hijsQ' 
 
 
 The True Source 
 
 of 
 
 Missionary Zeal 
 
 By Rev. ALEX. MACLAR EN, D.D. 
 
 AND 
 
 The Main Instrumental Force 
 
 of 
 
 Missionary Work 
 
 By Rev. E. K. ALDEN, D.D. 
 
 Etc. 
 
 LONDON: MORGAN & SCOTT 
 12 PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS, E.C. 
 
 Price Threepence 
 
 
Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo, doth, 6s. 
 
 John G. Paton, Missionary to the New Hebrides. 
 An Autobiography. Edited by Ins Brother. With 
 Portrait. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Pierson, author of The Crisis of Missions , says : 
 “I consider it unsurpassed in missionary biography. In the 
 whole course of my extensive reading on these topics, a more 
 stimulating, inspiring, and every way first-class book has not 
 fallen into my hands. Everybody ought to read it.” 
 
 “A more fascinating and thrilling bit of missionary history has 
 seldom been given to the public .”—The Christian. 
 
 “ This is a book far beyond our praise. It will take its place 
 with the classics of missions — with the lives of Brainerd and 
 Martyn, and the other records which will endure as long as Christ 
 is preached. Great as has been the work accomplished by the author, 
 we believe it will be found in the end that liis greatest work has 
 been the writing of this volume. It is a book which cannot be 
 read without indescribable emotion. It must surely, now and in 
 days to come, kindle in many souls something of the writer’s own 
 lofty and fervent love .”—The British Weekly. 
 
 Fifth Thousand. Crown 8vo, doth , 6s. 
 
 With Frontispiece. 
 
 THE SECOND PART OF 
 
 John G. Paton, Missionary to the New Hebrides. 
 
 An Autobiography. Edited by his Brother, the Rev. 
 James Paton, B.A. 
 
 “ There can be little doubt that the second part of Mr. Paton’s 
 autobiography will prove as popular as the first instalment. Room 
 has been found for a picture of life among the New Iiebrideans as 
 portrayed by Mrs. Paton in a series of delightful letters to her 
 friends.”— Scotsman. 
 
 “ This fresh instalment of Mr. Paton’s wonderful story heightens 
 our interest in his noble work, and, in spite of his own modest 
 disclaimers, deepens our admiration for his heroic conduct.”— 
 Leeds Mercury. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 HODDER k STOUGHTON, 27 PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
THE TRUE SOURCE 
 
 OF 
 
 MISSIONARY ZEAL 
 
 By Rev. ALEX. MACLAREN, D.D. 
 
 AND 
 
 THE MAIN INSTRUMENTAL FORCE 
 
 OF 
 
 MISSIONARY WORK 
 
 By Rev. E. K. ALDEN, D.D. 
 
 ETC. 
 
 HontJon 
 
 MORGAN AND SCOTT 
 12 PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS, E.C, 
 
Printed by R. & R. Clark, Edinbnrgh , 
 
PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 The address of the Rev. Dr. MacLaren and the paper of 
 the Rev. Dr. Alden, reprinted in the following pages, are 
 issued in the present form because of the conviction that 
 their wide circulation is, in the interests of Missions, much 
 to be desired. 
 
 They need no word of commendation; they speak for 
 themselves. Seldom in the same compass have the 
 essential conditions of true Missionary zeal and of 
 successful Missionary effort been set forth with equal 
 clearness and power. 
 
 If the force of the four-fold considerations urged by 
 Dr. MacLaren were but adequately realised by the 
 supporters of the various Missionary Societies of the 
 United Kingdom and America, the number of Missionaries 
 in connection with these societies might be doubled with¬ 
 out delay. And if, as urged in Dr. Alden’s paper, the 
 duty and privilege and power of prayer in relation to 
 Missions were but duly recognised and exercised, what 
 tidings of thanksgiving and praise would come from 
 every Mission Station in the world! 
 
4 
 
 PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 If after reading, in the spirit of self-application, the 
 soul-stirring words of this pamphlet, each approving 
 reader will also, as opportunity allows, do what is 
 possible to promote its usefulness, it may be that through 
 the instrumentality of this little reprint stimulus may be 
 given to many through whose more prayerful and more 
 earnest action, by the blessing of God, the number shall be 
 greatly increased of those who, out of every kindred, and 
 tongue, and people, and nation, will unite in the glad 
 acclaim, “ TJnto Him that loved us, and ivaslied us from 
 our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and 
 priests unto God and His Father ; to Him be glory and 
 dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” 
 
 B. BROOMHALL. 
 
 2 Pyrland Road, 
 London, N. 
 
THE TEUE SOUECE OF MISSIONAEY ZEAL. 
 
 By Rev. Alex. MacLaren, D.D. 
 
 FEEL that it is a great honour and a still greater 
 responsibility to stand here this afternoon to address 
 theological and medical students. As I understand the 
 object of our meeting, it is to try to lay the claims of 
 the Missionary cause on the hearts of our younger 
 brethren. I am the more glad to have a humble share 
 in this matter because, as I construe the object of this 
 meeting, it is neither in support nor in rivalry of any 
 existing Missionary Society, but for the strengthening 
 of all. 
 
 The Missionary spirit is nothing more than the 
 Christian spirit turned in a definite direction; and there¬ 
 fore to attempt to excite the Missionary spirit without 
 the deepening of the Christian disposition is all lost 
 labour. I have the profoundest distrust of all attempts 
 to work up Christian emotion or Christian conduct in 
 any single direction apart from the deepening and the 
 increasing of that which is the foundation of all—a 
 deeper and a closer communion with Jesus Christ. And 
 so I would urge my brethren to make a definite and 
 continual effort after nearer , deeper , more intimate , 
 prayerful , ennobling , and constant communion with the 
 
6 THE TRUE SOURCE OF MISSIONARY ZEAL 
 
 source of all strength and of all righteousness. It is at 
 Christ’s feet that we learn to read our duty. It is there 
 that duty becomes delight, and it is there that obedience 
 becomes possible. The Christian life is only Christ’s life 
 in me, and is only to be mine if I keep very near the 
 fountain and source of all. And if, dear brethren, we 
 thus, day by day, and moment by moment, honestly, 
 earnestly, prayerfully, seek to knit ourselves more closely 
 to that dear Lord who is nearer to us than our own very 
 hearts, then the life that comes from Him will be kindred 
 with His, even as the seed brings forth in the likeness of 
 the plant from which it fell; and by the might of a 
 living sympathy with Him, and the derivation of His 
 own Spirit into us, we shall have no spasmodic, or 
 galvanised, or partial Missionary spirit, but we shall see 
 the world with Christ’s eyes looking beyond all the 
 surface accidents down to the deep central realities of 
 the case, and, like Him, weeping over that which to the 
 common eye was but a source of gratulation, and seeing 
 men—whatever else they may be—as sheep that have 
 no shepherd if they have wandered away from Him. 
 And oh, dear young friends, be sure of this : that there 
 is nothing that will keep a man’s heart sympathetically 
 in touch with the necessities of a world that lies in evil 
 except that communion with Jesus Christ. All attempts 
 to make a Missionary spirit predominate or powerful in 
 the Church which do not begin with the individual 
 drawing nearer to Jesus Christ for himself are as vain 
 and foolish as it is to move on the hands of a clock with 
 your finger, instead of increasing the tension of the spring. 
 You will only spoil the works, and as soon as the outward 
 pressure is removed there will be the cessation of the 
 motion. All other attempts are like trying to get to- 
 
THE FIRM GRASP OF FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS 7 
 
 gether the surface drainage of the soil; but when we get 
 into close grips with our Master for ourselves, and can say, 
 “ The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith 
 of the Son of God,” then, and only then, we have gone down 
 to the deep central sources, and the sympathy with the 
 work for Missionary and all other Christian purposes rises 
 inexhaustible, like an artesian well, from our deepest hearts. 
 
 I venture to urge a second thing, and that is— the 
 firm grasp of and the continual reflection upon the 
 fundamental Christian truths which underlie Christian 
 Missions. I put them all into the triumphant words of 
 the Apostle John, “We know”—not “It appears to us 
 on the balance of evidence on the whole pretty probable,” 
 nor “We give assent to it as a mere piece of dry theo¬ 
 logical dogma,” nor “We would like to say, if we were not 
 afraid of the cultivated people that laugh at us;” but 
 “We know that we are of God, and the whole world 
 lietli in the wicked one, and we know that the Son of 
 God is come, and hath given us an understanding that 
 we know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is 
 true, even in His Son Jesus Christ.” 
 
 Translate that into modern language and it comes to 
 this: the Christian man should have an intimate and 
 irrefragable consciousness of the gravity, the reality, the 
 universality of the fact of sin. He should have a certitude 
 deep as the foundations of his own being of the fact that 
 the Incarnate Son of God has come, and he should have 
 a certainty of which all the inmost and most blessed ex¬ 
 periences of his life are the attestations and the seals, 
 that the gifts of the Son who has come are to us the 
 grasp of the Divine Father, and the assurance that we 
 are in Him—are to us the knowledge of Him that is 
 true, are to us the indwelling in Jesus Christ. These 
 
8 
 
 THE TRUE SOURCE OF MISSIONARY ZEAL 
 
 are the things that we have got to preach. These are 
 the things which Missionary institutions exist to proclaim. 
 These are the things which, if a man knows , the word 
 will be like a fire in his bones, and he will be weary of 
 forbearing and cannot stay. There are many temptations 
 to doubt them to-day. There are many who tell us that 
 we are following our own hallucinations, many that tell 
 us that the world lies in no wicked one, that no Son of 
 God has come, and that these inward consciousnesses 
 are not reliable. All that I have got to say is this : 
 as Martin Luther said in regard of the region of dog¬ 
 matic theology that the test of a standing or a declining 
 Church was the doctrine of justification, so I would 
 venture to say that in the region of practical manifesta¬ 
 tion of the Christian life the test of a standing or a 
 falling Church is its Missionary ardour, for that ardour 
 will accurately correspond to the firmness of its grasp of 
 these great central truths of which I venture now to 
 speak. Wheresoever they are held slackly, Missionary 
 enterprise, of necessity, is stricken with paralysis, for 
 there is nothing to say to the world ; and no man will 
 ever be impelled to go forth as the messengers of the 
 Cross have gone forth, with a Gospel of hesitation, or 
 with anything short of the full-toned proclamation that 
 Christ has died the world’s Redeemer. 
 
 Then let me say one more thing, and that is that 
 a familiarity with and a 'prayerful reflection on the facts 
 of the Missionary cause are as needful as the grasp of 
 the principles that underlie it. Have you studied this 
 diagram, which shows us in picturesque form the ex¬ 
 tension, numerically, of Christianity and of other faiths % 
 
 I have no head for statistics, and I get bewildered when 
 people begin their calculations, but I can see a thing 
 
Estimated Population of the World, 1,470,000,000. 
 Every Square represents One Million Souls. 
 
 iBflflBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBiBBBBfl 
 iBBBBEBBflBBBBBBBBflBBBflBBSBflBBB 
 |§BBBBBflBBflaflflflflBBBBBBBBBBBBgB 
 ■HMHBBBBBBBBBBBHBiflBBBBBBiB 
 
 ibbbb bBbbbbbbbbbbbbbbBI 
 
 ■■■iBBBBBflflflBBBBBBiBfl 
 ■BBBBBBBBBBBBfliflBfl 
 IBBBBBBBBBBBHBBBBBBBBBBiBiflBB 
 
 bbbbBBHbbb bbBbibbbbbbbbbbbbb 
 ■&M iSiBBBBflSBEflflflBflBBBBBflBB 
 
 BBBflflBBBBBSBBBBflBfl 
 
 ■BBBBflBBlM 
 
 mmmmmmmmmmSSSmi 
 
 BBBBBBBB 
 
 bbbbiBbbI 
 
 »^M^^63BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBil 
 
 BBBBBBBBBBBBBBflBi 
 RBBflBBBBflflBBBBBBflB 
 
 EbbbbbbbbbBbbbbhbb 
 
 ■BBBBBBBBB —BBI 
 
 Protestants, 
 
 135 , 000,000 
 
 Greeks, &c., 
 85 , 000,000 
 
 Roman 
 
 Catholics, 
 
 195 , 000,000 
 
 Jews, 
 
 8 , 000,000 
 
 Mohammedans, 
 
 173 , 000,000 
 
 H EATHEN, 
 874 , 000,000 
 
10 THE TRUE SOURCE OF MISSIONARY ZEAL 
 
 when it is put down in a picture before me; and I want 
 you, my dear young friends, to look at that ghastly 
 parallelogram prayerfully and earnestly. It reminds me 
 of the pathetic saying in one of the Old Testament books, 
 where the camp of Israel is described as being like two 
 little flocks of kids whilst the Assyrians filled the country. 
 There is that little tiny piece of white up at the top, and 
 to make that white all sorts of nominal Christians and 
 real worldlings have had to be included; and then down 
 below it darkens—darkens into the blackness of desola¬ 
 tion and utter ignorance. 
 
 Do you believe that that was what Jesus Christ meant 
 should be the world’s condition nineteen centuries after 
 He died 1 Surely no ! And if we could take one of 
 those little black squares, each of which represents a 
 million souls and think away all the 999,999 and have 
 one left, and could get inside of him and could see the 
 dreariness that is there, the darkness, the terror, the 
 torpor, the unrest, the black pall that wraps the future, 
 shot only occasionally by lightnings that come from 
 beyond, ah, we should not need much more to make 
 us feel that heathenism is indeed the shadow, and to 
 a large extent the substance, of death. Oh, dear friends, 
 if on the one hand we listen to the commission which 
 Dr. Taylor has been quoting—“ Go ye and preach the 
 Gospel to every creature,” and, on the other hand, put 
 emphasis upon the 11 ye” what a stringent obligation in 
 view of such darkness comes upon all of us ! 
 
 But there is another side to the fact. It is just as 
 much a fact that young Christian men and women ought 
 to lay to heart as the other, that every Christian Church 
 has had its Missionary successes—that in every corner of 
 the world these successes have been realised—that Jesus 
 
UNIVERSAL ADAPTATION OF THE GOSPEL 11 
 
 Christ has proved Himself to he adapted and intended for 
 the salvation of men of all sorts, orders, apes, conditions, 
 idiosyncrasies, degrees of latitude and generations—the 
 world’s Saviour, who has never been and never will he 
 preached in vain . 
 
 When I was coming up here I passed one or two 
 abandoned coal-pits. There are no abandoned mines in 
 this Missionary enterprise; nowhere where they have 
 struck shafts and said, “It is of no use ; there is nothing 
 there.” Always there has been gold, and always it has 
 been possible by the Divine alchemy of that blessed 
 Gospel to turn the vilest into the most precious and the 
 sand into the gold of Sheba. These are facts, and I beseech 
 you, young men, looking for a career in which success is 
 certain, looking for a career in which there can be no re¬ 
 morse and no regrets and no failures, choose this great 
 work to which the Master has called us all, and remember 
 that the possession of the Gospel, the world’s condition 
 being what it is, is the solemnest obligation to the proclama¬ 
 tion of the Gospel. See what was said even by those four 
 leprous men that sat at the gate of the city. After they 
 had eaten their fill, indeed—and that was selfishness and 
 weakness—after they had got all that they wanted for 
 themselves—they bethought themselves and said : “ This 
 is a day of good tidings and we do not well that we hold 
 our peace; if we tarry till the morning light some evil 
 will befall us.” They felt the obligation of imparting the 
 good news. Shall I quote the hackneyed old hymn l — 
 
 “ Shall we whose souls are lighted 
 With wisdom from on high, 
 
 Shall we to men benighted 
 The lamp of life deny ? ” 
 
 And now to gather all that I have been saying into 
 
12 THE TRUE SOURCE OF MISSIONARY ZEAL 
 
 a word or two. Will you let me ask you, dear young 
 friends, to take all these truisms and platitudes of my 
 address this afternoon and reflect upon them in their im¬ 
 mediate bearing upon your conduct and your life 1 They 
 tell us that at our Missionary meetings there is nothing 
 said but the one old story over and over again. Perfectly 
 true, but you know that there is an infallible way of 
 making threadbare platitudes start into tremendous im¬ 
 portance and freshness, and that is by laying them upon 
 our own consciences and seeing what they have got to 
 say to us individually about our special duty. I suppose 
 that the Ten Commandments boast a pretty respectable 
 antiquity, and have been repeated a considerable number 
 of times without much variation, but if a man tries to 
 keep them he will find out they have got teeth yet. 
 
 And so I ask you to take all these things and lay them 
 on your hearts. You have got the supreme privilege that 
 within certain defined limits you may become almost 
 anything that you like. There may be some one here 
 who needs but the final touch to impel him to this great 
 work. There may be men here whom, in God’s pro¬ 
 vidence, He has appointed to be the apostles to nations 
 that are sitting in darkness; and how we should all 
 rejoice and be thankful that w*e have been permitted to 
 take any part in this meeting if, as the issue of it, some 
 such should be led to consecrate themselves to-day unto 
 the Lord for this great service. Do not make Samuel’s 
 mistake and fancy that God’s voice is Eli’s. Be sure 
 that it is He who speaks, and say “ Speak, Lord, for 
 Thy servant heareth.” 
 
 There is an old story in my country of a fight between 
 clansmen, and the chief on the one side was surrounded 
 by a band of his foster-brethren headed by the father, 
 
ANOTHER FOR CHRIST 
 
 13 
 
 and as the claymores swooped in the strong hands that 
 wielded them, one after another of these brethren stepped 
 in front of their brother and their chief, and one after 
 another they fell, and ever as they fell the foster-father’s 
 voice rang out, “ Another for Hector! Another for 
 Hector! ” and they died on the field. Many of our 
 Missionary Societies have of late years been called to 
 lament over sad and sore losses. The Society with which 
 I have the honour to be connected in its great enterprise 
 on the Congo has in that matter been sorely tried, and 
 precious lives have been freely shed. Wherever there 
 has been one vacancy there have been two to fill it. 
 The call has not been heard in vain. I believe that the 
 Master is calling to you, young men, who ought to feel 
 that danger is an incentive and difficulty an inducement 
 —calling to you to choose the heroic part which is His 
 service in the regions beyond. “ Another for Christ, and 
 another, and yet another!” is the demand, and if there 
 be faith and enthusiasm in the young Christianity of our 
 Churches the call will not ring forth in vain. 
 
 An Address delivered to Theological and Medical 
 Students at the Great Missionary Convention of 
 Young Men , held in the Metropolitan Tabernacle , 
 15 th October 1889. 
 
THE MAIN INSTRUMENTAL FORCE 
 OF MISSIONARY WORK. 
 
 By Rev. E. K. Alden, D.D. 
 
 JT is now one hundred and forty-five years since, in the 
 month of October 1744, a company of ministers in 
 Scotland were moved to call for a “ united, extended 
 application to God ” for a general outpouring of the Holy 
 Spirit “on all the churches of the Redeemer, and on the 
 whole habitable earth.” Their recommendation that the 
 Saturday afternoon and Sabbath morning of each week, 
 and more especially the first Tuesday of each quarter of 
 the year, should be set apart for these sessions of united 
 supplication was cordially responded to by many sym¬ 
 pathising Christian hearts both in Great Britain and 
 upon this side of the Atlantic. “ Praying Societies,” as 
 they were termed, in considerable numbers were established 
 and well sustained in both countries. A strong impulse 
 was given to the movement by Jonathan Edwards in the 
 preparation and sending forth of an elaborate treatise 
 entitled “ An humble attempt to promote explicit agree¬ 
 ment and visible union of God’s people in extraordinary 
 prayer for the revival of religion and the advancement of 
 Christ’s kingdom on earth.” Nearly forty years after 
 this treatise was published it is alluded to by Andrew 
 
THE FRUITS OF PRAYER 
 
 15 
 
 Fuller in a private record, 9th July 1784, in these words : 
 “ Read to our friends this evening a part of Edwards’s 
 ‘ Attempt to promote prayer for a revival of religion,’ to 
 excite them to like practice.” This was only a few days 
 after the adoption of a resolution by the Nottingham 
 Association of Baptist Ministers “recommending the 
 setting apart of the first Monday evening in every month 
 for prayer for the extension of the Gospel.” This re¬ 
 commendation also was cordially welcomed, and a spirit 
 of intercession, particularly for the spread of the Gospel 
 throughout the world, began profoundly to move many 
 Christian hearts and some Christian homes and churches 
 on both sides of the ocean. 
 
 It w T as in this atmosphere that the English Baptist 
 Missionary Society was born in 1792, the London 
 Missionary Society in 1795, and the Church Missionary 
 Society in 1800 • while upon this side of the Atlantic 
 there sprang up—in 1796 the New York Missionary 
 Society, in 1798 and 1799 the Connecticut and Massa¬ 
 chusetts Missionary Societies, and two or three years 
 later the Hampshire Missionary Society, the Berkshire 
 and Columbia Missionary Society, the Society for Pro¬ 
 moting Christian Knowledge, the Maine Missionary 
 Society, and other similar associations, local in their name, 
 but broad in their conception and plan, all preparing the 
 way for the organisation, in 1810, of the American 
 Board, the first distinctively Foreign Missionary Society 
 on this continent. 
 
 These were all, in a pre-eminent degree, the fruits of 
 prayer, and to a considerable degree of concerted prayer. 
 We have only to read the biographies of their founders 
 and of their first Missionaries, to be impressed by the 
 fact that these men were, with scarcely an exception, 
 
16 THE MAIN INSTRUMENTAL FORCE, ETC. 
 
 prayed into the kingdom, and prayed into the broad 
 aggressive work of the kingdom, as the Lord’s elect 
 messengers and leaders. One little company, at an 
 eventful hour, bowed together at the haystack in 
 Williamstown, and their names are immortal; but this 
 was but one of many praying circles whose united cry 
 brought down the great blessing which was to follow. 
 The significant fact in relation to the small company of 
 men who went from Andover to Bradford upon the 
 26th and 27th June 1810 was that they were in a 
 marked degree men of prayer. The significant fact in 
 relation to the still smaller company who sat about the 
 table in the Farmington parsonage upon the following 
 5th of September was that they also were men of prayer. 
 No utterances of sermon or charge of fellowship, upon 
 the 6th of February 1812, in the Tabernacle Church 
 in Salem, were so impressive as not merely the uttered 
 but the unuttered prayers which were lifting up the 
 hearts of those who were the actors in that memorable 
 scene. 
 
 There is no question that during the first generation of 
 our Missionary history, as related to all departments of 
 the work both at home and abroad, importunate pleading 
 with God was relied upon as the main instrumental 
 force, more important by far, however essential these may 
 be, than money or men. The command of the Lord was 
 recognised in its direct significance, “ Pray ye the Lord 
 of the harvest, that He send forth labourers into His 
 harvest.” 
 
 Has this spirit survived during the two generations 
 which have followed, and is it the burning thought in 
 the hearts of those to whom this work is now entrusted 
 at the close of this nineteenth century, as it was with 
 
‘I CALLED ON THE LORD AND HE HEARD ME ’ 17 
 
 our fathers at the beginning of the century ? Some 
 things we have outgrown—we think we have—during 
 our fourscore years. Have we lost our faith in prayer, 
 or have we not ? How far does earnest intercession enter 
 into our working plans as a vital efficient force ? These 
 are plain practical questions and not unworthy our most 
 serious consideration. Possibly they are at the present 
 hour peculiarly timely. 
 
 MISSIONARY TESTIMONY. 
 
 If there are any persons from whom this Board, officers 
 and members, would delight to hear upon this particular 
 theme, it would be from the Missionaries at the front, 
 particularly from veterans in the service. What those 
 who led the way eighty, seventy, sixty years ago, and 
 who have gone to their reward, thought of prayer we 
 know full well. Their repeated testimony has been left 
 behind them and we are familiar with it. Are the 
 Missionaries of to-day men and women of the same spirit ? 
 Would their testimony be the same? It is a delicate 
 question to ask and to answer. For the inner secrets 
 of the heart are not readily disclosed even to the dearest 
 earthly friend, much less to the public eye. But some¬ 
 thing even of this hidden life may be properly told at the 
 appropriate time as testimony to the divine grace, even 
 as the Psalmist bore witness, “ I called upon the Lord 
 and He heard me.” Such is the testimony we now have 
 the privilege of presenting from twenty-six living Mission¬ 
 aries of our own Board, representatives of nearly every 
 one of our Missionary fields, all of them experienced in 
 the work, testifying that which they know. Their 
 names, of course, cannot be given, although one or two, 
 
 C 
 
18 THE MAIN INSTRUMENTAL FORCE, ETC. 
 
 without betrayal of confidence, may be inferred. But 
 the unity of their witness, personal and independent in 
 each case, is exceedingly suggestive. 
 
 The points they emphasize are their absolute depend¬ 
 ence upon unceasing communion with God in Christ as 
 their vital breath and native air, without which they are 
 utterly helpless; their particular need upon the Mission¬ 
 ary field on account of their isolation and separation from 
 the ordinary social religious influences of a Christian 
 land ; the continuous abundant evidence they have 
 received that prayer is heard as related to themselves 
 personally, their families, and the work in which they 
 are engaged, both in the discharge of every-day duty and 
 in hours of special emergency; and their appreciation of 
 the importance of this theme in its practical bearing upon 
 the responsibility of the churches at home. 
 
 Let us listen to some of these testimonies :— 
 
 “ Prayer has been one of the prime factors of my 
 Christian life, and next to the Bible has done more to 
 develop and colour my Christian character—imperfect, ot 
 course, through the weaknesses of the flesh—than all other 
 influences combined. I find that the older I grow , the 
 more do I long for and enjoy this most blessed of 
 Christian 'privileges. I do indeed feel that it is my 
 ‘ vital breath/ my ‘ native air.’ As respects its relation 
 to the details of Missionary work, it is so far forth a 
 positive force with me that I never undertake either the 
 consideration of any question of detail, or its execution, 
 without, in most cases, audible prayer for guidance, help, 
 and blessing. The longer becomes my experience in 
 Missionary work the more am I impressed with my own 
 
EXTREMITIES LEAD TO PRAYER 
 
 19 
 
 insufficiency for these things, and the more humbly do I 
 turn to the Lord, whose is the work, for the strength, 
 wisdom, aud grace with which to perform it. I feel 
 that a work conceived in prayer and born in prayer, as 
 this Missionary work assuredly was, must be sustained 
 also and completed in prayer. ...” 
 
 Another ivrites :— 
 
 “ The Missionary has not the social and ecclesiastical 
 supports of the pastor of a church at home, hence, even if 
 his own inclinations do not lead him to communion with his 
 heavenly Father, he is often brought to such extremities 
 that he feels obliged to seek divine help and guidance. 
 In the growth of the work great problems are constantly 
 arising, which have no precedents to aid in their solution. 
 He is not only building a spiritual temple, with materials 
 which are crude and imperfect, but he is laying founda¬ 
 tions for a Christian civilisation in the midst of opposition, 
 and in the face of obstacles which at times seem appalling, 
 and he often cries out, ‘Who is sufficient for these 
 things 'l ’ and the answer comes with a voice unmistakable, 
 even if inaudible, ‘ My grace is sufficient for thee,’ and 
 so he is led to seek help from Him who alone is able to 
 give help. My own experience has been that while there 
 is no miraculous intervention, there is direct and positive 
 help, and while there is no overruling or setting aside of 
 human peculiarities or imperfections, if any man lacks 
 wisdom he has simply ‘ to ask God, that giveth to all 
 men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given 
 him.’ Another experience of the Missionary is the trial 
 of his faith in matters more personal to himself. There 
 is sickness in the family without the presence of a 
 
20 
 
 THE MAIN INSTRUMENTAL FORCE, ETC. 
 
 physician; there are dangers from living and travelling 
 among partially civilised, lawless, and fanatical people; 
 and there is his greatest trial in putting oceans and 
 continents between himself and his children. In order to 
 £ abide under the shadow of the Almighty 7 he finds it 
 necessary to dwell £ in the secret place of the Most High.’ 
 I have had frequent experiences in my own home and in 
 my journeys, which have been so marked that I should 
 deem it ingratitude not to recognise them as divine inter¬ 
 positions in answer to prayer. 
 
 ££ The confidence that God’s care is in proportion to the 
 extent and sincerity of our trust has, in my case, been 
 built up in the face of natural doubt and unbelief; and 
 the consciousness of the loving Father’s presence and 
 of the minuteness of His care is sufficient to sweeten all 
 the difficulties and dangers of a way that would seem 
 very rough without them. If this is superstition, it is 
 delightful nevertheless. All this, besides being essential 
 to our comfort and a help in the work, is a natural aid 
 to spiritual life, by bringing us into communion and 
 fellowship with the Fountain of life. The heart is puri¬ 
 fied by contact with the source of all purity ; the faith is 
 strengthened by a constant testing of the validity of the 
 divine promises ; and if with all these aids to a divine 
 life one does not become a ripe Christian—alas ! that we 
 do not—it is his own fault.” 
 
 Another' from a different field thus testifies :— 
 
 ££ My strong conviction is that our success in the 
 Missionary work depends chiefly on our keeping in close 
 union and fellowship with Christ; and that this union, 
 effected and maintained by the Holy Spirit, is nourished 
 
NO SPIRITUAL FRUIT WITHOUT FREQUENT PRAYER 21 
 
 on our part by constant watchfulness and prayer. I 
 could no more think of a fruitfid spiritual life without 
 frequent prayer, than of a vigorous physical life without 
 breathing. And prayer is needed not only at stated 
 times, but there should be a constant looking to Him for 
 help in the choice of means and methods and in the other 
 details of our work. Our personal love for Christ and 
 fellowship with Him are stimulated by prayerful study 
 of His life and teachings, and the recognition of His 
 personal interest in our sanctification and the salvation of 
 mankind. I have found it helpful to make frequent use 
 of prayers recorded in the Bible, such as Eph. iii. 14-19, 
 and parts of John xvii., which were dictated by the 
 Holy Spirit, and must therefore be according to His 
 will. Prayer thus is petition, thanksgiving, and heart- 
 communion with Christ.” 
 
 The following earnest words are from still another field , 
 from one of the advanced veterans :— 
 
 “ I rejoice to add my testimony that prayer has a 
 most important place in a Missionary’s life and work. It 
 is in prayer that he consecrates himself and his all to 
 that work. As years go by he remembers and often 
 renews that consecration. When heavily burdened with 
 thoughts of the small number of fellow-labourers from 
 among his own countrymen, or from natives of the land 
 of his adoption, he lifts his heart most fervently to the 
 Lord of the Harvest, that He would send forth more 
 labourers into His harvest. Time and again, as our 
 hearts believe, recruits have come to us in answer to 
 such prayers. When saddened by divisions among the 
 labourers, by opposition and persecution on the part of 
 
22 THE MAIN INSTRUMENTAL FORCE, ETC. 
 
 enemies, by misapprehension of our motives and character, 
 our strong consolation comes when we spread the case 
 before the Lord. When rejoicing in the progress of the 
 work we give thanks to God for the past, and we pray 
 that for the future that progress may be more abundant 
 and more rapid. The true Missionary never preaches a 
 sermon, nor writes a book or tract, nor edits a newspaper, 
 nor opens a school, nor attends a church meeting, never 
 tries to give counsel to those who ask it, but he begins 
 his work and continues it with prayer. The weapon 
 on which he most depends is £ All-Prayer.’ The most 
 successful Missionary is the one who relies on 'prayer . 
 Said a diligent, successful worker, c I would rather have 
 the help of Sister-’s prayers than any other help.’ ” 
 
 Let us listen to the fervent, jloiving utterances of one of 
 these beloved Missionary sisters :— 
 
 “ Prayer is the key to the Missionary’s life. It is the 
 foundation of his work. ‘ Where shall we go on our next 
 tour ? ’ Can it be settled without prayer ? ‘ How long 
 
 shall we stay in each place V ‘Is this the right road on 
 which we are V and no human being in view on all this 
 desolate wintry landscape. ‘ What souls shall we meet 
 to-day in our work from house to house, and with what 
 needs, temptations, and crises of life 1 ’ Such are some 
 of the questions to be carried to God in prayer. . . . 
 Prayer is the eye of the Missionary worker. He is blind 
 without it. I should say, let the Missionary who sto]os 
 praying about every plan he forms, every effort he makes 
 for souls, every influence he seeks to exert, consider that 
 his work has ceased. His Master calls for no prayerless 
 
 service. 
 
QUESTIONS TO BE CARRIED TO GOD IN PRAYER 23 
 
 “ This life of prayer must be sustained, first, by early 
 rising to be alone with God; second, by the habit of 
 frequent uplifting of the heart to God wherever we are; 
 third, by uniting frequently, and with fervent desire and 
 sense of need , with others in the family or Missionary 
 circle to spread all our wants before God. This latter 
 is promotive of love and sympathy. When long and 
 dangerous journeys are to be taken, we go in the strength 
 of the knowledge that the dear ones here are praying for 
 us. Shall I give you testimony from the poor people 
 about us 1 A very poor woman in a near village, who is 
 a Bible-teacher in the winter and works in the fields in 
 the summer, her husband being far away in Russia un¬ 
 heard from and forgetting, was last summer out on the 
 plain trying, with her children, to glean in the harvest- 
 fields. Every grain of wheat seemed to have been gathered, 
 and in despair and tears she collected her children about 
 her and said, ‘ Let us pray. 0 God, thou knowest how 
 hungry we are and that we must have bread. Please 
 show us some place to glean.’ £ Mamma, I saw a good 
 place over there which every one seemed to have for¬ 
 gotten,’ suddenly burst from the lips of her little son, as 
 she finished. She went where he led and found an 
 abundance, which no eye had seen and which the master 
 of the field allowed her to gather ! ” 
 
 Listen now to a remarkable testimony from Japan :— 
 
 t£ My experience and observation lead me to feel that 
 prayer is one of the greatest forces in a Missionary’s life, 
 character, and work. We are naturally led to realise this 
 more, perhaps, than workers in Christian lands, for the 
 reason that we are made to feel the utter impotence of 
 
24 THE MAIN INSTRUMENTAL FORCE, ETC. 
 
 the human means at our command to accomplish the 
 great work we have come to do. A handful of men and 
 women in the midst of forty millions of heathen, with 
 no God, no Sabbath, prejudiced against us and against 
 the message we have come to deliver! ivhat can we clo 
 but cry mightily unto God ? The Missionary who did 
 not believe in and practise prayer under such circum¬ 
 stances would give up in despair and go home. . . . 
 
 “Another experience came in the fall of 1882 and 
 spring of 1883. I found that a spirit of speculation 
 and doubt of many of the vital doctrines of the Gospel 
 had come into the school and was also among some of 
 the pastors as well. The preaching was too much of 
 a speculative, philosophical character. Doubts of the 
 divinity of Christ, and especially of the reality of the 
 Holy Spirit, were rife in our school, even among some 
 of the teachers. I felt a great agony of prayer for this, 
 as did some of my colleagues. When the Week of 
 Prayer came, the first of January, it passed without 
 any special results, and we held it over a second week, 
 having a general meeting every evening to pray especially 
 for the outpouring of God’s Spirit upon the school. But 
 no result came. Then a little band of perhaps ten held 
 on, praying daily for this object. The first part of 
 February I felt prompted to write a letter stating the 
 spiritual condition of the school and our needs, and 
 asking for special prayer for the outpouring of God’s 
 Spirit upon the school. I made forty copies of it and 
 sent them to most of our colleges and theological 
 seminaries in the United States. The weeks wore on 
 and there was no sign here. The little band of praying 
 ones had decreased to half a dozen. On Sabbath, the 
 16th of March 1883, in the afternoon and evening an 
 
THE 16TH OF MARCH 
 
 25 
 
 invisible influence struck the school. None of the 
 teachers knew of it until the next morning. But of the 
 about one hundred and fifty young men then in the 
 school, very few closed their eyes in sleep that night. 
 Almost every room was filled with men crying to God 
 for mercy. The professing Christians were at first under 
 the deepest conviction of sin. This experience lasted a 
 week, during which time there was no preaching. The 
 whole movement was to human eye spontaneous, and the 
 only efforts almost which the teachers put forth were to 
 restrain from excesses and guide the inquiring souls into 
 the light. All but four or five who were in the school 
 passed through this experience, and the work spread from 
 our school to the churches in this part of Japan, and this 
 revival changed the whole spirit of our school. There 
 have been no doubts since that time of the existence and 
 work of the Holy Spirit. About the middle of April 
 answers to my letters came, and they told us that 
 on March 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and on, companies 
 were praying for the outpouring of the Spirit upon the 
 Doshisha, some of them saying that they were praying 
 with strong crying and tears.” 
 
 A veteran writes :— 
 
 “In attempting to formulate my thought in regard to 
 prayer, I have realised more clearly than ever before how 
 much it transcends all power of language either to explain 
 its nature or to describe its working force as an element 
 of Christian life. My experience and testimony in regard 
 to it are simply this : The more I live in prayer the more 
 broadly and profoundly do I recognise it as a living com¬ 
 munion with God, giving me the unspeakable privilege 
 
26 
 
 THU MAIN INSTRUMENTAL FORCE, ETC. 
 
 and comfort of unreserved confidence in Him, enabling me 
 to understand His sympathy with me and with all His 
 creatures, to comprehend in the light of His character and 
 presence the real significance of my most secret impulses 
 and desires, and giving me the most satisfactory assurance 
 I can have of the wisdom and goodness of His plans, of 
 which every event of my life is a part. I find this com¬ 
 munion also a wonderful source of strength and courage, 
 and one from which the highest and best purposes of life 
 are constantly set before me and urged upon me. I have 
 also what seems to me frequent proof and illustration of 
 God’s favour and help granted in answer to prayer, and 
 this experience has perfected in me a firm confidence that 
 in every emergency He will, in answer to prayer, provide 
 for me all needed aid. I can only add that in all these 
 respects prayer is infinitely more than I can express.” 
 
 Another writes :— 
 
 “ To myself prayer is a positive force, a real power; 
 the throne of grace is my place of refuge, and without it 
 I could not have endured thirty years of Missionary life. 
 I am convinced, too, by abundant observation, that in the 
 opinion and conviction of the evangelical Christians of 
 Turkey, prayer is a vital power. I have personally 
 known many poor women, many distressed brethren, and 
 not a few dying saints who have been sustained both in 
 life and death by the access they have had to God in 
 prayer. 
 
 “ Your Missionaries are but men, in Christian character 
 not yet ‘perfect ’ (1 Cor. ii. 6). Is it possible that some 
 of those who send us forth forget this fact ? The Mis¬ 
 sionary enterprise is one. To make it fruitful of blessing 
 
MISSIONARIES ARE BUT MEN 
 
 27 
 
 to the nations of the earth, the seed of faith must first 
 be planted by those who stand at the head of the enter¬ 
 prise. God will give them measure for measure—a full 
 measure of blessing for a full measure of faith, sincerity, 
 and earnestness. Oh, do not let our American supporters 
 point to their Missionaries as models of spirituality and 
 consecration, and imagine that their Missionaries, if only 
 sustained pecuniarily, will succeed. Success is from God, 
 and the very thing in which Missionaries are lacking is 
 the ‘ power from on high ’ which God only can bestow. 
 We must throw the responsibility for success largely on 
 the Christians at home, many of whom in maturity of 
 Christian character and consecration to God are nobly 
 fitted to help us by their prayers. If Paul felt the need 
 of the prayers of Christian brethren, what, alas, will the 
 Missionaries of the present age accomplish unless those 
 who send them forth pray for them, believingly and 
 earnestly ^ Missionaries have had all the success their 
 faith and efforts deserved—enough to keep them from 
 fainting; but the grand results of Missionary effort still 
 remain to be secured in answer to the united and hearty 
 supplications of both Missionaries and their supporters.” 
 
 Another bears witness for himself and his wife :— 
 
 “Jesus Christ is to me a present, personal friend, 
 infinitely willing and able to help. I realise in some 
 good degree that we can do nothing without His aid, and 
 that we can do all things with it. I have no doubt that 
 He wishes us to be in constant communion with Himself 
 and to ask what we will; and if it is best He will surely 
 hear us. Hence, prayer becomes a part of my very life. 
 It is a duty, a precious privilege, and a necessity. It has 
 
28 THE MAIN INSTRUMENTAL FORCE, ETC. 
 
 become to me a second nature. In all our plans and 
 work, in all our hopes and anxieties, it is natural to seek 
 His blessing and guidance. Many times we cannot tell 
 just how our prayers are answered, yet I fully believe 
 that He hears us. Sometimes answers seem to come 
 direct, and sometimes in unexpected ways. As to Mrs. 
 
 -, you might as well try to shake her belief in her 
 
 own existence as her confidence that God hears prayer. 
 And her daily life and all her work is greatly influenced 
 by this confidence; and she is quick to recognise the 
 answers when they come. I have thus, at your request, 
 drawn aside the veil for a little from our £ Holy of 
 holies.’ ” 
 
 Another responds /— 
 
 “ In answer to your request I would say that prayer 
 is a vital force to the Missionary. It is the breath of 
 life to himself and to his household. He goes out to a 
 foreign land from the sacred precincts of a Christian home, 
 he leaves behind him the priceless influences of Christian 
 parents, brothers, and sisters, and he goes out to plant a 
 new home in a strange land, in the midst of untoward 
 influences of all kinds. What are his resources ? They 
 are not to be found anywhere about him. Oceans roll 
 between him and the treasuries of the Christian home 
 land. His resources are in God. They are locked up in 
 His treasury, but he has the hey to that treasury; he 
 always carries it with him ; it is prayer. And if in the 
 history of Christ’s kingdom Missionary households have 
 ever held an honoured place as the abodes of God’s love 
 and grace, it is because the key of prayer has been worn 
 bright by turning in that lock. Prayer is the source of 
 the Missionary’s power in the new community where he is 
 
THE SOURCE OF THE MISSIONARY’S POWER 29 
 
 placed. It is the bond which connects the great pulley 
 of God’s power with the little pulley of our lives and 
 work. There is something audacious in the thought of 
 transforming an ungodly city or nation by throwing into 
 them a few Missionary lives. It would be as preposter¬ 
 ous as audacious if it did not mean more than it seems to 
 mean on the face of it. It does really mean the opening 
 of heaven’s batteries in that city or nation, the bringing 
 of heaven’s transforming power to bear upon them. It is 
 throwing light into the midst of darkness. But a Mis¬ 
 sionary is worth nothing if not connected with the centre 
 where power is generated. My own experience is that a 
 Missionary’s life is one of continued and continual prayer. 
 As we travel over the wild mountainous regions which 
 surround us, we pray in summer to be delivered from 
 robbers, and in winter to be delivered from wolves. A 
 native brother recently said that the Missionaries are 
 neither afraid of robbers nor of wolves. Now this is not 
 true, but it is true that Missionaries travel under a 
 solemn sense of responsibility as God’s messengers. They 
 refuse not to go because they are sent, and they commit 
 themselves to Him who sends them in continual prayer. 
 While on a journey not so very long ago, to a Turk whose 
 looks were not particularly reassuring, and who asked me 
 who I was, I replied, ‘God’s preacher.’ 
 
 “ But we are not always called in our lonely journeys 
 to prayer for protection. Our souls many times go out 
 to God in the prayer of praise and adoration, and solitary 
 places echo to such communings with the all-adorable 
 One. In adoring prayer the highest powers of the 
 Missionary’s soul are brought into exercise, and this 
 results in true spiritual vigour. Indeed, I do not know 
 what can sustain a Missionary and keep him from leaving 
 
30 THE MAIN INSTRUMENTAL FORCE, ETC. 
 
 the work or breaking down early, except this exhilarating 
 communion with his God. 
 
 “We are often called to stand before rulers for the 
 defence of the interests of God’s work. It will never be 
 known how often prayer to God has inclined the hearts 
 of rulers to be favourable to our requests. Even when 
 the strongest opposition has been met, prayer has at last 
 broken down opposition. The granting of the permission 
 to build the Collegiate and Theological Institute of 
 Samokov has always seemed to me a most wonderful 
 answer to prayer. The work had been stopped by the 
 Government for months, and enemies of the work had 
 rejoiced over the unfinished undertaking, when God 
 opened the way for obtaining permission by the fall of 
 the first Bulgarian Ministry which had steadily refused 
 to allow us to go on. ‘ The king’s heart is in the hand 
 of the Lord.’ The most powerful revival we ever had 
 in our Institute was that of 1883. That revival was 
 preceded by a season of special soul-burdened prayer. 
 Our lives and work are, indeed, so full of answers to 
 prayer that we seem to walk in the very presence of the 
 Almighty. And to me it is not only no hardship to 
 believe in the doctrine of God’s special providence, but 
 this doctrine is an ever-present source of strength and 
 comfort.” 
 
 A voice f rom one of the solitary watchers upon the 
 Micronesian Islands :— 
 
 “ My first thought as I read your question was, Prayer 
 is the mainspring of all Missionary effort , and as I have 
 given the subject thought from time to time during these 
 few days I find this thought growing into a strong con- 
 
THE MAINSPRING 
 
 31 
 
 viction. In worldly enterprises success is often measured 
 by the determination, energy, wisdom, perseverance of 
 those engaged. A Missionary needs all these, yet with 
 them and without prayer and firm belief in the efficacy 
 of prayer, I see little hope of success. It seems to me 
 that a Missionary without prayer would be like an agent 
 going to the ends of the earth to represent some mercan¬ 
 tile firm without being duly appointed and having no 
 established means of communication between himself and 
 headquarters. Then, too, the Missionary work depends so 
 largely upon the aid and work of the Holy Spirit, whose 
 blessed presence and power are promised to those who 
 ask, that I do not see any hope for it without earnest, 
 prevailing prayer. How can we be strong in the Lord 
 to wrestle against principalities and powers and darkness 
 and spiritual wickedness if we do not pray always 1 ?” 
 
 Another writes :— 
 
 “ In thinking of a suitable reply to your inquiries I 
 find myself dwelling first of all upon the strange fact that 
 God does not allow us to make a misuse of prayer as a 
 selfish and personal instrument. Prayer seems to me a 
 sweet and gracious relationship between God and the 
 soul that loves God and waits upon Him. It is the 
 divine method of spiritual discipline and culture. It is 
 the blessed means of bringing God near to men. Without 
 prayer Christ is no present Christ but a figment or an 
 image. Without prayer life is isolated and friendless, 
 engulfed in mystery as well as sorrow, which leads to 
 dulness of thought and aimlessness of purpose. 
 
 “ Prayer seems to be the soul’s window into heaven. 
 The light comes through it. Warmth of love comes 
 
3 2 THE MAIN INSTRUMENTAL FORCE, ETC. 
 
 through it. Sweet visions of Christ come through 
 prayer. Spiritual discipline and development come by 
 prayer. Faith flows from it. Courage is its fruit. 
 Patience in discipline is born of it. By the experiences 
 of prayer and its gracious empowerment, the servant of 
 Christ realises Paul’s description of love. Under prayer 
 we bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, 
 endure all things. Only through prayer can men beget 
 the spirit of the victory that overcometh the world. 
 If this be the individual experience, the general experi¬ 
 ence is the same, but intensified and verified by its wide 
 expansion. The Church grows rich in its faith and love 
 and holy efforts of charity and purpose, as its members 
 grow into such united spiritual life through prayer.” 
 
 Another voice from China :— 
 
 “ Your question at the first reading seemed a little 
 strange to me, something as it would seem to ask a man, 
 
 ‘ What in your opinion is the place of food as a source of 
 strength in building up the body and fitting it to accom¬ 
 plish its best work 1 ?’ Prayer in my experience and 
 observation is not an incident but an essential in the 
 Christian life. The Apostles directed that deacons should 
 be appointed in the infant Church, that they might have 
 time to give themselves up to prayer and the preaching 
 of the Word. No Christian is born without prayer; no 
 one makes progress in the Christian life without prayer ; 
 no Christian work is successfully accomplished without 
 prayer. The spirit of prayer is the infallible thermometer 
 by which the spiritual life of the Church may be known. 
 Our own little mission church was born of prayer, and 
 every bud and flower of promise has been watered with 
 
‘this praying, praying is no plaything’ 33 
 
 prayer. Some years ago an old man, then an utter 
 heathen, seeing one and another of his acquaintances 
 professing Christianity, and knowing that the church had 
 earnestly prayed for them, made the funny but true 
 remark : ‘ I tell you, this praying, praying is no play¬ 
 thing;’ and now the old man himself, though wholly 
 palsied and unable to move even on his bed, is rejoicing 
 in a Christian hope, his heart being softened to listen to 
 the truth after the long and earnest prayers of his son 
 and others in the church. His son is one of our most 
 valued native helpers, and he has no doubt of the power 
 of prayer. 
 
 “ Who would sow seed on a granite rock and expect 
 to reap a harvest ? But the Missionary’s work among 
 the heathen, without help from Cod, is even a more 
 hopeless work. The heathen tell us constantly, ‘Your 
 teachings are very good, but our hearts are very hard, 
 there is no use of your expecting to change us.’ And 
 this is true if there is no divine power to descend in 
 answer to prayer, to soften men’s hearts and draw them 
 to the truth. We need more Christian workers ; we need 
 more gifts from the churches to sustain the work, but 
 above all, we need more of the spirit of importunate, 
 prevailing prayer, that pleads the divine promises of 
 blessing, and is the condition of any special manifestation 
 of divine power in the conversion of men.” 
 
 A beloved sister from one of our 'pioneer Missions in 
 Africci thus responds :— 
 
 “ I gladly comply with your request for a few words of 
 testimony as to the place and power of prayer. Prayer 
 is the Missionaries’ ‘vital breath.’ Without constant, 
 
 D 
 
34 THE MAIN INSTRUMENTAL FORCE, ETC. 
 
 earnest pleading and looking up to Him in whom our 
 strength lies, we are undone. Prayer and love go hand 
 in hand. Without love in our hearts for these poor 
 degraded souls, we can never reach them. And we 
 must constantly pray for wisdom, patience, and love, 
 that we do not 4 offend ’ one for whom Christ died. 
 Prayer and works go together. Let the Missionary cease 
 to pray and he might as well return to his native land. 
 He needs conversion. 1 Prayer is the soul’s sincere 
 desire, uttered or unexpressed.’ It has many a time 
 been a comfort to me when the burden has been too 
 great to bear alone, and I could not go to God on my 
 knees. And I am convinced that we lose many a 
 blessing because we do not pray more. 
 
 “We cannot live upon the prayers of other people, 
 much as we need them and helpful as they are; each 
 soul must come to God for himself. Nor is the heart 
 petition or closet hour sufficient. The Missionary must 
 have his family altar, and it must be sustained as one of 
 the necessities of our life, as it really is. Not only when 
 it is convenient, or on a Sabbath morning, but daily. 
 Those about us are influenced by it more than we know. 
 They come to believe in prayer, and learn from us to 
 pray for themselves. I firmly believe in answer to 
 prayer in small things as well as great. We love to have 
 our little ones come and ask of us. Is not the great, loving 
 heart of the Father infinitely more tender than ours 1 ” 
 
 Another personal testimony :— 
 
 “ While I have no list of particular events to refer to, 
 as proving the efficacy of prayer in special cases, I have 
 a profound and all-prevailing conviction of the significance 
 
‘ONLY WHILE HE PRAYS, HE LIVES’ 35 
 
 of it. I have had, in my own experience, many a time, 
 the sweet and solemn sense of having spoken to God and 
 been heard by him—of asking for things and getting 
 them, or better things, though I have never kept formal 
 records of such matters. But far more important, in my 
 view, than all this, is the 'place of prayer as the means of 
 union with God. If it be true of any Christian, that 
 ‘ only while he prays, he lives,’ it is emphatically true of a 
 Missionary in a foreign land. When the Missionary ceases 
 to live by prayer, he had better go home. I shrink from 
 giving much personal experience in particular cases, but I 
 do desire to say gravely and earnestly that my Missionary 
 life has been successful so far as I have been prayerful, 
 and non-successful so far as I have been lax in prayerful¬ 
 ness. What difficulties I have been carried through, what 
 burdens I have been enabled to bear by the help of God 
 obtained through prayer, simple and direct!” 
 
 The next testimony is from one whose ripe Christian 
 experience and prolonged Missionary service give 
 emphasis to her words :— 
 
 “ I have long delayed a reply to your queries on prayer 
 as exemplified in a Missionary’s life. I seem at a loss for 
 words. One might as well attempt going into a dark 
 and unknown land never having and never expecting sun¬ 
 light as to attempt to follow so closely the life of the 
 great Master without freedom of access to Him in prayer. 
 He who said ‘I am the Light of the world’ expects His 
 devoted servant to rejoice in Him, to be guided by Him, 
 to be comforted by Him; and He is thus rejoiced, thus 
 guided, thus comforted. 
 
 “ Prayer is the natural outcome of consecration to 
 
36 THE MAIN INSTRUMENTAL FORCE, ETC. 
 
 Missionary life and devotion to it and in it. Knowing 
 that all success in winning souls to Christ must corre¬ 
 spond to the shining forth of the life of Christ within, 
 the Missionary comes to the risen Lord in freedom and 
 dependence, to prepare the soul to be reached, to give the 
 saving message, to care for the result of the effort, and, 
 oh, sweet satisfaction ! to inspire faith for work done to¬ 
 day and planned for to-morrow. There is a wonderful 
 abandon when the pressed worker simply and firmly 
 trusts his Lord to set his soul on fire, to use his thoughts 
 as His own and to create upon the lips words as shall no 
 more go void than words from divine lips. All this comes 
 from prayer, whether it be as the breath of the soul in 
 heavenly air or strong crying and tears from out of the 
 bonds and afflictions of earth. 
 
 “And then the unspeakable comfort in exile in the 
 time of great anxiety and in the oft-recurring periods of 
 carefulness and burden of doubt as to duty, this access to 
 Him who knows all and loves better even than He knows, 
 brings the serenity which clarifies judgment and uplifts 
 and blesses in a conscious interpretation of the sublime 
 promise, ‘ I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.’ ” 
 
 One testimony further from another beloved sister who 
 has laboured much in the Lord :■— 
 
 “From my experience in regard to prayer I can truly 
 say, ‘ Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath.’ How can 
 one be like Christ without a vital connection with the 
 triune God through prayer % Would not one be a mere 
 machine, or, as Moody puts it, 1 a galvanised corpse ’ ? 
 True, we find in these dead churches those who wear the 
 Christian name and belong to a Christian church, but 
 
PRAYER THE MISSIONARY’S SHEET-ANCHOR 37 
 
 they have no likeness to Christ, and He would say, ‘ I 
 never knew you.’ 1 Through Christ strengthening me I 
 can do all things,’ is not alone Paul’s grand tonic; but 
 every Christian ‘who dwells in the secret place of the 
 Most High ’ has felt its invigorating influence. 
 
 “ To the Missionary , prayer is his sheet-anchor. Take 
 this away, and we should all come home. It is more. 
 It is our cablegram, our telegraph, and telephone. We 
 are sometimes away down in the bottom of the pit. 
 What should we do could we not just telegraph to the 
 court of heaven for help % The pit is dark and deep, no 
 human hand can help us ! It is then that we learn the 
 worth and wealth of prayer. The heavenly summons 
 conies to us, ‘ I am thy God.’ Yes, the very pit becomes 
 a Holy of Holies because of the presence of the Father, 
 Son, and Holy Spirit. It is thus we learn to know God, 
 what He can and will do for us. Eomance may and often 
 does help a Missionary as long as the steamboats and rail¬ 
 ways last, yes, over the hard and weary inland journey; 
 but when the hard places, so well known to every true 
 Missionary, come, he or she must have something besides 
 romance—communion : daily, hourly communion with the 
 eternal God can alone sustain. It is thus we learn what 
 it is to pray always. God often has to give us the lesson 
 to learn over, but if we are to succeed we must learn this 
 lesson by heart. Why, prayer is our great Corliss engine, 
 which moves all the smaller machinery; the fulcrum that 
 Archimedes sought, on which to rest the lever to move 
 the world. We do mean that we need your prayers when 
 we ask for them, though many may think they are pious 
 words. Let them come and they too will write back the 
 same. I truly believe if the Christians of this nineteenth 
 century would use the power God has vouchsafed to them, 
 
38 THE MAIN INSTRUMENTAL FORCE, ETC. 
 
 the world would be converted to Christ before the dawn 
 of the twentieth century.” 
 
 These Missionary testimonies might be multiplied in¬ 
 definitely. Indeed, were we in telephonic communication 
 with our Missionary stations and with our Missionaries 
 throughout the world, and could they send us here 
 assembled their one emphatic request in a single sentence, 
 it would be the same—the same urgent request long ago 
 uttered by the first illustrious Missionary to the Gentile 
 world, “ Pray for us.” This call, always imperative, is 
 pressed upon us now with peculiar emphasis by several 
 considerations. 
 
 I.-THE OPPORTUNITY. 
 
 In the first place, never was there a time when it 
 could be said with so much significance that our Mis¬ 
 sionary opportunity is literally unlimited. ... 11 Wide- 
 open doors in every direction waiting for the messengers 
 of peace.” Such, we repeat, is our opportunity to¬ 
 day, something which our fathers and their fathers 
 never knew, something which the Church of God up to 
 this hour has never had placed before it. When we sur¬ 
 render our hearts to the significance of this fact it is 
 simply overpowering. We must bow down before God 
 with mighty importunate supplication, that we may some¬ 
 how be made equal to our hour or we lose our own 
 souls. 
 
 II.—THE NEED. 
 
 The great opportunity suggests the great need. There 
 was probably never a time when the difficulties which 
 spring up in connection with the prosecution of the 
 Missionary work were more clearly discerned than they 
 are to-day. We have learned that it is no holiday service 
 
THE OPPORTUNITY AND THE NEED 
 
 39 
 
 to undertake to overthrow the gigantic systems of 
 heathenism which have been entrenched for centuries, 
 and which hold in bondage so many millions. And the 
 problem in nominally Christian lands occasionally seems 
 in certain of its aspects even more perplexing. It is 
 not strange that those who undertake this service are 
 sometimes appalled at the apparent hopelessness of the 
 task, and feel themselves almost literally overwhelmed. 
 How can these few men and women, strangers in a 
 strange land, lift up this burden of ignorance, degrada¬ 
 tion, superstition, awful vice, and barbarity, which have 
 been accumulating for generations ? “ It is not the isola¬ 
 
 tion from home,” one of them writes, “not the absence 
 from friends, not the lack of mail, that wears us, but the 
 hand-to-hand fight with sin, with the terrible feeling of 
 oppression it brings.” A perishing world of sinners self- 
 destroyed, cherishing their sin, these wretched, guilty 
 millions all around us laid upon a few sensitive, sym¬ 
 pathising hearts to be delivered and saved ! “ Who is 
 
 sufficient for these things'?” Would any person under¬ 
 take it, could any person be sustained in it, except he 
 have continuous access to the infinite Source of strength ? 
 
 “ If there be a class of persons on earth,” writes the 
 same witness, “ who need the prayers of all, it is that of 
 Missionaries. Pray most that we may abound in love 
 towards those who are around us. They are ignorant, 
 deceitful, ungrateful, and unwholesome; and unless the 
 Holy Spirit constantly excites us to the exercise of the 
 most disinterested benevolence, we are in danger of 
 despising them and of exulting in our own superiority. 
 Familiarity with their wretchedness also has a tendency 
 to diminish that warmth of sympathy with which we 
 have been accustomed to regard those who are destitute 
 
40 THE MAIN INSTRUMENTAL FORCE, ETC. 
 
 of the Gospel. . . . You know not what unlooked-for con¬ 
 flicts and obstacles you would find were you transported 
 to this region of darkness, this empire of Satan. Pray 
 for me incessantly and fervently; for foes without and 
 foes within obstruct every path to heaven 
 
 Who shall select and summon the consecrated labourers 
 for such a service as this ? Who shall replenish their 
 ranks and multiply their number? Who shall endue 
 them with power from the Holy Ghost so that their 
 courage shall never fail, and all graces shall be in them 
 and abound ? It is not at all surprising that the uniform 
 testimony of all our Missionary labourers is that if they 
 could not pray they could not live. And those who 
 sympathise with them most intelligently through their 
 intimate acquaintance with the details of the work share 
 in the same feeling. The cry of absolute need is incessant 
 through all the days of the year; it is the cry of starving 
 millions for bread; it comes in various forms from various 
 directions : sometimes it is a plaintive moan, and some¬ 
 times it is a piercing shriek; but it is literally continuous 
 through winter’s cold and summer’s heat, from Africa, 
 and India, and Turkey, and China, and Japan, and the 
 islands of the sea, and Papal lands; they give us no rest 
 day nor night, and there is but one deliverance. We 
 must either be driven into insanity • or become hardened 
 to the cry, which would be worse than insanity; or pour 
 out our hearts to God among the watchmen “ who never 
 hold their peace day nor night,” finding thus our only 
 absolute repose either of body or spirit. There are no 
 words which can adequately describe the continuous 
 Missionary cry of need, and there are no human hearts, how¬ 
 ever sympathetic, which can adequately meet it. There is 
 but One heart which is equal to this burden, the heart of 
 
THE BURDEN WHICH RESTS UPON US 
 
 41 
 
 Him who bore it as no mere man could ever bear it, and 
 who has laid it in its measure upon His disciples, who are 
 appointed thus “to fill up that which is behind of the 
 afflictions of Christ,” until this lost world, through travail 
 of soul, is brought back to God. 
 
 “ The burden which rests upon us is not simply a pro¬ 
 clamation of the Gospel among the heathen, but such a 
 'proclamation of it as shall save the soul. If we fail of 
 this we fail of our object altogether. I do not say that 
 w r e do no good, but we fail of the object we have in view 
 —of that which is the very soul of our enterprise. We 
 are not a society for promoting civilisation or literature 
 or the arts, but for saving men; and the great reason 
 why this is not more fully accomplished is because our 
 Missionaries and our Board, and the Christian public who 
 act with us, are not more ready to take up just the 
 burden which is necessary to accomplish this. 
 
 “ This is not the giving of money. Money cannot convert 
 a soul. Any amount of this may be given, and nothing 
 be effected, except that a certain sum has changed hands. 
 Money! why, the heathen give far more money for the 
 support of the pomps and follies of their religions than 
 we do for the spread of ours. It is not the establishment 
 of seminaries, or of printing-presses, or of any external 
 apparatus. No; but it is that constraining love of 
 Christ and that sense of the infinite value of salvation 
 which leads the Missionary to preach the Word in season 
 and out of season, to testify publicly and from house to house 
 of the grace of God; which would lead our Missionary 
 Boards and the Christian public to sympathise with the 
 Missionaries in these feelings, and to sustain them con¬ 
 stantly in the arms of faith and of prayer ; which would 
 fill the monthly concerts all over the land, and cause those 
 
42 THE MAIN INSTRUMENTAL FORCE, ETC. 
 
 who were there to wrestle with God as did Jacob, and to 
 say to him, ‘ We will not let thee go, except thou bless us.’ 
 
 “ It is one thing to give money, and print reports, and 
 go across the ocean and establish a station, and print 
 books, and tell them something of the Christian religion 
 and how it differs from theirs, and quite another to go 
 to them as Brainerd did to his poor Indians, as those who 
 are under the wrath of God, who must accept of His 
 mercy in Christ or perish, and by the very agony of 
 prayer, and the earnestness of preaching connected with 
 it, to be the means of such outpouring of the Holy Spirit 
 and of such manifest and surprising conversions to God. 
 Those Indians have probably had no agency in perfecting 
 society upon earth,—their very tribes have perished,— 
 but they now shine as stars in the crown of their Re¬ 
 deemer ; and those conversions were worth more than all 
 the results of great meetings and speeches and munificent 
 donations from which the spirit of prayer and of God is 
 absent, and which are not connected with the salvation 
 of the soul. There was connected with them more true 
 Missionary labour. 
 
 “ That we have failed, and that this has been our great 
 failure, of taking up this burden as we ought, there can 
 be no doubt. Whether wrong principles have in any 
 case been adopted in pursuing things incidental too much, 
 I cannot say, but they certainly have been pursued too 
 exclusively. There has been a withdrawing of the spirit 
 from those higher regions of spiritual sympathy and 
 struggle, and communion with Christ in the fellowship 
 of His sufferings ; and all the channels of that sympathy 
 have been left empty and dry; and so while there has 
 been external activity, and some good has been done, there 
 has yet, around many of the Missionary stations, not been 
 
WHAT YOU DO YOU MUST DO QUICKLY 43 
 
 the greenness and verdure which we hoped to see. So 
 has it been, so it is now. And unless this Board and its 
 friends come together with the confession of their sin in 
 this, and with a readiness to assume this burden more 
 fully for the future, and to cast themselves upon the Lord 
 that they may be sustained in bearing it, then that which 
 is really the cause of Missions will go backwards, and we 
 shall have perplexities and burdens come upon us as judg¬ 
 ments, and under them God will not sustain us.” 
 
 How absolutely such a thought as this bows down 
 the Lord’s people in the midst of the perishing millions 
 of lost men, in continuous intercessory prayer, they only 
 know who feel it. 
 
 m.-THE CRITICAL EMERGENCY. 
 
 The greatness of the opportunity and the greatness of 
 the need suggest the critical emergency of the hour and 
 the possibility of a great deliverance. 
 
 “ It is a crisis to-day,” we are emphatically told, “ with 
 Japan, and what you do you must do quickly.” These 
 words are none too emphatic. It is indeed a crisis with 
 Japan in a sense far more profound than the utterance 
 of this sentence usually implies. Something far beyond 
 civilisation or education or political advancement is at 
 stake in Japan, even the eternal destiny of undying souls. 
 This is the crisis with Japan. But it is the crisis also 
 with China. It is the crisis with India. It is the crisis 
 with Africa. It is the crisis with the entire generation 
 of men now living on the earth in every land. The work 
 which God gives His people in any particular generation 
 is a contemporaneous work for that entire generation. 
 Who dare select any one favoured people, be it America 
 or be it J apan, and say that for this generation all thought 
 
44 THE MAIN INSTRUMENTAL FORCE, ETC. 
 
 and effort may concentrate upon that one people, and the 
 rest of the world may wait until their hour shall come 1 
 Who ever gave any man authority to say that China must 
 wait, or India must wait, or Africa must wait, or those 
 bowed down under Papal superstition must wait, or the 
 175,000,000 under the heel of Islam must wait 1 ? Are 
 these the “ marching orders ” of the Great Commander ? 
 No. We must lay aside such thought and such utter¬ 
 ances as these or we fail to comprehend the true “ Crisis 
 of Missions.” The crisis is the crisis of a generation, a 
 double crisis — (1) the crisis of the perishing millions 
 themselves asking, during that generation, for the bread 
 of life, and (2) the crisis of the believing people of God 
 during the same generation, who are under orders to 
 proclaim the good tidings immediately, to the extent of 
 their ability, throughout the entire world. How that 
 crisis is to be met is a serious question indeed, and a 
 most practical question. And whoever grapples with it 
 will at first be overwhelmed and will fall prostrate before 
 God in earnest supplication to Him alone who can wisely 
 and safely guide. Then shall the divine Providence direct 
 alike as to place and person and concentration of labour, 
 but never for a moment permitting us to forget that the 
 critical “to-day” belongs contemporaneously to every 
 people, nay, to every accountable soul of the entire genera¬ 
 tion. Some generation will yet arise when the Lord’s 
 people will recognise this momentous fact so seriously 
 that they will accept both the responsibility and the 
 honour, and will go forth in the Lord’s name, pouring 
 out their hearts in united, fervent prayer, dividing the 
 provinces of the world among them, and taking immediate 
 possession under the guidance and to the glory of the 
 Great Captain of their salvation. Who knows but this 
 
WHAT MAY BE DONE IN OUR TIME 45 
 
 may be the favoured generation ? So Edwards asked one 
 hundred and forty years ago; so with more significance 
 our fathers asked sixty years ago; and so, even more 
 emphatically, may we ask to-day. 
 
 There is no reason why in our own time the Word of 
 God should not be carried within the reach , substantially , 
 of all the peoples of the earth , provided we use the re¬ 
 sources at our disposal. There are messengers enough, 
 there is treasure enough in the hands of the Lord’s 
 anointed people at this very hour to proclaim the good 
 tidings not only all over Japan, but all over China 
 and India and Africa, as well as over the nominally 
 Christian nations and the islands of the sea. There is 
 no reason why the people of God should be appalled by 
 Buddhism, or Mohammedanism, or the Papacy, or modern 
 Infidelity, any more than they once were by the paganism 
 of ancient Rome, or the savage barbarism of our own 
 Anglo-Saxon ancestors. They are helpless before any 
 foe, however seemingly feeble, if they go forth in their 
 own strength; and they are equal to any emergency and 
 can storm any fortress, however impregnable as it appears 
 to human vision, when they go forth with united, ex¬ 
 pectant prayer in the name of God. But the prayer is 
 the main thing, and will carry with it everything else. 
 Let this mighty force be wielded as it may be by the 
 Lord’s united people, remembering, as it has been tersely 
 expressed, that “we are responsible not only for all we 
 can do ourselves, but for all we can secure from God,” 
 and there will be no lack of consecrated money and no 
 lack of consecrated men. The Lord, who knows His 
 anointed instruments, will select and summon and send 
 them forth, and there will be no question as to their 
 fitness or as to their success. 
 
46 THE MAIN INSTRUMENTAL FORCE, ETC. 
 
 As expressed by the preacher 1 at one of our annual 
 meetings several years ago : “ Our duty all converges to 
 a single point. It is prayer , prayer—prayer for the 
 Spirit—that we need. Such prayer as was offered by 
 that little band that waited at Jerusalem for the promise 
 of the Father. Such prayer as Brainerd offered on the 
 banks of the Susquehanna, and Martyn on the plains of 
 India. Such prayer as was offered by the dying Backus 
 when he asked for the privilege of getting out of his bed 
 to lift up his soul once more to God. This is a blessing 
 which we cannot do without.” 
 
 “Missionary work,” said the chairman of the London 
 Missionary Society at its late annual meeting, “ has been 
 consecrated by prayer, and has been strengthened and 
 developed from generation to generation by prayer, and 
 it is by prayer as one of the chief agencies that it must 
 be carried on to perfected and happy consummation.” 
 
 Oh, that the “ Missionary revival,” of which mention 
 has so often been made of late, might express itself in all 
 our pulpits, in all our churches, in all Christian hearts, 
 by earnest, sustained, prevalent intercession for the im¬ 
 mediate and continuous outpouring of the Holy Spirit 
 throughout the world ! “Ye that are the Lord’s 
 
 REMEMBRANCERS, TAKE YE NO REST, AND GIVE HIM NO 
 REST TILL HE ESTABLISH AND TILL HE MAKE JERUSALEM 
 A PRAISE IN THE EARTH.” 
 
 From “The Place occupied in Missionary Work 
 by Prayer,” a Paper presented at the Annual 
 Meeting of the American Board of Commissioners 
 for Foreign Missions by Rev. Dr. Alden, Home 
 Secretary. 
 
 1 Rev. David Magie, D.D. 
 
IF TWO OF YOU SHALL AGREE, Etc. 
 (Matt, xviii. 19.) 
 
 By Rev. Archibald Scott, D.D. 
 
 In regard to our Foreign Mission, we are at present in 
 need of almost everything. We are greatly in need of 
 money, and we are sorely in need of Missionaries ; but 
 what we want most is life and an increase of spiritual 
 power. A new birth in the soul or in the Church always 
 brings its own power and beauty along with it. Money 
 will flow in streams to God’s treasury, and men will 
 offer themselves in companies, and our Missionary enter¬ 
 prise will expand into Missions worthy of the name, when 
 the enthusiasm of Christ, the fire of the Holy Ghost, 
 possesses the Church—never till then. The real com¬ 
 plaint of our Lord against us may not be concerning the 
 withholding of our money or of our service, but the 
 withholding of ourselves; and if this be so, it must be 
 because we have not received Him in the fulness of His 
 grace and power. We cannot give what we have not 
 really gotten. So instead of beseeching us to give Him a 
 little more of our money, He may be rather imploring us 
 by the mercies of God to receive His unsearchable riches. 
 
 It is well that the present stir about Missions is dis¬ 
 closing the apathy that exists in many quarters of the 
 Church. The discovery of that apathy does not make it 
 a new thing; but as with sin in the individual heart, it 
 
IF TWO OF YOU SHALL AGREE, ETC. 
 
 is really the first step towards its removal. God’s Spirit 
 must bring it to light, and convince us of it, before we 
 ask Him to breathe upon and take it all away. So, 
 though many may well be dispirited by the present 
 condition of things, we need not despair. Till God’s 
 power really diminishes, there is no cause for fear. If 
 only two persons were concerned about our Missions, and 
 were pleading with God to give us what we need for it, 
 His promises would be as unfailing to those two as they 
 would be to half a million of people. . . . 
 
 We believe that we are in this condition because we 
 have asked not, or because we have asked amiss; and so 
 our necessity becomes a valuable opportunity of carefully 
 examining ourselves. We may be sure that we are not 
 straitened in God, and that the hindrance is not in Him. 
 The hindrance must be wholly in ourselves. We may 
 not be sufficiently enlarged to receive the mighty gift 
 which He desires to bestow. By what is happening 
 abroad, He evidently desires to cleanse us of all vanity, 
 and of all trust in the creature ; and at home He seems 
 to be teaching us the very elementary lesson that we 
 must look to Him for our resources, and learn to be 
 content to wait for Him. We must not fret because He 
 does not answer the moment we begin to cry. Verily 
 we have need of patience—and we may have to cultivate 
 long patience—but if we wait truly, as the Church did 
 in the upper room, with one accord, with souls directed 
 intently upward, we shall not wait in vain. Ho sign, 
 small even as a little cloud, like a man’s hand, may 
 indicate the answer to our crying • but we shall surely 
 hear by and by the sound of abundance of rain. 
 
 From The Church of Scotland Home and Foreign 
 Mission Record. 
 
“WHAT SHOULD BE THE TENOR OF OUR 
 
 PRAYERS ? ” 
 
 By the late Rev. A. 1ST. Somerville, D.D. 
 [Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland.) 
 
 In regard to the world’s evangelisation, enough cannot 
 be said of the importance of 'prayer. The greatest, the 
 most responsible, the busiest, and most successful servants 
 that Christ ever had divide their functions into two 
 departments. “ We will give ourselves continually to 
 prayer and to the ministry of the word.” What would 
 be thought of dividing the twelve hours of our day by 
 giving six hours to prayer for the Gospel, and six to the 
 ministry of the Word ? Had all Christ’s servants acted 
 thus, could any one estimate how mighty the results on 
 the world would be to-day 1 
 
 What should be the tenor of our prayers 1 If the pro¬ 
 mises of God may be regarded as moulds, our prayers 
 should be like liquid metal poured into them, in dimension 
 corresponding with the capacity of the mould, and taking 
 on all the lines, grooves, and figuring of the interior. 
 
 If, then, we find such promises as these, “ The earth 
 shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the 
 Lord as the waters cover the sea,” a promise twice given 
 in Scripture, and which has many corresponding with it, 
 our prayers should be commensurate with the promise. 
 We are not to pass by moulds, even of extremely limited 
 
 E 
 
50 POSSIBILITIES OF INDIVIDUAL INTERCESSION 
 
 capacity, but by all means let us match the great * pro¬ 
 mises of God with great prayers. Doubtless this is 
 pleasing to God. In what manner God may see fit to 
 fulfil his promises is quite another consideration. But 
 would it not be well could we train ourselves to take up 
 all the countries of the world in detail, and make mention 
 of them systematically before God 1 There are persons 
 who have attempted to do this every day of their lives, 
 while others divide the world into portions, and take these 
 up on successive days. I hope I may not offend any 
 hearers if I venture to recommend the use of a prayer- 
 book, which I have found of service, and which can be 
 had from the shelves of Messrs. Keith Johnston &TCo. 
 I mean a pocket-atlas, wdiich should be spread out like 
 Hezekiah’s letter before the Lord, and be gone over 
 carefully from day to day, and from year to year, so 
 that every kingdom, capital, island, and ocean should be 
 individually remembered. If this were done on an ex¬ 
 tensive scale among Christians, blessed issues would ensue. 
 
 Let me say that our faith should lay account with a 
 blessing coming to whole regions and kingdoms in 
 response to the prayers of even one individual. Moses, 
 when he prayed for himself to be permitted to cross the 
 Jordan, was refused; yet, when he fell down before the 
 Lord on Sinai’s solitary top, forty days and forty nights, in 
 intercession for two millions of guilty people, to avert judg¬ 
 ment from them, God, as he tells us, hearkened unto him. 
 
 If we find that individuals are employed to change the 
 face of continents by exploration or personal effort, why 
 may not individuals equally prevail when they, by prayer, 
 lay hold of the arm of the Almighty 1 
 
 The answer to your prayers may come by God’s send¬ 
 ing you as evangelists or settlers to the very lands for 
 
HOW ANSWER TO PRAYER MAY COME 
 
 51 
 
 which you have prayed ; or by enabling you to write 
 a volume which may stir the Missionary activity of hun¬ 
 dreds, or to prepare hymns that may be sung in every 
 land and tongue. God may enable you, by your addresses 
 as ministers, professors, and laymen, to rouse congrega¬ 
 tions and entire synods to their duty to the heathen, as 
 well as to call forth the Christian enthusiasm of young 
 men in our colleges and universities ; and mothers in 
 Israel, like Hannah, Lois, and Eunice, may, through 
 prayer, be the means of sending forth a Carey, a Henry 
 Martyn, a Duff, a William Burns, a Stanley Smith, or a 
 Studd. I believe that the Day will declare that solitary 
 individuals have, simply by their prayers, prevailed to 
 introduce the Gospel into vast and populous dominions. 
 
 INTERCESSION. 
 
 By Rev. Handley C. G. Moule, M.A. 
 
 Let us thus pray for others indeed ; let us live the life of 
 intercessors joined by the Holy Spirit to the eternal and 
 heavenly Intercessor. Let Epaphras be often in our 
 thoughts, loving and mindful Epaphras, “ who laboured 
 always fervently in prayer” (Col. iv. 12) for his Colossian 
 brethren, “ that they might stand perfect and complete 
 in all the will of God.” Let us often visit blessed Paul 
 in his Roman prison-chamber, and listen to him as he 
 prays for his scattered converts and friends in Christ, 
 making mention of them, setting before himself, and then 
 before the Lord, their individuality, and its surroundings, 
 and its needs, with intense and tender detail. There are 
 many followers of Epaphras and of Paul in our day. I 
 was told a few years ago, by one who well knew, that it 
 was the practice of the late venerable Head of a College 
 
52 
 
 INTERCESSION 
 
 at Oxford to pray every day by name for every under¬ 
 graduate member of the College. It is beautifully signi¬ 
 ficant, for it indicates the harmony of sanctified habits 
 in a truly Christian life, that the same man also made it 
 his practice never to open a letter without a moment’s 
 prayer that in the reading and the answering he might 
 be kept and guided. 
 
 We Christians need continually to remember that Inter¬ 
 cessory Prayer must always enter into the very life of the 
 work which we seek to do for others, in and for the Lord. 
 A devoted Sunday School teacher of whom I have heard, 
 was the means under God of bringing scholar after scholar, 
 with always growing frequency, to the feet of Jesus in 
 living conversion, evidenced by a new life of love and 
 consistency. After her death, her simple diary was found 
 to contain among other entries the three following with 
 some intervals between : “ Resolved to pray for each 
 scholar by name ”; “ Resolved to wrestle in prayer for each 
 scholar by name ”; “ Resolved to wrestle for each by 
 name, and to expect an answer.” 
 
 How much we may do, by the Lord’s mercy, .by the 
 mere fact that our friends know we are praying for them! 
 A dear Missionary friend of my own has found not seldom, 
 during hours of danger, exhaustion, and illness, in the 
 heathen solitudes, when the mental effort of praying 
 seemed too great to be sustained, that the shortest way 
 to an answer of peace was the brief petition, “ Lord, 
 hear my praying friends in England.” 
 
 From Secret Prayer , by Rev. H. C. G. Moule, M.A., 
 published by Seeley & Co. Price Is. 
 
 Concerning this book The Christian says : “ It is impossible to 
 indicate in a few lines the wealth of heart-counsel compressed into 
 this little volume by the Principal of Ridley Hall, Cambridge.” 
 
Twentieth Thousand. 
 
 Cloth, 2s. 6d. Cloth gilt, gilt edges, 3s. 6d. 
 
 THE EVANGELISATION OF THE WORLD: 
 
 A Record of Consecration and an Appeal. 
 
 PRESS NOTICES. 
 
 “ A new and enlarged edition has been issued of that wonderful 
 collection of missionary literature, The Evangelisation op the 
 World, prepared and edited by Mr. Broomliall of the China 
 Inland Mission. ... We cannot too strongly recommend this 
 volume to those who do not possess a copy ; if it were prayerfully 
 perused and studied in the churches once every three months, the 
 tide of missionary zeal would be kept at high-water mark.”— The 
 Christian. 
 
 “That God has blessed it, we know ; that He will bless it, we 
 are sure. It should be on every drawing-room table, be within 
 reach in every clergyman’s study, and be given as a present to 
 every Christian young man.”— Church Missionary Intelligencer. 
 
 “ It is one of the best books conceivable to put into the hands 
 of young men and women. Its paragraphs are a history, a poem, 
 a prophecy, all at once. Short, suggestive, on fire with God’s 
 Spirit.”— Dr. A. T. Pierson of Philadelphia. 
 
 PRESS NOTICES OF THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 ( 
 
 “ This is a most remarkable book. ... It is one of the most 
 powerful appeals for Foreign Missions issued in our time, and 
 altogether perhaps the best handbook that exists for preachers and 
 speakers in their behalf.”— The Church Missionary Intelligencer 
 and Record. 
 
 “This is a remarkable record and a thrilling appeal. . . . Such 
 a book should be read everywhere, and especially by young men, 
 for the Christian life of individuals as well as for the growth of the 
 Kingdom of God on earth.”— The Missionary Herald , Boston. 
 
PRESS NOTICES— Continued. 
 
 “ This is a book sui generis ... is certain to be popular, and 
 deservedly so.”— The Chronicle of the London Missionary Society. 
 
 “ A book for all who love, or would fain love, Christian missions ; 
 it is quickening and arousing as a band of military music.”— The 
 Wesleyan Methodist Magazine. 
 
 “ It is rich in holy utterances and inspiring information.”— The 
 Sword and the Trowel. 
 
 “ It ought to become a missionary classic.”— The Christian. 
 
 “ One of the most striking missionary books issued for many a 
 day.”— Word and Work. 
 
 “We trust that hundreds of thousands will be sold.”— The 
 Methodist Times. 
 
 “No one interested in missionary work should fail to procure 
 this unique volume. . . . Every reader should lend or give it to 
 another.”— Our Own Gazette. 
 
 “ This is a soul-stirring book, full of facts and appeals, and 
 calculated to do immense service.”-— Joyful News. 
 
 “ It is a book to brighten home, advance true religion, and show 
 the churches the glory of their calling. Would that it were 
 prayerfully read in every family ! ”— The Christian Advocate. 
 
 “ Will give permanent form to one of the happiest chapters of 
 missionary consecration.”— The London Quarterly Review. 
 
 “ It is dedicated to ‘ English-speaking young men everywhere/ 
 and it is designed, says its compiler, Mr. B. Broomhall, Secretary 
 of the China Inland Mission, to show that, ‘ in the whole compass 
 of human benevolence, there is nothing so grand, so noble, so 
 Christian, so truly God-like, as the work of evangelising the 
 heathen.’ It is true to its design, and worthy of its dedication.” 
 —The Moravian Missionary Reporter. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 MORGAN & SCOTT, 12 PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS.