The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-02-28
LAYMEN MUST Be
TRUE EVANGELISTS
Every Christian Has Important
Religious Duty, Said the
Rev. P. A. Simpkin.
TELLS OF MISSIONARIES
SPECIAL SERVICE HELD TO AS
SYST WORLDWIDE MOVEMENT.

A special service was held last eve
ming at Phillips Congregational church,
i'm that a sermon, devoted to missionary
interests il anticipation Of the coming
laymen's movement, was delivered L.
II. Page, of the Laymens committee,
spoke Of the plans for the work at the
coming convention. Rev, p. A. Simp-
kin spoke upon the achievements Of the
missionary movement and the great OBJ
legation resting upon the Christian
church to evangelize the world.
Taking as text the words of Jesus,
"GO, We, into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature" Mr.. SimD-
kin said: These words of Jesus em-
body an age campaign laying upon
every life that follows Him the solemn
and joyous duty of prOclaimiuE the love
of God in Jesus the Lord.
The communication of all truth and
life is personal Christ could adopt no
other way than 20 meet human need or
the element of decision I'M every human
viii whose autonomy is as sacred as
His own.
For long after the death of Christ his
religion was one of personal prOpa-
ganda, slowly CTystallziug into CEN
tiers of administration till by tine very
greatness OF the creature which was the
organized result of individual labor. in
dividual service was overshadoWed and
ecclesiastical machinery set the marks
Of authority and appointed the prs
Chalmers of evangel.
With varieties born Of revival and
great glowing periods of conservation
within the church this has been the ruf5
through long centuries.
THE laymen have sung their credos,
made profession. offered gift and been
almost exclusively concerned with local
problems. Ambition and effort, gift and
sacrifice have been too much bound by
local interest and development.
The wide vision of a Worldwide
kingdom has been too much the Con-
Germ of the clergy. too little the erthUs-
iasm of the iaymen.
Must Be Evangefists,
Every Christian believer must per-
force be an evangelist, firstly by per-
sOnal message and then by every means
that is open to his service and use.
Fortunately for the church and king
dom no less than humanity and civili-
cation, this phase of indirect service by
the laIty is passing. The miracle OF
modern missions has az length reached
the busy mind of our American men
and stirred by the glory of achievement
the men Of America move to make mis-
sions the scientific instrument of a
wider Christian civilization. no modern
movement within the church is either
more significant or welcome than this.
1t speaks more than a temporary eI-
thusiasm in the missionary work. It
pTedicates a renaissance of the full
sharing by the laity in the work Of
Gods kingdom
Mr.. Simpkin then went on to outline
briefly some of the marvellous and sig
nificant results Of the first century Of
modern missions, of whose spIendor
Uganda and Hawaii, the STRINGS in
China, Japan, India and Turkey ara
fine examples and a TeCTeated Korea is
the latest glory and passed TO consider
some Of those reasons why every man
in our Christian civilization should be
an earnest participant in its work.
The absurd position taken by some
critics that the peoples of the earth
should be left to the stagnatiOu of the
ethnic religions which hold sway over
them is untenable for a Thoughtful mod
ERNST and altruist, not to say Chris
tian," said the clergyman.
In dealing with some Of the world
questions of tomorrow the preacher as
serted that missionary success holds the
solution Of them.
Tomorrow uufOlds a tomorrow with
its yellow problem and its brown peril"
he said. The dream of q unified Mo- .
hammedanism that will gather half q
billion people in a new crusade OF the
Prophet and the sword is dancing in the
brains Of some Of those the twentieth
century has touched with the wand Of
its power.
The UnifiCatiOn of the yellow peoples
we may not look upon without appre-
hension. For the meeting of these prob
lens, as that of an awakening India, the
enthusiasm Of a worldwide missionary
campaign holds the solution. The lands
Of the Orient, near and far, must be
Overlaid with the love and spirit Of the
Nazarene, for the races unificatiOn, and
the realization of the nOblest ideals for.
the world are only so possible. In this
time when the quick spirit of life in
commerce, education, science and free
dom are awakening class and race con-
seriousness over the earth, the dynamic
of the highest religious ideals are needed
as never before.