions increased, and God smiled upon the cause. From this small beginning a great and com- 280 CHURCH EXTENSION. manding benevolent institution has grown, and stands abreast with the other benevolent agencies of the Church. The first secretary to give his whole time to the work of Church Extension was the late Rev. Dr. James W. Richard. He served the Board from 1883 to 1885. From 1885 to 1889, Rev. Joseph Clark Zimmerman, D.D., of blessed memory, was the Secretary. Rev. John N. Lenker, D.D., was Field Secretary from 1888 to 1894, and Rev. H. L. Yar- ger, D.D., has held that position since 1895. The present General Secretary, H. H. Weber, D.D., has been with the Board since 1889. The assets now amount to nearly $700,000, and receipts for the past biennium will show the sum of $200,000. II CHURCH EXTENSION AND CHURCH DEVELOPMENT CHURCH EXTENSION AND CHURCH DEVELOPMENT. W. S. FREAS, D.D. Forty years of growth and development in the Lord’s work is worth rejoicing over. A spirit of gratulation and thanksgiving is not only quite par- donable at this time, but the absence of this note of triumph would argue both blindness and ingrati- tude to Almighty God for the great things He hath done for us and concerning which we have a right to be glad. The best thing I can say of our Church Exten- sion Board is that its aid is an indispensable neces- sity for carrying on the Lord’s work and establish- ing His kingdom in our own land. The realization of this fact is what impelled the fathers to organize this and the other Boards in 1869. The Home Mis- sion propaganda was dependent for its success and crown upon the supplementary work of this agency which provides the home in which the young con- gregations formed are to gather. Without the church building, the beautiful house of the Lord, the achieve- ments over which we rejoice to-day would have been impossible; yea, none of the other agencies which have since grown so successful and strong, (283) 284 CHURCH EXTENSION. such as Education, Orphans’ Homes, Homes for the Aged, our Publication interests, could have reached respectable influence and power, for the congrega- tion is the unit of efficiency and strength, the point of departure, the source of the river of power now flowing so steadily and triumphantly onward through our land. And in the congregation the interests of this Board, as well as those of the Home Mission Board, must center. The success of our whole Church depends on the success of our con- gregations, and, lacking a suitable house of wor- ship, what is the weak, young congregation, but a little flock of sheep under the pitiless sky, with the night approaching and surrounded by devouring wolves? For progress made and results achieved I by no means arrogate to this one Board credit or praise. If credit is due, it is to the whole awakened Church. In all His work the Great Head of the Church knows on whom to bestow honor, and in due season all the faithful shall reap if they faint not. But it is surely now in place to show the influ- ence of the Board of Church Extension on the de- velopment of our beloved Lutheran Zion and the humble part it has had in the present influence and assured strength of our General Synod. The home work has two parts: first, the organization and bringing to self-support of the mission congrega- tions; and, secondly, the erection of the house of CHURCH DEVELOPMENT. 285 God in which they may gather for the work and wor- ship of the Most High, and by means of which self- support may be the sooner realized. Notice, then, that— I. Successful mission work can be done only when the house of God is provided for the little flock. This proposition seems self-evident. This neces- sity in the early church compelled resort to caves and deserted quarries and the burial places of the dead as safe retreats for worship, when, driven from the temple courts and synagogues, the people of Christ met together to hear the word and cele- brate the sacraments. Church buildings were pro- vided, and God’s people were forced to provide them, from the instinct of self-perpetuation and self- preservation. The inadequacy and comparative failure of the old Home Missionary Society shows this. It was lacking and unsatisfactory, not because the men who conducted its affairs were not thor- oughly consecrated and able men, for the new Boards formed were composed largely of the same material as formed the Executive Committees of the societies. One cause for their embarrassment was that provision to help the newly-formed mis- sions to churches was so lamentably inadequate. No! it must be acknowledged there was a deeper reason than that. It was the lack of intelligence, knowledge, real information, and the consequent 286 CHURCH EXTENSION. lack of interest. Teach our people the need, make them thoroughly understand the requirements of the situation and their consequent responsibility, and they will always answer, as they are now begin- ning everywhere to answer along the whole line of church development and progress. And one of the first things the newly created Boards set about to do was to scatter information broadcast, to tell the Church of the desperate need until their ears rang and their hearts were stirred, and then, after the rock was smitten, the waters began to flow and have been flowing ever since, all along the rejoicing march of the Church. The actual success of the work since the creation of the Boards demonstrates the necessity of church building help for the missions organized. There is no trouble to organize missions. The Home Board could to-day organize a thousand if they had the men and means, but such work is limited by the power of the Church to house and bring to speedy self-support the missions founded. A few figures will set forth better than many words the growth of the work consequent upon the creation of this and the other two Boards. In 1869, in York, Pa., there were but four churches; by Church Extension aid, of course, supplementing Home Mission help, there are now twelve, and the membership has in- creased more than fivefold. Philadelphia had then three churches and now there are fifteen there. New CHURCH DEVELOPMENT. 287 York then had two, now has eighteen; Baltimore five, now twenty-one. Chicago then was without a single church of the General Synod, and now there are ten in that great city. West Virginia was then an undiscovered field, and now has sixteen churches. The whole West, comprising the Synods of Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, German Nebraska, Rocky Moun- tain and California, then was largely fallow ground, virgin prairie, and now is filled with hundreds of churches since organized and brought to self-sup- port, and the work still goes grandly forward. The Board of Church Extension in these forty years has aided no less than seven hundred congregations, nearly all missions, to secure their own church homes. Who can think of the fine churches point- ing their spires and towers like steadfast fingers toward heaven, such as those in San Francisco, Omaha, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, and a hundred other places aided by this Board, without feeling within a thrill of justifiable pride, over the visible and tangible success granted us, in spite of our shortcomings, by our gracious Lord? II. Our present confidence and aggressive spirit as a General Synod are largely the product of this work. Follow the trail of light left by our first Secreta- ries in their hard and self-denying work, as they speeded from place to place, amid many hardships 288 CHURCH EXTENSION. and pitiful self-denials, through the Church. Who can forget Barnitz, loyal soul; and Zimmerman, clear, clean cut, frank and honest, as the light began to grow brighter; or that other godly and trans- parently sincere servant of the King, Goodlin, as they pleaded with synods, fired the young, awakened churches and pressed on the universal attention the crying need, the appalling destitution, the golden op- portunities fast fleeting and white harvests leit all unreaped ? Now the Church is full of hope. Whole sections are on fire with missionary zeal. Witness Pitts- burgh, where the very air is charged with intense earnestness and tonic with moral power, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and other fields. The young pastors who are taking charge to-day start with the confidence and prestige of success; they have a heritage of faith and its achievements to spur them on. There has not been a single mission or- ganized for many years without the hearty co-op- eration and practical counsel of this Board in secur- ing for itself a church home, and the whole field is dotted from New England to San Francisco and from Virginia to Canada with the beautiful sanctu- aries erected and made possible by the splendid sup- port given throughout the Church to this blessed agency of help. Who would have dared, forty years ago, to have undertaken the raising of $25,000, even in two CHURCH DEVELOPMENT. 289 years, for this cause? We might almost say it would have been a practical impossibility, an en- thusiastic dream. Now, every year, the children of the Sunday school give $25,000 and more for Church Extension, and I know of one class in one Sunday school that gives every year a thou- sand dollars to help build churches for the needy. The churches reported aided in 1869 were four and $1800 was the whole amount of help distributed ; in 1907, two hundred and eighty appropriations were reported to the General Synod and for the biennium then closed $175,000 was loaned and do- nated. The $10,000 invested at the beginning of this period was to the fathers a very liberal sum and felt to meet the needs of the situation; now $100,- ooo is not considered as nearly so large or adequate to requirements. The causes of all this are threefold: organization, system, superintendence. Unorganized strength is but weakness; sometimes even worse, for it invites attack. When men are thoroughly aroused and their fighting blood is up, they do not spread the hand and open the fingers in appeal, but double up the fist as a solid and effective weapon and both give and take blows. Our scattered energies were the hand with the fingers spread; each Board is now the doubled fist, and with it they are striking mighty blows at the kingdom of Satan. The Church has 19 290 CHURCH EXTENSION. learned the power of concentration, how to organize its resources and wield them as one for results. The system of gathering and dispensing the funds has grown up slowly, and experience as well as sanctified common sense and business acumen have been our teachers. Our means are not now dis- sipated by ill-considered aid, prompted by sentiment or enthusiasm, but careful investigation and skill- ful analysis of the situation precedes and controls appropriations. All this enables us to say that no worthy undertaking need go without timely and necessary help, and the Church, by her large and in- creasing support of this work, has given the mandate for enlargement and progress throughout our whole field. But above all, I must say, the skillful and capable superintendence of those in charge of the work has inspired in all parts of the field a hopefulness and aggressiveness of which the fathers never knew. Indeed, with the appointment of our Secretaries for the Boards, the enlargement, rapid development and success of our General Synod really begins; and I for one would, on this happy anniversary occasion, like to lay on the brow of each of the splendid men now serving the Boards, and to whom we owe so much, an ivy crown signalizing achievement and victory. Throughout our General Synod there is a sense of security, a spirit of confidence regarding anything we undertake, because it is known that, CHURCH DEVELOPMENT. 291 wherever organized, there is behind the weakest flock, a strong and experienced agency to which young churches may appeal and do appeal for the support which will not fail them and which spells success. III. Our liberality, numbers and growing power as a Church are the fruit of the creation of the Boards. We have long passed the day of small things. A sense of the wideness of our field now possesses us and inspires to mighty effort; the possibilities of the future fire with the purpose to make them realities, to reap our harvests and enter into possession of our rightful heritage. Our congregations are now twice as many as at the beginning, but the growth of the congregations themselves in numbers, intelligence and efficiency has been much more remarkable. Our ministerial supply has doubled in numbers and more. Our com- municants have multiplied threefold, and the little more than 90,000 members are grown into a host of 280,000 souls. In the period of time we are considering our an- nual benevolence has increased from $80,000 to $726,000, or nearly a tenfold advance. One city now, like York, Harrisburg or Baltimore, gives as much for benevolent objects as the whole General Synod did then altogether. Whilst in 1868 we appropriated $1800 to Church 292 CHURCH EXTENSION. Extension work, this biennium now closing we ap- propriate $200,000. When we began we had assets handed us of $10,000, mostly in worthless notes, now our assets sum up the immense sum of $700,000. Instead of the $50,000, which figure the church then set as the goal to be reached for Church Ex- tension, and which never was reached under the old system, one-fifth of that amount alone being real- ized—we have under modern methods and condi- tions raised, during the period whose completion we now celebrate, the great sum of $1,500,000. But in our felicitation we must not forget the credit due the toilers who have gone before to re- ceive the promised crown. When we compare our present confidence with the timidity and fear of the early days it is with no spirit of contempt of them or desire to belittle what they have done, but, on the contrary, to give due honor to the fathers who labored without a tithe of the encouragements God has given us and who rarely felt the thrill of as- surance and sense of power that now fire us as we carry to grand accomplishment the plans they formed. We have built on the foundations they laid. What I personally am and have been enabled to do of good has been owing to the humble, godly man I called father, who sacrificed so cheerfully and en- dured so patiently the limitations of his lot that his son might enter well equipped upon the larger things of which he longingly dreamed. In our Church Ex- CHURCH DEVELOPMENT. 293 tension work some names must always be held in honor. Lochman, Baum, Lilly, Smyser, Emmet, Gotwald, Goodlin, Zimmerman, Richard, are still with us in spirit and sympathize with our joy. The tale we tell is one whose hope often made their heart-beats quicken and cheeks glow in anticipation. Thank God for His great work, for the joy of serv- ice and the certainty of His ‘‘Well done,” when the evening comes. Ill OUR COMMANDER AND COMMISSION OUR COMMANDER AND COMMISSION. W. E, STAHLER, D.D. It is more than nice to have a part in this great celebration—and especially to stand here in the place so long and so greatly honored by. our beloved Dr. Gilbert—and here, where he is so surely with us in spirit—here where the aroma of his sweet character and his saintly life and his splendid service steals upon every one of us—here where his revered voice, were he still in the body, would add force to the message we are molding, and his honored hand would lend safe guidance to the larger service we are shaping—here to greet you and to speak a few words of counsel, however feeble and faltering, and to have some little part in the gladsome retrospects and the glowing prospects of this notable occasion. We have just heard the eloquent representatives of the Foreign Board and the Home Board, and now I come before you in the name of the Board of Church Extension; but yet we all represent one work. I must not over-emphasize mine, to the dis- paragement of theirs—nor they theirs, to the minimizing of mine. Nay, let us be wary even how we bandy these possessive pronouns, and not think so much in terms of mine and thine, as of OURS. (297) 298 CHURCH EXTENSION. For, manifestly, we are all the servants of one Master; all of us the representatives of one work; all the agents of one commission—even that great commission of the risen Lord, which glorifies these post-Easter days and which embraces in one com- rade-band all His witness-workers, who obey its bidding to girdle the globe with the preaching of the gospel, withholding neither voice nor hand until all the kingdoms of the wide world have become the one world-wide kingdom of the living Christ. My Board is only one of the agencies for the execution of this imperative commission. . . . In motive, in aim, in responsibility, and in ultimate outcome we are all linked together in a fellowship of work and hope, which man did not fashion and which men dare not frustrate... . All, therefore, have equal claim upon our sympathy and support, and we can- not discriminate against one or the other without disloyalty to our commission and disobedience to our Commander. And there, my friends, there is the point on which to lay the finger of emphasis, in all our appeals for this work and for helpers in it. You can marshal your arguments on the basis of love and charity, of humanity and patriotism, of commerce and civiliza- tion, of education and emancipation, but these all fall short of the end sought and leave the hearts and wills of men uncaptured, until you ground them upon the one thing that is fundamental and final— OUR COMMANDER AND COMMISSION. 299 the authority of our Lord—the abiding, compelling, all dominating Lordship of Him who says, “Ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth—Go ye into all the world and make disciples of all nations.” Oh! what a difference there would be in the Church’s attitude toward the evan- gelization of the world, if the Lordship of Jesus Christ had that dominant place in her faith and that compelling force in her aims and her work which it ought to have—if His plain and imperative “Go ye” were sufficient nowadays, as they were in those first years, to make disciple and missionary synonymous words. Campbell Morgan, in one of his Atlanta addresses, said that the evangel pro- claims first of all the Lordship of Christ. “If any- one ask me, ‘Is it not true that our first business is to preach the cross of Christ?’ JI answer no! I do not think so. I believe that the first note of the true evangelism is that of announcing to men the Lordship of Christ. That was the apostolic method... . “Confronting, as they did, unbelief and skepticism and curiosity and surging sorrow and binding sin and masterful passion and everything else, Peter and Paul cried to men, ‘Jesus is Lord!’ That was the first note of the evangel, as it still must be. We, therefore, have to confront this age and say to it, ‘There is one king, one Lord, one Master, one seat 300 CHURCH EXTENSION. of authority, one tribunal to which men may make their appeal, One who upholds in His hands the even balance of Justice, from whose verdict there can be no appeal, and who is at this moment THE Lorp, Jesus Christ.” .. . There is the one irresistible plea for the more speedy and successful accomplishment of our three- fold task—the one compelling impulse for enlisting the hearts of men in the work beyond the seas; for winning deeper sympathy and larger support in the work of evangelizing our own dear land; and for securing a truer appreciation and more generous co-operation in the work of providing chapels and churches for our infant congregations—in which they may reach their manhood with the least delay and to the best advantage; and from which may issue to the masses round about voices that will sweetly echo to them the voice divine, and streams of loving helpfulness that will carry out to other still waste places the same gracious gifts that have helped them to blossom and bear fruit in the garden of grace. There are a score of good reasons why you and all our people should give steady and generous sup- port to this Church Erection Board of ours; but, to my mind, they must all give place to the Lordship of Jesus Christ—to the supreme authority of Him who, committing His work to the hands of His followers, bade them run the lines of His kingdom OUR COMMANDER AND COMMISSION. 301 out to the very ends of the earth, beginning, how- ever, at Jerusalem, and thus witnessing for Him at home and abroad. Here are our “Jerusalem and all Judea,” and it is an essential part of our witnessing for Him, here in the homeland, when we help erect the churches which help win this land for the gospel and the gospel’s Christ—the churches whose countless spires are so many fingers directing the nation’s gaze aloft and reminding this proud and prosperous peo- ple that, republic though we are, we, too, have a King, even the King of kings and Lord of lords, whose throne is in the heavens and whose kingdom ruleth over us and all—the churches which, every- where and always, stand for the kingdom of God and His righteousness, in every corner fostering the forces that make for goodness and that bring con- fusion upon every foe of the Bible, the Church, the Sabbath day, the family and good government— the one institution in the land that has no other aim than to speed on the day when, side by side with the gospel of liberty, all her people will place the “elorious gospel of Jesus Christ,” hailing these two as the twin keystones in the arch of our national greatness and welfare. He does a good thing who builds libraries here and there, and thus opens avenues of intellectual pleasure and profit to many otherwise excluded from them. He does a better thing who founds a home 302 CHURCH EXTENSION. for the orphaned, where love leads the fatherless child up to the days and the ways of self-help; or an asylum for the afflicted, where the gentle hands of trained ministry restore to health and strength, or smooth the pillow of weary suffering. A still better work is his who generously endows a school or college, and thus opens the door of large and varied opportunity to a host of young men and women, who else could but have dreamed about it. But he does best of all who builds a chapel or church—God’s lighthouse—lifting warning flash and helpful gleam above the sunken reefs and hid- den shoals, the fatal currents and storm-tossed waves of the national sea, guiding the good ship of state into the tranquil waters of safety and serenity. In- herently better than all others and better in its tem- poral and eternal issues, is the work of him who builds the house of God, where His gospel will be proclaimed and His sacraments administered— where the children will be gathered in from high- way and byway, to be shown the way of life—where young and old will be safeguarded by influences and agencies that make for individual welfare, for com- munity uplift and for national righteousness—the one agency in all the land which, in season and out of season, by work and prayer and gift, trains the people to speed on the day when, from ocean to ocean, and from lake to gulf, the banner of the King of kings shall float side by side with the stars OUR COMMANDER AND COMMISSION. 303 and stripes, righteousness being the sure foundation of our institutions and the crowning glory of our liberty. And to everyone not blessed of God with ability to erect church or chapel by himself alone—as many a saint of God has done—but yet blessed with some ability for this work—to every such one comes this Board of Church Extension, offering multiplied op- portunity for finding helpful place and part in this work. By varied funds and by manifold variety of plan and method, it offers to every grade of financial ability the blessed privilege, by co-operation in its labors, of obedience to our great commission—that commission forevermore imperative by the demon- strated Lordship and unquestionable by the manifest authority of One risen from the dead, ascended unto heaven and divinely attested by the promised Spirit of truth and power. The Lordship is His, fellow-christians, and the obedience must be ours. Nothing else will avail without that. All in vain the visions and ecstasies, the revelations and inspirations, the soaring emotions and the eloquent jubilates of this high mount of privilege, if they do not send you and me back to the valleys with our wills surrendered to His will, whose glory it was to say: “Lo! O God, I come to do Thy will!’ . . . “Out of that root dutiful grows the life beautiful—the life radically and radiantly true to God—the only life that can be lived in both worlds.” IV THE RELATION OF CHURCH EXTENSION TO HOME MISSIONS THE RELATION OF CHURCH EXTENSION TO HOME MISSIONS. J. M. FRANCIS, D.D. The story of Church Extension and Home Mis- sions is the story of the triumph and expansion of Lutheranism in this country for more than forty years. So closely and intimately related have been these Boards that it is impossible to speak of the one without implying the other. Together they have gone into the States and Territories of the great West, into the hundreds of towns and cities that have been developed. Their influence has been felt in the institutions of learning which have been established and into the Synods that have been formed. They have given help toward keeping the home life pure, to the training of children, and a thousand and one things that can never be put down in dollars and cents or enumer- ated, have been accomplished and inspired through the help and influence of these strong arms of the Church. We have been astonished as we study the splendid work of these Boards that so much has been ac- complished and so well done with such limited means at their disposal. The careful management by which (307) 308 CHURCH EXTENSION. the funds of our church have been administered re- flects great and lasting credit upon the faithful mem- bers of the Boards who have given their valuable time and free services, and still more upon the ability and fidelity of its executive officers. In looking up the history of these Boards, I find that Home Missions is the first in the order of time, and therefore deserves rightful recognition and pre- eminence. No one can say she has not lived up to the full measure of her exalted privileges and her splendid opportunities in planting our church throughout this wonderful land and claiming for God the magnificent heritage He has given us. But side by side with this noble work of Home Missions is the splendid record of the Board of Church Extension. Perhaps it may not be too much to say that no work for Lutheranism appeals more to the business man and has been more valuable or popular than that of Church Extension. It has been a large factor in making our work in this country permanent. To the many appeals that came from our great centers of commercial and political life the Board has gladly responded, and has shared in the erection of chapels that have prepared the way for some of our now largest and strongest churches. Church Extension has aided in the East to strengthen the things that remain, and in the West to drive the stakes that mark the advance of our Christian missionaries. It has helped to furnish THE RELATION TO HOME MISSIONS. 309 spiritual homes for our Lutheran people coming to us from beyond the seas and has enabled our chil- dren in their emigration westward to carry with them the house of God. Is it not true, that of the many congregations that within the past forty years God has permitted our church to organize, one-half would have failed for want of the comfort and the grace of spiritual homes in which to gather had not the Church in her wisdom inaugurated and sustained the work of the Board of Church Extension? In the proper expansion of our work, Church Ex- tension was found to be indispensable. This is shown by the very fact of the organization of the Board of Church Extension. If it had not been necessary, it would never have been organized. The very demand for church buildings and the necessity of some supervision of this work were the apparent causes of the establishment of this Board. It is now perfectly understood that no ground is truly won until the missionary has become the pas- tor, and the audience the church; and that this can be assured only when the appropriate and permanent church home is secured. With the message from the man must be found the place for the altar. Thus the work of Church Extension and the agencies for its promotion stand side by side with that of send- ing out the missionary and providing for his sup- port. Until this is secured his enterprise is preca- rious and must largely be an experiment. The first 310 CHURCH EXTENSION. care of every missionary of the cross has been to provide a gathering place for the flock as an external symbol of the presence of the Church of God. We may send out a thousand missionaries, but if they have no money to build a church they will never do much in a permanent establishment of the Church. This is easily seen by contrasting the relative progress of two missions, one with a permanent and satisfactory house of worship soon after its estab- lishment, and the other with no local habitation and only a name. Through the critical years of its life, the disappointing and embarrassing struggles of the latter have been found to be sufficient grounds for assisting every new congregation in securing a house of worship as soon as possible. The Board of Home Missions may send out a young man who may be talented, earnest, industrious, and be given a good support, but until he has a church building in which he may gather his people for worship, his task will be an up-hill work. Many a promising church enterprise has failed for want of such favor- able conditions. Until located and housed there is no sense of assurance of congregational stability. A good building is a strong bond of union. It is a standing advertisement and a constant appeal for recognition. Persons looking for a church home, especially in our cities, are powerfully drawn by the building in which the church is located. They want the church as well as the preacher. THE RELATION TO HOME MISSIONS. 311 It is true, as another has said, that the good peo- ple of a mission may piously gather in a hall or an empty store-room, and, like the patriarch of old, find a Bethel there with ascending and descending angels testifying to the nearness of heaven and earth, but even Jacob found it a stony pillow and escaped from it as rapidly as possible. God’s Spirit is not confined to consecrated walls or sacred shrines —that is true—but a man’s spirit needs every help that can be had. In a very real sense Church Extension conditions the success and progress of Home Missions. In other words, the two Boards, although independent organizations and apparently independent in their work, are so intimate in their relations that it is absolutely impossible for either to make any ex- tended progress without a corresponding advance on the part of the other. Home Missions cannot develop satisfactorily un- less properly supported by Church Extension, and Church Extension cannot move faster than the prog- ress of Home Missions requires. The multiplication of church buildings is entirely conditioned by the number of new organizations. Therefore, an inef- ficient administration of Home Missions simply blocks the advance of Church Extension, and, on the other hand, an inadequate support of Home Mis- sions by the Board of Church Extension simply de- lays the larger advance of Home Missions. 312 CHURCH EXTENSION. Neither of these Boards can advance without the other. They are entirely inter-dependent; that is, the rate of progress is determined entirely by the ad- vance of the least progressive. As in an army, the straggler determines the speed of the whole ad- vance. Therefore, in case one of these Boards should be embarrassed in its progress, it not only hinders the advance of its own work in the Church, but it blocks the way to greater progress on the part of the other. In this day of centralization and unification of independent trades, industries and commercial in- stitutions, a question is suggested, whether the con- solidation of the two might not be desirable and feasible. Has not the time come when a new departure is needed to form wider plans for the work of spread- ing the kingdom of Christ? The Church should no longer be afraid of doing something out of the or- dinary. The plans in operation at the present are wide compared with those held by the Church even in the recent past, but still they are narrow, too nar- row to be in harmony with the great purposes of Christ. It is said when the great Michael Angelo once went into his class-room to instruct his students, he came to the work of one that showed some excel- lence in the mere technique of execution, but was narrow and crowded in outline, and he wrote but THE RELATION TO HOME MISSIONS. 313 one word as his criticism, “Amplius,” wider. Is not that the word that the Lord is writing on the work of the Church to-day? “Wider, wider,’ should be our cry, as we form our plans for the work of the future. If the Church is to meet the changed conditions of the times, she must change her methods and pos- sibly add new methods. Has she not been a little slow to respond to the marked advancement of this age as to the methods and means of accomplishing her work? She should have been the first, as her work is the most important. If our way of doing our work now is not the wisest and best, let us be willing to try a change. All the methods of busi- ness and science have changed, but we seem inclined to move on in the same old way forever. Custom does not make law. The will of the Lord only makes Jaw, and it is a departure that the Church needs especially to make, to shake off the fear of man and to enter into the liberty wherewith the Son hath made us free. IT am moved to make this suggestion because of the letters received and opinions given by prominent laymen and ministers who feel that the time has come when the Home Mission and Church Exten- sion Boards should resolve into their true relations and be one as they were in the beginning. This would put us in the front rank with other denomina- tions, for mission work. “Since the union of our 314 CHURCH EXTENSION. Boards,” says the Presbyterian Board, “our work has gone steadily forward.” From the Methodist Church we are told, “Since the amalgamation of our Boards the triumph and expansion of Method- ism is assured.” So with the Reformed Church, and others. Why not the great Lutheran Church? In the amalgamation of our Boards, it is appar- ent to everyone, that there would be a saving to the cost of administration. Certainly no business house would conduct two establishments along the same line when one could do it, and the Church should be as wise. To urge upon our missions the need of economy and at the same time continue two Boards that could accomplish the same work, from a cen- tral point, is not fruitful of confidence or good results. One Board could direct the work of both far more intelligently and with a wiser discrimination than two Boards acting independently. This would avoid all confusion; and the matter of authority, for which both Boards are asking in the establishment of new work, would be fully adjusted. There would be unity of interest and no possible friction. I have nothing definite to suggest, but to show that it is feasible, let us suppose a Central Board of eleven members which might meet once a month. Let this Board consist of a Home Mission committee of five members and a like number as a Church Extension committee. These committees could have THE RELATION TO HOME MISSIONS. 315 the work of each department in hand. The territory could be districted and the Secretary appointed for a territory could represent both interests. The policy of such a Board of Home Missions and Church Extension could carefully scrutinize every investment of funds, and it would be cordially endorsed by every missionary on the field who would feel safe in the wise and brotherly hands of such a Central Board. As a usual thing these Boards help the same mis- sion—both the man and the church. A Central Board could prevent many local building commit- tees and trustees of our missions from going ahead and building often in utter disregard of business sense. Patriotic pride and denominational exuber- ance to build for posterity is right, but should have a reasonable limit. Many of our mission churches, by not having proper guidance and overreaching themselves, have mortgages on them out of all proportion to their cost. The missionary suffers. The church benevo- lences fall off. The congregation is paralyzed and the credit of the mission suffers in the community. This might not occur if we had a central board of control. Too often our missions are occupied with the question, ‘How can we raise our interest and reduce our indebtedness?” and often the missionary has to be the preacher, evangelist, money raiser, poor com- 316 CHURCH EXTENSION. mittee, mortgage pulverizer—anything under heaven but edifier of the saints and winner of souls. This is not rising to the level of our Master’s teaching. Our missionary activity as a church must not falter. Is it not time to awake to the spirit of the age in which she lives and the vigorous and expan- sive work to which God in His providence is calling us? The hand of the Master is pointing onward. His voice is ever saying, “Forward!” V THE WORK IN OUR CITIES. THE WORK IN OUR CITIES. J. J. YOUNG, D.D. Our church cannot lay too much stress upon the vast significance of Church Extension in our cities, especially our larger cities. When we turn for a moment to those noble servants of the Lord, who laid the foundation of the Christian Church, we will find that they began in the large, or first-class cities. When Christ sent forth His followers, to make dis- ciples of all nations, He did not allow them to begin where they pleased ; no, He did not even permit them to follow the common rule known as “Charity be- gins at home,” but He ordered them to begin in the capital city of the nation, instead of their Gali- lean homes. A careful reader of the Acts of the Apostles will soon notice how the great cities of the Roman Empire were picked out as centers for the propagation of Christianity. This is, beyond all doubt, the most reasonable, successful and Scriptural way of extending the Christian Church. It is highly probable that there are many people in our churches, as well as out of our churches, who have no adequate conception of the relation of our larger cities, such as New York, Chicago, Phila- delphia, St. Louis, Boston and Baltimore, to our (319) 320 CHURCH EXTENSION. country. Let us, as members of the great Evangeli- cal Lutheran Church and as citizens of the fairest country upon this globe, remember that cities play the most important part in the history of nations. Cities made and ruined the great and mighty Roman Empire. From remote ages the destinies of nations depended upon their large cities. This being so, it behooves us, both as Christians and citizens, to take this undeniable fact to heart, be on our guard, and do all in our power to keep our cities as pure as pos- sible. If we suffer them to become hotbeds of cor- ruption they will send forth germs that will be more destructive than the white plague or Asiatic cholera. As Christians and citizens we cannot be too much concerned about the moral welfare and the religious condition of our cities. Look, for instance, at Greater New York. Here you find a vast collection of heterogeneous forces. Whilst it is highly probable that we have in New York City the very best that civilization can afford, it 1s also highly probable that we find there the worst elements of barbaric remains. At the present time we have not only tides of immigration pour- ing into our city from almost every nation upon earth, but we have also many coming to us from our own rural districts. Among those from our own country you will find sons, and also daughters, from our own dear Lutheran Church. Some for- sake the safe and healthy rural home to enjoy the THE WORK IN OUR CITIES. 3al vanities and frivolities of a city life; others, to amass immense fortune. It is highly probable that the latter may attract more than the former. There are people to-day who seem to think that time and eternity depend upon wealth, and wealth alone. They become so devoted to it that they fear, love and trust in it above everything else. It is the latter that makes our cities centers of wealth, as well as population. This is evident from the fact that since 1850, at which time one-half of the wealth of the United States was rural, the rural wealth has in- creased but fourfold, whilst the wealth of our cities has increased sixteenfold. There are people who describe the life of our large cities as “progress” and ‘‘advancement,” and they do not hesitate to set it forth in the most glow- ing and captivating pictures. Others are not quite so jubilant; they look upon it as demoralizing and degrading. Whilst this latter view may be con- sidered somewhat pessimistic, there is nevertheless much truth in it. There is, beyond all doubt, a strong downward tendency which must be coun- teracted and stemmed. Some seem to be under the impression that this can be accomplished through ethical culture; others through independent mis- sionary activities, and still others, through evangel- istic campaigns. Though there are quite a number of people in our country who have imbibed this view, we, nevertheless, believe that so long as the 21 322 CHURCH EXTENSION. unchurched in our cities are not brought into com- munion with the old established churches, or are organized into new congregations, that long will they be swept along with the downward tendency and become a menace to our city life and to the wel- fare of our country. The services of God’s house, and the divinely-appointed means of grace dispensed there, are just as necessary for the salvation of man to-day as they were at the time when the Lord insti- tuted the same. When we look a little closer at the inhabitants of our larger cities we will find that a goodly number belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Thou- sands of them are unchurched, however, and it is our duty to look after them, and where they cannot be gathered into the old churches new ones must be erected for them. Many of these unchurched Lutherans are born in this country, and are just the very material we need to establish strong English- speaking congregations. Others have come, and many are still coming, from Lutheran countries of Europe. The fact that Lutheran services are con- ducted in ten different languages in New York, and in thirteen different languages in Chicago, shows that there must be a large Lutheran population in these two cities. This foreign element is the basis of our supply, which in richness, soundness and inex- haustibleness far surpasses that of any other church in this country. These must be churched by us. THE WORK IN OUR CITIES. 323 In locating a church in a large city the houses, from which the material for the congregation to be organized is to be drawn, dare not be overlooked. Whilst civilized people generally live in houses, there is, nevertheless, considerable difference in the houses they occupy. This is just as true of large cities as it is of towns and rural districts. The dwell- ings of a large city, such as New York, for instance, may be divided into tenement houses, flats, apart- ment houses and private dwellings. The first are occupied by the masses, the second by the middle class, the third by the classes, or those who consider themselves to belong to the classes, and the fourth by the middle classes, classes and millionaires. The private houses are generally on the outskirts of the city. In the latter dwellings the owners may be found. Few people, however, live in their own dwellings in New York City, except those who live in what are known as private houses. These private houses are, however, not very numerous in New York. The fact that the people are thus housed shows that they are only renters, who are here to- day and somewhere else to-morrow. Hence a por- tion of the city inhabited by white people to-day may, in the near future, be occupied by colored people; a German neighborhood may, in a few years, be inhabited by Italians, and a Christian community may, in a short time, be turned into a Hebrew settle- ment. This may sound strange, but these are facts, 324 CHURCH EXTENSION. and facts must be taken into consideration in the location of new congregations and the building of churches. Our missionaries are generally young men, and these are doubtless the very best for such fields. Some of them may have been brought up in a city, but the majority may know very little about the present roving habits of our city population. Hence if the Board of Church Extension is called upon to assist a newly-organized congregation to a church home, great care should be exercised as to the loca- tion, size and value of the building, so that if in course of time the Lutherans now living in said dis- trict should be driven out, you may be enabled to dispose of said property without a sacrifice. This may sound somewhat strange, since there are per- sons who entertain the idea that our newly-built Lutheran churches ought to be representative churches. We are just as much in favor of putting up representative Lutheran churches as anyone else, providing the congregation is able to do it without the aid of the Board of Church Extension. Though our cities may fare no better than those of Egypt, Assyria and Babylonia, we still do not believe it to be the duty of our Board of Church Extension to as- sist in erecting buildings that would furnish to ar- cheological scholars of ages yet unborn material for their scientific investigation. The object of our Board is not to put up buildings that will partially, THE WORK IN OUR CITIES. 325 at least, survive the destructive process of ages, but only to assist in puting up churchly homes for the present need. The Board of Church Extension, with its present limited capital and many calls for assistance, ought not to be expected to help congregations in the erec- tion of costly buildings; but ought simply to help newly-organized congregations to a modest and churchly place of worship. The generations follow- ing may, and doubtless will, put up more substantial buildings than we are at present able to do. Sincé the traveling facilities play a very important part in the city life these must consequently not be overlooked in the location of a church building. The subways, elevated roads, and even the surface lines, must be taken into consideration. The former especially. A church ought to be so located as to be within easy reach of these lines of travel. Some of the very best people of your new congregations may in a very short time live far from their present church home. If they have been devoted workers in your church from the time of its organization, ant have become thoroughly attached to it, they will, if they can reach you either by subway or elevated road, not forsake you, but remain. Having called your attention to the care to be exercised in the location of church buildings, the peculiar condi- tions facing us in our large cities, especially New York, demand that something should be said 326 CHURCH EXTENSION. upon this subject. The renting of store-rooms will not do. The sooner the newly organized congregation gets out of the same the better it will be for it; and the less money it will cost your Board of Home Missions to support its pastor. We have, at present, numerous independent missions carried on in store-rooms, by persons who claim to be undenominational, and who seem to have very little use for creeds. Our larger cities, especially New York, are full of such spirits. They are lib- eral-minded, responsible to no one, and carry on their work as long as some individual supplies the needed funds, or those who attend can be persuaded to do so. These movements are being looked upon, by the very people we wish to reach, with suspicion, and you cannot blame them for doing so. Some of these independent spirits seem to have as little re- gard for established churches as they have for the creeds of the same. During the winter such a mis- sion was opened three doors from our church. The opening of an undenominational and unsectarian mission close to an old and an established church causes our people, and I think the community, to look upon it with suspicion. After two months the evangelist departed and the mission disappeared with him. Such work causes our Lutheran people— the very people we want to reach—to look with sus- picion upon missions conducted in stores. Hence THE WORK IN OUR CITIES. 327 our city missions should be assisted to a church as soon as possible. Do not confine your city missionary to a store- room any longer than is absolutely necessary. Pres- ent conditions demand the abandoning of the same with all haste. If you do, you will not only hinder the progress of that mission, and cause your mission- ary to become discouraged, but you will also greatly increase the expenses of the Board of Home Mis- sions. We know well enough that the Board of Church Extension must move cautiously, and that great care must be exercised in the investment of its funds; nevertheless, we believe that after the field has been carefully canvassed, recommended by the Synodical and local Home Mission and Church Ex- tension Committees, approved and accepted by the Home Mission Board and receives aid from the same, that that mission ought to be assisted to a church building without the least delay. We are aware of the fact that Church Extension in our large cities requires larger sums than Luth- erans have thus far been in the habit of giving. On Wednesday, April 14th, 1909, the Presbyterians of our city raised no less than $116,000.00 to carry on Church Extension Work in the Borough of Bronx, Greater New York. During the past year we or- ganized two congregations in that important part of our city. One of these, St. Thomas’, has received $2,000.00 from our Board of Church Extension; 328 CHURCH EXTENSION. the other, Church of Ascension, is still in a store- room and has up to this time received something towards the payment of its rent. Doubtless the Board realizes that $2,000.00 does not go very far in securing property in Greater New York. It looks almost like child’s play compared with the $116,- 000.00 of the Presbyterian Church. How we are going to compete with them is a question time only can solve; but it seems to us that newly-organized congregations, composed largely of laboring people, ought, in a city like New York, to receive a larger amount. In order that we may be enabled to carry on Church Extension work im our cities as we ought, our Board must be more liberally supported. The liberality of our people has, from the day the Board of Church Extension was organized to the present time, been clearly manifested. There has been a steady increase from $2,340.79 in the year 1869 to $175,492.79 in the year 1907. This shows liberal- ity; it proves increased liberality, and yet, to carry Church Extension in our larger cities as we ought, the Board must be even more liberally supported. Considering the past progress in liberality we have every reason to believe that it will be more liberally supported as soon as our people are a little more educated along this line of work. Our people are just as willing to give for the extension of the Lord’s kingdom as any other in our land. The impression THE WORK IN OUR CITIES. 329 made at times that our people are not as liberal as others is, according to our experience, a mistake. Whenever our people are enlightened, encouraged and given credit for what they do, they give liber- ally. As long as the members of our congregations do not know what is going on in our church; as long as they are not aware of the open door the Lord has set before us; as long as they are not brought face to face with the tremendous issues involved in the moral and religious welfare of the cities upon which the destiny of our country depends, that long will they remain indifferent upon this moment- ous question. When God began to prepare this earth, that was then waste and void, for the home of man, He did not begin by saying, “Let the earth bring forth”; neither did He say complainingly, ““Why don’t the earth bring forth?’ But He began by saying, “Let there be light.” Without light this earth would likely have remained in its waste and void condition, and its power to bring forth and sustain various forms of life and turn chaos into order and beauty would never have been revealed. Thus it is with our good people. Before we can look for offerings, liberal offerings, light must be diffused and wherever they are left in darkness they will remain waste and void in spite of the means they possess, and all our complaining cries, “Why don’t our peo- ple do it?” will amount to nothing. 330 CHURCH EXTENSION. That the great work God has intrusted to our church, especially in our large cities, must be made known to the people who are to support the same, is self-evident. How can we best acquaint our peo- ple with this work? By what means can we so enlighten them that they may clearly see the oppor- tunity this open door offers and the great respon- sibility connected therewith? Has our Lord Jesus Christ placed any means at our command through His Church, whereby this greatly desired end may be achieved? We firmly believe He has in the Luth- eran Church Work, issued monthly by our Lutheran Publication Society, 1424 Arch Street, Philadelphia. And this magazine, whose mission is to enlighten our whole church upon this very subject, is the “official publication of the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States of America,” and can be secured at the small sum of seventy-five cents a year. Here you will find every department of our church’s work so represented that you will not only receive the much-needed light, but you will also constantly be kept in touch with the same, and inspired to nobler deeds and larger benevolence for the Master’s work. Give the Luth- eran Church Work a chance to work and it will solve the question, ‘“Whence get the money to carry on Church Extension Work in our cities as we ought?” Yea, it will not only solve the financial difficulties of the Board of Church Extension, but of every other THE WORK IN OUR CITIES. Sar Board of our dear old General Synod. Brethren, help the Board of Publication to disseminate Luth- eran Church Work, and it will through the same put the Lutheran Church in a proper condition to work; render you the indispensable service you need to carry on Lutheran Church work, and help you in solving satisfactorily the perplexing financial prob- lems connected with Lutheran Church work. VI THE POSSIBILITIES OF OUR CHURCH EXTENSION WORK THE POSSIBILITIES OF OUR CHURCH EXTENSION WORK. THE SEVEN Lamps oF CHuRCH EXTENSION. EDWIN HEYL DELK, D.D. Mr. Ruskin has as title to one of his smaller books, “The Seven Lamps of Architecture.” In it he de- clares what he believes to be the fundamental prin- ciples of all noble building. As it is the purpose of this paper to present some of the basal facts upon which I believe the work of the Board of Church Extension must be builded, I venture to take a por- tion of Mr. Ruskin’s famous title and speak to you upon “The Seven Lamps of Church Extension.” I take it that every organization and group of men doing business for man or God has some policy and method of procedure based on a wide and in- structive experience. However indefinite and tenta- tive the policy of a municipal or Church Board may be in the earlier years of its operations, by the time of its fortieth anniversary it has either grown wise or hopelessly foolish. No doubt an outsider may consider the policy and procedure of such a Board unwise and arbitrary, but a like experience on the part of its critics would quickly justify the Board’s (335) 336 CHURCH EXTENSION. policy and procedure. Actions which, from the point of view of a mission-council, seem tantalizing denials, or strange expenditures, look very different when viewed from the bank account of the Board- room. It is with the purpose of trying to place the whole Church in a position to understand and sym- pathize with the principles governing this Board, that I venture to hold aloft ‘““The Seven Lamps of Church Extension.” The first lamp which throws light upon the situa- tion is the lamp of Self-Help. He is our best friend who withholds from us all needless aid and makes us put forth our own utmost strength in the accom- plishment of a desired end. Self-help is the best kind of help. Unfortunately, as soon as a group of men and women are desirous of building a church they think of calling upon some external body of men to help carry their proposed venture. Instead of sanely and bravely considering their own ability as a local congregation to wisely build and equip a little church or chapel of their own, they declare, “Tf the Board of Church Extension is not in business to loan or give us money for the building of our church what does it exist for?’ Well, the Board of Church Extension has another, if not higher, func- tion to perform than to pass out money on the call of groups of five and twenty men who would like to see a Lutheran chapel within easy walking dis- tance of their home. That function is the educative THE POSSIBILITIES OF OUR WORK. 337 function. What scores of incipient congregations need to learn is this—that the ground principle of Church Extension is that it is far better for a group of men and women seeking to build a church to de- pend upon themselves rather than to beg or borrow money from the Board. The congregations which are aided the longest are the weakest churches. The vital, aggressive churches are those which have been self-reliant and escaped from the nursing of the Board of Church Extension within five or ten years. I know how strong the temptation is for the nascent congregation to borrow quickly and too largely from the Board. The noble purpose we have at heart, the opportunity offered in many mission fields, the abso- lute necessity for a permanent place of worship, the beauty of surrounding churches, all conspire to make us lean hard and lean long on the Board, but I pray you who are in need of money for church erection, cultivate the spirit of self-reliance, for this is the first and most important lamp of Church Extension. The second lamp I wish to light is the Lamp of Restraint. Restraint in two directions is a crucial quality in the effective conduct of church building. Many congregations build too quickly and pay dearly for their precipitancy. We have inadequate and barbaric church structures all over these United States simply because of lack of restraint in time and taste. Protestantism has much to learn from the Roman Catholic Church in this matter of building. 22 338 CHURCH EXTENSION. When she builds, one sees first a plain structure of boards or corrugated iron on a well selected lot, but from the first it is unmistakably a church by reason of the symbol of the Christian faith fastened at the gable. The congregation is taught to worship in its plain structure until the time is ripe to commence a worthy church planned on large and imposing lines. Later we see the erection of a broad and solid base- ment, or one-story structure, built of stone or mod- ern manufactured material which will stand for a century. This is then roofed over with only the suggested first lines of future tower and sanctuary. In this wide flat structure the various departments and services of the congregation are housed, some- times for a decade. The people are wisely restrained, but all the while every member of the parish is being urged to give and sacrifice for the noble structure which is to rise upon the worthy base. The day finally comes when a higher flight is to be taken and within a few years the command- ing and beautiful structure rises awaiting only those interior decorative features which add esthetic and educational aid to the worship of Almighty God. In this age of rush and denominational competition it is a constant temptation to build for the immediate needs of a mission or a young congregation. To have surrounding congregations rush ahead and build cheap and choppy department churches is a menace to all worthy and noble church erection. THE POSSIBILITIES OF OUR WORK. 339 Let us cultivate the virtue of restraint. An influ- ential denomination should have here and there an imposing and beautiful church. Let us not go on forever building mediocre and perishable structures in order to “get ahead” of some neighboring group of half-cultured churchmen. The third lamp which needs placement is the Lamp of Fitness. By fitness I mean that the struct- ure which we call a church shall be a fit sanctuary for the indwelling of God. I am not hampered in my conception of a modern temple of worship by any attempt to repeat in spirit or forms the conception of the Old Testament or medizval cathedral. What I plead for is the recognition that a church is to be a symbol of the Divine Being. Whether it is to cost four thousand or four hundred thousand dollars, every church should have the mark upon it of a sanctuary where God meets man in a Holy Com- munion. The so-called institutional church is here, and here to stay, especially in certain cities or neigh- borhoods, but I would not permit any congregation, or architect, to lose sight of the fact that the pri- mary idea of a church is that it is to be a structure symbolizing, as Victor Hugo said, “God within four walls.” Make worship central: then if there is money enough to be found, consider the question of sewing-rooms, gymmnasia, swimming-pool and kitchens. As accessories, these adjuncts to a church are attractive and useful, but they should be sub- 340 CHURCH EXTENSION. ordinate and even banished from any church plan which sacrifices the basal idea of a sanctuary. Mr. Ralph Adams Cram writes: “First of all, a church is a house of God; a place of His earthly habitation, wrought in the fashion of heavenly things, a visible type of heaven itself.” The second purpose is “The producing of a place of worship where may be solemnized the sublime mysteries of the Catholic faith; a temple reared about the altar and subordi- nate to it, leading up to it, as the center of honor growing richer and more splendid as it approaches the sanctuary where is concentrated the wealth of obedient and loving workmanship that may be ob- tained by means of personal sacrifice through years that gather into centuries.” The third rule in build- ing is ‘“The creation of spiritual emotion through the ministry of all possible beauty of environment, the using of art to lift men’s minds from secular things to spiritual, that their souls may be brought into harmony with God.” The fourth aspect of church forms is “The arrangement of a church building where a congregation may conveniently listen to the instruction of spiritual leaders.” We have all seen little, inexpensive chapels where the moment we entered the door we felt like kneeling because, de- spite the smallness of the building, the atmosphere of worship was induced by every line and appointment of name and chancel. On the other hand, we have walked into gaudy auditoriums costing thou- THE POSSIBILITIES OF OUR WORK. 341 sands of dollars and have felt that it lacked only a drop curtain which when raised would make its plat- form the fit stage for religious theatricalism. In such a structure the preacher becomes the chief actor, not the congregation, as he stands in the spot-light of a personally-conducted religious department store. In the sphere of Church Extension the fourth lamp to guide our procedure is the Lamp of Econ- omy. Economy not so much in our local expendi- ture of money, but in the vital forces of the Church as a whole. In our eagerness to secure denomina- tional prestige and please scattered groups of Luth- eran adherents the Board is tempted again and again to establish centers of religious worship where there is no real necessity for such churches. A healthy conservation of denominational life is praiseworthy, but a soft-hearted, wooden-headed insistence upon building missions where none are really needed is a sinful waste of money and energy. First, the fundamental question to ask in looking over a town or section of a city is, “Has this community already a sufficient number of places of worship in which the gospel is being preached?” The day is past when our Board would be justified in the eyes of intelligent men of encouraging the building of a Lutheran church for some ten or twelve families in a com- munity where a church of some other Evangelical denomination stands on every other street corner. 342 CHURCH EXTENSION. However important our Lutheran view of forms of worship and sacraments may be, we must remember that they are not fundamental to a saving Christian faith. To refuse to worship in other Evangelical forms, or to practically deny the validity and effect- iveness of other cults and conceptions of religious life than our own, is to slur the Church catholic and declare one’s self pitiably sectarian. Such a group of petitioners need not give up their membership in the Lutheran fold and unite with a local congrega- tion. They should worship with other Christians if they cannot reach a Lutheran church until such time as a sufficient number of their own peculiar faith justify the formation of a congregation and the raising of our own type of sanctuary. In this age of “The Federation of the Churches of Christ in America” our Board is justified in demanding this economy of our resources in money and men. Encouraging such sporadic church building, espe- cially in congested portions of city life, is foolish and sinful in the second place because in eight cases out of ten it results in an abortive church. A sort of beggarly congregational existence is established by such a waste of men and means. The poor, starved, emasculated little group battles on for years only to be swamped at last amid the smiles of some and the pity of all. Personally, I believe that the best pol- icy for the congested district is the support of one old, central, strong church with outlying settlement- THE POSSIBILITIES OF OUR WORK. 343 houses, each having a chapel attached, and all under the administration of a single pastor, his assistants and a board of laymen of marked executive ability. The weak, isolated congregation may be tolerated for awhile, but it cannot exist or do its proper work alone. It should be a part of a collegiate group mutually dependent and working together under one _ corporate head for the evangelization and spiritual nurture of the community in which it exists. It isa rank and futile individualism in congregational life which prevents this co-operative activity among our Lutheran people—a people not over-rich in men of wealth or administrative ability. The fifth lamp of Church Extension is the Lamp of Reproduction. The law of reproduction runs through all life. One of the constant tests of vital ity is reproduction. When the reproductive func- tion of an organism or institution fails, that body is on the way to extinction and death. This law holds true of individual congregations as well as of the denominations and the church at large. This is the basal principle in all missionary activity in the individual church. As a practical principle in Church Extension I believe it to be the best and most Christian way of establishing new centers of relig- ious life and work. Let every strong and well-estab- lished congregation look about them in the territory occupied by the people of a city and see if they can- not find a spot where a church of their own denom- 344 CHURCH EXTENSION. ination is needed. If such a locality is found, then upon the congregation’s own initiative commence a Sunday school with occasional church services under the direction of its pastor assisted by competent lay- men. Instill in the minds of the mother congrega- tion the duty and the privilege; yes, the dire neces- sity of this missionary activity, or else the best spiritual life of the congregation will not be realized. Let no thought of appealing to a Board of Church Extension be entertained for a moment. The Board has enough to do in establishing and minister- ing to frontier settlements and cities without old and strong churches. It is infinitely better to have an established and competent church institute and foster a new movement of this kind than to refer the whole matter of city evangelization to a Board in a distant city. Such a procedure will call out the benevo- lence, faith and service of a congregation as noth- ing else can do. A mutual interest and endeavor will be engendered that will give opportunity for the brain and heart of every man and woman and child to grow and blossom into every Christian grace. If one church cannot establish such a mis- sion and help to build a chapel, then let local groups of congregations be formed to relieve our Board of the pecuniary strain which it is now under. The sixth lamp of Church Extension is the Lamp of Brotherhood. By brotherhood I mean that love of the people which encircles all classes and condi- THE POSSIBILITIES OF OUR WORK. 345 tions in Christian sympathy and service. That Roman centurion, presented in the Acts of the Apos- tles, whose claim to Christ’s blessing, voiced by a Jew, was “He loveth our nation and hath built for us a synagogue,” has always seemed to me to be a very logical as well as generous philanthropist. Any profound interest in, or love of, a people puts a man at work to find the secret of stable and pro- gressive government. I know of no force which makes for law, order and true progress so effectively as the Christianity of Christ. Some European gov- ernments have sought to discredit the work of the Church as a moral and patriotic force. Unfortu- nately most European governments are embarrassed by a State church and the Roman Curia. But given a church separate from the state, a church devoted purely to the moral and spiritual regeneration of so- ciety, then no other institution is comparable to the Church of Christ in assuring the safety and advance- ment of the state. The Roman centurion needs du- plication a thousand times in our American Luth- eranism. We need men of deep and broad social outlook, who recognize the logic of a true patriotism, men whose love of the nation will actualize itself in suitable church buildings in every town and city in the United States. Mere family religion is too restricted in type of worship. Our common schools dare not, or cannot, be utilized as civic temples of religious instruction. If the country and city + 346 CHURCH EXTENSION. churches are not kept at the high-water mark of power, we shall have a still greater census of juve- nile crime and anarchism. The safety of property and person, the stability of contracts and industry, the administration of justice and equal laws, the progressive amelioration of poverty and the estab- lishment of industrial democracy, the honor of the marriage tie and the duty of parenthood, the main- tenance of hospitals and the care of delinquent chil- dren, the curbing of militarism and the establish- ment of arbitration courts, the movement for world- wide peace and international comity, in the last analysis, find their hope of fulfillment in that Spirit and word of God which is preached in our sanctuaries. Tempted as the Board of Church Extension is to glory in the businesslike method of its successful administration, the real motive power of its life and work is that profound conviction among our common people that he who builds a church creates a center of true social and national brotherhood without which no country can endure or prosper. The seventh and last lamp of Church Extension is the Lamp of Vision. Ruskin has said, ‘There are a hundred people who can talk for one who can think; there are ten who can think for one who can see; to see clearly is poetry and prophecy in one.” The first and fundamental duty of our Board is to see the field, to see into every nook and cranny as THE POSSIBILITIES OF OUR WORK. 347 well as every plain and mountain top, to see local as well as national needs, to see men as well as man, to see Opportunities as well as obligations, to see plans as well as people, to see races as well as religions, to see prayerfully as well as practically. No Board needs so wide and wise a vision as the Board of Church Extension. Both breadth and accuracy of vision are imperative. A Home Missionary may be easily whisked out of a town on an evening train, but a church once built stands as an abiding monu- ment of wisdom or folly. Our society is to be for us a sort of almighty eye peering into the light and dark places of our nation’s life. It is to be our sage counselor, conferring with local committees who are sometimes very zealous but ignorant in- vestors of the Lord’s money. It is to be the Church’s strong and kindly hand which reaches out to act “thus far shalt thou go and no farther.” It is our watch tower from which she calls the Church to battle and higher achievement in church building. Clear, constant, impartial vision is its duty and pre- rogative. To it as a center of vision is flashed the message and need of Maine and New Mexico, Dela- ware and Oregon. That vision may not always be accurate, but we have lifted this Board to the highest altitude of denominational outlook, and as loyal and generous churchmen we should trust and obey the vision. No doubt, it may be widened in its scope of operation as funds increase. I see no reason 348 CHURCH EXTENSION. why loans for parsonages, settlement-houses and gifts for tent-work in our cities and camps should not be made. The vision desired is to see the whole Church awakened to her thrilling opportunity in the United States, a mighty host eagerly pressing forward with its gifts of money for the increase of the Board’s beneficent work. Then there will be seen a Lutheran Church for every ten thousand of our population, a General Synod Lutheran spire in every county in America, a household of our faith in each unchurched hamlet in the land, a mighty nation imbued with the free, glad spirit of our Luth- eran forefathers reaching from sea to sea and whose influence shall be felt to the uttermost parts of the earth. Vil THE ABSOLUTE NEED OF THE HOUSE OF GOD THE ABSOLUTE NEED OF THE HOUSE OF GOD. REV. CLARENCE E. GARDNER. “Moslemism is dying,” said a noted traveler. “If you want to know why, let me tell you that in all my travels of five years among the principal cities and towns where they are most numerous I found that they were not building new mosques, neither were they repairing old ones.”’ Such a statement as this could not be truthfully made concerning Christianity. For the Church of the living God is alive, and no surer evidence could be desired of this fact than that on every side we see her temples of worship, her fanes of prayer and her constantly in- creasing number of devotees who come regularly to her altars to worship in the name of the lowly Nazarene. Places are constantly being provided for the worship of God; churches are being erected in increasing numbers every year; temples and cathe- drals resound with the praise and adoration of God; and the cause that inspires our gathering at this time goes marching on to conquest and victory. In this great struggle for righteousness and the bringing of the kingdom of God into our midst the Boards of the Church have an important work to (352) 352 CHURCH EXTENSION. perform, and none of greater importance than the Board of Church Extension. If Christianity is to abide the test of time and to endure the onslaught of unbelief and decay, it must be properly housed. Houses of worship must be found in every city, town and hamlet. Places that can be dignified as temples and cathedrals must be found alongside of the busy marts of trade. Stone and brick must alike be dedicated to the worship of God as well as set apart for business and secular pursuits. Stability, permanence, respectability and confidence in, the power of the religion which we profess demand that there shall be, not only houses for worship, strong and tall, but churchly and stately, in which God may be worshiped seven days out of every week, and every week in all the years as they come and go. And this demand cannot be answered short of a con- secrated manhood and womanhood with brain and brawn and means alike upon the altar of our God. On the battle-fields of many nations monuments have been erected to the prowess of armies and men who fought and fell in defence of truth and honor. They heard the call of their country’s chief- tain; they rallied at the command of brave leaders; they marched through rain and sleet, under burn- ing skies and mid-winter’s snows; they fought and fell as patriots and heroes, and over their last rest- ing place loving hands and grateful people have erected these marks to commemorate their noble THE ABSOLUTE NEED OF THE HOUSE OF GOD. 353 deeds. More grandly, may I be permitted to say, than any monument ever erected to commemorate the noble deeds of any patriot, stands the house of God with its steeples and towers and minarets piercing the sky, pointing to the God of all love and mercy, bearing silent testimony to the undying love of One who left the courts of heaven for a brief sojourn on earth, where He finally gave His life a ransom for sin, and in which place His followers now gather to worship Him as the Saviour of men. When Francis Xavier was about to depart from Rome on his great missionary work, he was over- heard exclaiming in his sleep, “And yet more, O Lord, yet more.’ Long afterwards he told his friend that on that night he had a vision. The Lord had shown him all he was to suffer in His service— weary journeys, dangers of every kind, deep rivers to cross, savage lands to explore, sickness, tortures, at last death. But at the same time were shown him the lands he was to bring to Christ, the great num- bers that were to be saved; and his soul was so aroused that he cried out for more—more sufferings, and more souls brought into the kingdom of God. Well might the Church cry out to-day, “And yet more, O Lord, yet more.”” More sufferings, more sacrifice, more consecration, more houses of worship and more souls brought to a saving knowledge of our blessed and adorable Redeemer. We need the house of God to inspire confidence 23 354 CHURCH EXTENSION. among the people. Our God tabernacles among men even as of old. Without a house in which to wor- ship mankind would be very much as the children of Israel when Moses tarried on the mount of Sinai. Without a permanent place of worship, and that place substantial, and, to a degree, comfortable in its ap- pointments, no degree of confidence could be inspired among the people in God who is to be worshiped, nor in the enterprise as a Christian institution in the community. Halls and vacant store-rooms may suffice for a time as places of worship. But in every instance that time is limited, and unless there is a disposition to secure a permanent and suitable house as David desired for the Lord, the enterprise is doomed and the cause of our Lord greatly harmed. As soon as the chosen people of God had crossed the Red Sea they were given instruction to erect the tabernacle, and this house of worship was ever in their midst through all their travels. And when this same people were established in the land which had been promised them, and they were to have rest from their enemies round about, a feeling of per- manence, in matters of state and religion, at once possessed them, and the temple, beautiful, substan- tial and costly, became a reality. It undoubtedly was a necessity to hold them and their posterity for the worship of the one true God in the midst of an idolatrous people. We live in the midst of a utilitarian people in a THE ABSOLUTE NEED OF THE HOUSE OF GOD. 355 commercial age. Men and women are yet taught through the eye-gate as well as the ear-gate. What they see they believe. The doubting Thomases did not all pass away with the death of the first dis- ciples. As an object-lesson to doubtful men the house of God is still needed. It stands as a silent influence in every community of the worth and per- manency of the religion therein taught and pro- fessed. The psalmist has said, “Walk about Zion, and go round about her; tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.” Someone has said, “What you are speaks so loudly that I can- not hear what you say.” Thus speaks every church upon every corner and on every hill. It tells the passer by of Him who died to save; it speaks of a love so pure and a mercy so deep that both saint and sinner, who pass its doors, acknowledge a debt of gratitude to its potent influence. The presence of the Church in any community tells of the faith of its people, and declares that that faith is founded upon the Rock. It gives respect- ability to its citizenship, confidence and assurance to the stranger within the gates, forgiveness of sins and salvation to every penitent, and over all a per- manence and durability against which the gates of hell cannot prevail. Storms have swept over such people; the thunder of unbelief and the roar of the evil one have been heard; the dark cloud of hate and 356 CHURCH EXTENSION. revenge, with its dire foreboding, has been seen; but to no avail, for confidence in the things that abide has been established, and no amount of storm and wind can dislodge such from the sure faith of the Church. Sometime ago two travelers were making an excursion through the Green Mountains, when dark- ness overtook them and they were compelled to spend the night in the little inn on Mount Mansfeld. In relating their experience, one of them said, “That night there came on a furious storm. It seemed as if the little hotel in which we had been trying to sleep would be thrown from the mountain top. We looked out of the little window down into the moun- tain-sides, and it was one vast sheet of lightning all the time. The thunders were harsh, and it seemed as if, in the violence of the storm, the moun- tain itself would fairly fall from its resting place. The next morning, however, we looked out of the same window. How calm and beautiful it all was! We looked down upon Lake Champlain, and the sur- face was just as smooth as if it had never been dis- turbed by the keel of a boat or a boatman’s oar, and far to the north we could see the spires of Montreal standing out like silver needles in the far distance; and far across westward lay the Adirondack regions; and looking eastward over the White Mountain range, the air was as crystal, and old Mansfield as firm as ever.” So is the Church of our Lord Jesus THE ABSOLUTE NEED OF THE HOUSE OF GOD. 357 Christ, resting upon the sure Rock. Skepticism may come with all the violence of its errors; temptations may assail, the thunder and lightning of opposition may come, the furious blasts may blow, and it would seem as if the Church were trembling and falling with the violence and the shock of the great tornado; but it stands, and will stand, because it is founded upon the Rock. There is absolute need of the house of God in every community as an educational force and agency. Its silent walls tell a story to every passer by. Its upward pointing steeples speak a language that cannot be misunderstood. Its constantly in- creasing numbers, who gather within its sacred in- closure, tell of a love that gave Jesus to die, and of a heaven unto which He has gone to prepare a mansion for us. The house of God stands as a fortress and a defence to every land and nation and a sign to all, who will read, of a faith and a trust in things that abide and that cannot be shaken. Not the least influence of the house of God as a place for worship is its educational value to coming generations. The stone that Jacob used as a pillow was set up and dedicated to God and called the house of God that future generations might know that there God appeared unto His servant, and that it had been to him a very gateway to heaven. And when future generations should ask, “What mean these stones ?”’ taken from the bed of the river Jor- 358 CHURCH EXTENSION. dan and placed thus upon a heap, the answer should be that God had here appeared unto His children, leading them into the promised land on dry ground. And when countless millions yet unborn shall wake to life and shall see these templed hills and for- tressed cities, they shall know of Him who reigns in love and who tabernacles on earth among men. The absolute need of the house of God is so self- evident that a further discussion on the subject seems needless. And yet one further thought may be added, not necessarily included in the subject, but which is done for the sake of truth and greater ef- ficiency in the work of the Church. Not only do we need houses of worship, but it is the profound conviction of the essayist that these houses should be, in architecture and arrangement, churchly and Lutheran. We are not only deliberating for Ameri- can-born who crowd our sanctuaries on days of wor- ship, but we are alike solicitous for our foreign brother who comes to our shores from Lutheran lands, having no other desire than to worship God according to the faith of his fathers. Our argument is that if there is need at all for the house of God as a place of worship, then there is need that that house shall be constructed accord- ing to accepted ecclesiastical architecture, and that its very appearance without and its arrangement within shall be a sermon in itself pointing saint and sinner to the Lamb of God. This is not always the THE ABSOLUTE NEED OF THE HOUSE OF GOD. 359 case. Instead of the churchly structure, with its ac- cepted adornments and appointments, we have the plain auditorium with no chancel, no altar, and nothing to indicate the place as a house for worship, or to point the penitent and devout worshiper to a higher and holier life. Whatever the style of archi- tecture may be, the house of God should bear the impress of the purpose to which it is dedicated. It should speak in language unmistakable to all, ‘““This is the house of the Lord,” “The house of prayer.” It should bear witness to every humble devotee who worships at her altar of the greatness and glory of Him whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain and who is worshiped on every hill top and in every dale. While the Lutheran Church is bound to no par- ticular style of architecture, yet she contents her- self only with such styles and principles as are best calculated to lead men to a proper appreciation of the One who is to be adored and worshiped. Her style differs materially from that of the Roman Catholic Church. She has but one altar. She makes due provision for the preaching of the word, and for the whole congregation to have intelligent part in the whole service of worship. She makes no separation between the clergy and the laity, and provides for the communion of the people and not the celebration of the sacrament. The Lutheran Church likewise differs from the non-Lutheran 360 CHURCH EXTENSION. churches in that the former holds that Christ is present in His word and sacraments, and through them speaks to us and imparts Himself to us. And that the Holy Communion is not merely a mark of the confession and communion of the people of God, but is a sacrament. The Rev. Dr. J. F. Ohl, in speaking upon art in worship, has given utterance to the following very significant words: “How does the ideal Lutheran congregation, rooted in sound doctrine, vitalized by the Holy Spirit, permeated by a true spirituality, and having a pure liturgy, treat the arts in its wor- ship? It uses all of them to magnify Christ and His grace. It has a cultus that sets forth the great object- ive facts of redemption on the one hand, and ex- presses the heart’s faith and gratitude, its love, its as- pirations, and its hopes on the other. It assigns to the audible and visible word the chief place in that cultus. It gathers for worship both to receive and give. It sees in it a sacramental and a sacrificial side. Its place of worship is, therefore, neither a mere preaching place, nor an opera house, nor an art gal- lery, but the house of God, a house of prayer, which in all its appointments speaks only of holy things and holy service, of a gracious Giver and of sancti- fied givers. Whether it build a cathedral or a mod- est chapel, it permits no profane pattern in its form, no shams in its construction, no bizarre effects and gaudy show in its decorations and adornments, no THE ABSOLUTE NEED OF THE HOUSE OF GOD. 361 caricature of sacred things on painted wall, or in stained glass and sculptured stone. In a word, the art of the Lutheran congregation is Christian art, dignified, noble and pure; never coarse and vulgar; refined and beautiful, yet always simple and holy, serving at once to arouse and to express devotion.” Great good has been accomplished by our Boards. Many churches have been built by them and large numbers turned from the rough road of sin to the holy way of the cross. The prayer of our Lord, “Thy kingdom come,” is being answered more and more each year. In all this work our Board of Church Extension has taken rank with the foremost. On hill and plain, in city and hamlet, and by the busy marts in every community stands the house of God, calling the world to a life of holiness, telling mankind of a peace that is hid with God, pointing all to that rest prepared for the children of God, and speaking in a language that cannot be misunder- stood of a Church and home eternal in the heavens. At the close of the war of 1866, the triumphant army of Prussia came to Berlin for a reception of welcome. As each regiment approached the city gate from the Thiergarten, it was halted by a choir, demanding by what right it would enter the city. The regiment replied in song, reciting the battles it had fought, the victories it had won; then came a welcome from the choir, “Enter into the city.” And so the next came up, reciting its deeds, and another, 362 CHURCH EXTENSION. each challenged and welcomed. They marched up the Linden between rows of captured cannon, with the banners they had borne and the banners they had taken, and they saluted the statue of grand old Frederick, the creator of Prussia. So, when all the fierce warfare of earth shall have been ac- complished, and the kingdom of Christ assured, the phalanxes of His Church shall go up to the city with songs and tokens of victory. They shall march together, singing the hallelujahs, and shall lay their trophies at the feet of Him upon whose head are many crowns—King of kings and Lord of lords. VII CHURCH ARCHITECTURE CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. W. E, FISCHER, D.D. A history of church architecture is not the pur- pose of this paper, interesting as that might prove to be. Your speaker is not an expert in the art of building, and, therefore, it must not be expected that he deal in architectural technicalities. We as- sume that the prime object in this discussion is to indicate the place which architecture has to fill in the erection of a house for the worship of God. Here, if anywhere, this art should find its most fitting and most suggestive expression. No one will seriously dispute the proposition, that among the many factors entering into the successful propaga- tion of Christianity the church building plays a most important part. Our Lord has, indeed, indi- cated that the thing which is chief and primal in Christian worship is the spirit of the worshiper. “God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.” All true worship is a matter of right tempera- ment or spirit. But men have always had special places and set times to worship God. The style or character of the place of worship was early suggested by God Himself in his direc- (365) 366 CHURCH EXTENSION. tions for the building of the temple. It is true that God’s plans for the temple and the character of the worship of that early day were adaptations, and were not intended to be final or determinative of all the future of the Church of God. But the fact that God gave instructions at all, as to the style of the temple and its worship, is certainly suggestive. It is educational, and must lead us to conclude that God is interested in even the material building set apart for His worship. History and experience teach that a house in which an orderly religious service may be conducted to the glory of God, and for the maintenance of religion pure and undefiled is not only a necessity, but also that the disposition of such a house has its influence upon the worshiper. The fact of the Church is deeply impressed upon the world through its material form of expression. The graceful church spire, flashing in the morning light, and catching the descending sun’s rays, is eloquent with an inspiring message. The house of God is a public confession of God, a witness to the fact of the divine presence in our midst, a declara- tion that God is near and communicable. Man’s duty to God and his own soul is accentuated every time he looks upon a church building. These are truths which find corroboration in the experience of every enlightened soul. The temple in Jerusalem, in its appointments and all its parts, tended to es- tablish the fear of the Lord in the hearts of the CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 367 people. There was a voice in its architecture which called the worshiper to a wholesome reverence of God. Into the outer courts of the temple every Hebrew might go; into the inner court only one particular class could enter; while into the inner- most sanctuary, or Holy of Holies, only one man was permitted to make his way, and that man only on one great day of the year. Thus the cardinal truth was promulgated that God is majestic and holy, and can be approached only by the humble and contrite heart. If this means anything to us modern Christians, it must certainly suggest that the character of the church building ought not to be a minor consideration in our day and age. That there are some things which affect the archi- tecture of a church in these modern days, and make it difficult, in many instances, to carry out the ideas that enter into a Christian conception of what a church building should embody, goes without say- ing. The days of the fathers are past, the simple days with their few and simple requirements. The church with its torturing pews and gigantic stoves, its three or four large windows on each side, its long vista of arches painted in stucco behind the pulpit, is not the church of the twentieth century. The difficulties of the architect are found in the some- what complex organization of the church of to-day. To the main auditorium there is ordinarily to be added a group of apartments, each with a more or 368 CHURCH EXTENSION. less distinctive character. In the not very remote past there was little or no necessity for the economy of space. To-day, this is of well nigh supreme im- portance. The increased demand for room has its counter demand in cost of space, and this is no small embarrassment. The architect of a city church, and even of the church of the larger town and ambitious village, finds it necessary to econ- omize every inch if he would meet the aspirations of his client. And it is a problem often, whether the churches in many places can much longer confine themselves to the one-story theory or accept those conditions of life in strata which have been adopted in business, professional and domestic architecture. In the days of long ago, there was little discussion as to light, heat or ventilation, and there were no sleepless nights because of worry over beauty or comfort. Indeed, to many the two latter features were suggestive of carnality, and, as for hygiene, our fathers scarcely dreamed of it. To-day, all these are perplexing demands which the skilled architect must meet. Then there is the question of material which is so essential in these days. The church of the ham- let was built of wood or brick, without the least suggestion of the niceties of trimming. The city church, at least, must satisfy an exacting taste in material, and must embody the very latest ideas with regard to the most effective use of brick, stone, CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 369 terra-cotta, the metals, woods, etc., and their most artistic blending into fine architectural effect. In addition to this, the whole question of interior decoration has to be met with an artist’s eye, and an artist’s training. There must be a reference to chaste toning, the upholstering must be beautiful, if not elegant, the use of stained glass must be judicious ; carpets, and all the details going to make up the interior effects, must be studied out in the light of the best principles, and even latest fads of art. And then the question of expense must be met with a mingled boldness and caution quite new to this age. In the humble days the church could be built largely by volunteer labor of the members, supplemented by outside work not difficult or ex- pensive to obtain. All this has changed with the advanced age, so that the questions of finance have assumed the proportions of problems. The average city church costs many thousands of dollars. Usu- ally the architect is superintendent of the work of construction, and he must deal with contractors of material, must cope with labor’s laws and penalties, must satisfy a large constituency, and approve him- self to a small army of critics. The reputation of the architect is dear to him, and he must jealously guard it if he would maintain his position among his colleagues and safeguard his financial future. These considerations invest church architecture 24 370 CHURCH EXTENSION. with peculiar embarrassments. At the same time they afford opportunity to genius, and the coura- geous and intelligent attack on these difficulties has resulted in architectural models which make our age illustrious. We are witnessing a wonderful adaptation of medizval and semi-tropical ideas, of what is an appropriate house of worship, to the re- quirements of our times and climates and faiths; and the typical church of to-day expresses the spirit of our age in its larger demands as the piety of past times expressed itself in the open tabernacle, the monastery or the cathedral. We are not an advocate of much that enters into the architecture of the modern church, especially of what is termed the institutional or apartment church. Solomon’s conception of the church must, in large measure, find place in our modern view of what the church should be. He said the building of the temple was a great work because “Great is our God.” The church building is, in a- certain sense, our measure of God. Solomon employed skilled workmen and used costly materials. His zstheticism was not without reason. He built not for the applause of men or self-glorification, but out of a worthy and rational sense of what was fitting and worthy of God. The temple must mean but one thing, and that thing the greatness of God. And it is because we forget that the architecture of the church is to body forth to the world in a fashion CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 371 our conception of God, insufficient as that con- ception must be at its best, that we must so often look upon what someone has called “an irreverent caricature of God.” With the progress of theology we can no longer dedicate to God a mere house of worship. It is far enough from our thought to insist upon profligate extravagance in the building of churches. God is not honored and glorified before the world by a building whose elegance must often mean an in- tolerable financial burden to the worshipers, through half a generation, or worse, which must end in the humiliating result of a foreclosed mortgage. The most unpretentious house He will fill with His dedi- cating and abiding blessing, if that be the best the worshipers can offer to Him. But the possession of large gifts of money is a call to glorify God in the erection of a place of worship that will indeed honor Him from whom all our blessings flow. If through meanness or avarice, or a desire to withhold from God a worthy expression of our faith and love, we consume His gifts upon our own lusts, then, indeed, it were no strange thing if God should withhold His presence and blessing, and Ichabod should at last be written upon the door of the church. For now, as always, “God judges between poverty that wants to give and wealth that wants to withhold.” Any place will God glorify with His presence if it expresses the measure of our ability to meet the 299 CHURCH EXTENSION. struggling effort of our souls to build to Him a house in which He may dwell. It may be said, by way of summing up what has been here inadequately enough written, that the architecture of the church should be pleasing to the eye, should satisfy the requirements of conven- ience, and should, in some true measure, body forth our conception of the greatness and glory of that God whom we serve and whose we are. Vitruvius defines the essential qualities of architecture as stability, utility and beauty. However humble the house of God, it should be, and may be so disposed in all its parts, as to minister to the best emotions of the soul. There can be no dogmatic prescription as to style of architecture to be followed by our own church people. We agree that the Gothic is “Christian” architecture, since it is “the only style developed wholly in Christian church building.” Individual taste will always play a large, if not determining, part in the erection of our churches. But one thing is fundamental, and that is that the building is for God, and its character must express the purpose for which it is erected. We Lutherans have our own requirements and needs. These requirements and needs so differentiate us from others as to make necessary certain provisions by which we may ex- press our own faith and cultus; this much we may say by way of definition, and, at least, suggestive CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 373 prescription. In the interior features of the church, we should be our own architects. And we believe that the extension of our own church will be fa- cilitated by subordinating all the latest fads in the art of church building to the best expression of our own faith and church life. To this end we believe the church plans of the Board of Church Extension look. IX WORK IN THE SUBURBS WORK IN THE SUBURBS. A. J. TURKLE, D.D. Suburbs in the modern sense are distinctly crea- tions of recent times. They did not exist, and could not have existed, before the age of rapid transit. For a pittance the live wire sends the man and his family to the suburbs and creates a new community and gathers vast populations. In our use of the word suburbs are centers of population near to a city, caused by it, dependent upon it, and usually distinct in name and govern- ment. They draw life from the large centers and without them would not exist. They are commonly places of residence for those doing business in the cities. Sometimes they are cities themselves grown up around manufacturies. Some suburbs are places where the poorer classes have sought homes because they could live better for less money there than elsewhere. Other sub- urbs are residential communities for the well-to-do who can afford large grounds, and who are willing to pay for spacious and beautiful homes. These communities differ, but there are certain characteristics common to all. They are seldom crowded. It is possible for their residents to (377) 378 CHURCH EXTENSION. breathe pure air and to see unlimited stretches of blue sky. The tenement house and the apartment house are almost unknown. Usually one roof shelters but one family. When electricity was har- nessed to the service of street railroads it opened unlimited territories adjacent to every city, and the suburban belt has been very rapidly extended in recent years. The most significant fact of our time is the growth of the cities, and this has been largely in the sub- urban districts. Many causes contribute to this movement to the cities. Statisticians and students of sociology have analyzed the causes and assure us that the forces at work causing the marvelous growth of our great commercial and industrial cen- ters are permanent, and the tendency which springs from them will be permanent. Without doubt an ever-increasing proportion of our population must live in cities. This will.congest the centers even more than at present, but it will also send multitudes to the outskirts to found and build new homes. We are accustomed to speak with real concern of the tide of immigration coming to our cities, and it should demand our most careful consideration. But the flood of migration is of much stronger flow. Moving from city to suburb and from one district to another presents a condition for which the Church must provide. Religion is very susceptible to trans- plantation. It often withers and dies in the new WORK IN THE SUBURBS, 379 environment. The church must gather her mem- bers in these new communities and help them to a church home or they will become careless and indif- ferent in reference to spiritual things. It has come to be recognized that suburban life may be one of the most selfish, self-concentrated, comfort-seeking lives imaginable, or it may be just the reverse. It requires constant effort to make it the reverse, the line of least resistance is in the di- rection of selfishness. Nor can one say that this is simply a reflection of ordinary city life. The incitement of the altruistic impulses comes in many purposed and unpurposed ways to the citizen of a great center; only rarely does it come to the citizen of a suburb. The absence of any serious problems within a reasonable distance from one’s residence, the absolute lack of touch with those problems very easily leads to a complacent optimism. It is true that the family life may be more finely developed in the suburbs than in the city, and yet it may become a narrow and selfish and godless development. The suburbs are in as great need of the Church and her influence and ministries as the most congested cen- ters. Without detracting from the fine qualities of suburban life, it is necessary to consciously have in mind that it is distinctly the duty of the Church to conserve and direct the latent power of these rapidly- developing districts in spiritual things. The suburb may be saved for Christ. Those who 380 CHURCH EXTENSION. have been members of our churches elsewhere may be enlisted. The selfish ones may be won to a life of service; the careless may be aroused; the alienated may be brought back. The Church of the Reforma- tion has won a host in every suburb where it has been established to a life of devotion and a life of service for Jesus Christ. The tremendous growth of the suburbs marks a new civilization, and is thrusting new responsibilities upon the Church. We must recognize the fact that if our church is to have a future, it must follow closely the constant drift to the suburbs. This other churches have done with marvelous sagacity and foresight, and rallied their forces, and enlisted our Lutherans where we have tardily followed. Our own church must grasp the significance of this sub- urban movement, and shape our policy for planting new churches accordingly. The report of the Board of Church Extension to the last General Synod showed that the churches aided during the biennium were about one-third of them located in suburbs. This percentage is not at all in proportion to the ex- pansion of the suburbs. We must awaken to the duty of the hour. The development of our church in the Pittsburgh Synod in recent years has been by planting new churches in rapidly-growing sub- urbs that have sprung up in that great industrial center. Scores of churches have been organized in this Synod and helped to a church home by the WORK IN THE SUBURBS. 381 Board of Church Extension during the past twenty years. The membership of Synod has been in- creased three times over. The benevolence of Synod has been multiplied by five. The members average three times as much in their gifts to-day as they did twenty years ago. From the standpoint of figures other interesting and encouraging data might be mentioned as the direct result of aggressive work in planting and equipping our church in the Pitts- burgh suburbs. But that is a small part of the story. Lutherans are proud of their church in that dis- trict to-day. They are recognized in the community of churches. The pastors are known, and their sterling integrity, aggressive methods and gospel preaching is recognized as an important factor in the community. It is not necessary any longer to explain to every man you meet what your church represents. They know her by her works. Our church can gather a nucleus for an organization in almost any suburb. They are our most fertile fields to-day, and they will yield an abundant harvest for the future. We have a much wider mission than to our own household of faith. And nowhere can those of other churches, and no church, be enlisted as in these new communities. With the Board of Church Extension giving its encouragement to the new enterprise by its loans and donations, it can be started on the way to successful issue. The first need of a mission is a place to meet for 382 CHURCH EXTENSION. worship. Sometimes even a hall or school building cannot be secured for this purpose in the suburb where needed. The Pittsburgh Synod established a Church Property and Loan Fund to help the mission purchase a lot; and we have several splendid churches to-day that received their first encourage- ment by loans from this fund. Money should be available for just such emergencies. The purchase of a lot in a new suburb, before values become pro- hibitive, and upon which a chapel may be placed, starts the mission upon the way to successful work. The people can be gathered as they arrive and money saved for the organization. A portable chapel is especially well-adapted for preliminary organization and the early stages of the development of work in the suburbs. When the time comes for the first church it can be moved on to another needy place. The location of the church is a most vital con- sideration. The church that attracts the wide-awake and successful men of affairs must be properly lo- cated. To erect a church edifice in some out of the way, inaccessible and half way respectable street is to arouse the prejudice of this class of people at the outset. It impresses them neither with the worldly nor heavenly wisdom of church manage- ment. It runs counter to their trained business judgment, and, as a result, an unfavorable impres- sion is made upon their minds which acts as a bar- WORK IN THE SUBURBS. 383 rier to that church’s entrance into their hearts and homes. Business sagacity seeks a good location as a prime condition of success in any commercial enterprise. And it is not less essential to success in founding and building up a Christian congregation. Next to a proper location in importance should be emphasized the advantages of attractive and ade- quate houses of worship. An unattractive church building is an eyesore to the well-kept residence district in which it is located. The well-to-do are repelled rather than attracted by its appearance. The pulpit may be filled by a man who is eloquent, but these people will never hear the gospel proclaimed there. We may insist that pride is responsible for this. It may be, that to some extent, it is commend- able pride. King David was ashamed to live in a house of cedar while the Ark of the Lord was kept in atent. The character of the community will help to determine the character of the church building. It should be adequate for the needs, with room for growth. It should be churchly in style of archi- tecture. Its environment should be attractive and its portals inviting. The church home becomes a cherished center around which every interest and en- deavor will speedily cluster. It imparts a spirit of expectation and hope and strength that shrinks from no attempt. It exerts a silent influence on the community seldom duly appreciated. It declares a 384 CHURCH EXTENSION. design, a mission, an intent, and the equipment for religious activities. It will draw the careless and indifferent and self-seeking to a life of devotion and Christian service. When the new organization takes its place in the community as the possessor of a suitable church building it has a permanency which the community cecognizes and its growth is ac- celerated. Is our duty not imperative to help plant our be- loved Lutheran Church in every suburb? Do we not find the fullest vindication for our efforts to assist each new organization to secure a desirable location and a suitable building for its use and ministry to the community? The gifts and loans from the Board of Church Extension make this possible. Their help inspires confidence and stimu- lates to heroic giving in the nucleus gathered for the new organization. Their aid has been the mighty power back of the self-denial of the mis- sion that has developed many of our churches of influence to-day. Our gifts should abound toward this beneficent agency until a Lutheran Church worthy of the community is erected in every one of our rapidly-growing suburbs across the conti- nent. In the not distant future the churches whose in- fluence will set the pace for the Christian public and whose ideals will inspire the world, will be chiefly suburban. They will not occupy the largest place WORK IN THE SUBURBS. 385 in the newspapers, but they will in the cash books of all our Boards and benevolent societies. They will not attract most attention, but will most vitally and righteously affect society. The suburban church will not only be the salvation of vast popu- lations, but it will soon become a center to reach the growing adjacent communities, and they will help solve the problems of the evangelization of the congested districts of our great cities. The suburb is the most important factor to-day in the general religious problem presented to the Church for solu- tion. 25