Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-27

rules competence ana GOQ-s0NerInaSleIS
Himself-"Other sheep 1 have which are
not of this fold them also must bring.
From time to time different Arguments
have been made use Of to stir mens In this
different grounds of appeal h3ve been
adopted and urged. Once men were moved
to do Gods work by the inhuman theory OF
an ungodly idea that the heather dying
without knowledge of Christ must be eter-
nally damned.
"And over and over the apostolic commits
sion, as my father said SO many years ago,
has been called the missionary charter of
the church. But the first of these appeals
died it's deserved death long ago, unable to
live in the pure air of the realized gospel
and known God.
And the second, strong and true as it is
In Its statement, has been found unequal
to the power of rousing souls. believe we
are coming to more and more rational
recognition Of the fact, when the claim is
made upon the broader and deeper grounds
OF the natural instinct and necessity.
Proclaim Jesus.
''If you believe in Jesus Christ. you must
proclaim Him everywhere If you do not.
by influence and effort. by example and de-
votion, set yourself to the spreading of the
gospel. 1t means that you do not really
believe. To be a Christian is to be mis-
sionary. The mission life is the spirit of
Christ.
"One cannot imagine the individual Chris
tian feeling either free or able not to make
the atmosphere OF his home Christian by
bringing up his children in the nurture and
admontion Of the Lord. There Is a tacit
and active recognition everywhere of the
| necessity which leads men to build and to
support the churches In the places where
they live.
Surely there is self-condemnation In the
Idea that this does not involve and imply
the shedding of the light and the sharing
of the knowledge of the Gospel everywhere.
If Christ is needed for you or for me or for
| our children or for our neighbors or for
the congregations in which we worship. we
are not different from all other men in all
the world and their need is as great as
ours
THANK God. there has come in this CEN
fury a certain recognition Of this. and
certain results that follow that recognition.
A hundred years ago the governor general
and consul of the East India Company COM
PEELED the British government to forbid
preaching. or the printing of books directed
Christianity Today the present viceroy
of India declares that the spectacle pre-
sented by the dominion of Great Britain in
India is that of British power sustained
by a Christian ideal.
'In 1886 in the general assembly of the
Church of Scotland. DR.. George Hamilton
said: To spread abroad the knowledge
of the gospel among barbarous and heather
nations seems to me highly preposterous in
far it anticipates, nay, as 1t even re-
verses the order of nature. Men must be
polished and refined in their manners be-
fore they can be properly enlightened i'll
religious truth
ut would be highly absurd said Alex
ander Carlyle. in the general assembly of
the Church of Scotland, to think of making
distant converts by external missionaries.
1t is the first time l remember ever to
have heard such a proposal made. and /
cannot also help thinking it is the worst
time
Primary Work of Church.
1.-THE Lambeth conference a few years
ago sent out it's declaration that missions
are the primary work of the church. for
which the Christian Church was commits
stoned by our Lord And as the recogni
ton has grown, nave the results in
creased At the beginning of the century
there were, perhaps, seven Protestant mis-
there are 200 or more.
There were then 10 missionaries. of
whom 100 were connected with the Moray
ians. Now there are $4,000 There were
then about $685. converts Now there are
1.500GO0 The total sum contributed then
for Protestant missions hardly amounted
to $1,000 pounds. Now it exceeds 35eO.OO0
pounds. There were then fifty translations
$50. ' '; O .N
And this statement is greater In its
value and its meaning even than its earnest
eloquence of those words which follow:
"A scattered and unfamiliar world has
found itself during the century that has
slipped away
IS distant and unacquainted parts have
been introduced and pound by indissOuble
bonds Ships and rails and cables. like
woof and warp. tie the peoples of the earth
We are coming now into new, at once
a greater and smaller world.
I'VE enter it with the experience of a CEN
fury of missions behind us, with resources
remarkable. incalculable. with a world
open. and no power to let or stay. with
heritage of splendid service which is the
call to larger ministry. with a summons
sounding to the toll of new century. to
be to the last as a thousaI-d years to ten
Taking these premises as foregOne con-
illusions. it seems to me that the preacher
of sermon before a missionary council Is
chiefly concerned with suggestions to those
who are gathered together. not of a line of
argument to the duty and Importance of
missions. but taking for granted that as n
man need not be urged to breathe-though
1t may be we'll to teach him how-so the
spirit Of missions is the ife-breath of the
Christian and of the church. and the thing
to do Is to outline some methods of devel-
oping and employing that life.
The Great Truth.
"And first, as to It's development The
great truth cannot be too often repeated.
trite as 1t Is. that prayer Is the principal
source Of refreshment and inauguration.
Prayer. In the largest and truest sense not
merely asking TOT something, more men,
more money, more interest. but just the
converse and communion Of the soul with
God. whose value is in its habitualness so
that 1t Is our instant recourse.
Those few words. as he did aforetime,'
are the sum of the power Of Daniels relig-
ion and of Daniels life. He went to the
chamber which had window opening to-
ward Jerusalem to pray when he heard that
the writing was signed which condemned
him to the den of lions. but 1t was not In q
paroxysm of fear nor in the pressure Of a
| new need. but only as he did aforetime'
And 80 the habit of communion with
God. the constant vision and the constant
| use Of that ladder which Jacob dreamed
and Jesus lived and realized, is the source
| and spring of renewal and refreshment to
the Christian life.
And by its very essential characteristics
| 1t means the intercession for all the world
our Father'-whose? Not mine Tor yours,
except as we are included in the universal
common sonship Of the sons of Adam.
which was the Son Of God" except as we
include In our intercessions all those for
whom the second Adam took the nature of
| man. all humanity. whole humanity. that
He might redeem and restore it to such q
sonship as even Adam never knew
Then as to It's direction. I am more and
more convinced that so it goes to ali the
world. 1t matters not whether it be round