Ta™ - THE WORLD OUTLOOK FOR RELIGION w A Series of Five Outline Sermons I. The Modern World-wide Challenge to all Religion. II. Religion and the World-wide Spread of Mod- ern Science. III. Religion and the World-wide Growth of Indus- trialism. IV. Religion and the World-wide Unsettling of Moral Standards. V. The World-wide Opportunity and Task of the Christian Religion. THE BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS Methodist Episcopal Church 150 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK CITY INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT This series of five outline sermons is based upon the reports in eight volumes of the enlarged meeting of the International Mission- ary Council held in Jerusalem in the spring of 1928. The outlines were prepared in England by a representative committee interested in the World Mission of Christianity and have been revised slightly and adapted to meet American church life. It was our thought that perhaps some pastors might like to have these outlines before them for reference in preparing a some- what similar series of sermons which they would deliver from their own pulpits. They will be found very suggestive. We hope that they may be of help in getting before our people the challenging call of the missionary enterprise in our day. SUGGESTED READINGS FOR THE SERMON OUTLINES I. Acts XVII, 16-31. II. Deuteronomy VIII. III. St. Matthew XXV, 31-46. IV. Philippians I, 3-1 1 and IV, 4-9. V. Ephesians II, 11-22. I. THE MODERN WORLD-WIDE CHALLENGE TO ALL RELIGIONS (Read the Jerusalem Meeting Report. Vol. I, pp. 230273, 329- 341, 401.) A supremely great day in the world’s history. Cardinal fact in world of to-day is CHANGE. Upheaval and movement everywhere and in all aspects of life. (The old phrase “The Unchanging East” has become quite meaningless.) Colossal changes of last 100 years affecting not a nation, not a continent, but a world. The Changed Situation How fares it with Cause of God in changing world ? Christian- ity obviously a missionary religion. What has it to meet to-day? Eighteen years ago, International Missionary Conference in Edin- burgh ; its volume on the Christian Message made up largely of sec- tions on presentation of Christianity to great non-Christian religions, Hinduism, Islam, etc. In those days missionary work largely thought of in terms of converting to our faith adherents of other religions. To-day a remarkable change. Jerusalem volume on the Christian Message gives pages to these different religions, but also pages to a new danger which confronts all religions alike — the menace of SECULARISM. To-day all the world over we have to think not only of winning to Christianity the followers of other religions, but also of winning those who do not want any religion at all. Menace of Secularism world-wide. Met in China and Japan, India and Turkey, Britain and France, Russia and America. What Secularism Is So the great challenge to Christianity to-day is an entirely God- less life, a belief that a perfectly worthy life for a man or for a nation can be found without God ; that God is irrelevant to the real issues of life. It may be a belief that science can enable men to conquer his surroundings, and psychology enable him to master his own nature. It may be a conviction that in this world of great poverty the only thing that matters is to improve man’s material lot. It may be a belief that nothing matters but comfort and pleasure. The fact to be noted is that religious faith is breaking down under the strain of modern conditions almost all over the world. We are faced with a large scale drift away from organized religion. The 5 man who now cares for none of these things, though his father was once a pillar of the Church, is a problem common to all religions. One well-informed observer said at Jerusalem, “The belief that the world can get on without God is becoming common to educated men the world over.” Illustrations Japan: Count Okuma, a non-Christian Japanese leader, said some years ago, “Most educated Japanese are agnostics.” (See also Jerusalem Meeting Report, Vol. I, pp. i86ff.) During the war the President of the Imperial University in Kyoto said, “How to create a stronger aspiration after faith among the people is one of the pressing problems of Japan. . . . Religion is an atmosphere to live in. What Japan lamentably lacks is this atmosphere.” China: The International Review of Missions. Summary for 1927 says, “Different observers in China report a decay in the part played in the life of the people by religion. Even Confucius is at- tacked by radical thought in student circles, and irreligious and anti- religious sentiments are widely expressed.” A modern Chinese slogan is said to be “Science and Socialism can save the State.” A well-educated Chinese leader has recently said, “The God- idea is now discredited by educated people. We do not believe in a personal God any more.” India: Principal Mackenzie’s Speech at Jerusalem. (Jerusalem Meeting Report, Vol. I, p. 296.) South America: (See Jerusalem Meeting Report, Vol. I, p. 334.) Moslem Lands: “The Atheism of Christian lands has affected the Moslem world,” said by Dr. Watson of Cairo at Jerusalem. (Jerusalem Meeting Report, Vol. I, p. 330.) The last volume of Church of England “World Call Reports” states of Moslem lands : “There is a notable disillusionment with Islam as a system ; this is resulting in rather widespread agnosticism more marked than in 1925. Missionaries are feeling that the greatest obstacle among the intelligentsia is not so much Islam as a secular way of life. Everywhere in the Near East after Ramadan 1928 one heard of the wholesale breaking of the fact, and a refusal to obey the command of the Prophet. This represents a break away from what had hitherto been regarded as one of the pillars of Mohammedanism, a decree of God.” Africa: Article in London Times, October 30, 1928, says: “There is a widespread feeling among the people of West Africa 6 that the fetichism of their fathers is a discredited system ; it has been put to the test and found wanting, and they are themselves in search of a new and better religion. Religiously regarded, West Africa is in that perilous position where old sanctions of morality have been destroyed, and a new and higher sanction does not yet effectively operate.” What Does it All Mean? For another description of almost world-wide state of things, see striking letter by Professor William Hung, a Methodist, Vice- President of Yenching University, China, quoted by Speer (Je- rusalem Meeting Report, Vol. I, pp. 279-281). Note the fourfold description of what Christianity has to face to-day : ‘‘scientific agnosticism, materialistic determinism, political fascism and moral iconoclasm.” Some experienced missionaries would say this letter is an overstatement; yet that it could be written at all, and by a Chinese Christian, is significant. Probably multitudes in the world’s villages still content with old faiths. But educated people are drifting away from religions ; and, especially in East, it is educated men who count for most in leadership. A desperately serious situation. Noth- ing can hold back invasion of Africa and the East by Western educa- tion, Western industrialism, Western political ideas and Western science. Nor should we wish to hold it back. There is much in these that is very good. They can be a gift of God to world. It is not our secular civilization that is the enemy of religion, but the secular mind which it often produces. Yet these good things from the West have inevitably corroding effect on ancient religions. The destruction of old faiths and old standards of ethics is inevitable. Our Responsibility We who are part of Western Christendom cannot escape share of responsibility. The wave of secularism which is engulfing the East had its origins in the West and built up much of its strength there. We have failed because we have been so much carried away by material and scientific progress of last 100 years. We have not kept the material side of life in its proper subordination to the spiritual. We have professed Christian faith and far too often lived by largely material standards. We have not shown the East how to meet these modem forces. The Christian Church must admit a share of failure. 7 Conclusions Situation affords tremendous opportunity and challenge to Christian church which believes in its world mission. The decay of other religions may give Christ a new chance. That decay leaves a vacuum which can only be filled by Christ. In SOME cases the vacuum is consciously recognized. See pathetic appeal of President of Amoy University (Jerusalem Meeting Report, Vol. I, pp. 61-62) : “Is it not possible for the Christian Missions,” etc. Obviously other religions cannot stand up to modern world conditions. It is for us to show that our religion can. The frontiers of missionary enterprise have changed. We are all in the front line. No distinction between Home Church and Foreign Missions. The fight is one and the field is one. Home base and Foreign Field no longer geographical terms. We are all bearing a part. (Note the absurdity of a once popular objection to Foreign Missions, that we have no right to disturb the ancient faiths of the East. It is not Christians who are disturbing these ; it is the modern world.) Is a view of life which ignores God enough for the support of any civilization? The issue to-day is Christ or Secularism. This is not a battle for missionaries only, but for the whole church. Any- one, anywhere, who so lives as to show that God counts, is taking his share in the conflict. Anyone, anywhere, whose life shows the value of spiritual realities is a missionary. The whole idea of a spiritual reality is being challenged all over the world. Where do we stand? Are spiritual things real to us ; or are we living as if man could live by bread alone, as if man’s life consisted in the abundance of the things that he possesses? Does religion mean anything vital to us, anything which we should like to share with others? Could we truthfully say for- ourselves that the Jerusalem Meeting has said on our behalf : “We cannot live without Christ and we cannot bear to think of men living without him. We cannot be content to live in a world that is un-Christ-like”? (Jerusalem Meeting Report, Vol. I, pp. 406-407.) II. RELIGION AND THE WORLD-WIDE SPREAD OF MODERN SCIENCE (Read Jerusalem Meeting Report, Vol. I, pp. 236-251 and 368- 37 1 *) Science and Christianity Most American ministers know the man who has religious 8 difficulties because he has come under the influence of modern science. Sometimes merely crude difficulty of medical student who “cannot find a soul in the dissecting room.” Sometimes he finds teaching of science contradicts what was believed to be teaching of Bible (Genesis versus Evolution, etc.) : sometimes scientific study of the Bible seems to have undermined basis of religion. Sometimes difficulty goes deeper. A world apparently regulated by scientific law is one in which many find it difficult to find room for God. Psychology now seems to be answering some questions which were once the province of religion. This man and his difficulties not peculiar to Christianity; problem to every other religion in world. Our endless discussions on “Science and Religion” show that the rise of modern science has made some real difficulties for Christian people. Partly because foolish things have been said on both sides ; some dogmatic religionists have tried to hold up scientific investiga- tion in interests of a particular view of Biblical inspiration; some dogmatic scientists have believed that their theories could explain everything. (See Jerusalem Meeting Report, Vol. I, pp. 368-370.) Such things less often said to-day, but some strain and difficulty re- mains in many minds. Science is World-Wide Now to-day western scientific thought is world wide. Educa- tion is one of world’s post-war enthusiasms, and higher education in all countries to-day means largely western education. The Azhar University in Cairo, the old spiritual and educational center of the Moslem world, until very recently remained mediaeval in all its curriculum, being largely confined to the study of Islamics. To-day the last stronghold of mediaeval education has given way ; the Azhar University is to admit modern western subjects into its curriculum. The higher education of the world is largely westernized, and west- ern education means increasingly scientific education. Modern science is being studied with enthusiasm in the great universities and schools of Africa and the East. Modern science has become a passion with educated youth the world over. (See Jerusalem Meeting Report, Vol. I, pp 246-247, especially this, “The students of Japan, China and India, are at the present moment in a striking way under the spell of science. ... I am inclined to think that there is no one thing which more impresses a man as he travels through country after country around the world than the spell which science has cast over the youth of the world to-day.”) In East and West alike 9 science has become the chief intellectual interest and influence among educated people. In many cases it dominates all other interests and in some cases it seems to render man incapable of any other kind of thought than the scientific. Science and Other Religions So the scientific spirit is in contact with every great non-Chris- tian religion in the world. Imagine what this must mean. It is difficult for us to be fair to other religions. Yet we may fairly say they have on the whole been more credulous, more superstitious, more out of touch with modern thought, than is Christianity as we know it; therefore definitely more open to attack from scientific thought. Scientific spirit, the foe of all obscurantism and credulity wherever found, and as it fights these in the non-Christian religions, it inevitably brings discredit on what is good in them. We may expect the spread of science to prove more damaging to other reli- gions than to Christianity. This is one of the outstanding causes of the world-wide growth of secularism. “The immense spread of the scientific interpretation of the universe has proved to be the greatest of all the disintegrating influences in the field of religion.” The Value of Science Modern science is an inevitable and increasingly important fac- tor in life of world. One for which God is to be thanked. Immense real gain to world’s life, and from it the church has something to learn in its passion for truth, its loyalty to facts, its patience in the study of facts, its willingness to abandon theories that are disproved. We in the church need to learn a keener conscience about truth ; re- membering that “truth, by whomsoever spoken, is of God,” remem- bering Tertullian’s fine saying that Jesus claimed to be “not tradition but truth.” Christianity and Science The position of Christianity in relation to scientific thought differs from that of many other great religions of the world, (i) The Christian religion is based on an historic life. The scientific historical study of the Bible has given us this gain, that it has gone far to establish historicity of Jesus. He is a fact. Life has been lived like that. The values we see in Jesus have been actually lived out in this world. (2) It was actually within Christendom that modern science took its rise. (See Jerusalem Meeting Report, Vol. I, p. 379.) “The great advance of natural science has taken place 10 in Christendom and not outside of it. There is a kinship between the scientific impulse and the essential elements in Christianity which explains how science could win its triumphs in Christendom, and at least inspires the hope that it will not destroy but strengthen Chris- tian faith.” No Real Conflict We need to reassert to-day that there is no essential irreconcil- able opposition between the scientific and the spiritual interpretation of the universe. In no sense has Christianity to contend against science. It is not science which is the enemy of faith, but a material- istic philosophy which is a quite illegitimate inference from some scientific studies. It can safely be said that the best modern scientists are in no sense dogmatic materialists now. They would admit that there are spheres where the scientific method does not apply, such as aesthetic and moral values. And many of them would admit that science and religion are tw'o different ways of approaching reality, neither of which may disparage the other, each of which has its own rights. They do not conflict any more than a submarine and an aeroplane conflict, unless one or (the other of them leaves its proper sphere. The Limitations of Science Further, science has enormously increased man’s powers, but science as such has nothing to say as to the use which men may choose to make of those enhanced powers. The president of the British Association in 1925 declared in his presidential address : “The province of science is vast, but has its limits ; it can have no pre- tensions to improve human nature; it may alter the environment, multiply the resources, widen the intellectual prospect, but it cannot fairly be asked to bear the responsibility for the use which is made of these gifts. That must be determined by other, and, let us admit it, higher considerations.” The increase in man’s powers due to science demands a corresponding increase in moral responsibility. We must learn to grow in character as we have grown in knowledge of and power over our material surroundings. Without a growth of control of passions and without a deeper vision of the will of God for the world, man’s increased ability will only make it possible for him to do harm on a much larger scale. Maxim Gorky tells a story of how he addressed a Russian peasant audience on the subject of science and modern inventions, and at the end one said to him, “Yes, 11 we are taught to fly in the air like birds, and to swim in the water like fishes, but how to live on the earth we don’t know.” Conclusion Hence the great obligation of all of us who live in this scientific age so to live as to show our belief that for us Jesus Christ has the real meaning and values of life. For us the true meaning of life is not found in explanations of how life grew and developed, but in loyalty to truth and goodness, in loving service of others, in “walking humbly with our God.” III. RELIGION AND THE WORLD-WIDE SPREAD OF MODERN INDUSTRIALISM . (Read Jerusalem Meeting Report, Vol. I, pp. 255-257. Those who have access to Jerusalem Meeting Report, Vol. V, will find valuable material in the Reverend William Paton’s long paper and in Mr. R. H. Tawney’s address.) Suggested Bible Readings: Matthew XXV, 31-48; Luke X, 25 - 37 - Industrialism and Religion in America Industrial development in America has been one cause of sag- ging of religious interest, and drift away from churches in this country. For several reasons, including these: (1) The interests of large scale industry and the opportunities offered to men at the top have made the interests of religion seem tame by comparison. (2) Success of modern industry in production of material things, and profits it offers to successful, have made some people feel that material prosperity is the only thing worth aiming at ; the industrial order suggests that a man’s life consists in the abundance of things he possesses. (3) Industry seems to demand of many that, if they are to succeed, they must forget principles of Christ; rather than try to follow two conflicting ethical standards, they give up open pro- fession of religion. (4) Some eager social reformers identify church with system which treats workers as less than free and full personalities, and so indignantly hold aloof. (5) A few passionately keen people, touched by dreary but clear-cut creed of Communism, believe economic forces the only ultimate realities, and religion the opiate of the people. (6) Others, not going nearly so far, feel keenly the sufferings of the poor, and with an enthusiasm which is rebuke 12 to us declare that the only thing that matters is to change economic conditions, believing that for this religion is irrelevant. (7) Some accompaniments of industrialism as we know it are definitely un- Christian, e. g. slums, sweated labor, unemployment, bad housing. Industrialism World-Wide Now Modem industry suddenly taken whole world as parish : “A cen- tury ago industrialism was a British, half a century ago a European and an American phenomenon. To-day it is world wide.” (See Tawney, Jerusalem Meeting Report, Vol. V.) Suddenness with which modem history has burst upon great nations of East, which were wholly unprepared for it, a potent cause of world-wide secular- ism. Important to realize how rapid the spread of industry in East has been. Between 1902 and 1920 the number of factory workers in India increased fourfold. In Japan in 1883 there were 125 modern factories, in 1921 there were 71,000. In China in 1900 there were two modern cotton mills, in 1922 over seventy. Note that all this has come to countries where there was not even that modest check upon evil accompaniments which Christian public opinion in this country has been able to impose. What has gone East is not industrialism as we now know it, but industrialism as it was in this country before enlightened public opinion began to put check upon evil effects it has too often produced when unregulated. Illustrations “The saddest of the accompaniments of modern industry in India has been the vile housing of the operatives in some of the great cities. ... In Bombay the average number of rooms to the family is one. . . . The infantile death rate in Bombay is sixty- six per cent.” (See Paton in Jerusalem Meeting Report, Vol. V.) The Shanghai Municipal Council appointed a Commission in 1923 to investigate conditions in that city. The following are some of the things that that Commission reported: That the vast majority of Chinese children are made to start work at the earliest possible age, and that industrial conditions promote tuberculosis among chil- dren. That many children were seen at work who could not be more than six years old, and that the hours of work were generally twelve, with one hour off for a meal. That the housing problem associated with all large cities is peculiarly acute. That aggregations of people have increased the death rate and the rate of infant mortality . . . have increased crime, and have lowered the moral tone of the people generally. (Quoted by Paton in Jerusalem Meeting Report, Vol. V.) 13 Dr. Harold Balme in his pamphlet “What Is Happening in China,” says : “Many of the foreign-owned mills of Shanghai, which have produced substantial dividends for their shareholders during the past ten years, are still employing child labor for long hours per day or night. . . . These foreign-owned mills form but a small percentage of the total, and conditions within them . . . are far superior to those to be found in most Chinese industrial enterprises ; but it is impossible to gloss over the fact that they are employing labor under conditions that would not be tolerated for a moment in this country.” “The result of the conditions of factory life in Japan is that the average life of a girl in a factory is from 12 to 14 months.” These painful illustrations could be multiplied almost indefinitely. Paton in “A Faith for the World,” sums up this: “The life of the factory is becoming familiar to the East no less than to the West. The labor of children, over-crowded housing, strikes, unemployment, the abuse of women, the diversity in wealth between the economic classes, are all reproducing themselves in China, India and Japan.” And Basil Mathews sums up in his “Roads to the City of God” in these words : “No one who has seen the women and children working in shifts up to 12 hours a day for a miserable pittance” in the mills around Shanghai, or explored the dwellings of the industrial oper- ators of Bombay, or investigated the slums of Kobe in Japan, or witnessed the corrosion of South Central African tribal life, through the drawing of many hundreds of thousands of its youth from the tribe into the gold and diamond mines, can fail to see that the Indus- trial Revolution which had its origin in the West, is working moral, physical and spiritual ruin to multitudes through its remorseless mechanical processes.” Mr. Harold Grimshaw of the International Labor Organization told the Jerusalem Conference that his knowl- edge of the facts made him feel that Europe had exported miseries to the rest of the world. A Powerful Cause of World Secularism No wonder old-established religions of East suffering under the pressure of this kind of horror, or that observers report increase of Russian Bolshevist propaganda. That gives Communism its chance. This is destructive of all true religious ideals. Yet in- dustrialism is not wholly bad. It is inevitable if the world is to maintain its present population and much of it very good. Gandhi’s opposition to the machine is natural, but futile. It is accompani- 14 ments of wrongly-motived, un-Christianized industrialism which are so devastating. Something given by God for enrichment of His children’s lives has been misused by men to minister to their craving for wealth and power. Some Conclusions A call to penitence. Church must share blame. We have failed to Christianize industry in the countries where it arose. “The churches have left untouched much territory which should have been occupied. They tolerate too much that they should attack.” (Tawney in Jerusalem Meeting Report Vol. I, p. 331L) Jerusalem Conference message on Industry strikes the note of peni- tence. “We acknowledge with shame and regret that the churches everywhere . . . have not been so sensitive of these aspects of the Christian message as would have been necessary sensibly to mitigate the evils which advanced materialism has brought in its train, and we believe that our failure in this respect has been a positive hindrance . . . to the power and extension of missionary enterprise.” (Jer- usalem Meeting Report, Vol. V, p. 144.) The International Labor Organization. Probably mainly to this we must look for progress toward goal of a minimum standard of life for industrial workers the world over. But the International Labor Organization cannot be effective without informed public opinion. Mr. Grimshaw, who represented the International Labor Organization at Geneva, appealed to churches to get the facts known, and to stir up Christian public opinion in all lands. (Jerusalem Meeting Report, Vol. I, p. 306.) The call to the whole church everywhere to deal with Christian- izing of industry. Christ is Lord of all life. Industry is one of the “unoccupied fields” to-day. We have outgrown the idea of neces- sary opposition between working for individual conversion and work- ing for Christianizing of environment. Old conflict between social reform enthusiasts and foreign missionary enthusiasts now out of date. All implicated in this. Can this immense modern power of machine industry so good in the material things it produces, be made good in its effects on all engaged in it ? Can industry be so ordered as to express in its workings the essential Christian values, the sacredness of every personality, the brotherhood of all who work in it, the care of the weaker by the stronger? Few more urgent ques- tions than that before Christians of this and next generation. The call to our own lives. We cannot demand that industry 15 shall work on motives higher than those by which we live. All are called to a more conscientious scrutiny of our own lives and the values by which we live. Are our lives expressing the conviction that the true meaning of life is found not in the abundance of things we possess, but in the service that we render and the love that we give. The Jerusalem Conference message on Industry set forth three basic principles to be worked out in both personal and corporate life, (i) Christ’s teaching as to sanctity of personality; human beings not instruments but ends; in eyes of God all are of equal and infinite value. (2) Christ’s teaching as to brotherhood; all are brothers in the one great family of the Father, which is as w r ide as the world. (3) Christ’s teaching as to corporate responsibility; Christians are called to bear one another’s burdens. IV. RELIGION AND THE WORLD-WIDE UNSETTLING OF MORAL STANDARDS Scripture reading — Philippians I, 3-1 1. IV, 4-9. Introduction Last two sermons have discussed causes of rise of Secularism. This subject, Moral Unsettlement, partly cause and partly effect of secular outlook. Side by side with world-wide decay of religious interest, there has come a general unsettling of moral standards. This does not mean attack on morals of present younger generation. The complaint that the “younger generation is lacking in respect for its elders and their way of life’’ is one of the oldest in the world. Sweeping denunciations of the post-war younger generation are no part or purpose of this sermon. The Situation in This Country Obvious that many hitherto accepted ideas and institutions now being challenged and questioned, including moral standards. There is new freedom in discussing questions of morality, especially in regard to sex. Obvious reaction against the stuffiness real or sup- posed of Victorian era. Recognition that along with much that was admirable there was much that was hypocritical in ethics of that era. Serious people now advocating moral experiments which formerly would hardly have been suggested except by the depraved. Less willingness to accept code of life on authority of religion or custom. 16 Present generation wants reasoned basis for its morals as it wants reasoned basis for its belief. And rightly. Yet in many ways we seem to be living in a time that has lost its moral bearing. Dr. Car- negie Simpson sums it up, in a sermon preached before University of Birmingham, England, in these words: “Whether or not there is to-day a deterioration of moral conduct there is certainly a loosening of moral principle. Many people who are no less moral than their fathers are far from clear as to why they need be moral. The elder generation had its accepted moral authorities and moral standards. . . . These are all weaker to-day. Our modem literature shows this. It is practically assumed in most modern novels and plays that there is no binding principle in morals.” Danger This new questioning has not led to any general moral collapse ; but real danger. For a generation or two custom and tradition may keep many from grave breakdown, but custom and tradition count for less and less in modern world ; morality of a people cannot long rest on these weakening foundations. It will need to be based on clearly understood principles and ideals. If we can rethink moral standards and put principles in place of traditions and taboos the new attitude will lead not to disaster but to progress. All This Is World-Wide The above is true of practically all countries in what is called “Christendom.” But to-day no section of world isolated ; mental and moral atmosphere of any one nation affects all. Evidence of similar situation in Africa and the East is not lacking, though perhaps not quite so full of evidence for changes discussed in earlier sermons. Modern world conditions sweeping away long established moral sanctions, and putting nothing in place. Industrialism is breaking up tribal and family systems which have sustained ethical life of generations. Scientific attack on crudities of other religions is bring- ing discredit on their moral teaching, even when that is of real value. This is not to say that moral teaching of non-Christian religions has been as high and true as that of Jesus. But it did offer some guid- ance, some restraints. In changing conditions of to-day multitudes being left without any ethical guidance at all. Some Guidance Dr. John R. Mott, in International Review of Missions, in 1927 wrote thus of Asia : “There is in Asia, as in many other parts of the 1 7 world, an alarming lowering of ethical standards. Nothing is more disconcerting than to find a whole generation so largely without accepted guiding principles. The relaxing of the hold of the non- Christian faiths, without at the same time adopting some substitute for the shaping of character and the energizing of life, involves the greatest peril for the new generation. . . . Youth in particular is examining all foundations, questioning all standards of authority, de- manding reasons for the preservation of the social sanctions of centuries.” The well known Chinese Christian leaders : Dr. David Yui speaking of China at the Jerusalem Conference, said: “Among the great changes now taking place in China, which are decidedly harm- ful, is the breaking down of our moral sanctions. Something should be done definitely and early to uphold those moral principles which are of permanent value, and also to add to them those that are neces- sary to modern life.” And Dr. T. Z. Koo, speaking in January, 1929, said of China, “Old standards of morality are beginning to topple down.” See also Jerusalem Meeting Report, Vol. I, p. 62, where a Chinese Confucianist, the head of Amoy University, writes “Is it not possible for the Christian missions,” etc. Writing in “Voices from the Near East,” a modern Greek Christian has said some interesting things about his part of the world. “There is a spirit of revolt seen in our civic life, in com- munity activities, in social relationships, in schools and churches and families. The attitude of our youth to men in authority has alto- gether changed. ... In the churches people are making light of the commands of the priest. In the family irreverence is shown to . . . . parental commands. . . . Moral laxity has grown very- much among the-people. The West has begun to influence the East, but in what terrible ways.” See also the quotation from West Africa given in Sermon I. General Conclusions These quotations describe a grave situation ; possibility of an unprecedented breakdown of world’s moral standards. Note that in a world so unified as this now is, moral tone is infectious. East and West MAY help one another down. Serious moral collapse in East will make strong ethical life more difficult for our own country. “We are members one of another.” Yet some elements in this situa- tion are good. The questioning spirit, with longing for freedom and fulness of life, better than mere traditional acquiescence. We cannot 18 do battle for religion and morality by merely opposing this new spirit; nor can we dragoon it. We can try to guide it with its own consent. What Has the Christian Church to Give? Nothing will meet the ethical needs of this official world short of a single universal moral standard. For that there is in the field no serious rival to Jesus. In historical character of Jesus we have the world’s greatest moral asset. Our task is to lift Him up that He may make His own appeal to men. One or two suggestions as to how Jesus meets the needs of this age. 1. He gives men not detailed rules but an attitude to life. “Make the tree good.” He does not give regulations which can be applied mechanically, by rule of thumb, but great guiding principles which have to be thoughtfully applied to needs of every new generation. Moral progress comes through painstaking effort to apply His teach- ings to ever new conditions. He will not save us trouble of think- ing. Even conscience not a sure guide unless trained by thought on moral issues. So Jesus meets needs of those who want to under- stand the principles of the good life, who want reasoned basis for conduct. Much good work being done to-day in thinking out more Christian standards of conduct in matters of sex, industry, use of money, our penal system, and so on. Jesus never thought of morality as a matter of tradition and custom. He called for thought, experiment, adventure. 2. Jesus looked on moral conduct not as something imposed from without, but as something discerned from within. He does not assert this or that as good on bare external authority. He opens men’s eyes to see the good, so that they long to follow it. His aim is to make of us free, self-directing moral personalities, who have trained and can use our own insight. So Jesus meets the needs of those who are suspicious of external authority, by offering them an inward vision which will constrain them willingly and with their own consent. This age longs for freedom, but freedom not gained by getting rid of restraint. Only gained when we substitute inward self-control for outward authoritative prohibitions. 3. His main appeal was positive, not negative. “Thou shalt” rather than “Thou shalt not.” It was based not on men’s fear, but on men’s chivalry. Not “Don’t do this lest you suffer for it,” but 19 “Do and be this that you may cooperate with God in the service of men.” 4. Jesus’ greatest contribution to ethics not what He taught but what He was. His life greater than His teachings. He has shown us what human life can be made, in fellowship with God. (See Je- rusalem Message, Jerusalem Meeting Report, Vol. I, pp. 401-402.) Especially “Our message is Jesus Christ. He is the revelation of what God is, and of what men through Him may become.” Con- science is educated, sensitized by being kept in close contact with HIM. He shows us the truly good life not by talking about it but by living it. Lifted up, He makes his own appeal to men. Next sermon will illustrate something of the way His character is appeal- ing to many sorts of people. There may be some things in our moral ideal which we cannot fully think out, and of which all we say is something like this : “I don’t know why that is good, but I have lived it out in Jesus, and when I am at my best that commands my assent.” These a few of the ways in which Jesus meets needs of this present day, both East and West. See John VI, 66-68. V. THE WORLD-WIDE OPPORTUNITY AND TASK OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION (Read Jerusalem Meeting Report, Vol. I, pp. 260-273.) The Oneness of the World Facts surveyed in previous outlines may suggest that world is an awful mess; but at any rate they suggest that different parts of world all in same mess. In each of four previous outlines illustra- tions drawn from all parts of world, from all sorts of religions, from life of men of all colours. Remarkable similarity in problems facing different races and nations ; the same influences are at work all around the globe. In the main the Jerusalem Meeting did not find one set of problems in China, another in India, another in Near East; rather it found one set of problems common to all. This growing unity of ideas, or currents of thought, all over the world, one of striking facts of present day. How It Has Come The whole trend of modem life has been to draw the ends of the earth together, physically, economically, intellectually. The de- velopment of steam and electricity, the growth of modern industry, 20 the invasion of East by Western modes of thought, all these in countless ways have been forcing the different parts of the world into closer and closer contact, conquering time and distance and isola- tion, breaking down independence and separation, forcing interdepen- dence on the world. All this can be made vivid by illustration from wireless and aeroplanes; from the immense variety of nations and races whose cooperation is needed to produce the things an average American uses every day; from the inter-continental ramification of big business, e. g. the cotton trade. Independence for any group or class or nation to-day is an impossibility. This is one reason why the last war was so much more upsetting to the life of world than previous wars. This interlocking is still going on. A World Religion In such a world as this, it seems evident that if there is to be religion at all it must be one universal religion. When science, in- dustry, political thought, know no frontiers, religion cannot know frontiers either. Old idea that one sort of religion suitable for West, and others for East is out of date as hoop skirts. Truth is truth for all thinking men. Only a religion which takes the whole world as its parish can to-day meet the needs of any parish in the world. The New Interest in Jesus Many things confirm our faith that only in Jesus Christ can the modern world possibly find a universal religion. It is of immense interest and hope to see how sensitive men in many parts of world are turning to Jesus in wholly new way. Not that people are crowd- ing into Christian church. The church is growing, but also in many quarters Jesus is winning the interest of many who will not take an interest in the church. Many remarkable testimonies to this. Gandhi, the most popular leader of modern India, speaks often of Jesus and acknowledges debt to Sermon on Mount. Dr. Stanley Jones says Hindus and Mohammedans in India speak of Gandhi as “Christ- like,’’ the highest praise they know. He tells of how one Hindu said to him, “There is no one else who is seriously bidding for 1 the heart of the world except Jesus Christ.” And of how a Hindu Pro- fessor of History in an Indian University said to him, “My study of modern history has shown me that there is a Moral Pivot in the world to-day, and that the best life of both East and West is more and more revolving about that centre. That Moral Pivot is the Per- son of Jesus Christ.” 21 For testimony from the Moslem World, see Jerusalem Meeting Report, Vol. I, p. 197. Mr. Mackay, a missionary in South America, speaking to the Jerusalem Meeting of that difficult field, said, “Jesus has no serious rival. . . . Men are looking to Him in such a way that Christians have a greater responsibility than ever before to share Him.” Speaking at Jerusalem of the great Jewish population in Cen- tral Europe, Dr. Black of Edinburgh said, “What most impresses me is the new opportunity for Christ among this moving and enquiring people, who have been so shut off from Christian cultured influences for centuries. This movement toward enquiry regarding Christ has been massive in Central Europe.” Dr. Black also told the following incident: “Sir Leon Levison, himself a converted Jew, was asked to meet some Jewish business men in Budapest, who wanted to know why he, a Jew, had become a Christian. He expected two or three to turn up, but found about ninety-five doctors, lawyers, professors, and men of business, coming to meet him, and they kept him till one a. m. asking questions about what he had found in Christ.” For a summing up of this remarkable fact of the modern world, see the Jerusalem statement on the Christian message, the paragraph begin- ning, “In this world, bewildered. . . .” (Jerusalem Meeting Re- port, Vol. I, p. 401.) The Purpose of God The moral character of the historical Jesus is more and more impressing thoughtful people the world over. Further, it is the revelation of God and of human life which Jesus brought that makes sense of, and gives meaning to, the facts we have surveyed. In the light of Jesus what does it all mean? It is the will of God the Father that there should be on earth a world-wide Kingdom, where all men respect and love one another as brothers in His family. The facts of modern world mean that the Father God is preparing the way for the realizing on earth of this Kingdom of brotherhood. Not that the Christian message of the Father and the brothers is any more true to-day than it was five hundred or a thousand years ago. But that the working out of (that on a world scale is becoming much more possible and much more urgent. Modern forces are drawing the whole world closer together. Thus the facts mentioned in second paragraph of this outline have a spiritual meaning. We have too easily accepted the modern economic and intellectual inter-depen- dence, without seeking for the underlying spiritual significance. God has given our day and generation great gifts meant for the building 22 of His Kingdom, and we have too often used them for selfish and destructive purposes. . . . e. g. aeroplanes and poison gas. Hence much of our present trouble. That we arc members one of another is not a beautiful ideal but a fact. The different races of the world are inextricably linked together ; they cannot pursue their separate lives without reference to one another; they are forced to live together. Jesus points to the inner meaning of this, and therefore to the only way of making a success of present day conditions. We are brothers in the Father’s family. The Father is making possible the Kingdom which is a family kind of life as wide as the world. Unless we learn to respect and serve one another as brethren we shall inev- itably bring disaster upon world. By making a world-wide applica- tion of this possible, God has made it urgently important. “The King’s business requireth haste.” The God revealed by Jesus is working His purposes out, and is calling on us to cooperate with Him. Jesus is the key to modern conditions. The forces of the modern world are calling us back to Him to learn afresh His way of life. The Christian Fellowship Since God is working this kind of purpose out, it is of great significance that there is already in being an international, inter- racial Christian Fellowship. “The Holy Church throughout all the world” (an immense exaggeration though a great vision when Te Deurn was written) is now a fact. The Jerusalem Meeting repre- sented this Fellowship. Delegates from the non-Roman Churches in fifty different lands ; membership of over 208 of whom, roughly one-third, were what we call “coloured people.” Many members of meeting greatly impressed with the way in which “coloured” Chris- tian leaders from China, Japan, Africa, India, took part on equal terms with Christian leaders from Europe and America in discussing common interests of God’s work. We now know what missionary pioneers of beginning of 19th century could only believe that there is no nation under heaven where men and women cannot find fulness of life and grace for all of life’s needs in Jesus Christ. We have seen that which John on Patmos dreamed of, a great multitude gathered from every kindred and tongue and people and nation wor- shiping the Lamb that hath been slain. We have learned possibility of cooperation between men and women of different races in the work of world-wide Kingdom of God. The world-wide enterprise of the Christian Church no longer rightly described as “Foreign 23 Missions.” In such an international fellowship the word “foreign” has no meaning. The world mission of the church is no longer to be thought of as a supposedly Christian West evangelizing a heathen East. The legend of the supposedly Christian West is dead. To-day the older churches of the West join hands with the younger churches of the East in striving to make Jesus Christ Lord of every man and of every department of human life, in London and Calcutta, in New York and Pekin. Every land has its “unoccupied territories” and they are no longer geographical. There are parts of life in every land still to be won for Christ: there is a Mission Field in every country. Conclusion We have had in mind through all these outlines the world-wide menace of a purely secular view of life. But the real strength of secularism does not lie in any argument against religion, or any intellectual criticism of the spiritual life in the hearts of men. “The one great foe of naturalism is faiith, its undying antagonist in the great duel of time.” Some words which Mr. Cairns spoke to the Edinburgh Missionary Conference in 1910 are still valid today. “We have before this present generation one of the greatest perils and one of the greatest opportunities of human history. Early Christianity faced a similar hour when it came out of its mountain home in Judea into a world in which the old faiths were dying or dead, and from the first it grasped the truth that its mission was to preach the Gospel to all the world of dying faiths and decadent moralities and so to live its own life that through the church the Spirit might have free course to fashion a new humanity. As com- pared with the numbers, the resources, the organization of the church today, the church of old was but a feeble thing when it ventured forth into the great arena of the Roman Empire to win it for God. But in quality, in its faith in God, in Christ, in the Spirit, in the power of prayer, in its love and its unity, its life was of a nobler tone.” The Internatonal Christian Church of today, faced with a tremendous situation of peril and opportunity, is inevitably called to a deeper level of disciplined and consecrated Christian living, a far fuller and more faithful life of prayer, a richer experience of the resources of God. The whole church, West as well as East, is being driven back to a new discovery of the power of God for this chal- lenge. And in that we all have a part to play. 24