The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-07-31
THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT.

The necessity of the missionary spirit
among ministers is now largely dis
cussed in all Christian denominations,
as essential to the growth of the church.
Without this spirit in the heart of the
ministry, no true progress can be made
it is vital to all church growth and
advancement. And especially is this
spirit necessity in the young men of
the church. If they are not animated
by the missionary ambition, if they do
not feel called upon to make personal
sacrifices, if need be, for the good of
the world, they will certainly fail to
''make full proof of their ministry"
wherever they may locate. Mr.. Beecher
once declared that when the young men
of a nation were politically conserva-
tive, it's funeral bell was already rung.
So we may say of the ministry, if its
young men are destitute of the mission
airy spirit, and care nothing for the
advancement of the church in new
fields, the doom of the church is already
foretold.
! 1t should be one of the functions of
the theological school to instill the mis-
sionary ambition into young men, to
arouse and stimulate them to become
pioneers of religious advancement, and
to push forward to the front in this
new country, in search of fields where
new churches may be established. Our
own church stands in need of just such
missionary labor. In Nebraska, Dako-
ia, Wyoming and California, there are
frontier missionaries needed, and fields
which might be opened up for our faith,
stand ready for those who would enter
therein. Our theological schools will
fail to meet the requirements of the
age, until they graduate young men
willing to take up the burden of pioneer
life, and carry the gospel to these new
communities springing into life, amid
the boundless possibilities of the great
West and Northwest.
We have been led to these obseIva-
tions by reading an extract from a let
ter written by Mr.. ]. Kay Phillips,
young man just graduated from the
Yale Theological School, who has gone
out to Northern Dakota to engage in
missionary work. We find it in the
Neao York Tribune, and give it follow
ing. This young missionary writes:
"Out on an ocean of plain are few
houses the size of en-coops-these form
Hoskins, my present abode. Not drop
of paint sullies the virgin color of the
boards. One room below, loft above,
in which dozen of us sleep. And Hos
kins is the county seat, and the county is
larger than the state of Rhode Island. /
preached in store. The boys sat on
the counter; the women on chairs brought
from various shanties. Moreover the
boys carried over an organ, filed small
vase of flowers, and then we held service.
But make no mistake. Half of these
boys are college graduates. We have
numerous lawyers who have come here to
take several hundred acres of land from
generous government. go botanizing
with delicious chap from Ann Arbor.
Not drop of liquor is sold; the fellows
are all wild TO have a church here; they
are willing to bring boards fifty miles
distant; for near neighbor is he who
lives dozen miles away. A Methodist
clergyman thinks nothing of trudging
twenty -four miles and preaching a SER
mon. Then the sun--it beats fiercely
down, but the half gale that is continu-
ally blowing mitigates the intensity of
its heat. Yet the inhabitants of Hoskins
are confident of glorious future. A
blade of grass towering above its brother
is magni6ed in their estimation to huge
plant, and they vow that in few years