Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-27
Assertion of Church's Right.

81 believe that Robert Speer spoke word
of essential truth and of vital importance
when he said that the missionary RESPONSE
bility of the church did not rest either pri-
marily or exclusively upon the commission
to the apostles to "go into all the world and
preach the gospel
..It is rather the assertion of the church's
right 1t was based upon our Lord 8 claim
that all power Cor all authority was given
unto Him. that nothing lay outside OF HIS
reach and His rule. and as the ch4Tcn'
therefore the whole world was open to II, to
exercise the privilege Of making all others
sharers Of the blessing of the knowledge
with which 1t had been put in trust
.'It was the more needful to remind the
apostles of this fact because. In the long
dealings of God with the Jewish Church.
He had in order to protect them from
heather contamination and to store. In q
we'll guarded reservoir for power. the great
monotheistic revelation, commanded them
to confne rather than to extend tneir
knowledge and their belief.
world the uttermOSt parts OF the earth
are open to them. 1t Is rather they may
than they must CO. a privilege. an oppor-
tuutty a new freedom rather than duty.
So that the must. the duty lies deeper down
than this commission or command. II IN
heres in the very nature of Christianity 1t
Is the very essence of the spirit OF the Cos
pei 1t Is part of the very HE or Jesus
Christ
And so, missions are not so much the
obligation as they are the necessity or the
church and of every Christian man. Such
a principle Is more forceful and more 1ruit-
full than an order. Men by sort OF In
stinct resist the compulsion of the law we
are tempted to ask the why and the where-
fore of an enactment. Inc natural pro.
cesses of life. all regulated by the law Oh
life go on unconscfously.
THE heart beats. the eyes open. the
lungs expand sleep comes ana munger, ana
because they must but because they may:
The 3oy of life is in the very exercise OF al
physical faculties. moving under tne uhieiI
impression of the natural law. with the IT.
res;stible instinct OF unconscious ooeoi-
ence. At, 1000,
lone comes to know what TINS means
more clearly. perhaps. when advancing
years or failing health turn all THESE tninss
into EFFORTS and necessities, and they are
dome because OF the compulston to do them,
and while the benefit follows the joy is
gone.
Explanation of Missionary Spirit.
$50 we must go behind the comm IS. on
of the risen Lord to find the explanation Oh
| the instantaneous and uninterrupted ms
sion spirit In His apostles FIST, 10 the
| Jews in. but beyond. Judea. For the great
pentecostai serman reached, by TIE adapta-
| ton of their tongues and by the enlarge
ment of their hearts to the Jews of the dis
| pension who went back to their remote and
| scattered homes-as the wise men went. by
| another way from that by which they came
so that more men might be reached by
| the tidings which they had to tell. And
| then to Samaria. breaking down the barrier
| of race prejudice first by the message OF
| the deacon Phillip. and then by the minis
| try of the two apostles. And then they
went everywhere they could go.
Every Roman road became a highway
| for the feet of them that preached the
| gospel of peace. Every track that COM
| merce had opened on the inhospitable sea
| BORE in the path of extending trade. the
| priceless freight of the gospel And even
| the things that might have been for him
| drance and disbursement turned into
| fresh openings
When the persecution arose after the
| death of Stephen. 1t only scattered more
widely the message OF the gospel and sepa-
| rated the believers into small companies OF
| preachers of the truth.
| when the contention arose between Pau
| and Barnabas. 1t only meant that one apos-
| tie took Silas and the other John Mark
| and so more and different places were
| reached. 1t was the irrepressible necessity
| of their belief and life. 1t was their very
breath OF life.
1.-THE love Of Christ constrained them. II
] was woe unto them not to preach the Cos