»»^^a«liilii«L tihvavy of Che t1\eolo0ical ^tmimry PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 'd^t' PRESENTED BY ¥.IJ. Woodward, III BV 4070 .N8935 1889 Norton, Fred L. A college of colleges A COLLEGE OF COLLEGES LED BY D. L. MOODY, AND TAUGHT BY Rev. I. D. Driver, Bishop C. D. Foss, D.D., Prof. W. R. Harper, Rev. M. D. Hoge, D.D., Rt. Rev. M. E. Baldwin, Rev. A. J. Gordon, D.D., Rev. A. T. Pierson, D.D., Mr. Geo. C. Needham, and others. SESSION OF 1889. EDITED BY FRED L. ^NORTON. : : f lemtno 1b. IRevell New York: 12 bible house, astor place. Chicago: 148 and 150 madison street. publisber of Evangelical Xiterature Entered accordiug to an Act of Congress, in tlie year 1889, by FLEMING ir. REVELL, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. All Rights Keserved. PRBKACE. The ''College of Colleges" is now known throughout the world. Representatives are present, not only from all English- speaking coimtries, but also from Continental Europe and from Japan. This extended representation has given its distinctive character to the Summer School of 188 9. As these young men are nearly all members of the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion, the addresses this year have been more closely related than formerly, both in theme and manner of development, to the interests of the Association. This fact, together with the greater time and attention devoted to special Association work, has called for some slight changes in the arrangement from the books of former years. An entire chapter has been de- voted to a history of the Students' Volunteer Movement. Two of the longest chapters present the religious crisis in Japan, and the work of the Yoimg Men's Christian Asso- ciation in that coimtry ; conditions which came to the front in the discussion of practical Christian work. An- other chapter has been introduced, descriptive of the meetings themselves, which Tvill bring before the minds of those who have been present the blessed hoiu's which they have spent among the beautiful hills of Northfield, while it cannot fail to be of interest to others who have not enjoyed this privilege. Not only do the addresses here given treat old subjects with a iii IV PREFACE. freshness of thouglit and suggestion whicli will prove prac- tically helpful, but many of them are upon entirely different lines of thought from those of previous sessions of the school, and open new fields of study to the Christian student. This book will accomplish its purpose if it shall present the thought of the convention, which was well expressed by one of the English students in the pithy quotation : " Thou must be true thyself, if thou the truth would teach ; Thy soul must overflow, if thou another soul would reach." CONTENTS CHAPTER. PAGE. I.— The Great Fact in the Religious Life of American Colleges 7 II.— The Student Missionary Uprising ------- 17 III.— Northfield Revisited - 28 rv.— The Crisis in Japan 33 V.-Y. M. C. A. in Japan - - 57 VI.— Student Work in Great Britain 69 VII.— Claims of the Y. M. C. A. on College Graduates - - - 78 VIII.— Duty of Christians to Unevangelized Young Men - - - 89 IX.— Prayer - - 103 X.— The Prophecy of Joel 116 XI.— The Existence of God 130 XII.— Four Great Religious Certitudes - 146 XIII.— Conformity to the Image of Christ - 150 XIV.— The Personal Christ - - 168 XV.— The Bible a Revelation from God 180 XVI.— The Personal of Christ - - 199 XVII.— Grace - 210 XVIII.— The Holy Spirit * - 222 XIX.— Sanctified Zeal 238 XX.— Christian Service 246 XXI.— Characteristics of Christian Ministry 257 XXII.— The Spirit and The Word 269 XXIII.— Interpretation of the Bible 272 CHAPTER I. "THE GREAT FACT IN THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF AMERICAN- COLLEGES." Mr. J. R. Mott. International College Secretary, Reviews the Y. M. C. A. College Work during the Year 1888-9— Rapid Development of the College Associations— Strengthening and Lengthening the Intercollegiate Tie— Student Volunteer INlovement for Foreign Mis- sions—Special Revival Interest in American Colleges. Dr. Roswell Hitchcock, for years the honored Presi- dent of the Union Theological Seminary, in speaking of the College Yonng Men's Christian Association, not long before his death, characterized it as "the great fact in the religions life of American colleges to- day." His words came w^itli authority ; for few^ men had studied more thoroughly than he the religious life and tendencies of our higher institutions of learning. A careful examination of the development and influ- ence of these Associations during the college year of 1888-9 will convince one that Dr. Hitchcock's state- ment might be made to-day with greater force than ever. This is clearly seen in the rapid development of many of the College Associations; in the lengthening and strengthening of the intercollegiate tie ; in the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions; and in the special revival interest in the colleges in all sections of the land. I. RAPID DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLLEGE ASSOCIATIONS. Not more than tw^elve years ago the religious w^ork in nearly all of the colleges w^as narrow and restricted. In one college it would consist entiirely in a weekly prayer meeting. In another college the religious inter- 7 8 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. est would center in a niissionar}' societ}-. In still an- other compulsory Bible study, with perhaps a little neighborhood mission work, would constitute all that was done. Now and then one might find a college in which two or more of these lines of Christian activity were prosecuted. More often in such cases the work which might better have been done by one organiza- tion was divided among two or three independent re- ligious societies. To-ilay in over two hundred and eighty of our leading colleges and universities we find all the lines of Chris- tian work among the young men directed by one strong organization — the College Young Men's Christian As- sociation. It is no longer a narrow work, for in a large majority of these colleges the Association is carrying on a six-fold work under the direction of six committees viz.: Membership, Devotional, Bible Study, Neighbor- hood Work, Missionary, and Intercollegiate Relations. The past year has witnessed a great development of this committee system. Many colleges, which did not have these regular committees, have adopted them. As a result the number of Christian workers in the colleges has been greatly increased. Hundreds of stu- dents, who one year ago were exerting merely a pas- sive influence, are to-day actively engaged in personal work. This personal work has been so thoroughly organized in some colleges at the beginning of the col- lege year as to bring every new student under Chris- tian influences. In some cases it has led to revivals resulting in the conversion of nearly every man in the college. Perhaps more attention has been paid to Bible study than in any preceding year. As many !as fifty associ- ations have talien up Prof. Harper's Inductive Method, THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 9 or some other method of studying the Bible as a text- book. The Workers' Bible Training class has been introduced even more widely than the other system during the last six months, or since the publication of the new Topical Studies on the Plan of Salvation. Every man who enters these Training classes pledges himself to do personal work. As a consequence they have been attended with the very best results. For example, at the last New York State Convention all the conversions for the year, reported b}^ the thirteen College Associations, could be traced directly to the Bible Training classes. The New England and Canadian colleges have devel- oped the deputation work to a higher degree than ever. It has been found that many men can be drawn to meet- ings to hear students from other colleges, and in this way be impressed, who could not be reached in any other way. Moreover it serves to develop those who go on these deputation visits into stalwart Christian workers. Not a few have been led to give themselves to the ministry or to other forms of religious life-work as a result of the interest awakened and the training afforded by such work. The Missionary work of the Association has been made more practical. Formerly in a majority of the colleges it consisted simi)ly in arousing a general inter- est in the cause of missions. Now it seeks to make all the members thoroughly intelligent on this subject by a well-conducted series of meetings and by circula- ting the ver}^ best missionary literature. It seeks fur- ther to get every member to contribute systematically to missions. More than this, it strives to get young men to give their lives to hasten the evangelization of the world. 1^ COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. Some of the colleges have broadened their work be- yond the six regular committees so as to introduce com- mittees to conduct lecture courses on Christian themes ; to develop the social side of the work; to promote per- sonal purity ; to direct special religious w^ork among the members of the different college classes, etc. The work has assumed such proportions in a few colleges that buildings have "been erected and dedicated solely to Association work. Prior to last year (1888) the Princeton, Yale and Toronto Associations se- cured such buildings. During this year the Cornell University and Hamilton College Associations have dedicated handsome buildings costing |60,000 and 125,000 respectively. Within the present year the As- sociation at Johns Hopkins University has received a gift of 120,000 for a building and at least twelve Associations have started building funds. Thus the College Associations have fairly entered upon their building era. During the year three College Associa- tions found it necessary for the first time to emplo}-^ a General Secretary — a college graduate giving his entire time, or a large part of it, to the direction of the differ- ent departments of work. It is only a matter of time when every prominent college in our land will have upon its campus a handsomely appointed Association building, with its many lines of Christian activity di- rected by an influential, consecrated and recent college graduate. II. STRENGTHENING AND LENGTHENING THE INTERCOLLE- GIATE TIE. The three agencies which have been most influential in binding tt)gether the different Associations through- out the country and the world, and in developing them on common lines of work are : the International Com- THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 11 mittee, through its secretarial force, the State commit- tees through their secretaries, the IntercoUegian, and the Northfield Summer School. The International Secretaries C. K. Ober and J. H. Mott have spent the year in establishing Associations in new colleges, in developing the work in nearly one hundred old Associations and in working up the North- field Summer School. Mr. Ober's trips have taken him from New Hampshiie to Nebraska and from ^Montreal to Kentucky. Mr. Mott's tour of visitations extended from Nova Scotia to New Orleans and from St. Cloud, Minnesota, to Savannah, Georgia. Mr. F. K. Saunders has given one-half of his time to the college work. It consisted principally in visiting the colleges of New England and in editing the IntercoUegian. The Inter- coUegian, which is the regular organ of the Colleg'e Associations, has grown in favor so much during the year that it has been enlarged from an eight page bi- monthly to a sixteen page monthly. Mr. G. J. Hicks, Assistant State Secretary of Wisconsin, spent one month among the colleges of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan ; and Mr. J. B. Reynolds did valuable work in New England and Canada before his departure from this country to promote a better organized work among the Universities of Europe. The Northfield Summer School has been well called the AYorld's Convention of the College Associations. The influence of these meetings on the religious life of colleges in this and other lands can never be fully estimated. A very few of the many results of the meeting will best illustrate this intiuence. A Cana- dian University, in which there w^as no religious activ- ity, sent one delegate last year. He returned to his University and as a result of the new methods which 12 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. lie introducecl the Freshman class to a man was drawn into the Association, Bible classes were started, one of the best Association rooms in Canada was secured, and hazing was put down in the college. A little col- lege in a Southern State sent one delegate to one of these meetings. He was the only delegate from that State with its sixteen colleges. He returned to his college feeling his responsibility, ^^'as made President of the Association, and in less than a year develoi)ed the work to such an extent that every man in College was brought into the Association. But his influence did not stop there. He attended the District and State Conventions and through those channels introduced the methods which he had drawn from the exj^erience of the colleges of the Avhole country into the fifteen other colleges of his State. Three delegates left Northfield a year ago impressed with the importance of winning men one by one to Christ. During the remainder of that summer God used them in bringing 253 persons to Christ. Delegates came from Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh Universities, and were impressed with the great advantages of Ameiican intercollegiate relations in religious v>^ork. They determined to take steps in that direction at home. Consequently this summer, for the first time, we see an intercollegiate religious gathering in Great Britain which admits colleges out- side of England. A Japanese nobleman attended one of these summer gatherings, and became so deeply moved, that, when he returned to his native land, he cast his active influence on the side of the Christian religion and thus made possible some of Mr. AVishard's grandest work in the Japanese government schools and universities. The College Young Men's Christian Association is THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 13 the largest student organization in the world. It num- bers over 300 Associations, having nearly 20,000 mem- bers. Associations are to be found in the colleges of the United States, Canada, Japan, India, China, Ceylon, Syria and Turkey. In America alone there are 284 As- sociations. The most important additions of the last year have been Acadia College, Emory College, Guil- ford College and Johns Hopkins University\ How to draw the thousands of students in our large cities under the influence of the Association has been for many years an unsolved problem. During the year important steps have been taken toward its solution. Fifteen of the professional schools and other higher institutions of learning in ^ew York City, having fully 0,000 stu- dents, have been bound together in what is known as the Students' Movement. It is really the college de- partment of the city Association. A General Secretary has been employed to direct its work. The Intercol- legiate Association established in Boston over a year ago has been doing a thoroughly practical work among 4,000 students. At the close of the college year an organization similar to the one in New York was per- fected in Philadelphia. III. STUDEXT VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS- The student "^^olunteer Movement for Foreign Mis- sions, which started at the Summer School at Mt. Her- mon three 3^ears ago, has had a remarkable development. During the first two years of its history little was done in the direction of making the movement permanent. The last year may be characterized as the year in which the movement has been organized. Mr. Eobert P. Wil- der, who has been so intimateh^ identified with the in- ception and extension of this great movement, has given 14 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. the entire year to thoroughly organizing it as a depart- ment of the College Associations. Over fifty independ- ent Missionary Societies have been merged into the Association, thus insuring the permanency and wider extension of the missionary interest. He has directly touched over ninety of the pivotal colleges of the United States and Canada, besides reaching many others thi'oiigh Conferences and State Conventions. Forty- nine institutions — principally colleges — have been led to undertake the support of a missionary. Several of them have already selected alumni to represent them on the foreign field. In addition to the work of organ- izing, Mr. Wilder has extended the movement to several new colleges and added about GOO to the volunteer force. Fifty-six more volunteers were secured at the recent JSTorthfield meeting. Tliis makes the total recorded number of volunteers at this time (Sept. 1,) 3,947. The Student Volunteer Movement is treated more fully else- where in this volume. IV. SPECIAL REVIVAL INTEREST IN AMERICAN COLLEGES. In Canada, and New England and the Middle States, in the Upper Mississippi Valley, and notably at the West and Southwest, there have been unusual revivals of religion in the colleges. Only a few can be mentioned. Acadia College in Nova Scotia, having 240 students, had the most wide-SAveeping revival in its history, re- sulting practically in the conversion of every uncon- verted man in the college. The Harvard Association reports its first convert. The New England College Conference, held at Worcester, Mass., in February, stimulated revivals in both of the colleges of that city. Cornell University has had the first revival in its his- tory — in which over a score of students were brought THE RELIGIOUS LIFE. 15 to Christ. At Webb's School, Tennessee, during the Week of Prayer, fully seventy young men were led to Christ by the ijersonal work of their class-mates. The most remarkable revival of the year started at the State University of Tennessee, in connection with the College Conference of East Tennessee which was held at the University. Over forty of the leading students of that University confessed Christ within two days. The revival did not cease at that point. Delegates were present from five other colleges in East Tennessee. Two of them went back to Tusculum College and within a few daj's reported fifteen converts. One delegate car- ried the spirit of revival to Washington College, and twenty converts w^ere the result. The Maryville Col- lege delegation returned to their college on fire with the evangelistic spirit, and soon the report came that over fifty of their fellow^s had been brought to Chi'ist. Mr. S. M. Sayford has devoted the entire year to evan- gelistic vv^ork in the colleges. In that time he has been able to do thorough work in over twenty institutions. At least 250 unconverted students and professors have been reached. His strongest work was at the University of Virginia and in the tw^o colleges at Lexington, Ya. ]S^early one hundred men were converted in these three institutions alone. But Mr. Sayford's best work was among the so-called Christian students. In aiming at this class he struck at the very source of much of the indifference concerning religious things which prevailed in many colleges. Over one thousand of these students were led to take the " higher ground stand " — to give up indulgences which w^ere robbing them of their influ- ence and power. At no time in the history of American colleges have they been pervaded by as strong a Christian spirit as IB COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. they give evidence of to-day. In the State Universities, in which, if anywhere, we should expect to find a lack of interest in religions things, we find the most active Christian Associations. The largest College Association in the world, having over 500 members, is situated in an undenominational university, which, four years ago, was characterized throughout the country as a godless institution. Nearly one-half of the young men in our colleges to-day are professing Christians. At what previous time could this be said of our colleges as a whole? Notwithstanding these encouraging signs showing " what God hath wrought " during the past year, the members of the Associations, together with all who are interested in the progress of the Christian religion among the students of the world, should not lose sight of the fact that there are still in America, at the lowest estimate, over eight hundred higher institutions of learning in which there is no organized religious work. From these institutions during the last year alone have gone 15,000 unconverted men. Let unceasing efiforts and prayers be offered, and money consecrated to this great end; that, during the coming year, many of these neglected fields may be cultivated, that more students may be brought to Christ than in any preceding year, and that thousands of the best young men of America may graduate from her colleges to spend their lives for Grod in the ministry, in the General Secretaryship or as active laymen — ^both at home and abroaxi. CHAPTER II. THE STUDENT MISSIONARY UPRISING. A History by One of the Volunteers of the Student Volunteer Movement for Forei^ Missions— Its Origin at Mt. Hermon— Its Extension by Messrs. "Wilder and Forman— Its Organization Perfected Dur- ing the past year— Its Watch cry: ''The Evangelization of the "World in This Generation." One of the gi'eatest missionary revivals since the days of the apostles had its beginning in July, 1886, at the Mt. Hermon Conference of college students. Two hun- tked and fifty-one students from eighty-nine colleges of the United States and Canada had come together at the invitation of Mr. Moody to spend four weelvs in Bible study. Nearly two weeks passed by before the subject of missions was even mentioned in the sessions of the conference. But one of the young men from the Prince- ton College had come after Aveeks of prayer with the deep conviction that God -would call from that large gathering of college men, a few, at least, who would con- secrate themselves to the foreign mission service. At an early day he called together all the young men who were thinking seriously of spending their lives in the foreign field. Twenty-one students answered to this call, although several of them had not definitely decided the question. This little group of consecrated men began to pray that the spirit of missions might pervade the confer- ence, and that the Lord would separate many men to this gTeat work. In a few days, they were to see their faith rewarded far more than they had dared to claim. On the evening of July 16th., a special mass meeting was held at which Eev. Dr. A. T. Pierson gave a thrill- 17 18 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. ing addi^ess on missions. He supported, by the most convincing arguments, the proposition that "All should go and go to all." This was the key note which set many men to thinking and praying. A week passed. On Sat- urday night, July 24, another meeting was held which may occupy as significant a place in the history of tlie Christian church as the Williams hay stack scene. It is known as the "Meeting of the Ten Nations." It was addressed by sons of missionaries in China, India and Persia and by seven young men of different na- tionalities — an American, a Japanese, a Siameise, a Ger- man, a Dane, a Norwegian and an American Indian. The addi-esses were not each more than three minutes in length, and consisted of appeals for more workers. Near the close, each speaker repeated in the language of his country the words — " God is Love." Then came a season of silent and audible prayer which will never be forgotten by those who were present. The burning- appeals of this meeting came with peculiar force to all. From this, right on till the close of the conference, the missionary interest became more and more intense. One by one, the men alone in the Avoods and rooms with their Bibles and God fought out the battle with self and were led by the Si)irit to decide to forsake all and carry the gospel into the furthermost parts of the earth. Dr. Ashmore, who had just returned from China, added fuel to the flame by his ringing appeal to Chris- tians to look upon "missions as a war of conquest, and not as a mere wrecking expedition." In the last consecration meeting in the parlor where the lights were extinguished and the men were left on their faces wrestling with God in prayer, many a man said in answer to the call of the Lord: "Here am I; send me." THE MISSIONARY UPRISING. 19 Only eight days elapsed between the " Meeting of the Ten Nations" and the closing session of the conference. During that time, the number of volunteers increased from twenty -one to exactly one hundred, who signified that they were "willing and desirous, God permitting, to become foreign missionaries." Several of the remain- ing one hundred and forty delegates became volunteers later — after months of study and prayer. On the last day of the conference, the volunteers held a meeting in which there was a unanimous expression that the missionary spirit which had manifested itself ^^i:h such marvelous power at Mt. Hermon should be communicated in some degree to thousands of students throughout the country, who had not been privileged to come in contact with it at its source. It was their con- viction that the reasons, which had led the Mt. Hermon hundred to decide, w^ould influence hundreds of other col- lege men, if those reasons were at once presented to them in a faithful, intelligent and prayerful manner. Natur- ally they thought of the " Cambridge Band " and its w^on- derful influence among the universities of Great Brit- ain, and decided to adopt a similar plan. Accordingly a deputation of four students was selected to represent the Mt. Hermon Conference and to visit dui'ing the year as many American colleges as possible. Of the four selected, only one w^as abla to undertake the mission, Mr. Kobert P. Wilder of the class of 188(3 of Princeton College. Mr. John N. Forman, also a Princeton gTadu- ate, w. s induced to join Mr. Wilder in this tour. One consecrated man, who has ever been glad to help on missionary enterprises, defrayed the expenses of this tour. During the year, one hundred and sixty-seven institutions were visited. They touched nearly all of the leading colleges in the United States and Canada. 20 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES Sometimes they would visit a college together. Again, in order to reach more institutions, they would separ- ate. Their straight-forward, forcible, Scrijjtural pres- entation came with coha incing power to the minds and hearts of students wherever they went. In some col- leges as many as sixty volunteers were secured. Not an institution was visited in which they did not quicken the missionary interest. By the close of the year, 2,200 young men and wome'U had taken the volunteer pledge. During the college year of 1887-88, the movement was left without any particular leadership and oversight. Notwithstanding this fact, it was so filled with life that it could not stand still. Over six hundred new volun- teers were added during the year, very largely as the result of the personal work of the old volunteers. About fifty volunteers came together at the North- field Conference in July, 1888, to pray and plan for the movement. When the reports were presented showing the condition of the movement in all parts of the coun- try, it was found that there were three dangerous ten- dencies beginning to manifest themselves: (1). A ten- dency in the movement at some points to lose its unity. All sorts of missionary societies and bands, with differ- ent purposes, methods of work, and forms of pledge and constitution, were springing up. It was plain that it would lose some of its power, should its unity be des- troyed. (2). A tendency to a decline in some of the col- leges. Because not properly gniarded and developed, some bands of volunteers had grown cold — not a few had been led to renounce their decision. (3). A tendency to conflict with existing agencies appeared in a very few places. All of these tendencies were decidedly out of harmony with the original spirit and purpose of the vol- THE MISSIONARY UPRISING. 21 unteer movement. Accordingly, the yolunteers of Northfield decided that immediate steps should be taken toward a wise organization. Another consideration heljjed to influence them in this decision, and that was a desire to extend the movement. Messrs. Wilder and Forman, in their tour, had been unable to touch more than one-fifth of the higher educa- tional institutions in America. Upon Mr. Wilder, there- fore, was urged, the importance of his spending another 3^ear among the colleges which he had previously visited, and thorough!}" organizing the missionary volunteers, a work which was impossible during his first visit. A committee w^as also appointed to permanent!}^ or- ganize the volunteer movement. The committee, after long and prayerful consideration, decided that the move- ment should be confined to students. It was therefore named the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions. It was also noted that practically all of the volunteers were members of some one of the three great interdenominational student organizations, viz: the College Young Men's Christian Association, the College Young Women's Christian Association, and the Inter- Seminary Missionary Alliance. This suggested the plan of placing at the head of the movement, a perman- ent executive committee of three, (one to be appointed by each of the organizations) which should have power to develop and facilitate the movement in harmony with the spirit and constitution of these three organizations. The plan was first submitted to the college committee of the international committee of the Young , Men's Christian Association and was heartily approved. They appointed, as their representative, Mr. J. R. Mott. Later the plan was fully approved by the national com- mittee of the Young Women's Christian Association : 22 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. and Miss Nettie Dunn was chosen to represent them. The executive committee of the Inter-Seminarj Mis- sionary Alliance endorsed the ])lan and named Mr. Wilder to represent them. The new executive committee began its work in Jan- uary, 1889. Since then they have perfected a plan of organization for the movement A\hich has commended itself to the leade s of the different denominations to which it had been submitted. The plan of organization may be briefly outlined as follows: — (1). The executive committee, shall lay and execute plans for developing the movement wherever it exists, and for extending it to the higher educational institu- tions which have not yet come in contact with it. (2). The committee will have its agents, the principal one of whom will be the traveling secretary. Mr. Wilder has filled this office during the past college year (Sept., '8S-Aug., 'S9). During that time he visited ninety- three leading colleges, in which he developed the mis- sionary department of the college Associations. He has also secured nearly six hundred new volunteers. In more than thirty colleges visited, he has induced in- dependent missionary organizations to merge themselves in the missionary department of the college Associa- tions. Another striking feature of his work this year has been the fact that over forty institutions have been led to undertake the support of an alumnus in the foreign field. The plan pursued in denominational colleges has been to have the man sent by the regular church boards; in undenominational colleges, the money is usu- ally contributed to some form of undenominational effort — as, for example, sending teachers to the govern- ment schools of Japan. As Mr. Wilder retires from his position to complete THE MISSIONARY UPRISING. 23 liis seminary course, preparatory to going out to India, it is no more than justice to state that lie has done moi*e tlian any one man to extend this great movement from its very inception to the present time. Mr. R. E. Speer of the class of 1889 of Princeton College has been chosen to succeed Mr. AVilder. Mr. Speer has been one of the most active volunteers in the country. Besides being a thoroughly consecrated man, he was the leading scholar and debater in his col- lege class. The committee will also have an office secretary and an editorial secretary. (3). There is an advisory committee composed of seven persons — ^five representing as many of the leading evangelical denominations and one each froon the Young Men's and Y^oung Women's Christian Associations. The executive committee is to confer w^ith this com- mittee about every new step which is taken, so that nothing will be done which will justify unfavorable criti- cism from the church boards. The movement is de- signed to help the church boards in every way possible, and in no sense to encroach upon their territor^^ or to conflict with their work. (4). Mr. Speer will be unable to visit more than one- fifth of the colleges next jeav. It w^as therefore plain that some other means must be devised in order to bring the other colleges in touch with this movement. The executive committee has accordingly decided to have a corresponding member in every state and province in which the movement has been sufficiently introduced and established to ensure its permanency. This corres- ponding member will be the agent of the executive committee in that state to conserve and extend the move- ment in that state. 24 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. The traveling secretary will touch onlj^ the leading colleges in each state. In states where it is thought to be advisable there will be a corresponding com- mittee instead of a corresponding member. The states of Maine, New Jersey and North Carolina were organ- ized on this plan last year and a strong work was done in each of them ; New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vir- ginia and Kansas will be organized this year. The worlc in a state consists, not only in arousing more mission- ary interest in the colleges and seminaries, but also in quickening the missionary spirit in the churches by means of visits from volunteers. Volunteers who have the time and fitness for such work, spend all or a part of their vacations in assisting churches. In this way the conti-ibutions of many of the churches have been in- creased. One volunteer, in less than a month, influenced a number of churches to contribute over |5,000 to mis- sions, over and above what they were already giving to that cause. This work is attempted only where the full approval of the church is previously obtained and has always been highly endorsed by the pasitors of the different denominations. A young man who is actually going into the foreign field has a peculiar influence over a congregation. (5). In the colleges the movement is simply the mis- sionary department of the College Young Men's Christ- ian Association. The reasons for this are clear. It will ensure the permanency of the missionary inter- est in the college by placing it under the direction of an organization, which from its very nature is des- tined to ba permanent as long as the college exists. This cannot be said always of independent missionary societies. Moreover by making it a departmant of the Association it will have a far wider constituency and THE ^IISSIONA^Y UPRISING. 25 basis of support, becaaise the Association includes students who are interested in five or six distinct lines of work and not simply in one. Experience has abund- antly proved that this is the best plan. In more than sixty colleges during the last two years independent missionary societies have been merged into the Asso- ciations, and not one of them has changed back to the old plan. The chairman of the missionary department of the Association should, where possible, be a volun- teer. The movement has far outgrown the early expec- tations of its nearest friends. Even Dr. Pierson and Mr. Wilder at its incei3tion could not claim over one thousand volunteers in the American colleges. To- day, there are recoided 3,947 volunteers ready, or pre- paring, to preach "the unsearchable riches of Christ'' in every land under the sun. A very large majority of them are still in the different college classes. Prob- ably not more than five hundred have reached the sem- inaries, medical colleges and other schools for special training. Between one and two hundred have actually sailed for foreign lands. AYell may Dr. McCosh ask: " Has any such offering of living young men and Avomen been presented in our age? in our country? in any age or in any country since the day of Pentecost?'' To- day, after over one hundi^ed jears of Protestant mis- sionary effort, there are only about 60,000 ordained mis- sionaries in the foreign field. If the church does not send out but one half of the present number of volun- teers, it will still mark the most significant and en- couraging chapter in the annals of tlie Christian church since the Acts of the Apostles. But every one of the 3,947 volunteers is needed, and many more. Mr. Wish- ard writes back from Japan that 20,000 native and for- eign ministers are needed in that fast-nioving empire 26 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. before the year 1900 in order to keep it from infidel- ity. Dr. Olramljeilain appeals for 5,000 missionaries for India during this century. ^' The evangelization of the world in this generation " is the watch-cry of the Stndent Yolnnteer Movement for Foreign Missions. What does this mean ? At a convocation of mission- aries held a few months ago in India, it was estimated that, at least, one foreign missionary was needed for every 50,000 people in nnevangelized lands, and one na- tive missionary for every 5,000. This is regarded as a very conservative estimate. It means, then, that at least 20,000 foreign missionaries are needed in order to " preach the gospel to every creature " within this gen- eration. Is this too much to ask and expect? Already nearly 4,000 have volunteered in less than two hundred colleges. From these same colleges during this gen- eration will pass over a score of classes to be touched by this movement before they graduate. There are hundreds of colleges which have not yet had the oppor- tunity to come in contact w^ith this movement. The colleges of the South, of far West and of the mari- time provinces know almost nothing about it. There are two hundred medical colleges and schools in America from which are going annually thousands of graduates. Mneteen-twentieths of those graduates are locating in this country where there is one physician to every GOO of the population, whereas in nnevangelized land's there is not more than one medical missionary to every 1,000,000 of the population. Are 20,000 volunteers too many to ask and expect from this generation ? Over 2,000,000 young men and women will go out from our higher institutions of learning within this generation. The foreign field calls for only one one-hundredth of them. But where will the money come from to send and- THE MISSIONARY UPRISING. 27 support them? It would take ouly one six-hundredth of the present wealth of the members of the Christian Church in America and England. There are men enough to spare for this grandest mission of the ages. There is money enough to spare to send them. May the spirit of Christ lead his church to consecrate her men and money to the carrying out of his last command! CHAPTER III. NORTHFIELD REVISITED. Resume and description of the Conference by Mr. C. K. Ober— Plan of Organization— Daily Program of the Conference— Special Associa- tion Meetings— Pen Portraits of Speakers— Volunteer ]\Iovement and Bible Classes— The Fourth at Northfield. In repoiise to the invitation of Mr. Moody, the stu- dents assembled for their Fourth Annual Conference at Northfield on Saturday, June 29, 1889, and remained through Wednesday, July 10. The widening influ- ence of this gathering was shown by the fact that the students and the colleges they represented putnum- bered those of previous years. Instead of three insti- stutions a year ago, six of the leading universities of Great Britain sent delegates, and the ninety American Colleges of '88 increased to one hundred and twenty in '89, Ireland, Arkansas and Georgia responding for the first time. The Conference was better planned, organized and manned than ever before. The plan of organization was simple and the service rendered entirely voluntary. Mr. Moody as presiding officer; C. K. Ober, J. E. Mott and F. K. Sanders, Executive Committee; F. W. Ober, General Manager ; S. G. McConaughy, G. A. War- burton, Chairman of Transportation Committee; C. H. Potter, Chairman of Eeception Committee; S. W. Sturgis, Chairman of Finance Committee; E. F. See, Chairman of Association Topic Committee ; A. A. Stagg, Chairman of Athletic Committee; E. E. Speer, Chairman of Missionary Committee ; James McCon- aughy, Chairman of Bible Study Committee ^ and the members of these various committees, each serv- 28 NOETHFIELD REVISITED. 29 ing without compensation, contributed toward mak- ing tliis Conference successful beyond precedent. The labor pei'fo3'med by some of these was necessarily very burdensome, and deserves special commendation, but each has doubtless received his reward and will con- tinue to . receive it in the accumulating evidence of good accomplished by the Conference. The special features of the Conference were : 1. The maiii sessions in Stone Hall at 10 A.M. and 8 IVM., with addresses from Mr. Moody and the other prominent speakers, at all of which Mr. Moody presided. 2. The morning Conference in Stone Hall conducted by International Secretaries Ober and Mott, from 8:15 to 9:05 A.M., in which were considered the different departments of work carried on by the College Associ- ations. 3. The two Bible Classes in separate tents between Marquand and Stone Hall, from 9 :15 to 10 :05 A.M., con- ducted by Mr. James McConaughy and Mr. F. K. San- ders, illustrating two distinct methods of Bible study. These were designed chiefly for the training of leaders for the conduct of similar classes in their respective colleges. 4. The Association Meetings, held in the tent nearest Stone Hall five evenings, from 6:50 to 7:50, and during one morning session in Stone Hall, in charge of Mr. E. F. See. In these were given an outline presentation of the comprehensive work of the Young Men's Christian Association, of which the College work is a department, and also a statement of the claims of the Young Men's Christian Association on coUege graduates, as commit- tee men, as general secretaries and as gymnasium instructors. The course of training for the Associa- tion work provided for college graduates at the Si)ring- 30 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. field School was considered and also the responsibility of the American Young Men's Christian Association for the young men of unevangelized lands. 5. The meetings of the students volunteers for For- eign Missions, on the " round hill back of Mr. Moody's house," from 6:50 to 7:50 P.M. on evenings not occu- pied by the Association mjeetings just mentioned. These were in charge of the Missionary Committee, of which E. E. Speer, of Princeton, '89, was chairman, and will be treated in a subsequent chapter. 6. The Athletics which held sway during the week day afternoons under the direction of '^ Stagg of Yale," with sixteen tennis courts, two ball fields, and a swim- ming wharf. An efficient life-saving service at the river with boats, ropes and life preservers, was in daily attendance, and the hours for bathing were limited to from 3 to 6 P.M. 7. The presence of the foreign delegation of thirty- six men, fourteen representing six British Universities and twenty two from Japan. 8. The Fourth of July celebration, about as describ- able as an explosion of dynamite and equally effective. The speakers at the main sessions of the Conference, though differing widely in their individuality, training, denominational preferences, and residence, yet, in the great truths of evangelical Christianity, which alone were considered at Northfleld, were "of one heart and one mind." To one whose Christian horizon had been at all circumscribed, this unity in diversity was a striking and instructive object lesson. Mr. Moody with his inimitable leadeiship, tact and naturalness, gave lifii and power to every session ; and in his addresses on Prayer, Grace, the Spirit of God, and his practical talks on Christian Work, left no one to wonder at the success NORTHFIELD REVISITED. 31 with which God has so richly crowned his life service. Dr. Driver came before the Conference like a gladiator, accustomed to the arena. His masterly addresses made a deep impression, and his wit, logic and elo- quence made him a general favorite. The Bible in his hand and on his lips seemed to be illuminated, and many students' note-books contained new thoughts from him on not a few passages formerly difficult and ''hard to be understood." Bishop Foss, of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, presented the strong positive truths of experimental Christianity, facts and not theo- I'ies, religion rather than philosophy. The tone of his ad- dresses was manly, spiritual and practical. The very presence of the Bishop of Huron, the Eight EeA^ M. E. Baldwin, was in itself a benediction. Representing the Church of England on its most spiritual and aggres- sive side, he magnihed the necessity of a life conse- crated to Christ and conformed to his likeness, and clearly showed that to attain this "we must be endued with i:>ower from on high." The South gave a large contribution to the Conference through its eloquent representative. Dr. Hoge, of Riclimond, \^a. Who of us can forget his first sermon on " Service," or his address on "The Truth in Christ? " Simple and direct in style, a master in platform speaking, his utterances were pithy sentences and often full of deep feeling. Dr. A. J. Gordon, of Boston, impressed the students as a strong man armed, like one of David's mighty men, hving not for himself and speaking not of himself, but "of the things he had made touching the King." The wide research and eminent scholarship of Prof. W. R. Harper, of Yale, threw a new light on the Old Testa- ment prophecies, and w^ere also very suggestive of the thorough and critical method of Bible study, of which he 32 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. is so able an advocate. Dr. Arthur T. Pierson clearly and incisively pointed out the hosts of the enemy, and sounded the charge like a trumpet. Other speakers were present and delivered single addresses during these sessions. Mr. Eussel Sturgis, Jr., of Boston, read a strong paper on "The Bible in the Young Men's Christian Association:" Mr. George C. Needham, the well known evangelist, gave a Bible reading ; Kev. C. H. Spurgeon, Jr., of London, gave a very ingenious address on "Nails." Three addresses were given on the Avork of the Young Men's Christian Association ; by Wm. Blaikie, Esq., of New York, author of the famous book "How to Get Strong," who delivered h*is powerful lecture on the care of the body; by Mr. David McCon- aughy, Jr., Avho has resigned his position as General Secretary of the Y. M. C. A. work in Philadelphia, and sails in the Fall to his chosen work among the young men of India ; by Mr. n. F. Williams, secretary of the International Committee for work among railroad men, and Hon. Cephas Brainerd, of New York, for twenty- three 3^ears the chairman of the International Com- ndttee of the Young Men's Christian Associations of America. President F. L. Patton, of Princeton Col- lege, announced as one of the speakers and expected at the closing sessions of the Conference, was de- tained by sickness. It is due Dr. Patton to state that he telegraphed Mr. Moody as soon as it was evident to him that he could not meet his engagement, but the telegram did not reach its destination until after the Conference had adjourned. The singing of the Conference, as at the three former gatherings, Avas conducted by Prof. D. B. Towner, assisted by his wife. Mr. Sankey by request gave an occasional solo. NORTHFIELD REVISITED. 33 The morning Conference on the College Association work, gave to the representatives of each College the results of the combined experience of all the others in effective organization and practical methods of associ- ated Christian work. There were nine such confer- ences held of fifty minutes each, one of which was given to the work in the British Universities as reported by their delegates. These meetings were of inestimable value to the cause of Christianity in the colleges. His- tory will repeat itself, and delegates returning to their college from this Conference will become authorities in their respective institutions regarding these vital ques- tions of co-operation in Christian work. New students wiU receive a more prompt and cordial welcome, and the Christian men among them Avill be more speedily and intelligently assimilated into the working force of the College Association. Having learned at North- field how to better organize the committee work^ the excuse "because no man hath hired us," will keep fewer laborers out of the Association vineyard. The Association meeting will be made more than ever the focal point in the Christian work of the college, will be better planned, receive better preparation, be better sustained and followed up and from it will radiate influences that will transform the college. The college association home will receive more attention, rooms will be set apart for Association uses, furnished even more attractively than the literary society halls and substantial and beautiful buildings will be designed and erected expressly for the College Association work and as its permanent home. The Christian men in College will ai)preciate more fully and co-operate more actively and intelligently in maintaining helpful inter- collegiate relations with the organized Christian work 34 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. and workers of other colleges, in conventions, by inter- visitation, and through correspondence; by keeping themselves informed abont, and remembering to pray for the work of the College Secretaries in their tours of visitation among the colleges ; and by per- sonally subscribing for, reading and recommending "The Intercollegian." They Avill not forget also that the spirit of missions is the spirit of Christ, and the mis- sionary department, with its missionary committee and regular missionary meeting, will be given a prominent place in the program of their particular college As- sociation. As the substance of the Association meetings is given in a chapter by itself, and another chapter is also devot- ed to the Student Yolunteer Movement, further refer- ence to these will not be necessary. One of the most helpful features of the entire Conference and one that will bear substantial fruit during the coming col- lege year was the two Bible classes held in the tents each week day morning just preceding the morning session in Stone Hall. The imi)ortance of systematic Bible study in college and its relation to Christian life and service has been recognized from the first by the College Young Men's Christian Association, and much good work has been done in this direction during the past twelve years. The great need, however, has been that of trained leaders among the students them- selves. It was to help meet this need that these nor- mal Bible classes were provided. Mr. James McCon- aughy. General Secretary of the Twenty-third Street Branch of the Young Men's Christian Association of New York City, conducted the Bible Training Class, the direct object of which is to train its members to personally lead otliers to a decision for Christ NORTHFIELD REVISITED. 35 through an intelligent and discriminating use of the Bible. The class in Inductive Bible Study was conducted by Mr. F. K. Sanders, Ph.D., who is associated with Prof. Wm. R. Harper at Yale University. The object of the Inductive Bible Study is to train men to search the Scrijjtures for the truth con- tained in them, recognizing the Bible as a text book, challenging every would-be scholar to a critical stud}" of its contents. In this age when infidelity among under- graduates is caused by a type of intellectuality that ignores the greatest body of truth the world has ever seen, the importance of this method of Bible study can- not be overestimated. A report of the Conference would not be complete without reference to the spontaneous outburst of national enthusiasm and coUege spirit on the night of July I. The students made their OAvn program, which was conceived and arranged within twenty-four hours by a representative committee appointed the night before. It was carried out without a break, and with a sustained enthusiasm probably imequaled by any other celebration of the Nation's birthday. Old and dignified college graduates in the audience grew young again, forgot their dignity and sat with the boys, and when their turn came stood up and joined in the old college song and yelled the old college yell. The national spirit of the Japanese delegation re- sponded to the occasion and claimed a part in the pro- gram. Sawayama's neat address; Viscount Mis- hima's song and sword dance, in Japanese costume and illustrating an incident in Japanese history,- the Jap- anese cheer, and the subsequent war-song, march and charge up the hill by moonlight, seemed to indicate 36 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. that the bird of liberty, in his westward flight, will certainly find in Japan a congenial climate. How fast the days seemed to go by during the last week of the Conference. They were momentous days to many. " Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power." Tlien, in the day of their Avillingness, their God shall be powerful. This converse of the old proposition was demonstrated by many of the students at Northfield. And these men are going out into their life service with a power not theirs by n-aiure nor by education. ^Ve shall watch them as they press far out into the dark and difficult places with their glad message ; shall work with some of them perhaps, and rejoice with them when they come again, bringing their sheaves home witli them. CHAPTER rV. THE CRISIS IN JAPAN. Addresses by Mr. Sawayama and Viscount MisMma, Japanese Students, and Rev. John T. Ise and Mr. Jolm T. Swift, of Japan— Young Men in Japan— Dangers of Scepticism— Need of Educated Workers— Con- version of Japanese Students— Tlieir Pledge to the Christian Minis- try—Parent Worsliip in Japan— Qualifications for Missionaries— Jap- anese Public Opinion on Christianity— Difficulties-Situation in Tokyo— Y. M. C. A. in Japan. Mr. Y. Sawayama, of Amherst College (class of '80), said: Since my cMldliood, I have been bronglit np in school. I lost my parents in my youth, and was edu- cated in hoarding school and colleges. The more I lived together with them, the more I felt that I would spi&nd my life with these fellow students. It seems to me that young men are always the factors in civili zation, and you all remember" One against a thousand;" this is true everywhere, in every time. You rcm^^mber that Ignatius Loyola, tho founder of the Jesuits, pros- pered in the 16th century. He began his work in the earl}" part of that century, and ended his life about the end of that century. He founded about 15 co-leges, and the itiost prominent men in Europe w?re the Jesuits. How did they get such a high office and such an influence in that time and country? They admitted young men and young women, and began to get hold of these youth. It seeiiis to me that this is true in this counti-y. I can show you how it was done in my country. You all re- member we have made quite a stride in civilization, in such a few years. The prominent men in the govern- ment move everything to-day in 1113^ country. But just 25 years ago, they were mere s indents and soldiers: they were studying under prominent teachers, and were 37 38 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. taught Chinese morals. Those teachers got hold of these youth, so that they began to teach the same methods of doctrine when Ihey got hold of the government. But at the same time these men were influenced by European and scepti.al principles. To-day we have young men; we expect that they will do something in the fu- ture; we need to get hold of these young men, but what can we do Avith them ? Peihaps you liave met sonje Japanese youth in this country, and may think them all the same sort of fellows. But I doubt it. I have met young men in this country, and I have been far West and East. Some of them are good Christians, and some are not. So that you cannot imagine that all Japanese are the same sort of fellows. We have different sorts of young fellows, but some of thean have a keen sight, and easily get hold of social scepticism. This is a ter- ror to us. I think it is a terror in this country. These ideas have been distributed among young fellows, who begin to have the most degraded tlioughts and ideas cir- culating among themselves. But I wish to draw your attention to how you are sit- uated yourselves. We joung men who are here, are Christians now, but we were not brought up by Chris- tian parents, we were not brought up in Christian col- leges or schools. We were all brought up by heathen, by ignorant parents. Though I have a great respect for my parents, we are obliged to say they were heathen and ignorant. You are haj^p}^ to-day, and hav^e such a nice time, and anything you Avant, Christian parents and colleges, and are well talvcn care of, and these parents and other men are doing everything for you. W^e are very grateful that you sent American missionaries to our country, and have begun to feel their humility, and to I aspect them and to believe after all in Christianity. We THE CRISIS IN JAPAN. 39 are very grateful for your kindness, but at the same time we Avish to ask more and more for your help. Can- not we ask a little, more for your assistance in praying, in finance, in e^ery way ? Our country cannot stand as yours stands. AVe have to compete with other civil- ized nations, and are obliged to do everything superfi- cially. Scepticism is circulating most among young people, in the couunon schools and also in the gymnasia and universities. It has been brought into my country through American and German and English professors. Just imagine! B}^ the same steamer, missionaries, rum and sceptical books come'. Can we imagine that the same fountain produced bitter water at the same time as sweet? Although we are grateful for your kindness, we are obliged to say that for such things as that we are not grateful to you. You may say: "'We have well-educated men in this counti'3': they are not the men to send to a foreign coun- try, but we have other men to send there." What kind of men? You may call us heathen, you may call us ignorant, but we need intelligent men to come to us. AVe want to have a man who can symx^athize with us in every way. It is often the case that a foreigner can- not teach a native, because he cannot adapt himself to different customs: so we want a ma.n who has been edu- cat:d all round in a college, not a professional school. We want a man who can adapt himself to anything, any man, in a higher as well as in a lower gTade. Do you think that the first missionar}^ who was sent outside to a foreign country was a fisherman or a car- penter ? No. He was known by the name of Paul, who was a first class college man, educated at the feet of Gamaliel. He excelled in wisdom, and was brought up 40 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. in strict discipline, and educated all round, and adapted himself to eveiyone, to teaching the Jew and the Greek. He became of each nation to win each nation, and he became a Jew in order to get a Jew. So that 1 wish to say that we want a college man who will help us, and who can adapt himself, not by changing his dress, etc., but by getting to feel like a Japanese. I remember my old teacher in Doshisha, said : " I want a man who will live in Japan and be naturalized and be a Japanese and die in Japan." If a man just wants to go to Japan to see the manners and beautiful cities, etc., we do not want such a man at all. This year is a most important year: 1889 is the center.nial of Washington's inauguration, but we cele- brate it as one of the greatest and most important years since 2558 years ago. It is that of the proclamation of the constitution of the Mikado's Empire: and we have also founded a student's summer school in Kyoto, which means a Northfield junior. And also, Mr. Wishard and Mr. Swift have already started a College Young Men's Christian Association in Tokyo and Kyoto. All this movement is a most important thing to remember, and we will remember forever this as one of the most im- portant years ; and I wish to call your attention to the fact that in this year we wish to start everything and begin all kinds of work. So Ave want you to help us, and you, young gentlemen in college, I wish you would prepare yourselves to be foreign n issionaries; not necessarily men who have been educated in theological seminaries, but men who can adapt themselves. I cannot express it, but I mean all kinds of fellows (You express it first rate; we under- stand you perfectly — Mr. Moody). Why do I ask? I have a right to ask. That theory THE CRISIS IN JAPAN. 41 may be mistaken, but it is reasonable to believe, that as civilization first started in Greece, and afterwards was transferred West, first to Kome, then to France, then to England, and last of all, came to the Unitean, till that land is Christianized. I spent three years in Kyoto, reading the Bible, and the life of Henry Martin and the writings of Baxter and David Braineid and the metaphysical and theological books. In 1879 I went down to a town of about 6000 in- habitants, and we started a church of a few members. In two years, we had 77 members and a nice little church, entirely self-supporting from the beginning. In seven years, we had 370 members, at that time the larg- est Protestant church in Japan. We worked, let me say, among the common and lower classes. I had no ambition 46 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. to go among the cultured and educated. I wished to live my life in the service of those men who needed me. Yet T Avas seriousl}' tempted at the beginning of my ministry by an intimate friend in America who had just got his Ph.D. I was very desirous of coming here, but the sacred bond to my peojile kept me, and I am thankful for it. Two years ago 1 went to Tokyo, in response to a call which came to me from men there who were going to start a Christian enterprise. I wa s throAvn into the midst of the band of strong young men attending the Imperial University. There were about 2000 connected with these various institutions of learning. Ever^^ day I had to pass through the great university buildings, and these buildings were to me a call from God. I said to myself. How about these 2000 young men, and onl}^ U\o of the professors Christians ? Nothing was being done. But I knew that where there was a need there was sure to come a power from on high. I waited on the Lord; but every day, every night, the burden on my heart was, How can I reach these men? I was ready to do anything. I think I can say that I tried the true way by presenting Jesus Christ as He was presented to me, that is that Jesus Christ is living to-day, and He is willing to reveal Himself, if nothing is intercepted between Him and the heart of man. I jjreached Jesus Christ, I preached Him before I preached about the Bible, I preached Him before I preached about anything else, and, with the Old Testament and the books I had, I studied up the subject, and presented Him as well as I could: that He was a real personage; that He was omnipresent; that He was dead but was living to- day. And I recall that some of the brightest and best of those young men became Christians. I am THE CEISIS IN JAPAN. 47 convinced that, in the stronghold of paganism, there are men, few in number, but the number is growing, and strong in intellect, who are ready to believe in this Grod. I am fully convinced that, if we all of us, you and I, and, I may say, Mr. Moody, will do our duty, what- ever it may be, even if it be the call to go there and preach before those classes, Japan will become a Chi-is- tian nation. In summing up, let me say that the 3'oung Japanese are hero worshipers, that is their one weakness. People tell us that they are metaphysical and sceptical and all that, but I tell you that they are hero worshipers, and they must have something better than that. Some will tell you that they are sceptical and rationalists. Yes, and No. Educated Japanese never believed in any idolatry, but they had their gods, notwithstanding these gods were flesh and blood and lived beside them. These gods were their king and their parents. Is it not be- yond the limit of natural relationship to demand that we consecrate our lives to the service of our parents, and to give up our lives to the service of our king, to give up our individuality, and blindly obey them? But they were but men: too much men and women not to worship something; and when they did not see anything in the heathenish worship, they turned their eyes to these two objects, and just devoted their lives to them. I call this worship, not mere devotion. After the restoration and the activity in the condition of civil society, the young men did not feel that they could do this. They cannot worship the king, nor can they AVorshijD the par- ent. They are ready to die for the country, and the Mikado, and the parent, when necessary: they are as loving to them as ever, but they do not look on them as divine^ as objects of worship, and here is the key to the 48 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. solution of the problem. They want some object of worship: they are unhappy unless they consecrate their lives to something. They want to have some spiritual devotion, and let us take Christ Jesus and present Him before them. He is their Lord and Master. Let us try to show them by the argument of Christian lives that we live, it means power and strength. Let us preach, not by our word, but by 2^ resenting Him as chief among ten thousand and altogether lovely, worthy of their de- votion and consecration and love and sacrifice, that they may see that the service rendered in this way to Christ is a reasonable service. Now, gentlemen, the brethren before me will take up some other aspect of the work in Japan, but let me say here that we Avant more workers in Japan, but we want workers who are qualified on three points. First, when they come to Jai)an, they should be ready to become Japanese, not naturalized, but in their syjnpathies. A man or woman who is not ready to do that, who comes there to })ick up some characteristics in Japan, is not wanted in Japan. My second point is that they should come trained in their intellects. By this I do not mean that they should have great erudition, but, generally speaking, they should be men of wisdom and common sense, and, whether they devote their lives to research or other particulars, they should be able to see things with the eye of wisdom and common sense. Thirdly, 1 wish that men and women who come out there would have good health ; because, perhaps, it has been told you that Japan is a good country with an even climate, and that, when you go there, you 'can live just as w^ell as you live here, can have just as good food and just as good ciothing, just as good houses; as you are having here. But there are also dififlculties, a dififtculty of understand- THE CRISIS IN JAPAN. 49 ing the keen-minded, the critical Japanese and recon- structing your theology on a systematic doctrine, so that you may be able to win the Japanese. And I tell you that that which is breaking dow n most of these earnest men and women there is not the climate, the mode of living, but the intellectual emotion. I warmly inyite you to this land of the rising sun. A^iscount Yataro Mishima, of Tokyo, Japan, said: During the last six years, Christianity has made won- derful progress in Jajian. The number of Chi'istians has iiicreased in the average about eight times, in some denominations as many as eleven times. The spirit of the people, who used to look dowm upon the Christians as followers of the devil, has now changed. I do not think that there is a single individual Japanese now who thinks Christianity is bad. Indeed, the higher classes are educating their children in Christian schools, and, though quite a number of the people are' not Christians, the public opinion of JaiDan is not against Christianity. This can be confirmed by the fact that, on the 11th of February, this year, the emperor granted the constitu- tion, and the people were granted freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and, best of all, freedom of relig- ion. People will be attracted to the capital of Japaii, not only from all the parts of the country, but also from other parts of Asia, and I am hoping that Christians in the universities and Christians in Tokyo will influence these strangers who come to Tokyo. Last night you heard of the conversion of the students in the university of Tokyo, and the other colleges. It is a gi'eat mystery to-day. The university was knowm as the headquarters of infidelity, and no Christian could teach the college boys or be one of its officers, and till late years no one dared to bring a Cliristian influence 50 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. into the institution. But what a change ! Now you have a strong Christian organization there, and, though not strong in numbers, in quality it exceeds any in the world. This means a great deal more than it looks. It is the highest and largest institution in Japan, and it is taken as the model of all colleges and schools. What this university is, all the other in- stitutions will imitate, and the }'oung men in this uni- versity are the very young men who will stand at tlie head of the government in the generation to come. You can imagine what a university we have in a co imtr}^ like Japan, where the government does so much for the country. All this was done under the guidance of God, by only one man, and the first man ever sent by the Y. M. C. A. Last night you heard of the great work of Mr. L. D. Wishard in forming that first summer school in Japan. Now just think of it, only two men sent by such an association did such a great work! How much greater work they would do, if a score of 3'oung men could go to Japan. A little time ago, the Japanese government decidetl that the English language should be taught in every school in Japan. This is being done as far as practi- cable, but schools are many and teachers few. There is also a universal desire that the English language be taught by Americans or Englishmen. Besides, the chief body of every church while in this country it consists of older people and ladies, consists in Japan of young men, who are in all points of perfect s^^mpathy with you. But w© have great difficulties. When the Western civilization was first introduced into Japan, the first thing the English brought was not Christianity, it was infidelity, and I am sorry to say that many of the i^ro- THE CEISIS IN JAPAN. 51 lessors who came to Japan were infidels, and they are spreading their leligion faster than Cliristianitj'. Tliere are now (piite a good many Japanese, wliose faith in all religion is destroyed, and, without knowing what Chris- tianit}' is, they are left infidels. Another trouble is that the Catholic and Greek churches are pushing on their work vigorously, and these people are ready to accei)t what comes to them first. Friends, this is really a great crisis for Japan, and there is a great battle-field for all Christians. ]f Christians Avill do as they ought, as some of my friends said last night, Japan can be Christianized in this cen- tury; but, if not, the country may be left in darkness for centuries. Oh, friends: will you send helpers there, and send reinforcements to those brethren on the other side of the Pacific and bring them all to our Lord Jesus Christ? Mr. John T. Swift, of Tokyo, said: Two years ago this A'ery idght, w^hile sitting yonder, in this same room, it was my privilege to become a member of that body of young msn who make it their sole aim and puriDose in this life to bring the glorious tidings of salvation to every soul in this universe within this present genera- tion. It is now my privilege, nnder the grace of God, to be allowed to speak to axiu a little, and to plead with you a great deal, for the country of my adoption. You remeuiber that Mr. Wishard, in his letter which was read last night (see next chapter), said that he Avould rather be in that students' meeting in Kyoto than in Northfield, that he would rather be in Japan than in heaven. That may have struck 3 ou as bombastic. You may remember that illustration of Dr. Pierson, in which he spoke of the decision of the committee upon the adoption of the Morse telegraph: I want to add my ex- 52 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. perimental knowledge of the Japanese situation in sup- port of what Mr. Wishard writes. I believe, as I did in college, that there is no field on the face of the whole earth so important as the field of Japan. Where can you find und?r the most advantageous circumstances the flower of the nation so warmly welcoming the gospel ; where can you find the flower of that nation's youth gathered in that one compact order, presenting itself within the reach of Christian efi'ort? Could you find a place where in the vineyard of the Master the fruit could hang more thickly? And I believe, gentle- men, that is the one part of Japan which in the past has received the least notice. In all the addresses on this subject, we have spolvcn only of the students in the government schools, and for this reason, that, till the past year, almost nothing has been done for them. We are spending thousands of dollars every year in schools. We have just heard the cheering news that one of our friends here has given |100,000 for the mis- sion of College of Doshisha. But the whole Christian school system of Japan includes but 10,000 scholars, 7,000 of them being young men, while there are three millions of male students in the schools of the govern- ment. Japan, in seeking to civilize itself, has gone about in a very wi se way. She has spent more money, more time, more thought, upon her school system than on almost any other part of her public enterprises; and she has to-day throughout her broad empire fully 30,000 schools, graded carefully, from the common schools to the higher schools, colleges and university. In these government schools, the young men in Japan are being finely edu- cated. I remember that this last year I was alloAVed, in the physical laboratory of the university, to see an in- THE CRISIS IN japan: 53 vestigatiou made by a Japanese student that had led to the discoveiy of a new property in nickel. We find it is stated here that the Japanese are wel- coming Christianit}' because they are an imitative people, and have no stability to them. Any man who makes that assertion libels one of the grandest nations on the face of the earth in a most unwari'antable manner. Indeed anybody who will take the pains to look into the Japan- ese history Avill find that in the sixth century 600,000 Japanese Eoman Catholics perished as Christian mar- tyrs and, so far as we can find, scarcely a score re- nounced their faith. They were blotted out by one of the fiercest persecutions that ever swept this earth. You ask for the metal of these young men. Yale College has a tutor that is a Japanese. In a Western universit}^ the valedictory scholar in one of the classes was a Japanese. General Grant said that he could take 10,000 Japanese soldiers and march anywhere through Cliina. Dear friends, cannot you see that there, on the other side of the ocean, in Asia, is a nation which, like the Greeks of old, is beckoning to us, "to come over and help." Cannot you see that she will not rest, but will push forward? Cannot you see that they will bring no deadwood into our ranks? If we only do our duty by Japan before this century closes, Japan will help us in bringing the gospel to Asia, and in giving it to the whole world before the close of this generation. One thing more, the most critical portion of this whole army of young men, the most strategic position of all Asia, lies in the city of Tokyo. We have there the capi- tal city of Japan, the central city of the Empire, a city which, more than any other, is free from prejudice and the bigotry of the provinces, the city in wliich the Mikado 54 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. has his palace, the head of all departments of govern ment and life in the empire. The: e the armj centres, and, more important than all for our purposes, the education- al department. It is a city of 1,200,000 souls. There are 80,000 students in the schools above the primary grade. Can another city on the face of the globe equal that ? For these students, receiving a fine education, scarcely anything has been done in the way of Christian work. Dear friends, if. I was alluding to something that I had done, I would not speak of it to-night, but I can claim not the slightest credit for what tlie grace of God has wrought there. When I first went to Tokyo, I made the suggestion that perhaps it might be well for a Young Men's Christian Association to be established in the uni- versity, and in the higher government colleges. The mis- sionaries said: '"That is a good idea if you couhl find a Christian." We issued a call, and at the first meet- ing there came twenty-six, with letters of regret from others. Now we have over a hundred enrolled among the different colleges. In the university to-day we have more Christians enrolled in the Christian Association than there were in Yale in the beginning of this century (Hear, that's good — Mr. Moody). Se; arated in the vai ions grades, they thought they had stood, like Elijah, alone, but, Avhen they found that there were twenty-six Chris- tians in the university, they went to work with a courage and determination which they had never known before. As a result, the director of the government institution with the largest enrolment has granted our association the right of publishing notices of their religious meetings and the day of holding their meetings in the schools. These associations have held meetings for the students in the largest church in Tokyo, which seats only 500. I have seen it crammed, so that 150 men stood for three THE CKISIS IN JAPAN. 55 hours. The size of our audiences is commensurate with the size of our churches. The students of Tokyo have no place to meet in a common body, no place for large assemblies, and you will be glad to see that God ha» added his blessing upon this work, in that He has given us the privilege of raising money for a Y. M. C. A. building, to be placed right in the centre of the best district of that city, and we have, as you know from Mr. Wishard's letter (see next chapter), the lot pur- chased for an association building for the university. And now, nothing seems to det^r us from an assault upon that, the most important strategic point in the whole Asiatic situation, but the provision for that building. A pleasant feature of the meeting at which the above addresses were given, and in which great enthusiasm was manifested for the work in Japan, w^as the ex- change of greetings between Mr. Wishard's Japanese Summer School and the Northfield School. The greet- ings were contained in the folloAving cablegrams: — Kj^oto, July 5: Ober, Northfield. — Make Jesus King. Five hundred students. — Wishard. Northfield, July 8: Wishard, Kyoto, — Students hun- (h-ed, twenty-six colleges greeting. — Ober. A unanimous resolution was passed by the students that Mr. John T. Swift, on his return to Japan, be re- quested to convey the greetings of the Northfield Stu- dents' Conference to the students in the Japanese col- leges and universities. While these matters were pending, Mr. Moody sug- gested a collection for the church enterprise of Rev. John T. Ise in Japan, and, so great was the enthusiasm, that within fifteen minutes |1000 was raised for this purpose, |100 each being contributed by Mr. D. W. Wes- 56 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. ton, of Boston, Mr. Geo. M. Atwater, of Springfield, Messrs James Talcott and John D. Cutter, of New York, and Mr. Moody and Mr. Sanke}^ This unexpected aid al- most overwhelmed Mr. Ise, who expressed his gratitude briefly but eloquently. CHAPTER V. Y. M. C. A. IX JAPAX. Letter from Mr. L. D. Wishard— His Visiting Tour— Meetings at Doshisha College— Osaka and Tokyo— Nagasaki and Kiimamoto— Otlier Uni- versities—Summer Scliool in Kyoto— Significant Facts— Educated Christians— Misrepresentations Counteracted— Northfield Remem- bered. Tokyo, Japan, June 6tb, 1889. Dear Fellow Students : For the second time I am i^revented from meeting with yon at our Students' Annual Meeting in ^N'orthfield. Last year I was detained by the college work in Europe; this year by the work in Japan. While my heart turns to Northfield with much the same strong love with which Rutherford's turned to Anworth, I must say that I would rather be in Japan to-day than in Northfield — yes, I would rather be in Japan to-day than in heaven. The year 1889 will live in Japanese histor}^ as the year 1789 lives in American. It will live as the year when Constitutional government was proclaimed to the inhab- itants of the Land of the Morning. But the year will be memorable for another reason. It is the birth-year of an Intercollegiate Christian movement bj' which the Christianization of the Empire will be hastened and the people will be better fitted for self-government. You can better appreciate the situation here if I give 3 on a sketch of the rapid progress of this movement as I daily observe it. I landed in Yokohoma, January 8th, 1889, and, as the representative of the students of America and Europe, entered upon a tour of visitation in the leading govern- 57 58 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. jnent and Christian schools. I was met b}^ Mr. J. T. Swift, of Yale, '84, who had come to Japan a 3 ear before to engage in teaching, and to aid in locating teachers from America in the government schools of Japan. In connection with his arduous work, he has cultivated the acquaintance of the Christian students in the three leading government colleges of the Empire. The Imperial University, the Pre] aratory College and the Commercial College. He has formed Bible Classes in each of these institutions, and has developed them into College Young Men's Christian Associations, three asso- ciations containing over one hundi^ed Christian students. He has obtained |25,000 from a gentleman in America toward the erection of two buildings — one for business men, the other for students, both to cost 100,000. His adaptability to this work Avas so evident that he was per- suaded to resign his professorship, and devote his entire time to the work of an adviser of the leaders of this en- terprise. By invitation of Viscount Mishima, whom you will doubtless have with you at Northfield, Mr. Swift and I met twenty leading members of the three Associations, and arranged a series of meetings for students in Tokyo to be conducted in March. In answer to an invitation from the faculty and students, we then went to Doshisha College, located at Kyoto, the old Capital of the Empire. It is the largest Christian school in Japan, and the Wrongest one, I believe, in Asia. There are over seven hundi'ed students. Fully half of them were already pro- fessing Christians when Ave began the meetings. We spent over two weeks conducting daily meetings and re- ceiving students in our rooms for i^ersonal conversation. The Holy Spirit moved mightily upon the hearts of the students, and notwithstanding the difficulty under THE Y. M. C. A. IN JAPAN. 59 which we labored in working through interpreters, over one hundred students professed Christ. In one day one hundi-ed and three students were received into the Col- lege Church. Joseph Neesima, the distinguished Presi- dent of the College, says : " This is the largest number of Christians ever baptized at one time in Japan." We next visited the government schools in Hikone, and con- ducted one meeting, at the close of which twelve stu- dents remained to converse about Christianity, and four expressed a desire to accept Christ. The next point visited was Osaka, where I conducted several crowded meetings in the only Young Men's Chris- tian Association Building in the Orient. It seats over twelve hundred. Large numbers of government students were present, and many expressed a desire to become Christians. One student, who had heard so little of Christ that he did not understand of whom I was speak- ing, followed my party to the train late at night, and said that he '' was so interested in w^hat the speaker had said about that wonderful person, that he wanted to know more about Him." He gladly promised to join a Bible Class conducted by one of the lady missionaries. I have recently made a second visit to Osaka to follow up the work begun in February. The meetings of stu- dents and others twice a day in Association Hall were crowded. I met the students of the Government Prepar- atory College several times. The Principal expressed a willingness to have me address a large meeting of stu- dents in the College Building — the first meeting in the interest of Christianity ever held in the building. All the students, and a number of professors, including the Principal, were present. The subject was the '^ Harmony of the Bible with Science." On another occasion, the leading students of this institution asked questions about 60 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. Christianity. A little group of Christian students here have been holding a prayer meeting ever since our first visit. The}^ formed a College Young Men's Christian Association the day before I left, and were earnestly dis- cussing plans for work among the students, who had ex- pressed a determination to investigate Christianity. The last day in Osaka was enriched by such an out-pouring of the Spirit as I never before witnessed in Japan, and sel- dom in America. Notwithstanding the heavy rain, the building was filled Sunday morning. The subject was the sin of rejecting Christ. Many were in tears and an awful stillness reigned in the meeting. At the close of the address, over one hundred rose to accept Christ, includ- ing many government students. They returned in the afternoon and spent two hours in an inquiry meeting, and also filled the building again at night. The follow- ing up of this work in the Osaka government schools is assured b}^ the presence of Mr. Theodore Gulick (of the noted Gulick missionary family) and Mr. Bassett, Uni- versity of Minnesota, '87, who teach in two of the lead- ing government schools in this city. After the first visit in Osaka, in February, I spent a Sunday in Kobe conducting meetings in a scho d of young women, over sixty of whom desired to accept Clu'ist. These girls had been spending much time in prayer for the work in Doshisha. In thus helping to bless others, they had secured a great blessing for themselves. The work in Tokyo consumed several weeks. A two week's series of meetings was conducted in the Meiji Gakuin, the second largest Christian College in the Empire. Twenty men were baptized, and about ten more will be soon. One day the Christian students spent several hours in a meeting of confession and prayer, which one of the faculty told me was one of the most extraordinary meet- THE Y. M. C. A. IN JAPAN. 61 ings he had ever attended in Japan. The students invited all the professors to attend the meeting, and the burden of their confessions was that they had not been as loyal in heart as they should have been to the faculty. They said: "Heretofore, we have looked upon j^ou merely as teachers, but now we look upon you as brothers." Meetings were also conducted in other Christian schools, and with the Associations of the three govern- ment schools. Two students' mass meetings were held. But these could not be held frequently as there was no hall in tlie student center which could be secured for Christian gatherings. This interfered seriously with my work. I am very glad to say that this difficulty will soon be removed. We have purchased a beautifully located lot in the very heart of the student population, less than five minutes' walk from the buildings of the Imperial University and Preparatory College, botli containing seventeen hundred students and less than twenty minutes' walk from the leading Commercial and Normal Colleges of the Empire, containing a thousand more. Upon this lot we shall erect a building in the fall, which will be adapted to social and Christian work. It will contain a good sized hall where students can gather for such meetings as we could not have to any extent in March. A General Secretary will be se- cured on the Yale, Cornell and Toronto plan, and a sim- ilar work carried on. If Mr. Swift, who is now in Amer- ica, is finding difficulty in securing the |15,000 needed for this building, why will not the Northfield Summer School influence this gift from some one or more of the large-hearted business men who will be in attendance at the meeting? Those |15,000 will mean more than 15,000 saved Japanese before the century closes — saved directly and indirectly as a result of this building. G2 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. The next point visited was Nagasaki, at the entrance of whose beautiful harbor stands a lofty rock — Pappen- berg (Pope's Rock), from whose top many Christian Japanese were hurled by their persecutors several cen- turies ago. I had not intended to stay there long, but so urgent an invitation came from the little band of Christian men in the government medical school, to con- duct some special meetings for the government students, that I remained, and notwithstanding the driving rain the largest church was literally packed with students. In company with one of the missionaries, I visited the leading government schools, where we were accorded a courteous welcome by the professors who readily con- sented to announce the meetings to the students. At the close of the meetings, over fifty students pledged themselves to enter immediately upon earnest investiga- tion of Christianity. Kumamoto was the next point, where we were likely to encounter great hostility; but on the first afternoon seventy of the students of the Government Preparatory College called en masse, questioned me for an hour or more about Christianity and Western students, and in- vited me to conduct some meetings for them. They ap- pointed a committee, had fifteen hundred tickets printed announcing the meetings, hired the largest hall in the city, which the students crowded for several days. In ad- dition to the work in the government schools, the Chris- tian schools received a special blessing. A number of Christian students held an all-night prayer meeting, and a deep spiritual atmosphere jiervaded almost every room. Many of the students have since accepted Christ. At the close of the public meetings, a number of students who were willing then and there to accept Christ rose. A goodly number were also deeply interested in Chris- THE y. M. C. A. IN JAPAN. 63 tianitv and i^romised to immediately and earnestly in- vestigate it. Our interpreter, Mr. Ebina, says that a num- ber of them are now studying the Bible wih him, Avhile others are studying with Mr. Crummey, of A^ictoria Uni- versity, Canada, who is teaching in the Preparatory Col- lege. Mr. C. A. Clarke, of Oberlin, '87, one of the stu- dent missionary volunteers, Mr. Ebina and myself, vis- ited a hill top near the city where a meeting of forty government students was held in January, 1876, which is as A'itally connected with the spread of Christianity in Japan as the Hay Stack meeting at Williams college in 1806 with the great missionary movement of this cen- tury. Mr. Ise who is with you, was a member of that Kumamoto Band and he will tell you the thrilhng story which Mr. Ebina told us. From Kumamoto we went to Saga, where Bradbury, of the University of Virginia, '88, is teaching. We next visited Toyotsu, where Hubbard,of Michigan University, '88, is teachirg. I was the fourth foreigner who had vis- ited Toyotsu, Hubbard being the second, and he has only seen one foreign visitor since September. He is full of courage, however, and he and Bradbury, during these months of separation from human friends, are be- coming closely acquainted with Jesus Christ, and are realizing the truth of the dying exclamation of Dr. An- derson, Secretary of the American Board : " I shall feel at home in any world with Jesus." The meeting at Toy- otsu was in the school building, as was also that in Wakayama, where Muller, of the University of Virginia, is teaching. I mention the fact of holding meetings in the government school building especially, as it is a new departure full of significance, as Mr. Ise, Viscount Mish- ima and the Japanese delegates will explain. Okayama was next visited, where Boggs of Lake 64 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. Forest, '88, is teaching. Several days' meetings had been arranged there. A large theatre, seating over sixteen hundred, was croAvded at every meeting. At the first meeting a number of Buddhist priests attempted to cre- ate an uproar. At the close of my address, I stated that I had come to Japan for the express purpose of address- ing students, and did not care to have any one else pres- ent, and that if it was not an accommodation to others to be admitted, we would have the balance of the meetings in a smaller hall and admit none but students. I then asked the students what they desired me to do. This appeal to them brought the blood to their faces, and one of them, not a Christian, arose and said that if any dis- order occurred at the next meeting, the students would vigorously' eject the disturbers. This sentiment was so loudly applauded by the students that the priests prob- abl\' feared they were to be ejected then and there. That night a suspicious looking priest was observed to enter and creep back into a corner where he could be heard but not seen. One of the students with a very grave face, took a large Jaj^anese lantern about the size of Mr. Moody's and suspended it directly back of the suspect, who it is needless to say was very distinctly seen but not lieard. He was the quietest, best behaved Buddhist ])riest that night in all Okayama. The meetings closed as usual with the promise of many to accept Christ, and of many more to seriously consider Him. I have just finished a series of meetings in Sendai with the government students of another of the five Prepara- tory Colleges of the Empire. The hearts of Mr. De For- est, of Yale, and other missionaries have been rejoiced by the decision of some of the best students in the Chris- tian school to profess Christ, while many government students have also acknowledged Him. The next point THE Y. M. C. A. IN JAPAN. G5 will be Sapporo Agricultural College, after which I will probabl}' visit Miyata, hoping to meet there Dr. Scudder, of Yale, '80, the first president of the Christian Social Union in Yale, which developed into the present Associa- tion in that University. I shall then spend two Aveeks at Nikko, the beautiful summer resort of Japan, resting and preparing for the first College Students' Summer School in Japan, which assembles June 29th — July 9th, in Ky- oto, imder the verj^ shadow of the old palace of the Mikado. When Mr. Swift and I were in the Doshisha, the stu- dents on hearing of the Summer School in Northfield asked us to conduct a two weeks' meeting for I5ible study with them at the close of the Summer term. We con- sented and suggested that the nieeting be Intercollegiate and that students from all Christian and leading gov- ernment schools be invited. They enthusiastically as- sented and the first Students' Convention ever held in Japan will be this Christian gathering. A large attend- ance from other colleges is already assured, and many native pastors and Christian business men will be pres- ent. Several of the leading native pastors of the Empire will deliver most of the addi-esses. There will also be present several prominent missionaries including De Forest, of Yale, and Knox, of Princeton. AVe will have two sessions daily — from 9 A.M. to noon, and 6:30 to 8:30 P.M. The addresses will be strictly limited to thirty minutes, as we wish to give much time to ques- tions. Wyckoff, of Knox, '83, will lead the singing. He is a combination of Sankey and Towner. He is training a choir, and we shall "Move Forward," "On the Waj^," with as much enthusiasm if not as much melody as the Northfield Crowd. The four great themes of study will b^-"Tlie Use of the Bible in Personal Work," "The 66 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. Baptism of the Holy Spirit for Service," "The Relation of Prayer to Successful Work," and "Methods of Work Specially Adapted to Students and Young Men." We shall study these subjects Scripturally. The best ad- dresses will be published in the Japanese "College of Colleges" — a book Avliich will be widely circulated among students early in the fall. There will doubtless be, at least, five hundred clielegates — a larger number than gathered at the first Summer School at Mt. Hermon. Fully one hundred students will go from the meeting to engage in evangelistic work in all parts of Japan. Will you not devote at let-.st one full meeting to prayer for this great movement in Jaj^an? I am sure the Japanese del- egates will second this request. Let me now call your special attention to a few signifi- cant facts: First. — The large proportion of highly educated young men in Japan, Avho are already Christian. While only one in fifteen hundred of the entire population is Chris- tian, one in twenty of the students in five of the leading government colleges of the Empire is Christian. It nmst be borne in mind that thus far next to nothing has been done to evangelize the government students. If, notwith- standing this, the proportion of Christians is already so large, what may we not expect as the result of a definite movement among them? As for the Christian schools, a large proportion, in some cases a large majority, of the students are Christians. As are the students of Ger- many, so is Cermany, applies with equal force to this country. If the students here determine to Christian- ize the country, the Avork will be done. Second. — This tour is helping to counteract the mis- representations which have been made in Japan. The Japanese have been told tliat Christianity is losing it§ THE Y. M. C. A. IN JAPAN. 67 liold upon the educated classes in America. I am able to offset their statements by the fact that while among the uneducated j^oung men in America, the immense majority are not professing Christians, among the stu- dents and recent graduates of the colleges and univer- sities, a caref id estimate would shoAV that over one-third are professing Christians. The hope is expressed upon all sides that my tour of visitation in those institutions ma}^ be but the beginning of a series of such visits from students and professors from the AA'est. The Kyoto Summer School will inaug- urate a permanent agency authorized to invite certain well-known gentlemen from the West and to supervise and direct their work in Japan. Their presentation of the arguments in support of the harmony of science and Christianity, by widely known Christian scientific men, will meet a great present need in Japan. The matter has been fully discussed in Japan and the leading mis- sionaries give their unqualified endorsement. I am rejoiced to know that Mr. David McConaughy, Jr., of Philadelphia, who so soon enters his proposed work in India is to be with you. I hope to join him there in De- cember and unite with him in such a movement as we find adapted to those students. Northfield will often be referred to at Kyoto. I will ignore the difference in time and think of you during the hours of the day. When I awaken in the early morning and look out upon the sacred mountains which surround the old city, I shall think of the hills about "Northfield and shall follow Mr. Moody in imagination as he takes his morning diive toward Mt. Hermon to see that no disaster has befallen the "apple of his eye" during the night. I shall almost hear the singing of the great aud- ience in Stone Hall, such singing as I never exj)ect to 68 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. hear this side of heaven. When jo\i sing — "Move For- ward, the Light Begins to Shine," think of Japan, the Land of the Morning, Avhere the Bnn of Righteousness is indeed brightly shining. The whole day's programme will pass before me. The animated addi-esses of Bishop Baldwin, I*rof. Harper, Dr. Hoge, Mr. Moody and others. The afternoon games — the twilight meeting of the mis- sionary volunteers, for whose coming we are eagerly watching, and the conference of prospective general secretaries of the Young Men's Christian Association — the business men's movement of the century — the great mass meeting in the evening — the evening prayer meet- ings of the delegations. I shall live over eA^ery incident of the livelong day, and try to work the enthusiasm into the Kyoto meeting. I earnestly commend to your affec- tionate regard, my friends Viscount Mishima, and Mr. Ise, and the Japanese delegation, as well as the entirte delegation of young men from the far East. Assuring you of my daily prayers and unchanging love for the students of America, and uniting with you in the earnest prayer, which you will so often voice in song, that Jesus may indeed be made King over the wide world, I am, Ever yours, in His Name, L. D. WISHAED. CHAPTER VI. STUDENT WORK IX GREAT BRITAIN. Experience of College Men in England, Scotland and Ireland— Mission^ ary Interest in Dublin Universitj-— Evidence that the Volunteer Movement is not Confined to America— Duty of Christian Students in Their Institutions— Christian Work in the Slums of Cambridge- Reflex Influence of Student Work on the Workers— The Best Prepa- ration for Foreign Work. At one of the last meetings, the students from Great Britain were invited to speak briefly of the Christian work in their respective universities. J. Xorthridge, of Dublin, said: What has struck me most during the meetings of this conference is the in- tense missionary sj^irit that seems to prevail at every meeting, not onlj^ on the hill top yonder, not only dur- ing the thrilling addresses of Dr. Pierson and other great speakers, but it seems to be in the very atmos- phere of this place. I think it could hardlj^ be other- wise, with nearly a hundred volunteers for the foreign field amongst us. This has been to me a source of great pleasure. Ire- land has historical connection with missionary enter- prise. In its golden days, it gave Christianity to Scot- land, and to the greater part of England; it sent mis- sionaries to German}^, to Sw itzerland and Italy. Bishop Berkeley was one of the noble missionaries it sent out. As to the present time ; about four years ago, in Dublin University there was a great revival. We had meetings addressed by two of our own missionaries from China and India, and by two Cambridge graduates, going to the foreign field. At the close about forty students volunteered. I am sorry to say that all that might have been expected from such a beginning has not been TO COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. gained. Some of the volunteers went to the mission fields, but we have lost sight of most of them. How- ever, this movement was not altogether lost. A mis- sionary society was started in our university. It is affiliated with the Church Missionary Society, and is presided over by the Archbishop of Dublin, and has raised about 12000 a year. It has sent out one mis- sionary to China, and hopes to send out a medical mis- sionary in a few months, to the same field. We have also raised money to send out a third, and in the near future, hope to have a fourth and fifth. Our divinity professor also took a great interest in the movement. There are many other evidences of widespread mis- sionary interest in Ireland now\ The movement in America is not a solitary one. We are beginning to send out our best students as missionaries. Last year we sent out a man who got the highest honors at his de- gree. This medical missionary who is soon going out has just graduated with highest honors. I do not know anything about 3^our army sj^stem here, but at home, when we have real wars, we send out our veterans, and keep our raw recruits at home. If God's army did the same, 1 think we would have a different record to-day (That means we ought to go — Mr. Moody). Another evidence of the widespread interest is that a w^ell-known bishojj said that one of his sons had told him that he wished to be a foreign missionary, and added he was hapx)ier to hear that than if his son was prime minis- ter of England. One of our missionaries who came home for his health left two of his boys at home to be edu- cated. Before leaving them to return to his field he taught them a prayer to be said every day: ''O, God lielp me to grow up a good man and be a missionary to China." STUDENT WORK IN GREAT BRITAIN. 71 These are proofs of the widely extended missionary movement. I believe that all the Christian countries are moving forw,ard in this great matter, and that before advancing Christendom the clouds of heathenism will soon be rolled away, and Christ will be Lord of all, hav- ing dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. J. H. MacLean, of Glasgow, said: There are some- things Christian men ought to do for their university. First, they ought to make as strong an effort as possi- ble to attend the regular weekly meeting. Instead of asking a man to go to the meeting, when one does not go himself, the proper way is to recommend the man to go with him. Second, they should hold a special meet- ing for students. Third, they should undertake city work. In Glasgow some of our men have taken up this work more vigoroush^ than before, and have found it one of the best things they ever undertook, e^en as a means of training. We have evangelistic meetings, gospel temperance meetings and a pretty elaborate sys- tem of district visiting. The university settlement is a work we hope to establish. W^e propose to settle down among the people, occupying a flat, and living among them, and tr3ang to let our influence be felt there. We can by that means do more Christian work without giving more time to it than now. W^e hope soon to be able to raise |2000 for this work, which will then be a training ground, both for ourselves and also for future generations of students. There are several reasons why the students should carry on this missionary work. W^e should be students, not only of theology, but of all human nature. No field gives greater opportunities of studying human natui'e 72 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. than the slums of our great cities. Second, home mis- sionary work is the best means of settling a man's head, and that is a good thing in this age of scepticism. When a man sits at lioine and reads attacks on Chris- tianity, he may be doubtful, but when he comes in con- tact with men, he sees that there is truth in this Chris- tianity after all. Third, missionary work is the best means of deepening a man's own spiritual life. Any- thing that deepens a man's spiritual life is the* best thing to make him a successful worker. If a man really goes in for mission w^ork, he will in all probability be brought nearer to Christ than ever before. It is only when one realizes the depth of misery caused by sin that we begin to see how many evils the cross of Christ can cure. My last reason is that this is the best means of touching those that are hesitating as to the truth of Christianity. We heard this morning true and sensible words about advanced thought, and about those who cast in the teeth of the church the watchword of the enthu- siasm of humanity (see Chap. XII). When these men see that one after another of the best men in their colleges are giving some of their time to the raising of the masses about them, while they themselves talk vt ry much and do very little, they will begin to think that these Christians have something they do not have. They will re-examine the evidences of Christianity, and I will be surprised if they do not determine that the only place to get real enthusiasm for humanity is at the cross of Christ. C. E. Wilson, of Cambridge, said: — ^The work in which I was engaged at Christmas was in the slums of Cam- bridge, and the body to which I belonged was self-con- stituted, and had no connection with any organization in- side of the university. It followed three lines. We used every Sunday evening to visit the public houses STUDENT WORK IN GREAT BRITAIN. 73 and induce tlie men by tracts and other means to come to a building where we gave them a few addresses. Another work AA^as at a gas house, where the men must Avork on Sundays as well as on other days. By the kindness of the manager, we were enabled to see tAvo "shifts" as they came in, and thus to reach a class of men who had no other means of hearing the gospel preached on Sundays. The other line of work was house to house A^sitation in the poor district. I can imagine no better means of strengthening Christian thought than b}^ com- ing into actual contact with people in all kinds of circum- stances. I would emphasize two things ; first of all, character. There must be a harmony between our words and our Avorks; otherAAise our preaching will be vain and sense- less. This is a warning for us all, against putting on the missionary oa er the man. The missionary must be the man, and the man must be the missionary. The other point I wish to emphasize is doctrine. We are ambassa- dors for Christ, and as such we must go forth from God, teaching notliing more than Jesus Christ and Him cruci- fied. Every great movement in life centers around some individual. I need only refer you to one noble character who has just passed from the scene of his labors in the missionary field, Father Damien. The great trait of his character was folloAA'ing Christ, not only in word but in deed. He gave himself, and not a part of himself. God does not want a part of us, but the whole of us. We must give the whole of ourseh^es and nothing short of it. Again, there is a salvation that comes after we are saved, a salvation from declining from the position which we have taken. Whatever our surroundings, temptations are bound to come to us ; by our fidelity to the truth Avhich we believe in, we shall indee , Director of Physical Depart- ment. Man is a unit. His capacities are very much greater than simply the sum of those of the body alone, plus those of the mind alone, plus those of the soul by itself. That is, each one gives to the others not only all that it has itself, but also enables the others to be and to do far more than they could alone. Man might be called the product of the three, rather than their sum. I recog- nize the difficulty of viewing the subject from this stand- point, but unless we do we will be apt to go entirely astray. From a scientific standpoint, the Associations have a' very valuable foundation for their work in the fact that they are worlving for young men ; not simpl}^ for their bodies, minds and souls, but for the salvation, develop- ment and training of the whole man comj)lete as God made him. While we recognize of course that the intel- lectual is far more valuable than the physical, and that the spiritual is of infinitely more value than both, still we see the fundamental necessity of all three, and work for the development of man as a whole. And what is true of man — that he is more than the sum of his body, mind and soul — is true of our Asso- ciation. Our work cannot be represented by the physi- cal, plus the intellectual, plus the social, plus the spirit- ual, each one standing alone ; for the relations that exist between them render each far more valuable than it would be by itself. It is by means of the physical that the men are brought under the influence of the spiritual, and it is the spiritual that teaches men that their bodies are sacred to noble ends, and that the gymnasium is one of the means to the accomplishment CLAIMS OF THE Y. M. C. A. 87 of those ends. ^Ye not only secure all the inherent value of our physical department, but by virtue of its relation to the others we also secure that which is of far greater value, and so the total of our results is greater than the sum of those of each department. In this way we see the fallacy of employing men for single departments, for unless they recognize and work for the results that come through these relationships, they will be missing the larger part of the results. Thus a physical director who is simply a physical director is losing the greatest part of his opportunities, i. e., those that come through the relationships that exist between the physical and the other departments. And so we have our gymnasiums, our educational classes, libraries, reading rooms, and our religious work, a unit in conception, a complete rounded whole, that is invaluable now and gives promise of becoming, in the hands of God, the means of good far beyond our present thought. A physical director must be a man who understands man and not mere physiology and anatomy. To teach gymnastics is only a little part of what he is to do. In reaching young men there are several steps for him to take. First: Go where young men are. They are notably not in the churches, but they are in the ath- letic field. Second: Establish a line of communication between himself and young men. Have some common ground to start from. Third: Go among them and get their respect and confidence. Fourth: Win their love. This is one of the greatest things. If there Avere time we might speak of the wide field that is afforded in this profession for medical men. In this respect there is a Avide field here practically unde- veloped. 88 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. An addi-ess by Mr. William Blalkie, of New York. Tlie Americans as a people have failed to educate themselves bodily. The gymnasiums do not furnish all the education needed in this line, but we need an in- structor in the gymnasiums as much as in the school. The result of undirected training in the gymnasium is to make the students disgusted with the whole thing after a single trial. American athletes who are trained for special work in one department of bodily develop- ment are unexcelled by those of any other time or country. Compare the case of Rowell, who covered 150 miles in 24 hours, with the historical incident of the journey of Philippedes, the Greek, who ran 148 miles from Athens to Sparta in 48 hours. When a test is to be made a man or a horse must be in condition, and this requires preparatory training in the line of the same thing. One of the first things a man will ask concerning the occupation of the physical director is, "Will it bring a man a living?" Nearly 95 per cent, of this audience will enter commercial or professional life, no line in which will command on the average as large remunera- tion as a i^hy^ical directorship. It is certainly doing a great work for young men when we develop their bodies. But when we can through this work assist in the development of men's spiritual natures, the field becomes unlimited in its possibilities. CHAPTER Vin. DLT\ OP CHRISTIANS TO UNEVANGELIZED YOUXG MEX. Eelation of the Youns iNIen's Cliristian Association to the Young Men of Unevangelized Lands Stated by Mr, David :McConaughy, Jr., Phila- delphia's General Secretary— Force Back of the VoLmteer ^Movement —Responsibility of Christian Young Men Great because Tliey are Young, English-Speaking, Americans— Unique Position of Volun- teers in American Group of Association Movement— Association Traced to its Origin— Field before the Movement— Number, Needs, Temptations, Influence, Youth of the Men to be Reached— Dr. Ja- cob Chambei'lain on the Work in Madras— Relations of the Force to the field— Necessity of Unpatronizing Brotherhood— Unselfish Liber- ality-Wisdom in Adapting Methods to Conditions— Tlieir Attitude Must be One of Faith, Hope and Love. An unparalleled opportunity now^ opening before the Cliristian young men of America entails an unparalleled responsibility. Look, first of all, at the force back of the movement. Our responsibility is great because w^e are young men. The scene upon this hallowed hill-top recalls another on a grassy slope of the law^n at Tunbridge Hall, the home of that true English nobleman, Samuel Morley. The delegates to the AA^orld's Conference of the Young Men's Christian Association held in London in '81, had been invited there to spend a bright summer's day. In the center of a group of young men gathered from every part of Europe and America, stood a patriarch whose long, white hair and snowy beard flowing to his waist, had been bleached by the tropical sun of Africa. It w^as Robert Moffatt. His life work done, he was there at eventide waiting the summons of the King. Since then Robert Moffatt and Samuel Morley both have gone home, but we, the young men w^ho gathered around them that day, remain to take up their responsibilities 89 DO COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. and to seize the opportunities put within our reach by such heroic lives as theirs. John wrote, "Unto you, young men, because ye are strong and the Word of G od abideth in you and ye have overcome the wicked one; but not only are we strong, but we are also free — not rooted to the soil, like full-grown trees, with ties of family and cares of business and professional life, but rather like sai)lings, readily transplanted to take root in other fields." It is true, as Disraeli wrote, ''The history of heroes is the history of youth." Our very youth entails tremendous responsibility upon us. Our responsibility is greater because we are Eugiish- gpeaking young men. The vehicle of our thoughts traverses a vastly larger sphere of influence than did the Greek tongue when Paul was heralding the Word of salvation throughout the Roman Avorld. Joseph Cook needs no interpreter as he speaks in English to Hindu audiences that crowd the largest halls. The tongue we speak is taught in the government schools of India and Japan, and is being intro(luce0F COLLEGES. human and therefore temporary invention. It was not made; it grew — an organism, not a mechanism. No sooner had the seed-thought found lodgment in the heart of George Williams and sprung up in that first Associa- tion formed in London forty-five years ago, than the movement which had thus taken root on British soil was transplanted to our shores, where it was destined to de- velop into vast proportions. If England has the high honor of the origin of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation, to America belong the privilege of its develop- ment and the responsibility of its dissemination. I say this not to glorify America, but rather to glorify God by intensifying the sense of America's responsi- bility to God in fulfilling this great commission. It was an American student, George M. Vanderlip, of the U,ni- versity of New York, who in June, 1850, while visit- ing in London, wrote a letter to the "Watchman and Reflector,'^ of Boston, describing that first Association in London, thus leading to the organization of the Association first in Boston and then tliroughout our land. Then followed the period of development, through which the movement passed and emerged into its divinely destined and clearly defined sphere. It proved not to be an auxiliary to — much less a substitute, in any sense, for — the church ; not undenominational, but interdenom- inational; not apart from, but a part of the church of Christ — in short, the church at work for young men by young men. If the secrets of its success are sought, they are not far to find. The Association has shown the staunchest loyalty to the divine person of Jesus Christ — our model; to the inspired Word of Jesus Christ — our manual; to the universal church of Jesus Christ — our communion; and to its definite sphere of work for young men by young men — our object. Tenacious as it THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS. 93 has been in its loyalty to these principles, it has also de- monstrated the broadest catholicity in its methods, adapting itself readily to the four-fold needs of a young man's nature, physical, intellectual, social and si)irit- ual; adapting itself to all classes in the community, not only of all social grades, but of all occupations — rail- road-men, miners, lumber-men, students, all — and of all nationalities — German, French, Italian, Indian, all: proving itself adaptable, likewise, to young men of all na- tions, kindreds, peoples and tongues. A city of refuge for all young men, it '' lietli four-square." Growing from a mustard seed, transplanted to our shores, it has here matured into a mighty tree, attained its climax in the college department and flowered out into the Mission- ary movement for the dissemination of its seed- thoughts everywhere. At length the fullness of time is come to carry this movement far and wide throughout the world. Again God calls upon college men to be the couriers. How" history repeats itself ! As in the first century of the church of Christ, that band of young men who gathered around the Young Man of Nazareth, were of humble circumstances, from the commercial class, not highly educated, but willing to be separate, band- ing themselves together for prayer, Bible study and asso- ciated efforts for others; so, again, in this latest century, just such young men were George ^Yilliams, Edward Beaumont, James Smith and the others of that little band who formed the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation in the bed-room of the junior assistant in the dry-goods house of Hitchcock & Co., St. Paul's Church- yard, London, on the sixth of June, 1844. Among the young men attracted to the religious centre of the ancient world, the metropolis of the He- 94 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. brew nation, were certain Greeks, who coming in con- tact with that earlier Young Men's Christian Associa- tion — the Captain's own body-guard and the original nucleus of his church — i^ersonally carried back to their own land across the seas in Europe the thought, which some ^^ears afterwards voiced itself in the cry of the man of Macedonia, ^' Come, over and help us;" so among the 3'oung men attracted to the commercial centre of the modern Avorld, were certain American students, who were drawn to this later Young Men's Christian Association, which started from the metrop- olis of the Anglo-Saxon people, and catching the thought of associated effort for young men, carried it across the sea to their native land anpointed to draw up a minute and reso- lutions. The committee represented the Churcli of Eng- land, Scotch Presbyterians, English Wesley ans, and English Independents. Their report, which was unanimously adoi)ted by the Madras Missionary Conference, closes as follows : ''This Conference has on many occasions called the attention of the churches to the existence of a well- prepared field among the educated non-Christian young men of Madras, and begged them to send a special agency to work it, and it regards this proposal as a providential response to these appeals, and it will grate- fully welcome such well-qualified, thoroughly trained agents as the American Association may propose to send, and it will give them its cordial sympathy and co-operation." How wonderful are God's leadings ! That first appeal of the Madi'as missionaries, declaring to the home churches of Scotland and England their belief in the " existence of a well prepared field among the educated young men of Madras," although it never reached Amer- ica, was responded to by those who had gathered among these hills of Massachusetts, to study God's Word and learn their duty to those at hand and those afar off. God's voice is unmistakably calling the Young Men's Christian Association of America to go to the rescue of the young men of Asia. While we are standing wondering, looking out upon the vast fields before us, lo ! the King's voice is heard, giving the command, ''Go ye, therefore, and teach THE DUTY OF CHJIISTIANS. 99 all nations." ^'Son, go work to-day in m}^ vineyard." "We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the King's household." Shall the young guard of the church of Christ falter when the order is given to charge? Surely not. Know- ing not how to iDeat a retreat, but eager to sound a charge, we will moAe forward all along the line. It only remains to note what is to be the relation of the force back of the movement to the field before the movement. Our attitude must be that of unpatronizing brother- hood. "Thank God there are no foreign countries "now." That we ourselves are not the unevangelized, instead of these who now need our help, is due to no superiority or virtue of ours, but because the star of Bethlehem took its way westward instead of eastward, and the star of empire followed in its course. If we would really help our brothers in the East, we must not look down upon them as "the heathen." We owe it to ourselves, as much as to them, to show the most unselfish liberality in financial support of this movement. We have never yet returned those costly gifts that "the wise men of the East" brought from afar and laid before the Lord, and the interest has been compounding nearly nineteen hundred years. If we were not their debtors, though, we could make no investment elsewhere in all the Avorld that would make such large returns of treasure laid up in heaven. Asso- ciations of America, entrusted within the past few years with millions of money for real estate and for current expenses, beware lest the Laodicean condem nation fall upon you in the midst of your perilous pros- 100 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. perity I For your self-preservation give liberally, as stewards of the mauifoLl grace of God. Our relations witli the young nien in the regions beyond, must also be characterized by the wisdom that comes from experience in adapting methods to condi- tions. AYe are not necessarily to transport the ma- chinery of the Occident, for much of it may be useless in the Orient. Each field must be studied with patient care, and we must be " workers together with Him " who has the plan and looks down upon the whole world- wide field. The movement must be kept within its definite sphere, ever loyal to the few, fundamental, cardinal principles which have formed the solid basis of it. It is to be exi)ected that it will be carried on from the highest point of its development on the home field, extending from the high vantage ground of the college to all classes of young men. The standard of consecration must be held high on the onward march, but without disturbing the tried and solid basis of "the evangelical test of membership." Our attitude must be one of high hope for the future, unfaltering faith in God and self-denying love for our felloAVS. God's order of advance is : The field, the men, the means. The field is before us — a world lying in darkness. The men are spring'ng to the front. Not many general secretaries from the home-field are wanted at once, but an army of devoted men, possessed of and possessed Avith the spirit and idea of the Association movement, are wanted the world over as preachers, teachers, merchants, mechanics. The means will not be wanting, for " the Lord is able to give you much more than this." '^Eun, speak to this young man !" The word comes ringing down from the lips of an angel on the walls of THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS. 101 Jerusalem. Pass it on from mouth to mouth. Run I because the young man of to-day is fast, and he is fast going down to everlasting death. Speak! because however fast he may be running to ruin, the voice will travel faster than the fleetest feet. Run and speak! because the young man, once reached, will run and speak to many more young men. *' To rescue souls forlorn and lost. The troubled, tempted, tempest-tost To heal, to comfort and to teach ; The fiery tongues of Pentecost, His symbols were, that they should preach — In every form of human speech- Prom continent to continent." CHAPTEE IX. PRAYER. Sermon by Mr. D. L. Moody— Elements in True Prayer— Adoration— Con- fession of Sin— Restitution— Unity—Tlianksgiving— Forgiveness of Sin the Most Difficult—'' We Cannot Afford not to Forgive"— First Six Coirliiiipri Give Faitb— Perseveraupp— " The Philippinn .Tnilor in Trouble"— Prayer While One Lives in Sin is an Abomination- How an Infidel was Converted—" We Have no Right to Give Any Man Up"— Submission. Jesiis Christ never taught his disciples how to preach, but he did teach them how to pray. I have often said that I woLihl i-ather be able to pray like Daniel than to preach like Gabriel. If men know how to pray, they know how to work for God. I want to call your atten- tion to the different elements of all true prayer. In the first place, there must be adoration. Christ's prayer, which He taught his disciples, began, "Hal- lowed be thy name." When Abraham fell on his face, God talked to him. When Moses came to the burning bush, he had to take his shoes off his feet. I think in this day the flipimnt and frivolous wa^^ in which we ap- proach God is shocking. Do you remember what Isaiah says in the sixth chapter? "In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the tem- l)le. Above it stood the seraphims; each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, ana with twain he did i\j. And one cried unto another and said, Hol3^, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory." When we approach God, we must come into his presence remem- bering that He is holy. The next thing there must be confession of sin. Daniel 102 PRAYER. 103 confessed sin (Dan. ix.) Read Psalms li. and xxxii., and see how David confessed his sin. God cannot for- give sins till we confess sins. Nine-tenths of our i)rayers never go liigher than the room they are uttered in. What is the matter? Something is concealed. If I re- gard iniquitj in my heart, He will not hear, much less answer, and, if our prayers are not answered, let us not think it is on God's side, it is on ours. Isaiah lix. is quoted many times in meetings, and the reader stops in the wrong place. '' Behold, the Lord's hand is not short- ened, that it cannot save ; but your iniquities have sepa- rated between you and your God, and youi' sins have hid his face from you and He will not hear." As long as you have a bullet in your body, you will never have a perfectly healthy body, because there is a foreign ele- ment there; and as long as you have a sin in your soul, you will not have a healthy soul. If I have too much pride to confess my sins, I cannot expect God to hear and answer. The third element of all true prayer must be restitu- tion. It is folly for me to ask God to forgive my sins, when I am not willing to make restitution when it is in my power. If I have |5 in my pocket taken from some- one else, I may pray four hundi'ed times for God to for- give me, but I will not be forgiven. It is downright mockery for man to ask God to do something we can do ourselves. I believe we have got to have more preaching of this in our churches. The last time I was in England, a lady came into the inquiry room; quite a number talked with her, and finally a Christian lady got her con- fidence. She said that she had been a housekeeper for a man and had stolen five bottles of wine from him on his dying bed, and, whenever she prayed, she saw always those five bottles of wine. "Your duty is very plain," said 104 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. the other, "you must make restitution." But she thought that was too great a cross, and it went on for a number of days ; but she finally took a £5 note, and went to the son of this gentleman and tried to make restitution. He said he didn't want the money, but she said " I cannot keep it," and finally he took it and used it for charity. She came right to my lodgings and told me that that was the most joyful time of her life. She went to work, and God blessed her wonderfully. The reason why many Christians do not grow lies right there; there is some- thing to be done. Go and straighten that out. Do Avhat you can to make restitution; if it is money, pay it back; if it is some slanderous report, go and do all you can to counteract it. The next thing is unity. If I cannot go on with God's people, I cannot pray. On the day of Pentecost the^^ were united. Do you think that if they had had a church quarrel they would have been united? Their hearts were like drops of water flowing together. What we want is to pray for unity, and to have the spirit of unity. What makes me enjoy these gatherings is that we don't know what sect we are from. I think we are making wonderful progress in this country. A few years ago, you could not have had such a meeting as this. W^hat was Christ's prayer? That disciples might be one in spirit. The next true element of prayer is thanksgiving. Let us be thankful for what God has done for us. In Phil- ippians iv : G, are these words, " Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." Some one has said that in that verse you A\dll find three things: care for nothing, prayerfulness for every- thing, and thankfulness for anything. I think we shall PRAYER. 105 have more prayers answered if we are thankful for what we do get. I remember meeting a man in Springfield who said that he had lived on Grumble street most all his life, and he had just moved over on Thanksgiving street, and found it much pleasanter, too, it was so bright and sunny. In alj prayer there should be thanksgiving. The sixth element in prayer is the most difficult of all. I don't know but I am going to hit some of }'ou this morning. If you will turn to Christ's Sermon on the Mount (Matt, vi.), you will find in that prayer He taught them, not only how to pray, but the thing that was es- sential wli'^n they did pray, that they were to forgive (Matt, vi., 14, 15): "For if ye forgive men their tres- passes, your heavenh^ Father will also forgive you ; But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Did you ever thinly that the only part of the prayer that Christ explained ^^as that about forgiveness? I believe in my heart there is moie prayer unanswered on account of this spirit of forgiveness than on account of any other thing. Do not you see how it is utterh' impossible for me to expect God to hear my prayer for mercy, if I don't show mercy to others? I remember a good many years ago in Chicago a gentleman came to me and asked me to see his wife. I found her in a very interesting state, as T thought, and I showed her the way of life as well as I could, and I prayed with her and she prayed, and then I said, " You can trust me, can't ,you?" She said, " I don't know whether I can or not.'' The next day she was as dark as ever, and I said to myself, this woman is a Christian and s he don't know it. I will ask her to say this prayer, that Christ taught his disciples, and if she can say that from her heart, she is a Christian ; for I tell you, no man can make that ]>rayer from his heart but a child 106 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. of Grod. We call it the Lord's i:>rayer, but it is the disci- ples' prayer. AVe got down on our knees, and I said, "Madam,! want you to repeat this,sentence by sentence," and I began. She repeated the lirst, and so on, and when I got to "forgive me my trespasses," she broke down. Said I, "Go on." Said she, "I can't." There is one wo- man I'll never forgive," and her eyes flashed like fire. "Well," said I, "there is no use in our going on any fur- ther." Coolly and calmly and deliberately, she said, " She has done me a wrong, and I never will forgive her." "Well," I said, "you will never be forgiven." And for years that w^oman tried to get into the kingdom of God without forgiveness, and, a year or two after, she w^ent out of her mind, and went to an insane asylum. I noticed it was stated in the papers that she was insane on the subject of religion. Yes, it was because she would not forgive, and I believe there is many and many a person in the insane asylum to-day that has gone that way be- cause they would not forgive. There is nothing plainer than what Christ says there, "If ye forgive men not their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you." If there is a man in the world whom you have not forgiven, just write a letter of forgiveness and send it b}^ the first post. You and I cannot afford not to forgive. I remember going into a city some years ago and preaching a week, and ib w^as just like throwing a ball against a stone wall. I could not get hold. I opened the inquiry room doors and no one came, and I got on my face before God, and prayed Him to show .me the reason. Finally I touched on this subject, and the chairman of my committee, in the middle of the talk, got his hat and pushed his way off tlie platform, and went out of the hall. In the after- noon, a very prominent citizen came to hunt me up, and PRAYER. 107 said that he had been very much opposed to my com- ing to the city, and that he thought it was a waste of money: " but," says he, '" if notliing else has been accom- plished, it is enough to pay for putting up the building/' ''What has happened?'' said I. "Why," says he, "the chairman of your committee and I had a falling out six months ago, and this afternoon he came down and said " I want you to forgive me," and in my oftice \\e had the grandest little prayer-meeting I ever had/' That night I asked them to come into the inquiry room, and it was just crowded. How many colleges would be blessed if the Christians were all united, and loved one another and stood shoulder to shoulder. What we want is the spirit of unity. How can we get it if we don't cultivate the spirit of forgiveness? So that there is no spirit of bitterness in 3'our heart against any- body. "Oh, but you say, he don't want to be for- given." Well, that don't prevent your forgiving him. There is one tiling, you can love ever3'body on the earth whether they want it or not. A man who does not have t]iis in his soul can preach with all earnestness, but he won't accomplish anything. I knew two ministers, one at the head of a university, and the other at the head of a churchj the}- had a falling out, and the university and the church went down. The next true element is faith. If you combine the other six elements you get this one. You must have faith when you pray if you are going to have your prayers answered. James i., 6. "Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea (Mven with the wind and tossed." Faith is the golden key that unlocks the doors of heaven. Some one has said that faith could get anything from Christ when He was on earth. So to-day, it is faith that we 108 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. want. There is a i^romise; we comply with the con- ditions He will surely answer our prayer. But you don't always get what you want. A friend of mine said he was shaving himself, and his little boy wanted the razor to whittle with and cried and said his father did not love him, because he did not give it to him. He loved him too much. We sometimes pray for razors, and then sa^ that God don't answer prayer. My little boy ten years old asks for a good many things that he don't get, but he gets an answer. That is the mistake people make, that God don't answer prayer, because He don't give everything they ask for. Does your faith have a warrant for it? There are some things I know are according to God's will and words ; there are other things I don't know, and therefore haven't got any warrant for. Many years ago, when we had a convention, Garfield was shot and lay wounded. A lady said, "I know Garfield will recover, I have asked God." "Well, you have no warrant that that man will live. It may not be in ac- cordance with his will." There is the thing we have got to keep in mind. Make known your requests to God^ but you won't get them all gi^anted. There must be sub- mission in all true prayers. The next thing we want is perseverance. If we don't get things just at the time and in the way we want, we are to keep on. God encourages importunity. Men don't like it, but it is not so with the Lord: Luke xviii: 1 : " Men ought always to pray and not to faint." That par- able is given to us to show that God encourages us to pray. I don't think we have any right to give up any man on the face of the earthj we are to pray for all men. We cannot tell whom God will accept, but we are taught to pray for all men. No matter how great an infidel a man may be just keep on praying for him, and if it is PRAYER. 109 Good's pleasure to save him in our time he will be saved, or it may be after we are dead and gone. I don't know when I have been more encouraged than this spring. About nine years ago I went to St. Louis and the Globe-Democrat sent reporters to take every word. The New York papers said I spoke too rapidly to be reported. It was merely a matter of enterprise; they had two reporters to take down the words, and what one left out the other had. I was very glad to see it at first, and to my great surprise they kept on. I never worked so hai'd for six months to avoid repeating myself. I didn't feel very happy about it; but since I went away I heard that there had been a most remarkable conversion. I preached on the l*hilippian jailor. The paper with the report went to the jail and Avas thrown into a man's cell. He had spent 20 years in jail, and then was expecting to be sentenced for fifteen years more. He was one of the most noted perjurers, never went to church, and didn't know anything about these meetings. He could not sleep one night, and picked up the Globe-Democrat, and his eye fell on the headline, "The Philippian Jailor in Trouble." '^Ho, ho," says he, '^A jailor got into limlx) now," and he was glad that this Philippian jailor had got caught, and he wanted to see how it was, think- ing that Philippi was near to St. Louis. The text was " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved," and I had brought in an account of the Phil- ippian jailor. He read it through, not knowing it was a sermon, and said that 1 had repeated the text nine times. He didn't know one verse in the Bible, but he said the ninth time I closed up that sermon by saying, ''Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." He threw the paper down and fell on his knees, and cried to God to save him. Light broke in on him at 110 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. that midnight hour. By some change the next week, he got ont, and the sheriff gave him a ^position as under- sheriff, and when the opposite political party came in, he was such a faithful officer that they kept him, and there he is in that office. I believe that we give up a great many men and don't praj^ for them. It is a good thing for us to have faith to believe that all things are I^ossible with God, and that G od can reach men that you and I cannot reach. What Ave want is to persevere and not give up any- body. When I went to Edinburgh a man asked me to put out a certain man, for he was telling people not to be- lieve in religion. I went over to him and put a hand on him and he said, "Oh, Moody, I'm glad you are here, pray for me." " Very well," says I, " Get down on your knees." "There isn't any God," said he. Well, I thought I would pray him out of the meeting if not into the Icingdom. When I got through, in a mean, contempt- ible way, he said, "I suppose that you will report that I have been converted?" "Well, my friend," said I, " You may be converted, I don't know when or where or how, but God is able to convert 3'^ou." He started around the next side, and I went round and had another prayer Avith him. I don't know how many times he came, but finally he dropped out. The next summer, Avhen I was in Scotland preaching, on the outskirts of the meeting, I saAV my infidel friend. " Well, my friend," said I, "how are you?" "Well," says he, ^'I see you are at your old tricks. But you know you can't convert me." "No, I don't know anything of the kind." But he wasn't quite so bitter. I Avent through Ireland and over to Li ver- pool and there I got a letter from a leading man in Edin- burgh, saying that he thought I would like to know that mv old infidel friend was converted. The next time I went PRAYER. Ill up to Edinburgh, about the first man i met was he, and he gave me a grip of the hand, and said, " It is all true." He told how God had filled him in answer to prayer, and, just as I was leaving, he said, " AVhile I was in atheism, I led my son into atheism, and he is over in Philadelphia, and I wish you would look him up, and pray for him." The very thing he laughed at me about, requests for prayers, was the thing he wanted for his son. What we want is to have faith that there is no man or woman so far gone that God cannot help him. Eph. iii., 20 : '' Unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think — ." The next element is petition. A man was once mak- ing an oration to the Almighty, when finally an old woman broke right out, and said, '' Ask Him for some- thing." If a man don't give up his sins, prayers are an abomination to God, I haven't any doubt about it. Any man who has a desire to give up sin can go to God and will make a prayer that will be heard as soon as that of any bishop or potentate. I believe there is no sweeter music that falls upon the ear of God than David's prayer after his fall (Ps. li. and xxxii.), and when a man's heart has been broken on account of sin, that is the very time to go to God. I remember the sweet prayer: "Oh, God, take my heart, for I cannot give it, and when Thou hast it, keep it, for I cannot keep it for Thee, and save me in spite of myself." If you really want salvation, you can have it. Young men make a great mistake when they don't pray in the prayer meetings; many young men think they cannot pray acceptably. The prayers in the Bible that brought the quickest answers have been short prayers. Is there a young student in this world that cannot make that prayer of the publican? If it comes from the heart, it will reach the ear of God. Look 112 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. at that prayer that Peter made, " Lord, save me or I per- ish." These prayers were heard and the answers came instantly. If you want the truth and don't know what the truth is,, ask Him and call on God, who upbraideth not. There is not a man here that cannot get salvation if he asks for it. "Lord, save me or I perish;" "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" When I was in Newcastle, in 1873, a lady came to me and told me : " I have got my nephew to go to meeting to- night, if I will never ask him to go to another religious meeting in his life. 1 am sure he won't go into your in- quiry meeting, and won't you go to him when you get through i3reaching? I hope you will come to the seat." I said: "It will be a great mistake. Everybody will be stretching their necks to see whom Moody's going for." She said, "It is a desperate case," and jjersuaded me. When I got into the pulpit, I saw the aunt and nephew, and she had got him inside and sat at the end so as to hold him in. I saw he resented everything. I didn't know wdiat I was going to do, I said it w^ould be a hard thing to reach that man. But, when I got through, I started, and the aunt stood up and tm^ned her back to the nephew, and I suppose she w as trying to keep him there. Finally he says, " That man's after me, that's a put up job, what a fool I w^as to get into such a scmpe as that." The room was so crowded I was going down over the backs of the pews, and finally he said, " Well, if he can go over the backs of the pew^s, I can," and over he went and out of the door. The poor woman sat down and wept. She saiG, "My heart is broken." I said: "My dear friend, we must reach him by w^ay of the throne." Sometimes all you can do for a man is to ask God to bless him. God can speak when man can't. He spoke to Saul, no one had faith to pray for Saul. Seven or eight years passed. PRAYER. 113 I was back in that city, and got up and read a letter from the sister of a young di'iinkard who had been saved. She said, "Mr Moody, encourage the mothers and sisters and wives to pray for their drinking hus bands, sons and brothers." When I was through a man came to me and said, '' Did you say that man was in America? I think it was myself." "Indeed," I said, "was you ever a drinldng man?" I'm ashamed to tell you I was, but I gave it up seven years ago. Do vou remember that lady whose nephew jumped over the pews and ran out?" " Oh," said I, " I. remember it very well." " Well," said he, "I am that nephew." "You don't look like the same man at all." "I'm not. For jears I used to tell the boys how I fooled Moody. But one night, about a year after that, I was up in London, and I had my feet on the table and a meerschaum pipe in my mouth, and my thoughts turned in on myself, and I said, 'Richardson, you ought to be a different man.' 'Yes, I know it, but I never will.' 'Eiehard on, you ought to give up drinking.' 'Yes, but I never will.' I will die as I have been living. It is impossible for me to live a different life." He said he had no more than said that than the thought came to him, " It is impossible, but, oh God, all things are possible with you, save me." i^fter that prayer, he was afraid to lie down and go to sleep, for he thought the appetite would come back : so he sat up till about two o'clock, and then began to get drowsy. Be- fore he laid down, he prayed that, when he woke up in the morning, he might feel bad. After he had slept a few hours, he woke up and said he never felt so bad in his life. He Avent down to the office, and said, "I have drunk my last drop of liquor, and I have made u]> my mind to serve Jesus Christ." They gave him forty-eight hours to keep sober. He said that the appetite never 114 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. had returned for strong drink. That is what I call prayer: "God, all things are possible with you." In true prayer there will be submission. Just make your request to God, and say, "Thy will be done, not mine." The sweetest lesson I have learned is to let God choose for me in temporal things. My profession, it is the last thing in this world I would ha\e chosen. When 1 became a Christian one class of people I disliked very much was evangelists. But I tell you this morning I would not change my position for that of any man on the face of the earth. I think the pulpit is a little higher than the throne. So, young men, you don't know what profes- sion is best for you: let God guide you. Don't be afraid of God's will. I know of young men here afraid to become Christians because they are afraid God will want them to go to China, Japan or India. I would rather be in the heart of Africa with God than in America with- out Him. He can choose ten thousand times better than you know how to. Take three of the mightiest men on this earth, and they didn't know how to choose for themselves. Moses wanted to go into the promised land, but God didn't let him. Was that any sign that God didn't love Moses? I believe there was not a man a thousand years before and after that God so blessed in answer to prayer, as He did Moses. He knew how to pray. Fifteen hundred years after, God answered his prayer, and he was in the promised land. He was there with Elijah and Peter, James and John and Christ, on the Mount of Trans- figuration. Was not it far better to be there on the Mount of Transfiguration than to go in as Joshua did? Don't you let Satan say that God don't love you because He don't give you at once everything you ask for. It is because He loves you too much. PRAYER. 115 Take Elijah ; if there was a man God loved, it was Eli- jah. He locked up the gates of heaven, and carried around the key in his pocket for three years and six months, and no one could get a drop of water. He told his servant what to do and he did it. But he prayed that he might die under the juniper tree. When he wanted rain he prayed and it came. But when he prayed for death, he could not get it. The only man in that dispen- sation that prayed that he might die was Elijah. Why didn't he die? God loved him too well. A great many of us get under the juniper tree when we are discouraged. God never blesses a man under the juniper tree. Paul is another man who knew how to pray. Three times he prayed that God would take the thorn out of his Hesh, but God didn't answer his prayer. Just as a father might say to a child, God said, "I am not going to speak to you any more about the thorn, but I am going to give jou grace to bear it." Then Paul said. " Than]^ God for the thorn." Let us pray God to give us more grace to bear the thorns. These are ten elements of all true prayer, and, if we have them, ^\'e are going to have powder with God in l)ra3er. CHAPTER X. THE PROPHECY OF JOEL. Excsetieal Lecture by Prof. W. R. Harper— Situation of the Prophecy— The Political, Religious, and Literary Horizon— Condi tion of Israel in the Time of the Prophet— The Locusts and the Famine— The Calamity a Judgment from God— Joel's Pen Picture of the Army of Locusts— The Prophet's Advice, Prayer— God's Answer, that the Locusts Shall be Destroyed, and the Rain Shall Come— Prophetic Meaning of These Promises. Will you remember that the Old Testament prophet was divinely appointed to do his work, and that all of our study of his words must be based upon this fact? But remember again that every prophet had a particular mes- sage. They did not all come to tell the same story. It all had to do with the same work, but there were differ- ent phases, and each prophet tells his story in a different way. Hosea preached as no prophet ever preached, the story of God's love. Amos told the story of God's justice. Each prophet has a message of his own and it should be our work to find out the particular line of thought, the particular subject, the great idea, of that prophet. The prophet was the orator, the politician of his times, and every prophet was sent to convey a message, pri- marily (not chiefly), for his times, and then, for the future. If that is true — and I do not believe that you can deny it — it is your business and mine to get our- selves into sympathy with the historical situation of the prophet ; for you cannot understand his message, unless you are familiar with that situation. The message and the situation go together. You cannot separate them, and the message is unintelligible, unless you are famil- iar with the facts of which it is an outgrowth. A word, if you please, in reference to the political hor- 116 THE PROPHECY OF JOEL. 117 izon of the prophet. The book of Joel tells us that the Philistines had inyaded Judah, captured many of its in- habitants, and sold them as slaves ; this took place under a certain king, Jehoram. Secondly, the Edomites are Israel's bitter enemies; and, because of the injuries which the Israelites suffered from them, their country shall be a desolation. We are told that the Jews had been sold by them and for this the Edomites shall be punished. There were times in which Israel felt that she had been cruelly dealt with by her neighbors ; when the best pos- sible thing, according to the popular idea, that could hap- pen, would be the destruction of those enemies. But two important nations are not mentioned at all. Although the Syrians made an expedition against Egypt, and are referred to by Amos as the most important of Israel's enemies ; thej^ are not referred to in the book of Joel. What does this mean? That the invasion and pil- lage took place after Joel, or, at all events, he would not have failed to name the Syrians in the list of Israel's en- emies. The political situation is therefore quite distinct. Israel's enemies were the Philistines,- the Edomites, the Egyptians. Syria has been long since at peace. Assyria has not yet taken a prondnent place in relation to Israel. The king was not himself administering the affairs of the nation. What was the religious horizon? The scenes w^hich Amos and Isaiah condemned so severely are not men- tioned by Joel. Idolatry is not spoken of as one of the national sins, and yet there have not been many periods in Jewish history in which a sermon on idolatry would have been out of place. In the time of Athaliah, Judah had gone over, almost en masse, to Baalism. But at the time of our prophet, the true religion prevailed every- where. It might not have been as rigidly observed as at 118 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. other times, but the situation portra} eel is one in which Jehovah's priests occupied a prominent position; in- deed the priests controlled, not only the religion, but as well the state. All this points to the conclusion that Joel lived and worked under Joash the Jewish king who came to the throne under such peculiar circumstances. The prophecy was delivered within the first thirty years of his reign, during wliich the high-priest administered the affairs. A word concerning the literary horizon. As every- one knows, the style and language of an earlier prophet are in very marked contrast with those of a later prophet. There is all the difference in the world between Hosea and Malachi. Does Joel belong to the early or to the late period? The style is simple, pure, classic, en- ergetic and vivid, powerful and dignified; and these are the characteristics of the early, not the later age. Be- sides this, the prophecy of Amos is built on a text taken from Joel, and Isaiah follows Joel largely in many par- ticulars. Thus we are able to fix more definitely the time of our writer. It was a time when Israel was struggling with Edom, Phoenicia, Philistia, not with Syria or Assyria; when a priest, not a king, was at the head of the state ; a time when Jehovah worship, not idolatry, prevailed, when prophecy was just beginning to take w^ritten form, for, of all the prophets, whose writings have been trans- mitted to uSj Joel is the first. Do we know anything about Joel himself? Nothing, save that he was of Judah, and that he preached in Jeru- salem. Will you try to get into sympathy with this situation? A time of great disaster, a time of great trouble. Imag- ine this prophet standing before thousands (c. i.) : " O THE PROPHECY OF JOEL. 119 men of Judah," lie is talking to the crowd before him, ^'inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in yonr days or in the days of your fathers? Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their childi'en another generation." What is the trouble? What was it? ''That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten, and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten, and that wliich the caiiker- worni hath left hath the caterpillar eaten." These were four different kinds of locusts, or locusts in differ- ent stages of growth, or, better yet, different names de- scriptive of locusts. " Hard times have come," says the prophet. "Has any one of you ever known such a ter- rible thing? Surely God's hand is in it." Then he turns to tlie di'unkards, and says: "O ye poor drunkards, awake, and howl all ye diinkers of w^ine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth." Then he turns to the assembled crowd: "O citizens of Jeru- salem, O inhabitants of the land; it is a time of mourn- ing. Mourn, O Judah. Yes, mourn as mourns a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth, deeply and bitterly. There is no meal offering or di^nk offering for the house of the Lord. The priests, the Lord's ministers, mourn. The field is wasted, the land mourneth ; for the corn is w^asted, the new^ wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be ashamed, O ye husband- men; howl, O je vinedressers, for the w^heat and for the barley, for the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is withered, and the fig tree languisheth ; the pome- granate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field are withered. Everything is destroyed; joy is departed from the sons of men." Then he turns to the priests who are standing by (v. 13) : " O priests of Judah, gird yourselves and lament : howl, ye 120 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. ministers of the altar, go, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is Avithholden from the honse of your God. Sanc- tify the feast, call a solemn assembly, gather together the old men and all the inhabitants of the land into the honse of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord. For it must be that the terrible day, the day of Jehovah has come. Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?" What a terrible calamity is ours. My friends, he says in these verses, "terrible times have come; see the devasta- tion wrought by these locusts; let the sleepy drunkard arouse himself and mourn ; for there is no more wine. Let the people everywhere mourn; for their land is laid waste. Let the priests mourn, for their occupation is gone. Let all classes turn to God in this day of trouble." Could a calamity be pictured more vividly ? Could any description be made more true? Such a scourge as that of the locusts would seem to have been all that a nation could bear at one time, but (vs. 18, 19) " How do the beasts groan ! The herds of cat- tle are perplexed, because they have no pastui^e; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. O Jehovah, I cry to Thee, for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness." A terrible drouth accompanies the locusts, and between the two, man and beast seem ready to perish from the land. This is the setting and historical occasion of the proph- ecy. In his opinion, this calamity is all a judgment from God. What, now, is to be done in view of all the cir- cumstances? In c. ii, V. 1, we have a summons to prayer and fasting, for the removal of the judgment. "Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for THE PROPHECY OF JOEL. 121 the day of the Lord coineth, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness." Then follows a series of pictures of the army of locusts: "A great people and a strong, there hath not ever been the like, neither shall be any more after them, even to the years of many generations;" and here we have a picture of the army as seen from a distance, and the devastation they accomplished (vs. 1, 5): "The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, and as horsemen, so do they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains, so do they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people, set in array of battle;" we have a picture of the appearance of this mighty army and their effect (vs. 7-11). "They run like mighty men, they climb the wall like men of war, and they march every one on his w^ays, and they break not their ranks. Neither doth one thrust another: they march e\evj one in his path: and they burst through the w^eapons, and break not off their course. They leap upon the city, they run upon the wall, they climb up into the houses, they enter at the windows like a thief. The earth quaketh before them, the heavens tremble: the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars withdi-aw their shining: and the Lord uttereth his voice before his army, for his camp is very great: for He is sti'ong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and w ho can abide it?" And this is a picture of the irresistible powder of the army: nothing can withstand it. Terrible as all this is, close as it is, there is yet time to avoid the judgment. " 'Yet even now^,' saitli the Lord, * turn ye unto me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning: and rend your heart and not vour garments, and turn unto the Lord 122 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. your God, for He is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy, and repenteth Him of the evil. Who knoweth whether He will not return and repent and leave a blessing behind Him, even a meal offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God?' " And again the summons peals forth (v. 15): '^ Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly : gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the old men, gather the children and those that suck the breasts, let the bridegroom go forth out of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the min- isters of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, ' Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach that the heathen should rule over them: wdierefore should they say among the peoples. Where is their God ? ' " What effect does this prayer have upon Jehovah? It is surely offered from the heart. Will it accomplish anything? The writer tells us: "Then was Jehovah jealous for his land, and took pity on his people." And Jehovah answ^ered his people. Will you go back to the beginning with me? First, the scourge of locusts, then the drouth; the summons to prayer and fasting, and, as we may well suppose, the crying, at the prophet's advice, to God ; which is followed by a ready answer. The tenor of the answer is given in c. ii, V. 19. We have a promise that the locusts shall be destroyed. "O Judah, I will take away this re- proach. I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive hian into a land barren and desolate, his forepart into the eastern sea, and his hinder part into the w^estern sea; and his stink shall come up and his ill-savor shall come up." In other words, the lo- custs which had brought such ravages shall be utterly THE PROPHECY OF JOEL. 12:^ destroyed. But that is not all. AVliat ab;)ut the di'outh? In V. 21, seq., there is a promise that abundant rain shall be given : " O land, do not fear, be glad and rejoice ; for the Lord hath done great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field, for the i)astures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig-tree and the vine do yield their strength. Be glad, then, ye childi^en of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God : for He giveth you the former rain in due measure, and He causeth to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the lat- ter rain, in the first month. And the floors shall be .full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm and the caterpillar and the palm- erworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and shall praise the name of the Lord your God that hath dealt wondrously with you : and never again shall ye thus be put to shame. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and there is none else: and never again shall ye thus be put to shame." Will you go back again : the scourge of the locusts, the affliction of the drouth, the di^awing of the people to- gether with prayer and fasting, and the answer and promise that the locusts shall be destroyed, and the promise that I'ain shall come. Simple, natural, and com- plete, and yet not complete. The prophet's word is not finished. Everything up to this time has had to do with surrounding circumstances. Is his work only to secure temporal relief, to furnish temporal aid? Let us see. On the next day, or perhaps during the next week, or perhaps then and there, he continues his work; the ca- lamity is still in their minds, for the promise is one which requires time for fulfillment. The prophet speaks : " My 124 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. fellow countrj^men, I have told you how God will pour out rain upon you, and upon your fields and flocks, and I'elieve you of this drouth. The God who sent you that message has another. Will you listen to it? " 'And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh ; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the serv- ants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit.' " And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit.' " Far-reaching, deep reaching words. What do they mean?* God had promised a pouring out of rain when the people were in great distress, and this promise is of the pouring out of the divine Spirit. The latter stands in close relation to the former; seems, indeed, to have been suggested by it: pouring out of water, pouring out of the Spirit; temporal gift, spiritual gift. There seems to have been a different time for the latter: "And it shall come to pass afterward/' We are told that that pouring out of the Spirit will take place in the future, and yet the time is left very indefinite. In many prophecies we read of the outpouring of water and it means "abun- dance:" hence we may infer that the divine Spirit is to be given in rich fullness. While we have instances of the application of the Spirit to individuals, to prophets, to priests and to kings, we have had before tliis no refer- ence to the application of it to all flesh. What is meant by "all flesh?" Li Gen. vii., 21, it is used to include an- imals, but the term is here limited to men, for the writer adds, "your sons and your daughters," and the "your" can only refer to Judah and Israel. Within the limits of * Cf., especially— Orelli's Old Testament Propliecy. THE PROPHECY OF JOEL. 125 Judah and Israel, the pouring out of the Spirit is uni- versal. There is, of course, a sense in which God's Spirit is for all flesh, but this is not the sense in which it is taken. We must understand, luther, that superhuman Spirit which inspires and gives revelation. Our text tells us that some shall prophesy- and speak, and others shall receive the divine Spirit. It is meant that all shall do both. Kow, what does i-t all mean? That the time is coming when every inhabitant of Judah shall be a prophet, when the nation shall be a prophetic nation, testifying to God and his work; just as elsewhere they are called the priesth' nation, that is, one serving God. But this is the highest and final point to which the church shall reach, and must point to the time when the Messiah shall come. Let us go back again. First, the scourge of the lo- custs: second, the terrible drouth; third, prayer and fasting: fourth, the locusts shall be removed: fifth, rain shall be iDoured out in abundance: and sixth, connected with this, a higher promise of the outpouring of God's Spirit. May we possibly find a second promise, related to the promise 'of the locusts as this of the Spirit was to the outpouring of the water? Let us get a compar- ison: outpouring of water, outpourng of the Spirit; the destruction of the locusts ; now what would be the thing to correspond? It must be the destruction of — Let us wait and see. What would be most advantageous for Israel, in her peculiar circumstances. The destruction of the nations who have been hostile to Israel? The prophet says: "God has delivered you. The locusts shall die and be removed from the land; but, Israel, after all, you have had more severe enemies than locusts. What about these Edomites, Phoenicians, Philistines, who 126 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. have been tormenting you from the day you entered Canaan? What about the Egyptians, who have only recently pillaged your city? He will de- liver you from the locusts, He will also deliver you from all these other enemies." This dark and gloomy time is a type of a still darker period, a period in which (v. 30), ^'I will show v>^onders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall b3 turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come." On that day (v. 32) there will be deliverance in Zion, but only to those who call upon God's name, those who accept the divine Spirit so freely poured forth, (c. iii., 1) : " Be- hold, in that day the nations so hostile, all thes8 shall be brought down into the valley of Jehoshaphat. I will gather all nations, and bring them down into this valley, and plead with them there for My people, and for My heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted My land. They have cast lots for My people, and given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink. Yes, and w^hat are ye to Me, oh Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philis- tia? Will ye render Me a recompense, and, if ye recom- pense Me, swiftly and speedily w^ill I return your recom- pense u^ on your own hi ad. Forasmuch as ye have taken My silver and My gold, and have carried into your temples My gold and pleasant things; the children also of Judah and the childi^en of Jerusalem ye sold unto the sons of the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from the border; behold, I will stir them up out of the place whither ye ,have sold them and will return your recompense upon your head; and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the men of Sheba, to THE PROPHECY OF JOEL. 127 the nation afar off, for the Lord hath spoken it." Be- cause they have done these things, I mil destroy them ; but then, in a wonderful passage, a classic passage (c. iii., 9-13) the prophet gives us a picture: Jehovah, Israel's khig, issues a proclamation to the nations, calling them to the conflict. "O, ye nations, come and gather yourselves together: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Jehovah. Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the vahey of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all nations round about." Take in the scene : God seated on his throne, the enemies on the one side, Is- rael's armies on the other. Now we hear the decision of the Almighty : ^' Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe:" the judgment, to be sure, but a harvest, rather 'than a battle : reaping and treading. We see great mul- titudes of people before Jehovah's awful throne. All nature is in commotion: the Lord roars from Zion, the earth quakes, and the heavens even shake; what is the outcome? The enemies are destroyed, while Jerusalem (v. IT) is saved: God dwelling in her. Jerusalem not onl}^ saved, but holy and inviolable, for strangers shall no more pass through her. And in that day there shall be great abundance and prosperity; the mountaiuB shall di'op down sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk and all the brooks of Judah shall flow with waters, and out of the house of Jehovah shall come forth a fountain to water the waste places of the earth. Thus the prophet now concludes : " My friends, your enemies, Egypt, Edom, Phoenicia, and Philistia, for the violence they have done you, just like the locusts, shall be de- stroyed. But you, O, Judah, shall live forever: you shall be thoroughly pui'ified, and God shall dwell in the midst of you." What is the essential idea? There are three views 128 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. about the book of Joel. We will listen first to one of them. Joel, in extravagant language, predicts a nation- al revival, and, immediately after, carried aAvay with his prophecy, assures his credulous and deluded hearers that all their enemies shall be destroyed. Joel meant well but he and all who heard him were disappointed and deceived. This is one extreme. Here is another. Joel, the inspired prophet of Jehovah, knowing the mind of God, knowing the future, speaks, not of what surrounds the people whom he addresses, not of their condition: he does not think of their needs, but is thinking of the far distant future. This outpouring of the Spirit of which he speaks, was in fact nothing which they experienced in their lives, but it is that strange and miraculous exper- ience of Pentecost. And, as to the judgment of the nations, that, in the prophet's mind, was the judgment day of all the world. Will either of these views satisfy? The third is this: Joel, starting from the temporal blessings following re- pentance, a true historical situation, inspired from heaven, depicts the future, a future growing out of the divine will, with the perils of Avhich he, God's prophet, is thoroughly acquainted; what is this fu- tisre? Blessings in showers, the Spirit of God, for all who call upon God's name: punishment severe and terrible for Isi'ael's enemies, God's enemies, and even for Israel herself, so far as she is not obedient to Jehovah. What was the fulfillment? Joel's predicted blessings for one class, punishment for another, have been fulfilled, not once or twice, but many times. It was fulfilled when God permitted Judah to return from cap- tivity in Babylon and destroj^ed those nations who had so long tormented and distressed his chosen people. It was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, and is fulfilled THE PROPHECY OF JOEL. 120 in every revival of religious interest which divine grace has since that clay sent. It is fulfilled on the other hand in the destruction of Jerusalem, and in every judgment which divine justice has sent, not only on the Jew^s, and on the church, hut on the world. The prophecy is being fulfilled to-day: we live in the midst of its fulfillment. It will be finally fulfilled on that day when all men stand before the jadgment throne. What is the application? There were two main ideas in the book. Let us cast aside now the history, the poet's beautiful description, the orator's eloquent per- iods. Let us crack the shell to find the kernel. If you, my friends, and I, are in trouble ; if affliction of any kind has come upon us, if the day is dark and gloomy, if dan- ger besets us, there is but one thing for us to do, and that is, to turn in prayer to God for relief. If there is drouth, if we have dried up within, if the joy of Chris- tian experience has become a thing of the past, if our hearts have become dead and lifeless things, if we are at the point of spiritual death, there is but one thing to do, to pray for an outpouring of that divine Spirit, which always refreshes and always is ready for the asking; and that, too, in gTeat abundance. Finally, the whole world belongs to one of two classes: those who call upon God's name and acknowledge Him, and those who stand aloof and oppose the progress of the divine king- dom. Shall we remember that it is the teaching, not only of the Old Testament, but of the New as well, that there awaits one class the wrath of the just Judge, sep- aration from a loving and beneficent Father; while, for the other there is stored up every blessing which the wise, omnipotent God can bestow. CHAPTER XI. THE EXISTENCE OF GOD And the Necessity of a Revelation from Him— Address by Rev I. D. Driver— Nebular Theory— Origin of Matter, Motion, Thought— Ne- cessity of Belief in Personal Creator— Man a Trinity— Diflferences in Sceptical Relief— Man only Needs a Revelation— Remarkable Instincts of Animals— A Sceptic's Conversion. All theories of cosmogony admit the eternal existence of something. If we imagine all worlds and every form of life blotted out of existence, thus annihilating space, still vacuity would exist ; but we cannot imagine the an- nihilation of vacuity — and w^ith nothing in existence but vacuity, divested of all forms of life and matter, we cannot imagine the rise of the j^resent order of things. " Out of nothing, nothing comes," is the self-imposed faith of all reasoning beings. All theories accounting for the existence of matter in its present condition and forms begin with something. The "Nebular" theory begins with "fire mist," at which time all the matter now composing the present, solar system was so light and attenuated as to fill all the present space to its utmost boundary. By cooling and contracting a ring was formed and detached from the parent body which marks the present orbit of Neptune, now about one billion and a half miles from the sun. By aggregation and consolidation, the "ring" was formed into a world and is now moving in the same orbit the ring moved at the time of detachment. Meanwhile the resi- dual mass kept cooling and contracting until a vast space existed between the present mass and its first offspring, when, by the same process, another ring was formed and ill due time another child was born into the family of 130 THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 131 worlds. These children, following the example of their great parent, by the same process and under the same laws, gave birth to a satellite, a grandchild of the great parent mass. Still the great parent mass kept cooling, contracting and throwing off worlds, and these worlds, by the same process, throwing off satellites until tne world we inhabit was thrown off from the sun and our moon from our world, when the solar s^^stem w^as com- pleted. This, to sa}^ the least, is a beautiful theory, but fails to account for the fundamental idea, and as Tyndall says, ''leaves the great mj^steries of nature unexi)lored." AVhere did motion come from ? What inaugurated rotar}^ motion ? How account for some planets moving in an opposite direction from others ? If motion was communicated from the parent mass, all must move in the same direction. Can w^e conceive of a body com- municating a motion diametrically the opposite of its own ? For all theories we must have a " beginning," and can w^e have a " beginning '' without a beginner ? Let us see. Where did " fire mist " come from ? What caused it to begin " cooling and contracting ?" We dare not say the " cooling and contracting " were eternal, for if so, it must have been " heating and expanding " eternally, and this w^ould not only carry it beyond the limits of the solar system, but through the universe itself, annihilat- ing every system but its own and destroying the very idea of different systems. Does not the transmutation df species involve the same idea ? But leaving these speculative thoughts, let us return to the eternal existence of something, by whatever name it may be called, whether ^' Cell," '' Protoplasm," '' Fire Mist," '' Force," or, as Herbert Spencer says, '' the uu- 132 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. known and unlvnowable." Let us ask ourselves (by wliateyer name we may call it) — Did it possess intelli- gence ? Willi absolute certainty it did or did not. Which shall we say ? If we say it did, we make it a supreme intelligence — for as there could be nothing superior or anterior to it, we certainly make it supreme. Then if w^e add intelligence, it unquestionably becomes a supreme intelligence. If we say it did not possess intelligence, we must either deny our own intelligence, or admit that it has communicated what it does not pos- sess, which "evolution" itself can not do; for "evolu- tion" can never evolve that which the source did not possess. The theory that grinds out of a mill something that nevQr was in the mill, annihilates the mill and destroys itself. But let us try our minds from another standpoint and ask ourselves three questlors. Where did matter come from? With absolute certainty it was created. or it is eternal. If we say it was created, we admit a personal creator a::d there is an end of the controversy. But if, with ancient Greeks and modern materialists, we say it was eternal, then let us ask the second question — Where did motion come from? Like matter it was created or it is eternal. If motion was created, there is a personal creator. But if we say motion is eternal, let us ask our- selves the third question — Where did thought come from? It, like the t\vo former, was created or it is eternal — which shall we say? It matters not, for either gives the same answer. For, if thought Avas created, there is a personal creator, or if thought is eternal, there is an eternal, thinking being, and either one is God. The only way to get rid of the idea of a supreme intelligence is to deny our own intelligence. The moment that we admit that we ourselves i>ossess intelligence, we are THE EXISTENCE OF GOU. « 133 compelled to admit that it was in tlie cause from ^^lli^•il our own was derived. We have already seen, if tlioiiglit is eternal tlien there must be an eternal, thinking being, and beyond this we are unable to think — for thought reaches its utmost limits in the selr'-evident propositions, that whatever else Gcd could make he could not make himself, for this would make him act before he existed; and whatever else thought ma 3' thiidi, it can never think itself out of existence. Xeither can we find the beginning of life. Ask the Bible for its origin in man, and we are told, ''He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.'' Ask na- ture and science and one word tells the history of life in the animal and vegetable world — ''transmitted." As "life" is eternal so is "force," and the aggregate amount of force can never be increased or diminished. Let the Appenines, the Andes and the Alps be wrapt in one general conflagration and send their lurid volumes of fire and smoke to heaven, and the Eocky Mountains of the once far west participate in the general burning, and the aggregate amount of heat will nut be increased. ''There is no jwwer "but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God." — Eom. xiii., I. B. F. Underwood, of the Boston "Investigator," in a pami^hlet he published, asked, "^^llo made the Chris- tians' God?" Now suppo/se I could answer him and tell. If he had the logical powers of a bright fifteen-year-old boy, he would retort by saying: "If your God was ' made,' he was a creature," and as he Avho made him was superior and anterior to him your God was only a creature, and he who made him was God, and his ques- tion repeated would be overturned by the same answer ad infinitum. AVhat a contrast between his logic and that of the Hebrew prophet: "Before me there was no 134 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES." God formed, neither shall there be after me/' — ^Isa. xliii., 10. This supreme intelligence must be a trinitj in unitj. The evidence of this is found in the fact that man is a trinity in unity, and no theory can describe his powers, relate his history or unfold his develoj^ment without ad- mitting it. As a matter of fact, he contains all the grades of life known in the universe, and comes into existence in the very order laid down by Moses : First — Vegetable life, called by Moses the " herb" or " tree whose seed was in itself." Second — Animal life, called by Moses the " moving creature," Third — Rational life, ''In tlie image of God and after his Idleness." Tyndall, Huxley, Darwin, and all naturalists, speak- ing of his body, call it " man," and the terms they em- ploy are incapable of misconstruction — a " high man," a " low man," a " heavy man," a " light man " — using these terms they have no more reference to his mental powers than they have to a steam engine. Describing his mental powers, they say he is an "educated man," an "illiterate man," a "wise man," a "foolish man." They have no more reference to his body than to the dwelling-house in which he lives. Speaking of his moral powers they call him a "good man," a "bad man," a "pure man," a "vicious man." They now have no reference to his mental or physical powers, as he may be the wisest man in the world and yet the worst man. Now, if I possess these three grades of life which con- stitute me a trinity in unity, I am unable to evade the conclusion that the source whence my existence was de- THE EXISTENCE OF GOD 135 rived must also possess them, or that it has given me something which it itself does not possess, and this, to me, is unthinlwhle. The same result is reached, and the same conclusions forced upon me, when I contemj)late the duration of that unknown and unknowable, that never had a be- ginning and will never have an end. It is measured by the past, present and future. The " past" is of in- finite duration; so is the "future" and the "xH'esent." A procession from the past is co-extensive with the past, hence we see the past is infinite. Time, or the " present," proceeding from it, is just as long as the past and the future is infinite; or the past is eternal, the present has been eternally coming, and the future eter- nal duration. Here are three infinites in one infinite ; three eternals in one eternal — either one is as long as all three, and all thi'ee are no longer than either one. Like an eternal approximation, yet never attaining a given point, the conclusion is forced upon our minds, though in neither case are we able to comprehend it. This eternal existence revealed to Moses, " Eheyeli asher eheyeh," rendered in our English version " I am that I am;" translated by the Septuagint, "Ego emi ho on," — "I am he Avho exists;" by the Vulgate, "Ego Sum Qui Sum," — "I am who I am." The Arabic para- phrases them — " The eternal who passeth not away." — Clarke. These words recorded by Moses, so wonder- fully expressive of a self-existent eternal being, were caught up by the Greek travelers and writers who had a-ccess to the Avj-itings of Moses, and may be found in the works of their leading philosophers. Clement, of Alex- andria, president of that gi^eat school, quotes multi- tudes of Greek authors, whose works perished in that greatest library the world has ever known, all admit- 136 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. ting the aniiqinty of Moses, and confessing they got their knowledge of God from him. Numinius, as quo- ted by Clement, says, 'Tor what is Plato hut Moses spealdng in Attic Greek." Justin Martyr, a converted philosopher, who wrote the first Christian apology to the Emperor of Rome shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem, quotes a vast number of Greek authors to show that all the knowledge the Greeks had of God they got from Moses. They were never contradicted, and their quotations from authors, still extant, show how correct and careful they were. Aristotle says the Greek word "aion" is comi^ounded of '' aei" ahvays, and " on," being, " because God always is." De Cielo, lib. 1, chap. 9 ; and the language, thought and con- struction of his sentence shows that it was taken from Moses. Let me, as a specimen, quote a single passage from Justin Martyr in his "Hortatory address to the Greeks," chap. 25. Speaking of l*lato, he says : " For being charmed with the saying of Moses, *I am the really existing,' and accepting with a great deal of thought the participial expression, he understood that God desired to slgnif^^ to Moses his eternity, and there- fore said, ' I am the really existing,' for the w^ord ex- isting expresses not one time onl}-, but the three : the past, the present, and the future. For when Plato says, ' and which never is,' he uses the verb ' is ' of time indefinite. For the word ' never ' is not spoken as some suppose, of the past, but of future time. And this has been accurately understood by profane writ- ers. And, therefore, when Plato wished, as it were, to interpret to the uninitiated what had been mystic- ally expressed by the participle concerning the eternity of God, he employed the following language: 'God, THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 137 indeed, as the old tradition runs, includes the beginning, and end, and middle of all things.' In this sentence he plainly and obviously names the law of Moses the * old tradition,' fearing, through dread of the hemlock cup, to mention the name of Moses, for he understood the teachings of the man were hateful to the Greeks. * * * And Diodorus says that Moses was the first of all lawgivers, the letters Avhich belong to the Greeks, and which they employed in the writings of their histories, having not yet been discovered." This, and midtitudes of similar passages, written in the first struggles of Christianity with paganism, sliow how deeply God's revelation to Moses entered into the coii- trovers}', and the deep and lasting effect that wonder- ful passage has had on the minds of thinking men frojii the time it was uttered to Moses to the present day. And, after it has been carefully studied for three thousand thiee hundred years, our oAvn minds stagger in confusion as we struggle to grasp the mighty thoughts conveyed in the utterance "I am that I am;" and the compass is no truer to the pole than all succeeding revelation is to this form of speech. When speaking of the existence of God, nine hundred years after this, the prophet says (Psa. xc.-2), "from everlasting to everlasting thou art God." Not thou icast, for that would confine his existence to the past ; nor thou shalt be, for that would include only the future ; but thou art, which, as Justin Martyr says, is of time indefinite, and includes the past, presant and future. Then, six hun(h'ed and fifty years after this, when he was incar- nated and the Jews asked him, " Thou art not yet fifty years old and hast thou seen Abraham?" the very word uttered from the bush one thousand five hundred years before is repeated, "A^erily I say unto thee, before 138 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. Abraham was I am." John yiii., 58. And Paul, de- scribing his attributes (Col i., IT) says: "He is before all things." And in Eev. i., 8, "Who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." Can any one believe that, without supernatural aid, a succession of writers for one thousand six hundred years expressed such a thought in language that de- scribes an existence that includes past, present and fu- ture ; or, as another one expressed it, the " High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity?" Isa. Ivii., 15. As soon could I believe that a ship, without a pilot, made its way from, the ocean one thousand five hun- tb'ed miles up the Mississippi river. Paine, in his "Age of Eeason," says — "I believe in one God and no more." ]No Christian, Jew^, or Mo- hammedan ever believed anything else. Neither did Mr. Paine believe that because man is possessed of a mental, moral and physical nature he is therefore three men, but that it takes the three to make one man. Having briefly examined some of the evidences of the existence and nature of God, the next thought that naturally suggests itself is this : a natural neces- sity for a revelation from Him. An affirmative answer settles the question, for no natural necessity ever ex- isted, nor can exist, where theie is nothing to meet it. There is no necessity for ijrolonging the life of a beast, a bird or a fish, or extending their existence be- yond the present, as every object of their being is an- swered and all progress impossible. Nothing useful could be effected by giving them a future state of exis- tence, w^hen all their aspirations, attributes and powers have reached their full development in this. The first beaver that built a dam made as good a one as a beaver can ever build. No bird will ever build a better nest than THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 139 the first one made. Every creature, animal and vege- table, must have opportunity and time to develop its growth, or mature its powers, and every creature but man does that in this world. Man alone is out of proportions. Let him live in this world until he has learned its geology, chemistry, and the material composing its solid contents, and he is still thirsting for knowledge. His labor and research have only increased his powers and x^repared him for greater achievements. With instruments of his own devising he discovers Avorlds scattered through in- finite spa«e, W'hile hi.s aspirations and capabilities are as limitless as the space into Avhicli he looks, or eternal duration which he contemi)lates. But, without a revelation as a moral being, all his capabilities and powers are worthless, as he possesses no faculty by which he is able to determine what is right or wrong, as we shall see in our second lecture. Give to man a " rule of action " and no limit can be set to his progress; but a perfect "rule" he never can make. Give him a " seed" and he can develop and multiply it forever, but he never can make a " seed." Plan's nature demands a law, and under a "perfect kiw^ " his deathless energies will expand forever. Deny him this law^, and he is the most helpless creature that God has made. Every other creature is a law^ unto itself, and needs nothing higher. Without a line, square, rule, or plumb, each can construct its ow^n habitation^ Without a compass, quadrant, or chronometer, each can traverse the seas or migrate from clime to clime. The sight of sea-fowls quieted the mutinous spirit of Columbus' sailors. Says a historian — "some appeared to be weary and settled on the masts of his ships ; here they remained all night, but in the morning they de- 140 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. parted and flew to the west, when the most lively joy filled the hearts of the seamen." The birds followed their own instincts ; Columhus follow^ed his compass, and without it he never would have again seen his native country. Take from the navigator of to-day his nautical in- struments and the stupid booby that settles on the mast of his ship to refresh its weary frame can make its way to land and leave him to perish at the mercy of the winds and Avaves. The sea-gull that follows his craft, to pick up the crumbs of bread that fall from his table, always keeps its reckoning in itself — but man can never depend on himself alone for guidance. A law or an instrument is his guide, and his faith in follow- ing them determines his course. How forcibly these ideas are impressed by all the teachings of Holy Scrip- ture. For example — "Yea, the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times, the turtle, the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming, but my people know not the judgment of their God." The bee, without compass, square or line, can so shape his cell that the mathematician demonstrates it loses the least space. — Brought overland, a distance of two thousand miles, over mountains and deserts, shut out from all communication with the world around, when, at intervals, the emigrant stopped to rest his teams and wash his clothes, confident of the capabilities of the little creature, he opened their habitation and let them go. Yet, in this strange country to which they were brought in darkness, they were perfectly at home ; and among the hundreds of strange substances, eight or ten thousand of them made several selections in a day, yet, not in a single instance, is one deceived ; and in perfect confidence Ave eat the fruits of their labor, THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 141 involving millions of selections, with a definite under- standing that if one made a mistake our life would pay the penalty. Yet we eat ^^itllout exciting a fear. We can trust the instinct of the bee, but we can not trust the God -who gave it the instinct; or, perhaps, deny th^ relation between cause and effect by doubting his existence. But we have not yet stated the full measure of the little creature's capabilities. Thousands of miles from whence it was born, and all the way brought in darkness, it le.ives its home in search, of wealth, which it never fails to distinguish from every poisonous thing, and when it has procuied its precious burden, rises in a circle and when it takes its course, you take its bear- ing by your compass and follow it and you will strike its habitation ; and yet, our naturalists tell us a bee can see but a few feet. All animals are supplied by nature with means of escape and modes of i^rotection. To one is given a tooth, to another, a sting, others are clothed with quills, fleet- ness, color, etc. ; but no creature is put in a helpless condition — and. just as exposure increases and dangers increase, modes of i^rotection are added and ways of escape are multiplied. Take, for instance, the deer. To all carnivorous ani- mals, able to destroy him, he is a special object of desiie, while man, with his wonderful instruments of destruction, destroys him for food and sport ; yet, see how nature protects him. What fleetness and capabil- ity for endurance. How keen his sight. How shari> his hearing. How acute his smell. And, in addition to all these, nature comes around four times a 3'ear and paints him a new color, so that he is always kept the color of the objects among which he moves. i^ow, while all " natui-al necessities" are met in all 14:2 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. the realms of nature (and without it no creature could subsist), is man, the highest necessity in the universe whose nature demands a "rule of action," overlooked? Is there nothing to meet the demands of his nature? The very assumption is unaccountahly straoge; es- pecially when we consider that the assumption is con- tradicted by every fact in nature. For many years I have believed that all rejection of the Bible, as a revelation from God, was either the result of misinterpretation or a diseased moral na- ture. I was le(Lto this conclusion in the early part of my ministry by an incident which occurred, which is still talked of by those who were then and are still sceptical. A naturalist and a man of culture, who was traveling on this coast, was taken sick in the city where I was stationed and went to the hospital for treatment. After some time it became evident that he must die. One evening, after dark, the physician in charge of the hos- l)ital came to my ho-use and said, "Mr Driver, I waift you to come and see that sick stranger; he is going to die. I am not a professor of religion, but it makes me feel bad to hear him talk — he does not believe in the Bible or Christianity." I had heard of the man's ability and felt reluctant to go, but a sense of duty impelled me and I went with the doctor. Seldom have I met a finer-looking man, or felt a kinder grasp of the hand, than he gave me. Seating myself beside his bed, I said : " Sir, you seem quite ill." Without hesitancy or apparent concern, he said : "Yes; I am going to die." I asked, "Have you the consolations of religion to comfort you?" THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 143 He replied: "I do not believe in the Bible, nor the re- ligion it teaches. Nature is the altar at which 1 have worshipped; she has been my guide; her teachings I obey." I began to offer him evidences. He stopped me by saying: ''You are a well man; if I were well I could answer all your arguments." • This, of course, disarmed me, and 1 saw if I could not move his moral nature I had better say no niore. 1 said: '^ You speak of nature as a guide." He said, " Yes; she is infallible." Looliing deep into his beautiful blue eyes, I said to him, "•!, too, profess to have been educated in the same school; is it not strange that, receiving our instruction from the same teacher, we should arrive at opposite conclusfons? Certain! 3^ one or the other of us has mis- interpret(:d, or the teacher has deceived us." He said, "It is not in the teacher." I replied, " The mistake, then, is in me o-r you. Now% is it worth Avhile to compare opinions? If I have mis- interpreted, I know it has been honestly done, and I have a sincere desire to correct it." He said, "Tliat is right; I feel so, too." He looked very earnestly at me, and I asked, "In all your researches have yoir ever foirnd a creature whose nature was opposed to its api)etite?" After some hesitation, he said, "No; such a creature can not exist. With a carnivorous stomach and a her- bivorous appetite, it could only live until it starved to death, and propagation would be imi)ossible." "Are there any except! orrs to this law?" He said, "Xo; none in the animal or vegetable world." 144 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. I said, "You think you are going to die?" "Yes." "And that death will terminate your existence?" "Yes" "Now, answer me — have you not an appetite for some- thing you have not got?" "Yes; I want to live." "How long do you want to live?" Looking confused, he said, "I can't tell you." I said, "You must look to the utmost limits of desire and tell me where it is." With animation he said, " I can't." "May I assist you?" "Yes." "Suppose you could now be assured that you shall live until a creature should come from a remote part of the universe and carry a grain of sand and deposit it, and in a thousand years return and continue to do so at these intervals until the last gi'ain of sand and drop of water composing the solid contents of the globe should be removed, and then this wall now before you should be met in ceasing to act, think and be forever, would that meet the demands of your appetite?" He said, "No." "Do you know^ of anything that would?" In gi'eat bewilderment he said, "No." "And yet you say that everything in nature teaches there must be. Now, I am not going to say that my Bible is true or its religion is true, but would this meet the demands of your appetite?" — and I quoted Christ's words, John vi., 51 : "I am the living bread which came down from heaven ; if any man eat of this bread he shall live forever" — and his eyes flashed like fire, and he said, "Yes, it would — I have misinterpreted nature; " THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 145 and he asked me to read the Bible and pray with him, I stayed with him till late at night and wonderful was the change. I never saw him again alive. This was nearly twenty-nine years ago, and hundreds of times have I thought of the stranger, and, as I write, I distinctly remember his face and anxious look. And but a few years ago I vras riding with a sceptical gen- tleman of high intelligence, Avho lived in the city at the time of the occurrence; he spoke of the incident about which the doctor had told him, and said it had always been a subject of great perplexity. How strange, when we look at man, the onl}^ race of intelligence inliabiting our globe, and the only creature whose nature opposes its appetite; I say, how strange, when we see him so bewildered as to crush out of his own nature and do all he can to destroy in others a desire for the very thing for which he would give the material wealth of the universe if that wealth were all his own! Can a natural necessity exist that is unpro- vided for? We have seen it can not. ''Ask now the beasts and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air and they shall tell thee; and the lishes of the sea shall declare unto thee." — Job xii., 7, 8. Man, the highest of all natural necessities, can not be an exception — and in our next lecture we shall see that in the Bible that necessity is met. CHAPTEE XII. FOUR GREAT RELIGIOUS CERTITUDES. Address by Bishop C. D. Foss— Not Lunar Politics— A personal God the Need of Philosophy and Humanity— The Bible His Revela tion— Christ Reconciling the World to Himself— Salvation by Christ —His Resurrection Power in Us— Immortality— Bishop Matthew Simpson— Visions of Departing Souls. I propose to speak this morning of four great religious certitudes. Is the moon inhabited by people like our- selves? The moon has certain well understood relations to this w^orld, but who ever thought it w^orth his while to inquire into its politics? Yet one of the great mas- ters of the skeptical thought of our time, Prof. Huxley, styles all the sober speculations of Christian i>hilosoi)hy as akin to lunar politics. Has it, then, come to this, in almost the last decade of this nineteenth century of grace, when the Christian religion dominates the brain, w^ealth, science and philosophy of the w-orld, when all the foremost nations (including, recently, Japan) date their letters from the birth in the manger at Bethlehem, when courts are sanctified by an oath taken in the name of Christ, are we to be told by the speculation of the time that the majestic forces which constitute this movement are akin to the politics of the moon? From such blighting agnosticism, let us turn to delight our souls with four mountain peaks, central and eternal, of religious certainty. First, I point you beyond the clouds of man's sin and the mists of man's unbelief to the sunlit and eternal truth of a personal God. My object this morning is not so much attempted demonstration as exhibition or i)roclamation of the truth. The truth of a personal God is the great and funda- 146 FOUR GREAT RELIGIOUS CERTITUDES. 147 mental need of philosophy and of human life, the one profoundest want of man's brain and of his heart. The great masters of skeptical thought of fliis time, after the profoundest investigations into the science of the Imown and the probable, come back with the awe-struck air of men who have heard footsteps which they cannot trace, and the rustle of roj^al robes whose wearer is un- known to them. Thus they go a step farther than Ath- ens, which worshiped the ''unknown God," wliile they recognize merely the "Uidmown." I am reminded of some doubters by the royal psalmist: "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God;" as though only a fool could say it, and he only in his heart. Lord Bacon, great in logic, and not mean in philosophy, said: "I would rather believe all the fables of the Talmud and the Koran, than that this universal frame is with- out a mind." The great want of philosophy is God; and, if of philosophy, how much more of the great, aching brain and heart of the world, which in every age has cried out, "As the hart panteth after the waterbrooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God." The one en- deavor of the Bible is to satisfy this need by making God knoA^m as man. I turn back to the beginning, and read: ''In the beginning, God." Philosophy has found no starting place, and never will, but there. Ever^^- where through the book, tliis is God's perfect supply' of the profoundest need of the human heart and the human brain, as manifested in the human Ufe. Moses is sent to deliver Israel. God tells him, "Go and say, I AM hath sent me unto you." The one need of Israel was the revelation of the eternally existent and all-seeing God. Elijah leads the prophets of Baal into the grove, and 850 of them cry to their false gods from morning till even- ing. Then he puts on an altar a bullock and nine barrels 148 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. of water, and cries to God, "Let it be known this day that Thou art God." It w^as all of Israel's want, and all of God's revelation. Listen to David, as he strings his harp, "O Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations." So, through all the book, from begin- ning to end, the one need of man is God, and the one rev- elation of the Scriptures is God. Beyond this mountain peak, I see another, at first sight a little lower, but on looking farther, of the same height; Christ reconciling the world to Himself. No fact is is- olated! it is entangled in the meshes of circumstances, and cannot be taken out without dislocating the idea of the whole. For example, an acorn implies the oak, with its trunk, branches and leaves. The oak implies the earth in which it stands, the gravitation that holds it in its place, the rain and wind and snow, and these imply the solar system. Two or three years ago, the tallest shaft in the Avorld was dedicated at the capitol of this country. Why was it erected, and what does it mean? The greatest living Englishman intimates what it means, when he says : '' If I ever were shown a number of pedes- tals erected for the statues of the men most celebrated in all time for nobility and purity, and should have jiointed out among them one higher than all the rest, and be called to indicate the one to occupy that, I would have said at any time within 45 years, and I now say, George Washington." How do you prove that George Washing- ton ever existed? That monument proves it; that city proves it; this day (Fourth of July) proves it; the exis- tence of this nation proves it. Archbishop Whately, in his comments on Bacon's es- says, has a most suggestive line of thought, which he elaborates more fully in a tract called "Historical Doubts Concerning Napoleon Bonaparte." It were easier FOUR GREAT RELIGIOUS CERTITUDES. 140 to blot out Napoleon than Jesus Christ, and ^Yater- loo than Calvary. Did George Washington live, and do the 22nd of February and the Fourth of July prove it? How about that other anniversary, as dear to England as Amei-ica, and destined to be the greatest day in all the earth, observed by gifts from parents to children, to commemorate God's gift to man? Why is that observed at all? Because of Christ? Who is He? Suppose that He were just now to come — as come He will, we know not when — and take his stand right there, and, making Himself evident to us, should say: "Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" If I might be your spokesman, I would have to say, "Blessed Master, some say that Thou art a myth," unless my tongue should cleave to the roof of m^^ mouth, so that I could not utter a word; "Some say that Thou art a fancy portrait, and that a picture has turned the world on its hinges." And then, should He go on to say, "Whom say ye that I am?" oh, now, if I might be your happy spokesman, on my bended knee and with streaming tears, I w^ould cry, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." For He has outlived Himself, outlived death and the grave. There is one grave whose ashes have never grown cold; nay, that never had any ashes in it. There is one grave that is the Mecca of Christendom. Why? Let me tell you by an historical instance. In the midst of the pride and power of Julian the Apostate, w ho w^as a sagacious statesman and a mighty general, one of his w^arriors said to a Christian : " What is the Galilean carpenter doing now ? " This Christian had the wit to answer, " The Gal- ilean carpenter is building a coffin." It was only a few months before that coffin was done, and in it was laid Julian the Apostate and with him the last attempt to set 150 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. up polytheism. It is just about a hundred years since Voltaire, in the pride of his power, said : "By the end of the eighteenth century, Christianity will be a thing of the past.'' The Galilean was even then building another coffin, and in it was soon lying the forai of Voltaire, and beside him the old French monarchy; and the cen- tury ended, and Cliristianity di',1 indeed become a thing of the past more than ever, and demonstrated that its career was in the future. The very room in which Vol- taire made these predictions has long since been a de- pository of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Men in their middle age remember when Napoleon the Little rose in the pride of his heart, and boasted that his soldiers should ride through the streets of Berlin, and the pope ai>proved his plan. He started, and in six weeks the Galilean carpenter had built another coffin, and in it was laid the contemptible form of Napoleon the Little, and beside him the temporal power of the pope, never to rise again. This Galilean carpenter has quite a way of build- ing coffins for his enemies, and weaving wreaths of amar- anth for his friends. Who is he? " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, Thyself very man and very God." Close beside this mountain of eternal certainty, I see another from which the prospect is very glorious: sal- vation. In the epistle to the Philippians, the third chap- ter and the eighth and following verses,we read: "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ." And then he describes Christ: "That I may know Him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made comformable unto his death." The picture looks like the beginning FOUR GREAT RELIGIOUS CERTITUDES. 151 of a climax, and then another terrible anti-climax. Oh, to know Him, hoAV blessed, and the power of his resur- rection, which does not mean the resurrection from the grave, but his resurrection power in us. The same power which raises Him from the grave is the power which raises everj^ penitent sinner from the grave. Would Paul care anything about salvation by rose- water? "I must be a new creature; old things must pass away, and all things must become new." When 30U look into his life, and see what he had to do, you see why for him no salvation was of any account except a deep, strong, powerful salvation. He called himself the chief of simiers, he was the greatest of sufferers, he was the most heroic of workers. What use would there have been in Paul's case for any salva- tion that had not a place in it for perils innumerable, on the sea, and, worst of all, among false brethren? Yet 3^ou cannot imagine him as a defeated and unhappy man. Summing up the whole case, he says, " In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.'' More than that, he absolutely shows you that the hard- est things were the softest, that the. worst things were the best. I am glad that the commentators have not been able to find out what that thorn in the flesh was; for everyone with a trouble may now take courage from his words. He prayed to God three times — that means three hundred times, I am sure; no man who prays at all would stop at three times — no such prayer is ever unanswered. God transformed it into a blessing. And now, the best thing about the Apostle was that thorn. "When I am weak, then am I strong." But that was a single incident. What was the outcome of all? Ask him, as he sits there in that dungeon, in the Mamertine Prison, a deep place, with only a ray of light. He stood and lay about there 152 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. for three years, most of the time with a chain on his hand and a soldier watching by his side. I notice that his face glows with rapture, and, as he writes, his pen al- most catches fire in the speed of its flight. Blessed apos- tle, what of the outcome? " That is just what I am writ- ing: 'I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, my departure is at hand ; henceforth a crown.' " Is that all you see? A crown? For I see a man waiting with a sword just outside the city gate, to take off your head. Do you hear anything in particular, Paul? For I hear the crunching of bones and groans in that den of beasts. " Since you speak of it, I do hear the welcome of innumerable harpers, harping to welcome me home." TJiat was the salvation which Paul had, and in the joy and light of which he steadily lived, and which in God's name I commend to you. One more mountain peak: immortality. I take it that is what the apostle refers to when he says: ^'If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." I believe in the resurrection of the body, and yet in this passage, I think he refers, not to that, but to that consummation of grace, the resurrection of the dead, when soul and body shall his glorious image wear. Let me fasten your eyes on this mountain peak of immor- tality by these two thoughts : first, the instinct of im- mortality that is in us; secondly, the sense of eternal things which God sometimes grants to the departing soul. Life and immortality are brought to light, and, now that the gospel has come and its radiance fills the earth, there is no man anywhere except the low^est and basest savage who has not the instinct of immortality in him. Here is a man brought up in the mountains, who sees a ship first on the stacks just ready to be launched. Walk- FOUR GREAT RELIGIOUS CERTITUDES. 15'5 ing around it and looking at it, he sa} s : " What a queer house, with its roof at tlie bottom and its lioor on top, but what a large and strong house." Then, climbing the ladder beside it, and coming down into its cabin, and see- ing places for beds and tables, he says: "And yet it is a house. But what are these coils of rope on the deck, and these masses of canvas and these tall posts, reaching up 150 feet? What a queer house. It was never built to sta}^ here." Even as he says it, the master comes out and knocks away the props, and the great house leaps into the ^ea and prepares for the voyage. He says : " I told you so : this house was never built to stay here." Look at a typical man. Bishop Matthew Simpson, of blessed memory. Seventy years ago, he was a little red- headed baby in his mother's arms, homely to all the world, but lovely in her eyes. He was nursed and tended till be became a tall, homely, gaunt, and lank young man, with a squeaky voice, but feeling in his heart that strange tremor of divine impulse which those who have felt it can never forget. He declared that he never could become a minister, for he knew that his friends said he had no voice and he never could commit anything verbal- ly to memory. But the voice sounded louder and louder, till he felt that he musft speak to his mother about it, though he knew that it would break her heart. When he told her, with downcast e^^es, she said : " Oh, Matthew, I have been waiting to hear you say this every hour since you were born." And then he took the silver trumpet of the gospel, and put it to his lips, and blew it on three continents, perhaps to more living men than any Ameri- can. In 1873, he was just able to hold up thin hands, and pronounce over the assembly of the church the apos- tolic benediction, and in seventeen days he was notj for 154 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. Grod took him. Where is he? Is he anywhere? Ye winds, have ye heard him pass? Ye stars, have ye seen his ascending flight ? Oh, Matthew Simpson was never built to stay here. He was built to move out into the eterni- ties, and so were you and T. This instinct. is in us, div- inely given. A final word concerning the sense of eternal things which sometimes comes to the departing spirit. If there is in this audience a spiritualist w^ho expects to get any word of aid or comfort from me, let me disabuse his mind. I believe that whole thing is nine-tenths deception and one-tenth devil. I do not put it in my creed, much less attempt to force it into anybody else's creed; but I think that now and then God gives to the departing spirit, be- fore it leaves the flesh, such evident revelation as fills it with a certain knowledge of that into which it is just about to enter. Let me give an authentic incident in the recent history of the Church of England. One of its prominent bishops labored, with a sister, in South Africa for years, a faith- ful missionary. Two sisters remained at home. The last one of the sisters lay dying in England of slow consumption. One day, she turned her face suddenly towards the wall and said: "Oh, there is Charlie and there is Liz," referring to the brother and sister gone before. Her eyes closed and she was not, for God took her. All the quasi-philosophies cannot prove that it was not a real revelation from her Father. Neither can I prove that it was. But is not it like Him? There are not many saints who cannot give illustrations of the same thing. God, Christ, salvation, immortality. Brothers, do you believe them? Has God made them known to you? Ye ministers of the Scriptures, Christian artists and godly FOUR GREAT RELIGIOUS CERTITUDES. 155 laymen, in whatever walks in life; tell them unto men. Oh, there is a God, there is a Christ, there is a salvation, there is a glorious immortality. Come to Jesus to-day' and you shall mount this glorious peak of an assured present salvation, and presently your feet shall stand on the shining peak of a happy immortaMtv. CHAPTER Xni. CONFORMITY TO THE IMAGE OF CHRIST. Sermon by Bishop M. E. Baldwin— Tendency to Think More of Justifi- cation Than of Christ— God has Only One Design for Man, Christ's I ma 2:0— God's Way Always Selection— Consciousness of Sin and Inability to Represent God the Difficulties Which Encumbered the Levitical Priesthood— Claim Your Full Privileges as Heirs of God— The Vine and the Branches— Christ the Head of Every Man— Man His Purchased Possession— We are to Show our Likeness to Christ in This World. An artist once painted a picture of a young child, called it " Innocence," and people w^ere struck with its great loveliness. Years rolled away and finally the artist was requested to paint a comi^anion picture of vice. So he went to a jail and selected the most for- bidding, repulsive looking man he could find, painted him, and put his picture up by the side of " Innocence." It afterwards transpired that this man, in whose face w ere portrayed the dark passions of the human heart, was the same being whose picture was painted as "Innocence," when a child, though there was nothing to show that it was the same person. When w^e walk amidst the people of this earth, we meet many persons of so malignant character that w^e ask. Where, in these people — might we not ask. Where, in us — is the blessed image of Christ? It is not what we profess, the symbol that we acknowledge, but the likeness, the glorious image of the dear Lord. Some one said with great pow^.r, that, because man had lost the image of God, God sent his Son to show what it w^as. There was God himself : it was in that image God had made man, but we had lost the likeness. Thus Christ said : *'Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast 156 THE IMAGE OF CHRIST. 157 thou not known Me, Philip?" "He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father. How sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?" Our lesson this morning is concerning the reproduc- tion of that image in our life. We are created unto holiness. The tendency of Christians is to think more of justification, and peace of mind, than that God has called us to the likeness of Jesus Christ. You meet many who are comparativel}^ satisfied : you say to them, "Is your spiritual life what it might be? Are you like St. John, or Peter, or Paul?" "No. But then," they say, "we were not called to that. It may be given to some men to grow mightily in grace, but it is not to us. We know that our names are written in the book of life, that we are justified from all things by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We cannot say much more." Let us note the following facts. When we come into the kingdom of grace, the first thing we ought to know is what God wishes us to be. When you start on a journey it is a self-evident propo- sition that you ought to know where you are going. When you come into the kingdom of grace, you are not your own, you are bought Avith a price, and the question is not, what you think, or what others think, but to know what God thinks and to know what God wants you to be and to do. Suppose we go into a sculptor's studio, and see a great variety of stones. We say, " What are you going to do with that stone ? " "I am going to make a dancing figure out of this." "I am going to make something else out of that, and, last of all," he says, "Here is a beautiful piece of Parian marble. Out of this I am going to make the most per- fect figure that I ever made. It is the most costly mate- rial, pure Parian marble, and I shall exhaust all my pow- 158 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. ers to reproduce the figure of some national hero. When complete, this figure is to stand in the halls of the senate for the admiration of nations : it is to be my master- piece.'^ When I come into the Lord's studio, I find He has only one design, that we should be made in the likeness of Jesus Christ. In Komans viii. you see that this is God's ultimate desire: "Whom He did foreknow, them He also did predestinate, to be con- formed to the image of his Son." If you should go to the kingdom of glory to-day, and open the great book of God, you would find your own name there, and after that name, would be written these words : " To be conformed to the image of my tlear Son." Not the image of Paul, however grand, not that of any sanc- tified men that we may meet in our pilgrimage here ; but that of the dear Lord, that Holy One. You may say that the materials of your heart are vicious — and they are not single in that — ^but be assured that, if Thorwaldsen could not make a masterpiece of art out of loose sandstone, God can make a being that will shine like a star before his throne, out of the poor, weary, burdened sinners that his grace calls to the hallowed feet of Jesus Christ. The materials form no obstruction to that heavenl}^ architect. "I am the potter," God says, " ye are the clay." And, dear young men, look up, be of good cheer. This is your privi- lege, that God is going to make out of you something like Christ. His ultimate object is that you shall be conformed to the image of his Son. Kemember, God's way of working is not like ours. When we come to the Lord, we are to be subject to his ways, and God's way has always been selection. He took Abraham and brought him into his own way. When He had brought Israel out of Egypt and revealed THE IMAGE OF CHRIST. 159 himself, having first cliosen tlie firstborn of Israel, He afterwards took the Levites as his peculiar treas- ure. Of these Levites God took onlv the house of Aaron to be priests. Those two houses of Eleazar and Itha- mar had the priesthood Avholly in themselves. No other families had the right of access to the temple, and the high priests only had the right of entering the Holy of holies : the priesthood were confined to the vail. Tavo difiiculties alwaj^s encumbered the national priest- hood. First, while they were to act as mediators be- tween God and men, they were encumbered with sin. There ^'ere legal ablutions, and we know there were priestly sacrifices, the burnt offering, the peace offer- ing, the sin offering and the trespass offering, but these were for the purifying of the flesh. There was a constant recognition of that awful thing, sin. These legal aT)lutions required incessant repetition, from the consciousness of being burdened with sin. The second difficulty was this: when Aaron stood in the immediate i)resence of the Shechinah of God's glory, he was only man, and sinful man at that, and there- fore only represented man. A mediator should repre- sent both parties, God and man. So, wdien Aaron came back to his o\nti fellow-creatures, he needed to represent God, but only represented man. They saw liim as he Ava>s, onl}' poor humanity, though exalted. There were two great desiderata; first, a being with out sin : and secondly, a being that when he stood before God would represent man, and when he stood before man would represent God. That was what they waited for and what the Melchisedec priesthood w^as to bring in. Christ the high priest did represent A\'hal man needed and what God needed, and when, there- fore, Jesus Christ stood before God, it was as sin- 160 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. less man, the One that loved both man and God. There He stood, the one faultless, holy One, representing, not our fallen humanity, but perfect humanity. When He stood among men, He said : '^ He that seeth me seeth the Father." St. Peter tells us (I Peter ii., 5) that we are a spiritual priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, and this is the priesthood of the family of heayen. All God's people are priests, but in the like- ness of Jesus Christ. How ? First, the true priests are God's redeemed ones, the sinless ones, whose sins the precious blood of Christ has taken away. And secondly, there are those that are made partakers of the Divine nature, not merely those whose sins are forgiven, but those in whom God dAvells. There is the humanity and the divinity. This divinity constitutes likeness to Jesus CJirist. He was both God and man, and God's children are made partakers of the Divine nature. This ghows us there cannot be justification by faith and an unholy life. There cannot be rejoicing in infin- ite atonement which the Lord Jesus has made, and the idleness of walk which we so often find among j^ro- fessed believers. I would therefore draw your atten- tion to the design of God in this matter. In Eph. i., 4, we read this glorious truth, that God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Claim your full privileges. In temporal things men are beginning to do this. Suppose the son and heir of some wealthy deceased man were told by certain trustees that he w^as left with only |300 or |400 a year, and that the rest was left in their hands in trust; he would go along on that |300 or |400 only so long as he was obliged to. Some one tells him that the whole THE IMAGE OF CHEIST. IGl fortune is left to him, and he goes to some lawyer s office and asks to see his father's will. As he reads the will, the whole truth comes out and he sa3'Sj " I have been living on |500 a year when I have a hundred thousand. I am going to come into possession of what I have, and live proportionately to m^^ wealth." Thous- ands of us are yet livinc: on |200 or |300 that might live on the exceeding riches of God's glor}^ In start- ing; upon your spiritual life, put it down as the great axiom : This is what God has given me, and this is what I am going to claim, that I shall be like Christ Jesus. How are we to be like Christ ? First, we are made like Christ, as branches of the living vine. Our Lord's great lesson in John xv. is about the vine and its branches. Xotice that He says: "I am the vine, ye are the branches." If you look at the branches of a A'ine, you observe that the bark is the same, the leaves are the same, and the fruit is the same. There is the closest resemblance between the branches and the vine. Some Christians reduce your sidritual temperature to zero. They have comparatively little or no spirituality, and, worse, they are worldly. Christians with irritable tempers — ^when you go into a man's office, and he says a great many sharp and disagreeable words, and as you go down stairs, some one says, "That is a prom- inent Christian up there ; " it may be, but it is not ap- parent. If I brought you a slip of a log, and said I had found it growing on a vine, you would have said : " I think there is a mistake, this is oak, and the leaves are ragged like those of an oak. We are not accus- tomed to see that kind of branch on a vine." I can believe that that oak grew on a vine before I can believe that some men and women that I have met grow on 162 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. Jesus Christ. You are to be like the vine Jesus Christ. Suppose YOU had to walk with a stranger from here to North Adams, and it turned out he was John the Evangelist. When you got to North Adams, you would say, "I don't know who that person was, but I never met anyone like him. It was just like talking to Christ. He was so full of Christ that it was all Christ." " Well, why ? " " Because he w^as like Christ." When they stooped and took up boulders to kill Stephen, he looked up and said : '^ Father, forgive them," Some modern Christians v/ould have stooped and taken up boulders to throw them back. I have heard Christians say, " I will cs^rry this through all the courts of the law ; " I would just like to know where the image of Jesus Christ is. Christ prayed for his murderers, and the man that is like Christ is the only one that we can recognize that image in. We may despise him, but those only are like Christ who will give their backs to the smiters and their cheeks to them that pluck out the hair. If there is one characteristic that people despise, it is that character called "meek." People say, "that is want of spirit." It is not easy to be like Christ, there are not many like Christ, but those that are Like Him exhibit His character, because the vine imparts fts nutriment, its sap, its vigor and its nour- ishment to the branches. And, if you and I are grow- ing in Christ we shall be like Christ, because His image and His body will be ours. Next, Christ is the head. In I. Cor. xi., St. Paul says that the head of every man is Christ. That is not an easy truth to grasp. It means the sovereignty of Christ, and we like to have our own way, and to find when we rise in the morning that we are our own masters, "The head of every man is Christ." What THE IMAGE OF CHRIST. 163 is the meaning of that word ''head,'- the KecpaXrj sx^oken of here? There are different kinds of heads. The ruler of a nation is not the head spoken of here. The head of this nation is its president, whom many of you have not seen. Is Christ the head in another sense? Yes, Clirist is the head of every spiritual man. It means what your head is. The brain is the source of power and of life. If you say, " I will rise and go out of the room," you don't consider every motion, how to rise and how to put one foot forward. And when you are in the games this afternoon, you don't think how to run, you merely decide that you will. It is the sovereignty of the brain. The head of every man is Christ. I had died with Clirist. When Christ died, 1 was crucified with Him, and I have given up myself, and my head is Christ. You often hear about for- eign missions and home missions, but what I want you to realize is this sovereignty of the Lord Jesus. Go to Him and say, " Lord, Thou art my head, tell me what is Thy way. I Avill go where Thou tellest me. I am not mine, I am thine." The more you get out of yourself into Christ, the more power you will have, the more you will be like Christ. Here comes in the dif- ference: People say, "I am advised to go here," and "I am advised to go there," and "I would just like to do this." Y^es, we would like to do this, but it is just to bCj as was said yesterday, the ddvXo^Irjaov XpiardL\ First, the Lord Jesus Christ w^as the servant, the 6dv Xo^ or slave of God. The great apostles recog- nized their bondage to the will of God. There were three characteristics in the Latin slaves. First, they were bought with a price. A slave came to his Eoman master in the morning and did not think the day was his at all, but understood it w^as his master's, and 1C)4 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. said : " What is thy will ? " Again, it was purchased possession, it was unquestioning. Thirdly, it was a life-long service. Try to get this thought, that, being purchased Avith the blood of Christ, you are the pur- chased possession, the peculiar treasure of God: sec- ondly, tliat you are to render unquestioning obedience ; and, thirdly, that it is a lifedong service. Christ was among us as one that served, and in his life He was the servant of God. "My servant shall deal pru- dently, he shall be exalted and extolled very high." It is not an easy thing, but it is a duty of Christians, as well as a joy, to go to the Master early in the morning. Your servants come to you in the morning. They want to liuow your orders for the day. Go to God early in the morning and ask Him to mark out the day. We are not enough with God. We ought to wait ui)on Him, and await his will, and realize that the head of every man is Christ. I was once with one who was to go through a very severe operation in a hospital. I was much more agi- tated than the person who was to suffer, and I was struck by the calmness of the sufferer in the awful hour Avlien life and death seemed to be just in the balance. She had left it all with God, and felt that the head of every man was Christ. If you are driving your own chariot, if you are driving the horses of the sun, remember that you must be responsible for your own troubles; but the man and woman that lie on their faces before God and acknowledge that the head of every man is Christ will be guided and blessed. Next, I wish to bring before you the great truth of possession. Christ has redeemed us, and when you take your Bibles, you will find that that is the reason why we are God's. In the 45th chapter of Isaiah, God THE IMAGE OF CHRIST. 165 tells Israel, "I have redeemed thee: thou art mine." When we come to look at redemption, we find that that is the ground of God's work. " He hath saved me, that He might make me like Jesus Christ." Owner- ship is a different thing from 2)ossession, and people forget the difference. God may have saved a man and not filled him. You see this in our dailj" life. Some people are Christians, because, if you come to look into their private life, you find that they can say that they trust in the Lord Jesus, and 3^ou cannot deny it. But their life is not holy. You may have pur- chased a house, and you may sa^^ you are going to it on the first of September, but in the mean time it may not be vacant. God has purchased us from death; He has bought us with the blood of his dear Son; but what we wish to be, is sanctified, filled with all the fullness of God. What I wish to impress upon you is likeness to Christ, by being filled with his presence. In the Psalms, we read that God makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flaming fire. In the Hebrew there is a i^ower not apparent to the English reader : God says that He makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a fire that is set. It is not only a fire, but a fire that has been ignited. If 3^ou are to go out into the world, you are to be men of fire ; you can never ignite anything with a lump of ice. There are a great many lumps of ice that we meet with, that have clear heads and argumentative dispositions. You want some- thing more than mental enthusiasm, and that fire is the fjresence of the Lord Jesus Christ to dwell in us, for thus we are like Christ. Christ's character was prefigured by the national tab- ernacle. The Holy Ghost gave the tabernacle three names : The tent of meeting, the tent of witness, and 106 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. the dwelling place of God. Christ was the meeting place for God and man, a witness for the Father, and there God (hvelt. In concluding, let me say three things. First, that, as we are like Christ, there will be abont us the savor of his name. We are to be chosen witnesses of his resurrection. Men can believe that there is a God up in heaven, if they can see a God dwelling in your hearts. The greatest evidence of the spiritual religion is a holy life. A man that will be pure in the midst of impurity, that will be loving in the midst of the bitter sarcasms of a cruel world, that will reproduce the lowly character of the dear Saviour in a polluted, sinful world, is the most clear and irrefragable argument that God is true, and that his word is true. The second truth that I want you to notice is that it is here in this world that you are to show your likeness to Jesus. You may not all be called to go to the sunburnt plains of India; you ma^^ not all be called to go to Japan or China; but, whether 3'our work is in the slums of New York or in the great metroj^olis of the world, you are just to be witnesses for Jesus Christ. We need our religion more to meet fierce men and devils than we do to stand with the seraphs above. When we reach there, we will find that they are all holy; but here, where people hate my Saviour, where people are in restless antagonism to the truth, what they want, what they are unprepared to see, is the image of Jesus Christ. They read no Bible, they study no Scriptures, the^^ do not come to our meetings and our churches, but if they can see down into the lives of these men, men that are unlike themselves, unlike anything that they have ever seen before, men that are not moved by the motives which they have been THE IMAGE OF CHRIST. 1(>T accustomed to see impening people, they will see that it is not an angel, but that there is a power there— and what power is it? It is Jesus Christ in you, the light hope of glory dwelling in you, born in you, the light and the power of the Christ, of God. CHAPTER XIV. THE PERSONAL CHRIST. Sermon by Dr. M. D. Hoge— Difference Between Christ and other Teach- ers—Interest in Christ's Relation to the World— Source of Christ's Personal Attractiveness— His Simplicity— His Reverence for script- ure—His Claims— Reliance on Personal Christ, not on Creeds, thq Way of Salvation— Being in Christ the Condition of Clear Insight Into Truth— Formalism a Reversal ci the Divine Order— Christian Work Appreciated Only When Seen Through the Eyes of Christ- Worship of Humanity— Men of Advanced Thought. One of the great offices of the Holy (jhost is to re- veal (I'hrist to man, and the discourse to wdiich you ha\ e listened (see chapter XVIII) is a fitting introduction to that which I propose to deliver. I wish to speak of this personal Christ born in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, the hope of glory. It is only as Ave see men through the eyes of Christ that we see aright ; being in Christ is the secret of all true spiritual vision, and when we get the mind of Christ and through that mind look out, we under- stand our relations to God, to the church, to the world, and to the eternal future. This is my tlieme this morn- ing. There are great masters in the realms of thought, and there are great leaders in the realms of enterprise There is but one Chi'ist. Though his ministry was the shortest on record of all the ministries that have shaped the religion of the Avorld, no teacher ever taught truths so far-reaching, so all-embracing, or enforced by such tremendous sanctions. And, as time wears on, the truth is evident of the statement made by a master of the world. "The difference between Christ and other teachers is the distance of infinity.'' The personal in- 168 THE PERSONAL CHRIST. 109 fluence of Christ Avhile on earth was ver}' limited. His name was not heard in Athens, nor in the Avorld's great capital, bO far as we know. He did not found any school, or institute any new philosopliy, yet among the things that Christ, then unknown in the obscurest part of the world, created, was that complex and magnificent thing we call Christendom. Christendom embraces all the progressive nations of the worhJ, by which I mean those nations that are making advances tJirough just laws and elaborate institutions and sound learning and the science of right living, for those are the elements of Christian civilization. Thus, although his ministry was brief, it was long- enough to make Him the world's supreme teacher. And He has given to tiie world tiie one perfect ideal that satisfies both the intellect and the heart of man- kind. He put a new face on this world, bj putting a new heart into it. He set this world revolving in a new orbit, because He made himself the centre of its light and movement. I propose to speak of this personal (Jhrist. One of the greatest of living preachers said: "When I undertake to discourse of Christ, I feel as if I was putting a mist about it, but He is the Sun of Righteousness, and He can shine through my cloudy presentation of Him, and enable your hearts to see the King in his beauty." The Lord grant that this may be so to-day. 1 could not undertake to speak to such a large company of educated young men without the sincerest desire that what I say may have the elfect of increasing their ad- miratic-n and deepening tlieir love for that name that is above every name; the name which will one day elevate all learning and i)urify all art and literature and ennoble all religion; that name which will one day shine like a 170 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. star over the universe. It is of that name and that glorv that I would speak to you. A most interesting account has been written of a con- versation that took place between some congenial liter- ary friends in England on the subject how they wouhl feel if certain of the great immortal dead were to return to life and enter the room where they were sitting. One of them said : •' How would you feel if Dante were to come in, whose feet walked the fiery pavement of the In- ferno, the man whose eyes beheld the supernal glories of the Paradise of God ? " Another said : " How would you feel if Shakespeare were to come in ?" " Oh," said Charles Lamb, breaking in, " how we all would welcome that master of thought." Then somebody said: " Suj)- pose Jesus Christ were to come in." The Avhole attituresses us through the pages of those that write about Him. How often we read that great multitudes followed Him. Men came from great distances, leaving their occupa- tion, and there was such a desire to see and hear Christ that people did not care what sacrifices of time and self- interest it cost. Great multitudes followed Him^ so that on one occasion his enemies confessed defeat, and 172 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. said : " Perceive ye tliat we prevail nothing ? Behold, how the woild is gone after Him/' What was the sonrce of this attraction? We liave no antlientic pic- ture of Christ: no artist has left us the outline of his sacred face, but I believe there must have been some- thing veij winning in his very appearance, and I know there must have been something very touching and sub- duing in his tone. Little children — they are good judges — at a glance recognized Christ as their friend. All women trusted in Him at once, and there is not a single record of a woman who uttered an unkind word about Christ or did an unkind act toward Him. Another great source of his attraction to the multi- tude was the extreme simplicity with which He spoke. \Aliat a model this is for us pi*eachers, and for the 3^oung men preparing to be pi-eachers; the inimitable simplic- ity with which Christ spoke, drawing his illustrations, not from philosophy and science, but from the connnon experience of men, and from nature, that book that all can read, and whose lessons appeal to all hearts. If there is one thing I would like 3'oung men to cultivate in preparing to be ministers, it is to learn to speak in the vernacular, to discard all theology the common people cannot understand, and to utter whatever they say so simply that nobody can mistake its meaning. (That's what we want — Mr. Moody.) The preacher or theologi- cal professor, however learned or renowned, who can get the ear and carry the heart of an audience of little children is the noblest speaker that speaks the trutli. (Hear, hear: skirmish along that line a little while now — Mr. Moody.) I think one reason why Christ imi>ressed the multi- tude was that He never trilled with his hearers. He never jested in his sermons. He showed a profound THE PERSONAL CHRIST, 173 reverence for Scripture. If there is one thing the pulpit is in danger of, it is the light and irreverent way that some popular evangelists have fallen into treating sa- cred things. Christ looked upon the world as too full of care and sorrow to jest. While there was never any gloom, there was never any levity in his dis- course. But what plac'ed Christ outside of all the rest of the world's teachers was the amazing claim He mnde on the world's regard. Other creeds were willing to take tlieir places among the great lights of the world, and some- times one was great enough to be like a star, shining apart, but Christ presented himself as the central sun, around which all stars and all systems re^ olved. There was no other attribute of kingly supremacy or author- ity which He did not claim for himself. There was no sorrow, no as])i ation of the world's great heart, which He did not offer to satisfy out of himself. In a land as insignificant in territory as Palestine, lived the three great masters of human thought. What would have been thought if Aristotle had said : '' I am the light of the world ;" or if Socrates had said : '' I appoint unto you a kingdom ; " if Plato had said, " I am the resurrec- tion and the life?" And yet these words came as natur- al from the lips of Jesus as light faUs from a star, and we are no more shocked or surprised when Ave hear Him thus speaking of himself than we would be if gravita- tion could become intelligent and should announce it- self to be the great principle and power that maintains {he order of the universe. NoA\ it is because Christ spoke of himself that we are pre} ared to comprehend another thing, which I want to cmphasiz'e as the heart of ni}^ subject. Our Lord never proposed any system as the way of salvation. The 174 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. teacher was himself the lesson, and therefore, instead of formulating any articulate system of belief, Christ said : " I am the way, the truth, the life." Not reliance on a creed, although every article in it might he true and Scriptural, but reliance on a personal Christ. There- fore, He said : " Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." Therefore, He said: " The faith that is in me." The man that relies on his faith for salvation is making a mistake. There is a great difference between relying on our faith and relying on Christ, the object of our faith. Faith is nothing but the eternal fountain. Faith is not a Saviour, Christ is a Saviour, and nothing can be substituted for our personal Christ. In the next i^lace, being in Christ is the condition of seeing all truth aright. It is the condition of our sym- metrical development. There are a great many one- sided Christians. Some men have a great deal of cour- age and firmness, but no gentleness. Some people are very meditative, but lack action. Some people have a prodigious amount of zeal, but no discretion, and are always getting into trouble because of their impulses. But being in Christ ijrevents that one-sidedness that we should call eccentricity, which means '' out of the centre of development," some talent developed at the expense of some other talent, a develoi)ment in one direction and a corresponding deterioration in another direction. Some young men think eccentricity is a certain mark of genius. On the contrarj^, it shows a want of mental care, a want of equilibrium. It is a thing to be prayed against. Being in Christ is the great remedy against all formal- ism in religion. The best remedy I know of against the prominent sacerdotalism of the day is in looking into the THE PEESONAL CHRIST. 175 eyes of Jesiis. I know there is sometimes a tendency to invest modern Christianity with all the pomp and cere- mony of the old Jewish ritual. I have this objection to it. The gospel system is one that proceeds from the shadow to the substance, from the type to the thing typified; but going back to mediaeval or Je\\'ish ideas for our modes of worship, is an absolute reversal of the di- vine order. It is taking the reality and carrying it back into the type. It Is trying to force the resplendent noon back into the early morning twilight litis an anachronism and a reversal; it is like taking the majestic oak and try- ing to force it back into the little acorn. This is is rebuked at once when we hear, "God is a spirit, and they tliat worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.'- A salvation by sacerdotalism is shattered Avhen Ave hear these solemn words: '' In whom we have redemption through his blood and forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." In the last place, it is only when we study our fellow- men through the eyes of Christ that we learn the value of their souls, and how best to work for their salvation. 1 do not knoAV that the apostle I*aul felt it any more than his associates, but I know that he expressed it better than any of them, when he told us the secret of his suc- cess: ''I am a debtor." He Avas once a slave in boiid- age to sin and death, and he could not break those bonds. All he could do was to cry, " Oh, Avretched man that 1 am." Christ came, broke his bonds, and brought him out into the sun of glorious liberty. He owed a debt that he never could pay. ''I am a debtor to the Greek and to the Jew." We cannot see at first how he was a debtor to either. The reason was that he knew Chi-ist had died for both of them, and for him, and that He had not died for him anv more than for the Greek and barbarian. ITG COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. What he meant by being a debtor he showed when he went about for three 3 ears warning every man. You hear a great deal in all magazine literature and in a certain class of i)uli)its about the enthusiasm of hu- manity. I am patient witJi most people, but sometimes I find it a little hard to repress the indignation I feel when I see men borrowing from the Bible the very light of revelation, and then pretending that they have dis- covered these things. They reject the Bible, but get all the good that is in them out of the Bible and then preach what they call the religion of humanity. If the Bible had not come and plucked the ancestors of these ungrate- ful sinners out of the bloody barbarism in Avhich they wei'^ born, they would be just as bad as our heathen an- cestors were, and ^et they take the lamp of revelations from off the pulpit, and take A^ hat light they please out of it and put it in their lantern, and go about, saying, " Here are the true and new lights of the world. We re- ject revelation, but are coming to redeem humanity by our system of philanthropy and brotherly love." And they claim that they have won the field even now. They remind us of a scene after one of the greatest battles of the world; when the gallant Percy stood leaning on his sword and wiping the sweat from his manl}- brow, and a ])erfumed coxcomb came up and claimed part of the honors of the hard won field. Just as that warrior must have felt an unutterable disdain, when he looked at that contemptible man coming to claim the honor of victorj'^, so I feel when I look at these humanitarians, stealing all Ihtit is good in their system out of the Bible and then claiming to regenerate the world by the system which they have invented. Did 3H)u ever hear of a humanita- rian who went about w^eeping day and night, becaus-e he could not persuade men to believe a God who is defined THE PERSONAL CHRIST. 177 as "the power not ourselves that makes for righteous- ness? " Did you ever hear of a humanitarian who could say, '^ Because of my sweetness and light, therefore was I beaten with lods, therefoi'e I have suffered ship- wreck?" No, gentlemen; the men that have redeemed hum.an history, and stood like lighthouses on the dark and stormy promontories of life, casting out healing rays and saving beams through the dark waters, have been men that got their enthusiasm for humanity out of the cross, men whose motto w^as, "the love of Christ con- stiaineth me." Vse hear much said about men of advanced thought. " Men of advanced thought " means that there were no thinkers, of course, in the past, like them. Some men in the past we thought were thinkers. We supposed that such men as Bacon, and Butler, and Newton, and John Locke, and John Selden, and Jonathan Edwards, were men of advanced thought. Men have risen up since, such as Mr. Theodore Parker, Mr. Matthew Arnold, Mr. Huxley, Mr. John Stuart Mill. But have they eclipsed those thinkers? A man of advanced thought is a man who professes to have reached a higher eminence, to be able to survey a wider field than those before him, and to have made more valuable discoveries. What have these m n of advanced thought done? What contribu- tions have they made to the world's true knowledge? Where, as Lord Bacon asks, are the fruits of this ad- vanced thought? Much so-called advanced thought is an advance beyond the humility that Canon Liddon so beautifully demonstrates to be the condition of all true progress. "Advanced thought" means treating lightly and contemptuously those awful truths which men have been accustomed to hold in deepest reverence'. I hope, I believe, that the world is advancing in a great deal 178 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. that is good, but the worhl will never advance beyond the last sentence written in God's Holy Book. The Bible will march in advance of the advancing race, and I believe the race is advancing, just as the ark and pil- lar of cloud and liie marched in advance of Israel, when they were looking for the land of their inheritance. 1 do not know what conceptions the intellect may form in the future, but I know that in all the future there will never be a nobler thought of God than this: "God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, unchangeable in his being, wis- dom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth." The religion of the future that some people are so fond of talking about, will never have a nobler definition of God than that. I do not knovv what success may at- tend patient search for what is called the ideal in hu- manity, but I know that there will never be a more beautiful ideal than the Son of Man. I do not know what forms of loveliness heaven ma}^ contain, but I lvn(«w the heaven of heavens contains nothing more beautiful than my glorified Jesus. I know not what pictures, human imagination, touched by sorrow, may form, but I know that there never will be a spectacle so calculated to move the human heart as the spectacle of the dear, dying Lamb, and his cross, standing alone in its mournful, unapproachable glory. I know not what an- ticipations of a future life bereaved affection, inspired by revelation^ may feel, but I know that, when bereave- ments take away what is dearest, in the deep anguish that follows when the heart cries out, "What and where are now my departed ones ?" no answer ever falls on the listening ear of the heart more sweet than this: "They are before the throne of God, they serve Him day and night in his temple, and He that sitteth upon the throne dwelleth among them, and the Lamb THE PEKSONAL CHRIST. ITU which is in the uiidst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them to living fountains of water, and God shall wipe awav all tears from their eyes." That is John's heavenly beatific version of recognition and reunion and communion in the glor}' everlasting; the dawn of humanity rebuked, the long separated reunited, and dawn at the end as it was at the beginning of hu- man history. CHAPTER XV. THE BIBLE A REVELATION FROM GOD. Address by Rev. I. D. Driver— Legal Evidences— Revelation to a Na- tion, not an Individual— A Nation cannot Testify to Falsehood— The Old Testament the Statute of the Jews— Their Constitution and Ours— God's Law Superior to Man's— National Feasts- Pass- over and the Fourth— Ordinances— Wrong Use of Interpretation- Testimony of New Testament— Disciples could not be Mistaken- Christ must be Divine. In all the disputes and controversies of the human race, there is no subject upon which the mind of man has expended so much anxiety, labor and research, as this. Yet, astonishing as it may seem, from the begin- ning of the controversy to the present time, the differ- ence between authenticating and interpreting has been ignored. This mode of controversy can settle nothing. Facts, alonC; can authenticate anything. Leave the settlement to interpretation, and you have as many interpretations as you have interpreters. If a document is authenticated, it must be done by establishing facts, and not by an interpretation of its teachings, as no in- terpreter can show his interpretation correct. But if it is authentic, its authenticity can be, and if done at all must be, established by questions of fact, and when this is done, no interpretation can set it aside. All the philosophies of man must fall when they come in con- tact with a single fact. The fall of an apple and the discovery of gravitation, destroyed the philosophy that man had been building for six thousand years. If the Bible is ever authenticated, it must be done in the same way that any other document is authenticated. In this respect it is subject to the same rules of criti- 180 THE BIBLE A REVELATION FROM GOD. 181 cism; for, although (lod ckiims to be its author, j-et the evidence he gi\'es to man of its authenticity must be of the same nature required to establish the authorship of any human pi eduction, to bring it within the knowl- edge and capacity of man. If a divine revelation has ever been made to man, the difference between giving and perpetuating that revelation must be as great as that of giving and perpetuating human testimony. The testimony given carries its weight at the time, but to perpetuate and carry its force to future generations, it must be put in an im]:erishable form. Nothing but the acts of Moses and Christ could establish their di- vine mission, and show to the generations in which they lived that they were divinely commissioned. But the acts they performed must stop with them; for, if continued, to our day, tliey would have destroyed the very evidence of divine interposition — for it is evident the divine nature of these acts would be destroyed by being interwoven with the common and daih" occurrences of nature, and it wonld be no more evidence of divine action to see the dead raised or seas divided than it is to see the sun rise and set. On careful rejection, it will appear evident that in no other ^\'ay could a revelation be given than by supernat- ural acts attesting a divine mission, and then by monu- mental testimony as "seals" putting these evidences in an imperishable form to transmit to future generations. The acts Moses and Christ performed were the highest evidences that God could give that He had sent them. The national monuments as " seals " to perpetuate them, are as good evidence to ns as the acts were to those who saw them. Testimony, accompanied by proper " seals " and attestations, can lose none of its value by time. Nearl}^ eighteen hundred years ago, Celsus wrote a 182 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. treatise against Chiistianitv, and b}' a review, inter- preting the precepts of the Bible, tried to overthrow its divine authenticit}^ ; and from that day to the pres- ent every writer against Christianity has followed him and not one of them has ever alluded to the evidence that authenticates an instrument. All undertake to dis- jiove its divine origin hy interpreting it and every man is his own interpreter,and no two of them interpret it alike. It is the work of a lawyer to prove the authenticity of the Bible, and the work of a theologian to interpret it. But nothing can be farther from nature and common sense than for sliiy man to ofl'er as an argument his own interi^retation of the precepts of any book or sys- tem of laws against its alleged authorship. Suppose that I should attempt to do with the Constitu- tion of the United States what the opposers of Christian- ity for eighteen hundred years have been trying to do wath the Bible. They offer their own interpretations as proof that God is not the author of the Bible. I offer my interpretation to prove that the fathers never made the "Constitution." They offer as evidence that God never made the Bible, the different interpretations theo- logians have put upon it. I offer the different inter- pretations statesmen and jurists have put upon the " Constitution " to prove the fathers never made it. Our Constitution was made in our own language by the wisest and best of men and in the most progressive age; and yet, over the interpretation of that simple in- strument, made almost within the memory of man, a mil- lion of men have been put into pi*emature graves, bil- lions of dollars of national debts contracted, and hun- dreds of thousands of Avidows, orphans and cripples left among us— all over a simple question of interpretation, and yet no one denies that the fathers made the Consti- THE BIBLE A REVELATION FROM GOD. 183 tutioii, and no one thinks that these deeds of horror and human suffering are attributable to that grandest of all human instmments. It is not the fault of our " Constitution " that our citi- zens construe it so differently, nor the fault of the Bible that Christians do the same; but it is the fanlt of any man that will stand forever against his intelligence or honesty to say that because Americans interpret the "Constitution" and Christians interi:>ret the Bible so differently, therefore God never made the one nor the fathers the other. But witli the admitted difficulty, or, perhaps, impossibility that human wisdom should in- terpret the Bible, or nature, or even the " Constitution,'' so as to be free from objections, is that to be considered an objection against either the authorship or wisdom of either one ? The very reverse is true ; for a revela- tion to meet future wants must contain the element of progress. But all progress is based on ignorance, for ignorance is as necessary to progxess as wisdonio Where there is no ignorance, there can be no progress. But while wisdom insures progress, loyalty, alone, can make a citizen. Nothing but loyalty can lay the foundation for citizenship and secure protection in any government, human or divine. And on no other foundation, and on no other principle can government be instituted, not even in thought. "Love (or loyalty) is the fulfilling of the law;" and a world of intelligence ignoring these principles by sanctioning disloyalty, and making wis- dom the test of citizenship, would be an institution to educate devils, and only another name for hell. Hence, in our own government, where there are so manj thousands of educated lawyers, and perhaps not two-score considered capable of interi^reting our Consti- tution, the good man, scarcely able to write his name, 184 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. can live out his three score and ten years without the slightest danger of violating and incurring the penalty of the law that takes so much wisdom to interpret. An:- cept a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." The margin reads, "Born from above," and the Grreek, ay go dar^ which means "from the beginning." Christ meant, except a man be born of a birth that has its origin, not simply in Adam in the bosom of Paradise, but in Jesus Christ in the bosom of God ; which dates not to the beginning of creation, but to the beginning of eternity. That seems an incredible idea, yet I think I can illustrate it. The word "born" and the word "borne" are the same, they say. If I put off a boat on the Connecticut, I am borne on the current, and all the water, back to the very fountain, is behind me to push me on. So, when I am born again, I come into the di- vine life, and all the power of the divine life from the beginning is behind me to push me on toward God. So you see we have something to do with God in the pixj- existent state. The bane of human life is bad heredity in the cur- rent of descent : you cannot get out of it. "Oh, that 202 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. I could," many a man has said. The fathers have eaten sour gi^apes, and the children's teeth are set on edge, says the Scriptures. The fathers have drunk the cup of sinful pleasure, and the children have drunk the dregs. Many come into this world mortgaged up to the very last point, the sins of the fathers being visited on the children ! I heard a man say : "All that I have, all that I can exi)ect to find in this world, I would give instantly, if I could blot out my ancestry. So far as I trace it, there is not one virtuous man in the whole line. If I break it up my sons ma}^ revert to the old type." With Paul, we struggle and cry out: "Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" The w^ondrous thing about the gospel is that it gives us a new heredity. I count that the very highest and sublimest statement of the doctrine of re- generation. A man grafting trees saws off a limb to put in the scion. If the limb is rotten, he has to saw it off nearer to the trunk. We were grafted in Adam, but it Avas discovered that the branch w^as rotten, and then God began at the very beginning, and grafted us into Jesus Christ, the Son of the divine God. Dr., Williams, of Boston, was asked, "How early do you think the training of a child ought to begin?" He re- plied instantly, "A Imndred years before the child's birth." When God would build u^j a child holy in all things He goes back to the very beginning, and gives us our birth in Gcd himself: "Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." The river of life has its soui-ces in the very throne of God, and, when we get that life, we have something in us wliich tends to mal^e us do well, instead of doing ill. As from Adam we had this hereditary tendency to do wrong, so, when we are grafted into THE PERSON OF CHRIST. 20:3 Jesus Christ and given the eternal life, we have that influence impelling us to holiness: "WhosoeA'er is born of God doth not conunit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." (I. John, iii., 9.) At first sight, that is startling, and has bewildei^d many peoi:>le. "I thought I sinned every day," they say, and yet here it is written "that whoso- ever is born of God doth not commit sin." That means, jiow it is his nature to do right, to live in holiness, be- cause God's life is in him. The difference between the regenerate and the unregenerate man thus is, that the unregenerate man lives in sin and he loves it, but the regenerate man lapses into sin and he loathes it. So the life of Christ and the life of the believer come together, and the life of God comes into us, and, lit- tle b}^ little, we shall overcome sin, till we are satisfied with His likeness. In New Hampshire, I have looked again and again at the process of natural grafting. Two saplings grew up and crossed each other, and the bark was w^orn off*, the sap mingled, and began to flow from one to the other, and they grew together. The curious fact is that the weaker began to wither, and the other grew strong, so that now, while there are two trunks at the bottom, there IS only one trunk at the top. So the sinner through re- pentance comes into contact with Jesus Christ. A feeling in our hearts which we call repentance takes hold of a feeling in our hearts which we call faith, and then, by-and-bye, we reach that condition where Christ's life has perfect dominion, and we can say : "The life I live I live by the faith of the Son of God. I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Secondly, "I am," the present life of Christ, extend- ing, we may say, from His first advent to His second. 204 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. You read in John i., 14: '^\n(1 the Word was made flesh and dwelt amoHg us (and we beheld his glory, the glori- as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth." That is the incarnation, not an end in itself, but only a means to a higher end, yiz: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which could not have taken place except He had been incarnated in our na- ture. Jesus Christ did not cease to be God when He became man. Martin Luther puts it very beautifully : "Jesus Christ was God, but He chose not to be God, in order that He might be our servant, and chose to be our servant, in order that He might raise the burden of our sins ; but never did He cease to be God." How wonderfully John brings this out : "And no man hath ascended up to heaven but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven." (John iii., 13.) Jesus Christ lived there so constantly that we could say, even while here, "The Son of Man which is in heaven." It was necessary that He should accomplish His worh, and also that He should keep fast hold of God : "For verily, He took not on Him the nature of angels ; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham (Heb. ii., IG); in the original "He took hold of the seed of Abraham," the word employed where the Lord "caught" Peter, in the lake of i^alilee. When our race was sink- ing under this burden of condemnation, Christ reached down and took hold of the seed of Abraham. Just as my brain takes hold of my body with these encircling fingers of nerve and fibre and muscle, holding and con- trolling that body; so Christ took it with an inward hold. But He did not let go of God's nature. Had Christ taken hold of our humanity, and let go of God, we know not but He might Himself have been dragge\'orld an absolutely new standard by which to measure men, and a new balance in which to weigh them. For what purpose was the Church of God organized? A great many glorify the church with the idea that it was organized for its own sake. The church is a defi- nitely appointed organization to accomplish a defi- nitely a])pointed end, nothing but God's instrument for the advancement of His glory in the world. It is of no use, except it accomplishes that purpose. The church was not organized to give men a pleasant, quiet place like this, in which to spend a Sunday, when all the ordinary business of life is suspended. It was not organized for the people to be entertained by the logic and rhetoric of the preacher. My heart went with that petition (referring to the opening prayer) which said, ''Speak, Lord, Thy servant heareth." Let the Lord speak. The church was not organized even to train man and develop him into the stature of the perfect man in Christ Jesus. That is a great thing to accom- plish, but even that is not the divine purpose. The true end is not reached till that man trains himself into the image of Christ, all his moral and spiritual powers and all his resources contributing to the warfare that is .going on against the powers of darkness in the world. It is for that reason the church is organized and sent into the world, that it may wage a constant warfare against all false kings, till He whose right it is to reign shall reign. 254 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. When I went up the hill yesterday afternoon, the Princeton brother was reading a chapter from Isaiah that has always impressed me, because it begins so grandly. ''In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord in His Temple, high and lifted up." Kings died, their thrones became vacant, God lives. "And a voice was heard. Whom shall I send, and who will go forth ? And the answer came, Here am I, Lord, send me." This call did not come to Isaiali and the great apostle to the Gentiles alone. It comes to every man that can hear, that is given a heart to feel, that has a work, big or little, to do in the world, and perhaps the most important lesson here is that God descends to use the little things. It is not the great opportunities or gifts, but such opportunities and such gifts as we have, that give the truth its power, when we use them all together. I am glad so many are going on foreign mission work, but it is not necessary, before we can do good, to go to those frozen zones where polar stonns sweep over the wintry landscape. It is not necessary to go to those regions where equatorial suns send down their glowing heat, to find the heathen. The worst heathen I have ever seen were men that lived within a few squares of me, who wore our dress and spoke our lan- guage, and who had all the vices of heathen, with those of the civilization of to-day. In the mission school in my city, where every Sunday we have gathered these people hitherto neglected, I have had m}^ richest re- ward in preaching Christ. This is the consecration of which I speak, and this obedience to the command of Christ is the only proof I know of conversion. I do not object to people's hav- ing raptures, going into seraphic moods now and then, but, "If ye love me, keep my commandments/' that is CHRISTIAN SERVICE. 255 an every da}'^, practical, common sense test that every- one can apply to himself. "Give me a Proof of Your Love " was the title of one of Mr. Spurgeon's sermons in the Tabernacle, that I recollect ver^^ well. Christ ex- pects a proof of i)rofessed love. That proof is obedience and service, becanse obedience and service are not only the test of trne love, but the bond of true fellowship. I do not believe that we ever get into felloAVship with Christ till we learn to work for Him and to delight in the work. Those who recognize their obligation, and work faithfully, and lovingly, and perseveringly, are the men that are going to build up characters that will stand the test of that trial. The young Princeton speaker yester- day afternoon said that when young men got into the mission fields they would find great trials and tempta- tions, and that, unless they had a solid foundation upon which they could build, they would be very apt to be shaken and perhaps thrown into despair. But there is no danger of that, when we come into this per- sonal fellowship with Christ, and when consecration to Christ's work is our meat and drink, our invigorati(m and our joy. That is why we are building up a charac- ter that will stand the test of time and of the last great day. AYith obedience is love, a new stone in that si)iritual temple that God is erecting, in which the Holy Cxhost will dwell. The foundations of that temple are faith. Per.3eveiancc is the engineer that adds tier upon tier and stair upon stair. Brotherly love is the cement that binds all the stones together. Memory comes and hangs the walls with tender pictures of the past. Joy comes and fills every apartment with flowers plucked from the paradise of God. Love C(mies and fills the halls with music, and at last h-^pe comes and throws over 25(; COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. the edifice a beautiful dome, through which aspiration looks up and longs for heaven. But even then, when man enters that edifice, so divine, it is only to clothe him for better, nobler service, here upon earth. The story is often told of the young man coming back from California, whose vessel went on a rock about a furlong from shore. A little girl came to him and said, ^Tlease, sir, won't you save me V' He unbuckled the belt in which his gold w^as fastened around his waist, and plunged into the sea with her. He had almost reached the shore, when a great billow struck him and dashed him senseless on the sand. When he opened his eyes, the first thing that he saw was the face of that dear little girl, looking down on him with love and joy. So it will be with us, after j^assing through earth's tempests, if by God's grace we reach the shining shore, and see there some little face that we had helped to win, that discovery will add a new^ beam to heaven's bright- ness, and a new thrill to heaven's pleasure. I suj)- pose that Avas one reason why I was so impressed with the hymn that you sang, " Jesus, the Pilot." Jesus is the Pilot who bears us safely through these stormy waters; and if we reach the shining shore and are surrounded by those who recognize us as God's instrument in their salvation, it will be a kind of multiplied heaven to us. CHAPTER XXI. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. As reqtuired by Our Times— Sermon by Bishop C. D. Foss— Field of Modern Pulpit— Special Difficulties To-day— Need of a Learned, not an Intellectual :Minis(:ry— How the Minister Should Study- Danger of Aflectation— A Consecrated Ministry— A Soul-saving Ministry— Revivals Essential to the Church's Welfare— Ministry for Transformation of Society— PrerecLUisites for These Results— What is a Call ? Suppose there had been oifered to Demosthenes the opportunities of address and special service to men granted in later times to the Christian ministry. Suppose he had been told that in later times an order of men would rise, wdth a special diyine calling, with a divinely inspired book, containing in short statements all human duty and destiny, and with one day in seven set apart by divine authority, w^hen the wheels of business should stand still, to give these men a chance to arrest the ear of the world on topics of the profoundest interest to all men. What would he have predicted concerning the effect of an orator in a field so immeasurably superior to his ow^n ? " Surely," he would have said, " this favored and divinely called and anointed class of men will by their influence abate all the evils of society, and transform the whole face of the earth." Alas, for the vanity of any such presupposition. In many a town the Christian pulpit scarcely constitutes any appreciable breakwater against the wdielmiug tides of infidelity and sin surging around us ; and in Christian America not one man in twenty is ever seen within the walls of a Christian church. Surely there must be a great want somewhere. 257 258 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. The ministry required by the times is the same min- istry required in all times ; the Christian pulpit is chief among God's ordinances for the spread of the gospel in the world. The pulpit must be acknowledged while the world stands the most effective support and ordi- nance in the world. It is the third great institution of Christianity, having as much authority as the two first. There are special difficulties in our time. But no obstacles in the way of the Christian pulpit and Chris- tian work ought to be named as any apology for that work, except the obstacles within the church itself. As well might Gen. Grant have complained of the cannon and sharp-shooting of Lee's army ; but for them, there would have been no use for him. What we are for is to remove the obstacles in the mind of man, and go on with the conquest set before us. The ministry required by our times must be a learned ministry. Not an educated ministry : these are not convertible terms. Many an educated man, so-called, is not learned, and many an uneducated one can become truly learned. By a learned ministry, I mean a minis- try in such a state that it is perpetually acquiring and containing and increasing in culture and power. It is very likely God will call some men from the plow or anvil straight to a high and exalted Christian work, perhaps in the pulpit, and that the circumstances will forbid a long course of special preparation, and yet the blessing of God will be on them. And yet I plead for a learned ministry in the sense defined. This need is very manifest in our time for many reasons. Times are greatly changed. Our grandfathers lived in another age, almost in another world, from that which sur- rounds us. The masses have been lifted up to a larger CHAKACTERISTICS OF THE MINISTRY. 259 intelligence, great books of the world are sold for ten cents ; and, if we do not look out, multitudes of peo- ple in our congregations Avill be ahead of us in our think- ing, on the very topics on which we are called to preach. In the old times in "Merrie England," not one man in ten, except the priest, could read or write his own name. When William and Mary came to the throne, a Bible was presented to them, and Marj wTote in it, " Presented to King and I on our Crownation," making two mistakes of which any school girl twelve years old would now be ashamed. Because the times have changed, because literature and science and philos- ophy have all been popularized, and the masses of the people are reading, reading, thinking, thinking ; there- fore the spiritual leaders must read and think, and think to a purpose, or be left behind. Further, the multitude of topics which the Christian puljiit must teach and preach wisely requires the leader of the people to be himself a reader and to be postei Ohio, said : " All the religion I have began in a revival, and the most precious fruits of my ministry have always been the fruits of revivals." Bishop Simp- son said : "Five years without revivals would lead to de- cline in our strongest churches." Dr. Noah Porter says : " The great want of the church to-day is multi- plied, deep, far-reaching, continued revivals." Let these great names carry your thought, if not your con- viction, to profound study of this topic. Again, the ministry in these times specially requires to be a ministry for the transformation of society, for the actual making new men in the image of Christ Jesus, and for the moral regeneration of the masses of the community. There is a false conception in some minds, concerning what the church is, and what it is for. Many seem to think it is a guild or cabal, a mutual admiration society, gotten up to engage in CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MINISTRY. 205 mild types of some agreeable methods of doing good : utterly erroneous conceptions. Tlie church is the king- dom of God among men. Its work is to build men into God; to take human nature, unattractive, unlovely and sinful, and, by God's might, to la^^ on it a nature transforming it into the kingdom, and rearing it up in righteousness of daily living, in true holiness of heart, and in preparation for mansioiis where nothing impure can come. So the Christian pulpit or platform, or the prayer meeting, is not a place where agreeable things are to be said, or bright and trenchant essays read. It is the place where the Word of God is to be brought into the consciences and hearts of those who sit before you for their moral transformation and spiritual uplifting. You are so to preach the Word that that Christian merchant, who has been living righteously all the week, and is consecrated to God, and yet is covered with the dust of the week and wearied with its heat, shall, as he sits before you, be made to feel that he is a partner with the Eternal in the salvation of the world. You are so to speak that that ungodly mer- chant who has been striving in every way, honest or dishonest, to fill his pocket, shall, while you speak, feel that God or the devil is after him, and will quickly get him. You are so to speak that that busy house- wife, who can scarcely get away from the washing of her children's clothes to get to church at all, shall, while you speak, learn Avhat George Herbert meant when he said, rather quaintly, concerning consecration to God, as the sanctifying power for all service: "A servant with this clause Makes drudgery divine, Who sweeps the rooni as for thy laws, Makes that and tlie action fine/' These four are the great qualifications for a success- 266 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. ful ministry. It miis^t be in the sense defined a learned ministry ; it must be a consecrated ministry, a soul- saving ministry, and a ministry for the actual trans- formation of society into righteousness and the image of God. For these four things, there must be four others. The ministry needed must be a hand to hand ministry, a Biblical ministry, a loyal ministry, a manly ministry. I will not enlarge on the topic of a Biblical ministry. The Bible is our perpetual counsel. It is before you all, as the word of God and of Christ, and therefore the ministry for which it provides must consult it. Nor will I pause on the topic of a manly ministry. I am glad to be before some hundreds of 30ung men, who, whatever they do lack, do not lack the practice of a manly and noble development in all Avise athletic culture; in all wise intellectual develop- ment and power; in all development of conscience and the noblest purposes of men ; and, above all, in con- secration to God. But on each of the other topics let me speak a word. It must be a hand-to-hand ministry: after the cannon- ade from the pulpit, the duel with short swords. Go and find your fellowman where he is, and make him understand that the general message from the puljDit is a message to him. In all the fruits of my own min- istry, the richest were on this line. I thank God I have been allowed to witness the power of the Spirit in single sermons. But, where I have had one person reached through a sermon, I have had five or six saved by somebody who sought them through the Spirit. It does not want the tongue of a Chrysostom ; it simply wants a heart set on fire with love to Jesus Christ, and a little common sense. To that work, in God's name, I adjure you to be faithful, if you want many stars in vour crown. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MINISTRY. 207 The ministry greath' needed in onr times is a loyal ministry, by wliicli I mean a ministry thoroughly loyal to the great evangelical doctrines which the church has received, and especially to those doctrines esteemed important by the branch of the church to which you belong. I know of nothing which would be more ridic- ulous, if it were not so lamentable and fraught with evil, than to see a good young sophomore of the pulpit, particularly ^'ell dressed, come to the sacred desk with a light and airy step, as though mounting a throne, and lay out before the people an elaborate essay, which proceeds from beginning to end on the cool assum]3- tion that the church of which he is the minister, the Bible on which it is built, the Christendom of which it is a part, and the great God who gave that Bible, ha^e no rights except such as first vindicate themselves to his lordly reason. Suppose the village poetaster should so treat "Paradise Lost," or the village archi- tect should express grave doubts as to the excellence of the dome of St. Peter's. "Paradise Lost" and the dome of St. Peter's would not feel it much, but it would fix the grade of the architect and the poet. Eead Glad- stone's two great essays on " The influence of Author- ity in Matters of Religion," and see what he says about the attitude of a young lawyer; how he treats the great judges of the world and the great precedents in the books, and follows them till many years of care- ful study enable him to give an independent judg- ment. Read what that great thinker says concerning the physician, who is governed by the profoundest study of those who have gone before him, at least till he has had time to master the science of medicine in some humble degree. And then look at a mere infant of the pulpit, who feels able in the early stage of his 268 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. ministry to cast doubts on Moses, and on David, and on Paul, and on Christ, and to lead the peoj^le to think that each for himself must construct his own Bible, and his own religion. If you enter the Christian min- istry, understand that you take a place of high honor and of power, and ally yourself with thousands of men who al o have come into a grand inlieritance from the past. To the truths which this implies be loyal, till you find that you must differ and doubt, and then say so to your brethren, an^ : .SSI P r- ^ " • ."^^ UC t-~, g 5>rt^ g S > ^ 2^ ^ ^ q Pl, ^ <3 > ^- b.' ;^s.3^IJ^^^^j^'^sg o K ■ o 03 a 3 a 5 o iJ =«WW a «! CC 1^1 >-? CC |H rl^ «==! 288 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. 05 H PL* > O • J- aj aJ o I t 3 § §2 cS 2 S « C3 ppupLngfq I till g ^s^ -5 e3 [Z • O c3 JZ 3 si I. O d o = 11 O-S O c J-; ; ^ III . • C _• C fl c r^ I-." .2 2 S .2 .3 OM c3o ^ ■- o u u !-t 0;iH MO fi fl| O Pi Ak PU O hJZPw;z;a2h4pHfi w. w^ ^g 05 05 3: 5:c : OJ OD 35 0DO3 u ce o ? 3 f5-g -S c o H o S ^^ ><1 ^ s^l o ri :g.5 ^ -^ .3 CO u M lummiimmmMBm CATALOGUE OF DELEGATES. 289 «8 H O.S III , QO QQ QQ CO OQ 5 i >• !S§6; IPs O 03 .-"t: c8 -5 t^ o H i •" is H .3 c c K I o c 5 c a 5 a c g = a c "-g h >>^ B9 >>'i >>: a! i3 s. ^ tcx: OJ "S § « i§6 SSSqS S; o ffl ;2 p: pq ?- fe c K =: ^ • -- c cf.S ts" <3 OS O Cic «• SO a; ^ « o . >»S a- 03 03 O - S3 PS, ,|||||0^-^|| - S : SS^ 2-::^ '2 a o ^ SS| o « S •OJSlT-CTHCii-KTii-i'I'JOO 'I't-KNCCO .C;3:00OC5'NthC«i-(i-i •o: xcss: 00 c:: 3iO: oi c; o ovososcios • oo QO oo Si o; c: oj o; s: ci P^SS 111 § It aS^ -S" o3 • O O _m oqp c5 c3 H J2 £ !^>: ^^■'S' 6Z dm! -jifa^p^X^SO-i^i* S* d. 2 g 22 bc-9 b£ be be c > ^^ o beK S >■ s i= . = -2^ '9 1^. a-S is « 5; " p. >J<|:2cC:£WeQ!B>-50?; 5 ^ ^ (? §^S2? : .C10> • o • 3- ■fl -c 1 -g' P C6 'be 03 " ?= o SS so 'd_^: .^n . . . -r o . S bc-r, . . ca • m i^" CATALOGUE OF DELEGATES. 291 ana m a 1i an i C. O C8 O Ch S. ^i 03 1|« P I I Sl^ §8 2| ss BPhPh i i _c ^ .= 5 .2 ss 5 S = So c3 t-t ;= 6c 4:; bfS C s o c Wh 'Co o oi o o ^ c a ^ o a (Ji p 2 ^ 3 13 ^ M 3 >^!h : "SCO? ir ' i E - « S S •5 ■'^ ■? Se tic ex tc S- s. o c a c s s d u o o c o ■eg... cc Izj g < S oH a)' fc. o c« y . iJ rt ^ >, re !- 'C . ., . ^- w , • o . S be . bi J O 0) _• • « • o __• • .1-^3 _■ I' • i* " '(Sa6fl>^^H- ■(- • o a> |.s.s Sea « -3 .H .2 c t. u u u O g g « S .2 e OHM a OfLipq CM 06 . 00 :« cS cS ■r; C C 2 S « s ftp ^ C$ CS Oh WW c8 ai OS be be ti) O) O 0) bcbc 5d C C C 000 3^ •SI'S 00 IB I •5 . c o o « ^.g bcbt-^xix; fiWWOOPuS^ Q O tf -g 1^ •x: btg ^.2^^j^ _ _ g bC5 eg r, « be 2 S E .S S ■-= '-S u £"1 S - s « ^ ^ .'5 5 o § S. g^S -i £ g = g o g -5 s ^ to r=) tn ^ , c3 - I" g - -2- = .2S ^, ■;: 'ON tl ;= S" »j fl- be ,5 -"S o cs a c -i o >-i ft ^■^^■^ Ph M ^ Eh ^^ ?;^ ^ § 5 ftjS >- W WW O WHM 2^ ^5 «; P ffin CD O) ^Sx'^Jotc^l-gWWl^W^S^-^'dgS^.llS^'a o «. -5 ^ -£ !5 >> w • ^■;gSM2>p.=;o^d , t . be" & CATALOGUE OF DELEGATES. 293 §-§ : - -a- V • >- - .2 o ^ s pLi p^ a oogQg ^ ■• -a -.5 o 5o ^ iX iC 5t M M«^ 53 C3 00 S CS tu; M .5 tiB St lln II 3 o .So 5; mil C a; = « 1) O t- O u (.< ' C 3 C C • a ft a a OJ 4> (U .0} JJ -M -u jj 4J >■. >> ^. X >. ^ .O ^ -^^ .Q O . >H .. • S " -^ .■" 2 j; c § jf J 'S'-S f >.>-S s >•§ o 2^ = ^h;?! _X o J; O f^ "o ^ ^ S . rt o c t^ « S^^Sa cS O.™ .£2 4_> -^i - . ^^ ^ Ws ^ 2 2 O P O M ^ Ci SSPhpH^ K ^ 2_ S fi- c 2 ^ O O 1-5 C rQ aj 4J • r> ij !« Z i=5 "i -r a 2 •§ ^^ cS u «S,k 52 g..;L,5W' =:-£:=S§a it 5 " ■"■" S.^-C .^«-.it.=>--.ita!.-..Sd..5=...s < d ^ tf H <; S H ^ ;^ ~ o P^' W 'i d 'i ^ s := d 6 ^ > >> c a .S S &" c .S •g 1c S '3 S 'o "S .o 'o & S a 0^ c^ O ^ .t^ tfi b to g OJ g « c c C c = c3 c3 re cS 5 ■E -n -n 'c c • (DO)"' .O ;3X5 X! J? ^ — X!^ ^ ^ . jD X> ^ ^ J3 -S «« !=! C 2 ce . . . o • • • :^ ;^ : ; : ^ '■ o t: = ^ - a2^p^;z;o 02 CO OS CO 3: 05 • ,7^00 OS rT^X a-. C: C: CO a> 0~. Oi OO 00 CO Oi a: Oi -SiOiOOOl 3 00 3^ £ fe '-5_ = I H <-, ^. K 1^ > H ^ = 1^ K a ^' "^ o •' tn' ^" ^ c" -:■ C S C M go--' « •^^^^s X3> r-:' ;:; d ^ p^ E-I oj d pi ;:;' O O tf a CATALOGUE OF DELEGATES. '5 "S OS rt & 'S £■ SS sj^ bib o bi .'C "^ .2 H a W cc -2 3 P h, C d G 5b 3 l_i«!5 ShSS i: = s c8 ca ^2 PHCcqwMS a ft a.a es oj s !- 7: ^^ 'c i 0) S3s l:^- ^ oc -5 "S "S tg ;ij 00 Pl] M pL, (I, S O : : : : :>^ • ■«••• c ^ - ~ o ^ o >>:3 o ftg c £ ^ 2 O p O 3 >^m;2;p-l « O = '^ . a „•■ S 4) S3 c $ a t- t. o o >< * c 2-1 o :;■ p-i w f-;?; f-s . 5 o' g d" o' "3 § ci' o o" « £ ■£ 5 j3 >^ -.oo.|ilii?||liill>|ll o ^-a' 2§ S^ - - • - - ^ Si . a :r. :r. c: Si •oscocsco •C5s;ooo5 .osoioi ^-^Tos os os os Oi os ^ cS a -y .2 « -Q J3 O O 00 O -S CO -63 . 296 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. 5? SO & « go « o P4g 1 1 III OQ ^ S S x P^ CO to i^ to i^ >< :k TJiH . > ."^ 01'^ r^.^ c c = -S ^ ^ c o i? i5 ■» >o >i i2 oQOpq>-i^;g =« § .s S o- llll I--- 125 ^ o p ?; to : >, ^1 02 o:05056:s;o^ -as -o; oso; •ovos&OiScic :gc III 4) to >■- & a-S CO « H : >. § s§ 5 ^ r 5s <5l I g PPh c«^^2|dfS-^'""^S S-B o o .5 ur ^ c •'t^ °^2§s:g' .!i 5P' 0) cc :i-:i3fe CATALOGUE OF DELEGATES. 29" s a s fc?^?^^ u a c a a -So -S « -S .2 .2 .2 .2 ■:2 "2 "S 'S 00 00 K ID c c c = 2 .5 .2 .2 • ^ -^ -^ C ii u -300.0 ^^^^B o o 000 ooQ Ha;§a>jfii PMhCLip:! aa <3 d 0} bcbo b£ 01 V a> i-s. MR .2.2 ■J. X. s •> ■> t». >- 2 C .Q O !* ? ^ PSaSPK £ .5 ^ •§ .S o ^ i TO i§ tf H a a O &^ !^0 _g So o-=l = o ^ G ^ X a PL, jt, ;:h 02 > :; >u t. .S 3 Ci , |l II lllli' I a .0 .o fiOO "SI jo "3 1 and Marshall., ann Medical rd " ' " o 3 (u - - >»- : : WP « p b-S 'S .5 III CO s WO* 5 .s^" o 11 1-1' O g" £-5= :: iJ 55 -j: O KH -^ :^^w-^r6rta^ ■" '^ ^ m 2 T! -2 / ^ ; ^ ^ cq 2 T! ■= / " ^S2oi5J«^ :0S COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. H Hi > P ft to "S "S 03 .H .« "S to -g B "3 '5 "a a c ■« a 'a 'a c leg .2 .2 " « ce oD G C SI'S. g S gj CD OJ WPqMM . hr . . • _?^ --; p oj +-' -u +-> t: 'O u^ -j; si to "J "^ S* o ■;3 "C bc+S •iJ '^j -Q ^ (iiftfM ■ ^ ^ .-3 C r= Oft ca" &5 c^ S^ a^•S■ a o j3 ' ii 2 P^ £ o : .-a 5 03 i5 ^ -' e8 tx tjj !:j[) sec o o o C C C to 1^ S S « 2 2 tc a; 00 g g Pll Ph ft 02 t/2 >> >.. a 08 O H ^ ■^ f2 cS aJ ,-1 "^ a ^ >. c .g'-S i[ a 2 £ a .7= -^ be . gg; .S 173 .;-i ^ ^ a « a - - pap 2- - 02 1^5^^ a' <1^ P^>§5 > 42 ^1 ^s a. 22 '2'-. ^«|^ CATALOGl^E OF DELEGATFS. 290 .sis' «;s.s.s .=3 ' iftilllillil — 0) 'o ;: :: ao o S S*0=> -rH OCOCOO'OO -^ -tHtHOO 00:0s •0JOSO5 Oi c; ~ o> CO osoicir- • . . >»— . • b 3 • 300 COLLEGE OF COLLEGES. Table III.— GENERAL. Vocation, etc. R. M. Armstrong. . ..'oseph C. Allen. . . Joseph P. Allen . . . James Brophy James Bridie S. Edgar Briggs. . . C. L. Boothby William J. Bevins. J. E. Brown Thomas Cain Thomas K. Cree . . E,. J. Condon J. W. Cook Otis Gary Y. M. Dinsmore. . C. H. Dempsey . . . T. P. Day R. A. Farnham. . . William C. Finck. . James L. Fowle . . W. Henry Grant. . F. A. Graves Luther Gulick Rev. E. W. Hatch Charles E. Hnrlburt T. G. Hyman Rev. Charles S. Harrovver Rev. M. E. Hedding George A. Hall Frederick Hall. S. H. Hadley H. H. Hadley Frank R. Hagaman Charles A. Hagaman E. F. HoUenbeck , George W. Huntini^ton . . W. F. Holbrook J. M. Hitchcock A. S. Hill E. L. Hayford Anthony M. Kimber James E. Kyle S. H.Kyle A. D. Langille Andrew Longacre William J. Lamison H. J. Mudge George W. Mahaffey David McConaughy R. C. Mor.'se Dr. J. W. McKean R. R. McBurney John F. Moore James McConaughy. State Secretary, Mass. and R. I. . Presbyterian. Merchant Episcopal General Secretary Y. M. C. A Presbyterian Presbyterian. Sec'y Y. M. C. A, Congregational. Architect State Secretary, Illinois. Baptist International Sec'y Y. M. C. A. . . Congregational. Missionary Baptist Baptist. Y. M. C. A. Methodist. Jeweller Congregational. Missionary Methodist. Evangelist . . Director in School for Christian Workers State Secretary, Pennsylvania. Presbyterian. Sec'y Y. M. C. A. Meth. Epis. State Sec'y N. Y. . Methodist Episcopal. Missions . Methodist Methodist Reformed. Ministry Ref. Episcopal. Ministry Physician. Director Chicago Y. M. C. A. Congregational Episcopal. Teaching. Congregational . . . General Secretary. Y. M. C. A. Secretary Gen. Sec'y International Com General Secretary N. Y. City Assn. Reformed General Secretary, 23d St., N. Y. Winchester, Mass. Plainfield, N. J. Greencastle, Ind. Montreal. New Castle, Pa. New York, N. Y. Grcenbnsh, N. Y. Somerville, Mass. Brattleboro', Vt. New York, N. Y. Baldwinsville, Mass. Boston, Mass. Okayama, Japan. Keene, N. H. Boston, Mass. Topeka, Kan. St. Al ban's. Elizabeth, N. J, Cesarea, Turkey. Philadelphia, Pa. Bigelow, Minn. Springfield, Mass. East Corinth, Vt. Goldsboro', N. C. , N. Y. MechanicsviUe. New York, N. Y. , N. Y. , N. Y. Albany, N. Y. Albany, N. Y. Albany, N. Y. Brooklyn, N. Y. Keene, N. H. Long Meadow, Mas3. Somerville, Mass. Newport, R. I. Bethel, Conn. Bethel, Conn. Brattleboro', Vt. Newburg, N. Y. Montclair, N. J. Montreal. Philadelphia, Pa. Philadelphia, Pa. New York, N. Y. New York, N. Y. New York, N. Y. Albany, N. Y. New York, N. Y. CATALOGUE OF DELEGATES. Table III. —GENERAL— Continued. 301 J. H. Manning General Secretary Y. M. C. A, W. D. Murray Samuel McConaughy Cong. Gen'l Sec'y Y. M. C. A. . John R. Mott i Secretary Int'l Committee George C. Needham. | Albert W. Needham. | H. Stiinley Newman | F. Mason North Frank W. Ober Cong. Gen'l Sec'y Y. M. C. A . C. K. Ober. Secretary Int'l Committee Clans Olandt, Jr German Secretary Int'l Com Charles H. Potter Presbyterian. Banker W. S. Pond Congregational. Manager, Wana j maker & Brown J. R. Paddock ! Harry B. Rankin 'Baptist. General Secretary . L. S. Root .Congregational. I'hysician C. Ruston, Jr | Rev. A. V. V. Raymond David Allen Reed iCongregational. Ministry . . Waldemar von Starck Lutheran. Sec'y Y. M. C. A John T. Swift Secretary Y. M. C. A S. M. Sayford l Evangelist George A. Sanford Y. M. C. A. . Edwin F. See General Secretary Y. M. C. A Henry G. Smith Presbyterian. Ministry A. R. Slader Congregational RusRell Sturgis Episcopal A. H. Swift. . . F. W. Sanford L. E. Smith Sidney H. Smith Congregatipnal W. J. Turner Presbyterian. Ass't State Sec'y A. W. Talcott i R. H. Tice Rev. A. D. Vail ! JohnL. Wenzel P. E. Sec'y Y. M. C. A A.M.Wight I Plainfield, N. J. Plainfield, N. J. WorceEter. Mass. New York, N. Y. Leominster, Eng. Middletown, Conn. Albany, N. Y. New York, N. Y. New York, N. Y. Cleveland, O. (Philadelphia, Pa. Orange, N. J. Allentown, Pa. New York, N. Y. Brooklyn, N. Y. Albany, N. Y. Springfield. Mass. Berlin, Germany. Tokio, Japan. Philadelphia, Pa. Brooklyn, N. Y. Freehold. N. J. Bellows Falls. Manchester. Mass. Worcester. Topsham, Me. IBethel, Conn. Bethel, Conn. I Milwaukee, Wis. , N. Y. I , N. J. I White Plains, N. Y. I New York, N. Y. Somerville, Mass. J\)e ''l^ortl^field BooKs." COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD; or, A College of Colleges, No. 2. Conducted during July, 1888: Containing addresses by Mr. D. L. Moody, Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, M. D., Bishop Hendrix, Rev. Alex. McKenzie, D.D., Rev. Henry Clay Trumbull, D. D., Prof. W. B. Harper, and others. The " Practical Talks " as given in report of last year's gathering, the demand for which has called for a seventh edition, has induced us to publish an account of this year's proceedings, none the less " practical," and we feel sure will be as fully appreciated. 12mo, 296 Pages, Cloth, $1.00 net. Dr. A . T. Pierson writes : *' Admirable book. I deem it one of the best of all the practical helps issued by the press." Dr. Joseph Cook.— '' It is well edited, well printed, and well inspired from on High. Is full of a Holy Fire of spiritual zeal, which I hope to see spread far and wide." President HT. E. Gates, of Rutgers College, writes: "The influence which has gone out on the College Life of this country, from the summer meetings at Northfield, is so potent for good, that I welcome the extension and perpetuation of that influence through this book." SEVENTH THOUSAND. A COLLEGE OF COLLEGES; or, Practical Talks to College Students. Given in July, 1887, by Prof. Henry Drummond, F.R.S.S., Rev. J. A. Broadus, D.D., Prof. Townsend, Rev. A. T. Pierson, D.D., Mr. D. L. Moody, and others. 12mo, 288 Pages, Cloth, $1.00 net. " Of signal value." — Chazctatdqua Herald. "We commend this volume very cordially." — Presbyterian Witness. " The volume closes with a chapter of * nuggets ' from Northfield, which is no excep- tion, however, as the other chapters are equally rich in ' nuggets.' " — The Independent. D. L. MOODY AT HOME. His Home and Home Work. Embracing a description of the educational institutions established at Northfield, Mass., together with an account of the various noted gath- erings of Christian workers at the place, and the most helpful and sug- gestive lectures, and the best thoughts there exchanged ; adding, also, many helpful and practical hints. 12mo, 288 Pages, Cloth, Eight Illustrations, $1.00. The New York Independent says: " There is nothing in the career of this remark- able man more striking than his work at Northfield." The New York Evatjgelist spoke most truly when it said : " The public is unaware of Mr. Moody's enormous investments at Northfield, that will pay him abundant interest long after he reaches heaven." NEW YORK: ClpminrtH PPI/PII CHICAGO: ^2 Bible House, Astor PI. f 'O/M' '/V /» • M 'O VV:»I I 748 & 150 Madison St, SUGGBSTIVE BOOKS ■> « - - i^OR BIBLE RBJS^BBRS. NEV/ NOTES FOR BIBLE READINGS. By the late S. R. Briggs. with brief Memoir of the author by Rev. Jas. H. Brookes, D. 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A complete classification of Scripture Texts in the form of an alphabetical list of subjects. By Rev. James Inglis. Large Svo, 524 pages, cloth, |].75. The plan is much the same as the " Bible Text Book" with the valuable additional help in that the texts referred to are quoted in full. Thus the student is saved the time and labor of turning to numerous passages, which, when found, may not be pertinent to the subject he has in hand. THE TREASURY OF SCRIPTURE KNOWLEDGE; consist- ing of 500,000 scripture references and parallel passages, with numer- ous notes. Svo, 778 pages, cloth, $2.00. A single examination of this remarkable compilation of references will convince the reader of the fact that " the Bible is its own best interpreter." THE WORKS OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, translated by William Whiston, a. M., with Life, Portrait, Notes and Index. A new cheap edition in clear type. Large Svo, 684 pages, cloth, $2.00. 100.000 SYNONYMS AND ANTONYMS. By Rt. Rev. Samuel Fallov^s, a. M., D. D. 512 pages, cloth, f i.oo. A complete Dictionary of synonyms and -words of opposite meanings, with an appen- dix of Briticisms, Americanisms, Colloquialisms, Homonims, Homophonous words. Foreign Phrases, etc., etc. " This is .one of the best books of its kind we have seen, and probably there is nothing published in the country that is equal to it." — Y, M. C. A, Watchman, NEW YORK: C|c>minrtW X^OWOW CHICAGO. 12 Bible House, Astor PI. T • <^' ' » ' »/ V P • ^V^ V ^^ 1 1 -j^q ^ jgg Madison St Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 1 1012 01089 5839 Date Due ^^ «t ***F*'** ^^ ^» mmmm ^^m ^m ^P ^^@ .w"""^ H^sp '^p ^^ ^m ^H Hj ^^ M^ ^9 Hi 9| ^w ^^ y..m ffl PRINTED IN U. S. A. HL