LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PRINCETON. N. J. PRESENTED BY Leon AriDee BV 2060 .S3 1920 Saunders, J. Roscoe, 1873- The cross and the reconstruction of the worl< THE CROSS AN THE RECONSTRUC OF THE WORLD MANKIND'S ONE HOPE OF CONQUEST BY J. R. SAUNDERS, Th.D. Missionary in Canton, China INTRODUCTION BY GEORGE W. TRUETT, D.D. New York Chicago Toronto Fleming H. Revell Company London and Edinburgh Copyright, 1920, by FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY New York: 158 Fifth Avenue Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. London : 21 Paternoster Square Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street DEDICATED TO MRS. LOU F. WHITE, LANCASTER, TEXAS, U. S. A. Whose material help aided greatly in its publication, and who earnestly prays that its message concerning the Cross may be richly blest in the unceasing eflforts of her sisters in Christ of every nation to win this world to our Lord and Master. INTRODUCTION THE author of this book, the Rev. J. R. Saunders, went from America some twenty years ago, to live and labour in China, with headquarters in Canton. He and his work are quite well known to many in America, and are held in very high esteem wherever known. He has faith- fully devoted himself to the many-sided work of the missionary, that is, to preaching, teaching, translating, etc. He has also travelled extensively, both in China and Japan, studying the fields and problems of missionary endeavour at close range. He writes, therefore, out of vital and vivid experi- ences. This book, " The Cross and the Reconstruc- tion of the World,'* is the outcome of his personal study and experience, in seeking to help humanity in the great fields of mission activity. The book has not been written primarily for scholars and the gchools, but rather for the people in general, for all who wish to see this sinful, needy, suffering world brought into right relations to God. The author traces the present rapidly changing world conditions politically, industrially, socially, educationally, religiously, making the earnest in- sistence that Chrisjianity must now ^nd ^ver be th? 6 6 INTRODUCTION one, only, all-sufficient hope for humanity. His em- phasis is everywhere placed on the practical mean- ings and applications of the Cross, as such Cross is revealed in the Promise and sacrifices of the Old Testament, and especially as it is manifested in the life, death, words, and works of Jesus, and as it was interpreted by the Apostles and early Christians, and has been incarnated and interpreted by victori- ous Christian leaders through the passing genera- tions. He shows that all religious efforts that are not based on the Cross, as the central theme of all Christian life and effort, must sooner or later fail. In such study, he also traces the various missionary movements from the time of Christ until the pres- ent, showing that the basic principles of every en- during missionary movement have had both their origin and inspiration in the Cross of Christ. As it has been in the past, so must it be in the future, the author insists, for all abiding Christian work that is to be done today and tomorrow. He insists that the sacrificial principle of the Cross points the only way for all enduring progress in Christ's cause, the principle being stated by Jesus in the words: "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." This principle is the explanation of the courageous endurance, the abounding joy, the unquenchable zeal of the Chris- tian missionary today and all the days the world over. It is not a " new gospel " that the world INTRODUCTION 7 needs, but rather the right interpretation and em- phasis of the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, as the way of salvation for all mankind, and as the sufficient motive and inspiration of all worthy and enduring Christian service. This book has a distinctly vital message — a mes- sage supremely needed for these momentous days — and it is my earnest hope that it may have a wide reading by the Christian forces in all lands. Geo. W. Truett. PREFACE THE political, social, and religious unrest seen throughout the world at this time is of profound significance, and, no doubt points to the rapid approach of a new epoch in the affairs of men. The crumbling of the antiquated forms of government, the growing opposition to handHng humanity in mass, the keen resentment to all forms of religion that do not seek to meet the real needs of the human family in our relation to the Father and each other, all point with increasing certainty that there is a new day coming wherein the voice of the world's Saviour will be heard with more eager ears and obedient hearts as soon as this voice is clearly understood as the one hope in the world of strife. Though chaos prevails in the political, social, and religious affairs of all the great families of the earth, we are not blinded by the wars and fierce struggles now prevailing to the fact that all great strides upward in the human family are preceded by great changes in the existing order. We are getting ready to see truth as the Master saw it and make life what He meant it to be in His kingdom that is to rule in the hearts of all men. The work 10 PREFACE of destruction has been going on for a number of weary years. The greater and joyful task, for which all else has preceded, that of reconstruction, ought to begin speedily. Every child of God wishes that the work of reconstruction commence on enduring basis according to all the needs of the human family. In vain have the nations of the earth tried to solve their own problems. Too long have we looked to our own wisdom and strength. We must look to the only hope, that of Christianity. Most of the friends of the human family realize this; but what kind of Christianity will meet the needs of the hour? What is the basic principle that has given Christian- ity its growth and permanency with advancing years? At a time like this when the opportunities are boundless to expand the kingdom of God, and the nations of all the earth are seemingly wanting to know the wisdom and power of the Father, we do well to seek out the one all important truth or reality in Christianity and give due emphasis to this and relate wisely all our efforts to this reality in our benign work of reconstruction and thereby meet the world's need in the present crisis. By so doing all forces may be conserved and unified in solving the world's problems to the glory of God the Father, and certainly to the good of all the peoples of this earth. In seeking to find the one central truth of Christianity, I believe we will find that it is the Cross of Christ. The Cross was the one reality that PREFACE 11 determined the Saviour's every act in relation to the Father and the needs of the wayward family. The distressing, crying needs of the family the world over plead with us to seek not for the theories of the Cross, but its practicable bearing upon the prob- lems of our day, and thus we will see unfolding in all its measureless power and beauty the sublime hfe of Jesus our Lord. If the Cross of Christ is to meet the world's needs, every believer must give first place to the Cross in his own life. This is absolutely necessary if Christianity is truly to con- quer as the Master meant. The great suffering and heroic sacrifices made during the recent struggles of Europe and the world by our men and women have prepared us to under- stand as never before the meaning of our Lord's Great Sacrifice. We can understand the ever supreme truth that except the grain fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit (and that of the right kind to save the world). If God's children can learn this great truth the world over, the sacrifices of the past years will not have been made in vain. The lessons of the world war can be understood and made a permanent blessing to all mankind as we understand the one tragedy of all the ages, the Cross of Christ in all its bearings. In order that this Tragedy may be more fully understood and appropriated in the struggles of the approaching age, we need to consider anew the meaning of the 12 PREFACE Lord's death for all men, and how that all men hav- ing died with Him may henceforth live unto God. It is here we find the one hope of the world's recon- struction as the Father would have. We study Christianity's one foundation of world conquest as revealed to us in God's Word, as seen in soldiers of the advancing kingdom, the missionary, and then examine the history of expanding Christianity in the great movements of the ages, and in all this we will learn what is most needed in the present work of reconstruction. In sending forth this volume to all who wish their lives to count for the most in the world's recon- struction, I acknowledge with much gratitude the help and encouragement I have received from Dr. C. B. Williams, President of Howard College, Birmingham, Ala., U. S. A., Dr. A. C. Dixon, late of the Metropolitan Tabernacle,, London, England, and Dr. Longdon, Chinkiang, China, for many years missionary of the Methodist Foreign Mission Board. J. R. S. Canton, China. CONTENTS Part I. — Definition I The Cross: Its Importance . . 17 II The Cross and Creeds ... 24 III The Cross: Its Practical Mean- ing AND Application ... 30 IV The Cross: Its Practical Mean- ing AND Application — (Cont.) 48 Part II. — The Cross and the Missionary, a Soldier for World Conquest v V The Cross Makes Possible the Home Basis 69 VI Sends the Missionary to the Foreign Fields .... 75 VII The Cross is the Power of His Message 83 VIII The Cross Enables Him to Illus- trate Message by Life . . 94 13 14 CONTENTS IX The Cross Holds Him to His Work in the Lord's Way . 112 X The Cross Assures Final Victory 122 Part III. — The Verification of History XI The Mission Movements that Have Failed . . . .137 XII The Early Christian Era . .153 XIII The Forerunners of the Refor- mation 165 XIV The Reformation . . . - ^77 XV The Beginnings of Mission Work in India and Persia . . .183 XVI Early Mission Activities in Burma and Africa . . . 193 XVII Early Mission Efforts in China AND Japan 200 XVIII Other Prominent Missionary Movements 213 XIX The Cross and the Present World Situation . . . 22y PART I DEFINITION THE CROSS: ITS IMPORTANCE IN the present consideration of the Cross the broader meaning of the word is constantly used. The fine distinctions, which many of the writers in the past have made between the actual work of the Cross and the results which accrue to us, e.g.. Cross and Redemption, Cross and Justifica- tion, etc., will not be maintained closely in the pres- ent discussion ; but we will follow the usual theologi- cal thought of the present day, making the word refer to the sufferings of Christ in their widest rela- tionships. The necessity for the Cross and its prac- tical bearings on the problems of world conquest will be considered in chapters three and four. It is only necessary to understand that we have in mind the fuller meaning in seeking to bring out the supreme importance of this doctrine. No question in Christianity stands apart from the Cross. All virile life and activity in His kingdom's onward march have their fountain head in right ideas of this subject. Heresies of every kind di- rectly or indirectly have their beginnings in either false or perverted views of the suffering and death of our Lord. The writers of the New Testament 17 18 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION exhausted the language of their day in seeking to reveal the great realities of this all inclusive sub- ject, referring to it by figure, by illustration, giving man's viewpoint, and then God's; yet everywhere emphasizing its incomparable importance as its meaning gradually dawned on them. What seemed at first strange and unnecessary became the one theme of their writing, the one hope of their work, the inspiration of their widening activities. The Cross is not an interesting and important doctrine in Christianity: it is the one source of all doctrine, the one fountain head of all life that is life indeed — the solid ever enduring life, having its birth and growth in the eternal truth of God. Willis J. Beecher says in reference to the Promise Doctrine (which is really the doctrine of the Cross or Atonement as seen in the Old Testament) in The Prophets and the Promise : " In fine, this body of literature which we call the Old Testament is so thoroughly permeated with the idea of the Promise that this affects the whole of its contents. What- ever in it is not of the nature of statement of fact concerning the Promise is likely to be connected with it by way of illustration or suggestion." Again. " A perfectly definite conception of his- torical unity and continuity underlie.s> the New Testament interpretations of the Old Testament, and equally underlies the Old Testament itself. This conception makes the Promise to be the centre and arranges all the facts according to their relations ITS IMPORTANCE 19 to the Promise. In this the best historians of our time do not surpass the men of the Bible, and most men who have treated of these themes — the themes of which the BibHcal men wrote — are far behind them. It is not correct to say that this Promise is the golden cord running throughout the whole Bible. It is the backbone from which the whole body of literature of God's Word springs. It is the trunk from which all the branches and leaves have their beginning." Yes, this is true not only of the New Testament, but the entire Bible. If we take the doctrine of the Cross out of the Bible, we would have a mass of disconnected statements, some of which would be helpful to moralists, puz- zling to theologians, interesting to historians, con- tributing some light to the philologists and scien- tists of different ages; but this Book we call "the sacred Bible " would become common literature along with the writings of the world's sages in dif- ferent nations. Whereas the Cross is " the centre from which the entire literature of the Bible springs and the life of all pure Christianity, it is immeasurably so in ref- erence to World-wide Conflict." P. T. Forsyth: " When a church ceases to be missionary, it loses its touch with the Master, and naturally dies of itself. The inspiration of Christian Missions has been the Cross of Christ more than the sermons of men. Philanthropy is due to the sorrow of men. Other lines of Christian work may prosper when 20 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION the evangelistic message of the Cross is minimized or tlie doctrine of the Cross is erroneously preached. Missions must thrive in the first degree upon the objective power and holy nature of the Cross of Christ, and not upon subjective experiences. These will fail when the great testing time comes after the romance has passed away as it surely will. Then if the missionary does not find the Cross, the moral key of the world, it will go hard with his faith. Theolog}^ of the Cross is more important than our love and zeal for the lost." Then again when the missionary comes to the real test on the field and sees the awful degradation of the heathen life, and he is separated from the life and environments of his brethren, he will likely lose hope in these people. But for the hope in sinful humanit}-, which Christ had and inspired in us by the Cross and His own faith, we would falter in the testing days. P. T. Forsyth furthermore well says : " A church that is not missionar}^ will cease to be a church. A church cold in missions has lost the Cross. It may have religion, but not the Gospel. It may have social friendliness, human sympathies, good music, intelligent views, excellent intentions, but not the power of the Gospel. Where the spirit of the Cross is there is pressure of spiritual debt and Christian chivalry. Missions are compulsory in a church by its own high law if it is to remain a church. By the law of the spiritual life the missionless church betrays that it is a Crossless church; and becomes ITS IMPORTANCE 21 a faithless church, an unblest church, a mere re- ligious society, and finally, perhaps, a mere cultured clique." And furthermore : " The Cross and its sufferings is the high school of Christianity. The Cross and its victory is the charter of the church. The church that goes deepest into the Cross, that lives most on the Cross, shall draw all nations unto it. A Christi- anity that does not regard Christ as the Son of God in the real full sense as the God of grace, redeeming and reconciling the world, will never be ardent about Missions " — in their truest sense, giving the Gospel and depending on its power and transfor- mation to bring about the best and most permanent results. — " If any church member had told Paul he was not interested in world-wide missions, Paul would have told him he was not a Christian, and had no interest in Christ. Paul was a missionary by that which made him a Christian. Christ was world- wide or no Christ with Paul. A church's interest in missions is its standard to show its interest in the Cross, and vice versa. People may be religious and have no interest in missions, but not true to the Cross — not Christians." R. F. Horton : " ' Christ died for our sins accord- ing to the Scriptures.' That sentence sums up the whole Bible. The four Gospels teach us that Christ died, and the rest of the New Testament that He died for our sins. The Old Testament by allegory, type, and many other ways prepared the human race 22 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION for the greatest of all truth revealed in the New Testament — ' that Christ died for our sins/ " When we become blind to or indifferent about the core of the Bible, we will become castaways as true preachers and saints of God. To let anything ex- plain away, deny, or keep us from making this mes- sage the one theme of our ministry to the world, our preaching will become insipid, " we are as am- bassadors without credentials." This explains why so many methods are used in our churches which are not true to the spirit of the Bible, partake too much of worldliness. This often causes us to resort to false weapons that fail us in the crucial battle of winning others to Christ. R. W. Dale : " As long as the doctrine of Atone- ment is maintained in its entirety, Christianity itself, and the peace and blessedness of all who believe in Christ, are beyond the reach of danger; but if it is rejected or anyway impaired, the whole structure of the Christian faith must sink into decay and ruin." " The Cross, according to the consent of all churches, and all the evangelistic traditions of Christendom, is the supreme power of the Gospel." Cadman : ** Moreover can we rest the absolutism and finality of Jesus on anything less than the last complete outpouring of His soul unto voluntary death for man's salvation? I do not think we can, and it is requisite that we place larger emphasis upon this holy mystery of our life through Christ's death, the substantial soul and secret of missionary ITS IMPORTANCE 23 progress in all ages of the church. ' For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, Himself man, Christ Jesus who gave Himself a ransom for all ! ' This is the creed for us to use in our mission work — the expanding work of Christi- anity/' Christ as He entered the dark shadows that came from the near-by Cross said : *' For this purpose I came into the world," and as these dark shadows passed away with all the suffering and the agony of the life given on the Cross for the glory of the Father and the redemption of the world, He said, " It is finished." The central event of all history, many of the students of humanity tell us, is the Christ of reality; and cannot we gladly agree with this statement, adding a still more important fact, the centre of His career, around which all else re- volves, is the Cross? The holy men of old who wrote God's Word, the early church fathers, the great leaders of expanding Christianity of past ages, and those who are doing most to bring about His world-reign at present forcibly witness to this as being the greatest of all truth : the reality that makes possible Christianity's purity at home, the ability to live and thrive and conquer all error and master all hearts by giving perfect life for all nations and peoples everywhere. II THE CROSS AND CREEDS CREEDS, rightly understood, are necessary things. Christianity can no more exist with- out creeds than the body can without bone and sinew; yet in Christianity mere formal creeds are not only worthless, but oftentimes become hin- drances to the truth. " The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life'* (2 Cor. 3.6). The prophets of the Old Testament, especially the later writers, mourned because the people sought to escape the ethical demands of the law by purely formal service. ** Away with your sacrifices " which were an abomination because they did not represent the heart of the giver. Jesus laid down no forms and burdened none by rules. He went far beyond all this and gave life, reaching the basal principles of all true worship and service of those who come before the Father with pleasing hearts. Decidedly the greatest force in Christianity is a life — the life of Jesus; however all life in the development is bound to express itself in forms, but forms are to be the result of develop- ment, and life is in no sense produced by forms. It 24 THE CROSS AND CREEDS 25 may be manifested naturally and proven to the world by the beautiful forms, which true life from above, will give forth. It is not strange that Jesus gave us no theological dogmas about the Cross. Those who walked with Him, saw Him with their own eyes, and touched Him with their own hands, also gave us no elabo- rate discussion of the How and the Why of the Cross. Paul, who went more fully into the mys- teries of this subject than any one else, did not seek to write a treatise. He said most about the great revelation, which Jesus made known to him, in discussing other things. These New Testament writers were too much concerned about the glorious realities and the surpassing blessings which were theirs and the world's by reason of the Sacrifice. They were chiefly concerned about making these things known to the world, and did not have time to discuss the mysteries that did not directly concern them. Most assuredly the mystery of all mysteries was seen '* in the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world"; but the glorious fact that He was slain for their sins, was buried, rose again, and ever sitteth on the right hand of God to make intercessions for them, was enough to fill their hearts with constant praise and thankfulness and compel them to give their lives in glad and full surrender to be offered up daily for His service. To the metaphysical mind of the Greeks the Cross was foolishness, and to the Jews a stumbling-block ; 26 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION but to those who believed in the early days, it was more than life, it was life abundant. It was the source and propelling force of this life abundant. When this was true, Christianity was missionary and overcame all obstacles. In Christianity's early progress the great enemies from without, that first met the messengers of the Cross, were overcome. Afterwards when the new faith became popular and the lines that held them close to the Christ-life were slacked, all man- ner of heresies came flocking in. Soon we see the churches demanding conformity to certain ex- ternals, formalism taking precedence over life, con- fessions and creeds crushing the sublime faith and simplicity of the early followers of Jesus. H. C. Vedder: "We can see (in the early history of the churches) in the substitution of formalism for spir- ituality, devotion to the externals of religion tak- ing the place of living faith. To this one root may be traced in turn every one of the corruptions of the church, all its aberrations of doctrine and prac- tice." Statements or theories about the Cross are not the important thing. Much has been written that is false, much that is true, still more that is helpful if properly related; yet the main thing at the present hour to meet the pressing needs is to get at the great abiding realities of the Cross, and see how these furnish the ground and framework of world-wide Conquest. It is an encouraging fact that so much thought THE CROSS AND CREEDS 27 is being given to the study of the Cross by all classes of theologians. This is a sign of life and interest in the workings of our Master. Old truths are taking new forms, new phases of the all- inclusive subject are being emphasized, and in the main most of these discussions are helping rather than hindering a better and fuller understanding of the Saviour's pouring out His life unto death. We must not make the mistake of thinking that these different writers are revealing any new truth, but simply clearing away the debris, and letting that which has been in God's Word all the while shine forth in its fulness. To get a correct and ade- quate view of this doctrine we need to pass by the handed down theories, which are sacred with age and made precious to us by the thoughts of those dear in the theological world, stand aloof from new revelations evolved from the enlightened consciences of men of the present day — products of the highest development of the advancing Church, and go back to the simple and incomparably sublime truth re- vealed in God's Word. In this Book we will find the fundamental teaching that concerns our subject, as well as all others that vitally concern His chil- dren in reconstructing the world. After laying all needed emphasis on the fact that truth must not be hampered by its mere formal ex- pressions, however, those who are to win this world to His obedience must ever have clear conceptions and deep, unmovable convictions as to what is in- 28 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION volved in the Cross and their relation to it. Not to see the truth clearly and hold to it firmly will not only make our message powerless, but will give rise to all kinds of error. We must know the truth positively if we are to conquer and give our message continuous living vitality in the world struggle. This is absolutely necessary if we expect our work to have that permanency and life-producing purity that healthy and robust truth alone can give. It is very true that the writers of different ages and countries will emphasize certain phases of the Cross probably most needed in their day, most easily understood by their countrymen; yet men who are friends and not enemies of Him, who is the truth, will never seek by word or figure to withhold or attenuate the changeless realities of the Cross. These are what every earnest servant of the Mas- ter ought to seek to know and perpetuate with posi- tive, heart-resting certainties to all men. Many things are now combining to urge us to give the awakening world the truth in its simplest, purest, and most vital and positive form. To fail to do so now when the conditions are so favourable to its growth, we would do the world an irreparable injustice, be disloyal to our Master, and forever bring shame upon ourselves as recreants to duty at the psychological hour of all history when the whole human family is concerned directly or indirectly by the outcome of the problems now facing the servants of the King. Nothing less than the true positive THE CROSS AND CREEDS 29 message of the Cross will meet the great needs of our brothers the world over as they seek light and guidance in their upward struggle. Only as we have the truth in its simplicity and purity, preached unequivocally as the one remedy to meet their sore needs, can we go forth unto the battle with assur- ance of faith that we will conquer all foes and plant Christianity supremely in all lands. Ill THE CROSS: ITS PRACTICAL MEANING AND APPLICATION THERE are certain mysteries about the Cross which man, doubtless, will never solve. Just as in the most practical and most common- place realities of every-day life there are mysteries which the most scholarly minds of all ages have not solved, so with the Lord's Offering. There are mysteries hidden back in the councils of the Father and the Son, who is " the Lamb slain from the foun- dation of the World," " according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord," as " He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world." There are some ques- tions in the eternal purpose of the Godhead that our narrow visions cannot now understand : it is not necessary for us to know these things. However, it is quite unthinkable that He, who called us and sent us out to conquer this world, would leave us in doubt about the main doctrine of the church's life as this doctrine concerns us in the warfare. That which we need to know to encourage and to inspire and make sure the final victory must surely be 80 PRACTICAL MEANING 31 plain to the soldier who can only march with a strong heart and an unfaltering step as he knows his marching orders and the source of all strength. We should welcome every effort to bring the great realities of the Cross in keeping with the form of thought and life in our present age as long as these efforts are sincerely made in search of the all-comprehensive and sufficient truth adequately re- vealed in God's Word for the needs of His people in all ages and places and conditions. If we are anxious to know the truth for His service, willing to abide by its consequences, adjusting our lives ac- cording to its highest and fullest requirements, surely our heavenly Father will satisfy the earnest and sincere desire of hearts in touch with Him. The More Practical Phases of the Cross, as they concern man, are the following: (a) The Barriers of Man's Approach to God have been Removed, (b) Sin has been Rightly Revealed — made to Ap- pear " Exceeding Sinful," (c) The Father Gra- ciously Loves all Men, (d) Christ Died for the Sins of the World, (e) The Oneness of the Human Family, (f) Discipleship means Union with Christ to save all Mankind — entering into the fellowship of His sufferings. These are the more practical phases of the subject as they concern us in our world conquest. The whole world is so much in need of the tried and the true, and so much is plain in the Cross, that we shall find it most profitable to give ourselves to the study and application of 32 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION these things rather than to the uncertainties that do not primarily concern us in bringing the world to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. " My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge," but lack of knowledge of Him who is the way, the truth, and the life. I. The Barriers of Man's Approach to the Father Have Been Removed The great need of the human race has ever been to be able to approach the Father's holy presence. This need has been realized by all who seek to be pure and noble and God-like ; yet as man thinks upon his condition and learns of his inner life, he sees that sin and disobedience have come up like moun- tains separating him from the Father, who is holi- ness and righteousness altogether. The sense of disobedience and guilt drove our first parents to hide from the face of Jehovah. It was the sense of guilt bearing so heavily upon the Jews which made them fear to approach the Holy One. " No man can see God and live " was on the lips of many devout sons of Abraham. Sacrifices were instituted to remove the barriers of man's approach to God, and thus enable him to appear before Jehovah without the guilt of his trans- gressions forcing -him without the pale of the cov- enant. Through sacrificial offerings given with a true purpose, the giver could approach the Father and cteim the blessings of true fellowship. PRACTICAL MEANING 33 The Author of Hebrews shows how Christ, through the eternal Spirit, offering Himself without spot to God for sin once at the end of the world, doing that which the Law could not do, in that it made none perfect, thus " He purged our consciences from dead works to serve the living God," atoning for sins which the sacrifice of animals could never do ; hence we are invited " to come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." " He appeared to put away sin by the offer of Himself once offered to bear the sins of many." " By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." In Eph. 2. 13-16 we notice that those who were once afar off are made nigh by the blood of the Cross, removing the bar- riers that " He might reconcile us unto God." Also in Eph. 3.13 : "In Christ we have boldness and ac- cess with confidence by the faith of Him." Rom. 5.if. : " We have peace with God through Him, and access by faith into the grace wherein we stand." Sins which have kept us from approaching God are covered, and He no longer regards them as we come into His holy presence. Psalm 32. if.: " Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity." " Paul shows in Rom. 4.yL, that these blessings — iniquity forgiven, sin covered, and no longer imputed — come not through the law and to the circumcized only; but 34 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION they come to all who, through faith, are heirs of faithful Abraham. This righteousness shall be im- puted to us " if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justi- fication.'* Rom. 4.24f. : Also " God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. . . For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him " (2 Cor. 5. 19 and 21). The figure of washing and cleansing us with His blood is used, doubtless, referring to the removal of all guilt and impurity that bar our approach to God. Paul in writing to the Corinthian church says to some of the members who formerly lived vile and licentious lives, like many of the unbelievers in that wicked city : ** But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified" (i Cor. 6.1 1). In Rev. 1.5 and 7.14, respectively, we notice : " Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood." " Washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." The demands of the perfect Law, which man could not fulfil, hence stood as a barrier to his ap- proach to the Father, have been fulfilled in Christ Jesus. He fulfilled the demands of the Law, and we, who are in Christ, are no longer bound by the Law; but we are children who enjoy the liberty and blessings of the free. Since we are in Christ, PRACTICAL MEANING 35 dominated by His spirit, moved by a higher law, which includes all the requirements of the Ten Words that have relation for all time to man's obedience to the Father. " Therefore, we conclude a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law" (Rom. 3.28). "Sin shall have no more dominion over you : for you are not under the law, but under grace " (Rom. 6.14) ; and verse 18, " Be- ing made free from sin, ye become the servants of righteousness," and 22, " Having your fruit unto holiness." (Compare Rom. 7.4, 6; 8.3f. ; 10.4.) *' Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" (Gal. 3.13). He was " made under the law to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. No more a servant, but a son " (Gal. 4.4, 5, 7). ^. Sin has been Rightly Revealed — ''Made to Appear Exceeding Sinful.'' Sin has been regarded very differently by the va- rious peoples in the world according to their civili- zation, laws, and development. It is often thought of as a question of propriety, the person who of- fends the rules of propriety has sinned. To com- ply with these one is free from sin. Others think of sin as transgressing the laws of their country. Sin in China is most always thought of in man's relation to his fellowmen. The five blessings which the gods are asked to bestow on the family have purely human relationships — man's relationship to 36 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION his family and country or nation. Above the door of nearly every dwelling house we see the written petition for these five blessings. They ask the gods to give these blessings, and the one who has them is blessed above all just in the degree he possesses them above all others. Not one of the blessings in any way refers to man's relation to God. Man does not sin in his relation to the gods. He may bring bad luck to his home and business because he has offended the gods in failing to supply their necessities; yet the idea of impurity in the heart being an offence to the gods and counted sin, does not enter the mind of the average non-Christian Chinese. The majority of the Jews, doubtless, thought of sin as being largely a matter of breaking laws, trans- gressing, stepping across the mark of propriety; however, there were devout spiritual men through- out their history who, realized that, keeping the forms of the law without the right attitude of the heart, was an abomination to God. Jehovah re- quired the heart with every sacrifice. Sin is always wrong, not because the law said so, but the law said so because it is wrong. Sin is of the heart in its relation to Jehovah. We see something of the heinousness of sin by what it takes to check its development and remove its consequences. We are sure our loving heav- enly Father has never demanded any more sacri- fice and suffering for sin and the disturbed condi- PRACTICAL MEANING 37 tion it had brought into the world than is necessary to enable Him to forgive the sinner and withhold from him the full penalty justly due, while the eter- nal principles of justice, righteousness, and holiness are maintained. We cannot but believe that in re- quiring certain things before the sinner is permitted to come boldly unto the throne of grace — past sins covered, and new life and spirit given that will make him hate sin in the future because his Father hates it — God had the sinner's welfare in mind as well as the requirements of these eternal principles of justice, righteousness, and holiness. Man's infinite needs moved Him as well the preservation of His honour and attributes. Sin in its very nature neces- sitated that a method be inaugurated not to con- trol, but to destroy it. Sin in its relation to man as well as its relation to God required this. This could be done and was done by the Cross borne by Jesus, the God-man. Jehovah was willing to save all who kept the law perfectly, not that this in itself abrogated sin; but it brought the sinner in such relation with Jehovah as to obtain the full benefits of His grace : hence it has been true from the beginning that the just shall live by faith, and by grace are ye saved and not of works. No mere formal sacrifice could ever make it pos- sible for the Father to forgive sins. When forms were an expression of the right attitude of the heart, they had their value, but never the mere forms, ^amuel said t9 .Saul, who thought so lightly of 38 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION obedience (i Sam. 15.22): ''Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." " The sacrifice of the wicked is an abom- ination to the Lord " (Prov. 15.8). " The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind? " (Prov. 21.27). " Sacrifice and offering Thou did not de- sire . . . burnt offering and sin offering hast Thou not required " (Psalm 40.6). In Isaiah 1.11-15 we see how Jehovah felt towards their sacrifices and offerings. He delights not in them, does not re- quire such offerings in His court. Their ceremon- ies and offerings are vain, an abomination, " away with them " as long as their hands are full of blood and oppression, and their heart is far from Him. He will not hear them when they pray — such forms with a wicked heart are detested by the pure and holy One. In Hos. 6.6 and elsewhere in many of the expressions of the Minor Prophets, we see the Lord's attitude to formal service when the heart is not right towards Him. There is no question from these citations that Jehovah looked on the heart rather than the forms whereby His rebellious people sought to escape the weightier demands of the law. He hated their smoking incense and ani- mal sacrifice while their hearts were polluted by foul deeds. Not only mere formal offerings could not atone PRACTICAL MEANING 39 for sins, no offerings could really satisfy the de- mands of the holy and righteous One. Sin was of such a nature that no offering by man's hands could really atone for it. Offences wittingly committed against God — and all transgression in its last analy- sis certainly meant offence against him, and not the law only — could not be satisfied by sacrifices and offerings. Certain offerings and sacrifices atone for crimes specified in the covenant relations; yet these only temporarily satisfied or obtained God's favour, and enabled Him to turn His face from the transgressions of His people. These efforts on man's part could not wholly remove sin, and meet the requirements of the Father's attributes of holi- ness, justice, and righteousness. Psalm 143.2 : " Enter not into judgment with Thy servant : for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified." David says in Psalm 51 that his sin was too great to be covered by any offering. He pleaded God's mercy with a broken and contrite heart. Acts 13.39: " And by Him all that believe are justified from all things from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses.'* Rom. 3.20: "Therefore, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight : for by the law is the knowledge of sin.'* (For further corroborative' passages see Rom. 8.3; Gal. 2.16, 3.21; Heb. 7.18 f., 9.9, also 10. i, 4, 6, 8, II.) Sin is too great to be atoned for by man's ef- forts even if he followed the requirements of the 40 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION law. It required more than man could do. Far the majority of the human race look on sin so lightly as to think that it is purely acts of impro- priety, misfits, mishaps, can be, therefore, atoned for by efforts on man's part. One atoning for the sins of another was not conceived by the human heart. The heathen in their sacrifices do not think of atoning for sins, but rather to appease the wrath of the deities. The Jews in the time of Christ did not think that the Messiah by His death would make an atonement for sin. They seemed to think that an atonement might be made for sins by alms, prayers, and good deeds. They had some vague idea that one could thus atone for the sins of an- other; yet from the time of the age of the greater prophets until the Messiah did come, there were but few who rose to the conception of one in God's sight making amends or atonement for another. The Jews, like the world around them, had begun to think of sin so lightly as to believe that man could adjust matters himself. The whole of the human family at the coming of Christ had im- perfect ideas of both the heinousness of sin and its consequences. Jesus came not only to reveal the Father, but to reveal ourselves, make known to us the realities and magnitude of sin in the heart " The death, which is the supreme revelation of Divine love, is also the supreme revelation of hu- man guilt."— R. W. Dale. Much of the Master's teaching was to reveal to PRACTICAL MEANING 41 the world the nature of sin. The Sermon on the Mount is largely given to make known to His dis- ciples that sin is of the heart in its attitude to God. " If thy eye cause thee to offend, pluck it out: for it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell." It is better for us to lose any member of the body than to permit it to cause us to sin. In fact, if we owned the whole world, this would not be a gift sufficient to atone for one man's soul. " For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? " Over and over again the Master sought not only to remove the errors of the people concerning God, but He made known to them sin in all its awful conse- quences. Although we can truthfully say that the very nature of God, His holiness, justice, righteousness, mercy, and love, and His desire to bring man in obedient relationship in His kingdom made the Cross inevitable; yet it is sin that had broken the harmony and produced the conditions that the Cross alone could meet. Therefore we can also truth- fully say that sin made it absolutely necessary for Christ to die. His suffering must be experienced, the Cross must be borne, was emphasized again and again by Christ as He sought to reveal to them its meaning. His suffering and death was some- thing that they thought unnecessary, and brought 42 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION to them shame and disappointment; however, the Messiah told them there was no other way, it must be done. " From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples how He must go unto Jeru- salem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day" (Matt. 16.21). "He began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things .... and be killed, and after three days rise again" (Mark 8.31). "I have a bap- tism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accompHshed" (Luke 12.50). "O fools and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and enter into His glory?" (Luke 24.25 f.). " Thus it is written and thus it behooved Christ to suffer " (Luke 24.46). Paul as his man- ner was reasoned from the Scripture, " That Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again the third day " (Acts i7.3f.). " For if righteousness (come) through the law, then Christ died in vain" (Gal 2.21). " For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law " (Gal. 3.21 ). Not only does Christ teach that He must die, but that His death was the fulfilment of the law and the prophets. His death was not a mere accident. It was absolutely necessary to meet the conditions that sin had brought about, and this was foretold by the holy men as they were moved by the Holy PRACTICAL MEANING 43 Ghost to write the things of God. The death on the Cross came as the culminating fact of His Hfe, which was the fulfilment of prophecy and the con- summation of the eternal plans of the Godhead, thus making it possible for " God to be just and justifier of him who believeth in Jesus," redeeming sinful, disobedient man to be holy and pure, fitted for temples of God on earth. '* God's nature re- quires the removal of sin, our good requires it, and the Cross accomplishes it." Many have thought that it was not the pierc- ing of the hands and feet of the Redeemer that brought death. His companions with the same wounds were far from dead when He passed away. Jesus was Himself strong to the end. He uttered a great cry. He did not die from the loss of blood. If so he would have gradually grown weaker, and His death would have been a slow one. No one in history has been known to die so soon wounded as He was. Even the soldiers were surprised to find life extinct. " He died from a broken heart." ** The wickedness of the world crushed His life out." The soul suffered far more than the body did from the flesh wounds. His death was caused by the sin He came to atone for, not so much by the physical wounds, but by that which made His death necessary, that which He had to suffer by reason of the world's sin. Nowhere do we see the heinousness of sin so forcibly portrayed as on the Cross. No one who sees what Christ suf- 44 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION fered to overcome the power and penalty of sin can look on sin lightly. Right conceptions of the Cross give us right views of sin and its penalty. J. God Graciously Loves All Men. The natural heart is slow to comprehend the fact that God loves all men. Man everywhere would rather emphasize the attributes of justice, right- eousness, holiness, purity, etc., than the one thing that John gives as revealing the Father to the way- ward world — " God is love." The human family greatly needs to know God in His tender sympa- thetic relation with this race, though marred by sin, with hearts blinded, and moral natures de- praved. The good and the pure can easily think of Him as being " Love " ; but the rebellious and de- praved, with crude affections dwarfed by evil paths long followed, need a revelation from God to know that God loves them. Jesus, who was " the bright- ness of His glory and the express image of His person," declared : " He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." This same Jesus resorted to many methods to manifest the Father's love. He used every possible method that would appeal to the intelligence of His hearers and arouse their hearts to a sense of God's love for them. Many of the parables, much of His teaching, and His deeds of love and mercy and sympathy during His earthly ministry were given to manifest the Father's compassionate love. PRACTICAL MEANING 45 In emphasizing God's love we must not minimize His attributes of holiness, justice, and righteous- ness. His love must always preserve these. *' The dignity of man himself is better secured if it break in the maintenance of God's holiness than if that holiness suffer defeat for man's mere existence." As P. T. Forsyth says : " God's love then is love in holy action, in forgiveness, in redemption. It is the true love for sinners of a God above all things holy, whose holiness makes sin damnable as sin and love active as grace. It (His love) can only act in a way that will do justice to holiness, and restore it." To emphasize His love out of due proportion to these attributes would produce a flabby Chris- tianity that fails to take due account of the real- ities of sin, the wrecked condition of the human family, the glory of the Father, and the eternal absolute good of man. The Cross does these things, and we must remember that emphasis placed on the love of God in His Word will in no way weaken these other attributes. The love which the Father manifests to us is not the ordinary human love, but rather all true human love is like the faint glimmering light from the distant star that radiates the light from the sun. The castaways, hated by polite society, were taken up by Jesus and assured that they were the recipients of the Father's care and love which ex- tend over " the just and the unjust." '' The fatted calf and best robe " were speedily provided for the 46 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION ungrateful spendthrift to assure him of his place in the home that sin and prodigality had taken from him. The Master's life upon the earth, as far as known to us, was a continual oblation upon the altar of human need, given freely and fully to those whose slowness of understanding and dulness of heart not only made them ungrateful, but spurn His unselfish deeds of love and mercy; however, Jesus told them plainly that in their rejection of Him they rejected the Father also. " My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (Jno. 5.17). Jesus came to the earth, and gladly gave His life a ransom for many, yet it was the Father who sent Him and whose will He came to do. It is the Father's love as well as the Son's that prompted the Son to give His life for us. In Gethsemane Jesus prayed, Not His will, but the Father's be done (Matt. 26.39). "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" (Jno. 3.16). " My meat is to do the will of Him who sent Me " (Jno. 4.34). "I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him who sent Me" (Jno. 6.38). "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God" (Heb. 10.9). We see the love of the Father in all that Jesus did for us. Shedd : " Divine favour is seen in providing the remedy for our sins (Rom. 5.10) : * For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.' In getting at the seat PRACTICAL MEANING 47 and centre of the Divine passion we should seek it rather in the work of Atonement than in the act of forgiveness: rather in the cause than in the ef- fect. That He should make the Atonement is the mystery (i Jno. 3.16) — * Hereby perceive we the love of God because He laid down His life for us.' " (Compare i Jno. 4.9, 11; Rom. 5.8; Eph. 5.2; Jno. 3.16.) R. W. Dale : " The death of Christ is the final expression of the infinite love of God for all man- kind." The selfish strife and turmoil the world over needs this love of God to harmonize and unify all forces in the work of reconstruction. The unselfish love seen on the Cross is the only hope in the present crisis. IV THE CROSS: ITS PRACTICAL MEANING AND APPLICATION (Continued) 4. Christ Died for the Sins of the World. THE most casual readers of the Bible can see that Jesus died for the sins of the world. It was because of sin in the human family that He died. This is quite plain to most readers. The great body of Biblical critics of all shades of thought are convinced that His death was the result of plan. It was absolutely necessary to deal with sin adequately before He could lead us to God; but just what is meant by saying that He died for the sins of the world, how His death be- came efficacious for our sins? Around these and like questions gather the great problems of the Cross. As has already been mentioned, the first disciples of the Master did not expect the Messiah to die for their sins. The prophets and psalmists of old in their higher conceptions of Divine truth did ex- pect the Sufferer to come, and it is quite evident that they expected the righteous Servant to make 48 PRACTICAL MEANING 49 an atonement for the sins of the people. The Jews in the time of Christ expected the Messiah to de- liver them from earthly oppression, but there is nothing to indicate that even the most devout thought this would be done by a death of humilia- tion and shame. The fact that none of His dis- ciples could even be taught that the Messiah " must suffer many things " and die for the sins of the people until He actually did suffer and die and rose from the grave indicates beyond a doubt that none of them expected the Promised One thus to re- deem Israel, much less the world. Since Christ taught the meaning of His death and said it was the fulfilment of the law and the prophets, it behooves us, who take Him as our omniscient Teacher and perfect Model, to exam- ine what the law and the prophets meant by the Atonement, and see wherein Chrisfs death and suf- fering, and the meaning He put on it, corresponds with the original conception of the Atonement. By this method we do not necessarily obtain the full significance of the Cross, but we find the essential idea as emphasized by the Master. Christ in teaching the meaning of His death con- nected it with the Atonement of the Old Testa- ment. The sacrifice that burned on the altar of every devout child of Jehovah from the accepted offering of righteous Abel till the better and en- during sacrifice of God's only Son were types of the coming One who offered Himself for the sins 50 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION of the entire world. Whether the devout offerer always saw this, we are not sure; yet Christ saw the relation, and made it known to His disciples just as soon as He could prepare them for receiv- ing the truth. He used the symbols that they under- stood and the prophecies of the Old Testament, at least, as the starting-point to explain the signifi- cance of His sacrifice. His heart seemed to be full of the thoughts of the suffering Servant described in Is. 53, and elsewhere in the O. T., saying that in His life were these prophecies fulfilled. After He read in Is. where it says the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor, open the eyes of the blind, etc.. He said : " This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears '' (Lu. 4.i6ff.);. " For I say unto you this that was written must be accomplished in Me " (Lu. 22.37). " Ought not Christ to have suffered these things . . . and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself " (Lu. 24.26f.). Vr. 44, " These things written in the law of Moses, in the prophets, and in the psalms con- cerning Him must be fulfilled." Apart from the Synoptical Gospels the connec- tion is rigidly maintained. " Behold the Lamb of God that beareth or taketh away the sin of the world" (Jno. 1.29). Doubtless John had in mind the very thought of Is. 53.7. Philip explained to the eunuch, who was reading Is. 53.7, 8, " He was PRACTICAL MEANING 51 led as a sheep to the slaughter ; and hke a lamb be- fore his shearer, so he opened not his mouth," etc., that this referred to Christ (Acts 8.32-35). ''We are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot " ( i Pet. 1. 19). John saw in the midst of the throne and the elders stood a Lamb as it had been slain (Rev. 5.6). "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, wisdom " (Rev. 5.12). These ci- tations from the words of the Master, and those who wrote concerning Him in the New Testament, make it plain that they thought the Cross was the fulfilment of prophecy, and that Is., 53rd chapter, is the highest conception of the Saviour's work as seen in prophecy. The Master not only sought to reveal to His followers that the Cross was the fulfilment of prophecy, but he sought in many ways to explain its meaning. The Jews, and even His most intimate disciples, did not know what His death meant dur- ing His earthly career. His death was all a sur- prise and a mystery at first. The idea of it brought shame and dread to His disciples. They were will- ing to fight to avert it. When the sad event did come, they lost heart and thought the whole work of the Messiah had failed. Jesus alone could ex- plain the significance of His death. No writer in the New Testament ever claimed to know anything about the '' mystery " except what Christ revealed to him, hence it is of primary importance to 52 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION learn what Christ Himself taught His death meant. He speaks of His death '' as a ransom for many '* — '' The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and give His life a ransom for many " (Matt. 20.28; Mark 10.45). He seems to teach here that we are sold unto sin — a bond- slave to sin — and He gave His life as a ransom to set us free. Godet says : " He offered a ransom for humanity in the prison house of sin — not something that was of pleasure to Him, but Himself — that we might enjoy the pure air of the open, freed from the stains of the prison walls, where filth and pain- ful odours stifle our souls." He offered Himself to bring about our eternal release. The idea is greatly elaborated elsewhere in the New Testament, Paul, who delivered unto others that which he received not from man, not of himself, but of God, says: "He gave His life a ransom for all" (i Tim. 2.5f.) : "He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a pecu- liar people, zealous of good works" (Titus 2.14). " We have been redeemed through His blood " (Eph. 1.7). " Bought with a price " (i Cor. 6.20). "We have redemption through His blood" (Col. 1. 14). "Redeemed from the curse of the law'' (Gal. 3.13). The church He purchased with His own blood (Acts. 20.28). Also we see that Christ obtained eternal redemption for us through His blood (Heb. 9.12). Those of every kindred and PRACTICAL MEANING 53 tongue, people, and nation were redeemed by His blood (Rev. 5.9). Those who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth were redeemed from among men (Rev. 14.4). Denying the God who bought them is called heresy (2 Pet. 2.1). " The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin" (i Jno. 1.7). " The church's one foundation Is Jesus Christ her Lord. She is His new creation By water and the blood. " From heaven He came and sought her, To be His holy bride; With His own blood He bought her, And for her hfe He died." Jesus also spoke of His death as a voluntary act, prompted by love, to lay down His life for His sheep. ** No man taketh it (His life) from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I am the good Shep- herd : the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep. I lay down My life for the sheep " (Jno. 10. 1 1 and 15.18). Compare Rom. 5.7f. ; i Jno. 3.16. The Master sought to explain more fully the significance of His death in instituting the Lord's supper, which is to keep forever in remembrance His sacrifice for us and all the world. ** For this is the blood of the new testament, which is shed for 54 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION many for the remission of sins" (Matt. 26.28). " This is My body which is broken for you." " This cup is the new testament in My blood." " For as oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do show the Lord's death till He come " (Mark 14.22- 24; Lu. 22. igf.; I Cor. 11.23-26). "Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for remis- sion of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God" (Rom. 3.25). "Much more then being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him" (Rom. 5.9). "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgive- ness of sins, according to the riches of His grace." (Eph. 1.7). " Without the shedding of blood there is no remission " (Heb. 9.22). Compare Eph. 2.13, 15; Col. 1. 14, 20; Rev. 1.5 and 7.14. " Lord, I believe Thy precious blood, Which at the mercy seat of God, Forever doth for sinners plead, For me, e'en for my soul, was shed." In explaining His death to His disciples, show- ing that it was the fulfilment to prophecy, and espe- cially Is. 53, He must have made the impression that His suffering was foretold and its inner and highest meaning expressed in the following: " Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. . . . But He was wounded for our trans- PRACTICAL MEANING 55 gressions; He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with^ His stripes we are healed. . . . And the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was op- pressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth : He is brought as a lamb to the slaugh- ter" (Is. 534-7). His early followers saw in the Cross the fol- lowing : " He was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification" (Rom. 4.25). "For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. ^.21). "Who gave Himself for our sins" (Gal. 1.4). " So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many" (Heb. 9.28). "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree " ( i Pet. 2.24). " For Christ has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust" (i Pet. 3.18). "And ye know He was manifested to take away our sins " (i Jno. 3.5). The writers of the New Testament recognized this wonderful prophecy as giving the main feature of the Cross as well as the manner. Strong : " There is an ethical principle in the Divine nature which demands all sin must be pun- ished — the holiness of God. This ethical principle is reflected in the conscience. Man's conscience can- not be satisfied until amends have been made for transgressions, for sins committed. The Atone- ment is the satisfaction of the ethical demand of 56 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION the Divine nature by the substitution of Christ's penal sufferings for the punishment of the guilty. It answers the ethical demand of the Divine nature that sin be punished if the offender is to go free " (Rom. 3.25f., R. V.). Frederic Godet : " It is God that took the initia- tory and made the conditions of man's redemption. * The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all '( Is. 53.6 f.). * Blessed is he whose sin is covered, and to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity' (Ps. 32.lf.). " The * for me ' understood in the sense of * in my place ' is, in my eyes, the centre of the Gospel, as it is the nerve of the Christian life." Shedd : " Jesus lays stress on His own suffering as the chief element of His Atonement. He re- fused anodyne to deaden the pain. The forgive- ness is the non-infliction of the suffering upon the offender. If the substitute victim suffered, then the criminal shall be released from suffering." Stalker : " Theology has its centre in the Cross. Sometimes, indeed, it has been 'shy of it, and has deviated from it in wide circles; but as soon as it becomes profound and humble again, it always re- turns. " The supreme Christian rite brings us to the Cross and the moment of His darkest hour: ' This is My blood of the New Testament shed for many for the remission of sins.' " R. W. Dale : " The doctrine of the Atonement PRACTICAL MEANING 57 is so interwoven in the New Testament writings that it cannot be taken out without pulling the whole fabric to pieces. The putting away of sin by the sacrifice of Himself is without dispute the heart of the Gospel message which is in turn the heart of the New Testament record. " The statement that Christ died to show His love to mankind is to me equally unintelligible. If we have no other reason for His death than to manifest His love to us, we have no explanation for the moral act of Christ in submitting to those sufferings." It is indeed gratifying to see the unanimity of these writers as to the central phase of His Suffering; however, we need not be so much concerned about the theories of the Cross, yet every man who has been a mighty force in God's king- dom has had sound and abiding convictions as to the meaning of this doctrine, of this life. No, its meaning is not seen in abstract statements about the Lord's death, but more clearly — and far more important to us — in what it has revealed concern- ing the human race, making it plain how strug- gling and sincere souls may emerge from dark- ness into the clear light of God's grace; how we, who have already known Him, may come more closely to Him and more fully show His life and power. The present crisis in the world demands for us to see what there is in the Cross that may be the means through the Spirit's guidance and 58 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION power to lead us to live the Christ-life as we seek to manifest God to the chaotic world, and win men everywhere to His obedience. 5. The Oneness of the Human Race. The more we know of God and how He has loved u3 and sought to bring us into true fellowship with Him, the more we see that He loves all men alike. " For there is no difference or respect of persons with Him." " He has no blessings for me that He does not have for the Zulus or Hottentots if they are ready to receive them. My needs are the needs of all men. What will save the Anglo- Saxon race will save all others. We are all one in our infinite need as we approach the Father, who, through His boundless love and grace, made pro- vision for the salvation of all. He has provided alike for the needs of all. Before Christ came to the earth and made known God the Father, the races of mankind stood aloof from each other. They selfishly prided themselves in forcing the weak to be slaves of the strong. They gloried in luxurious living and lustful deeds by the favoured few, to the oppression and debas- ing of the many. The nations then were like the Chinese farmer of today, who forces all coming his way ever to walk the circuitous path around his little field before he will join his neighbour in making the road straight. No, he makes no con- cessions for the good of the many, he lives purely PRACTICAL MEANING 59 for himself in his cramped and narrow views of life. All the world was that way until we saw the Son unselfishly giving His life on the Cross for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the whole world. The special privileges that made the Jew proud and haughty, the wisdom of the Greeks that made God's plan for man's redemption seem fool- ishness, and the most excellent code of the Romans, who thought their laws would forever rule the na- tions, these all have been properly related and given new life — perfect life — by Him who made it pos- sible for all men alike to worship the Father, and in Whom is hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and who said in loving God perfectly and man as ourselves, we have fulfilled the perfect law of life. In the right appreciation of the Oneness of the human race there is the power and basis to heal all of the differences of the nations and bring about the Golden Age of prophecy — " On earth peace, and good will towards men." All the complex problems of labour and capital, caste and race dis- tinctions, can be solved and properly adjusted only as we follow the Man Christ Jesus in His life of Sacrifice. He will then see that we are bound to- gether as one great family of nations. We cannot suffer alone, neither can our brothers across the seas suffer without affecting us. We truly rise or fall together. The tides of the human family ebb and flow, but we rise through God's grace that 60 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION we may help those in need, and bring about our Father's will on earth in the hearts of all men. Jesus teaches in the parable of the good Samaritan that your most despised enemy is your neighbour if he needs your help. Neighbours are not de- termined by distances, but by needs (Lu. 10.29-37). " There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female : for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3.28). " One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all " (Eph. 4.6). " Ye who were sometimes far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition ... by the Cross" (Eph. 2. 13-16). Although these words were spoken primarily to the early Christians, yet the principles announced to them certainly reveal to us the unity of all who are in Christ our Lord. These principles show that all men in their relation to the Father are one, and in Christianity alone we may truly have re- stored the oneness of the races throughout the whole earth. The Cross reveals the fact and the way to make it real and realized. 6. Disciple ship Means Union with Christ to Save all Mankind. Though the climax of Christ's Sacrifice was the Cross, yet His whole life was a Sacrifice if the Great Sacrifice means suffering for us. Doubt- PRACTICAL MEANING 61 less His pure life as it came in touch with the profligate world suffered all the way to the Cross. He had an intense conflict from the time He dwelt at Nazareth until His life passed into the Father's hands from the Cross. He fought the great bat- tle involving the methods of His kingship first in the wilderness, it was fought again when the temp- ter appeared to Him through His zealous disciple, Peter, and finally and forever won in the struggle of the ages in the battles that gathered close to and on Calvary. We see on the Cross manifested that which had been going on and intensifying from the beginning of His earthly career until the agony of agonies was realized when He said : ** My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? " He, being our representative, the whole human family suffered in Him. However, it concerns us most to know that all who become His disciples must join Him in the Sacrificial work to redeem the world — not that our sacrifice is demanded ; but union with the Master means we partake of Him, we join Him in the holy calling, we live to perpetuate the kingdom He established, we live unto God and not unto ourselves; and all who thus live in a world of sin and wickedness will necessarily enter into His fellowship of suffering. Our relation to the world, the mission of our calling, and our Divine Hfe all move us in the way our Master went. Not only is this true, but as we do these things do we show forth our sonship, as well as kingship, and 62 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION be of the greatest force in bringing the world to Him. " The Son of God goes forth to war A kingly crown to gain ; His blood-red banner streams afar Who follows in His train? Who best can drink his cup of woe. Triumphant over pain, Who patiently bears his cross below He follows in His train." Jesus said to His disciples soon after they com- menced to follow Him, and before they were pre- pared to understand its significance: "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for My sake, shall find it'' (Matt. 16.24!; Mark 8.34f.). The rule of their life was to live like their Master, giving their lives for others. He that would be greatest must be servant of all (Lu.^ 9.23f. and 14.27). We are called to the fellowship of His suffering. "If we suffer, we shall reign" (2 Tim. 2.12). The Captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering (Heb. 2.10). He has left us an example that we should follow His steps (i Pet. 2.21). This is the purpose of our calling — " we are appointed thereunto" (i Thes. 3.3; i Cor. 4.9). PRACTICAL MEANING 63 The great aim of Paul's life was to enter into the fellowship of His sufferings, and be made conform- able unto His death (Phil. 3.10). We suffer with Him that we may be also glorified together (Rom. 8.17). We are privileged to suffer for Him — *' It is given in behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake" (Phil. 1.29). We suffer in order that the life of Jesus might be made manifest in our body (2 Cor. 4.iof.). The sufferings of Christ in us are a source of consola- tion to others — " As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation aboundeth by Christ " (2 Cor. i.4f.). We should rejoice in our fiery trials, for then we are partakers of Christ's sufferings (i Pet. 4.i2f.). Our sufferings fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ for His church's sake (Col. 1.24). As Christ suffered in the flesh, we should arm ourselves with the same mind (i Pet. 4.1). From these and many similar expres- sions in God's Word it is evident that discipleship means entering into the Cross life, and be like our Master in offering up our bodies completely upon the altar of service. The fellowship of the Master in this life, the great blessings that will come to others through us as His representatives, the glori- ous life that awaits all who will truly enter into His holy callings urge us to make our lives one with Christ in the Cross experience. Before we can become children of the Father in heaven, we must submit our wills to Him. We 64 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION ought in making the submission do so just as our Lord did in making the Sacrifice. One of the spe- cial features of the Suffering, which pleased the Father most, was that Jesus submitted fully to the Father's will — the Father's will became His in the work He came to do. By His offering Himself fully, He did the Father's will, and made the Sacri- fice, which was acceptable and well pleasing to the Father. This is indeed an important feature of the Cross which is too little emphasized in discipleship. Godet says : " The element of reparation in the death of the Cross did not consist in the unspeak- able sufferings which accompanied it. That lay in the silent and absolute submission with which they were endured. It is not sufferings merely under- gone that reconciles : it is suffering accepted, recog- nized as that. The child which revolts against pun- ishment has made no reparation at all. Jesus' sub- mission without resistance or murmur was the mani- festation of that interior judgment which He had justly pronounced before God upon the sin of humanity." Willis J. Beecher in speaking about the sacri- fices of the Old Testament, which were perfected in Christ, says : '' It is impossible not to find in the burnt offering an emblem of self-surrender, ac- cepted from the skies as the smoke mounts heaven- ward." He who would do the Father's will — be His dis- ciple^ — must enter His service by the same submis- PRACTICAL MEANING 65 sion that the Son did in the Cross. Union with Christ presupposes entire submission to the Father's will. This is absolutely necessary to all true dis- cipleship that is worth much in bringing this world to the knowledge of His grace. Godet has so forcibly expressed this fact that I quote from him again : " He who aspires to salvation must by faith associate himself in that travail of soul accomplished in the heart of Christ when He consented to be ' made sin for us.' He must look on sin with the same sense of reparation, unite himself with the sor- rowing confession of Jesus, — with His humble ap- peal to the Divine mercy when before His Father He judged sin as God judged it, and pronounced His sentence of death as God Himself pro- nounced it." R. W. Dale : " While Atonement remains forever alone in its unique awful grandeur, it involves a similar moral act on the part of all who have * ac- cess ' to God through Him." If the Christian world could fully realize, and abide by the consequences of the fact that disciple- ship means union with Christ in making the Sacri- fice for the world's redemption, then our dogmas and abstract doctrines would take beautiful form and be resplendent with life. We would know no fields we could not possess nor foes we could not vanquish. How this vital truth needs ** to con- strain " us, and become the joyful privilege and ideal of our lives in the work of reconstruction. 66 THE CROSS: ITS DEFINITION In the preceding consideration we have noticed not only the chief features of the Cross, but what it has accompHshed for us, and the power it gives to us to reproduce the Master's life in His service among men. These practical and simple phases of the subject should be emphasized daily by His Chil- dren everywhere, and must be emphasized in all lands if these lands are to know Him. As He con- quered so we will conquer. His life must be ours. His purpose must dominate us, His infinite power and perfect ideals are ours to subdue all enemies and bring about His peaceful reign in all lands. When this is true in all our relationships among men, then we will be prepared to bring the prodigal world, all distressed now, to the Father who can bring peace to all by the Cross of Christ adequately lived in the lives of His children everywhere. PART II THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY, A SOLDIER FOR WORLD CONQUEST IT MAKES POSSIBLE THE HOME BASIS THE home basis and the work on the far- flung battle lines cannot be separated. The effort to win on other lands had its begin- ning in the home churches, and its final success will ever depend largely on the condition of the churches, which, through the guidance of the Holy Ghost, sent us out. The church work at the home basis is the home problem of the church's work on the distant fields. When the home churches are strong in doctrine and true to the Master's life, then the problems of onward growth will somewhat take care of themselves. There is grave danger in becoming too much concerned about the machin- ery of organization and how the work ought to be done, and thereby fail to emphasize the strength of all organization and the life of every method, namely, the Cross of Christ. Our relation to this doctrine will always vitally influence the home basis. When the churches fail to understand the Cross and all it involves, they either grow indifferent about the millions without the Gospel or fail to emphasize the core of the Gos- pel in its saving message for all non-Christian lands. Either error is fatal in seeking to subjugate the 69 70 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY world to the Master. As soon as the churches get a clear conception of the spirit that brought Jesus to the earth and finally to the Cross for them, and not for them alone, but for the entire world, they begin to feel their responsibility to give the " glad tidings" to others who have so long waited in darkness. " Missions depend not on the foresight of the church's triumph, but insight into the Gos- pel's purpose and power " — The Cross. Robt. Speer : " Principal Rainy says : * The meas- ure of our sense of missionary duty is simply the measure of our personal valuation of Christ.' I say His Atonement is the key to our valuation of Christ, hence the key to our valuation of missions. The early churches had no missionary societies — they were too missionary to need them. They were mis- sionary in full. Missions were the genius of the early churches." As our home churches know the full meaning of the Cross, they will become fully missionary. They feel as the poet did when he wrote : " When I survey the wondrous Cross On which the Prince of glory died, My richest gain I count but loss And pour contempt on all my pride. " Were the whole realm of nature mine That were an offering far too small; Love so amazing, so Divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.'* MAKES POSSIBLE THE HOME BASIS 71 When this doctrine is properly understood and acted out in the churches, we will not lack for money and men to press the battle at the front. This is the supreme need of the hour for the world con- flict. Dr. Thomas S. Barbour says concerning the Cross : " In Christian missions Dr. Mabie holds that the Atonement of Christ finds its full inter- pretation and expression. They represent the great outflowing of God's love to all the world, the in- finite potency of the grace of Christ. From the Cross this Divine enterprise derives its motive and aim. Not in philanthropic impulse, however noble, not in obedience to an external command of Christ, but in fellowship with the experience of Christ upon the Cross — an experience that must be shared by all who are united with Him — are found the char- ter and power of Missions." Not only is the foreign work made possible through the influence of the Cross on the home churches; but even the home church's existence, as a virile force in Christianity — as a power in all that truly makes for the coming of His kingdom throughout the earth — is dependent upon entering into the spirit of the Cross, seeing that the main source of her power is to see the Cross of Christ in its true relationship to her own life and out- going activities. This is incomparably more im- portant than any formal expression of doctrine. Important as the Lord's supper and baptism are — 72 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY and should ever be preserved in the way and for the purpose for which they were instituted by the Master — yet these ordinances have their reality and use only as they bring to mind the Great Sacri- fice. Without the Cross understood and its pro- found experience recalled, these sacred forms would be meaningless, and their observance might become an abomination in God's sight. The denomina- tion — the church — ^that fails to emphasize the real- ities, which these ordinances solemnly and sublimely bring to remembrance, shall grow weak and life- less in a world where reality is the final test. Socie- ties and bodies for mutual pleasure and culture may continue to exist as long as they perform their func- tions for a people who only love their own com- fort and welfare; but when the great battle of the human family must be fought, putting down wick- edness in high places, marching against the foes of all righteousness and planting the eternal truths of God in all lands, nothing will enable our churches to perform this task but the power and Divine cour- age that come alone from the Cross of Christ. We can never have sufBcient home basis to enable our forces to be victorious in all lands until we emphasize rightly in the home churches the crucified life. Jehovah prepared His chosen people for their work by suffering. Israel was purified in the fur- nace of affliction. Sometimes the whole nation was spoken of as the suffering servant, personified as MAKES rOSSIBLE THE HOME BASIS 73 the afflicted One. Although these references had their truest and fullest and perfect fulfilment in Christ, yet to the extent of Israel entering into these, she fulfilled her mission, received the true spirit of the aims and nature of the covenants, promises, etc. If we win the world to God, we must do it by the law of His kingdom's growth — losing ourselves in His service — having fellowship with His sufferings. By thus doing His work we become vessels of power, produce the light that can meet the world's needs in turning sinful hearts back to the Father. When Andrew Fuller became alarmed about the spiritual lethargy of his church, he preached a ser- mon on the duty to give the Gospel to the world, and as he broadened their intellectual life and quick- ened their zeal and stirred their purpose, he fol- lowed it up the next Sunday by a sermon on the same subject. The third Sunday he discussed the same theme, and his hearers began to inquire: " Then if the Gospel can save the world, can it not save our children and our community ? " From these missionary sermons sprang one of the great- est revivals in the history of his large city church. Arthur T. Pearson: "The more the disciples at home and abroad become pervaded with the spirit of missions, the more is all the glory of the Apos- tolic church again revived. The Arab proverb says : * The water poured on the roots of the cocoanut 74 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY tree comes back to us in the sweetened milk of the cocoanut that falls from the top/ The streams poured into the arid desert fields of missions return on the home churches in heavenly showers/* VI SENDS THE MISSIONARY TO THE NON- CHRISTIAN LANDS i4 S with Paul, the death of Christ was " the con- f^L straining force that pressed him onward over land and sea," so with the missionary of today. As he sees how God loved all men as manifested in the Cross of Christ, and how He died for all, and that He will freely save all who come to Him, the consecrated heart is ready to go anywhere and make any sacrifice His Master may wish. Other reasons, doubtless, cause some to go to the front. Some are moved by the humane motives that appeal to the Western minds ; some wish to give the heathen our Western civilization and culture; some desire to help because of the social conditions of most non-Christian lands ; some are moved by the Lord's farewell command "to go"; but if the Cross in its driving force in the heart of the consecrated life and its power to meet the needs of all men were taken out of our Christianity, but few would go, and still fewer would " be spent " for those in the lands far away. I am aware of an altru- istic and philanthropic spirit in a number of social 75 76 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY movements that is sending some to lift suffering humanity, and give to the so-called lower scales of civilization the best there is in Western culture and civilization. This spirit sends helpers to other lands; but I am glad to think that many of the great leaders in our social movements are empha- sizing the Cross in its true relations to all helpful movements. We need only to place first emphasis upon the Cross, and then use every method possi- ble to reach the present needs of the human family. To fail to put first emphasis upon the Cross all these movements fail us in the trying places of the kingdom as a missionary propaganda. The tender shoots and leaves that give beauty to the tree, and to its permanent growth and symmetry, will continue to do so only as long as the centre is healthy and strong; so it is with all movements of the class mentioned. Judson said to some prospective ministerial stu- dents : " Let not your object be so much as ' to do your duty ' or * save souls,' though these should have a place in your motives; but the main thing is to please your Lord. Lay your life in line with the purpose of God in the Incarnation." Men are willing to count not their lives dear unto them- selves as they see what it cost to redeem them. We who have received so much from Him must show our appreciation by giving all to His service. He, who for the Father's glory and our redemp- tion, became obedient unto death, even the death THE FOREIGN FIELDS 77 of the Cross, has a perfect right to demand all from us in full surrender of life to go anywhere or do anything at His bidding. Because of what we have so graciously received, we owe a debt to all men to make our purchased possession theirs, too. All the motives, which have done most to send the mes- sengers of the Cross to the peoples who know not our Saviour, have had and will ever need to have their source and receive their strength in the Cross. The society that has far more missionaries than any other in China is the China Inland Mission, founded by J. Hudson Taylor. The object of this mission is to occupy the unoccupied fields in China's vast untouched sections teeming with the multitudes without the knowledge of the World's Redeemer. This principle necessarily forces her messengers into the most dangerous places. They are pioneers pene- trating the unexplored sections and planting the banner of the Cross where Christ has not been so much as named before. During the Boxer upris- ing the men and women and children suffered more than probably all others. They were so far in the interior that when the trouble broke out they could not find safe exit to the coast. They had to meet the fury of the Boxers at their stations, and many, who sought to reach the coast, were either over- taken or intercepted. Literally hundreds of these faithful missionaries with the native converts (many of these w^ere as true to Christ as those who had 78 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY taught them to serve Him) suffered martyrdom in the most horrible way. They were tortured by slow and most painful methods, cut to pieces, beheaded (the worst thing possible in the eyes of the heathen, — to be forced to dwell in the under world forever headless), famished in the fields, yet dying gladly for His sake, who sought not His own, but us, that we might be the Father's own people forever. The China Inland Mission has a glorious history that brings vividly to mind the records of the Apostles in their consecration and service. The call that comes to the Christian youth and manhood of the land from this Mission is to come and service to bring about His world-reign. From a material standpoint but little is offered. No ap- peal is made to the churches for money to support those who go forth. They are not guaranteed any stipulated salary by any Board. Each missionary will receive his pro rata of the funds voluntarily given up to a certain amount, which is rather small compared with what the average mission gives. The missionary puts himself wholly in the Lord's hands, and he is expected to look not to men, but to the Lord for help and safety. The call is distinctly one that appeals to the heroic faith of God's children. It magnifies the Lord's power and personal touch with those who go at His bidding and those who stay at home and make it possible for others to go — the Lord of the harvest is directly and per- one and all who want to enter fully into His life THE FOREIGN FIELDS 79 sonally moving along the line from one end to the other. We might wonder if a mission conducted as this one would have sufficient men and money to do a great work. The Mission has been in existence long enough to prove her methods. She has been mar- vellously blessed from the very first, growing stead- ily from the day she embarked on her era of faith and sacrifice for His glory alone. Some forty years of wonderful blessings have marked her history. In 1910 it was my privilege to spend over a month at her headquarters in London, England. I took this occasion to make many inquiries about her his- tory and present outlook. At the Mission Home I came in touch with many of the most active mem- bers. They said that they had never refused an applicant for lack of funds. They trusted the Mas- ter implicitly for men and money to carry on His work, and they had never been disappointed. They often could not see how tomorrow's needs were going to be met, but none had suffered for " daily needs." Their number had constantly increased from year to year, and the money to send these workers out and equip them on the field for service had been supplied. It is most encouraging to see in their recent Annual that this Mission now num- bers about a thousand foreign helpers scattered over much of the interior of China, breaking the bread of life to millions. If these faithful and conse- crated servants of Him, who redeemed them with 80 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY His precious blood, were not willing to go in the spirit and for the purpose of our Master's Sacri- ficial work, many in China would not have the bread, that cometh down from heaven, who now have it and to spare. The methods of this Mission may not be the best for all places and conditions. The Master, doubtless, has many methods He will use at dif- ferent places and at different times. Even J. Hud- son Taylor did not think the Lord's work was con- fined to his own mission. Others with methods very different from his were, nevertheless, doing the Lord's work in His own way. However, the China Inland Mission and many others in China and elsewhere, whose missionaries emphasize thus the Master's direct oversight and care, and who have many opportunities to follow the Saviour in His Cross life, show to all Christendom most forci- bly that the rugged heroic sacrificial life does not keep men and women from the trying fields of serv- ice — rather it is the greatest force to lead them into these fields. The power and life of the Cross is the one factor that '' thrusts " most men to " the fields already white unto the harvest." We found that one of the prerequisites to Christ making the Cross fully and all-pleasing to the Father was complete surrender of His will to the Father's. ** I came not to do My will, but the will of Him who sent Me." Not until God's children make the full surrender as Jesus did in the Cross THE FOREIGN FIELDS 81 are they fitted to go as His representatives in the foreign fields. This is pre-eminently necessary be- fore they can be sent forth in the power and wis- dom of the Holy Spirit. If discipleship meant this to every child of God as it should, He could use us more effectively to bring about His world-reign. It is this voluntary and glad surrender of all to the Father, which His disciples must do, before this evil world, with all of its organized wickedness, can be conquered for our God. A life gladly and unreservedly given to His plans of conquest is the greatest power to move other hearts to enter into the conflict. His children have seen the concrete example of some one giving His life even unto death, and they have been inspired to heroic service. Mrs. Harriet Newell was the first missionary from America who followed her Lord unto death in the foreign fields. She passed to her reward from the Isle of France, near Cal- cutta, before she had even reached her field of labour — India. As has been said, in one short year, she was a happy bride, a joyful missionary, a hope- ful mother, and a saint in heaven. A cry went up in the home land by those who do not view life as Jesus did : ** Her life so hopeful and promising was a failure ! " No, never ! It is now reported by those who can see the after results of this life, so short and seemingly so fruitless, that she has prob- ably turned more hearts to the foreign field than any other American woman. David Brainerd's life, 82 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY though short in years, yet intense in devotion — ^he literally poured out his life to the American In- dians in a few years — was far from being a fail- ure. Never has one life done so much on this con- tinent as his to inspire men to go far hence to the lands without the Gospel. Many of the early pio- neers owed their impulse to go to the pagan lands to his example. It is the Cross, whether in the Mas- ter or in those in whom the Master is formed, that moves the missionary to leave all in the home land and follow His Lord whithersoever He leadeth, and give his life evermore to hasten His heavenly reign. VII IT IS THE POWER OF THE MISSIONARY'S MESSAGE. AS soon as the missionary reaches the field and sees the situation, he becomes conscious of great need. He sees the whole land given to idolatry, false religions, organized with great resis- tance, intrenched long in the hearts of the people. He finds the religious beliefs of many of these people dearer to them than anything else in the world. They are walking in the ways their fathers trod, believe fully that this is the way which the loyal sons of hon- oured parents should hold sacred and preserve for all time to come. He soon finds he is in need of some message more than man can give, more powerful than culture or civilization, that will break through superstition and ignorance held sincerely. He finds error polished and made attractive to the masses. He verily and truly must have a message that will not only appeal to the people, but will overcome all the opposition of error and superstition that have accumulated with the years, being handed down by father to son from generation to generation. These traditions held so sincerely and pursued with 83 84 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY the highest motive of their beings have made them v^hat they are; and until they see something bet- ter these will furnish them their hope and aspira- tion. Unless the missionary can bring them a mes- sage replete with power, able to remove ignorance and furnish the highest dynamic truth, his work will fail him, and he will be found wanting where human needs are greatest. He must have a mes- sage of power that will change the currents of hu- man life and thought more hoary with age than anything in the Western world, held to firmly and sincerely by men of the highest type, though they are children (in religious matters) struggling in the dark. He soon realizes that mere culture, be it ever so attractive; mere intellectual effort, be it ever so scholarly; mere forms, be they ever so beautiful, will not suffice to overcome ancient religions thor- oughly organized. He needs a message of power — supernatural power — some force both illuminating and life-giving, not only begets new life, but as- sures its growth and fruition. No other message but that of the Sacrificial death of the world's Saviour will furnish the mission- ary with the necessary working power to make his ef- forts a real success among the needy peoples. The old civilizations have their ideals and moral forces — many of them beautiful — and have rays of truth from the Giver of all life and light; but the power to live up to the light that does shine in every man's conscience is painfully wanting. Many of the Chi- THE POWER OF HIS MESSAGE 85 nese realize that they have no power in their moral precepts and ancient teachings to lift tfiem out of their own weaknesses. Many of their leaders, who are anxiously trying to direct the people into bet- ter things, are conscious of the sad fact. It has ever been and is now impossible for the non-Chris- tian peoples to rise from the crushing load that comes from their ancestors and present environ- ments. Only the moral stimulus that comes from the power of the Cross will enable them to rise and cast off these burdens. Codet : " Christianity deprived of this becomes nothing more than a sword with its edge blunted, powerless in the hands of both the missionary who seeks to strike down other religions, and that of the private Christian to deal a mortal blow at the heart of the old man — at the tyrannous domina- tion of self. The Christ who became my substi- tute on the Cross has alone the right and the power to be substituted in my heart and make my life effective in all lands.*' A. T. Pierson, speaking of a hospital in Pales- tine, says: " Then I (he is quoting the exact words of a missionary there) tell them about Father David, the great prophet, and then about Seidna Sa, our Lord Jesus. I tell them * You think this hospital was built by the Order of St. John of Germany,' and I say, ' No, it was built by the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven ' ; and I go on and tell them how these doctors would have never left their 86 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY homes, but for the love of Christ. I ask them : ' Would you leave your home ; Would you leave your children; Would you do for people seven thousand or ten thousand miles away what is being done for you without a motive ? ' And I say to them : ' The motive is the love of Christ.' Now, if the love of Christ constrains us to come to you and give ourselves for you, then you owe it all to Christ; and then you will see tears trickle down their hardened faces, and you will see those forms bowed with emotion as they hear the old, old story of the Cross." It has been said : " God was in Christ reconcil- ing the world unto Himself and has committed this word of reconciliation unto us. The connection of these statements, obviously one follows from the other. The later becomes illusory as soon as there is any hesitation in regard to the former. When preaching cannot make His sacrificial death the main message, it is not only vain, but it be- comes null and void. " There is only one feel- ing in the heart to which the preaching of Christ may appeal with the assurance that finds a response. The morality to inspire admiration, to solve prob- lems of Christianity one may appreciate, but the enduring bonds that bind human hearts to Christ are not of these. It is only by the consciousness of sin and the remedy of the Cross that compels sin-ladened hearts to seek the world's Saviour." This is pre-eminently true in non-Christian lands. THE POWER OF HIS MESSAGE 87 The sin-troubled and earnest seeker after holi- ness and purity rather expects the sin-bearer to come, not from within, but from without. Though Christianity is unique in having the God-man, who bore our sins, yet we find in the non-Christian lands men who seem ready to appreciate this method of redeeming mankind. The missionary — as he tells the anxious listener for the first time about God sending His only begotten Son to die for our sins, the just for the unjust, and thus make a way for our salvation — often hears this listener say after the plan is fully explained : " That is a great plan. How can this be possible that the God of all the earth would thus seek to save us?" One of the great national festivals in China is Dragon Boat Day. The streams and lakes are alive with the festive crowds. They are celebrating a great hero who years ago gave his life in seeking to rescue a drowning man. The principle that gave his life a lasting and wholesome influence over the mil- lions of China was that of giving his life to save others. In the Greek fable we see Prometheus chained to a rock of the Caucasus with the vulture tearing at the vitals, and crying with pain and an- guish, he says : " I must needs endure this until one of the gods, perchance, shall bear it for me." On an Easter Sunday years ago I heard one of the greatest rabbis of the United States speak. In his discourse he said : " It is the Atonement that made Jesus the great power He is in this world." Though 88 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY he did not accept all we do about Jesus of Nazareth, yet he recognized the Cross as the unique and all- powerful feature of Christianity. The human heart in all lands needs this message ; yea, many are ready and waiting for it, and the power that comes to those who accept this message for every need in the moral conflict which comes to them as well as us. The missionary must believe in the all-sufficiency of the Cross to meet the conditions of those in grossest darkness before he will have the boldness to preach to the lost of other races with a power and pungency necessary to make his message all- powerful to regenerate these people. Men who have counted the Cross lightly have never been great missionaries. They do not believe sufficiently (if they believe at all) in the efficacy of the Cross to meet the appalling needs of the heathen. They often fail to see these appalling needs of the lands without Christ. Such men are not inclined to go to the distant and trying places of the earth; and if altruistic and other motives cause them to go, they find themselves without the message that will really meet the needs of the people. The suffering of Jesus unto death for all men without respect to colour or race distinction is a great force to manifest the Father's love to the world. As has been suggested, the worshippers of the gods made by hands never believe that these gods love them. They worship them to bring health to the sick, to avert sickness to the well, to make THE POWER OF HIS MESSAGE 89 them prosperous in business, lucky in their deal- ings; and in many cases to appease the wrath of the gods, who are always thought to be angry with them. Ancestral worship and hero adoration can hardly be connected with the gods. They worship their ancestors to prevent the departed spirits to return with death-dealing chastisement because of their neglect by the living. Practically all their worship is selfish. They have no conception of a God who is potentially reconciled to them, and is seeking to reconcile them to Him. The revelation of God's love comes to the heathen as a sweet, con- soling message from the Father's presence. The supreme difficulty comes in making him believe that God does truly love and care for him. The suf- fering of Jesus, freely and for all men, and in so doing, carrying out the Father's will, is the great- est force to enable us to show them that God does love them. Like all men, they first say : " How can this be? He surely cannot love men of the earth. We must do something that will merit His love. It is not possible for grace to be so free and salvation so easily obtained by us." When they are once convinced that the Father does love them and gave His Son for their salvation, then they forever glory in " His unspeakable gift." It becomes the theme of their songs and the joy of their lives. Most of the following quotations are from the Reports of the Edinburgh Conference : '' The cli- 90 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY max of the Gospel to the animistic worshippers is the love of God — one God — that becomes real through Christ in His death and resurrection." In the Message from the Moslem Fields by J. H. Jessup, of Beirut, we have these words : *' But an awakened conscience very soon seeks for atoning grace. The chief point in which such an inquir- ing mind finds these old faiths (of Islam) empty and unsatisfactory are that they produce no way of redemption from the power and penalty of sin. Kamil, a young Moslem convert, received his first ray of hope from the atoning work of Christ, and he embraced Christ as his Saviour with all his heart. He felt he was a sinner and needed a Saviour, and he spent his brief life in preaching * the unsearcha- ble riches of Christ/ " " The heathen may not accept the supernatural, but we have never heard one complain of the aton- ing work of Christ." Probably the greatest living student on present Christian work among the Mohammedans, S. M. Zwemer, says : " The element in the Gospel which possesses the greatest power of appeal to the Mo- hammedans is the union between the mercy and justice of God as shown in the Cross of Christ. When properly presented, this doctrine is not only absolutely novel, but compelling to any Mohamme- dan who feels a sense of sin. In order to awaken a sense of sin, which, I believe, is the first essen- tial in all missionary effort, I have found the won- THE POWER OF HIS MESSAGE 91 derful ethical standards of the Sermon on the Mount and the life of Christ to attract and con- vince. It is not necessary to compare Christ and Mohammed. If we present Christ as He is in the Gospel, the contrast is so evident that the com- parison is made by Mohammed himself." Arthur H. Smith, of China : ** The thought of an omnipotent God that will do something for me, and a Divine Saviour who cared to redeem me — these melt and hold many Chinese hearts. His suffer- ing, death, and sacrifice for us make a strong ap- peal even to the heathen, while to the Christians the loving, suffering Christ is the power that grips them." Archdeacon Moule, of China : " An experience extending over a half a century has not either in form or substance altered in the slightest degree my impression that the most important and vital element in the Christian Gospel is that Jesus, the Son of God, died for our sins. The centre and core, the one unique and supreme element, the Cross, possesses the greatest and overmastering appeal." M'Gillivray, of China : " My experience has not altered my conviction, sin, salvation through the Cross of Christ, the resurrection and the life, these are the great things to proclaim to the Chinese." W. B. Boggs, of India: "I believe it to be true of India, as of all other lands, that the Gospel truth that really possesses the greatest power of 92 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY appeal is that of the sin-bearing Saviour, the condemned sinner's substitute, laying down His life as a ransom for men because God loves them." Nihal Singh, a native preacher of India : " The teaching of the Lord in the Sermon on the Mount made an especial appeal to me when I was a Hindu. The death of our Lord on the Cross and His prayer, * Father, forgive them ; for they know not what they do,' also made an especial appeal to me. It was the sense of sin that forced me to accept Christ as my Lord and Saviour. Nothing else brought me to the feet of the Great and Good Shepherd, but the sense of sin; for I first became a Brahmo and then a Yogi, but found no remedy for my sins to be wiped out but the Lord Jesus Christ, who shed His blood for me, and in His blood I found pardon for my sins and reconciliation with my God." These quotations showing what is the greatest appeal to the heathen heart could be extended in- definitely, but these are typical and will sufifice to reveal the fact that the Cross gives power to the missionary's message. It gives power and effec- tiveness above everything else. The wise mission- ary will seek to know all about the heart life and viewpoint of the men he goes to win to Christ. He will draw near to them, learn their peculiari- ties, think their thoughts, see life as they do, ap- proach them in the wisest and best way; but he THE POWER OF HIS MESSAGE 93 should never forget that the real power lies in the Cross, and if his work is to tell along right lines, he will ever give this the first place in all he does. yiii IT ENABLES THE MISSIONARY TO ILLUS- TRATE MESSAGE BY LIFE THE message alone will not be effective ; there must be life which, especially in the begin- nings of the work, will count more than the message. The message must always be accompanied with appropriate life, or it will count but little with the man ever ready to see and compare the mission- ary's daily walks with his teaching. The " more ex- cellent spirit '* in the stranger from afar, though his message may not always be the best and most at- tractive, will count far more than the man whose message may be faultless, yet his daily relation to the natives does not accord with his message. The missionary is often weakest in his life, in his relation to " the offensive " native. The highly cultured and sensitive lady missionary just fresh from the schools and churches went into the unkept and filthy homes of those who knew nothing else, returned from her first trip and knelt down in her room and prayed for a fresh renewal of the Holy Spirit that she might have Divine power — the only kind that would avail — to sympathize with and 94 ILLUSTRATE MESSAGE BY LIFE 95 enter into the life of the natives with the Master's love and desire to serve all classes of men, and especially the lowly and outcasts. She saw she had new problems in the foreign field about which no books had fully written, and the returned mission- ary could not adequately describe. Without the power to readjust herself, her message would be worse than fruitless, it would be positively harm- ful. Oh, yes, she had loved ** the heathen in their darkness bowing down to stock and stone," but such love as she had from a distance would not suffice to meet the intricate problems that actually faced her as she received a faint conception of their life and view of things. She must have a double portion of the Spirit's power to meet the new con- ditions. Sometime ago, as one of our oldest mission- aries returned from a personal contact with a Chi- nese, who had been misappropriating some things of the compound, said : ** I am going to leave China. I am losing control of myself. I dp not have pa- tience with these people. My life cannot be effec- tive while this is true." Sadly did a new mission- ary confess to me, after he had lost complete con- trol of himself, that the climate and the heathen life brought trials to him he never had to encoun- ter in his native land. It seems that all the forces of evil combine upon the missionary's life. The message — the Word — is perfect. This cannot be effectively assailed, but the missionary, unto whom 96 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY alone has been committed the word of reconcil- iation, is not perfect, hence the most successful way to make void the Word that would ever bring life and hope, if properly manifested, is to attack the life of the missionary. Every missionary is tried over and over again, and some of them are found wanting as they come in daily touch with the na- tives in all the trying relationships that must come to all active missionaries in establishing and main- taining the Lord's work in the foreign fields. They may be found wanting in their patient, loving for- bearance; it may be in not properly sympathizing with the native's view of things, lacking courage and perserverance in those things that make for permanency, not having "love without dissimula- tion," failing to be servant to all, or thinking about the things which are "lovely," and thus act the opposite. It makes no difference whether they fail in one or in all these lines — if they do fail — they will bring shame upon the holy Name which they have come to set forth in their daily walk as well as message. Joseph K. Greene, of Constantinople, who has spent over fifty years among the Mohammedans as a most successful missionary, said : " The basis of a missionary's appeal will depend on his life among the Mohammedans. It is indeed a wise Provi- dence that forces the missionary to spend some four years in studying the language before he commences active work. The natives are watching the mission^ ILLUSTRATE MESSAGE BY LIFE 97 ary in his home, in the market, in his daily touch with them. When he is able to preach and tell them about the love of God and the sacrifice made by Christ for their redemption, the effectiveness of his message will depend on the impression he has already made on them by his daily life among them. The message must ever be true to the core of the Gospel, but its effectiveness even then will depend upon the missionary's touch — personal touch — with those he desires to save." Seeing these things are true, behold what manner of men we ought to be. Dr. Greene pertinently remarked that the success of saving our own children and families and neigh- bours and business associates even in this country depends upon the same principle. The difference comes here and in the foreign fields that in the foreign lands the ability to set forth Christ in these lands to those who know nothing of Him is de- pendent wholly upon Divine life and power — the environments, and especially the attitude, of the natives do not in any way help. The so-called Christian nations have dealt with the natives of all countries so cruelly and shame- fully we have much to overcome before the heathen can see in us the spirit of Christ. The traders and explorers were the first to reach these lands, and they went there purely for gain. *' For every dol- lar they put in these countries they expected one hundred in return." They were not careful about the methods they used to get gain. They often 98 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY manifested the worst spirit in their relation to " the degraded and worthless natives " as they called them. They did not think of these people as their brothers, who had been deprived of the light and life that alone made us better than they. Whether the native was met in his country or visited our own land, he was ever treated as an inferior be- ing unworthy of kindness or honourable considera- tion. In the Westerner's contact even unto this day with the unfortunate natives of any country, who cannot resist him, he shows a cruelty and brutality unthinkable by those who have not actually seen him in his dealings with these natives. We need to be reminded only of the recent atrocities of Peru, Congo Free States, Soudan, and East India Islands to know that the spirit of the average Westerner in his touch with the natives is cruel beyond de- scription. In these men's relation to the Orien- tals and other peoples they have already closed the hearts of the natives against the missionary, who is at first classed with the traders and explorers. Until this preconceived idea of Christianity, as set forth by the men who first reached their shores, is removed, the evangel of " good tidings " does not bring good news. His message may sound beautiful and claim to do wonders for those who accept it; but the Oriental, who above everything else is practical, must first see what the Gospel has done for our people. They have theories from their sages which make great claims, but are void ILLUSTRATE MESSAGE BY LIFE 99 of the power to produce the corresponding life. The missionary first of all must be a living ex- ample of what he preaches. If he fails in this in his relation either to the natives or his fellow-mis- sionaries, his message will be shorn of that strength necessary to change the prejudice of the ages, and turn the hearts of these heathen to seek sincerely the truth as it is in Jesus our Lord. The mission- ary spirit, as manifested in our Lord's atoning work, can supply the needs of the so-called Christian coun- tries* touch with these people. This spirit of our Master alone can win back the lost confidence. The missionary's work would be made much easier if the so-called Christian nations dealt with these peo- ples with civic and social righteousness, then the messenger of the Cross would find many hearts already prepared for the saving truth. " In a word, it is the missionary idea — the missionary faith and the missionary policy — that holds the key of the Empire and the long, last reversion of the wide world's future." Our Master while on earth did most by giving us a life. He did not teach so much by precept as by example. Most of His miracles were per- formed to manifest His love and desire to help those whose souls were languid and bodies were hungry and tired — " As sheep without a shepherd." He wanted to relieve the ** one who had been bound lo these many years." comfort the widow whose heart was torn with sorrow over the death of her 100 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY only son, still the tempest in order to quiet faith- less hearts. He gave us but little if any abstract teaching. He went about doing good, healing the multitudes, casting out demons, saying the king- dom of God is at hand. He did not need to teach much about the kingdom or the Father: for those who had seen Him had seen the King in His beauty, and the land (the kingdom)^ that had hitherto been afar off. As He was sent to manifest the Father by His life, so He sends us forth to manifest the Son and the Father in our life among those who know Him not — the life which we must live (thank God), we live by the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. This is the only life that will meet the situation, the only thing tangible to the heathen. The missionary must enter into the experience of the Master. It is absolutely necessary that he take up the cross daily and follow Him. Noth- ing short of this will make his message effective in that which really counts in changing heathen hearts from serving idols to serving the true and living God. The same life that Jesus lived must be re-lived in China, Japan, India, and in all heathen lands before we can win them to Jesus. He, who has called us for this same thing, has promised to live in us and give the life that cometh down from above. Education, hospitals, orphanages, the scat- tering of literature, colonization, settlements, etc., are only helpful as they prepare the people for the ILLUSTRATE MESSAGE BY LIFE 101 one who brings this life, or sets forth this life. These adjuncts to mission work are mighty factors (which have been too much neglected in the past in many places) when properly used and guarded in making ready or training men to show His life. Helpful and absolutely necessary as these things are in their proper places, yet nothing can take the place of the personal life of the missionary, who is primarily to set forth the unselfish life of service, be his position whatever it may; and he who fails at this vital point — in the spirit of the Cross — has lost his power, and for him to stay on in the mis- sion field will help but little in Christianity's con- quest, and furthermore his life may be a real hin- drance. Recently an old missionary of wide ex- perience said : ** I do not for one moment believe according to the ordinary view, that Christianity fails mostly or solely because we lack faith, or be- cause the hearers are so evil. This is not the cor- rect view. Nay, it often fails even under fair con- ditions, because we so mar it in the preaching, and because we so fail to demonstrate its spirit and its power " — in our lives. H. C. Mabie : " As Christ had gained His au- thority to redeem through the Cross, so the dis- ciple would gain his power to impress the salva- tion in that Cross through a similar surrendered life, and the spiritual quickening through thus sur- rendering one's life. Hence these words: * He that loveth his life loseih it; and he that hateth his life 102 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve Me, let him follow Me, and where I am there also will My servant be: if any man serve Me. him will the Father honour.' Sacrifice is not mere punishment — that is asceticism. In the life of the disciple the acknowledgment of the moral claim in love, whatever its cost to self-gratification, is the main thing. At its best, one's service ever so heroic is only the manifestation of an elementary relation to Christ." I would not seek to make the impression that life alone is of itself real power. No, each mis- sionary must have a message clear in his own heart, true to the realities of the Cross; but even with this the message without the life (granting that such is possible) will always limp and be powerless in the heathen world where they are dependent more on what they see than what they hear. Arthur T. Pearson : " Between lost souls and the Redeemer is one living link, the witnessing lives and lip9 of the believers. Here then is the glorious work of the church: being one with Christ by faith, love so as to link us with the lost as a bond between Him and them. When self is laid on the altar of missions, those fires of God come down, which, instead of consuming, transfigure with celestial glory." John Elliot, missionary to the Indians of New England, had as his motto : " Prayer and pains through faith in Christ will do anything." " Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground ILLUSTRATE MESSAGE BY LIFE 103 and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." This is the law of all fruitful lives in the mission field. Other peoples are not so very different after all from us. They look very different at first, but as soon as we get beneath the surface we find that the same great principles of life ebb and flow in their hearts. That which really moves the centres of human life in this country moves them. They do not naturally hate each other nor other nationalities. There is some good reason for them to suspect every man from other lands. Although they have good reason for not receiving the stranger graciously, and by nature they have racial antipathies, yet when the missionary without outside hindrances can show forth the life and teaching of our Master in all sincerity and truth, he will win the confidence and esteem and love of the peoples of any land. They will at first keep shy of him, but when the real man is revealed, and he is seen to be one who truly loves them and has come to give his life for their good, they will truly appreciate every such life and respond most cordially to his leading. Fail- ures in mission fields have been due in most cases to one of life. The heathen may be a knave in some things, but he is not as a student of human nature. He knows the missionary very soon after he reaches his field. No pretence, no sham will do with the heathen. You will be in his eyes largely what you are. 104 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY My predecessor in the Hak-ka field of South China lived only three years among the Hak-kas. He was sick much of this time. Went to China old in life, had great difficulty in learning the lan- guage, and never learned it well, but he knew well the language o'f all hearts — love. He never spared himself, would make any sacrifice gladly for these people. He was in perils oft and privations many, tired in body and wearied in mind as he sought to give them a knowledge of their Saviour. He did 'all this because he loved them so. Even unto this day many remember him with the most tender con- sideration and say, " He gave himself for us.'* As far as man can see, no life has counted more in China than that of J. Hudson Taylor's. He spent a long and fruitful career there. In a trip he made throughout China, where their work lies, just be- fore he passed into His presence, it was said that no room could hold the Chinese who wanted to talk with him. Why this on the part of the Chinese to see an Englishman? He loved them, and sought for years to manifest the spirit of Christ in his re- lation to them. He was patient, forbearing, had time to listen to the things of common interest and concern of their daily life, and they confided in him and unfolded their heart life. The Chinese who did not know him might revile and call him bad names, but he bore with these, and in time won some of them to the Saviour whom they first scorned. ILLUSTRATE MESSAGE BY LIFE 105 The spirit of his life among them is best illus- trated by an incident that occurred in one of his interior journeys. In the fast approaching dark- ness of the evening he came to a river that must be crossed by a rowboat. He waved for the only boat to come to take him across the stream. He was dressed in Chinese clothes and in the darkness could not be detected from an ordinary Chinese. A wealthy Chinese saw the boat coming, and when J. Hudson Taylor started to enter the boat, he struck him and said : " He had called this boat for himself. He wanted the boat for himself and party, and no one else could have the boat for that trip." The boatman immediately spoke, saying: " I know Pastor Taylor. He called the boat, and I am going to take him across first, and then I will return for you. You must stand aside for Pastor Taylor." The wealthy Chinese angrily stood aside, and quickly, when he learned that this man was a foreigner. He felt humiliated and greatly alarmed because he had struck the dreaded foreigner. J. Hudson Taylor quietly entered the boat and took his seat, then he politely invited the wealthy Chi- nese to go across the stream in his boat, and at no time rebuked the Chinese for his " naughty " spirit. This Chinese realized that he had met a man with a more noble spirit than they possessed. He was not only J. Hudson Taylor's friend ever afterwards, but he was ready to hear about the Saviour who breathed on His disciples the Spirit 106 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY whose fruit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gen- tleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. Such a spirit as Pastor Taylor manifested will al- ways give Christianity a fair hearing and turn sin- ful hearts to seek Jesus, who alone can change vile and arrogant men to live and love like He did. This is what the whole world needs, and such a spirit in His servant will move all people to seek our Saviour. The power to live such a life in the trying con- ditions of the heathen lands comes from the Cross — from the believer's touch with Jesus as He gave Himself for the world. The Saviour is surely wait- ing to show Himself strong towards all whose hearts are right in their relation to Him, and who wish His life and power to manifest His saving knowl- edge to those who know Him not — those who wish " to set forth Christ crucified." It is a joy and a comfort forever to the missionary, who anxiously seeks to manifest Christ, to know that he does not need to go in his own strength. He has His life and power freely given to him under all condi- tions possible, so he is without excuse. He has all things necessary to make his life a measure- less force in turning heathen hearts to serve and in turn also manifest Jesus, and thus join the glo- rious army who are seeking everywhere not only to believe on Christ, but suffer with Him in con- quering the world for the Father's glory and man's eternal good. It has been said that the missionary ILLUSTRATE MESSAGE BY LIFE 107 comes nearest to Christ in service and ought there- fore to come nearest to Him in sacrificial lif^. Those who fully enter into His spirit when He came not to do His own will, but the will of Him who sent Him, and gladly live to perpetuate His life and carry out His plans, will never lack for grace and Divine power, and this comes from the Cross of Jesus our Lord. Prof. A. R. Macewen speaking about the success of the early Christians has this to say : *' The power of the mission lay in the fact that no distinction was drawn between faith and life, between the spiritual and the moral, between the Cross Jesus bore and the cross borne by His servants/' Dr. Nassau, of Africa: " I have known mission- aries who seemed to have come with only a feel- ing of hard duty to bring the Gospel to degraded, dirty fellow-members of the human race. They felt a personal antipathy to colour, dirt, vermin, and ugly faces. Unintentionally they showed their an- tipathy in their manners. The alert-eyed native saw it. Without at first saying anything disrespectful, they quietly gave them outward obedience. But they never gave them respect, never opened their hearts to them. The teaching of such missionaries fell flat. They filled a certain niche in the roll of station members; but they never had influence for good. Rather, some of them by their harsh words or curt manners, brought only evil to the mission- ary name." 108 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY Arthur H. Smith, of China : '' The Christian doctrine of the indwelling Christ and the power of the Spirit to lift men out of sins and make them new creatures, possesses the charm of novelty and the inspiration of hope. It is the power of Chris- tianity to enable men to lead a new and higher life which appeals to the Chinese. In the first in- stance it is generally the power of Christianity over the moral life, the point where their own religions conspicuously fail, which leads them to Christ.^^ Bishop Graves, of China: " Above all else, a Chi- nese is reached by meeting a true Christian. The genuine change effected in men by conversion is possibly the strongest argument for Christianity which can be used. In no country is it more true that the exhibition of the true Christian spirit in the life of the disciple is the supreme means of appealing to the heart of the Chinese. " The sympathy, friendliness, kindliness of Chris- tianity tend to win those who have never been in such an atmosphere. Patience, love, and sympathy are the three elements of the Gospel which reach the Chinese heart.'* A native Chinese pastor : " The element in the Christian Gospel which possesses the greatest ap- peal is its manifestation of the spirit of love. It is this spirit appearing in the lives of the Chris- tians in the form of mutual sympathy and help- fulness, and in opening hospitals, schools, and other ILLUSTRATE MESSAGE BY LIFE 109 philanthropic agencies which, above all others, ap- peal to the people." Another Chinese pastor, C. C. Chang : " It is the intelligence, kindness, good conduct, helpfulness, and self-sacrifice and self-forgetfulness, patience, and strength of Christian people and their philanthropic work for the good of men which make the great- est appeal." The Bishop of Lahore, India : ** I accept unre- servedly the modern position which insists on sym- pathy as the greatest of all requisites in a Chris- tian apologist approaching those of another faith. With an abundance of kind feeling for, and un- sparing labour and self-denial on behalf of Indians — Indian Christians more especially — the mission- aries, except a very few of the very best, seem to me to fail very largely in getting rid of an air of patronage and condescension and in establishing a genuinely brotherly love and happy relation as be- tween equals — with their flock. " I can think of two men priests in our own com- munion — perfectly genuine hearty bluff men — who might very likely do admirable work in one of the colonies among our own people where their want of refinement, breeding, and good manners would not be so much noticed; but who among Indians are simply impossible people, outraging the Indians' instincts of courtesy and good manners at every moment of their lives and * widening the gulf ' in the most appalling way. Men of this type, be their 110 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY essential honesty and desire to serve the Lord what it may, we have no place for them whatever in India." J. A. Sharrock of India : " The elements which appeal to the Hindu mind most are the sinless life of Christ, His sublime teaching, and the sacrifice of Himself for the good of men." A Moslem convert says : " A thorough and loving study of the people and their speech will enable a missionary so to present Christ that He is Himself and, when seen, draws men to Him. That which made special appeal to me in Christianity was the lives of the missionaries." Galen M. Fisher of Japan: "The Japanese after all are more practical than philosophical. They are decidedly pragmatic. Hence by far the most con- vincing answer to their difficulties will not come from argument so much as from the life and wit- ness of Christian men whom they trust. As the Japanese tersely put it : * Better than argument is evidence.' It is nothing but the method found so effective by the early Christians as told in the Acts, * a campaign of testimony ', of Christ-lives." H. A. A. Kennedy : " Take earliest missionary document in literature, Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, chapter two, and we get a singularly attractive description of the relation between the missionary and his converts in the early times. * We were gentle in the midst of you, as a nurse cherish- eth her own children: even so, being affectionately ILLUSTRATE MESSAGE BY LIFE 111 desirous of you, we were well pleased to impart unto you, not the Gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were become very dear to us * (Verses 7ff.). This is the situation in a sentence. It sets forth a splendid missionary ideal, whose sig- nificance for the communities which Paul evangel- ized can scarcely be overestimated. For it is a commonplace that ' the best instrument in all mis- sion work is the personality of the missionary ' " (Meinel). From all mission fields the experiences of the mis- sionaries show us that the life of the missionary must set forth the message which he proclaims. He must study his people, become in sympathetic touch with them, seek every way possible to make the true message reach his people in the way that will be best understood and be most effective. This can be done in no other way — certainly in no other really effective way — but by the power of the Cross lived out in the missionary's daily touch with the people. IX IT HOLDS THE MISSIONARY TO HIS WORK IN THE LORD'S WAY THE missionary needs to have the highest ideals and the strongest convictions to hold him to his work in the Lord's way. When the romance has passed away — and it will certainly pass away — and the commonplace duties become the daily toil, then the great trying days will come. He will be tested in every way possible. Tempta- tions will be especially trying along the following lines, namely, (a) his call to the work, (b) his place in the mission field, and (c) his methods of work. * The missionary in the heathen atmosphere re- ceives many a trial which would be impossible in the home land. His greatest trials will not be due to climate, will not be due to the things we miss that are so dear to us in the home land ; but the trial that far excels all others, and intensifies all, comes from a real positive force called the " heathen atmosphere " — that indescribable force that must be felt to be realized. This is the real test and is common to all heathen countries. This is why all the heralds of 112 HOLDS HIM TO HIS WORK 113 the Cross, who go far hence, should be well estab- lished in the Christian graces. Every mission ought to send out only those sound in the faith and of a sober mind lest the chilly withering atmosphere of heathenism make John Marks of those whose good- ness no one questions, and who might do good work under favourable environments, but who lack that something that will make a man hold on when most persons would declare it of no use. 1. Soon after he reaches his field and sees the mountains before him, he may enter into a period of doubting, and may commence to think: " I fear I was not called to be a missionary. I know I had a place in the work of my native land. I could be of some use there. I do not see how I can ever do the noble part to the work here that ought to be done, hence the best for the work here and the work in the home land, and myself would be to return." Happily but few missionaries are thus tempted, and most of them soon overcome the tests along this line, and face the future with a growing conviction that they are to serve God in the lands where the needs are greatest. 2. A still more subtle temptation comes after he has already decided that he has his work in the lands beyond. He must decide the place he is to have and the kind of work he is to do. Some look around them and see the order of things very much out of place, and they feel that they have been or- dained of God to set the order right. The old mis- 114 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY sionaries are not abreast of the times, and the new recruit thinks the first important duty is to get others right. He thinks his greatest sacrifice was made in leaving the home land, and on the foreign field he ought to have special consideration. This class have often to struggle long and fight their battles, like the Master, over and over again. Their greatest temptation will come as with their Saviour in seeking to win kingship apart from the Cross. In their work they will need to say constantly to Satan : " Get thee behind me : thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." Far the most subtle temptation will come in the kind of work they are to do and the place where this is to be done. They will be tempted to avoid the hardships and ever-increasing opportunity to enter into the fellowship of the Lord's conflict. They will find many excuses for not launching out into the deep, and will be tempted to join in the throng who say that risk and exposure are fool- hardiness, and it is best to stay near the shore, and use well the batteries already lifted. Many a young hopeful missionary is most severely tried just here. Most missionaries as they learn more fully the meaning and demands of the Cross in the hearts of every one who is linked to his Master for world conquest, see the folly and utter uselessness of always seeking to spare themselves if they are to be servants — ambassadors — representing Him who HOLDS HIM TO HIS WORK 115 has sent them forth. They soon find that He has sent them unto the work in order that they might represent Him, and they can do this only as they seek to lose themselves in His abundant service. Not only will the highest and best service follow, but their own most noble self will be its best because Christ is all and in all. Then they will find the unspeakable joy of following the Master always, permitting His will to be supreme. There will soon dawn upon such lives the never-ending influence of all who enter His warfare unto death, if need be, without reservation, being assured of His presence in all the days, and the power to meet every trial and every demand of the work. When this is done, the glory and passion for the work will overwhelm the missionary as he ever marches to orders in liv- ing touch with the potency of Him who holds all dominions and powers in His hand. How joyful becomes his work! No trial, no work too menial, no day is lived in vain, no hardships! He has all his soul could wish when he has given his all to the Lord's plans. He would not exchange his place for any other in the world. He learns in whatever place he is therewith to be content. If he is just permitted to continue in the work, he will be satis- fied, and like John G. Paton, if he had a thousand lives, he would gladly give them all to make Christ known where He has not been so much as named. This is true of many who remain on the foreign field, yet there are a few who never conquer the 116 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY insidious temptation to avoid the way of the Cross. They may remain on the field as derelicts who are the shame and sorrow of all missionaries after the Master's ideal. They are partly the occasion of many cruel attacks on missions by men and women whose very life and spirit manifest him who is the accuser of the brethren. Although such men and women will always find an opportunity to aid the enemy of all righteousness, yet for the work of those who are doing the Saviour's biddings, these derelicts should be removed, and only those remain whose lives and work partake of the spirit of their Master. 3. Another great temptation comes in the methods we are to use to extend the Lord's kingdom in the heathen lands. Methods are many, and no missionary ought to be a stickler for methods. He soon learns that methods are not necessarily sacred though hoary with age and endeared by memories of others. He will come to understand that neither Western nor Eastern methods are of any avail within themselves. Decrees, councils, doctrinal statements are not always suited to his needs, and may become real burdens to him in his new environments. He will want to be free from all these entanglements im- posed on us by men^ yet he will love the simple prin- ciples of the Master's life and teaching with greater zeal as he sees these relieved of all human excres- cences. If the missionary's work is to count for the HOLDS HIM TO HIS WORK 117 most, it must be patterned after the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Methods are not important as long as we are true to the realities of the Cross — the methods will come naturally to suit conditions — but the principles our Saviour emphasized in win- ning kingship must ever be preserved and duly em- phasized in all our efforts to establish His reign in non-Christian lands. Jesus was not so much concerned about numbers as the quality of His followers. He did not have a great many disciples at the end of His earthly min- istry, but He imparted such a life to those who had believed that they won thousands in a few days. He never lowered His principles to suit earthly de- mands. He was sincere and frank to the great multitudes who wanted at first to follow Him. He told them just what it meant. They must be pre- pared to enter into His life of giving all and leaving all, or they were not worthy to be His disciples. The only converts worth while were those who were willing to enter into His Cross-bearing life. Men won by other methods than His, and who do not know what real discipleship means, will become a curse to the work in the testing days. To know nothing among the heathen but Christ and Him crucified will appear foolishness to them at first and will be a stumbling-block, but it is the only way to reach the fountain springs of the heathen heart and cause him to give the Master Lordship in his life, Then he will say : 118 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY " I welcome then with heart sincere, The Cross my Saviour bids me take ; No load, no trial is severe That's borne or suffered for His sake; And thus my sorrow shall proclaim, A love that's worthy of His name." To the best missionaries dark days will come. They will pass under the cloud and then only by the assurance their Saviour has passed this way, and has borne the Cross for them, can they stand. Sorrow will be intensified by their separation from all those who can truly sympathize with them. In the dark days they will probably have some idea how the Master felt when He said : " My God, My God why hast Thou forsaken Me ? " Judson, in writing to his wife's sisters soon after he was left alone on the foreign field says : " You will see from the date it is the second anniversary of the triumph of death of all my hopes of earthly bliss. It proves a stormy evening, and the desolation around me accords with the desolate state of my own mind, when the grief for the dear departed combines with sorrow for present sins, and my tears at the same time flow over the forsaken grave of my love and over the loath- some sepulchre of my own heart." A year later he again wrote : *' Have either of you learned the real art of communion with God and can you teach me the first principles? God is to me the great Un- HOLDS HIM TO HIS WORK 119 known. I believe in Him, but I find Him not." In these days of intense trial the missionary must be- lieve in the certainties of the Cross — must realize that Christ passed through greater trials that we shall ever need to bear in order that He might suc- cour us when we need Him most. Unless the mis- sionary counts as a reality what the Saviour has done for him, and is conscious of His presence in all the days, he will falter and not dare to continue where only trials may await him. But thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift which enables the missionary to come out of all more than con- queror through Him that loved him. The power of the crucified One within can enable the mission- ary to stand all the trials and thereby glorify Him who has placed him in these places. The more the missionary suffers or gives of his life for the work the more he loves it. Possibly he is on the foreign field at first not because he loves the natives. He may care for them in the tenderest way, and does feel that he owes them a debt be- cause of what Christ has done for him ; however, he is there primarily because he wants to do the Lord's will. He suffers not because he believes there is any virtue for him in mere suffering, but he has become a loyal soldier of Jesus Christ to subdue hearts for the Father's rule, and soldiers in the for- eign field of this class are not called to stay in the barracks, but to go in the way and with the aims 120 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY that move their Captain. As the battles intensify and the true soldierly spirit of the Lord of glory is exercised, the determination grows and the con- viction is strengthened that they are called for this very purpose, and they joyfully suffer anything that His will may be done. Carey of India, Morrison of China, and Judson of Burma suffered long years of privation and hard- ships before they saw any results of their labours; but at the most discouraging time from a human standpoint, they were unshaken in their faith and determined to press on, knowing that the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. They were neither willing to withdraw nor compromise — they were determined to go forward as the Master taught and win by His methods, and win they did. They might have relinquished the demands of the Cross, withheld the principles of discipleship in the Master's services, tmduly emphasized the blessings that the world so much appreciates and won many more converts at first; but their work, nevertheless, would have been a failure. There is no other way of real and permanent success in the world's con- flict except by the Cross. "When the woes of life o'ertake me, Hopes deceive and fears annoy, Never shall the Cross forsake me: Lo ! it glows with peace and joy. HOLDS HIM TO HIS WORK 121 ' Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure, By the Cross are sanctified ; Peace is there that knows no measure, Joys that through all time abide." IT ASSURES FINAL VICTORY WHEN I say the Cross assures final victory, I do not mean victory over our dark days only, but it gives this and far more. We by the forces of the Cross start a work in the hearts of the natives which will go on and on until all shall know Him from the least to the greatest. There comes to the heathen life through the power of the Cross the same desire and life which char- acterized our Master as He walked among men. Those who formerly persecuted ** that way " be- come the most zealous to declare that there is life eternal through no other; and they, too, become radiant lights to shine in the hearts of those who know not the truth. This is the sure hope and assurance of our final victory. The missionary soon realizes after he surveys the situation that if the Lord's message is to conquer in non-Christian lands, it must become naturalized : Christianity will need to be naturalized before it can conquer heathen religions. It must find perma- nent growth on the native soil, drive out the weeds of error and superstition by planting itself in the hearts of the natives, not as a foreign religion, but 122 ASSURES FINAL VICTORY 123 as the eternal truth and light that come from the Giver of all truth and light. This is seen to be the crm: of the conflict by reason of the array of the forces of darkness that immediately arise and com- bine against the intrusion of the new doctrine, " not lawful for us to believe, being Romans." The na- tional pride and customs of the fathers in many complicated ways assert themselves " and take coun- sel together" to thwart the power and life of the meek and lowly Nazarene. These forces of dark- ness seem to be conscious that, as the truths of Christianity take form and virility in the hearts of the natives, the Christ-life in them will be perma- nent and self-aggressive. The foreigner missionar}^ can never fully and truly represent Christianity on heathen soil. He cannot do this as well as one of the natives if this native is thoroughly imbued by the spirit of the Master; hence the missionary soon says, " I must decrease and you must increase." He longs for the natives to have formed in them the life of the cruci- fied One, and then go forth as leaders of the work among their fellow-countrymen. The man who does most for Christianity will ever magnify the possibility of the native convert. He will push for- ward the natives every way possible, and make it easy for them to take the leading part in the on- ward forces of His kingdom. At first the mission- ary can lord it over the natives without much resist- ance. They will bear many things from the man 124 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY who holds the financial power ; yet this ruling power of the missionary, though he does hold the financial responsibility, will make the natives weak and slow to assume an aggressive spirit. The man who as- sumes such an attitude will force them to be cramped in their service. Such a policy will never lay foundations for permanent and healthful growth on foreign soil. Such a missionary will never in- augurate self -propagating centres of Christian ac- tivity which will stand all disintegrating forces within and without, and marching forward conquer- ing other fields. Christianity must be freed of its foreign stigma and firmly planted in the hearts of the natives before it can overcome the existing re- ligions much less adequately meet the needs of the heathen peoples. But can Christianity in its purity, as seen in the ability to demand and hold complete allegiance, re- produce itself on heathen soil where the native life and customs from time immemorial are diametri- cally opposed to it? Do all religions mean light from a common sun whose rays are transformed by the prisms of human hearts and human needs to meet the peculiar conditions of all peoples? Do the great races have their peculiar modes of thought and life, and are the different religions all true, but simply truth modified in its adjustment — mercifully too — so it can be comprehended and appropriated by all classes and races of men? Or do we find that the nations because of their evil devices did not wish ASSURES FINAL VICTORY 125 to retain God in their knowledge, have minds void of understanding and are given over to their own lusts, living in wickedness no one can describe, and needs to be seen to be believed ? The beauty of Christianity is seen in its greatest splendour in its ability to meet the needs of all peoples in their fountains of life. It can readily adjust itself to the mode of thought and life of all peoples, and yet remain true to the principles of its life-giving power. The missionary's heart is often thrilled with indescribable joy as he sees the natives rapidly coming into possession of the Master's powers and graces. His " joy and crown " is to see the native converts, so recently from heathenism, showing the same beautiful spirit of sacrifice and courage which characterizes the true servants of God in all ages. They are born from above, chil- dren of the Highest, old things have passed away, behold all things have become new ; yet still they are Chinese, Japanese, Indians, South Sea Islanders, or Africans with their native characteristics; but trans- formed unto the likeness of Him who has called them into His service. This is the power and the beauty and glory of Christianity! No man any- where in the world, who yields himself fully to Christ and walks with Him, will fail to be trans- formed unto His likeness. This fact is the hope and the inspiration of the missionary, and every one with a few years of practical experience in the for- eign field remembers examples of those whose quick 126 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY transformation has become the joy and marvel of his mission hfe. The Western worker may find much to encourage him in reading books Hke " Twice Born Men " ; however, the average mission- ary during the last few years in China can recall many examples of " the wonderful working power " of the Gospel to change speedily the native hearts, formerly entirely under the sway of heathen life and environment unto hearts wholly given to the Lord's service, that are more than a repetition of what the author of " Twice Born Men " saw in his tours among the castaways of London society. These natives break with all that has been held in the past as the most sacred in the memories of their families; forced from the previous alignment that protects them in their business and clan relations and shields them in troubles common to the civiliza- tion of their country; and declare themselves, even until death, a sincere follower of Him who is in- visible, yet the all powerful and comforting One in their lives. As they turn from these things and the gods, that have ever been the familiar scenes of their homes, and their only hope in ages past and declare they have found in the world's Redeemer the power and joy for which they would not give the world in exchange, then the missionary's heart rises in praise and adoration to his God and Saviour. As he sees these things he is led as never before to realize the Master's great power. All His promises are fulfilled. ASSURES FINAL VICTORY 127 Recently probably the most beloved native preacher in South China received a call to a church on the Pacific coast. For years his ambition had been to visit the United States and see something of the work in this country. The church that called him agreed to give him a salary more than twice as large as he was getting in China. He was anxious to bring his boys to this country and give them a Western education. Also he wanted to come and see something of the church work here in order to be able to lead his own people in China to more ef- ficient service. These things were pressing him to accept the call. He prayed much about the question. Many of the missionaries and native Christians also prayed and said to him : " We cannot spare you now. You are needed in this critical period of your nation's life. You must help us sow and reap." They joined him, however, and said : " Not my will, but Thine be done." After much earnest prayer and waiting before Him, the native pastor said : " I have received the Lord's leading, and I will not go. I will continue in the work here." This faithful preacher had manifested the Saviour's love and spirit. Many examples could be given to show that the native Christians are ever seeking to obtain the Lord's leadings, and when once obtained, they are willing to follow though it may mean many hard- ships and deprivations; but it is the way of victory, and this is the main thing in their hearts. No one would claim all Christians in any heathen land are 128 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY ready to manifest fully the Master's spirit at all times, yet there are enough, who are willing, to give great hope and much assurance of victory. The struggle of 1900, known as the Boxer Up- rising, was a revelation to the Christian world as well as to the scoffer, who had in the past delighted to join Satan in the withering, taunting remark: " Does the Chinese Christian serve God for naught? Touch his life and he will deny God." Through- out the length and breadth of the land the emis- saries of the powers of darkness went everywhere seeking to devour any man, woman, or child who would not bow down before the idols. It was a test that tried men's hearts. Nowhere in history do we see the lines between Christianity and paganism drawn more closely. It was a test to see if these followers of Jesus, who claim to love Him and be true even unto death, meant what they said. The trial was the most subtle and insidious possible. Owing to the fact that several of the leading world powers had tried to partition China into spheres of influence, and thus destroy the integrity of the nation (a real movement and mostly the cause of the Boxer Uprising) all who confessed to be Chris- tians were thought to be allied with the foreigners and traitors to the nation's welfare. The Christians could protest vehemently against such accusations, but it was impossible to give satisfactory evidence to the fanatical " Boxer ". The only thing that would satisfy him would be the Christian's willingness to ASSURES FINAL VICTORY 129 deny the foreigner's God. To do this the Christian must bow down before the idols — burn incense to the gods of our fathers, our country's gods, and not serve the God of our enemies. Even the missionary not only felt most keenly for the native Christians, but often wondered who would be able to stand against such trials of their faith. What did the results show? They stood gloriously. Never since Christ gave up His life on the Cross, have we had greater trials and more glorious results. They counted not their lives dear unto themselves. They gave up all that they might witness a good confession, and stop the mouths of evil men, and show how heathen men and women fresh from the folds of idol worshippers are strong in the Lord and the power of His might. A writer, who had a most excellent opportunity to know the exact situation, says : " Their heathen per- secutors, like the Roman officials, seemed to make it easy for the native Christians to recant. Only a nod of the head before the idol, only burning a little incense, even if you do not mean it, will suf- fice. But even feeble women and little children waxed strong to resist these subtle pleadings." The churches of China have a long list of those, whose records are in heaven, who would not accept de- liverance at the sacrifice or denial of the truth. Some were burned, some were cut to pieces, some strangled, others tied in the woods and fields to be devoured by the wild beasts — victims of the most 130 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY cruel methods of torture known to the heathen world. The spirit of Him who had given His life for them on the Cross had prevailed in their hearts, and thus they made known to their generation, and all who shall come after them, that Jesus had in reality given His spirit to the natives of China. No one who knows what these native Christians en- dured for His sake, can ever again doubt that they conquered not by human strength, but by His in- dwelling life and spirit. This was suiBcient in their great trial of faith. There was a little Presbyterian church near the city gate of Peking, the nation's capital, that may be taken as a fair representative of a large number of the churches of China. The church had sixty members. When the missionaries and other for- eigners of that section went to the Legation for mutual protection, the members of this church re- mained in their homes, and rendered what assis- tance they could to those in the Legation. When the fatal day came — the day when the Boxers over- ran the city outside of the Legation — these Chris- tians were hunted out and asked to recant by bowing before the idols. One by one they were put to the test. Every possible inducement was offered to persuade them to recant, but they would not. Out of the sixty members, only two recanted and were spared to tell the fate of the others. When the awful storm was over and the missionary could re- turn, even these two were greatly grieved that they ASSURES FINAL VICTORY 131 had denied their Lord. Doubtless all churches in China did not make the record of sacrifices this one did, but we can thank God and ever take courage that there was even one found. The conflict was not in vain. It was necessary. It was the last great struggle (we hope) of heathen darkness to drive back the encroaching army of the King of kings. Feeble hearts and eyes but faintly seeing in the home land needed the struggle. The churches of China must be purified in the furnace of affliction. A new epoch must be ushered in, and these births of endless consequences always come with travail. How thankful we are now that it is over, and the new and better day has come. These sacrificed and entered on rest, but the smoke of their sacrifices continues to rise to the Father's throne as a sweet fragrance. It shall ever rise and inspire the churches of the Middle Kingdom to heroic deeds. It will purify and energize these churches till Christ's work on earth is complete. The Messiah who won by what the world counted complete failure — His humiliation and seeming de- feat, being His greatest victory — can, from His exalted position at the Father's side, waiting for His enemies to become His footstool, so sensitize the hearts of the native Christians in all lands who will permit His will to be supreme in their lives, that He will cause them to reproduce the endless life and limitless power of Himself as they live for the one purpose of making His kingdom supreme on earth. 132 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY The missionary, who will do most to encourage the native Christians " to walk in His steps " and repro- duce His life in their relation to their fellowmen, will certainly do most to establish His kingdom in the hearts of all men. As we see what the natives are doing for Christ, and behold the spirit they manifest in their devotion to their Redeemer in seeking to do His work, we are sure the way of victory — sure victory — has been opened, and none will be able to close this way. As we see how readily some of them give out of their poverty, even beyond their ability, that Chris- tianity may be firmly established among them, and " His saving health among all men " may be made known, we are encouraged to believe that the same motives and loyal spirit and sacrifice are in their hearts which have ever been the propelling forces of Christianity. Independent churches, hospitals, schools, orphanages, committees for the extension of His kingdom in the unoccupied fields, general interest in all things that make for the coming of His world-reign, — these things give us assurance of final victory ; they show us that Christ is formed in them, the hope and glory of the work; these things manifest that they are moved by the atoning spirit that dominated our Lord in all He did, and this gives us the assurance of final victory in the foreign fields. The supremacy of Christianity in the non-Chris- tian lands does not depend on the number of mis- ASSURES FINAL VICTORY 133 sionaries who go to the foreign fields nor the amount of money we send these workers on the field — these are really secondary factors — the final issue depends upon the natives as to whether they will re- produce the Master's teaching in concrete examples. The men and the money that help to make this pos- sible will lend to the consummation of the real is- sue, but if they fail to help in the vital thing, then they are indeed hindrances to the final conquest of the land. We need to pray more for the natives, induce them in every way possible to take the lead, encourage them to have no model but Him, follow always the Spirit, who speaks not of Himself, but of Christ, their Master and ours, make it easier and easier for the native Christians to take not only the work we now have, but lead out into the unoccupied fields. This being true, we should give more atten- tion to the training of the men called of God; who give good evidence of being wise and consecrated leaders of their own people, " able to teach others also"; whose visions accord with His, and their lives set forth Christ crucified; for whom to live will be Christ. We should be more concerned about the quality of the native Christian ministers, more anxious to see Christ formed in them, emphasizing the characteristics of true greatness in His leaders in all ages, desiring above everything else that the spirit, purpose, and ideals of our Lord will ever dominate their lives. By doing this our gifts of men and money will go furthest, our work will be more 134 THE CROSS AND THE MISSIONARY enduring, our victory will be sure because we are following the most natural and wise course with any people — hence surely God's way — of planting Chris- tianity in the hearts of the heathen and making His world conquest complete. Apart from the Cross this task would he hopeless, but in the Cross we have all the power and every ideal necessary to make victory sure. PART III THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY XI THE MISSION MOVEMENTS THAT HAVE FAILED HISORY IS a wise teacher for those who will study it properly, looking for the prin- ciples that have meant success in the Master's work, and those that have brought about failure. If we will watch in the long chain of events for the causes and effects, we will be able to steer away from the treacherous reefs and sail in the open seas along the safe courses. Apart from revelation the servant of God finds His ways in his- tory, and history confirms revelation. One of the methods of testing prophecy, as given in God's Word, is to see if what the prophet foretold came to pass. We need in these days to study the finger of God in past events to understand those things that have received His approbation or condemnation. Church history, rightly understood in its relation to all movements in civilization, is the most im- portant study for God's people apart from the Bible. We ought to search diligently the pages of church history. Although darkness dims the path and mars the tracks of past events at many points, 137 138 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY yet there is enough that is clear and certain about the force that had made for and that has hin- dered the things of the kingdom among men to make the study at this time one of surpassing im- portance. In our study of the forces that have done most to make Christianity what it is today, we shall need to confine ourselves solely to those that have been of epochal importance, noticing only the men and movements that have marked crises in Chris- tianity's expansion. As Dr. Blaikie said of Ruther- ford, " there have been men who belonged to a chain of spiritual magnets, kings of men, higher by head and shoulders than their fellows, who have ap- peared from age to age since the beginning of the Christian era, and have given a new impulse to Christian thought, a new direction to Christian ac- tivity, and a new warmth to Christian devotion.'* Into these lives and movements we need to look briefly and learn what was the one principle domi- nating them in their work of such far-reaching in- fluence. Happy shall we be if the Spirit of all truth will guide our investigation so as to reveal plainly the ever-moving power of the Lord's work in these epochal movements. The movements that have failed as missionary efforts have many important lessons for us. The successful general often learns more from his seem- ing failures than his successes. Washington ex- celled almost all generals in his retreats. Many MISSION MOVEMENTS THAT FAILED 139 of the most helpful facts may appear from certain attempts to advance the kingdom of God that have failed. Some have signally failed. They started well, went smoothly at first, but utterly failed when the trying days came. The zest and glow of the early dawn sent these movements forward for a little while; but when the heat of the noon day, with all the accompanying forces, set in against these movements, they either gave up entirely or so modified their early appearance as to become practically one with the forces of the enemy — they either surrendered outright or so compromised with the world as to lose their virility as a power for God, and in either case utterly failed. Along the trail of such forces history reveals at times a consuming zeal and poignant sacrifice worthy of a better cause. Some of the leaders have shown motives of the most commendable kind. They have exhibited all the cruder elements of success, but they have lacked the main thing — the unchanging truth on which we must lay our foundation, and for which we will manifest our zeal and make our sacrifice — not in vain; and then the results will be more enduring than the hills, or the stars that give forth their light night by night. I. The Jews have failed as a Missionary Propaganda. Their great prophets of political, social, and re- ligious leaders during their long checkered career 140 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY have been truly missionary. In their best days they have always thought of Jehovah as the God of all the earth — " no other Gods beside Him." He will subdue His enemies, His goodness and righteous- ness covering the earth as the waters do the sea, and ruling from the River to the ends of the earth. These splendid religious leaders with spiritual in- sight into God's plans have always looked forward to the Golden Age when war would cease; peace be supreme, justice and love would prevail com- pletely in all the walks of life, oppression would be no more, sin would be either exterminated or under control, the throne in the heavens would be in every man's heart, all would know and serve their Creator. From the time of the Promise given Abraham until prophecy closed, these men at dif- ferent times and under varied circumstances held out these benign truths as the blessed and eternal Hope of Israel for which they lived and died. With all the promises and the efforts of her great spiritual leaders, who were men of God, Israel, as a whole, was not especially missionary. The high ideals of her better days, when visions were clear and hopes were bright, had passed away before Christ came. By far the majority rejected the Messiah — their hearts were so blinded that they could not understand what they read daily in the synagogue. Even those who did accept him were more zealous for the tradition of the fathers than to extend the stakes. For years those who sought MISSION MOVEMENTS THAT FAILED 141 to infuse the spirit of world-wide missions were persecuted severely for breaking away from the Law of Moses and defiling themselves with the dogs of the uncircumcision. However, some Jews, who rejected Christ, were still, in a way, mission- ary, seeking to fulfil their mission to the world — giving to all men the pure monotheism; yet they have failed as a missionary force. Their efiforts to spread the truths of Jehovah in China, as given by Dr. W. A. P. Martin, President of Tung-wen College at Peking, has a pathetic his- tory. They reached China in the 3rd century and settled in different parts of the empire. They were fairly numerous as found from the national records, and the fact that they were mentioned several times in Chinese history. Father Ricci claimed to have discovered a synagogue built in 1183. D^- Martin visited the centre of the Jewish colony at Kaifengfu in 1866. He found a monument giving the religion of the Jews, — Adam, their ancestor; Abraham, their founder; and Moses, their law-giver. All who fol- low their religion know all wisdom, and avoid the commission of vice. He tells of one of their number who showed him the ruins of their last synagogue, and Dr. Martin remarks : " There on that melancholy spot where the very foundations of the synagogue had been torn from the ground, and there no longer remained one stone upon another, they confessed with shame and grief that their holy and beautiful house had been 142 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY demolished with their own hands. There was no one able to teach them, no occasion to gather to- gether, and they tore the stones and timbers away and sold them to get the necessary things of life for their bodies. " At the margin of a near-by lake stands a rock so peculiar and solitary that it is called * the Little Orphan.' The adjacent shore is low and level, and its kindred rocks are on the opposite side of the lake where * The Orphan Rock ' seems to have been torn away by some violent convulsion and planted immovable in the bosom of the waters. Such ap- peared to me that fragment of the Israelitish nation. A rock rent from the side of Mount Zion by some national catastrophe and projected into the central plain of China it has stood there while the centuries rolled by, sublime in its antiquity and solitude. It is now on the verge of being swallowed up by the flood of paganism, and the spectacle is a mournful one." The Jews lost their force as a religious movement, lost their identity, not because of persecution, not because of any barriers without, but because the suffering Christ was absent. The Cross that gives life and abiding growth to His message was not with them, hence they were doomed to disintegra- tion, slowly but surely. Pure monotheism was crushed out by paganism because they rejected God's only method for men's redemption, the Cross of Christ which is the wisdom and the power of God. MISSION MOVEMENTS THAT FAILED 143 Be their motives whatever they might have been in going to China, their lives ever so beautiful and zeal- ous, while there they could not permanently resist the swelling tides of heathenism without the Cross. 2. The Nestorians also Failed as Missionary Propaganda. The Nestorians went to China in the name of Christ and taught much about Him. They preached about God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, giving an account of the Sermon on the Mount, His miracles and work of healing and going about doing good. They reached China (land of Sinim) A.D. 505. They began their missionary work under the most favourable conditions, and it seems that their efforts made great headway at first. The ancient records of China tell of numerous churches, and of the favour of the great emperor, Ti Tsung, in 635. But however zealous they were at first and outwardly successful, they utterly failed, and were finally submerged in the sea of Chinese supersti- tion and idolatry. The early remains of their work is a quaint tablet discovered in 1625 at Hsi An Fu, the capital of Shen Si province, on which is inscribed an outline of their mission work from 630 to 781. " This is the only trace of what must have been an interesting, and perhaps a thrilling missionary enter- prise." The tablet gives a summary of their teaching. What they taught was good, and must have shown 144 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY in those days with great splendour in contrast with the crude polytheism of China. By reason of their superior scholarship they soon won the favour of the Court, being commended by one of China's most famous emperors. They won many converts in their early days. The heathen were quick to flock to this new religion with its learned mission- aries so high in favour with the kings. It seems that the Nestorian efforts sunk speedily into oblivion after a century or so of marvellous growth, doomed to utter failure in a land grievously in need of Christianity. They also failed because they had no vital message about the Cross. They taught that Christ was not only a good man, but the Son of God. They did not deny His supernatural powder as a teacher and a healer of man's diseases. Jesus taught of God, He came from God and was the world^s Saviour. They accepted these things, but they had no message of the Cross. Their teaching was about Christ, but Crossless. They failed be- cause the core of the Gospel was left out, hence they lacked the power and zeal that could overcome idol- atry and plant Christianity permanently on heathen soil. In other lands where pagan religions were not so strongly organized, they might have continued much longer as a society em-phasizing the beauty and grandeur of Christ's life, and human culture, but this was not possible in China without a life based on the realities of the Cross. MISSION MOVEMENTS THAT FAILED 145 5. The Early Missionary Efforts of the Catholics in the Orient. John de Corvino reached Peking in 1293. He, too, at first received most favourable attention, was employed as a teacher in the Royal family, and given all due consideration as the wise teacher of the Western religion. He was a mighty scholar for his day, and showed splendid zeal and devotion for his Church. Many accepted his teaching, some from the families of the nobles and it looked for awhile that the Chinese would enter the Catholic church by the millions, and possibly the whole land would be- come Roman Catholics. In the course of time many priests came. The favours they received from the Court encouraged them to attempt to direct the affairs of the palace in the interest of their converts. Persecution was started by the rulers of the nation to save their power, it seems. These rulers saw un- less the priests were checked in their movements, the very throne would need to bow to their wishes; and the best thing for them to do was to drive the foreign intruders from the country and kill their converts. Bitter and persistent persecution fol- lowed, almost exterminating the so-called Chris- tians of those days. Catholics lost their first great opportunity in China, and the entire Orient as well, because they not only failed to give the people Chris- tianity in its pristine purity, but they meddled with the affairs wholly without their sphere as 146 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY teachers of Christ. They failed in their spiritual function. Francis Xavier and men of his fiery zeal came later baptizing thousands in India, Japan, and China. These men were willing to make any sacrifice, loved not their own lives, gave up all and hazarded all for their Church's sake, pressing forward over all difB- culties. In these things there is much to commend. Many of them gladly gave their lives for the work they attempted to do, and died with the hope that their efforts would give courage and inspire zeal in others who would follow and reap where they had sown. These early efforts failed, most of them completely. They all utterly failed in planting pure and vigorous Christianity in the Orient. In some cases the priests were killed and their converts were forced to recant or suffer a like fate. Where they were not exterminated, as a rule, they adjusted themselves so fully to the heathen life and teaching that they lost their identity as a Christian force. In compromising with the heathen religions they often changed the names of the heathen festivals and gods to Christian ones, but permitted the old heathen methods and life to continue. Whether they were exterminated by force or yielded to the press of the compromising forces the result was alike fatal. These early Catholic movements with their com- mendable zeal and enthusiasm made no great last- ing impression on the nations of the Orient. They MISSION MOVEMENTS THAT FAILED 14T went as brave soldiers of the " all powerful See of Rome," loyal sons of the then dominant Church with consecration and devotion that held them to their work till death came. Their message was not Crossless. No, the crucifix was the magic wand of their message. They were ardent believers in the Cross and the blood and baptism and all the sacra- ments, manifested much fervour for the forms of their faith, held forth " sacred emblems " with holy names, and sought by these things to win the masses to the Church. They failed because they trans- formed the simple ordinances of Christianity, which have their life and worth in the realities of the Cross, into mere magic as crude in many cases as the magic rites of paganism. " The sacred emblems and holy sacraments " performed would bring ever- lasting life to the worst heathen. In this enlightened country of ours their most learned representative, James Cardinal Gibbons says in " The Faith of Our Fathers," p. 243 : " By means of religious em- blems St. Francis Xavier effected many conversions in India; and by the same means Father De Smet made known the Gospel to the savages of the Rocky Mountains." Many of these priests, famous for their zeal and converts (thought to be) won, like Francis Xavier, never learned the vernacular of the people, always spoke through heathen interpreters, baptiz- ing thousands into " the Holy Catholic Church " without any reference to the changed life. The mere ordinance had its holy converting functions with all 148 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY who would submit to it. This crude method, which completely destroyed the meaning of the Cross, could not give the power and life necessary to over- come the errors ^nd superstition of the heathen. Their wonderful zeal and passion for the propaga- tion of the sacraments could not prevent their work from collapsing. It was void of the vital power of the life based on right views of the Cross. Truth is all powerful, and no effort with missionaries will amend for its absence. Zeal and great love and pas- sion for one's work will do much to keep it going; but the days of struggle and testing will surely come when only the truth will stand. All else will go as hay and stubble. One of the simplest and best ways of testing a missionary's work is to see what his converts believe. " Wisdom is justified by all her children." James Cardinal Gibbons in " The Faith of our Fathers," p. 461, gives the following significant account of the confession of a Japanese convert, called Peter : " Many years after Francis Xavier's work was done in Japan when a French squadron was permitted to enter the Japanese ports, a native Christian, named Peter, put the faith of the priests on board to the test by asking three questions : * Are you followers of the great Father in Rome? Do you honour Mary the blessed Vir- gin ? Have you wives ? ' When the priests satis- fied Peter on these points, he and his companions fell at the feet of the missionaries exclaiming with delight : * Thanks, thanks, they are virgins and true MISSION MOVEMENTS THAT FAILED 149 disciples of our Apostle Francis.' " The question of Jesus' redemptive work, dying for the world's sins, one God, etc., did not enter into the test of true discipleship. The test was based wholly on their allegiance to Rome, the essence of the Gospel was entirely absent. The perversion of the life giving message of the Cross is quite as harmful in establishing firmly Christianity in all the world as blatant errors. The former course is far more insidious and very much more dangerous. These early Catholic efforts failed because they perverted the real meaning of the Cross, hence lost their first opportunities. They reached the Eastern lands many centuries before the age of modern missions when they had much to encourage them in preaching the simple doctrines of our Master; but in failing to do this they failed entirely as a permanent force. 4, Christian Efforts of Former Ages. All Christian efforts that have not been true to the Cross have failed, where sufficient time has been given to make the test. To call an error Protestant- ism or Apostolic or Christianity of the Fathers in no way changes the situation. Earthly thrones and advancing civilization may get behind an error or perversion of the truth and assure it longer life, but only that which is in deed and in truth true to the core of the Gospel will win along right and per- manent lines. In the early centuries the churches 150 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY started well, but made a signal failure, after a few centuries of glorious conquest, in preserving and propagating the Christianity of our Saviour. The history of these early churches shows how quietly error crept in after they commenced their march away from the perfect Model. In their early days when the Lord's earthly ministry was fresh in their memories, they remained fairly true to the es- sential realities of the Cross; but as persecution ceased, the conflict with the world less intense, they made friends with the world, compromising the Gospel to suit the heathen mould of life and thought. All the malignant errors that soon appeared can be traced invariably to wrong or inadequate views of the Lord's death. a. The leaders in their desire to force all to con- form to the mandates of the Church, which was then backed by the kings, they did not allow the indi- vidual the privilege of following God — permitting God's will to be supreme in his heart. h. In seeking to force all to observe certain forms, they made it exceedingly difficult — and after- wards impossible — to follow the law of God's king- dom in unselfishly giving our lives in service to others. c. In unduly emphasizing the ordinances and sacraments and deeds of men they failed to value aright the blessings that are freely offered to all men by reason of the death of our Lord. They mini- mized the Cross as they cornrnenced to magnify un- MISSION MOVEMENTS THAT FAILED 151 lawfully the deeds of men. When the doctrine of the Cross in its purity was clouded by false teach- ing and wrong emphasis, heresies and lifeless forms multiplied rapidly. Streams of foreign and life destroying elements poured into the churches from papan religions and pagan philosophies, and this destroyed the power and life of true Christianity. 5. Modern Missions also have lessons of warning. Any effort even in these days will eventually fail if it does not duly appreciate the place and value of the Cross in advancing Christianity. Missionaries must be imbued with the spirit of the Cross in their life and teaching or they will fail utterly in their work. They might continue as teachers of Western civilization and do some good disseminating knowledge; but as real helpers to the truth that is above all, they will be of no permanent help. This is evidenced by the fact that even missionary doctors with their unparalleled op- portunities to reach all classes must give themselves largely to the saving of souls, or they are in danger of drifting into the material lines of their calling and pass out of the spiritual phase that should dom- inate all our work. Educators, whose work is purely literary, are in constant danger of becoming power- less as spiritual leaders because they fail to give the Cross first place in all their methods of work. Missionaries, who are consumed with the passion 152 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY of the Lord for the lost world, be their special work educational, medical, or evangelistic, will find bound- less joy in watching the incomparable truths of the Gospel conquer all forms of error and purify in a marvellously short time heathen society in its worst forms and individuals in the lowest condition of moral life. Men, who seek to lift the non-Chris- tian world by any method that leaves out or atten- uates the Cross, will find their task a hopeless one. They will return to the home land with an insipid message about their efforts in the lands of heathen darkness. However, those who seek with all their God-given powers, to set forth Christ and Him cru- cified, be their line of work whatever it may, will find so much to encourage them that they will be led to consecrate their all to the conflict whereunto they are sent. Such a privilege will demand the best of any life, and they will not suffer their lives to fail by leaving the one source of all needed power to make success possible. XII THE EARLY CHRISTIAN ERA THE Gospel, as given by Christ and interpreted by His apostles through the power and guid- ance of the Holy Spirit, is a true model for us in these days. However, it is quite necessary to discriminate between those things of local bearing only and those given once for all time. This must be done before the model is a safe one for all time. It is also important to seek carefully for God's plans of the warfare. Where specific teaching is given as to the things to emphasize and the methods to use in so doing, we can observe these with all confidence of success, and reject them at our peril. It is of paramount importance to remember we refer in the above only to God's revelation as given to us in His Son and those moved on by the Holy Ghost to impart His will to men. When we pass beyond the sphere of this revelation, we find our- selves on uncertain ground. Paul saw much' in the churches to condemn in his day and he saw even greater evils ahead. Peter, James, Jude, and John understood the imperfection of the early Christians. The errors that foreshadowed the long weary night 153 154 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY of the dark ages were seen in the early churches. They had their incipiency and began development at a surprisingly short time after the Master '' as- cended on high." Therefore, in considering the early Christian era, we do not mean to say that we think the churches were perfect in those days, or that we can take them as our guides in all things ; but we do insist that they were a mighty mission- ary force at first. History has not, as yet, a par- allel to these early efforts in missionary propaganda. We can learn from their successes. These followers of our Lord were dominated, yea consumed, by a force that surmounted all difficulties and set up the ensign of the Cross at all hazards. After making all allowance for the condition of the pagan world and the diffusion of monotheism by the Jews, never- theless the triumphs of these men in supplanting heathen religions and their accompanying civiliza- tions with Christianity remain one of the greatest, if not the greatest, marvel of history. Wherein do we find their conquering power? Most of the Apostles were so bent on preserving the ceremonies of the Law in their efforts to estab- lish Christianity, they were not especially mission- ary. Though the Master sought again and again to teach them, new wine could not be put in old hard- ened skins — it could not be thus bound — yet they were dull of understanding. Even Peter, who had been favoured with a house-top vision, could be eas- ily led off by the Judaizing spirit which meant Chris- THE EARLY CHRISTIAN ERA 155 tianity was ever to remain a sect for a favoured few. We do see them leaving Jerusalem after se- vere persecution, going everywhere preaching the word of life, but only a few found it their duty to manifest His saving power unto the Gentiles. We also see the restored church at Jerusalem, composed of the select ones of His kingdom, after Paul and Barnabas had such wonderful success among the Gentiles, sitting in council to decide how the Gen- tiles are to be permitted to partake of the blessings of Christianity. That dictatorial assembly, though doubtless reluctantly, did decide to give Paul the right hand of fellowship if he would stay on his own ground — among the Gentiles. The advancement of these first disciples beyond the ordinary Jew of their day was due to their spe- cial knowledge of the Cross. The death of Christ confirmed by the resurrection, as the Father's plan for their redemption, marked an epoch of far-reach- ing importance in their lives. Before His death they believed He was the Son of God and the Son of man. He alone hath the words of eternal life, the great Teacher sent from God, the wonderful miracle worker with all power over the evil spirits, the Messiah of Scripture, and the holy One of God ; yet they were weak, vacillating, complaining, en- vious men. shirking persecution, and fearing the of- ficials. They lacked a consuming passion based on the certainties of Divine truth more dear to them 156 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY than all else. They could not understand the mys- teries of His Atoning work. The idea was repul- sive to them, and they were far from entering into such a life unconditionally. Though their motives were exalted at times, yet these better motives did not control them fully. This condition prevailed before the Cross-experience. After the Master was " lifted up," the scene is all changed. They are men moved by an entirely different spirit. Whereas before they were weak- lings ready to run at the first signs of danger, and had no heart for the rugged life of suffering; yet after the Cross had been experienced, they were as bold as a lion, fearing neither the officials nor the populace. They found real joy in suffering for Him, and ever sought to imitate His example. His passion for the lost somewhat became theirs. They were led on by a consuming zeal to do His will and live His life. Beyond all doubt the Cross was the crisis in their lives and made them the daring con- quering army that they became. They lacked extent of vision for their scope of service, yet their lives were intense, labouring under a deep sense of re- sponsibility to the world in view of the Gospel which had been committed unto them. They believed something for which they were willing to labour and die if necessary, praying for those who stoned them to death. One cannot read about the conflict of these men without seeing that they were in- fluenced mightily by the suffering of Christ for THE EARLY CHRISTIAN ERA 157 their sins, and they were to be witnesses to this fact. The Cross was the basis of their courage and hope. Though the Apostles as a whole had for their battle cry, ** Christ died for their sins," however, Paul was the one great leader in extending the Gospel beyond the narrow bounds of Palestine. His visions were broadened to include all the world in his parish. He showed the same zeal — and even greater — for the Gentiles that the others had for their brethren according to the flesh. He made no difference as to classes or countries — all were lost and they needed the Gospel, and it was his duty to give it to them. Paul rescued Christianity from the narrow sectarian view to embrace all men. With him Christianity alone had the power to meet the needs of all. What was the message that sent him forth into heathen lands with such magnificent courage and devotion? He gave as the essence of his message which he received not of men or from men, but of God: " How Christ died for their sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures " ( i Cor. 15. 3f.). He states in Rom. 1.14 that he is debtor to all men because of what Christ had done for him. This was the basis of his missionary motives. The truth which held him and forced him forward in his work was the love of Christ seen in His death for all (2 Cor. 5.i4f.). The Cross was his one 158 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY message to the heathen world. He knew and preached nothing else to the Corinthians, and would have their faith founded on Christ and Him cruci- fied (i Cor. 2. if.). Before the eyes of the Gala- tians was Christ set forth crucified (Gal. 3.1). He lived not his own life, but the life of Jesus Christ who loved him and gave Himself for him (Gal. 2.20). He had no hope in the wisdom and devices of men to change the heathen heart and life, to do this he looked alone to the power of the Cross of Jesus Christ. The Cross of our Lord was certainly Paul's one theme, and he depended on its proclamation, lived out in his life (Phil. 1.29 and 3.10) for the mar- vellous results that accompanied his ministry among the Gentiles. For him to live was Christ, and he died daily, bearing the marks of his Master wher- ever he went. His ministry has not a parallel in the non-Christian lands in its fruitfulness, and again he has not a parallel in setting forth Christ and Him crucified in words and in life. It seems, just in proportion as he was able to manifest the Cross of Christ with its full meaning in his message and life in the non-Christian world was his work effective — was he blessed of Him who had called him into the warfare and furnished him his conquering theme of redemption for all the people. Just as Paul res- cued Christianity from its sectarian limitations, and gave it world scope and power by making the sacri- fice of Christ manifest the love and wisdom of God THE EARLY CHRISTIAN ERA 159 in providing through His boundless grace redemp- tion for all peoples and classes, he became an example worthy of our imitation in these days. We can still follow him as he followed Christ in em- phasizing the one source of his power, and then we will conquer in our mission work, being co-labourers with Christ in bringing to His fold peoples of every nation : for we are persuaded there are many in every heathen land, who know not of the Lord's re- demptive work, waiting to be brought into His fel- lowship. After we leave the Apostles it behooves us to be more discriminating in our search for the one power that made the early Christians such a missionary force. The " Church Fathers " cannot be taken as perfect models in teaching or life, yet they were a mighty force as a missionary propaganda. We want to know the source of this power that not only kept the early flames burning, but caused them to spread with surprising rapidity. Passing their faults and tendency to deviate from the original type of Christianity and thus permit all kinds of heresies to block the way of final conquest, it is profitable to seek for the source of the success that did attend their mission efforts. These early leaders did not spend much time on the theories of the Cross. Other questions took priority over the Cross in the intense struggles for existence. They accepted the Scriptural statements, believed them implicitly, and asked no rationale for 160 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY the same. They gloried in the triumphs of the Cross on earth and in heaven, were deeply con- cerned about living the Cross-life, and meeting the formidable enemies on every side that sought to exterminate them. They unequivocally believed something, had a reason for this belief even though they did not seek to give an elaborate discussion of the same. The rationale of the Cross did not concern them so much as what it brought to them and all the world, and how they could successfully reveal its blessing to others. However, we can gather from a number of expressions, incidently flung out to the world with all their inner heart meanings, most commonly given forth in their battles with the enemies, which show that they be- lieved in the Cross somewhat, at least, as taught in God's Word. Polycarp called Isaiah's prophecy concerning the vicarious suffering of Christ (Is. 53) "The Golden Passional." Ignatius of Antioch said : " Our sin was nailed on the Cross with Christ," or in nailing Christ to the Cross was our sin nailed also. The Golden mouthed Chrysostom, probably the greatest foreign missionary in his preaching and example of all the fathers, shows us what he regarded as the main force in the foreign missionary's message, and what influenced his own life most in service for his Lord : " Could thou raise the dead, thou would not have the influence over the heathen as the man who is full of the Christian spirit and life. They stare THE EARLY CHRISTIAN ERA 161 at the miracle while the life penetrates heart and soul. Thou desirest to heal and help — nothing wins with such power as love." In preaching to the Goths he often spoke to them in their vernacular explaining the crucifixion saying : " O the Cross, the Cross of Christ ! It has the same power now it had four hundred years ago. With the Aposdes let us rejoice in it. O the glory of suffering! O the splendour of the Cross! " This eloquent messenger of the world's Saviour sought to win all classes, counted not his life dear unto himself, dying an exile, amid the most trying hardships. He had been forced to live in privation his last days because he dared to preach the liberties and glories of the Cross, which he claimed for himself as well as for all men. Tertullian referred to the death of Christ on the Cross as " the One hope of all the world." Adolf Harnack aptly describes the source of early Christianity's power as a missionary propaganda: " The secret of the preaching of the first century was its simplicity. It could be summed up in a few brief sentences, and understood in the simple crisis of the inner life; yet it was so versatile and rich, that it vivified all thought and stimulated every emo- tion. It was both old and new : it was alike present and future." He says the message of the early Christians as to Jesus was : " He is the Son of God who came from heaven, made known the Father, died for sin, rose, sent the Spirit hither, and from His seat at God's right hand will return for the 162 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY Judgment. No account of the principles underlying the mission-preaching of Christianity (in the early centuries) is accurate, if it does not view every- thing from the standpoint of this conception: The sovereignty of morality, and the assurance of re- demption by the forgiveness of sins based on the Cross of Christ. * The world is crucified to me, and I to the world ' came from the lips of all Christians, says Celsus, an enemy of the Christians. * Surely He hath borne our sicknesses and carried our sor- rows ; by His stripes we are healed.' This is the new truth that issued from the Cross of Jesus. It flowed out, like a stream of fresh water, on the arid souls of men and on their dry morality. The morality of outward acts and regulations gave way to the con- ception of a life which was personal, pure, and Divine, which spent itself in the service of the breth- ren, and gave itself ungrudgingly to death. This conception was the new principle of life. They re- ceived their life and the strength to live it from Christ — God their Saviour — whose person, deeds, and suffering were man's salvation. Conscious of this, the primitive Christian missionaries were ready to die daily. And it was just this reason why their cause did not collapse." Our every investigation of the history of Chris- tianity in the early centuries convinces us that Har- nack has given a concise and accurate statement of what gave these early missionaries of Christ their matchless power. Much in their teachings we can- THE EARLY CHRISTIAN ERA 163 not accept; but in their early struggles when Chris- tianity was overcoming paganism and taking root in foreign soil, we can commend the secret of their life and message which gave Christianity its ever conquering power in its first great struggle with heathenism. If with their faults and early heretical tendencies they accomplished so much because of their relation to the crucified and risen Lord ever real, living in and for them, how much more ought we to accomplish if we hold to the simple truths and realities of the Cross in their purity, and set forth His life, as originally given to us, as we come in daily touch with the world of sin and iniquity. Their willingness to give up all to spread the knowl- edge of Him who died for their sins; their zeal to manifest this life from above to the heathen; their joy in being spent for the brethren; their anxious- ness to witness daily for Him; their consciousness of this life being a mere pilgrimage — their citizen- ship was in heaven ; their love and pity for the lost, — in these things they can be our examples. H we manifest these pungent qualities of the Christian life, yet in all things be true to the realities of the Cross and all their relationships, we can perma- nently establish the Lord's reign from the river to the ends of the earth. We live in an age far more opportune to the spread of the truths of Christian- ity than these men of the first centuries. We need to glory in our privileges and make much of our opportunities. If we will emphasize the message 164. THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY that made their work so effective, in Christianity's first great struggle with the heathen world, and avoid the errors that eventually weakened their good beginning, our victory will be complete and the results final. The early Christian era gives us both an encouragement and a warning: as long as they were true to the Cross, they made splendid progress in conquering the heathen religions and philoso- phies — what success they had was due to their rela- tion to the Cross ; but as soon as they deviated from the life and message of the Cross, their failure com- menced and eventually became quite complete. XIII THE FORERUNNERS OF THE REFORMATION its soon as Christianity conquered her perse- r\ cutors in the early centuries and was firmly established in the Roman Empire, its life and zeal either ceased or changed emphasis. Not only persecution subsided, but it became the profitable thing to enter the church's protecting fold. The sword which was formerly used in an effort to ex- terminate the church, was now used for her defence, and even for her extension. Large numbers of the heathen tribes flocked to the protection of the church rather than to suffer the sword of the church. There soon commenced a syncretism within the church — a willingness to compromise with the pagan life and philosophies of that day — that went on until the life and forms of the Apostolic churches were lost in the man-made hierarchy; a body that retained all the holy names of the early Christians with many added, yet void of the power and life that always char- acterize pure Christianity. This hierarchy took per- manent form, directing nations and forcing all to bow to her conquering power. Ease, wealth, and earthly power took the place of suffering for their 165 166 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY Master, poverty in the things of the world, and the power that cometh only from above so abundantly manifested in the lives of those who followed closely in the footsteps of their Lord. Although after the fourth and fifth centuries the methods, doctrines, and life of the early Christians were but dimly, if seen at all, in the mass of those who lived within the pale of the Church; yet during the darkest of the days choice spirits here and there are to be seen who sought truly to represent Christ. Their lives shone with resplendent glory amid the gloom and darkness that surrounded them. These noble spirits sought to follow not men but Christ in both their messages and life. Doubtless many devout and faithful men lived whose records of service in their daily crucified life have not come down to us ; how- ever, from the history we do have, we see sparks, bright and beautiful, from the Lord of glory that have sent their rays across the centuries, and are shining brighter now than when they first broke through the night of those days. There were reformers before the Reformation. They lived and died for the truths they held in the face of the prevailing corruption seen in the re- ligious life and thought of the masses. These men made the Reformation possible by preparing hearts for the better day, and giving inspiration and en- couragement to the Reformers who laboured under more favourable conditions than their precursors. History is very meagre during the long eclipse that FORERUNNERS OF REFORMATION 167 overshadowed the Christian world, yet from the records of those who often sought to curb and crush the activities of these noble men, we gather many interesting facts that have their direct bearing on the future life of the churches. By looking into the basis of the motives that kept these men hopeful and courageous in spite of all opposition, we can see something of the eternal principles actuating the lives of all pioneer leaders in advancing God's rule in the hearts of all men. Wycliffe (b. ? — d.1384) is deservedly called the Morning Star of the Reformation. He condemned with all the logic of a masterful mind the evil prac- tices of the priests of his day, showing the folly of fair England bowing to the authority of Rome. He did not fear to point out the mercenary spirit of the Roman See. The authority of men could not silence his voice in speaking for the liberty of the Gospel for the individual man. In reading his Dominion Founded on Grace Wycliffe's views of the Cross may be inferred, if not seen quite plainly. He was conscious of the blessed reality that Christ died for his sins and to his Master alone he stands or falls. He did not hesitate to say that Christ's death on the Cross is sufficient for man's needs, and it is not at all neces- sary for us to seek forgiveness from priest or Pope. The liberty of the Gospel made men free indeed. He neither courted the favour nor feared the power of earthly authority. 168 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY It is gratifying indeed to see how this one person, though separated from religious leaders of his day by his high calling in Christ Jesus, yet in daily com- munion with the source of all power because he aligned himself with the eternal realities of the Cross, could stand against the powerful foes of his day. His message and life could not be curbed by earthly powers, even in those days, because he took his stand upon the ever sufficient truths of the Redeemer, preached and lived them; therefore the consciences of the men of his day, though seared, responded with hearty approval as he sought to please God and not man. He started forces that have not ceased to move for God and humanity unto this day. These forces at times since his day may seem to be smothered by the cruel hands of the persecutor, but they always rose from the seeming defeat — being purified by the fires of the enemy — better and more powerful to give all, who truly de- sire to serve the Lord, the purity, strength, and lib- erty of the Gospel. What the Cross had brought to him he was ever ready to magnify and give his life to make known these glorious truths to others. John Huss (b. 1369 — d. 141 5) was a remarkable man in many ways. He was a profound intellectual student at the famous University of Prague. This marvellous youth with keen intellect and accom- plished mind had presented to him in his early man- hood a career of great honour and earthly influence. A great battle was fought in his heart. He de- FORERUNNERS OF REFORMATION 169 scribes the struggles that resulted in his self-de- nunciation and abject sacrifice instead of following the easy course of the corrupt age in which he lived : " My feet had almost gone ; my steps had well-nigh slipped; and unless a crucified Jesus had come to my rescue, my soul had sunk to hell." He further tells of the temptation that came to him through the Church with her temporal power and earthly glory. He had to choose between the honour that Cometh from men or that which comes from God alone. " Whether I should seek out and choose after benefices and thirstily grasp for honours, which to some extent I did, or rather, go forth with- out the camp, bearing the poverty and reproach of Christ," — and thus follow in the steps of the Saviour. Notice the principle which was the de- ciding one in his life struggle — being like his Master in suffering and bearing reproach that he might be true to the straight course of duty. He was willing to renounce the life of ease and earthly honour and suffer with his Lord in order that the saving power of the Gospel might be known among his fellow- men. He offered all upon the altar of duty because of what Jesus had done for him, being ever inspired and driven on by the love of Christ as manifested in His death. In his life and teaching he forcibly illustrates the dynamic influence of the Cross in a life wholly given to God. He was led on by the same spirit that his Lord set forth in His work for man's redemption. 170 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY Watch him as he stands amid the flames that were made bigger by his books, bed, and clothing being piled on them, and see how he suffered martyrdom, counting it all joy to follow in the steps of his Master. Nothing was too hard for him to endure for Jesus who had done so much for him. The fires that John Huss and Wycliffe started are burning still. Though in their day they shined as in a dark place, now the day-star has arisen, and its rays are piercing the darkness of all lands. The Moravian Brethren were the descendants of John Huss. The annals of men cannot begin to tell the blessings that have come to the world through these unique people. Much that is good in the Reformation, and also the beginning of the modern missionary movements can be traced directly to these Moravian Brethren. Heaven alone will reveal the large part that they have had in keeping alive and giving strength to the forces that really make for the coming of God's kingdom in all lands. " A tree is known by its fruits," hence we know more about the spirit and teachings of John Huss, as we study these who received their impulse from him, than we can learn from the meagre history of his own day given to us largely by his enemies. His message and life were reproduced in the Moravian Brethren. They form one of the most interesting and inspiring chapters in missions. As we study the forces that dominated their efforts — the one funda- mental ideal ever uppermost in all they did — we FORERUNNERS OF REFORMATION 171 have obtained the secret that kept the flames of ApostoHc Christianity ahve in the darkest days, and that has ever been the moving force in advancing the Lord's work in all lands. " The one motive that has been their battle cry from the beginning is ' To win for the Lamb that was slain the reward of His suffering/ While acknowledging the supreme authority of the Great Commission, they have ever emphasized as their chief incentive the inspiring truth concerning our Lord's work foretold in Is. 53.ioff., making the Saviour's suffering the incentive to all their activity. In no other way can we so effectively bring the suffering Saviour the reward of His Passion as by missionary labour, whether we go ourselves or en- able others to go." Though these Brethren have been a small body, yet they sent their first mission- ary far hence to heathen lands some seventy years before William Carey went to India. They have been the seed germ of all modern foreign mission efforts. Carey received his impulse to go to the benighted lands from them, and he was able to en- force his argument and make effective his appeal to the sluggish hearts of his fellow-labourers by telling them what the Moravian Brethren had already done. He could assure his own people, who were so slow to heed his call, that his desire to carry the Gospel to the perishing millions without any knowl- edge of His saving truth was not an impossible task or the fanciful notion of one beside himself : These 172 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY Brethren had already been labouring with success in the heathen lands for many years. Both his call and his ability to carry it out were due to them. Ward — William Carey's first companion in India's mission efforts — said: " If ever I am a mis- sionary worth a straw, I owe it to these Brethren." John Wesley received from these same Brethren the blessed assurance of his acceptance in the " well Beloved " which made him the mighty preacher he was. If he had not come in constant touch with them in his early ministry and learned their secret of calm trust in the grace of our Lord, — not seeking salvation or peace of heart from man's own efforts — he would have in all probability remained the ordinary minister his forefathers were. When the peace that passeth all understanding came to him after long weary years of struggling with himself, the Moravian Brethren having taught him the way of the Lord more perfectly, then he could go forth preaching the Gospel of grace. He could plead with men of all classes and places to accept the finished work of Christ on the Cross, and be free from all past sins to live wholly unto the Lord by the power of the indwelling Spirit. With such a message as this he moved all England, and his voice has stretched across the years reaching to many devout souls of the present day. We can get a better understanding of these Brethren as a whole by seeing the spirit that caused their great leader to give all his fortune and life to the Lord's work. In FORERUNNERS OF REFORMATION 173 a recent article about this hero we find the follow- ing: ''One of the most attractive characters in all the history of missions is that of Count Zinzendorf, Moravian hero, who poured out his wealth and gave the service of his life gladly that the Gospel of Christ might be preached and His kingdom extended among men. " The familiar story of his consecration of life and possessions has in it an unmistakable lesson. When a youth one day he was standing in a famous picture gallery at Dusseldorf, his eyes beheld the Ecce Homo of Sternberg representing the Son of God, in all the agony of His sacrifice, crowned with thorns, and with bleeding hands and side; and written above this picture was this inscription : * All this I did for thee ; what doest thou for Me? ' This rich nobleman stood transfixed. He saw the little- ness and baseness of a selfish life, as contrasted with the immeasurable greatness of the Divine love, and from the picture gallery he went out that day to a life of burning zeal and sublime heroism, and to say henceforth, ' I have but one passion, and that is He — only He.' *' This suffering One, who gave His life for him and bore his sins on the Cross, demanded his all of wealth and life to be given fully to His service to bring home the precious souls for whom Christ died. He must follow the foot- steps of his Master seeking to win the world to the Father's obedience. The first missionary to the Moslem world, Ray- 174. THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY mund Lull, reminds us somewhat of the Moravian hero. Raymund Lull was an unique character in the thirteenth century, emerges out of the darkness and formalism of his day, a man greatly moved on by the Spirit of God. In Samuel M. Zwemer's Ray- inund Lull, First Missionary to the Moslems, he speaks thus of him: ** One evening the seneschal, was sitting on his couch with his cithern on his knee, composing a song in praise of a noble married lady who had fascinated him, but who was insen- sible to his passion. Suddenly in the midst of the erotic song, he saw on his right hand the Saviour hanging on His Cross, the blood trickling from His hands and feet and brow, looking reproachfully at him. Raymund Lull, conscience-struck started up; he could sing no more; he laid aside his cithern, deeply moved, retired to bed. Eight days after he again attempted to finish the song, but again took up the plea of an unrequited lover. But now again, as before, the image of Divine love incarnated ap- peared — the agonized form of the Man of Sorrows, the dying eyes of the Saviour were fixed on him mournfully pleading: ' See from His head. His hands. His feet Sorrow and love flow mingled down; Did e^er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown ? ' The vision appeared again and he realized it was a special call from God for him to sacrifice all to FORERUNNERS OF REFORMATION 175 His service, and henceforth he had only one passion, and that to love and serve Christ. He consecrated himself, his family, and all his possessions to do the Lord' work — to be a slave for his Master." The rays of light shone the brighter because of the dense darkness of that day. These forerunners lived and struggled for the purity of Christianity, gave their strength in complete consecration to set the imprisoned truths free. The Catholic hierarchy in the main sought to check their activities, knowing that the doctrines which these men embodied were diametrically opposed to the tenets of this powerful organization then directing the civil and religious life of the Western world. These reformers before the Reformation did not see the better day dawn with any great splendour, but they made it possible by starting forces no earthly power could crush. They were moved in their consecration and consum- ing love for the truth of full and free salvation for all the people by the example of their Master. Be- cause of His death for them and all men, they lived unto Him for the world's redemption. They loved their Lord far more than earthly honour and pass- ing praise : no course of ease, no way of pleasure of a crude and earthly kind, no temporary gain, prompted them in their noble aims. They preferred to enter into the fellowship of His suffering and set forth Christ and Him crucified before men. These characteristics made them stand out far ahead of their fellows, and give to the world sorely 176 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY in need a leaven that has worked even unto this day, inspiring and helping others to live more fully as the Master did and let the one moving principle of His love forever dominate them. XIV THE REFORMATION THE Reformation was one of the greatest up- heavals of history. All we have good in our present Christian civilization may be -traced largely to this awakening. The shades of a long weary night hung heavily upon the human family at the dawn of this world-influencing movement. The morals and ideals of men were at a low ebb. The sea of corruption flooded all the avenues of life and submerged the land in the worst forms of vice. It is impossible to tell what it cost in human life and sacrifice to bring about the Reformation, We will never know the number who gave their lives on the battlefield, at the stake, or passed under torture of the guillotine for the principles of the Reformation. Europe was stained for years with the blood of the faithful martyrs because they would not surrender the freedom which belongs to all men in Christ Jesus. No terrors daunted the men who purchased the liberty we now enjoy. They fought as seeing Him who is invisible, and who is with those who follow Him through all manner of perse- cution. Their methods were not always those we 177 178 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY would commend in these days ; but the struggle was so complicated, reaching to all the phases of politi- cal, literary, and religious life, that we cannot com- pare it to anything we have in our day. Their methods were the best they knew how to devise to meet the conditions facing them. The situation in- volved everything with them and us. The great leaders were prompted by love for their Master. They were determined to be freed from the religio- political tyranny of their day — the worst in the world's history. The Reformation was not primarily a missionary movement, yet without it there could not have been any modern mission era. National and individual independence to worship God according to the dic- tates of the conscience must first be won and then the war of conquest in other lands could be inaugu- rated. Although some of the Reformers, when once in power showed an intolerance which must be con- demned most severely, yet the Reformation as a whole was true to the following principles : individ- ual freedom to worship God, justice to all, and keen hatred of the cruel forms of religious systems that seek to bind the hearts and minds of all men. To learn the one moving force in the Reforma- tion we shall need to examine into the lives of the moving characters; see what they believed, what principle above everything else dominated their hearts in their efforts to restore Christianity to its original purity. To know this and how they pre- THE REFORMATION 179 pared Christianity for the modern century of mis- sions, we understand the one expanding principle of Christianity in all ages. To find this principle we must know the faith of the great leaders in relation to the Cross. In this relation we find the secret of their success and their permanent contribution to the conquest of the world to our Lord. Luther says about Gal. 3.13 : " God laid on Christ the sins of all men." He further says about the Cross: "Jesus took upon Himself that which we have to bear as sinners. He took upon Himself our sins in order to remove sin from us and to bestow His holiness and righteousness. He is made to be sin — ^took (or bore) the sins of all men — that He might be the Saviour of all men. Thus the sins of men are laid upon Christ as taught in Is. 53. He bore the curse of the law to free us from the curse. It was the wrath of God Himself which Gal. 3.10 teaches that Christ endured when He bore the curse of the law upon our sins then resting upon Christ. The Lamb of God bearing our sins is punished for our sins that we might be freed therefrom." " I cannot understand the woe That Thou was pleased to bear; O dying Lamb, I do but know That all my hopes are there." John Calvin : " Christ suffered the punishment of our sins and so satisfied the justice of God. In this situation Christ took upon Himself and suffered the 180 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY punishment which by the righteous judgment of God impended over all sinners, and by this expiation the Father has been satisfied and His wrath ap- peased." Institutes, Book Second, chapter i6, para- graphs I, 3, 4. Again, " On Christ's righteous per- son was inflicted the punishment which belonged to us." John Wesley : " Let us see Thy Cross, then we shall believe. If we suffer with Thee, we shall also reign with Thee. I exhorted all I could to follow after the great salvation which is through faith in the blood of Christ." He tells of his crisis from a weak struggling faith without any great blessing to the world to that of conscious forgiveness and power over present sins and a life of wonderful fruitfulness in leading others to live unto God. He says this crisis came through a " full reliance on the blood of Christ shed for me; a trust in Him as my sole justification, sanctification, and redemp- tion" (Journal, Vol. I, pp. 73f.). He further remarks : " The word of reconciliation which the Apostles preached, as the foundation of all they taught, was that we are reconciled to God, not by our own works, nor by our own righteous- ness, but wholly and solely by the blood of Christ " (Journal, Vol. I, p. 85). One needs but to look at the texts of Wesley's sermons which the Father so marvellously blessed in preaching to England's masses to see that the Cross was the one vital theme that moved him in all his actions. His messages THE REFORMATION 181 always pulsating with this theme. That which caused WycHffe in the later half of the fourteenth century to proclaim free salvation to all in his Dominion Founded on Grace, sent John Huss bravely to face the fagots in Bohemia at the begin- ning of the 15th century, enabled the faithful Moravian Brethren to be true to the life and doc- trines of our Lord in their struggles of the i6th and 17th centuries was this same principle that actuated John Wesley and his comrades in the 1 8th century, and has come down to us by faith- ful men and women who have followed in their train. It is nothing more than the Cross, not always rightly understood and adequately preached, but it was the Cross, nevertheless, that kept the sparks alive and fanned them into a mighty flame. These Reformers did not make a complete break with the old order in all things. Some of the heresies that had accumulated in the past were per- mitted to continue in a modified form; yet in the main they set the trend of Christianity from their day to this by the doctrines which they preached and lived. They did not organize foreign mission societies. They had to give first consideration to their own existence. The long drawn out wars of Europe must be fought first. However, they laid the foundation of modern missions, and they them- selves felt the need of entering into the Lord's plan to preach the Gospel to all classes everywhere. The friends of John Wesley in choosing the most 182 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY striking saying of his life found " The World is my Parish *' best made known to future generations the aim of his fruitful life. Every one who looks on his statue in Westminster Abbey will forever look on this sentence as the most comprehensive one he ever uttered. Not only Wesley had visions of the world conquest, but Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Knox, Whitefield, and others saw that Christianity must eventually subdue all. They saw in the Lord's death salvation for all classes in their own land and all peoples everywhere. It was a better knowledge of the Cross and a desire to enter more fully into the spirit of the same that made the Reformation possible, and opened up the way for modern mis- sions. Not that their views were always correct or would at all meet the needs of the present — they were content to dwell upon only one phase of the Cross which is ever important, but in no sense all or adequate — yet the progress they did make in breaking with the past and ushering in the better day was certainly due to this better understanding of the doctrine concerning the Lord's death. Had they understood more fully the significance of this and the need of all who become His disciples enter- ing fully into the realities of the Cross life, their work would have been far more telling in their day, and they would have made it easier for those who have followed them to march forth with greater freedom and power to accomplish the unfinished task of making disciples of all nations, XV THE BEGINNINGS OF MISSION WORK IN INDIA AND PERSIA THE Moravian Brethren sent their first mis- sionary to the foreign lands in 1732. Other sporadic efforts had been made to spread the glad tidings among the heathen, yet the organized foreign missionary enterprise on a large and con- tinuous increasing force commenced when Wm. Carey went to India in the latter years of the i8th century. Modern missions are usually dated from his entrance into India. As soon as the Reformation became a certainty and the fagots of persecution ceased to burn, the churches of Europe became satisfied, contented to rest in their own comforts and blessings. When Wm. Carey, the humble cobbler, sounded out the call of God to go far hence to the regions beyond, it fell on dumb ears and sleepy eyes. In their ease and popular favour there could be seen a tendency to return to the lifeless forms and painful indif- ference to the world's needs that characterized the religious life of pre-Reformation days; but we can thank God that the vision of the world of heathen 183 184. THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY darkness and superstition, and the ever pressing con- .viction that we ought to give them the Hght checked this tendency and put new life and energy in the churches, and thus rescued them from the relapse that had already commenced. These early pioneers who gladly gave up home and all the cherished asso- ciations of *' their own, their native land " to carry the Gospel of hope to the hopeless, give us many worthy examples of conquering faith, sublime sac- rifice, patient waiting under indescribable hardships, and seraphic zeal and love for all classes of non- Christian peoples. The reflex action of these early efforts among the heathen had a wonderful influence upon the home churches. Owing to the great mass of material, filled with many examples that strikingly illustrate the spirit and motive that sent these heroes to the lands with- out the Gospel, it is with great difficulty to limit the discussion as we must in an investigation like this. However, I have sought to choose typical leaders in all the early movements of the great mission fields. To find the principles that actuated these men — the one force uppermost in all their action for the Lord of the harvest — we thereby learn the dominating factor in mission efforts in all lands. I have found much joy in seeking out the central truth that has worked in the hearts of these pioneer men with world visions like their Master, going forth to repre- sent Him where His name was not known. Both the spirit and motives that moved them to go and BEGINNINGS IN INDIA AND PERSIA 185 the methods of propaganda are intensely interest- ing and helpful to us in these days. WILLIAM CAREY AND HIS CO-LABOURERS Although Carey laboured seven years for his first trophy of the Gospel in India, yet the influence of this one man cannot be estimated. Krishna Pal, his first convert, was well worth seven years of labour and patient waiting. We know what Carey em- phasized in his preaching as of first importance by the confession of this convert. Soon after Krishna Pal became a disciple of the Master he wrote the following confession to the home churches: *' By light springing up in the heart, we know that sinners becoming repentant, through the suffering of Christ, obtain salvation. I was the vilest of sinners : He hath saved me. Sinners without Christ there is no help. Christ the world to save gave His own soul. Such love was never heard ; for sinners Christ gave His own soul. For the sake of saving sinners He forsook the happiness of heaven. In Christ's sor- row I will be sorrowful." No better confession can be found from one who had been a disciple of Christ so short a while. We see how soon the Holy Spirit establishes this first disciple in the cardinal doctrines of redemption. He being won without the com- promise of the truth, won wholly to God, must have given the patient plodder much hope and encourage- ment. He found in his early efforts the reward of his faithfulness to the message, and this made it 186 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY possible for him to become the " cheerful old man " in one of the most trying heathen fields in the world. Krishna Pal also wrote a hymn, which is one of the great hymns of the last century, that throws much light on Carey's message about the Cross. I give that part which bears especially on this. " O thou my soul forget no more The Friend who all my sorrows bore, Let the idol be forgot ; But O my soul forget Him not. " Renounce thy works and ways with grief, And fly to this Divine relief; Nor Him forget who left His throne And for thy life gave up His own." Carey certainly taught him the great doctrine of the Cross and this became the mainspring of this Hindu's new life. The Cross gave power to this missionary's message to break through the most rigid caste known to the world and won Krishna Pal to allegiance to Christ under all circumstances. In writing the people in England about the first Brahman who was baptized Carey said : " Krishna Prosad, then nineteen, gave up his friends and his caste with much fortitude. He is the first Brahman who has been baptized. The word of Christ's death seems to have gone to his heart, and he continues to receive the word with meekness/' BEGINNINGS IN INDIA AND PERSIA 187 In discussing the kind of men who ought to go to foreign fields he also wrote : " Missionaries must be men of great piety, prudence, courage, and forbear- ance, of undoubted orthodoxy in their sentiments, and must enter with all their heart into the spirit of their mission. They must be willing to leave all the comforts of life behind them, and encounter all the hardships of a torrid or frigid climate, an uncom- fortable manner of living, and every other incon- venience that can attend this manner of living." Happily the conditions in most of the foreign fields have so changed since his day that we do not have to encounter some of the things he mentions; but if all who were to go forth had the spirit to do so, they might in every case become the cheerful and ever hopeful plodder Carey was. Ward wrote the following to the home folks: " Thou sweetest Saviour let Thy Cross Win many Hindu's hearts to Thee ; This shall make up for every loss, While Thou art ours eternally." Throughout the writings of Carey, his com- panions, and the words that have come to us from their first converts we see everywhere shining the doctrine of the Cross as taught by Paul and the other New Testament writers. It was the great realities of the Lord's sufferings that thrust them out, gave them hope and strength to continue in the 188 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY presence of so much to discourage, and finally gave them victory along right lines. HENRY MARTIN This seraphic spirit seemed to be consumed with a passion for the lost of India and Persia like his Master showed for all the world. Henry Martin's meat and drink was to give himself wholly to his Master's will and be spent for those in the bondage of sin. These words came from his heart soon after landing in India : " I almost think to be prevented going among the heathen as a missionary would break my heart." " Now let me burn out for God " came from him as he began his active missionary work. One of his first sermons preached in the foreign field was from this text : " Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness ; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." This shows the keynote of his message among the mystics and gropers after God in India. And further : " As ministers of joy and peace we rise up at the command of God and preach Christ crucified to you all. Christ died for His bitterest enemies." He rejoiced in anticipation of all nations receiving the despised doctrine of the Cross! when the children of men will see their utter helplessness apart from God and His provision for their redemption. " Oh, that I could make some BEGINNINGS IN INDIA AND PERSIA 189 returns for the riches of God's love. Let us pray and rejoice and rejoice and pray that God may be glorified, and the dying Saviour see the travail of His soul." He went from India to Persia and Arabia where he passed into God's eternal presence after a few brief years as a foreign missionary. " God meas- ures life by love " has been said, hence Henry Martin lived a long life; for nowhere in the records of missions do we see any one who gave himself more fully to the work than this servant. In every page of his journal there is seen his intense love for those who never had an opportunity to know the truth. A brilliant student, a most promising youth, one who felt most keenly the separation from home ties, loving most dearly his own people; yet he went to the heathen lands in obedience to His Lord's command, -inspired by His loving example, filled with the same spirit, he joyfully went to His service, entering into the agony of the Cross, with complete abandonment of self. This meant death in a land of strangers with not one of his own people nearby. He did all to give ** some returns for the riches of His love." Many heard the Gospel for the first time from his lips, and still a larger number by reading the Bible he laboured so hard to put in the vernacular of the common people, and many others have been inspired by his example to take up the work he started. But few lives have done more for the foreign work than that of Henry Martin's. 190 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY And but few, if any, have entered more fully into the Cross of our Saviour than he did. ALEXANDER DUFF Alexander Duff represents a distinct class of mis- sionary workers. He was the first to go to any mission field to use education as a means of reach- ing the higher classes for Christ. William Carey had taught in the government college at Calcutta, but teaching was not the chief method he used to win people to Christianity. However, Duff went out, meaning to emphasize teaching as the best method to reach and mould the youths of India for the kingdom of God. Many since his day in the Far and Near East have sought to follow his example. Alexander Duff sought over and over again to show that the highest culture and the greatest pos- sible talent, the broadest learning, and the most scientific spirit can all be consecrated to the work of winning the heathen to the Father's rule; and that the Cross of Christ sanctified and glorifies these things when it is given its rightful place in the lives of the missionaries. He sought ever to do this in his own life and work. In this he was a noble example for all times and fields. Just before he embarked for India he preached, using this text, " I am a debtor both to the Greeks and barbarians " (Rom. 1.14), saying: " There was a time when I had no care or concern for the BEGINNINGS IN INDIA AND PERSIA 191 heathen : that was the time when I had no care or concern about my own soul. When by the grace of God I was led to care for my own soul, then it was I began to care for the heathen abroad." He preached a sermon just before he was ordained that showed the thought uppermost in his heart, and which became uppermost in his ministry in India. The author of his life says this about the sermon: " His text was that word of Paul in which he and all his true successors have planted the missionary standard for Corinth west to Kalumba on the Zona, and east to Duff in Calcutta : * I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.' This was the keynote of his life in .he foreign field." About his early efforts to give himself fully to the Father's will and service he made this confes- sion : " To imbue these dead exercises with the living energy of heaven, and to convert them into usefulness in the service of heaven, I endeavour fully and imperfectly, yet I trust, earnestly and in- cessantly to pour out my soul in prayer and suppli- cation to the Father of spirits, that He may cause His richest blessings to descend upon my feeble ef- forts. I have endeavoured to examine into the state of my soul, to prove the sincerity of my motives in my self-dedication to the cause of Christ. I have endeavoured not only to subdue, but absolutely cru- cify and annihilate that fair and plausible and in- sinuating but withal hell-enkindled and soul-destroy- 192 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY ing thing self: I have endeavoured to count the cost and view it in its most fearful magnitude." These brief quotations reveal beyond the shadow of a doubt the large part the Cross had in sending these pioneer missionaries to India and her neigh- bouring countries, and also the first consideration given to this doctrine in planting Christianity on foreign soil. The Cross was the basis of their hope to supplant heathen error with the truth that gives light to every one approaching Him. XVI MISSIONS TO BURMA AND AFRICA THe intense suffering and hardships of the first missionaries to Burma and Africa are probably without a parallel in the history of missions. The torrid dimate; the dense igno- rance of the people, who dwelt in the forests of these lands; the chaotic state of the tribal govern- ments; the isolation of the missionary; the attitude of the savages among whom they went, — all com- bined to make the task more dangerous and trying. However, some of the world's greatest heroes have lived and died in their efforts " to throw out the banner of the Cross " into the heart of darkest Africa and fair Burma. The more difficult the task and the more dangerous the undertaking, the more consecrated and the more earnest have the men and women of God given themselves to the work. As England had the honour of sending the first missionary of modern missions to India, so the United States had a like honour in sending the first one to Burma. Judson went out not knowing where he went and what would befall him. He went with thorough consecration and deepest devotion to the work whereunto he had been called. In reading 193 194 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY about his isolation, separation from his family, in- tense suffering in prison, wandering among hostile tribes, in death oft we get the impression but few men have manifested more fully the spirit of our Lord's life and passion for the lost world. His convictions were founded on the eternal promises of God, his joy of service came from the Father above, his motives that prompted all his actions were those that moved his Master in seeking to redeem the world, and his hope was not in the seen, but in the power that accompanies those who follow fully in the footsteps of the lowly Nazarene. Soon after Judson reached Burma he wrote a tract to explain to the natives his reasons for coming to them. This tract furnishes interesting data as to the meaning of the Cross in his life and efforts. In this he says : " This God-man, who is called Jesus Christ, being man, endured in our stead severe suf- ferings and death, the punishment due to our sins; and being God, is able by virtue of having endured these sufferings, to deliver all His disciples from the punishment of hell, redeeming them with His own hfe, and to instate them in heaven." He knew full well what Christ had endured for him, hence no hardship or danger was too trying for him to bear for his Master. He earnestly de- sired to arm himself with the same mind as he went forth to ' wrestle with the powers of darkness. Twenty-one months of prison life, separation from his wife and baby, having to leave them sometimes BURMA AND AFRICA 195 in heathen hands, greatly intensified his sufferings; but it was all for Christ, and those whom He came to save. Those pairs of fetters about his ankles and hands in the inner prison, with all the filth and gloom of an Oriental dungeon, were borne because of what his Master had done for him and the lost world. He knew he could not be defeated as he followed in the steps of Him who won His greatest victory in death and became perfected in suffering; and the servant is not greater than his Master. He said after his prison experience : " I felt a strong de- sire henceforth to know nothing among this people, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, giving up every- thing else but these precious truths of the Gospel of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.'* These held him to his work in " the dark and cloudy days " when all earthly hope had fled. His founda- tion was sure because he built on the truths which are the ground and pillar of the true New Testa- ment church of all times and places. The denominations in the United States are put- ting on large programs to raise immense sums of money to meet the great needs of the world in the work of reconstruction. If the same spirit which characterized the life of Judson in Burma, will dominate the hearts of the Christian people of this country in giving themselves fully to Christ for the redemption of the needy peoples of this earth, they will have no trouble in raising these large sums of money. The spirit that dominated the men who 196 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY started the American foreign mission enterprise should be the guiding force in the lives of God's people in this day. If such a spirit will be revived in the efforts to raise large sums of money, then the greatest possible blessings will come to God's people. These large sums of money, important as they are, will not be the greatest blessings, but give great op- portunity for us all to give ourselves fully unto the Lord for service in meeting the needs of the human family the world over. Lives given wholly to the Lord as Judson did is the greatest need of the hour, and this will be the greatest possible blessing. DAVID LIVINGSTONE AND HIS COADJUTORS David Livingstone and his fellow-workers have done a work of love and sacrifice for the black man of Africa that ought to inspire the Christians of today to do their full duty and fill up that which is lacking or " behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church." Livingstone wandered through fever-heated forests infested by ferocious animals and human forms crying for the white man's life. He strug- gled across desert plains with his wife and delicate little ones suffering for water and the necessities of life. He gladly endured these things, for Jesus had agonized for him, and he must enter into the fellow- ship of His suffering. He died daily that he might arouse the Christian lands to the needs of this neg- lected continent. No wonder he deemed it necessary BURMA AND AFRICA 197 to reconsecrate his life to God and his work in Africa on his last birthday. He offered his life again upon the altar of service to Him who had purchased it with so great a price. He died alone except for the faithful natives in the heart of Africa with his head between his knees in supplication to the throne of all grace. No truer devotion can be found among the children of men than he mani- fested to his God-given task, which ought to find more hearty imitation in these easier days of service. How gladly we ought to join in the task and mani- fest the spirit of these triumphant martyrs of years ago and speedily carry the message of salvation to those who are still waiting for it. Robt. Moffat tells about the struggle he had as to how he would spend his life in God's vineyard: '* I thought how I had in the past given myself to the world, and not to the service of Him who had died for me." " Him who died for me " was the deciding influence in giving his life to the work in Africa. His life was joyfully given and entirely spent to make known the death of Christ to the degraded and uncivilized hordes of the Dark Continent. In writing about his decision to give himself un- reservedly to the task of proclaiming the salvation that Cometh to all men to these people, he says: " No ! behold I go full of hope, transported by the prospects of being counted worthy to undergo a few transient troubles for His sake, who for our sakes 198 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY became poor, who for our sakes was despised and rejected, was crucified and slain. Oh, that I had a thousand lives, and a thousand bodies; all of them should be devoted to no other employment but to preach Christ to these degraded, despised, yet be- loved mortals. I desire to suffer anything, even death itself, if thereby God is glorified in the salva- tion of the heathen." It was natural and easy for one so fully conse- crated to the task of bringing Africa to God to say to his home Board, " Anywhere if it means forward in the work." He cared only for the glory of God in bringing heathen hearts to His service. Moffat is a worthy example to all who would follow their Master in giving life to save life. Many noble souls have given their lives for the redemption of Africa, but none more fully than Livingstone and Moffat. These servants of God in opening up the work en- countered the greatest difficulties. They by their consecration and devotion in opening paths into the unexplored fields and setting up the banner of the Cross have made it easier for all who have been called to follow them in the work. Both by their message and their lives among the natives they sought to reveal the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. All who wish His kingdom to come in that land and His will to be as in heaven should pray and labour to see more men who will give themselves to their Master, and set forth always His spirit of service like these early mes- BURMA AND AFRICA 199 sengers did. By such service only can we expect to arouse the sleeping millions in spiritual darkness and check the march of a far more stubborn foe than the heathenism of the past, namely, Moham- medanism in its organized aggressiveness. The task is v^orthy of the highest consecration, most Christ- like zeal and passion for the lost, and needs to be pushed with all possible haste. The great realities of the Cross alone can give life and power equal to the demands of the warfare. XVII THE WORK IN CHINA 'AND JAPAN HE who seeks to examine into the mighty Christian currents that have spread over these lands during the modern century of missions will find himself flooded with the most in- teresting material. Fortunately, however, the source of these currents may be easily found. The motives that started these streams and the power that drove them over the arid plains of heathen life stand out prominently and may be seen by the casual investi- gator. These give us the greatest interest and the most important lesson. "Behold what God has wrought" in the Far East during the last hundred years or more of mis- sions. The most sanguine hopes of the first mis- sionaries, who gave their lives to redeem these lands to Christ, have been more than realized. The faith of those who were called wild and fanatical in their expectation of the Cross's conquest has been more than fulfilled. Even the prophecies of the dreamers in their wildest hallucinations, as to the future ad- vancement of the Lord's kingdom, have come to pass. Not always in the way man has thought, but in the Lord's way, and certainly beyond the expec- 200 CHINA AND JAPAN 201 tation of our feeble faith. He hath done for us " exceeding abundantly above all that we asked or thought," according to the marvellous working of His power in them. Our hearts are made glad as we see the results of these early efforts that made the latter days possible; but we need to study the situation in view of ascertaining the force that sent these men to the conflict and sustained them amid the greatest trials and most powerful opposition, overcoming age-long customs and superstition, caus- ing the Oriental to turn from all that was sacred in the memory of their religious leaders, and accept the meek and lowly Christ. The forces overcome, as well as those given life and permanency in China and Japan, have been the marvel of history. A few concrete examples will be examined to find the basic principle in the lives of the pioneer missionaries that have brought about the results which we now see. The first missionary from the Protestant forces of the West to reach China was Robt. Morrison, reaching there in 1807 from England, locating in Canton under the protection of the East India Com- pany. He had to live with the foreigners who had to stay outside of the city. Robt. Morrison engaged a teacher and went to work on the language soon after reaching China. His work had to be done in secret — he had to take his exercise in the night time. The Chinese watched his every movement with great superstition and suspicion, the English traders were ready to lend their influence against this fanatic, and 202 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY in a short while even those who sent him out, began to think of his efforts as fruitless and hopeless; but the present and all future generations should join together in thanking God for Morrison's faith that doubted not in the hour of greatest trial. He went to give his life to the Chinese for his Master's sake, and he never deviated from his holy purpose because of the hardships of the work or the opinions of men. Like his Master, he could truly say, " I come to do Thy will, O God," and this motive was upper- most in all his actions. His own words best express the fundamental principle that led in all his efforts to make known the world's Saviour to the Chinese : he sought ever more to portray in his own life the spirit and love of the Master. He prayed soon after he felt called of God to go far hence unto the Gentiles that God would station him in the part of the mission fields where the difficulties were the greatest — from human appearance the most insurmountable. Hear him soon after reaching Canton : " The missionary of Jesus will have occasion for reproaching himself that he did not serve his Lord more fully, but not for being a missionary. O Calvary, O Calvary, when I view the blood of Jesus streaming down Thy sides, I am amazed at my coldness of affections to- wards the Lord, of my slothful performance of the duties which the authority of God, but shall I say, which the love of Jesus more strongly impress upon mef Yes, O Father, Thy love in sending Jesus; CHINA AND JAPAN 203 and O my Saviour, Thy love in giving Thyself for me; and Thou, O Holy Spirit, in applying the sal- vation of Jesus to my guilty conscience, unitedly overcome, and constrain me to live not unto myself but to Thee." The Cross was the one thing above everything else that prompted him to become the first missionary in the modern age of missions to go to the Middle Kingdom. Even the Father's love and the work of the Holy Spirit gathered around the Cross. Knowing this he could reply to the critics of the Western lands in joining the heathen of the Orient in asking, " Mr. Morrison do you expect to make any impression on China?", "No, but God will." He laboured faithfully to learn the language so as to be able to translate the Bible into the vernacu- lar of the people, preaching as he had opportunity, yet much of his time had to be spent in the Eng- lish and Portuguese settlements away from China proper. No great results attended his efforts from what appeared during his life time. He, too, had his first convert after seven years, and at the end of twenty-seven years but three Christians were to be found as the results of his seed sowing. He worked by faith, gave himself completely to the task committed unto his hands by Him who sent him there, looking to the Lord for the increase. He died in faith, having seen the fulfilment of the prom- ises from afar; yet all the Christian world and the Orient are far richer because of the consecration 204 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY and devotion which Robt. Morrison manifested in his work in China. The oblation of his Hfe given on the Lord's altar of service for China's redemp- tion is sending its fragrance upward still and is blessing many lives. The manner and purpose of his devotion were in line with that of his Master's, hence could not be in vain, and must be greatly blessed where human need is so poorly met. The man who has done most to spread the good news of salvation into the interior of China is J. Hudson Taylor, mentioned in the sixth chapter of this book. After spending a term of service in and around the port towns, he saw that the missionary enterprise needed to launch out into the deep if we expect to make the most fruitful haul. Seeking to be clothed with the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit that he might preach the Gospel with great power in the neglected provinces of China, he com- menced in a simple way the China Inland Mission. Without money or the backing of any church or- ganization — only the promises of our great and all powerful God with him — he started his work with this uppermost in his plans : " The work and workers are the Lord's, and if we follow fully His leadings, can depend on Him to care for us in all our needs." Hence, as it has already been men- tioned, he never made any appeals to men for money to pay the expenses of the China Inland Mission. He sought ever to " have faith in God," or " have the faith of God," as he went to do His work. CHINA AND JAPAN 205 The wonderful answer to prayer that is constantly being seen, the unique plan of the founder and those who have joined him, the distinct spiritual emphasis manifested in the work and workers, the rapid in- crease of foreign and native helpers, the genuine consecration and sublime sacrifice of the thousands who have given their lives unto death for China's redemption, reveal most emphatically the marks of Divine favour upon their efforts. No one can know intimately the leaders, even in this day, without be- ing impressed most forcibly with the thought that they are seeking and are doing the Lord's will. For emphasis, I repeat, not that other missions with dif- ferent methods are not also doing His will ; but the China Inland Mission came at a time and has laboured in such a way as to refresh the pure minds of God's children everywhere with the fact that we are in a spiritual warfare in the heathen lands : and we need first of all to emphasize spiritual life and methods in our conflict with the mighty forces of heathen darkness, and those who do this best, do most to bring this prodigal world to the Father's house. This lesson cannot be emphasized too often in all lines of our foreign mission work. The guiding loving hand of God can be seen in the founder of this Mission from his boyhood days. In his own writings he reveals the controlling force in his early consecration, and the force that moved his youthful heart to give all to his Father. To know this we understand the secret of the great 206 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY Mission he was instrumental in establishing, and is doing so much for the regeneration of China. He makes the following pertinent remarks about his conversion: "She (his mother) went to her room and turned the key in the door resolved not to leave that spot until her prayers were answered. Hour after hour did that mother plead for me, until at length she could pray no longer; but she was con- strained to praise God for that which His Spirit taught her had already been accomplished — the con- version of her only son. " In the meantime I had been led to take up a little Gospel tract, and, while reading it, was struck with the sentence, ' The finished work of Christ.' The thought passed through my mind, * Why does the author use this expression? Why not say the atoning or propitiatory work of Christ? ' Immedi- ately the words ' it is finished ' suggested themselves to my mind. * What was finished? ', and I at once replied : ' A full and perfect Atonement and satis- faction for my sin: the debt was paid by the sub- stitute; and Christ died for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the world.' Then came the thought, * If the whole work was finished and the whole debt paid — what is there left for me to do? *, and with this dawned the joyful conviction, as the light was flashed into my soul by the Holy Spirit, that there was nothing in the world to be done but to fall down on one's knees, and accept the Saviour and His salvation, to praise Him forever- CHINA AND JAPAN 207 more. Thus while my mother was praising God on her knees in her chamber, I was praising Him in the old warehouse to which I had gone alone to read this little book at my leisure." (From Story of China Inland Mission, pp. 53f.) From his entrance into the kingdom of God this great missionary leader was dominated by the simple but all inspiring doctrine of the Cross. His deep and abiding convictions about the death of Christ for his sins, and the love of God that made possible His only begotten Son's death as his sub- stitute, prepared him to believe with full assurance in the care of God for those who do His will fully, and also put a burning desire in his heart to give, as a token of gratitude, all his talents to be used only for the Father's glory in making Christ known to the perishing millions of interior China. In writing about his call and consecration to God's service he mentions the moving factor in it all : *' Well do I remember the occasion. How in the gladness of my heart, I poured out my soul be- fore God ; and again and again confessing my grate- ful love to Him who had done everything for me — who had saved me after I had given up hope and desire for salvation. I besought Him to give me some work to do for Him, as an outlet for love and gratitude; some self-denying service, no matter what it might be, however trying, or however triv- ial; something with which He would be pleased, and I might do directly for Him who Jtad done so much 208 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY for me. Well do I remember as in unreserved con- secration I put myself, my life, my friends, my all upon the altar, the deep solemnity that came over my soul with the assurance my offering was ac- cepted. The presence of God became unutterably real and blessed." (History of C. I. M., pp. 57f.) His clear insight into the need, the love that prompted, and the results of the atoning death, the gratitude that should ever move the hearts of all who are recipients of these blessings, and the com- plete consecration that should always follow — giv- ing all to His service, account for the marvelous results of his life in bringing the Chinese to God. The Cross, that portrayed more fully than anything else in all the world the heart of God, became the cross that filled his heart and called him to one con- tinuous life of giving back to the Father that which was his solely through the accomplishments of this sacrifice. We see in his service much of the Master as he walked among men and gave His life for the world's redemption. He entered into fellowship with his Master, learned of His plans, found his chief joy in seeing these inaugurated, so lived daily in touch with heaven as to enable the Father to speak through him, live in him, and manifest the heavenly life in his touch with the heathen. Such a life in any country among any class must yield abundant fruit and shine with resplendent glory in earth's darkest places. From his life in China we can quite safely conclude that a missionary's life in CHINA AND JAPAN 209 its fruitfulness in the things of the kingdom is determined by his rightful comprehension of the realities of the Cross and his willingness to live daily among the heathen in a way to manifest the spirit and power of these realities. It was the Cross that led him into the work and gave power and effective- ness to his message and life on the foreign field. JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA I have chosen this native Japanese as the one whose life has been most richly blessed of God in establishing Christianity in Japan. While a mere boy with an ambition to do the most possible for his nation, he worked his way across the Pacific, and educated himself in the United States. There was a pure and ever-living fire in his soul to enlighten and redeem his own people. This passion grew more intense as he felt the hour had come for him to return and be spent for Christ in seeking to save his kinsmen according to the flesh. Just before his departure for Japan to commence his work he said : " I expect to meet some difficulties and trials, yet I shall count it all joy, not only to believe in Christ, but to suffer for His name." Joseph Hardy Neesima was greatly blessed with all wisdom and spiritual understanding in opening the work with his own people. He soon realized if Christianity was to influence the leading men of his country, there must be Christian schools where the youth of Japan could be grounded in the doc- 210 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY trines and could stand above their fellows in all things that make for the good of the new national spirit; hence he founded Doshisha College — now Doshisha University — at Kyoto, the greatest temple city in Japan, where the magnificent University now stands in honour to his faithful persistent efforts to plant Christianity in the Island Kingdom during the most trying days of the early struggle. Doshisha is the great pioneer in Christian education in Japan, and has been the most powerful institu- tion there to give Christianity a firm basis and ex- tensive recognition among all classes. This school was a mighty power as long as she stood for the doctrines promulgated by her famous founder. In reading the life of Neesima, as he poured out his heart daily on the altar of service to save his people, there is plainly revealed the fact that he was moved in every action by the love of God for all men as manifested in the gift of His only be- gotten Son. He felt keenly that so great a gift, freely given to redeem us, demanded complete abne- gation of self and full surrender of all to God's service. Every sense of gratitude and soldierly loy- alty forced him to follow the Captain of his salva- tion and always seek to imitate Him as the perfect Model. These are his own words to his Captain: " Here I am, employ me in Thy vineyard if Thou findst pleasure in Thy humble servant. Whether I live or die, I must live or die for Christ." It was this spirit that made his life count for so much in CHINA AND JAPAN 211 establishing Christianity in Japan. He went among his fellowmen as a man — one of them, yet in whose every act could be seen the love and motive of serv- ice perfectly manifested in Jesus of Nazareth. His voice was heard in the capital of his nation, his pres- ence found among the princes as one whose knowl- edge of all things, that make for the betterment of his country, was more helpful than others. He had in him in his relation to the leaders of the nation " a more excellent spirit than the rest," hence his life spoke more effectively of the life of Christ. The sacrifice of the Master in bearing the Cross was the force that moved him to follow always his Lord in giving his all to make Japan free indeed. The great problem, which is now facing the forces of Christ in Japan as to how they can check the materialistic and rationalistic tendencies of the masses and turn their hearts to the spiritual again, is indeed a most difficult one. The struggle of many of the churches to hold their own, the growing aver- sion of men, once favourable to Christianity, to give Christ primacy in the hearts of their countrymen, must be looked upon with much alarm. How can these forces be either overcome or directed into channels that will turn all powers to Him who justly demands that He be given first place in all hearts? How can the Japanese be made to see that the best for the nation, as well as the individual, comes only in giving Christ first place? These questions cannot be answered hastily by any one, much less by those 212 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY of us who are not giving ourselves to the problem; however, we believe that a return to the Cross of Christ with life and teaching adjusted to emphasize adequately the same, like Joseph Hardy Neesima did and won so many glorious victories, will cer- tainly do much to meet the present situation, and bring back the lost opportunities when Japan was the most hopeful of all the non-Christian lands. In the Cross may yet be found the power to make real the former desire and hope to win Japan to " His obedience," and then she will have a large part in leading the Orient to Christ. XVIII OTHER PROMINENT MISSIONARY MOVEMENTS A STUDY of the basic principle in all advanc- ing movements of Christianity in the home and foreign lands would be most profitable to us for our present needs, but this is quite im- possible. All we can do is to examine the founda- tion doctrine in the most prominent world-wide movements. This I have sought to do ; however, in addition to those noticed, there are a few more that need to be included before we close the investigation from the verification of history. DAVID BRAINERD's LIFE AND WORK AMONG THE AMERICAN INDIANS No man's life has been used of God more than David Brainerd's to help the cause of world-wide missions. It was not his actual work among the Indians that has been blessed so greatly, but it is his consecration and insight into the Lord's plans for the world's redemption and entire devotion of his life to these plans — in this his labours have counted above all others. His example of giving himself unreservedly to God to be consumed on His altar for 213 214 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY the redemption of the Redman of the American forests has been used by the Holy Spirit in a mar- vellous way to kindle zeal and passion for the neg- lected of all lands. The greatest appeal to God*s people for the untouched millions in heathen lands is not these heathen, as pitiable and hopeless as they are apart from the Gospel ; but the appeal that counts for the most is the one that leads God's chil- dren fully to surrender to the Father's will and to consecrate all they have to the ushering in of His kingdom among men. David Brainerd did this so fully himself that his life and work has been a mighty power for the advancement of the heavenly kingdom in the lands far away. He only thought of doing God's will in all things, which to him was preaching the Gospel to Indians of New England; yet his " broken body " has sent its healing fra- grance to the uttermost parts of the earth. It was blessed when first so richly given, and has been a blessing all the years since in moving men to go to the regions beyond, and live and tell of the world's Redeemer. His work for the neglected Indians was done some fifty years before William Carey reached India. He spent only a few years in service. His earthly life was given up for the heavenly at the early age of twenty-nine; but in the few years of his intense living he did more to influence others to give up everything for the Lord's work than any other man in the history of modern missions. He OTHER MISSIONARY MOVEMENTS 215 so perfectly set forth the crucified Hfe of Jesus that his labours among the American Indians was won- derfully blessed in his day. The work he com- menced lived on after him as others were inspired to continue that which he began with such zeal and hope. It was his life that led Jonathan Edwards to leave the comforts of a highly developed pastorate and continue the work with the Indians. William Carey traced his desire to go to the foreign field — partly at least if not altogether — to the life and teaching of Brainerd. Henry Martin, who reminds us so forcibly of this hero of New England, tells us that it was the reading of the life of his full surrender and consecration kindled in his own heart a desire to be spent for God in heathen lands. " His life also influenced directly Samuel Marsden and Thomas Chalmers, and through them directly count- less millions." (From His Biography.) Why did this short life lead so many to give themselves to God's service? His literary attain- ments were not equal to many of his day; but his influence far excelled any one of his fellows. In the wisdom and graces of the Spirit he stood head and shoulders above all the rest. He had that Divine life that made the one aim of his existence to save others for the Father's glory. His ceaseless aim and joy was to do the Father's biddings. If such a life were to become common to all, " who name the name of Christ," the rivers of power and 216 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY influence would soon spread over all the earth with their streams of blessings for all men. David Brainerd believed with all his heart and lived accordingly that as the Father sent the Son so are we sent. He felt that the chief aim of every fol- lower of Jesus and the paramount need of His king- dom is to set forth Christ crucified among men. Cold, sceptical human nature cannot be warmed and given power to live again — lived anew — by our deadening theories about the Christ-life — we must live Him if our words are to be effective and un- belief is overcome by faith. The " interesting " dogmas of the faith that engaged the minds of the Christian thinkers of his day permitted these men to enjoy the over-comforting churches of New Eng- land and sit amidst the blessings of their cultured cities and refined neighbourhoods, perfectly con- tented while '' the poor Indian " groped in igno- rance of the world's Saviour. From these churches and neighbourhoods could be seen the tops of the trees that gave shelter on the distant mountain sides for the wigwams of their heathen neighbours; but these self-satisfied Christians were not moved by any sense of neglect to those who lived so near them without any knowledge of Him who died for the sins of the world. Brainerd knew full well that this condition did not reveal- the will of the Master for His children. He came with such a spirit of zeal and sacrifice for the Gospel's sake that these very things isolated him from the religious leaders of his OTHER MISSIONARY MOVEMENTS 217 day and made him a stranger among men like his Master was. However, his Hfe was afterwards so used of God as to influence New England and the entire Christian world to see the life that reaches farthest away is the one lived most intensely for God. We can see from his own words what was the moving force in his life and gave him his holy ambition. He wanted the will of the Father to be all and all in his life which would enable him to reproduce the Master's life. " Here am I, Lord, send me to the ends of the earth, send me to the savage, rough pagans of the wilderness, send me even to death itself if it be but in Thy service and for the pro- motion of Thy kingdom." While he neared the eternal bliss of the Father's presence, he spoke these words : " My heaven is to please God and glorify Him, and give all to Him, and be wholly devoted to His Glory. If I had a thousand souls and they were worth anything, I would give them all to God." " All I want is to be more holy, more like my dear Lord." The last words in his diary read : " O that His kingdom might come in the world; that they might all love and glorify Him, for what He is in Himself; and that the blessed Redeemer might see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied. Oh come Lord Jesus ! come quickly ! Amen." These brief sentences from David Brainerd's Diary show how he gave his life back to God com- pletely, no reservation, no counting the cost, no 218 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY taking the world or the flesh into consideration, but yielding his will entirely to God and living always under all conditions by the faith of the Son of God who loved him and gave His life for him. Such a life will always be honoured of God and used to bless many. A life thus lived may be counted wasted by a commercial age, but it is reckoned as life more abundant by Him who called us to give all things for His sake that we may magnify the higher and better life. He lived a life richly blessed among the wild tribes of the forests, and continues to increase in power and usefulness even unto this day. Why so richly blessed ? No other answer is possible except he entered into the sacrificial Hfe of his Master. The Cross of Christ ever had first place in his heart. Jonathan Edwards says that he manifested the Master's life in every word he uttered, and this was evident to all who had the great pleasure of coming into direct touch with him. Even the brief prayers, asking the Father's blessings on the daily meals re- vealed the love and passion of the Lbrd. He was a vessel ready to be used for any purpose that pleased his Master. He put himself in the Divine hands to be used as it pleased Him, to be offered up to carry out the will infinitely higher and better than his own. Thus we see why his life was so abundantly blessed, and is a worthy example for others who would permit our Lord to use them to bring the greatest good to our age and those who will come after us. OTHER MISSIONARY MOVEMENTS 219 THE WORK OF JOHN G. PATON AMONG THE NEW HEBRIDES ISLANDS His work among the cannibals of these islands has been wonderfully used in turning these people from wild savagery to love and serve the only true God. He undertook a hopeless task, as far as man could see ; yet he went not in his own strength and wisdom, but in that of His Master, trusting Him alone for results. The plans and life of the crucified were his, and he lived to see them realized. The results of his long and faithful and surpassingly fruitful life show us that his course was not in vain. Soon after he decided that the Saviour's will for his life was for him to go as a missionary to the cannibals, a dear old Christian friend tried to frighten him so he would not go. ** You are going to labour among the cannibals? The cannibals! You will be eaten by cannibals." His reply was characteristic of his life: "Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; and I confess to you, if I can but live and die serving and honouring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by cannibals or worms ; and in the Great Day my resur- rection body will arise as fair as yours in the like- ness of the Redeemer." He says in his work among the natives the doc- trines which he had to weave into their seared con- 220 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY sciences by oft repetition were the following : *' The idea that God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son to seek and save them, — the idea that this Jesus so lived and died and rose from the dead as to take away man's sins and make it pos- sible for man to return to God and made unto the very likeness of His Son Jesus." Surely this was a great undertaking among the degraded tribes of long practised cannibalism. Most hearts would have shrunk from the task, but he gladly commenced his work with a " quenchless hope." In describing the actual work of preaching to the cannibals he says : " His Cross must yet be lifted up where the blood of the saints has been poured out in His name." '' Ere long we were able to speak to them about sin and salvation through Jesus Christ." And again, " Thus the waves of hope and fear swept alternately across our lives; but we em- braced every possible opportunity of telling them the story of the life and death of Jesus, with the strong hope that God would spare us yet to bring the benighted heathen to the knowledge of the true salvation, and to love and serve the only Saviour." In the many dangers he encountered in his efforts to reach the cannibals, and his implicit trust in Him who sent him forth, and his determination to give the Cross of Christ due emphasis, we see the glorious results that always follow those who do the Lord's work in the Lord's way. We learn about the doctrines, which John G. OTHER MISSIONARY MOVEMENTS 221 Paton gave a large place in his ministry, by the words of one of his first converts. This convert prayed when they were in the most trying position (it looked like they would be eaten by cannibals) : "O God protect us; or, if they are permitted to kill us, do not Thou leave us, but wash us in the blood of Thy dear Son who came down to earth and shed His blood for sinners." It was this great truth — which is so prominent in the New Testament teaching of the Cross — that so changed a cannibal in a few years that he could enter into fellowship with John G. Paton and His Master and seek to win others rather than destroy. He wanted to labour to help others to know the light that can illuminate the worst hearts and speedily transform the vilest lives like unto that of their Master's. John G. Paton felt like the Apostle Paul, that he bore in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus. He sacrificed joyfully that the heathen might know God. He counted the privilege one that angels would ac- cept gladly, and nothing on earth could compare with the greatness of the trust committed to his hands. He felt also somewhat as Paul did about the heathen seeking to know God. " The heathen has been all his days groping after peace of soul in dark super- stition and degrading rites. You pour into his soul the light of redemption. He learns that God is love, that God sent His own Son to die for him, and that he is the heir of life eternal in and through Jesus. By the blessed enlightenment of the Spirit of 222 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY God he believes all this, and becomes a messenger (of the truth that has made him free), and gladly bears the tidings of redemption to those who know it not, and willing to sacrifice his life, if need be, for his countrymen." Nothing could thus change so quickly and thoroughly the life and motives of the cannibals except the Cross in its purity and fulness. The central power of every missionary movement was duly wrought out in the life and work of this great missionary. He was true to this doctrine, and his work was greatly blessed in changing the lives of the heathen, who formerly devoured their own people as an occasion of great hilariousness and feasting, to giving their own lives to preach the message of salvation. Those who years before were quite will- ing to eat their enemies, now were willing to be eaten, if need be, for the redemption of their peo- ple. John G. Paton lived to see island after island changed from the crudest forms of superstition and ignorance to Christian civilization, enlightenment, and sacrificial service. Just before he passed from his glorious earthly labours to labours still more abundant in the heav- enly realms, he said this about his life: "If God gave me back my life to live over again, I would without one quiver of hesitation lay it on the altar to Christ that He might use it as before in similar min- istries of love, especially among those who have never heard the name of Jesus. God gave His best, OTHER MISSIONARY MOVEMENTS 223 His Son to me; I give back my best, my all to Him." The great love, which God so richly bestowed upon us in giving His only Son for our redemption, was the one thing that prompted his action in giving back his life to God for the work among the can- nibals, and which always sought to make prominent this love that passeth knowledge. He believed, he lived, and reckoned on the realities of the Atone- ment, hence there went with him in his message to the heathen the power, the inspiration, and the Divine transforming glory that made his work Christ-like and full of gracious results to those with whom he laboured. THE RESCUE WORK Rescue work in the larger cities illustrates most forcibly the spirit that sends the missionary far away. Many of those who are sought by the rescue workers have been abandoned by all the churches. They are totally separated, as a rule, from the love and benign influences of God's children whose en- vironment and opportunities have been better than theirs. They are given over to sin and the cruel customs of our society, without hope as the forces of evil atrophy every desire of their better selves. What is the motive that prompts the angelic forms to move gently among the white-light districts where these sadly neglected people are found ? What doc- trine or principle is moving the consecrated women to leave the comforts and refinements of the 224 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY Christian home to seek and to save their wayward sisters? The young woman, who leaves her home, puts on the red cap with the white cross and gives herself entirely to rescuing these pitiable slaves of sin, is prompted by what spirit? What leads her to make this sacrifice for others, without hope and without confidence in those claiming to be followers of Him who loved the fallen and sought the out- casts? What motive is it forces the cultured men and women of this and other lands to forsake all, that is regarded by the many as worth while, to give the down-and-out classes of society an opportunity to hear the songs of the redeemed and see their faces shining with the glory of the better land? What power is driving some of our women " to don the poke bonnet " and go to the outcasts of our cities and call the church forsaken to a life of purity and service in Christ Jesus? On what do such labourers base their offer of immediate, full and free salvation from past and present sins and adequate strength for all future needs in the moral conflict? It is the one great fact in history, — that Jesus gave Himself on the Cross for the sins of the whole world and offers through His finished work full and free salvation to all classes of men and women in every land — the Cross makes all this work possible. The message that rings clear and bright in every meeting held by these rescue workers is the Cross around which everything centres, and by reason of which they have infinite hope for the worst and offer to OTHER MISSIONARY MOVEMENTS 225 these endless possibilities of restoration and service. Just as this reality of the Cross sends the home missionary to the lowest stratum of society, seeks out the neglected sections of our country, meets the foreigner as he steps upon our shores with love and sympathy to help him meet the problems of his new life, the same working force seeks in tender love and care to win the Indians of America to the Saviour. Many of these are still unacquainted with the white man's Saviour. It is the Cross of Christ that is moving the hearts of God's children to reach these Indians as we are seeking to reach all who know him not in the neglected fields of the earth. The life of Christ, manifested in deeds of love and kindness as our Master did, in our touch with these people will turn their needy hearts to the Master. Whether in the so-called Christian lands in the work of extending the kingdom of God in the neg- lected fields or in the great mission fields of all the earth, we see that every advancing movement in the Father's work to meet the world's needs, had its beginning and received its carrying and conquering force in the Cross of Christ rightly related to life. In the present work of reconstruction in Europe and America, as well as in the non-Christian lands, we shall make permanent and effective the Lord's plan of reconstruction and conquest by giving heed to the Cross life and teaching. The voice of history has confirmed revelation and needs to be wisely heeded as we seek to bring to the blasted fields, strewn with 226 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY the shattered hopes of Western civilization, the glories of heaven's richest gift to the children of men — the Cross of our Saviour, the world's only hope whether in the Western lands or in the be- nighted fields of the earth. XIX THE CROSS AND THE PRESENT WORLD SITUATION THE world needs reconstruction no one will question. Europe is torn to pieces by wars, the Orient is fast losing its moorings, and the Western hemisphere is full of turmoil in the fields of industry and business. Everywhere there is rapid transition from the old to something differ- ent if not new. The great need is to bring order, peace, and good-will where righteousness and justice will prevail in all relationships. When this is true, purity and holiness and stalwart manhood will be found solving the world's problems. How are the new problems in the new age and the old problems from the old age to be solved ? Many theories are advanced. The labouring man, the mer- chant, the capitalist, the scholar, and the theologian all are advancing theories. Many of these theories are drastic, saying that old methods and old truths are not suited to the new age. Some go as far as to say that even Christianity, too, must give place to the changing order — we must have a new church and a new Christ. Yes, there is a demand for a new Christianity when we compare the Christianity that 228 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY existed in the so-called highly civilized world before the war. The failures of the past years in the cul- tural, scientific age, claiming to be advanced Chris- tianity, have turned serious hearts the world over to considering what is the eternal truth from which we can hope to spring the healing balm that will meet the world's suffering needs ? We need to con- sider this question in view of the new day now ap- proaching. From the recent years of suffering and sacrifice we can see emerging hopeful signs. Much preparation has been made. It is well to note some of the work of preparation that gives great hope of a better day. I mention a few of the most im- portant : The sacrifice of many of our strongest young men and women. They gladly gave their lives for the world's hope. Geo. W. Truett writes as follows about the heroic sacrifice our men made in France : " There were two brothers over there from North Carolina. Their colonel told me as they went into battle, they shook hands and covenanted together that they would play the man. One of them fell with a deadly wound. The other stooped and bent over him, but the dying man said : ' Kiss me, brother, and go on, keep going. Do your whole duty, tell mother that I died doing mine.' One of our own American party went into a French hospital where there were men who had no eyes, no legs. He saw a French soldier with legs gone and ex- pressed pity for him. ' Oh no, sir ' said the French PRESENT WORLD SITUATION 229 soldier, ' Do not pity me; I offered France my life, and she took only my legs. Who am I to complain ? ' " This sacrifice of the world's noblest manhood must not be in vain. We, who follow the Captain of our salvation, who, too, was made perfect by suffering, should gladly give our all for the battle of all battles, which must be fought, to subjugate the world to our Lord. The spirit of sacrifice in the battlefields of Europe we commend and say our boys were noble heroes; but in the battle, where men must never retreat until the kingdoms of this world are won for the kingdom of our Christ, we need to be even more willing to sacrifice and spend all gladly that men may be freed from the thraldom of sin. We are but beginning to understand real sacrifice like our Master made and how imperative it is for all who enter into fellowship with Him to be par- takers of His spirit if they are to reign with Him in the conquering life. The all important need of Christianity in the present crisis is to return to the spirit of sacrifice and devotion to the Father's will which our Lord ever made His chief aim in coming to this earth. Never can Christianity conquer in the great heathen lands nor the strongholds she must battle against in the home lands until His children find their chief delight in following fully the Saviour in his Cross life. It is not a new Christianity we need, but rather a clearer insight into the verities 230 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY of the eternal truths of the Cross as revealed to us by the life and teachings of the Master. We do not need a new sun, new stars, new atmosphere, but the clearing away the obstructions made by man so that these can show forth in their original splendour. Then they can perform their functions radiating light and power that purifies and re- vivifies all the disturbed elements. Just so with Christianity, its central and all comprehensive truth, must be cleared of the barriers and obstructions forced on it by past ages, and given free control to rule supremely in human hearts and in all human relationships, and then — and not till then — will Christianity meet all human needs. A closely related truth to the above is that of obedience. Good soldiers obey their captain. They are not to fear and falter, but obey and march over the top and conquer. Obedience may mean death — it often does and always puts the soldier^s life in jeopardy — but what is a soldier worth who will not go forth in spite of this? His life is on the country^s altar to be consumed as seems best for his nation's weal. In the kingdom of God is not this even more true? As we look at the life of so many Christians, we see how shallow has been the spirit of sacrifice and obedience manifested in much of prevailing Christianity. The Master's orders to conquer the world — make disciples, or disciple the nations — were given nearly nineteen hundred years ago, yet the great mass of His followers are not con^ PRESENT WORLD SITUATION 231 cerned about the millions without any knowledge of the Gospel. " It is estimated that there are more people now living in the world, who never heard the Gospel, than were on this earth when Jesus gave the command to go forth and make disciples of all the nations." Men of God rest easy and in comfort while these millions are still without the saving knowledge of Christ's redemptive work for their salvation. Is not this the most pathetic thing in the history of Christianity, and our shame and disgrace? Jesus Christ made the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It was His obedience to the Father's will, which He, of His own choice did gladly, that was well pleasing to the Father. Can any child of God be well pleasing to the Father who will not gladly obey the command to disciple the nations? Can we call Him Lord and not do the things which He commands ? Obedience ever remains better than sacrifice and to hearken to the command (the voice) of the Lord than any forms of service. Nothing can satisfy the demands of the Cross life in Christ except complete surrender of life and all we have for Him to use as He desires to win men to the Father. It is not only in forms and mere gifts our Lord's demands are meet in the Cross. We must follow Him — " renounce self " — that we may be used of Him to speak effectively His message to needy souls. Pity and shame ever be upon any people who will seek to attenuate the demands of the Cross life by considering lightly its requirements. 232 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY The time will come — may it hasten — when every man, who refuses or fails to follow the Lord in win- ning this world to the Father, will be called a slacker in the kingdom of God. To fail to come to the Lord's help in reaching out to the centres of sin and the benighted nations, we are sinning against all that is holy in the Father's nature which longs that all men would come into the knowledge of the truth. To call such men Christians will be a misnomer in the kingdom of God where discipleship is deter- mined by obedience (Matt. 16.24). The Emphasis upon the Lordship of Christ is another hopeful sign in the approaching age. Paul writes in Rom. 14.9: "For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived that He might be Lord both of the dead and living." The lordship of Jesus Christ should ever be our watchword in our efforts to reconstruct the chaotic world. He alone can do the work of reconstruction, but He must have willing hearts to co-operate with Him. Those who do must to reconstruct the world on abiding prin- ciples will give the lordship of the risen conquering Christ the first place in all things. The larger place given to justice and righteous- ness means much for the coming of the better day. This is as the Master meant and means much for His kingdom. " Behold thy king cometh to thee ; He is just and having salvation; lowly and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass " (Zech. 9.9). The lowliness and justice of the PRESENT WORLD SITUATION 233 Master are the elements which will save the world in the age where true service and helpfulness bring hope to torn hearts — torn by selfishness and strife. Jesus came to give His life to this holy pur- pose. The justice of the Lord as revealed in His suffering righteousness alone can bring order and peace in the restless nations. There are many every- where in the Christian countries and some in the non-Christian lands who are longing for the justice of the lowly Servant. In a recent tour of China and Japan, I found men in the highest position in governmental service giving due emphasis to this blessed element in the Master's Cross life. I will give two examples which are typical of many. Hon. Thomas Sammons, Consul-General of the United States, located for a number of years at Shanghai writes : " I am not unmindful of the industrial and commercial development in harmony with the policy of righteousness and fair dealing. To illustrate, I have persistently urged my son, Mr, Wheeler Sammons, to weave into the poHcy of some of the publications with which he is connected (including System, a magazine of business), the controlling and fundamental policy of righteousness. This I have termed * Industrial Righteousness.' " There is great opportunity for the development of industrial righteousness in China." Hon. G. S. Moss, H. B. M. Consular Service, Shantung Province, China, writes : " Personal honesty and independent moral stamina is w^hat is 234 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY chiefly needed in China. The great problem in China is to maintain the coherency of the family, and at the same time develop personal honesty and independence of character. Is this task too much for Christianity ? The system which solves this will capture the imagination of young China and its suffrage. The tendency (in China) is to seek sal- vation by short cuts, Western education, militarism, political reform, materialism in all its shapes, especially as interpreted by Japan. The trouble, however, is deep-rooted and can be dealt with by nothing less than moral regeneration. The only solution I see is wisely applied Christian principle, but there must be no cant/' The Hon. Cheng, Secretary of Foreign Affairs in Central China, told me that China would do anything the United States advised in the reconstruc- tion of their nation. China is expecting Christian righteousness and fair play from the hands of the United States and this is why we are the favoured nation with the Oriental. The peoples of the Orient will be impressed with the suffering righteousness and unselfish service, which Christ manifested in all its beauty and simplicity in His own life, and would have His followers to do as we walk in His steps in turning the weary nations to the source of all their needed blessings. If these throngs of restless masses are to be won to His obedience, we, His followers, must illustrate by concrete acts the righteousness of our Lord and Master. PRESENT WORLD SITUATION 235 Still another hopeful sign and needed preparation is the larger spirit of co-operation — unity of purpose — in the marching army of the Lord's host. In the work of reconstruction every child of the King should work for the common goal of bringing the peoples of all the eath into subjection to the Father's will. The strength of the whole army should be spent for the constructive work of the conquering host. Jesus in His farewell prayer with His dis- ciples gave first consideration to this very important truth — " that they may be one, as we are " ; ** that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also, may be one in us : that the world may believe that thou has sent me." Even the glory which the Father gave the Son was re- vealed to His disciples that they might be one " even as we are one." The oneness of God's people for which Christ prayed and many are joining Him in this prayer that it may be fulfilled means much for the solution of the world's problems. We do not mean man made unity or uniformity — the world has had too much of this — for such false forms have done nothing but harm to true Christian unity. However, false forms and failures in the past should not keep us from desiring the true and labouring to bring it about. The basis of this oneness is found in the Cross of Christ. Here alone can we hope to have the unity which Christianity needs in its conquering tread. 236 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY In Col, 1. 20 we note, "And, having made peace through the blood of the Cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say whether they be things on earth, or things in heaven." These are all reconciled by the Cross. If all things in heaven and on earth are reconciled by the Cross — " the blood of the Cross " — surely God's people can be made one by this Cross. We are one in Him. Jesus says in Jno. 17.26 — His final word in this prayer of farewell — " And I have declared unto them thy name and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." This is the foundation and only hope that his prayer may be fulfilled. When the Father's love wherewith He loved the Son, and Christ Jesus dwell in the heart of the believers, then they will be one as Jesus prayed. The Cross of Christ in the sublime surrender of self — will to do the Father's will — " I came to do thy will O God " — is the one foundation of the union of God's people. When all wills are one with His perfectly as in the Cross life, it will be inevitable that they will be one, and the Lord's prayer will be realized in the kingdom of God. The unity of the human race and the common social problems that effect all men find their hope of solution in the unity for which Christ prayed. Jesus saw His truths reaching every heart throb, every suffering needy one the world over. No man can live unto himself, the human family must rise PRESENT WORLD SITUATION 237 or fall together in the last analysis. We look with pity and regrets that any group of believers must be provincial, would be satisfied with meeting the needs only of their own people, and not feel the longing cries for help that come from all who find not rest in the Saviour. All needs can be rightly met and happily solved by giving Christianity's one foundation supreme sway in the hearts of God's children — giving the Cross complete rule in the hearts of men. Then all will understand his brother's needs and Christ-like will spend and be spent for the welfare of the sin-enslaved the world over. Vice-president Marshall of the United States said in a recent message to his fellow Christians, " Some day the church must be the vital source of the solu- tion of the world's problems. . . . If I were called upon to give any message to my church; it would be to express the belief that, though men may be tired of church forms and ceremonies, they are not tired of the principles of the Nazarene, and the best way for the church to meet labour problems and social crises is to begin to square itself with its doctrines. This squaring can be done only by each member squaring himself." The atoning love and righteousness in the Cross of Christ is the one doc- trine that gives vital force to all Christian principle so that all human needs can be solved in the service which reaches all in every condition. In saying this we must remember that the basis of all true and 238 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY noble service in God's kingdom that will really meet man's needs must be founded on the holy righteous- ness as seen in the Cross of Christ. No softening of this great reality will make the service of Christ truly meet man's needs. Any attenuating the verities of the Cross Life here would be fatal. We will never win by compromise at this or any other point in the Cross's demands — such would be suicidal; but we can win in all the earth in meeting all needs by being true to Christianity's one foundation of world conquest. It is the lifting up of the Lamb that was slain in all His awful grandeur of His sac- rificial life in His eternal relation to the Father's glory and man's infinite needs that will draw all men unto Him. Dr. Eliot of Harvard some years ago made a trip to the Orient, giving special study of Christianity's work of world conquest. He returned to Boston and made a report of his trip to the ministers of that city. He said the following, " The orthodox churches are handicapped in the foreign fields with an unpreachable faith, and yet with generous gifts of money and splendid enterprise and devoted sac- rifice, they are working in foreign lands and doing the very things needed to be done even while they contradict the very elements of their faith. On the other hand the Liberals (his people and others in many of the churches) with magnificent ideals, with glorious concepts, with the truth of Christ in all its purity and simplicity sit in snug content offering the PRESENT WORLD SITUATION 239 world of missions in the hour of hunger only dry bones of criticism of those who already serve." Dr. Eliot's statement of what the people are doing is quite correct, but his reasons are not well founded. The so-called Liberals, as he mentions them, have failed to give the Cross its right place in their pro- gram of service. Nothing in the way of intellectual or material equipment can make up for this sad fact of those who would win the world to the Father by other methods than the Cross rightly related to the Father's demands and human needs. In looking over the world in its present conditions and longings, we can see that the above tendencies and onward workings of the kingdom of God in its plans of world conquest, much is being done that give us real hope. Nevertheless we would not minimize the things that retard and the clouds that rise up in many lowering forms everywhere that give no signs of an early dissipation. Even these may mean a rapid change of the order and the Lord's method of conquest. We know all peoples are ready as never before for the Gospel's peace and truth. All the nations are waiting consciously or uncon- sciously for the power of the Cross to come and solve their needs and bring all their hopes and powers unto His obedience. Every phase of the Cross which we see emphasized in this changing order makes ready the fullest conquest of the Gospel's message as shown in the Cross. Here alone is the consummation of all aspiration that springs from every human 240 THE VERIFICATION OF HISTORY heart in the families of the earth, the one basis of bringing all rule and authority and all power subject to the Father's will throughout the whole earth that He may be all and in all. Then this prodigal earth will realize tts glorious goal, and we will be able to join in happy hearts with Dr. Reginald I. Howe in singing the world missionary hymn: " What these sounds from every qfiarter, Gathering strength as on they roll 'Tis the tread of many nations Hastening to a common goal. What the power that stirs them onward As resistless as the sea? His who said 'If I be lifted, I will draw all men to Me/ " Now at last the Saviour seeth Of the travail of His soul And the Cross its might extendeth East to West, from pole to pole. Afric first to hear the message. Turns from darkness to the light. Fetish fear and spirit worship Flee like spectres of the night. " India, the land of the spirit. Mystic seeker after the truth Heareth now a voice proclaiming I am Way and Life, The Truth. PRESENT WORLD SITUATION 241 Lute the ancient Mongol Empires And the islands of the sea. Futile self -endeavour leaving. Learn to lean, O Christ, on Thee. " Let the mighty host go onward, Over plain and desert sand. Till they reach the land, The Holy, Like the magi, gifts in hand, Till they come to David's city, To the feet of Calvary, Then all kneeling, all adore Him, Jesus reigning from the tree." PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Princeton Theoloqical Seminary Libraries Seminary iiiiii 1 1012 01234 1402 Date Due • ^ si O krf