'PhffadehlmiGuiVe.nffQnAdiMsm \ ■^"O"''^ f -.. .'Oij "m PRINCETON, N. J. % % Purchased by the Hamill Missionary Fund. BV 2550 .Y68 1904 Young people and missions Young People and Missions Young People and Missions ^ Addresses delivered before the Eastern Missionary Con- vention of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, Philadelphia, Pa., October 13-15, 1903 V^r\\ >c^. .(3or\^.^eY-\\\on U \cXo. v-e 5 5 ^ 5 NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS CINCINNATI: JENNINGS & PYE ^' The Philadelphia Convention Addresses are pub- lished in a series of seven small volumes, of which this is one. The volumes are entitled: A CALL TO ADVANCE MISSIONS AND WORLD MOVEMENTS THE ASIATIC FIELDS THE AFRICAN, EUROPEAN, AND LATIN AMERICAN FIELDS GENERAL SURVEY AND HOME FIELDS YOUNG PEOPLE AND MISSIONS THE MISSIONARY WORKSHOP Copyright, 1904, by Eaton & Mains CONTENTS. PAGE I. Young People a^d Missions.... 7 Rev. John F. Goucher, D.D. II. The Churck*^s Imperative Duty 56 John R. Mott, M.A. III. The Epworth League and Mis- sions ^. 99 Rev. Joseph F. Berry, D. D. Young People and Missions. I. YOUNG PEOPLE AND MIS- SIONS. By REV. JOHN F. GOUCHER, D.D. God's "eternal purpose, which he pur- posed in Christ Jesus our Lord," is to establish his kingdom over willing hearts throughout the entire world. He uses para- ble, prophecy, and prayer, as well as direct statement to emphasize the certainty that his kingdom will be established and to in- struct his followers concerning its charac- ter and man's relation to its coming. His Young People and Missions. kingdom is likened to a "stone cut out of the mountain without hands," which "be- came a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." It "is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." "Then Cometh the end, when Christ shall have de- livered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies un- der his feet." In the prayer which our Lord gave the Church to be her model and a part of her daily ritual, he commanded, "After this manner therefore pray ye : Our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." The compass and content of this prayer express with sol- emn significance the purpose of God and confront the Church and his every follower with grave responsibilities. 8 YoUiNG Pl'OPLli AND MISSIONS. Prayer Implies Response. Prayer is the offering up of our sincere desires to Almighty God with confession, suppHcation, and thanksgiving. It is not praver unless it is born of a controlling de- sire, accompanied with faith in God, and "faith without works is dead." To pray, "Thy kingdom come," is to pray for every- thing preparatory and essential to that com- ing, both in one's own life and in the world at large. The use of this petition always implies the attitude of soul which finds ex- pression in, "What wilt thou have me to do?" It pledges us to the warfare against evil, places us in the army of God, and makes withholding or indifference treach- ery and desertion. The Church's Mission. The organization and training of the Church are for the development and ex- pansion of the kingdom. Its commission 9 Young People; and Missions. is "to all nations," "to all the earth," "to all the world," "to all flesh," "to all that are afar off," "to every creature," "to the ends of the earth," "unto the uttermost part of the earth." Not to the world or communities in mass, but "to every creature," individual- ized. The Church through her members is required "to preach," "to warn," "to de- clare," "to teach," "to show," "to evidently set forth," "to witness," "to baptize ;" to proclaim by living voice and printed page, to witness by personal living and by her organized ministries and ordinances, "both in Jerusalem" — through city evangeliza- tion — "and in all Judea" — through home missions — "and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" — to perverts and the indifferent, through foreign mis- sions. Evangelization Defined. To "evangelize" means to instruct in the Gospel, to pervade with the spirit of the lo Young People and Missions. Gospel. As Dr. Alexander Duff says, "It includes all instrumentalities fitted to bring the word of God home to human souls." The world's evangelization requires that every person who has reached the age of moral accountability, in some one genera- tion, shall be personally responsible for his rejection of Christ or his ignorance con- cerning him, because knowledge of his claims was or might have been a personal consciousness. Nor does it stop here. It includes also the gathering of those who have accepted him into the organic body of Christ, which is the Church. "Go ye there- fore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit : teaching them to observe all things whatso- ever I commanded you." The world's evangelization does not necessarily mean that every person shall have an experimental knowledge of Christ, II Young People; and Missions. but it does mean much more than the simple setting forth of his character and office by printed page or proclamation through pub- lic speech. It includes also such setting forth of Christ and his claims by living wit- nesses of his indwelling and efficacy, that every person may see the demonstration of Christianity in practical living, and have the Gospel presented in his own tongue. This will constitute the world's evangelization, for hastening which, to the limit of personal ability, every Church and each individual is responsible. There are limited areas in America, Great Britain, India, and elsewhere which have been evangelized. Some which were are not now, and some are now which never were before. But not a single land nor people is wholly evangelized. There are multi- plied millions who have never heard of Christ, who because of isolation, ignorance, superstition, or sensuality know nothing of 12 Young Piiopi^i; and Missions. the provisions and claims of the Gospel. The primary need is that missionaries shall be sent throughout the whole world to teach the knowledge of Christ to every creature. "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?" The Gospel Expansive. The essential spirit and normal interpre- tation of the Gospel require its diffusion. Love is a vital and social force and must, by the law of its existence, disseminate itself. No one to whom the Gospel comes has an exclusive right in it. Everyone holds that which he has received in trust for all those for whom the Giver committed it to him. To possess brings the obligation to communi- cate. "Freely ye have received, freely give." 13 Young People and Missions. The cycle of God's purpose for humanity finds expressions in two coordinate com- mands. Each is expressed in a monosylla- ble. To those who are at "enmity against God," he says, ''Come." "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord : Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." "Incline your ear, and come unto me, and your soul shall live." "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." "The Spirit and the bride say. Come. And let him that heareth say. Come. And who- soever will, let him take the water of life freely." This is the Gospel of salvation for the sinner. It means enrichment for the destitute. It includes pardon and pro- vision for every need. As soon as the invited has been received, transformed into the divine likeness, and made partaker of the divine nature, as soon as love is enthroned in his heart, Christ 14 Young Peoplij and Missions. commissions him to "go." "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and or- dained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit." "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations." "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." "Let the dead bury their dead ; but go thou and preach the kingdom of God." Christ gives to every soul he regenerates a com- mission wherein he may find expression for that love which is inseparable from the re- newed nature. This is the Gospel of serv- ice for the saint. It means opportunity for the reclaimed. It includes equipment, employment, reward. He invites to come, that he may qualify to go. The qualifica- tion is never withheld from any who re- spond to the invitation. "He will give grace and glory." The world's evangeliza- tion waits upon the application of our Lord's Gospel of Go. "Behold, I send you forth." 15 Young People and Missions. What the Church Must Supply. The Church must supply two things in sufficient quantity and quahty before the world can be evangelized. These are in- cluded in the command, ''Go ye." First, the necessary agents. These must be selected, trained, commissioned, and sent "unto the uttermost part of the earth" to proclaim and interpret the Gospel and to raise up and direct millions of native Chris- tians to witness by living the experience of its reality and power. Second, the necessary accessories for maintenance and expansion must be pro- vided. That is, those who are saved must demonstrate that they are partakers of sal- vation for service by either serving as agents on the firing line, abroad or at home as called, or by serving by a similar con- secration and devotion in supplying the ac- cessories, such as sympathv and support, i6 Young PeopIvH; and Missions. faith and substance, prayer and fellowship. Each one is under obligation to have and manifest this spirit of service whether at home or in the field, even though the latter may be more difficult to adjust, or the for- mer more difficult to maintain. All must share the burden and the triumph as "labor- ers together with God." None is excluded from God's plan. If he is included he must do God's work as God directs. The Place and Promise of Young People. While all men are in a general way, and each is in a particular way included in the Gospel of salvation for service, the young have a special relation to it. There are some blessings promised in God's word to old people, and others to those in middle life, but young people are the preferred class in God's providence, for every bless- ing promised in the Bible may be succes- 2 17 Young PeopIve; and Missions. sively theirs. When a child is converted it is a double work of grace, namely, the sal- vation of a life and the salvation of a lifetime, with its untold opportunities and influence. Polycarp was martyred at ninety-five. But he was converted at nine, and gave eighty-six years of blessed service. It is not an accident that young people are the chief objective of the scheme of sal- vation. In youth the heart is like wax in its impressibleness, like bronze in its re- tentativeness. The years in which conver- sion usually occurs are between twelve and twenty. Statistics show the year of most frequent conversions is the sixteenth for girls and the seventeenth for boys. Those years past, the prospects decrease, and after twenty-one the probability is very small, for over ninety per cent of the members of the evangelical Churches in America were converted before they were twenty-three i8 Young Peopi,e; and Missions. years of age. Less than five per cent of those who leave college unconverted ever commit themselves to a Christian life. Practical philosophers and psychologists no longer busy themselves about probation after death, but with how far the tendency to fixedness of habit reduces the probability of ever initiating the Christian life after the twenty-fifth year has passed. The thought of the past concerned itself with the divine decrees and threw the responsibility upon God ; the thought of the present is largely concerned with personal duty and throws the responsibility upon man. Adolescence and Conversion. The latest psychology teaches "that our impulses and instincts ripen in a certain order, and if the proper objects are pro- vided at the proper time habits of conduct and character are formed which last for life; but if neglected the impulse dies out 19 Young Pf,opi.e; and Missions. and our most earnest efforts meet with no response." Professor Starbuck asserts and supports his statement with many facts and figures, that "conversion is a distinctively adolescent phenomenon." Professor Coe says, "Conversion, or some equivalent per- sonalizing of religion, is a normal part of adolescent growth, and a deeply personal life choice is now easier than either before or after." The normal occupation during adolescence is consciously, or subcon- sciously, to make life choices. Young people must be the prime objec- tive in the world's evangelization, for usu- ally before or during adolescence, if ever, the foundations of a Christian life are laid, the student life is determined and the trend for greatest usefulness established. If for thirty consecutive years all the young people in the world between ten and twenty-three years of age could be reached by Christian teaching, the world's evan- 20 Young People and Missions. golization would be accomplislied. Five successive generations of young people, from ten to seventeen years of age — dur- ing the years when most responsive to the claims of religion — would have been under the influence of Gospel truth, and five suc- cessive generations, between sixteen and twenty-three years of age — the second period most determinative of a religious life — would have had similar influence. Within these two periods nearly every per- son assumes the personal relation to re- ligion wdiich he makes final. The vast ma- jority of those who are now twenty-two years old, and not already Christians, of whom probably less than two per cent would ever be converted under the most favorable conditions, will have passed to their final account within thirty years, and the world would be occupied by those who had faced the responsibility of accepting or rejecting Christ during the most favor- 21 Young People and Missions. able periods of their lives, and the world would be evangelized. Young People Most Easily Mobilized. Young people are not discriminated against in the outworking of God's purpose. They receive from Christ the commission to "go," which is never withheld from those who "come." As they necessarily consti- tute the chief subjects of the world's evan- gelization, they must largely furnish the agents and accessories for its accomplish- ment. Their number would of itself make them an important factor in this great work, but their quality is more important than their quantity. They are acquisitive, and at an age when, if ever, they will enthrone God and lay the foundation of devotion and liberality. They most readily acquire strange languages, are enthusiastic, aggres- sive, and courageous, rarely pessimistic, have endurance and improvableness. They Young Peoplu and Missions. are the part of the army who are most eas- ily mobilized, for they are not as yet artic- ulated with society, and high enterprise appeals to their spirit. They are flexible and easily adapted to changing conditions. They furnish the very material for a suc- cessful propaganda and offer the rational field for recruiting the agents and develop- ing its supporters. If the leaders are to be truly great their training must be commenced when young, that they may discover their aptitudes, de- velop their endowments, gather detailed and comprehensive knowledge, acquire skill and be adjusted to their mission. It is more than a coincidence that during adolescence, when men and women are most responsive to the call of God, they are also most available as agents, most teachable, and then, if ever, the habits of devotion and liberality are best established, and the highest life purposes formed. 23 Young Peopi^e and Missions. Path to Future Consecration of Capital. Everyone is commissioned to be Christ's witness "unto the uttermost part of the earth." The burden of proof is with each one to show how he is justified in not being personally at the front. If that is clear he is under positive requirement to be at the front representatively so far as possible. To hold the life line is as important and obligatory as to go into the breakers. If adequate accessories are to be avail- able it must be through training the young people to practical sympathy and personal, proportionate cooperation. In two decades or less the $25,000,000,000, now in the hands of the Church members of the United States will be $50,000,000,000, or more, and this sum, whatever it may be, will be sub- ject to the administration of those who to- day are in their formative age. Those to 24 Young Pi^ople; and Missions. whom it is now intrusted will be in eternity, facing the most serious aspect of the ques- tion how it was they had the direction of so much capital and left it uninvested for the kingdom. Now, if ever, those who are to possess it must be taught the duty and joy of sympathetic and proportionate co- operation with the cause of God, that it is their obligation to tithe their possessions, and their opportunity to contribute so much as they can, not from impulse or as a gratu- ity, but "as good stewards of the manifold grace of God," that at his coming Christ may have his own with proper use. Uncon- secrated wealth is an offense to God and a canker and curse to the holder. "Your gold and silver is cankered ; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you." Provision of Adequate Foreign Force. If all the members of the Church were devoted to hastening the kingdom of God 25 Young People; and Missions. the Church miHtant would be the Church triumphant, and the problem of home mis- sions would be solved in a decade. There is nothing more contagious than Christian personality. Eighteen and two third centuries have passed since Christ commanded his disciples to preach his Gospel to every creature, yet only one of the entire membership of the evangelical Churches of the United States has gone into the foreign field for every 5,500 who stay at home, and only 1,500 of their ordained ministers are engaged in for- eign work, while the other 18,000,000 mem- bers and 122,000 ministers are living their lives in the home field. If the evangelical Churches were to send to the foreign fields 2,000 missionaries a year for, say, thirty years, the world would be evangelized before the close of the first third of this twentieth century. That would mean, after about twelve years, a 26 Young People and Missions. standing army of, say, 20,000 laboring among the 1,000,000,000 who know not Gocl nor Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, or one missionary for every 50,000 persons to be reached. That would be sufficient, if properly supported, to develop and give di- rection to the native agencies and assure success. Not an ImpossibIvE Demand, This is not impossible, nor would it make a disastrous nor unreasonable draft upon the home churches. There are nearly twice two thousand young people. Student Volunteers in the colleges and universities of the United States to-day, who are pledged for this work and eager to go. If the demand were manifest their number would be largely increased. Two thousand a year would only be one out of eleven of the young people who go out from our col- leges and universities, or about one out of 27 Young People and Missions. every sixteen leaving our institutions of higher education annually. To carry out this moderate but sufficient propaganda would require, say, $30,000,- 000 annually. This should be no serious inconvenience. Thirty million dollars per year would be only three twenty-fifths of one per cent, or twelve cents out of each hundred dollars now in the hands of the evangelical Church members in this country. What might be done by reasonable sacrifice ? The young people could provide this amount themselves if they had a mind to do so. An average of one cent per day from the more than 5,000,000 members en- rolled in the young people's societies of the churches in the United States and one cent per week from the something over 13,000,000 gathered in the Sunday schools would almost supply the means. It is not unreasonable to believe that the world's evangelization will be accomplished 28 Young PuorLE and Missions. by the young people when they are proper- ly educated. When Frederick the Great heard of the defeat of his army on a cer- tain occasion he exclaimed, "We must edu- cate." Burke said, ''Education is the chief defense of nations." The Church, like Hannah the wife of Elkanah, must bring her youth to the temple and dedicate them to be educated for and in the ministry of the sanctuary. Then she can say, like Christ, "Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none." The prophecy is, "All thy children shall be taught of the Lord." Achievements of Youth. If "child" means one who is not yet hard- ened into maturity the prophecy that a "child shall lead them" may be fulfilled in this great work of bringing the world to Christ. The soldiers who have won the great battles of modern times were young men, many of them still in their teens. 29 Young Peopi^e; and Missions. General Grant said in his Fourth of July address at Hamburg, "What saved the Union was the coming forward of the young men." Patrick Henry by rallying the young men of the Virginian House of Delegates se- cured the passage of a resolution sustaining the independence of the colonies and set a standard for the new world. The French Academy, which for two and a half cen- turies has been so potent a factor in shaping the brilliant literature of that people, had its beginning in the ardent longings and as- pirations of young men, the oldest of whom, with perhaps one exception, were under twenty-seven years of age. Pitt entered Parliament when he was hardly twenty- two, and was Prime Minister of Great Brit- ain before he was twenty-five. The typical missionary, who outlined the ideal and set the pattern, He who undertook the most stupendous work ever enterprised, 30 Young People and Missions. the work of reconciling God with man, said at the age of thirty-three, "It is finished," and returned to heaven from whence he came. Saul officially witnessed the stoning of Stephen at twenty-seven, and a short time after was commissioned by Christ to go bear his name far hence to the Gentiles. Timothy was but fourteen when converted and eighteen when called to become the as- sistant to the great apostle to the Gentiles. Adoniram Judson was but twenty-two when he resolved to devote himself to for- eign mission work, and started for India at twenty-four. Robert Morrison was but twenty-two when he was accepted by the London Missionary Society and commis- sioned to open Christian work in China. David Livingstone was twenty-one, Jacob Chamberlain nineteen, and Bishop Thoburn only seventeen, when called to foreign mis- sion work. These ages are not exceptional, but illus- 31 Young Peoplk and Missions. trate the rule. "Whenever in history we mark a great movement of humanity, we commonly detect a young man at its head or at its heart." It is quite probable that when this world is evangelized, it will be through the agency of young people, occupying the firing line, seeking and teaching the young people while the rest of the Church, whose training commenced as young people will supply with equal devotion the accessories for maintenance and expansion, everyone giving his tithe in kind, sympathy, prayer, thought, time, and money, as each is pos- sible. It is not only probable that the young people will accomplish the world's evan- gelization, but the agencies are well organ- ized and the process well advanced. The trend of the evangelical Churches was to emphasize, through organized effort, the importance of work for young people ; lat- terly the trend is to emphasize the work by 32 Young People and Missions. young people. Their organizations for de- veloping knowledge, loyalty, and minis- tries have had a quiet but striking evolution until their comprehensiveness, possibilities, and articulation with the great work of the world's evangelization are startling and pro- phetic. The Sunday School. First, as to number and date of organiza- tion, is the Sunday school. In its earlier stage it gathered poor children, and them exclusively, and taught the elements of edu- cation and primary religious truths. Sub- sequently it sought to gather all children and youth for instruction in Bible truths and personal obligations. Its systems, scope, and efficiency have improved, look- ing more and more to personal experience and effectiveness in securing practical and immediate results. There are over thirteen million gath- ered in the Sunday schools of the United 3 33 Young People and Missions. States, It is estimated that of these twenty per cent are converted during their attend- ance and twenty per cent afterward. That leaves sixty per cent to be accounted for, but the forty per cent who profess conver sion furnish eighty-seven per cent of th. members of the evangehcal Churches, and only thirteen per cent are gathered from those who never had Sunday school in- struction. The Sunday school teachers constitute the vanguard of the kingdom. If our Sunday school scholars were syste- matically trained to give an average of one cent per week to the world's evangelization it would amount to nearly $7,000,000, or bt one and one half times as much as the en- tire Protestant Church of America is giving for foreign missions. Systematic work has commenced in this most promising field. The sixteenth or seventeenth is the year of maximum probability for conversion, and the aim and effort is becoming more defined 34 Young People and Missions. on the part of the Sunday schools to see that every scholar is awakened, converted, and started in systematic cooperation v^ith the Church before that year is past. Last year there were more than 2,000 normal classes and 18,000 conventions held among the workers in these Sunday schools, and over 200,000 joined the evangelical Church- es from the ranks of the scholars. Young Men's Christian Association. The Young Men's Christian Association was organized in 1844. Its primary object was to look after young men, who are sub- jected to varied, subtle, and serious tempta- tions in our "homeless cities." Everything is a part of the universe of God, and every- thing which is well born becomes articu- lated with his great purpose. So the Young Men's Christian Association has naturally broadened its scope, multiplied its depart ments of work, and enriched its ministries. 35 Young PeopIve; and Missions. The International Committee of the Young Men's Christian ^Association com- menced systematically to develop the Stu- dent Young Men's Christian Association work in 1877. The movement includes nearly every leading college and university in North America. "Its object is to lead students to be intelligent and loyal disciples of Jesus Christ, to train them in individual and associated Christian work, and to in- fluence them to place their lives where they can best serve their generation." Through secretaries, training conferences, Bible, mission, normal, and other study classes, special literature and deputation men, its work has been systematically pushed until it has come to be a chief influence in our leading institutions for promoting the king- dom in the lives of the students. In State and undenominational institutions it has^ well-nigh the monopoly of this work. Large- ly through its efficiency the colleges and 36 Young People and Missions. universities have come to be the most Chris- tian communities in the United States and Canada. "Taking the young men of North America as a whole, not more than eight per cent, or one in twelve, are Christians. In 1902 a careful census, taken in 356 of our colleges and universities, showed that of 83,000 young men fifty-two per cent, or more than one half of the student body, were members of evangelical Churches. Twenty-five years previous the proportion was less than one third." — John R. Mott. The virility of this movement makes it a great deal more than a home missionary organization. The student type of religion is manly and practical. "Their religious life is based upon a personal study of the Scrip- tures and Christian evidences, and not least helpful in shaping their faith has been the influence of the presentation and study of the facts of Christian missions." For years past students have been the largest pur- 37 Young Peoplk and Missions. chasers of missionary books. They beHeve with Bishop Whately: "If our reHgion is not true we ought to change it. If it is true we are bound to propagate what we beHeve to be the truth." Student Volunteer Movement, "The Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions," a special branch of this work, was organized in 1888. It works among the most potential class in the Chris- tian world and seeks to bring them to the highest service in ministry to others. The appeal is to conscience, conviction, conse- cration, courage, and character. The Volunteers are among those of strongest personality, largest equipment, and greatest efficiency. Through this agency about 9,000 students have volunteered in the past fifteen years; a large proportion of these are still at college preparing, but about 3,000 are actually in the field, and many 38 Young People and Missions. more would be if the Church had been ready to send them. A recruiting agency has thus been offered the Church the hke of which she had never known. Student Christian Federation. The World's Student Christian Federa- tion, organized in 1895, includes 13 national organizations, over 1,500 separate associa- tions or unions, and about 90 per cent of the institutions of higher education of the entire world, with a total membership of over 80,000 students and professors. An associated Christian effort has thus united more students around the cross of the con- quering Jesus than any other intercollegiate organization, athletic, literary, fraternal, or political. "As go the universities so go the nations." This Federation is concerned, in purpose at least, with the moral and religious wel- fare of two thirds of the young men of the 39 Young People and Missions. human race. The movement is now look- ing toward the 8,000 secondary schools of the United States and Canada, with their 275,000 boys as the key to the colleges and universities. Of the 375,000 members of the Young Men's Christian Association in this country 45,035 are boys under sixteen years of age. The Young Women's Christian Associa- tion, working along similar lines, with similar results, was organized in 1855, and numbers 537 associations with a member- ship of 67,708. Young People's Societies. The young people who never go to college far exceed in number those who do. They also are organizing and are being trained for and enlisted in this great work. This indicates a third line of preparation for the world's evangelization. The Young People's Society of Christian 40 Young People and Missions. Endeavor, the Epworth League, the Bap- tist Young People's Union, the Christian Union of United Brethren, the Young People's Union of the United Presbyterian Church, the Brotherhood of Andrew and Philip, and other smaller associations, in- clude an aggregate membership, not count- ing any twice, of somewhat over 5,000,000, or about twenty-eight per cent of the evan- gelical Church members of the United States. Horizon and inspiration, purpose and up- lift have come to the young people through the great conventions held by these various organizations. Growth is as natural to young people as enthusiasm. It is signifi- cant that their conventions are approximat- ing the conference fdea. They are stress- ing more and more Bible, mission, and nor- mal study, study of the various fields, prob- lems, phases, and methods of church life and work. Their programs provide for less 41 Young People; and Missions. rhetoric and more facts. Those who have brought things to pass are invited to con- tribute of their experiences, explain meth- ods, and answer questions. These organi- zations in their local chapters associate young people together for specific religious purposes, spiritual, missionary, charitable, literary, and social. They make the young people accessible to systematic instruction and develop organized and individual effort, skill, and efficiency, and beget a personal sense of responsibility and achievement. They have vast possibilities and are gradu- ally occupying them. Only about two per cent of the people of the United States who reach twenty- three years of age without a clear personal identification with Christ and his Church ever become Christians. The young people's societies are developing a spirit of cooperation with the churches to see by all possible means that everyone who can be 42 Young Pkoplk and Missions. reached is thoroughly indoctrinated in the Scriptures, estabHshed in habits of pro- portionate giving, and personally identified with evangelical work before he reaches that age. Technically the term young people ap- plies only till the end of adolescence or, say, through the twenty-second year. It requires an average of, say, approximately, 30,000 young people and 65,000 "children to be re- cruited every week through the year to maintain the membership of the young people's societies and Sunday schools at their present enrollment, so the young people's societies present a constant demand for new and well-trained leaders, and the work of the Sunday schools creates similar requirements with growing urgency. Young People's Missionary Movement. The fourth stage in this development of organized young people's agencies for the 43 Young Pe;opi:.e and Amissions. world's evangelization is "The Young People's Missionary Movement," which was born of an oppressive sense of need that the ever-changing membership of the young people's societies and Sunday schools should have trained leaders, up-to-date alike in the wisdom of the past and demands of the present, capable to give direction to the systematic and practical stud}^ of the word and work of God. The most successful workers in these fields keenly recognize this need. The Young People's Missionary Movement has its Executive Committee of fifteen, approved or selected by the Mission- ary Boards of the various Churches, its Board Council, and its secretary, with a well-equipped office. Its organization was not premeditated, but providential. It is purely supplemen- tary to the work of the Church universal and in no sense intended to supplant any branch of it. It stands for the broadest ^4 Young People and Missions. catholicity through an enriching and en- riched denominationaUsm. Each Church may best train its own leaders, but where can the leaders of these leaders be trained so efficiently as in an interdenominational conference by denominational specialists? This is the object of the Young People's Missionary Movement. It brings together specialists from the Young Men's Chris- tian Association, the Sunday school, the secretaries of the various Mission Boards, returned missionaries, the leading educa- tional institutions and representative pul- pits, to give instruction in its Conferences. It is a clearing house of facts and ideas, a school of methods, a dynamo of inspiration for both home and foreign mission workers, where each labors for all and all serve each. This fourth development marks the equipping and constructive stage through which key workers may be selected, en- riched, and trained more thoroughly than 45 Young Pe;ople: and Missions. ever before to lead in the specific work of organizing and developing the young peo- ple through their own denominational so- cieties and Sunday schools. Though the first preliminary meeting, out of which has grown this organization, was held in De- cember, 1901, it has conducted four confer- ences, attended by more than 900 workers among young people, from about 30 de- nominations. In response to numerous in- vitations, plans are being perfected to hold three of its conferences next year, one each at Silver Bay on Lake George, at Lookout Mountain, and in the Middle West.' No one may estimate the importance of this organization, which promises to become a movement of movements. New Type oe Convention or Training Conference. Arrangements have been completed for the first of a series of denominational 46 Young People; and Missions. Young People's Missionary and Bible Study Conventions, to be held at Buffalo next week, where a number of workers from the Young People's Missionary Movement will assist in the exercises. It will include i,ooo delegates from the Ep- worth Leagues and Sunday schools of the Genesee Conference of the Methodist Epis- copal Church. Its object is to train leaders who will be able to organize and direct Bible or IMission Study Classes in every congregation, Epworth League, and Sun- day school within the bounds of that Con- ference.* Other denominations are pre- paring to reproduce these Normal Confer- ences for their young people. * It met as proposed, was a great success, and by a ris- ing vote unanimously pledged itself to the following pol- icy. First, A Mission Study Class or a Bible Study Class in every pastoral charge in the Genesee Conference. Second, A contribution of $1 to the Missionary Society from every member and probationer as a minimum; the maximum to be according to ability. Third, A monthly missionary exercise in every Sunday school in the Con- ference. 47 Young People; and Missions. Young People's Secretaries. The leading denominations are recogniz- ing the opportunity and obHgation which these converging hnes of organized young people's work create. Thirteen of the prin- cipal Mission Boards have appointed secre- taries or assistant secretaries, under the direction of standing committees, to give their time and energy, in v/hole or in part, to specially foster and develop the study and work of missions among the young people of their churches. Methodist Episcopal Plans and Results. Perhaps none other has made so thor- ough provision or as yet secured such striking results as the Methodist Episcopal Church. Its Discipline provides for the or- ganization of each of its 33,000 Sunday schools into a Missionary Society, also for 48 ^ Young People; and Missions. the supervision and the holding of a month- ly meeting and an anniversary of each so- ciety. They gave $432,000 for Missions last year, and are showing a healthy growth in intelligent sympathy and practical aid. Our Board of Education, with funds se- cured principally through the collections taken annually on Children's Day, has as- sisted 12,411 young people from our Sun- day schools to an advanced education. Of these 7,182 became ministers, 863 mission- aries, and 2,586 teachers. One quarter of the missionaries of the Woman's Foreign ]\Iissionary Society, and twenty-eight per cent of the foreign missionaries of the Parent Board were assisted during their preparation by this society. The Epworth League occupies high ground in its work for world evangeliza- tion. It requires a standing committee to be appointed in every chapter and organi- zation, under the chairmanship of the sec- 4 49 Young People; and Missions. end vice president, to which is committed the Department of World Evangelism, in- cluding Christian stewardship, Church be- nevolences, and the various forms of mis- sionary activity and study. IMission study is a regular feature of its educational plan. It regularly prints outlines and suggestions for mission and Bible study rally days and monthly missionary topics on its topic cards and in its official organ. Last year it gave direction to 482 mission study classes, with an enrollment of 6,102, systematically study- ing the prescribed courses, and a great many classes were not officially reported. In three years over 13,000 have been en- rolled in its mission study classes. A total of 17,180 copies of Studies in the Life of Christ, and many copies of its other Bible study courses, were in use last year. The Missionary Society has a young people's secretary and a missionary editor with well-organized offices. These are di- 50 Young PiiOPLK and Missions. rectcd by a standing committee of the Board and, together with the Epworth League, Board of Education, the Sunday School Union, and the Woman's Foreign and Woman's Home Missionary Societies, are doing a great work among our young people, and constantly making more mani- fest the demands and possibilities of this vast field. They are creating and circu- lating literature, planning for and assisting at conventions, preparing and displaying missionary exhibits, conducting corre- spondence, and directing student campaigns and campaigners. Last year, under the di- rection of our young people's secretary, 30 colleges were visited and conferences held to train campaigners, and 132 campaigners were placed in the field to organize and con- duct missionary and Bible study classes, circulate literature, and locate missionary libraries. During the year cards, leaflets, and pamphlets, aggregating 700,000 pieces, 51 Young Pe:opIve; and Missions. were printed and sent out by the Young People's Department and the Epworth League, on Missions, Bible Study, Stew- ardship, and General Benevolences, This includes nearly 70,000 circular letters. The official organs of the Sunday School Union, the Epworth League, the Parent Board, and both the Woman's Missionary Societies are stressing mission study and mission work among the young. Two Missionary Campaign Libraries have been published, one of 16 volumes, the other of 20 volumes, and 6,348 sets, or 111,472 volumes, have been sold. Missionary text- books and helps are being prepared in con- nection with the Society of Christian En- deavor, and a most comprehensive plan is being developed in connection with "The Young People's Missionary Movement," having as its object the coordination of the young people and woman's Boards of all the churches in the study of missions, one 52 Young People; and Missions. country being particularized each year. The far-reaching influence of this is be- yond calculation. Four Great Movements. Each of the four great movements, the Sunday School, the Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations, the Young People's Societies, and the Young People's Missionary Movement, has its distinctive field and commission, but they naturally overlap and supplement each the other. All are the legitimate children of the Church which begat and nurtures them. She rejoices in their development. Their success is her honor, and they are honored in being able to aid with growing efficiency in preparing her for "the coming of Him who is Lord of all. The Church which neglects her young people "proves herself improvident and must neither won- der nor complain if Heaven leaves her noth- 53 Young People; and Missions. ing to nurse but her own desolation." What is true of the Churches in the United States in their relation to this great problem, is in a measure true of all the Churches and lands of Christendom. Vision Through the Holy Spirit, Nothing is accomplished without zision. Those through whom the Spirit of God has its most efficient work are the seers, those who see the vision of God and of human opportunity. They have the first qualifi cation for leadership in the world's evan gelization. We are now living in the dis- pensation of the Holy Spirit, when it was promised, "Your young men shall see vi- sions," and the spirit of teaching shall be given to your sons and daughters. Surely, "The light that never was on sea or land" is the illumination of these organized activi- ties of the young people. Their responsibility and their goal is the 54 YouxG PEorLii AND Missions. world's evangelization. Their challenge is to the host of God. Their activity, devel- opment, organization, and spirit give hope that in and through the young people — who rapidly transform knowledge into power and are teeming with that joyous fullness of creative life which radiates thoughts as inspirations and dissipates "the torpor of narrow vision and indolent ignorance" by the irresistible power of the broad human gladness found in a life of unselfish love of their kind — the desire of God shall be real- ized, "who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." 55 11. THE CHURCH'S IMPERATIVE DUTY. By JOHN R. MOTT, M.A, It is the imperative duty of the Church to evangeHze the world in this generation. What is meant by the evangehzation of the world in this generation ? It means to give every person an adequate opportunity to know Jesus Christ as personal Saviour and Lord. We do not mean the conversion of the world in this generation. We do not imply a hasty or superficial preaching of the Gospel. We do not use the expression as a prophecy. It calls attention to what may and ought to be done, not necessarily to what is actually going to occur. We do not minimize the importance of any method 56 The Church's Imperative Duty. of missionary work which has been and is being used by the Spirit of God. We rather add emphasis to all the regular forms of missionary work, such as educational, med- ical, literary, and evangelistic. As Dr. Den- nis says, "The evangelistic method must not be regarded as monopolizing the evan- gelistic aim, which should itself pervade all the other methods." The evangelization of the world in this generation should not be regarded as an end in itself. The Church will not have fulfilled her task when the Gospel has been preached to all men. Such evangelization must be followed by baptism of the converts, by their organization into churches, by building them up in knowl- edge, faith, and character, and by training them for service. The great objective should be always kept in mind, namely, the planting and developing in all non-Christian lands of self-supporting, self-directing, and self-propagating churches. 57. Young People and Missions. Trustees oe the Gospel. It is the obligation of the Church to evan- gehze the world in this generation. It is our duty because all men need Christ. The Scriptures clearly teach that if men are to be saved they must be saved through Christ. The burning question then is, Shall hundreds of millions of men now living, who need Christ, and who are capable of receiving help from him, pass away with- out having even the opportunity to know him? To have a knowledge of Christ is to incur a responsibility to every man who has not. We are trustees of the Gospel, and in no sense sole proprietors. What a crime against mankind to keep a knowledge of the mission of Christ from two thirds of the human race! It is our duty to evangelize the world in this generation, because of the missionary command of Christ. It seems impossible to explain the final commission 58 The Church's Imperativk Duty, of Christ as given in St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and the Acts, as not implying that each generation of Christians shoukl at least preach Christ to its own known and accessible world. This was obviously the interpretation placed upon the final commis- sion by the Christians of the first genera- tion. Every reason for doing the work of evan- gelization at all demands that it be done not only thoroughly, but also as speedily as pos- sible. We are responsible for the present generation — for those who are living at the same time with ourselves. The Christians of the past generation could not reach them, neither can the Christians of succeeding generations. Obviously each generation of Christians must evangelize its own genera- tion of non-Christians if they are ever to be evangelized. The present generation is one of unexampled crisis in all parts of the un- evangelized world. Failure now will make 59 Young Pejople and Missions. the future task very much more difficult. It is also one of marvelous opportunity. The world is better known and more acces- sible, its needs are more articulate and intel- ligible, and our ability to go into all the world with the Gospel is greater than in any preceding generation. The forces of sin are not delaying their work, but with world- wide enterprise and ceaseless vigor they are seeking to accomplish their deadly work. The World's Evangelization Possible. We do not ignore the difficulties in the way of making Christ known to the present generation — difficulties physical, political, social, intellectual, moral, and religious. It is well, however, to be on our guard against the tendency to magnify difficulties unduly, and to minimize the providential opportuni- ties, the promises of God, and the resources of the witnesses and ambassadors of Jesus Christ. 60 The Church's Imtkrative Duty. It is possible to evangelize the world in this generation. It will help us to realize this possibility if we look at a number of considerations. It is possible in view of the achievements of the Christians of the first generation. They did more to accomplish the evangeli- zation of the world than has any succeeding generation. Their achievements are re- markable when viewed numerically, or when we consider how all classes of society were reached. The persecutions of the first and second centuries, the fierce literary attacks against Christianity, and the strong apolo- gies in its defense, attest how vigorously the faith of Christ must have been propagated by the first disciples. These achievements seem very remarkable when we remember that at the time of the ascension of Christ the whole number of believers did not ex- ceed a few hundred. They seem all the more wonderful in the light of the fact that 6i Young People and AIissions. the early Christians had to meet practically every difficulty which confronts the Church to-day. As we recall the smallness of their number and the difficulties which beset their path and, on the other hand, remind our- selves not only of our obstacles, but also of the marvelous opportunities and resources of the Church to-da}', shall we not agree with Dr. Storrs that the balance of advan- tage is with us of this generation? In studying the secret of what they accom- plished one is led to the conclusion that they employed no vitally important method which cannot be used to-day, and that they availed themselves of no power which we also cannot utilize. Recent Missionary Achievements. It is possible to evangelize the world in this generation in view of recent missionary achievements of the Church. Note the work of the Presbyterians in Korea ; of the Rus- 62 ThK CllL'RCU's I.MPDRATIVK DUTV. sians, as well as of some of the Protestant Churches, in Japan; of the Church Mis- sionary Society, the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the American Board in the Fukien Province ; of the London Mission- ary Society in Central China ; of the China Inland JNlission in the interior provinces of China ; of the United Presbyterians of Scotland, and the Irish Presbyterians in Manchuria ; of the American Board in the Sandwich Islands, the Wesleyans in the Fiji Islands, and of Dr. Paton in the New Plebrides ; of the American Baptists among the Karens, and also among the Telugus ; of the Gossner Alission among the Kols during its first twenty years ; of the Church Missionary Society, and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Southern In- dia ; of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Northern India ; of the Reformed Church in India, and also in Arabia ; of the Ger- man Lutherans on the island of Sumatra ; of 63 Young People and Missions. the London Mission and the Norwegian Lutherans in Madagascar; of the Church Missionary Society in Uganda, the Baptists on the Congo, the Southern Presbyterians at Luebo, and the United Presbyterians in the Nile valley. Recall the medical work of Dr. Clark at Amritsar, Dr. Kerr at Can- ton, Dr. Post at Beirut, the Ranaghat Med- ical Mission in Bengal, the Tientsin Hos- pital, and of many other medical missiona- ries in all parts of the wide world-field. Think also of Duff College ; the Woman's College at Lucknow; the colleges of the Church Missionary Society and the Amer- ican Board in Southern India; the Jaffna College and the Oodooville Girls' School in Ceylon ; the True Light Seminary in Can- ton ; the Anglo-Chinese College at Foo- chow ; Dr. Mateer's college at Tung Chow ; the Training Institute at Tung Chow ; the early history of the Doshisha ; the Wom- en's College at Nagasaki; the Euphrates 64 Thk Church's Imperative Duty. College ; the Syrian Protestant College ; the college at Asyut, Egypt, and many others. Xor should we overlook the vital relation which literary work has had and always will have to the evangelization of the world. The patient and thorough work of the hun- dreds of missionaries who have devoted themselves to the translation of the Scrip- tures and Christian literature, the ceaseless activity of the scores of mission presses like those at Beirut, Shanghai, and Calcutta, and the wonderful achievements of the Bible so- cieties in all lands, which have multiplied the power and influence of all other workers and agencies, and sown the seed of 'the kingdom far and wide. The most striking example of achievement on the home field in the interest of foreign missions is that of the ^Moravians. The}' have done more in proportion to their ability than any other body of Christians. If the members of Protestant churches in Great Britain and 5 65 Young Peoplk and ^Missions. America gave in like proportion their mis- sionary contributions would aggregate over $60,000,000, or a fourfold increase. And if they went out as missionaries in cor- responding numbers we would have a force of nearly four hundred thousand foreign workers, which is vastly more than the num- ber of missionaries estimated as necessary to achieve the evangelization of the world in a generation. The point up to which I have been leading in this long catalogue of illustrations is this : What has there been in connection with the work already accom- plished which is not reproducible? In view of the extent to which the Gospel has already been thoroughly preached, whether with or without apparent results, by a com- paratively small number of workers, it does seem reasonable to expect that by a judi- cious increase and proper distribution of all missionary agencies which have commended themselves to the Church, an adequate op- 66 The Church's Imi'krativk Duty. portunity to know Christ as Saviour and Lord might be given to all people within our day. The Church's Resources and Agencies. It is possible to evangelize the world in this generation in view of the opportunities and resources of the Church and the facil- ities at her disposal. We must not measure the present ability of the Church by the standards and practice of a Church in the past, only half awake to her duty to the non-Christian world, and under far less favorable conditions for world-wide mis- sionary operations. It hardly seems right to call a thing impossible or impracticable which has not been attempted. Livingstone said, ''You don't know what you can do until you try.'' The world-wide proclama- tion of the Gospel awaits accomplishment by a generation which shall have the obedi- ence and determination to attempt the task. 67 Young People; and Missions. For the first time in the history of the Church, practically the whole world is open. We are not justified in saying that there is a single country on the face of the earth where the Church, if she seriously desires, cannot send ambassadors of Christ to pro- claim his message. Members, Workers, and Money. The Church not only has an unexampled opportunity, but also possesses remarkable resources. Think of her membership ! There are not less than 135,000,000 members of Protestant Churches, In the British Isles, the United States, Canada, and Australasia alone there are over 25,000,000 communi- cants in evangelical Protestant Churches. Contrast these with the few thousands con- stituting the small, unacknowledged, and despised sect which, on the day of Pente- cost, began the evangelization of the then known and accessible world. As we recall 68 TiiK Church's Imperative Duty. tlic achievements of that infant Church, can we question the ahihly of the Christians of our day, were they unitedly to resolve to ac- complish it, so to distribute within the pres- ent generation the Gospel messengers and agencies that all mankind might have an opportunity to know Christ, the Saviour and Lord ? We have workers enough to send. It would take less than one fiftieth of the Christian }-oung men and women who will go out from Christian colleges in the United States and Canada within this generation to furnish a sufficient force of foreign workers to achieve the evangelization of the world in this gen- eration. When we add the Christian students of Britain, the Continent, and Australasia, it will be seen that we can well alTord to spare the workers. Their going forth will quicken and strengthen, rather than weaken, the entire Church. 69 Young Peopi^e and Missions. The money power of the Church is enor- mous. If only one fourth of the Protes- tants of Europe, Australasia, and America give but one cent a day toward the evan- gelization of the world, it would yield a fund of over $100,000,000, as contrasted with about $20,000,000 given during the past year. Dr. Josiah Strong said, twenty years ago: "There is money enough in the hands of Church members to sow every acre of the earth with the seed of truth. . . . God has intrusted to his children power enough to give the Gospel to every creature by the close of this century ; but it is being misapplied. Indeed, the world would have been evangelized long ago if Christians had perceived the relation of money to the king- dom and accepted their stewardship." Organizations. With over five hundred missionary so- cieties and auxilaries there are, without 70 Thk Chukch's iMrKRA'rivic Duty. doubt, missionary organizations and socie- ties in sufficient number, and possessing sufficient strength and experience to guide an enterprise indefinitely larger than the present missionary operations of the Church. The Bible societies, not less than 80 in number, have translated the Scriptures en- tirely or in part into 421 languages and dia- lects. If this work is properly promoted, before this generation closes, each African, each Pacific islander, and each inhabitant of Asia will be able to read or hear in his own tongue "the wonderful works of God." The organized Christian student move- ments constitute a factor characteristic of this generation. There are 14 of these national or international student move- ments, comprising over 1,600 Christian as- sociations, with a membership of nearly 90,000 students and professors. They are seeking to make the universities and col- 71 Young People; and Missions. leges strongholds and propagating centers for aggressive Christianity. Out of them has come the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, which has in itself become a great factor in the world's evan- gelization. It has enrolled thousands of students as volunteers for foreign service. Fully 3,000 of them have already reached the fields. The Church, in possessing this important recruiting and training agency, is equipped as in no preceding age for a world-embracing evangelistic campaign. The various Christian young people's or- ganizations which have been developed within the past two decades have added tre- mendously to the power of the Church. In North America alone these movements include fully 6,000,000 young people. These young people themselves, if proper- ly educated and guided, are able tO give and to raise each year a sum large enough to support all the foreign missionaries who 72 Tiuc Church's Impi;rativic Duty. would be required to accomplish the evan- gelizatiou of the world. The Suuday schools constitute a large, undeveloped missionary resource. They contain over 20,000,000 scholars. If these were trained to give two cents a week it would yield an amount greater than the present total missionary gifts of Christen- dom. The native Church is the human resource which affords largest promise for the evan- gelization of the world. It has 1,500,000 communicants and nearly 5,000,000 adher- ents. The character and activity of these Christians compares very favorably with that of Church members in Christian lands. There are nearly 80,000 native workers, and their number and efficiency are rapidly increasing. There are 1,000,000 children and young people in the various mission schools and institutions. From the ranks of these students and their successors, dur- 73 Young People and Missions. ing the next few years, are to come the hundreds of thousands of evangelists, Bible women, and other workers who will be needed to preach Christ to the unevangel- ized world. This emphasizes the impor- tance of the Student Young Men's Christian Association movement in mission lands. In uniting the native Christian students, first, to lead their fellow-students to Christ, and then, after their preparation is com- pleted, to go forth to evangelize their own countrymen, it is doing much to solve the problem of the world's speedy and thorough evangelization. Great Special Facilities. In considering the Church's present power of achievement, we should take ac- count not only of her resources, but also of the facilities at her disposal. Among these should be mentioned the work of the eighty-three geographical societies, which, 74 TiiK CiiuRcii's Imi'i;uativiv Duty. through the investigations which they have encouraged, have done so much to make the wliole world known. Another help to the Church to-day is the intimate knowledge which she now pos- sesses of the social, moral, and spiritual condition and need of all races of mankind. The greatly enlarged and improved means of communication constitutes one of the chief facilities of which the Church of this generation can avail herself. Of the 400,000 miles of railway lines in the world a considerable and growing mileage is al- ready to be found in non-Christian lands. It is possible, for example, to go by rail to all parts of India and Japan. The greatest railway enterprises of the time are those now building or projected in non-Christian lands. When even a part of these material- ize, as they will within a few years, more than one third of the unevangelized world will be made much more accessible to mis- 75 Young People; and Missions. sionaries. It took Judson eleven months to go from Salem to Calcutta. The trip can now be made in a month. Moffat was three months on the way from England to the Cape. Now the voyage lasts but two weeks. These developments mean an im- mense saving in time to the missionary force. The 170,000 miles of submarine cables, which have cost at least $250,000,- 000, are also of great service to the mission- ary societies. They help the Church not only by promoting general intelligence, but also in facilitating the financial transactions and administrative v/ork of missions. The thoroughly organized news agencies which, through the secular press, bring before the members of the Church facts regarding the most distant and needy nations, serve in- directly to awaken and foster interest in the inhabitants of less favored lands. The Uni- versal Postal Union, with its wonderful organization and its vast army of well-nigh 76 Tiu^ Church's Lmpkrative Duty. 1,000,000 employees, immensely facilitates the work of foreign missions. Within a few years, doubtless, it will include within its sphere of action practically all of those unevangelizcd parts of the world which have not already been brought within its reach. As a result of all these means of communication the world has become very small. They have, as it were, united the separate continents into one great nation. They have made the most remote parts of the inhabited world easily accessible. Ram- say points out that "There are no stronger influences in education and administration than rapidity and ease of traveling, and the postal service. Paul, both by precept and example, impressed the importance of both on his churches." The printing press has greatly multiplied the power of the Church to disseminate Christian truth. At the beginning of this century printing was done on hand presses, 77 Young People and Missions. and only from one to two hundred impres- sions could be taken in an hour. Now there are presses which print, bind, and fold 100,000 papers in an hour. The lino- type and many other improvements in printing have, to a remarkable degree, re- duced the price of books. In past genera- tions Bibles were expensive. Carey's first Bible sold at $20. A Bengali Bible can now be purchased for a few cents. So there is no mechanical difficulty in the way of giving the Bible to every family under heaven. The influence and protection of Christian governments is a decided help to missions. In no age could ambassadors of Christ carry on their work with such safety. Over one third of the population of the un- evangelized world are under the direct sway of Christian rulers. Moreover, the Protes- tant powers are in a position to exert an influence which will make possible the free preaching of the Gospel to the remaining 78 The Church's Imperative Duty. two thirds of the people who have not heard of Christ. Why has God made the whole world known and accessible to our generation? Why has he provided us with such won- derful agencies ? Not that the forces of evil might utilize them. Not that they may be wasted or unused. Such vast preparations must have been made to further some mighty beneficent purpose. Every one of these wonderful facilities has been intended primarily to serve as a handmaid to the sub- lime enterprise of extending and building up the kingdom of Jesus Christ in all the world. The hand of God, in opening door after door among the nations, and in bring- ing to light inventions, is beckoning the Church of our day to larger achievements. Secular Enterprises and False Faiths. The undertakings and achievements in the realm of secular and non-Christian en- 79 Young People: and Missions. terprise should stimulate us to believe that it is possible for the Church to evangelize the world in this generation. Gold was dis- covered in the Klondike, and within a little over a year it is said that over 100,000 men started over the difficult passes, at great risk and cost of life, to possess themselves of the riches of that region. Stanley wanted some twenty or thirty English helpers to accompany him on his last great African journey of exploration. He advertised the fact, and within a few days over 1,200 men responded, eager to face the deadly climate and other great perils involved in the ex- pedition. It is reported that in the last Presidential campaign in America one of the two great political parties, within a few weeks, placed two documents on the money question in the hands of practically every voter in the whole land. America has had over 50,000 soldiers in the Philippine Is- lands. This is not considered an extrava- 80 The Church's Imperative Duty. gant number for the country to send to the ends of the earth to accomplish her purpose. It is noticeable that when the regiments re- turn to the home land they receive one con- tinuous ovation from the time they enter the Golden Gate until they reach their homes. There were at one time as many as 200,000 soldiers in the British forces at the Cape. We have seen Canada send off contingent after contingent with cheers and with prayers. Similar scenes have taken place in Australia and New Zealand. We have all been impressed by this exhibition of the unity, loyalty, and power of the Brit- ish empire. We have also been moved by the example of the African republics, as we have seen not only the young men, but also the old men and boys going out to fight the battles of their country. It is looked upon as a matter of course that both of the contending parties should pour out, without stint, the lives and substance of 6 81 You^;G People and IMissions. their people. And yet, when it is suggested that all Protestant Christendom unite in sending out 50,000 missionaries, more or less, it is called impracticable and visionary, as being too severe a strain on the re- sources of the Church. The naval budgets of at least three countries are from three to live times as great as the sum required to sustain the present missionary forces of the Church. The IMormon Church numbers only 250,000, but it has 1,700 missionaries at work in different parts of America and other lands. If they need more it is said that their system would enable them to send out between 7,000 and 8,000. The little island of Ceylon has sent out multitudes of Buddhist missionaries to all parts of Asia. In the University of El Azhar, in Cairo, we found over 8,000 Mohammedan students coming from countries as widely separated as Morocco, the western provinces of China, and the East India islands. They were be- 82 Till; CiiuKcifs Tmi'kkativk Duty. in.q- preparetl to g-o out as missionaries of the false Prophet. Xo human, secular, or non-Christian undertaking should surpass in enterprise, devotion, and aggressiveness the Church of Jesus Christ. Tiir: Thought of' !Many Leadkrs. Notwithstanding the considerations upon which we have been dwelling, there are here and there to be found those who speak of the idea of the evangelization of the world in this generation as fantastic and visionary. And yet was it not Gordon Hall and Samuel Xewell wdio, in 1818, is- sued an appeal to Christians to evangelize the world within a generation? Did not the missionaries of the Sandwich Islands, in 1836, unite in a most impressive appeal to the Church to preach the Gospel to every creature within their generation? Did not the Shanghai IMissionary Conference of 1877 express its desire to have China eman- 83 Young P£;opIvE and Missions. cipated from the thraldom of sin in this generation, and its belief that it might be done? An increasing number of the most eminent and experienced missionaries of the world have expressed their strong be- lief in the possibility of the realization of this watchword. Secretaries of several of the leading mission boards of America and England have indorsed the idea without reservation. Editors, including that thor- ough missionary student, Dr. Robson of Scotland, have spoken of its reasonableness. The bishops of the Anglican Communion, at the last Lambeth Conference, expressed their gratification at the student missionary uprising which had taken as its watchword the evangelization of the world in this gen- eration. In 1900, at the great student con- vention in London, Alexander MacKennal, president of the Free Church Council, said, regarding the evangelization of the world in this generation, when the idea was put 84 The Church's Imperative Duty. before him, "I felt first the audacity of the j)roposaI, then the reasonableness of the proposal, and lastly that the confidence of young men and women would carry it into effect I was sure. It seemed to me that the very finger of God was pointing the way, and the Spirit of God inspiring the en- deavor." At the same convention the Archbishop of Canterbury said that "It is not an inconceivable thing that, as God has within the last generation opened the way, so within the present generation he may crown his works. It seems as if we who are now living, the young men among us who are now joining in this very union, those who are now studying the great task to which the Lord has called them, shall, before they die, be able to say : 'The whole race of mankind is not yet Christian, but, nevertheless, there is no nation upon earth where the Christian faith is not taught if men will accept it; there is no place upon 85 Young People and jMissions. the whole surface of the globe where man may not hear the message of God and the story of the cross.' " It is significant that during the great Ecumenical Conference in New York in the year 1900 it was not the young men chiefly, but the veterans of the cross who exhorted us to larger achieve- ment. Was it not Bishop Thoburn who said that if that Conference and those whom it represented would do their duty, within the first decade of the new century ten mil- lions of souls might be gathered into the Church of Christ? Was it not Dr. Ash- more who expressed the belief that before the twentieth century closes Christianity would be the dominant religion among the multitudinous inhabitants of the Chinese empire? And was it not Dr. Chamberlain who affirmed the possibility of bringing In- dia under the sway of Christ within the life- time of some, at least, in that assembly? If these great leaders are thus sanguine of vic- 86 Tiiic Church's Impkuativi: Duty. tory, should those of us who arc at home hesitate? I have just received the pub- hshed report of the Conference of Mission- aries held in India a few months ago. That Conference, composed of the official representatives of all missionary societies at work in India, unanimously expressed the belief that India should be evangelized in this generation, and appeals to Christendom to send 9,000 missionaries to India that it may be accomplished. Let us not forget that the evangelization of the world is God's enterprise. Jesus Christ is its leader. He who is the same yesterday, to-day, yea, and forever, abides in those who go forth to preach for him. The Holy Spirit is able to shake whole com- munities. The word of God is quick and powerful. Prayer can remove mountains. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. What must be done if the world is to be 87 Young People and Missions. evangelized in this generation? We who are delegates in this Convention and all those who hold positions of leadership in the work of the Church must have clear and strong convictions that it is our duty to do all in our power as individuals and as a Church to bring the knowledge of Jesus Christ in our day to every creature. We must believe that this is not only desirable, but also absolutely necessary. We must look upon it not only as a possible task, but also as one to be accomplished. If we are skeptical as to its being the will of God that the Church shall put forth her energies to bring the truth about Christ within range of all men of our generation this tremendously important work will not be done. A Statesmanlike Plan. It is likewise important that we have a statesmanlike plan. The present plans of the Church are certainly not consistent with 88' Thk Church's Imperative Duty. a deep conviction that in our generation all men should be given an opportunity to know Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. There is one denomination which has within the past few months adopted such a states- manlike policy. We may well give heed to their example. I refer to the United Pres- byterian Church of this country. It is one of the smallest denominations in the land, numbering as it does considerably less than 200,000 communicants. It is not regarded as one of the wealthy denominations. It has the reputation of being very conserva- tive. It has at the present time three foreign missions, one in the Punjab in India, one in Egypt, and one recently opened in the Egyptian Soudan. From first-hand knowledge of these missions I am prepared to say that they rank among the best conducted and most fruit- ful missions in all the world. Several months ago their missionaries in the Pun- 89 Young People and Missions. jab came together and discussed at great length the problem of evangelizing the part of the population of that region for which they considered themselves primarily re- sponsible. Not far from the same time their missionaries in the Egyptian field in conference considered the same problem. They came to the conclusion that in these two fields alone there are about 13,000,000 for whose evangelization they are in a spe- cial sense responsible because of their provi- dential relation to these fields. They esti- mated that to evangelize the people in this territory within a generation would require 460 new missionaries, a sixfold increase of their present missionary staff. This calls for one missionary for every 25,000 people to be evangelized. The conclusions of these two missions came before the Gen- eral Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in this country last spring, and that body added its cordial indorsement to the 90 Thj2 Church's Lmpickativk Duty. unanimous appeal of the two missions for the number of new workers required to ac- complish the evangelization of these needy and difficult fields within a generation. It is interesting- to notice that this program calls for one missionary to every 258 mem- bers of the denomination, and to sustain the entire missionary staff proposed would re- quire annually but $6 per member. That this is not an extravagant expectation is seen from the one fact that the Aletho- dists of poor Finland in 1902 gave $8.61 each toward Christian and philanthropic enterprises. If the members of our Church were to adopt a similar policy it would in- crease our missionary staff over 10,000. The example of this Church has its lesson for us. We should map out that part of the world field for which we are specially re- sponsible. We should make a study of the strategic positions in our field and deter- mine the order for their adequate occupa- 91 Young People and Missions. tion. We should decide on the number of men and women hkely to be required year after year for a period of time. We should adopt measures to cooperate with the Vol- unteer Movement in raising up and training these workers. Our relationship to other missionary bodies should be wisely defined and the rules of comity should be conscien- tiously observed, that nothing be lost by overlapping or friction. In a word, our plan should embrace that part of the world to which God has related us and should comprehend our generation. Working the Plan. We must not only have a statesmanlike plan, but must work that plan. To this end we should give first attention to the raising up of workers. Men will be needed through the coming years to lead this en- terprise as a whole ; that is, men to become missionary bishops, secretaries of the home 92 The Church's Imperative; Duty. societies, heads of great foreign under- takings like our colleges, and leaders of forward movements. These men — and their number will not exceed a few scores in the generation — should be men of great strength and of large equipment. They are the product not of human maneuvering, but of the work of the Holy Spirit, whose function it is to separate men unto the work whereunto God has called them. We shall want many hundreds of mis- sionaries before the generation is past. We have few, if any, more foreign workers now than ten years ago, although. the field which we occupy is much larger and far more ripe than at that time. We must not overlook the great peril resulting from in- adequate evangelization of a mission field. We must have more workers to substitute for the aged soon to retire ; to reenter abandoned fields ; to relieve the overworked staff in certain districts ; to carry on a wise 93 Young People and Missions. policy of expansion. Our Corresponding vSecretaries have maintained that on most of the fields the number should be at once doubled if we are to do justice to our op- portunity. If you press me as to how many missionaries will be required, I would an- swer, A sufficient number for the evangeli- zation of the part of the world for which our denomination is responsible. We should not disguise the fact that this calls for a far larger number than we have real- ized. Where will they be obtained? It has been said that God sifted Britain to found New England. He will sift our col- leges and seminaries to discover and sepa- rate the workers for the establishment of his kingdom in the needy fields to which he has related us. Nothing less than an army of native pas- tors, evangelists, and teachers will be re- quired. It should be an object of constant thought and effort on our part to strengthen 94 Tin; CiuKcn's ] m ri:RATi\i-, Duty. the native arm of the service. Where we shall want hundreds of missionaries we shall want thousands of native workers. By multiplying- the native agencies we arc working in line with the most direct and most effective conquest of the nations. Therefore, we should greatly reinforce our educational work, \\nicn we pause to think on what has been accomplished by our col- leges in America, such as Wesleyan. Dickinson, Ohio Wesleyan, Northwestern, Drew, Boston, Garrett, and the Woman's College in Baltimore, it gives most stimu- lating suggestions as to what may be ac- complished by developing our colleges and seminaries on the foreign field. Of equal importance is it that we have a great number of pastors, editors, and lay workers who will devote themselves to leading forward the forces of the home Church. We need an increasing number of men and women who say, If God does not 95 Young People and Missions. permit us to go abroad we will stay at home, but will stay for the sake of the whole world. These workers will regard the home churches not only as a field, but also and chiefly as a force to be wielded on be- half of the world's evangelization. They will look upon the United States as a base for aggressive operations in a world-wide campaign. Who can doubt for a moment that if all the home leaders of the Church really desired to have the world evangelized in this generation and set themselves reso- lutely to bring up the hosts of God to the task, it would be accomplished ? When our pastors and lay leaders are powerfully seized by this idea, then the rank and file of the membership will be educated and fired on the subject; then money sufficient will be forthcoming ; then missionary candi- dates will be offering themselves in ade- quate numbers; then the spirit of prayer will be upon all our churches. 96 The Church's Imperative Duty. Vision the Strength of Life. If the world is to be evangelized in our day we must have not only conviction, a statesmanlike plan, and a faithful working of our plan, but we must also have vision. A man's visions are indeed the strength of his life. Where there is no vision the people perish. Let us catch and become absorbed with the vision of this whole world evangelized. Let us look down through the years and see the Gospel mes- sengers and agencies so widely and so wise- ly distributed that a personal knowledge of Christ the Saviour is readily accessible to all people. Let us be under the spell of that sight beautiful on every mountain of those wdio proclaim good tidings and publish peace. Let us behold that "great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues" standing "before the throne and before the 7 97 Young People; and Missions. Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands ;" crying "with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." "And lo, there dawns a yet more glorious day: The saints triumphant rise in bright array, The King of glory passes on his way. Alleluia ! Alleluia ! " From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast. Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host. Singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Alleluia ! Alleluia !" 98 III. THE EPWORTH LEAGUE AND MISSIONS. By REV, JOSEPH F. BERRY, D.D. I WONDER if I am mistaken when I say that the Young People's Movement is the most significant fact in the history of the Church for fifty years. I say the most sig- nificant, and yet none of us understand how significant it is. He who knows but Httle about painting is apt to get too near to a painting to obtain the best view, but the true critic almost always stands at some distance in order to form his judgment. What is true of pictures is likewise true of many other things in this life, so that "dis- tance lends enchantment to the view." Likewise we might have a great man 99 Young People and Missions. among us, but the man's work may not be understood. What is true of the picture and of the man is equally true of a move- ment — a great movement. There may be a great religious movement in our imme- diate presence, and yet we might not under- stand its sublimity and its influence upon our time and thought. It is often necessary for us to look at some things for five years, for ten years, for fifteen years, in order to understand them properly. This Young People's Movement is still in its form- ative period, and when I say we thank God for it, we should thank God simply for its beginning — because the evolution has begun. Take the Sunday school as an example ; it has taken the Sunday school one hundred years to reach a respectable position, and so it will take more than thirteen years, more than twenty years, more than fifty years for this marvelous development in the life of ICO RpwoRTu Lkague and Missions. the modern Chvirch to reach its maximum of efficiency and success. Therefore I beg you to remember this — that we are simply en- deavoring to find the l^est way to do these things. As yet we are not ready to be judged as being at the maximum of our power and ability to do them. Stages of Devei^opment, I had an idea, my friends, that yonder at Cleveland the men who founded the Ep- worth League were not divinely inspired to make much of the plan when it was first conceived. They prayed a good deal, and trusted in the Lord a good deal — there is no question about that — but I do not believe the plan was especially ordained and in- spired. It was the best arrangement of work that could be thought out to meet the conditions that then prevailed. I judge that was the crisis in the history of the organization. lOI Young People and Missions. At the close of the last General Confer- ence I went up in the office of the Epworth League headquarters, and as I went in I realized for the first time what the Confer- ence had done. I was not only the Editor of the Herald, but had become the Secretary of the Epworth League. I found, in the central office of the Epworth League, that they recorded the names of new chapters, that a yearbook was prepared and some lit- erature provided for circulation — that was all that was being done there. Understand me, I am not criticising the Epworth League of that day, but I merely wish to draw your attention to the scope of its work at that time. Well, friends, I went with a sad heart to the caucus, for I realized that the work of the League was to be reformed and remodeled, and I knew that some were in favor of reform, and some — men just as conscientious as I — were against any reform. Altogether we spent 1 02 Epwortii Luague and Missions. three of the most uncomfortable days that I have ever experienced, due to the excess- ive heat in Chicago that week. The Forward Movement. About twenty tilings were presented to us as worthy of our consideration. One by one they were safely disposed of, and then we came to the advance movement of the Epworth League, and this was divided into four headings: First, The Systematic and Devotional Study of the English Bible ; sec- ond, Missions and Allied Benevolences ; third, Christian Stewardship ; fourth, Indi- vidual Evangelism. The Board of Control did a wise thing in mapping out the work of the quadrennium, for God has made this thing a forward movement and his benediction has been up- on our work in a very marvelous manner ever since. But the missionary work under that plan occupied a minor relation. It was 103 Young Peopi,e; and Missions. simply to be promoted by a committee under the supervision of the first department, but there gradually grew up a vision that that minor relation was unworthy of the great cause of the evangelization of the world, and when we came to Philadelphia last May we came down with prayers in our hearts and upon our lips. The Nkw Missionary Department. Now, everybody was in favor of giving missions the largest possible chance ; every- body was in favor of legislating for the pro- motion of that cause, but there was a very wide difference of opinion as to what was really the wise thing to do. Everybody in the lecture room of that Arch Street Church was taking particular interest in this cause during those two days. Other matters were up for consideration, but those other mat- ters — important in themselves — were made to sink almost out of sight in view of this 104 Epworth League and Missions. major issue concerning that which was up- on our hearts. I believe, brothers, that the Epworth League had providential origin, for God was in the hearts of our men fourteen years ago. So the legislation of last May was providential, and the Holy Ghost was there and God was there. So after our defeat and our debate — debate that was sometimes spirited, and debate that was looked upon with apprehension by Brother Cooper and myself, and we were defeated by a tie vote — our confidence was somehow unshaken. We had insisted upon the new department being called the Department of Missions, and some of the brothers just as stoutly in- sisted that it should not be called that, but when finally some one, as if by accident, suggested that it be called "The Depart- ment of World Evangelism," it seemed to me at that moment that the man who suggested the name was inspired. I like 105 Young People and Missions. the name better now than if we had taken the first one, and I feel heartily thankful to our Father that we decided upon that name. The name has stimulated and awak- ened more interest in the movement than perhaps the original name could have done. The news was flashed out that same af- ternoon by telegraph to several men who were deeply interested in the Church that a "Department of World Evangelism" was now a part of the regular machinery of the Epworth League. The reception of that news, and the ready way in which the League has adjusted itself to the new con- ditions, seem to have amply justified the ac- tion taken by our Board. Summary oe Results. Let me now give you a summary. In 1897 practically no provision had been made for constitutional work for missions. Some 106 Er WORTH LeAGUIC and JMlSSIONS. missionary work was clone, but it was done without authority. Then, there was no study course undertaken by the League; now, over 10,000 young- people are enrolled in our classes. Then, there were practi- cally no missionary books in the hands of the young people of the Church; now, of the IMissionary Campaign Libraries alone over 1 1 1 ,000 volumes have been sold. Then, the Student Campaign had never been heard of; since 1897 ^'^'^^ 37° students in 30 colleges have worked in 25 States and addressed over 200,000 people. Then, there was practically no literature, aside from the Missionary Spoke; now, we have 30 pamphlets and other publications which are available for the young people, to say nothing of the Epzvorth Herald. Verily God has wrought this evolution, and we are going rapidly on. Verily we are getting ready to carry it on to-day, and with God's help and aid and strength in the work 107 Young Pe;ople; and Missions. of evangelizing the world we will carry it on and out in this generation. InDIVIDUAIv EVANGEIvIZATlON. I might say now that the great error of evangelization at home among the rank and file of our membership is putting the re- sponsibility upon the pastor, and the pastor in turn has come to put the responsibility upon the shoulders of some other man — the responsibility of bringing his people to Jesus Christ. The Christian Advocate, New York, and the Northzvestern Christian Advocate, Chi- cago, had a celebrated debate some time ago. The Northwestern claimed that dur- ing the four years of the Twentieth Century Thank Offering Movement 1,500,000 souls had been converted under Methodist preaching. Dr. Buckley took issue with Brother Thompson, and said that could not possibly be, for only 109,000 souls had been 108 Ep WORTH League and Missions. brought into the Church ; therefore he queried, in the language of our Saviour, "Where are the nine?" Having thought of the matter very care- fully during the past few months I say, with a full understanding of what is involved in the remark, that the time has come at home when every member of the Church must understand that he is himself an evangelist, and when we all must cease putting our responsibility upon the pastor, and when the pastor must cease putting his responsibility upon the professional evangelist. The re- sponsibility rests upon each individually, and work in this line, as well as in other lines of Church work, means the consecra- tion of our individual talents, so as to reach individuals by the power of personal per- suasion. Universal Duty. Another thing is also true, namely, that a certain part of the membership of the 109 Young People and Missions. Church must go abroad to preach Jesus Christ to the benighted millions of the world. If God calls them they must go. Do we say, "But we have no such call, therefore we are free from responsibility"? We may as well face the fact — the sooner we face it the better, unless we are prepared to face condemnation — we must go or send them. It is the duty of most of us to send, and the object of this campaign among the young people of our Church is to organize and inspire the young hosts of Methodism to send those who are called ; to back them up by our prayers and our contributions. May God forward this campaign among the young people of our Church ; may God give us wisdom to do the right thing and do it promptly; may God impart to us the mo- tives which should inspire us, and then the success of our work is assured ! 1 10 Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries 1 1012 01234 0990