/ 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 STUDENT VOLUNTEER 
 MOVEMENT 
 
 FOREIGN MISSIONS 
 
 3Y 
 
 JOHN R. MOTT 
 
HISTORY 
 
 OF THE-. 
 
 STUDENT VOLUNTEER 
 MOVEMENT 
 
 FOREIGN MISSIONS 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN R. MOTT 
 
HISTORY OF THE 
 
 STUDENT VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT 
 
 FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS. 
 
 I. ORIGIN. 
 
 In the early days of this century, 
 partly as a result of the wonderful spirit 
 of revival which was then sweeping 
 through the Eastern colleges, and partly 
 as a result of reading the record of the 
 heroism and sacrifice of the pioneer 
 representatives oi the first missionary 
 societies of England, a deep interest in 
 foreign missions began to develop among 
 the students of New England. It first 
 assumed a practical form in 1808 when 
 Samuel J. Mills and a little group of his 
 fellow students secretly organized at 
 Williams College the Society of Breth¬ 
 ren. “The object of this society,” in 
 the words of its constitution, “ shall be 
 to effect in the persons of its members a 
 mission or missions to the heathen.” 
 
The main reason for secrecy, doubtless/ 
 was the possibility of failure, because in 
 those days there was comparatively no 
 sentiment in favor of such an enterprise. 
 It will be remembered that there was 
 then no missionary society on this con¬ 
 tinent which had a station on a foreign 
 field. Obviously one great problem 
 which confronted these students was so 
 to affect public opinion as to lead to the 
 formation of an aggressive foreign mis¬ 
 sionary society. By publication and cir¬ 
 culation of two strong addresses on mis¬ 
 sions, by correspondence with leading 
 clergymen, and by personal work with 
 them during vacations, much was ac¬ 
 complished. The center of activity was 
 then transferred to Andover Seminary. 
 Here some of the men who had come 
 from Williams were joined by Nott, 
 Judson and others, whom they were sur¬ 
 prised to find filled with the same idea 
 and spirit. As a result of their com¬ 
 bined labor and influence in the semin¬ 
 ary, in the colleges, and in the churches, 
 wherever they spoke, they achieved their 
 purpose; for this missionary movement 
 
5 
 
 led by students of the New England 
 colleges furnished the occasion for the 
 formation of the American Board of 
 Commissioners for Foreign Missions. 
 
 The leaders in this student missionary 
 movement were anxious to accomplish 
 another important object. Not only did 
 they recognize the importance of educa¬ 
 ting and arousing the Church to send 
 forth and sustain missionaries; but they 
 also clearly discerned that something 
 must be done to awaken and maintain 
 an active interest in missions among 
 college men, in order that there might 
 be a sufficient and constant number of 
 candidates for foreign service. To make 
 this possible they sought by correspond¬ 
 ence and visitation to have missionary 
 societies formed in the different colleges. 
 So much in earnest were they that, it is 
 said, some of the members of the parent 
 society at Williams left that institution 
 and entered other colleges, in order to 
 spread the missionary spirit. Their 
 strong desire was to bind the colleges 
 together in an intercollegiate missionary 
 movement. While their labors resulted, 
 
6 
 
 in a few years, in planting societies in 
 several institutions, and in raising up 
 quite a number of missionaries (includ¬ 
 ing some of the most distinguished who 
 have gone out from America) they failed 
 to realize their chief aim—the formation 
 of a wide-spread, permanent student 
 missionary movement. Their failure in 
 this respect appears to have been due to 
 lack of organization, and more especially 
 to the low spiritual condition of many of 
 the colleges at that time, notwithstand¬ 
 ing the fact that in others there had 
 recently been marked revivals of re¬ 
 ligion. To the American and Canadian 
 students, nearly three-quarters of a cen¬ 
 tury later, was left the realization of this 
 hope and purpose. 
 
 A memorable conference of college 
 men was held from July 6th to August 
 ist, 1886, atMt. Hermon, overlooking the 
 Connecticut River, in the State of Massa¬ 
 chusetts. Two hundred and fifty-one 
 students, from eighty-seven colleges, 
 representing all parts of the United 
 States and Canada, had come together 
 at the invitation of Mr. Moody to spend 
 
7 
 
 several weeks in Bible study. Ten days 
 passed before the subject of missions 
 was even mentioned in the sessions of 
 the Conference. A few young men, how¬ 
 ever, like Wilder of Princeton, Tewkes¬ 
 bury of Harvard, and Clark of Oberlin, 
 had come with the deep conviction that 
 God would call from that large gather¬ 
 ing of college men a number who would 
 consecrate themselves to foreign mis¬ 
 sions. At an early day they called to¬ 
 gether all who were thinking seriously 
 of spending their lives on the foreign 
 field. Twenty-one students answered 
 this call, although several of them had 
 not definitely decided the question. This 
 little band of consecrated men began to 
 pray that the spirit of missions might 
 pervade the Conference, and that the 
 Lord would separate many of the dele¬ 
 gates unto this great work. In a few 
 days they were to see their faith re¬ 
 warded far beyond what they had dared 
 to claim. 
 
 On the evening of July 16th, Dr. 
 Arthur T. Pierson gave a thrilling ad¬ 
 dress on missions. He supported by 
 
8 
 
 the most convincing arguments the 
 proposition that ‘‘All should go, and go 
 to all.” He pressed upon the conscien¬ 
 ces of his hearers that their relation to 
 missions was after all “only a matter of 
 supreme loyalty to Jesus Christ.” He 
 sounded the key note which set many 
 men to thinking and praying. 
 
 A week passed. On Friday night, 
 July 23d, a meeting was held which may 
 occupy as significant a place in the his¬ 
 tory of the Christian Church as the Will¬ 
 iams Hay Stack Prayer Meeting. It is 
 known as the meeting of the ten nations. 
 It was addressed by sons of missionaries 
 in China, India, and Persia, and by 
 seven other young men of different na¬ 
 tionalities—an American, a Japanese, a 
 Siamese, a German, a Dane, a Nor¬ 
 wegian, and an American Indian. These 
 men in pithy, burning, three-minute 
 speeches each made one dominant point, 
 viz: the need in his country of more 
 workers from the body of students as¬ 
 sembled in that Conference. After the 
 appeals were given, each speaker, during 
 a most impressive silence, repeated in 
 
9 
 
 the language of the country which he 
 represented the words, “God is love.” 
 Dr. Ashmore, after a few sentences, left 
 with the students the searching chal¬ 
 lenge, “ Show, if you can, why you 
 should not obey the last command of 
 Jesus Christ.” The meeting closed with 
 a season of silent and audible prayer, 
 which will never be forgotten by those 
 who were present. The people left the 
 hail in silence. That night was pre¬ 
 eminently a night of prayer. 
 
 On Tuesday morning, July 27th, Dr. 
 William Ashmore of China (who had, 
 as soon as he learned of this Conference 
 on arriving in the country, cancelled his 
 engagements for over a week in order 
 that he might .attend and lay upon the 
 students the claims of China), added 
 fuel to the flame. He made a ringing 
 appeal to Christians to “look no longer 
 upon missions as a mere wrecking expe¬ 
 dition, but as a war of conquest.” Mr. 
 Sankey sang with spirit and thrilling 
 fervor, “Tell it out among the nations 
 that the Lord is King.” Mr. Moody 
 prayed earnestly that the missionary 
 
IO 
 
 spirit might fall upon those present. 
 
 By this time the number of volunteers 
 had increased from twenty-one to nearly 
 fifty. During the remaining five days 
 of the Conference the interest became 
 more and more intense. Meetings of 
 the volunteers and those specially inter¬ 
 ested were held each day. Possibly the 
 most sacred of these was the one held 
 in the parlor of Crossley Hall, from twi¬ 
 light until midnight, on Friday, July 
 30th. Missions became the absorbing 
 topic of conversation wherever the stud¬ 
 ents gathered—in the rooms, in the din¬ 
 ing hall, at the swimming wharf, and on 
 the athletic field. Each volunteer be¬ 
 came an enlister of others. But the 
 large majority of the decisions were not 
 reached in the presence of others. One 
 by one, the men, alone in the woods or 
 in their rooms with their Bibles and 
 God, fought out the battle with self, and 
 became obedient to the heavenly vision. 
 Late in the afternoon of the last day the 
 number of volunteers had reached ninety- 
 nine. They assembled for a farewell 
 meeting, during which a man came in 
 
11 
 
 and volunteered, making the number at 
 the close of the Conference an even one 
 hundred. 
 
 At this final meeting there was a 
 unanimous expression that the mission¬ 
 ary spirit, which had manifested itself 
 with such power at Mt. Hermon, should 
 be communicated, in some degree at 
 least, to the thousands of students in 
 the colleges and seminaries who had not 
 been privileged to come in contact with 
 it at its source. It was the conviction 
 of the volunteers that the reasons which 
 had led them to decide would influence 
 hundreds of other students, if those 
 reasons were once presented to them in 
 a practical, intelligent, faithful and pray¬ 
 erful manner. Two days before this the 
 suggestion had come to a few of the vol¬ 
 unteers and leaders of the Conference, 
 while on a tramp over the hills near the 
 Vermont border, that a deputation, 
 something like the ‘‘Cambridge Band,” 
 be sent among the colleges. This famous 
 band was composed of seven Cambridge 
 students noted for their scholarship, 
 their prominence in athletics, and, above 
 
all, their consecration and spirituality. 
 Before going out to China they made a 
 memorable tour among the British uni¬ 
 versities, creating a great missionary re¬ 
 vival among the students—felt also more 
 or less by the entire Church. When 
 this plan was mentioned to the volun¬ 
 teers it was heartily and prayerfully 
 adopted; and a deputation of four stud¬ 
 ents was selected to represent the Mt. 
 Hermon Conference, and to visit during 
 the year as many institutions as pos¬ 
 sible. 
 
 II. DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Of the four men selected for this im¬ 
 portant mission among the colleges only 
 one, Mr. Robert P. Wilder, was able to 
 go. After much prayer, Mr. John N. 
 Forman, also of Princeton, was induced 
 to become a member of the deputation. 
 A prominent layman of one of the East¬ 
 ern cities, who was at Mt. Hermon dur¬ 
 ing the impressive, closing days, gener¬ 
 ously offered to bear the expenses in¬ 
 volved in the tour, and ever since he has 
 sustained a most helpful relation to the 
 Movement. It would be impossible to 
 
i3 
 
 *■ 
 
 estimate the many-fold fruitage which 
 has been gathered by the Church as a 
 result of this one man’s consecrated giv¬ 
 ing. Messrs. Wishard and Ober, at that 
 time the International College Secre¬ 
 taries of the Young Men’s Christian 
 Association, who had selected the mem¬ 
 bers of the deputation, also assumed the 
 responsible duty of facilitating their 
 tour. This first year (1886-87) may 
 properly be characterized as the year of 
 rapid and wide extension. Messrs. 
 Wilder and Forman visited 176 institu¬ 
 tions, including nearly all of the leading 
 colleges and divinity schools of Canada 
 and the United States. As a rule they 
 traveled together, but now and then 
 separated in order that they might touch 
 more institutions. Their speeches 
 packed with fresh and telling facts, their 
 arguments firmly anchored in the Scrip¬ 
 tures, their unwavering faith in the pos¬ 
 sibility of evangelizing the world in their 
 generation if the students would but 
 rally around the idea, above all the 
 prayerfulness of their lives, made a last¬ 
 ing impression wherever they went. As 
 
14 
 
 a result of their labors the number of 
 volunteers passed from ioo to 2,200 dur¬ 
 ing the year. Even Dr. Pierson in his 
 most sanguine moments had not dared 
 to predict that the Movement would, in 
 so short a time, reach beyond a thous¬ 
 and. 
 
 During the second year (1887-88) the 
 Movement was left to itself. It was un¬ 
 organized, and had no leadership or 
 oversight whatever. Notwithstanding 
 this, as a result of its inherent life and 
 acquired momentum it continued to ex¬ 
 pand. The volunteers themselves by 
 personal work swelled their number to 
 nearly 3,000. But, on the other hand, 
 like any other vigorous movement left 
 without a guiding hand, it began to 
 manifest certain dangerous tendencies. 
 No particular notice of these was tiaken 
 until the summer of 1888, when about 
 fifty volunteers from different sections 
 came together at the World’s Student 
 Conference at Northfield, and reported 
 the condition of the Movement in their 
 respective institutions. It was then 
 found that there was: (1) A tendency 
 
15 
 
 in the Movement at some points to lose 
 its unity. All sorts of missionary socie¬ 
 ties and bands—with different purposes, 
 methods of work and forms of constitu¬ 
 tions—were springing up. It was plain 
 that it would lose much of its power 
 should its unity be destroyed. (2) A 
 tendency to decline in some colleges, 
 because not carefully supervised. (3) 
 A disposition to conflict with existing 
 religious societies appeared in a very 
 few places. All of these tendencies were 
 decidedly out of harmony with the orig¬ 
 inal spirit and purpose of the Movement; 
 accordingly it was decided that immed¬ 
 iate steps should be taken toward a wise 
 
 organization. Another consideration 
 
 * 
 
 helped to influence this decision, and 
 that was a desire to extend the Move¬ 
 ment further. Thus far it had not 
 touched more than one-fifth of the insti¬ 
 tutions of higher learning on this conti¬ 
 nent. This marked a very critical time 
 in the history of the Volunteer Move¬ 
 ment. To Mr. C. K. Ober is due in 
 large measure the credit of safely pass¬ 
 ing the crisis. He recognized clearly 
 
i6 
 
 the possibilities of this Movement if 
 properly guarded, developed and ex¬ 
 tended; and firmly believed that all the 
 dangerous tendencies would be checked 
 by judicious organization. As chairman 
 of the committee appointed by the vol¬ 
 unteers at Northfield for that purpose he 
 suggested, in the main, the flexible yet 
 comprehensive scheme of organization 
 under which the Movement has since 
 been working. Had the counsels of 
 some prevailed at this time, in all human 
 probability the Movement would have 
 disintegrated, and much of the interest 
 passed away, just as the British dele¬ 
 gates at Northfield reported had been 
 the case in their universities after the 
 members of the Cambridge Band and a 
 majority of the men whom they enlisted 
 had gone to the foreign field; and, just 
 as the missionary interest waned among 
 the students of New England not long 
 after the pioneer student missionaries 
 had entered upon their life work in for¬ 
 eign lands. In this connection it is in¬ 
 teresting to consider the conditions con¬ 
 fronting the Volunteer Movement in the 
 
i7 
 
 last decade, which differed from those 
 which existed in the colleges in the first 
 decade of the century when the students 
 of Williams College were seeking to form 
 an intercollegiate missionary movement. 
 We have seen that they failed in the 
 effort to accomplish this largely because 
 of the lack of Christian organization 
 among the students then, and also be¬ 
 cause of the low state of spiritual life in 
 many of the colleges. The Volunteer 
 Movement entered a field in which a 
 much larger majority of the students 
 than ever before were Christians. More¬ 
 over it found those Christians peculiarly 
 susceptible to the missionary appeal be¬ 
 cause of the preparation their minds and 
 hearts had received in Bible classes, in 
 personal work, country and city mis¬ 
 sions, and, to a limited extent, in the 
 study of missions, in connection with 
 their Christian Associations. The pres¬ 
 ence of large intercollegiate Christian or¬ 
 ganizations not only rendered the spread 
 of the Volunteer Movement a compara¬ 
 tively easy thing, but they also afforded 
 the conditions for making it permanent. 
 
i8 
 
 The third year of the history of the 
 Movement (1888-89) ma Y t> e called the 
 year of organization. The committee 
 appointed to take this matter in charge 
 decided that the Movement should be 
 confined to students. It was therefore 
 named the Student Volunteer Movement 
 for Foreign Missions. It was noted that 
 practically all of the volunteers were 
 members of some one of the four great 
 inter-denominational student organiza¬ 
 tions, viz: The College Young Men’s 
 Christian Association, the College Young 
 Women’s Christian Association, the Am¬ 
 erican Inter-Seminary Missionary Alli¬ 
 ance, and the Canadian Intercollegiate 
 Missionary Alliance. This suggested 
 the plan of placing at the head of the 
 Movement a permanent executive com 
 mittee composed of one representative 
 appointed by each of these organiza¬ 
 tions. Thus far the last two organiza¬ 
 tions named have appointed the same 
 man. This committee is to develop and 
 facilitate the Movement in accord with 
 the spirit and constitutions of the organ¬ 
 izations which they represent, and as an 
 
organic department of them—thus obvi¬ 
 ating a new and an unnecessary organi¬ 
 zation. The plan was first submitted to 
 the College Committee of the Interna¬ 
 tional Committee of the Young Men’s 
 Christian Associations, and was heartily 
 approved. They appointed Mr. John 
 R. Mott as their representative. He 
 has held this position ever since. The 
 plan was fully endorsed by the Interna¬ 
 tional Committee of the Young Women’s 
 Christian Associations, and Miss Nettie 
 Dunn was chosen to represent them. In 
 1891 she was succeeded by Miss Corabel 
 Tarr. The two Missionary Alliances 
 also favored the plan and named Mr. 
 Robert P. Wilder as their representative. 
 He occupied the position until 1891, 
 when he was followed by Mr. Robert E. 
 Speer, who was succeeded in turn in the 
 spring of 1892 by Mr. D. Willard Lyon. 
 The Executive Committee as first con¬ 
 stituted began its work in January, 1889, 
 and soon completed the work of organ¬ 
 ization. This may be briefly outlined 
 as follows: 
 
 1. The Executive Comviittee (composed 
 
20 
 
 as above) has general supervision and 
 direction of the Movement. It meets 
 on an average of once each month. 
 
 2. The Committee has the following 
 secretaries: (i) A Traveling Secretary 
 (at times there have been two), whose 
 work consists in organizing, educating, 
 quickening and setting at work the vol¬ 
 unteers in the different institutions, and 
 in extending the Movement not only 
 among previously visited institutions, 
 but also among those as yet untouched. 
 (2) A Corresponding Secretary , who en¬ 
 rolls and classifies the names of volun¬ 
 teers, tabulates statistics, prepares and 
 distributes printed matter, conducts an 
 extensive correspondence with several 
 hundreds of institutions, and renders 
 such aid to the Missionary Boards as 
 may be within his power. He also acts 
 as Treasurer. Mr. William H. Hannum 
 held this position until shortly before he 
 sailed for India in 1890. Since then Mr. 
 Walter J. Clark has filled the office. (3) 
 An Editorial Secretary , who aims to keep 
 the Movement before the Church and 
 volunteers. Messrs. R. S. Miller, Jr., 
 

 E. W. Rand, and Max Wood Moorhead 
 have in turn held this position. Since 
 1891 it has been unoccupied. 
 
 3. There is an Advisory Committee 
 with whom the Executive Committee 
 confers about any specially important 
 step in the development of the Move¬ 
 ment. It has been composed from the 
 beginning of the following: Rev. A. J. 
 Gordon, D. D., Bishop M. S. Baldwin, 
 D. D., Miss Abbie B. Child, President 
 Merrill E. Gates, Rev. George Alexan¬ 
 der, D. D., Rev. A. T. Pierson, D. D. 
 
 4. The Executive Committee, through 
 their Traveling Secretary, are unable to 
 touch more than one-fifth of the colleges 
 and theological seminaries during the 
 year. They therefore aim to have a Cor¬ 
 responding Member (or Corresponding 
 Committee) in every State and Province 
 in which the extent and condition of the 
 Movement demanded it. His work is to 
 carry out the policy of the Committee in 
 his particular field. 
 
 5. In each institution the volunteers 
 are united in what is known as the Vol¬ 
 unteer Band . In the colleges this is 
 
22 
 
 \ 
 
 organized as the Missionary Department 
 of the College Association. In theo¬ 
 logical seminaries it is a part of the 
 regular Missionary Society. These 
 bands hold regular meetings for prayer 
 and for systematic study of missions. 
 Moreover, they seek to spread mission¬ 
 ary intelligence, to secure new volun¬ 
 teers, to stimulate systematic giving, 
 and to kindle the missionary spirit in 
 young people’s societies and in churches. 
 
 While the third year in the life of the 
 Movement has been called the year of 
 organization it was by no means limited 
 to that. Mr. Wilder was induced to de¬ 
 vote this, a second year to work in the 
 field. During that time he touched 
 ninety-three institutions, twenty-five of 
 which had not been previously visited 
 and enrolled 600 new recruits. The 
 larger part of his time, however, was 
 spent in reorganizing the volunteers se¬ 
 cured by Mr. Forman and himself on the 
 first tour. During their first year in the 
 work they had favored letting the volun¬ 
 teers form bands independent of the 
 existing religious societies. It was 
 
23 
 
 impossible at that time to foresee the 
 result. Two years’ observation of the 
 • working of these independent bands, 
 however, had completely convinced Mr. 
 Wilder (Mr. Forman in the meantime 
 had gone to India) that it would be far 
 better from every consideration for the 
 volunteers to group themselves together 
 as a part of the missionary department 
 of the existing associations and societies. 
 Within this year, and the one following 
 it, over sixty—or nearly all—of the in¬ 
 dependent bands merged themselves into 
 these organizations. 
 
 The year 1889-90 will always stand out 
 prominently in the history of the Volun¬ 
 teer Movement as the year of the deep¬ 
 ening of its inner life. Mr. Robert E. 
 Speer, of Princeton, 1889, touched no 
 institutions, or a larger number than 
 have ever been taken in one year by 
 any man in the college field. He 
 reached many new colleges, especially 
 in the South and South-East. Now that 
 the track on which the Movement was to 
 run had been laid down, in the form of 
 wise organization, Mr. Speer saw that 
 
24 
 
 its power and efficiency depended on the 
 spiritual life of the individual bands; 
 and so he sought incessantly to bring * 
 these groups of volunteers to the great 
 sources of spiritual life and light. 
 Along the pathway of his tour he also 
 gathered 1,100 new volunteers. 
 
 The Movement with its principles, 
 purposes and possibilities was first 
 brought before the Church in a public 
 and an official manner in the year 1890- 
 91. That was the year of its First In¬ 
 ternational Convention, held from Feb¬ 
 ruary 26th to March 1, 1891, at Cleve¬ 
 land, Ohio. It constituted the largest 
 student convention ever held, there be¬ 
 ing about 600 volunteers present from 
 159 institutions, representing all parts of 
 the United States and Canada east of 
 the Rocky Mountains. In addition to 
 the students there were thirty-three rep¬ 
 resentatives of the leading missionary 
 societies of the United States and Can¬ 
 ada, over thirty returned missionaries 
 representing every quarter of the globe, 
 and over fifty other Christian workers. 
 This Convention gave the Movement 
 
25 
 
 standing in the eyes of the leaders of the 
 missionary work of the Church. The 
 most conservative among them as they 
 came to understand its methods and 
 spirit gave it the weight of their unquali¬ 
 fied approval. During this year the 
 Movement was represented in the field 
 by Mr. W. H. Cossum, of Colgate Uni¬ 
 versity, who is now at work in China. 
 Several hundreds of volunteers were 
 added to the roll; and much was done 
 toward making the bands studying and 
 working centers. Miss Lucy E. Guin¬ 
 ness, of England, spent nearly three 
 months among the women of our col¬ 
 leges, both in coeducational institutions 
 and in distinctively women’s colleges, 
 and enrolled at least 240 volunteers. 
 This marked a very successful beginning 
 of special efforts for this class—a phase 
 of work very much neglected up to that 
 time. 
 
 The past year (1891-92) has been a 
 year of education. Mr. J. Campbell 
 White, of the University of Wooster, as 
 Traveling Secretary, has devoted much 
 of his time, in the 100 institutions which 
 
26 
 
 he visited, to the much-needed work oi 
 marking out courses of study and lines of 
 work for the volunteer . bands. Miss 
 Eloise Mayham has pursued a similar 
 policy in her thorough work among the 
 young women in thirty-five additional 
 institutions. They have been supple¬ 
 mented in this by Mr. Clark, at the 
 office, who has also developed the pub¬ 
 lication department. Moreover, at the 
 Student Summer Schools, missionary 
 institutes have been established for train¬ 
 ing leaders of the various volunteer 
 bands. The inauguration of these insti¬ 
 tutes marked the greatest advance of 
 the year in the development of the 
 Movement. The life and efficiency of 
 the Movement depend chiefly on the life 
 and efficiency of the individual bands; 
 and that in turn depends principally 
 upon the life and efficiency of the lead¬ 
 ers of the bands. There was also car¬ 
 ried on during the year a thorough in¬ 
 vestigation into the exact condition and 
 problems of the Movement. This in¬ 
 volved a complete examination of the 
 records of all the volunteers as filed in 
 
27 
 
 the office, and a careful inquiry into the 
 status of the bands themselves. As a 
 result of a better understanding of the 
 tendencies of the Movement several 
 changes in its methods and policy were 
 made. 
 
 The most important of these possibly 
 was the change in the wording of the 
 volunteer pledge; or, as it is better called 
 in Great Britain, the volunteer declara¬ 
 tion. This was effected on July 14, 
 1892, at the close of the World’s Stud¬ 
 ent Conference at Northfield in a joint 
 meeting of members of the Executive 
 Committees of the Volunteer Movement 
 in Great Britain, and in the United 
 States and Canada. The old wording 
 was: “I am willing and desirous, God 
 permitting, to become a foreign mission¬ 
 ary.” As changed, it reads: “It is my 
 purpose, if God permit, to become a 
 foreign missionary.” The former word¬ 
 ing has, as a rule, where it has been 
 carefully explained, been understood to 
 mean simply purpose. At the same time 
 experience had proved that it had been 
 difficult for some men who had employed 
 
28 
 
 the old declaration to make its real 
 meaning clear; and, moreover, that in 
 some cases, even when clearly presented, 
 it had been misunderstood. It was be¬ 
 lieved by the two Committees that the 
 new form of declaration would be much 
 more easily explained, and, therefore, 
 much less likely to be misinterpreted. 
 It was decided that the new declaration 
 should be signed only by students who 
 might volunteer thereafter. 
 
 III. ACHIEVEMENTS. 
 
 i. Several thousands of students have 
 been led by the Volunteer Movement to 
 take the advanced step of consecration 
 involved in forming the purpose to be¬ 
 come foreign missionaries. In the large 
 majority of cases this decision has been 
 formed in the spirit of prayer, and solely 
 as unto God. The Biblical argument 
 has influenced far more men than even 
 the vivid presentation of the needs of 
 the fields. The most powerful consid¬ 
 eration has been the thought of loyalty 
 to Jesus Christ by obeying his last com¬ 
 mand. Well might Dr. McCosh ask 
 before the Movement was two years old: 
 
 
29 
 
 “Has any such offering of living young 
 men and women been presented in our 
 age, in our country, in any age, or in 
 any country, since the day of Pente¬ 
 cost ? ” 
 
 2 . Over five hundred volunteers have 
 already gone to the foreign field under 
 the various missionary agencies, and 
 fully one hundred more are under ap¬ 
 pointment. A noted foreign missionary, 
 while at a conference in this country 
 three years ago said, that not more than 
 two per cent of those who volunteered 
 in a missionary revival ever sailed. But 
 already, seven per cent of the members 
 of this Movement have sailed, and fully 
 ten per cent of the Canadian contingent. 
 Moreover, a large majority of the vol¬ 
 unteers are still in the various stages of 
 preparation. The following list of coun¬ 
 tries in which volunteers are already 
 working, indicates their wide distribu¬ 
 tion: North, East, West and South 
 Africa; Arabia, Burma, China, Corea, 
 India, Japan, Persia, Siam and Laos; 
 Syria and Turkey; Bulgaria and Italy) 
 Central America and Mexico; Brazil? 
 
30 
 
 Chili and the United States of Columbia; 
 and the South Sea Islands. 
 
 3. By means of this Movement, mis¬ 
 sionary intelligence, methods, enthusi¬ 
 asm, and consecration have been carried 
 into three hundred colleges on this con¬ 
 tinent. In 1885, there was compara¬ 
 tively no interest in missions, save in a 
 few of these institutions. Now the 
 missionary department of the College 
 Young Men’s and Young Women’s Chris¬ 
 tian Associations, is probably the best 
 developed, and certainly one of the most 
 influential departments in their entire 
 scheme of work. To-day there are 
 nearly six times as many students in these 
 colleges who expect to be foreign mis¬ 
 sionaries as there were at the inception 
 of the Movement. At least one-fifth of 
 the officers of the Christian Associations 
 are volunteers; although the volunteers 
 constitute but one-fifteenth of the active 
 membership. Another important fact 
 should not be lost sight of, and that is 
 that every volunteer who sails, means 
 more than one missionary. He stands 
 for a large constituency who are 
 
3 1 
 
 interested in the work because he goes. 
 Who can measure the importance of 
 thus enlisting the intelligent sympathy 
 and co-operation of thousands who are 
 to remain at home, in the great mission¬ 
 ary undertakings of the Church? 
 
 4. Missionary interest has also been 
 intensified in forty-five theological semi¬ 
 naries. Special missionary statistics 
 concerning the seminaries show that the 
 number of prospective missionaries has 
 been greatly increased during the past 
 few years. Prior to 1886, it has been 
 stated that one ordained minister out of 
 seventy-seven had gone into the foreign 
 field. Since then, over eleven per cent 
 of the seminary undergraduates have 
 volunteered for foreign service. A more 
 comprehensive study of missions is be¬ 
 ing carried on by seminary men. As a 
 result of such study, and of the ob¬ 
 ject-lesson of so many devoting their 
 lives to the cause of missions, the men 
 who are to enter the home pastorate are 
 realizing as never before, their special 
 responsibility to the world field. The 
 Movement is thus rendering an invaluable 
 
32 
 
 service. One of the veteran mission¬ 
 ary secretaries of America, recently said 
 that the great need to-day is that of a 
 generation of missionary pastors to sup¬ 
 plement the missionary volunteers by 
 spreading missionary intelligence and 
 keeping the conscience of the Church 
 sensitive on the subject of the divine 
 claims of foreign missions. 
 
 5. When this Movement began its 
 work in the institutions of higher learn¬ 
 ing it found less than a dozen collections 
 of missionary books which were abreast 
 of the times. Extended search now and 
 then revealed a few of the old class of 
 missionary biographies and broken files 
 of missionary society reports. In very 
 few cases could there have been found 
 in the reading room a missionary peri¬ 
 odical. For seven years the represen¬ 
 tatives of the Movement have been em¬ 
 phasizing in season and out of season 
 the importance of continued study of 
 the best and latest missionary books and 
 papers. Through their influence care¬ 
 fully selected missionary libraries have 
 been introduced into fully seventy-five 
 
33 
 
 institutions; and, in the aggregate, sev¬ 
 eral thousands of dollars worth of the 
 most helpful and stimulating books 
 have been scattered throughout the stu¬ 
 dent field. It would be difficult now to 
 find an institution where there are not 
 now two or more missionary periodicals 
 on file. Some of the best missionary 
 works of Great Britain have, through 
 the influence of the Movement, been in¬ 
 troduced into wide and general circula¬ 
 tion. 
 
 6. The plan for colleges and theo¬ 
 logical seminaries to support their own 
 missionaries under their respective 
 boards has been promoted. The semi¬ 
 naries have been led to treble their con¬ 
 tributions, and the colleges, which be¬ 
 fore 1886 were giving practically noth¬ 
 ing to missionary work, have for several 
 years been giving over $10,000 each 
 year. It should be stated that this 
 amount comes from only about one- 
 tenth of the institutions. The import¬ 
 ance of having students acquire the 
 habit of giving systematically to the cause 
 of missions cannot be overestimated. 
 
34 
 
 They will not abandon it after they 
 leave the college and the seminary, 
 but as leaders in their churches they will 
 do much to solve the financial problem 
 of missions. 
 
 7. It may truthfully be said that the 
 Volunteer Movement has done more 
 than all other agencies combined to em¬ 
 phasize the idea that each church should 
 support its own missionary. Volun¬ 
 teers have elaborated the plan and have 
 also printed and circulated a pamphlet 
 clearly setting it forth. Moreover, they 
 have actually introduced it in many 
 churches of different denominations with 
 the most gratifying results. A large 
 number of strong testimonials have been 
 collected. The following given by the 
 Secretaries of the Foreign Mission Board 
 of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., is 
 a striking recognition of the importance 
 of this work: 
 
 “We have before us a long list of testimonials 
 from pastors who have tried the experiment with 
 most gratifying results; and we are assured that 
 if this method should become general throughout 
 the churches, it would mark a new era of progress- 
 in foreign missions, while, by its reflex influence 
 
35 
 
 at home, it would bring one of the greatest bless¬ 
 ings that the church has experienced in a genera¬ 
 tion. 
 
 * * * We gladly recognize the influence 
 which has been exerted along these lines by the 
 Student Volunteer Movement in our colleges and 
 theological seminaries. ***** And we 
 recognize with equal clearness and satisfaction 
 the large part which this movement has had in 
 arousing churches, Young Men’s Christian Asso¬ 
 ciations, Christian Endeavor Societies, etc., to a 
 new interest and to a more adequate contribution 
 of means. ***** The interest which 
 they (the volunteers) create and the funds which 
 they raise are a clear gain. ****** 
 
 So far as the Presbyterian churches are con¬ 
 cerned, we most heartily commend the work.” 
 
 F. F. Ellinwood, ) 
 
 Arthur Mitchell, >• Secretaries. 
 
 Jno. Gillespie, ) 
 
 William Dulles, Treasurer. 
 
 New York, Nov. 6, 1890. 
 
 8. The success of the Volunteer 
 Movement in the United States and Can¬ 
 ada has been so marked that its influence 
 has already been strongly felt in British 
 and Continental universities. The del¬ 
 egates who have come from these insti¬ 
 tutions from year to year, have been par¬ 
 ticularly impressed by this student 
 
36 
 
 missionary uprising, and have done much 
 to carry back its methods and spirit. 
 Messrs. Forman, Reynolds, Wishard 
 and McConaughy have also at different 
 times done not a little toward bringing 
 its principles to the attention of Europe¬ 
 an students. To Mr. Wilder is due in 
 large part the credit of actually organiz¬ 
 ing the Movement in Great Britain and 
 Scandinavia. For two years students 
 from these countries had urged the 
 Executive Committee to send some rep¬ 
 resentative to Europe. Mr. Wilder was 
 induced to undertake this mission while 
 on his way to India in 1892. An organ¬ 
 ization to direct the work among the 
 universities of Great Britain was per¬ 
 fected in April, at Edinburgh. It was 
 modeled very closely after the organiza¬ 
 tion which has worked so successfully 
 on this side. The organization of the 
 Movement in Scandinavia is just now 
 taking definite shape. A striking fact 
 is the recent introduction of the Move¬ 
 ment in three institutions of South 
 Africa. This resulted from reading ac¬ 
 counts of the Movement in this country. 
 
37 
 
 Miss Rose J. Sears, a Wellesley volun¬ 
 teer, teaching in the Huguenot Seminary, 
 at Wellington, Cape Colony, united and 
 organized the three groups of volunteers. 
 
 9. Another thing achieved by the 
 the Movement, while not as tangible as 
 some of the other points named, has 
 been nevertheless just as real and im¬ 
 portant; and that is the emphasis which 
 it has constantly given to the idea of 
 the evangelization of the world in this gen¬ 
 eration. In over four hundred centers 
 of learning this key-note has been sound¬ 
 ed year after year in the ears of those 
 who are soon to be the leaders of the 
 different evangelical church agencies. 
 At hundreds of conventions, in all parts 
 of Canada and the United States, it has 
 been proclaimed with convincing power. 
 In thousands of churches it has appeal¬ 
 ed to the loyalty of Christians, and 
 evoked a sympathetic response. It has 
 differentiated the Volunteer Movement 
 from every other missionary movement 
 undertaken by students. It constitutes at 
 once its ultimate purpose and its inspira¬ 
 tion. More and more as the volunteers 
 
38 
 
 prayerfully look through the doors 
 of faith opening to-day unto every na¬ 
 tion, ponder the last command of Jesus 
 Christ, and consider the resources of His 
 Church—they are convinced of the ne¬ 
 cessity, duty, possibility, and probability 
 of realizing their watchcry. 
 
 IV. PRESENT STATUS. 
 
 During the past year an extensive cor¬ 
 respondence has been instituted with 
 the volunteers for the purpose of re¬ 
 ceiving information for statistics. A 
 large proportion of the volunteers have 
 responded, and the following figures 
 are based upon the returns, and are con¬ 
 sidered safe estimates. 
 
 ■ •- ^ ^ _ _ 
 
 V. PURPOSE. 
 
 1. The Student Volunteer Movement 
 seeks to enroll volunteers in the colleges 
 and theological seminaries in numbers 
 sufficient to meet all the demands made 
 upon it by the foreign missionary agen¬ 
 cies on this continent. 
 
 2. This Movement aims to carry the 
 missionary spirit into every institution 
 
43 
 
 of higher learning in the United States 
 and Canada; and to co-operate with sim¬ 
 ilar movements in other lands. The 
 power which will thus come from unit¬ 
 ing the Christian students of the world 
 to carry out the last command of Jesus 
 Christ will be irresistible. 
 
 3. Not only does the Movement plan 
 to enlist volunteers, but also to guard 
 and develop them until they pass beyond 
 its proper sphere of influence. This in¬ 
 volves the organizing of the volunteers 
 into bands; outlining courses of study 
 for them; enlisting them in active work 
 for missions on educational, financial, 
 and spiritual lines; making the bands 
 praying and self-perpetuating centers; 
 and, finally, helping to bring the volun¬ 
 teers into touch with the various mis¬ 
 sionary societies or boards. 
 
 4. As the financial problem is one of 
 the most serious which to-day confronts 
 every missionary agency, the volunteers 
 propose to do all within their power to 
 hasten its solution. An effort is being 
 made to have each volunteer before sail 
 ing secure a financial constituency, and 
 
44 
 
 so 10 cultivate it as to ensure his sup¬ 
 port on the field. The plan of having 
 each church support its own missionary 
 will be introduced as widely as possible. 
 Moreover, recognizing the wonderful 
 possibilities of the various young peo¬ 
 ple’s societies of the day, the Volunteer 
 Movement is making a special effort to 
 secure their active co-operation. These 
 two great movements, called into being 
 during the same decade, are destined to 
 supplement each other in their service 
 to world-wide evangelization. 
 
 5. By far the greatest need of modern 
 missions is that of united, definite, im¬ 
 portunate prayer. This alone will lead 
 the Church in this time of times to lift 
 up her eyes and behold the fields. 
 Moreover, the Christians of the two 
 wealthiest nations on the face of the 
 earth will never give as they should un¬ 
 til selfishness and practical unbelief in 
 the great designs of God are swept 
 away by the prayers of men who believe 
 in God. And beyond all this, the thous¬ 
 ands of consecrated students who have 
 given themselves to this work will never 
 
45 
 
 reach the great harvest fields of the 
 world until there is absolute compliance 
 with the human condition laid down by 
 the Lord in His command: “Pray ye 
 therefore, the Lord of the harvest that 
 He send forth laborers into His har¬ 
 vest.” Each volunteer band, therefore, is 
 urged to become a “school of prayer;” 
 and each volunteer wherever he goes 
 should have as his greatest burden the 
 deepening of the prayer life of the 
 Church. 
 
 6. Underlying all these forms of pur¬ 
 pose is that ultimate and fundamental 
 object of the Student Volunteer Move¬ 
 ment —the evangelization of the world in 
 this generation. This is the watchcry of 
 the volunteers. What does it mean? 
 It does not mean the conversion, or the 
 Christianization, or the civilization of 
 the world—no matter how much the 
 volunteers may believe in each of these. 
 It does mean that the Christians of this 
 generation are to give every person of 
 this age an opportunity to accept Jesus 
 Christ. The volunteers believe that this 
 is an awful necessity, because without 
 
4 6 
 
 it millions will perish. They believe 
 that it is a solemn duty because 
 Christ has commanded it. They be¬ 
 lieve that it is a possibility because of 
 the inspired object-lesson of its achieve¬ 
 ment by the early Christian Church un¬ 
 der far more adverse circumstances than 
 those which confront the Church of the 
 nineteenth century. They believe it is 
 a probability because of the reasonable¬ 
 ness of the demands of the missionaries 
 themselves in order that this may be 
 accomplished. Within the last few 
 years, in the two most densely populat¬ 
 ed, and, in many respects most difficult 
 fields in the world, large conferences of 
 missionaries have declared with confi¬ 
 dence that, this can be done. The vol¬ 
 unteers say, if they at the front sound 
 the battle-cry, should we at the rear beat 
 a retreat? The convocation of mission¬ 
 aries in India, whose estimate corres¬ 
 ponds with that of the conference in 
 China, claimed that at least one foreign 
 missionary would be needed for every 
 fifty thousand people in unevangelized 
 lands. This means then that twenty 
 

 47 
 
 thousand missionaries are needed in 
 order to “preach the gospel to every 
 creature” within this generation. To 
 say nothing of the great student centers 
 of Great Britain and Scandinavia, is 
 that too large a number to ask for and 
 to expect from the colleges and semi¬ 
 naries of the United States and Canada? 
 There are two States in this country 
 each of which has in its institutions of 
 higher learning more than twenty thous¬ 
 and students. Over two million young 
 men and women will go out from the in¬ 
 stitutions of Canada and America within 
 this generation. The foreign field calls 
 for only one one-hundredth of them. But 
 where will the money come from to send 
 and support them? It would take less 
 than one six-hundreth of the present 
 wealth of the Christians of America. 
 Stated in another form, it would easily 
 be secured should each of the over two 
 millions of members of our many young 
 people’s Christian organizations raise 
 but three cents each day. 
 
 There are men and women enough to 
 spare for this grandest mission of the 
 
4 8 
 
 ages. There is money enough to spare 
 to send them. May the Spirit of Christ 
 lead His Church to pray the prayer of 
 faith, and to consecrate her men and 
 money to the carrying out of His last 
 command! 
 
Student Volunteer Series. 
 
 7 . History of the Student Volunteer Movement 
 for Foreign Missions. John R. Mott. 
 Price, ten cents. 
 
 2. Shall I go? Thoughts for girls. Miss Grace 
 
 E. Wilder. Price, five cents. 
 
 3. Prayer and Missions. Robert E. Speer. 
 
 Price, five cents. 
 
 4 . The Volunteer Band. Robert E. Speer. Price, 
 
 five cents. 
 
 5. The Self-Perpetuation of the Volunteer 
 
 Band. J. Campbell White. Price, five cents. 
 
 6. Ten Lessons on the Bible and Missions. 
 
 J. Campbell White. Price, five cents. 
 
 7 . The Volunteer Band Meeting. J. Campbell 
 
 White. Price, five cents. 
 
 8. The Bible and Missions.. Robert P. Wilder. 
 
 Price, five cents. 
 
 In quantities of one dozen or more, No. i is sold 
 at $i.oo per dozen; in quantities of fifty or more 
 at $7.00 per hundred. In same quantities Nos. 2 
 to 8 are sold at 50 cents per dozen, or $3.50 per 
 hundred. 
 
 Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions 
 
 HICAGO, ILL. 
 
 8QInstitute Place. 
 
 Nos. 5-8 ready after December 1, 1892.