The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-22

ton. heartily congratulate you on this conference.
 "Christianity has two characteristics wherever 1t exists, first aggressiveness, and second. optimism. Christianity is distinctly aggressive. It is not con. servatfve force, but on the other hand 1t Is a great conquering power. IL is progressive and in this every thing does 1t differ from heath enisna. Show me q country that hasn't changed for ages, China for example. and you will Ind that Christianity plays no part in the lives of. the individual inhabitants of that country. Where there is Chris tianity there is change. change, change.
 "The general representative cf ichriss tianity is the man with the book, man who goes down through the ages of history as giant and ehalleng- ing the admiration Of the world by his heroic deeds"
 Tt Ia perfectly natural for q per- son who has the spirit of Christianity in him to be an optinist, ana this has been true of Christian from the beginning. Take Paul and John |. for examples These men in the race oi the greatest kind of difiiculties were optimists. And the missionary spirit ia the secret of ali optimism
 You and I confront a spirit of az gressivenesh and of optimism at the present time which the world has never before witnessed. and wish to speak to you upon the call. God comes in two spheres, in the heart and in special providence. In the snhere of the heart God represents Himself in a sense of duty or con. viction and in the sphere of special providence. while just as authorita" tive. no cali Is complete unless the call is presented in both spheres.
 Did you ever know a time when every church realized that this was nnissionary age? This is the nrst time that ali of the churches have risen up and said, Now is the time to evangeiize. All of the churches of The Protestant denomination are alive, are on fire with this project.
 "The only interpretation of this to me is that the Holy Spirit in timing events has breathed ths Ire in the laymen of the church. If this is not the interprettion, then tell me what the interpretation is."
 pr. Pinson called attention to the fact that the best selling book for the past six months was not novel, put A missionary book for children ana grown ups. He called attention to the l fact that a missionary book. The Up- | lift of China" had sold an edition or
 
 | gently and that another edition of ,loO,- l 900 had been printed and the publish : CTS had declared that every copy had been, disposed of. This, declared the speaker was a sign that the mission ary idea was taking firm hold upon the minds of the people. They are buying serious. exhaustive studies or the missionary problem"
 | Attention was called to the fact that RhNPChAa | Protestant denominations were getting | together on the missionary proposition | and were dividing the field into terri | tories so that there would be no de- nominationaI fights. Attention was called to conventions being held all over the country of all denominations together that fifty years ago would not have been dreamed possible.
 eve have too many churches at home and too many preachers. This needs to be rcmedied. We ought to have more preachers in foreign lands and stop overeultivating one section and undercultivating others The churches ought to be spread over | larger territory.
 of laity movements among other branches of church work. The Young People's Unions. the Students's Volun- teer movement, the r. NJ. C. A., and the Laymen's Movement just taksns hold. Now what means this move ment among the young people if not | the spirit of God breathing upon his people, and touching every department of church work ?' he asked.
 Foreign Doors Open Co Religion. pr. Pinson declared that a hundred
 years ago all of the doors of foreign lands were shut tight. but that in the
 nresent age every door was open to the spread of Christian religion. He
 referred briefly to the fact touched
 upon by Mir. Gerdine, the missionary | from Korea when that speaker an nounced that Korea could be evangel- | ized within ten years if the money
 was at hand to equip missionaries
 "All of the other countries are in the
 same condition within certain limita- | tions
 ''Eaeh Methodist is responsible for
 twenty-five heathen. and 1t will oe
 necessary to evangeliEe about 40,Ooo,- | GOO people. This means that there
 will have to be a missionary to every 1000 heather souls. and lt also means that there will have to be 6 fund of | 33.o0o.o 900 instead of @75o,ooo as there
 is at the present time.
 Wherever this question of the Lay mems Missionary Movement has been