n\<3c.. An Epistle ‘ Churches Concerning the World’s .... Evangelization A t a recent conference of the representatives of nearly twenty foreign missionary organizations, held at the Mission Rooms of the Methodist Episcopal Ch’urcli/f 5o Fifth Avenue, New York, those^presfent were.^so impressed^with the vastness Of the work still to be done Iri'order ta give the Gbspel to theyunevangelized nations, and so fully convinced that the time has now come to unite in a more aggressive movement for the evangelization of the whole world, that a committee was appointed to draw up an appeal to be issued in the name of the conference and such Evangelical Missionary Societies as should join therein, to all Protestant Christians in the United States and Canada, asking their full- and earnest co-operation by their prayers and their increasing gifts for this great'end. -ir vTo tbein that have obtatneb Xibe precious faitb with us Xlbrougb tbe righteousness of (Bob anb our Saviour Jesus dbrist. Bnno Domini, 1896. F or nearly nineteen centuries the vast majority of the populations of the globe have waited in vain for the gospel of redemption which was committed to.the Christian Church. It was said most truthfully by the late Earl of Shaftesbury, that “the Gospel might have been proclaimed to all nations a dozen times over if the Chris¬ tian Church had been faithful to her trust.” It is appalling to think that sixty generations of the unevangelized heathen world have perished in darkness since our Lord established and commissioned His Church as a living and aggressive force in the world. And of all the generations, ours is the most guilty in proportion to its greater opportunities. No age has compared with the present in the facility with which the populations of distant countries can be reached; or in the personal safety under which Christ’s ambassadors may prosecute their work; or in the approachableness and cordiality of the people; or in the materials ready at hand to convey the message of salvation in an un¬ known tongue. The heart of India, Africa, and China, are more rapidly reached than was the centre of our own continent a hundred years ago. A whole century of preparation has established the prin¬ ciples, furnished the appliances, and perfected the organization for a movement enlisting the whole Church of Christ. The Whole Bible a l^issionary Volume. We earnestly call upon every Christian disciple to re-examine the Word of God and see how every portion of it, from Genesis to Revelation, is instinct with the spirit of missions. It is a field book of universal conquest. In the Councils of Eternity it was said to the world’s Messiah, “ It is a light thing that thou should’st be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Isreal ; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salva¬ tion unto the end of^the earth,” ^^Ask'o/ me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” The Gospels are simply a history of Divine fulfillments, the Acts of the Apostles a continuous missionary record, the Epistles, missionary letters addressed to infant churches, and the Revelation, a prophetic vision, anticipating the final triumph. The Word of God assures the work of God. All power is pledged to this triumph. All wisdom is concentrated on this problem. If, therefore, the Scriptural foundation of missions has been more or less overlooked, let us repent of our error and turn back to the Word of God for its Divine prompting and its promise of omnipotent help. [Missionary Success an Earnest of Divine Favor. There is no sublimer story in human history than that which sketches the majestic march of the Christian faith from Jerusalem and Judea to Arabia, Egypt and Africa, to Asia Minor, Greece and Italy, and through the whole Roman Empire; and thence northward and westward, till French and Spaniards, English and Germans, Scandinavians and Slavonians were enlightened and modern Europe was won; and thence across the ocean to the New World; and from the Old World and the New to all the East and South among the mighty pagan peoples of Asia and Africa and the islands of the sea. And in this march the Church has simply been fulfilling the great prophecies and realizing the grand promises of Scripture. The for¬ eign missionary work of our day represents the later stages of this world-wide movement, and is as clearly under the inspiration and leadership of Jesus Christ as the work of Paul in Asia, or of James in Palestine. Nothing in all the Christian era has given a greater proof of God’s favor and blessing than the success of this closing century. In the first hundred years after Christ’s ascension only five hundred thousand nominal Christians received the faith. During the one hundred years of modern missions over three millions have accepted Christianity as the true religion, and have been converted from their ancestral errors to the faith as it is in Jesus Christ. The Bible as a whole, or in portions, has been translated into more than 300 different languages or dialects, so that probably four- fifths of the unevangelized population of the world may read or hear, in their own tongue, the inspired Word of God. Our I^anifold Obiigations. Shall we then, in this age, with all the power that God has placed at our disposal, be discouraged and lose faith or relax effort on account of the difficulties that arise in our path ? If the truth be told, one obstacle now outweighs all others. It is found, not in out¬ side oppositions, but in the worldliness and apathy of the Church herself. If she were to rise up to the full measure of her power, all the opposing forces of earth and hell could not resist her triumphant march. The command of our Lord to publish the Gospel to all the world is clear and explicit, and admits of no compromise. What then, in briefest form, are some of the obligations that have been laid upon us who live in this age of the world ? First: The command of our Divine Master, accompanied by His own example of sacrifice for the salvation of men. Second : Our obligation to those early missionaries who bore the Gospel to our ancestors when they were in the depths of barbarism. Third : Our indebtedness to the missionaries and missionary settlers who bore the Gospel to this continent, and planted the religious institutions whose beneficent influence we have enjoyed from our childhood. Freely we have received ; let us freely give. Fourth : The duty which rests upon us to follow up the noble work of the pioneers of modern missions, who lived down the oppo¬ sition of a worldly Christian sentiment at home, and overcame heath- en prejudice abroad ; who translated the Word of God into hundreds of languages, and laid the foundations for us to build upon; many of whom sealed their labors with their lives in fields where there is nowT free access. Fifth : The debt we owe to those who more recently have gone from our own communities and churches, and from our own circles of kindred, and who, bearing now the burden and heat of the day, de¬ mand our sympathy, our prayers, and our support. To follow up the work of all these is now easy. We have the opportunities, the facilities, and the means. How can we excuse ourselves if we selfishly squander our lives and our possessions and die with this accumulated duty unfulfilled ? Union Against Unjust Criticism, There is need just now for union in missions as a matter of com¬ mon defense. It is an age which, through various forms of literature, boldly challenges the supreme claims of Christianity,—its teachings and its work. The cause of foreign missions is especially liable to assailment, as it is far off, and therefore may more safely be made the subject of ignorant ridicule. It may be impossible to convince the outside world that such representations are erroneous, but the whole membership of the churches should be made intelligent to the end that they “ may be steadfast, unmovable, alway abounding in the work of the Lord.” The Protestant Christians of America now number many mil¬ lions. They are among the most intelligent of our citizens, and their common efforts for the evangelization and uplifting of all mankind is the very noblest and most inspiring of human enterprises. They have more than an average degree of wealth and influence, and were that influence subsidized by a general and complete co-operation, there is no other force in the world that could successfully resist it. If by their common belief and teachings, their harmony of plans and methods, their union in such forms of appeal or published facts and statements as shall instruct and inspire public sentiment, these great masses of Christian believers can be led to act as one united body, there will be presented a spectacle of Christian union and a volume of moral earnestness and power, which will impress the nation and the world with the divine reality of the Gospel. Universal Co-operation. We desire in love for our blessed Lord, and for all who have named His name, to call attention by way of encouragement to the essential unity of the Church with respect to those fundamental doc¬ trines upon which the missionary work is made to rest. We are a great host representing all the Protestant Evangelical denominations. We stand together against all those errors which would deny the Divinity of Christ and dispense with a vicarious atonement ; which would explain away the personality and office work of the Holy Ghost ; which would weaken the authority of the Word of God ; which would teach the perfectibility of human nature without Divine aid ; which would deny the universality of the religion of Jesus Christ, and virtually remand it to a place among the ethnic faiths. We join hands with respect to the great truths in which we are agreed: That men are ruined by sin and are in perishing need of salvation ; that Jesus is the all-sufficient Saviour and the only name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved ; that the omnipotent power of the Holy Ghost is indispensable in transforming the hearts and lives of men ; that salvation is by faith in Christ, and that in order to extend that faith it is necessary to “ go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature that every church should be a missionary church and that every Christian believer should, according to his means, become directly or indirectly an am¬ bassador of God to the perishing. On all these points we are united. What remains is to actualize and illustrate our common profession. We are now in the last decade of the Nineteenth Century. We call upon all who love the Lord Jesus Christ to pray with all earnest¬ ness that these may be years of special harvest. In some mission fields it is already demonstrated that by the Spirit of God thousands may be gathered where there have been only hundreds or scores. By true Christian comity as between all our different organizations, by economy of resources, by more and more of the spirit of fraternal counsel and co-operation, we pledge ourselves as official administra¬ tors of the work of Missions, to do our part as God shall give us wis¬ dom and strength. And with this.pledge we call upon all who have influence to join with us in an effort to awaken the whole Church in the United States and Canada to a sense of the unprecedented oppor¬ tunity that is now before it. Foreign i'lissionary Boards, Societies and Committees Uniting in this Appeal. American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, American Baptist Missionary Union, Foreign Mission Board, Southern Baptist Convention, Free Baptist Missionary Society, Seventh-day Baptist Missionary Society, Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church (South), The Methodist Church in Canada, Department of Missions, Free Methodist Church Mission Board, Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Protestant Church, Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., Executive Committee of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in theU. S., Committee Presbyterian Church of Canada, Board of Foreign Missions of the Associate Reformed Church, Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America (General Synod), Board of Foreign Missions, Reformed Church in America, Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions of the Reformed Church in the U. S., Foreign Missionary Society of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Foreign Christian Missionary Society, Board of Foreign Missions, United Presbyterian Church of North America. Board of Foreign Missions of the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the U. S., American Tract Society, American Bible Society, International Committee, Y. M. C. A., Board of Missions of the Evangelical Association, Board of Missions, Moravian Church, Baptist Foreign Mission Board, Ontario and Quebec.