JOHN R. MOTT—CHRISTIAN STATESMAN 
 
 BY FRANK B. LENZ, New York 
 
 I T HAS been said that every man 
 has his adjective—but not so 
 John R. Mott. It would be 
 difficult to circumscribe him by 
 grammar, rhetoric or epithets. 
 Physically and morally he is large 
 and straight and square. He is 
 distinctly American with the evi¬ 
 dence in his face of concentration, 
 poise, peace, strength and earnest¬ 
 ness. When in action there is no 
 room to doubt the determination 
 and will power of the man. Great 
 physical strength and energy are 
 revealed in his movements. He 
 commands others because he has 
 conquered himself and because he 
 himself has learned to obey a 
 higher Power. 
 
 Everyone realizes that he cannot 
 be labeled or confined within sec¬ 
 tarian limits. It is enough to say 
 that he is a Christian and is loyal 
 to Christ and His Church univer¬ 
 sal and so might be termed an 
 “Ecumenical Christian.” He deals 
 habitually with intellectual, moral 
 and spiritual esentials, and in that 
 sense he might be called an “essen- 
 tialist,” rather than a “modernist” 
 or “fundamentalist.” 
 
 John R. Mott cannot be ex¬ 
 plained by analyzing his great ad¬ 
 ministrative, intellectual and or¬ 
 ganizing abilities. There is a spir¬ 
 itual dynamic about him that 
 brings things to pass. His great¬ 
 est purpose in life is to discover 
 and do the will of God. 
 
 Mott is a prodigious worker. 
 Whether at home or in the office, 
 on the sea or in the subway, he is 
 busy toward purposeful ends. Yet 
 
 he works without manifesting 
 hurry or worry or impatience. So 
 completely does he lose himself in 
 the causes of Christ that he takes 
 no thought of time, space or handi¬ 
 caps. Problems exist to be solved. 
 Crisis exist to be transcended. 
 
 He has frequently said that 
 when a man lacks world-conquer¬ 
 ing power it is because he has been 
 conquered by the world and not by 
 Christ. In one of his addresses he 
 says: 
 
 Come to Christ for the particular 
 thing you need. Is it cleansing? He 
 will make you clean. Are you depressed 
 and discouraged? He will plant new 
 hope in your breast. Are you weak? 
 He will give you energy. Let Him flood 
 your life, flood it, flood it, that you may 
 say, “It is not I that liveth, but Christ 
 that liveth in me.” Let us rise in new¬ 
 ness of life. 
 
 One of the remarkable character¬ 
 istics of Mott is his ability to 
 change men’s attitudes from op¬ 
 position and hostility to one of con¬ 
 fidence and hearty support. This 
 can best be explained by spiritual 
 influence rather than on human 
 grounds. Men’s hearts are stirred 
 by his appeals and their wills re¬ 
 spond so that they are ready to fol¬ 
 low his leadership. 
 
 “Mott is earnest and able, but he 
 will never make a speaker,” said 
 Richard C. Morse, General Secre¬ 
 tary of the International Commit¬ 
 tee of the Association about the 
 time the young Cornell graduate 
 joined his staff. Today, forty 
 years later, while he makes no pre¬ 
 tense to eloquence and rhetoric, he 
 is unique for his ability to electrify 
 an audience. While he never seeks 
 
 Copyrighted. Reprinted from The Missionary Review of the World. December, 192S. 
 
 1 
 
2 
 
 merely to entertain his hearers, 
 the deep, vibrant qualities of his 
 voice, his poise and dignity, his 
 choice of words and staccato sen¬ 
 tences and his commanding grasp 
 of the subject, compel attention. 
 He shows this power even when 
 speaking through an interpreter 
 on his extended foreign tours. 
 
 Mott is recognized as a master¬ 
 ful presiding officer. At the 
 World’s Convention of the Young 
 Men’s Christian Association, which 
 met at Helsingfors, Finland, in 
 1926, he handled that audience of 
 fifteen hundred delegates from 
 fifty-two nations, day after day, 
 with such superb skill and fairness 
 that the meetings ended without a 
 ripple and on schedule time. Thor¬ 
 ough preparation, great attention 
 to details and the selection of wise 
 and capable associates are keys to 
 the success of the conferences and 
 assemblies over which he presides. 
 
 While Mott is not noted for his 
 humor and does not have time to 
 spend in telling jokes, those who 
 know him intimately know well his 
 keen relish for good stories, and 
 his own ability to tell them. 
 
 Mott and Money 
 
 One of the significant contribu¬ 
 tions that Mott has made to Chris¬ 
 tian progress is through his abil¬ 
 ity to convince men and women of 
 social standing and large wealth, 
 that it is worth while for them to 
 invest large sums in great causes 
 that will continue to bear fruit 
 long after he and they are gone. 
 The offerings which he recom¬ 
 mends are not wild cat stocks, but 
 “gilt edge” investments that build 
 character, that bind together the 
 races, nations and classes and that 
 promote the Kingdom of God 
 among men. He challenges people 
 to give not paltry sums but large 
 
 and sacrificial offerings. No one 
 knows the number of millions he 
 has raised for Christian work. He 
 has helped to lift giving from the 
 level of a small, begging appeal to 
 a dignified plane that commands 
 the respect and confidence of the 
 donor. Dedicated money is as im¬ 
 perative and as sacred as dedicated 
 lives. If rightly used money is as 
 truly a means of bringing in the 
 Kingdom of God as preaching the 
 Word of God. It is characteristic 
 of Mott, that before asking for a 
 gift he takes great pains in pre¬ 
 paring the case thoroughly and 
 spends much time in prayer before 
 presenting it. Money raising for 
 Christian enterprises may be re¬ 
 garded as an important and highly 
 spiritual religious activity. Many 
 of John R. Mott’s best friends are 
 those who have given him the larg¬ 
 est sums over a period of years. 
 Scores of donors have testified to 
 the sacramental effect that their 
 gifts have had on their own lives. 
 The motive that animates the ap¬ 
 peal and the purpose for which the 
 money is used determine the char¬ 
 acter of the effort. Mott believes 
 in sacrificial giving not, “until it 
 hurts,” but “until it feels good.” 
 
 Mott in Print 
 
 A large collection of books, docu¬ 
 ments, magazine articles, and 
 pamphlets, have come from the 
 mind and heart and pen of John R. 
 Mott in the past forty years. 
 Many of these are of a high order 
 and of enduring value. The burn¬ 
 ing, vital messages have deeply 
 impressed and moved large num¬ 
 bers in many lands. “Confronting 
 Young Men with the Living 
 Christ” or that striking pamphlet, 
 “The Price of Leadership” (writ¬ 
 ten over twenty years ago), will 
 convince any reader that they were 
 
3 
 
 DR. JOHN R. MOTT AND DR. DAVID Z. T. YUI AT JERUSALEM, MARCH, 192S 
 
4 
 
 the product of no ordinary indi¬ 
 vidual. 
 
 In all of his books there are pas¬ 
 sages which reveal wide vision and 
 strength and character. Many of 
 his volumes have been translated 
 into other languages and are dis¬ 
 tributed widely, especially in the 
 great university centers.* 
 
 War Work 
 
 As noble men of God in the mon¬ 
 asteries of Europe kept the flame 
 of the Christian religion alive dur¬ 
 ing the Dark Ages, so other noble 
 followers of Christ endured the 
 trials of the arena of conflict and 
 made Christ real in the midst of 
 the appalling lusts and hatreds of 
 the World War. It was heartrend¬ 
 ing to see the best manhood of the 
 nations, march into the fiery fur¬ 
 nace. Character was needed that 
 would not burn or die, but this 
 seemed almost impossible. Mott 
 carried a cross day and night dur¬ 
 ing those terrible years, but under 
 his leadership were mobilized and 
 intensified the moral and physical 
 forces of the enlisted men. From 
 the war zone he returned to Amer¬ 
 ica and asked for $170,000,000 for 
 the United War Work Campaign. 
 The response was $205,000,000, 
 given because men and women 
 knew the awful consequences if 
 their loved ones at the front and in 
 camp were not surrounded by some 
 decencies and restraints of civiliza¬ 
 tion. To keep men and boys from 
 going to physical and moral dis- 
 truction during the reactions fol¬ 
 lowing the terrors of battle, mil¬ 
 lions of dollars were contributed 
 
 * Among his books are : “Strategic Points 
 of the World’s Conquest,” “The Evangelization 
 of the World in this Generation,” “Christians 
 of Reality,” “The Pastor and Modern Missions,” 
 “The Future Leadership of the Church,” “The 
 Decisive Hour of Christian Missions,” “The 
 Present World Situation,” “The World’s Chris¬ 
 tian Federation” and “Confronting Young Men 
 with the Living Christ.” 
 
 for work in debarkation camps, 
 naval stations, rest billets and 
 prison camps. Mott led this gigan¬ 
 tic movement to hold men up to 
 the best, and to help make right¬ 
 eousness prevail. As head of 
 the United War Work campaign, 
 he devoted an energy and determi¬ 
 nation that was almost alarming 
 to some of his associates. 
 
 The Christian religion was en¬ 
 listed and was one of the few 
 forces to return to usefulness. It 
 was not submerged or destroyed, 
 and the Y. M. C. A., with the help 
 of a group of noble American lay¬ 
 men, was one of the chief agencies 
 that kept religion functioning. 
 This and other organizations acted 
 as the good Samaritan among forty 
 nations at a time when passion was 
 enthroned, and in the midst of 
 those years of pain, suffering and 
 sorrow. As an expression of ap¬ 
 preciation of the service rendered 
 on behalf of the American soldiers 
 and sailors, as well as the men of 
 the allied armies and prisoners 
 of war, the United States Govern¬ 
 ment gave Dr. Mott a Distin¬ 
 guished Service medal, the French 
 Government made him Knight of 
 the Legion of Honor, and the Ital¬ 
 ian Government conferred upon 
 ‘ him the Order of the Italian 
 Crown. 
 
 Influence on Youth 
 
 For forty years Mott has helped 
 to keep the attention of the world 
 riveted on youth. As international 
 student secretary for the Christian 
 Association he repeatedly circled 
 the globe to push an aggressive 
 campaign of evangelism among 
 students in the great university 
 centers of Asia, Africa, Europe 
 and Latin America. He was one 
 of the early student volunteers for 
 Foreign Missions and for years he 
 actively shared in the development 
 
D 
 
 of that movement. Later he con¬ 
 ceived the idea of the World Stu¬ 
 dent Christian Federation, and be¬ 
 came one of its founders at Vad- 
 stena Castle, Sweden, 1895. Stu¬ 
 dents all over the world were thus 
 united under the banner of Christ 
 and the influence of the Federation 
 has become so far-reaching that at 
 present its work embraces more 
 than forty countries, over 3,000 
 
 also had a large part in launching 
 the notable work of the Interracial 
 Commission which promotes bet¬ 
 ter racial understanding between 
 white people and the Negroes 
 throughout the United States. 
 
 Curiously enough as Mott grew 
 older he came to see more clearly 
 the strategic importance of Chris¬ 
 tian work with boys and he turned 
 his attention vigorously to 
 
 DELEGATES AT TIIE 
 
 HELSINGFORS 
 
 YOUTH CONFERENCE 
 
 IN FINLAND, 192G 
 
 colleges and universities and a 
 membership of 300,000. In recog¬ 
 nition of his work for students, 
 Yale University conferred upon 
 him the degree of Master of Arts 
 thirty years ago. 
 
 Repeatedly Mott has said: “I 
 have learned to trust youth/’ 
 Since the globe has become his par¬ 
 ish he has learned to trust them 
 whatever their color, race or na¬ 
 tionality. One of the most states¬ 
 manlike things he ever did was to 
 establish a committee to promote 
 friendly relations among foreign 
 students studying in America. He 
 
 strengthening the Association’s 
 program among those of the teen 
 age. With characteristic emphasis 
 he said: “Let us go into towns and 
 villages; into our cities and rural 
 districts, with a living apprecia¬ 
 tion of the transcendent impor¬ 
 tance of getting hold of the boys. 
 Let us all have a hand in this highly 
 multiplying work—that of relating 
 boys in their plastic years, their 
 vision-forming years, their ideal¬ 
 determining years, their habit¬ 
 forming years—to the ever living 
 Christ.” 
 
G 
 
 The Kingdom of God First 
 
 Gifted with qualities that would 
 have made him a great statesman, 
 educator, jurist, editor or business 
 man, John R. Mott has turned a 
 deaf ear to the many appeals that 
 would remove him from the field 
 of distinctive Christian work. 
 When he was a student at Cornell, 
 more than forty years ago, he made 
 a decision that completely changed 
 the course of his life. One eve¬ 
 ning, coming in late at a crowded 
 student meeting where the famous 
 Cambridge University cricketer, 
 J. E. K. Studd, was speaking, he 
 heard the following words: “Seek- 
 est thou great things for thyself; 
 seek them not.” He heard little 
 more, but this text led to a great 
 soul struggle which resulted in his 
 • decision to turn his back on the 
 law, the profession for which he 
 was preparing. From that day he 
 has done everything within his 
 power to strengthen the Church 
 of Christ and build the Kingdom 
 of God on earth. To prove his 
 loyalty to the new purpose to which 
 he dedicated his life, Mott has re¬ 
 fused business offers that would 
 have given him a large income; he 
 has also declined college presiden¬ 
 cies and could not be persuaded to 
 accept the high office of American 
 Minister to the Republic of China 
 which President Wilson urged him 
 to consider. 
 
 “A man cannot be a Christian 
 alone,” he has repeatedly main¬ 
 tained as he has urged men and 
 boys to avail themselves of the 
 privileges of the church and 
 to take up the responsibilities. 
 Through him thousands of men 
 have thus been led to dedicate their 
 lives to the Christian ministry at 
 home or abroad. The Association 
 has been recognized as “an arm 
 of the church” or “the Church's 
 
 auxiliary” not as an independent 
 organization. 
 
 Dr. Mott’s devotion to the cause 
 of Christ, above all other causes, is 
 illustrated by an incident that oc¬ 
 curred a few years ago on a visit 
 to Manila that lasted only thirty 
 hours but was historic. He ad¬ 
 dressed a convocation at the Uni¬ 
 versity of the Philippines one 
 afternoon, when the grandstand on 
 the athletic field was filled with 
 students and members of the fac¬ 
 ulty, and hundreds more were 
 standing on either side of the plat¬ 
 form. His subject was “Christ, as 
 our hope in overcoming tempta¬ 
 tions.” It was an unusual address 
 for a convocation of the University 
 but the students were very respon¬ 
 sive. He impressed all who heard 
 him as being on the Lord’s business 
 and not his own. 
 
 In International Affairs 
 
 Theodore Roosevelt described 
 Mott as a man who had rendered 
 most consistent, useful and disin¬ 
 terested service in the United 
 States and in many other coun¬ 
 tries. Chief Justice Taft has said: 
 “There is no one of the present day 
 who has a greater world vision of 
 promoting the better side of all 
 men and more experience in fitting 
 him to do so than Dr. Mott. Lead¬ 
 ers in centers of influence the 
 world over are familiar with his 
 capacity and genius. This has 
 made him a great agent in the 
 progress of civilization.” 
 
 When the degree of Doctor of 
 Laws was conferred upon him at 
 Princeton University in 1911, he 
 was characterized as “a devisor of 
 national and international agen¬ 
 cies” and as “a traveler over four 
 continents in search of room for 
 work.” Twice he was sent on po¬ 
 litical missions by President Wil- 
 
7 
 
 son who regarded him “as one of 
 the most useful men in the world.” 
 In 1916 he was a member of the 
 American and Mexican Joint Com¬ 
 mission to settle the difficulties be¬ 
 tween the two countries and in 
 1917 he was a member of the Spe¬ 
 cial Diplomatic Mission to Russia, 
 headed by Elihu Root. 
 
 He has been decorated many 
 times, for the distinctive services 
 he has rendered. In addition to 
 those already mentioned, he has re¬ 
 ceived the Imperial Order of Meiji 
 of Japan, the Order of Polonia 
 Restituta of Poland, the Order of 
 the Saviour of Greece, the Order 
 of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem 
 and the Second Order of the Crown 
 of Siam. He is probably ac¬ 
 quainted personally with more 
 crowned heads and leaders of 
 State than any other living Amer¬ 
 ican. It has been said that before 
 the war, he knew every prime min¬ 
 ister in Europe. 
 
 Where in the history of Chris¬ 
 tian work, has any other man held 
 five positions of major importance 
 simultaneously? Dr. Mott has, at 
 the same time, held the unique dis¬ 
 tinction of being president of the 
 World’s Alliance of the Young 
 Men’s Christian Associations, 
 Chairman of the World’s Student 
 Christian Federation, Chairman of 
 the International Missionary Coun¬ 
 cil, General Secretary of the Na¬ 
 tional Council of the Young Men’s 
 Christian Associations of the 
 United States, and Chairman of 
 the Institute of Social and Re¬ 
 ligious Research. For some years 
 he was also Chairman of the Ex¬ 
 ecutive Committee of the Student 
 Volunteer Movement and very ac¬ 
 tive in the Foreign Missions Con¬ 
 ference of North America. Any 
 one of these positions would tax 
 the capacities of an ordinary man. 
 
 Foreign Misssion Activity 
 
 The foreign work of the Young 
 Men’s Christian Association re¬ 
 ceived its chief stimulus in the be¬ 
 ginning from him. Its aim was to 
 establish self-supporting and self- 
 propogating associations in the 
 strategic cities of foreign lands un¬ 
 der native leadership. A network 
 of modern buildings which serve as 
 demonstration centers all over the 
 world testify to the success of the 
 enterprise. 
 
 Mott’s activity in the missionary 
 enterprise and his influence in or¬ 
 ganizing Christian forces in all 
 lands led to his being regarded as 
 one of the most constructive re¬ 
 ligious geniuses since John Wesley. 
 His ability to unify and coordinate 
 disorganized and unrelated forces 
 has resulted in effecting large econ¬ 
 omy, in the reduction of overlap¬ 
 ping, and in the minimizing of na¬ 
 tional and denominational friction. 
 
 The World Missionary Confer¬ 
 ence held in Edinburgh in 1910 
 was planned to develop a program 
 of closer cooperation and unity 
 among all evangelical churches. 
 Mott at forty-five was chairman of 
 the conference which brought to¬ 
 gether 1,200 delegates from all 
 over the world. His work was so 
 noteworthy that the University of 
 Edinburgh conferred upon him the 
 degree of LL.D. even before the 
 convention was called to order. 
 This conference ended the policy 
 of separate action on the part of 
 mission societies in their approach 
 to the world task. Out of the con¬ 
 ference there sprang a Continua¬ 
 tion Committee, which “advanced 
 by great strides the cause of in¬ 
 ternational cooperation.” As chair¬ 
 man of this committee, Dr. Mott 
 drew together in area after area, 
 national missionary councils, both 
 
8 
 
 in “sending” and in “receiving” 
 countries. Those in China, Japan, 
 India, North Africa and Eastern 
 Asia and Latin America, by the 
 incorporation of the indigenous 
 churches, became National Chris¬ 
 tian Councils. These in turn were 
 united in a great new organization 
 —t h e International Missionary 
 Council, which last April closed its 
 remarkable sessions at Jerusalem. 
 
 A Great New Task 
 
 Recently Mott has resigned as 
 General Secretary of the Associa¬ 
 tion movement in the United 
 States, but it is not that he may 
 seek rest and settle down in the 
 stuffy atmosphere of the study to 
 
 reminisce about the past. He has 
 resigned to make way for youth in 
 a youth movement. Having taken 
 this step he does not hover around 
 to become “Chairman of the 
 Board” but he has already started 
 on a tour of India in connection 
 with his important duties as Chair¬ 
 man of the International Mission¬ 
 ary Council—a task of such urgent 
 character as to require the exercise 
 of all his powers. He firmly be¬ 
 lieves that the Christian world sit¬ 
 uation demands that leaders every¬ 
 where “re-think, re-state, reinter¬ 
 pret and apply the Christian mes¬ 
 sage, and, where necessary revise 
 plans and methods.” To this task 
 he will now devote all his powers. 
 
 Mottisms 
 
 Trust your hopes and not your fears. 
 
 Jesus Christ is Lord of all or not Lord at all. 
 
 Our best days lie ahead of us. 
 
 Dawn comes not twice to awaken man. 
 
 The secret of most highly multiplying leadership lies in preserv¬ 
 ing at all costs a life of transparent sincerity and reality. 
 
 The tasks the centuries might have done crowd the hours of 
 setting sun. 
 
 This nation must be saved from crass materialism. 
 
 Your morning watch depends upon your resolutions of the night 
 before. 
 
 The most pathetic sight which meets my gaze is that of Christian 
 men distributing the bread of life with emaciated hands. 
 
 Thank God the distinctive mission of Christ is to liberate captives. 
 
 When a man lacks world conquering power it is because he has 
 been conquered by the world.