EFFICIENCY POINTS BV 2060 .D7 1915 DOUGHTY BV 2060 .D7 1915 Doughty, Wi lliam Ell ison. 1873- Ef f iciency points Efficiency Points STUDIES IN MISSIONARY FUNDAMENTALS W. E. DOUGHTY EDUCATIONAL SECRETARY, LAYMEN 's MISSIONARY MOVEMENT Author of The Call of the World 1915 MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA NEW YORK PUBLISHED JOINTLY BY MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT AND LAYMEN'S MISSIONARY MOVEMENT CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE Preface v I. The Missionary Ideal of the Bible i II. The Spread of Christianity by Personal Service 29 III. The Christian Attitude Toward Property 55 IV. Intercession the Most Powerful Dynamic of Efficiency 79 PREFACE Facing the to-morrow of universal Christian victory with the men of the churches in many campaigns has left an abiding conviction that an effective appeal to men must contain at least three elements : First, there must be a constant reminder of the funda- mentals of our faith v^hich make the missionary principle binding and compelling. Second, the facts concerning world conditions and the expansion of Christianity must be presented in an im- pressive way. Third, practical methods must be pointed out by which men may relate themselves to the vital tasks of the Church. A knowledge of the facts of missions and a call to service are not enough. To these must be added a gen- uine appreciation of the motives and principles which account for the facts and which make service effective. Facts and methods and fundamentals fused in the glow- ing fires of daily Christian service will call men out into ever-deepening devotion to Jesus Christ and his world. That a multitude of men who ponder these pages may be led to a larger participation in the Christian enterprises VI Preface of our day is the earnest desire of the author, as he re- leases this message of his heart and mind among his brothers who Hve and labor for the efficiency of the Church in her world-wide ministries. W. E. Doughty New York hme I, 1915 EFFICIENCY POINTS CHAPTER I THE MISSIONARY IDEAL OF THE BIBLE '^Efficiency is a magic word in the commercial life of the twentieth century," says the opening sentence of Tremaine's little book on Church Efficiency. In our day the magic of the idea of efficiency is powerfully influenc- ing the Church as well as the commercial world. There is a wide-spread eagerness among the leaders of Chris- tian enterprises to produce a worthier quantity and quality of output. To be fruitful and permanent all such attempts must lead the Church back to a living con- tact with the Bible, and to a deeper cultivation of the spiritual processes out of which all Christian products flow. The Bible and the Living Need One of the most inspiring evidences of the temper of the best Bible students of our time is seen in their desire to interpret the Book in terms of living need. There is no longer serious debate in Christian circles as to whether or not the great need is the need of humanity for Christ. It is the conviction of all the churches that the central task of the Church is to give to every per- son who is alive in our day an adequate opportunity to I 2 Efficiency Points know and to receive him. The great need and the great task are both missionary. No church can fully minister to the deepest spiritual needs of its own members or reach a maximum of effi- ciency in its community until it is adequately adjusted to its missionary duty. The test, therefore, of the vitality and efficiency of any church is not only how completely it The Bible and Three Best Sellers in igi4 eric ll^olypie WTT 6,353,000 (Oe: * i NOVELS I 11.118,000 ^ Sales of Bibles or pomow ihfTf of VyiheAmnruan Biblf Soaeiy Sales do noi include those of com mercidl fiiiiu. *5aks of three best selling Amenedn novels ministers to the needs of its own membership, but also as to how far it is a center of community betterment and a force in the world-wide extension of the King- dom. God has pledged universal dominion to his Son, but he plans to secure this universal dominion through his sons on earth. With the incentive of the highest of all tasks and access to the boundless energies of the living God, no other organization in the world has so great possibilities of efficiency as the Church. Multi- tudes of church-members are, however, still unheeding Missionary Ideal of the Bible 3 and indifferent to the missionary appeal. What shall be done to arouse them? One of the first essentials to securing missionary effi- ciency is to bring to bear upon the Church the con- viction that the Bible, the great charter of the Church, is a missionary book, that in it the missionary mes- sage is pervasive and dominant, that the missionary ideal of the Bible grows in power as revelation progresses until it comes to its climax in Christ and his message of the Kingdom. Such a conviction can come only from a fresh study of the Bible itself and a discovery of the missionary ideal in the Scriptures. What then are the indispensable, practical things which busy men must know from the Book and to which they must adjust their lives if they are to be highly efficient Christians ? Points of View There are several methods of approach to the study of the missionary significance of the Bible. Two of them are mentioned. I. The Bible Is a Book Containing Missionary Texts For many years the chief way of presenting the mis- sionary message of the Bible was to rest the case upon certain more or less isolated texts. The exposition and application of such passages as Matthew xxviii. 18-20 will always yield rich treasures, but the proof-text method is by no means complete, satisfying, or final. Proof-texts are not the basis of the missionary appeal. The total message of the Book is the basis. Proof- 4 Efficiency Points texts are luminous points at which this message emerges with unusual brilliance and power. They are of unusual value as statements of missionary principle, as illustra- tions of achievement and as points of departure for a more comprehensive study of the missionary message of the whole Bible, but the omission or destruction of any proof-text would not at all invalidate the missionary obligation nor should it disturb the faith of the Church. If our method of Bible study is exclusively a proof- text method, we shall find certain portions of the Bible apparently anti-missionary and other sections neutral, as far as the missionary attitude is concerned. 2. The Bible Is a Book Missionary in Its Texture The most satisfactory method of studying the Bible is the historical method. By adopting this method of study the fact is made clear that the missionary message is in the structure of the Bible, inseparably wrought into its constitution. As one has expressed it: "To determine the missionary character of the Bible is not a question of text but of texture." That the Bible as a whole is essentially a missionary book is the point of view out- lined in this chapter. All that has been attempted in the following pages is to summarize in a broad way the message of each of the great sections of the Bible taken as a whole. Embedded in these, and deserving of more detailed study, there are certain books and certain pas- sages in which the missionary message is particularly prominent and powerful. A few of these are referred to in the discussion. Missionary Ideal of the Bible 5 Points to Remember Revelation is a growth; it is not cast in a mold but develops in the swift current of human history. We must not therefore expect that the missionary ideal will be found full grown in the Old Testament any more than we expect to find the principles of redemption fully re- vealed there. To quote from The Bible a Missionary Book, by Robert F. Horton: "If the Old Testament were a missionary book like the New, the New Testament would not have been necessary. What we are to ex- pect from the missionary study of the Old Testament is an appreciation of the long evolutionary processes by which God prepared mankind for his supreme revela- tion." ^ It will be recognized at once, of course, that due cau- tion should be observed not to read into the Bible ideas or principles that are not clearly stated or implied in the Scriptures themselves. On the other hand, there should be no hesitation in accepting what is discovered^ for there is a wealth of meaning in the Scriptures which has not yet been fully understood and applied. It re- mains true that new light is breaking out of the Old Word. One fact which will lead to great confusion and diffi- culty, unless it is recognized at the beginning, is that the writings in the Bible are not arranged in chronological order. For example, the order in which the minor prophets appear in the Bible gives no clue to the ques- tion as to when they were written. Some of the books were written, or edited, or compiled, long after the period * Page 86. 6 Efficiency Points with which the narrative deals. The historical facts are often interpreted and molded by the thought or aspira- tions of the writers or of prophets who lived in the writer's day. Certain differences between the message of the Old Testament and the New should be noted at the outset. In the history of the redemptive purpose of God, while the Old Testament is truly international, it deals princi- pally with a race. The New Testament deals with hu- manity. In the Old Testament Israel is central and other people incidental. In the New Testament, while the Jewish people are still prominent, the narrative moves out into new international and world relationships. Christ and his disciples preach a new message, and, while they quote from the Old Testament, the quotations are usually from those portions which have a truly interna- tional significance. The writers of the New Testament do not begin with creation, but with the new creation; not with the fall, but with the restoration. The main concern is not with a chosen nation, but with a universal kingdom. The Old Testament while clearly universal in its intent, is restricted in its method ; the New Testa- ment is universal both in intent and in method. The Old Testament is a record of how God made himself known to Israel. The New Testament is the beginning of the record of how God is making himself known to the whole world. The Old Testament has universal ele- ments stated or implied ; the New Testament takes these universal elements and unfolds and applies them. The law and the prophets contain the missionary ideal; the gospel is the missionary ideal. No section of the Old Testament should be considered Missionary Ideal of the Bible 7 apart from the fact that four great groups of writings — the law, the history, the prophets, and the miscellaneous books make up the Old Testament. Not one of these can be put in a separate compartment and considered as distinct from the others. The law is a product of the whole period to the final drama in Judaism. The history is a parallel stream. Poets rose at various points in the history, and the prophets powerfully molded think- ing and action for centuries. The missionary meaning of the Bible must be tested in the light of the fact that God has both a plan and a goal. The law contains glimpses of the plan, the history is a record of progress toward the goal, the poets reveal the mind and heart of a growing race in training for the carrying out of the plan, and the prophets are interpre- ters of God and his plan and have a clearer insight than any of the other Old Testament writers into the character of the plan and the goal. The Old Testament We pass now to the examination of certain outstand- ing missionary characteristics of the Old Testament. The Pentateuch The first five books of the Bible contain much history and other interesting matter besides the legal codes. The account of creation has elements in it which ap- peal to all mankind. A God, whose unity and power and beneficence make him worthy of universal adoration and worship, is revealed on the very first page of the Bible. The missionary content of the creation story is unmistakable. 8 Efficiency Points The ten commandments occupy but a small section of Exodus and Deuteronomy, but the interpretation of and commentaries on these basal codes fill many pages. These commandments, as found in Exodus, chapter xx, and Deuteronomy, chapter v, can never be superseded as fundamentals in morals and religion. They are in- capable of merely racial or national application. They are at the base of the world's ethics and are the indis- pensable inheritance of all races and ages. These books should be read beside Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and the Epistle to the Hebrews to bring out the mis- sionary significance in them and the unfolding purpose of God through them. Here and in the historical books there are many evidences of a struggle profoundly af- fecting the life of Israel going on throughout the entire Old Testament period. In the early days of the conquest of Caanan and following it was a conflict between the customs and laws of a simple people who lived in the open and of the moral and social codes of the settled dwellers in the cities. Such problems as the control of the land and the social welfare and uplift were acute. The conflict with idolatry was sharp and prolonged. Later on the chief elements are a narrow conservative party on one side and the progressive missionary prophets on the other. One party developed into Pharisaism, the other prepared the way for the new age. The great missionary message of the Old Testament is the story of the growing triumph of the missionary ideal over provincialism and selfishness. How this ideal conquered is blended with the whole Old Testament, first a tiny rivulet, but finally a flood. The Pentateuch records the first stages of the conflict. It is found in the historical Missionary Ideal of the Bible 9 books, and the prophets and poets are in the thick of the fight. The advanced stages of the struggle are found in the New Testament, with Jesus and the early Church on one side and the Pharisee on the other. The prophetic and missionary ideal triumphed, although the victory is not yet complete, for there are still elements of Pharisaism working evil in the world. The universal purpose of God is revealed in the Penta- teuch in many specific places, ^such as that in Genesis ix. 15, "I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh." Lan- guage could not express in any more positive way the universal purpose of God. Note particularly God's covenant with Abraham, re- newed with Isaac and Jacob. This has been called the Old Testament Missionary Commission. The two following accounts are inspiring : *'Now Jehovah said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. xii. 1-3). "And . . . Jehovah . . . said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abra- ham thy father, and the God of Isaac : the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south : and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. xxviii. 13, 14). lo Efficiency Points God wished the patriarchs to understand that their election was not to special privilege, but to special service. The service which God gave to Israel was to impart to the nations the knowledge of Jehovah. They were to exalt the worship of the one righteous God. He is revealed most clearly in the teachings of the prophets, but their message colors other parts of the Old Testament as well as the books which bear their names. To be a blessing to all nations is the highest missionary note in the national life. "Unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be" (Gen. xlix. lo) is one of the exalted expressions of the Old Testament. Any provincial in- terpretation of such a universal truth will always be in- adequate. Here then at the very beginning of the Bible are laid down certain universal principles and programs. That Israel did not interpret them in their wide significance and see their universal implications does not at all invali- date their message for our day. The Historical Books The annals of the Old Testament were not written primarily for the sake of history but to record certain religious events and movements and revelations. It is this fact which gives them their missionary value. The historical books are usually considered devoid of special missionary significance. There is, however, throughout the entire history a revelation of the unfold- ing purpose of God. That purpose may be stated briefly as follows : Israel was a nation in training for the de^ velopment, the preservation, and the distribution of the divine revelation. Missionary Ideal of the Bible ii The development of God's revelation of himself and his purpose went on throughout the entire Old Testa- ment and culminated in the ministry of Jesus and the apostolic age. There is in history no record of the preservation of growing truths so striking as that shown by the Hebrew people. The Jew is often called ''the miracle of history," because of the preservation of his identity and national characteristics through the centuries. The world owes much to this wonderful ability, for it contributed directly to the preservation of the religious truth which God was seeking to get into the minds and lives of men. The survey of Old Testament history brings out the unfolding of God's plan. The nation was preserved from extinction by removal into Egypt, where the people developed into a hardy race and learned much from the highly developed Egyptians. When they were ready for a separate nationality, they were taken out of Egypt and their conceptions of Jehovah and his purposes were greatly enriched by their experiences in the exodus, in the wanderings in the desert, and in their conquest of Canaan. The exile added to their preparation for moral leader- ship and taught them that their sufferings were not for the purpose of destroying them but of purifying them. The refined gold was to compose a vessel to carry onward the message of the Almighty. Israel failed at the point of distribution. This failure made impossible the complete development of God's plan through the Hebrew nation. It was a case of arrested development. A provincial interpretation of the purposes of God can never conquer the world. Until his people 12 Efficiency Points have a spirit of altruism, a spirit of unalterable and uni- versal good-will, until they are dominated by a redemp- tive love, they will be unequal to the strain of overcoming race antipathies and narrowness and putting forth self- sacrificing energies for the redemption of all mankind. Incidentally there are many isolated sections in the historical books which have great missionary value, such as that classic word regarding foreigners found in 2 Chronicles vi. 32, 33 : "Moreover concerning the for- eigner, that is not of thy people Israel, when he shall come from a far country for thy great name's sake, and thy mighty hand, and thine outstretched arm ; when they shall come and pray toward this house: then hear thou from heaven, even from thy dwelling-place, and do ac- cording to all that the foreigner calleth to thee for; that all the peoples of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as doth thy people Israel, and that they may know that this thy house which I have built is called by thy name." This is a part of the inspiring prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the temple. It has in it high qualities of true intercession and sounds forth a universal note surprising for the day in which the words were uttered. Special reference might well be made to the book of Ruth as an illustration of the purpose of God in the his- tory of Israel. What is the meaning of this book? In Deuteronomy xxiii. 3, it is expressly stated that no Moab- ite may enter into the congregation of the children of Israel unto the tenth generation. Ruth was an apparent exception to or violation of this law. She was a Moab- itess who was not only admitted into the congregation of Israel but had conferred upon her that highest honor Missionary Ideal of the Bible 13 of which pious Hebrew mothers dreamed. She was ad- mitted into the direct line through which Christ came into the world. What then is the message of Ruth? Is not the book God's plea for the non-Israelite? May not the races which now occupy a lowly place turn to Ruth with a great hope? Even outlawed nations are loved by Jehovah. God forever pleads the cause of the outcast race. What will admit them into the circle of the very elect ? Fitness of character. Here then we have a book with a missionary message of great power. The Psalms and Other Poetical Writings There is no section of the Old Testament in which we get nearer to a nation's heart than in the Psalms. The Messianic element in them gives these books their missionary significance. Many of them breathe a spirit which is not national but universal. They may be sung in a Jewish synagogue or a Christian church with equal propriety and contribute to the spiritual worship of both alike. Spiritual realities and fine interpretations of the inner meaning of life are here. Not merely is there legalistic justice and cleansing but genuine confession, contrition, thanksgiving, and intercession. They are full of exaltation at the thought of Jehovah, a King, reigning in righteousness to the ends of the earth. How a people could sing such universal truths as those, for example, in Psalms ii. 8; xxii. 27, 28; Ixvii. I, 2; Ixxii. 8-11, without realizing the implications of the spirit which they enshrine is inexplicable. There are, it is true, many Psalms which are devoid of the missionary spirit, but Dr. Horton has put the case strongly when he says: "It is a narrow and misguided 14 Efficiency Points judgment which would discredit the noble anticipations of the universal reign of peace and equity which abound in the Psalms, because now and then a poet, stung by the treachery of friends or smarting under the cruelties and oppressions of foes, breaks out into fierce and unhal- lowed imprecations. The missionary character of the Psalter lies not only in its forecast of the Messianic kingdom, but much more in the fulness, the richness, and the beauty with which it delineates both the deepest experiences and the most transient moods of the human soul in its relation to God." ^ The Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job deal with ele- mental human problems. The experiences of all human life are here interpreted in universal terms. The Prophets The late President Harper of Chicago University is quoted as saying, "Israel was not peculiar in that it had prophets but it was peculiar in that it had such prophets." A prophet is marked by two characteristics. First, he is an interpreter of God's attitude toward the living needs of his day. How God views graft and bribery, the mad pursuit of wealth, the oppression of the poor, injustice and luxury and covetousness, the peril of godless al- liances, the meaning of disaster, the call to community and even international service, what constitutes the heart of religion, — these are burning messages of the prophets. Second, the prophet is the living link between past and future. He received a great inheritance from his prede^ cessors. He passes on to his successors an enriched be * The Bible a Missionary Book, 171, 172. Missionary Ideal of the Bible 15 quest. In the prophets God's plan unfolds and the goal of history emerges, though dimly seen at first. Amos is the prophet of social redemption. Hosea, he of the wrecked home, pictures the seeking, suffering love of a righteous God for a wrecked nation. Jeremiah in- terprets the law spiritually and shows that it will be su- perseded by another higher law written on purified hearts. It is easy to pass from the following words to the mes- sages of Christ. "Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah ; not according to the cove- nant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt ; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith Jehovah. But this is the cove- nant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith Jehovah: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying. Know Jehovah ; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith Jehovah : for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more" (Jer. xxxi. 31-34). Joel is the prophet of Pentecost. Micah tells of a time when the universal kingdom of God will be here on earth. Habakkuk maintains that ''the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jeho- vah as the waters cover the sea" (Hab. ii. 14) ; and Zecha- riah dreams of an era when ''he shall speak peace unto the nations : and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, i6 Efficiency Points and from the River to the ends of the earth" (Zech. ix. 10). Isaiah is an internationalist with the assertion that for- eign nations, Babylon, Philistia, Moab, Damascus, Egypt, are a concern to Jehovah. God is interested in all na- tions. Favor with God is due, not to nationality nor to race, but to loyalty and love. Israel's suffering is for the sake of larger ministry among the nations. Isaiah clearly teaches that the vocation of the nations is to serve Jehovah. Even Assyria and Egypt, those mortal enemies of Israel, are sometimes looked upon with an attitude which is worthy of the advanced ideas of the universal dominion of God which fill the New Testament. The following passage will illustrate. 'Tn that day shall there be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to Jehovah. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto Jehovah of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they shall cry unto Jehovah because of oppressors, and he will send them a saviour, and a defender, and he will deliver them. And Jehovah shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know Jehovah in that day; yea, they shall worship with sacrifice and oblation, and shall vow a vow unto Jehovah, and shall perform it. And Jehovah will smite Egypt, smiting and healing ; and they shall return unto Jehovah, and he will be entreated of them, and will heal them. In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria; and the Egyptian shall worship with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth" (Isa. xix. 19-24). Missionary Ideal of the Bible 17 These prophets are the great missionaries of the Old Testament. They are in touch with the world powers and problems of their day. They are statesmen with the broadest possible contacts. They interpret the pur- pose of God in international questions. There is no higher missionary vocation than that of discovering and interpreting the mission of the nations. Another fact which distinguished the Old Testament prophets from all the other writers of antiquity is that they dream and write of a golden age in the future. Historians face the past, but the great prophets face the coming day. The Greek and Latin dassics glorify a golden age that is past. The prophets glorify a golden age to come. The fact that the prophets of the Old Testament always have their faces turned toward the future brings them into intimate spiritual fellowship with the missionary leaders of to-day. We too are dreaming of and actually engaged in the work of bringing in the golden age. There is a new note in the writings of the prophets, especially in that part of Isaiah which has been called "The Book of the Consolation of the Exile" (Isa. xl- Ixvi). Most of the followers of Jehovah believed that Jehovah and the land of Palestine were inseparable. These exiles found that they could still be in communion with God even though they were in a foreign land. They had discovered that Jehovah and his land might be separated and spiritual worship still be possible. They also discovered that there was one better thing than the return from exile, and that was to be a witness for Jehovah in a foreign land. The inevitable logic of such i8 Efficiency Points conclusions is that Jehovah is not the God of Palestine alone but of other nations as well. The message of the prophets, that God loves righteous- ness above every other thing and that he will not spare even his chosen people if they are unrighteous, is a mes- sage of world-wide significance and power. In modern days it has been discovered that Jonah is one of the great missionary books of the Bible. God's insistence on the carrying of the message to the Ninevites is forever the insistence of the love of God that his people carry the message to those who have received it not. The vigor of the Ninevites appeals powerfully to the modern mind. It is true that they were wicked, but it is also true that they were strong and had great possi- bilities. The writer of Nahum ii. 3, 4 ; iii. 1-3, brings to modern readers who approach the problem quite a differ- ent impression from that which was intended by the prophet Nahum when he denounced the Ninevites in such burning language. Remembering the weakness of the Israelites at this time, the comparison between them and the powerful Ninevites is very striking. It is hardly possible that God loves weakness in his chosen people as much as he loves strength in another people even though they have not yet acknowledged his name. The sailors, rough, heathen men though they were, did two things in the midst of the storm that showed their manli- ness of character by a very painful comparison with the actions and attitude of the prophet Jonah. The sailors prayed and rowed hard to get to shore. The prophet neither prayed nor rowed. It is sometimes true that even the heathen are better than the prophets of the Lord. The hook of Jonah is a blow at Jewish exclusive- Missionary Ideal of the Bible 19 ness. It is a call to evangelism. It revealed the universal love and fatherhood of God to a narrow and provincial age. There is no message which the Church needs to hear and hold in our day with greater tenacity than that of the universal love of God which is forever seeking to break down the exclusiveness of the people of God. The limits of this chapter prevent the discussion of the closing days of the Old Testament. It is sufficient to recall the fact that between the exile and the coming of Christ there is a steady, growing hope of a coming Mes- siah. The last days before the advent of Christ witnessed a great era of religious activity. One of the evidences of this is the presence of so many non-Jews in the syna- gogues in the time of Christ. The vigorous conflict be- tween the exclusive ideas of the priestly party and the new spirit of the prophets raged fiercely. One grew more bitter and narrow, the other more liberal and re- sponsive to international ideas. The missionary princi- ple was beginning to work. The New Testament When we pass out of the Old Testament into the new we pass from twilight to daybreak, from preparation to achievement. As he turned the leaves of the New Testament Henry Ward Beecher once thus described this portion of the Bible: "Four biographies, a book of travels, a bundle of letters, and a dream." The four biographies are a composite photograph of Jesus Christ, the world's greatest missionary. The book of travels is a record of the journeys and service of a group of mis- sionaries, and tells how the expansion of Christianity got under way. The bundle of letters is the correspond- 20 Efficiency Points ence of busy missionaries with fellow missionaries or with, missionary churches which they founded, or concerning missionary problems which pressed for solution. The Revelation — the "dream" — is a picture of the final and complete triumph of Jesus Christ. Surely he was right who said, "If you cut missions out of the New Testa- ment, the New Testament will bleed to death." The Gospels We are at once struck by the cosmopolitan character of these records. Matthew wrote for Jews, Mark for Romans, Luke for Gentiles, John for all races and, climes. Jesus was. born a Jew, under Roman law, at a period when Greek influence was powerful. "Palestine was only the gateway in, for Jesus was after a world." The message of the Gospels is a universal message. Jesus thinks and speaks in universal terms. "The earth," "the world," "all," "whosoever," "the kingdom of God," — these are inseparable from his message. The parables which speak of the field as the world, the leaven working until it has leavened the whole lump, and all nations gathered together before Christ for judgment are not subject to a merely national or provincial interpretation. Even if only moderate emphasis is put upon such phrases as "the field is the world," or certain parables of our Lord with little significance apart from their world-wide meaning, think of the universal content of the great central messages of Christ. His message of the father- hood of God is a universal message. His message of the brotherhood of man is a world message. The same may be said of his message regarding prayer, or his teachings regarding the. worth of man, or the kingdom of God,, Missionary Ideal of the Bible 21 or of immortality. Truly Jesus is "the light which lighteth every man, coming into the world" (John i. 9), and "the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world" (John L 29), and his flesh is given "for the life of the world" (John vi. 51). Jesus stood for the protection of childhood, lifted woman into her true place of power, and gave a new hope to the unfit and the outcast. These are not truths for one continent but for all continents. The Lord's prayer is rich in missionary significance. Its personal pronouns are all plural. Its intense concern is with the hallowing of the name of God and the estab- lishment of the kingdom of God on earth. Jesus's favorite title was "Son of man." This is not Jewish, nor racial, nor national, but human. He did all possible to prevent the current ideas of what the Messiah should be from being applied to him. "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself" (John xii. 32). What is called "the Great Commission" is found in substance in all four Gospels, in the opening chapter of the Acts, and in a somewhat different form in a direct revelation to the apostle Paul. One striking thing about this sixfold repetition of the essential facts of the great commission is that there is no such repetition of the story of the birth of Jesus, of his baptism, or temptation, or transfiguration, or ascension, as of the great commission. It should be remembered that not a single sermon nor parable nor prayer is repeated six times. Evidently this repetition is intended to show what a large place the missionary program has in the redemptive program of the New Testament. Christ was a missionary. His mes- 22 Efficiency Points sage IS missionary, for his parables and sermons and prayers have more than a provincial or racial significance. His fundamental method of spreading the faith is per- sonal testimony. This method will always be the central missionary method. The Acts This book is the first volume of missionary history. It begins with representatives of many nations gathered at the founding of the Church. It gives special attention to the revolutionary change in the thinking and life of the two outstanding characters in the book, Peter and Paul. The unfolding of the wide purpose of God pro- ceeds with rapidity after Paul's conversion on the way to Damascus and Peter's experience in connection with the sheet let down from heaven. The far-reaching con- quests which followed unmistakably point out the mis- sionary purpose of God. The book is an inspiring record of the missionary activity of the first few years of the Church's life. The apostles were the ''incarnation of a world movement." The Acts is the greatest book on expansion in the Bible, for it marks the inauguration of that program which is being vigorously carried out in our day. The book begins with the Church so small that its members can be accommodated in a single room. It ends with bearers of the Christian message pushed out into all the known world. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, Antioch, Rome — these in swift succession are centers of missionary activity. Even Spain is included in the mis- sionary plans of Paul. The Acts gives us an entirely new conception of the Missionary Ideal of the Bible 23 place of prayer in the spread of Christianity. There are twenty-nine references to prayer in the twenty-eight chap- ters of the book. Intercession begins to take its rightful place as a conquering force in the world. The Epistles The Epistles of Paul are missionary in their author- ship, in their destination, and in their message. The missionary author of these Epistles is recognized as the greatest man of his age. His letters are directed to the churches he has founded, to missionaries like Timothy and Titus, and to laymen like Philemon. The fact that the Epistles are missionary in their au- thorship and in their destination makes it inevitable that their message should also be missionary. They grew out of Paul's contact with the non-Christian peoples of his day and out of his relations with the churches which he had founded. The writer deals with the practical questions which confront new churches. Many of these are still burning issues in the mission fields of the modern Church. How to deal with idolatry, polygamy, caste, intemperance, extortion, social injustice, the Christian nurture of children, the great and destructive sin of covetousness — these as well as problems of administra- tion and questions of doctrine that always confront the Church militant fill the pages of these documents. Paul writes to the Galatians to defend them from false inter- pretations of the law; to Corinthians and Thessalonians, because he had heard of certain troubles which they have had and he wished to give them instruction and counsel, and because certain false conceptions of the gospel need correction. 24 Efficiency Points In stating the place of the Gentiles in the world plan of Christ, in Romans xv. 9-12, Paul quotes from three of the great sources of information in the Old Testament — the Psalms, the law, and the prophets. The missionary note in Paul's writings is not occasional nor incidental but constant and fundamental. Paul is driven on by a consuming desire to make Jesus Christ known everywhere in the world and to make propagandists of those who are led to Christ. Theological arguments, the foundations of doctrine, these are found in the main current of his life, but the missionary passion is the river that floats them. It is this spirit which many a time through the centuries has saved theology from deadly formality and blighting heresy. The missionary point of view is found in every Epistle of his, not least in the Epistle to Philemon, that rare sample of private correspondence in which he main- tains that even Onesimus, a runaway slave, may become a brother beloved through faith in Jesus Christ. Not all the other Epistles are so strikingly missionary as those of Paul, yet they are not without evidence of the same spirit. The Epistle to the Hebrews has deep missionary sig- nificance, because it points out that Judaism is filled full by Christ, that the ritual is merged into universal spiritual worship, and that the life of the Old Testament is poured into new and widening channels of blessing in Jesus Christ. Peter was very slow to adopt the missionary program, and yet his first Epistle is directed to "the elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappa- docia, Asia, and Bithynia" (i Pet. i. i). James too was a staunch adherent of Jewish orthodoxy Missionary Ideal of the Bible 25 and conservatism in the Jerusalem church, but by the time he writes his Epistle his message is not to an indi- vidual or to a city but to believing Jews scattered throughout the world. These men who had been among the most conservative have now taken to writing in cos- mopolitan terms to international audiences. The Epistles of John are very rich in missionary sig- nificance. No more interesting illustration of this could be found than the third Epistle. The events which called out the Epistle seem to be about as follows. Some mis- sionaries, "for the sake of the Name they went forth" (vs. 7), were on a journey (vs. 6), either going home on furlough or returning to their mission field. They came to a town where there was a church. John had written a letter of introduction to the church (vs. 9). In the church there were two prominent laymen, Diotre- phes and Gaius. The first was probably rich, was un- questionably selfish, and did not believe in missions, "who loveth to have the preeminence . . . receiveth us not" (vs. 9), "neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and them that would he forbiddeth and casteth them out of the church" (vs. 10). He did not believe in entertain- ing or encouraging missionaries and wasting good money on "the heathen." The other layman was Gaius. He was sick, it would seem (vs. 2), and therefore might have been excused from entertaining the missionaries and giving them money, but he does both. These workers, full of gratitude to Gaius, relate their experience to the apostle. Out of his loving heart John writes this letter to Gaius, to thank him for his help and to assure him that his act has made him a sharer in the triumphs of the gospel 26 Efficiency Points (vs. 8). Where could such a letter, as modern as this morning's mail, be found except in a missionary book ? The World's Missionary Book What a book this is which God has sent forth! It carries in its heart the missionary ideal. It is alive with creative energy. It has survived for all these centuries the attacks of unbelievers and blasphemers. It has wrought missionary revolutions by changing hopeless conditions and banishing evil and injustice. It has de- flected the streams of history and transformed races and civilizations. More wonderful still it has outlived the ignorance and fanaticism and provincialism of its friends. It has borne without injury impossible demands and un- believable blindness, — all this with undiminished vitality and unsurrendered authority. Shall we not enter into unceasing prayer and unwearied toil that the Book may speak to our age the message of world redemption as yet but dimly realized and indifferently obeyed, until every disciple shall be dominated by the missionary spirit, and every church shall be aflame with the redemptive love of Christ? Then at length shall the waiting Christless millions look upon the face of Christ and be quickened into life. Missionary Ideal of the Bible 27 REFERENCES FOR FURTHER STUDY Bashford, J. W. God's Missionary Plan for the World. Eaton & Mains, New York. $1.00. Carver, W, C. Missions in the Plan of the Ages. Fleming H. Revell Co., New York. $1.00. FiSKE, Martha T. The W-ord and the World. Student Volun- teer Movement, New York. 40 cents. HoRTON, R. F. The Bible a Missionary Book. Pilgrim Press, Boston. $1.00. Watson, Charles R, God's Plan for World Redemption. Board of Foreign Missions, United Presbyterian Church in North America, Philadelphia. $1.00. CHAPTER II THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY BY PERSONAL SERVICE The world will be evangelized in that generation in which the Church rediscovers the spiritual functions of laymen and adjusts its teachings and program of work to call out and utilize the lay forces of the Church. The responsibility for leadership and for training the Church rests on the ministry, but the obligation for service rests on all. The mobilization of the lay forces of the Kingdom will be the glorious achievement of a ministry which interprets the gospel in terms of its com- plete personal, social, and universal implications. The adequate undertaking of the missionary program de- mands of laymen instant and whole-hearted obedience to the call to consecration and service. A life reaches the maximum of its power when it widens sufficiently so that no human interests are foreign to it. A Twentieth Century Reformation ''A miracle is to conceive such an object of endeavor and to put forth such an appeal of trust as shall make possible a creative new departure in the world." Thus a current writer has phrased a definition of a miracle. The present world situation fairly bristles with the pos- sibility of a creative new departure. Among factors which would of necessity be included in bringing about 29 30 Efficiency Points such a transformation is the restoration to laymen of the normal functions chartered for them in the gospel. In this new order the clergyman will neither assume that he is employed to perform all the spiritual ministries of the Church, nor will he neglect his share of personal witness- ing to the power of Christ in the daily life of his com- munity, not as an ecclesiastic, but as a man. When this happens the spiritual ministries of the Church will not all be performed by one class but will be shared by all disciples. The revolt in the Church is not against gen- uine leadership. Wherever there is a man with the prophetic message and the ability to set other men at work there is no revolt. Rather the protest is against professionalism, against an unfruitful ecclesiasticism on the one hand and the voiceless, passionless state of many laymen on the other. When all the communicants in the Church are properly set at work, then all personal ideals will center in the uni- versal Christ and all social ideals culminate in the king- dom of God. In the report of a Commission on 'The Place of the Laity in the Church,'' of which E. W. Halford was chairman, the following stirring words are found: 'The uprising of men, in the midst of which we now are and of which the Laymen's Missionary Movement is one phase, can readily be seen to be of like essential character with other reformatory movements and upris- ings that have marked the pathway of the advancing Church. We may define it as we will ; we may charac- terize it as we think best. But the plain truth is that the Church is still in unrest because the one fundamental truth upon which it alone can rest — the oneness of all Spread of Christianity by Service 31 believers in Jesus Christ, and the absolute equality in privilege and responsibility of every member of the Church of God — has not been universally vitalized. The present uprising of men is not only a confession but a protest. It is a confession that the great body of Chris- tian laymen have not been cognizant or careful of privi- lege or duty, and a protest against conditions that have weakened and do still weaken the Church in a greater or less degree and prevent it from properly interpreting to the world the Christ of whom it is the only organized visible representative, and of whom it must be the vice- gerent on earth of the kingdom that is to come. "The 'reformation' now on may prove one of the mightiest forward movements in human annals if only laymen will reclaim and maintain and worthily fill that place in the Church to which the law of God entitles them, and to which they are commanded by the exigent necessi- ties of the kingdom of Christ." ^ The Way Out How shall the laity be made to feel the responsibility, and so be qualified to regain their rightful place in the Church of Christ? Having regained it, what shall they do for the Kingdom? I. There Must Be a New Emphasis on the Spiritual Character of All Honorable Vocations One of the great needs of our time is that men recog- nize the fact that all trades and professions in which Christian men engage are intended to be ministries. The ^ Pages 14, 15. S2 Efficiency Points genius for organization, the gift for making money, are as truly gifts of God as the gift for preaching. That is a fine sentiment expressed by Kendrick in Grace Rich- mond's Twenty Fourth of June, when in consultation with some young business men, including his own son, he sums up the conception of what a business career should be by saying : **The most important thing a business can do is to make men of those who make the business." Any calling which fails here has not been conceived of as a ministry. Every kind of business engaged in by Chris- tian men must be tested by its effect on personal charac- ter and service. The truth that we are here discussing is powerfully brought out in a book every layman should study entitled The Will of God and a Man's Life Work by Henry B. Wright. Some of the themes discussed in this book are that every man's life is a plan of God, that the will of God for every life is discoverable, that the will of God may be done in every honorable calling, how the will of God may be known, and the issues of acceptance or rejection of God's will. All these matters are of su- preme concern to every layman. One passage from the Preface is quoted : 'The call of God is popularly inter- preted as a call to the professional ministry. Law, busi- ness, teaching, medicine, engineering, and like profes- sions are distinguished as secular. They are regarded as fields into which a man may enter without relation to God's will — realms in which more latitude is allowed to the individual in personal morals and in manner of life, and within which he is largely released from responsibility for the advancement of the kingdom of God. Spread of Christianity by Service 33 *'Jesus Christ and his apostles, however, entertained no such conception of the so-called 'secular' professions. . . . All lay Christians are priests as well as are ministers; their priesthood differs only in degree, not in kind." As Bishop W. A. Quayle has well put it, "The layman is not given over to religion as a vocation, but given over to religion as a life. As regards technical skill he is a lay- man, as regards participation in holy things he is an adept." ^ A new day in the world expansion of Christianity will dawn when all honorable callings engaged in by Christian men are regarded as opportunities for ministry to mankind. 2. Laymen Must Recognise the Place in the Spread of Christianity Given to Them by God A carpenter shop may not seem a likely place from which should come the leader of a world movement. Men who toil with their hands as well as their brains and hearts can never forget that Jesus was a carpenter and that most of his ministry was carried on, not in the synagogue nor according to the custom of the clergy of his day, but his field of operations was the place of daily toil or social intercourse — the hillside, the market- place, the open country, the city, the street, the fisher- man's boat, around the supper table. All the authors of the New Testament books were called to service from ordinary professions, except Paul, who was trained for a rabbi. Matthew was a govern- ment official, Mark a rich young man from a comfortable Jerusalem home. Luke was a physician, John a fisher- ^ Laymen in Action, 14. 34 Efficiency Points man, Paul a tentmaker, James and Jude leaders in the Jerusalem church. The Acts strikingly illustrates the fact that the whole Church is a missionary organization. Cornelius, the soldier (Acts x. 2), is a man of prayer and fragrant deeds. Barnabas, a companion and fellow mission- ary with Paul, is an ideal worker. His biography is summed up in three phrases (Acts xi. 24) : "He was a good man" — he had character; ''full of faith" — he had a vital creed ; "full of the Holy Spirit" — he had a living experience. Any man who has these three qualifications is surely called of God to spread Christianity. Paul's use of his lay helpers is an inspiring record. Who can read the list of heroic souls, both men and women, in such a series of greetings as that given in Romans xvi without hearing the battle call, the sum- mons to leap into the ranks? There was Erastus, the treasurer of the great city of Corinth. What a fight he had on hand to keep from graft and hold steady, sur- rounded by godless fellow officials! What a picture rises up as we read his name ! Then there were Priscilla and Aquila, who did so much for Apollos (Acts xviii. 24-28) ; Phoebe, too, "a servant of the church ... at Cenchrese" (Rom. xvi. i). Think of a woman sent on the long and perilous journey from Corinth to Rome to carry Paul's letter to the church at Rome! Well does Renan say, "Phoebe carried under the folds of her robe the whole future of Christian theology." These are but samples. The need for trained leadership, for the calling out of men to give their time to the propagation of the faith and to the preparation of other workers was early recog- Spread of Christianity by Service 35 nized. In other words, the ordained ministry grew out of the necessities of the case. As Paul nears the end of his life, he calls out and sets apart men like Timothy and Titus for the work of the ministry. He never in- tended that such workers should have a monopoly of the spiritual ministries but that they should be the leaders in training and sending forth the Church. All honor to the noble army of heroic men in the ministry! Not one word would we say to detract from their position of dignity and power. To no other group of men can the Church look for like leadership, but without the co- operation of laymen and the contribution of their service Httle progress is possible. Lord Kitchener is reported to have said, "Generals may win battles but armies wun campaigns." Our su- preme concern is that the campaign be won. This is impossible without the laymen, and any conception of the Christian life which limits service to one class of men makes defeat inevitable. J. Laymen Must Evangelize The transmission of the Christian message is the duty of all until all have heard. It surely is not the design of Christ that the modern minister should be an Atlas standing alone bearing the world on his shoulders. The world will never be evangelized by the one method of preaching from the pulpit. It will be evangelized by genuine witnessing in the market-place, in the mines and shops and factories and schools and offices and far fron- tiers as well as in the churches. The fundamental method of spreading Christianity is testimony. Life speaks to ^6 Efficiency Points life and every man who is in vital touch with Jesus Christ is called to win other men to faith in him. The test of the efficiency of the Church is not how many has it attracted to its membership but how many of its members have been constrained by love to go forth to some service in the Kingdom. What the Church needs is such genuine life as will make service compelling. The Church exists for those outside its membership quite as much as for those inside. The Christian life is a double shield, on one side of which is emblazoned "Come" and on the other side "Go." In the Acts the whole Church was an "Evangeliza- tion Union." "They . . . that were scattered abroad went about preaching the word" (Acts viii. 4). Who were these firebrands spreading the Christian conflagra- tion ? It was not the apostles, for the record says, "They were all scattered abroad . . . except the apostles" (Acts viii. i). Alas for the Church that she ever lost that plan of campaign! To quote from The Will of God and a Man's Life Work: "The clergyman gathers the laymen about him, instructs them in methods and inspires them with motive ; the laymen go forth into the world having caught the great meaning of the truth of Jesus — 'The kingdom of God is in the midst of you' — that is, not in the church edifice nor in a Zion city (John iv. 21), but right in one's own profession, wherever one has intercourse with men, there is the place where he, not the clergyman, can best accomplish the coming of the kingdom of God. The tent- maker among the tent-makers ; the fisherman among the other fishermen casting their nets; you, the teacher among your colleagues and pupils as you teach ; you, the Spread of Christianity by Service 37 physician or lawyer, among your patients or clients as you practise; you, the engineer, among your assistants, especially among the Italians who dig the ditches for your survey — wherever a layman is in contact with a body of men, there is his parish for active evangeliza- tion. . . . The Christian layman who is a specialist in his line has access to the minds and hearts of his asso- ciates. He can translate the life and teaching of Jesus into terms which his associates can understand and will respect." ^ 'The prevalent modern idea that, if a man decides not to be a missionary or a minister, he is reheved from all further responsibility for Christian work, is utterly false and pernicious. The decision not to be a clergyman, if a man be a Christian at all, is in fact his act of enlistment in active evangelization. The clergyman may spend much time in his study with the theory of religion. We shall find no fault with him if he does. But the layman must evangelize. The idea that all the Christian layman is under obligations to do is to be an officer in the church, make a regular contribution or hold down a pew on Sunday, is pagan. It is just as ridiculous as if at the outbreak of a war the cadets at West Point and all the graduates should club together and hire the instructors there to go to the front and do the fighting while they either sit and look on, hear the reports from the front, or listen to the military band." ^ Those are inspiring words spoken by the daughter of the Rev. Hugh Price Hughes, one of the modern prophets of Great Britain, in her biography of her father. ''He recovered for his church the ancient passion for souls * Page 95- ' Page 98. 38 Efficiency Points and set it in the stream of modern life." Many a minis- ter and many a layman too has ''the ancient passion for souls," but beats his head against a wall because he is out of touch with "the stream of modern life." But more tragic still, many a disciple is in the swift and deep current of modern life who has never had, or if he had has lost, that priceless treasure ''the ancient passion for souls." Blessed is he who, taught by the ever-living Christ, knows how to enthrone this divine flame of an intense love for men among the actual working forces of our new day. That there is need for emphasis upon lay evangelism is apparent from a study of the statistics of the churches as given out by Mr. H. K. Carroll. The figures show that thete were in America 224,172 churches of all com- munions, Catholic and Protestant, in 1913 and 225,613 in 1914, a gain of 1,441 churches. It therefore required the combined efforts of 155 churches to produce one new church. The total membership of the churches in 1914 is given as 38,708,149, an increase for the year of 763,078 members. Averaging these figures shows that the united efforts of fifty church-members for a whole year resulted in the addition of one new member. Each church in America during 1914 added to its member- ship a little more than three persons on the average. Depressing as these facts are, it is encouraging to note that these figures are considerably better than the record of several of the preceding years. The fact has often been stated that approximately eighty per cent, of the church-members come from the Sunday-school, but while the school presents the most favorable opportunity to per- suade young people to become followers of Jesus Christ, Spread of Christianity by Service 39 only fifteen per cent, of the members of the Sunday- school ever become communicant members of the church. Surely the vast majority of church-members must have forgotten that they are to be winners of others! KANSAS PLACES REACHED BY WICHITA GOSPEL TEAMS One of the striking current efforts to change all this is seen in the Gospel Team work now going on in various parts of the country. It began at Wichita, Kansas. In 1911 Mr. Sunday led a revival campaign in Wichita in which over five thousand professed conversion or re- newed their allegiance to Jesus Christ. Then came the Men and Religion Forward Movement with its program of work. The first Gospel Team was organized in Janu- ary, 1912. Like all the others since organized, it was made up of business men. Pastors who recognize the hand of God in a movement of this sort have done all in their power to encourage the work and enlist their 40 Efficiency Points men. Four elements enter into the team work: first, they rely on testimony — not preaching; second, there is personal dealing with individual men who need Christ; third, there is always prayer ; fourth, they expect imme- diate and definite results. Instead of one team there are now more than two hundred and fifty teams enlisting over forty-five hundred men. In Wichita alone there are twenty-eight teams. They have visited 56 places in the city and 132 outside and report 3,246 conversions and renewals.^ In Columbus, Ohio, as a result of a similar evangelistic campaign, an organization called the Tabernacle Work- ers carries on the same type of work. The president of the organization, Mr. Bert Gill, was a saloon-keeper when Mr. Sunday began his work in Columbus. Mr. Gill was led to Christ in one of the meetings. He did not return to the saloon even to get the money out of the cash drawer but turned the key over to a lawyer and requested him to close out the business. The Taber- nacle Workers led to Christ more than three thousand persons up to June, 191 5. Who are these men? Merchants, lawyers, manufac- turers, judges, artizans, teachers, all sorts and conditions of men. Tremaine says, 'The Church of Jesus Christ is the most potential organism in the world, but it is working at low speed and half power." Bishop Williams maintains, in speaking of the Church, "She does not hitch the big motives of her faith to big enough jobs. She uses a CorHss engine to run mechanical toys." If these statements are true, then the Gospel Team may well be one means of changing conditions because the ^ "La^jj3«j m GP5pel Work." Spread of Christianity by Service 41 personal grapple with men whose lives are full of sin to persuade them to become disciples of Jesus Christ is soul-testing business. One of the many blessings of such personal work is that it inspires the men who engage in it to adopt high standards of experience and life. Either there will be deepening devotion to Jesus Christ on the part of the men or they will cease to win other men to faith in Jesus Christ. 4, Laymen Must Be Sharers in the Social Ministry of the Church There can be no complete or adequate interpretation of Christianity which does not recognize the responsi- bility of the Church in its corporate life for the welfare of the community. Any merely personal appropriation of the benefits of the gospel represents an imperfect con- ception of the person and program of Jesus Christ. The social work of the Church is the organized kindness of the Church ministering to the entire life of the com- munity. All wholesome plans for the conservation and enrichment of the community life must be welcomed and promoted in and by the Church. The social message of the Church should never be simply one of protest or denunciation. Christian criti- cism should be constructive criticism. Denunciation of graft and selfishness and injustice and evil in every form must be accompanied by a constructive program of reformation and uplift. The Church must reincarnate the spirit of Jesus in his personal attitude toward the ordinary life of the people. As Jesus did, so the Church must show its interest in 42 Efficiency Points all men, in their health, their economic life, their plea- sures, their children, and in the conditions under which they live and work. In short, the Church must share with Christ his conception of the worth of persons. There rests upon the Church the responsibility for creating a righteous industrial order. It must recognize and utilize the spiritual and moral values of the feminist movement, the temperance movement, the play move- ment, the organizations and aspirations of the labor world. All these and many more are in the special field where the service of the Christian layman is sorely needed. He is the one who must demand and help to secure pure and just government. In bringing in the kingdom of God in his community he can give unan- swerable proof of the sincerity and genuineness of his faith. He is the one to demonstrate that the gospel is adequate to meet modern social conditions. Laymen should welcome service, not only on church boards and committees but also in any organizations which have to do with the welfare and uplift of the community. There are many of these in every large city. Special attention is here called to a book in the list at the end of this chapter entitled The Church a Community Force, This is a story of how one church has related itself in helpful ministry to all the complex life of a modern city. The small towns and countrysides also furnish their baffling social problems calling for efficient organization and all the wisdom and courage and consecration of the strongest men. The Making of a Country Parish, an- other book found in the same list, is the history of a church which recognized its duty to the rural community Spread of Christianity by Service 43 and put to the test its faith in the country church. The results make inspiring reading. One of the first things to be done in any community is to make a painstaking and scientific analysis and sur- vey of conditions. With these facts in hand the next step is resolutely to apply the principles of efficiency to the problems revealed. In many cases a community council might v^ell be organized federating all the forces of uplift in the life of the community for the conduct of educational campaigns and for united action. The school, the civic associations, the commercial organizations, the grange, the charity organizations — all these and many more have important social functions and opportunities. The Church should infuse the spirit of Christ into them all. As a brief but comprehensive summary of social ideals and responsibility, we give in full a document adopted by the Federal Council of Churches of Christ on Decem- ber 9, 1912. The Churches Must Stand: For equal rights and complete justice for all men in all sta- tions of life. For the protection of the family, by the single standard of purity, uniform divorce laws, proper regulation of marriage, and proper housing. For the fullest possible development for every child, es- pecially by the provision of proper education and recreation. For the abolition of child labor. For such regulation of the conditions of toil for women as shall safeguard the physical and moral health of the com- munity. For the abatement and prevention of poverty. 44 Efficiency Points For the protection of the individual and society from the social, economic, and moral waste of the liquor traffic. For the conservation of health. For the protection of the worker from dangerous machinery, occupational diseases, and mortality. For the right of all men to the opportunity for self-mainte- nance, for safeguarding this right against encroachments of every kind, and for the protection of workers from the hard- ships of enforced unemployment. For suitable provision for the old age of the workers, and for those incapacitated by injury. For the right of employees and employers alike to organize; and for adequate means of conciliation and arbitration in indus- trial disputes. For a release from employment one day in seven. For the gradual and reasonable reduction of the hours of labor to the lowest practicable point, and for that degree of leisure for all which is a condition of the highest human life. For a living wage as a minimum in every industry, and for the highest wage that each industry can afford. For a new emphasis upon the application of Christian prin- ciples to the acquisition and use of property, and for the most equitable division of the product of industry that can ultimately be devised. The limits of space forbid a further discussion of practical avenues of social service. The Committee on Church and Country Life and the Committee on Social Service of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, will gladly put the reader in touch with the latest literature and plans. The volume on Social Service of the Men and Religion Movement Messages is rich in inspiration and practical suggestions. Spread of Christianity by Service 45 5. Laymen Are Sumtnoned to World Conquest In a statement to the Pan-Anglican Congress in Lon- don in 1908, Mr. Silas McBee began his address on 'The Layman in Missionary Work" with the following sen- tences: "The conversion of the world waits on the conversion of the laity from passive to active member- ship in Christ. When the change from passive profes- sion to living service is effected, the Church will present itself in a new aspect and its missionary power will be resistless. Missionary work is now delegated almost wholly to a selected official class, to clergymen and lay- men and lay women chosen for specific tasks. It is as if the officers and non-commissioned officers of an army were sent forth to conquer a mighty host, with no army to fight battles and win victories. Missionaries are sup- ported by some of the laity — always, in every com- munion, by only a part of those who have been baptized in Christ — who have been set apart to fight his battles. The effort to convert the world through an official class has continued so long that the great majority of the laity have lost the sense of their own mission. The churches are to-day endeavoring to convert the world by official proclamations of the gospel instead of by a steady, active, and progressive spread of the life of the Christian society which our Lord established for the saving of the world. The family idea, the society idea, the Church idea has been so far lost that it seems not to occur to a Church to send a whole community of Christians into a virgin missionary field in order to im- part the life of the Christian society as leaven leavens 46 Efficiency Points a lump — to Christianize the world as it has been col- onized." After speaking of the evil results of the inadequate place given laymen in missionary service in foreign lands, Mr. McBee continues: ''But while this is clearly true in the foreign field, it is even more disastrously true at home. The mischief at home is incalculable. The pas- sive attitude of the great body of Christians leaves the conversion of the life of the nations at home almost wholly to an official Christianity. The nations are now influencing, in many respects are shaping, the destinies of the non-Christian nations. The first evil effect is failure to support missionary work in an adequate way in lives and money. The laity are not conscious of what it means to be a Christian, to be coworkers with Christ in his family, the Church. The second, and more damag- ing effect is the sending of an unchristian and materialis- tic commercialism into the non-Christian parts of the world from civilizations nominally Christian. Both de- fects are due to the failure of the great body of laymen in the Christian churches to combine in active, living service. Only so can the life of the Church be brought to bear on the civilizations that are called after his name." There is a multitude of men still active in commercial or professional life who nevertheless give first place to the work of spreading Christianity. The gospel carries in its heart the duty of propagating it. The actual and literal forsaking of old pursuits for the direct work of the Kingdom is only one phase of response. The great Cpmmission includes the following elements: Spread of Christianity by Service 47 Go! Get Others to Go ! Let Others Go! Support Others Who Go! Men in commercial and professional pursuits everywhere are rising up in response to the call of Christ to do one or all of these things. Some Practical Ways to Respond Men may link the power of the Church to the re- demptive work of the Kingdom in organizing and direct- ing the educational and financial programs of the Church. This is an hour when there is an insistent demand for men of vision and talent to teach in the Sunday-schools and to give the Brotherhoods and Adult Bible Classes a program big enough to sustain them permanently. A strong, virile, masculine note is needed in all the teach- ing ministries of the Church. Some men are investing all their income above actual running expenses in the enterprises of Christianity. Others who have a competency and who could retire from business and take life easy remain in business that they may devote their earnings to Christian work. Others are supporting a worker or a group of workers or even whole mission stations as their income may permit. While this is no adequate substitute for actual personal witnessing to the power of Christ, since no man can give money enough to Christian work to excuse him from personal ministry, it is evidence of a new spirit of service by laymen and marks the beginning of a new day for the Church. 4^ Efficiency Points There are multitudes of men in business who manage great armies of subordinates like generals, who live with a telephone at one elbow, with telegraph messengers within instant call, for whom the wireless hums its song of labor so that they may keep their fingers on the power centers of the planet: men who constantly have automobiles at the door to carry them swiftly from one appointment to another, men to whom transactions run- ning up into seven figures scarcely cause an extra heart- beat. How can men such as these be persuaded to spend time in the ministries of the Church unless the Church has a program big enough and daring enough and com- pelling enough to command their abilities and interest? The waiting Christ calls for Christian leaders who can set them at work. Laymen who live the same life as their masterful fellow business men and therefore know how to challenge men to do a worthy piece of work for Christ and his Church are called of God to persuade their fellows to undertake great Christian tasks. The every member canvass is one method which has come to the Kingdom for such a time as this. It aims to make every member a producer as well as a recipient. Such an aim appeals to men who rigidly bring all busi- ness activity to the test as to whether or not the product is adequate to the investment. In business if the out- put is not forthcoming the method must change or a new set of workers be secured. The infinite patience of Christ must be severely tested by the smallness of some men in these matters. It is a crime against manhood to per- mit men to live in the Church without calling on them to underwrite the greatest enterprises of the Kingdom Spread of Christianity by Service 49 to the limit of their ability with money, personal service, and prayer. There are two main reasons why financial campaigns in the Church have failed of their highest returns finan- cially and spiritually: first, because they have not been daring enough; second, because of the failure to recog- nize the fact that all giving is a spiritual ministry. As the Rev. F. A. Agar has well put it : ''Giving is a func- tion of the soul, and no man is functioning normally who does not give. We have secured too much money at the expense of life." The functions of a canvassing committee are surely by no means exhausted when the budgets are subscribed. In a pamphlet entitled ''Progressive Team Work" there is recorded the story of how one pastor used his men for the securing of subscriptions amounting to about twenty thousand dollars in a personal canvass in a single afternoon. Later the same men were employed in a campaign for church attendance and membership that netted one hundred and thirteen accessions to the church. Then the men were assigned to masculine tasks in con- nection with the social and moral uplift of their com- munity. The returns were commensurate with the ro- bust character of the leadership and the tasks. Men will respond to the brawny tasks of the Kingdom when a worth-while program is laid upon them. They will not remain interested unless the program is big enough to be compelling. To all disciples of Christ the call rings out clear and loud to press back into the fundamental spiritual con- ception of service, and to lay life down for the redemp- tion of mankind. 50 Efficiency Points \ Laymen as Missionaries An investigation revealed the fact that in 1914 there were 2,429 missionaries in the service of eighteen of the great foreign mission boards of North America. Of these men 529 or twenty-one and seven-tenths per cent, are reported as being laymen. More than one fifth of the active force of men are unordained ! Even this sur- prising total of unordained foreign missionary workers given above would be considerably increased if the Young Men's Christian Association secretaries in foreign lands were included in the survey. Of these 529 men repre- senting the boards, 187, or about one third, are physi- cians and the others teachers, builders, treasurers, or in positions of industrial and agricultural leadership. One of the most conservative Churches has 138 men on the field, of whom 51 are laymen, 14 of these laymen being physicians and 37 in other forms of service. The facts here presented are a sufficient answer to the excuse that there is no room for them, often given by young laymen for not engaging in missionary service. They also con- tain a powerful challenge to young laymen with gifts and training and genuine consecration to consider seri- ously the question as to whether or not they should in- vest their lives in some needy part of the mission field. Modern Apostles Who can fail to feel the inspiration of the leadership of the great lay missionaries? David Livingstone was a Scotch weaver lad, but that did not prevent his going out to open a million square miles of Africa to com- merce and to Christianity. Keith Falconer and Alexann Spread of Christianity by Service 51 der M. Mackay of Uganda are household names where the heroes of the faith are known, — both laymen. These all were born across the sea. What about America? Marcus Whitman, with his dream of a re- deemed Northwest, an unfailing inspiration to pioneers ; S. H. Hadley, "twice born," "a soul in action," a rescuer of the hopeless and the wrecked ; Dwight L. Moody, cer- tainly the greatest evangelist of his age, — all were lay- men. On January 24th, 19 14, in Shanghai, China, on a mis- sionary journey around the world, Mr. Samuel B. Capen ended his earthly career. A carpet merchant, a man of affairs, related to many civic and political matters, for nine years the president of the Board of Trustees of Wellesley College, for fifteen years the president of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, his dominating passion was to evangelize. One is tempted to speak of some of those in conspicu- ous places of power who are still in the thick of the fight. When the list of men who lead the missionary movements of to-day is studied many of those most in- fluential are laymen. The mission boards, the Missionary Education Movement, the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation at home and abroad, the Student Volunteer Move- ment, the Laymen's Missionary Movement, what do these not owe to lay leadership ? What intellectual grasp, what platform gifts, what spiritual penetration and power re- side in these prophets of the Almighty in our modern day! Drinking in the spirit of such men as these, inspired by their example and achievements, and remembering that there are thousands of others in the ranks less 52 Efficiency Points known or unknown without whom the Kingdom would halt in its onward march, shall not the lay forces of the Church covenant afresh with Jesus Christ to be true to the New Testament conception that all the members of the family of God have an evangelizing commission, and that the limitless resources of the spiritual world are at the disposal of any disciple, minister or layman, who will act in accordance with the spiritual conditions of this commission ? The Will, the Will! In all that has been said there is insistent demand for an unflinching exercise of will. Let us purpose the wide design and do it ! Hold steady now and utter with the profoundest deeps of life the prayer of Joh^^ Drink- water : Knowledge thou hast lent, But Lord, the will — there lies our bitter need; Give us to build above the deep intent, The deed, the deed. Grant us the will to fashion as we feel, Grant us the strength to labor as we know, Grant us the purpose, ribbed and edged with steel. To strike the blow. Spread of Christianity by Service 53 REFERENCES FOR FURTHER STUDY Cope, Henry F. The Efficient Layman. Griffith & Rowland Press, Philadelphia. $1.00. "Laymen in Gospel Work." Young Men's Christian Association, Wichita, Kansas. 10 cents. Mathews, Shailer. The Individual and the Social Gospel. Missionary Education Movement, New York. 25 cents. Mills, Harlow S. The Making of a Country Parish. Mission- ary Education Movement, New York. 50 cents. Stone, John Timothy. Recruiting for Christ. Fleming H. Revell Company, New York. $1.00. "The Christian Social Order." A Series of Bible Readings. Association Press, New York. 5 cents. "The Confessions of a Business Man." Laymen's Missionary Movement, New York. 5 cents. Tippy, Worth M. The Church a Community Force. Mission- ary Education Movement, New York. 50 cents. Tremaine, D. C. Church Efficiency. Fleming H. Revell Com- pany, New York. 50 cents. Wright, Henry B. The Will of God and a Man's Life Work. Association Press, New York. 60 cents. Zwemer, Samuel M. "The Price of Leadership." Moody Bible Institute, Chicago. 5 cents. CHAPTER III THE CHRISTIAN ATTITUDE TOWARD PROPERTY Giving is inseparable from the texture of Christianity. Without it the Christian faith would be unthinkable. The chief concern is not the giving of money, although that is of very great importance. In the widest sense any thoroughgoing discussion of the subject of giving must include much besides a statement of the Christian attitude toward property. Much needs to be said about acquisition, much about the economic and industrial and social factors in the production and use of wealth. Tal- ents, time, opportunities, life itself are elements of a great trust for which men must render an account. When Paul reminds the Corinthians (i Cor. iii. 21-iv. 2) that they are stewards of the mysteries of God, and that one of the prime requirements in a steward is that he must be faithful, he makes no mention of money. As a background to what will be said about the Christian man's relation to his material possessions, first take a good look at a single passage from the Bible to illustrate how essential to the Christian faith is the prin- ciple of giving. This wall give perspective and the proper appreciation of proportion that are necessary to any sat- isfactory discussion of the money problem. The Setting of Truth about Property Three of the fundamental revelations of the Bible are: first, God; second, the tasks given to men; third, the 55 56 Efficiency Points character men must possess if they are to have fellow- ship with God and be equal to the accomplishment of their God-given tasks. The apostle John is unsurpassed as an interpreter of the finest spiritual meanings of Christianity. There is an inspiring statement in i John iii. i6, 17 which includes each of the revelations mentioned above. The passage might almost be called the Bible in miniature. The ren- dering of The New Testament in Modern Speech is quoted: "We know what love is through Christ's hav- ing laid down his life on our behalf; and in the same way we ought to lay down our lives for our brother men. But if any one has this world's wealth and sees that his brother man is in need, and yet hardens his heart against him — how can such a one continue to love God?" J. God Is Forever Giving What has John to say about God? ''We know what love is through Christ's having laid down his life on our behalf." God can be clearly understood by men only in terms of the death of Christ. No statement in a book can fully define God. Love is the master missionary passion. The supreme evidence of the missionary char- acter of God is that love led him to send his Son and constrained his Son to come to a foreign land, suffer indescribable agonies, and pour out life itself. God so loved that he gave. This fact is the golden key that unlocks all truth about God. 2. Giving Is Necessary to the Life of the Church What is John's message regarding the business of the Church of Christ? 'Tn the same way we ought to lay Christian Attitude Toward Property 57 down our lives for our brother men." Giving for others — ^that is the urgent business of Christianity, that is the chief function of the Christian faith. All tasks are bound together here. The details, large or small, home or foreign, are incidental. Life laid down, that is funda- mental. What is this but the very core of missions? Capable of application as wide as the needs of men, here is the missionary challenge for the twentieth cen- tury. Not an ascetic ideal, not a cloister faith, but the rugged trust of souls whose breath of Hfe is to give up the costliest treasure they possess, even life itself. "In the same way we ought" is the measuring line of a mili- tant Christianity as yet but dimly realized on earth. As Jesus puts it in another place as reported by John : "Ex- cept a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone, but if it die, it beareth much fruit" (John xii. 24). Each life carries within itself the possibility of the redemption of a multitude of souls, but the life must be given up before these souls can be born. J. Men Must Give or Lose Their Faith And what kind of men must Christians be with a God whose central passion is giving and tasks which can never be accomplished except as life itself is laid down? "If any one has this world's wealth and sees that his brother man is in need, and yet hardens his heart against him, how can such a one continue to love God?" Put in a nutshell it means that any man having any good thing is under obligation to pass that thing on or to forfeit many of the richest blessings of Christianity. Some have missed the point here by interpreting the words "this world's wealth" to mean material goods alone. The au- 58 Efficiency Points thorized version translates this phrase, ''This world's good," which keeps the singular number and more nearly reproduces the actual meaning of the original Greek. ''This world's wealth" includes money, but the principle neither begins nor ends with money. The words of John give us the setting of all sound teaching about property. The principle given above includes any good thing we have and others have not. For example, the majority of people in America have educational opportunity, but as one scans the educational map of the world he cannot get away from the fact that the city of Singapore is the center of a population of forty millions of people without a single Christian educational institution of uni- versity grade among them. We are under an imperative obligation to pass on this good thing called educational opportunity to these forty millions in Malaysia. Practically every man in America is within reach of a church, but there are regions in Africa, Asia, and South America where for hundreds of miles not a single church is to be found. The lives of our children are protected, but millions of little children are exposed to the blight of unrestrained evil. Medicine and surgery are accessible to us, but one half of the people of the world do not have access to modern physicians and nurses. We have the Bible in the speech of the people, and all the immensely fruitful results of scientific investigation are available in Chris- tian lands. This searching message of the apostle carries with it the implication that all these benefits and many more constitute "this world's wealth" and lay upon the possessor the unavoidable obligation to distribute them where they are not found. The adoption of these prin- Christian Attitude Toward Property 59 ciples would not only mean new standards of giving money but also a social order built on justice and love, a new patriotism, a Christian internationalism. Here then is the heart of the Book ; that God is made known to men through the giving of Christ, that the giv- ing of life is the supreme business of the Church, and that the kind of men God needs in his vast designs are givers of "this world's wealth" to those who have not heard of God and of the gospel. Let us not forget that the ringing words from the Bible which we have just been considering apply to all that follows, as we turn now to the phase of the sub- ject which particularly concerns us here. The princi- ples of right relation to property are imbedded in the heart of the Scriptures and penetrate every reach of life. No Christian can adjust himself worthily to the life of the kingdom of God without conclusive think- ing and a fixed purpose regarding his material resources. It is also true that any call for the consecration of prop- erty, however lofty the appeal for consecration may be, will fail to grip and hold the men of our day unless they are at the same time confronted by a spiritual program so vast and worth while and enduring as to challenge their ability and resources. The program of world-wide evangelization presents a powerful appeal for the stewardship of life and possessions. The com- pletion of the missionary undertaking will halt and tarry until there is a wide-spread understanding of the Christian meaning of possessions and obedience to the truth which is revealed. The following sentence taken from a report to the Conference of Foreign Missions Boards of North Amer- 6o Efficiency Points ica in 19 14, prepared by the Rev. Cornelius H. Patton, de- scribes the present situation : "The Church is not con- scious of a conscience in the matter. The Church is far from having reached the stage of saturation with the idea of Christian stewardship." May it not be that the explanation of the powerlessness of some Christians and many churches is found in the above fact. Certain elements of character cannot be developed apart from giving. No amount of work or pious professions can take the place of the honest cashing up of a man's faith. In short, highly efficient character is impossible with- out giving. The critical question in the consecration of property is the larger and more fundamental question of the consecration of personality. If there is no real devotion to Jesus Christ, if his living power has not transformed the inner springs and motives of life, then much that follows will likely fall on deaf ears and unresponsive hearts. Not only do these principles apply to individuals, but it is also true that the coming of a righteous social order waits on the application to property of true Christian principles. A Statement of Principles Three of the fundamental questions which emerge in any thoroughgoing discussion of this theme are here con- sidered. I. The Ozvnership of Property Private property is anything from the use of which the possessor has the right to exclude all other persons. This right of exclusive use is secured to a man by civil law. There are some who think this ends the matter. Christian Attitude Toward Property 6l But there is a growing conviction that legal enactment is not the final word about possessions. It is secondary, not primary. The legal title is only the right to tem- porary possession. Farms change hands, stocks are sold, tenants come and go, but permanent ownership — whose is it? Here we come at once upon the basal principle of all Christian teaching about property. Upon a correct answer to this first question the whole case rests. The answer submitted is that God is the owner of all things. There is a law of ownership deeper than title deeds, unchanging, unaffected by the legal codes of men. Ownership in the absolute sense belongs to one person only and that person is God. The Scriptures confirm this statement. In the opening chapter of Genesis God is portrayed as Creator and Owner and this is his attitude throughout the entire Bible. No place is found where God recedes from this position. God has never relinquished his right to the wealth of the world. Many specific quotations might be given. The fol- lowing are samples. ''The earth is Jehovah's, and the fulness thereof" (Psa. xxiv. i). "And he blessed him, and said. Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth" (Gen. xiv. 19). "Behold, unto Jehovah thy God belongeth heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all that is therein" (Deut. X. 14). "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith Jehovah of hosts" (Haggai, ii. 8). "For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. ... If I were hungry I would not tell thee; for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof" (Psa. 1. 10, 12). "But who am I, and what is my people, that we 62 Efficiency Points should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee" (i Chron. xxix. 14). As the level of the sea is the base line adopted for the measurement of altitudes, so the truth that God is the owner of all things is the base line from which to measure the truth relating to property. Things can never satisfy a soul. Herein lies the philosophy of the fact that God keeps the ownership of things from man for man's good. Money is not the root of all evil. The earning of money represents the investment and expenditure of personality. Its value is personal and spiritual and social. But a false notion of ownership which leads to the inordinate love of money and thus to the wrong use or unrighteous hoarding of money — herein lies its destructive power. The foundation difficulty, therefore, in all perverted ideas of a man's relation to property is a false notion of ownership. A man says, "This farm is mine, I have a perfectly good title deed to it. This hard-earned bank account is mine. I am the owner of this ship or this railroad." The rich man in Luke, chapter xii, illustrates this evil. His eviction in a single night reveals the falseness of his ideal of ownership. Such a conception is not Christian, and has no justification in Scripture. The Church is suffering from ancient ideas which have been perpetuated and passed down from one genera- tion to another by our legal terms. These legal forms are an immense convenience and would do no harm if they did not carry with them an utterly unscriptural set of ideas about property. The inadequacy of current ideas of ownership is fur- Christian Attitude Toward Property 63 ther seen when one analyzes the sources from which money is derived. How much was furnished directly by the Almighty? How much by society? How much by a man's own efforts? The Rev. John F. Goucher says: ^'Everything which one possesses is either a bestowment, having its source outside the recipient, or it is an achievement through the use of forces or materials which the user did not originate. However large the personal investment, nothing which any one has is his own independent creation." ^ God furnishes two elements. First, he contributes all raw materials — land, minerals, grain, chemical processes. One man makes his money on oil in Okla- homa, another on coal in Pennsylvania, another by trade with articles he did not create. All these materials are furnished by the Almighty. Second, whatever business sagacity a man has is a direct gift of the Creator. *'Lest thou say in thy heart. My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember Jehovah thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth" (Deut. viii. 17, 18). Society is a contributor to all financial gains. So- ciety furnishes certain conditions of need which make trade possible and which lay the foundations of all competency. The law of supply and demand is social, not individual. The state, its laws, its police, its or- ganization all contribute. Therefore, since society makes so large a contribution by furnishing favorable con- ditions for amassing wealth, the right use of property ^"Principles of Stewardship," i. 64 Efficiency Points is a debt to society as well as to God. The wealth is God's. The power to make money is a gift of God, the Christian man belongs to God and so the circle is complete. To hold such a conception of ownership makes the acquisition, the investment, and the distribution of money a profoundly spiritual process. As is so well stated in A Man and His Money, by Harvey Reeves Calkins, '*To recognize the spiritual content of money and rescue it from sordidness and greed, this shall be the saving evangel for our generation." ^ "To have is not to own but to ozve." ^ The first great renunciation of the Christian who wishes to conform his life to Scripture is the renunci- ation of the ownership of material things. For every renunciation there should be a corresponding ac- ceptance. In this case the acceptance which takes the place of ownership is the idea of possession. This is temporary, not perpetual ; it is relative, not absolute. The summary of the whole teaching of the Bible about the ownership of material things may be put into the following statement : ''The earth is the Lord's ; to man he has entrusted it for a possession." An illuminating interpretation of Acts iv. 32-37, which brings out the distinction between ownership and possession, is given in A Man and His Money. The disciples were giving a magnificent display of hospi- tality and brotherly love in providing for the large number who remained in Jerusalem for an unusual period following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the founding of the Church. These visitors had no ^ Page 349. ^ Page 332. Christian Attitude Toward Property 65 doubt exhausted the suppHes they had brought with them to the feast. In the description of how this need was met the author of Acts declares : *'Not one of them said that aught of the things which he possessed was his own" (Acts iv. 32). Possessors, not owners — that is the true Christian attitude toward property. 2. The Acknowledgment of Ozvnership A tenant acknowledges the property rights of the landholder by paying rent. Such payment is a simple act of justice and is not at all based on sentiment or the friendly relations of the owner and tenant. It is a crude and imperfect but easily understood illustra- tion of one element of the property relationship between a man and his Lord. It does not exhaust their relation- ships, it is not the highest expression of the living con- tact between a disciple and his master, but it is a very important relationship. The ozvnership of God is ac- knozvledged by the setting aside as an act of zvorship of a definite portion of income. This is a recognition and acknowledgment of God's property rights in the life of the Christian. The acknowledgment is not sim- ply a matter of intellectual assent to the truth that God and not man is owner. It is 'an act of will and a definite transaction. It is a regulative principle of life. The Old Testament clearly teaches that the proportion to be set aside is one tenth. The New Testament goes much deeper into the question than can be expressed by any fraction. Certainly no Christian should be con- tent to do less than the law required of the Jew. The setting aside of the tenth is not a financial plan, it is not a scheme for the support of the church, it is by no 66 Efficiency Points means the full measure of duty, but is an acknowledg- ment of the fact that the disciple accepts and is obedi- ent to all the implications of the truth that God is the owner of property. Some feel that to mention one tenth or any other fraction is to appeal to a hard, legalistic and impractical principle. Before closing the case recall the fact that the conditions making salvation possible are arbitrary in the same sense in which this principle is said to be arbi- trary. If men will not accept the conditions of entrance into the kingdom of God, conversion is impossible. The terms of salvation are based on a deep and changeless necessity in human nature. Is it not equally reasonable that this ratio fixed by the divine Owner as an acknowl- edgment of his ownership is grounded in some deep ne- cessity of human nature and essential to the calling out of certain of man's powers? God as Owner fixes the quantity; the quality is fixed by man, the steward. It is perfectly possible for a man to set aside one tenth, and yet not have the spirit of the true steward. One may give little or much, as God prospers him, but let him always remember that what he has left determines the justice or injustice of the amount given. J. A Program of Stewardship Several terms have been used to express the rela- tionship of a man to property. Five of these words are servant, steward, trustee, partner, administrator. It is frankly confessed that not one of these is completely satisfactory. Their limitations have vexed the right- eous souls of those who have sought to bring a true message to their fellows on the subject of the Christian MissloMry Gifts Incredsing in the United States and. c anada 1905 % 8.120725 1907 9,458,633 1909 11,317,405 1911 12,290,005 1915 16.045,650 1914 17.168,611 67 68 Efficiency Points attitude toward material resources. All of them have shades of meaning and partial truth to be understood and obeyed. To some persons all of the words are harsh, legalistic, and quite incompatible with the char- acter of a loving heavenly Father. To others they seem out of harmony with a true conception of per- sonality. To still others they seem to destroy or at least diminish the incentive to productive ministry. The words are thought to savor of the repugnant compulsion of a bygone age rather than of the inspiring impulsion of Christ and his gospel. Admitting all these difficul- ties, it is nevertheless suggested that properly inter- preted the ideas which these words suggest are in the experience of many neither harsh, nor destructive of the highest ideals of personality, nor do they repress a wholesome desire to possess a reasonable amount of property. On the contrary, some of the richest and most satisfying experiences have come to men as a re- sult of obedience to their requirements. One of the chief difficulties is that the terms have been too nar- rowly and unsympathetically interpreted to bring out the richness of their meaning. In this discussion the term steward is adopted because it is the word most frequently used in the Scriptures and is on the whole the most satisfactory. The Rev. John F. Goucher in the pamphlet already referred to gives the following definition of the term: "A steward, in the Bible significance of the term, is more than a servant : The servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth.' He is far more than an agent : 'We are laborers together with God.' The steward is next to the master him- self,— the highest official in the household. There is Christian Attitude Toward Property 69 the most confidential relation and understanding be- tween his master and him. In the making of contracts, the use of possessions, and the administration of affairs the steward is entrusted with authority to represent his master and stands as his interpreter to make known his attitude and purpose." ^ We do well then to heed Peter's exhortation : "As each hath received a gift, min- istering it among yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God" (i Pet. iv. 10). Stewardship is a program of partnership ; it is a powerful appeal to de- votion and to faith in God. The steward's responsibility is not discharged when he has acknowledged the ownership of God by setting aside a portion of his income. Jesus states the truth very clearly for every Christian, for all ages, when he says: ''Whosoever he be that forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my disciple." That is, he renounces ownership ; he is not his own, but bought with a price. All is yielded in glad surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ. This is a safeguard to all that has preceded. Grievous evils have attended the belief that when one has paid one tenth or any other proportion the whole duty has been performed. Nothing could be further from the truth. God's ownership is over the nine tenths as well as the one tenth; the steward's responsibility ends only with the whole. No proportion set aside for religious purposes can ever discharge the total respon- sibility. The proportion set aside is an acknowledgment of a fact, namely, the ownership of Another, but the whole is the measure of the trust. Stewardship involves a man's attitude toward all the ^'Trinciples of Stewardship," 6. 70 Efficiency Points things which he controls. A righteous steward will in- clude honest acquisition as well as acknowledgment of the ownership of Another. All business will be con- sidered as an opportunity for ministry. The property rights of society will also be recognized, for a man gathers up into his life a rich heritage from society and the good of the social order is a man's own highest good. If these principles are accepted, then the Christian at- titude to assume is for the steward to hold all that he has subject to the call of the Owner. The world will never outgrow that word of more than human wisdom: "There is that scattereth and increaseth yet more; and there is that withholdeth what is justly due, but it tendeth only to want" (Pro v. xi. 24, R. V. margin). What are the implications of these principles? What effect do they have upon Hfe? Principles of Social Justice The Christian principles which should control the use of property are based upon Christ's valuation of per- sonality. His teachings concerning the supreme worth of persons make it clear that private property must be so held that it is good for persons, the person who holds it and all other persons. In other words, the possession of private property involves both personal responsi- bility and social accountability. The legal title to prop- erty may be sound, even though the good of persons has been disregarded in its acquisition and use, but the moral title to property rests on social justice as well as on personal honesty. There is no question but that private property secured and used with justice to all brings great personal and national blessing. The principles Christian Attitude Toward Property 71 enumerated by Christ for developing personality have a perpetual bearing on property rights but dimly seen and scarcely heeded as yet in the wild disorder of the present industrial revolution. There is ever-deepening insistence, however, that this fundamental conception of the supreme worth of persons must be heard and heeded by rich and poor alike. Too much property may be as bad for personality as too little property. No just verdict can be rendered by combining and weigh- ing the legal aspects of the case alone. The appeal for the support of worthy objects for the common good, for the relief of distress, or for the enrichment of the life of the community is not an appeal to charity but to social justice. It is not an infringement of rights but a golden path to the enrichment of personality, both that of the man who gives and the community which shares in the gift. Rich personality is possible only in a favorable social order. ''No man liveth unto himself," is a Chris- tian sentiment. When his relationships are properly adjusted, every man will be in sympathetic and helpful partnership with all forces making for the social wel- fare. Principles of Safety One of the most prevalent and deadly sins of our age, as of all time, is covetousness. It is so universal and so destructive that the Decalogue subjects it to flam- ing condenination along with other great sins. The en- emy of souls has wrought great havoc by making this hideous monster almost respectable. Jesus classes it with adultery and murder, the two sins the mention of which always brings a shudder. Paul puts it as the *j2 Efficiency Points climax sin in that awful catalog in Colossians iii. 5. Three other Epistles contain the same scathing denunci- ation. ''For this ye know of a surety, that no fornica- tor, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God" (Eph. v. 5). To give proportionately and with sacrifice, to keep on earning but to refuse to keep a surplus which is not needed for oneself, — here is the cure for covetous- ness. Jesus spoke a great truth when he said to his disciples, ''Lay not up treasures on earth." One of the great perils of the children of rich men is just at this point. The ruin that has devastated so many homes because of too much money is too tragic to re- late. A layman who was on his way to great wealth but who decided to stop getting rich for riches' sake thus records his convictions : "With some uneasiness, however, I no- ticed that nothing was free from the demands of the laws that make men rich. If more money could be made by selling my home and using the capital to earn dividends, then the home must be sold and a temporary one rented, and it was, for I could not bear to live in a house where the values were going up. I did not yet realize that everything was being sacrificed to the laws that make for riches. My children were given no chance to cul- tivate the sense of home. I had forgotten that it takes more than a house to make a home. It takes a whole community to make a home. I moved' to a large city ; I studied the program of men's lives there. There were many rich men there. Surely it could not be that the accumulation of riches always worked harm. I Christian Attitude Toward Property 73 did find some who were not wholly consumed by the passion for wealth, but I could not find that even they had been strengthened by the process. I inquired into the history of men who were in advanced years, whose fortunes were large. I found they had come from homes where frugality had prevailed. I could not find that one of them was the son of the rich. Then I in- quired as to their sons ; I could not find that a single one of them was holding a leading position in the city, and it was a city of young men, too. I found that sons of these rich men were not capable. Worse than this, the majority of them were mediocre and some were prof- ligate. I said to myself : 'This game seems to be all right for myself ; as far as I can see I can possibly nego- tiate the dangers safely ; I will probably keep from being cruel, at least in my dealings with other men, and not entirely neglect the Church and other good institutions in the community.' But I could see that the situation was going to be tremendously against my sons. I was going to discount their lives to make a pile of money, and for no particular purpose. I saw that unless I could play better than most men I had better give up the rich man's game." How much better to provide reasonably for one's family and then invest the balance in enterprises and institutions which will bless the world generations after the donor has passed away ! It was in this spirit that Dr. D. K. Pearsons wrote the following letter accompanying one of his gifts : ^ "Fifty Thousand Dollars, farewell! You have been in my keeping for many years and you have been a faith- ^ "The Confessions of a Business Man," 5, 6. 74 Efficiency Points ful servant. Your earnings have helped to educate many young men and women who have helped to make the world better. You came to me from the grand old white pine forests of Michigan, and now you are going into the hands of other stewards in the state of Ver- mont. There you are to become a part of a perpetual endowment fund for Montpelier Seminary. When you arrive in Montpelier you will go into the keeping of good business men and you will be safe, as I expect that every dollar of this perpetual endowment fund will be kept intact and actively doing good for five hundred years. Over one hundred years ago a good man gave fifty thousand dollars for mission work. The interest on this fund has educated more than a hundred good men for the mission field and is still being used for the business of brightening the world and making it better. In Denmark there is an endowment fund founded over nine hundred years ago, and not one cent has ever been lost or wasted. Now, Fifty Thousand Dollars, fare- well! Go into the keeping of younger men, and God's blessing go with you ! Do your duty and give the poor boys and girls of Vermont a fair chance." Principles of Business Prosperity The adoption of these principles will safeguard busi- ness men at the vulnerable point of temptation to secure returns, regardless of the ethics of the transaction. The Rev. C. C. Cook in his volume on Stewardship tells how the Hon. Chester W. Kingsley used to pray, "Lord give me a hand to get and a heart to give." His convictions in the matter were expressed in the following words : "Why should not a Christian business man open Christian Attitude Toward Property 75 an account with the Lord in his ledger and treat it with all the sanctity and promptness that he would his ac- count with a business firm. Resolved to do it." He was so prospered in business that before he died he had given away half a million dollars to bless mankind. Principles of Spiritual Power The great revival under Hezekiah, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and other spiritual quick- enings recorded in the Bible were either preceded or accompanied by an unusual loyalty and sense of justice in the matter of the devotion of money. The Rev. Harvey Reeves Calkins points out, in A Man and His Money, '^ the intimate relation between a new interest in stewardship and the wide-spread revivals in America in the fifties. 'The windows of heaven" are still opened when God's people fulfil the conditions of blessing. There has been preserved for us the record of Mr. Nathaniel R. Cobb, of Boston, whose devotion is an in- spiring illustration of unusual business talent combined with rare spiritual penetration. He died in 1834, in an age before great fortunes were common and when there were few men of wealth who set a conspicuous exam- ple of sacrificial giving. Of this man it was said that he kept a special room in his store for prayer and re- ligious conversation with customers and friends. In 1821 he drew up the following document: By the grace of God I will never be worth more than fifty thousand dollars. ^ Pages 116-119. y6 Efficiency Points By the grace of God I will give one quarter of the net profits of my business to charitable and religious uses. If I am ever worth twenty thousand dollars, I will give one half of my net profits. If I am ever worth thirty thousand dollars, I will give three quarters, and the whole after fifty thousand dollars. So help me God, or give to a more faithful steward and set me aside. His life was cut short at the age of thirty-six, but on his death-bed he said, **By the grace of God, nothing else, I have been able to give away more than forty thou- sand dollars. How good the Lord has been to me !" The Dead Sea or a Garden ? The following lines contain a vivid warning and require no explanation or comment. I looked upon a sea And lo ! 'twas dead, Although by Hermon's snows And Jordan fed. How came a fate so dire? The tale's soon told. All that it got it kept And fast did hold. All tributary streams Found here their grave, Because that sea received But never gave. O sea that's dead ! teach rae To know and feel That selfish grasp and greed My doom will seal. Christian Attitude Toward Property 'J'J And help me, Lord, my best. Myself to give, That I may others bless • And like thee live. A Changeless Purpose Shall we not then settle the question of our relation to property in the light of the principles stated in this chapter ? It is ours to determine whether money is to be a terminus or a highway, an incubus to sink us or wings to Hft us out of the mire and fog of sordid things. God expects cash and consecration, gold and goodness, wealth and wisdom to grow together. The counting-house should be as sacred as the sanctuary, the day-book as holy as the prayer-book. The ownership of God is a reality. Riches are given us, not to exploit, but to ad- minister. If all this is experienced, then the profoundly spiritual processes of which we have been speaking must penetrate to the center of life and anchor there forever. I heard him call "Come, follow," that was all. My gold grew dim. My soul went after him: I rose and followed, that was all ; Who would not follow if he heard his call? 78 Efficiency Points REFERENCES FOR FURTHER STUDY Calkins, Harvey Reeves. A Man and His Money. Methodist Book Concern, New York. $i.oo. Cook, C. A. Stewardship and Missions. American Baptist Pub- lication Society, Philadelphia. 50 cents. Morgan, G. C. Will a Man Rob Godf Fleming H. Revell Com- pany, New York. 75 cents. Murray, Andrew. Money. Fleming H, Revell Company, New York. 35 cents. Property, Its Duties and Rights. A series of essays. The Mac- millan Company, New York. $1.00. "Stewardship." A packet of thirteen pamphlets and booklets. Laymen's Missionary Movement, New York. 50 cents. CHAPTER IV INTERCESSION THE MOST POWERFUL DYNAMIC OF EFFICIENCY Of all the calls flung out across the world the sov- ereign summons is to intercession. No other call carries with it the promise of fellowship with Christ so inti- mate, the probability of conflict so severe, the certainty of power to carry burdens and bear pain so large, the inspiration of possibilities of achievement so compelling. Upon no other human factor in world redemption do so many and so weighty issues depend. All that has gone before in this little book culminates here in the appeal to use the great unused dynamic of the Church. To him who prays the Book brings new and gripping revelations, gold released for the Kingdom goes on its way with vastly greater potency, and service becomes truly redemptive. Vital Christian experience, without which intercession is impossible, needs contin- uous Bible study, but Bible study without intercession loses much of its challenge to life. Prayerless giving will never evangelize the world, no matter how vast the sum of money contributed. As to service without prayer, a word spoken years ago by Mr. Robert E. Speer penetrates to the heart of the matter when he says : "Communion without service is a dream ; service without communion is ashes." Much, but not too much, has been said about the financial underwriting of the missionary 79 8o Efficiency Points task. The supreme need and the final appeal is that the work be underwritten by prayer. The King, hold- ing in his life all energies and all plans and all love, calls on us through intercession to release his energies, to discover and execute his plans, and to make his love known to mankind. What Meaneth This Call? The Rev. Robert F. Horton says, ''There are twelve parts to prayer: meditation, aspiration, adoration, recol- lection, thanksgiving, praise, contrition, confession, faith, supplication, petition, and intercession." That so little is said in this chapter about the first eleven of these is not because they are not recognized nor because their value is unappreciated. All are indispensable to prayer, but intercession Is the highest form of prayer and pre- supposes all the others. A simpler classification and sufficient for practical pur- poses is that there are three kinds of prayer: com- munion, petition, and intercession. As Mr. S. D. Gordon says, ''Communion and petition store the life with the power of God: intercession lets it out on behalf of others." To some, prayer is a brooding, a dream, a reverie, and nothing more. Many limit prayer to communion with God. We agree with Tennyson that "Solitude is the mother country of the strong," but that is not all that real prayer implies. There is much about God that can never be learned or experienced except as men join him in the spiritual conflict with evil which in- tercession implies. Often it is said that submission, acquiescence, is the Intercession the Dynamic of Efficiency 8i highest attitude of the soul. If submission is interpreted to mean obedience to the will of God, it is profoundly true. This must always be the position taken by a right- eous man. All true prayer must of necessity revolve around the will of God. A genuine intercessor will always agree with the following thought: Not thy gifts I seek, O Lord; Not thy gifts but thee. What were all thy boundless store Without thyself, what less or more? Not thy gifts, but thee. This is, however, far from all of the truth. Those who assert that submission is the highest attitude a soul can take toward God often make a pious phrase a sub- stitute for the moral and spiritual conflict which in- tercession includes and without which no one can grow into virile manhood. If the biographies of all the men of achievement in prayer, whether in the Bible or in modern times, were fully written, vastly more would be said about importunity than about submission. The Rev. P. T. Forsyth well says on this point : *'We say too often Thy will be done,' and too ready acceptance of this will often means feebleness or sloth. Prayer is an act of will much more than of sentiment, and its tri- umph is more than acquiescence. The popularity of much acquiescence in things as they are is not because it is holier but because it is easier/' Some have been disappointed in prayer because they have conceived it as a ready means of obtaining all sorts of personal blessings merely for the asking. Prayer is not a blank check which may be filled in for any amount 82 Efficiency Points on all occasions as the holder may wish. It is not a secret spring which any one may touch and help him- self to the treasures of God as he will. These are false conceptions and are not justified by the facts in the case, for prayer is not a mechanical and materialistic thing. It is concerned chiefly with spiritual forces and spiritual blessings. What, then, is intercession? I. Intercession Is the Putting Forth of Vital Energy Service, the giving of money, the going out of mis- sionaries, represent the going forth of the life of the Church. Intercession is no less a putting forth of its vital energy. Let it be frankly admitted that there are mysteries in prayer which have not yet been satisfactorily explained, which have not yet been fully met, but, while this is granted, it cannot be denied that prayer has been and ever will be a great living reality among the working forces of Christian leadership. It is inconceivable that God should ask his children to continue steadfastly in prayer, to pray without ceasing, if there is no reality in prayer and if it is not a powerful method of working for the redemption of the world. The Bible often as- serts and everywhere assumes that prayer has power to change things. Something really happens when men pray aright. In Christ's teaching prayer involves the putting forth of vital energy intended to secure definite and unmistakable results. Prayer is not passive: it is active. It is the kinetic energy of the soul applied to the highest tasks in the Kingdom. Intercession the Dynamic of Efficiency 83 ''Supplication Working'' The Epistle of James was written by a very prac- tical man, and of all the practical suggestions he makes none is more compelling than the statement found in James v. 16: *'The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working." Here is an expression full of vigor alluring to men of action. The thought seems to be that prayer puts forces at the disposal of God to be applied by him to definite tasks. Prayer does not change the will of God, but it enables God to change the wills of men. Prayer does not persuade God, but it gives God a power to bring to bear on men to persuade them. All prayer is directed to him, and the putting forth of prayer energy releases forces which God can and does use to accomplish definite and practical ends. Applying this thought to revivals, Mr. Nolan R. Best says : ''Men planning for revival ask money and organi- zation to bring their plans to pass. God asks only prayers. He can have a revival anywhere if he may have but enough prayers of the right kind to work with." ^ If prayer is a veritable dynamo of power, why is so little accomplished? Is not the answer the fiery word of the same James, "Ye have not, because ye ask not" (James iv. 2) ; or because selfishness makes the answer impossible, *'Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it in your pleasures" (James iv. 3) ? The truth is that there is all too little of labori- ous toil in prayer. As the Rev. Andrew Murray reminds us : 'Tf the amount of true wrestling with God in the daily life of the average Christian could be disclosed, ^Beyond the Natural Order , 24. 84 Efficiency Points the wonder might be, not that he accompUshes so httle, but that God is wilHng to use him at all." When we go home at night from work for God too tired to pray, we have robbed God of that which he needed most to bring things to pass. The field of victory in prayer is trodden hard by the repeated charges of warriors who turn not back in the face of difficulty and danger. '^Striving in Prayer'' In a few strokes Paul gives us a portrait of Epaphras, one of his powerful fellow workers (Col. i. 7; iv. 12, 13). The distinguishing work of Epaphras was his "striving ... in his prayers" (vs. 12). ''He hath much labor" (vs. 13). What was the object which led him to undertake the labor of intercession? The answer is that the Colossians might ''stand perfect and fully as- sured in all the will of God" (vs. 12). What conflicts such a result presupposes ! What Christlike love and no less Christlike warfare ! What patient teaching, what stern reproof, what changed housing conditions in a heathen city, what revolutionized habits, what breaking loose from old relationships, what readjustment of life's plans ! Yet here is a man who believes that intercession has power to influence and change all these things. He proves his faith by spending his time and strength in prayer. Happy the church or city that has a modern Epaphras to set free by intercession for the redemption of men the powers of the heavenly world! Intercession the Dynamic of Efficiency 85 II. Intercession Is the Decisive Human Factor in the Spiritual Conflict That we are engaged in an intense spiritual conflict needs no proof. That in the midst of the struggle for the spiritual control of the planet God still wonders that there is no intercessor is evidence of much lack of prayer on the part of the Church. ''Salvation through Your Supplication'* In striving for the spiritual mastery of Rome and for victory in his imprisonment, Paul points out the two decisive factors (Phil. i. 19). The decisive divine factor is ''the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ." The de- cisive human factor is "your supplication." It is incon- ceivable that Paul should have depended so confidently on the prayers of believers did he not know that inter- cession had power. How Two Battles Were Won A fierce battle was at its crisis (Ex. xvii. 8-13). The odds were very great. Far-reaching issues hung on the way the battle went. Intercession was the pivot on which victory turned. Joshua was leading the battle on the plain; Moses and Aaron and Hur, the intercessors, were in the thick of the battle on the hill alone with God. While intercession continued, victory was assured. When it ceased, the tide turned to defeat. Given a Joshua to lead the battle, a Moses and his helpers in intercession, and no Amalek can prevail. If in our day the Church would realize the significance of that scene on the hill as the decisive factor in the conflict on the 86 Efficiency Points plain, the shout of victory would reverberate everywhere among the hosts of God. The battle goes against the Church when intercession fails. The key to victory is some Moses supported on either side by his brethren entering into the life of intercession. Any spiritual or missionary movement will die out when this fire burns low, so that there are only smoldering embers where there should be the leaping flames. If only a sufficient number of workers in the Kingdom would learn this lesson, Christ could perhaps pass over slow-moving, painful cen- turies in the history of the expansion of the faith and swiftly deliver the Kingdom up to his Father. 'Write this for a memorial in a book" (Ex. xvii. 14) that intercession is the decisive human factor in the struggle for righteousness and redemption. There is another intercession scene in the life of Moses even more moving than the one just mentioned (Ex. xxxii). This was a battle, not with a foreign foe like Amalek, but with sin in the lives of his brethren. Here is where the heart-strain is hardest, dealing with sin in those we love. While Moses was on the mount re- ceiving the law from God, Israel turned to idolatry. The very life of the nation was at stake. Stern measures were necessary, and again Moses turns to intercession and pleads with God for forgiveness for Israel (vs. 31, 32). 'Tf thou wilt forgive their sin — ;" this seems so impossible without a supreme sacrifice that Moses breaks off suddenly and adds, "If not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written." The thirty-third chapter of Exodus records the continuance of the inter- cession. God's tenderness with Moses there mentioned is eloquent testimony to the wonders wrought and God's Intercession the Dynamic of Efficiency 87 approval of Moses' prayers. Prayers that are nebulous and nerveless get no answer, but intercession that draws vitality from the soul works miracles in the spiritual world. "By Nothing Save by Prayer^' Look at the desperate case of the epileptic boy (Mark ix. i4-2g). The disciples were defeated in their ef- forts to help him. They sought explanations. "How is it that we could not cast it out ?" The answer is startling. Let us not try to obscure the meaning of Jesus by some mystical interpretation which has no practical relation to life. Hear Christ speak the word which explains much of the lack of power in the modern church. ''This kind can come out by nothing, save by prayer/' Interces- sion was the decisive human factor in the conflict. If the faith of the churches in our day was only vigorous enough to appropriate this word of Christ, what devils might be cast out of modern society ! Christ here asserts the fact that there is only one human ministry of the Church which releases enough spiritual energy to meet victoriously the great practical issues of the Kingdom, and that ministry is intercession. If prayer has no virtue except its helpful reactions on the life of him who prays, if it changes nothing, Jesus' words throw us back into hopeless unbelief. Such intercession as is here mentioned by our Lord is not simply a repetition of pious words. It is not intercession at all if it does not send the intercessor out with heart hot with indignation and with inflexible purpose to fight evil until victory is assured. Once again, however, let it be repeated that the decisive human factor is prayer. 88 Efficiency Points III. Intercession Has Great Achieving Power The priceless human contribution to the Kingdom is intercession. It is the highest creative function of human personality. Intercession is the only means by which an individual can touch a whole world. No man has money enough so that he can set it at work every- where. Service, even of the strongest and most gifted, is sadly limited and brief. A voice or a book, no matter how powerful, can reach only a few of the multitudes alive in our day. But prayer is a timeless force. It may be set at work at any time, anywhere in the world, from any point at which the intercessor is located. Any view of the work of evangelizing the world which does not place reliance on intercession as the supreme method of conquest parts company with much teaching of the New Testament and all the best experience of the Christian centuries. Years ago the author wrote out a series of propositions regarding the achieving power of prayer. For a considerable period of years he has sought to test these propositions by the most thorough and scientific tests of which he knows. Such a process involves three things, — taking into account all the facts, all the points of view, and all experience. After these years of testing no reason has yet emerged which has compelled the abandonment of a single one of the propositions. Rather is it true that faith in their reality is deeper than ever. What, then, can intercession do? I. Intercession Breaks Down Barriers These barriers may be personal, they may be ob- stacles involving a whole community or large section of Intercession the Dynamic of Efficiency 89 mankind, even the whole world. These obstacles may be physical. They are much more likely to be mental or spiritual. There are wills to be removed, a new mental condition to be created, or new spiritual energies to be released. Intercession is the greatest known solvent of difficulties. There are some barriers which the human workers can remove. That these workers may have adequate courage and strength and skill will then be the burden of intercession for them. This opens a great field for prayer. There are many other obstacles which God alone can remove by an exercise of his superhuman power. Those who have made a thoughtful study of Christian history are amazed at the number of such ob- stacles which have yielded to intercession. Many illustrations might be given. One will suffice. A meeting was in progress in a great university. The obstacles in the way of victory seemed insurmountable. In the face of these difficulties requiring the exercise of more than human power, a group of workers, instead of remaining in the meeting, assembled in a retired place and united in prayer that the obstacles might be re- moved. Before many hours the walls of a modern Jericho fell down. Battalions and batteries and battle- ships have no power to remove barriers like these. In- tercession is mightier than them all. The very fact that the Church faces almost overwhelming obstacles in our day is therefore a ringing call to intercession. 2, Intercession Opens Doors Sometimes these may be literal doors, as in the case of Peter (Acts xii. 1-9). Verse five says that Peter 90 Efficiency Points was kept in prison, ''but prayer was made earnestly of the church unto God for him." It is no wonder that God found a way to get him out of prison. The de- liverance of Adoniram Judson from Burmese prisons furnishes a no less remarkable illustration. When Samuel J. Mills and his associates began to pray for the way to open for the carrying of the gospel to all the world the doors of three continents were closed. The Mohammedan world was like a great door over which was written "No admittance." The Bud- dhist world, the Confucian world, the Latin world were largely inaccessible. How were these doors opened? Men of faith acknowledge that prayer had more to do with opening them than any other human force whatever. When the Church of Jesus Christ unites in intercession before the closed doors of the world and is prepared to cooperate with God in meeting the needs behind these doors, the last one will swing on its hinges for the entrance of our victorious Lord. J. Intercession Calls Forth Workers to Enter Open Doors Before lightly turning away from the awe-inspiring words of our Lord in Matthew ix. 38, recall the fact that there is still a great untouched world, that mil- lions still wait the message of redemption because workers have not been thrust out into the field. The great scarcity of workers in the home Church and in the world harvest-field is known, often discussed, and sometimes mourned with deep sorrow, but not yet has the Church undertaken seriously to fill the gaps in the Intercession the Dynamic of Efficiency 91 thin line of battle by the one method which Jesus recommended. The Student Volunteer Movement is an inspiring illus- tration of the power of prayer to thrust forth workers. In connection with the Kansas City Convention, in 1914, more money was spent to enlist prayer than was used to advertise the speakers. The number of volunteers who have gone to the field has increased steadily from the beginning, and there has always been a recognition of the fact that more fundamental to the life of the Move- ment than organizing campaigns to secure workers is the multiplying of the number of intercessors. Perhaps no Christian leader has arisen on the mission field in our day who has more completely abandoned himself to intercession than the Chinese evangelist. Ding Li Mel. He gives hours each day to definite prayer for individuals. More than a thousand names are on his intercession list. The Student Volunteer Movement of China is a concrete answer to his prayers. It is said that he has influenced more men to go into Christian service than have ever been secured by one man during the history of the modern Church in Asia. When the men of the Church realize that intercession is the only possible means of raising up workers in the local church, for leading great reforms and evangelistic campaigns at home, and for manning the far-flung bat- tle-line, a new day of power will dawn. 4. Intercession Releases Money for the Spread of the Kingdom It is a growing conviction that the financial problem involved in the evangelization of the world is not fun- Q2 Efficiency Points ^ ; damentally a financial problem at all, but rather a spirit- ual problem. An emergency arose in a field in China. A gift of a thousand dollars was imperatively needed to meet the emergency. A cablegram was sent by the leader in China to the mission board concerned, with the statement that prayer was being made that the money might be found at once and the need met. The cablegram was on the secretary's desk when he went to his office in the morn- ing. He gave himself to prayer over the cablegram, that God might put it in the mind of some steward of his to give the money. He then went about his work with a quietness in his heart, expecting that the money would be found. In the afternoon a plainly clad old man entered the office and asked for the secretary. His appearance at first made the clerk who received him suspicious, but after consultation with the secretary the man was ad- mitted. He asked if there was any special emergency on any of the fields that some money would meet. For answer the cablegram was put in his hands. As he read it his eyes filled with tears. Controlling his emo- tions with difficulty, he said that he and his wife had been deeply moved while engaged in family prayers that morning, and the conviction had come that they ought to do something more generous for the Lord's work than hitherto. That conviction had led the man to call at the mission board office. Putting his hand into the outside pocket of a very much worn overcoat, he drew out a roll of bills and handed it to the secretary. With a great light of joy on his face, the old man quietly withdrew. When the Wk were counted the §um was found to Intercession the Dynamic of Efficiency 93 be exactly one thousand dollars. • Intercession in China, more intercession behind a secretary's desk, still more prayer in the quiet of the family, God putting thoughts into receptive minds and generous impulses into loyal hearts, — and a great need was met by releasing money before the day closed. If the history of sacrificial gifts for the uplift of the world could be fully known, many another case like this would be discovered. It is also, alas, too true that many a crying need remains unmet because there is no intercessor. Such illustrations as that given above are a stumbling-block to some people because they say that there are many cases where earnest prayer was made but the money did not come. Sometimes when there is an intercessor the other links in the chain are missing. There is no patent method of getting all the money one thinks he needs even for the work of the Kingdom, for there are many elements involved. Kept within reason- able bounds, however, here is a secret of financing the Kingdom the possibilities of which have not been really put to the test as yet by the Church. 5. Intercession Brings Victory in Hours of Crisis If the story of victory in crucial moments in Chris- tian history could be written, what a volume of inspiring testimony to the power of intercession could be spread before the Church! But what about the lost battles because intercessors were wanting or grew weary in the field, and so the end was defeat and death? An illustration is given from the story of a layman who is conspicuously successful in persuading churches to undertake large things in the support of missions. 94 Efficiency Points He was dealing with a difficult case. The official mem- bers of the church were narrow-visioned and selfish and seemed unyielding. Two meetings were to be held. At the close of the first the case seemed hopeless. The official men were not willing to conduct the personal every member canvass nor to challenge the church to adopt a worthy missionary program. The leader, a bit disheartened, went away to pray. During the interval between the two meetings he received a letter from a friend who reminded him that he was making interces- sion for him. This knowledge put new courage into the worker's heart and inspired renewed and more earnest prayer. The second meeting opened, and it was evident that the whole atmosphere was changed. The official body voted for a policy that seemed impossible before. Who can doubt that prayer was the means of meeting the situation victoriously? Multiply this case by thousands and you have a glimpse of the possibility of a limitless number of otherwise impossible victories. 6, Intercession Makes Possible the Preaching of the Gospel with Compelling Poiver What workers in the Kingdom need is so rich and full a measure of the presence of God as shall make their lives compelling. Prayer contributes much of this quality to Christian service. It is an oft-told story, but one which the Church should never forget, how Mr. Dwight L. Moody was led out into international service. While his church was in process of construction after the Chicago fire, he went over to Great Britain to hear the leading preachers there and to observe their methods of work. While in London Intercession the Dynamic of Efficiency 95 he was invited to preach morning and evening in one of the large churches. The morning service dragged heav- ily and he regretted having promised to speak at night, but found on his arrival in the evening that the church was crowded. The service began much as the morning service had closed, but about the middle of the sermon the atmosphere completely changed. At the close of the address, to the surprise of the speaker and the pastor, when an invitation to rise was given to those who wished to become Christians, scores responded. Thinking he had not been understood, Mr. Moody repeated the in- vitation, making it more difficult by asking that all who wished to become Christians go to another room after the regular service was dismissed. The result was the same. A revival began which brought hundreds into the Christian life. Mr. Moody afterward sought for the cause of this un- usual awakening and traced it to the room of an in- valid member of the church, a Christian worker who for years had prayed that Mr. Moody might preach in her church. On that particular Sunday, having heard after the morning service from her sister that Mr. Moody had spoken that morning, this Christian intercessor, re- fusing to eat her midday meal, gave herself to prayer during the entire afternoon. It was the final tug in the long pull of years of intercession. The answer came, not only in great blessings to London, but, also, by lift- ing Mr. Moody into a position of international leader- ship, made possible widening spheres of influence and blessing throughout the world. g6 Efficiency Points Shall We Possess This Achieving Power? If obstacles are to be broken through, if doors are to be opened, if workers are to be thrust out into un- occupied fields, if money is to be found to finance the enterprises of the Kingdom, if victory is to come in hours of crisis, if the gospel is to be preached with compelling power, if conquering leaders are to be raised up, the men of the Church must resolutely purpose to be men of prayer. IV. Intercession Is the Climax of the Equipment OF THE Servant of God Old Testament Intercessors Samuel is considered the file-leader of the Old Testa- ment prophets. His character is strikingly illustrated in I Samuel ii. 26 : ''And the child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with Jehovah, and also with men." Almost these very words are later spoken of Jesus. In I Samuel xii there is preserved for us a noble address of this statesman-prophet, the Washington of his day. He is about to lay down certain state responsi- bilities because Saul has been chosen king. There is one function he does not propose to relinquish: what- ever else is to go this is to remain. That service to his people is intercession. The' possibility of failure in this ministry was the one sin which frightened him so he says: "Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Jehovah in ceasing to pray for you" (vs. 23). Here was one of the impressive secrets of Intercession the Dynamic of Efficiency 97 his pure and powerful life. Surely lack of prayer is a high crime against both Church and state. Abraham's intercessions are inspiring (Gen. xviii) ; Elijah's chief element of power was his intercession, and it prevailed for Israel ( i Kings xvii. 22 ; xviii. 42-45 ; James v. 17, 18). Hezekiah not only secured blessing for his people by prayer (2 Chron. xxx. 18-20) but turned back death for years in the same way (Isa. xxxviii. 1-8). It was by this means that Sennacherib was defeated (Isa. xxxvii. 14-37). The First Century Church The Acts is the first volume of missionary history and is full of the story of answered prayer. It was in connection with ten days of prayer (Acts i. 4), when the Church united its intercessions with those of Christ (John xiv. 16), that the Holy Spirit was released upon the disciples for world-wide witnessing. It was prayer that made the vision of the Christ-man and the Christ- message clear (Acts vi. 4-10; vii. 60). Prayer safe- guarded the lives of the workers (Acts iv. 24-31 ; xii. 5; xvi. 25; xxvii. 24). It was at a place of prayer that the first converts in Europe were made (Acts xvi. 13-15). Intercession thrust the apostolic missionaries forth on their evangelizing journeys (Acts xiii. 2-4). Prayer called forth the martyr spirit and gave the workers re- sistless courage (Acts iv. 31; xvi. 24). Intercession released great spiritual forces (Acts x and xi), influ- enced courses of action (Acts iii. i), prepared the field and subdued the enemies of Christ (Acts xvi. 25-29). All this and more intercession will do for the modern Church if only with the same abandon and the same 98 Efficiency Points insight modern men go forth to their world-wide con- quering tasks. Paul Paul, like every genuinely redeemed man, began his Christian life with prayer (Acts ix. ii). The spark there kindled burned with increasing ardor all through his life. His Epistles are ''inlaid with prayer." The Rev. Charles E. Jefferson says of him, "Paul is charged with heavenly electricity, and these letters are electric sparks struck from him by the friction of passing events." This heavenly charging by the Holy Spirit can- not be accounted for apart from prayer. "Paul was a volcano in a perpetual state of activity," says another. Intercession stoked the subterranean fires. His letters begin and end with prayer; they are saturated with this spirit. His appeals that others pray for him would have been impossible did he not believe that intercession was a power unmistakable and indispensable to the progress of the Kingdom. When he says to the Corinthians (2 Cor. i. 9-1 1): "God . . . will also still deliver us; ye also helping together on our behalf by your supplica- tion," he believed that prayer has power. As a summary of his convictions on this subject, ponder five sentences : "I exhort, therefore, iirst of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings be made for all men" (i Tim. ii. i) — the primacy of prayer. "In nothing be anxious ; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God" (Phil, iv. 6) — the inclusiveness of prayer. Intercession the Dynamic of Efficiency 99 "With all prayer and supplication, praying at all sea- sons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all per- severance and supplication for all the saints" (Eph. vi. 18) — the time for prayer. "I desire, therefore, that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands" (i Tim. ii. 8) — the place for prayer. "Pray without ceasing'' (i Thess. v. 17) — the con- tinuity of prayer. Gather up the five pregnant phrases italicised in the quotations and you have a bit of Paul's conception of how central a thing prayer is in the life of the Christian : ''First of all," ''in everything," "at all seasons," "in every place," "without ceasing," "pray!" The climax of Paul's description of the equipment of the spiritual warrior in Ephesians vi. 10-20 is prayer. The girdle, the breastplate, the sandals, the shield, the helmet, the sword, intercession. These are his armor. The description does not end with verse 17, as we have too often thought. The climax is in verses 18 and 19. "With all prayer and supplication, praying at all sea- sons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all per- severance and supplication for all the saints, and on my behalf." This is the supreme method of attack. What is the result of such fighting? For answer read verse 13, as phrased in The New Testament in Modern Speech. "Therefore put on the complete armor of God, so that ye may be able to stand your ground on the day of battle, and having fought to the end, to remain victors on the field." We repeat verse 18, as given in A Netv Translation of the New Testament. "Praying at all times in the Spirit with all manner of prayer and entreaty 100 Efficiency Points — be alive to that, attend to it unceasingly, interceding on behalf of all the saints." Our Lord How inseparable this theme is from the teachings of our Lord is very strongly brought out in such books as Andrew Murray's With Christ in the School of Prayer, and it is earnestly urged that this book be read frequently and studied always with the open Bible in hand. Christ constantly prayed (Mark i. 35; Luke v. 16; vi. 12; Matt. xiv. 23; Luke ix. 18; ix. 28, 29). The burden of his prayer is for others, as is so powerfully revealed in John xvii, where Christ prayed for the oncoming cen- turies and the world-conquering Church. That chapter is the cathedral of the New Testament. Christ con- sidered prayer more important than public speech, as is shown by the fact that his profoundest concern for his preachers was that they be men of prayer. His lessons were not so much on how to preach as on how to pray (Matt. vi. 5-15; xvii. 19, 20; Luke xi. 1-13; Luke xviii. 1-14). Teaching and healing were less urgent than prayer with our Lord, for when the multitudes were pressing him for healing and teaching he withdrew to pray (Luke v. 15, 16). Sleep and rest are gifts of God but not so necessary as intercession, for they were both sacrificed when urgent needs arose (Mark i. 35; Luke vi. 12). Christ states only one method of securing workers, and that method is intercession (Matt. ix. 38). Jesus teaches that it is on prayer that some of the promises wait their fulfilment. If this is untrue, why does Jesus say, ''Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, Intercession the Dynamic of Efficiency ioi and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Luke xi. 9, 10) ? Intercession is not simply a placid asking, nor even an earnest seeking, but some- times it must be a rising up in one's might to smite the closed door. God has promised the Holy Spirit to all (Acts ii. 39), but in connection with the passage in Luke mentioned above, Jesus illustrates the necessity of asking, seeking, knocking, by saying, *'How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him" (Luke xi. 13). It is not only true that the fulfilment of promises waits on prayer but also in some circumstances it is upon prayer that the Holy Spirit waits to cooperate with men. Pentecost and all the repetitions of the experience in Acts are preceded and accompanied by prayer. This means that the Kingdom delays its coming where there is lack of prayer. What a sense of responsibility and compulsion this should bring every Christian! What unnecessary poverty and misery and wreckage are in the world which praying men might have prevented or removed! But the fact which lays hold of one so powerfully that the very wonder of it becomes well-nigh overwhelming is the fact which is now about to be stated. Pray that the significance of the truth may lay hold of the very soul. The crowning evidence of the place of intercession in the life and plans of Jesus is the fact that the Bible is silent about all the wonderful and holy activities of our Lord since the ascension except this one. It is in- conceivable that Jesus has suspended action in behalf of the Church and his world. What has he been doing all these centuries? The central activity of Jesus has been the highest, hardest, costliest ministry. "He ever liveth 102 Efficiency Points to make intercession" (Heb. vii. 25; see also Rom. viii. 34). A prayer two thousand years long! It is as though God desired that no one should be confused by the men- tion in the New Testament of a large number of activities of the ascended and living Lord. He reveals only this single highest ministry of the Redeemer in heaven. What does this intercession do for the Church and the world? The arresting, startling answer is, ''Wherefore also he is able to save to the uttermost." The place which Jesus gives to intercession is this : when he was here on earth, redemption was finished in intent by his death and resurrection, but that redemption cannot he perfectly applied and made completely effective zvithout interces- sion. It is because intercession is made — his and ours — that he is able to save to the uttermost. A Battle Call Prayer therefore is both an altar and an arena, a shrine and a battle-field. Prayer not only means bless- ings, but weapons of war. Sometimes intercession will employ the implements of the wrecking crew. All this costs. It exhausts the stoutest soul. It is the manliest art. It brings the reactions of the most strenuous toil. It allures the athletic soul and challenges the heroic spirit. Shall we not then hear the call from Christ for prayer, more prayer, much prayer, and give to this the foremost place in the use of our time and strength? A Life of Ever Deepening Power A recent pamphlet by the Rev. Henry W. Frost, Home Director for America of the China Inland Mission, en- Intercession the Dynamic of Efficiency 103 titled ''Intercession" is mentioned among the pamphlets listed at the close of this chapter. In discussing in- tercession, Mr. Frost says that there are three stages through which the intercessor must pass. First, there is the stage of amplification. Real inter- cession does not stop until it has taken in a world. No more vision-bringing, horizon-expanding practise is pos- sible to a Christian than this. Mr. Frost relates the experience of the Rev. J. Hudson Taylor. ''He said that he once made a discovery which awakened and startled him. He had been interested in China, and he used to begin his praying for that land, and he would pray for it so long that he had little time to give to other countries. As a result, he determined that he would reverse the process of praying, beginning with the forgotten lands and ending with China. On think- ing the matter over he discovered that South America was most frequently left out of his praying, and from that time on he generally began his prayer with South American lands." The second stage is specification. Intercession not only leads one ever farther afield, it also inevitably com- pels more attention in details, — to individuals and groups and special needs all over the world. To quote again from the pamphlet mentioned above : "Let me frankly say that you will do well to think twice before you set your face toward this sort of intercession. For this kind of praying will take time. It will mean the giving up of prized pleasures and privileges, earlier rising and often loss of sleep at night. It will mean pressing the battle to the gates, until you are laying hold of Satan's stronghold and wrestling with powers in heavenly places. 104 Efficiency Points Such praying becomes prolonged and is necessarily in- tense." Finally there is the stage of identification. "Inter- cession amplifies and specifies, but before it is finished, it puts the life so closely in contact with God on the one hand and man on the other hand that oneness is ob- tained and maintained. And I assure you, if I know anything about intercession, that this experience costs more than any other. I told you a moment ago to think twice before you set your face to a life of intercession. I would now say think thrice about it. For, if the other experience costs, this experience costs much more. I would urge you for the sake of the Church, for the sake of the world, and above all for the sake of Christ to become an intercessor. Nevertheless, remember that doing this will mean, not only that you will have to rejoice with those who rejoice, but also to sorrow with those who sorrow. For identification implies that you will have to suffer with God in his compassion for a backslidden Church and an unsaved world, and that you will have to lay down your life as a sacrifice in behalf of all the sons of men. All this will mean much pain that will be nothing less than soul travail. ''As I speak, I am in my thought, far away in China, traveling on a house-boat. There are in the boat, be- sides the Chinese crew, the Rev. and Mrs. J. Hudson Taylor and I. It is night, and disturbed for some rea- son, I cannot sleep, but am lying awake in the darkness. In a little I hear the striking of a match upon a box, and then I see through the thin curtain the flicker of a light. I know what it is. Mr. Taylor, the man who is not strong in hi§ advancing years and who ought Intercession the Dynamic of Efficiency 105 to sleep rather than wake, is up and astir. Through the curtain I see him sitting bending over the Word of God. Then presently I hear him pray. Through the hour or possibly two hours, I hear the pleading voice, the escaping sigh. This man of God is interceding amply and specifically, but most of all is identifying himself with God and men, and this is the explanation of the choice of the midnight hour, the many words and the sigh which almost amounts to a sob." I Choose ? Here then sounds out the highest, hardest, costliest call. It is the service which brings in richer returns than any other. Having faced the issue squarely, will you turn away unconvinced or unwilling to follow the clear call of God? Defeat, disaster, wreckage lie that way ! Or will you now make this last and highest cove- nant to join with Jesus Christ in unfailing intercession that Satan's dominion may be ended and Christ made victor over all the world? Eternal issues hang in the balance as you decide. Jesus Christ looks into our eyes with a tenderness of appeal possible only to One who has lived an undamaged life. May every man who sees these words look steadily into the face of Christ and say: ''I choose the interces- sor's place of toil and victory, and pass out into the con- flict, never to leave the battle-Held until life is laid down or until the crown is placed upon the brozv of Christ and this prodigal world is brought back to our heavenly Father's heart/' io6 Efficiency Points REFERENCES FOR FURTHER STUDY Best, Nolan R. Beyond the Natural Order. Fleming H. Revell Company, New York. 75 cents. Campbell, James M. The Place of Prayer in the Christian Religion. Methodist Book Concern, New York. $i.oo. Gordon, S. D. Quiet Talks on Prayer. Fleming H. Revell Company, New York. 75 cents. Greenwell, Dora, and Forsyth, P. T. Prayer. Hodder & Stoughton, New York. 50 cents. Murray, Andrew. The Ministry of Intercession. Fleming H. Revell Company, New York. 75 cents. Murray, Andrew. The State of the Church: A Plea for More Prayer. Fleming H. Revell Company. New York. 75 cents. Murray, Andrew. With Christ in the School of Prayer. Flem- ing H. Revell Company, New York. 75 cents. Phelps, Austin. The Still Hour. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, Boston. 60 cents. "Intercession the Primary Need." By John R. Mott. Student Volunteer Movement, New York. 10 cents. "Intercession." By Henry W. Frost, Germantown, Pa. 5 cents. "Prayer and Missions." A packet containing nine pamphlets. Laymen's Missionary Movement, New York. 25 cents. Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries 1 1012 01234 8480 Date Due K^' 1 ^