THE URGENCY AND CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST JOHN R. HOTT, M. A. ,r:.V‘- v I'.. ■I THE URGENCY AND CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST An address delivered before the Student Volunteer Conference held at Liverpool, England, January 2-7, 1906 BY JOHN R. MOTT, M. A., F. R. G. S. BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 150 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Columbia University Libraries https://archive.org/details/urgencycrisisOOmott The Urgency and Crisis in the Far East The present urgency and crisis in the Extreme Orient is unmatched by any other crisis and opportunity which has confronted the Christian Church. It involves the destiny of nearly 500 millions of people of Japan, Korea, China, Man- churia, and Mongolia. Among these multitudes massed around the Pacific Basin, the force of youth and age, of radicalism and conservatism, of growth and decay, are seeth- ing and struggling for the mastery. What religion shall dominate these changing people? Or shall there be no religion? Talk about crises is certainly overdone, but will anyone, who is familiar with the facts, question that the present is the time of times for the Far East? Why is the present a time of urgent and supreme crisis in the Extreme Orient? Because of the recent remarkable triumphs of Christianity in the Far East, and the great im- portance of pressing the advantage which these triumphs afford. Think of Korea, and at once you think of a nation which is now being swept by a spiritual revival of national dimen- sions. The awakening in that country may well be likened to the Welsh Revival in point of pervasiveness, power, and transforming influence. There is one body of Christians in Korea which, during the year preceding the time I had the pleasure of visiting the country a few months ago, had nearly 10,000 accessions. Another Christian body had nearly as many. There comes vividly to my memory a scene which indicated the eagerness of the Korean peoples to hear the pre- sentation of the Gospel truth. It had been announced, when I visited Seoul recently, that in Independence Flail, located out- side the city wall, commemorating a certain event in connection 2 URGENCY AND CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST with the relations between Korea and China, there would be held a mass meeting of men of the gentry and other important classes. These were to be admitted by tickets. The tickets had been distributed with care through the city. The meeting was to convene at two o’clock. At nine o’clock in the morning of that week-day the men began to stream out beyond the city wall to this, the largest hall that could be obtained. By twelve o’clock every place in that hall, which would accommodate 2,500, was taken. When some of us, about two o’clock, drew near the place where the meeting was to be held, we noticed the landscape lined with Korean men. We wondered at it, because it was one of the bitter cold days of January. You know they do not reckon cold over there by so many degrees, but by so many coats. Well, this was a day when they were wearing five coats, and we could not understand why there were so many standing outside in the piercing cold. When we arrived we found the hall crowded with 2,500 men, and there were 3,500 more outside. We took possession of a Buddhist temple, which was soon crowded with as many as could enter ; but the larger part of the great crowd had to stay outside in the open air, where they stood listening intently during the addresses of several speakers. The meeting in the hall lasted some three and a half hours. Never have I known greater eagerness in attending to the facts connected with the mission and the claims of Jesus Christ. Over 200 of those strong young men of Korea bowed their knees that day for the first time before Jesus Christ the Saviour. This incident is indicative of the moving of the Spirit of God amongst the higher classes and the lower classes in North and Central and Southern Korea. The field is dead ripe! It is the last time for the Church to withhold her hand from thrusting in the sickle. One came away from Korea with the strong conviction that if the present attack of pure Christianity is adequately sus- URGENCY AND CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST 3 tained, Korea will be the first non-Christian nation thoroughly evangelized in this modern foreign missionary epoch. At the end of the first thirty-five years of missionary history in China there were six converts to Christianity. The Bishop of Mid-China told me, when I was in China for the first time about eleven years ago, that when he reached China there were only fifty Protestant Christian communicants, but that in that year ( 1 896) there were 80,000. Now there are at least 1 80.000, and some claim that the number is as high as 250.000. If we include the adherents to all Protestant bodies, the number would be swelled to nearly one million. Dr. Milne 1 00 years ago predicted that in 1 00 years there would be one thousand communicants and adherents to Protestant Chris- tianity in China. Think of one million, or 1 ,000 times as many as his prediction reached! Not only so, but there are great mass movements shaking parts of China to-day, and literally thousands of people are being held back from baptism because there are not a sufficient number of Christian teachers and preachers to follow them up properly, and therefore, to make it safe and wise to encourage their being baptized. This spiritual movement is touching not only the masses, but likewise the edu- cated classes. Some of us had occasion last spring to notice the change coming over China in this respect. Six years ago it seemed to be impossible to get men of the literati and student class to attend evangelistic meetings or to go to hear appologetic addresses and lectures. But a few months ago we found that large halls and specially-constructed pavilions were invariably crowded to the doors by students and other influential classes of young men. This proved to be true in North China, in Mid-China and South China. Some of the most remarkable in-gatherings into the Kingdom of our Saviour have been in connection with the educated classes of China. More- over, we have had evidence in recent years that not only 4 URGENCY AND CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST numbers are being reached, but that the Holy Spirit is devel- oping a type of Christian in China which commands the ad- miration of the Christians of the West. They have stood firm against every wind that blows, even against the fiercest blasts of cruel persecution. They are now developing a spirit of independence, initiative, and leadership which gives promise of wonderful advances in the years right before us. The prestige which Christianity has acquired in China in recent years as a result of the masterly work of medical missions, of educational missions, and of Christian reform movements is likewise not inconsiderable. It seems incredible that within the lifetime of some people in this Conference there were posted up in different parts of Japan official edicts, offering rewards of so many pieces of silver for revealing people found either professing or propagating the Christian faith; it is likewise almost incredible that there are now not less than 60,000 Protestant Christian communicants in Japan. What means much more than that is the fact that if you were to talk to-day to educated leaders of Japan about the religion of that country they would mention two religions. Buddhism and Christianity; but if they made any distinction between them it would be in favor of Christianity. The Japanese have developed a spirit of Independent leadership which will compare favorably with that of the most aggres- sive and resourceful of the Christian nations of the West. Great spiritual movements have been in progress in that country within the past few years. Notable among them is what has been known as the Taikyo Dendo, a revival the like of which one has seldom, if ever, witnessed. This revival touched all strata of society, and swept throughout the Japanese islands. The most striking thing about it was that it was carried on so largely under Japanese leadership. There have been two events within the past few months that should in themselves URGENCY AND CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST 5 startle us because of their significance. One was the notable campaign, waged amongst 750,000 Japanese soldiers. One of the oldest missionaries of Japan said to me that in his judgment the Gospel was preached with fulness and power to more of the vigorous and aggressive classes of men of Japan over there on the Manchurian plains, during the Russian War, than during the same period by all the missionaries working in Japan. The other event was the World’s Student Christian Federation Conference in April, 1907, and the associated evan- gelistic campaign which have done so much to arrest the attention and awaken the spirit of inquiry among the educated and influential classes of the Japanese Empire. I am receiving constantly letters from the missionaries from different parts of Japan telling me that that united effort on the part of repre- sentatives of the universities of the Orient and Occident to present the claims of Christ, has wonderfully opened the doors and hastened the solution of the problem of bringing Christ to bear upon the influential classes. God only knov/s the end of that great movement of His Spirit during those days. I do not think that that Chinese missionary exaggerated when he said that it was possibly the greatest single blow ever struck by united Christianity at the non-Christian world. Let us bear in mind what a mighty work of God in Japan makes possible on the mainland of Asia. At the Student Vol- unteer Convention at Nashville in 1 906, we received a cable message from the leaders of the Christian Student Movement of Japan, couched in this language: “Japan is leading the Orient, but whither?” It is a striking message. Certainly Japan is leading the Orient! She is doing it commercially, and it cannot be prevented. Only to-day one of your number was calling my attention to the statement in connection with the P. and O. Steamship Company, that they have contemplated taking off the line of steamers sailing to Japan, giving as the 6 URGENCY AND CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST main reason the fact that the Japanese have cut them out in that trade. They are doing the same with the American trade and with the German trade. They are leading the Orient politically. Japan has become the dominant political influence in Asia. She has been gifted with a wonderful international sense. She is leading the Orient educationally. At the present time there are not less than 1 ,000 Japanese teachers at work in all parts of China. While the Occident has been rubbing her eyes concerning this opportunity, Japan has seen it and seized it. Moreover, she has been welcoming within her doors the flower of Chinese youth. Our hearts have been touched by the appeal of Dr. Datta' this evening concerning Indian students in Britain. But possibly we have not been aware of the fact there are also scores of Indian students in Tokyo. One day last spring when I was there, I was invited to attend a meeting of the Arya Somaj. There are nearly 700 Korean students there, also not a few students from the Philippines and Siam. There have been as many as 15,000 students there at one time from China. Without doubt Japan is leading the Orient educationally. She knows she is leading it, and she feels the burden of responsibility. I was reading the other day the translation of the titles of some articles in Japanese magazines. Note some of them: “Japan must take the leading place in developing Manchuria.” “Japan’s safety lies in the regeneration of China.” “Japan’s present position in China is the outcome of persevering effort during the past forty years.” “It is Japan’s duty to free Korea from the misrule of the past and lead her toward modern enlightenment.” “Japan is the prophet of the Eastern World.” “Japan has a message for India.” These are titles taken at random from some of the A recent graduate in medicine of the University of Edinburgh ; one of the secretaries of llic student movement of Great Britain. URGENCY AND CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST 7 leading magazines appearing in Japan. They reveal the sense of responsibility that Japan feels toward the Eastern world. When I returned from the Far East six years ago I could not say what I now can with great conviction, namely, that if some great catastrophe to-morrow made it necessary for all the missionaries to withdraw from Asia, Christianity is so securely planted in the lives of the Orientals that it would spread from them to all parts of the East; and were Christianity to die out in the Occident, in my judgment it has such propagating power in Asia that it would ultimately spread back to us. This is what we ought to expect if Christ is living in these Eastern peoples. It is inconceivable that He be pent up and not reach out until at last He encompass every man. Believe me, the spiritual tide is rising in the Far East, and it is always wise to take advantage of a rising tide. It is a time of supreme crisis in the Far East, not only because of the triumphs of Christianity and the desirability of pressing the advantages which these triumphs afford, but also because of the stupendous changes now in progress in that Far Eastern world, especially on the mainland of Asia; and the great desirability of Christianity bringing its full influence to bear while the conditions are still plastic. Japan is the most brilliant nation in the world. She has achieved greater progress in one generation than any other nation has achieved in two, if not in three, generations. She has gone to school to the whole world, and has learned her lessons with remarkable facility. Seldom does a man find himself upon an ocean steamer that he does not find among his fellow-passengers one or more Japanese — not cruising about the world in search of pleasure, but journeying with serious intent to study some institution, some process, or some ex- perience of some other nation or people, determined, in turn, to make this knowledge tributary to the national greatness of 8 URGENCY AND CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST the nation they love with an almost insane patriotism. And they have not ceased to go to school. People thought that when they won their great victory over Russia they would lose their heads. I have formed the impression, in conversation with their leaders, that this victory has humbled and solemnized them. They have not ceased going to school; they have not relaxed their intensity of application to learn. The reason I say this now is to protest against the impression that prevails in some quarters that Japan at last is set; that it is too late to influence Japan; that the time of crisis for Japan has passed. It may have partially passed, but it has not wholly passed. Japan is still fairly vibrating with modern life. She has adjusted her- self with great facility and rapidity to new ideas. It is not too late to change Japan. In face of the great peril of Japan — that of materialism — how urgently important it is that the Christian Church realize this. Japan is leading the Orient, but whither? Is it to be into paths of militarism, mercantilism, and gross materialism, or shall Christianity bring her full in- fluence to bear upon Japan and cause Japan to exert a truly altruistic influence? The place to bring power to bear is at the point where power can be most widely distributed: and surely, so far as the Far East is concerned, Japan is that place. I shall not linger upon the changes that are coming over Korea. Suffice it to ask, where are there ten millions of people in the world to-day upon whom the currents of modern life have been turned more abruptly, and with greater directness and power, than upon the Korean people since the Russian War? Since that v/ar, railways have been stretched across the v/hole of Korea ; there is being forced upon the people a system of modern education; the Emperor is deposed; the government is being completely re-organized ; a new system of finance introduced; countless social, political, and other changes are being effected. Has there been a case in the history of nations URGENCY AND CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST 9 where one country in so short a time has had to face and adjust herself to so much that is modern? The present is the time of times to impress Korea with Christian truth and spirit. Next we come to China; and there we see the most mar- velous changes. China has made greater progress in the last five years than any other country of the world. She has made a more radical adjustment to modern conditions than has any other nation in the same period of time. Those who have studied the great changes that came over Japan will remember that Japan made no such change in the first five years as China has made in her first five years of facing the West. Sir Robert Hart, that sagacious observer of things Chinese, in commenting on the recent changes in China, said: “During the first forty-five years of my residence in China, the country was like a closed room, without a breath of fresh air from the outside world. She was not in the least conscious of the existence of outside nations. During the past five years breezes from all parts of the world have been blowing through China.” Dr. Griffith John, that Nestor of China missionaries, before he started back to China, said to me that if there had been associated with the changes in China the bloodshed which has characterized the recent changes in Russia, the eyes of the civilized world would have been focussed upon her, and noth- ing would keep back the nations from going to her relief. What are some of these changes? Eleven years ago I found 200 miles of railway in China. Now I am told there are 3,700, and, in addition, 1 ,600 miles building, and 4,000 miles more projected. Eleven years ago there were just a few telegraph wires; now a network covers all the provinces. Only a few years ago not one modern post-office; now there are 2,500 post-offices, and an average of one new one being added every day. Ten years ago, there was only one daily paper in Peking, 10 URGENCY AND CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST the Peking Gazette, and it was devoted to publishing the edicts of the Imperial Government; now there are ten dailies there. One of them is a women’s daily. Besides these there are papers published in the other cities throughout China, and they give news from all parts of the world. The printing presses, secular and religious, are not able to keep pace with the de- mand upon them in the printing of the translations of Western works about various phases of our civilization, development, and history. The anti-opium crusade is now being waged with vigor. The practice of foot-binding is being broken up. It has been decreed that China shall have constitutional govern- ment after a few years of preparatory work. These changes seem almost unthinkable when we pause to reflect on the con- stitution of the Chinese mind, on its unchanging attitude through centuries. But the greatest changes in China are those pertaining to education. She has sent Imperial Commissions to Europe and America — not as a matter of courtesy, not as a matter of curiosity, but to learn with a view to going back to China to bring about changes. They have since shown by their works that they are carrying out their intention. Chinese students are being sent in increasing numbers to the Occident. I esti- mate that we now have possibly as many as 1 ,000 Chinese students in the universities of North America and Europe. I wish you would let the appeal of Dr. Datta, on behalf of the Indians, be widened to embrace all the Chinese students now studying in the West. When we recall what it has meant to Christianity that the first Japanese students who came to the Occident were befriended, we shall recognize the de- sirability of our making friends with every Chinese student who comes amongst us. Let us Christianize as many of them as possible; let us neutralize all the others — that is, so influence them that none of them will return to China antagonistic to URGENCY AND CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST II Chrisitanity. This will be highly multiplying work. Let me reiterate that China is also sending students to Japan. This has come about largely within the past two or three years. As recently as April there were 15,000 of them in Tokyo. It may interest you to know that 650 of that number came from the Szechwan Province of Western China, before the gates of Tibet. To go from there to Tokyo involves a journey of eight weeks, or the equivalent in time of going round the world to get to college! Fully 1,250 of them came from the exclusive province of Hunan. That was the last province to let the missionaries in, and that within a decade. And more recently still, it was resisting the introduction of the tele- graph. Yet now this most reactionary province is represented by a larger number of young men in Japan than is any other province in China. Think of it, 15,000 young men coming out of the proudest nation under heaven! the most secluded nation in the world, well called the Walled Kingdom, to sit at the feet of their conqueror! Is this not something abso- lutely unique? Where has there ever been a parallel? Is it not indicative of a most striking change? Then we find the most wonderful of these educational changes has been the blotting out more than a year ago, by one stroke, the old curriculum of studies, and the substitution of Western learning in the examinations for the Civil Service. This has been followed by the springing up, like mushrooms, all over China, of modern colleges and high schools. Yuan Shih-kai, Chang Chih-tung and Tuan Fang, three of the most enlightened viceroys, have been leading off in this educational reform, and others have been following. In the province of Chihli alone there are already 3,000 modern schools, with over 30,000 students. This is a development of a few years. TTiere are, literally, not hundreds, but thousands of these mod- ern schools and colleges which have been started throughout 12 URGENCY AND CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST China. Manifestly they are not being properly led. It is an interesting example of the blind leading the blind. They are doing exceedingly superficial work. Take theilr work in the English language. I had occasion to look into it, and in some- places found that they are not teaching sentences but isolated words. Someone pointed out to us that, in one case, they were advertising they would teach English up to the letter G. Not only is this work superficial, but it is carried on with- out rigid and thorough discipline, and you know that would cause bad results in any country. Many mistakes will be made, much money will be wasted, and there will be many dis- appointments. But mark my word, this movement will never cease. China has determined to have the modern education. She has made up her mind to give her millions of youth West- ern advantages. Yes, there will be millions, literally. Japan now has over 5,500,000 of her youth in schools. The same proportion will some day give China over 50,000,000. The day is coming, and very soon, when China will have more stu- dents than any other nation of the world. China is in the midst of an intellectual revolution. It is not yet a religious revolution: but it may become so. At present her education is purely utilitarian. Why does China want Western education? Solely that she may acquire the military, naval, industrial and financial power of the West. That is her deliberate and practical purpose. May God help us to infuse China with Christian thought, Christian spirit, Christian influence? The next ten years are packed with pos- sibilities. How we should strengthen the educational missionary establishment in China! How we should seek indirectly, as well as directly, to influence the character of the Government and gentry schools! China and Korea are still in a fluid or plastic condition; they are not yet set or crystalized. It is for Christianity, largely, to say whether they shall set in URGENCY AND CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST 13 Christian moulds or materialistic moulds. Japan sees it. whether we do or not; and, unhappily, her influence is going to be materialistic, excepting that of her Christian Church. I do not know how it impresses you, but I am overwhelmed as I think of this Chinese educational opportunity, and of the changes in China. When, in the history of the human race, have such vast numbers of people been undergoing such radical changes? I believe that we are going to see reproduced in China, during the next fifteen years, on a colossal scale what has actually taken place in Japan during the past thirty years. Religion is the most fundamental thing in civilization. If a race with the traits of the Chinese determine on a certain atti- tude toward religion, the danger is that they may not change again for a thousand years. The last thing about the Chinese is vacillation. I was talking to a leading Japanese delegate yesterday, and he agreed with me that what lent intense im- portance to the crisis was the fact that when the Chinese once settle this question they will not re-open it. The danger is that Christianity will not realize this sufficiently, and therefore will fail to pour in her full strength in time. Why is it a time of supreme crisis in the Far East? Not only for the two reasons I have named, but also because of the rising spirit of nationalism and of race patriotism. Mis- sions have had to reckon with this in Japan from the very beginning. May there not have been a Providence in it? For has it not made us wiser to deal with other races? May the lesson not be lost! We have heard most suggestive and con- vincing things concerning the rising national spirit in India. Allow me, as an outsider, to say that it is to the infinite credit of Britain that she has made possible the very development of that spirit. Some do not realize that in the Philippine Islands, and in Siam, the same national spirit has asserted itself. The spirit of nationalism is also moving in Korea, and the hope- 14 URGENCY AND CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST lessness of their situation lends an element of real pathos. But in China one finds the most marked example of growing con- sciousness of nationality, and of a desire to acquire national independence and power. Among the causes are the spread of railways, thus knitting the country together, and the work of Christian missions with their unifying influence. Other causes have been the last three wars in the Far East, and the return of the Chinese students from Tokyo, with their hearts burning because of what they have learnt of the opium war with England, of the unjust exclusion acts of America and Australia, of the seizing of their territory by Russia, Germany, France, and Japan, and of the building in their own capital city of legations, which remind one of great fortresses stocked with munitions of war and manned with foreign troops. Put yourself in the place of an ambitious Chinese student, and under such conditions would not the national spirit assert itself in you? How do we find it exhibiting itself? In the many articles bearing on the subject which have been written by the Chinese; in frequent references to “our country” in periodicals and speeches; in the use of the Chinese flag on modern school - buildings; in the singing of patriotic songs in the schools — all this would have seemed increditable ten years ago in China outside the mission schools; in the societies organized to study how to prepare a national constitution; in the boycott against American and other foreign goods; in the anti-opium crusade; in the creation of a modern army — they have now under mod- ern drill in two provinces 1 50,000 troops. Speaking of the new army in China reminds me of an essay that a Chinese student wrote. In speaking of the grow- ing military power of China, he said: “We are first going to conquer Japan; next we are going to conquer Russia; next we shall conquer the whole world, and then take our place as the Middle Kingdom.” He was very much in earnest. URGENCY AND CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST 15 There is not only this rising national spirit, but also what I am pleased to call the spirit of racial patriotism. Lord Salisbury maintained that there is such a thing as race-pa- triotism. The cry is spreading over Asia: “Asia for the Asiatics!” We can no more resist, even if we would, this rising national and Oriental feeling, than we can resist the tides of the sea. But we would not resist it. We remember the nation and the race are as much the creation of God as is the family. We remember these mighty powers are to be allied with Christianity, and never placed in antagonism to it. What has it not meant in Japan that from the beginning pa- triotism was associated with Christianity? And what will it not mean in the other Eastern countries? We do not know when we may be put out of China. Even if we are not put out some of us believe that within ten years the Chinese Chris- tians may take things into their own hands. Some of us believe that in twenty years there will not be a demand for many more new missionaries in China. We may be wrong, but unless the signs fail that one studies in Japan, and that one even now traces among the Chinese people, this is likely to be true. The next five years mean vastly more than the fifteen years which will follow the next five years. May Christendom assert herself in answer to the wishes of her Lord and evan- gelize, while there is yet time the unevangelized parts of the mainland of Asia, and above all may we devote large attention to raising up, training, and energizing the native leadership of the Chinese Church! If I were to mention another reason why this is a time of supreme crisis, it would be because of the grave and even disastrous reflex Influence upon the Church in the West, of failure to improve the unparalleled opportunity in the East. I confess to-night that my anxiety is not lest there be a great awakening in the East, but lest there may not be a corre- 16 URGENCY AND CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST spending awakening of the Church in the West. I am bur- dened with the sense of solicitude lest the Western Christians may not see this door — this great and effectual door. You ask what will follow if they do not see and enter it? One result will be that we will become callous and hardened, and unresponsive to the moving of the Living Spirit. It is a law of our nature that if we do not respond it becomes more diffi- cult to move us the next time. What could God do, if it is not irreverent to ask that question, what could God do that would likely appeal to us more than what He is now doing in the East? There is something startling in the thought that we may pass into such a state that even the moving of the Living Spirit may not deeply touch us. Another serious result which will follow, will be widespread hypocrisy. To know duty and do it not is hypocrisy, and that is also sin. The startling thing about hypocrisy is that it not only damages our character and destroys confidence in our religion on the part of those outside the Church, but condemns to outer darkness millions who, but for our sham profession, would be ushered, into His marvellous light. Another alarming consequence will be that, failing to become conductors of His truth, we shall cease to be con- ductors of His power. That will result in the grave peril that we shall become incapacitated for dealing strongly and effect- ively with the tasks at our own doors. May something move us! May someone more us, and save us from the perils of luxury, of selfishness, and of ease; call out the best energies of our minds and hearts, and stir us to act in line with the indication of the Holy Ghost! What can we do to meet this supreme crisis in the Far East? There should be a masterly and united policy on the part of the missionary leaders of Europe and North America, with reference to facing this great question. The time has come — has it not? — when we should come together, not simply to URGENCY AND CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST 17 congratulate and criticise one another, or to exhort one another, or to educate one another, but to face these great crises, to study how they are to be met, and how better to co-ordinate our forces and to introduce practical means of co-operation and federation. Our statesmanship should be characterised by comprehension. We should face the whole field, and not simply take it up in parts. We should face our whole gen- eration, and not merely grapple with emergencies. We should face the whole range of missionary purpose. We should pay due regard to the principles of strategy with reference to places, to classes, to times, to methods. There should be prompt and vigorous development of the great and comparatively latent resources of our Western Churches, the laymen and the young people. Then we shall have all the money needed. Then we shall have faithful in- tercession on the part of many Christians. There is a striking Providence in the fact that, just as these wonderful doors have been opened in the Far East, the Holy Spirit has been calling into being the Young People’s Missionary Movement and the Laymen’s Missionary Movement. These two Move- ments constitute the complement to the Student Volunteer Movement. They are essential to it, and it is essential to them if this Eastern crisis is to be successfully met, and if the world is to be evangelized in our day. Our Watchword — “The Evangelization of the World in this Generation” — should be made a commanding reality in the life of every Christian in this Conference, and through us in the lives of Christians generally. I am glad to say that the leaders of the North American Student Volunteer Movement stand ab- solutely at one with the leaders of the British Movement, in their interpretation of this Watchword; and our hope is that the leaders of the Continental student movements will soon 18 URGENCY AND CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST join us in holding up this great ideal. We are united in repu- diating the idea of reducing the realization of this great ideal to mere numerical terms. Let us keep it as an ideal; and let us translate it into terms of self-denial. For the Watchword must be not only regarded as an ideal, but must also be worked out in action. This is a truth, not only to be contemplated, and to stir us, but also to be done. Whether or not the Watch- word is needed for any other part of the world, it is certainly needed for the Far East, because whatever we wish to do in the Far East must be done in this generation. God help us so to work, and so to plan, not as though we had two or more generations in which to do the work, but as though we had but one ; or, it may be, but part of one. There must be far larger and more heroic dedication of lives to the work of evangelizing the world and establishing the Kingdom of Christ, if the crisis in the Extreme Orient is to be met. There is need, and that immediately and impera- tively, of a great army of workers. Great as is the need for more young men of ability in our universities, to give them- selves to the work of the Christian ministry, even greater is the need for a large number of the very best students of Europe and America to go as missionaries to the Far East. They are needed to press into unevangelized regions. They are needed to protect our present investment of lives, and to make them most highly productive. They are needed to dominate the educational standards of the East by sheer force of merit, efficiency, and spirituality. Above all, they are needed to enlist, train, lead and inspire a host of native Christian preach- ers and teachers. But, let it be emphasized, they must be men and women of ability, as well as of courage, character and consecration. This is vastly more important than numbers. We need those who will be statesmen. We need those with power to lead and inspire. We must have the pick of the URGENCY AND CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST 19 universities, if they are to guide and mould the leaders of the new Far East. I do not forget that God will take some who are not thus conspicuously strong, and will use them to confound the mighty. Japan had killed, wounded and diseased in the late war 457,000 men, in the supreme effort to preserve the balance in the Far East. The Japanese willingly laid down tens of thousands of lives to capture one position in the Liao- tung Peninsula. “Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power.” Is not this a day of His power? Is He not shaking the nations? At such a time can we withhold our co-operation? God the Holy Ghost must be honored in this great enter- prise. We must bow ourselves in reverence before Him. In our Creed we say: “I believe in God the Father Almighty. . . I believe in the Holy Ghost.” Therefore let us be consistent, let us be logical, let us be genuine, and so work and speak, so pray and act, as those should who have professed faith in a superhuman religion. The ground of our hope and confi- dence in meeting this Eastern crisis rests not chiefly upon the strength and extent of the missionary establishment, not upon the number and power of the missionaries, not upon the meth- ods and agencies evolved through generations of experience, not upon the brilliancy of the leadership of our forces, not upon the fulness of the treasury, not upon statesmanlike policies and plans, and the skill of our stategists, not upon watch- words and inspiring forward movements — not chiefly upon these things, but upon the fact that the great God is still pleased to visit men and women that are pure and humble and obedient with the Holy Ghost, Whom God hath given to them that ofieij Him, Therefore, let us turn from the crisis in the Far East, and face the crisis in our own lives. Are we willing to yield ourselves absolutely, unconditionally to the 20 URGENCY AND CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST sway of Christ, to do His will and not our own? Each one of us has this infinitely potential, this awfully solemn power of choice. May we not be found wanting, but be true in the exercise of the highest office of the human will. *' Our wills are ours we know not how, Our wills are ours to make them Thine! ” The price of this pamphlet is 5 cents pet copy, 40 cents per dozen, $2.50 pet hundred, express charges prepaid.