Wky 
 
 Foreign Mission Gifts 
 Must be Continued 
 During tke 
 War 
 
 American 6aptidt Foreign 
 ““ MiBsion Society 
 
 Ford Building, Ashburton Place 
 
 BOSTON. MASS. 
 
 
“ ''T^E only Christianity 
 JL that can have any liv¬ 
 ing power in our own nation 
 today or that can have any 
 power in the work of re¬ 
 construction when the war 
 
 is done, is a Christianity 
 that DOES NOT SHIRK 
 ANY OF ITS DUTIES 
 TODAY but that MEETS 
 THE DEMANDS OF 
 THE ENTIRE WORLD 
 
 TASK.” —Robert E. Speer 
 
Wky Foreign M^ission Gifts 
 Must be Continued 
 During tbeW^ar 
 
 ATURALLY, there is a feeling that 
 
 every ounce of America’s power 
 should be given just now to insure victory 
 in the titanic struggle for world de¬ 
 mocracy. Naturally, too, a question 
 arises in the minds of some as to why we 
 should continue to make large gifts to 
 foreign missions at this hour. Second 
 thought brings a reply to such questions, 
 for it is evident that wars will continue 
 until international brotherhood becomes 
 a fact instead of a sentiment. The races 
 must be more closely united in spirit if 
 the. world is to enjoy universal peace. 
 
 Recognizing this truth we do well to 
 remember that the missionary movement 
 has been characterized as 
 
 “THE GREATEST UNIFYING POWER 
 AT WORK AMONG MEN.” 
 
 [ 3 ] 
 
In 1913, the late Hamilton Wright 
 Mabie, then one of the editors of The 
 Outlook, returned from a visit to the 
 Orient whither he had journeyed as a 
 special messenger from the Peace Society 
 of America to the Japanese people. Soon 
 after his return The Outlook said 
 editorially: 
 
 “The missionary movement is today the 
 greatest unifying power at work among men; it 
 is defining a universal standard of morals, teach¬ 
 ing and illustrating a practice of the gospel of 
 love which steadily gains ground in the face of 
 skepticism and cynicism, and is silently working 
 a revolution in the feelings and thoughts of men 
 in race relations. The missionary movement has 
 become the very highest statesmanship; it is the 
 one adequate expression of that spiritual inter¬ 
 nationalism which was long the dream of the 
 prophets, but is fast becoming an inspiring fact 
 in the life of the world. 
 
 If “The missionary movement is today 
 the greatest unifying power at work 
 among men’’, and if the missionary move¬ 
 ment “is the one adequate expression of 
 that spiritual internationalism which was 
 long the dream of the prophets”, then it 
 is not to be thought of as something 
 apart from the present struggle for de¬ 
 mocracy but in reality as an essential 
 part of that struggle. 
 
 [ 4 ] 
 
In the spring of 1913, when relations 
 between the American and Japanese 
 Governments were severely strained, 
 Marquis Okuma, twice prime minister of 
 Japan, who in his boyhood w'as a pupil of 
 the Christian missionary Guido Verbeck, 
 was reported as saying to Dr. John R. 
 Mott and Dr. Hamilton Wright Mabie: 
 
 “Now, how can questions of the character 
 that have arisen between California and Japan 
 be solved? Personally I am profoundly con¬ 
 vinced that questions of this kind can never be 
 solved by law, nor by politics, nor by diplomacy. 
 And as for war, it is unthinkable that America 
 and Japan will ever resort to arms in an effort to 
 find a solution for any of the questions that come 
 up between them. It is only when the American 
 people on the one hand and the Japanese people 
 on the other hand come to believe what the gospel 
 teaches in regard to man’s true relation to his 
 fellowmen that questions of this character will be 
 peaceably and permanently solved. It is only 
 when these two peoples believe what Christ 
 taught in regard to the fatherhood of God and 
 the brotherhood of man that they will be able to 
 extend hands across the Pacific and work to¬ 
 gether for all that is good and great and noble. 
 
 The only force that can solve such questions is 
 Christianity.” 
 
 This, then, is not the hour for a lessen¬ 
 ing of interest in the foreign mission work. 
 On the contrary the hour calls for a 
 
larger support of such work than ever 
 before. Without the slightest reduction 
 in the volume of our work we shall need 
 greatly enlarged gifts to meet the extra 
 cost occasioned by the war. But in this 
 critical hour we must not be content with 
 merely holding our own in the support of 
 the “greatest unifying power at work 
 among men.’’ The spirit of the times 
 demands that the armies already at the 
 front be made a more effective fighting 
 force in the struggle for democracy. 
 
 — Dr. James H. Franklin, Foreign Secretary. 
 
 The Canadian Congregational Churches 
 during the third year of the war increased 
 their foreign mission contributions by 
 160 per cent. Their watchword was; “we 
 who have given our sons will not with¬ 
 hold our money.” 
 
 “We believe in not only MAINTAIN¬ 
 ING all that we have begun, but in even 
 now ENLARGING and EXTENDING 
 every effort to carry Christ TODAY — 
 not when the war is over, but today — 
 to the last ends of the world; because 
 we know that Christ will signify what 
 nothing else will signify to mankind.” 
 
The American Baptist Foreign Mission 
 Society must receive from churches and 
 from individuals this year at the very 
 least $213,947 more than came from these 
 sources during the last fiscal year in order 
 to carry on our work. This is due to the 
 increased cost of missionary work and of 
 materials; to a substantial decrease in 
 receipts from legacies; and to. the extra 
 appropriations required to cover the 
 difference in exchange rates in China 
 because of the war. Before the war a 
 gold dollar would purchase two silver 
 dollars in China. Recently the rate has 
 varied from $1.17 to $1.40. This entails 
 great additional expense as the Society is 
 spending a large amount in China each 
 year. While we have done “our bit” for 
 the Y.M.C.A., the Red Cross, for Belgian 
 and Armenian relief and while we are 
 caring for the widows, orphans, blind and 
 crippled soldiers, yet we must not fail at 
 this hour to meet the increased emergency 
 needsof Foreign Missions,— “thegreatest 
 unifying power at work among men.” 
 
 WHEN MILLIONS OF MEN ARE 
 DYING FOR WORLD DEMOCRACY, 
 IS THIS A TIME FOR CHRISTIAN 
 MEN and WOMEN to HOARD MONEY? 
 
The Last Command of Christ is 
 Valid Now 
 
 “YE SHALL BE MY WITNESSES UNTO 
 THE UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE WORLD.” 
 
 “AND THE THUNDER OF GUNS ACROSS 
 THE BATTLEFIELDS OF FRANCE CANNOT 
 DROWN IN THE HEART OF ANY CHRIS¬ 
 TIAN MAN THE SUMMONS, THE DEATH¬ 
 LESS,ABIDING SUMMONS OF THOSE LAST 
 WORDS.” 
 
 “He must have a callous soul who can pass 
 through times like these and not hear a voice, 
 whose call a man must answer, or else lose his 
 soul. Your country needs YOU, the Kingdom 
 of God on earth needs YOU. The Cause of 
 Christ is hard bestead and righteousness is 
 having a heavy battle in the earth — they need 
 
 —Harry E. Fosdick. 
 
 yp OR literature or other information regarding 
 " the work of the Society, write to any of the 
 following; 
 
 The District Secretary of your district. 
 Department of Missionary Education, 33 East 36th Street, 
 New York City. 
 
 Literature Department, Box 41, Boston, Mass. 
 
 [ 8 ] 
 
 l08-35M'l-2-l8l8