i^..'f ^ ■'•^^■■^mv:r BV 2060 .T49 1889 j Thompson, Augustus Charles, 1812-1901. Foreign missions FOREIGN MISSIONS THEIR PLACE IN THE PASTORATE IN PR A YER IN CONFERENCES TEN LECTURES BY AUGUSTUS C. THOMPSON author of "moravian missions" "the mercy seat "the better land" etc NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS ('OPVRIGHT BV AUGUSTUS C. THOMPSON. 1889. Xicacou tlrrss : T\iOMAS TODD, STEREOTYl'ER, NOTE. TJie Foreign Missionaiy Lectureship in the Hartford TJieological Seminary requires an annual scries of lectures^ not less than ten nor more than fifteen in nnmber. The topics here treated and the method of treatment are only i7i part ivhat they ivould have been before an audience less pro- fessional and iji a place more public. The follow- ing form one of the courses delivered to Senior Classes in that institution. A. C. T. Boston, i88g. CONTENTS Lecture I. The Minister's Sphere. P/ges T-38. Extra- Parochial Sphere — Why not a Missionary ? — Indifference to be Met — The American Ministry — Professional Treatises — Chr}'sostom's De Sacerdotio — Erasmus' Ecclesiastes — Modern Treatises — Recent Improvement — The Pastor's Position — Humble Sphere, Wide Influence — Parochial Ben- efits — Reaction upon a Pastor — Evangelistic Enthusiasm. Lecture II. Missionary Obligation. Pages 39-72. Based upon Christ's Deity — Messianic Prerogative — Old Testa- ment Intimations — Regal Authority — The Last Command — Secular Advantages — Reflex Benefits — Obedience Prompt and Implicit — Harmony of Benevolence and Loyalty — Ap- ostolic Interpretation — Instinctive Sentiments — Among the Unevangelized — The Newly Evangelized — Evangelistic Failure. Lecture III. Missionary Obligation — Continued. Page.* 73-109. Defective Ethics — Text-Books in Use — Christian Ethics — In English — In German — Philosophical Ethics — Writings on Casuistry — Edificatory Writings — De Imitatione Christi — Amdt's True Christianity — Venn's Complete Duty of Man — Jeremy Taylor's Writings — Law's Serious Call — Dod- dridge's Rise and Progress — Holy Scriptures — Spiritual Illumination — Special Prayer Required. (v) VI CONTENTS. Lecture IV. Ministerial Prayer and Missions. Pages 111-152. Efficacy of Prayer — Ministers Specially Responsible — Liturgies — Extemporaneous Prayer — Professional Training — Litera- ture of Prayer — Devotional Compositions — Miscellaneous Compilations — Individual Supplication — Large Requests — Earnest Supplication — In Last Hours — Employment of Means — Social Needs. Lecture V. Missionary Concerts. Pages 153-193. United Prayer — Underlying Principle — Illustrated in Scripture — Literature of the Subject — The Lord's Prayer — Sacred Lyrics — Rise of Concerted Prayer — Early Times — Among Moravians — In Great Britain — In America. Lecture VI. Missionary Concerts — Continued. Pages 194-242. Prayer for Missions — The Year 1S06 — Certain Results — Monthly Concert — The Year 181 5 — Park Street Concert — Characteristics and Results — General Methods — Time and Place — Various Details — Missionary Intelligence — Home Talent Enlisted — Use of Maps — Other Concerts — Extra-Denominational Interest. Lecture VII. Missionary Concerts — Continued. Pages 243-286. Primitive Concert — Present Need — Appropriate Features — Humiliation — Earnestness — Particularity — Among Mora- vians — Individual Names — Private and Special — Enlarged Desires — A School of Faith — A School of Prayer — Cove- nants of Supplication — Spiritual Concord — In Christ's Name — Defmiteness of Object — Incidental Advantages. CONTENTS. VU Lecture VIII. Prayer for Missions Answered. Pages 287-331- Answers to be Expected — Distance an Embarrassment — Lapse of Time — General Progress — Specific Delays — Immediate Fulfillment — Subjects — The Less Specific — Perils — In- dividuality of Supplication — Spiritual Advancement — Asso- ciated Intercession — Private — Impulses — Results — Equiv- alents — More than is Asked — Thanksgiving and Praise. Lecture IX. Missionary Conferences. Pages 332-376. Sociality Gaining — Conferences among Missions — Called by Deputations — Local — Provincial — General — In Christian Lands — Denominational — Limited — General — Institu- tional — Conference of 1878 — Arrangements — Topics — Representative Men — Spirit — Infelicities — Progress Re- ported. Lecture X. Missionary Conferences — Continued. Pages 377-425- Conference of 1888 — Origin and Place — Description Inadequate — Relative Size — Noticeable Variety — Ability and Posi- tion — Rank, Titles, etc. — American Delegation — Method of Proceeding — Subjects Discussed — Antagonistic Systems and Agencies — Chief Foreign Fields — Non-Geographical Subjects — Not a Centennial — Spirit and Tone — Social Amenities — General Features and Results. Appendix, Pages 426-464. LECTURE 1. THE MINISTER'S SPHERE, THE MINISTER'S SPHERE. None but he who made the world, says John Newton, can make a minister of the gospel. It may be added, he never made a minister for any sphere less than the world. The question whether an ambassador for Christ should put forth effort in behalf of the unevangelized is not an open one. The question of personal labor among the heathen is only a subordinate one. Wherever and whatever he may be — evangelist, pastor, professor, secretary — he is held by the King of kings to a service in the campaign for subjugating all nations. The method of discharging his duty is left to the judgment of each man, under the best light he can gather from the throne of grace and the providence of God. But at all events he belongs to the army, and if any one may be off duty it is not an officer in command (3) 4 THE MINISTERS SPHERE. llhct. i. The order, " Go ye," is a standing order, no less urgent now than when the risen Lord first pronounced it. As regards the obHga- tion of personal service among the heathen, is it not then for each minister who remains at home to show good reason why he is not in the foreign field ? One of the most impressive short sentences to which I ever listened was from the saintly Dr. Calhoun of Syria. Giving an account of the mental process by which he came to a decision, he said, "Somebody must go; I must go." Sanctified logic ! EVERY MINISTER A MISSIONARY. Whoever in the sacred office remains at home is on this account none the less held to service in the general cause. Stationed at the base of supplies, he may never remit a strenuous activity, since that which made Paul debtor both to Greeks and to barba- rians, both to the wise and to the foolish, makes the minister of today a debtor to them. Be his immediate field where it may, LECT.i.] INDIFFERENCE TO BE MET. 5 his ear is criminally dull if not quick to catch the cry from that larger parish, the other side of the ^gean, " Come over and help us." Dull indeed is he if this lesson has not been so learned as never to be out of mind, that God was in Christ reconciling the world, the world unto himself, and has committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Alas for him if he knows not the blessed- ness of sowing beside all w^aters, by prayer at least, and by training others as laborers. INDIFFERENCE TO BE MET. Criticism and want of sympathy among the people of one's charge, so far from being a reason for silence, is only an argument for greater earnestness. Never does a Paul preach but there is a Tertullus to impugn ; never a special gift to Christ, but some one asks, " Wherefore this waste ? " Wherever the good seed is sown, an enemy will cast in tares also. Hindrance may come from men of one's own calling. When, in 1796, an overture in behalf of foreign missions was O THE MINISTERS SPHERE. [lhct. » laid before the General Assembly of Scot- land, Mr. Hamilton, minister of Gladsmuir, argued that " to spread abroad the knowledge of the gospel among the barbarous and heathen nations seems to be highly prepos- terous." Regarding the proposal that a collection should be made in behalf of for- eign missions, he declared: "For such im- proper conduct censure is too small a mark of disapprobation ; it would no doubt be a legal subject of penal prosecution." ' That was the very nadir of an anti-missionary spirit. It was toward the zenith that Gossner had risen, when (in 1844) he said in Berlin to young men starting for India, " Up, up, my brethren ! The Lord is coming, and to every one he will say, 'Where hast thou left the souls of those heathen ? With the devil ? ' Oh, swiftly seek those souls, and enter not without them into the presence of the Lord."'' In no man does God reveal * Robert Hunter. History of the Missions of the Free Church of Scotland. London, 1873. I^age 5. ^ Proc/utow^s Pastor Gossner, His I^ife, Labors, and Persecu- tions. London. UBCT. I.] INDIFFERENCE TO BE MET. 7 his Son merely that he may be himself saved or that he may preach salvation only to those near at hand, but that indirectly at least he may preach among the Gentiles far away. Hence no man can fulfill his ministry short of an abiding effort in behalf of the largest practicable number of heathen. If it is a great thing to be able to say to one's immediate congregation, " Wherefore I testify unto you this day that I am pure from the blood of all men," it is a far greater thing to call the unevangelized world thus to witness. Men may praise for half of duty done, while God condemns for the other half neglected. It was waking up to a momentous reality when Dr. William Arm- strong, in the midst of the assembled min- isters and churches of Richmond, Virginia, said (1833): "My brethren, I am ashamed that there are so many of us here in this Christian land. We must go to the hea- then." ' With all the pressing demands at * Hollis Read. Memoir and Sermons of Rev. W. J. Arm- strong. New York, 1853. Page 57. 8 THE MINISTERS SPHERE. [lbct. i. home, we may well hang our heads that so little is done for nations sitting in utter dark- ness. No people and no ministry on earth have a larger stewardship than ours ; and is it not required of the spiritual overseer that he be blameless as God's steward; that he beware of embezzlement ? Situated as we are between two oceans, with a habit of eager enterprise, with commercial connec- tions throughout the globe, with no entang- ling foreign alliances, blessed with a goodly heritage and ample means, it is particularly obvious that we should remember the field is the world. " You are the advance guard of the human race," said Madame de Stael to one of our citizens; "you are the future of the world." ' Would that every preacher in the land might rise to the sublime con- ception of John Wesley : " The world is my parish." * Vous 6tes I'avant garde du genre humain; vous €tes I'avenir du monde. Life and Journals of Geoi-ge Ticknor, i, 133. LECT. I.] EARLIER PROFESSIONAL TREATISES. EARLIER PROFESSIONAL TREATISES. The question will naturally arise, has this subject due place in professional works ? We go back to the earliest times. We take up Chry SOS torn on the Priesthood, reckoned one of the best among his own writings, and one of the more valuable writino;s of that period. It hails from the fourth century, and has appeared in numerous editions and translations into modern languages. The work is in the form of a dialogue, and con- tains an apology for declining ecclesiastical honors himself and for entrapping his friend Basil into promotion. It might be expected that Chrysostom, the most eminent preacher of the Greek Church, would not omit all mention of evangelistic duties to the heathen. One or two passages seem to look in that direction. But though he showed an inter- est in wandering Scythian tribes on the banks of the Danube and in behalf of the Phoenicians, he had a strong leaning to mo- lO THE MINISTERS SPHERE. [lect. i. nasticism, and there is no sufficient reason for supposing that our author contemplated any broad interpretation of the word neigh- bor. ' We must now take a long stride. I do not say that in the ten or twelve centuries after Chrysostom no work on the pastoral office appeared, in which Christ's parting command received due attention ; but I have not. been able to find one. And when we reach the period of the Reformation, 'it is a notable fact that the treatise doing most of justice to foreign evangelism came from the pen of Erasmus, the brilliant scholar, the vacillating man, a man utterly deficient in moral earnestness ; and that it was one of the last of his numerous productions (1535) written after he had broken with the Re- formers, contradicting many of his former utterances, and pronouncing the Reformation a calamity and a crime. The first of the four books into which the work is divided * Epistolse Nicolo Gerontio Phoeniciae preb. et Monachis (anno 405) . Rufino (anno 406). LECT. I.] MODERN TREATISES. I I devotes three chapters to this subject. ' In the next century, the seventeenth, we take it for granted that the earnest Spener, when he treats of ministerial education,^ will have a word at least on clerical duties to the heathen; and that in the eighteenth century Franke ^ will not fail of the same ; but we are disappointed. MODERN TREATISES. The earliest work in the English language on homiletics, with some reference to pas- toral life, containing also a bibliography of subjects and an Index Rerum, was by Bishop Wilkins^ (1646). It opens a long line of literature in that department, yet with the traditional silence touching duties to un- ^ Desiderius Erasmus. Ecclesiastes sive de ratione concion- andi. Reseat. Fredericus Augustus Klein, Lipsiae, MDCCCXX. Chapters Ixii-lxiv. ^ Fkil. Jac. Sperier. Pia Desideria Francofurti ad Maenum, 167S. Educatio et formatio ministrorum academica, pp. 123, 124. ^August Hermann Frattke. Monita Pastoraiia Theologica; Oder Theologische Erinnerungen und Vorschlage. Halle, 17 18. * John Wilkins (1614-1672), Bishop of Chester. Ecclesi- astes, or a Discourse Concerning the Gift of Preaching. 12 THE MINISTERS SPHERE. [lect. i. evangelized nations. At no great interval appeared (1652) Herbert's inimitable Country Parson,^ the first sentence of which reads : " A pastor is the deputy of Christ, for the redeeming of man to the obedience of God " — striking, truthful, and having a breadth which leads one to look though in vain for tokens of interest beyond the limits of a rural parish. Almost simultaneously came Baxters Reformed Pastor "" (1656), an invalu- able work. Knowing what interest he took in efforts to Christianize the Indians of this country ; knowing that he came into intimate correspondence with Eliot, Norton, Governor Endicott, and others who were devoted to that good work, we naturally look for an exhortation to ministers touching the claims of the heathen. But while Baxter had a true missionary spirit, and while in this trea- tise there are passages which would be per- ^ George Herbert, (i 593-1632.) A Priest to the Temple; or, The Country Parson. ^Richard Baxter. (1615-1691.) Gildas Salvianus, the Reformed Pastor. See Practical Works in 23 volumes. London, 1830. Vol. xiv, pp. 1-400. LECT. I.] MODERN TREATISES. 1 3 tinent if only a little generalized, yet the foreign field does not appear to have been at all in the author's mind at the time of writing. Bishop Beveridge,' who gained the title of " the great reviver and restorer of primitive piety," left the larger part of his estate to two societies, then in their infancy — that for propagating the gospel in foreign parts, and that for promoting Christian knowledge ; yet his sermons on the ministry are noticeably silent touching foreign evangelization. And how is it with Bishop Burnet, himself an illustration of his own precepts ; with John Edwards; with Mather — the runninor title to a work of his being " The angels prepar- ing to sound the trumpet," the first work of the kind produced in this country, as that by Bishop Wilkins was the first in England .f* How is it with Jennings, a tutor to Dod- dridge ; Orton, a pupil of Doddridge, who was invited to succeed him in charge of * Williaju Beveridge (1636-1708), Lord Bishop of Asaph. Sermons on the Ministry and Ordinances of the Church of England. 14 THE minister's SPHERE. [lect. i. the theological school ? How is it with Ma- son, Campbell, Smith, Gerhard, and Magill ? Silence, a sad silence. Still more singular is the silence of evangelical writers who have lived within the present century, which has in some measure been aroused to the claims of a broader evangelism — as on the Conti- nent, Claus Harms and Vinet. The same is true of various English writers, as Arthur, James, Blunt, Bather, MacLeod, Fairbairn, Parker, and Spurgeon ; also writers this side the Atlantic — Lord, Humphrey, Spring, Cannon, Murray, Wayland, Kidder, Sweetzer, Tyng, Hall, Simpson, and Bedell. RECENT IMPROVEMENT. But a favorable change has begun. The rise of so many foreign missionary societies — not less than one hundred within a cent- ury — and of so many kindred institutions is at once an exponent and an educating power, which forbid further silence on the relation of ministers to missions in professional trea- tises. Germany now, to some degree, deems LKCT.i.] RECENT IMPROVEMENT. 1 5 this broader movement of modern times entitled to a place in pastoral theology. As might be expected, the Moravian Church took the lead. From the records of the Preachers' Conference, which has been held regularly at Herrnhut since 1754, extracts designed specially for the home ministry were once compiled, and the very first sen- tence reads : " To deliver the heathen from the worship of idols and false gods may be compared with the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt." Burk devotes five chapters to prominent missionaries and preachers who have made the pulpit contribute to this good cause. Within the last fifty years here and there some professor at a German university has given attention to the subject. From Ehrenfeuchter, late of Gottingen, we have a volume on practical theology in which gospel promulgation occupies a conspicuous place. Stier, author of The Words of the Lord Jesus, who had been a teacher in the missionary institution at Basle, shows that the preaching of the gospel among the 1 6 THE minister's SPHERE. [lhct. i. heathen nations is entitled to extended men- tion, and more recently (1878) Van Ooster- zee in his Practical Theology has given a considerable space (pp. 588-601) to " hal- ieutics," a term which suggests primitive evangelism and which has nov^^ obtained a recognized place in the terminology of theo- logical science. This author remarks : ' "It is a sin on the part of any Christian not to be a friend of missions. Most of all is it to be expected of the pastor and teacher that he shall have a heart for them and therefore also put forth a hand to their boundless task." English writers have begun to take some notice, though inadequately, of foreign missions in treatises on ministerial duties. Thus Bridges in his work on the ministry has a few words. Dr. Dale in a recent work makes just a passing allusion. James Stew- art Wilson shows more breadth. In our own country a gradual gain in this direction is evident, as may be seen in a » § Ixvi, 3. LBCT.i.] RECENT IMPROVEMENT. I^ work by Stevens.' Among the subjects not usually embraced in practical divinity and yet appropriate to the pulpit he names " Sunday-schools, missions, tract and Bible societies. The pastor, especially the 'sta- tioned ' pastor, should make himself familiar not merely with the general character of these enterprises but with their leading data, if not their details, at least so far as they are connected with his own denomination ; not vague declam.ation will suffice for them — he can show their substantial value only by substantial facts." Dr. Pond devotes a chapter to charitable objects, and remarks : ^ *' The first duty of the pastor in regard to the religious enterprises of the day is mani- festly this — to know what they are and to keep himself adequately informed respecting them. And he must not only know what these enterprises are, but he must feel (what, ^ Abel Stevens. Essays on the Preaching Required by the Times. New York, 1856. Page 175. ^ Enoch. Pond. Lectures on Pastoral Theology. Andover, 1866. Lee. viii, 239-252. 1 8 THE minister's SPHERE. [lect. i. if he is a pious man, he can hardly help feel- ing) a deep and absorbing interest in them. They must not only occupy his thoughts, but enlist his affections. He must love them as his own; and to watch over them and provide for them should be regarded as an important part of his business for life." " He will make these various enterprises the subject of much reading, reflection, and conversation among his people. And he will not only read himself, but stir up others to read ; putting suitable books and papers into their hands, and taking pains to cir- culate missionary intelligence and useful publications. He will devote time to this and kindred objects, and set an example before his people of liberality in his contri- butions." Dr. Plumer says : ' " Open your ears and hear the distant though distinct and deafen- ing cry coming from hundreds of millions of * William S. Plumer. Hints and Helps in Pastoral The- ology. New York, 1S74. Chap, xxviii, pp. 308-362. LBCT. I.] POSITION OF THE PASTOR. 1 9 earth's population, as they are sinking to an eternal hell and saying, ' Oh ! give us a book and send us a teacher that can tell us how our immortality may prove a blessing, our existence tolerable.' " Dr. Murphy's work has a chapter entitled " The Pastor in the Benevolent Work of the Church," which contains a reference to this subject. Pro- fessor Harvey, under the head of " Cultiva- tion of the Missionary Spirit," remarks : " A pastor who fails in this is failing at once to make his church a power for Christ in the world, and to secure w^ithin it the fullness of life which Christ intended it should possess." One of the more recent works in this de- partment — the last edition of that by Pro- fessor Hoppin — is noticeably full, giving thirty pages to foreign missions.' POSITION OF THE PASTOR. Though a mere truism and a repetition, yet be it emphasized, ministers are church educators. They are among the leaders of * Appendix, note i. 20 THE MINISTERS SPHERE. [lhct. i. thought, and it Is incumbent on them to be fully possessed with the true idea of the church's ofhce as well as of their own obli- gations. Our Lord's parable of the wicked husbandman was aimed at a derelict priest- hood. The chief priests and Pharisees per- ceived that he spake of them. Yes, the great proprietor of earth has planted a vine- yard in the midst of his domain and with reference to bringing the whole wide field under cultivation. Opposition, disregard of his claim, want of fidelity to their high trust on the part of vine-dressers, bring a sore calamity. The parable of the unfaithful steward also has a lesson for the Christian ministry. Mere neglect of opportunities by ordained commissioners, omission to make the most of goods intrusted for the owner's benefit, who evermore has in mind the wid- est good of mankind, merit a forfeiture of office. The tact of the unscrupulous may well admonish. Though their want of prin- ciple is to be condemned, worldly men, in the matter of foresight, manage better than LECT.i.] POSITION OF THE PASTOR. 21 the sons of the light. A great failure it is if evangelical preachers do not lay them- selves out most earnestly for their own future good and that of their people by indi- rectly enlisting friends among converts from heathenism, who shall receive them into the eternal tabernacles. Never can I for- get overhearing, some two score years ago, Choctaw Christians praying for their " supe- rior friends at the North, who had sent them the good news of salvation" — so the listening missionary interpreted to me. Do not such prayers help on toward the eternal tabernacles ? Nor shall I soon forget my introduction to a thoughtful member of that tribe, who had been deeply interested in a secretary of the American Board of Mis- sions ' on his earlier visit. The man, not having a good view of the revered stranger, came up at the close of the service, turned him round to the light, saying, " I want to see your face so that I may know you at » Rev. S. B. Treat. 22 THE MINISTERS SPHERE. [lect. i. the resurrection." Called home before that distinguished visitor, was he not waiting to receive him into the eternal tabernacles ? A missionary in India went one Sabbath evening to the death-bed of a convert. " I understand," said the sufferer, " that you have been preaching today about heaven. Tomorrow I shall be in heaven, and I shall go right to the Saviour and thank him for leading you to leave your home in a Chris- tian land to come and tell us poor darkened heathens about him and the way to heaven. Then I shall go and sit down by the pearly gate and wait till you come. Then I shall take you by the hand and lead you to the Saviour, and tell him, ' This is the man that taught me the way to this happy world.'" Not only in view of other considerations, but also in view of meeting redeemed heathen in heaven, may every pastor well cherish an interest in the foreign work. It devolves upon him to see to it that his flock is prac- tically a mission band, an all-embracing so- ciety of inquiry on the subject of place, ways, LECT. I.] POSITION OF THE PASTOR. 23 and means of discharging that duty.' Pro- fessional aims restricted to purely neighbor- ing objects is like a biblical theology or a Christian experience built upon a few pet texts, which is sure to be dwarfed and one- sided. Voltaire's definition of an educated man will serve for an educated minister: " One who is not satisfied to survey the universe from his parish belfry." What though the home pastor's forte be dogmatic theology or speculative philosophy; what though he lay thinking men under obliga- tion by his keen analysis.^ Bishop Berkeley, the ideal metaphysician, after elaborately affirming that there is no proof of the exist- ence of matter except in our perceptions, at length published (1725) a Proposal for Cotz- verting the Savage Americans to Christianity^ raised money and sailed for Rhode Island (1728), designing to establish a college in aid of the cause of missions. It was Dr. Edward Williams of the Independent Acad- ^ Appendix, note 2. 24 THE MINISTERS SPHERE. [lect. i. emy at Rotherham, a cool, hard-working theologian, who in 1793 addressed a circu- lar letter to the ministers of Warwickshire which kindled a glow in the churches, and led to missionary efforts and benevolent societies that are now an honor to English Congregationalists. HUMBLE SPHERE, WIDE INFLUENCE. The question of a personal call to mis- sionary work, technically so named, whether at home or elsewhere, is not now under discussion; but the subject of devotion to the church's comprehensive enterprise which everywhere is one, reclaiming the human race to God. The subject of far-reaching- aims and munificent desires is before us. One's sphere is not the chief thing. No man largely taught of God, whatever his locality, will feel that he has a small parish. Is any parochial sphere too obscure to be- come the birthplace of noble thoughts and prevailing prayer ? May not great principles have scope in small places and amidst a LECT.i] HUMBLE SPHERE, WIDE INFLUENCE. 25 narrow routine? Cannot humblest duties be performed from the highest motives? Does not the same gravitating power deter- mine the form of a dewdrop and of the globe we inhabit? What better proof of generalship is there than for a Gustavus Adolphus or a Washington to make his small army do the work of a large one ? Zorah was not a place of much importance in the little tribe of Dan, and Eshtaol was of still less importance; but in connection with the mighty Nazarite they fill a page of history. It was there that the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times. Many a village has a strong man in the person of its pastor, whom the adorable Spirit fires with holy aspirations, and in due time he is seen bearing away the gates of Gaza. Wil- liam Carey's first settlement was in an obscure hamlet, where the people were so poor as to be able to do almost nothing toward his support, and where he was com- pelled to work at a humble trade in order to eke out a livelihood for his family. " The- 26 THE minister's SPHERE. [lect. i. origin of the Baptist Missionary Society," says Andrew Fuller, " will be found in the workings of our brother Carey's mind, which for the last nine or ten years has been directed to this object with very little inter- mission." That is the man, ranking at length high in the scholarship, and higher in the philanthropy of this century, whom Sydney Smith, jealous for the rights of Hinduism, ridiculed as the " sanctified cob- bler." The clerical wit would not have dared to fling at Bloomfield, or Gifford, or Allan Cunningham, or Admiral Sir Clouds- ley Shovel, that they were shoemakers in early life ; nor would he have risked his reputation by hinting it as a reproach that Jacob Bohme, the German mystic, and Hans Sachs, the poet of Nuremberg, or our Roger Sherman and Nathaniel Bowditch, began life as sons of Crispin. A random shot of that kind finds its way back to certain tent- makers and fishermen of old ; yes, strikes a mansfer at Bethlehem. But thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the LECT. I.J PAROCHIAL BENEFITS. 27 thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel. There is one small town in the State of Connecticut which has trained five governors of the Commonwealth.' The civ- ilized world is studded with localities insig- nificant in themselves, which have been immortalized by the force of individual minds or individual piety. PAROCHIAL BENEFITS. Certain distinct benefits will accrue to one's congregation from a pastor's interest in this great cause. And here I will not detain you by presenting arguments and opinions of my own. I give you a judgment carrying far more weight, that of Dr. Samuel Miller, formerly professor in the theological seminary at Princeton. " If I were asked," he writes, "how a church, however small or poor, would be most likely to rise and grow; what would be the surest means of attaining ^ Appendix, note 3. 28 THE minister's SPHERE. [lect. i. edification and strength, I would say with confidence, let it begin in good earnest to pray and exert itself for sending the gospel to the benighted and perishing. However small its strength, let it rouse that little, such as it is, and engage with fervent prayer and with heartfelt love for souls, in contrib- uting to the Lord's treasury, and the very effort would tend to enlarge and build it up." ^ But this is not a matter of mere proba- bility. Facts confirm it. " There was a period of my ministry," said Andrew Fuller, "marked by the most pointed systematic effort to comfort my serious people ; but the more I tried to comfort them, the more they complained of doubts and darkness. ... I knew not what to do nor what to think ; for I had done my best to comfort the mourners in Zion. At this time it pleased G^d to direct my attention to the claims of -'the * Letters on the Observance of the Monthly Concert. Phila- delphia, 1845. Letter iii. LKCT.i.] PAROCHIAL BENEFITS. 29 perishing heathen In India. I felt that we had been living for ourselves and not caring for their souls. I spoke as I felt. My serious people wondered and wept over their past inattention to the subject. They began to talk about a Baptist mission. The fe- males especially began to collect money for the spread of the gospel. We met and prayed for the heathen ; met and considered what could be done amongst ourselves for them ; met and did what we could. And whilst all this was going on, the lamenta- tions ceased. The sad became cheerful, and the despairing calm. No one com- plained of a want of comfort. And I, in- stead of having to study how to comfort my flock, was myself comforted by them. They v/ere drawn out of themselves, sir; that was the real secret. God blessed them while they tried to be a blessing." Com- ment is uncalled for. Dr. Somerville, of the United Presbyterian Church, gave as the result of his observation in Scotland : " My official position for so many years as foreign 30 THE MINISTERS SPHERE. [lect. i. secretary, and the visits which during that time I paid to several places, gave me fitting opportunity for observing the state of mat- ters, and I often said that I scarcely knew a congregation favored with a minister who took an active part in mission work, that was not prosperous." ' REACTION UPON PASTORS. One point in a minister's personal expe- rience is thus suggested — the intellectual and spiritual benefit of broad Christian sym- pathies. As for a congregation, so for an individual, to limit religious thought and effort to one's self will result in a feeble or a morbid piety. Far be it from me to dis- courage self-examination, a careful scrutiny of heart, in due measure, of which there seems to be less now than formerly, and far too little for a deep, intelligent, well-ordered spiritual life. In Florida the live-oak, an evergreen, attains by slow growth to noble * Andrew Somei'ville. Lectures on Missions. Edinburgh, 1874. ^'age 139. LECT. I.] REACTION UPON PASTORS. 3 1 dimensions, but has roots under ground corresponding to the large branches that stretch out nearly horizontal, and which are of great value in ship-building. So all religious character that has capacity for an enduring and far-reaching service must be sustained by sources out of sight. Not otherwise will vigor, attractive dignity, and cheerful gravity be attained. To enlarge one's horizon ; to look away from what is personal and private; to enter into an appreciative communion with our Lord Jesus in the vastness of his reign of grace, is most helpful reflexively. Only when mercy unto generations and genera- tions comes before the mind does Mary sing her Alagiiificat ; only on a mountain top does transfiguration take place. In India Bishop Wilson made this memorandum : '* I rose up a little into general truths, felt the immensity of the spiritual work before me, and lost sight of the petty microscopic diffi- culties of this lower world. I have found alv.^ays throughout life the great benefit of 32 THE MINISTERS SPHERE. [lect. i generalizing and abstracting at times, and ascending into the heavens, as it were, with Christ." ' The educational influence of a great idea, of a high and holy motive, is wonderful. To exorcise the demon of un- christian littleness so common, ministers need to train themselves systematically to ever broadening views and nobler aspira- tions ; need to realize that, as Chrysostom puts it, they are God's chosen athletes of the universe. One reason why our home missionaries as a body have so much breadth of character, are toiling so hard and so suc- cessfully, is that they were for the most part trained at institutions where expansive sym- pathies are cherished, and where the outlook is confined neither to Judah nor to Israel alone. One of them in Oregon, possessed of the true idea, wrote : " Our purpose is to begin to feel and act for the world, and then we shall be aroused to act for our country * Daniel Wilson. Journals and Letters. (May 22, 1823.) Page 80. LECT. I.] EVANGELISTIC ENTHUSIASM. 2)3 and for ourselves. He who works well in the gospel must work on the world plan of the gospel." ' The immediate missionary labor of Samuel J. Mills was chiefly at home. He preached the first Protestant sermon ever heard beyond the Mississippi, but his desires and faith encircled the globe. It was a sacred fire in his bones that made him write : " I intend, God willing, the little influence I have shall be felt in every State in the Union ; and I should be very sorry to have it confined either by the Lakes or the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic or the Missis- sippi." EVANGELISTIC ENTHUSIASM. Grand results imply broad views. Men who make the most of themselves, who make their mark upon society by immediate per- sonal labor and by moving others to Chris- tian effort, are men who see farther and have deeper convictions than their neighbors ; who comprehend more fully the scope of * Seelye's Christian Missions, page ii8. 34 THE MINISTERS SPHERE. [lect. i. the church, the requirements and possibili- ties of their own position, and who have a will invigorated by the word and grace of God. Would that a well-balanced enthusi- asm might influence the Christian ministry and its candidates, an heroic passion for evangelistic conquests throughout the world, such a sustained sentiment as springs from vital union with our Lord Jesus Christ ! Student or pastor, the man who lifteth up the gates and the king of glory comes in, will rise to a practical conception of the truth in its glorious breadth, that salvation is provided for the world. Abiding in Christ is having one's abode not merely near him, not merely with him, but in him as a member of his body, of his flesh and of his bones ; thinking as he thinks and cher- ishing aims broad as his. Can any man see very far if not risen with him who has as- cended to his Father and our Father, and from that eminence is looking abroad upon this whole planet .^^ The man thus united to Christ knows what Paul means : " Not I, LECT. I] EVANGELISTIC ENTHUSIASM. 35 but Christ liveth in me" — I am one with him who was straitened in spirit till the accomplishment of his mission ; one with him in his exceeding sorrow of Gethsemane ; one with him whom the cloud received out of sight, who is henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. To such it will seem unworthy to plan for any- thing less than Messiah's universal enthrone- ment on earth. It is more than a deep conviction upon his conscience that he ought to do his utmost for the Messianic kingdom ; it has become a spiritual instinct with him. The man who shows no interest in having that reign extend from sea to sea can show no heaven-derived commission to preach the gospel at home. He needs to study the first principles of fellowship with Christ in his sufferings for all, and of Christ's supremacy as having respect to the utter- most parts of the earth. " The longing of my heart would be," said William Chalmers Burns, amidst his eight years of enthusiastic evangelism at home before going to China, 36 THE minister's sphere. [lect. I. moving from town to town, thousands crowding to hear him — " the longing of my heart would be to go once all around the world before I die, and preach the gospel invitation in the ear of every creature." Listen to David Brainerd (May 22, 1746):' " Farewell dear friends and earthly comforts, the dearest of them all, the very dearest if the Lord calls for it — adieu, adieu: I will spend my life, my latest moments, in caves and dens of the earth, if the kingdom of Christ may thereby be advanced. I found extraordinary freedom at this time in pouring out my soul to God for his cause, and especially that his kingdom might be extended among the In- dians far remote ; and I had a great and strong hope that God would do it. I con- tinued wrestling with God in prayer for my dear little flock here and more especially for the Indians elsewhere, as well as for dear friends in one place and another, until it was bed-time, and I feared I should hinder the * Edwards's Works, x, p. 300. LBCT.i.] EVANGELISTIC ENTHUSIASM. 37 family, etc. But, oh, with what reluctancy did I feel myself obliged to consume time in sleep ! I longed to be as a flame of fire, continually glowing in the divine service, and building up Christ's kingdom to my latest, my dying moment." We need Roman enthusiasm. The grav- est offense of which a citizen could be guilty was to lose hope for the fortunes of his country ; and so long as that spirit ruled, the commonwealth could not but prosper. Let Hannibal encamp before her gate, the field whereon his tents are pitched will sell for no less than if the Carthagenians were back again in Africa. Because the capital is in his heart the Roman has the w^orld in his eye. Roman Catholic enthusiasm is needed. Whatever abatement we make — and large abatement must be made — from Bourda- loue's panegyric of Xavier, that he preached in fifty-two kingdoms, over more than three thousand leagues of territory, and with his own hands baptized a million of pagans, there was in that man a sublime ardor of 38 THE minister's SPHERE. [lect. i. devotion to his work. Of noble family, and from a country where pride of birth is pro- verbial, he labored for the humblest not less than for the highest. No perils, no priva- tions could daunt him. Friends would deter him from sailing for Japan, but his answer, as a German poet ' has sung, is : Hush you ! close your dismal story ! What to me are tempests wild ? Heroes on their way to glory Mind not pastimes for a child. Blow, ye winds, north, south, east, west ! 'Tis for souls of men I'm sailing. And there's calm within my breast While the storm is round me wailing.* * Frederick Spee^ seventeenth century. * Appendix, note 4. LECTURE II. MISSIONARY OBLIGATION MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. That the church on earth is a militant host, that her very existence foretokens con- quests for our Lord, is most obvious. While an evangelistic duty rests upon all members, it rests preeminently upon those set apart to the sacred office. What Is an army without officers? An Inefficient crowd. Timothy was bidden to acquit himself as a good sol- dier of Jesus Christ, and all true ministers are equally enrolled and marshalled under the great King. The ministry is not merely an Incidental demand of Christianity, but was established by the Head of the Church as a positive institution and for all time. Preachers are commissioned officers. Great as are their responsibilities in any place — so great that angels might well shrink from them ' — yet, as appeared in the former lect- * Onus humeris angelicis formidandum. Augustine. (41) 42 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect. n. ure, no parish in Christendom represents the whole of those responsibilities. The parish is not for the preacher, but he for the parish, and both for the world. The author- ity under which every home pastor acts is, Go, disciple all nations. The regal rights of Jesus Christ are based upon his deity. Any lingering here In order to establish his co-equal position In the God- head would be superfluous. Holy Scripture teaches plainly that the Eternal Word became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ — deity not transformed into man, nor man deified, but that he was and will forever continue to be both God and man ; that the Son was preexistent, and possessed of all divine attri- butes ; that he was engaged in the creation of all things; that he is co-equally concerned in the sustentation of all things ; and that he is entitled to supreme homage. Of course then he shares in an ownership and sover- eignty that are underived, universal, and indefeasible.' * Known among older writers as Regnum Christi essentiaU et universale. LBCT.ii.] SPECIAL PREROGATIVE. 43 SPECIAL PREROGATIVE. But there is a specialty of dominion per- taining to him. Christ's present, spiritual reign in all renewed souls, and their union with him in an invisible commonwealth, do not express the limits of his sway. To him belongs a broader sovereignty. He is, how- ever, king for a special purpose. Plenitude of dignity, power, and right is his for the work of mediation. Deity and humanity centering in him, he has been constituted Lord paramount, the ruler of the kings of the earth, in order that he may carry on to completion the undertaking begun in his humiliation. To that result resurrec- tion and enthronement were indispensable. Hence the Father of Glory raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come ; 44 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect u and he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. Here then are a right and dominion to be contem plated, not as due to mere influence result- ing from superior knowledge, wealth, and rank ; not as a state of cosmic or any other evolution, but as resulting from compact and service. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living. That kingdom is no abstraction ; it is more real than any earthly dominion. One noteworthy charac- teristic is that the founder remains also perpetual ruler, himself the object, center, and life thereof. Toward him the whole spiritual sphere gravitates. His sacrifice and kingship, Calvary and Mount Zion, are the two foci of the grand ellipse which bounds the Messianic empire. When men would make him king he withdrew; when they would crucify him he said, " Here am I." When he died it was for all. In a LECT. II.] SPECIAL PREROGATIVE. 45 manner and for a reason never true of any mere man he is king — king in the realm of grace, over which he has been installed. That investiture placed him at the head of the Messianic, the Christian kingdom.' Completeness of treatment would require that we turn an eye to the Old Testament intimations of Messiah's regal rights. Those foreshadowings, very dim at first, center es- pecially in the covenant promise made to David, recorded in II Samuel, vii: 12-16, and I Chronicles, xvii : 11-14. An enduring Davidic kingdom is there pledged: Thine house and thy kingdom shall be estab- lished for ever before thee ; and for this interpretation we have the authority of the angel Gabriel (Luke i: 32, 33). In the second Psalm occurs the first lyric recogni- tion of Messiah as Kino*. There too the specialty of his position and rank comes to view : Ask of me, and I shall give thee the * By older writers denominated Regnum mediatorium vel (Economicu7n. 46 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lhct.il heathen for thine inheritance, and the utter most parts of the earth for thy possession. Thence onward poetry and prophecy not unfrequently have as the subject of aspira- tion and vision the ideal monarch who was to appear in Israel and in behalf of Israel. Psalm seventy-two, whatever the reference to Solomon, looks beyond him to an endless perpetuity of reign. Isaiah ninth presents Messiah on the throne of David, the govern- ment upon his shoulder, and at the same time bearing the name Mighty God, Father of Eternity. Daniel, in his second vision, beholds One like a son of man ; and to him was given dominion and glory and a king- dom. Nothing can be plainer than that Messianic expectations cluster around an antitype of David, whose advent would bring the full realization of hopes cherished for ages. The theocracy of Israel was typical of the Messianic theocracy which should embrace Gentiles also. It was not neces- sary that John and that Jesus should preface their preaching of the kingdom by the an- LECT. II.] SPECIAL PREROGATIVE. 47 nouncement that a new monarchy had been looked for. The national mind was full of that thought. Not the naked fact of head- ship, but a different form of manifestation was to characterize the new dispensation. Previous dispensations were imperfect, yet they contained elements of truth, just as germs of the more complete always lie in a previous inferior stage. There had been a divine administration peculiar to one people and to Palestine ; there was to be a thean- thropic administration that contemplates all nations. It follows that in coming to this world Immanuel did not come to another's terri- tory; and though on coming to his own he was rejected, his right remained unimpaired. Nothing could be more reasonable than for him to issue such orders as he pleased, all which must be authoritative, though none of them could be arbitrary. Authority involves the element of right; power may exist inde- pendently of right. Jesus Christ has both rightful supremacy and unlimited might. 48 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect.il This world is not a treasure trove, but was called into being for the great moral admin- istration which is conducted by him its creator, and for which it belongs to him to give laws and commands. His is a royalty exceedingly unlike and above everything earthly ; it is his to forgive sins and to pre- side at the final judgment. HIS LAST COMMAND. Jesus Christ came into the world by a miracle, and he left it by miraculous ascen- sion. After his resurrection — that sealing testimony to his mission as the chief out- come of eternity, that occurrence which set bounds to the economy of types and intro- duced an era of magnificent realization — did he issue any notable order .^^ In the presence of an opened tomb and the opened gates of glory that proclaimed his humilia- tion at an end, all regal rights confirmed, the imperial scepter ready for his hand, did he put forth any one exercise of kingship as a standing memento for his followers, minis- LECT. II.] HIS LAST COMMAND. 49 ters and all, till he shall come again ? There is one : And Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying, All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore and make disciples of all the nations. This stands out as the distinguish- ing utterance of those forty days, the only commission then given, Interpreting and crowning the object of his advent. A short time ago he girded himself with a towel for the most menial service ; now on his shoul- ders are the keys of death and Hades. He has become heir of all things. His orio-inal divine rights have, if possible, been aug- mented. All things take on a manifest Christologlcal bearing. With reference to redemption and its connected interests, to which there are no limits, he has become sole trustee. Not only has he been consti- tuted supreme over natural forces and over the principalities of darkness, but specially over the human race. As legislator his seat is on a parity with Sinai. He utters no mere opinions ; he never speaks of probabili- 50 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lhct. n ties ; it is his to issue commands, and not only is he king at the capital, but a monarch immediately present thoughout the realm. At the time of incarnation he did not cease to be with God, nor in exaltation has he ceased to be with us and over us. As re- gards the basis of Christianity and ministe- rial duty, Messiah's throne rests upon the Cross. A superhuman expiation was needed — nothing less being sufficient, nothing more required; and in order to this the Eternal Word became flesh, the most unique event in the universe. The God-man was here not so much to announce as to found; not so much to teach as to be the subject of instruction. He is now before us less as an exemplar than as monarch. For us in our position there is nothing, on the score of effectiveness, to compare with a peremptory divine command. LOWER CONSIDERATIONS. Other considerations have their place. Temporal advantages to the heathen result- LECT.ii.] LOWER CONSIDERATIONS. 5I ing from evangelization are sometimes pre- sented.' A softening influence upon the usages of war; upon the standing and rela- tions of woman ; upon the treatment of the aged, the sick, the insane, the poor ; and elevating influences upon industrial habits, upon education and legislation, are indeed of great moment. A good deal is now said regarding the indebtedness of commerce to foreign missions, and regarding various other secular results, such as appear in con- tributions to literature, to the natural sci- ences, to archeology, philology and ethnog- raphy. Often, too, and rightly, are the reacting benefits upon home churches set forth, in breaking up the monotony of relig- ious thought and services, in enlivening and broadening piety, in stirring up to more vigorous efforts for the neglected at home. Published sermons not a few have been devoted to these and kindred topics. But whatever use may suitably be made of such ^ Appendix, note 5. 52 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect. n. auxiliary topics, care should be taken that due prominence be given to the prime demand for loyalty to the Messianic King. Commiseration, for instance, is appropriate. The degradation, the cruelties practiced, the sufferings endured in pagan lands, may well stir the heart of Christendom. Compassion for the heathen is an urgent motive to mis- sionary zeal. But something deeper than sympathy is required. In this matter neither our Lord nor the apostles appealed to pity. There is a must in the case ; conscience has an interest. A more scriptural motive is holy grief in view of God's offended majesty. Evangelistic duty should be presented from pulpit and platform, not simply as a question of humanitarian or philanthropic interest, but as an urgency of our holy religion. Here stands a command ; not advice, not a suggestion of prudence or of expediency, but a clear order. It comes with military precision and peremptoriness — "Go ye." " Look at your marching orders," said the Duke of Wellington to a chaplain, who LECT.ii.] LOWER CONSIDERATIONS. 53 seemed to doubt about the necessity of preaching to the heathen. " Look at your marching orders ; how do they read ? " ' Nelson at Trafalgar signaled to his fleet, " England expects every man to do his duty." But what is the command of an admiral, or what the expectation of an entire realm — throne, parliament, people — to the word of our Lord, many crowns upon his head, the nations as a drop of the bucket and counted the small dust of the balance ? OBEDIENCE PROMPT AND IMPLICIT. Surely, then, the most prompt obedience is demanded. Not more imperative is the duty of present repentance, or growth in grace, or the duties of prayer and holy liv- ing. Go or send is the only option. Here am I ; send me — to the first man I meet, or to the remotest heathen — is the appropri- ate response of every Christian. Whether others take hold or not, with or without * Appendix, note 6. 54 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect. ii. cooperation, it is my business to obey my Lord at once in purpose and preparation, and to find or make a way of reaching the unevangelized. Responsibility is individual, untransferable, urgent. Most surprising it is that this should have been so little appre- hended and so little heeded even by professed successors of the apostles and by others whose warrant for preaching at home is wide as the world.' Neumeister, who died in the middle of the last century, author of several hundred German hymns, some of them excellent, wound up an Ascension sermon, in which he attempted to show that the so- called missions of the day were needless with the words : " Of old. 'twas said indeed, ' Go forth to every land,' But tarry where thou, art is now the Lord's command.'" When application for the renewal of the East India Company's charter was before Parliament, and Wilberforce moved to have * Appendbc, note 7. * Gustav Warjieck, Abriss einer Geschichte der protestanti schen Missionen. Zweite Auf. Leipzig, 1883. S. 30. LECT II.] OBEDIENCE PROMPT AND IMPLICIT. 55 clauses enforcing certain religious provisions inserted, violent opposition arose ; and the House of Commons refused. In the upper house only two men even of the Lords Spir- itual would advocate the measure. Not a line could be introduced into the charter towards keeping Englishmen in India Chris- tians, or making Hindus such.' The Bishop of St. David's said one nation had no right to impose its faith upon another. Very true ; no nation and no church has a rio-ht to impose its faith upon another ; but has any church a rio:ht not to evano^elize the heathen ? or has any pagan people a right to its idola- trous beliefs and practices ? It has now become a somewhat familiar incident in the history of missions that at a meeting of Baptist ministers in Northampton, England (about 1788), the Rev. Mr. Ryland, senior, called on the young men present to propose some topic for discussion. Thereupon Wil- liam Carey proposed " The duty of Chris- * Pioneers and Founders. ByC.M. Yonge. Page 99. 56 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lrct, n tians to attempt the spread of the gospel among heathen nations." The venerable divine was astonished, and springing to his feet denounced the proposition with a frown, and thundered out: " Young man, sit down ! When God pleases to convert the heathen he will do it without your aid or mine." ' A spurious Calvinism^ obscured the good man's vision. Has Christ's ascension order ever been repealed ? Has it ever been mod- ified ? Have exceptions ever been made ? Who has authority to exempt any one ? No less imperative is this command than the Decalogue. From the apostles w^e have no writings prior to the effusion of the Holy Spirit, nor do the teachings of Jesus Christ antedate the public recognition of his ofHce by baptism; but this injunction has special force; it comes last of all, comes after resur- rection from the tomb has attested his king- ship, has attested the fact that he is no less * John C. Marshman. Life and Times of Carey, Marshman, and Ward. 2 vols. London, 1859. i, page 10. ^ Appendix, note 8. LECT. 11] OBEDIENCE PROMPT AND IMPLICIT. 57 Christ over all, God blessed forever, than that by the sacrifice of himself he is Christ for all. Light from our Saviour's last command shows us how to understand certain parables of the kingdom. For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder ; but what are the limits of the owner's vineyard ? The bounds of the inhabited globe, which, from north to south and east to west, is his — his not by discovery, or inheritance, or purchase, but by the highest conceivable right, that of creation. Laborers having freely entered into a contract, he bids them go into the vineyard. The burden of the day and the scorching heat, or a comfortable season just before sunset, many hours or one hour, is not the question, but service, prompt and cheerful service. Again : A man had two sons ; and he came to the first and said, "Son, go work today in the vineyard." More binding, immeasurably more absolute than the authority of an earthly parent, is that of our heavenly Father who saith to the 58 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lhct.il children of men, Go work In the vineyard ; go today. Instant obedience In design and effort Is demanded. Further, the kingdom of heaven is as a man going into another country, or a nobleman into a far country Talents, pounds are given to the servants- in trust, with the understanding, yes, with the injunction, Trade till I come. The trust so committed is everything — but especially his gospel — whereby the Great Proprietor may be honored In the advancement of his king- dom. It is rather with Christ than Chris- tianity that we have to deal ; with a divine person who saith, I that speak unto thee am he. Not only did he found a kingdom ; he is its immediate and living administrator. Implicit obedience is most evidently due. It is a sublime peculiarity of man that he can appreciate authority ; that he can discern principles which render a command legiti- mate, even though he does not see the intrinsic reasonableness of a given command. The right-minded soldier accepts his very position as a sufficient reason for compliance LECT.ii.] OBEDIENCE PROMPT AND IMPLICIT. 59 with orders. It is not for him to argue about the wisdom of any particular move- ment or the plan of a campaign, but to obey. Unquestioning discharge of duty pertains to men in the ranks. Leonhard Dober, the first Moravian missionary, when all attempts- to dissuade him had failed, and it was at last said confidently that endeavors in behalf of West India slaves would be fruitless, replied: " Even if no one should be benefited, and no fruits follow my efforts, yet I will go, for I must obey my Saviour's call." The thought of difficulties and perils is not to be entertained. Once admit that Arctic navi- gation is required, risks are out of the ques- tion. When Drachart, the Moravian, was told that the Eskimos of Labrador would murder him, he answered : " If they will kill me, they will kill me ; but go I must." " ' Forward let the people go ;' Israel's God will have it so. Though the path be through the sea, Israel, what is that to thee? Deep and wide the sea appears, Israel wonders, Israel fears; Yet the word is ' Forward ' still ; Israel, 'tis thy Master's will." 6o MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect, n. To the sentimentalist, to the man who has feeble conceptions of the value and reasonableness of legitimate authority as authority, it may seem strange that in his closing interview with the disciples our Lord should not have imparted maxims to govern their private life; that he should not have sent affectionate messages to the absent; that to his bosom friends no melting words were whispered ; that these immediate fol- lowers seemed hardly so much in his heart as the race at large ; indeed, that under such circumstances he should direct such men to start out on such an errand, that of disci- pling all nations. Sending them like sheep into the midst of wolves, had he no compas- sion ? Infinite compassion for a lost world brought him hither; the same compassion will not let him leave his work unfinished; and the highest welfare of the little group of beloved disciples as well as of the human family at large was wrapped up in obedience to this supreme command. It is not then a blind obedience that he requires. The [LECT. II. FITNESS OF THE IMPERATIVE. 6l apostles could see, we can see, the weightiest of reasons underlying the great commission. FITNESS OF THE IMPERATIVE. For a mind deeply penetrated with religi- ous convictions there is a singular aptitude in the imperative mood. Even Jesuitical perversion confirms this. The demand and practice of unconditional obedience is a fundamental secret of that martial order which is so well trained for its object, hierar- chical domination. Their discipline, how- ever, involves a fearful perversion, not to say extinction, of the moral sense. It substitutes human authority for the divine. Daring impiety, cloaked in a religious garb, is at its base; but it is marvelously efHcient. It has the semblance of that which can be due to one only, the King of kings. Over against such misguided devotion to the pretended Vicar of Christ we place a loyalty to Christ himself, intelligent and intense. Enough that he is on the throne and that this is his 62 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect. n. will. Charlemagne's motto may well be every believer s : Christus vincit ; Christus regnat ; Christus tr lump hat — " Christ is con- quering; Christ is reigning; Christ is tri- umphing." Ko-Chat-Thing, a Karen con- vert, when in this country was asked on one occasion to address a congregation respecting their obligation to send out missionaries. After a moment of thought he asked with a good deal of emotion : " Has not Christ told them to do it?" "Oh yes," was the reply, " but we wish you to remind them of their duty." " Oh no ! " said the Karen ; " if they will not mind Jesus Christ they will not mind me." ' No indeed ; If they hear not Moses and the prophets, if they hear not him who has risen from the dead, whom will they hear } THE LAW OF BENEVOLENCE. Messianic supremacy harmonizes with the demands of benevolence. Jesus Christ is ex- * Hayne's Christian Missions, page 15. LECT. II.] THE LAW OF BENEVOLENCE. 63 alted to be not only Prince but Saviour, and as the salvation of men is the great aim of divine love, that is enforced as the highest aim of Christian benevolence. The gospel is more than a rule of life ; for the preacher to publish it should be an inspiration of gratitude. The roots of religious loyalty are fed by a living spring at the foot of Calvary. In the light of our Lord's great commission we learn how much of breadth should be given to other words of his, as: Freely ye have received, freely give ; All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also to them. Whatever is thus rightly done is for his sake, and at the judgment day will be ac- cepted by him, for the King shall say. In- asmuch as ye did it unto one of these least, ye did it unto me. Apostolic interpretation comes to our aid : I am debtor both to Greeks and to barba- rians, both to the wise and to the foolish. In those words Paul speaks not only as an apostle but as a Christian. This spirit and 64 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect. it profession are claimed of all/ The Chris- tian, be he apostle, pastor, missionary, or anything else, when once the gospel has taken firm hold of his heart, dare not with- hold the benefits of the unspeakable gift from any; does not dare repudiate his in- debtedness; does not dare to wrong cred- itors, however remote from him. As de- pository of untold treasures for them, he trembles at the thought of embezzlement. Disbursement to the utmost alone can sat- isfy him. Necessity is laid upon me, cries the minister, yea, woe is me, if I preach not the gospel. Not an impulse merely, but a principle moves him. He has been made trustee for the heathen ; and what a trust is committed to him ! — a knowledge of the only true God and of the only salvation. But how many such ministers, how many such Christians are there .^ On each indi- vidual, lay or clerical, is the call made, Pay that thou owest. * Appendix, note 9. LBCT.ii.] INSTINCTIVE SENTIMENT. 65 INSTINCTIVE SENTIMENT. Possibly a suspicion may arise that in regard to evangelistic duty it is only more enlightened consciences which can be ex- pected to discern this ; that it is a recondite matter of obligation, to be appreciated by none except where the clear light of revela- tion has shone and long shone. We will then take the testimony of peoples on whom that light has never shone, whose judgment is subject to no favorable bias from educa- tion. True, great questions of duty are not to be determined by the opinions of other men, yet something may often be learned by what is said of us. Now what thoughts are likely to arise in the mind of a man who has all his days been sitting in the darkness of paganism when he hears a mis- sionary speak of the great salvation ? Take a hearer from the past or present, from any nationality, from any grade of .barbarism, from any environment. Listen to aborigi- 66 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect. n. nal red men on our own continent. Go back two hundred years and accompany John Eliot on one of his visits to Natick. You will hear a powwow ask how it hap- pened that, as the English had been in the country a considerable time, some of them no less than twenty-seven years, they had so Ions: neo-lected to instruct the natives in the knowledge of God, and why they had not sooner imparted what they professed to consider so important. " Had you done it sooner," says he, " we might have known "^ much of God by this time, and much sin might have been prevented, but now some of us are grown old in sin ! " ' What satis- factory answer could the apostle to the In- dians give? A hundred years later listen to what the Indians in New Jersey, who have been driven from their old haunts, say to David Brainerd : " Why did not those good people send you to teach us before, while we had our lands down by the sea- ^ Francis's Life of John Eliot, pages 98, 99. LBCT.u.l INSTINCTIVE SENTIMENT. 6^ side ? If they had sent you then we should likely have heard you and turned Chris- tians."' Is it easy for that saintly man to satisfy them ? Come down another century to the year 1840. " I am the chief of a nu- merous people," said an aged warrior to a missionary on the Manitoulin Islands, " and I wish them to be instructed. We have heard that our brothers who are near the white settlements have received the Great Word. We have heard that the Great Spirit has told the white man to send the Great Word to all his children ; why does he not send it to us } I have been looking many moons down the river to see the mis- sionary's canoe, but it has not come yet."^ What could the Wesleyan brother reply to that ? It may be alleged that these reflective men of the forest would be more likely to put such questions than those of other * Edwards's Life of Brainerd, page 330. '^Wesleyan Missions. By Robert Adler. London, 1842. Page 39. 68 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect. ii. races ; that thoughts of this kind will hardly occur to dark-skinned Africans. But Se- chele, chief of the Bakwains, did say to Liv- ingstone : " All my forefathers have passed away into darkness without knowing any- thing of what was to befall them; how is it that your forefathers, knowing all these things, did not send word to my forefathers sooner } " ' Aye, Christian Scotland, Chris- tian England, how is this ? Two of the great continents have spoken. Pass on to Asia. At a public gathering of natives near Madura in Southern India, after a missionary had read to them part of the tract entitled Good Oppo^^tmiity, the men asked where Christ and his followers were. " It is now," said they, " the fourth age of the world, and never till the mis- sionaries came here did we hear of this relis^ion. Where has it been all this time ? Who and how many are its followers } Where do they live.f^ If it was intended ^ Livingstone's Cambridge Lectures. Lecture i, 5. LECT. 11.] INSTINCTIVE SENTIMENT. 69 for US, why have we not known it before ? Have all our ancestors who have died without it gone to hell ? " They were told that most of the people in America and Europe are professedly Christians, where- upon one of them exclaimed : " What ! and suffer us to go to hell for so many ages without even coming to tell us about it ? What kind of religion is that ? " ' Leave now the continents and visit isl- ands of the sea. Possibly in their isolation and simplicity the natives may never pro- pound such embarrassing problems. Mrs. Thurston relates "" that older native Sand- wich Islanders would come in to see her school, and that she often noticed tears trickling down their cheeks because they had destroyed their own children at the threshold of life, and there were none re- maining to enjoy the advantages of Chris- tian education. At a great Sunday-school ' Missionary Herald, 1840. Page 146. * Life and Times of Mrs. Lucy G. Thurston, page 147. 70 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect. n. celebration in Hilo, when thousands of children were present in their holiday dress and with garlands of flowers on their heads, an aged woman was noticed moving about in great distress, beating her breast and wailing. A missionary asked the cause of her weeping on so joyful an occasion. The poor creature said : " Why didn't the mis- sionaries come before ? These hands are stained with the blood of twelve children, and not one remains of my flesh to rejoice here today ! " She then cried out again : ** Oh, why didn't the missionaries come before ? " ' Yes, such is the universal sen- timent. From every habitation of cruelty, continental and insular, there comes the cry. Why not sooner ? Why not sooner ? It is the instinctive suggestion of any people, hitherto neglected and hence wronged. The whole heathen world joins in a reproach- ful interrogation to Christendom, Why not sooner ? ^ * Miss West's Romance of Missions. 609, 610. * Appendix, note 10. LECT. II.] INSTINCTIVE SENTIMENT. 7 1 But take now the ignorant heathen away from their rude surroundings ; give them the advantages of an old civilization ; and will they not then see things in a different light ? Will they not become so considerate as to refrain from such inquiries ? Let us follow a group of Hottentots to England, After a time we go into a public conference where one of them, taking leave of the Lon- don Missionary Society, expresses herself in broken English thus : " What pity 'tis, what sin 'tis, that you have so many years got that heavenly bread and hold it for your- selves, not to give one little bit, one crumb to poor heathen. There are so many mil- lions of heathen and you have so much bread ; and you could depend upon it you should not have less because you gave ; but the Lord Jesus would give his blessing, and you should have the more." Ah, yes ; for the famishing multitudes, in companies of five thousand, of five hundred thousand, of five millions, providing bread enough and to spare, he bids his disciples ^2 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect. n. distribute. But they hesitate ; they set about laying in stores for themselves. They so multiply home luxuries, they feed them- selves so plentifully as to grow heavy and forget the command to distribute. Their costly tabernacles and other appointments help to shut off the starving crowd from view. If any heart in Christendom should be touched by the wants, and woes, and up- braidings of the heathen world, is it not the minister's heart? If any soul should glow with an all-embracing benevolence, is it not the pastor's.? If in the kingdom of grace there is one who appreciates the claims and scope of the reign of grace, one who has measured the length and breadth of loyalty due to the dying, risen, adorable Redeemer, should it not be his ordained ambassador? ' * Appendix, note ii. LECTURE III. MISSIONARY OBLIGATION (CONTINUED.) MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. (continued.) The imperative claim upon all Christians and especially upon Christian ministers to engage directly or indirectly in foreign evan- gelization has already been considered. But the subject is far from being exhausted. Duty and methods, with sundry side-lights, require further consideration. DEFECTIVE ETHICS.' A few words concerning ethical studies in the college course may not be out of place. Whatever the intrinsic or compara- tive merits of the text-books used, does any one of them give prominence to the fact of a universal brotherhood in the human family ? Theories of morals, the nature of virtue, the moral sense, the wide field of rights, of duties * Appendix, note 12. (75) 76 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect. m. to one's self, social duties, duties to the State, and duties to God, it may be, are discussed ; but which of them takes adequately into account the solidarity of our race, and to any considerable extent contemplates moral relations broader than those of patriotism ? The venerable Dr. Mark Hopkins appeared to regard the teaching of God's word relative to man's character and Christian obligation to heathen peoples as not belonging to the province of moral philosophy. " Hence a true moral science," he observes, " will and must be independent of revelation, and will be a test of anything claiming to be that, for nothing that can be shown to be really in opposition, either to the reason or to the moral nature of man, can be from God."' On the other hand, President Wayland deems our sacred Scriptures " the great source of moral truth, and that a system of ethics will be true just in proportion as it develops their meaning."* Toward the ^ An Outline Study of Man. 1884. Page 280. * The Elements of Moral Science. Revised Ed. Preface, v. LKCT. in.] CHRISTIAN ETHICS. 77 close of his work he remarks : ' "As the most efficacious mode of promoting moral reformation yet discovered is found to be the inculcation of the truths of the holy Scriptures, it is our imperative duty to bring those truths into contact with the consciences of men. This duty is by our Saviour imposed upon all his disciples: " Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." But in none of the other text-books on moral science now studied is there, so far as I am aware, a recognition of our duties to the unevangelized millions, greater in distinctness or extent than that short paragraph which yet is all too short. CHRISTIAN ETHICS. When we look into the works of men like Hume,'' Bain,3 Herbert Spencer,^ Fourier or Schopenhauer, we are not disappointed at ^ Page 3S8. ^ Inquiry Concerning the Principles of Morality. 2 Mental and Moral Science. London, 1868. *The Data of Ethics. 78 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lbct. m finding all Christian duties as such dis- carded. The two last named give no place at all to the idea of obligation. In such writers we do not expect to find any favor- able allusion to the duty of gospel promul- gation ; but have we not a right to expect some mention of this by evangelical writers when they discuss the science of obligation ? And may we not especially anticipate finding such mention, proportionately extended too, in treatises expressly upon Christian ethics ? Yet here again we are doomed to a good deal of disappointment, not perhaps from Sir Thomas Browne's " Christian Morals," but that the earnest and excellent Richard Baxter, in a voluminous discussion (1673), should fail to treat of this wide department in Christ's kingdom, though he elsewhere showed a practical interest therein. We have a work by the late Dr. Wardlaw, of Glasgow, with an introduction by Dr. Woods, formerly professor in the Theological Semi- nary at Andover — a work entitled to more consideration than it has received. Espe- LECT. III.] CHRISTIAN ETHICS. 79 cially valuable is Dr. Wardlaw's treatise for showing the futility of attempts to deduce a scheme of virtue from the present character of human nature. In the last chapter, which treats of certain peculiarities of Christian duty, the author remarks : " As an apostate province of the universal empire, under an administration of mediatorial mercy, its con- dition and its obligations are alike peculiar; so that, were the moral philosophy of the universe ever so correctly illustrated, the moral philosophy of our own world must be miserably defective and erroneous, if the wonderful specialties of its condition, and the divine relations to it in the mystery of re- deeming grace, are not rightly understood." Professor Whewell devotes to religion one of his six books, with its score of chapters on Christian morality, yet has nothing to say about duties to the unevangelized. Open Fleming's Manual of Moral Philos- ophy, and you find not a word In his chapters on benevolence indicating that a man who shares the benefits of Christianitv So MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect. hi therefore owes anything to men outside of Christendom. The same is true of Birks in his lectures at the University of Cam- bridge, and much the same also of the works of Sewell, Row, Wace, and Fowler. In his Bampton lectures Canon Smith is less open to criticism. Turning to works in this department from German pens, and which have been trans- lated into our language, we find Harless making the merest allusion to evangelistic duties ; Wutke and Luthardt do no more ; but the Danish bishop Martensen does set apart four sections of his " Social Ethics " to the subject of missions. Among treatises which have not been rendered into English, we are gratified to see that some of those belonging to the last quarter of a century, as, for example, the one by Palmer and one by Professor Lange, give some place to this department of duties.' * Appendix, note 13. LBCT. III.] PHILOSOPHICAL ETHICS. 8 1 PHILOSOPHICAL ETHICS. There are works which from their aim may perhaps less reasonably be expected to introduce that subject, as one by Maurice, who gives the title " Thy Neighbor and Thyself "to Lecture VII, and who devotes eight lectures to " Universal Morality; " one by Birks, not before referred to ; one by Sidgwick, and one by Richard Travers Smith,' Canon of St. Patrick's, Dublin. Yet we cannot help thinking that a pre- lector like Mr. Sidgwick, at a Christian institution, in this second half of the nine- teenth century, might, when treating of benevolence,"" have found something to say about our duties to the pagan world with no less propriety than about the minor rules of gentleness, politeness, and courtesy. It may be said that philosophical ethics should be restricted to the treatment of fundamen- * Appendix, note 14. * Book iii, chap, iv, § 5. 82 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect. hi. tal principles, and that the application of the same should be left to practical theology, to casuistry, or to works otherwise strictly religious. In point of fact moral philosophy has, as a general thing, occupied itself inde- pendently of revelation and religion, taking no cognizance of sin and redemption, 'but contemplating the human mind and human nature as they are. Is it not, however, unphilosophical to leave out of account that most significant event, man's apostasy ? To the present time the methods of moral science usually proceed much as they might be expected to do had the race continued in pristine purity, retaining God in their knowledge, and retaining love for his holy precepts. In such a world as ours, purely philosophical ethics is well-nigh a mockery. Would it not be worse than insult to the inmates of a leper or lunatic asylum to treat them only with a disquisition on the healthy conditions of the human frame and of mental physiology, accepting these very inmates as specimens of normal humanity ? That the LECT. III.] PHILOSOPHICAL ETHICS. 83 procedure of ancient ethnic philosophy should still to such an extent dominate the methods of discussion throughout Christendom, is one of the singular facts in the history of science. Another reformation like that of the sixteenth century appears to be needed to complete an emancipation from inadequate and mistaken methods, and duly to enthrone the Word of God in the sphere of moral and religious truth. " Aristotle," exclaims Luther, " that histrionic mountebank, who from behind a Greek mask has so long bewitched the church of Christ, that most cunning juggler of souls, whom, if he had not been ac- credited as of human blood and bone, we should have been justified in maintaining to be a veritable devil ! " With many, to this day, the Stagirite seems to be a higher authority than the apostles. When the German savant Scheiner communicated to his ecclesiastical superior his discovery of spots on the sun (1611), " I have read," was the answer, " Aristotle many times from be- ginning to end, and can assure you that I 84 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect. m. have nowhere found In him anything similar to what you mention. Go, therefore, my son, tranqullize yourself. Be assured that what you take for spots on the sun are the faults of your glasses or your eyes." There Is apparently much timid deference to tradi- tional methods on the part of many Chris- tian men when they enter this field. Dr. Fairbairn, late of Airedale College, now of Mansfield College, Oxford, says truly:' " Christian teachers have never done even common justice to Christian ethics ; " " Chris- tianity Is full of untouched ethical riches; its mines of moral teaching are almost un- wrought. In the person, words, and work of Christ, in his Ideas of God's Fatherhood and man's brotherhood, In his Spirit, In the spirit he created in his disciples. In the words and deeds of his apostles, there lie seams of the finest wealth." So far as the colleges and high schools of our country are concerned, It Is gratifying that a revolt » The City of God, pages 29, 30. LECT. III.] PHILOSOPHICAL ETHICS. 85 against Paley, formerly almost the only text-book, has taken place. His utilitarian theory, which for a good while went well- nigh unchallenged, finds but few defenders in the professor's desk today.' The time must come when, in this class of works, the testimony of God, the only unbiassed witness, will not be left out of account. Unaided by his Word, never will it be determined what is the greatest good. The sacred Scriptures must yet be recognized among Christian men as ultimate authority in ethics. As well might writers on physics discard gravitation. What propriety is there in theists treating of obligation after the manner of atheistical materialists ? or believ- ers in Christianity doing it in the style of mere theists ? Let the speculative potsherds of earth strive with one another, but let evangelical authors no longer practically disown inspired testimony. 'Appendix, note 15. 86 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect. hi. WRITINGS ON CASUISTRY. It will attract your notice that in those periods of church history when ethical writings were largely devoted to casuistry, and in works treating of that theological discipline, Libri Pcenitentiales, which give lists of classified sins, you nowhere find mention of failure in duties to the unevan- 2:elized. This is true of Eno:lish writers, as William Perkins's " The Whole Treatise of Cases of Conscience " (1602), " The Morning Exercises at Cripple Gate," ' William Ames's " De Conscientia et ejus Jure vel Casibus," (1630), and Bishop Sanderson's " Nine Cases of Conscience "(1678). Nor is it less true with most of the German Protestant writers in the same department, as may be seen, for instance, upon an examination of " Tractatio de Casibus Conscientiae," by Frederick Bald- * Cases of Conscience: The Morning Exercises at Cripple Gate (1661). Fourth Edition. London, 1677. Twenty-eight topics discussed, but no reference to missions. LECT. m.] EDIFICATORY WRITINGS. 87 win, a Lutheran divine of the seventeenth century. EDIFICATORY WRITINGS. The domain of moral philosophy and the department of religious culture are conter- minous ; indeed they overlap. These inter- secting circles render it quite natural to cast an eye toward the literature on Christian edification ; indeed, it is a demand of our subject. All that can now be done, how- ever, is to select a few representative works — works which have had much to do in shaping religious sentiment and habits, espe- cially in Protestant Christendom. But we will first go back to the middle ages and take our departure from Thomas a Kempis (1380-147 1 ) and his De Imitatione Chris ti. This work has been more widely used than any other of the kind. After it first ap- peared in print, i486, not less than twenty editions were demanded before the next century, a period of fourteen years ; and since that time it has been translated into 88 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lhct. m. some of the dead languages and into many- living tongues. The number of editions is almost countless, only a part of which are indicated by the four hundred representative copies in the municipal library at Cologne. The late Edmund Waterton, by indefati- gable effort, had brought together between eleven hundred and twelve hundred edi- tions in different languages. It has prob- ably been more read than any other book save the holy Scriptures. Abating its Ro- man Catholic features, which are omitted from those translations, whether into Eng- lish and other languages which are de- signed for the use of Protestants, it is a valuable manual. At the convent of St. Agnes, near Zwolle, Holland, this monk of the fifteenth century inculcated with great earnestness some of the methods and evidences of sanctification. The contempla- tive life is his ideal. He was the comforter of the fifteenth century. Appealing, as he does, neither to the intellect nor to the imagination, but only to the heart, he can LECT. III.] EDIFICATORY WRITINGS. 89 be understood by all classes.' Religious poverty he accounts no less valuable than martyrdom. Christian activity contemplates chiefly a monastic brotherhood ; other social duties are scarcely touched upon. The result may be beautiful in a recluse, but nugatory as regards the world's salvation. Useful the work may be to all ministers and missionaries, but it would never make a missionary. It could be regarded as com- plete only in case the whole human family were gathered within the conventual walls of Brethren of the Common Lot. In chap- ters bearing such titles as " The Considera- tion of Hum.an Misery," " The Small Number of Those that Love the Cross," we might expect to find aspirations for the welfare of heathen nations ; but instead thereof, " Oh, that I had wings like a dove ! for then would I fly away and be at rest." Leaving now the realm of Latin Chris- tianity and this very favorable specimen of ^ Vaughan's Hours with the Mystics, b. vi, c. 9. 90 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect. m. it, we come to the sphere of Teutonic Chris- tianity — to John Arndt (i 555-1621) and his Vom wahren Chris tenthmn"^ (1605- 1609), " True Christianity." Arndt was a most faithful and earnest preacher. Perhaps no one of that period had such intense long- ings for personal sanctification and for the revival of a living faith in Christ. His activity dates at the close of the sixteenth century and the opening of the seventeenth — a period of dead German scholasticism, which naturally arrayed itself against his plain utterances of unwelcome truth. The motto under the frontispiece of the work reads : " Christ has many servants, but few followers." Colleagues and ecclesiastical superiors in Brunswick, where he labored, had little sympathy with a spirit so de- cidedly evangelical. The asperity of oppo- sition reached such a pitch that Osiander, a professor at the University of Tubingen (1624), charged the books with advocating ' Appendix, note i6. LKCT. III.] EDIFICATORY WRITINGS. 9 1 popery, monachism, fanaticism, Pelaglanism, and Weigelianism. Corvinus uttered a de- nunciation, declaring that " he did not desire to go after death to the place where Arndt would be" — a desire which may possibly have been gratified. On the other hand, Glassius, general superintendent in Gotha, averred, " Whoever does not relish Arndt has certainly lost his spiritual appetite." The iron-clad Lutheranism of the day could not be expected to relish earnest insistance upon a thorough conversion and experimen- tal piety. There was in Arndt a touch of the Old Testament prophet, and yet a pre- dominance of johannean spirituality and the grace of intimate, joyful fellowship with Christ. The formalism of worldly-minded preachers, and the religious blindness of unconverted theological students, paid him the same compliment of abuse that was paid to Whitefield and the Wesleys a cent- ury and a half later. His work True Chris- tianity, having been issued in successive in- stallments, contains repetitions; and but for 92 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect. m. the fact that Protestantism then needed a revival scarcely less than Romanism a cent- ury before needed Reformation, this writ- ing of Arndt might be called prolix. One reason for its great popularity was the scar- city of such works at that time, as was the case in England when Wilberforce wrote his Practical View. Edition after edition was quickly called for; it was translated into Latin, into nearly all the languages of Europe, and by the Halle missionaries into Tamil. Scarcely any other work of a de- votional character, except that of Thomas a Kempis, has ever had equal popularity in palace and cottage. Singularly it found its way into the Papal Church, an edition being published (1734) with the author's name dis- guised. When Professor Anthon, of Halle, asked, in the library of the Jesuits at Madrid, for their best Asceticus, the librarian showed him a copy of Arndt — the preface as well as conclusion gone — and pronounced that more edifying than all others. Arndt was familiar with the better class of mediaeval LECT. III.] EDIFICATORY WRITINGS. 93 mystics, Bernard, Thomas a Kempis, and Tauler. He had been influenced by them ; but he held views better balanced and more scriptural. He exerted much influence in preparing the way for an improved condi- tion of things toward the close of the seven- teenth century. He had much influence on Spener, the father of Pietism, the Doddridge of his period in Germany. At that time the True Christianity was almost a solitary work on practical religion which the Lu- theran Church could offer. Thousands were aw^akened and edified by it.' While it ad- vocated more of practical activity in Chris- tian life and had an indirect ministry of preparation for the missionary developments witnessed in the first half of the eighteenth century, we must still confess that this valu- able essay, like all previous essays of the kind, deals too exclusively with individual needs, and has too little regard for social virtue and the claims of an asr^ressive be- * Appendix, note 17. 94 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lbct. iil nevolence. In chapters on love to our neighbor and on the Lord's Prayer, as else- where, we search in vain for indications that the deeply pious author entertained any adequate thought concerning unevangelized nations, which is all the more noteworthy as the title announces a treatment of the " whole duty of man towards God." As if that can be a complete Christianity that dis- regards one of the chief ends for which Christianity has been founded. This title reminds us of an English author, kindred in spirit and excellence to Arndt, who was born just a century after the death of that pious German (1724), the Rev. Henry Venn, father of John Venn of Clapham, who was largely instrumental in the formation of the Church Missionary Society, and grand- father of Henry Venn, its late able secretary. Valuable though his book is, its title, " The Complete Duty of Man"' (1763), must be ^ Or, A System of Doctrinal and Practical Christianity. Lon« don : Religious Tract Society. LECT. III.] EDIFICATORY WRITINGS. 95 pronounced altogether too comprehensive if we owe any duties to the heathen world. Resfardinor the obli2:ation of foreisjn evan- gelism, Venn is as silent as Arndt, and nearly as oblivious as Thomas a Kempis. Not least at fault is an eminent writer of the English Church in the preceding century, still much admired, Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667). We look through \\m Dice tor Dubitantium^ a treatise on casuistry — the most extensive of its kind in our language, a wearisome labyrinth of cases of conscience — but nowhere amidst the exuberance of one hundred and sixty-six rules do we meet with a single one concerning obedience to Christ's last command ; nor among the mul- titudinous written prayers scattered through his works do we light upon one in behalf of the great ungathered harvest. Turning to " Rules for the Practice of Prayer," we discover none touching the advancement of Christ's kingdom. In his three sermons on " The Miracles of the Divine Mercy"— the most eloquent of his discourses — God's 96 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lhct. hl provisions and commands relating to pagan nations are passed over in silence. The learned prelate, notwithstanding some vivid pictures of excellence, dwells disproportion- ately on gloomy topics — sorrow, emptiness of the world, and death — topics not duly relieved by more joyful themes. Nor are the exhortations based clearly on the fun- damental doctrines of the gospel. His own habits were ascetic, and a certain Roman Catholic tendency pervaded his style of reli- gious thought. A score of years after the decease of Bishop Taylor, was born William Law (1686), a nonjuring clergyman, a tutor in the family of his relative Edward Gibbon, father of the historian. Law was a saintly man who lived a retired life, much devoted to local benevolence. He had no little in- fluence on the Wesleys, though a breach between them occurred afterwards. He became an ardent student of Jacob Bohme, and there is a trace of mysticism in most of his writings. Of these, the best known LKCT. iii.i EDIFICATORY WRITINGS. 97 is A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. Its style is clear and vigorous ; various char- acters are vividly- depicted, and " many of his portraits," says Gibbon, "are not un- worthy of the pen of La Bruyere." No other English writer, of that day, on prac- tical Christianity has been so generally commended. Men as unlike as Wesley, Doddridge, and Macaulay praise him. The Serious Call used to be ranked next to Pilgrims Progress in the esteem of pious readers. It exerted a quickening influence on Dr. Samuel Johnson, who pronounced it the finest piece of hortatory theology in our language. The title-page announces that the book is " adapted to the state and condition of all orders of Christians ; " and turning to Chapter xx, which enforces uni- versal love as the subject of prayer at a certain hour of the day, we find that the author has in mind under the term universal, not Pagans, Mohammedans, Jews, but only all classes of men with whom one is more immediately conversant. If the heathen 98 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect. m. had any place in his thoughts, there is no suggestion as to the duty of reaching them, or any practical method of doing so. And thus has it been immemorially in the great body of religious writings. From the Established Church we pass into the ranks of English Dissent and glance at a single writer, Philip Doddridge (1702- 1 751), a faithful, earnest, and devout preacher and theological teacher. Living in an age of religious frost he made it the aim of all his writings to quicken spiritual life. Quite in advance of English ministers of that period, and quite in advance of any writer who preceded him, whether in the establish- ment or not, Doddridge interested himself in the subject of evangelizing the heathen. He contributed generously toward the pub- lication of religious books in the Welsh language, as well as to the society in Scotland for promoting religion in North America, of which institution he was a corresponding member. He wrote a dedi- cation of the missionary Brainerd's journal LBCT. in.] EDIFICATORY WRITINGS. 99 to the Honorable Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. To him belongs the credit of having set on foot (1741) the first Congregational Missionary Association in Great Britain. It was not strange then that when, four years later (1745), he began writing The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul he should exhibit proofs of interest in that cause. In Chapter xxviii, under this title, " The Christian Urged to Exert Himself for the Purposes of Usefulness," we find exhortations and aspirations such as these : " Appropriate, I beseech you, some certain part and proportion of your state and revenue to charitable uses ; with a pro- visional increase, as God shall prosper you, in any extraordinary instance." " And while you are so abundantly satisfied with the goodness of God s house, even of his holy temple, have compassion on those that dwell in a desert land ; and rejoice to do some- thing towards sending the gospel among the distant nations of the heathen world.'" ^Miscellaneous W^orks. London, 1839. Pages 102-106. lOO MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lbct. hi. This work has been rendered into nearly all the languages of Europe and into some of the languages of Asia. It is not to be pronounced faultless. It is liable to be understood as making the approach to the cross of Christ needlessly long and labori- ous. It fails in not setting forth, after the New Testament's style, the sin of delay, and in not urging the duty of immediate repent- ance. But in the line we are now speaking of it was an exceptional work, one which has been blessed to the conversion and spirit- ual quickening of thousands. Memorable among such is the case of William Wilber- force. Falling into the hands of that states- man it marked the most important crisis in his religious history; it led to Practical Christianity from his pen ; it led to his phil- anthropic life, and to his interest in foreign missions. Because it seems to be a phenomenon in church history that one of the plainest, broadest fields of obligation should for ages have had either no place at all or only the LBCT. m.] SACRED SCRIPTURE. lOI scantiest allowance in treatises on morals and kindred subjects, I have dwelt the more fully on this theme. And because I am addressing young men whose course of study and thought will, through life, con- stantly relate directly or indirectly to these matters, I have gone the more into a detailed mention of certain writers and writings. During the last three quarters of a century there has been, as already acknowledged, some improvement in one of the two depart- ments under review, that of moral philos- ophy. In the other, which relates imme- diately to religious culture and the wider range of social duties, a yet more encourag- ing improvement has been begun. It is now in progress, but room for further prog- ress is still ample. May you contribute to its advancement. SACRED SCRIPTURE. The aim, the scope, the principles, the obstacles, and the results yet future of that reign which Immanuel is conducting on I02 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect. m. earth can be satisfactorily learned only from his Word and from actual development under his administration. The philosophy and history of missions must be studied in a Bible class on the way to Emmaus. That is the true peripatetic school whence all disciples have need to graduate ; but most needful is It for one who stands forth in any land as a herald of the great King. He, of all men, should be assured that this book of statutes is no less direct from heaven than if the divine hand were now visibly tracing its lines, and that therein is the Magna Charta of Christian missions. Emphatically it is demanded of the preacher that he be familiar with every syllable the Master utters, feeding upon its minuter as well as ampler portions. Manna is none the less from heaven because in the form and size of coriander seed. The preacher in the pul- pit, the secretary at the missionary rooms, the missionary in the field abroad, may each, with Augustine, say: Nee ego te, nee tu me, sed ambo audiamus Christum, " If I make r.ECT. m.] SACRED SCRIPTURE. IO3 up my mind," said Dr. Duff, "for a great principle based on the Bible, I don't care for all the emperors of the world." ' Of the same mind was a fellow countryman of his, Dr. John Erskine, an earlier though unsuc- cessful advocate of foreign missions. In the year 1796 that subject was before the General Assembly of the Church of Scot- land. After an elaborate speech from an opponent of missions to the heathen, the venerable Erskine rose and said : " Modera- tor, rax me that Bible." Taking the book, he read passages setting forth the missionary labors of the apostle Paul. A more impress- ive argument could not have been adduced. In all discussions on the subject every dis- putant may well say, " Rax me that Bible." To the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to this word it is be- cause there Is no light in them. * Smith's Life of Alexander Duff. Vol. ii, p. 91. I04 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lbct. m. PROPER ATTITUDE OF MIND. Allow me, in conclusion, to say a word touching the attitude of mind appropriate to such an investigation — an investigation of the broader claims of Christ's kingdom. I do not dwell thus on the topic because of any supposed special need in this institution, but because it is not to be supposed that anywhere line upon line can be superfluous. Touching matters of criticism and laws of interpretation, I need, of course, say nothing; you are being thoroughly grounded therein. But grammatical, lexical, and logical study of the Word can never do all that is re- quired. Even certain superficial things of Scrip- ture are discoverable only by one who is honestly desirous of doing as well as know- ing the divine will ; much more is this true concerning the deep things of God. En- trance to the penetralia of heavenly truth is effected by the heart no less than the LECT. III.] PROPER ATTITUDE OF MIND. IO5 head. For a spiritual, a thoroughly practical apprehension of revealed verities and duties, liorht must shine on the soul from the same source whence came the subject matter it- self. Such illumination is as needful as a good light for any masterpiece on canvas. Unless a breath from heaven pass over them, dry bones in the valley of linguistic and critical vision are exceeding dry. Not only has the Holy Ghost breathed forth the lively oracles; he must breathe upon the student's soul. Hence the divine Author is needed as interpreter. A personal vital relationship to him must exist, and constant devout teach- ableness, if we would understand the Bible. Only where the functions of life are in exercise do assimilation and growth take place; and unless born from above, unless the vital principle is habitually nourished, the modern Teacher of Israel will be but another Nicodemus groping in blindness, and his deliverances will be as juiceless as those of mediaeval schoolmen. Divinely enlightened listeners to the preacher in I06 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect. m. Christian lands and to the laborer in hea- then lands will observe the defect of spirit and method. King Eyo, at Old Calabar, said to a Scottish missionary : " I wish you would read more of God's Word, for when you don't read plenty the people think you saby it out of your own head."' This is something quite foreign to constituting con- sciousness an arbiter coordinate with the divine Word ; and yet farther removed from erecting consciousness into a supreme judge, thus regulating the sun by our private time- piece. It is a most rational enthronement of the sole ultimate authority. Among the mysteries of the kingdom not apprehended save by those graciously illuminated are the high claims, encouragements, privileges, and proper methods of missionary service. Many a revival, many an evangelistic movement has begun by the opening of the eye to truths seen but dimly before. When, under ' McKerrow's Foreign Missions of the Secession and United Presbyterian Church, page 383. LECT. III.] PROPER ATTITUDE OF MIND. IO7 the Holy Spirit's guidance, one Scripture passage stood forth clearly to the apprehen- sion of Luther, the Reformation was born. The central force of that, as well as of every genuinely Christian movement, was enlight- ened loyalty to God's Word. "A thousand times rather let the earth swallow me up," exclaims Calvin, "than that I should not hearken to the voice of God's Spirit through his prophets." " I will be guided by God's book," said Hugh Latimer; "and rather than dissent from it I would be torn by wild horses." While in matters of criticism the Bible is treated as any other book, in one respect it should be treated as no other book. It re- quires for the mastery of its contents an earnestly prayerful frame of mind. Well did Origen, when exhorting his favorite pupil Thaumaturgus to the diligent study of Holy Scripture, add: "It is not enough for thee to seek and to knock; prayer is most necessary in order to understand divine things." The distinctive features of revela- I08 MISSIONARY OBLIGATION. [lect. m. tion remain veiled from the indocile and the unbelieving. To such, Christianity is one great parable. Even those enlightened suf- ficiently for personal salvation may remain blind to certain aspects and claims of the divine realm. For more than a thousand years the mass of Christians saw, and even now a majority of nominal Christians see, men only as trees walking. Men at a dis- tance they see not at all. By devout weep- ing, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who alone can do it, is prevailed upon to open the sealed Book. Once thus opened, what a stairway to heaven, what a treasure, does it become to the convert in a Christian land and to the convert from heathenism ! " My brethren and sisters," said a native of one of the South Sea Islands, "this is my resolve: the dust shall never cover my Bible; the moth shall never eat it ; it is my light, my joy." "When I open my Bible," said an illuminated pagan, " God talks with me ; and when I put it down I talk with God." To every young student of theology may well LECT. III.] PROPER ATTITUDE OF MIND. IO9 be commended a prayer of Dr. Chalmers for the inner revelation of Christ: "Let me look for him in the Bible. Let me give earnest heed for him there. Oh, my God, make me to be experimentally acquainted with this inward, this spiritual revelation. Cause the gospel to enter with power, and the Holy Ghost, and much assurance. May I see God in Scripture. May I plainly dis- cern in that book the signatures of his authority, and majesty, and wisdom. Oh, give me to realize this precious manifesta- tion myself, and enable me to expound it to others!"' 'Scripture Readings, i, xxvii. LECTURE IV. MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS. MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS. The place that missions should have in the devotional habits of ministers is our sub- ject at this time. The limitation will be noticed. We do not take up the general topic of prayer ; nor yet prayer as a highly important branch in general of the pastoral office. Valuable suggestions on that subject may be found in such writings as the profes- sional treatises of Ernesti, Palmer, Watts, Mason, Porter, Humphrey, Miller, and Blai- kie.' It is only one section of practical theology which now falls to our consideration — the place which the wide advancement of Messiah's kingdom should have in every minister's devotional exercises, public and private. * Appendix, note i8. (113) I 14 MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS, [lect. iv. Of course it Is needful that above all men the preacher should be thoroughly convinced of THE EFFICACY OF PRAYER. A pitiable object is that minister who has not settled It among his deepest convictions that prayer avails to bring down blessings ; that no law Is more unalterably fixed than that God, In founding the moral world, ordained prayer as a condition precedent to certain results ; that while he never changes his will he is ever ready to be moved by supplication ; that prayer and its effects entered into the divine fore-ordination no less than other agencies with their train of consequences ; that the fore-knowledge of a petition does not neutralize its pertinence or its Influence, any more than fore-knowledge concerning other spheres of human activity. Has God shut himself out of the world which he made ? Has he less liberty in regard to his own methods than man has ? It was for him to determine through what channel ccr- LECT.iv.] THE EFFICACY OF PRAYER. II5 tain benefits should flow, and it pleased him so to construct and administer the spiritual universe that devout desires of suppliants should have influence with him ; and further, that this should come under the reign of law equally with every other arrangement. We repeat, the design of prayer is not to change the mind of God, but because he is unchangeably disposed to answer prayer, it avails. To suspend its efflcacy would re- quire a miracle. What is the reign of law but the reign of the law-giver — his present, constant activity? Petitioners have encour- agement because foreknown free acts of creatures entered into the divine scheme of creation and providence. There is sure ground then for the belief that in this way blessings are to be obtained which otherwise could not be obtained ; that we have more reason to look for answers from our Heavenly Father than from an earthly parent. God is a father, not an engine. Man too is a vol- untary agent, not a machine. While I am free he works in me and by me, and that I 1 6 MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS, [lect. iv. not to alter but to carry on his established order of things. There are physical neces- sities, and there are moral contingencies; we have to deal with a person, not a cosmic force or any mere abstraction.' Manifold influences at work are subtle and mysterious, but from no one spring of energy or of restraint is the divine hand ever withdrawn. Of that hand the prayer of faith lays hold ; and an effect, which may seem to be innova- tion, comes only in the line of utmost con- sistency on the part of him who framed the universe, who saw the end from the begin- ning, and who conducts the whole with supreme harmony. To maintain that simply a reflex benefit may be expected, cuts the sinews of all prayer. To ask God for humility simply because asking thus tends to make one humble ; to ask for temporal benefits merely as an incitement to greater effort in obtaining them ourselves, is a species of ceremonious impertinence. Main- * Appendix, note 19. LBCT. IV.] THE EFFICACY OF PRAYER. I 1 7 taining that view a man really ranges himself on the side of skepticism, and on that wing of speculative infidelity which calls for scientific tests, which would set us to seek- ing, by quantitative determination, how much value there is in prayer, and whether such a thing as special providence exists at all. It should, of course, be kept in mind that prayer may be effective though answers are not immediate ; that on the part of God, to delay is not the same as to deny. If our timepieces are set too far forward, will the sun make haste to overtake them ? Now, the religious teacher needs, before all other men, to be freed from metaphysical embarrassments on this subject ; needs to be convinced that in answering petitions the Lord our God does not change his will, but carries out his decree ; that he thus makes no variation in his plan of government, for such is his plan ; that he answers because he adheres to his purposes ; that if laws are inflexible, it is an inflexible law that prayer has power; and that whatever makes against Il8 MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS. C LECT. IV. this, makes equally for fatalism. I repeat, the minister, as a man of God, with preemi- nent responsibilities concerning the advance- ment of Christ's kingdom, is one who should fortify himself impregnably regard- ing the glorious fact now in hand. The great Adversary will specially assail him in order to darken and contract his sphere of faith. A great victory will it be if the pow- ers of darkness can induce a leader of the people to go down into Egypt instead of going up to heaven for help. More malig- nant skill will be put forth to arrest interces- sion than in any other line of satanic strategy. " Who are all those unarmed men ? " asked Ethelfred, the Anglican chief, as he saw over a thousand Britons from the great monastery of Bangor. " Monks," was the reply, " brought thither, after a three days' fast, to pray for success on their coun- try's arms." " These," rejoined Ethelfred, a true child of the devil, " are active enemies then, no less than others, for they come to fight against us with their prayers. Put LECT. IV.] MINISTERIAL RESPONSIBILITY. II 9 them to the sword ; " and slaughtered they were all but fifty. (A. D. 603.) SPECIAL MINISTERIAL RESPONSIBILITY. While the clerical ofifice as such imparts no peculiar value to prayer, it does involve great devotional responsibilities. Where a liturgy is imposed, it sets limits indeed to the public, though not to the private duty of one who ofKiciates. The prayer book of the Episcopal Church of England, as w^ell as that of the United States, presents a deficiency in regard to our present topic. We have not far to look for the cause. It originated at a time and has been revised at times when the scope of our Saviour's last com- mand was but poorly apprehended. ' True, a repetition of the Lord's Prayer takes place with sufhcient frequency; but the question arises whether such iteration, with so little else to interpret its earlier petitions, so little that specially harmonizes with them, tends ^ Sere Church Missionary Intelligencer, vol. ix (1884), 543-548. I 20 MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS, [lbct. iv. very much to give breadth of conception and desire. The petition for all sorts and conditions of men does not indeed exclude unevangelized nations, but is there any reason to suppose that it includes them, or was designed to extend beyond national bounds ? Other references to the subject are merely incidental.' Within the present century the churches referred to have aroused, in some good degree, to their evan- gelistic obligations; but their spirit is in advance of the prayer book. Psalmody ac- commodates itself to the rising tide of missionary interest more readily than the liturgy, which has need of revision and enlargement. The defects now referred to must have been one occasion for the ap- pointment, though not by church authority, of special seasons of supplication, and for preparing special forms and other auxilia- ries.^ Hence Wilkinson's Thoughts, How's * Appendix, note 20. * Appendix, note 21. LECT.iv.] MINISTERIAL RESPONSIBILITY. 121 Suggestions, the Cuddesdon Manual, Mission- ary Prayers for Private Use, and a Manual used in the chapel of the Gospel Propaga- tion Society. Such are some of the helps provided by clergymen of the Establishment who, from their own felt need, have been led thus to supply in some measure the lack of service in the prayer book. The Agenda of established Protestant churches in Ger- many also are deficient, though in the king- dom of Prussia there is a prescribed prayer for missions every Lord's Day.' Evangeli- cal Christians have, however, provided them- selves with liturgical helps for use in con- nection with missionary topics, whether on the Lord's Day or on special occasions at other times.'' The Moravian Church, perhaps beyond any other, is a church of intercessors, and her ministry encourages and exemplifies a devout remembrance of mission work. The Appendix, note 22. Appendix, note 23. 122 MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS, [lect. iv. ritual of the United Brethren is brief, and undergoes revision by the General Synod whenever called for. With the exception of the Lord's Day morning service, extempore prayer is offered. In the litany prescribed for Sunday morning service are petitions like these : " Prosper the endeavors of all thy servants to spread the gospel among heathen nations. Accompany the word of their testimony concerning the atonement, with demonstration of the Spirit and of power." " Bless the congregations gathered from the Negroes, Greenlanders, Indians, Hottentots, and Esquimaux. Keep them as the apple of thine eye. Have mercy on thy ancient covenant people, the Jews ; deliver them from blindness, and bring all nations to the saving knowledge of thee. Hear us, gracious Lord and God." Will any one say that the extension of Christ's kingdom among the heathen holds too prominent a place in the public worship of the Unitas Fratrum, or in the more private thoughts and prayers of her preachers and laity .f* LKCT.iv.] MINISTERIAL RESPONSIBILITY. 1 23 Where neither forms are prescribed, nor pre-composed prayers generally used, the way is open for all the liberty in selecting topics that one can desire. Proportionate to that freedom is the responsibility of the position^ It would seem not to be sufficiently consid- ered by men in the pulpit generally that their devotional exercises are far from being of secondary importance. It should not be for- gotten that, along with the immediate office of leading the supplication and thanksgiving of an assembly, the pastor exerts an inci- dental influence of no small moment. His habits in prayer tend to shape the habits of the congregation. His language, his sub- jects, his spirit, will, to some extent, be adopted. He is all the while conducting unconsciously a normal school of devotion. Narrowness and uniformity on his part are likely to be reproduced among those to whom he ministers ; so too, breadth, copiousness, and fervor. 124 MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS, [lect. iv. PROFESSIONAL TRAINING DEFECTIVE. No function of the ministerial office is entitled to more careful attention than this.' We will continue steadfastly in prayer, was the apostolic purpose. Among Paul's thir- teen Epistles there are but two — those to the Galatians and Titus — in which there occurs no express assurance of a devout re- membrance on his part. In every chapter of his second letter to the Thessalonians we find a prayer. And often what earnestness : God is my witness, how I long after you all in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus ; night and day praying exceedingly. " Prayer," says Massillon, " is the most inward and most essential duty of the ministry." ^ If one should preach as a dying man to dying men, should he not pray as a dying man to the living God ? And is it not singular that it has so small a place, and sometimes no place * Appendix, note 24. ' Discourse de la Necessite de la Priere. LECT.iv] PROFESSIONAL TRAINING DEFECTIVE. I 25 at all, in the ex cathedra treatment of pastoral and pulpit duties ? " Am I right," says President Humphrey,' " in thinking that this branch of education for the ministry is less attended to than its importance demands ? I confess that it appears that many of our young ministers preach much better than they pray." " Are there not found," inquires Dr. Samuel Miller,^ "those from whom something better might be expected, who habitually perform this part of their pulpit work in a commonplace, slovenly, and uned- ifying manner ? " On the score of consistent and concen- trated purpose, it may be that our schools of the prophets have something to learn from Islam. At the great Mohammedan mission- ary university in the mosque of Azhar, in Cairo, whose six or eight thousand students are assembled from all parts of the Moham- medan world, studying the Koran, and pre- * Letters, page 162. ^ Thoughts on Prayer, page 24. 126 MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS, [lect. iv. paring to teach it throughout Asia and Africa, a prayer is offered every evening in which the whole company unite. It runs thus : " O Lord of all creatures, O Allah ! destroy the infidels and polytheists, thine enemies, the enemies of the religion ! O Allah! make their children orphans and defile their abodes ! Cause their feet to slip; give them and their families, their households and their women, their children, and their relations by marriage, their broth- ers and their friends, their possessions and their race, their wealth and their lands, as booty to the Moslems, O Lord of all creat- ures." ' Its very truculency is a faithful ex- ponent of Mohammedanism ; and the cir- cumstances of its use are impressively sug- gestive. LITERATURE OF PRAYER DEFECTIVE. Defects in the literature of this general subject will in part account for the deficiency we are now considering. From the first * Jessup's Mohammedan Missionary Problem, pages 31, 32. LECT. iv.j LITERATURE OF PRAYER DEFECTIVE. I 27 treatise on prayer ever written, so far as is known, that by Origen, -£fn evxm, in the fourth century, onward, among the writings of the church fathers, Tertullian, Cyprian, Clement of Alexandria, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, Chrysostom, Augustine, almost noth- ing that relates to this topic is to be found. Even in a work of the last century by Benja- min Bennet,' which numbers over seven hun- dred pages, on the " Devotion of the Closet Displayed," nowhere is there mention of the unevangelized nations. Thirteen pages (604- 17) are devoted to what is called a specimen prayer, exhibiting all the parts of a com- plete prayer in their proper order, designed chiefly for the assistance of young persons and for their direction in the method of prayer ; but there is nothing to suggest that the heathen or Mohammedan world is en- titled to any thought in the closet. One of the earliest books of private devo- tion that appeared in the reign of Queen Eliz- ^ The Christian Oratory. 5ta Edition. London, 1757. I 28 MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS, [lect. iv. abeth was that by Henry Bull.' The prayers and meditations were collected from numer- ous sources ; but in none of them does there seem to be any reference to the heathen world. One selection is entitled " A Prayer to God for His Help and Protection against the Obstinate Enemies of the Truth " (page 158). When at the close we light upon the petition beginning " Grant free passage to thy holy word/' we anticipate a remembrance of unevano^elized nations. But no ; the sen- tence goes on : " that it may work effectually in us the work of life and blessed hope of our salvation." Could the more than fourscore books, similar in some measure, which had appeared by the year 1595, be recovered, there is no reason to suppose they would not be marked by the same omission. Among the written devotions of Bishop Andrews,^ for instance, we find simply the * Christian Prayers and Holy Meditations. Collected by Henry Bull. [1566.] Reprinted for the Parker Society, Cambridge, 1842, ^ The Devotions of Bishop Andrews, translated from the Greek bv Dean Staahope. New Edition. London, 1791. LBCT. iv] LITERATURE OF PRAYER DEFECTIVE. I 29 following (pages 37-39): "O thou preserver and lover of men, think graciously upon mankind; as thou hast concluded all men under sin and unbelief, so let thy pity and pardon extend to all." " Send forth, we pray thee, O Lord of the harvest, laborers in all points fitted by thy grace to do the work of the harvest." In Bishop Hall's Devotio7ts {Y>^gQ 492) there is about the same amount. Bishop Jeremy Taylor's works ' contain between five and six hundred offices, prayers, collects, composed by himself ; but in all those we find not more than a dozen instances of petition that can fairly be re- ferred to that category now in mind. Even those are brief, and for the most part seem to be introduced because the subject matter, which suggests a particular prayer, as a Messianic psalm, forces the subject upon attention. Collections from different authors natu- rally exhibit similar poverty. Take, for ex- ' Whole Works. 3 vols. London, 1837. I 30 MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS. Llhct. iv. ample, that by Joseph Wasse, chaplain to the Duke of Kent/ in which are selections from Laud, Featley, Duppa, Whitchcot, Wettingal, Collins, Hammond, Taylor, Ber- nard, Scott, Tillotson, Patrick Kettcrwell, Burnet, Thomas a Kempis, Stanhope, Anet, Dickes, Nelson, Gothair, and others.'' In some of the later compilations of this kind and certain original forms of prayer, it is gratifying to witness improvement. This is specially true, as might be expected from one who had been a secretary of the Church Missionary Society. In the appendix by Rev. Edward Bickersteth to his treatise on prayer ^ are several forms devoted to " The Enlargement of Christ's Kingdom." Just as important as is the spread of evangelical truth among the nations, with the Holy Spirit's accompanying influences, so impor- tant is it that the pulpit and the social meet- ing give them due prominence in the service * Reformed Devotions. Oxford, 1719. ^Appendix, note 25. ^Thirteenth Edition. London, 1832. Tages 242, 296. LHCT. IV.] LITERATURE OF PRAYER DEFECTIVE. I3I of prayer. Is any one qualified for ordina- tion whose soul is not aflame with desires for the conversion of men near at hand, and through the country, and throughout the world ? Once possessed of such ardor, can he fail to show a devotional enterprise that will often carry him and his fellow worship- ers to the mercy seat with intensity of sup- plication — supplication in behalf of mission- ary work in all lands ? By a due mainte- nance of devotional zeal in this regard, the pastor may accomplish more, through an in- direct education of the people, than by formal discourses on the subject. Lest it should seem that this is a peculiar and in- dividual view, let me quote once more from Dr. Miller's Thoughts oji Public Prayer:'' " A good public prayer ought always to in- clude a strongly marked reference to the spread of the gospel, and earnest petitions for the success of the means employed by the church for that purpose. As it forms a * Pages 239-241. 132 MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS, [lect. iv. large part of the duty of the church to spread the knowledge of the way of salvation to all around her, and to send it, to the utmost of her power, to all within her reach who are destitute of it, so she ought never to assem- ble without recognizing this obligation, and fervently praying for grace and strength to fulfill it. So prominent an object in the church's duty ought undoubtedly to form an equally prominent object in her prayers and desires." " But oh, how often is the reference to it the most cursory and chilling imaginable ; without point, without apparent engagedness ; neither manifesting interest on the part of the minister nor adapted to beget interest in his fellow worshipers ! " INDIVIDUAL MINISTERIAL SUPPLICATION. In order to the right discharge of this intercessory office, the minister must as a Christian man be joyfully loyal to the King of kings, must have enlarged conceptions concerning the requirements and destiny of LECT. IV.] MINISTERIAL SUPPLICATION. 1 33 Christ's kingdom, and concerning the possi- biUties of his individual influence at the throne of grace. Running an eye over the achievements of prayer offered by men singly as recorded in the Old Testament, he will be encouraged to attempt great things. What noteworthy reminders to him are Jacob's changed name and Samuel's Eben- ezer! What incitement to vast and vigor- ous entreaties will be felt as he reads that when, on account of Israel's complaining, the fire of the Lord burnt among them, it was at the intercession of one man, Moses, quenched ; and that when later he asks forgiveness for erring Israel, the response came : I have pardoned according to thy word ; or when Samuel at Mizpeh entreated the Lord to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, the Lord heard him ; or when Zerah, with a thousand thousand Ethi- opians, came up against Judah, Asa cried unto the Lord, and the hostile hosts were scattered ; or when judgment rested upon the people, and Amos besought the Lord, I 34 MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS, [lect. iv. a Q-racIoiis answer came ! Did not the con- fessions and entreaties of Daniel have to do largely with the restoration of Jerusalem? Did not Elijah on Carmel, single-handed and in the presence of a great rabble of priests and worshipers of Baal, call down fire from heaven, and vindicate the preroga- tives of the Lord God of Israel ? Did not his prayers alone shut up the clouds of heaven, and then open them again ? True, the power of intercession does not lie in the priestly or the prophetic office, but in faith resting on the word of him who cannot lie ; yet is it specially incumbent on priest and prophet to have an assurance firm as the great mountains, that individual prayer, his own prayer, may have efficacy to bring dews of grace upon mission fields the other side of the globe. LARGE REQUESTS APPROPRIATE. There rises at once before us a magnitude of objects which might dishearten, if we had not encouragements proportionately great. LKCT. IV.] LARGE REQUESTS APPROPRIATE. 1 35 And who may be presumed to be so familiar with those encouraQ:ements as the minister? The revealed character of God gives large encouraofement. If we knew nothinor fur- ther than that his lovino^-kindness is hiQ:her than the heavens, that he will have all men to be saved, we should be authorized to expand our devout desires to the utmost bounds of earth, and to implore a blessing on all methods of making known the great salvation to every tribe under heaven. We might well, in that case, beware of niggard requests ; of stinting the God of all grace. Well mio-ht we aro^ue from human analos^ies in favor of amplest petitions. Does not true royalty delight in munificence ? Did not Alexander the Great bestow a regal gift on one of his subjects, saying, " I give this not because thou art worthy, but because I give like Alexander " ? Magnificent generosity on the part of the Lord our God is just like Jehovah. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think — and is he less willing than able ? I 36 MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS, [lect. iv The revealed purposes and promises of God concerning the future of his kingdom authorize large requests. Throughout his Word there are intimations of his pleasure that all nations should have the gospel com- municated to them. Most evidently are we to contemplate the farthest limits of man- kind in our intercessions. The largeness of God's love has an exponent in the largeness of his pledges : As truly as I live all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord ; all the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee ; Messiah shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth ; the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. What now will convert these promises into accomplished facts ? Prayer, the prayer of faith ; a faith based on the amplitude of divine guarantees, a faith accompanied by required instrumentalities. The only conditions are adequate trust, en- LECT. IV.] LARGE REQUESTS APPROPRIATE. 1 37 treaty, and effort. Our covenant-keeping God does not deal out, as does a debtor, the exact amount on the face of a bill, or as an apothecary the exact number of drachms and scruples in a recipe; he takes the liberty of going beyond the range of our feeble desires and of doing great things for us. And one topic of supplication should be an enlarge- ment of desire, hope, and faith commensu- rate with the scope of scriptural promises. " Often," says Mason,' " pray for the gift of prayer." Those bringing largest requests are most welcome at the mercy seat. Never should we be guilty of asking only small things. Ever should we keep in mind that it is dishonoring God not to ask great things. Christ's intercession supplies ample en- couragement. Large bestowments are not made as a reward of merit for petitions. Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel. While * Student and Pastor. 138 MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS, [lhct. iv. prayer is the appointed means on which cer- tain results are conditioned, the prayer that prevails must be offered in the name of the only Mediator. And what an Advocate is he — conversant with all the plans and pledges of the adorable Trinity; familiar with the usages of the Court of Heaven ; no longer on this footstool, but seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, and recognized as having boundless merits, and hence boundless influence there ! Now on what is his heart set.^* Is he not expecting till his enemies be made his footstool ? — ex- pecting till his church awake to her broad privileges ? Is it not the governing aim of Christ's intercession and administration to make the benefits of his own great sacrifice available to the largest number of living men ? When we intercede in his name it is Christ's worth, Christ's blood, which pleads; and that voice is a mighty voice. " When will you cease asking ? " said Queen Elizabeth to Sir Walter Raleigh. " Not till your Majesty ceases giving," was the reply. LBCT. IV.] LARGE REQUESTS APPROPRIATE. 1 39 Every pastor, if he did but know it, has a parish with millions of souls, and prominent should be the place that this holds in his rubric. Alas for him and for his flock, if he cherishes only contracted desires ; if his petitions are restricted to what is purely im- mediate, what is narrowly, and it may be selfishly, advantageous. Till recently in churches on the Baltic island of RUgen. where wreckage was a means of livelihood, supplication used to be offered for a blessed strandino^.' Shame and confusion of face become us if, as students of the Lively Oracles, we fail to get enlarged views of the divine love to our race, of the magnitude of divine assurances, the power of Christ's priesthood, and hence amplest encourage- ment for comprehensive intercession. We have need most assiduously to study the possibilities of prayer, to enlarge our con- ceptions till they shall approach more nearly the circumference of divine grace. * Lieber's Political Ethics. II, page 37, note. 140 MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS, [lect. iv. Does it cost the sun any more effort to fill the world with light than to fill a hovel ? Is it any more difHcult for God to answer a large than a small request ? Was it an un- reasonable desire of John Welch, son-in-law of John Knox, that made him cry out in be- half of his beloved country : " O God, wilt thou not grant me Scotland ? " ' Is it too much for even young children to plead, in the fullest sense of the words, Thy kingdom come ; thy will be done in earth — in all the earth — as it is in heaven ? How imperative then the claim upon thoughtful, cultured men, who stand between the porch and the altar ! ^ MINISTERIAL EARNESTNESS IN SUPPLICATION. Groanings that cannot be uttered — desires too deep for utterance, too vast for articulation ! Such profound movement of soul in behalf of great objects was known to ^Robert FUviing, The Fulfilling of Scripture. Also John Howie. The Scots Worthies. Often attributed by mistake to John Knox. " Appendix, note 26. LECT. IV.] EARNESTNESS IN SUPPLICATION. I4I Paul ; it should be to every ambassador for Christ. It will become the experience of any one who fully accepts the testimony of God concerning the needs of earth's perish- ing millions ; concerning his own ample atoning provision ; concerning the obliga- tions of his church and its ministry, and concerning his engagements to respond to the believing supplication and corresponding efforts of his chosen people. Only study the Bible with due docility and prayerful- ness ; only surrender the soul to the Holy Spirit's complete control as the Spirit of grace and of supplication, and any believer will become a prince, having power with God and with men, and will prevail. Ex- ploits of supplication, mighty deliverances and showers of blessings in distant lands, may be credited to him. The reason is, he who enjoins it upon us to seek, enables us to find ; he who challenges us to devout wrestling, preengages to surrender. Ade- quate faith exercised, and adequate prayer offered, a universal Pentecost would ensue. 142 MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS, [lect. iv Who does not need to cry, " Lord, increase our faith " ? Who would not put up Melanc- thon's petition, " Lord, inflame my soul with thy Holy Spirit"? Such ardor has sometimes possessed human hearts. I refer to the devotional utterances of one a thousand years before Christ, whose protestation was : If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning; if I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. I refer to the soul struggles of one who said : I could wish myself accursed from Christ, for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. I refer again to John Welch, who used to say that he won- dered how any one could lie in bed all night without getting up to pour out his heart; and who, rising himself for prayer in coldest winter nights, was sometimes found weeping and wrestlinsf with the Lord on account of his people, and would say to his wife, when she pressed him for an explanation : " I have LHCT. IV.] EARNESTNESS IN SUPPLICATION. 1 43 the souls of three thousand to answer for, while I know not how it is with many of them." ' Nor did he restrict his desires to his parish or to Scotland. I refer to William Carey, for several years a pastor in England before becoming a missionary in India, who during that time was never heard, it is said, to engage in prayer without interceding for the conversion of the heathen and for the abolition of the slave trade. I refer to David Brainerd, who wrote in his diary : " God enabled me so to agonize in prayer that I was quite wet with perspiration, though in the shade and in the cool wind. My soul was drawn out very much from the world for multitudes of souls." "" Such are specimens of a class of men all too limited, who have shown the possibilities of devotional ardor when plead- ing for the church, or pleading for parishion- ers, or pleading for the Jews, or pleading for 'Fleming's Fulfilling of Scripture. ^ Appendix, note 27. 144 MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS, [lect. iv. the heathen. Let the entire ministry and the entire sacramental host be pervaded by such intensity, and soon shall there be heard a voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ. When the claims and the glories of Messiah's kingdom have taken proper hold of a minister's heart or the heart of any one, it will sometimes be manifest in clos- ing hours. Death-beds are usually places of honesty ; often they are scenes where heaven and earth meet. Not unfrequently, in later moments of life, does the clear light of the world to come dawn upon a redeemed soul, and the grandeur of Christ's person, Christ's sacrifice, Christ's dominion on earth so fill the mind that everything personal, even one's own salvation, is swallowed up by the supreme thought of God's glory in the conversion of sinners and the consumma- tion of spiritual triumphs on earth. We enter the chamber of Dr. Donne, dean of St. Paul's. In the perfect stillness of the LECT.iv.] EARNESTNESS IN SUPPLICATION. 1 45 place we catch words uttered with breath that grows fainter and fainter ; but repeat- edly do we hear the petition, Thy kingdom come ; thy will be done. We pass to the home of that deeply devout man, Pastor Blumhardt. We listen to what, just before departure, he says in a firm tone : " The Lord will shortly lead on his own cause gloriously," and to his frequent ejaculation, Thy kingdom come ; thy kingdom come. In such apartments heaven is begun. We marvel at our not having seen earlier the littleness of everything save the divine kingdom and its vast interests. Sometimes we are awed by the sublimity of such scenes. Was there ever a completer triumph over the last enemy than when the martyr, William Tyndal, flames rising round him, cried, " O Lord, open the king of England's eyes " ? or when St. Lawrence, on his bed of coals, prayed for the conversion of pagan Rome ? Similar victories over the grave take place in our own country. When Dr. Backus, the first President of Hamilton 146 MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS, [lect. iv. College, was told that he had not over half an hour to live, " Is it so ? " said the man of prayer ; " then take me out of bed and place me upon my knees ; let me spend that time in calling upon God for the salvation of the world." Thus kneeling and praying he breathed his last. To such, death is swal- lowed up in victory. CONCLUSION. In what has now been said there is no forgetfulness of the proper place for means. To divine working there must, of course, be linked human cooperation. But as the world goes, the greater liability is that work will be put in place of prayer. Effort with- out prayer is as truly irreligious as prayer without effort is presumptuous. The sword of Joshua and the supplication of Moses should go hand in hand. Gustavus Adol- phus, kneeling in the face of his army, cries vehemently, " O Lord Jesus Christ ! bless our arms and this day's battle for the glory of thy holy name ! " but the hero relies none LECT. IV.] CONCLUSION. 147 the less upon the valor of Protestant Swedes who will make the plain of Llitzen immortal. Honesty of interest, on the part of a pastor or any one, in the cause of missions, w^iich shall inspire appropriate intercession, will not fail to inspire corresponding effort, and each will react healthfully upon the other. Insincerity reconciles to inactivity. Some years since a tract ' was published entitled " Pray Less or Do More," and it set forth, what the title plainly enough suggests, the gross inconsistency of do-nothing professors who round out climacteric prayers with petitions for the whole world. Whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need — his brother in China or on the Congo — and shutteth up his bowels of com- passion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him ? Now, while presenting the fitness of breadth and earnestness in ministerial devo- tions, has there been forgetfulness of local » By Rev. Hollis Read. 148 MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS, [lect.iv, needs — those of the neighborhood and the nation ? Rather these have been most fully in mind ; indeed, if such a thing were allow- able, we might say, the former for the sake of the latter. The greater includes the less. The pastor who is alive to the urgencies of the Messianic kingdom in its wider scope cannot be languid in petitions or exertions for its interests near at hand. If ever there was a faithful preacher and devoted shep- herd of his immediate flock was it not Rich- ard Baxter ? Reviewing his opinions and ex- perience, the man who had effected such a religious reform at Kidderminster says : " My soul is much more afflicted with the thought of this miserable world, and more drawn out in desire of its conversion, than heretofore. I was wont to look but little farther than England in my prayers, not considering the state of the rest of the world ; or if I prayed for the conversion of the Jews, that was almost all. But now, as I better understand the case of the world, and the method of the Lord's Prayer, there is nothing in the world LECT. IV.] CONCLUSION. 1 49 that lies so heavy upon my heart as the thought of the miserable nations of the earth." " I cannot be affected so much with the calamities of my own relations or the land of my nativity as with the case of the heathen, Mahometan, and ignorant nations of the earth. No part of my prayers are so deeply serious as that for the conversion of the infidel and ungodly world ; that God's name may be sanctified, and his kingdom come, and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven." ' It was while yet a licentiate that Jonathan Edwards wrote (1723):'' "I had great longings for the advancement of Christ's kingdom in the world; and my secret prayer used to be, in great part, taken up in praying for it." In what respect did Robert McCheyne come short of being a model pastor? Though engaged night and day with his flock at St. Peter's in Dun- dee, he fanned the flame of evangelistic zeal in his own bosom by reading missionary ^ Orme's Works of Baxter, i, page 383. ^ Dwight's Life of Edwards, page 66. 150 MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS. Llect. iv intelligence and communicating the same at his weekly prayer meeting. The necessi- ties of his own parish lay all the heavier on his soul because he was burdened by the necessities of the world at large.' Has St. Petersburg or Berlin ever seen a man of more evangelical earnestness in the pulpit, a man more alive to the needs of his hearers and neighbors, than Father Gossner ? Stand- ing by his grave, one who was qualified to speak said of him without exaggeration : " He prayed up the walls of a hospital, and the hearts of the nurses ; he prayed mission stations into being, and missionaries into faith ; he prayed open the hearts of the rich, and gold from the most distant lands." Is not the spring that can supply only one household more likely to fail than the foun- tain which supplies a whole community ? Such a spirit and habit of prayer for missions as has now been described, which shall impel those in the sacred ofHce to a ^ Bonar's Life and Remains of McCheyne, page yy. LECT. IV.] CONCLUSION. 1 5 1 compass of supplication and to an earnest- ness corresponding to their high responsi- bilities — for Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake will I not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as briorhtness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth — such a spirit would be more auspicious than any possible array of learning or pulpit eloquence, or any num- ber of munificent bequests from the rich. To fail in this momentous branch of ofHcial requirements ; to lend but half an ear to what the Lord is saying — I have set watch- men upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night ; ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest till he estab- lish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth — what is it but negatively be- seeching him : " Let not thy kingdom com.e ; stop thou the Macedonian cry ; close thou the doors of access to the heathen ; let its millions go on down to death " ? The sum- mons of the shipmaster who sailed out of 152 MINISTERIAL PRAYER AND MISSIONS, [lect. iv. Joppa twenty-seven centuries ago should ring in the ear of every slumbering prophet: What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not/ ' Appendix, note 28. LECTURE V. MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER. MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER. In discussing even one department of prayer — prayer for the progress of Christ's kingdom among the heathen — we enter upon a broad fiold. Iv woalJ be broad even though restricted to this section of ministe- rial duty. Having considered the preacher's personal concern therein, we will today con- sider a topic pertaining more especially to professional routine, the missionary prayer meeting. It will not be superfluous if we first glance at THE VALUE OF UNITED PRAYER. The eternal Lawgiver has placed united supplication among primary forces in the spiritual world. Its special efficacy accords with a universal fact that combination (155) 156 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. v. is power. Illustrations throng upon us throughout the realm of mechanics and of vital laws. The threefold cord will sustain a weight more than three times the total of what its strands would separately sustain. Any society, civil or religious, is more than the persons composing it. By virtue of association and organism it has life and various capabilities. Savages do not help one another, even in the simplest processes, while cooperative labor characterizes civil- ized life. Man cannot be fully man without society, nor can society attain to high ad- vancement without manifold association. So too in religious matters. A church is more than a collection of so many individu- als; it is God's school for educating men to eminence in piety and all forms of well- doing. The social principle, duly sanctified and called forth, will manifest itself by a sympathetic throb through the brotherhood. It is as absurd and as foreign to divine pur- pose for pope or pastor to think, The church is for me, as it was for Louis XIV to affirm, LECT.v.] THE VALUE OF UNITED PRAYER. I 57 " I am the State." ' No solitary training can make a soldier, nor do a certain number of persons taken at random and arranged in line make a military company. They must be enrolled, must be drilled in concert, a martial spirit evoked, and the stimulus of a common object and mutual helpfulness sup- plied. In every society the sentiments and sympathies common to all, on which they rally and move, form the source of their power. Under this law of special efficiency in associate action united petitions find place. Other things equal, combination in prayer has a power peculiar to itself. If we would duly assure and discipline ourselves for that high branch of the ofHce which, in this field of duty, falls to ministers of the gospel, we must turn to the inspired Directory, as those who, traveling westward, would see the first beams of a coming sun, look at mountain peaks behind them. Going back to the early days of Israel, we find it ^ L'etat c'est moi. 158 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. v. was their collective cry which brought deliv* erance from Egyptian bondage. It was a vow by them as a people which effected the overthrow of Canaanites under Arad at Hor- mah. In their eight years' servitude they lifted up joint supplications, and the Lord gave them Othniel as their deliverer. When Midianites overran and impoverished the land, a nation's sigh and cry prevailed. Sorely oppressed by the Philistines and Ammonites, Israel came together for confes- sion and petition, and the enemy fled before Jephthah. We call to mind the Jews at the river Ahava, fasting and as a body beseech- ing God, who graciously regards their cries ; or Queen Esther, at the instance of Mordecai, notifying the whole Jewish people that they should give themselves to fasting and prayer for deliverance, which soon comes ; or that constant intercession made by the church in behalf of Peter when in prison, and his speedy deliverance ; or the eight days' meet- ing of combined supplication that preceded the wonders of Pentecost ; or a later scene LECT. v.] THE VALUE OF UNITED PRAYER. I 59 when, after the disciples had jointly observed a devotional season, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Concerning the great and manifold spiritual blessings pledged through the prophet Eze- kiel in his thirty-sixth chapter, it is recorded : Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them. Our Lord Jesus gave a special pledge to the gathering of only two or three in his name. With the concurrent prayers of saints there is much sweet smelling incense from the golden censer on high. That perfume depends in no wise upon the earthly office, rank, or learning of petitioners. The humblest, if filled with faith, may be mighty in supplication. " We come by troops," says Tertullian, " to make our pray- ers to God that, being banded as it were together, we may with a strong hand sue him for his favor. This violence is grateful to God." Could the Bible, teaching so largely as it l6o MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lhct. v. does by example, make the truth in that way plainer, that men having common relations should in their corporate capacity pray to God, and that such prayer secures what individual supplication would not? Obvi- ously there are collective blessings which may not be looked for except as collective entreaties are offered. In the arithmetic of the kingdom two and two make more than four. The church's responsibility and power exceed the aggregate of individual duties. Evidently the dynamics of devo- tional combination are not duly appreciated, and this is something for the pastor to study and to urge. Who can innocently withhold his heart and presence from the devout assemblages of those with whom he stands in covenant ? Needless absence is a culpa- ble withdrawment of spiritual force. If a body of believers were only so many grains of sand that happen to be in the same neigh- borhood on the shore of time, the case would be very different ; but a church is compacted by that which every joint supplieth. Like LECT.v.l HISTORICAL SKETCH. l6l the river of Egypt, the stream of God's mercy is ample, yet on either side is a barren waste. For fertilizing the desert there is a vast machine, requiring the united strength of all. How great the failure if one refuse to lend a hand ! How sad that any should draw with their individual buckets alone, and only for their own little private garden ! HISTORICAL SKETCH. United prayer for the spread of the gospel among unevangelized peoples is a subject which, till a comparatively recent period, seems never to have engaged the pen of Christian writers. When in early times the evangelistic spirit began to wane, naturally this topic of prayer would also wane. From that day onward, till more than a hundred years after the Reformation, religious litera- ture as an exponent of missionary thought reveals a sad blank. It is one of the painful facts of church history that during all that long interval writers on Christian ethics, 1 62 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. v and even careful students of Scripture, should have found so little occasion for enforcing the duties of prayer and effort in behalf of the heathen. While we do not look to the scholasticism of the middle ages, its summa- ries, its quiddities and quodlibets, for an ex- pansive Christianity, we might expect to find in the forest of folios, earlier and later, some devout writers giving evidence that God had stirred their souls to cry out in behalf of a world lying in wickedness. How could men, commenting and expatiating on the second and third petitions of our Lord's Prayer, manage to miss the chief intent? Yet all along the ages, from the earliest extant spec- imen, that of Cyprian, bishop and martyr in the third century,' down to modern times, writers dwelling on the words. Thy kingdom come, have almost universally dwelt on its inner advent to hearts in Christendom ; or else on the kingdom of glory hereafter, rather than on a present spiritual realm * De Oratione Dominica, A,D. 252. LECT.v.] HISTORICAL SKETCH. 1 63 below — grace triumphant in the New Jeru- salem, rather than grace militant in struggles for terrestrial extension.' Even among the Jews there has been a saying, He prays not at all in whose prayers there is no mention of the kingdom of God. But the veil, not taken from their heart, seems to have long and widely shadowed the vision of Christian men too. Thought has centered on individual welfare or on national aggrandizement, in- stead of Messianic rule, from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof. When the church had become largely corrupt and' decrepit, and the retributive scourge of Mohammedanism had swept over many a field of her heritage, it was not a Christian but a military spirit that awoke at length in the West. Crusading enthusiasm took its rise elsewhere than at the mercy seat. No coal from off the altar of heaven kindled that martial propagandism. But when, two centuries ago, missionary thoughts * Appendix, note 29. 164 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. v. were born and became operative In New England, Old England, Holland, and Ger- many, religious publications here and there began to show that there was a recognized fitness in unitedly commending each new movement to the God of all grace. This was especially the. case at Halle and Herrn- hut. The earliest formal treatise designed to encourage concerted prayer on a broad scale for the triumph of the gospel was by Jonathan Edwards. It illustrates the devoutness and breadth of mind in that remarkable man. The first of four para- graphs on the title-page shows the aim of his work, and suggests that a new era in gospel promulgation was about to open: " An honorable attempt to promote an ex- plicit agreement and visible union of God's people through the world, in extraordinary prayer for the revival of religion and the advancement of Christ's kingdom on earth, pursuant to Scripture promises and prophe- cies concerning the last time." The work LECT.v.] HISTORICAL SKETCH. 1 65 was at once republished in England and Scotland, and had a wide circulation in those countries as well as in America. More than a century has since elapsed, and not till within the last fifty years did the subject begin to enlist other pens to any considerable extent. No book in the same line appeared till the publication of Dr. Enoch Pond's Monthly Concert Lectures (1824); a score of years went by before the next small volume of kindred aim, Letters on the Observance of the Mo7ithly Concert^ by Dr. Samuel Miller, of Princeton, made its appearance (1845). Since that time the larger missionary treatises and missionary periodicals and pamphlets have occasionally given a few pages to this matter. Now and then a paragraph has been devoted to it in works on the pastoral ofiice. We find that at the close of the last century and the beginning of the present, missions began in some degree to color the religious life of England and the United States ; and while, in these last times, far too little has been 1 66 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. v. written on the subject, yet the aggregate exceeds all that had appeared during the seventeen previous centuries. THE lord's PRAYER. I have referred to earlier expositions of the Lord's Prayer. It will also be found that, after the Reformation, it was a long while before such expositions began to show, in any noticeable measure, that the broader scope intended by the great Teacher had come to be apprehended. We have only to look at the writings of such eminent men as Hermann Witsius,' Isaac Barrow, Bishop Jeremy Taylor, and Archbishop Leighton, to be convinced of this; but examining those of the last hundred years, you will find a gradual and gratifying change, particularly as regards the second and third petitions. Take, for instance, the Assembly's Shorter Catechism, which has been translated into the classic languages, into numerous modern ' Appendix, note 30. LECT.v.] THE lord's prayer. 1 67 languages, and which, in editions of untold number, has been widely used. Its one hundred and second answer reads : "In the second petition, which is ' Thy kingdom come,' we pray that Satan's kingdom may be destroyed ; and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced, ourselves and others brought into it ; and that the kingdom of glory may be hastened." If reframed at the present day it would no doubt have a more distinct missionary scope. Comments by various writers have not, as a general thing, shown that the clause, "ourselves and others," was taken in any adequate breadth of conception. The doctrine of fore-ordi- nation has sometimes been discussed by Augustinian and Calvinistic writers, apart from related and modifying truths of re- sponsibility for prayer and effort in behalf of the heathen. That high doctrine is ca- pable of being pictured as a mountain lake, isolated, clear, yet from which there seems to be no outlet for the refreshment of dis- tant plains. The safety of the individual 1 68 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. v. believer and of the church has been amply dwelt upon ; but the elect have appeared to be thought of as presumably found only in lands already Christian. Such a limited theological range tends to shut out practical inferences relating to labor and supplication in behalf of the unevangelized. Open, for instance, A Complete Body of Divinity, in two hundred and fifty expository lectures on the Assembly's Shorter Catechism,'^ by Samuel Willard, of Boston, the first folio on theology printed this side of the Atlantic. He began the course in January, 1687, and continued it till April, 1707, the year of his death. The publication, however, did not take place till many years afterwards. May- hew had been laboring for forty years among the Indians ; Eliot, having translated the Bible into their vernacular, had died, and their suggestive labors were well known ; yet neither in discoursing on the Lord's Prayer, nor on Christ's kingly office, did " Boston, 1726. Pages 914. LECT. v.] THE lord's prayer. 1 69 that pastor of the Old South Church, Boston, and Vice-President of Harvard College, enforce any just missionary senti- ments. The same was true of Thomas Watson, in his one hundred and seventy-six sermons on the Assembly's Catechism^ and true also of nearly all similar works, large or small,"" till recent days. As time goes on there is coming to be a more distinct recognition of the fact that unevangelized peoples are a proper subject of petition. Recent converts from heathenism are even now sometimes in advance of older Christian communities. A female slave in Travan- core, at a public examination of candidates for baptism, replying to the question, " What is meant by the words Thy kingdom come } " said, " We therein pray that grace may reign in everybody's heart." An improvement herein may be seen in numerous smaller works on the catechism, * Quarto, 1692. ^ Appendix, note 31. T70 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. v as those of Brown,' Patterson, and Green. It may be noticed also in some of the sepa- rate treatises on the Lord's Prayer," though not in that by Maurice. Among earlier treatises in our language there are perhaps none which show a more just apprehension of the import of these petitions than is found in the religious works of Matthew Hale ( 1 609-1 676), one of the ablest and best men who ever sat upon the judicial bench. Yet in none of those referred to is there that distinct and earnest treatment of the subject which its importance in the light of biblical teaching requires. Sometimes it seems as if the writer's thought were, Let 02ir kingdom come.^ An examination of certain works belonging to the class just named, and others which have been em- ployed in the instruction of the young, is liable to suggest a parody on the Assembly's answer to what is required in the tenth » Appendix, note 32. "* Appendix, note 33. ^ Appendix, note 34. LECT.v.] SACRED LYRICS. 171 Commandment : " Full contentment with our own condition" — and with the lot of perishing heathen ! Now and then there may be suggested the way in which a New Zealand chief always said the Lord's Prayer — " Forgive us our trespasses, though we do not forgive those who trespass against us." It must forever remain a marvel that, while the first three petitions of this formulary so widely used relate to the universal com- ing of the kingdom, there should have been age after age so little apprehension of their real scope and intent. SACRED LYRICS. What was thus true during the first seven- teen centuries of our era regarding the prose literature of the church was, in about the same proportion, true of her lyric poetry. The Messianic kingdom was conceived of chiefly as the realm of providence, as a sov- ereignty over mankind, with but too little reference to that spiritual reign in men which is destined to be so wide-spread. The 172 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. v. breadth of divine design, promise, and com- mand had no adequate place in the imagina- tion of hymn writers, Greek or Latin, ancient or mediaeval. Not till the seventeenth cent- ury, indeed not till the eighteenth, did the lyric muse begin to catch glimpses of the strong pinions and sublime flight of that angel who has the everlasting gospel.' One would suppose that what the Script- ures make known as contemplated for all men by the incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, would, from the first, have fired the mind of every man who took up psaltery and harp. Listening, for instance, to the first stanza of St. Am- brose's Advent Hymn — Veni Redemp tor gen- tium — " Redeemer of the nations, come ; " or to the first stanza of the noble Vexilla Regis pro deunt — "The royal banners for- ward go" — of Venantius Fortunatus, we anti- cipate a picture of Immanuel's conquests as foretold by David and Isaiah. When we take * Appendix, note 35. LECT.v.] SACRED LYRICS. 1 73 up the Lucis largitor splendide of Hilarius, or O sola 7nagnarum urbiuni of Prudentius, we naturally carry with us thoughts of the Mag- nificat oi Mary, the Benedictus of Zachariah, and the Gloria in excelsis of the angels. But we meet with disappointment. So is it all the way down through the contem.plative and mystic poetry of the middle ages till modern missionary ideas began to germinate in song. The hymnody of sixteen centuries does not furnish enough, with special adap- tation, for a monthly concert of our day. Among the eighty thousand and more German hymns which have been registered, there were indeed thoughts relating to the spread of Christianity before an expressly missionary hymn appeared, as it did at the middle of the last century (1749). That was Bogatzky 's Wach aiif du Geist dcr ersten Zeugen^ still often used on missionary occa- sions in Germany. At the present time it is an easy thing in the Fatherland to com- * Appendix, note 36 174 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect.v. pile fitting collections for this specific pur- pose. One such may be seen consisting of two hundred and twenty selections/ for the benefit of the Rhenish Missionary Society; another of tw^o hundred and ninety selections by Krummacher ; ^ another of a hundred and forty-one hymns, composed by that earnestly evangelical man, Christian Gottlob Barth.^ Yet another, a compilation of four hundred and seventy pieces, was prepared by Dr. Josenhans, late superintendent of the Mis- sionary Institution at Basle.^ Among the twenty thousand hymns in our own language, all of them the product of the post-reformation period, there is a goodly number that belong to the class now referred to, and nearly all are an outcome of ^ Evangelisches Missionsgesangbuch. Ilerausgegeben zum Besten der Rheinischen Missionsgesellschaft. 2te Auf. Giiters- loh, 1846. ^ F. W. Krtimviacher. Zionsharfe, eine Liedersammlung fiir Bibel-, Missions-, und andere christliche Vereine. Elberfcld, 1827. 3 C. G. B'lrik. Missionslieder. Stuttgart, 1864. * Missionsliederbuch fiir die Missionsgemeinde und die Arbei- ter auf dem Missionsfeld. 2te Auf. Basel, 1S79. LECT. v.] SACRED LYRICS. 1 75 that quickened evangelistic spirit which was slowly advancing in the last century, and which since 1800 has been more rapidly developed among English-speaking peoples. No Protestant collection in any language designed for the service of song in the house of the Lord is now deemed complete that has not a missionary department.' Poetry and music have not yet done their best. While Heber s peerless hymn, " From Greenland's icy mountains," will never be superseded, it may yet be sur- passed. When the heart of the church shall have become thoroughly saturated with the exalted spirit of the Messianic kingdom, there must fall upon gifted souls an afflatus that will reveal resources of song akin to the loftiest strains of Old Testament prophecy and to the choral harmonies of heaven. However it may be with individuals, changes in the religious views and habits of a com- munity or a denomination are slow; and it * Appendix, note 37. I 76 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER. Elect, v. is usually a long while before new ideas enter so effectively into the life of a church as to become obvious in its literature. It is easy to create an eddy ; not easy to change the current. ORIGIN OF THE CONCERT. We do not of course afHrm that no prayer for the universal spread of the gospel was offered during former periods. " This God," said Cyprian, bishop and martyr, on trial before the Proconsul at the middle of the third century — "this God we Christians serve. To him we pray day and night for ourselves, for all men, and for the welfare of the emperors themselves." Along the ages there must have been here and there, it would seem, earnest, thoughtful souls fired with far-reaching desires awakened by prophecy and promise. The hymns and prescribed litanies of the church, though in- adequate, did a little toward enlarging views and aspirations. Yet all the while proper instruction was needed. Prescription could LBCT.v.j ORIGIN OF THE CONCERT. 1 77 not avail. When, more than a century and a half ago (1715), the King of Denmark issued a letter ordering that a petition for missions in India and Finmark be introduced into the church prayers, it occasioned no smxall dislike, a dislike which found strong expression in an anonymous pamphlet' Whatever occasional gatherings for such a purpose there had been in New England since its settlement, and in older countries perhaps before the Reformation, there is no evidence that they were frequent or period- ical, or general. The most we can safely conjecture is that prayer for the universal diffusion of Christian truth had been only sporadic, irregular, and infrequent. The earliest instance of spontaneous, stated supplication, such as is now in mind, appears to have been at Herrnhut, Silesia, the central home of the Unitas Fratrum. A certain naturalness marks its origin — united prayer for missions springing up among the ^ y. F. Fenger. Geschichte der Trankebarschen Mission. 103-4. I y8 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. v. United Brethren. That church has been surpassed by no other of modern times in devout evangelistic enterprise. The loth of February, 1728, a day of thanksgiving and prayer, was memorable in their history. A Pentecostal descent of the Holy Spirit came upon the congregation, and awakened deep desires for promoting the kingdom of God. Conversation turned upon the state of re- mote regions in Asia and Africa; upon Greenland and Lapland. Count Zinzendorf expressed the belief that those distant lands might yet be visited by some of their num- ber. For a while previous it had been the practice to read accounts from absent breth- ren at the meetings for singing. But such communications having begun to accumulate, a special day of prayer and thanksgiving was now set apart every month, and the compass of thought and desire was greatly expanded. This enlarged range of vision and petition continued till, four years later (August 18, 1732), two of the brethren started out from Herrnhut, the first of a LHCT.f.] ORIGIN OF THE CONCERT. 1 79 lonof list of Moravian missions. Brethren in Greenland were the earliest on foreim ground to set apart a day which they called the Monthly Prayer Day. At those seasons, as now among us, animating accounts of their work in the West Indies and elsewhere were sometimes read to the Eskimos. When the Moravian settlement was founded at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (1741), not a few became missionaries. Among earliest ar- rangements made by the settlers was a dividing of the community into two parts — one to engage in secular affairs, the other called fishermen, to devote themselves to evangelistic work, especially among the Indians. One hundred and thirty-one of those heathen were baptized at that focus of Christian activity. Mission Days were in- stituted, when reports were given by the traveling evangelists, and prayer was offered for the conversion of the world. On one of those occasions (June 9, 1749) Eskimo converts, who had come in the missionary ship from Greenland for a visit, converted l8o MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. v Arawak Indians from South America, and converts from North American tribes met in the first chapel built at Bethlehem, and sang, each in his own tongue, the praises of their common Saviour. At another time Bishop Spangenberg announced that five mission- aries had died in St. Thomas, and that the mission there was in distress for want of laborers. Before the day closed eight of the brethren called upon the bishop and offered to go to that island and fill the places of the fallen. In 1751 a body of more than one hundred Shawanese and Nanticokes visited Bethlehem, where primitive Christian zeal reigned, and a great council was held, having in view the spread of the gospel among those tribes. Not a little prayer was offered.' To the present time the monthly service is maintained in all the Moravian provinces and missions. * MS. of Bishop Edmund de Schweinitz. LECT.v.] RISE IN EUROPE. l8l RISE IN EUROPE. The awakening of a missionary spirit among the brethren at Herrnhut and the Pietists of Germany showed the dawn of a better day after the sad decline of vital piety in continental Europe. A similar period of dead formality had been experienced in Great Britain. From the early part of the last century onward, Arianism and Deism gained ground rapidly. Decline of spiritual life in the Established Church and among dissenters became deplorable. " From the year 1700," says Bishop Ryle, "till about the era of the French Revolution, England seemed barren of all that is really good." . . . " Sermons everywhere were little better than miserable moral essays, utterly devoid of anything likely to awaken, convert, or save souls." ..." The celebrated lawyer Black- stone had the curiosity, early in the reign of George III, to go from church to church and hear every clergyman of note in London. 1 82 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. v. He says that he did not hear a single dis- course which had more Christianity In It than the writings of Cicero, and that it would have been impossible for him to discover, from what he heard, whether the preacher were a follower of Confucius, of Mahomet, or of Christ ! " ' But a new era began at length. Only a year after that notable effusion of the spirit of grace and supplications on the little Herrnhut community (1728) a few students at the University of Oxford established a prayer meeting (1729), the cradle of one of the greatest religious movements since the Reformation of the sixteenth century. Evan- gelical Christendom may well praise God for the rise of Oxford Methodism. John Wesley earned many a nickname, but no one more slsfnlficant than Curator of the Holy Club. It was a praying club. The most remarkable preacher of that century, or perhaps of any century, received impress * The Christian Leaders of the Church. London, 1878. 13-15. LECT.v.] RISE IN EUROPE. 183 and impulse there. Whitefield and the Wesleys, specially taught and powerfully moved by the Holy Spirit, began a move- ment, the widening waves of which still bless remote nations. Men of might in prayer and labor — Grimshaw, Berridge, Venn, Walker of Truro and Fletcher of Madeley — were raised up as fellow- workers unto the kingdom of God. To the sam.e category belonged WilHam Romaine ; and yet when, in 1750, he issued an earnest invitation to the friends of the Estabh'shed Church to join with several of their brethren, clergy and laity, in London, during the present troub- lous times,' he knew of only about a dozen clergymen in the whole kingdom who would unite with him in such a plan. But when he died (1795), Romaine estimated the num- ber of like-minded men in the Establishment at not less than three hundred. Of kindred spirit with these devout men were such as Howell Harris, Griffith Jones, and Daniel * Romaine's Works. London, 1837. Pages 864-71. 184 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. v. Rowlands in Wales. Quickening influences began to show themselves in Scotland also. McCulloch at Cambuslang and Robe at Kilsyth were among those eminently blessed in their labors. Yet the published invitation of Romaine just mentioned had respect only to united prayer in behalf of national and local interests. It however proved one of the most useful publications of that excellent man, and suggestive of concerted supplication for other objects whenever due preparation and occasion should exist. So far as is known, the first meeting in Great Britain that had express and special reference to foreign missionary progress was started by Dr. Doddridge in 174 1. A paper was drawn up by him, signed by himself and about one hundred and fifty members of his congregation at Northampton. Its first articles are suggestive, and read as if com- posed in 1 84 1 instead of 1741/ Three * Appendix, note 38. LBCT.v.] RISE IN EUROPE. 1 85 years later (October, 1744) there sprang up a movement for some general concert, though less specifically of a missionary char- acter. It was a product of that revival which began in the west of Scotland two years before. Several ministers, contem- plating the state of the church and of man- kind at large, "did judge that the provi- dence of God, at such a day, loudly called such as were concerned for the welfare of Zion to united and extraordinary supplica- tions to the God of all grace," "that he would bless all nations with the light of the gospel, and fill the whole earth with his glory." Fill the whole earth! There was breadth, a token of devotional grasp which showed that a new era could not be far off. They carried the matter themselves first of all to the throne of grace, and then resolved upon the following plan for carrying their object into effect: "To set apart such time on Saturday evening and Sabbath morning, every week, for the purpose before stated, as other duties might allow ; and, more sol- 1 86 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. v. emnly, the first Tuesday of each quarter (beginning with the first Tuesday of Novem- ber then next ensuing), either the whole day or part of the day, as persons might find themselves disposed, or think their circum- stances would allow; the time to be spent either in private praying societies or in pub- lic meetings, or alone in secret, as should be found most practicable or judged most con- venient by such as were willing to join in this service." Two years were first agreed upon for the experiment. At the end of that time there was an agreement to continue seven years longer; a memorial of their proceedings was published (1746), and other denominations were invited to join in the concert. Among the Baptist churches of England and Wales an early readiness to enter into the new and refreshing current showed itself.' Seventeen hundred and eighty-four became a notable year in the annals of supplication. * Appendix, note 39. LECT.v.] RISE IN EUROPE. 187 Those earnest men, Fuller, Sutcliff and Ry- land, had conferred and prayed together regarding the interests of their respective churches. President Edwards's work propos- ing a general union in prayer for the revival of religion, at once a text-book and inspira- tion, was reprinted. Fuller issued his Per- suasions to extraordinary union in prayer for the revival of religion. Ministers began to meet periodically for that purpose. Res- olutions, moved by the venerable Sutcliff, were adopted at the meeting of the Baptist Association at Nottingham (1784), and after- wards by similar meetings elsewhere, recom- mending that the first Monday evening of every month be set apart to pray for the revival of religion and the spread of the gospel. There can be no doubt that those periodical assemblages served to give im- pulse to the missionary spirit which gradually kindled and at length took active form near the close of the century.' ^ Appendix, note 40. 1 88 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER. Uect. v. On the Continent there were instances of united and unusual prayer, as during a re- vival in the Duchy of Guelderland (1749-- 51). Here and there was a case like that of Oberlin, the well-known pastor at Ban-de-la- Roche in the northeast of France, who had a paper, printed in German and French, put up conspicuously in every cottage of his large parish ; and the placard contained, with other articles, the following : ' " Every member of this society shall pray, on the first Monday of every month, that the mis- sionaries employed in the conversion of sav- age and idolatrous nations in all parts of the world may be supported and sustained against the wiles of the devil." ..." Every member shall pray that the kingdom of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ may be fully and generally established among the in- numerable Pagans, Turks, Jews, and nomi- nal Christians." At the close of the century * Memoirs of John Frederick Oberlin. London. Third Edi- tion, 1831. LECT.v.] IN AMERICA. 1 89 (1799) twelve pious laymen of Elberfeld associated themselves for prayer in behalf of missions to the heathen — the first Ger- man mission union.' While, however, the scope of devotional vision had been evidently enlarged, and a growing definiteness of desire had become manifest, the clearly defined missionary con- cert was not yet established. But the quick- ened spiritual life of Great Britain, as seen in a new order of prayerfulness, was a needful preparation for something yet more specific and far-reaching. Epochs of prayer are the most significant epochs in the history of Christ's kingdom. IN AMERICA. Our land was experiencing a sad decline of religious earnestness at the beginning of the last century ; and yet new life manifested itself earlier here than in England. Un- * G. Warneck. Abriss einer Geschichte der prot. Missionen. Leipzig, 1883. S. 67. 1 90 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. v. converted members in the churches, and even unconverted men in the ministry, were evidently numerous. But the revival of 1734-5, at Northampton, where were more than three hundred converts in the course of six months, was the harbinger of better days. Thence onward to the present time, interrupted by depression during and after the war of the Revolution, there has been growth in religious vitality and enterprise. Whiteiield's first visit to this country oc- curred in 1739; and revivals were already a preparation for his labors in New England and the midland colonies. The fervent Blair, the Tennents, and others were roused to great earnestness. At the time of White- field^s third visit (1744-48) not less than twenty ministers in the neighborhood of Boston regarded him as the means of their conversion.' Prayer meetings, and prayer of a different type from what had been prevalent, were widely introduced. * Tracy's Great Awakening, 393. LECT. v.] IN AMERICA. I9I When the memorial of ministers in Scot- land recommending a concert came into the hands of Jonathan Edwards (1746) it was natural that his comprehensive and sagacious mind should take up the subject in a way no one had done before. This is evident from a series of sermons preached by him, and published (1747) in a work already referred to, aiming *' to promote explicit agreement and visible union of God's people in extraordinary prayer for the revival of religion and the advancement of Christ's kingdom on earth." But you notice that the subject of proposed joint supplication was general, not specifically missionary. Men like David Brainerd, as well as his brother John, would of course appreciate the plan therein presented. May 20, 1749, Edwards wrote to Erskine of Scotland, speaking of the benefits of good tidings from that country,' "particularly in ani- mating many in the duty of extraordinary, * Works, X, 399, 400. 192 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. v. united prayer for a general revival of re- ligion, and promoting the concert for prayer proposed from Scotland; which prevails more and more in these parts of the world ; which, together with some other things in some places, are cause of thankfulness, and bode well to the interests of Zion." ' Churches gradually came into the observ- ance. The records, for instance, of a Con- gregational church in Connecticut have the following minute: " 1751, July 4th. At a meeting of the First Church in Bran- ford, voted, that we will join the concert of prayer proposed from Scotland, A. D. 1744." The practice, however, did not by any means become universal, nor was it of very long continuance. During the revolution- ary struggle this, like most forms of religious endeavor, suffered a decline. After the declaration of peace (1783) the union re- ceived to some extent a new impulse, the time being changed to Monday evening. »Do., i, 275-6. LBCT. v.] IN AMERICA. 1 93 A goodly number of churches, and that too in different denominations of Christians, and in other lands as well, adopted the practice/ * Appendix, note 41. LECTURE VI. MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER. CONTINUED.) MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER. (CONTINUED.) In the preceding lecture an attempt was made to trace the genesis of modern prayer unions. We found that in the concert of special prayer, which arose during the last century, petitions for a universal spread of the gospel began to be offered more gener- ally than before. But we did not reach the time when our present periodical concert, specially devoted to missions, was established. We now resume the historical inquiry. The Prayer Union, it will be remembered, was neither exclusively nor distinctly a missionary concert. Edwards's Humble Attempt did not have foreign missions par- ticularly in view. His work, and that con- cert which it helped on, originated in the felt want of home quickening and of more (197) 1 98 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vt. efficient local evangelism. The same was true at first with Andrew Fuller and his friends. Religious desires, however, took on more breadth and fervor, and this devotional education prepared the way for concerted specific pleading in behalf of unevangelized nations. Missions to heathen peoples, which became more numerous at the close of the eighteenth century and since the opening of the nineteenth, were an outcome. All great and benign religious movements are born of prayer, and all effectual prayer is character- ized by definiteness. In the spirit of pre- vailing supplication for others, whoever they may be, there breathes the spirit of missions. EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIX. The year 1806 is one of note in the his- tory of supplication and of evangelization. Among English-speaking Christians a grow- ing interest in the spiritual condition of the heathen manifested itself. For the first time two bishops of the Established Church LECT.vi.] EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIX. 1 99 took part in the Church Missionary Society ; and in that year the first two English clergy- men were appointed to missionary service. Three evangelistic laborers started from Europe for Sierra Leone. The two Al- brechts and their associates, sent out by the London Missionary Society, pursued their painful journey beyond the Orange River toward the interior of Namaqua Land. English rulers in India did indeed prohibit Chater and Robinson, Baptist missionaries, from taking any step by conversation or otherwise toward persuading the natives to embrace Christianity, but Robert Ralston, a Presbyterian gentleman of Philadelphia, re- mitted to their mission, from himself and others, between three and four thousand dol- lars ; Claudius Buchanan was pursuing his important researches on the Coromandel coast ; and John Norris, of Salem, Massa- chusetts, pledged ten thousand dollars to- ward the proposed Theological Seminary at Andover, because of his interest in foreign missions, and in an expectation, which has 200 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vi. been realized, that many ministers would there be trained for service among the heathen. March 6, 1806, Rev. Zechariah Mayhew, the fifth of this name and direct lineage, who labored among Indians on Martha's Vineyard, died at the age of eighty- nine. The next month, April 25, Alexander Duff was born. It was in 1806 that Samuel J. Mills — whose mother delighted to talk of Eliot and Brainerd, and who had consecrated this child to the service of God as a mission- ary — entered Williams College. The first token of conversion which his father noticed ( 1 801) was the remark: "I cannot conceive of any course of life in which to pass my days that would be so pleasant as to go and communicate the gospel of salvation to the poor heathen." He went to Williamstown fresh from a revival atmosphere in his native Litchfield County, Connecticut, and began at once to labor for the spiritual welfare of fellow-students. But his thoughts went forth to the heathen world. With four praying associates, sheltered by a haystack from the LECT.vi.] CERTAIN RESULTS. 20I passing thunder-storm, Mills proposed send- ing the gospel to benighted Asiatics, declar- ing it could be done. " Come," said he, " let us make it a subject of prayer under this haystack, while the dark clouds are going and the clear sky is coming." All but one led successively in behalf of foreign missions, Mills closing with petitions that seemed en- thusiastic. That band, somewhat enlarged, continued to meet once a week either in a grove or at a private dwelling, and the sub- ject of evangelizing the heathen continued to find place in their supplications.' Such was the first specific and exclusively mission- ary concert in this country. CERTAIN RESULTS. And what followed? It led to the first specific and exclusively foreign missionary society in the United States, which was formed at Williams College two years later (September 7, 1808) and of which the follow- ^ Proceedings of the Missionary Jubilee held at Williams Col- lege. Boston, 1856. 202 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lhct. vi. ing is the constitution : " The object of this Society shall be to effect, in the person of its members, a mission to the heathen. No person shall be admitted who is under an engagement of any kind which shall be in- compatible with going on a mission to the heathen. Each member shall keep abso- lutely free from every engagement which, after his prayerful attention, and after con- sultation with the brethren, shall be deemed incompatible with the objects of this Society ; and shall hold himself ready to go on a mission when and where duty may call." Among the first five signatures then made — Samuel J. Mills one of them — are the names of James Richards and Luther Rice, who a few years later became foreign mis- sionaries. Two months afterward (November 9, 1808) the missionary band adopted this res- olution : " That we will, every Sabbath morn- ing at sunrise, address the throne of grace in behalf of the objects of this Society." ' ^ Samuel M. Worcester. Life and Labors of Rev. Samuel Worcester, D.D. Boston, 1852. Vol. ii, page 85. LECT. VI.] CERTAIN RESULTS. 203 It is now one third of a century since I stood by a grave at Tillepally in Ceylon. Beneath an unpretentious monument shaded 3y a margosa tree rest the remains of one of the men who were at that meeting under the haystack. The inscription reads thus : " In memory of the Rev. James Richards, A.M., American missionary, who died August 3, 1822, aged 36 years and 3 months. One of the projectors of the first missions from his country, he gave himself to the work — a physician both to the soul and body. He was in health laborious, in sickness patient, in death triumphant. He is not, for God took him." Yes, and just as God took him he exclaimed, " Oh ! what glories I see ! " My thoughts ran back to Williamstown, to the prayer meeting and the consecration there ; and then glanced over the many streams of blessed influence that have flowed thence to the several continents and many islands of the sea. True, Richards's term of service on foreign ground was short, and even that brief period one of pulmonary 204 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vi. weakness and decline ; but he was a man of faith, a man of prayer, and on the scale of the invisible kingdom doubtless lived as long as an antediluvian patriarch. The next Lord's Day after I visited this humble grave, while attending divine service in a large place of worship overshadowed by lofty palms and other luxuriant trees of the trop- ics — sweet-scented shrubs and flowers send- ins: in their incense — a bird with brilliant plumage suddenly entered by a window and darted out by the one opposite. It was just a flash of beauty through the Lord's taber- nacle. Yet that simple incident made a more vivid and lasting impression than all the flocks of birds seen amidst the groves and spicy breezes of Ceylon. Life too is to be estimated by the impression it makes, whether that be the result of a few moments or of many years. So far then as history has ascertained, the first personal consecration in our land to evangelistic labor among the heathen of other lands, as well as the first missionary LECT. VI.] CERTAIN RESULTS. 205 prayer meeting, the first expressly such, took place in the shadow of Greylock. Between that prayer meeting and the generally rising tide of missionary interest in this country the connection is indisputable and intimate. " I have been in situations to know," says Dr. Griffin, President of Williams College, " that from the counsels formed in that sacred conclave, or from the mind of Mills himself, arose the American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions, the Ameri- can Bible Society, and the African School under the care of the Synod of New York and New Jersey ; besides all the impetus given to domestic missions, to the Coloniza- tion Society, and to the general cause of benevolence in both hemispheres." ' The hearts of other young men were, quite independently of one another, moved at the same period to inquiry and prayer regarding personal duty to the heathen. Notably was that true of Asahel Nettleton, * Life and Labors of Samuel Worcester, ii, chap. 2. 206 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vi. who was born the same day with Mills (April 2 1, 1783). The two men were also born again about the same time in the year 1 80 1, and both devoted themselves to foreign missions, although, for different reasons, neither entered upon that service. An en- tire harmony of views and feelings led to their acquaintance ' (1807). ^^^ others be- sides the group at Williamstown, as Nott'' and Judson, were, after no long interval, similarly moved by the Spirit of God. Such coincidences in the kingdom of divine grace and providence always betoken sonie note- worthy movement. Under the lead of Mills, it should be added, the Society of Inquiry in the Andover Theological College, then so called, took its rise, January 8, 18 11, which society voted that its members set apart a half or whole hour, beginning at sun- rise on the Lord's Day, to secret prayer for ^ Bcnnet Tyler. Memoir of the Life and Character of Rev. Asahel Nettleton. Hartford, 1S45. Chap. 2. * Who died in the city of Hartford, June 1st, 1869. LECT. VI.] CERTAIN RESULTS. 20/ the spread of the gospel among the heathen.' Shortly after there occurred an incident which showed how the spirit of supplication was being poured upon youths younger than those in the Theological Seminary. On a Fast Day in the spring of the same year six pupils of Phillips Academy went into a grove behind the Old South meeting-house at Andover, and knelt down together round the stump of a tree. They had no previous special connection with one another, and their meeting was without previous fore- thought or appointment. But the half-dozen who extemporized that season of prayer be- came men of mark in the world of Christian activity. Among them were the late Dr. Stephen H. Tyng, of New York, Alva Woods, President of the University of Ala- bama, Daniel Temple, missionary in the Levant, and William Goodell, whose record of " F'orty Years in the Turkish Empire " is so well known.^ * Memoirs of American Missionaries formerly connected with the Society of Inquiry. Boston, 1833. Page 17. ^ Proceedings of the Missionary Jubilee. Page 70. 208 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vi MONTHLY MISSIONARY CONCERT. The year 1806 has been named. A decade thereafter we come to another epoch of some note in the history of missions and in the history of intercession. October 23, 181 5, five missionaries sail from Newbury- port for Northern Ceylon ; after much de- vout wrestling our missionaries at Bombay receive permission from the government to remain in India, and they begin to preach in Marathi ; Messrs. Fyvie and Skinner, sent out by the London Missionary Society, arrive at Bombay (August) ; William Jowett, one of the first clergymen of the Church of England who offered service to the Church Missionary Society, embarks (September 4) for Malta ; the Wesleyan Mission in South Africa is begun ; Dr. Henderson visits Ice- land in behalf of the British and Foreis^n Bible Society; Henry Obookiah, who was the occasion of our mission to the Sandwich Islands, is received into the church at Tor- LECT.vi.] IN THIS COUNTRY. 209 ringford, Connecticut (April 9). After eight- een years of labor, apparently to little pur- pose till then, the Spirit of God in answer to prayer is poured upon Tahiti ; idols are thrown into the fire, some of the priesthood renounce idolatry, and the Christian relig- ion becomes apparently triumphant. Protest- ant Christendom was gradually waking up more and more to its evangelistic duties and to the need of a wdder and stronger grasp in prayer. IN THIS COUNTRY. It does not appear that the missionary monthly concert of prayer had been intro- duced into the United States, at least not at all generally, before 181 5. True, as long ago as 1747 David Brainerd left a dying injunction for his beloved Christian Indians, that, at the concert which the year before had been recommended from Scotland, they should pray for the conversion of the world. True, as we have seen, the missionary element entered now and then, here and there, into 2IO MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vi. that observance. The New Yor^ Missionary Society, composed of Dutch Reformed, Pres- byterian, and Baptist churches, and organized November, 1796, adopted a " Plan for Social Prayer" (January, 1798), by which a series of union prayer meetings was established. Those meetings were held on the second Wednesday evening of each month, and in rotation at the several churches thus united. The object was defined to be " the purpose of offering up their prayers and supplica- tions to the God of grace that he would be pleased to pour out his Spirit on his church, and send the gospel to all nations ; and that he would succeed the endeavors of this Society and all societies instituted on the same principles for the same ends." It was before that Society that Dr. John M. Mason preached his well-known sermon, " Messiah's Throne " (November, 1797), and Dr. John PI. Livingston his sermon " Christ All in All " (April, 1799). It does not appear, however, that this Society was of long con- tinuance, or that the meeting in question LECT. VI.] IN THIS COUNTRY. 2 I I contributed very materially to the spirit and habit of prayer in behalf of the evangeliza- tion of heathen nations.' The General Assembly of the Presbyte- rian Church in May, 1808, recommended "a day of fasting and prayer that God would pour out his Spirit upon the churches more generally, and bless the effort to Christianize the heathen, and extend the blessings of the gospel." Brethren in Christ of every denom- ination were invited to join in this, and ministers were requested to cooperate in securing a wide observance. But such movements, so far as they were public and at all general, had been, with respect to mis- sions, only occasional and incidental. An educational process was slowly going on. Yet a union for the monthly remembrance of the heathen world specially did not then exist, save only as perhaps an individual church may have adopted the practice.^ In * Appendix, note 42. ^ Appendix, note 43. 2 I 2 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vi. the Paiioplist for January, 1815/ there ap- peared an article advocating a wider atten- tion to this union meetins: on the first Monday evening of every month, which had been adopted by inany Christians in Europe, among some in America, among mission- aries too, their families and conorreorations, in Asia and Africa. Three years later there were said to be hundreds of churches in our country which had taken up the practice, a practice which continued to extend.'' The General Synod of the Reformed (Dutch) Church, as early as 181 8, adopted a resolu- tion favoring the observance of the mission- ary concert. At several subsequent synods similar action has been taken. In 1844 the General Synod resolved, " That it be and hereby is recommended to the churches to set apart the first Monday of the next year for special prayer for the conversion of the world." * Vol. xi, pages 19, 20. * Appendix, note 44. LECT.vi.] PARK STREET CONCERT. 213 We have now glanced at the rise and progress of one of the most auspicious move- ments of modern times. No department of human agency in the Messianic kingdom is more important than that of faith — the exercise of faith manifesting itself in united supplication for the greatest of all objects. PARK STREET CONCERT. The earliest observance of this kind to become noted was the monthly concert at Park Street Church, Boston. It will not be out of place to give a sketch. Although the American Board was organized in 1810, and its first missionaries embarked in 181 2, not till six years later (18 18) did the meeting now referred to become established.' Jeremiah Evarts, Esq., Treasurer of the American Board, having removed to Boston, took an active part in that concert, and an invitation was given to the Old South "Church to join them. The first union meeting was held in ^ Appendix, note 45. 2 14 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vi. July, 1818/ But from 1833, for about one third of a century, there was a general gathering in Park Street on the first Monday evening or first Sunday evening of January, each year. During the winter season the attendance at this united concert was not far from five hundred. Sometimes the church was crowded. The raising of funds did not occupy a prominent place in the meeting; and yet collections for twenty-four years (181 7 -1842) amounted to over fifty-two tliousand and five hundred dollars. A grow- ing interest had become manifest before the revival of 1823. The Boston pastors of that period, having little previous personal ac- quaintance with such seasons of marked religious quickening, thought the missionary concert would interfere with the special work of grace, and hence appointed their several inquiry meetings instead. Of course the concert languished. But those pastors after- * Appendix, note 46. LECT.vi.] PARK STREET CONCERT. 215 wards changed their minds, as well they might, for nothing harmonizes more readily with a genuine revival interest than an intelligent interest in Christian missions. The impenitent need to be taught that it is no less their duty to seek the salvation of others, near and afar off, than it is to seel: their own salvation. Instances are on rec- ord in which revivals have first manifested themselves at the monthly concert.' The united concert was always in charge of some pastor or pastors who were expected to conduct the devotional exercises, and often to give an address in the latter part of the service. Voices most often heard were those of Rev. Lyman Beecher and Justin Edw^ards; Drs.Wisner, Blagden, and Rogers; Samuel Greene and his successor, Nehemiah Adams. Lowell Mason, with his trained choir, did much to render the occasion delightful. Time was not consumed in dec- lamation or exhortation. There was a steady * Appendix, note 47 2l6 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vi. aim to reach thoughtful minds, and to make all intelligently interested in gospel promul- gation. Sometimes the service was rendered specially interesting by the presence and parting words of missionaries about to embark, or the salutations of one recently returned. At such times, as well as at other times. Dr. Adams almost invariably made one or more of his characteristic and happy uses of Scripture. There are persons now living who love to recall instances, such as on the occasion when the first packet, Morn- ing Star^ was about to sail. Dr. Adams, after speaking tenderly to the missionaries, addressed a few words specially to the Cap- tain, Rev. Hiram Bingham, a missionary and the son of a missionary, closing with " And I will give thee the Morning Star." The address of Dr. Poor at one of these gatherings, soon after his arrival from Cey- lon, comes vividly to my mind. An unusu- ally large company of persons designated to the foreign service were present; and when they stood up to receive his counsels, the LECT.vi.] PARK STREET CONCERT. 217 venerable but vivacious old gentleman counted them, and then exclaimed, " Eleven ! auspicious number ! Not a Judas among them." A prominent feature of the meeting usually was the communicating of well-con- sidered and pertinent information. Mr. Evarts early began to give missionary intel- ligence from letters and journals received. Mr. Dwight, pastor of Park Street Church, often occupied the later portion of the even- ing with miscellaneous information, which his accurate acquaintance with geography and his habits of reading qualified him in an unusual manner to do with acceptance and profit. During the last years of Mr. Evarts's offi- cial life, and after his decease (1831), the chief labor of preparing for that part of the service at this union meeting, and for five years at the separate Bowdoin Street con- cert, devolved upon Secretary Anderson. I have examined a pile of his manuscripts used on those occasions, nearly one hundred 2l8 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vi. and fifty in number, varying from two pages to over forty pages of letter paper each, the aggregate of pages being not far short of two thousand. A great variety of topics occurs : Apostolic missions ; origin of for- eign missions in this country; Indians and Indian missions ; general view of the hea- then world ; Brahminic philosophy ; Orient- al Christians ; the Nestorians ; the Druzes ; missionary geography ; missionary maps ; the Sandwich Islands; mission printing presses ; dying scenes among missionaries ; death-beds of converts from heathenism; revivals on mission fields; meetings of the Board; summary of contributions; progress in fifty years. At most of the concerts ex- tracts were also read from letters received. It is hardly necessary to add that free use was made of missionary maps. One incidental benefit of this united con- cert was that it served as a bond of union among the churches of Boston. Christian men and women of the same faith gathered in a consecrated place, for the time forget- i^cT.vi.] PARK STREET CONCERT. 219 ting local interests and local prejudices, if such there were, joining supplications and praises, and joining hands, in behalf of the noblest cause which can enlist human sym- pathies. Hearts were cemented. * Mission- ary fellowship is the highest type of Chris- tian fellowship. The Park Street Church monthly meeting was a normal school for broadening character and views. The large assemblies were by the very object which attracted them lifted out of the sphere of what is merely personal and narrow. They listened to accurate information concerning the social and moral condition of remote heathen countries, and concerning the labors and trials of missionary acquaintances in foreign lands, as well as the efforts of other branches of Christ's church in the same great work ; prophecies and promises of God's word were set before them ; the ser- vice of sacred song lent its elevating aid ; and concerted supplication carried their thoughts to the summit and crown of all that is excellent and sublime. It was more 2 20 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vi. than a liberal education ; it was a college of heavenly discipline. Many of the older and better informed friends of missions now liv- ing in Boston and vicinity were trained in that school. Young men of the period were stimulated to save in order to give. Small sums were all they could contribute at first. A great sensation was created when at length a man first gave one hundred dollars. Some of them now give by the thousand annually; and to this training is it due in no small measure that the Congregational churches of Boston have contributed more than two millions of dollars to foreign mis- sions. A great cloud of witnesses — Judge Hubbard, Governor Armstrong, John Tap- pan, Henry Homes, C. J. Homer, Daniel Noyes, John C. Proctor, Daniel Safford, Moses L. Hale, Charles Scudder, William J. Hubbard, Charles Stoddard, and many an- other graduating from that institute — have entered upon an advanced course of service in the kingdom of God. In its day the Park Street monthly concert was more LECT. VI.] METHODS OF CONDUCTING. 221 noted than any other ; and although the circumstances were unique, this sketch may supply hints for ordinary meetings at the present time. METHODS OF CONDUCTING. At the outset the first Monday evening ot each month was selected. As that day of the week is one of the most busy and weari- some, especially in household labors, it was found not to be the most eligible, and about fifty years since the custom of holding the concert on Sabbath evening came into vogue. Later the observance on Monday evening was very generally given up. The attendance increased. But when a change in the hours of Sabbath services began to gain ground — the Bible school taking the place of the second sermon, the latter being carried into the evening — the concert was to some extent transferred once a month to the time and place of the weekly church meeting. That is now the case in some of our cities and larger towns. Naturally 2 2 2 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vi. the attendance of non-church members is smaller than on the Lord's Day evening. Whatever arrangement is made, care should be taken that no discredit be put upon the concert, and nothing be done to create an impression that this object is one of second- ary imiportance. The aim should be kept in mind to secure the advantages of general simultaneous supplication.' While uniformity as to time and place is desirable, occasional meetings for the same purpose may well be held, as the providence of God shall sug^o^est. Some of the most interesting hours thus spent have been of that description, as groups of friends on their way to and from distant missionary gatherings have assembled in a hotel parlor, or evening and morning have so united in a railroad parlor-car, though in rapid motion.^ Once it was my privilege to attend a monthly concert in a rude khan at Antioch, Syria, * Appendix, note 48. ^ Ora et ibi templum sit. Bernard. LECT.vi.] METHODS OF CONDUCTING. 223 whence the first apostolic missionary tour was undertaken. The thank-offering of the occasion was received in a tin cup, from which at an earlier hour we had received sacramental wine while celebratins^ Christ's dying love. Only let a strong desire exist for the coming of the kingdom, and oppor* tunities will occur not unfrequently for special united intercession. The more out of the way the place, the nearer it may be to the mercy seat. A miner of Freiberg in Saxony once sent to Wichern's J^m^e Haus at Horn, saying that down where he was, more than a hundred yards under the earth, there were hearts and hands raised to the Lord in its behalf.' When Rangoon, where Judson had suffered so much from the cruel Burmese, was captured by the English army, Havelock, with more than a hundred of his soldiers, went to a noted Buddhist temple in a retired grove, secured a large room lined with idols, and there held a prayer meeting. '^W. F. Stevenson. Praying and Working. New York, 1873. Page 153. 2 24 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vr. The place was usually a dark one ; but now every idol had a lamp in its lap, while the devout officer had a Bible and hymn-book in his hand. The apartment rang with the notes of Christian song and supplication. It is an apostolic utterance : " I desire there- fore that men pray everywhere." " Jesus, where'er thy people meet, There they behold thy mercy seat ; Where'er they seek thee thou art found, And every place is hallowed ground." There have appeared in later years nu- merous books, tracts, and fugitive articles on the manner of conducting the usual church prayer meeting. It is high time that careful consideration should be given to the man- agement of a meeting certainly not less important, and which will probably one day come to be regarded as second to no other gathering of the kind. The devotional part of the exercises I reserve for remark farther on. It is obvious that a brief portion of holy Scripture should be read early in the meet- LBCT.vi.] METHODS OF CONDUCTING. 225 ing. Missions have little meaning apart from the Word of God. Prophetic an- nouncements concerning the Messiah and his kingdom are scattered throughout the Old Testament. New Testament teachings, especially in the parables concerning the same kingdom, its nature, claims and destiny, abound. Our Saviour's words, relating as they do so often not only to the personal needs of disciples but to soldiers in their Great Captain's long campaign still going on, are largely pertinent. The lives and writings of apostles furnish many appropriate passages. So does the Apocalypse. No phase of modern missions, no juncture, no individual occurrence can present itself suited to which some passages of Holy Writ may not be found. Connected with the brief Scripture lesson, a few words — always few, condensed and pertinent — should occasionally at least be employed, in order to connect the signifi- cance of the reading with the occasion. One maxim deserves a prominent place — that the missionary concert ought to be and 2 26 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vi. may be made not less attractive and valuable than any other meeting the year round. It will cost labor, but it is worth the labor it costs. Earnest prayer cannot be expected for that in which people feel no interest; nor can they be expected to feel an interest in that with which they are not acquainted. Hence there must be steady, well-directed endeavors to carry on a missionary education of one's flock. The concert furnishes a fine opportunity for evangelistic schooling. Un- less years of the best training under prede- cessors in a given pastorate have prepared the way in this line for a new incumbent, long and skillful pains may be required ; but the meeting must be rescued from a coma- tose state„ However much of general intel- ligence there may be in a congregation, it is not safe to assume that there is a great deal known about missions. Dr. Christlieb, of Bonn, told me of a professor in the Univer- sity of that city, learned, well-informed as a man of letters, not ill-disposed, whom he found to be astonishingly ignorant of the LBCT. VI.] METHODS OF CONDUCTING. 227 great missionary movements in our day. Such men may be found at other universities. Look into a recent encyclopaedia of theology by Dr. Rabiger, and see how inadequate is the range of literature to which he refers under the head of missions, only two of the works being in our language.' Nor is it ever safe to assume of any congregation or any individual that all desirable information is possessed, and that persistent painstaking is not needed. Think of present facilities for acquisition and communication compared w4th former times ; think of the great en- couragements reported on mission fields all over the world; and then call to mind how little comparatively it took a century and a quarter ago to animate President Edwards. He wrote to a friend in Scotland (1748) about encouraging news received from abroad : " The good disposition of the King and the Prince and Princess of Wales ; the * Encyklopadie der Theologie. Leipzig, 1880. Translated by John Macpherson. Edinburgh, 1885. ii, 259, 260. 2 28 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vi. late awakening of the two Princesses, Ame- lia and Caroline, and the hopeful conversion of one or both of them; the hopeful, real piety of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and his good disposition towards experimental religion and the dissenters ; several of the clergy of the Church of England lately ap- pearing to preach the doctrines of grace," etc. " These things (at least some of them) are great in themselves, and are of that nature that they have a most promising aspect on the interests of Zion, and appear to be happy presages and forerunners of yet greater and better things that are coming." Now the chief embarrassment arises from the wealth of facts showing the progress of the Messianic kincrdom. System is needful. And first of all in a regular, comprehensive presentation to be carried on for years, a geographical basis must be made. The boundaries, size, and physical features of each mission field should be presented. Then comes an ethnographi- cal portraiture — the people, their race, his- LECT.vi.] METHODS OF CONDUCTING. 229 tory, social rank, characteristic occupations and habits ; their morals ; their religious beliefs and customs; evangelistic labors among them hitherto; the results and the prospects. Much of patience and repetition will come in play. Too much should not be attempted in any one meeting ; and a dis- proportionate amount of secular information must be avoided at every meeting. One way of securing good results is to enlist a people in missionary self-education. Home talent should be called out. The more who take part in the course of the year the better. Young men and old men may be drawn into active cooperation. Young ladies and older ladies may contribute papers. Ten minutes is as long a time as such con- tributions should occupy. Several three- minute reports are better than a single long one, other things equal ; but always on a plan, shunning a mere promiscuous retail like the column of newspaper miscellanies. Seldom should there be much if any reading from a missionary periodical. That is pre- 2 30 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vr sumed to be in the hands of all, and what- ever is drawn from such sources had better be given from memory. Variety must be consulted. It is too much to say that no two meetings in succes- sion should be exactly alike. It may, how- ever, be suitably said that not many succes- sive concerts had better have precisely the same type. Only declining interest can be expected from humdrum uniformity. Never allow the meeting to fall into ruts so deep that it will be difficult to get out of them. Cause and effect sometimes change places. Interest in missions will make an interesting concert ; and an interesting concert will create an interest in missions. True, there are few brotherhoods, like the first church in Oberlin, Ohio, from which a score of members have gone to the foreign work in the course of a few years, and in which there will naturally be a deep interest, when the evening comes round, for intercession ; but occasionally an officer of a missionary society, or a returned missionary, or a missionary's i^cT.vi.] METHODS OF CONDUCTING. 23 1 son, or a Christian traveler may be present. Now a mission circle may have an exercise, and now a Sabbath-school class. A short dialogue will sometimes be in place ; and for preparing such, cultivated ladies often have peculiar tact. Once a year at least the Sunday-school as a whole should occupy the time chiefly. At considerable intervals questions previously given out to individuals may be asked by the pastor. With average fertility of invention he will have no great difficulty in securing such desirable varia- tions as shall keep expectation on the alert. Any uniform routine for a long time is liable to cloy. Hence let no method become ste- reotyped. Wall maps are an indispensable auxiliary. The late Rev. Albert Barnes once carried on a course of missionary lectures through several years. He began without using maps, but soon became convinced of their necessity. They are not less indispensable in the department of missionary education than in primary or high school education. 232 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vi. No congregation is so well informed con- cerning the geography of evangelization as not to be greatly aided by the eye as well as by the ear. The more illiterate the audi- ence the greater the need. Felix Neff, that model pastor in the High Alps, with a view to interest his rude mountaineers in the monthly concert, taught them geography. Learning the extent of the world and its moral desolations, their zeal in the cause was kindled. This will make a valuable variety in the religious curriculum of any congregation. It is now easy to procure mural charts and outline delineations more or less filled in with required details, especi- ally for mission fields of the American Board, and that too at a small cost. Cartography is at the present time so universally a branch of education in our public schools, that it will not be difficult to obtain from home production all which is needful. Young men and young ladies may be enlisted with great advantage to themselves, whether these home manufactures are only for temporary LECT. VI.] METHODS OF CONDUCTING. 233 use or are of more permanent value. On some occasions the blackboard may be put in requisition. At intervals mere lads might be brought forward to use the indica- tor a few minutes. Other things equal, that pastor will be most successful in this line of endeavor who is himself the best student of geography. The first Napoleon in grading his generals used to make this commendatory memoran- dum against certain names : " Well ac- quainted with maps." Skillfully done, it is always one of the most enlivening and grat- ifying variations in a concert, when brief outlines with required topographical details are presented to the eye of a spectator. Such maps are a protest against narrowness. The late Dr. Henry B. Hooker, Secretary of the Massachusetts Home Missionary So- ciety, was, while pastor in a country town, always successful at this meeting. " I love," he said, " to stand before a map of a nation, especially a map of the world, and pointing the audience to it say, * There are the 2 34 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vi regions, the continents, the islands of a fallen world. Our Redeemer is their right- ful possessor, though the present ruler is the prince of darkness. We are wresting them from Satan by our missionary triumphs.'" Dr. Hooker describes his method of pre- paring maps for the concert. " A feather dipped in black ink, and, as occasion re- quires, in red, was my dignified instrument in drawing the outline. Rivers, mountains, and other prominent objects were sketched with a feather dipped in ink." It is possible that, in a rural parish, where none of the special accessories can be had, such as I have mentioned in connection with the Park Street concert, a meeting of this kind may be maintained with relatively greater suc- cess.' The Rev. Daniel Crosby, when he began his ministry in a retired hill town of Massachusetts, found that the concert was completely prostrate. He prepared himself with care, and at the close of the Sabbath ^ Appendix, note 49. I.ECT.VI.] METHODS OF CONDUCTING. 235 service preceding the first Monday of a month, announced his subject. The result he thus describes : ' " We had our meeting in the upper story of the school-house, which was the largest room we could command, out of the meeting-house. I went early that I might get my maps in order. The people poured in, and soon the room was filled. The experiment was triumphantly success- ful. Everybody was interested. Almost twelve years have elapsed, and yet I can recall the sensations with which I sat down by my study fire in the evening after the meeting. Henceforth our monthly concerts were our most numerously attended evening meetings. We often had to bring in extra seats. And what is the most pleasing of all, in one instance certainly, if not more, the first indications of a powerful revival of religion were discovered in the monthly concert." Missionary Herald. Vol. xxxv, page 122. 1839. 236 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vi. OTHER FORMS OF CONCERT. We would not forget that there have been and are other periodical occasions of con- certed prayer. For some years there was maintained — what still survives here and there — an annual concert of prayer for the world. In the winter of 1832 a circular from Lausanne, Switzerland, was received in this country inviting all churches to observe the last Monday of the year as a day of fast- ing and prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the whole world. At the meeting of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia the next spring (1833), the subject was brought before that body by the delegate from the General Association of Massachusetts.' A resolution recommending the proposed ob- servance was unanimously adopted and it met with general favor. Coincident seasons of refreshing from on high in foreign lands, * Probably Dr. John Codman. LECT.vi.] OTHER FORMS OF CONCERT. 237 as well as revivals in our own land, were afterwards recorded. Three years later (1836) an appeal in behalf of this annual concert went from our country to Great Britain, which met with a hearty response. Circulars inviting union in prayer on the day named — the first Monday of each year — were issued for several years, and in one instance a gentleman had ten thousand of them printed and circulated. One important recommendation of the Evangelical Alliance, organized in London, 1846, was the yearly observance of a Week of Prayer throughout the world. Foreign missions is among the objects then specified, and which has since been named annually in the printed circulars enumerating topics of supplication. It was the measure thus proposed which probably suggested to the Presbyterian mission at Lodiana, India, an invitation addressed by them in 1858 to the Church of Christ throughout the world, to observe the first week in January " as a time of special prayer that God would now pour 238 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vi. out his Spirit upon all flesh, so that all the ends of the earth might see his salvation; that on the first day — that is, on Monday, the 8th — be a holy convocation for solemn fasting, humiliation, and prayer, and that on the last day — that is Sabbath, the 14th — be a holy convocation for thanksgiving and praise; that the intervening time be spent in private and social exercise of prayer and praise, as the circumstances of each com- munity may dictate ; that all God's people, of every name and nation, of every continent and island, be cordially and earnestly invited to unite with us in a similar observance of that time; and that from the receipt of this invitation onward all be requested, in their secret, family, and public devotions, habitu- ally to entreat the Lord to pour out upon all his people so much of the Spirit of grace and supplication as to prepare them for such an observance of the time designated as may meet with his approval and secure his blessing." This movement absorbed the one-day concert which had preceded. LECT. VI.] OTHER FORMS OF CONCERT. 239 The Day of Intercession as observed in England is another specialty of prayer de- serving notice. The year 1871 being a year of more than usual depression, in view of missions conducted by English Episcopali- ans, a member of the Establishment was moved to say, " Let us agree upon a day of intercessory prayer to the Lord of the har- vest of souls." Gradually a plan was formed for securing the cooperation of the whole Anglican Communion on a stated day. Friday, the 20th of December, 1872, was widely observed in the way proposed, nor was the observance restricted to the Church of England at home and among her depen- dencies. In 1875, St. Andrew's Day and the week following were recommended as a convenient time for missionary intercession. Happy results, which must be accounted answers to prayer thus offered, have been noticed from time to time.' ^ Authorized Report of the Second Missionary Conference held at Oxford, 1877. Pages 180-197. 240 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vi. In 1886 the Church Missionary Society instituted a " Cycle of Prayer " and issued a detailed program. At the present time over thirteen thousand members are enrolled. They are of all classes, young and old, male and female, rich and poor, at home and abroad — there being associations as far off as Queensland and Tasmania. It is an encouraging sign of the times that prayer unions more or less limited, but with a more specific aim, have been formed. That among Moravians will be noted in the next lecture. Another, which originated in London, 1880, is entitled "Women's Prayer Union to seek blessings upon the two hun- dred millions of heathen women in China " — the chief object being to remember the women of that land and those working among them, in prayer every day. Friends of the late Bishop Parker at Cambridge, England, have started an " Africa Prayer Union." Membership requires that each pray definitely on one day in the week for the spread of the gospel in Africa, read LHCT.vi.] EXTRA-DENOMINATIONAL INTEREST. 24 1 regularly about one or more of the African mission fields, and correspond with some African missionary. EXTRA-DENOMINATIONAL INTEREST. The suggestions thus far made have chief respect to the foreign missionary work of one's own denomination. The greater in- terest and endeavor will of course center there. With that the young and the old need first to become familiar. But no church can afford to practice the narrow- ness of wholly restricting thought to its own field of special responsibility. Such narrowness is at the present time a grow- ing anachronism. Increased inter-denom- inational union of heart and effort is one of the features of our age. An exponent of this should, to some extent, be found in the monthly concert. Happily periodicals spe- cially devoted to this department of Chris- tian endeavor have begun to reflect in some measure the broadening spirit of the day, 242 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vl although there are those which keep the eye uniformly and complacently upon their own sphere alone, forgetful that there are now not less than a hundred missionary societies in existence. Readers, not otherwise in- formed, would never dream but what all other branches of the church were charge- able with entire inactivity. It is compara- tively pardonable for the Chinese to pro- nounce nations which are not within the Celestial Empire " outside barbarians ; " and for Eskimos to deem the Arctic regions all the world that it is worth while to know anything about. But a wise, enterprising pastor will now and then introduce con- densed sketches of other operations besides those of his own denominational board. The effect cannot be otherwise than happy in cherishing the sentiment of Christian brotherhood toward all who are fellow-work- ers unto the kingdom of God. LECTURE VII. MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER. (CONTINUED.) MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER. (CONTINUED.) When did the Christian era begin ? At the moment of Christ's coronation in that world whither he returned ~ his humiliation ended, his atoning work sealed, and his Messianic reign inaugurated. Not till then properly did the old economy close. How does the new dispensation begin ? What is the initial feature which introduces and may well characterize the whole period of the last times ? It is prayer. Though commis- sioned to preach, though having before them an evangelistic field for which the whole of life is too limited, the apostles do not at once set about preaching. Nor do they at once take up the pen, deeming that the mightiest instrument. Nor do they call a convention of delegates from Judea, Gali- (245) 246 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vn. lee, and the region beyond Jordan, to dis- cuss ways and means of obeying the Master's last command. They assemble quietly for prayer. PRIMITIVE CONCERT OF PRAYER. The Christian era began with a concert of prayer — an eight-days prayer meeting. Our Lord's personal retirement from earth made way for his substitute to come. The greatest need then and now, and to the end of time, is the special presence and mighty working of the Holy Spirit. No effective religious power is possessed by apostle or layman till the soul comes devoutly into fellowship with our risen Redeemer. Then, then only is there preparation for outward activities. On the eve of his ascension the Master himself bade the disciples wait. He does not specifically name a prayer meeting. How can they think of occupying them- selves except in prayer ? They know their need of being endued with power from on high ; they know what promise has been i^cT.vii.] PRIMITIVE CONCERT OF PRAYER. 247 given ; they know the way to secure its ful- fillment. In an upper room — not improb- ably the very one where forty days before they sat at the sacramental table with their Lord, and whence he led them out over Kedron — the eleven meet. Thomas is there. The brethren of Jesus who at first did not believe on him. are there. Women are there. The last mention made of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is her presence at the first Christian concert of prayer. There can be no doubt that the leading theme of supplication at that prolonged assemblage of one hundred and twenty devout souls was the promise of the Father, which they had heard, and Christ's promise that they should be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. How must the united cry have gone up time and again; Lord, grant us thy great gift ! Let thy pledge be made good ! May the predicted effusion now take place ! Come, O Com- forter, come ! The fact that, centuries be- fore, prophecy had announced this crowning 248 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vii. gift did not diminish the need of asking for it. That was no absolute blessing which would come, sought or unsought. PRESENT NEED. The same want and earnest seeking are today the chief thing needed by every min- ister and missionary, every church and society under heaven. There may be a crowded attendance at the monthly gather- ing ; great gratification may be experienced in the singing — sometimes arranged a little too dramatically; much interest may be awakened by the graphic presentation of facts secular and religious ; and yet little prayer be offered at the time, and little called forth afterwards. I have attended concerts of prayer, so called, at which only one prayer was offered. Could there be a more humiliating misnomer ? The difficulty of enlisting laymen actively in this part of the service has sometimes led pastors to occupy the time with a lecture; and people may be only too ready to listen to a speaker LBcr.vii.] PRESENT NEED. 249 and even to contribute money, instead of uniting duly in supplication and thanks- giving. Embarrassment from that source at the present time is by no means what it was at the opening of this century. The weekly church prayer meeting was then hardly known, and when special private gatherings for Christian improvement or other religious purposes were held by Congregationalists, it was not generally deemed appropriate for unordained brethren to lead in social prayer. Those members of the Old South Church, Boston, who established the Park Street Church, did not deem it just the thing for one of their own number to offer prayer even before such a limited circle, and there- fore sent for their pastor, Dr. Eckley, or else omitted it altogether.' But information is not all. Facts are only fuel, not the fire. The basis of the missionary concert, as of every such union, lies in the power of the divinely appointed social principle, and, as * Congregational Quarterly, i860. Page 368. Appendix, note 50. 250 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vn. we have seen, it is an ordinance of God that combined prayer should have special effi- cacy. Of all gatherings this should be the focus of concentrated devotional energy. Let nothing then displace prayer, but every- thing serve to stimulate faith and hope before the mercy seat. In this respect it should be a people's meeting, the element of sympathy being called into exercise, so that the subject may come to have a larger place in the habitual life of every believer. There should be an expectation that the concert will prove a rich means of grace, and a con- viction that it is more than consistent with a local revival. For its highest type, every season of quickened spiritual life requires the presence of world-wide claims. Con- verts when born into the kingdom should at the outset learn the length and breadth of the reason why God bestows special grace upon them. Believers, young and old, re- ceive most benefit themselves when seeking most the good of others. LKCT. VII.] APPROPRIATE FEATURES OF PRAYER. 2 5 I APPROPRIATE FEATURES OF PRAYER. I. — Humiliatmi. Calling to mind the condition of the heathen world, the ample religious heritage enjoyed by us, the design of our Heavenly Father in giving us this stewardship, the imperative words of our ascended Lord, the little done as yet toward discipling all na- tions, what can be more fitting than that confession should have place at the concert — deep contrition for indifference and in- activity in the past ; for guilty ignorance of the wants and woes of a perishing world ; for the misapplication if not squandering of substance ; for the withholding of children from the service, and withholding supplica- tion at the throne of grace? No wonder if here and there a penitent child of God should cry out. Can it be that my name is written in heaven ? Can it be that after my sinful failures in duty to the perishing my name should continue recorded there ? The wonder is not that the heathen should 252 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vn, be lost, but that unfaithful Christians can be saved. Well may the petition go up : For- give us for the narrowness of our desires; foro^ive us the selfishness of our interces- sions ; forgive us that our feet have gone forth in no wider range and our hearts with no more of importunity ! Did the man greatly beloved humble himself in Elam too long or too deeply ? In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. 2. — Persevering Earnestness. Rome was not built in a day; Messiah's kingdom is not built up in a day; nor is a nation to be born in a day — as a prophetic promise is so often mistakenly quoted in prayer.' Delay did not discourage the early disciples in their first long prayer meeting. Delay is not denial. The answer tarried, not because their Master had forgotten or was otherwise occupied ; not because thou- sands of Gentiles and Jews were not dying daily; but because the fullness of the time Isa. Ixvi : 8. " Shall a nation be born at once ? " LBCT.vii] APPROPRIATE FEATURES OF PRAYER. 253 had not come ; because faith and humble dependence needed discipline. For over a week they continued with one accord in prayer and supplication. The meeting, however, availed at length, not because it was a long one, but because united, believing, persevering entreaties followed their Lord to his throne on high. We can- not conceive of them as listless, languid, or wavering. Their hearts were set upon a fulfillment of the great promise. Prayer also shall be made for him continually. His advent by his Spirit in the spread of his kingdom, subduing hearts and taking fuller possession of hearts already loyal, is a process it would seem for ages, and for which a more than millennial concert of supplication is required. The church on earth needs to be trained to a patience of hope commensurate with the vastness of Christ's gracious dispensation, and to an earnestness like our Lord's in his yearning over Jerusalem. Only let the people of God learn thoroughly what the church is for; 254 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vn. that it is a sacramental host, organized for the highest object and for all time ; that to give the gospel to mankind universally is no side matter, no incidental affair, but the most urgent duty year by year ; and having come thus to its true place in the heart, it will lead to intercession direct, importunate, persistent. A word of caution touching sincerity may be appropriate now and then. Honest prayer is the only prevailing prayer. The inconsistency of asking great things, while doing nothing, is a grievous offense to him who searcheth the heart. Most sad it is to contemplate the seeming hypocrisy that sometimes exists, the want of harmony between addresses to the throne of grace and the pittances that are doled out. If ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil ? Offer it now unto thy Governor, will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person.? saith the Lord of hosts. Archdeacon Hare relates that he saw the Pope apparently kneeling in prayer for mankind; but he was sitting all the while comfortably in his chair. LECT. VII.] APPROPRIATE FEATURES OF PRAYER. 255 Very ingenuous, comparatively, was that Hindu who inquired how he should pray; and whom Carey asked in turn what he would do if he took a petition to the Gov- ernor for pardon. The man said he should look very sorrowful, and tell a great many lies to excuse himself; and so too if he were going to God ! J. — Particularity of Petition. Generality and vagueness are too often the bane of prayer. " Prayers which do not detain the thoughts on any certain things in particular," says John Foster, " take very slight hold of the auditors." They show also that subjects of petition take but slight hold of the suppliant. Our congregations need to be trained to contemplate specific objects of intercession — as native converts, feeble, ignorant, persecuted, tempted; cate- chumens, requiring much of skill and pa- tience in leading them on to an intelligent, vigorous piety ; native churches, only dim lights at first in the midst of gross dark- 256 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vii. ness ; native pastors, but partially qualified for the guidance and edification of infant Christian bands ; surrounding heathen com- munities, superstitious, suspicious, hostile. Of missionaries and their needs something is more generally known and comes more promptly to mind. But those things most frequently dwelt upon, their self-denial in leaving friends and native land, their perils and the like, are not the things regarding which they most frequently desire the de- votional remembrance of friends, such as effective access to the hearts of the be- nighted, wisdom in the multitude of per- plexing circumstances which they encounter. Missionary children, too, are entitled to a distinct and frequent remembrance, whether in the temporary orphanage of separation from parents, or remaining with them amidst most trying exposures. Not only is the concert of prayer held in all the Moravian provinces, but by a volun- tary movement in 1872 a Prayer Union was established among English Moravians which LHCT. VII.] APPROPRIATE FEATURES OF PRAYER. 257 now embraces some belonging to other na- tionalities. The members engage in unison through the week upon topics of daily in- tercession. For each Monday the subject is " Christian Missionaries," and prayer is offered, as may be seen in a manual issued by the Union.' A few extracts will show what the habit and spirit of the denomina- tion are : " Prosper the endeavors of all thy servants to spread thy gospel among all nations. Make them wise to win souls ; fill them with the Holy Ghost and with faith ; and let them even here have a rich reward in souls saved and sanctified in thy name, who shall be their joy and crown of rejoicing at thy coming." " In thy tender mercy watch over all thy servants who may be traveling by land or sea. Let thy gra- cious word, that thou art ever with them, be this day their comfort and support. Be very near to those who are in danger or in loneliness in thy service." " Keep the * Daily Prayers for Moravian Households. 32 Fetter Lane, London. Pages 6, 7, 77, 79. 258 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vn. children of our missionaries under thy special charge, as thy servants' treasures committed to thy care. Whilst far from their parent's eye, may the little ones be tended and taught by true Christian love for thy sake." When individual laborers in the foreign field have been brought to special notice, it is not amiss to remember them by name. The great apostle of the Gentiles urged: Now I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me — for me. Can it be supposed that after such an appeal to his Christian friends at Rome, they would offer supplication in a periphrastic fashion : For our venerable, devoted, beloved, and well- known friend thy servant, who has requested us to unite with him in addresses to Heaven. f* or would they pray for our beloved brother Paul.f^ Sir John Patteson had been in the habit at family worship, when he read the prayer for missionaries, of mentioning " the LECT.vii.] APPROPRIATE FEATURES OF PRAYER. 259 absent member of this family," but at last he prayed in a clear tone, " Especially for John Coleridge Patteson, missionary bishop." ' In the freedom of social meetings it is no breach of devotional propriety to mention the name of a particular laborer, or land, or locality. Too much of the round-about chills devotion. Those for whom we are the mouth-piece leave us behind while we linger in a needless circumlocution. Well would it be if more suppliants should pray in full health and strength as did the ear- nest Wesleyan, John Hunt, on his death-bed: " Oh, let me pray once more for Fiji ! Lord, for Christ's sake, bless Fiji! Save Fiji! Save thy servants ; save thy people ; save the heathen in Fiji ! " ^ From converted islanders of the Pacific we have something to learn. In their simplicity and warmth they do not hesitate to name individuals in their devotional exercises at social meet- ^ Charlotte M. Yonge. Life of J. C. Patteson. London, 1875. i. 337. ^ AppendLx, note 51. 26o MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vii. ings. The thought of foreign evangelistic labor has acquired such a place among Hawaiian Christians that they seldom offer prayer without at least one petition for their brethren who have gone as missionaries to Micronesia or to other islands. The monthly concert fails in a measure of its appropriate work if it does not lead to a great deal of such specific supplication hab- itually in private, for the same objects as are thus brought to view. In the Moravian litany, to which reference has been made, intercession is suggested: "For all mission- ary societies and missions to both Jews and heathens ; for the new work in Central Africa, for India and China ; for our own foreign missions In particular ; our brethren and sisters stationed in heathen lands ; that more zeal and self-denial may be aroused at home on behalf of the mission cause ; that young men with a true missionary spirit may be stirred up to offer themselves for the Lord's work ; and that all may learn the duty and privilege of serving the Lord by LECT. vii] APPROPRIATE FEATURES OF PRAYER. 26 1 giving. We pray especially for our church's work in Bohemia, and for an open door for gospel work in Moravia." The case is not a solitary one — by and by it will be frequent — mentioned by Dr. Wheeler, President of Euphrates College : " An aged mother in Israel said to me," he remarks, speaking of a New England Christian, " ' Sir, I read the Missionary Herald through, and whenever any special request for prayer is made, I write it on my prayer list in my closet to be remembered daily.' " ' Besides such stated specifications, emergencies will sometimes arise, crises in the history of a home board or a mission abroad, when there will be, just as in the lifetime of a church or community, urgent demand for united prostration before God ; when the pastor may suitably call a meeting expressly for that particular occa- sion. What more fitting than that the Scottish army, on the eve of the battle of Bannockburn, should kneel for a few mo- ' Ten Years on the Euphrates. Boston, 1868. Page 311. 262 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vii. ments in prayer such as that momentous field demanded ? What more reasonable than that they should rise from their knees to assured victory ? ' Critical junctures in the cause of missions call for instant, earnest, triumphant supplication, both social and private. 4. — Efilarged Desires. One arduous yet animating part of the pastor's labor is to educate himself and his people up to the magnitude of the work in hand, the imperial grandeur of that conquest which is to be achieved. Nothing less than universality may be thought of — a breadth of Messianic dominion which would have made the Roman eagle's wings droop. From sea to sea, from pole to pole, are the limits: That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all the nations ; for he must reign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet. ' James Croil. The Missionary Problem. Montreal, 1883. Pages 211, 212. LECT. VII.] APPROPRIATE FEATURES OF PRAYER. 263 Jesus Christ always took In the whole extent of whatever he dwelt upon, and his words have the widest significance. His kingdom includes two worlds — yes, all worlds ; and he would have his disciples rise to the catholicity of his redemptive work, his commands, and his presence ; he would have their conceptions come into line with the Fathers eternal, glorious pur- poses. All nations, is the scale on which he proceeds and on which he is waiting for his people to march. In teaching them how to pray he teaches them to put the greater before the less, the hallowing of God's name, the coming of his kingdom, and the doing of his will universally, to be evermore first in the petitioner's thought ; nothing about individual and temporal needs till higher, vaster things have been asked. Petitions for daily bread and for personal forgiveness, put first, are not acceptable. God is most pleased wdth that which most honors him, and that is w4iat he will most honor. So stinted, so limited to self are 264 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vii. prayers, as often to seem almost akin to those of the Nusairiyeh in Syria, yAio pray God to take out of the hearts of all others than themselves what little light of knowl- edge they may possess ; ' or, as in blunt English, " Lord, bless me and my wife ; my son John and his wife; us four, no more." At this moment, after eighteen centuries, not one in a hundred of the livinof race of men has heard of the great salvation. Is Christianity then a failure .f* No; but many a professed Christian is a failure. From all northern and central Asia, from millions in central Africa, is wafted the cry, Shame, shame ! If there had been no failure in prayer, would there have been, would there now be, a coming short in effort? Withhold intercession corresponding to the greatness of God's grace and of our obligations, and his kingdom will not come. Pray as we should, and not more certainly did Jericho * J/mr}f H. Jessup. The Women of the Arabs. New York, [873. Page 36. LECT. vn] APPROPRIATE FEATURES OF PRAYER. 265 fall than every fortress of heathenism and Mohammedanism will fall. If the Son of Man should come would he find faith on the earth ? Not such as ought to be. Faith that insures personal salva- tion, that accomplishes a little something for others, there is, but as yet only a trifle of such as is well grounded in the great verities of the Messianic kingdom ; such as is thoroughly robust, taking a vigorous hold of the greater promises, and which removes mountains. A scale of narrow- ness is the prevailing scale. The prophets of failure, whose vocation is to show them« selves sagacious in discovering grounds of hesitancy and inaction, are more heeded than the stalwart believers of earlier times who staggered not at the largest promises of God. Genuine faith builds on some- thing besides conjecture and probability, education and civilization. It is staked on the veracity of One who cannot deceive nor be deceived. It ventures on God's word simply and without hesitation ; it vent 266 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vn ures for Christ promptly and without res- ervation. It puts the crown on that head where it belongs. Enough that the divine record reads: And this gospel of the king- dom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations. God has put himself under covenant engage- ments ; and true faith will not dream of questioning his ability or his faithfulness; nor will it cast about for devices to help him make good his promises. The world can any day overcome opinion ; faith alone overcomes the world. In mechanics we know whether a given obstacle can be re- moved, by knowing the power that can be brought to bear upon it. Is anything too hard for the Lord ? Is he less a God who can do wonders today, than when he took Israel through the Red Sea and through Jordan dry-shod? Now the monthly concert gives admirable opportunities for supplementing and apply- ing pulpit instructions concerning this queen virtue. Believers need to be put LBCT. VII.] APPROPRIATE FEATURES OF PRAYER. 267 upon a mighty wrestling with the Angel of the Covenant. According to your faith be it unto you, is the pledge, and here is a palestra for the required training. The Church's Fortunate Islands are the Islands of Test. Let the boats be burned behind her and she will neither find nor wish for a bridge. Try and Trust are the two little words which John Williams, the missionary, used to say made the greatest mountains of difficulty melt. It was not vaporing when Samuel J. Mills, ambitious only for the extension of Christ's kingdom, wrote : " Though you and I are very little beings, we must not rest satisfied till we have made our influence extend to the remotest corner of this ruined world." ' Every young min- ister and every local church should account it a guilty shortcoming if the world is not in a more hopeful condition for the faith which, month after month, is reinvigorated at the concert. Through reacting influence * Memoirs, page 17. 268 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vii. individual and collective advancement in the divine life may most reasonably be ex- pected/ Those engaged aright in seeking a blessing for others never fail of an im- mediate reward. The monthly concert is not simply an opportunity for offering united petitions, but is invaluable as a school of broad con- ceptions — a place where the great Messianic ideas may be cultivated and believers lifted out of the narrow circle in which they would otherwise move. Every community, every nation, needs a captivating future, must see great possibilities before them, if they are to kindle into enthusiasm and not sink down into apathy or despair. To cease ex- pecting or attempting what is better and greater marks the beginning of decline. Here is an occasion most favorable for setting forth facts of revelation, history, and of present condition, that will enrich, en- large, and ennoble the soul. The sublimest ' Appendix, note 52. LECT.vii.] APPROPRIATE FEATURES OF PRAYER. 269 thought that can be cherished is the thought of an organic unity of Providence from cre- ation onward to the end of time and into the cycles of a glorious future, and that every saint in Christ Jesus has a large responsibility for the progress of that divine unfolding ; well mastered, that idea will lead to a scale of large-hearted praying, giving, and doing, seldom witnessed as yet. By a well-directed concert education the humblest individual may become cosmo- politan in character, may be invested with a commanding catholicity, attaining to the nobility of the pious and gallant Earl of Devonshire, who, giving a signal that the fatal axe should fall, cried, " Let the whole earth be filled with his glory ! " So trained in its length and breadth, the Protestant Church would stand forth clear as the sun, fair as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners. When believers, though few comparatively in numbers, come generally to the conviction that they are trustees of a great treasure for the rest of the race, 270 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vn. and that when they pray whole nations are their clients, millennial glory will not be far off. Here then, with steady aim, should be carried on a study of the prophecies, promises, and parables of the kingdom, till people become amazed at the contracted character of their former petitions ; till they l^arn how exhaustless is the treasury of divine assurances on which they may draw to the largest amount ; till they shall cease to measure the affluence of God's loving faithfulness by the poverty of our unbelief; till they shall cease giving the lie practically to Holy Writ, and shall graduate their de- sires by the dignity of Christ's person, the magnitude of his work, and the far-reaching compass of the church's campaign. If Queen Mary had reason to fear the prayers of John Knox more than an army of ten thousand men, what quaking in the king- dom of darkness would ensue upon such supplication by an entire church — by the entire sisterhood of churches ! Never have the length and breadth of these words of LECT. VII.] APPROPRIATE FEATURES OF PRAYER. 2*]\ the faithful and true Witness been fully compassed : All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. 5. — Covenants of Supplication. There is one canon of prayer widely applicable, yet pertinent in this connection no less than in any other. It is found in Matthew's gospel, the eighteenth chapter. It follows our Lord's rescript touching church discipline, and is often treated as a continuation of that subject. Commenta- tors have sought for a logical connection, where, as it seems to me, none exists. One characteristic of this evangelist is that he frequently gives in juxtaposition events and utterances which had no connection in time, and occasionally those which have but little connection in subject matter. Independ- ently of that, however, it seems plain that in verses nineteen and twenty a new subject is introduced — Again I say unto you — in- dicating that he turns to another topic. That topic is devotional compacts : Again 272 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lbct. vii. I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. Here is set forth a privilege singularly neglected. The great Teacher thus announces a law relat- ing to supplication which deserves the es- pecial thought of every believer. It is noteworthy that among his teachings on the general subject of prayer as respects social relations we find only two — the Lord's Prayer and the passage before us. The main conditions relating to this mode of supplication must be noticed. Defect in any of the fundamental terms here laid down will account for failures. One primary condition has respect to the formation of devout covenants: If two of you shall agree — Gvii<^u>vi]Gi^aLv^ shall be in unison, like musical instruments attuned to the same key. Something besides lip interces- sion, something more than to have it occur to a couple of persons that a particular blessing would be a good thing, and so they LECT. vir.] APPROPRIATE FEATURES OF PRAYER. 273 will just ask for it, is here meant. Hearts must harmonize. There is intimated such spiritual concord as is found when souls reverently attentive to the suggestions of God's providence and the indwelling Com- forter disclose to each other their sympa- thetic desires. Such inmost unity, wrought and sealed by the Holy Ghost, so difficult to be defined to the inexperienced, needs no explanation to those versed in the more intimate fellowship of saints. This is not something gotten up ; it comes down. " Why do you expect a revival ? " rejoined a pastor to a wise and zealous member of his flock. " Because," was the reply, " I have learned this evening that three mem- bers of our church are praying for the same individual ; each is ignorant of the strong desires of the others. It is the Spirit of God alone that can thus operate simultane- ously on these minds." Let such persons once come together and how naturally will a covenant of supplication ensue ! As a few women, who had long been associated in 2 74 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vu a praying circle, met, agreeably to their custom one of them read from this eight- eenth chapter of Matthew. After reading the promise — I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any- thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my F'ather which is in heaven — she paused a moment and then said : " Is it possible that we have so often met to make known our requests unto God and have never noticed this promise ? I have read it all my life, but it seems new to me. Why should our prayers be unavailing when we have such an assurance from the Sav- iour's lips ? Perhaps it is because we have not agreed on some definite object for which to pray." She then proposed that a partic- ular person be made the subject of special supplication. A prominent man in the community, highly esteemed, but never seen at evening meetings and never mani- festing special interest in the one thing needful, was selected. The band of pray- ing persons poured out their hearts in his LECT. vii] APPROPRIATE FEATURES OF PRAYER. 275 behalf, and agreed that, without mentioning the matter to any one, they would continue to do so till they should come together again after a fortnight. What was their surprise at the next weekly meeting of the church to see that individual enter the room, and in the course of the evening to hear him state that within a few days he had become deeply impressed with the thought that he was living without God and with- out hope in the world, and had come to ask an interest in the prayers of those present. Before the next meetino: of that ladies' praying circle he expressed hope in Christ as his Saviour. Thus encouraged the ladies selected another and another subject for specific supplication, and in each instance the result was equally striking. This illus- trates my meaning; and when individuals or a church have become imbued with the Spirit of missionary grace and supplications, will there not be multiplied instances of such hallowed and effective agreements ? Another condition vital to these cove* 276 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vn. nants is that the proceeding bear a truly Christian stamp. Gathered together in my name, we read in the twentieth verse. A deficiency that would be fatal in any other method of prayer will be fatal here. It is implied that there is not only agreement to ask for a certain object, but that there will be social supplication — that ordinarily persons so confederating will meet and pray together. In my name, are mighty words — the hearty acknowledgment of my aton- ing work and my intercession, with desires for my honor by the advancement of my kingdom of grace. Self must be in abey- ance — all expectation of credit for intimacy with the Lord Jesus, all vanity over devo- tional achievements, all thought of reputa- tion accruing from success. It is not indeed supposable that when any other than a holy motive is uppermost, two hearts will come into such hallowed harmony ; yet starting aright they may degenerate. Great watchfulness is needed lest self intrude and mar. Early in the history of the American LECT. vii.i APPROPRIATE FEATURES OF PRAYER. 277 Mission at Constantinople, two Armenians, who were evidently enlightened and moved by the Holy Spirit, before becoming ac- quainted with missionaries, made a formal consecration of themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. One of them, Senekerim, in reading the New Testament, found the words : If two of you shall agree on earth, as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. Full of joy, he informed his friend Hohannes, who rejoiced with him, and they prayed, saying : " O God, we agree to ask that our nation may awake, may know the gospel, and may understand that it is the blood of Jesus Christ alone which purgeth away sin." " And great," says Senekerim, "was our hope in regard to this thing." ' Signally has God answered their prayers. A specific object of request is required, touching anything. Whatever it be, it ' Tracy's History of the American Board, page 297. 278 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vii. must be well defined. Agreement to pray merely in general for the welfare of mis- sions or the conversion of the world, fails to meet the case. The Holy Spirit does not usually, if ever, draw two hearts into a devout supplication for anything so vaguely vast as that. The m^ore powerful his influence, the more does he individualize desires, and the more vividly does he im- press with a sense of devotional responsi- bility and privilege. " I hesitate not," says the Professor of Theology in the Free Church College, Aberdeen, " to build upon this promise the following proposition : That the more extensively we can organize an agreement among all that love the Lord Jesus to ask for specific things in prayer, and the more symphonious those prayers are, the more assuredly will those things be done for us by his Father which is in heaven." There is a pledge to be noticed : There am I in the midst of them. This is hab- itually pleaded, and allowably, in behalf of LECT. VII.] APPROPRIATE FEATURES OF PRAYER. 279 any social assemblage for prayer; yet that is not the specific application intended by our Lord. We fail to catch and employ the exact sense, unless with studious pre- cision and due encouragement, we keep in mind such holy compacts as Jesus Christ would encourage. The special basis of en- couragement is to be noted ; and the two parts should always go together as a single sentence. The reason of success is : There am 1 to preside over the asking, to see to it that harmonized hearts are drawn forth aright in faith and earnest persistence. Whenever two meet truly in Christ's name, there will always be a third one present. Each of those who covenant must be a person who can say, I would see Jesus, Jesus only ! I would be filled with thy love ! Not for my sake, but for thine. Lord Jesus, do I ask this ! Let two such kneel together, and Christ is between them. He is there to guide, to quicken, to strengthen, to answer them. It is a prayer meeting which has power. Supplication from a 28o MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vh. spot like that must prevail. It shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. The Father has peculiar delight in coopera- tive faith ; he puts special honor upon such fellowship of saints. It may well be ob- served that there are only two explicit pledges of Christ's presence with individ- uals. This is one of them, and the other is to those actively engaged in promulgat- ing the gospel : Lo ! I am with you. There is nothing that God will not do for those with whom his Son associates so intimately. The circumstances of association are to be noted : If two of you shall agree. Our Saviour makes this promise to the minimum of fellowship, to the smallest number that can constitute society. Fewer could not frame an agreement. It does not take a large number to make an effective prayer meeting. Any two; it need not be aged or eminent disciples. Spiritually sympho- nious agreement is the essential element. Any two anywhere. Formalities of time and place are of small account, so there LECT. VII.] APPROPRIATE FEATURES OF PRAYER. 28 1 be such harmony of heart, such purity of motive, such earnest desires concerning some missionary object, as will bring two, three, or any number together for joint special intercession. Where such a convo- cation is, large or small, there Christ is ; where the Sovereign tarries, there for the time is a palace. In journeying on his mission tours from place to place John Howard used to have prayers regularly with his servant. " Wherever I have a tent," he would say, " God shall have an altar." Is it not specially appropriate that min- isters of the gospel should act upon this suggestion of their Lord and Master.? Dr. GrifHn and Father Hallock, pastors of ad- joining parishes in Connecticut, near the close of the last century, did so. In view of the languishing state of their churches they mourned and wrestled in prayer. One or more of the groves is still pointed out, where with other neighboring pastors they used to retire and agonize for the descent 282 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect.vh. of the Holy Spirit. Wonderful revivals followed. So also have they followed, and that too immediately, upon a more general united supplication which had been solicited for that purpose. A few years ago the con- dition of things in the Training School at Kyoto and elsewhere in Japan was such as led missionaries and others to continue earnest supplication after the usual week of prayer. They sought especially an out- pouring of the Holy Spirit. About the ist of February an appeal was sent to over two score colleges and theological seminaries in the United States, asking for combined intercession in behalf of the school and churches in the city above namxcd. That appeal reached the various places of its destination not far from the loth of March and a few days later. On the afternoon and evening of March 16, 1883, came an abundant answer. No spe- cial sermons were preached on that Sab- bath. Teachers did not know till the next morning what had taken place; yet the LECT.vn.] APPROPRIATE FEATURES OF PRAYER. 283 whole school was moved mightily. Of the nearly two hundred young men scarcely one closed his eyes in sleep that night. In almost every room there was a prayer meet- ing. Not a few young men were prostrate on the floor in deep contrition for sin, such as had not before been witnessed in Japan. This special manifestation continued for a week or more. Recitations were not sus- pended ; there was no preaching or ex- horting; prayer was the constant resort. Teachers devoted themselves to restraining the young men from excesses and to induce them to eat and sleep. Nearly every one came under the strong influence, and was either converted or greatly quickened. The work spread to most of the qliurches in other parts of the field, and changed the whole character of missionary work. From that time onward the churches in Japan have been in a state of almost constant revival, and the membership of all Protest- ant churches has increased about fifty per cent each year — a fact perhaps without 284 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lhct. vii. parallel in modern times. Letters dated a little before that memorable 16th of March, when received in Japan, were of uniform tenor : " Your appeal for prayer has been received ; we are praying for you unitedly and with great earnestness." Every theological seminary is to be re- garded as a West Point Academy, where officers are in training to lead Christ's con- secrated army to intercessional conquests. An immeasurably higher achievement is it to have power with God at the mercy seat than to be the greatest orator that ever entered a pulpit. Incidental advantages will accrue. One is the tendency to inten- sify devout desires. Yielding to the illumi- nation and the impelling presence of the Holy Comforter, touching any one thing, will be likely to form a general habit of fer- vent earnestness, and the amount of effect- ual prayer will thus be greatly increased ; so will the use of means. Two or more suppliants entering into such a hallowed engagement, as has been described, will LECT. VII.] APPROPRIATE FEATURES OF PRAYER. 285 hardly fail to speak often one to another concerning that and kindred matters. Can they rest content not to put forth personal effort ? No more can they than in an immediate neighborhood sphere. As two Christian brethren were conversing in re- gard to the low state of religion, one said to the other, " Let us go into my house and pray together." They did so, and spent two hours in supplication for the outpour- ing of the Holy Spirit. Their souls were aroused. One of them inquires, " Now what shall we do ? " The answer was, " Let us go into the next house and talk and pray with the people." They did ac- cordingly, and left the fam^ily in tears. Thus they went from house to house dur- ing the rest of the day ; and that was the beginning of a signal work of grace which spread throughout the town. How is it to be accounted for that there are not more of these two-and-two prayer meetings in which the Adorable One is also specially present ? Why are no more individual 286 MISSIONARY CONCERTS OF PRAYER, [lect. vn. missionaries, mission stations, churches, schools, native helpers, and persecuted con- verts the subject of intercessional compacts ? Why should not pastors and people be en- couraged to come with Christian alacrity under these blessed bonds ; and, unobserved by the world, present themselves as yoke- fellows in supplication before the throne of grace ? LECTURE VIII. PRAYER FOR MISSIONS AiNSWERED. PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED. One of the more valuable works of Dr. Thomas Goodwin, an eminent English writer of the seventeenth century, is en- titled The Return of Prayers, If frequent failure to look for answers and duly to acknowledge them had not been of long standing, that excellent man, at one time President of Magdalen College, Oxford, would hardly have felt moved to devote a whole treatise to this subject. Goodwin was a careful student of God's Word, and it could not escape his notice that the holy volume authorizes a more assured expecta- tion of answers to prayer than has been common since the day of Bible saints. ANSWERS TO BE EXPECTED. Open the Psalter. The prevailing spirit of that inspired liturgy is a spirit of confi- 290 PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED, [lect. vni. dence in Jehovah as the hearer of prayer. Earnest ejaculations implying that are often poured forth : The Lord will hear when I call upon him ; the Lord will receive my prayer; he will hear from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. With a conviction so firmly settled, it was natural that the psalmist should have a purpose equally fixed : Even- ing and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud, and he shall hear my voice. Has such a man no testimonies of experi- ence to record? From the third psalm to the hundred and twentieth they are abun- dant and explicit: I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. If such clearly defined belief and such assured results were pertinent three thousand years ago, what shall be said of a prevalent shortcoming therein at the present day ? " What does it signify," says Luther, " to have prayed if you do not know what God says to it ? " There was strong human improbability of Peter's re- LECT.vin.] ANSWERS TO BE EXPECTED. 29 1 lease from the prison where not only chains and bolts but sixteen armed soldiers kept guard, but the primitive church believed that nothing was too hard for the Lord, and so kept on praying for him. Yet was expectation too tardy; otherwise would they have thought the messenger crazed who announced his presence at the gate? They had more reason to believe the promises than Rhoda had to trust her senses. Is there not often a want of honesty ? Do men really believe they are engaged in an upright proceeding when they ask God for that which they never think of again, which even if bestowed fails to re- mind them of the request ? How far short of insult is it to send some one a request by letter with no expectation of a reply ? or to ask a question personally, and at once turn away as if a response were the last thing to be thought of.^ or to knock at a neighbor's door, and then be off before the summons can be answered ? Yet often this would seem to be virtually the way 292 PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED, [lect. vm. of dealing with our Heavenly Father, and not least, it may be, when we intercede in behalf of missions. Here is somethino: for the religious teacher to bear in mind with reference to his own practice and also with reference to the instruction of his flock. If there is any place in the universe where a creature should maintain integrity, the most transparent integrity, it is at the mercy seat. The prophet Habakkuk was an honest man. After praying he resolved : I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me. The psalmist was habitually upon the lookout: My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morn- ing; I say, more than they that watch for the morning. Every suppliant, every group of suppliants, should be up habitually in the watch-tower. The saintly mother of a missionary ' used to pray with a map of the world before her in her closet every day. * Miss Maria A. West. LECT. vm.] DISTANCE AN EMBARRASSMENT. 293 She would plead with God in behalf of one country for successive days ; then for an- other and another. When her daughter wrote home of the great awakening at Harpoot and of numerous conversions in that city and in villages of the plain, the mother replied : " I am not surprised ; I have been expecting this for months past. I have spent the hours before the dawn of every day in praying to God for an out- pouring of his spirit upon Harpoot." DISTANCE AN EMBARRASSMENT. The remoteness of foreign mission fields has an influence with some to dull the ex- pectation of answers. The thoughts of too many are controlled by immediate sur- roundings. There is narrowness of con- ception concerning the scope of Christ's kingdom and the ubiquity of great spiritual forces. It is not adequately apprehended that God sits upon a throne high and lifted up ; that the eyes of the Lord are in every place ; that to him there is no such thing 294 PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED, [lect. viu. as distance ; that he is nearer to the antipo- des than we are to one another; that in answering our requests less time is required for him to touch the springs of action on the opposite side of the globe, than for even the telegraphic current to reach its destination. To Jacob's mind the fact that Esau was on the other side of the stream did not make it more difficult for his cove- nant-keeping God to soothe that outraged brother. While the nobleman seems to have thought that our Lord's personal pres- ence was needful for the healing of a son, the centurion, with more worthy thoughts, said : Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. But now it is certainly high time for us to be as little embarrassed by the breadth of the great and wide sea as by the narrow brook Jabbok ; by the dis- tance of one side of our planet from the other as by one side of Capernaum from the other. We have become familiar with the fact that the same great ocean receives contributions from our Rocky Mountains LECT.viii.] DISTANCE AN EMBARRASSMENT. 295 and from the mountains of Eastern Asia. It should by this time have become com- paratively easy to cherish a cosmopolitan type of supplication ; to have our ventures of faith in regions no less remote than the foreign ports for which our commerce spreads its wings. The shortest way, the only way of instantaneous access to any point in the opposite hemisphere, is by the mercy seat. Our culture is quite one-sided if, with the broadening of geographical knowledge, and with our scientific gener- alizations, our spiritual conceptions are not correspondingly enlarged ; if there is not a breadth of devotional interchange answer- ing to the one encircling atmosphere which all human beings breathe. Christian char- acter needs the stimulus found in a survey from the loftiest watch-tower. David Brain- erd, when dying, could hardly have given a more appropriate injunction to his Indian converts, one better suited to keep them from settling down into selfishness or list- lessness, than that they should pray for the 296 PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED, [lect. vin. conversion of the whole world. It showed a high attainment on the part of Samuel J. Mills that in his devotions — those that were merely social as well as public — he seldom prayed much for himself, but the burden of desire was for others. Beauti- fully significant is one of the last letters to his honored father, which breathes the desire : " Long may you live to pray for Zion ! " GENERAL PRAYERS. The lapse of time intervening between petition and answer is to be considered. There are objects of supplication which require indefinite periods for their accom- plishment. The great scheme of compre- hensive providence, reaching from the dawn to the close of terrestrial history, embraces objects, some of which, even after the six thousand years already gone by, will not come to fulfillment till the great consum- mation. Those ire legitimate themes of prayer through -0.1 ages. There is a pre- determined ordef'-of sequence. When, for LBCT.\nii.] GENERAL PRAYERS. 297 instance, the Son of Man will come again, knoweth no one on earth, nor the angels in heaven ; but we do know that the gen- eral conversion of the Jews is not to take place till the fullness of the Gentiles be come. The downfall of Mohammedanism and of the Papacy lies in a future dim and possibly distant. Yet for those glorious events supplication, concentrated and con- tinued, should rise to heaven. There is a general ongoing of the spiritual kingdom, with its manifold interests and occurrences, linked causatively to what follows, yet linked contingently with the devotions, the faith and fidelity of the church in each passing generation. If the conviction of this truth were deeper; if there were a more frequent, and wider, and expectant survey, confirmatory evidence would, no doubt, be constantly cumulative. The apostle Paul exhorted believers of his day that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings, be made for all men ; for kings atid all that are in high place, that 298 PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED, [lhct. vm. we may lead a tranquil and quiet life. Such would avail measurably even then under the diabolical reign of Nero. But when something like complete fulfillment came two centuries and a half later under Constantine, were the tranquillity and quiet then enjoyed by Christians attributed — as doubtless they might well have been — to the preceding entreaties of proscribed and martyred believers ? When, after the lapse of years, parental intercession finds noteworthy accomplishment, do parents always accept it as proof of God's faith- fulness ? Fugitive Jacob made a vow at Bethel, and a long while after every one of his petitions was answered ; but it would seem that he needed a reminder from the Lord of the vision and the pillar. SPECIFIC DELAYS. Within more limited periods there are real or apparent delays, suggestive not of refusal but of wise and gracious discipline. It was in kindness, greater than an instan- LKCT.viii.] SPECIFIC DELAYS. 299 taneous answer would have been, that our Saviour slowly led the woman of Canaan to an appropriate attitude of soul. Suppli- ants have need to learn the lesson of hold- ing on and holding out. The elements of every Christian virtue are thus fostered. Too often a petition is merely lodged, but the suit not prosecuted. Mission fields furnish instruction. In a time of special religious interest among Kafirs in South- eastern Africa a man under deep conviction of sin was missed for two or three days. The Rev. Mr. Allison found him in a soli- tary place, engaged in earnest prayer, and avowing the purpose not to leave the spot till his sins were forgiven. The missionary remonstrated with him, and advised him to return and take food. " Do you not feel hard towards God," said the missionary, "that, after you have sought him so long and so earnestly, he does not notice you ? " " Oh, no," said the Kafir. " Am I not ask- ing a great thing of a great King, which he has promised me, and can I not afford 300 PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED, [lect. vm. to wait his own time to bestow it ? " The rude man's importunity prevailed. There is apt to be an irreverent, impatient hurry for answers. He that believeth shall not make haste. Owing to postponements there are often awakened, not grumblings, but acceptable groanings. The tears of protracted pleading water the roots of all spiritual graces. The long winter that inter- venes between sowing and reaping has its needful place in divine husbandry. Usually the more distant the voyage the richer the return. In 1S53 the Baptist Union at its meeting in Albany, after long discussion, decided not to abandon the Lone Star Mission among the Telugoos, and it was made the subject of earnest supplication ; afterwards came a harvest of souls at Ongole more remarkable perhaps than any similar ingathering since the day of Pente- cost. It was the most eminent missionary of that denomination who declared : " I never was deeply interested in any object, I never prayed sincerely and earnestly for LECT.viii.] IMMEDIATE FULFILLMENT. 3OI anything, but it came ; at some time, no matter at how distant a day, somehow, in some shape, probably the last I should have devised, it came." ' IMMEDIATE FULFILLMENT. While delay, be it repeated, is by no means denial ; while the covenant-keeping God in his wisdom has postponements as w^ell as appointments;^ while with him a thousand years are as one day, many an answer is immediate. Prayer for missions is constantly ascending and answers are constantly descending ; but owing to dis- tance and to imperfect observation of the connection of things — the interval for in- formation being usually long — the identifi- cation of answers is not always easy. If there were a more definite expectation that specific entreaties would meet with accept- ance, and if memoranda with dates were kept, no doubt suppliants at home would ^ Wayland's Memoir of Dr. Judson, ii, page 2,7* '^Deus habet horas atque moras. 302 PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED, [lect. viil for a time be at first startled by correspond- ences, and then would become so habituated to them as to cease wondering, and would be filled with adoring gratitude. Traceable and noticeable instances are even now suffi- ciently frequent to arrest attention. Such, no doubt, are recorded on high, and the archives of the unseen world must have an ample list. When, for example, the martyr- dom of Walter M. Lowrie in China and the massacre of eight Presbyterian missionaries in India led to much prayer and consecra- tion in the Presbyterian church of this country, there soon followed a great en- largement of the work of its Board of Mis- sions. A missionary of the American Board among the Mahrattas in India ' once wrote thus: "The first Monday in January, 1833, 1 shall ever remember. At our morning prayers in the native language three stran- gers were present, who said they had come to inquire about the ' new way.' At 10 ^Hollis Reed. The Christian Brahmin. New York, 1836. 2 vols, i, page 241. LECT. VIII.] IMMEDIATE FULFILLMENT. 303 o'clock Babajee returned from his morning visit to the poor-house, in an ecstasy of joy, saying, ' The poor people all come about me inquiring, ' What shall we do ? ' 'I ap- pointed a meeting of inquiry at 3 o'clock today, and to my joy and surprise there were sixteen present. A heavenly influ- ence, I am persuaded, was with us. Our Christian friends in America must be pray- ing for us. ' " Yes, indeed. As mentioned in the preceding lecture the day had been set apart, though unknown to the missionary at that time, by the General Assembly in the United States, and by other bodies of Christians, as a day of fasting and of prayer for the heathen world. While they are yet speaking I will hear. While the church were knocking at the door of mercy an answer came in the person of Peter himself knocking at their door. A missionary of the American Board was stricken down by an epidemic ; recovery seemed doubtful. As she lay upon her couch, feverish and rest- less, a sudden and singular calm came over 304 PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED. Elect, vm. her. Just then a co-laborer at the same station came in to inquire how she was, yet fearing the worst. " I am better, decidedly better," she replied ; " I think I shall get well. I have the strangest feeling come over me the last hour, as if I had new life. I don't understand it." Presently she added : " I believe I know what it is. I am sure some one is praying for me. I think I will try to prove it." She then asked the nurse to bring her Daily Food, and turning to the day of the month, marked it. Many weeks afterwards a letter came to her, saying: " In January I attended a meeting of the Woman's Board in Pilgrim Hall, Boston, and I wish you could have heard the ear- nest prayers offered for you, especially by ," naming the person who led in the intercession of that hour. Comparing the date with the one in her Daily Food, she found an exact coincidence. ' * Life and Light, vol. ix, pages 56, 57. LBCT. viii.] THE LESS SPECIFIC SUBJECTS. 305 THE LESS SPECIFIC SUBJECTS. A reasonable expectation of answers de- pends, as already indicated, partly upon the objects for which prayer is offered. Those which, from the nature of the case, have a prolonged period for their accomplishment, are to be contemplated in their gradual realization. The prayer, " Thy kingdom come," more often and more widely offered than any other, is being answered in the evermore advancing spiritual sway of Him who is King over the kingdom of truth and holiness. Every token of progress, what- ever the form or in whatever land, is to be accepted as an integral part of the continu- ous fulfillment. The whole modern move- ment of churches in the line of foreign missions is an outcome of supplication. But for the early prayer meeting, main- tained seven years by the Moravian breth- ren at Herrnhut for the outpouring of God's Spirit, would their own remarkable 306 PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED, [lect. vm. missionary history and that of other Chris- tian bodies have been what they are ? In this country from the year 1815 onward, for about a quarter of a century, a very general and frequent petition was that doors of ac- cess to the heathen world might be opened. Opened they have been, generally and effectually; almost no part of heathendom is now absolutely inaccessible. Well did an early missionary in India write to An- drew Fuller — it was in 1799: "Oh, my brother, tell it to your churches, tell it to the society, tell it to the whole Christian world, that their prayers are not in vain ! Lately they have been praying with impor- tunity for Bengal. Jehovah hath heard, and answered : ' For the spoiling of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord ; I will set him in safety at whom they puff.' " ' ^Eustace Carey. Memoir of William Carey. Hartford, 1844. Page 286. LECT. viii.] IN CIRCUMSTANCES OF PERIL. 307 IN CIRCUMSTANCES OF PERIL. The work of gospel promulgation, espe- cially during its earlier stages in any given country, has usually been attended with personal exposures. Christ's evangelists have gone forth as sheep into the midst of wolves. The war-club, the sword, the fagot, the dungeon, have found many a victim. The only wonder is that any should escape ; but the great body of them have escaped. Marvelously has life been preserved. Mar- velously has the hand of violence been restrained, because the all-seeing eye and the unseen touch have been upon the evil passions of men ; but the ubiquity of that gracious interposition has stood connected with the cries of watchmen on the walls of Zion. Referring to Julian the Apostate's defeat, Nazianzen exclaims : " How many myriads and squadrons of men were there, whom we, only praying and God willing, discomfited ! " So may it now be said con- 308 PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED, [lect. vm. cerning the opponents of missions. Not more truly did the solemn fast held in England, on the day that Henry V fought at Agincourt, have to do with the signal victory achieved there, than concerts of prayer now win triumphs every month over hostile forces on the mission field. In 1862 a large band of the English Church Mis- sionary Society's laborers at Abeokuta, in the Yoruba country, West Africa, was threatened by the King of Dahomey. The remarkable deliverance then experienced was rightly regarded as a direct answer to the special prayer offered all over England in behalf of the imperilled mission. INDIVIDUALITY OF SUPPLICATION. Can any one doubt that the safety of many an individual ambassador who has o^one far hence amonsf the Gentiles is often insured because of the petition so frequently offered that his life may be precious in the sight of God ? Why is there no more rec- ognition of the fact.? Col. John Blackadder, LECT. VIII.] INDIVIDUALITY OF SUPPLICATION. 309 a brave and godly man, whose garments were pierced with bullets in more than one action, said to his wife — and many a mis- sionary may do substantially the same — " When you grow anxious and thoughtful, take my riddled hat and hang it up before you, and trust in God who hath delivered and doth daily deliver, and in whom I trust that he will yet deliver." Whatever the theme of entreaty, answers become specially impressive when specific and individualized. If a man stands greatly in need of such illustrations, and builds his belief in prayer upon them, his faith is feeble indeed. It should be enough for any one that there are promises exceeding great and precious, and that faithful is He who hath promised. It is not, however, amiss for us to take encour- agement from recorded proofs of divine faithfulness. It is not foreign to the de- signs of Providence that we keep in grateful remembrance such facts as that scarcely were the voice and life of Tyndale quenched by the flames, before there came an answer 3IO PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED, [lect. vm. to the martyr's last prayer, " Lord, open the King of England's eyes ! " The capricious, persecuting monarch issued an order that the Bible be placed in every church for the use of the people. Our vows are heard betimes, and Heaven takes care To grant, before we can conclude the prayer. Preventing angels met it half the way, And sent us back to praise, who came to pray.^ Undoubtedly the habit of greater partic- ularity in petitions should be cultivated. The mendicant, who comes to our door asking and desiring nothing in particular, will go away as empty as he comes. Can indefinite applications to the throne of grace be expected to move the heart or hand of Him who sits thereon ? It was an excellent practice which the father of John Owen, secretary of the British and Foreign Society, maintained. His interest in mis- sions was of the genuine kind. It led him to pray by name for laborers in the field. Dryden's Britannia Rediviva. LECT. VIII.] SPIRITUAL ADVANCEMENT. 3 II In one instance — and that not a peculiar instance — he said to a friend that he had been spending a couple of hours in his re- tirement, praying for all the missionaries of the several religious societies. There was a devout old man in Dorset, Vermont, fifty years ago, who, on taking leave of a young missionary couple (1838), pledged a remem- brance of them in prayer every day of his life. Nine years later he sent them word that he had thus far fulfilled his promise.' SPIRITUAL ADVANCEMENT. What is the chief object of all missions — missions conducted on the true script- ural basis .f^ It is the advancement of our Lord's special dominion extensively and intensively; the turning of men, in the largest numbers possible, from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God ; the renovation of souls, and their upbuilding in a vigorous loyalty to our * Margarette W. Lawrence. Light on the Dark River. Boston, 1854. Page 105. 312 PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED, [lect. vm. adorable Head. Mere social improvement and education are wholly subordinate, inci- dental, consequential. Lost men must be saved. Culture may fail to render that result any more probable. Wrestling ear- nestness is not likely to be put forth by those who deem civilization needful as a pioneer to conversion. The special office work of the Holy Spirit in regenerating and sanctifying sinners is the prime benediction evermore and everywhere needed. Revivals and the multiplication of converts, as the drops of morning dew, are the chief burden with those princes in prayer who have power with God and with men, and prevail. Illus- trations abound. Mrs. Moffat made record thus in South Africa: "The Spirit of God has commenced his operations, and surely he will go on. Oh, for a more general spirit of prayer and of supplication ! I hear from my friend. Miss Leeds, that the very time of the awakening here was the season of extraordinary prayer among the churches at home. What a coincidence ! and what LECT. VIII.] SPIRITUAL ADVANCEMENT. 313 an encouragement to persevere in that im- portant part of Christian duty ! " ' Most of the revivals in the female semi- nary at Oroomiah, Persia, began on the day of the monthly concert of prayer at home, and several on or immediately after the first Monday in January — a day then specially observed in behalf of missions. But there was a notable center of supplication in this country — the Mount Holyoke Seminary, whence laborers had gone to the Nestorians. While, for instance, two inquirers at Oroo- miah were making closets for themselves of sticks of wood in the cellar (1846), Miss Lyon said to her pupils at South Hadley that morning: "We must pray more for Miss Fiske and her school of Nestorian girls." They did so ; and when the good news of a work of special grace in Central Asia came they took note of the connection of things.^ The case of the consecrated ^ Lives of Robert and Mary Moffat, page 149. ^ Thomas Laurie. Woman and Her Saviour in Persia. Boston, 1863. Pages 189, 190. Appendix, note 53. 314 PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED, [lect. vm. mother of one of our missionary sisters, who was in the habit of praying regularly with a map before her, has already been mentioned. After the death of that mother, the daughter in Asia Minor learned that she was remembered by another devout woman — the sister of a well-known col- lege professor in New England — who kept a list of the missionaries for whom she interceded individually every day. Refer- ring to those two mothers in Israel, the President of Euphrates College' writes me: " I have the abiding conviction that much of the wonderful success of the Harpoot work is due to the supplications of such persons in the home field." Other Chris- tian lands and their missions give similar testimony. Some years since there came a letter from a missionary in Java, Mr. Michaelis of the Gossner Society, to his brother-in-law, Rev. Gottlob Heinrich. li dwelt upon the great hindrances to evan- » Rev. C. II. Wheeler. LECT. viii.i SPIRITUAL ADVANCEMENT. 315 gelistic work which had existed in his field for a long time. Mr. Heinrich, who was at the head of a school, had been in the habit of holding missionary meetings with a few friends. On hearing the letter from Java the little praying company made that laborer the subject of special supplication. After- wards cam.e another letter from the Rev. Mr. Michaelis, stating that a spiritual move- ment had begun among the natives. Giving the date of the first indication thereof, he asked, " Did you not that evening pray ex- pressly for my work ? " The date proved to be identical with the occasion here re- ferred to. Mr. Heinrich is now at Dalldorf, near Berlin; and in the autumn of 1886, when a daughter of Mr. Michaelis was about leaving for Java, he related the fore- going publicly.' Where there is a genuine interest and a girding of loins to the work of supplication, the promises will be con- * Missionsblatt des Frauenvereins fUr christliche Bildung des weiblichea Geschlechts in Morgenland, iSS6. 3l6 PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED, [lect. vin. verted into performances. With delightful wonder will it be found that it is easier for God to send an immediate blessing to the East Indies than it is for us to send a thought thither. INTERCESSION SOCIAL OR SINGLY. Perhaps sufficient has been said in former lectures regarding concerted prayer, whether at stated meetings expressly for that pur- pose, or in the ordinary ministrations of the sanctuary, or in the observance of specific covenants of supplication. Where the de- votional participation is less restricted, and the obstacles are less, the return of prayers will probably be more distinctly looked for. The Lord God of Elijah lives still ; and the man of God today, looking to Him who rules the clouds, may singly bring needed moisture to a parched land. Trace any stream of blessing upon the evangelistic field back far enough, and its source will be found above the clouds. One hand upon LBCT. VIII.] INTERCESSION SOCIAL OR SINGLY. 3 I 7 the hydrant may be sufficient ; prayer con- trols the conduit from the upper pool.' Are the capabilities of individual wrestling with the God of missions duly apprehended? We trow not. A man is what he is when alone before God. Then, if ever, does he learn just how much earnestness of desire he has for the advancement of Christ's king- dom ; how much confidence in the divine promises ; how much he is ready to do or suffer for the cause. The absence of ever}^ human eye and ear gives scope for illimita- ble freedom and particularity. Whoever has not had experience of this has much vet to learn in the school of devotion. That which does not deeply move his own heart will not move the heart on high. How suggestive the record that President Edwards makes : " I had great longings for the advancement of Christ's kingdom in the world ; and my secret prayer used to be, * Porta Coeli, clavis Paradisi. 3l8 PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED, [lect. vin. in great part, taken up in praying for it."' He was then (1723) but twenty years of age.^ When thou saidst, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face. Lord, will I seek. It accords with arrangements in the spiritual sphere, not only that the Holy Spirit should witness to our adoption, but that he should awaken special impulses to religious duty. These fall in with the gracious in- stincts of a devout soul. My prayer is unto Thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time, cries the psalmist. Such may be regarded as among \\-\^ peculiarly acceptable times. When God makes special suggestions he has special readiness to hear. Shall not He who has immediate access to the inner being of every individual, and whose eye is every moment upon the whole range of human needs, move to an intercession that shall bring his inter- vention .r* The late Rev. Benjamin Slight of the Edwards's Works, i, page 66. Appendix, note 54. LECT. VIII.] INTERCESSION SOCIAL OR SINGLY. 3 1 9 Methodist church made the following state- ment : A friend of his, a missionary in Africa, while traveling on a tour of duty, came to a fork in the road, one branch going round a hill, the other up the hill. Hesitating which to take, he besought the Lord to give him direction. He found him- self decidedly disposed to take the road up the hill. Once at the summit he had a clear view of the other path, in which he discovered several large lions. Deeply im- pressed by this escape from certain death, he made a memorandum of the facts and the date. Afterwards, when visiting Eng- land, a friend asked him if in his missionary work he recalled any special deliverances ; he narrated this incident. His friend there- upon stated that on one occasion he became distinctly impressed with the thought that this missionary brother was in great danger, and accordingly at once made him a sub- ject of earnest intercession. So vivid and unusual was the impression that he felt moved to record the date. The friends 320 PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED, [lect. vm. then compared their dates and found an exact correspondence. It is not necessary to dwell on the caution required regarding mental impressions, presentiments, and the like. There is a class of persons who are specially liable to be caught by groundless fancies and liable to become the victims of sheer hallucinations ; yet, undeniably, im- pulses do sometimes come which are not to be accounted for except by attributing them to the Father of spirits. By what method be moves individuals, sometimes suddenly, in certain directions and to certain acts, we know not; but the fact of his thus specially influencing them is indisputable. An incident like the one just narrated, and analogous incidents, are to be accounted somethino: else than mere coincidences such as occur in other connections. It is not surprising, though deeply interesting, that in the progress of archaeological studies, the arrow-headed inscriptions of Persepolis should be deciphered almost simultaneously by Saint Martin in Paris and Grotefcnd at LBCT. viii.] INTERCESSION SOCIAL OR SINGLY. 32 I Vienna ; nor that, in the course of chemical experiments, Stevenson and Sir Humphry Davy, distant from each other, and each unaware of the other's labors, should at the samiC time invent an invaluable safety lamp ; nor that a deep astronomical problem should have led two men, Leverier and Adams, in different countries, neither aided by the other, to a simultaneous discovery of the planet Neptune. Such synchronismis m.ay be accounted for on the basis of natural causes, and by virtue of scientific advance- ment and demands at a given time. It is otherwise in these answers to prayer. They belong to a realm not subject to purely natural laws. Whenever there is special occasion for it and special prayer is offered, responses come with no connection trace- able otherwise than through the fixed law of sequence in the supernatural world. Such gracious results fall within a sphere where spiritual forces have play ; where an all-seeing eye surveys the entire world, and an unseen hand can touch every spring of 32 2 PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED, [lect. vm. action and every human heart on earth. In that kingdom the mercy seat is a central source of power. If our vision were keen enough, we might see influences radiating from the Supreme Will in different direc- tions throughout all the continents and islands of our globe. Those emanations, according to the wise methods by which the great Ruler governs the world, account easily for what seems surprising to us. Remoteness in space begins to lose its vague marvels. Modern inventions may help to more adequate conceptions. Across our country there is an uninterrupted tele- graphic communication of more than three thousand miles between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The aggregate of telegraphic lines throughout the world at the present time is not less than two millions of miles, and what an amount of rapid intercommuni- cation does that imply ! When we are able, a day not distant, to send messages almost instantaneously to our antipodes, we shall be educated to conceive yet more readily LECT.viii.i RESULTS. 323 of the ease and promptitude with which we can reach the remotest human being by way of the throne of grace. RESULTS. More need not be said in regard to the fitness and efficacy of such prayer as has now been considered. It must, however, be admitted that the range of desire and ex- pectation is generally quite too circum- scribed, and that the expected evidence of answers has like limitation. As is the case in other departments of supplication, so here two facts are to be noticed. While never disregarding a request, God always reserves the right of choice as to the form of response. Of two methods sov- ereign wisdom must choose the better ; yet Jehovah maintains his faithfulness none the less. If a debtor promises payment in silver but brings the amount in gold, which is all the more acceptable, he does not break his word. Not only is it good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the 324 PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED, [lkct. vm. salvation of the Lord, but also that he leave in the hands of Supreme Goodness the method by which his desires shall be met. Abraham said unto God, " O, that Ishmael might live before thee ! " but was not Isaac a greater boon ? The children of Israel de- sired that Moses would ask to have the fiery flying serpents taken away, and doubtless he did ; but was not the remedy better than a removal would have been ? Was it not better that Paul should have to beseech the Lord thrice, and that instead of the thing sought he received this assurance, " My grace is sufficient for thee " ? A transmuted bless- ing is none the less a blessing. One wish may be denied, while at the same time a deeper wish is granted. Augustine relates how his mother, from fear of the tempta- tions that would beset him in the metropolis, besought God to prevent his going there. Yet he went, and her absorbing desire that he should become a Christian was fulfilled. So will it undoubtedly be often found in the course of evangelistic supplication. LECT.viii.] RESULTS. 325 Another right reserved by Him who sits upon the throne is the right to go beyond our petitions and manifest the riches of his grace. Jacob petitioned only for food and raiment ; with what a retinue and what treas- ures did he come back ! Hannah asked for a son ; God gave her not only a son but a prophet. He gave other sons, too, and daughters as well. Solomon desired wis- dom, and while giving that God gave peace, riches, and renown. When a favorite of Alexander the Great asked a portion for his daughter, the king bestowed fifty talents. Perillus answered that ten would be suffi- cient. The royal benefactor said : " Ten may be enough for Perillus to ask, but not enough for Alexander to grant." So with divine munificence ; the God of missions is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us — the power of holy de- sire for his glory in the fulfillment of proph- ecy and promise, a power which above every- thing should be cultivated. Most deplorable 326 PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED, [lect. vnt it is that believers should learn no faster to avoid dishonoring God by not asking and expecting great things, and by asking great things as if he grudged them. THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE. It must be admitted that one element fails to have due proportion generally in de- votional exercises — the rendering of thanks. As regards the return of prayers in the spread of Christianity, this disproportion is not less noticeable. Such failure is rebuked by Scripture examples. I will sing unto the Lord, protests the psalmist, because he hath dealt bountifully with me. The Psal- ter is largely a book of praise, praise in view of actual or anticipated answers to petitions. What a mighty wrestler in prayer and what a grateful man was the apostle Paul ! Althoucrh the care of all the churches was upon him, though bonds, violence, or wreck everywhere awaited him, yet was he con- stantly praying for fellow Christians, wher- ever he had labored, and that, too, one by LECT. VIII.] THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE. 327 one, it would seem. He assured believers at Rome — and others elsewhere substan- tially after the same manner — God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. But not less assiduous was he in expressions of gratitude : I thank my God always on your behalf — and that not simply because bands of believers here and there in Europe and Asia had received the word, were over- coming opposition, and witnessing a good confession before the persecuting world ; but also because, in their conversion and loyalty, he recognized an answer to his own fervent supplication which mingled with all labor in their behalf, and which no distance, no lapse of time, no pressure of engage- ments elsewhere, could interrupt. This apostolic habit naturally made itself felt in early post-apostolic times. Writing to the churches at Smyrna Ignatius says : ' " Your ' Ignatian Epistles, chap. xi. 328 PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED, [lect. vm. prayer has reached to the church which is at Antioch in Syria." " It seems then to me a becoming thing that you should send some one of your number with an epistle, so that, in company with them, he may rejoice over the tranquillity which, according to the will of God, they have obtained, and because that, through your prayers, they have now reached the harbor." The same recosfnition and suggestion occur again in the letter of Ignatius to Polycarp.' Joint recognition is frequent on the sacred page. The children of Israel, with Moses as their leader, engage, on the far- ther shore of the Red Sea, in a song of thanksgiving and exultation, without which their God of covenant faithfulness would not have been duly honored. So too, repeatedly, in later times. Was it without designed reference to the significa- tion of the name Judah, Praise, that orders were issued for that tribe always to lead the ' Chap. vii. LECT.vm.] THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE. 329 van of the host ? In that paean, the sixty- seventh Psalm, is there not an instructive intimation ? Let the peoples praise thee, O God ; Let all the peoples praise thee. The earth hath yielded her increase ; God, even our own God, shall bless us ; God shall bless us ; And all the ends of the earth shall fear him. Anticipatory praise from trusting hearts has all the appropriateness and power of petition. It is sometimes the prelude of victory. It heralded Jehoshaphat's achieve- ment in the wilderness of Tekoa. The king had the day before led the people in humble supplication, but when the decisive hour approached he appointed them that should sing unto the Lord, and praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and say: Give thanks unto the Lord, for his mercy endureth forever. And when they began to sing and to praise, divine interposition came most signally. 330 PRAYER FOR MISSIONS ANSWERED, [lect. vm. Thenceforward that place was w^ell named: the Valley of Beracah, the Valley of Bless- ing. Waiting upon the Lord with a firmer faith and a livelier expectation, present-day believers might win more alleluia victories in literal warfare and in the great campaign of bringing all nations under Messiah's scepter. Timidity never finds a Valley of Beracah. Doubt can only falter ; faith has a strong voice. Within the Christian era there has here and there been a Jehosha- phat. Such was St. Germain of Auxerre, one of the most noted of early Gallic saints. When in England — it w^as the fifth century — he had occasion to aid in repelling an Incursion of Saxons. They were struck with panic as the Britons under his guid- ance raised a shout of " Alleluia." But whether such an anticipatory assurance exist or not, the fitness of thanksgiving for successes, in obvious answer to prayer, commends Itself as indisputable. Now and then a modern commander sets us worthy example. After the achievement at Jellal- LECT. VIII.] THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE. 33 1 abad, when soldiers stood waiting orders, " Let us pray," said their commander, the brave Havelock ; and down they all kneeled while he poured forth praise to the God of battles. LECTURE IX. MISSIONARY CONFERENCES, MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. The world is growing more social. A readiness to assemble for peaceful purposes has manifested itself more generally since the present century opened, and especially within this last half of the century, than ever before. Reunions, conventions, congresses, conferences for political, industrial, histori- cal, educational, and religious objects, or in the interests of literature, science, and art, have, in the lands of more advanced civilization, become an every-day occur- rence. International gatherings are far more frequent than formerly. It is not yet forty years since the first great exhi- bition took place (185 1), at which were brought together specimens of the chief resources of many lands. Several others have since then been held. In the whole range of industrial records nothing has (335) 336 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. ix. more significance than these exponents and instruments of civilization. No one who surveyed, for instance, the one hun- dred and sixty buildings at Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, in 1876; who mingled in the crowd of visitors that reached an aggregate of ten millions ; or who glanced at articles which sixty thousand exhibitors had depos- ited, could fail of surprise in view of those multifarious symbols of human skill, or fail of impressions as to the relative advancement of different nations. Such proofs of power over the forces of nature, and of skill in employing the products of nature ; the resulting stimulus to useful activities — agricultural, mechanical, aes- thetic ; the happy social influences center- ing at such a microcosm of ingenuity and taste ; the broadening of views, and the deepening of comprehensive sympathy, ren- der every exhibition of that kind an edu- cational institute of great value. There is another proof of progress, which has no less immediate respect to national I3CT. IX.] MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. 337 welfare, but which presents a more mani- festly philanthropic aspect. I refer to the growing sentiment in advanced communi- ties regarding some equitable adjustment of international difficulties. Not only is the desire for a universal currency, as well as for a common system of weights and measures, gaining, but also the desire that a way may be found for the peaceable settlement of disputes between nations. A society for the reform and codification of international law is doing good service, preparatory to that coming era when nations will no longer feel obliged, at vast expense, to maintain armed protection of their own existence. A court of arbitration instead of the arbitrament of the sword, to settle conflicting claims, is more and more widely felt to be one of the great desiderata of the world. Foreigner and foe are less widely regarded as synonymous. The growing habit of intercourse between dif- ferent countries, favored by methods of rapid transit, is at once a proof and school 338 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. ix. of increased good feeling. At the time of its great fire London was isolated. The rest of the world knew nothing of it for a long while, and could express no interest. Now, when fire or flood or famine brings desolation to Chicago, or Hungary, or China, the world suffers and the world sends help. Intercommunication and inter- dependence have wonderfully increased. The sense of universal brotherhood is upon the advance — a sentiment due to the slowly permeating influence of Christianity. Ours is the only religion which regards all man- kind as cominof alike from the hand of the one God, as all alike responsible to him, and all needing one and the same Mediator. Shall not the interests of that religion which alone can become universal, which alone is aiming at universality, call together friends in council? It would be strange indeed if the great evangelistic movement of the present century did not lead to assemblages for mutual suggestion and in- formation. LBCT.ix.] CONFERENCES ON MISSION FIELDS. 339 In originating and arranging for mission- ary conferences, whatever their form, min- isters and candidates for the ministry have hitherto taken the lead. They too at those gatherings have taken the most prominent part. The same is Hkely to be true in years to come. Judging from the past and from present indications we may infer that con- vocations of this kind, both at home and abroad, will have greater frequency and prominence in the near future than they have hitherto had. Acquaintance with this auxiliary to foreign evangelization has then a certain fitness and importance for all who are looking forward to the sacred office. There are several kinds of such gatherings. CONFERENCES ON MISSION FIELDS. One is a conference on foreign ground between deputations from home boards and missions of those boards. The London Society led in that method so long ago as 18 1 9, since which time there have been not less than a dozen similar expeditions 340 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. ix under the same auspices. Among the results are "The Journal of Voyages and Travels (1821-29), by Messrs. Tyreman and Bennet," compiled by James Montgomery, the poet (1831); various works by Dr. Ellis on Madagascar, and by Dr. Mullens, Secretary of the London Society.' Sundry official visits have been paid to missions of the American Board by its secretaries. One of the more important of these v^as by a deputation sent out to India in 1853-54. Dr. Rufus Anderson and his associate held meetings, each of three v^eeks' continuance, in the Marathi field, the Madura field, and in Ceylon, besides less extended visits to the Arcot and Madras missions. Those conferences were restricted to men and women connected with the American Board, and were private. The object was to secure a perfectly free and confidential discussion of practical questions. The reports and * y. O. Whitehouse. Register of Missionaries and Deputations from 1796 to 1S77. LECT.ix.] CONFERENCES ON MISSION FIELDS. 34 1 letters of these special meetings, supple- mented by similar proceedings in Syria and Constantinople, are contained in a vol- ume of six hundred pages, not published, but printed (1855) for the use of the Board and its friends. Dr. Mullens, before re- ferred to, records his opinion thus : " It is not too much to say that no volume of equal size, published during the era of our modern missions, contains so much valuable information on all the details of missionary experience on several most important fields of labor as that volume of missionary papers." ' Other boards, as that of the English Baptist Foreign Missionary Society,'' and the American Baptist Union, sent out similar deputations to the East about the same time. Two such by the latter had an important influence upon the policy and proceedings of the Union. The late Rev. * Conference on Missions held in i860, at Liverpool. Page 371. * Minutes and Reports of Conferences of the Baptist Mission- aries in Bengal, the Northwest Provinces, and Ceylon, in 1855-56. 342 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. ix. Howard Malcolm, D. D., paid an official visit to India and China, spending two and a half years (1835-37) among the mis- sions in those lands.' The second and more important deputation was that of the Rev. Solomon Peck, D. D., and the Rev. J. N. Granger, in 1852. A convention of mis- sionaries in Burmah, or a conference with them, was held at Maulmain, the sessions continuing for more than six weeks.'' The proceedings led to very earnest discussions throughout the denomination in our coun- try. Another style of conference under the lead of a deputation is one of more public character, a gathering at which the repre- sentatives of different organizations, occu- pying the same section of a heathen coun- try, come together. Thus Dr. Norman Macleod, of Glasgow, and Dr. Watson, of Dundee, who went to India in 1867-68 at * Travels in Southeastern Asia, Burmah, Siam, China, Hindo- Stan. By Howard Malcohn. Boston, 1839. 2 vols ^ Annual Report of Baptist Union, 1854. LBCT. IX.] CONFERENCES ON MISSION FIELDS. 343 the instance of the Established Kirk of Scotland, not only had such official inter- views as were just spoken of with their own missions, but also private conferences em- bracing members of other missions, besides public meetings in the three great Presi- dency cities, Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. On the last-named occasions civil and eccle- siastical dignitaries, with friends of the cause generally, came together.' Thought, still lingering in the East, brings to mind meetings without the pres- ence of any delegation from home boards. Such, for example, have for many years been held monthly or otherwise in the Presidency capitals of India — at Calcutta since 1834, and even earlier. Such united local conferences, consisting of all evangeli- cal missionaries laboring in one city and neighborhood, are held at Benares, Banga- lore, and Rangoon. Questions of common interest relating to the great work are * JVorman Macleod. Peeps at the Far East, 1871. Page 29. 344 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. ix. considered.' It was at length deemed de- sirable to convene meetings of evangelistic laborers, less frequent but from a wider area, and these have accordingly taken place in each of the great divisions of India.^ (i.) There was one at Calcutta in 1855, attended by fifty-five members and occupy- ing four days. (2.) Two years later (1857) came the con- ference at Benares, a city of about 200,- 000 inhabitants, situated on the Ganges, over 400 miles northwest from Calcutta, the metropolis of Hinduism, bristling with relig- ious buildings and crowded with pilgrims. The gathering numbered thirty-six mem- bers, continuing the same length of time as the former one (January 6-9), and the same number of papers, fourteen, were presented. That was just before the great mutiny broke out, and every copy of the printed proceedings was destroyed. ^Donald Macleod. Memoir of Norman Macleod, page 209. '^ Appendix, note 55. LHCT. IX.] CONFERENCES ON MISSION FIELDS. 345 (3.) The South India Conference oc- curred the next year at Ootacamund, over three hundred miles west from the city of Madras, where is the chief sanitarium of the Presidency, being more than seven thousand feet above the sea. The attendance was not larger than on previous occasions, thirty- two members being present. (4.) Four years more having passed, there came the Punjab Conference at La- hore (1862-63), ^he capital of the Punjab District, with a population of 125,000. Its seventy-one members — thirty-three clerical and thirty-eight lay — were twice as numer- ous as the largest already mentioned. (5.) Another gathering took place at Madras in j868, and yet (6.) Another at Bangalore in 1872. That is the chief city in the State of Mysore, a little over two hundred miles west from Madras, three thousand feet higher, and having over 150,000 inhabitants. (7.) Still later occurred that of South In- dia and Ceylon in 1879. It numbered one 34^ MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. ix. hundred and eighteen members and lasted eight days. Two others should be mentioned in this connection: Punjab Ladies' Missionary Con- ference, held at Lahore, December 4-9, 1882. Fifty-two members from eight soci- eties w^orking in the Punjab were present. Second Punjab Ladies' Missionary Confer- ence, at Amritzir, February 21-24, 1888, with an attendance of sixty-six members. Some of the foregoing were at the time designated as General Conferences. They were such in the sense of not being limited to one religious denomination, and as em- bracing the representatives of various con- nections. In regard to geographical scope they were, however, all provincial. But it was natural that the thought of a more strictly General Conference should suggest itself, and a series of that kind began.' (i.) The first was at Allahabad (1872-3), a city having not far from 150,000 inhab- ' Appendix, note 56. LBCT. IX.] CONFERENCES ON MISSION FIELDS. 347 itants, between five and six hundred miles from Calcutta, at the confluence of the Jumna with the Ganges. It occupied seven days, the closing session being on January I, 1873. The whole number of members was one hundred and thirty-six, of whom one hundred and five were ordained mis- sionaries, two chaplains, seventeen laymen connected with missions, and twelve not so connected, while the number of societies represented was nineteen. This led off in what is now known as the line of decennial conferences. (2.) The second decennial General Con- ference met in Calcutta, 1882-83, with four hundred and seventy-five members, of whom one hundred and eighty-one were ladies and forty-six were natives. It was to be expected that the published proceedings of such conventions would prove suggestive on other fields. Accord- ingly a similar gathering took place in the Celestial Empire. It was (3.) A General Conference of the Prot- 34^ MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. ix. estant missionaries in China, at Shanghai, 1877, attended by one hundred and twenty- six members. (4.) In 1883 wakeful Japan fell into line, and a conference was convened at Osaka, April 16-21. A special blessing is traced to that gathering, and in that province there are now nearly twenty thousand converts. (5.) More recently there was one in the City of Mexico, January 31 -February 3, 1888, eighteen missions and eleven denom- inations being represented. It will be noticed that thus far attention has been confined to assemblages on mis- sionary ground. But there has been a series of undenominational conferences in the older lands of Protestant Christendom. Tides are never merely local, nor are signal movements in the religious world or in the world of mind. The middle of the century now current marked an epoch in thought among those devoted to broader evangel- istic movements. It was then — when, as already mentioned, preparations were mak- LECT. IX.] CONFERENCES IN CHRISTIAN LANDS. 349 ing for the first International Exhibition -— that a deputation from the Baptist Union went out to hold official interviews with missions in Burmah, and that occasion be- came more and more obvious for a similar deputation to visit missions of the American Board in Hither India. Just before the last- named deputation left home there began the series of CONFERENCES IN CHRISTIAN LANDS. Intercommunication between the home and foreign fields is intimate. Community of ideas and measures may be expected to prevail. Similar simultaneous movements of the kind now in hand may be looked for. But before a glance at corresponding assemblies in Christian lands, it should be said that conferences occur which are exclu- sively denominational. Thus members of the Established Church of England have been moved to secure a convocation for kindred purposes among themselves. None from the outside are invited. Such a one, 350 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. ix with three sessions, was held in London, June 2 2, 1875, the Lord Bishop and Lord Mayor of London as Presidents.' Two years later, 1877, another took place at Oxford. But we are now chiefly occupied with union meetings.'' (i.) The first was held in New York, 1854, the immediate occasion being the visit of Dr. Duff to the United States. Friends to the number of one hundred and fifty assembled in the lecture room of Dr. Alexander's church. There were three ses- sions on May 4 and 5 devoted in a consider- able measure to hearing the distinguished missionary from India, but it was in no sense general, even with respect to this country. (2.) In the autumn (October 12 and 13) of the same year (1854) there was another in Freemasons' Hall, London. Officials and other members of most of the princi- * Appendix, note 57. ^ Appendix, note 58. LECT.ix.] CONFERENCES IN CHRISTIAN LANDS. 35 1 pal societies at that center were present. Three special papers ' submitted the fol- lowing topics for discussion: (a) Unity of Aim ; (b) Active Ministry ; (c) Grounds of Hope. It was a tentative gathering, and one outcome was the adoption of a resolu- tion expressing the wish that through the Evangelical Alliance preparation might be made for a conference more truly general. Six years later, March, i860, came (3.) The Liverpool Conference. One hundred and twenty-five delegates pre- sented themselves. It began on Monday evening and closed with Friday evening. Twenty-five different societies were repre- sented, all of them in Great Britain. It was, of course, undenominational. (4.) Similar gatherings have taken place at Bremen, Germany, the first in 1866, and thus far the representation has been restricted to continental societies — Ger- * Respectively by Rev. J. R. Marsden, of Birmingham, Rev. G. Candy, a missionary from India, and Rev. J. Baillie, of Lin- lithgow. Evangelical Christendom, vol. viii, pages 432-3. 352 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. ix. man, Scandinavian, Netherland, Swiss, and French. The method is much the same as elsewhere, some subject being introduced by a written essay, upon which free discus- sion ensues.' Within the last few years there has sprung up in our country another form of conference, which belongs virtually to the same category as the one we have just considered. I refer to the Inter-Seminary Missionary Alliance, which was formed in 1879. This Alliance naturally has an un- denominational character. Its ninth annual convention, consisting of over four hundred delegates from thirty-five theological insti- tutions, was held in Boston, October, 1888. It lasted four days, including the last, which was the Lord's Day. Of later origin is the International Mis- sionary Union.^ It was organized at Niag- * Verhandlungen der Allgemeinen Missionsconferenz, 1866 und 1868. Berlin, 1S68. Verhandlungen der dritten Allgemeinen Missionsconferenz, 1S72. Barmen, 1872. For later notices see Allgcmeine Missions- Zeitschrift. ^ Appendix, note 59. LECT. IX.] CONFERENCES IN CHRISTIAN LANDS. 2>So ara in 1884, and is an association consisting of returned foreign missionaries. Any such person belonging to any evangelical denom- ination, whether permanently or temporarily at home, whether man or woman, can become a member. Its object is to pro- mote sympathy and cooperation of mission- aries in their various fields. Important questions connected with the foreign work are discussed at the annual meetings, of which there have been five — the first two at Niagara Falls, Canada ; the next two at Thousand Island Park, on the St. Lawrence River ; and the last at Bridgeton, New Jer- sey. Each of the conventions occupied an entire week. At the second meeting (1885) a little over fifty missionary workers of both sexes were present; the gathering of 1886 numbered sixty-two members ; that of the next year also over sixty, besides several candidates who were under appointment. In July of last year, 1888, there were forty present, out of the one hundred and thirty- four enrolled members. 354 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. ix We now come to the first Ecumenical Conference.' ARRANGEMENTS ATTENDANCE. The London Conference of 1878 was in all respects on a broader scale than any of the preceding. It was held, with the ex- ception of one evening, in the commodious hall at Mildmay Park, Islington — a hall with two thousand five hundred sittings, and with accessories well suited to the pur- pose. The year before, thirteen thousand Americans were said to have visited the Paris Exhibition ; only five individuals went to Ens:land in order to attend this confer- ence. They were among the more than one hundred and fifty members, represent- ing thirty-five different societies — English, Scottish, Irish, French, German, and Amer- ican. The last week of October was de- voted to the occasion, which opened with a session Monday evening. Tuesday, Wednes- * Appendix, note 60. LECT. IX.] ARRANGEMENTS ATTENDANCE. 355 day, and Thursday there were three ses- sions daily ; Friday, one of great length, at the usual place, followed by another in Exeter Hall. That of Saturday forenoon was for farewell and devotional services. Attendance upon the thirteen sessions was less than might reasonably have been ex- pected — in no instance exceeding fifteen hundred. This was partly due to insuffi- cient pains taken to apprise the London religious public that such a meeting was to be held. Only the most limited announce- ments were previously made from pulpits or through the press. It is usually about as difficult to make a deep and abiding impression upon London as upon the Atlantic ocean. But at that time many persons generally well informed failed even to hear of the conference till it was nearly or quite over. Complaints of this omission became frequent and outspoken afterwards. The English secular press was then, and is still, far behind ours in reporting religious meetings. 356 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. ix. Before the opening session of the first evening there was a reception in an ante- room of Mildmay Hall, where delegates were presented to Sir William Muir, K. C. S. I., chairman of the first meeting. Sir William has occupied various public offices, having been at one time Governor of the Northwest Provinces in India. He stands high as an Arabic scholar, is the author of a valuable work on the Koran, while his Life of Mohammed ranks second to no other. He is now at the head of the University of Edinburgh. After him a new presiding officer was called to the chair on each successive day and evening — the Earl of Cavan, the Rev. Daniel Wilson (son of the late Bishop Daniel Wilson), Lord Polwarth, Lord Kinnaird, Major Gen- eral Sir William Hill, and others. A compliment was thus secured to the four nationalities — English, Irish, Scotch, and American; and to the three departments — the Church, the Civil Service, and the Army. LECT. IX.] ARRANGEMENTS ATTENDANCE. 357 It is obvious that the great object of such a convention should be to discuss funda- mental principles, to collate views regard- ing methods of evangelistic work, to exhibit the results of different plans, to contemplate the nature, attitude, and strength of oppos- ing systems, and the various hindrances encountered; and by the statement of suc- cesses and the exhibition of faith and hope, to supply mutual stimulus for more ener- getic efforts toward evangelizing the whole world, and that as speedily as possible. At the Liverpool gathering the topical method was pursued. The committee of arrange- ments for this one in London designed to have a geographical order observed, assign- ment being made of Africa and the West Indies to Tuesday ; India, China, and Japan to Wednesday and a part of Thursday ; Polynesia and other islands, as well as North American Indians, Patagonians, and others, to the remainder of Thursday ; Mo- hammedans, Jews, and ancient Christian churches to Friday. That arrangement was 358 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. ix not perfectly carried out. Such were the variety and extent of regions and opera- tions, and the number of speakers desired or desiring to make contributions, as to render completeness of survey hardly pos- sible. The term conference applied to the assem- blage at Mildmay Park is appropriate only in part. With the crowd of matter on hand, opportunity for questions or free discussion could be conceded only to a meager extent. It was rather a Missionary Bureau, to which contributions were made toward a survey of forces in evangelistic enterprise. One feature of the occasion was the active participation of women. Not only were papers by the aged Mrs. Weitbrecht, then in India, and the Misses Whately, daughters of the late Archbishop Whately, read by gentlemen, but at an afternoon meeting ladies, one of them a Mexican, appeared on the platform and addressed the audience. The session of Thursday evening was occupied almost entirely with LECT. IX.] TOPICS DISCUSSED. 359 reference to work among women in the East, by female speakers in their own person -- Mrs. Urmiston, wife of Colonel Urmiston, of the army ; Mrs. Ferguson, born in India; Mrs. Etherington, of the Wesleyan Mission at Benares ; and Miss Maria West, of the American Mission in Western Turkey. Their addresses were in- teresting and effective, and the audience was larger that evening than any other. TOPICS DISCUSSED. Topics outside the department of statis- tics and of narrative were treated, valuable essays being presented on themes of high importance. Among these was the thought- ful paper by Dr. Murray Mitchell, of the Free Church of Scotland, discussing the " Influence of Education in India on the Spread of True Christianity ; " another by Edward B. Underbill, LL.D., late Secretary of the English Baptist Missionary Society, on " The Results of Slave Emancipation ; " and another by the Rev. Wm. Jenkins 360 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. ix. Secretary of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, on the question, " To what extent is the spread of Christianity assisted or other- wise by the truths or principles which underlie the systems of Hinduism or Mo- hammedanism, and are presumed to corre- spond with the truths and principles of the gospel ? " Extempore addresses were also listened to. The most elaborate of these unwritten efforts were delivered at the even- ing meetings, and especially the last one of the kind, that in Exeter Hall. To Dr. Clark, Foreign Secretary of the American Board, was appropriately assigned the place of honor, whose closing speech, full of ear- nest thought, quite redeemed the tone of the meeting, which had begun sensibly to decline. While the conference failed to be ecu- menical, it w^as more truly general than any of earlier date. It was indeed partially cosmopolitan. The ends of the earth met at Mildmay Park. In the persons of mis- sionaries and other Christian workers, re- LHCT. IX.] REPRESENTATIVE MEN. 36 1 motest regions of our globe were there — not only officials representing the chief Protestant nations, but from those nation- alities men who, by voluntary expatriation, have familiarized themselves with many of the dark places on the face of the earth. China was there; India was there; Africa, Southern, Central, and Western, was there. So was Egypt, Mt. Lebanon, and Asia Minor. So too our continent. Islands of the sea were there — Formosa, Sumatra, Madagascar, Australia, New Guinea, New Hebrides, Polynesia, and the West Indies. REPRESENTATIVE MEN. Men of mark came upon the platform. I say nothing in regard to American dele- gates. The name of Dr. Mullens, Foreign Secretary of the London Missionary So- ciety, had become widely known as an executive officer and as an author. Few Englishmen surpassed Dr. Morley Pun- shon, of the Wesleyan Society, as a plat- form orator. The gentlemen of the Scottish 362 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. ix Boards have never been accused of medioc- rity. That interesting book, Prayi7ig and Working, by Fleming Stevenson, of Dub- lin, is well known; so — at least in Germany — are the four-volumed history of the Berlin Missionary Society, by Dr. Wange- mann, and sundry books by Professor Plath, who is at the head of the Gossner Society. Those present had the pleasure of listening to these men, as also to Mr. Sherring, who wrote the History of Protestant Missions i7i India, and other works. Fixed attention was given to an exhaustive paper on mis- sions in China, by Professor Legge, of Oxford University, who has edited Chinese classics. Every one was struck with the modest bearing and interesting statement of Admiral Prevost, of the Royal Navy. Who has not learned to revere the name of Sir Thomas Fow^ell Buxton, the philan- thropist, successor to Wilberforce as leader of the anti-slavery movement in England 1 It was gratifying to listen to a grandson of his, bcaiinor the same name and title, LHCT. ix.j DR. ROBERT MOFFAT. 363 while he made a lucid survey of the pros- pects of missions in Central Africa. Are noblemen ever so noble as when, like Lord Polwarth and Lord Kinnaird, they stand forth bearing v^^itness to their interest in this grand enterprise of evangelizing the nations ? It was a satisfaction to listen to the Earl of Cavan as he offered familiar remarks on a passage of Holy Writ ; and to see a man of most catholic spirit, devoted for half a century to Christian and philan- thropic interests, the Earl of Shaftesbury, presiding at the session in Exeter Hall, as he did at the corresponding session of the " Liverpool Conference," nearly a score of years before. DR. ROBERT MOFFAT. " Nothing but a missionary ! " But the man who gave that toss of the head and that half scornful look should cast an eye down the long center aisle of the hall at Mildmay Park. Whom do we see coming up the aisle — a son of Anak in stature, 364 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. ix. erect, his features strongly marked, his venerable locks and long white beard add- ing majesty to his appearance ? On dis- covering him, the whole great audience rise spontaneously to their feet. A Wesleyan brother with powerful voice is in the midst of an address ; yet no one heeds him till the patriarch has taken a seat on the plat- form. Who is the old man ? Is it the Earl of Beaconsfield ? Is it Mr. Gladstone ? There is but one other person in the realm, I take it, to whom, under the circumstances, such a united and enthusiastic tribute would be paid ; and that because she is on the throne. This hoary-headed man is the veteran among South African mission- aries. He went out to the Dark Continent more than sixty years before (18 16). He was now eighty-three, his name Robert Moffat. To him we are indebted for the book Missionary Labors and Scenes in Southern Africa (1842). To him are the Bechuanas indebted for a translation of the New Testament into their language. Six LECT.ix.] TONE AND SPIRIT. 365 years before a testimonial amounting to nearly $30,000 was presented to him. The wife of David Livingstone, the famous Af- rican explorer, was his daughter. With a voice still strong and musical he addresses the assembly for twenty or more minutes. The man who preaches to a larger con- gregation than any other in London once said that when he saw the veteran Moffat he felt inclined to sink into his shoes. Yet Robert Moffat was nothing but a mis- sionary ! TONE AND SPIRIT. Not only was that conference more nearly ecumenical than any of the kind that pre- ceded ; it was catholic in spirit. No jarring occurred. Scarcely anything discordant was introduced. The reality and depth of unity were all the more evident because so little was said about it. Almost no professions of brotherly feeling were made. There was little thought about ecclesiasti- cal or other differences, because all were 366 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. ix, too intent upon the main object of the gathering to waste time on non-essentials. There is nothing Hke the elevating power of a high aim to tone up individual mind, or the collective mind of an audience. And is there any conceivable enterprise so grand as that of giving the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to all mankind? There was no laudation of man. Self-complacency- does not thrive in such an atmosphere. Men, whether missionaries or not, who have given themselves to any department of Christian philanthropy, take on a pecu- liar type of character, just as wines get mellowed and peculiarly flavored by being sent on distant voyages. Of course secta- rian arrogance received a silent rebuke, as it once received an outspoken rebuke, for the disciples had not drunk very deep into the spirit of the kingdom when they said, " Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and wc forbade him because he followeth not us." But Jesus said, " Forbid him not." Among the use- LECT. IX.] INFELICITIES. 367 ful lessons impressed upon all at the con- ference is this — no one society, no one denomination, has a monopoly of zeal, wis- dom, or success. Each is doing the Lord s work in its own way, and is entitled to respect ; to each may all bid God-speed. INFELICITIES. The Mildmay Park Conference was not without its drawbacks. The range of invi- tation and recognition was too limited. Scarcely an allusion occurred during the week to one of the oldest modern evangel- istic movements into the domain of hea- thenism, that of the Moravian Brethren, who a century and a half ago were in the van of that army which has now swelled to such proportions, and who have planted their Christian colonies in Greenland, Labrador, the West India Islands, tropical South America, South Africa, Australia, and Thi- bet. No mention whatever was made of the Danish, Swedish, and other Scandina- vian societies; nor — with a solitary ex- 368 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. ix. ception — to the five or more societies in Holland. The efficient Basle Society, dat- ing from 1816, occupied but little time. Some of the minor English societies re- ceived almost no mention. The same was true as regards the American Presbyterians, North and South; the Methodists, North and South ; Episcopalians, Free-Will Bap- tists and others in the United States. That the High Church institutions such as the Leipzig and Hermannsburg societies, and the English Society for Propagating the Gospel, should decline representation, har- monizes with their general bearing and antecedents. The gentlemen who had in charge the calling and planning of this convocation should either have done more or have done less. They should not have issued notifi- cations to societies outside of Great Britain, or else have sent invitations to all such in the Protestant world, requesting personal representation or written contributions. As the British and Foreign Bible Society, LBCT.ix.] PROGRESS REPORTED. 369 the Scottish Bible Society, and the London Religious Tract Society, were invited, so should it have been with similar bodies in other lands. The only institutions of the United States represented were the American Missionary Association, the Bap- tist Union, the Board of the Reformed Church, and the American Board. It was perhaps almost inevitable that dispropor- tionate space should be allotted to some operations quite restricted in their sphere and importance, as for instance, schools in Syria and Egypt. PROGRESS REPORTED. It is of course impossible to condense into a few minutes' space any satisfactory statement, at all in detail, concerning the many fields or results of foreign missionary labor as then reported. Suffice it to say : The American Board, the oldest institution of the kind this side of the Atlantic, yet only one of a goodly sisterhood, gave testimony that it had sent forth one thou- 370 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. ix sand six hundred and sixty-nine men and women, of whom one third were ordained, to engage in the good work ; who had reduced twenty-six different languages to writing; employed forty-six languages in their operations ; gathered between three and four hundred churches, into which had been received about 80,000 communicants. English missionary societies of longer stand- ing, with larger incomes — one of them a million of dollars every year — had yet more to say in the same line. That noble institution, the British and Foreign Bible Society, reported that it received annually more than a million of dollars; had pub- lished the Holy Scriptures in over two hundred different languages ; that from its depository on Queen Victoria Street there went out 5,000 copies of the whole or por- tions of God's Word daily, a Bible for every pulse-beat. The Pacific Islands sent word that among them were nearly 70,000 church members Africa claimed a church membership of LECT. ix.i PROGRESS REPORTED. 37 1 100,000. China, so exclusive and so inac- cessible, gave answer that within her bounds she already found more than four hundred Christian laborers from abroad, more than three hundred churches, and more than 13,000 church members. India lifted up her grateful voice, proclaiming that above 400,000 have ceased to be heathens. It became evident that Christian thought, sympathy, and effort were getting expanded. In the early ages missionary work was pros- ecuted, for the most part, only among Greeks and Romans ; in the middle ages among Slavonian and Germanic nations ; but there has come to be an aim and movement toward all regions and all na- tions. From various quarters of the globe there came testimony that Christian mis- sions are being prosecuted on a grander scale than ever before. It appeared that the operations of Evangelical Protestantism in behalf of unevangelized races represented — under the auspices of more than eighty organizations — a personal force of over 372 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. ix. two thousand men and women from Chris- tian lands, aided by twenty thousand native preachers and catechists, having in charge 300,000 church members, a much larger number of scholars, and beyond a million, indeed a million and a half, of attendants on worship. Still better, it was in evidence that Chris- tian missions were never more successful than at that time. While the agencies of darkness were perhaps never so busy, it is clear that never before were such facilities for disseminating the truth ; that never was there so much to animate the hopes, the prayers, the efforts of God's people. It appears that in proportion to the number of laborers, conversions are more numerous on the foreign than on home fields — amono: Methodist missions from this coun- try, five or six times in excess ; among Presbyterian missions from this country, eight times in excess. LHCT.ix.] SIGNAL TRIUMPHS. 373 SIGNAL TRIUMPHS. Nor at any period since the day when a blaspheming persecutor was arrested on his way to Damascus, had there been more signal instances of triumphant grace than might be found in the annals of current evangelization. There were, and still are, ordained men in the pulpits at the Fiji Islands who know the taste of human flesh, so recent has been the introduction of Christianity. The Rev. Mr. Taylor, of the Church Missionary Society, laboring in New Zealand, once invited native converts to a communion service. When they came forward, one man started suddenly backward and for a few minutes remained in the rear of the church. At the moment of kneeling he had discovered the man who, in the days of heathenism, murdered this communicant's father, drank his blood, and on whom he had vowed vengeance if ever they met. He had not heard of his enemy's 374 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. ix. conversion, and this was the first time of their meeting. The words of our Saviour, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," soon come to his mind. He returns to the sacred table, kneels beside his father's murderer, and with him par- takes of the memorials of Christ's dying love. Can older Christendom match that with an instance equally striking.? Baron de Chantal, a French nobleman and noted duelist, left the Lord's table one Easter day, that he might act as second to the famous Count de Bouteville. Clearer than ever before did it become that the evangelistic pioneer — go where he may, amidst the barrenness of polar regions, or tropical luxuriance, to the fast- nesses of mountaineers, or amongst nomads of the plain — finds his brother man, of whatever color, culture, or condition, a sin- ful creature, alike in the region and shadow of death, alike requiring renovation by the Word and Spirit of God; that nowhere does he light upon a human being so high LBCT. IX.] SIGNAL TRIUMPHS. 375 in excellence as not to need, or so far crone in degradation as to be beyond, grace that savelh to the uttermost ; that Confucianism will never reform the Chinese, Brahmanism the Hindus, nor fetichism the Africans ; that no form of heathenism ever saved one lost soul ; that Mohammedanism can- not do it ; that civilization cannot do it ; that the glorious gospel alone will do it. Christianity is for all men, and for ail on the same terms. That stone which spec- ulating builders set at naught is become the head of the corner. " Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." " Nothing but powder and ball," said a European officer, "can civilize these sav- ages ; " yet those tribes to which he referred have since been civilized, and what is more, have been Christianized by missionary labor. '^ Nothing but powder and bah," say some of our military men, " will do for the Indian tribes of this country." Yet, chiefly through 376 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. ix. missionary endeavor, have Senecas, and Choctaws, and Chickasaws, and Cherokees, and Osages been civilized, and in good measure Christianized too. Is anything too hard for the Lord, or for his mighty word of truth ? No, not even the heathen- ism of such fighting Christians. LECTURE X. MISSIONARY CONFERENCES, (CONTINUED.) MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. (CONTINUED.) LONDON CONFERENCE, 1 888. A DECADE, though an arbitrary group of years, is a natural and convenient period for the review of current events. That interval between missionary conferences in the Orient has suggested the same interval in Europe. The widening extent, the growing complica- tions, and fresh problems of foreign evangel- istic movements, could not fail to suggest another ecumenical gathering as the ten years following that of 1878 passed on. At the monthly meeting of secretaries of lead- ing societies which have their administrative seats in London the subject was discussed and measures were put in train. Pursuant to an invitation emanating from that source, and by appointment of nearly all missionary (379) 380 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. x. societies of the United Kingdom, delegates met in January, 1887, at the British and Foreign Bible Society's House, and com- pleted an organization of committees which should make preliminary arrangements, and have direction of proceedings in a general conference to be held the next year (1888). No place in the world is more appropriate for such a convocation than London — the chief town of the only empire, ancient or modern, on which the sun never sets. Of its population, amounting to about four mil- lion, one third were born outside of its limits. Europe at large, Africa, Asia and America, are represented in the vast multitude residing there. As a port of entry it was not without importance even in the Roman period, for early in the eighth century Bede speaks of London as the " mart of many nations re- sorting to it by sea and land." What would the venerable historian think could he now witness the annual entry of over thirty-six thousand vessels .^^ In money exchanges it is the metropolis of the world, and is more LECT.x.] DESCRIPTION INADEQUATE. 38 1 truly cosmopolitan than any other city on earth — its financial, commercial, and politi- cal influences pulsating throughout a large part of the human race. There, too, the largest missionar}^ societies of the world have their centers. DESCRIPTION INADEQUATE. One seldom undertakes a more difficult task than to describe a meeting numerously attended, multifarious, and prolonged. To reproduce in a brief compass a ten days' meeting, with its more than two-score ses- sions, is simply impracticable. When the nobles and princes of one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India to Ethi- opia, went home after the seven days' feast which Ahasuerus made for them, could they give the people any satisfactory idea how the rich viands tasted in Shushan, the palace ? Atmosphere, perfumes, and flavors, pathos and enthusiasm, have never been photo- graphed. The London Missionary Conference in 382 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lkct. x. 1888 took place from the 9th to the 20th of June, the two Sabbaths and Saturdays ex- cepted. There were usually five sessions daily, two or more at times being held simul- taneously in different halls. No one soldier or officer ever witnessed an entire great bat- tle, so wide is the field of action, so rapid and complex are the movements. Not less im- possible was it for any one man to take in, as the days passed on, all the topics, all the essays and discussions of the conference. Only a plain statement of certain facts and impressions will now be attempted. It was the largest gathering of the kind that has ever been held. That of 1878 at Mildmay Park, London, however, is the only one with which properly a comparison should be made, for it was the first General Confer- ence ; the first at which were present dele- srates from other bodies than those related to one another nationally — as in Great Britain and Ireland; or geographically — as in India, China, and Japan. That confer- ence, the one ten years since, assembled in a LBCT.x.] DESCRIPTION INADEQUATE. 383 hall smaller than Exeter Hall, and was in no instance filled. At this later gathering there were nearly sixteen hundred delegates against one hundred and fifty-eight in Mildmay Park, representing one hundred and forty societies against thirty-four in 1878; some of these, a dozen at least, as Bible, tract and other societies being coop- erative institutions. A large number outside of the delegations were in attendance, so that even at the opening session, the great hall, which has a seating capacity of perhaps four thousand, was well filled. Different in composition and aim as were the famous ecclesiastical councils of former days, it is not unnatural that they should come to mind in this connection. Casting an eye at the first group of ecumenical coun- cils, eight in number (A. D. 325-869), sum- moned by emperors, we find at that of Nicaea three hundred and eighteen bishops, and at that of Chalcedon five or six hundred bishops. Greek was the language used. A similar glance at the larger group of such 384 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. x assemblies in the Western Church (A. D. 869-1311), summoned by popes, Latin being used, we count at the second (A. D. 11 39) about one thousand ecclesiastics, and at the fourth (A. D. 1215) over twelve hundred, the largest number ever thus convened. The next month following this London Mission- ary Conference came a conference of bish- ops at Lambeth Palace, who assembled from quarters widely remote, and numbered one hundred and forty-five. Regarding the composition of the confer- ence I am to speak chiefly of delegates and those constituting the body ; not of outside though interested spectators. NOTICEABLE VARIETY. From this side the Atlantic, the United States and Canada, there were numerous friends — one hundred and eighty-nine from the former and thirty from the latter — representing together fifty-seven societies. Forty- one of the continental societies were represented. Holland sent her quota. LHCT.x.] NOTICEABLE VARIETY. 385 There were friends from the land of Cal- vin and the Huguenots; friends from the land of Zwingle and Farel ; blue-eyed men from the banks of the Rhine ; the Scandi- navian with his sturdy enterprise, inherited from roving vikings ; the Moravian with his alacrity for finding out the least attractive nooks of our globe; Englishmen and Scotch- men in full force, besides a sprinkling of the Irish — between thirteen and fourteen hun- dred from Great Britain, and representing fifty-three societies. Dark-skinned Africans were there. Many islands, all the continents — and Australia is virtually a continent — nearly all latitudes and nearly all Protestant denominations and foreign missionary or- ganizations, were represented. The Salva- tion Army did not accept the invitation, nor did the High Church Lutheran Society at Leipzig, the Hermannsburg Society, the So- ciety for Propagating the Gospel, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, with some smaller dependencies or affiliations in ritualistic narrowness. Nevertheless, more 386 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. x. than nine tenths of all that is contributed toward the foreign propagation of evangel- ical Christianity was represented in the con- ference. The English-speaking race fur- nishes more than ten times the income of other such institutions in Protestant Chris- tendom. Foreign evangelistic work is now chiefly in the hands of the Anglo-Saxon family of nations, which in modern times is the family of enterprise, the family that colo- nizes. Among Latin races Romanism has brought about degeneracy. The English language was the only one employed in the proceedings of this conference, yet there were present men and women whose ver- naculars and whose acquired languages are very unlike and very numerous. TALENT AND POSITION. On the score of ability and position the conference was eminently respectable. Among the delegates and those who took part in the proceedings there were distin- guished gentlemen of the medical profession, LECT.x.] TALENT AND POSITION. 387 as Dr. Pringle, of the Bengal army, Dr. Lowe, father and founder of medical mis- sions. Sir Risdon Bennett, F. R. S., and Dr. Leveson G. Gunn of Dublin, surgeon-gen- eral. Well-known men connected w^ith edu- cational institutions : from our country, Pro- fessor Welch of Auburn, Professor Aiken of Princeton, and Dr. Schaff of New York; from Canada, Rev. William MacLaren, D.D., professor in Knox College, Toronto, Princi- pal MacVicar of Montreal ; from Switzer- land, Professor Bertrand; from Scotland, Professor Robertson of the University, and Dr. James Brown, principal of the Free Church College, Aberdeen ; Professor Henry Drummond of the University, and Professor Lindsay of the Free Church College, Glas- gow; Rev. Dr. Thomas Smith, Professor Charteris, Professor Blaikie and Principal Cairns of Edinburgh; from England, Profes- sor Angus of Regent's Park College, London, Dr. Matthews of the Presbyterian College, London, Rev. T. W. Drury, principal of the Church Missionary Society's College, Isling- 388 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. x ton, Professor McAllister of Cambridge Uni- versity, and Sir Monier Monier-Williams, Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford. Of the gentlemen whose names have just been men- tioned many are writers of acknowledged eminence. Others besides them may be mentioned : Provost Vahl of Denmark, Dr. Grundemann of Germany, Dr. J. Murray Mitchell of Scotland, Drs. Cust and Stough- ton. Sir William Hunter of England, and Mrs. Bishop, formerly Miss Isabella Bird, who wrote Unbeaten Tracks in ^apan, and other works. Conspicuous clergymen, such as Dr. Pierson, Dr. A. J. Gordon and Dr. G. D. Boardman, Drs. Noble and Wil- liam M. Taylor and Dr. Talbot W. Cham- bers, from the United States; Drs. Mathews and Parsons from Canada, Dr. Oswald Dykes and Rev. W. H. Webb-Peploe of London, and Rev. Cavaliere de Prochet of the Waldensian Church. Missionaries of note : Principal William Miller, LL. D., of Madras, Dr. Bruce of Per- sia, Dr. Post of Syria, Dr. Baedeker of Rus- LECT.x] TALENT AND POSITION. 389 sia, Rev. W. S. Swansea of the Presbyterian Mission at Amoy, Rev. John Mackenzie of South Africa, Bishop Crowther of West Africa, Rev. S. Macfarlane, LL. D., from New Guinea, and Rev. G. Turner, LL. D., from Samoa. Able missionary administra- tors: Drs. Judson Smith and Murdock of Boston, Drs. Ellin wood, Langford, W. J. R. Taylor and Gilman of New York, Dr. Ellis of Baltimore, Dr. Alexander Sutherland of Canada, Rev. L. Dahle of the Norweo^ian Society, Rev. F. Lion Cachet of the Dutch Reformed Society ; Drs. Marensky, Hesse and Schreiber of Germany ; Rev. A. Boeg- ner, Secretary of the Paris Missionary So- ciety ; Rev. W. Stevenson, and Drs. Bu- chanan and George Smith, of Edinburgh; Rev. Benjamin LaTrobe, James L. Maxwell, M. D., Henry Grattan Guinness, J. Hudson Taylor, C. C. Fenn, Drs. Underbill and Wardlaw Thompson, of London. 390 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lbct x RANK AND TITLES. These are matters regarding which Ameri- cans are less mindful than Europeans. All ministers of the Word who were there are bishops in the New Testament sense of the term ; but some of them bear popularly cer- tain ecclesiastical titles. Of prebends there were two ; of canons, five ; one Very Rev. dean ; of venerable archdeacons, three ; of right reverend bishops, a dozen — most of whom were from parts widely remote. Note- worthy among them were Dr. Crowther of the Niger Valley, Dr. Sargent, who has ren- dered fifty years of service in India, and Dr. Bickers teth, who belongs to a family so well known in the religious and missionary world. Not less than a score of delegates bore the honorary title of Doctor of Laws ; between one and two hundred, that of Doctor of Di- vinity. The census included two admirals ; while from the army there were colonels, lieutenant-colonels, generals, major-generals 1.KCT.X.] RANK AND TITLES. 39 1 and lieutenant-generals, about a score ; thlr- teen members of Parliament, one of whom, Sir John H. Kennaway, is President of the Church Missionary Society. Other titled civiHans — Count van Limburg Stirum from Holland, Sir J. P. Corry, Sir Robert Fowler, Sir Arthur Blackwood, Sir Rivers Thomp- son, General Sir Robert Phayre, who had seen thirty years' service in India, Lord Provost Henderson of Aberdeen, and Sir Thomas Fovv'ell Buxton, grandson of the celebrated philanthropist v/ho bore the same name. Of the English nobility there were Lord Kin- naird; Lord Radstock, well known for his evangelistic labors ; the Earl of Northbrooke, President of the Christian Vernacular Edu- cation Society ; the Earl of Harrowby, Presi- dent of the British and Foreign Bible Soci- ety ; and the Right Hon. the Earl of Aber- deen, late Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and President of the conference. At one session enough peers of the realm sat in a row to form a quorum of the upper house of Par- liament; but then it requires only three to 392 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lbct.x. make a quorum of that body. The eye will be attracted to men noteworthy for race or personal history. Do you ask, Who is that man of full-blooded African origin that speaks at several sessions ? It is the Rev. J. A. Taylor, of the Colored Baptist Mission- ary Society, who was for the first twenty- four years of his life a slave in one of our Southern States. And who is that other black man ? That is the Right Rev. Bishop Crow- ther, fourscore years old, as dark-skinned as any man ever born in tropical Africa, who in boyhood was seized by a gang of Moham- medan slave dealers; was sold first for a horse, but returned as an unfair exchange ; afterwards was twice bartered for rum and tobacco ; became so broken-hearted that he tried to commit suicide ; was rescued from a slaver by the British ship " Myrmidon ; " was educated at the Church Missionary Society's institution ; was ordained forty-five years ago ; labored fourteen years in Abeokuta ; then founded a mission in the Niger country, which is carried on exclusively by the aid of LECT.x.] FEMALE MEMBERS. 393 native African clergymen, among whom is Archdeacon Henry Johnson, a pure negro, an accomplished scholar and gentleman. In 1864 Mr. Crowther was consecrated bishop. After a separation of twenty-five years his heathen relatives received from him their first knowledge of Christian truth ; and at length he found his own mother, who finally died In her son's Episcopal palace on the banks of the Niger. Did the last novel that you read contain Incidents more romantic than those ? FEMALE MEMBERS. At the initial conference after Christ's as- cension " there were women, and Mary, the mother of Jesus." At this London Confer- ence there were women, many women and capable women, who approved themselves as far more worthy of membership than the abbesses who were sometimes present in the ecclesiastical councils of England before the period of Reformation. Nor did they simply sit as silent spectators or constitu- 394 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. x. ents. Well-considered papers were read by Miss Child, of our Woman's Board ; hy Miss Rainy, of Scotland, a sister of Principal Rainy; and by Miss Dr. Marston, of North India. Several ladies also shared in the discussion that followed, the subject being " Woman's Work in the Mission Field." On the evening of the next day, when the kin- dred topic, " Woman's Mission to Women," was under consideration in the large hall, two or three ladies spoke at the close. Mrs. Nind, of the Methodist Church in Minne- apolis, addressed the conference several times, and on the last day read a memorial to be addressed to the English and Ameri- can orovernments bv the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union. At another time Miss De Broen gave an account of her work in Paris, and Mrs. Armstrong, from the Baptist mission to the Karens, narrated in an interesting manner some of the results of evangelization among that people. But it is not necessary to name yet other ladies who took part actively in the proceedings. LECT.x.i FEMALE MEMBERS. 395 Sunday afternoon, June 17, there was a meeting in the large hall, specially for young women. The Countess of Aberdeen pre- sided, and in her introductory remarks spoke of visits with her husband, the Earl, to mis- sion stations in India. The meeting was addressed by four American ladies — Mrs. Moses Smith of Detroit, Mrs. A. J. Gordon of Boston, Miss Carter of New York, and Mrs. Quinton of Philadelphia. At several of the public meetings when the Earl pre- sided. Lady Aberdeen sat beside him — a circumstance as pleasing as it is unusual. It should be borne in mind that women con- stitute two thirds of the membership of Christian churches in all lands; that there are numerous societies — indeed, one fourth of those represented in the conference — or- ganized for woman's work in the foreign field, with an annual incom.e of something like one and a quarter million of dollars ; and that of the more than seven thousand missionaries, one third are women. Here, then, were the most important con- 396 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. x stituents that could be desired in such a convocation — missionaries and mission di- rectors, who are experts ; visitors of mis- sions ; gentlemen and ladies who without personal experience or observation have writ- ten on missionary subjects, and who may be called semi-experts ; besides a large group of generous contributors and other intelli- gent and influential friends outside of these classes. True, there were noticeable ab- sences. I have already spoken of missionary societies which were not represented, to which might be added the Gossner, the Breck- lum, and some other societies on the Conti- nent of Europe, as well as some on this Western Continent. Yet of the eleven mil- lion of dollars now contributed annually to Protestant foreign missions, over ten million form the income of societies represented on that occasion. It might reasonably have been expected that Nonconformist ministers and clergymen of the Establishment, in Lon- don and vicinity at least, would be present in full force, but they were not. Telegrams, LHCT.x.J FEMALE MEMBERS 397 however, expressing interest, were received from the Archbishop of Canterbury and several prominent gentlemen, as well as let- ters of salutation and sympathy from Scan- dinavian countries, from South Africa, and other remote regions. It may be mentioned that two if not more who attended the Liverpool Conference in i860 were among the delegates — Rev. John Fordyce, and R. A. Macfie, Esq., who was then one of the Executive Committee. More than a score of delegates were also members of the former conference in London. But during the ten years that intervened some of the men who were prominent on that occa- sion had ceased from their labors. Among the starred names are Rev. M. A. Sherring, LL. B., a valued missionary, and another the venerable Dr. Robert Moffat, who at eighty- seven fell asleep in Jesus (1883)'; Rev. Henry Wright, Secretary of the Church Mis- ^ Lives of Robert and Mary Moffat. By John S. Moffat. Lon- don, 1S86. 39^ MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. x sionary Society; Dr. W. Morley Punshon, Secretary of the Wesleyan Missionary Soci- ety, and a platform orator of power; Dr. Joseph Mullens, Secretary of the London Missionary Society, whose remains in the Dark Continent await the resurrection morn- ing; Rev. W. Fleming Stevenson, Secre- tary of the Irish Presbyterian Mission, able, ardent, and widely known ; and the Right Hon. the Earl of Shaftesbury, a prince among philanthropists and Christian statesmen, whose Life and Work, detailed in three volumes, is now before the public' THE AMERICAN DELEGATION. An inquiry will arise, not unnaturally, re- garding the relative competency of delegates from the United States as compared with the European. It would be invidious for me to institute a comparison; and in listening to English testimony, we would not forget that all from outside of Great Britain were * The Life and Work of the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, K.G. By Edwhi H odder. 3 vols. London, 1S86. LEcr. x] THE AMERICAN DELEGATION. 399 guests, and that the bias of a noble hospital- ity may somewhat have colored the utter- ances of our friends in London. I give two or three citations. The Church Missionary Intelligencer re- marks : " The presence of many American delegates, able and interesting men and women, has been the most satisfactory fea- ture of the conference." Another writer says: "The American representatives, in particular, were able and cultivated men, whom it was a privilege and honor to meet." And yet another: "Nothing could exceed the sweet courteousness of our American visitors, men of noble and distinguished bearing, men of power and eloquence, m.en whom it is an honor to claim as friends, and whose words will live in the recollection of those who heard them." Individual Americans are spoken of in terms of marked commendation. At one of the lower hall meetino-s on the evenins^ of Tuesday, June 12, Dr. Post, from Syria — I now quote : " Who had already delivered a 400 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. x. most effective address on medical missions in the large hall — then came here and made the best speech of the evening." At a later meeting : " Dr. William M. Taylor's speech was an admirable one, not only delivered with great energy, but containing substan- tial thought and most happy illustrations." " A mere summary can convey no idea of the force and finish of his address. Dr. A. J. Gordon was almost equally good." At an- other meeting the same day : " The discus- sion was opened by a grand paper, which will probably rank as one of the best of the conference, by Dr. A. T. Pierson, of Phila- delphia." In the large hall, of an afternoon : " The Rev. Dr. Judson Smxith, of the Ameri- can Board, gave one of those stirring and forceful speeches to which it is a real treat to listen. His opening sentence riveted all attention, and he never let it flag: ' It is a mark of Christianity to attempt the impossi- ble, and, through God's blessing, gloriously to achieve the same.' Then, with a master's hand, he sketched the appalling difficulties LHCT.x.] METHODS OF PROCEEDING. 4OI of the little apostolic band, who, in their Saviour's name and Saviour's strength, faced the attack of the heathen world, and showed the symbol of the cross triumphant in the reign of Constantine." In regard to fare- well addresses at the closing session, it is remarked : " Dr. Ellinwood, of New York, is a man of wonderful power, and his speech was magnificent. He is a man of great re- finement as well as eloquence." These are not the hasty utterances of reporters for the daily press, but the deliberate opinions of eminently competent gentlemen, given over their own signatures.' And it may be added that no higher encomiums were paid to any who took part in the proceedings. METHODS OF PROCEEDING. The first meeting, on Saturday evening, June 9, was salutatory. The Earl of Aber- deen and the committee which called the ^ Supplement to the July number of the Church Missionary In- telligencer. 402 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lhct. x. conference received the delegates. The large hall was amply supplied with flowers and flowering shrubs, almost as varied in native habitat as the homes of guests who were welcomed. Devotional exercises, with singing led by evangelistic choirs of Lon- don, followed the presentation of guests. Then came statements rehearsing the rise, progress, and scope of such conferences ; the President's address of greeting, to which there were responses by gentlemen repre- senting British, American, and Continental constituents. The Monday following there began meet- ings of three kinds : First, those in the large hall, open to the public, and not differing materially from anniversary or other popular missionary gatherings. Of these there were five or six, and whenever the Earl of Aber- deen took the chair, it was at these. Then there were open conferences, eleven in num- ber, for discussion, and also private confer- ences for members only — three of them daily — which for the most part were held in LBCT. X.] METHODS OF PROCEEDING. 403 smaller apartments. In the last of these there was greater freedom of debate, and the discussions were not reported in the daily or other journals. Except at the public meet- ings there was a different gentleman in the chair day after day and session after session. The opening addresses of these presiding officers were sometimes of needless length, and needless repetitions in the line of wel- come and in defining the objects and charac- ter of the conference. That had been done sufficiently at the outset. With the excep- tion of the public meetings, two or more papers were read, limited to twenty minutes each — at least in the portions communicated — and these were followed by addresses limited to ten minutes or five minutes each, according as were the number of cards sent up to the chairman by persons wishing to take part in the discussion. These varied from half a dozen to a dozen or more. Im- partiality in the chair, promptness on the part of speakers, and good order prevailed. There was more of real debate than at any 404 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. x. similar previous gathering. Both written essays and unwritten remarks were, in the main, pertinent to the subject in hand and of practical value. The sessions lasted in nearly every case for two hours; in some in- stances they extended to three hours. The whole number of meetings was not far from fifty, against eleven at the former General Conference. The sessions originally pro- vided for having been held, an extra meeting took place on Wednesday evening, June 20. TOPICS DISCUSSED. As the vast work of foreign evangelization advances new problems multiply and old problems take on new phases. For well-in- formed and thoughtful men, chief interest will center upon fundamental principles, the more powerful obstacles, and leading meth- ods. For the general public, narratives, in- cidents, and successes have greater interest. Examining the program of subjects as printed for the conference, we find detailed something like one hundred and fifty topics, LECT.x.] TOPICS DISCUSSED. 4O5 all of them being of more or less practical moment. They may be grouped as follows. Islam, its character and growth, came un- der review. Sir William Wilson Hunter, LL. D., one of the most eminent of living statisticians and fully competent to speak on this mooted subject, presided at the session when that was discussed. The Rev. Dr. Rob- ert Bruce, from Persia, Dr. George E. Post, of the Syrian Protestant College, Beirut, the Rev. Dr. Schreiber, of the Rhenish Mission- ary Society, and others, contributed valuable information. Buddhism and various heathen systems were reviewed at an open confer- ence under the able presidency of Sir Monier Monier- Williams, D. C, LL. D., of Oxford. His standing in the world of Oriental scholarship is well known, and no paper more able than his was laid before the con- ference at any of its sessions. Jainism re- ceived satisfactory treatment by Dr. Shool- bred, of the United Presbyterian Mission in Rajputana; Parseeism by Dr. J. Murray Mitchell, former Secretary of the Scottish 406 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. x Free Church Missions; and Hinduism by Dr. EUinwood, of New York, Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. Roman CathoHc missions to the heathen engaged earnest attention, with the Right Hon. Lord Radstock in the chair. Rev. Principal MacVicar, D. D., LL. D., read a vigorous essay on the subject, and was fol- lowed by Dean Vahl, of Denmark, Dr. Post, Dr. Mitchell, and others. To commerce in its relation to Christian missions a good deal of thought was given. Rev. Dr. Cairns, principal of the United Presbyterian College, Edinburgh, treated the general features, while Dr. F. F. EUinwood dealt especially with the liquor traffic in Africa, and was followed by an eye-witness. Rev. W. Allan, of the Church Missionary Society. Rev. Mr. Whitehead, a Wesleyan missionary from Canton, depicted the evils of the opium trade, and his testimony was sustained by numerous other witnesses. The chief fields of foreign evangelism were contemplated — Asia, Eastern, Central and LBCT.x.] TOPICS DISCUSSED. 407 Western Africa, America, and Oceanica. A general survey preceded tlip more detailed consideration of particular lands, and in that somewhat comprehensive outlook Lord Ab- erdeen, Prebendary Edmonds, Rev. J. Hud- son Taylor — a name widely known in con- nection with the China inland mission — and Dr. Pierson took a conspicuous share. Time would fail to give even an outline of evan gelistic work as portrayed at sessions devoted to individual countries and presided over by the Earl of Northbrooke, Sir J. H. Kenna- way, Baronet, and other prominent men ; and at which numerous and able mission- aries from all parts of the world, executive officers of evangelistic societies, as well as gentlemen in different positions, gave results of personal acquaintance or their independ- ent views. Other missionary operations and features of the great enterprise, not limited geograph- ically, required separate sessions and large treatment — such as the church's duty at the present time, woman's work for women, 408 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. x. medical missions, and missions to the Jews. By the way, is not " medical missions " a mis- nomer? There are very few if any medical missiojzs, but only medical missionaries — over three hundred at the present time — associated with those who are not specially versed in the healing art. At the meeting when this subject was discussed, Professor McAllister, LL. D., of Cambridge, presided, and spoke with earnestness. Turning to the life of our Lord, it is to be noticed that early in his public career he wrought a mira- cle of healing, and that of the thirty-three individual miracles wrought by him and re- corded by the Evangelists, fully two thirds were miracles of healing. In our day this blessed art as a pioneer work and an auxili- ary Is of high value. Regarding labor in behalf of the children of Abraham, it was doubtless not before known to all who were present that there are now in Christian lands nearly fifty (47) societies devoted to evangelizing the Jews, with an aofSfreeate annual income of four LECT.x.] TOPICS DISCUSSED. 409 hundred and fifty thousand dollars, occupy- ing one hundred and thirty-two stations, em- ploying between four and five hundred (457) agents, and that within the last three quar- ters of a century a hundred thousand prose- lytes have, as is estimated, been baptized. It has already been stated that there was one series of meetings for members only, which were not reported at the time. Of these there were a score or more somewhat after the fashion of sectional sessions at gatherings of the British Association of Sci- ence and similar bodies. At those meetings there was a larger number of participants and greater freedom than at any others. Missionary agencies and methods as related, for example, to polygamy and to evangeliza- tion in Roman Catholic countries ; the proper spheres and value of education, and of literature ; native churches ; missionary comity and home agencies, are matters to which earnest attention was given. Some of the more valuable essays and information communicated at the conference were sub- 4IO MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. x. mitted in these assemblies restricted to dele- gates. At the valedictory session a variety of subjects — most of them not having the re- frain of farewell — came into view. After that gathering there was an enthusiastic supplementary meeting, which did not enter into the original plan. It had respect to the opium trade with China, the liquor traffic in Africa, and government license of vice in India. On the whole the scope of subjects must be regarded as too encyclopaedic. Anything like an adequate consideration of them all was impossible. While a good deal of time was devoted to a rehearsal of missionary labors in different fields, such narratives were necessarily incomplete. Some of the larger and more important of those opera- tions were scarcely alluded to. The earlier published purpose of securing statistics from all the societies had to be abandoned, though some of them, in compliance with a request from the London Committee, had LECT.x.] TOPICS DISCUSSED. 4II devoted a good deal of pains to the matter. Tabulated history and results do not form appropriate matter for such conferences. They should find place in separate book form. Condensed retrospects, however, are pertinent, and one session was devoted to elaborate summaries, contrasting the state of the world a hundred years ago with what it now is in resfard to foreio^n evano^elism. Valuable information and hints were com- municated by Dr. Sutherland, of Toronto, by Mr. George Smith, LL. D., of Edinburgh, by Robert N. Cust, LL. D., of London, and by Dr. Wright, superintendent of the edi- torial and translating department of the British and Foreign Bible Society. When that was formed, 1804, there existed versions of God's Word in only fifty languages. Dur- ing the ten years from 1878 to 1888 that society alone issued fifty-six new versions — six more than had been produced in all the eighteen hundred years that preceded. It is claimed that more copies of Holy Script- ure were published in one year, 1887, than 412 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect.x. had been in the first seventeen centuries of the Christian era. Has an item of statistics so animating as that been given to the world in our age or in any age ? While the subjects were multitudinous and a little confusing for a series of delib- erative assemblies, yet when the proceedings shall appear in a logical and published form they will constitute a rich treasury — indeed, the most valuable work of the kind that has ever been issued.' NOT A CENTENNIAL. It was a mistake to call this conference a centennial. With few exceptions those who referred to the matter spoke of the hundred years thus completed as the period of mod- ern missions ; affirming or implying that the whole post-reformation period till 1788 was one of barrenness in this line of things. Nothing but thoughtlessness or ignorance could have led to such statements. In the * This lecture was prepared before the two volumes were pub- lished. A few names and facts have since been verified. LECT. X.] NOT A CENTENNIAL. 413 first place the year seventeen hundred and eighty-eight furnishes no starting point in missions. Of the societies which have sprung up within the last hundred years, the first did not come into being till 1792. But the Society for Propagating the Gospel, now hastening to its two hundredth anniversary, whatever we may think of its methods and spirit, began early the evangelizing of Indi- ans in North America. Grant that Eliot and the Mayhews did not go to a land foreign to their residence to find the red men ; is not David Brainerd rightly reckoned as a foreign missionary ? But he finished his course toward a hundred and fifty years ago. From the Danish mission in Tranquebar, instituted in 1706, proceeded the earliest translation of the Bible into Tamil, and a useful course of Christian literature, to which later missions in Southern India and North- ern Ceylon have been much indebted. More than a century and a half ago the number of converts was reckoned at over three thou- sand, while of catechists there were then 414 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. x thirty. In 1788 the celebrated Christian Frederick Schwarz had yet ten years of Hfe for labor in India. It is more than a cent- ury and a half since the first Moravian mis- sion was started, 1732. Within five years from that date five missions were begun, and within a quarter of a century from that date eighteen new missions had proceeded from Herrnhut, a mere speck in Central Europe. The first jubilee of Moravian missions oc- curred more than a century ago (1782), at which time there were twenty-seven stations, manned by one hundred and sixty-five mis- sionaries. The unobtrusive yet unmatched zeal of the United Brethren had for two thirds of a century been a rebuke to nearly the whole of Protestant Christendom, and furnished some degree of impulse to move- ments which began in other churclics less than a hundred years since. As early as 1 74 1, Spangenberg, a Moravian bishop, founded a missionary society in London itself. Yet speaker after speaker at the London Conference of 1888 ignored all tliat, LBCT. X.] SPIRIT AND TONE. 415 and seemed to labor under the impression that foreign missions were a novelty from 1 788 onward, a date entirely without sig- nificance in evangelistic annals. There was no more ground for reckoning a centenary thence than there would be for measuring off one hundred miles from nowhere, or measuring a meridian from the southern boundary of Georgia to Lake Superior, as if that were the longest, making no account of a stretch of four hundred miles in the penin- sula of Florida. SPIRIT AND TONE. The very object of the conference was a pledge of saintly fellowship. And what was it that brought thus together such a varied representation of races, languages, and locali- ties ? Not an exposition of the world's secu- lar industries ; not that, in a parliament of mankind, they might discuss navigation laws, questions of universal currency or uni versal language; but to take the gauge of unevangetized heathendom ; to stand in that 4l6 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. x. central whispering gallery and listen to the tramp and wail of millions moving on to eternity ignorant of the most wonderful events in the universe — the incarnation of the Son of God, the atoning death of Jesus Christ, his resurrection from the dead, his ascension to glory, and free deliverance from sin and hell through him, the only, the all- sufficient Saviour. From that high watch- tower they were to see how mountains have sunk and valleys been filled ; to call to mind the amount of prayer, of toil, of trial, of heart- ache, of tears those achievements have cost. Photographs of cemeteries all about our planet might be expected to pass before the eye, as well as the great cemetery of the sea, whose treasures will be unpictured till the last morning of time. Pathetic scenes would not improbably come to view, like that of the missionary mother, sending home her child, kneeling on the beach and saying, "This I do, dear Jesus, for thee!" Nor would the sacred joys of self-sacrifice for the Master be kept wholly out of sight. In i^cT.x.] SPIRIT AND TONE. 417 speaking of the comparative size it was natu- ral that we should glance at the great eccle- siastical councils, although their object was so different. They were usually convened to consider questions of church polity, liturgy, or doctrine ; yet whatever their object they were not usually harmonious, but were " the pitched battles of church history." That was the case even in earlier periods. Greg- ory Nazianzen, who presided for a part of the time over the second ecumenical council, says : " I am inclined to avoid conventions of bishops. I never knew one that did not come to a bad end and create more disorders than it attempted to rectify." Dr. Jortin re- marks : " Some of these councils were not assemblies of pious and learned divines, but cabals, the majority of which were quarrel- some, fanatical, domineering, dishonest pre- lates, who wanted to compel men to approve of all their opinions, of which they them- selves had no clear conceptions, and to an- athematize and oppress those who would not implicitly submit to their determina- 41 8 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. x. tions." But the spirit of the London Con- ference was excellent. Much prayer had been offered before it assembled, a request to that effect having been widely circulated. The morning prayer meetings day by day were hallowed seasons. As might therefore reasonably be expected, the atmosphere of the business sessions was spiritually health- ful. Not much sharpness and no bitterness, no discourtesy appeared. Self-gratulation was suppressed. The prevailing tone was truly Christian and elevated. From first to last but little came to lio:ht that would re- mind one of denominational differences. It should be added that a spontaneous sacra- mental service, not by appointment of the conference, was observed after adjournment. We believe in the communion of saints. What reporter would undertake to estimate the tide of holy love then setting in and fill- imr the rivulets of all hearts ? It was an antepast of the great feast when they shall come from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, and shall sit LBCT.x.] SOCIAL AMENITIES. 419 down In the kingdom of God. If we came together at the opening of the conference or at the Eucharist, as strangers, we parted as brethren. Far fewer will there be to be in- troduced to one another in heaven. The chief thou2:ht was not so much that cultured men had brought there the results of learn- ing and experience; not so much that emi- nent men had presided with dignity and grace, as that there had been one unseen Moderator, on whose head are many crowns; the One present eighteen hundred years ago at the conference when the most mem- orable of promises was given — a promise which embraced every mission station and every missionary meeting to the end of time: " Lo, I am with you alway." SOCIAL AMENITIES. It would be an unauthorized omission if I should fail to speak of certain gratifying ac- cessories. These were not, to be sure, in the printed program ; they were merely inci- dental, but were none the less charming in- 420 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. x. terludes, delightfully relieving and diversify- ing the more solid and arduous ten days' work. I refer to social amenities. Our English cousins are sometimes said to be phlegmatic and exclusive, and it may not in- deed be the easiest thing in the world to get inside of an Englishman's heart or home, but once there you find it a warm place. You find a rare type of sensible, cordial, ample hospitality. So far as concerned the conference, London reserve gave place to a forth-putting like the June foliage and flowers of London's beautiful Hyde Park. It would be a violation of delicacy to speak particularly of " Gains mine host." Indeed, a different class of courtesies is now in mind. Every day, at the expense of a few English friends, a generous luncheon was served in the neighboring gymnasium of the Young Men's Christian Association. From two to three hundred delegates, largely American, sat at the tables. The only drawback was the speaking, though excellent, that followed, of which we were having an abundance if LECT.x.] SOCIAL AMENITIES. 42 1 not a surfeit at Exeter Hall. A little repose and recreation were more needful. An op- portunity for reciprocation by American delegates occurred. Through the thought- ful liberality of one of their number an ample collation was served in Freemasons' Hall, at which over a thousand guests sat down. At private houses there were select recep- tions and entertainments, decidedly Chris- tian in aim and tone, as at Dowager Lady Kinnaird's, Sir John Kennaway's, Sir Fowell Buxton's, Lord Radstock's, and elsewhere. Larger receptions were tendered by the Na- tional Temperance League, by the Religious Tract Society, by the Bible Society, by the Church Missionary Society, and by the Lon- don Missionary Society. Two large garden parties came off. The one at Regent's Park College was marred by rainy weather, which is characteristically English. The one at Dollis Hill, Lord Aberdeen's seat near Lon- don, was specially gratifying. Not far from a thousand guests appeared on the lawn, where the stars and stripes were flying at 42 2 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lhct. x. more than one point. There, as elsewhere, post-prandial entertainment was not omitted, there being short addresses from our host, from. Dr. Parker, of London, Professor Drummond, and Sir Lionel Pla3'fair. Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone appeared on the veran- da, and the crowd had an opportunity of shaking hands with the celebrated statesman. It is not out of place to state that, on the score of constant courtesy, delegates from the United States met with marked atten- tions. Evident pains were taken by English friends to show all due politeness. It was only American delegates who were invited by the Lord Mayor to a reception at the Mansion House ; and in passing it may be stated that, so far as my observation went, none of them took the wine which was offered. GENERAL FEATURES AND RESULTS. Taken all in all, the London Conference of 1888 was eminently successful and emi- nently valuable. It will not improbably LECT. X.] GENERAL FEATURES AND RESULTS. 423 mark an epoch in the history of Christ's kingdom on earth. It was the largest and ablest assembly of that kind which has ever met. Weigh that conference. Place those delegates in the balances of the sanctuary. Place those fifteen or sixteen hundred men and women, freighted with weighty convic- tions and holy emotions, against any fifteen thousand who bear the Christian name, yet who think nothing about the perishing heathen or about Christ's last command. How will the scales stand ? It was an occa- sion of religious enthusiasm, of saintly fel- lowship, of great spiritual joy. It may yet appear that no previous meeting of any sort in the present century has been of such far- reaching consequences. Not since the Chris- tian era began would a missionary confer- ence on such a scale have been possible. But it was a season of humiliation in view of individual shortcomings and the laggard movements of Christ's church at large. An effective rebuke was there administered to conceit, whether personal, denominational or 424 MISSIONARY CONFERENCES. [lect. x. national. That fortnight at Exeter Hall was a condensed university course. It was a school of comity. It was a challenge to hopefulness, to gratitude, to courageous ad- vance. The proportions of the existing foreign work loomed up in an animating magnitude. Though sadly small compared with what they ought to be, they are colos- sal compared with what they were at the opening of the nineteenth century. There are more good men and women living at this hour than ever before since the world stood. More nearly now than ever before is the gospel being preached to all nations ; and greater progress is now taking place tha^n at any period since that of the apostles. Some hundreds if not thousands of Chris- tian men and women were enriched ; they received a mighty and abiding impulse. On their part there will be a more systematic and vigorous training of others ; a more systematic and ample giving ; a more system- atic and earnest praying. The conviction has been deepened that for spiritual work LBCT.x.] GENERAL FEATURES AND RESULTS. 425 spiritual men are needed ; that every disciple should in some sense and in some way be a missionary ; that the minister not willing, under divine guidance, to go anywhere, is fit to preach nowhere; that Christ in the mis- sionary is mightier than the mightiest oppo- nent ; that present obligation is most impera- tive and opportunities most marvelous. ' * Appendix, note 61. APPENDIX. APPENDIX IToto. I. p. 19. Gilbert Burnet (1643-1715). Discourse on Pastoral Care (1692). John Edwards. The Preacher (2d ed.) London, 1705. The Preacher and Hearer (2d part). London, 1707. Cotton Mather {1662,-17 2?>). Student and Preacher: Intituled, Manuductio ad Ministerium (1726). Philip Doddridge (1702-17 51). On the Evil and Danger of Neglecting Souls (1742). jfohn yennings. Of Particular and Experimental Preaching (1754). Job Orton (1717-1783). Letters to a Young Clergy- John Mason (1705-1763). The Student and Pastor (1755). George Campbell (17 19-1796), Principal of Marishal College, Aberdeen. Lectures on the Pastoral Character. John Smith. Lectures on the Nature and End of the Sacred Office. Glasgow (1798). Alexander Gerhard, Professor in the University and King's College, Aberdeen. The Pastoral Care. London, 1799. Stephen Magill (1765-1840), Professor of Theology in the University of Glasgow. Considerations Addressed to a Young Clergyman (1809). (429) 430 APPENDIX. Pastoral Theologie, in drei Buchern. Der Prediger, der Priester, der Pastor. Zweite Auf. Kiel, 1837. Alexandre Rudolphe Vinet (1797-1847). Theologie Pastoral, ou Theorie du Ministere fivangelique. Paris, 1850. Pastoral Theology, translated and edited by Thomas H. Skinner. New York, 1853. William Arthur. The Tongue of Fire; or, The True Power of Christianity. London, 1856. John Angell yames. An Earnest Ministry the Want of the Times, 1847. Not surpassed in value by any other of his works. y. y. Blunt. The Parish Priest, 1856. Seventh Edition. London, 1876. Lectures II-IV "On the Reading of the Parish Priest" contain noth- ing that looks in the direction of mission work, except possibly, among topics for pastoral con- versation, a mention of " The Church of the Colonies." Edward Bather. On Some Ministerial Duties. Lon- don, 1876. Alexander Macleod. Christus Consolator : The Pul- pit in Relation to Social Life. London, 1870. Patrick FairbairHy Principal of the Free Church Col lege, Glasgow. Pastoral Theology. Edinburgh, 1875. yoseph Parker. Ad Clerum : Advice to a Young Preacher. Charles H. Spurgeon. Lectures to my Students. First Series, New York, 1875. Second Series, London, 1877. Eleazar Lord. Practical Pastorship, 1835. Origi- nally as Articles in Lit. and Theol. Review ; after- wards published separately. APPENDIX. 431 Heman Humphrey. Forty-four Letters to a Son in the Ministry. Amherst, 1842. Gardiner Spring. The Power of the Pulpit. New York, 1848. James Spencer Cannon, Professor in the Theological Seminary at Brunswick, N. J. Lectures on Pas- toral Theology. New York, 1859. Nicholas Murray. Preachers and Preaching. New York, i860. Francis Wayland. Letters on the Ministry of the Gospel. Boston, 1S63. Daniel P. Kidder, Professor m the Garrett Biblical Institute, Evanston, 111. A Treatise on Homi- letics. New York, 1864. Chap. XVII. "Preach- ing as a Missionary Duty; " relates only to home missionary labors. Seth S7veetser. The Ministry We Need. Am. Tract Society, 1873. Stephen H. Tyng. The Office and Duty of a Chris- tian Pastor. New York, 1874. John Hall. God's Word through Preachmg. New York, 1875. Matthew Simpson. Lectures on Preaching. New York, 1879. Gregory Thurston Bedell. The Pastor. Philadel- phia, 1880. Praktische Bemerkungen die Fiihrung des evangel- ischen Predigtamtes betreffend. Herrnhut, 18 14. J. C. Burk. Evangelische Pastoral- Theologie in Beispielen, 2 Bde. Stuttgart, 1838-39. Erst. Band, 493-526. 2te Bd., 284-310. Friedrich Ehrenfeuchter. Die praktische Theologie dargestellt. Erste Abtheilung. Gottingen, 1859. Rudolph Stier. Grundriss der Keryktik, 2te Aufl. 1844. 432 APPENDIX. y. y. Van Oosterzee. Practical Theology. Trans- lated by Maurice J. Evans. Charles Bridges. The Christian Ministry (1829). Lon- don. Ninth Ed. Part V, chap. VIII. (Miscella- neous.) R. W. Dale. New Lectures on Preaching, delivered at Yale College, New Haven, Conn. New York, 1878, p. 290. yames Stewart Wilson. The Life Education and Wider Culture of the Christian Ministry. Lect- ures delivered at the Universities of Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and St. Andrews. Edin burgh and London, 1882. Thomas Murphy. Pastoral Theology. Philadelphia, 1877. Chap. IX, 427-449. II. Harvey, Professor in Hamilton Theological Semi- nary. The Pastor. Philadelphia, 1879. Sec. XH, 111-113. yames M. Hoppin. Pastoral Theology. New York, 1884, 546-577. 2. p. 23 A few paragraphs of this lecture form a part of an address at the Conference on Foreign Missions, Mildmay Park, London, 1878. See Proceedings of the Conference. London, 1879. 3. p. 27. Lebanon, Conn. Jonathan Trumbull, 1769-1784. Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., 1 798-1 809. Clark Bissell, 1847-1849. Joseph Trumbull, 1849-1850. William A. Buckingham, 1858-1866. 4. p. 38. Lecture I. Literature of the Subject. I. Desiderius Erasmus. Ecclesiastes, sive de ratione concionandi. Res. Fred. Aug. Klein, Lipsiae, MDCCCXX, Lib. Prim. Cap., LXII-LXIV. APPENDIX. 433 2. y. C. F. Btirk. Evangelische Pastoral- Theologie in Beispielen. 2te Bd. Stuttgart, 1838-1839. I (493-526). II (284-310). 3. Friedrich Ehrenfeiichter. Die praktische Theolo- gie dargestellt. Erst. Abtheil. Gottingen, 1859 (207-460). 4. J. J. Van Oosterzee. Practical Theology (1878). Translated by Maurice J. Evans. § LXVI (588- 601). 5. John Angell James. An Earnest Mirxistry. New York, 1848. 6. Gardiner Spring. The Power of the Pulpit. New York, 1848. 7. William S. Phimmer. Hints and Helps in Pas- toral Theology. New York. Chap. XXVIII, pp. 30S-362. 8. Enoch Pond. Lectures on Practical Theology. Andover, 1866. Lee. XVII (239-252). 9. Seth Sweetser. The Ministry We Need. Anu Tract Soc, 1S73. 10. Thomas Murphy. Pastoral Theology. Philadel- phia, 1877. Chap. IX, pp. 427-449- 11. //. Harvey. The Pastor. Philadelphia, 1879. Sec. XII, pp. 111-113- 12. James M. Hoppin. Pastoral Theology. New York, 1884. pp. 546-577- 13. Andrew Somerville. Lectures on Missions and Evangelism. Edinburgh, 1874. Lee. IV (58-81). 14. Riifiis Anderson. Foreign Missions: their Re- lations and Claims. New York, 1869. Chap ters X (169-195), XIII (248-268), and Appendix (326-330). 15. Swan L. Pomeroy. Missionary Responsibilities of Pastors. An. Report of the A. B. C. F. M., 1850 (30-38). 434 APPENDIX. i6. Selah B. Treat. Missionary Consecration. An. Report of the A. B. C. F. M., 1876 (XII-XX). 17. Missionary Papers of the A. B. C. F. M., No. VI. Part I. When has a Minister done his Duty to the Heathen ? 5. p. 51. John B. Melson. "Who is my Neighbor?" Lon- don, 1842, pp. 156-182. C. H. Robinson. Missions Urged upon the State. London, 1853. R. W. Church. On Some Influences of Christianity upon National Character. London, 1873. William Cnnninghayn. Christian Civilization with special Reference to India. London, 1880. F. E. Slater. The Philosophy of Missions, pp. 68- 91. Carl Hein. Chris. Plath. The Subject of Missions Considered under three Aspects. (1868.) Trans- lated by L. Kirkpatrick. Edinburgh, 1873. PP- 79-141. William Warren. These for Those. Portland, 1870. Johtt S. Stone. The Bearings of Modern Commerce on the Progress of Modern Missions. A Sermon. 1839. Thomas Laurie. The Ely Volume, or Contributions of our Foreign Missions to Science and Human Well-being. Boston, 1881. Harris's Great Commission, pp. 206-228. Francis Wayland. The Moral Dignity of the Mis- sionary Enterprise. 1823. Daniel Abeel. Happy Influence of Foreign Missions on the Church. William M. Taylor. The Influence of Christianity on Human Institutions and Occupations. 1876. Macfarlane's Jubilee of the World, pp. 323-356. Rev. George CI ay ton'' s Sermon before the London Missionary Society. 1821. APPENDIX. 435 Dr. Ralph Wardlaw^ s Sermon before the London Missionary Society. 1818. Rev. Thomas Adkin^s Sermon in Behalf of the same Society. 6. p. 53. I have not been able, by reading or by correspondence with well-informed Englishmen, to find evidence that this incident, often quoted, is authentic ; but its verisimilitude cannot be questioned. 7. p. 54. Most marvelous is the idea, entertained by a few, that mission work was enjoined only upon the apos- tles, and that, they having carried the gospel to all nations, the Church has nothing further to do in that line, at least tUl Christ's second advent. Welche historischen und welche christlich ethi- schen Begriffe tnuss man doch sich in den Kopf gesetzt habeitf um solche alberne Deductionen sich aneignen zu konnen I — Palmer^ Evan. Pas- toral -TkeoL, 343. 8. p. 56. A spurious system of Calvinism prevailed so exten- sively in the churches of the Baptist denomina- tion through the midland counties as to delude and obdurate the consciences of the unconverted ; whilst it chilled the sympathies and utterly para- lyzed the efforts of professing Christians. — Me- moir of William, Carey ^ by Eustace Carey, p. 58. 9. p. 64. A Sermon by Rev. Leigh Richmond before the Society for Missions to Africa and the East. 1809. A Sermon by Dr. Edward Williams. London, 181 1. 10. p. 70. Tawenquatuck, the first Indian Sachem on Martha's Vineyard Island who became a Christian (1646), told Mr. Mayhew that he wondered the English should have been thirty years in the country, and 436 APPENDIX. yet that "the Indians were fools still." — 7"/^^ Venerable May hews. By Wm. A. Hallock. p. 118. Miss Mary Whately, daughter of the well-known Archbishop of Dublin, laboring among the harems of Cairo, and talking of Christ's love, was one day addressed by an eagerly attentive woman: "Oh, why was I never told of this be- fore ? " — Our Eastern Sisters. By Mrs. H. W. Ellis, p. 104. At Malatia, in Turkey, when Miss Maria West was talking about the way of salvation, an aged Arme- nian mother moaned out : " Oh ! why didn't you come before ? why didn't you come before ? It is too late for me to learn the way ! " — Romance of Missions. By Miss Maria West. p. 669. When Miss West spoke to an Armenian con- verted woman at Marpoot about returning to America, "Oh, don't go; stay longer and teach us!" she exclaimed ; and added, "Why didn't the missionaries come before ? If they had only come when I was young, I too might have worked for Christ ! " — Do. p. 666. When Kapiolani, Queen of the Hawaiian Islands, was told by an old priest how a little boy had been offered in sacrifice, she hid her face with her hands, and weeping, said: "Oh, why did not Christians come sooner and teach us bettei things.-"' — Honohdu. By Mrs. Laura F. Judd. p. 98. The Rev. W. Wyatt Gill states that at a fellowship meeting, such as native Christians in the South Sea Islands have among themselves, an old man rose and said: "There is one thing I want to ask: Can it be that the Christian people in Eng- land have had this gospel of peace for many long APPENDIX. 437 years and have never sent it to us till now ? Oh that they had sent it sooner i Had they sent it sooner I should not today be solitary, sad- hearted, mourning my murdered wife and chil- dren. Oh, that they had sent it sooner ! " When the Bible was first taken to the inhabitants of the Fiji Islands they asked : " How long have you had this book ? Why did you not bring it to us before ? " The Rev. G. M. Chamberlain, of Sao Paulo, Brazil, reports an inquiry from a gray-haired Roman Catholic of that country (1865) : *' Young man ! " he said, as if suffering from a keen sense of in- justice done him and his people; "young man, tell me, what was your father doing that my father died and never knew that there was such a book as the Bible ? You say that in your land you have had this book for generations. Why did they not have mercy on us ? How is it that only now we are hearing of this book ? My father was a religious man ; he taught us all he knew ; but he never said Bible to us, and died without the knowledge of it." — Missionary Re- view, 1888, p. 179. II. p. 72. Lecture II. Literature of the Subject. 1. Robert Moffat. A Missionary Prize Essay. New- castle, 1842, pp. 60-370. 2. Baptist IV. Noel. Christian Missions to Heathen Nations. London, 1842, pp. 1-12. 3. John MacfarhiJie. The Jubilee of the World. Glasgow, 1842, pp. 131-T49. 4. Sheldon Dibble. Thoughts on Missions. Am. Tract Soc, pp. 60-110. 5. Andrew Somerville. Lectures on Missions and Evangelism. Edinburgh, 1874, pp. 39-57 ; 102- 158; 285-299. 438 APPENDIX. 6. William Plummer. Hints and Helps in Pastoial Theology. New York, 1874, pp. 308-362. 7. Adolph Saphir. Christ and the Church. Ser- mons on the Apostolic Commission. Matt. 28 : 18-20. London, 1874. 8. Joseph Angus. In "Evangelical Alliance, 1873." New York, 1874, pp. 583-5S7. 9. J. Harris Jones. In *' Proceedings of the First Gen. Pres. Comicil." Edinburgh, 1877, PP- ^ZZ -137. 10. James Gall. The Evangelistic Baptism. Edin- burgh, pp. 259-270. 11. H. Harvey. The Pastor. Philadelphia, 1879, pp. 111-113. INDIVIDUAL SERMONS. (a) Henry Martyn. Sermons. Calcutta, 1822. Sermon XIX. " Christ's Grand Commission to his Apostles." Matt. 28: 18. (b) Saftmel Hanna. Love to Christ an Incitement to Ministerial and Missionary Exertions. A Ser- mon preached before the London Missionary Society, May 8, 1822. London. (c) Robert Morrison. Miscellaneous Discourses. London, 1826. Discourse XXIII. Matt. 28: 18-20. (d) Edivard Dorr Griffin. A Sermon before the American Board. 1826. Matt. 28 : 19, 20. (e) Charles P. Mcllvaine. The Missionary Charac- ter and Duty of the Church. 1855. Matt. 5: 14. (f) George Washington Doane. The Missionary Character of the Church. Matt. 28: 18-20. (g) Isaac Bird : Missionary Papers of the A. B. C. F. M., No. 4. Mark 16: 15. (h) Jonathan F. Stearns. A Sermon before the American Board, 1870 APPENDIX. 439 (i) y. V. N. Talmage. A Sermon preached at the Shanghai Missionary Conference, 1877. Matt. 28: 18-20. (j) C. H, Spurgeon. Missionary Sermon at the Wes- leyan Missionary Anniversary, May, 1866, Lon- don. Matt. 28 : 18-20. (k) G. Warneck: Missionsstunden : Erster Band, I. Pie Missionsurkunde iiber. Matt. 28 : 18-20. (1) A. Brdmel. Zweite Sammlung von Missions- Predigten. (Popitz.) — Dessau, 1857, No. 13. Wir mussen Mission treiben. Mark 16: 15, 16. \2 p. 75. Defective Ethics — Literature of the Subject. 1. Ralph Wardlaw. Christian Ethics, or Moral Philosophy on the Principles of Divine Revelation (1833). With Introductory Essay by Leonard Woods. New York, 1835. 2. William Thomas Thornton. Old-Fashioned Eth- ics and Common-Sense Metaphysics. London, 1874. 3. Thomas Rawson Birks. Modern Utilitarianism. London, 1874. 4. John Stuart Blackie. Four Phases of Morals. Second edition, Edinburgh, 1874. 5. Richard Travers Smith. Religion and Morality. London : Soc. Prom. Chris. Knowledge. 6. y. Gregory Smith. Characteristics of Christian Morality. Bampton Lectures, 1S73. Sec. ed. London, 1876. 7. C. S. Henry. Satan as a Moral Philosopher; with other Essays and Sketches. New York, 1877. 8. A. Neander. Geschichte der christlichen Ethik. Berlin, 1864. 9. H. Fr. Th. L. Ernesti. Die Ethik des Apostels Paulus. Drit. Auf. Gottingen, 1880. 440 APPENDIX. 10. Chas. Ernst Luthardt. Die Ethik Luthers. Zweite Auf. Leipzig, 1875. 11. P. Lobstem. Die Ethik Calvins. Strasburg, 1877. 13. p. 80. Richard Baxter. Practical Works, in twenty- three volumes. London, 1830. Vols. II-VI. **A Christian Directory ; or, a Sum of Practical The- ology." In four parts : I, Christian Ethics (or Private Duties) ; II, Christian Economics (or Family Duties) ; III, Christian Ecclesiastics (or Church Duties) ; IV, Christian Politics (or Du- ties to our Rulers and Neighbors). Ralph Wardlaw. Christian Ethics; or, Moral Phi- losophy on the Principles of Divine Revelation (1833). New York, 1835. William Whewell. The Elements of Morality, Book IV, p. 18. William Fleming, D.D., late Professor of Moral Phi- losophy in the University of Glasgow. London, 1867. Thomas Rawson Birks, First Principles of Moral Science. London, 1873. y. Gregory Smith. Characteristics of Christian Mo- rality. Second ed. London, 1876, pp. 64-78-80. William Sewell. Christian Morals. London, 1841. C. A. Row. The Moral Teaching of the New Testa- ment. London, 1873. Henry Wace. Christianity and Morality. The Boyle Lectures for 1874 and 1875. Sixth edition. Lon- don, 1883. Thomas Fowler. Progressive Morality. London, 1884. G. Chr. Adolph von Harless. Christian Ethics, trans- lated by Lacroix. 2 vols. 1872. Adolph Wiittke. Moral Truths of Christianity, trans- lated by Sophia Taylor. APPENDIX. 441 Chr. Ernst Luthardt. Translated from the German by Sophia Taylor. Edinburgh, 18S2 (§ 147-150). H. Marteiisen. Christian Ethics, Second Division. Translated by Sophia Taylor. Edinburgh, 1882. PP- 333-339- Christian Palmer. Die Moral des Christenthums. Stuttgart, 1864 (405, 408). y. P. Lange. Grundriss der christlichen Ethik. Hei- delberg, 1878 (189, 190). 14. p. 81. Frederick D. Maicrice. Social Morality. Twenty-one Lectures delivered in the University of Cam- bridge, 1869. Second edition. London, 1872. Thomas Rawson Birks. Modern Utilitarianism. Lon- don, 1874. Henry Sidozuick, Praelector in Moral and Political Philosophy in Trinity College, Cambridge. The Method of Ethics. Second ed. London, 1877. Richard Travers Smith. Religion and Morality. London (Soc. for P. C. Knowledge). 15. p. 85. One man at least preached on the " Utility of Eternal Bliss." Lieber says that he had met with a Ger- man sermon in pamphlet form entitled **Ueber den Nutzen ewiger Gliickseligkeit. " — Political Ethics, II, p. 20j. 16. p. 90. Four books, wherein is contained the whole economy of God toward man, and the whole duty of man toward God. Translated by Anthony William Boehm. 2 vols. London, 17 12-17 14. pp. LX + 603; XVII -f 599. Christus multos habet ministros, paucos imitatores. 1 7' P- 93* Ii^ Pietas Hallensis, London, 1705, p. 209, note, is a statement relating to this work of Arndt, which will seem exaggerated : " Many millions of souls 442 APPENDIX. have been awakened from lifeless formality into an inward sense of religion." ** This book has made a Christian of me," said Geier, the predecessor of Spener. 18. p. 113. Leopold Ernesti. Pastor Bonus. Passavias, MDCC- LXIV. Sexta Pars, 529-571. Christian Palmer. Evangelische Pastoral-Theologie, Zweite Auf. 1863, S. 343-48. Isaac Watts. A Guide to Prayer. See his Works. John Mason. The Student and the Pastor (1775). Chap. V. Ebetiezer Porter. Lectures on Homilctics and Preach- ing, and on Public Prayer. Andover, 1S34. 283- 320. Heman Htimphrey. Thirty-four Letters to a Son in the Ministry. Amherst, 1842. 1 61-165. Samuel Miller. Thoughts on Public Prayer. Phila- delphia, 1849. William Garden Blaikie. For the Work of the Ministry. Third edition. London, 18S3. 173-80. 19. p. 116. Pantheism in the person of Theodore Parker ejacu- lates: "O Thou Infinite Mother!" "O Thou Perpetual Presence 1 " " The materiality of mate- rial things, the spirituality of our spirit, the mov- ingest thing in motion, the livingest thing in life, the all-transcending in what is transcendent ; ' ' "Loving the sinner as Thou dost the saint; " "We bless Thee for all the various denomina- tions on the earth, thanking Thee that their several faiths — whether heathen, or Greek, or Jew, or Christian — is to them of such infinite worth." — Prayers by Theodore Parker^ Boston, 1862. pp. 64, 135, 172, 194, 195. 20. p. I2C. At the Episcopal Convention held in Chicago, 1SS6, the Plouse of Deputies — the House of Bishops APPENDIX. 443 concurring — adopted various alterations in the Book of Common Prayer. Among them this was inserted in the Litany: "That it may please Thee to send forth laborers into thine harvest, we beseech." 21. p. 120. G. H. Wilkinson. Thoughts for the Day of Inter- cession. Nineteenth thousand. London. W. Walsham How. Thoughts for Observing the Day of Intercession. London. Missionary Devotions for Private and Social Use. By a Presbyter of the Church of England. Ox- ford, 1838. Fifty Missionar}^- Hymns. With a Selection of Prayers for Use at Church Missionary Meetings. Church Missionary Society. London. The Cuddesdon Manual of Intercession for Missions. Missionary Prayers for Private and Family Use. Lon- don, 1874. A Manual of Prayers, Intercessions, Thanksgivings, in behalf of Missions and Missionaries, appointed to be used daily and on special occasions in the chapel in the house of the Society for Propaga- tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. 3d edition. London, 1880. 22. p. 121. The following form was introduced under Frederick William IV : Segne die Atisbreitiing Dcines Reiches tinter Heiden tind Jiiden, und lass Dir die Arbei- ten Deiner Knechte an diesem Werke wohlge- fallen. 23. p. 121. Kittan. Missionsgeschichte nebst einem Anhange enthaltend Versikel und Collekten zum Ge- brauch bei Missionsstunden und Missionsfesten. Leipzig, 1866. 444 APPENDIX. Hilfsbiichlein fiir die Mission sarbeit in den heim- athlichen Gemeinden. Breslau, 1867. A. Petri. Missions-Agende. Eine Sammlung litur- gischen und homiletischen Materials zum Ge- brauch bei Missions- Gottesdiensten. 2te Aufl. Giitersloh, 1876. 24. p. 124. Manent itaque tria hcec, ve7'biim, exejnplum, oraiio, major autem his est oratio. S. Bernard, Epist. 201. Gratia atitem ovibus dari noii solet, Jtisi per orationem pastoris. Ernesti, Pastor Bonus, 530. 25. p. 130. Gebetbtich, entlialtend die sammtlichen Gebete und Seufzer Dr. Martin Luthers wie auch Gebete von Melanchthon, Bugenhagen, Matthesius, Haber- mann, Arndt, und andren Gott-erleucliteten Man- nern. Dritte Auflage. Berlin, 1866. A Liturgy for Evangelical Congregations in the Prov- ince of Brandenburg, 1853, contains selections from between forty and fifty authors — nearly nine hundred {890) specimens. Three short prayers (867-869), under the heading of " The Extension of the Kingdom of God among the Heathen and Jews," are designed for missionary meetings. 26. p. 140. Ideo ab aliis curis atque negotiis, quibus ipsum de- siderium quodam modo tepescit, certis horis ad negotium orandi mentem revocamus, verbis ora- tionis nos ipsos admonentes in id, quod deside- ramus intendere ; ne quod tepescere coeperat, omnino frigescat, et penitus extinguatur, nisi cre- brius inflammetur. — August. Epist. 121, ad Probuni . 27. p. 14J. July 21, 1744. "I exceedingly longed that God would get to himself a name among the heathen ; and I appealed to him with the greatest freedom, APPENDIX. 445 that I knew I preferred him above my chief joy. Indeed I had no notion of joy from this world. I cared not how or where I lived, or what hard- ships I went through, so that I could but gain souls to Christ. I continued in this frame all the evening and night. When I was asleep I dreamed of these things ; and when I waked (as I fre- quently did) the first thing I thought of was this great work of pleading for God against Satan." — Edwards's Life of Brainerd^ p. ijo. 28. p. 152. Literature of the Subject. 1. Leopold Ernesti, Pastor Bonus. Passaviae MD- CCLXIV, Sexta Pars. 529-571. 2. Christian Palmer. Evangelische Pastoral- The- ologie. Zweite Auf. Stuttgart, 1863. S. 343-348. 3. Lsaac Watts. A Guide to Prayer. See his works. 4. JoJm Mason. The Student and Pastor (1775). Chap. V. 5. Edward Bickersteth. A Treatise on Prayer. Lon- don, 1819. Chap. XI. 6. Ebenezer Porter. Lectures on Homiletics and Preaching, and on Public Prayer. Andover, 1834. 283-320. 7. Henian Humphrey, Thirty-four Letters to a Son in the Ministr}\ Amherst, 1842. 161-165. 8. Samuel Miller. Thoughts on Public Prayer. Philadelphia, 1842. 9. William Garden Blaikie. For the Work of the Ministry. Third edition. London, 1883. 173- 180. 29. p. 161. Chrysostom does indeed furnish one happy exception. It is a relief to light on a passage like this : " He did not at all say, * Thy will be done in me,' or 'in us,' but everywhere on the earth; so that error may be destroyed and truth implanted, and 446 APPENDIX. all wickedness cast out, and virtue return, and no difference in this respect be henceforth between heaven and earth." — Hotnilies on the Gospel of St. MattheWy in loc. 30. p. 166. Hermann Witsius (i 636-1 708). Exercitationes \\\ Orationem Dominicam. Translated, with notes, by William Pringle. Edinburgh, 1839. pp. 209- 265. Isaac Barrow (i 630-1 667). An Exposition of the Lord's Prayer. Works, Edinburgh, 1841. II, PP- 554, 555- Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667). Whole Works. Lon- don, 1844. I, pp. 226, 227. Ill, Postulanda, p. Robert Leighton (161 2-1 684). Exposition of the Lord's Prayer. Whole Works. New York, 1S44, pp. 605-610. 31. p. 169. The Assembly's Shorter Catechism Explained. "By some ministers of the gospel." First edition (1753). By Ebenezer Erskine and James Fisher. Third edition (1765), with James Fisher's Adver- tisement, and since known as Fisher's Catechism. An Illustration of the Doctrine of the Christian Re- ligion, with respect to faith and practice, upon the plan of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism. Comprehending a Complete Body of Divinity. 3 vols. Edinburgh, 1796. One notable exception is that of the excellent Scottish divine, Thomas Boston (1676-1732), author of The Fourfold State^ and oiher works. He re- marks (p. 416) : " That the kingdom of our Lord will triumph over all its enemies and drive out all opposition. For if what two agree on earth, as APPENDIX. 447 touching anything that they shall ask (Matt, xviii : 19), shall be done for them, much more what all the saints on earth make their joint request. The Devil's kingdom and Antichrist's kingdom, though malignants lend their hand to carry it on, shall fall before the prayers of all the saints, and they in the ruins of it, if they quit not the Antichris- tian interest. If Christ's kingdom were ever so low the joint prayers of the saints will raise it up." Contemporary with Thomas Boston was Thomas Ridgley (i 666-1 734), an eminent Nonconformist, who established a theological school (17 12), and was the author of a Body of Divitiity composed of lectures on the Assembly's Larger Catechism. In an extended prayer, with which he closed his re- marks on the second petition, occur these breath- ings : " We also beg that Thou wouldst take to thyself thy great power and reign. Let Satan's kingdom be destroyed, thy gospel propagated, throughout the world. May thine ancient people, the Jews, who now refuse that thou shouldst reign over them, be called and inclined to own Thee as their king; and may the dark parts of the earth see thy salvation." Two vols, folio. Lon- don, 1731-33- 32. p. 170. John Brown. An essay towards an easy, plain, practical, and extensive explanation of the As- sembly's Shorter Catechism. 1758. Alexander Smith Patterson. A Concise System of Theology on the Basis of the Shorter Catechism. Edinburgh, 1S41. Ashbel Green. Lectures on the Shorter Catechism. 2 vols. Philadelphia : Pres. Board of Publica- tion, 1 84 1. 44B APPENDIX. A. Bonnet. Meditations on the Lord's Prayer, translated from the French by William Hare. New York, 1847. 33. p. 170. Augtcst F. Tholuck. Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount. Translated by R. Lundy Brown. Philadelphia, i860, pp. 334-341. Frederick D. Maurice. The Lord's Prayer. Nine Sermons preached in 1848. London, 1880. William R. Williams. Lectures on the Lord's Prayer. Boston, 1851. John Gumming. Teach Us to Pray. New York, 1862. Chapter IV, on the words "Thy king- dom," is entitled " A Missionary Desire." George D. Boardman. Studies in the Model Prayer. New York, 1879. Washingtojt Gladdeji. The Lord's Prayer. Seven Homilies. Boston and New York, 1886. Marcus Dods. The Prayer that Teaches to Pray. Fifth edition. London, 1885. 34. p. 170. Stier, in his "Words of the Lord Jesus," remarks: " That Christendom has prayed this second pe- tition so long, and prays it now so much, without the corresponding missionary impulse and mis- sionary work, is the most mournful evidence that could be adduced of the great blindness which opposes everywhere this prayer and its words of light." Translated by William B. Pope. Edin- burgh, 1855. I, 222. 35. p. 172. It illustrates the still lingering dimness of poetic vision that a book could be published in Ger- many, no longer ago than fifty years since, wi h selections from fourscore writers of verses on the Lord's Prayer, none of which show any adequate apprehension of the compass there is in APPENDIX. 449 the earlier petitions. The extracts are from Aschenfeldt, M. G. Fisher, Klopstock, Tiedge, and so on, all of whom appear to have in mind personal benefits — "May thy kingdom come to us." Das Vater Unser : In acht und achtzig Bearbeitungen. Ein Erbauungsbuch fUr jedeu Christen. 2te Aus. Leipzig, 1S24. Zu uns komme Dein Reich. 26. p. 173. It was entitled : " A Prayer to the Lord to send faithful laborers into his harvest, that his Word may be spread over all the world." In the origi- nal there are fourteen verses. " Awake, Thou Spirit, who of old Didst fire the watchmen of the Church's youth ; Who faced the foe, unshrinking, bold, Who witnessed day and night tlie eternal truth, Whose voices through the world are ringing still, And bringing hosts to know and do Thy will. And let Thy word have speedy course. Through every land the truth be glorified, Till all the heathen know its force, And gather to thy churches far and wide ; And waken Israel from her sleep, O Lord ! Thus bless and spread the conquests of Thy word." — Ljyra Gertnanica, first series, pp. 41, 42, Zl' P- 175" In the first edition of John Rippon's Selection (1787), under this heading, " The Church's Glory Prayed For," four missionary hymns are given. In the tenth edition (iSoo) there are twenty hymns un- der the heading, " Monthly and Missionary Prayer Meetmgs." John Dobell's selection (1806) contains thirteen, and Dr. Nettleton's ** Village Hymns" (1824) fourteen such. The "Baptist Psalmist" (1S43) has over seventy. The relative space devoted to this department in 450 APPENDIX. books compiled for social worship is to some ex- tent a gauge of the growing missionary spirit. We now have separate collections of this kind. One of earlier date is : *' A Missionary Hymn Book, or Hymns adapted to Missionary Subjects, and designed for the use of Christians of all de- nominations. By John Lawson. Calcutta: Printed at the Baptist Mission Press, Circular Road, 182 1. 263 selections. Recommended by W. Carey, J. Marshman, and nine other gentle- men; also by H. Bardwell and H. Hough." It contains one hymn by Carey, two by Ward, and three by Marshman. Another, very small, was by William Shrubsole (born 1759, died 1829), one of the first Directors and Secretaries of the Lon- don Missionary Society, and he was himself the writer of most if not all the hymns which it con- tains. They may be found in Dr. John Morri- son's " Fathers and Founders of the London Missionary Society. London, 1844, pp. 149-153." Dr. Platfield says that all in Shrubsole's volume were reproduced in this work of Morrison. See "Poets of the Church," p. 560. We are familiar with two of them : " Zion, awake ! thy strength renew." " Arm of the Lord, awake, awake ! " 38. p. 184. " We whose names are subscribed, being moved, as we hope and trust, by a real concern for the propagation of the kingdom of Christ in the world, have determined to form ourselves into a society for that end, on the fo' lowing terms : I. That we propose, as God shall enab'e us, to be daily putting up some earnest petitions to the throne of grace for the advancement of the gos- pel in the world, and for the success of all the APPENDIX. 45 1 faithful servants of Christ who are engaged in the work of it, especially among the heathen na- tions. II. That we will assemble at least four times a year, in our place of public worship, at such seasons as shall by mutual consent be appointed, to spend some time in solemn prayer together on this im- portant account; and we hereby engage that we will, each of us, if we conveniently can, attend such meetings unless such circumstances hap- pen as to lead us in our own conscience to conclude that it will be more acceptable in the sight of God that we should be employed in some other busi- ness elsewhere. III. We do hereby express our desire that some time may be spent, if God give an opportunity, in reviewing those promises of Scripture which re- late to the establishment of our Redeemer's king- dom in the world; that our faith may be sup- ported and our prayers quickened by the contem- plation of them. IV. It is also our desire that, whatever important in- formations relating to the progress of the gospel be received from the various parts of this king- dom, or from foreign lands, by any member of the society, they may be communicated to us at our general quarterly meetings ; and the rest of us make it our request to our minister that he will, where he can with convenience do it, keep up such correspondences ; that we may be more capable of judging how far God answers our prayers and those of his other servants in this regard. V. We further engage that on these days of general meeting every one of us will, as God shall be pleased to prosper us, contribute something, be it ever so little, towards the carrying on of this 452 APPENDIX. pious design, which shall be lodged in the hands of a treasurer, to be chosen at the first meeting, to be disposed of by him and four other trustees, then also to be appointed, in such manner as they shall judge most convenient towards sup- porting the expense of sending missionaries abroad; printing Bibles or other useful books in foreign languages ; establishing schools for the instruction of the ignorant, and the like." — Mis- cella7ieous Works. London, 1839. p. 896. 39. p. 186. The Rev. Mr. Thomas, author of a History of the Baptist Churches in Wales, speaks of concerted weekly hours appointed by an association in that principality as early as 1767. — E. B. Underhill. Christian Missions in the East and West. Lon- don, 1873. p. 4. 40. p. 187. Dr. Edward Williams, soon to become principal of the Independent College in Yorkshire, prepared (1793) by request a circular letter, addressed to the ministers of Warwickshire, with a view to awakening a deeper interest in the diffusion of evangelical truth at home and abroad. The sup- port of missionaries in foreign lands was one object distinctly named. This appeal, which was designed also for all ministers throughout Eng- land and Wales, led to the establishment of monthly prayer meetings for the spread of the gospel. At the opening of the present century twelve dissenting congregations of London were united in a monthly meeting of this sort, which was held in each church successively. Fourteen years later there were two such circuits, and after three years more five union meetings rotating through twelve churches. By 1822 the attend- APPENDIX. 453 ance had become quite small. — Morrison" s Fathers and Founders of the London Missionary Society, 438-9. 41. p. 193. Literature of the Subject. 1. Jonathan Edwards. Humble Attempt. Works (Dwight's Edition). Vol. Ill, 437-547. 2. Enoch Pond. Short Missionary Discussions, or Monthly Concert Lectures. Worcester, 1S24. 3. John B. Melson. " Who is my Neighbor ? " London, 1842, pp. 370-390. 4. John Harris. The Great Commission. Boston, 1843, pp. 273-5, 280. 5. John Macfarla7ie. The Jubilee of the World. Glasgow, 1843, PP- 176-201. 6. Samuel Miller. Letters on the Observance of the Monthly Concert in Prayer, 1845. Presbyterian Board of Publication. 7. Th. Kittan. Missionsgebete. Leipzig, 1866. 8. G. Warneck. Missionsstunden, Zweiter Band. Giitersloh. I, 145-156. 9. Various Papers, Articles, dj^c. (a) Missionary Herald,Vol. 35 (1839), pp. 120-123. (b) The Use of Missionary Maps : an Address. American Board, 1842. (c) The Monthly Concert. By J. B. Condit. An. Report of Am. Board, 1868. Also a separate " Missionary Paper." (d) Pray Less or Do More. By Hollis Reed. A *' Missionary Paper." Also reproduced in the Missionary Review (18S1), Vol. IV, PP- 357-362. (e) Plea for the Monthly Concert. By A. L. Stone. A " Missionary Paper." (f) The Monthly Concert. By S. J. Humphrey, Missionary Herald, 1880. Also a separate " Missionary Paper." 454 APPENDIX. (g) The Missionary Review. Arthur T. Pierson. Vol. I, pp. 65-69. (h) Successful Missionary Concert. A Leaflet of the American Board. (i) The Prayer Meeting and its Improvement. By Lewis O. Thompson. Chicago, 1S78- 1881. Chap. XXII, 205-210. (j) How to Conduct Prayer Meetings. By Lewis O. Thompson. Boston, 1880. Chap. XV, pp. 145-157. (k) Catholic Presbyterian. VIII (1882), pp. 327- 337. (1) The Forei.^n Missionary. By Arthur Mit chell, Vol. XLII (18S5), pp. 544-547- (m) Missionary Herald. E. E. Strong. Vol LXXXI (1885), pp. 265-268. 42. p. 211. This appears to have been a service with a discourse rather than distinctively a prayer meeting. The third article in the plan of union reads thus : "That the order of service be as follows: i. The singing of a psalm, prayer, and a short dis- course or lecture adapted to the occasion. 2. A prayer. 3. The singing of a psalm, prayer, the singing of another psalm, a collection, and then the blessing to be pronounced." 43. p. 211. Soon after the ordination (Feb. 6, 1812) of the first American foreign missionaries at Salem, Massa- chusetts, the Tabernacle Church in that city be- gan regularly to observe the monthly concert of prayer in specific accord with such Christians in Great Britain as, since missionaries went forth from that country, had devoted the first Monday evening of each month to intercession, both social and secret, for the success of those heralds of mercy. — Life and Letters of Samuel Worcester. II, 234-5- APPENDIX. 455 44. p. 212. In 1847 the General Assembly icpresented it as widely observed; but previously (1832) had recommended that the first Monday in the year be observed as a day of fasting and prayer " for the entire success of those benevolent enterprises which have for their direct object the world's conversion to God." Ecclesiastical bodies in New England concurred. At its annual meeting in Philadelphia, 1841, the American Board ap- pointed a special committee to prepare a missicn- ary paper setting forth the importance of this subject, with details of methods, which should be addressed specially to pastors of churches. 45. p. 213. For a twelvemonth before that the Rev. Joshua Huntington, pastor of the Old South Church, used to meet with a few of his people to pray for the conversion of the heathen. A similar meet- ing had been begun at Park Street Church be- fore the settlement of Rev. Sereno E. Dwight (Sept., 1817). 46. p. 214. The Essex Street Church was also afterwards (1820) invited. Later separate concerts of prayer were instituted by different churches in the city — Salem Church, 1833; Bowdoin Street Church, 1834; Essex Street and Pine Street united meet- ing, 1837. Churches formed subsequently — Franklin Street (now the Central), Garden Street, and Mt. Vernon — joined the old union, while others also for a time returned to the parent gathering. 47. p. 215. This too was found, as will generally be the case, that whenever excessive reliance was placed upon the presence of a t^ecretary of the Foreign Board, and whenever pastors failed to feel a personal respon- sibility in maintaining the concert, it declined. 45^ APPENDIX. 48. p. 222. It was found in 1S69 that of 849 churches, 751 ob- served the concert Sabbath evening and 98 on a week-day evening. Out of the 9S5 churches which reported, 849 held the meeting and 136 did not hold it at 2\\.— Report of A. B. C. F. M., 1869, pp. 30-37. 49. p. 234. Dr. Edward W. Hooker, then pastor of the First Congregational Church, Bennington, Vt., had endeavored, by description alone, to set before his people the moral condition of a large part of the world. He says: "But after all I failed of accomplishing the impressions I wished. My hearers did not see the lost world as it is ; and there was clearly something more to be done than to describe and give statistics, and work by arith- metic. I recollected Jeremiah's words : ' Mine eye affecteth my heart ; ' and he seemed to have understood the philosophy of feeling and the means of awakening it. I resolved on one more experiment by which, if possible, to make the subject of the world's real condition preach to the hearts of my people through their eyes. I em- ployed a carpenter to make me a board of light ma- terial, seven feet in length and five in breadth, and painted as pure a white as possible ; with liandles for carrying, and a ring by which it could be suspended. This idea was suggested to me by the use of the blackboard in schools and acade- mies. I drew on my white board (on as large a scale as its dimensions would allow, and so that it could be seen in the most distant part of our meeting-house) that dark and gloomy * Map of the Evangelical Condition of the World,' some time since published by the American Sunday- School Union. It exhibited every country on the globe destitute of Protestant Christianity, with a sur- APPENDIX. 457 face as dark as India ink could make it. I pre- pared a sermon on these two texts combined: Ps. 74:20, 'The dark places of the earth,* and Ps. 107 : 10, ' Such as sit in darkness and the shadow of death.' On the intermission of the Sabbath — on the evening of which our monthly concert was to be held — with the assistance of my carpenter, I suspended my white board above my pulpit, so that it should be in fair view of the congregation ; and standing before it, proceeded to preach my sermon. I described each country very much as I had done before, but illustrating everything local by turning to my map and pointing out all with a staff. That dark and gloomy map did the work which I had not been able to accomplish with my most painstaking and earnest preaching. It accomplished the distinct and solemn impression that indeed * the world lieth in wickedness.' In the evening of that day the attendance at our monthly concert was doubled ; and when the brethren who were called upon prayed, they prayed as I never heard them before; as though they had seen the darkness which covers the earth — the gross darkness which covers the people." 50. p. 249. Social prayer meetings had long been unknown in the church. Mr. Storrs instituted them at once. For almost a half-year he could not persuade a single layman to offer a prayer or utter a loud word at such conferences. — Prof. Park's Sermon at Funeral of Dr. Storrs^ p. 53. 51. p. 259. George S. Rowe. The Life of John Hunt, Mission- ary to the Cannibals in Fiji. London, 1879. p. 266. 45^ APPENDIX. Rufus Anderson. History of the Sandwich Islands Mission. Boston, 1871. p. 321. The Rev. W. G. Blaikie, D. D., LL. D., writing of the Free Assembly of Scotland for 1886, and its "most popular moderator," says in the New York Observer: *' Dr. Somerville introduced a new feature in his opening prayer. In unison with his ruling idea that we ought to aim at the evan- gelization of the globe, he offered prayer, minutely and fully, day after day, for some particular sec- tion of it. You may believe the United States had a worthy place. But I do not suppose that any of your fifty millions of people ever heard a moderator in public prayer enumerate each one of your States and Territories and many of your principal cities, bringing them all up to the throne of grace for a blessing, as a master of ceremo- nies brings up the members of a company to a sovereign or a president for presentation. Yet this was done, and done reverently. It is true that as he went through his long lists with admi- rable precision and comprehensiveness we were lost in wonder, feeling how utterly beyond our power such an achievement was, and marveling at the geographical capacity of the head that seemed able to carry every State and province of the world, and at the tongue that so fluently ex- pressed them. But there was reality in it. Some- times he would insert a characteristic adjective, as, for instance, * snowy Alaska,' and sometimes he would fix on other features of particular States that gave them an interest of their own. But he assumed that from his heart, and the hearts ot many that beat in unison with his, there went up to heaven a very fervent desire that God's bless- ing would rest on every one of your States. Id APPENDIX. 459 his opening address he startled some of our High- land brethren by telling them that he had a prayer-book to recommend for their daily use, but the startled look gave way to a smile when he mentioned the title — * W. and A. Keith John- ston's Pocket Atlas.' Day after day, as he pre- sented at the throne of grace country after coun- try, and showed himself as familiar with the divisions and cities of India and China as with those of Scotland or of England and Wales, it be- came apparent how good use he had made of this prayer-book himself. But he gave many a new sense of the infinite ramifications of intercessory prayer when full scope is given to its spirit. To pray for the world is short and easy ; to pray for every country, State, and city is something infi- nitely higher." 52. p. 268. Many a pastor can bear testimony similar to that of the Rev. Moses Smith, of Detroit: "From boy- hood I have enjoyed the monthly missionary con- cert. As a pastor for more than a quarter of a century I have observed the feast. I find it one of the most effective methods of keeping a church from settling into the ruts, becoming narrow in thought, or dissatisfied with God's gifts. I have been wont to urge the cultivation of the missionary spirit — and the monthly meeting as the indispensable means of this cultivation — as one of the most helpful for small and weak churches all over our land. Not a few pastors of feeble churches would find unspeakable blessings in educating their people to gratitude and breadth of soul." 53* P* Z^Z' The next year (1847) the earliest token of interest was on the first Monday in January, and it was after- 460 APPENDIX. wards found that special prayer for the school had been offered that very day at the Mount Holyoke Seminary. Similar was it in 1849. The revival of 1856 came suddenly, February 17. Then, too, as it appeared subsequently, was there a like connection in the agency of specific prayer. The next twelvemonth (1857) was signalized in the same way by a correspondence with the day of prayer for institutions of learning. So too in the first week of February, 1859, meetings were held every evening in the seminary at South Hadley, to pray for the school at Oroomiah, and a letter written at the latter place the same week stated : " God is with us ; souls are seeking Christ ; and I am so strengthened for labor that I am sure Christian friends are praying for us more than last month." ^4. p. 318. A striking illustration of efficacious private supplica- tion may be found in The Medical Missionary Record^ New York, 1887, p. iii. It is an incident of his own experience by Dr. Chamberlain, of the Arcot mission. S^> P- 344* It was held at Calcutta and continued four days (September 4-7, 1S55). Fifty-five members, rep- resenting six societies, were in attendance ; four- teen papers were presented and discussed, the chief subject being missions in Bengal. — Pro- ceedijigs of a General Conference of BeJigal Prot- estant Missionaries. 1855, pp. 183. 8vo. Proceedings of South India Confer encey at Ootacamund. Madras, 1858, pp. 387. Royal 8vo. Out of print. APPENDIX. 461 The first South India Conference (1858) occupied seventeen days (April 19-May 5). Twenty-seven papers and thirty historical accounts were con- tributed. Report of the Bengal Conference at LaJiore. Lodiana, 1863, PP- 407. Seven days (Dec. 26- Jan. i) were devoted to a con- sideration of twenty-three papers. These ex- hibited a wider range of topics than at previous conferences, as well as greater diversity of views, and also more criticisms. The Missionary Conference of South India and Ceylon^ 1879. 2 vols. Madras, 1880. Vol. I (pp. 475) contains papers, discussions, and general re- view. Vol. II (pp. 516) is devoted to historical and biographical sketches. This, the second South Indian Conference, was held at Bangalore, from Wednesday, June 11, to Wednesday, June 18. One hundred and eighteen members represented twenty-five societies. Forty- six papers discussed fifteen topics. 56. p. 346. Report of the General Missionary Conference at Al- lahabad. London, 1873, PP- 548. The great lines of railway from Calcutta, Lahore, and Bombay, meeting at Allahabad, make that a convenient and central place. Of foreign mem- bers connected with missions there were 96; of native members 28. American delegates num- bered 38, English 32, Scottish 19, German 3, Irish 3, Norwegian i. Eight or ten general topics, with sundry sub-divisions, received attention in over two- score papers. This was excessive ; the range was too wide. 462 APPENDIX. Report of the Second Decennial Conference held at Cal- ctitta, 1882-3. Calcutta, 1883, pp. 162. Twenty-seven societies were represented, thirty papers were submitted, and seven days occupied. Thirty- seven of the members had also attended the Alla- habad Conference. Records of the General Conference of the Protestant Missionaries in China, held at Shanghai, 1877. Shanghai, 1878, pp. 492. Fourteen days (May 10-24) were occupied by sessions. Of the members 74 were men and 52 ladies, be- sides 16 honorary members. Twenty different societies were represented — the American hav- mg 72 delegates, the English 49, the German i. Four persons were unconnected. A sermon was presented and forty-three papers were read. Proceedings of the General Conference of the Protest- ant Missionaries of Japan. Yokohama, 1883, pp. 468. The membership amounted to 106, of which 48 were ladies. A sermon at the opening. Sundry pa- pers were read — four of them by native brethren and two of them by ladies. 57* P' 35<^- Authorized Report of the Missionary Cotiference held in London, iSy^. London, 1875, pp. 155. The conference was preceded by a sermon and a celebration of the Holy Communion. Treatises were read on three subjects, each being followed by addresses from six or more gentlemen. Authorized Report of the Second Missionary Confer- ence held at Oxford, iSj-j. London, 1877, pp. 199. It was held on May 2 and 3, the method pursued being in general much the same as at the previ- ous conference of 1875. APPENDIX. 463 58. p. 350. Proceedings of the Union Missionary Convention held in New York, 1834. New York, 1854, pp. 61. It was composed of 156 members, of whom loi were clergymen. The Hon. Luther Bradish pre- sided. A business committee presented eight subjects for consideration. Conference on Missions, held in i860, at Liverpool. Tenth thousand, revised. London, i860, pp. 428. Major General Alexander was chosen chairman. Twelve papers were read. 59. p. 352. International Missiojts-Gazette. Rochester, N. Y. Rev. J. T. Gracey, D. D., editor. No. i — July, 1886; No. 2 — July, 1887. 60. p. 354. Proceedings of the General Conference on Missions^ held at Conference Hall in Mildmay Park, Lon- don, i8']8. London, 1879, pp. 434. Twenty-three papers were presented. 61. p. 425. Literature of the Subject. 1. Proceedings of a General Conference of Bengal Protestant Missionaries. Calcutta, 1855. 2. Proceedings of the South India Missionary Con- ference at Ootacamund. Madras, 1858. 3. Report of the Punjab Missionary Conference at Lahore. Lodiana, 1S63. 4. Report of the General Missionary Conference at Allahabad. London, 1873. 5. Records of the General Conference of the Protest- ant Missionaries in China, held at Shanghai, 1877. Shanghai, 1878. 6. The Missionary Conference, South India and Ceylon, 1879. 2 vols. Madras, 1880. 7. Report of the second Decennial Conference, held at Calcutta, 1882-83. Calcutta, 1883. 464 APPENDIX. 8. Proceedings of the General Conference of the Protestant Missionaries of Japan. Yokohama, 1883. 9. Proceedings of the Union Missionary Convention. New York, 1854. 10. Conference of Missions, held in i860 at Liverpool. London, i860. 11. Authorized Report of the Missionary Conference, held in London, 1875. London, 1875. 12. Authorized Report of the second Missionary Conference, held at Oxford, 1877. London, 1877. ^ 13. Proceedings of the General Conference on For- eign Missions, held in London, 1878. London, 1879. PP-434- 14. The Report of the Centenary Conference of the Protestant Missions of the World, 1888. 2 vols. London, 1888. 15. Verhandlungen der allgemeinen Missionsconfei enz, 1866 und 1868. Berlin, 1868. 16. Verhandlungen der dritten Missionsconferenz, 1872. Barmen, 1872. 17. Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift, 1876, undpasstm. INDEX Abeokuta, 308. Aberdeen, Countess of, 395. Aberdeen, Earl of, 391, 395, 401, 402, 407. Adams, Nehemiah, 216. Adolphus, Gustavus, 25, 146. Agende, German, 121. Agincourt, Battle of, 307. Albrechts, The, 199. Alexander the Great, 135. Allahabad, 346. Allan, Rev. W., 406. Alliance, Evangelical, 237. Alliance, Inter-Seminary, 352. Ambrose, St., 172. Amenities, Social, 419. American Delegates, 39S, 422. Ames, William, 86. Anderson, Dr, Rufus, 217, 340. Andrews, Bp., 128. Answers to Prayer, 289. Anthon, Prof., 92. Arbitral ion. Courts of, 337. Archbishop of Canterbury, 228. Aristotle, 83. Armstrong, Dr. Wm., 7. Armstrong, Mrs. W. F., 394. Arndt, John, 90. Attitude of Mind, 104. Aug;istine, 102. Backus, Pres't, 145. Baldwin, Frederick, 86. Bangalore, 345. Bannockburn, 261. Baptist Churches, 1S6. Barnes, Rev. Albert, 231. Earth, C. G., 174. Baxter, Richard, 12, 78, 148, 438. Bede, Venerable, 380. Benares, 344. Benevolence, Law of, 62. Bennet, Benjamin, 127. Beracah, Valley of, 330. Berkeley, Bp., 23. Bethlehem, 26. Bethlehem, Pa., 179. Beveridge, Bp. Wm., 13. Bible Society, Brit, and For., 370, 411. Bickersteth, Edward, 130. Birks, Prof., 80. Blackadder, Col. John, 308. Blackstone, Sir Wm., 181. Blaikie, Dr. W. G., 458. Blumhardt, Pastor, 145. Board, American, 369. Bogatzky, 173. Boston, Thomas, 446. Brainerd, David, 36, 66, 98, 143, 209, 295. 413. 444- Brown, Sir Thomas, 78. Bruce, Dr. Robert, 405. Buchanan, Claudius, 199. Buddhism, 405. Bull, Henry, 128. Burk, J. C. F., 15. Burnet, Bp., 13. Bums, Wm. C, 35. Buxton, Sir Thomas Fowell, 362. Cairns, Dr., 406. Calcutta, 344, 347. Calhoun, Dr. S., 4. Calvin, 107. Canterbury, Archbishop of, 399. Carey, William, 25, 55, 143, 255. Casuistry, 86. Catechism, The Assembly's, 166,4461 Centennial Conference, 412. Chalmers, Thomas, 109. Chamberlain, Rev. G. M., 435. Chantal, Baron de, 374. Charlemagne, 62. Child, Miss Abbie B., 394. Choctaw, A Christian, 21. Christ's Authority, 42. Christ's Intercession, 137. Christ's Last Command, 48. Christ's Presence, 279. Christ's Special Prerogative, 43. Christlieb, Dr., 226. Chrysostom, 9, 10, 32, 445. Clark, Dr. N. G., 360. Coincidences, 312. Commerce, 406. Commiseration for the Heathen, 53. (465) 466 INDEX. Concert of Prayer, Monthly, 208, 250. Concert of Prayer, Primitive, 246. Conferences, Ecumenical, 354. Conferences, General, 346, 382, 463. Conferences, German, 351. Conference, Liverpool, 351. Conferences, Local, 339, 343, 462. Conferences, London, 354, 379. Conferences, Missionary, 335, 460. Contribvations, 220, 223. Convert, Heathen, 22. Corvinus, 91. Councils, Ecclesiastical, 383, 419. Covenants of Supplicaiion, 271. Crosby, Daniel. 234. Crowther, Bp., 392. Cust, Dr. R. N.,411. Cyprian, 162, 176. Dale, Dr., 16. Danish Missions, 413. Death-beds, 144. Delays, Specific, 298. Deputations, 340. Desires, Enlarged, 262. Distance Embarrassing, 293. Doberj Leonhard, 59. Doddridpre, 98, 184. Donne, Dr., 144. Doors Opened, 306. Drachart, 59. Duff, Dr. Alexander, 103, 200, 350. Earl of Devonshire, 269. Earnestness, Persevering, 252. Earnest Supplication, 140, 147, 252. East India Company, 54. Edificatory Writings, 87. Edmonds, Prebendary, 407. Edwards, John, 13. Edwards, Pres't, i49> 164, 191, 197, 227, 317. Ehrenfeuchter, 15. Elberfeld, 189. EHot, John, 66, 168. EUinwood, Dr. F. F , 400, 406. Enlarged Desires, 262, 268. Enthusiasm, Evangelistic, 33. Equivalent Answers, 314. Erasmus, 10. Erskine, John, 103. Establishment, English, 239. Ethelfred, u8. Ethics, Christian, 77. Ethics, Defective, 75. Ethics, Philosophical, 81. F.varts, Jeremiah, 213, 217. Exhibitions, Industrial, 335. Extra-Denominational, 241. Extra-Parochial, 4, 7. Eyo, King, 106. Fairbairn, Dr. A. M., 84. Faith, 265. Fleming, Prof., 79. Foster, John, 255. Franke, A. H., 11. Fulfillment, Immediate, 301. Fuller, Andrew, 26, 28, 187, 198. Garden Parties, 421. Gebetbuch, 444. Germain, St., 330. Gibbon, Edward, 97. Gill, Rev. W. W., 434. Gladstone, Mr. and Mrs., 422. Glassius, 91. Goodwin, Thomas, 289. Gordon, Dr. A. J., 400. Gospel, Power of, 375. Gossner, 6, 150. Gregorv, Nazianzen, 417. Griffin,' Dr. Edward D., 205, 281. Guelderland, 188. Hale, Matthew, 170. Hall, Pp., 129. Hallock, Jeremiah, 281. Hamilton of Gladsmuir, 6. Hare, Archdeacon, 254. Harless, 80. Harpoot, 293, 314. Harrowby, Earl of, 391. Havelock, General, 223. Hay-stack Prayer Meeting, 200. Heinrich, Rev. Gottlob, 314. Henderson, Dr., 208. Herbert, George, 12. Hinduism, 406. Hohannes, 277. Holy Spirit, Sought, 217. Home Alissionaries, 32. Hooker, Dr. E. W.,4S6. Hooker, Dr. Henry B., 233. Hopkins, Dr. Mark, 76. Hoppin, James M., 19. Hottentots, 71. .Howard, John. Humble Sphere, 24. HumiHation, 251. Humphrey, Pres't, 125. Hunt, John, 259. Hunter, Sir Wm. W., 405. Huntington, Rev. Joshua, 455. Hymn- Books, 449. Ignatius, 327. Imperative, Fitness of, 61. INDEX. 467 Impulses, Special. Id Christ, 35. Indebtedness, 64. Index Rerum, 11. Indifference, 5. Individual Names, 258. Individuality of Supplication, 132, 308, 458.. Infelicities, 367. Instinctive Sentiment, 65. Intercession, Associated, 316. Intercession, Day of, 239. Intercession, Private, Intercommunication, 338. Islam, 405. Jainism, 405. Jenkins, William, 359. Jesuits, 61. Jews, Rlissions to, 408. Josenhans, 174. Jortin, Dr., 417. Jowett, William, 208. Kafir Convert, 299. Kapiolani, 434. Kennaway, Sir J. H., 407. Knox, John, 270. Ko-Chat-Thing, 62. Krummacher, F. W., 174. Kyoto Training School, 282. Lange, Prof., 80. Large Requests, 134. Latimer, Hugh, 107. Law, William, 96. Lawrence, St., 145. Lebanon, Ct., 430. Legge, Prof., 362. Literature, Subjects, 126. Liturgies, 443. Liverpool Conference, 351. Livingston, John H., 210. Local Needs, 148. London, 380. Lone Star Mission, 300. Lord Mayor, 422. Lower Considerations, 50. Lowrie, W. M., 302. Luthardt, 80. Luther, Martin, 290. Lyon, Mar>', 313. Lyrics, Sacred, 171. McAllister, Prof., 408. McCheyne, Robert, 149. Macleod, Dr. Norman, 342. MacVicar, Principal, 406. Malcolm, Dr. Howard, 342. Manitoulin Islands, 67. Maps, Missionary, 232. Martensen, 80. Marston, Miss Dr., 394. Mary, Queen, 270. Mason, John M., 210. Mason, Lowell, 215. Massillon, 124. Mather, Cotton. Maurice, F. D., 8r, 170. Mayhew, 168. Mayhew, Zechariah, 200. Means Employed, 146. Medical Missions, 408. Melancthon, 142. Messianic Kingdom, 45. Method of Proceeding, 401. Methodism, 182. Mexico, 348. Mildmay Park Conference, 354, 367. Miller, Samuel, 27, 125, 131, 165. Mills, Samuel J., 33, 200, 202, 205, 206, 267, 296. Ministerial Obligation, 119. Ministerial Prayer, 113, 123, 132, 140. Ministers Missionaries, 4. Ministry, American, 8. Missions, Rom. Cath., 406. Missionary Obligation, 41. Missionary Union, International, 352. Mission Fields, 406. Mitchell, Dr. J. Murray, 359, 405, 406. Moffat, Mrs. Mary, 312. Moffat, Rev. Robert, 363, 397. Monthly Concert, 165, 176. Moravians, 15, 121, 177, 256, 260, 305, 414. Mohammedans, 125. Mother, A Praying, 261, 314. Mothers, Weeping, 70. Mount Holyoke Seminary, 313, 460. Muir, Sir William, 356. Mullens, Dr. Joseph, 341, 361, 398. Murphy, Thomas, 19. Nazianzen, 307. Neff, Felix, 232. Nelson, Lord, 53. Nettleton, Asahel, 205. Neumeister, 54. Newton, John, 3. Nind, Mrs. M. C, 394. Norris, John, 199. Northbrooke, Earl of, 407. Nussairiyeh, 264. Obedience, Prompt, 53. Oberlin, 1S8. Obookiah, Henry, 208. 468 INDEX. Old South Church, Boston, 249. Ongole, 300. Ootacamund, 345. Origin, 107, 127. Oroomiah, 313. Osaka, 348. Osiander, go. Owen, John, 310. Paley, 85. Parables, Pertinent, 20, 57. Parker, Theodore, 442. Park Street Concert, 210. Parochial Benefits, 26. Particularity of Petition, 255, 274. Patteson, Sir Jolm, 258. Pastor, Position of, 19. Paul, The Apostle, 124. Peril, Circumstances of, 307. Perkins, William, 86. Pierson, Dr. A. T., 400. Pietas, Haliensis, 439. Plumer, W. S., 18. Pond, Enoch, 17, 165. Poor, Dr. Daniel, 216. Post, Dr. George E., 399, 405. Powder and Ball, 375. Prayer Answered, 289, 303. Prayer-Book, 119. Prayers Composed, 120. Prayer, Cycle cf, 240. Prayer, Efficacious, 114, 139, 141. Prayer, Extemporaneous, 123. Prayer, Encouragements, 135. Prayer for Missions, 113, Prayer, Individual, 132. Prayer, Literature of, 126, 130, 161. Prayer-Meetings, 249. Prayer near Death, 269. Prayer, Sincere, 254. Prayer, The Lord's, 166, Prayer Unions, 197, 210, 240, 236, Prayer, United, 155, 271, 306, 308. Prayer, Weak of, 237. Present Need, 248. Presbyterian Church, 210, 211, 236. Prevost, Ai^'miral, 362. Professional Training, 124. Progress, General, 369. Psalmist, The, 290, 292. Psalter, The, 287. Punjab, 345, 346. Punshon, Morley, 361, 398. Rabiger, 227. Rainy, Miss, 394. Raleigh, Sir Walter, 138. Radstock, Lord, 406. Ralston, Robert, 199. Rank and Titles, 390. Reaction, 30. Reed, Hollis, 147, 302. Reflex Benefits, 30. Reformation, 10. Reformed Church, Synod of, 210, 21a. Regal Commands, 43, 48. Results, 323, 422. Return of Prayers, 269. Revivals, 312. Richards, James, 202, 203. Romaine, Wilham, 183. Ridgley, Dr. Thomas, 447, Ryland, Rev. John, 55. Ryle, Bp., 181. Samson, 25. Sanderson, Bp., 86. Satanic Hindrance, ir8. Scheiner, 83. School of Faith, 265. School of Prayer. Schwartz, Chr. Fred, 414. Schreiber, Dr., 405. Scripture Authoritative, loi. Sechele, 68. Senekerim, 277. Shaftesbury, Earl of, 363, 398. Shanghai, 348. Shernng, Rev. M. A., 362, 397. Sidgwick, Prof., 81. Slight, Rev. Benjamin, 318. Smith, Canon, 80. Smith, Dr. George, 411. Smith, Dr. Judson, 400. Smith, Rev. Moses, 459. Smith, Mrs. Moses, 395. Smith, Richard Travers, 81. Smith, Sydney, 26. Sociality Gaining, 335. Somerville, Dr. Andrew, 29. Spangenberg, Bp., 414. Spener, Ph. Jac, 11, 93. Spheres, Humble, 24. Spurious Calvinism, 36. Stael, Madame de, 8. St. David's, Bishop of, 55. Stephens, Abel, 17. Stevenson, Rev. Fleming, 362, 398 Stier, Dr. Rudolph, 15, 448. Tahiti, 209. Talent and Position, 386. Tawenquatuck, 433. Taylor, Rev. J. A., 392. Taylor, Jeremy, 95, 129. Taylor, J Hudson, 407. Taylor, Rev. Wm. M., 400. INDEX. 469 Telegraph, 322. Temporal Benefits, 50. Tertullian, 159. Text-Books, 75. Thanksgiving, 326. Thomas, Rev. Mr., 452. Thomas a Kempis, 87. Thurston, Mrs., 69. Topics Discussed, 404. Treat, Rev. S. B., 21. Treatises, Professional, 9. Triumphs, Signal, 373. Tyndale, William, 145, 309. Underhill, Dr. E. B., 359. Vahl, Dean, 406. Valley of Beracah, 330. Van Oosterzee, 16. Variety, Noticeable, 384. Venn, Henry, 94. Voltaire, 23. Wardlaw, Dr., 78. Washington, 25. Wayland, Pres't, 76. Welch, John, 140, 142. Wellington, Duke of, 52, Wesley, John, 8, 182. West, Miss Maria, 70, 359, 434. Whately, Miss Mary, 434, Wheeler, C. H., 261. Whewell, Prof., 79. Whitefield, 190. Whitehead, Rev. Mr., 406. Wilberforce, William, 92, 100. Wilkins, John B., 11. Willard, Samuel, 168. Williams, Dr. Edward, 23, 452. Wi'liams, Sir Monier, 405. Williams, John, 267. Williams College, 201, Wilson, Bp. Daniel, 31, 356. Wilson, James Stewart, 16. Woman's Agency, 358, 393. Woods, Dr.^G., 78. Wright, Rev. Henry, 397. Wright, Rev. Dr. William, 411. Wuttke, 80. Xavier, Francis, 37. Year (1S06), 198, Year (1815), 208. ZiNZKNDORF, Count, 178. ^teij'iiiilfmim^'^^' Seminarv Libraries 1 1012 234 0537 Date Due ^ ^ ' ^j r> f