MISSION STUDIES

Historical Survey

AND

Outlines of Missionary Principles
and Practice

By EDWARD PFEIFFER
Professor of Theology in the Ev. Lutheran Seminary,
Capital University, Columbus. Ohio.

SECOND REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION

COLUMBUS, OHIO:
LUTHERAN BOOK CONCERN
1912

Copyright, 1908
BY
Edward Pfe ffer

Who in her ninety-first year passed into
the glory of the Lord and is now enjoy
ing the triumphs of divine grace through
the redemption which is in Christ Jesus

FOREWORD.

THIS new edition of Mission Studies, for which
there has been a demand for nearly a year, has
been delayed by other pressing duties and in
terests. The author was not willing to have
the manual merely reprinted with slight emendations.
It is now sent forth not only enlarged and amplified, but
also, it is hoped, made in form and contents more ser
viceable to the Church at large.
The author has endeavored to meet this aim by
combining more historical material with the underlying
principles of missions, thus making the study more
lucid and complete for the general reader. A new part
has been added, giving a rapid and comprehensive survey
of the history of missions, through all their varied phases
and development, from the apostolic age to the present
time. This part is not a mere compilation of facts and
incidents, but an attempt to sift out causes and effects,
and to trace the factors and forces which account for the
checkered appearance and the slow development of the
missionary enterprise through the long centuries since the
blessed Savior of mankind established His kingdom on
the earth and sent forth missionaries to proclaim salva
tion throughout the world. In addition to this, many
chapters of the original work have been reconstructed
and rewritten, all with the view of making the manual
more widely useful in our churches.
At the same time it has been the author's endeavor
not to sacrifice anything essential to the "original purpose
(v) <\^

VI FOREWORD.
of the book, that of serving as a basis for a profitable and
practical course in Evangelistics in schools. After some
experience he is more fully convinced than ever that a
course which will conduce to the missionary equipment
and incitement of our students will serve a similar pur
pose among the young people of our congregations and
in Christian homes, if the material is presented in proper
form. The time is at hand when our pastors, more gener
ally, must lead their people to a more intelligent and
comprehensive grasp of the missionary enterprise, to the
end that they may more fully and joyfully respond to
the marvelous opportunities of twentieth century mis
sions. With the hope and prayer that, amid the abundance
of missionary literature, it may be helpful to clearness
of view and deepening of conviction and abiding interest
and participation in the cause of spreading the Re
deemer's kingdom and bringing blessing to mankind,
this handbook is sent forth on its second journey.
Columbus, Ohio, August, 19 12.
E. P.

CONTENTS.

PAGE.
Foreword  V
FIRST PART.
The Historical Background of the Missionary Enterprise.
Chapter I. Introductory Thoughts  3
1. Twentieth Century Missionary Outlook  3
2. Relation to the Apostolic Age  5
3. Missionary Experience of the Ages  6
Chapter II. Apostolic and Post-apostolic Missions  9
1. Divine Preparation : An opened world, and a pre
pared Church  9
2. Triumphs of the Gospel : Extent of the territory
+ covered, and the missions planted  13
v**^. Means and Methods Employed: The divine
Word; Personal workers and witnesses  18
Chapter III. Medieval Missions  23
1. Providential Factors Still Discernible  23
2. Distinctive Methods of Medieval Missions  25
3. General Survey of the Field  28
Chapter IV. The Reformation and Missions  37
1. Failure to Engage in Foreign Mission Work :
Conditions and causes  37
2. Feeble Beginnings of Protestant Missions : In
America and Farther India  43
Chapter V. Eighteenth Century Missions  47
1. Their Scope and Significance: Halle and Herrn-
hut ; The Greenland Mission  47
2. The Danish-Halle Mission  52
3. The Missionary Operations of the Moravian
Church  57
Chapter VI. The Age of Modern Missions : Leading
Protestant Missionary Societies and Denomina
tional Enterprises  63
Cviij

Vlll CONTENTS. PAGE.
1. Providential Preparation for Modern Missions:
JThe two essential factors : Opened doors, and
awakened Christians  63
2. Societies in Great Britain  69
3. Societies in Germany  73
4. Societies in the Scandinavian Countries  76
5. Societies and Denominational Agencies in the
United States  78
Chapter VII. Comprehensive Survey of the Leading
Foreign Fields  82
1. Some General Observations  82
2. The Situation in the Western Hemisphere  84
3. The Missionary Outlook in Africa  88
4. Survey of Asia and the Far East  98
5. The Work of the Gospel in the Isles of the Sea. . Ill
6. Concluding Thoughts  117
SECOND PART.
Missionary Principles in General, With Particular Applica
tion to Foreign Missions.
I. Scientific Aspects of the Subject.
Chapter VIII. The Science of Missions and the Scope of
Missionary Principles  121
1. Scientific Treatment Both Feasible and Necessary 121
2. Two Lines of Study to Be Pursued : The history
of missions, and the theory or principles of
missions  122
3. What Is Embraced Under the Head of Mis
sionary Principles  125
4. The Science Named Evangelistics  127
Chapter IX. The Place of Missions in the Life and Work
of the Church  131
1. The Place of Missions in Educational Institutions 131
2. The Place of Missions in Our Churches  134
Chapter X. Unity and Diversity of the Missionary Enter
prise  137
1. The Unity of the Missionary Enterprise  137

CONTENTS. IX
PAGE.
2. Three Distinguishable Spheres or Departments of
the Enterprise  138
3. Diversity of Operations, but the Same Lord, the
Same Faith, the Same End  139
4. The Scope of the Present Discussion of the
Missionary Enterprise  143
II. The Biblical Ground of Mission Work.
The Nature and Scope of This Section : Of fun
damental importance; General reflections on the
subject  146
Chapter XI. Missionary Thoughts in the Old Testament.. 149
1. Character of Old Testament Missionary Thoughts 149
2. Some Leading and Typical Missionary Thoughts 150
Chapter XII. Missionary Thoughts in the Gospels  163
1. Introductory Reflections: Study of Christ's
words in three groups  163
2. The Universality of Redemption through Christ;
The kingdom of God, and the Son of Man  165
3. Gradual Revelation of God's Plan of World-wide
Evangelization: In the many words of Christ
with reference to mission work and workers  171
4. The Great Commission  184
Chapter XIII. Missionary Thoughts in the Acts of the
Apostles  190
1. Introductory Remarks and Reflections  190
2. General Plan and Outline of the Book  192
3. The Church at Jerusalem  193
4. The Church at Antioch  203
5. The Missionary Character and Career of St.
Paul  207
Excursus on the Epistles  213
III. The Purpose and Aim of Missions.
Chapter XIV. The Chief and Dominating Aim  219
1. The Real Aim of Missions Is Salvation from Sin
and Death  219
2. The Aim More Carefully Defined and Explained 221

X CONTENTS. PAGE.
Chapter XV. Temporal Blessings Resulting  226
1. The Real Aim of Missions Is Not Civilization
and Culture  226
2. Christian Missions Show Large Results Along
the Line of Civilization and Culture and Moral
Improvement  227
3. How These Results Should Be Estimated  229
IV. Missionary Means and Methods.
Chapter XVI. Character of the Means in General  233
1. Not Carnal, but Spiritual  233
2. The Word of God, the Fundamental and Final
Reliance : The spoken Word ; The Word in the
form of "living epistles"; The printed Word  235
Chapter XVII. The Missionary: His Career and Qualifi
cations  237
1. General Importance of the Subject  237
2. Fundamental Character and Characteristics : The
spiritual gifts of faith and love ; Intelligent and
whole-souled interest in the missionary enterprise 238
3. Special Qualifications of the Missionary : Physical
health; Intellectual gifts of teaching and leader
ship  240
Chapter XVIII. The Missionary: His Commission  245
1. Necessity of Competent Authority and Order.... 245
2. Divine Authority and Commission : The mission
of the apostles ; The sending forth of later mis
sionaries  247
3. Churchly Authority and Commission : Inde
pendent societies ; Church administration  249
4. Corresponding Duty of the Church: The supply
of men and the training of missionaries ; Moral
and financial support of the missionaries  253
5. Reflex Blessings Upon the Church  256
,£hapter XIX. Main Methodical Lines of the Work  259
1. Direct Evangelism : By personal interview, itiner-
\. ating, and course of instruction; Leading to
organized centers — stations, congregations  259

CONTENTS. XI
PAGE.
2. Indirect Evangelistic Effort: Education — schools
of different grades; Literary work; Medical
missions  -262
THIRD PART.
Home and Inner Mission Work.
I. Home Mission Work.
Chapter XX. The Scope and Aim of Home Missions  269
1. Distinctive Character of This Part  269
2. The Relation of Home Missions to Other Activities
of the Church: (a) Home mission work comes
first in the Biblical and the natural order of work;
(b) Home mission work supplies the basis of
other churchly operations ; (c) Home missions
and general benevolence  270
3. A Survey of the Home Mission Field : (a) As
to extent; (b) The material; (c) Character of
the material  273
4. The Home Missionary Aim : (a) Not reform
merely, but regeneration ; (b) Not societies for
ethical culture, but self-supporting Christian
churches  277
Chapter XXI. The Forces and Methods of Home Missions : 279
1. The Home Missionary Forces: (a) In point of
numbers; (b) Conditions of success  279
2. Home Missionary Means and Methods; (a)
Evangelism; (b) Education; (c) Literary work;
(d) Charities  284
II. Inner Mission Work.
Chapter XXII. Distinctive Character of the Work  290
1. Works of Mercy Joined with Ministrations of
the Gospel: (a) How distinguished from home
mission work; (b) Identified, in part, with home
mission work  290
2. Occasion for Inner Mission Work: (a) A sum
mary view of the history of the work; (b) Con
ditions today, and in our country  294

Xll CONTENTS. PAGE.
3. Justification of Mission Work in This Form : (a)
The inherent nature and spirit of the Gospel ;
(b) The explicit teaching and example of Christ;
(c) The missionary command of Christ; (d)
Apostolic injunction and example  297
4. The Aim as Distinguished from the Methods :
(a) The aim is salvation from sin and death; (b)
The methods vary according to the needs  301
Chapter XXIII. Principal Methods of the Work  303
1. Congregational : (a) This form of inner mission
activity is of prime importance ; (b) How the
work may be begun; (c) Large city churches;
(d) City missions and inner mission societies;
(e) Some further practical suggestions  308
2. Institutional: (a) Training schools for workers;
(b) Charitable institutions; (c) The dissemina
tion of Christian literature  316
FOURTH PART.
The Nurture of Missionary Life in the Home Church.
Chapter XXIV. The Missionary Life  325
1. A Vital Issue : The throbbing heart of missionary
work  325
2. A Work of Divine Grace : The source of power. . 328
Chapter XXV. The Nurture of Missionary Life in the
Church at Large  331
1. By Joint Effort of the Affiliated Congregations :
(a) Importance of the individual; (b) The
pastor as a missionary leader  331
2. By Faithful Supervision of the General Work. . . 334
3. By Ample Provision for Co-operation  335
Chapter XXVI. The Nurture of Missionary Life in the
Congregation  337
1. Faithful Administration and Application of the
Means of Grace  337

CONTENTS. Xlll
PAGE.
2. Two Spheres of Spiritual Nurture:
A. Among the Young: (a) Missionary work in
the Sunday-school; (b) Missionary instruction in
the catechetical school or class; (c) Missionary
instruction in the Christian day school  338
B. Among the Older Members : In the regular
divine service, and through special services and
lines of work : (a) Regularly recurring mission
ary services; (b) The annual mission festival;
(c) Distribution of missionary literature; (d) So
cieties and mission study; (e) System in the gath
ering of offerings; (f) A missionary library for
pastor and people; (g) Prayer for missions  340
APPENDIX.
I. Outlines of Courses Suggested for Mission Study
Classes and Reading Circles  357
II. Bibliography  360
III. Index  367

MISSION STUDIES.
(xv)

FIRST PART.
THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE
MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE.
(i)

CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY THOUGHTS.
i. Twentieth Century Missionary Outlook.
A new epoch has dawned in the history of missions.
The/ period since the Reformation of the sixteenth
century is commonly designated the period of modern
missions. During these four centuries greater advance
was made, larger territory covered, more converts won
for Christianity, than during the fifteen centuries pre
ceding. And unless all signs fail and all indications are
deceptive, the twentieth century will surpass all its
predecessors and all preceding periods in world-wide
evangelization. There is good ground for this hopeful outlook. The
movements of the day reinforce the call that the Gospel
of Christ gives to all Christians, to take an active part
in the work and contribute toward this glorious consum
mation. The opportunities for advance are greater than ever
before. There are improved facilities for reaching the
most distant fields. Political changes and industrial
improvements afford easier access to unoccupied terri
tory. Modern enterprise has brought about speedier
communication within foreign fields, and between them
and the home churches. Medical science insures safer
conditions in respect to climate, and improved social and
governmental relations facilitate the activity of the
Christian missionary in nearly all foreign fields. The
nations of the world are bound together by broader and
(3)

4 MISSION STUDIES.
more humane understanding, regard, and comity than
ever before.
God's Word has not returned unto Him void. The
hopes and promises of the Gospel have been vindicated
on large areas and under the most varied racial condi
tions. The large investment of Christian lives and sub
stance made by the faithful of past generations is
bringing large returns. In many fields the time of
harvest has set in. The good seed sown by the pioneer
missionaries has borne large fruitage. With all this
preparation, and with all the advantages of twentieth
century enterprise, there is ground for expecting even
more rapid extension of Christian missions.
Advance is noticeable, too, in what we may call the
working base at home. The Christian churches are being
more largely enlisted in the work, both in the home
fields and in foreign missions. Modern forward move
ments in churches and schools, among old and young, on
the part of the men as well as of the women, are result
ing in wider education, growing interest, and more
systematic co-operation.
While we rejoice in these evidences of enlarged
activity, we need to guard the integrity of the divine
truth and the purity and vigor of our faith. There is
much spiritual decline even in the midst of great re
ligious activity. The Gospel of Christ has achieved
whatever triumphs are on record. It is the power of
God unto salvation still. Let it be held fast and pre
served among us in its truth and purity. The name of
Jesus is the only name under heaven given among men
whereby we must be saved,

Ch. I. INTRODUCTORY THOUGHTS. 5
2. Relation to the Apostolic Age.
This new epoch of twentieth century missions will,
nevertheless, prove a disappointment and a failure if the
rationalism and secularism that are so clearly in evidence
in many churches are allowed to prevail.
The study of apostolic missions should serve the
present age as an incentive to eschew anything and
everything that, parading as modern thought and ad
vanced knowledge, seeks to supplant the Word of the
living God. Well has the unique character of the New
Testament and of the apostolic age been described by a
famous scholar in these words: "No transition in the
history of the Church is so sudden, abrupt, and radical
as that from the apostolic to the post-apostolic age.
They are separated by a clear and sharp line of demark-
ation. The Christian spirit is the same in kind,~yet with
an astonishing difference in degree; it is the difference
between inspiration and illumination, between creative
genius and faithful memory, between the original voice
and the distant echo, between the clear, gushing foun
tain from the rock and the turbid stream. God Himself
has established an impassable gulf between His own life-
giving Word and the writings of mortal men, that future
ages might have a certain guide and standard in finding
the way of salvation. The apostolic age is the age of
miracles, and the New Testament is the life and light
of all subsequent ages of the Church."1
In divine truth, in immutable principles, in vital,
spiritual power, the apostolic age is fundamental to all
future development in the kingdom of God. That was
the intention of its divine Founder. He built His Church

*Dr. Philip Schaff, Companion to the Greek Testament, p.
80f.

6 MISSION STUDIES.
and desired it to grow up and expand "upon the founda
tion of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself
being the chief corner stone."1 This basic and typical
character of the apostolic age pertains pre-eminently to
the sphere of missions. If the work is to be successful
in the highest sense, if it is to endure and bear abiding
fruit for the kingdom of God, its development must be
truly apostolic. This requires the maintenance of apos
tolic truth and the application of apostolic principles.
It does not mean that the forms of development, touch
ing matters of government, orders of service, customs
and usages, and the like, be limited to those which we
find in the apostolic church; but it means that the sub
stance of the message, the truth to be proclaimed, the
principles controlling and directing the work, must be in
accordance with the apostolic pattern.
3. Missionary Experience of the Ages.
Christian missions have been carried on for nineteen
hundred years. And, even now, only about one-third of
the earth's population is nominally Christian. When we
consider that there are still a thousand million non-
Christians in the world, and that some five millions of
converts to Christianity have been won from heathen
ism as a result of nineteenth century missions, we are
impressed with the gigantic character of the task still
confronting the Church.
If the apostolic model had been followed and the
apostolic principles been preserved and applied in every
succeeding age, if the potency of the Church's first love
could have been measurably maintained among the
generations following, the divine prophecy, "The earth
shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the

'Eph. 2, 19-22.

Ch.

INTRODUCTORY THOUGHTS.

Lord, as the waters cover the sea," might have been long
since fulfilled. But human error and defection made
themselves felt within the churches even during the life
time of the apostles. And as time wore on, errors grew
apace, the churches were rent and torn by the inroads of
heresies, much time and energy had to be devoted to con
tention for the preservation of the faith and the main
tenance of the truth, worldliness and moral decline in
vaded the churches and reduced their power to propagate
the faith, and the missionary propaganda, even where it
was undertaken, was vitiated and weakened by carnal
motives and frequently by the use of carnal weapons,
in defiance of the apostolic principle.1
The advance of the armies of the Lord in the
spiritual conquest of the nations has been checked and
hindered far more by weakness and decline within the
churches than by the enemies of Christ outside. Wher
ever believers have been united in the faith, and the
Church in the strength of such spiritual unity has sent
forth missionaries and given them the required moral
and material support, the work of evangelization, once
the season of trial, of patient seed-sowing, of needful
preparation, had been endured, has borne glorious fruit
age. And in these fields the early harvests have sup
plied seed for further and larger harvests. But such
unity in the faith and in the knowledge and possession
of the Gospel of Christ is essentially different from the
outward unions that have been attempted in modern
times and from the unionistic movements that are so
freely advocated today.
The apostolic precept and example lays emphasis on
"the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."2 That

*II Cor. 10, 4. 'Eph. 4, 3. Cf. I Cor. 1, 10.

8 MISSION STUDIES.
implies unity in the faith and in the confession of the
truth according to the Gospel. Whoever can unite on
that ground, let them unite and work unitedly. Appear
ances and imposing organizations to the contrary not
withstanding, no real and abiding triumphs were ever
gained for the kingdom of God by suppressing, or
distorting, or ignoring the divine truth that alone can
make men free from the bondage of sin. Those
churches and denominations that agree in doctrine, and
are divided only on matters of tradition, church polity,
or other human ordinances, should unite their forces for
common work not only on mission fields abroad, but also
in the home land. As for the Lutheran Church, she
cannot be true to herself and her apprehension of the
Gospel and unite with others on any other ground. For
she believes that divisions on the ground of "human
traditions, rites, or ceremonies instituted by men" are
sinful, and that "to the true unity of the Church it is
enough to agree concerning the doctrine of the Gospel
and the administration of the sacraments."1
The missionary enterprise of the twentieth century
will be truly successful in extending the kingdom of the
Lord Jesus Christ, not in consequence of large aggrega
tions of heterogenous elements doctrinally and spiritually,
nor by great activity in spreading a modernized gospel
which emasculates that which is vital to Christianity, but
in proportion as it conserves the Gospel of the inspired
Scriptures and, constrained by the love of Christ, is
zealous in preaching Christ crucified, "the power of God
and the wisdom of God."

1 Augsburg Confession, Article VII.

CHAPTER II.
APOSTOLIC AND POST-APOSTOLIC MISSIONS.
i. Divine Preparation.
The Lord is King in Zion, even as He is the sover
eign Ruler of the world. His "dominion endureth
throughout all generations." The tracing of God's hand
in the affairs of men and of nations constitutes one of
the benefits and enjoyments of the study of history.
God's providential control is apparent in the conjunction
of epochal events, the preparation of forces, the raising
up and equipment of leaders, the removal of obstacles,
the opening of doors, and the like, all tending to the
accomplishment of His will and the extension of His
kingdom. In every period of missionary expansion the provi
dence of God is evident in the conjunction of two con
ditions, two potent facts, namely, an opened world and
a prepared Church. When either of these factors is
wanting, there can be no decided forward movement in
the missionary enterprise. When the Lord of the har
vest, in His providence and by His grace, brings field
and forces together, opening the way to the one and
raising up the others, there results a missionary era that
is fruitful in proportion to the largeness of the oppor
tunity and the readiness of the Church to enter the open
door and make full proof of her stewardship.
What we must note in particular, in this connection,
is the fact that there is divine preparation in two entirely
different spheres. The world is prepared to receive the
messengers of the Gospel. To this end there is a provi-
(9)

10 MISSION STUDIES.
dential shaping of political, commercial, and social affairs,
so that there may be access, intercommunication, and the
possibility of getting a foothold ; in short, an open door.
Even as it is written of Him who "openeth, and no man
shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; . . .
behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man
can shut it."1 This is God's work, just as much and just
as truly as it is the work of God that we believe in Him
and become inclined to do His will. The world is made
ready for missions. But more. There is a "fulness of
time," when the Lord needs leaders for new under
takings and special workmen for the harvest that is
waiting. Then it is that the Holy Spirit moves mightily
within the Church, and the result is a quickening of
spiritual life. So the Church is awakened and forcibly
reminded of its sacred obligation and of the present
opportunity. Within the quickened Church workmen
arise and are prepared and sent forth, and the work of
the Lord prospers and is promoted.
In the period of apostolic and post-apostolic missions
the overruling and guiding providence of God is illus
trated in a striking manner and on a grand scale. The
"fulness of time" is indicated not only in the birth of
Christ, the promised Messiah, but also in the preparation
of the world for His coming and for the wide and
rapid extension of His kingdom. There are large factors
that enter into the work of opening the door and pre
paring the field at this time. For one thing, there were
great obstacles to be faced and overcome, social and
political obstacles, of which we in our day have hardly
any conception. Becoming a Christian meant enduring
*Rev. 3, 7. 8.

Ch. 2. APOSTOLIC AND POST-APOSTOLIC MISSIONS. 11
persecution and social ostracism.1 The stupendous evils
of polytheism, superstition and reeking moral corrup
tion surged like a flood about the disciples of the
Nazarene and threatened to engulf the infant Church.
But even these obstacles were overruled in such a way
as to make the wrath of man to praise God and prepare
the way for the promulgation of the Gospel, while many
other forces and factors were shaped and made con
ducive to the same end.
These factors in the providential preparation of the
world for missions may be summed up under three heads :
Greek culture, Roman law, and Jewish monotheism.
"Philosophy, science, culture in the broad sense of the
term, are the gift of the Greeks to mankind; law and
civil polity are a legacy from the Romans; but 'salva
tion is of the Jews.' "2 The Greek nation had gained
an intellectual supremacy before the Roman conquests
established a political sovereignty. Grecian philosophy
degenerated into bald skepticism and atheism, but it
helped to undermine polytheism, and the very despair
of finding peace amid the confusion of conflicting opin
ions and theories created in many souls a longing and
expectancy that made them peculiarly receptive for the
preaching of the Gospel. The spread of the Greek lan
guage, in which the New Testament was to be written,
and which was destined to be for a long time the lan
guage of the world, was an important element of the
problem. The Roman legions in their march of conquest,
creating an Empire of thirty-five provinces stretching

*Cf. Uhlhorn, The Conflict of Christianity with Heathen
ism. •Fisher, History of the Christian Church, p. 13.

12 MISSION STUDIES.
from the British Isle to the African desert, and from
the Atlantic to the valley of the Euphrates, the im
perial system of roads, the development of commercial
enterprise, of extensive travel1 and intercourse, breaking
down social and racial barriers and creating a more
homogeneous civilization, and the establishment of Ro
man law wherever Roman arms triumphed, thus promot
ing security and protection of life, — these are some of
the contributions of Rome in the way of preparation for
world-wide evangelization.
The main factors in the contribution of Judaism
are the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testa
ment, and the synagogues in which these Scriptures were
expounded, and where there were frequently found
Jewish proselytes who had been won from heathenism,
and who proved to be most susceptible hearers of the
Gospel. Thus the Jewish dispersion, a divine judgment
visited upon a perverse and disobedient nation, was made
to contribute its share toward paving the way for the
ambassadors of the Crucified. "Every synagogue," as
Dr. Schaff says, "was a mission station of monotheism,
and furnished the apostles an admirable place and a
natural introduction for their preaching of Jesus Christ
as the fulfiller of the law and the prophets."2
And as the Lord in His providence was thus pre
paring the world for the reception of the messengers
of salvation, He also made provision at Pentecost for
the missionary preparation and equipment of His Church.
It was indeed a "little flock," and it looked like an un
equal combat, an undertaking doomed to certain failure.

"On the large extent of travel and communication cf.
Ramsay, St. Paul The Traveller and the Roman Citizen.
"History of the Christian Church, Vol. I, p. 87.

Ch. 2. APOSTOLIC AND POST-APOSTOLIC MISSIONS. 13
"Never in the whole course of human history," writes
Uhlhorn,1 "have two so unequal powers stood opposed
to each other as ancient heathenism and early Chris
tianity, the Roman state and the Christian Church."
But God was with His little flock, and history has re
corded the fulfilment of His promises and the triumphs
of His power and grace.
2. Triumphs of the Gospel.
For substantial progress with unpretentious and
meagerly prepared workers, and in the face of ap
parently insuperable obstacles, the history of the apostolic
age together with that of the two succeeding centuries
will always remain a luminous and inspiring chapter
in evangelistics. The triumphs of the Gospel are shown
in the wide and rapid spread of Christianity in spite of
the fierce opposition on the part both of the Jewish and
of the heathen world.
Let us glance, first, at the extent of the territory
covered by the ambassadors and witnesses of Christ.
By the Lord's direction Jerusalem was the center
of operations, and it remained the mother church and
the chief center for some years, as long as the apostles
made it their main headquarters. The miracle of Pente
cost marks the founding of the Christian Church and its
enduement with power from on high for the spiritual
conquest of the world. The march of conquest pro
ceeded according to the direction of the Great Commis
sion: in Jerusalem — in all Judea and Samaria — and
unto the uttermost part of the earth. According to this
divine plan and mode of procedure the influence of the
Gospel was carried out in ever widening circles to the
boundaries of the Roman Empire and beyond.

•The Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism.

14 MISSION STUDIES.
Jerusalem was the center for the evangelization of
Palestine. The general persecution that arose after the
martyrdom of Stephen served to scatter believers far
and wide, and "they that were scattered abroad went
everywhere preaching the Word." Philip, one of the
consecrated deacons, labored with great success in the
city of Samaria, and he was followed and his work was
supported and extended by Peter and John, who preached
the Gospel in many cities of the Samaritans. After in
structing and baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch, thus pre
paring a Christian witness for work in the distant South,
Philip was instrumental in scattering the seeds of the
Gospel in all the coast cities, from Azotus through Lydda
and Joppa until he came to Csesarea. Immediately after
the conversion of Saul, we read in the Acts, the churches
throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had rest,
were edified, and were multiplied. Then followed
Peter's fruirjful work at Lydda, Sharon, Joppa, and
Csesarea. As Jerusalem was the Jewish center of missionary
expansion, so Antioch, the capital of Syria, soon became
the Greek center. The congregation was composed of
Jewish and of Gentile Christians. Among its forceful
leaders and able teachers were Barnabas and Saul, who
for a whole year taught the people and were uncon
sciously preparing the congregation for the work of
world-evangelization of which it was soon to be the
center. Barnabas was instrumental in starting Paul
upon his career as the divinely chosen missionary and
apostle to the Gentiles.
The three missionary tours of St. Paul, embracing
three successively enlarging circuits, closing according
to the record in the Acts with his two years of fruitful
service in Rome, the metropolis of the Empire, consti-

Ch. 2. APOSTOLIC AND POST-APOSTOLIC MISSIONS. 15
tute probably the most productive decade in the career
of any single missionary and form the most pregnant
and instructive chapter in the history of Christian mis
sions. The first tour, from Antioch through Seleucia,
Salamis, Paphos, Perga, Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium,
Lystra, Derbe, and back to the home church, consumed
a little more than a year. The second itinerary, taking
the apostle through Syria and Cilicia, Derbe and Lystra,
Phrygia and Galatia, to Troas, where the Lord mirac
ulously interposed and called His chosen servant to lay
the foundations for European missions, over into Mace
donia, Neapolis, Philippi, Amphipolis, Appolonia, Thes-
salonica, Beroea, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, Caesarea,
Jerusalem, and back to Antioch, claimed a little less than
three years of strenuous service. The third tour, in
cluding a visitation of the churches in Galatia and
Phrygia, a stay of two years at Ephesus, through Troas,
Macedonia, Greece, Miletus, Patara, Tyre, Caesarea, to
Jerusalem, occupied nearly four years of toil and trial.
Even while he was a prisoner at Rome, St. Paul's mis
sionary activity reached out both to Christians and to
heathen as they came and went, and his message of
Christ penetrated even into the circles of the imperial
family and court.
Of the labors of the other apostles very little is
known. From his first epistle it appears that Peter
labored at one time in Babylon. According to Eusebius
there were ancient traditions to the effect that Andrew
preached in Scythia, Bartholomew in India, Thomas in
Parthia, and, according to later accounts, in India, where
on the Malabar coast there are to this day a quarter of
a million believers of Syrian nationality that bear the
name Thomas Christians. But the wide dissemination of
the Gospel through the labors of the apostles is indi-

16 MISSION STUDIES.
cated by a declaration of St. Paul in his epistle to the
Colossians, in which he exhorts the believers not to be
moved away from the hope of the Gospel, "which was
preached in all creation under heaven."
To get a comprehensive view of the spread of the
tidings of salvation in the first century we must return
to that memorable day of Pentecost in Jerusalem.
Among the men who heard the believers speak in their
own several and diversified tongues the wonderful works
of God, and many of whom doubtless were among the
three thousand souls who the same day were baptized
and added unto the Church, there were Jews and
proselytes from Parthia, Media, and Mesopotamia, from
all the provinces of Asia Minor, from Egypt and Cyrene,
from Arabia, and from Rome. Returning to their homes
and bearing witness unto Christ, these new disciples
were instrumental in spreading some knowledge of the
Gospel over a large portion of the Empire.
How many converts were won? How many
churches were organized? We in our day set great
store by statistics. In ancient times little was made of
this art. As a consequence we have no complete and
accurate statistics to indicate the numerical progress of
Christianity in the earlier centuries. The sacred record,
however, has preserved the fact that on the day of Pente
cost three thousand souls were baptized, and that shortly
afterward the number of the men came to be about five
thousand. And then, throughout the Acts, in nearly
every account of the work of the Gospel as the joyful
testimony is borne forth and onward, we read state
ments such as these: Believers were the more added to
the Lord, multitudes both of men and women ; the num
ber of the disciples multiplied exceedingly; many be
lieved; a great number believed and turned unto the

Ch. 2. APOSTOLIC AND POST-APOSTOLIC MISSIONS. 17
Lord. The New Testament mentions very many churches
by name, distributed over a wide territory. It has been
estimated that, at the close of the first century, the num
ber of Christians aggregated from two hundred to five
hundred thousand. There was a chain of congregations
and mission stations three thousand miles long, extend
ing from Spain to Babylon.
By the close of the third century the number of
Christians had no doubt increased to some six millions,
comprising one-twentieth or more of the total popula
tion of the Roman Empire.
There was remarkable extension eastward, across
Mesopotamia, into Persia, Media, Bactria, and Parthia.
In Armenia the ground was prepared for the successful
work of Gregory the "Illuminator," in the fourth cen
tury. Origen had occasion to visit Christian churches
in Arabia. Edessa was a center of Christian influence,
with a' Christian king, as early as the second century.
Even if the tradition that made Thomas the Apostle of
India is discarded, it is certain that Pantasnus, the
founder of the Christian school at Alexandria, visited
India about the close of the second century, and dur
ing the next two centuries the number of Christians
was greatly augmented.
Egypt and Proconsular Africa took a leading part
in the work of evangelization during the post-apostolic
age. To bolster up the claims of the papacy Roman
Catholic canonists have invented the fiction that Rome
is "the mother and mistress" not only of the Western
churches, but of the world. As a matter of fact, how
ever, Rome herself was a mission of the Greeks, and
"Latin Christianity, when it appears, is African, not
Roman."1 At an early period Alexandria became a
1 Milman, History of Latin Christianity, I. pp. 27 and 28.

18 MISSION STUDIES.
strong center of Christian influence, and from here the
Gospel was carried up the Nile, into Nubia and Abys
sinia. The catechetical school in the city established by
Pantsenus and further developed by Clement, became a
theological seminary and missionary training school
under the leadership of Origen. A synod held in Alex
andria in 235 was attended by twenty bishops from the
Nile valley. In the time of Cyprian Carthage was a
a flourishing center of Christian activity, and in Maure-
tania and Numidia there were so many Christian
churches that when, about the middle of the third cen
tury, a general synod was held in Carthage there was
an attendance of eighty-seven bishops.
Westward and northward, too, there was a notable
extension of Christianity. In the second half of the
second century there was an emigration of Christian
colonists and teachers from Asia Minor, and in Gaul
they built up flourishing congregations. One of the
most celebrated of these teachers was Irenseus, pastor
of Lyons. In Spain the congregations became so nu
merous that, in 306, a provincial synod at Elvira was
attended by nineteen bishops. At a very early period
Roman colonies and Christian congregations were estab
lished along the Rhine and the Danube, and toward the
close of the second century Tertullian speaks of Chris
tianity in Britain. It is thought that Christian soldiers
and officials of the Roman legions sowed the first seeds
of the Gospel in the island. At any rate there was a
considerable Christian community before the conquering
hosts of Rome withdrew.
3. Means and Methods Employed.
True to the terms of the Great Commission and the
essential spirit of Christianity, the apostles and early

Ch. 2. APOSTOLIC AND POST-APOSTOLIC MISSIONS. 19
Christians placed their chief reliance on the Gospel as
the power of God unto salvation. No one can read the
Acts and the epistles of the New Testament carefully
without being impressed with the fact that the divine
Word holds the chief place in the work of evangelization.
Under the most varied conditions and in manifold
ways and forms of presentation was the Word preached.
This activity was not confined to the apostles and the
regularly appointed evangelists. There was an abund
ance of "lay preaching," without taking a disorderly
course or interfering in any way with the apostolate
and the public ministry of the Church. When perse
cution scattered disciples far and wide, so far from
silencing the preaching of the Word of life, it afforded
them opportunities to bear personal testimony to Christ
and make known the good news of salvation in every
community into which they came.
Among the potent evangelizing forces of this virile
age were the "living epistles," of which St. Paul said:
They may be "known and read of all men." Not only
by oral testimony and confession, but also through their
Christian lives and Christ-like conduct did the early
disciples, laymen and ministers, men and women, preach
the Word and spread the influence of the Gospel. From
the blood of the martyrs, the dying testimony of the
uncounted thousands who refused to deny their faith,
many individual believers and not a few mission sta
tions sprang into being.
Even the written Word, many centuries before the
discovery of the art of printing, was an evangelizing
force widely applied. The apostles wrote pastoral let
ters to churches that had been established in leading
centers, and copies of these epistles circulated among
neighboring churches and, together with the Scriptures

20 MISSION STUDIES.
of the Old Testament, were read at the regular services.
In addition to the Greek text of the Scriptures, which
was widely distributed and in general use, other versions
were prepared for use in particular fields. Such there
were for Syria and Mesopotamia, several for Egypt
and the upper Nile valley, besides the North African
and Italian version for Carthage and Rome.
As to the personal workers engaged in the spreading
of the good tidings of salvation, they must be counted
in terms not of tens or scores, but of hundreds. There
were, first of all, the official leaders and overseers,
known as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and
teachers. Some were traveling missionaries, and others
were placed in charge of particular fields and pastorates.
The Greek term bishop and the Jewish term presbyter
were used to designate the office of the public minister;
they were sometimes used interchangeably; and their
functions were those of the pastorate. But throughout
the first three centuries of the Christian era the public
ministers and leaders were aided by the effective testi
mony and personal work of believers generally. Chris
tian tradesmen, travelers, artisans, soldiers, captives,
prisoners of war, and government officials, these and
other classes of the people were instrumental in evan
gelizing the remoter sections of the world. It must have
been through agencies such as these that the first tid
ings of the Gospel were spread in Britain and in the
towns along the Rhine.
St. Paul's missionary activity was typical for the
whole period. The traveling missionaries made it a
point, first of all, to preach the Gospel in the principal
cities, knowing that here they would have opportunity to
reach the largest number of people, and that from these
centers the Christian influence would radiate into the

Ch. 2. APOSTOLIC AND POST-APOSTOLIC MISSIONS. 21
surrounding country. Young men were prepared, for
the most part under the private tuition of the missionaries
and pastors, for the work of the holy ministry and were
placed in charge of the newly gathered flocks. Self-
supporting congregations, as the aim of missions, were
steadily kept in view.
Now, if, in conclusion, we inquire into the secret
of success during this typical and vigorous age of mis
sions, we find it essentially in two factors, namely, the
Word of God, and the faith of His people.
Of the early disciples we read in the Acts: They
ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ; they went
forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with
them, and confirming the Word with signs following.
The spiritual fruitage of the early centuries bears in
controvertible evidence of the regenerating, life-giving,
transforming power of the divine Word. The charis
matic gifts and the miracles that had mightily confirmed
the message and accredited the messengers during the
apostolic age ceased after the foundations had been laid
for world-wide evangelization, but the work continued,
even without their aid, through the ordinary because
divinely ordained means of grace.
In perfect harmony with the acknowledgment of the
supreme power of the Word of God St. John could
declare and write : "This is the victory that hath over
come the world, even our faith." The apostles and early
Christians had implicit confidence in the Lord and in
His power to save unto the uttermost. They never
doubted the reality and the effectiveness of their divine
mission to preach Christ and to bear witness unto Him.
In every vicissitude, amid persecution and hardship
and trial, their reliance was on God's redeeming grace
and almighty power. And their faith was not put to

22 MISSION STUDIES.
shame. It triumphed gloriously. It went on from
victory to victory. It overcame the world. It made
them bold and patient and persevering. It bore fruit
in lives of love, of self-denial, of consecration and prayer,
of devotion unto the end. May their example be a
source of stimulation to us in our labors in the cause
of twentieth century missions.

CHAPTER III.
MEDIEVAL MISSIONS.
i. Providential Factors Still Discernible.
In the period of medieval missions the factors in
the providential preparation for missionary expansion
are neither so prominent nor so numerous as in the
preceding period. The Church had declined in spiritual
power, was enjoying the protection of the state and suf
fering from the manifold evils connected with the un
happy union. But the established Church had a strong
organization, and when the migration of nations swept
the barbarian tribes from the East to its very doors,
the Church put forth heroic efforts to convert them and
gather them into the pale of Christendom. The mis
sionary methods were defective and in part unevangelical,
carnal weapons were employed, and in the masses who
were gathered into the churches there were many who
were Christians only in name. Still, the overruling
providence of God is evident at many points, and the
races that peopled Europe and were Christianized during
the medieval period have become the ruling Christian
nations of the eastern hemisphere.
Through various agencies Christianity had been
spread widely in western Europe when Constantine, in
313, proclaimed his edict of toleration and espoused the
cause of Christianity. The infant churches were scat
tered far and wide in pagan communities, and while the
opportunities for expansion were plentiful, the mis
sionary task became involved and complicated. Under
the* changed conditions, favorable to the profession of
(23)

24 MISSION STUDIES.
Christianity, the churches grew rapidly in numbers but
at the same time suffered great decline in purity of
doctrine and vigor of spiritual life. Under the guise
of Christian profession a great mass of heathenism
found its way into the established churches, making
conflict and decline inevitable. The theological con
troversies that ensued resulted in purging the Church
of the worst of the anti-Christian elements and in pre
paring it the better to meet the new problems that came
upon the waves of further pagan invasion.
While the Church was lacking in resources and mis
sionary vitality to carry the Gospel to the heathen
beyond the borders of the Roman Empire, the Lord in
His providence supplied a large opportunity for evan
gelization by bringing the heathen in vast numbers to
the very doors of the Church. The Celtic tribes had
for the most part sought refuge in the British Isles
before the incoming Teutonic races, and these were in
turn pushed westward by the Slavic migration. Thus
Europe came to be peopled by many diverse and hostile
pagan races, bent on conquest and plunder, and the only
hope for their pacification lay in Christianity. To
Christianize them was the mission of the Church. It
was far too great a task for the Church, as it was then
constituted and as it developed, to perform. And yet
the Church, even in its enfeebled condition, carried on
an extensive propaganda and was vigorous enough to
produce no inconsiderable number of missionary leaders,
whose names and heroic labors grace the chronicles of
missions and furnish examples of devotion that challenge
our admiration. At the close of the period of medieval
missions practically the whole of Europe was nominally
Christian, though unfortunately it was a very weak and

Ch. 3. MEDIEVAL MISSIONS. 25
distorted form of Christianity which the strong national
churches represented.
2. Distinctive Methods of Medieval Missions.
The missionary operations of this period were deter
mined by the peculiar tenets and practices that prevailed
in the medieval churches. We may distinguish three
leading tendencies, represented respectivelv by the ancient
British Church in the Northwest, the Church of Rome
with its growing ascendency in the West, and the Eastern
Church, centering in the patriarchate of Constantinople.
Of these churches those which flourished and oper
ated on the soil of ancient Britain were the most evan
gelical in character. Such men as Patrick, Columba,
and Columbanus are typical examples of the kind of mis
sionaries they produced, and their work is among the best
that the period records. Their abbeys and schools sent
forth large numbers of missionaries who labored in a
truly apostolic spirit and with marked success until they
came into conflict with the emissaries of Rome, both in
Britain and on the Continent. The prolonged conflict
ended toward the close of the seventh century in the
complete subjugation of the old British churches to the
domination of the papal regime.
In the West, as the papacy developed its autocratic
power and began to build up an organization that made
the Church to assume the appearance and character of
a kingdom of this world, the missionary methods departed
more and more from the apostolic type and the purity of
the Gospel. The congregational life declined and re
ceded and finally disappeared as a missionary force, and
in its place there arose monasteries and bishoprics as the
centers of whatever missionary operations were carried
on. The bishoprics were founded by princes, and the

26 MISSION STUDIES.
missionary operations of the monks were carried on in
conjunction with the powers of the state and largely
under the direction and in the service of the temporal
ruler. The missionaries of the cross would precede, or
follow, or accompany the conquering armies, as the case
might be. To many heathen tribes Christianization was
synonymous with political conquest. The sword of
empire very frequently accompanied the sword of the
Spirit. Such mingling of the powers and functions of the
state and the Church naturally led many of the mission
aries to forget the true province and aim of the herald
of the Gospel. They no longer preached the Word as
the power of God unto salvation, but thought that their
mission was accomplished when they had persuaded the
heathen to lay aside their grosser idolatrous practices
and adopt the customs and ordinances of the papal church
in their stead. They omitted instruction and inculcation
of divine truth as the basis of conviction and conversion,
and counted it a triumph of the Church when the heathen
submitted to the rite of baptism and allowed themselves
to be enrolled as adherents of Rome. Accordingly their
work was very superficial and formal. People were
baptized en masse, and, following the example of the
reigning sovereign, an entire tribe might be gathered
into the fold in a single day.
Nevertheless, while such unevangelical and worldly
methods prevailed under the sanction of the Church,
there were notable exceptions. It is one of the many
contradictions of the medieval period that in the midst
of such carnal propagandism of secularized Rome there
were not wanting missionaries of apostolic type, men of
devotion and piety, who shunned no personal sacrifice,
and who sought by means of the Gospel to win souls for

Ch. 3. MEDIEVAL MISSIONS. 27
Christ. Among these devoted witnesses of the cross
who loom up above their environment in a dark period
should not be forgotten such men as Ansgar, the pion§er
missionary among the Scandinaviansr Otto of Bamberg,
the apostle of Pomerania^JFrancis of Assisi, the humble
and tearless preacher of repentance, though mendicant
monk, and Raymond Lull, the devoted leader of Mos
lem missions. The Church in the East, rent and torn by incessant
controversies, clinging to lengthy orders of service and
neglecting to foster virile Christian life, wrangling over
trivial points of the liturgy and church polity and be
coming ever more fossilized in the things that are vital
to the kingdom of God, disqualified itself for active
missionary work. For a time the Nestorians, who had
been condemned as heretics, proved to be zealous mis
sionaries in Persia and as far East as India and China.
Through the ravages and spread of Mohammedanism
the Greek churches lost far more territory than they
were able to gain by missionary operations. There re
mained sporadic churches such as the Nestorians,
Syrians and Armenians in the Levant, the Thomas
Christians in India, the Coptic churches in Egypt, and a
few churches in Abyssinia, which, so far from developing
missionary activity, are even to this day needy objects
of missionary effort on the part of others.
But here, too, we find exceptions. In the earlier
part of the period the Gospel was spread by Christian
merchants and captives. Chrysostom, patriarch of Con
stantinople, who founded a missionary college in the city,
was not only an eloquent preacher and a fearless wit
ness unto the truth, but also an ardent missionary.
Similar zeal was manifested by Gregory, called the
"Illuminator," and Mesrop, pioneer workers in Armenia.

28 MISSION STUDIES.
And Cyril and Methodius, whose labors were so fruit
ful for the evangelization of the Slavic nations, hailed
from Constantinople.
3. General Survey of the Field.
Britain was the earliest European nation to become
a missionary land in the true sense, a nursery of Chris
tianity in the West, as Palestine was its cradle in the
East, and for eight centuries it was a missionary school
of Christendom more potent and productive than either
Constantinople or Rome. The Scoto-Irish Church, the
foundations of which were laid hy Patrick in the titth
century, caused Ireland with its efficient monasteries and
schools to come into prominence as a missionary center
for large portions of Britain, France and Germany. It
came to be known as the Isle of the Saints, the Univer
sity of the West.
Patrick, the apostle of Ireland, was born in Scot
land. His father was a deacon and his grandfather had
been a presbyter of the old British Church. It is a
typical instance of the subversion of history on the part
of Roman Catholics that they adore Saint Patrick as the
founder of the papal church in Ireland, whereas, in fact,
both in his ancestry_aod_during his whole life and mis
sionary career, he never had anv connection with Rome.
In the work of evangelization he pursued the evangelical
methods that characterize the work of Protestant
churches today, laying emphasis on the preaching of the
Word, establishing schools for the training of a native
ministry, and by the power of the Gospel overcoming
oppositionand the savagery of the people even in the
strongholds of Druidism.
Columba (died 597) went forth from Ireland as
the first missionary to the savage Picts and Scots of the

Ch. 3. MEDIEVAL MISSIONS. 29
North. On an islet he founded the famous abbey and
school Iona. He taught a comparatively pure doctrine.
He was an able leader and a hymn writer of note. The
pupils of this school were known in Europe for several
centuries as the Schotten or Scotsmen. Of this school
were Columbanus, who preached the Gospel from Bur
gundy to Lombardy; St. Gall, who labored in Switzer
land; Kilian, who won converts in Franconia; Fridolin,
who Christianized the Alemanni; and Willibrord, who
carried the truth he had learned in Ireland to Friesland
and Westphalia.
With the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons began the
papal mission in England. Gregory the Great, in 596,
sent an abbot by the name of Augustine with forty
associates to England. They labored among the Saxons
of Kent and the Southeast, directing their efforts not only
toward the heathen, but also against the purer old British
churches, and succeeding in destroying many of them.
It was a typical Romish mission of compromise between
Christianity and heathenism. Ethelbert, King of Kent,
was baptized on Whitsunday, 597, and on the following
Christmas, after the parliament of the people had
adopted the new faith, more than ten thousand were
baptized. Augustine was made Archbishop of Canter
bury, and the British churches, after prolonged resis
tance, finally became Romanized.
The Goths, a branch of Germanic people who dwelt
between the Black and the Baltic Seas, received their
earliest knowledge of Christianity from Christian cap
tives. Ulfilas, who became a Christian at Constantinople,
was made bishop among the West Goths. He gave them
a written language and, about 360, translated the Bible
into the vernacular. This version was carried forth and
rendered services all over Italy and Spain. The Goths

30 MISSION STUDIES.
at this time were Arians, as were nearly all the Germanic
tribes that had received Christianity from the West
Goths. By the middle of the seventh century, however,
they had all renounced the heretical creed and come
under the jurisdiction of the Church of Rome.
Though there were Christian congregations and
colonies in Gaul at an early period, and the martyrs of
Lyons and Vienne were among the distinguished con
fessors of the truth in the face of heathen persecution,
there was not much extension till the end of the fourth
century. The beginning of a new era is marked by the
baptism on Christmas day, in 496, of Clovis, King of the
Franks, together with three thousand of his soldiers.
He was the one ruler in the West who accepted the
Nicene creed, and he lost no time in pressing the ad
vantage it gave him and in adding Arian provinces to his
kingdom. The sturdy and patriotic Germans met with stub
born opposition those who endeavored to subjugate them
and to impose upon them a religion different from that
of their fathers. To them it meant the supplanting of
the gods they had been taught to revere, and it seemed
to threaten their national independence. But through
the regenerating power of the divine Word they came to
bow in allegiance before the King Immanuel, and, once
their hearts were given to Him, they proved loyal
subjects. The earliest Christian congregations in Germany
were doubtless started in connection with military camps
and colonies. Among the places noted are Cologne,
Treves, Mainz, Worms, Strasburg and Basel. Among
the pioneer missionaries of the cross are mentioned
Severin, Fridolin and Kilian. There was a distinct ad
vance in the work of evangelization when Columbanus,

Ch. 3. MEDIEVAL MISSIONS. 31
with twelve associates, came across the channel in 583
and began to preach the Gospel to the dwellers in the
Vosges mountains. They soon came into conflict with
the Roman monks and prelates and were forced to leave
the country. They continued their labors in Switzerland
and Italy. His fiery zeal against heathenism made
Columbanus somewhat of an iconoclast, for it is said
not only that he preached the Gospel of divine love, but
also that he burned temples, broke idols in pieces, and
flung them into the lake. His pupil Gallus founded the
celebrated monastery of St. Gall and Christianized many
in Switzerland. Among the distinguished representatives of the
Anglo-Saxon churches of England in affiliation with
Rome are Willibrord, who labored with some success in
West Friesland, and Boniface, also named Winifred,
whose successful career gained for him the title, apostle
of Germany. With reference to the work of Boniface it has been
a mooted question among historians, whether he was
more concerned about the task of Christianizing the
Germans, or whether the stress of his efforts was not
laid on the subjugation of the nation to the papal see.
His self-denying labors seem to indicate that he was
sincere both as a Christian missionary and as a Roman
prelate. With Hildebrand, the powerful pope of a later
age, he seems to have been swayed by the conviction that
the domination of the papacy would inure to the greater
glory both of Germany and of Christ. And so he
fought heathenism and the priests of the more evan
gelical and independent British Church with equal ve
hemence. In accordance with his oath of obedience he
bound the German Empire to the pope with bonds which
in the course of time became so galling as to demand a

32 MISSION STUDIES.
thorough reformation, and which still hold in bondage a
large part of the Fatherland in spite of the Reforma
tion of the sixteenth century.
Boniface, it is only fair to believe, was a sincere
missionary of the cross, but above all things a Romish
emissary. While he laid stress on the external unity of
the Church and paid devout homage to the papacy, his
efforts in this direction were coupled with genuine Chris
tian piety and strict morality. His greatest missionary
successes were achieved in Thuringia and among the Hes
sians. His courage and fearlessness were displayed when
one day, at Geismar in Hesse, he directed a telling blow
at the very heart of heathenism by felling, in the pres
ence of the amazed and awe-struck natives, an ancient
oak, consecrated to the god of thunder, and out of its
timber built a Christian church. His schools served to
advance the cause of education in Germany. Late in life,
in his seventy-fifth year, the archishop and apostolic vicar
sought out the mission field of his early days, where
heathenism still flourished, and (in 755) met a martyr's
death at the hands of the pagan Frisians.
The Saxons, a warlike, freedom-loving people, con
tended long and bravely against the armies of Charle
magne and the priests of the Romish Church. They
were finally subjugated, and those who had escaped the
edge of the sword were compelled to receive the rite of
baptism. Backsliding was made perilous by severe laws
against any return to their ancestral religion. It stands
to the credit of Alcuin, the Anglo-Saxon teacher and
counsellor at the court of Charlemagne, that he raised
his voice in protest against such violent measures and
methods of Christianization.
From France and Germany Christianity spread into
Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

Ch. 3. MEDIEVAL MISSIONS. 33
Ansgar (died 865), a monk of Corvey, a French
convent near Amiens, deserves the title of apostle of the
Scandinavian races. After Harold, King of Denmark,
was baptized at Mainz, efforts were put forth to secure
a man who should go back with him as missionary to
his heathen subjects. Ansgar was chosen and did not
for a moment hesitate to undertake the perilous mission.
From this country, nearly nine centuries later, during
the reign of Frederick IV, were sent forth the first
efficient Protestant missionaries to India and to Green
land. Ansgar labored also, and with greater success, in
Sweden. He established churches and schools, freed
slaves and captives, provided for the continuance of the
work by preparing and sending out native workers, and
devoted all his personal income and resources to the
cause to which he had consecrated his life.
The Slavic nations received their first effective
knowledge of Christianity from the Greek Church. Two
brothers, Cyril and Methodius, about the middle of the
ninth century, did the work of pathfinders and pioneers
in Moravia. Cyril gave the Slavs a written language
and translated the Bible into the vernacular. The ser
vices were conducted in the native tongue. When they
came under the jurisdiction of Rome Methodius still
contended for the use of the Slavic language and the
Greek orders of worship, and he was able to secure some
concessions from the papal see. Thus were the founda
tions laid for the martyr churches of Moravia, which,
after enduring the ordeals of the Hussite revolution,
were organized in the fifteenth century as the "Breth
ren of the Law of Christ," later known as the Unitas
Fratrum, or the Moravian Church, that with matchless
devotion has stood in the forefront of the Protestant
missionary enterprise.

34 MISSION STUDIES.
From Moravia the Gospel was carried to Bohemia,
and then to Poland, and in both countries Christianity
was established as the state religion through the in
fluence of the reigning princes, who accepted Christian
baptism and were followed in large numbers by their
subjects. Hungaria, too, received Christianity from Constan
tinople through the influence of a prince (Gylas) who
had been baptized there and returned with missionaries.
Later, under the reign and leadership of Stephen, the
Hungarian Church came under the jurisdiction of Rome.
In a similar way Christianity had been established
among the Bulgarians in Thrace and Mcesia under the
leadership of Prince Borgoris. After a period of sub
mission to Rome from potlitical considerations, these
churches reunited with the Greek Church.
After some efforts during the ninth century to
Christianize the Eastern Slavs in Russia, the Greek
Church was firmly established when King Vladimir and
his twelve sons were baptized at Kieff in 988. The
people readily followed the example of their ruler, cast
their idols into the Dnieper, and were immersed in its
waters, while the king gave thanks to God and the
Greek priests read the baptismal service from the
banks. It was, however, cause for greater thankfulness
that the Scripture version of Cyril in the Slavic tongue
was accessible for the instruction of the people.
Ignorance of the Slavic tongue and political op
pression interfered with efforts to Christianize the
Wends, Slavonian tribes that dwelt along the Elbe and
the Oder. Acceptance of Christianity was finally forced
upon them, after desolating wars by German rulers, and
their lands were settled anew by German colonists.
The Pomeranians, after the efforts of a Spanish

Ch. 3. MEDIEVAL MISSIONS. 35
priest in squalid clothing had only aroused their con
tempt, received the Gospel at the hands of Otto, Bishop
of Bamberg, who came to them as the splendid repre
sentative of the King of Poland at the head of a band
of envoys and soldiers, but who at the same time mani
fested a spirit of unselfish devotion and tactful zeal that
distinguish him as one of the noblest and most successful
missionaries of the middle ages. The relation between
the Pomeranians and their apostle is a unique example
of confidence and harmony between German and Slavic
nationality. German preaching and the German sword united in
the Christianization of the Baltic provinces. By the
military valor of the "Brethren of the Sword," an order
of knights that had been founded in the interest of the
mission, Livonia was subjugated and its new bishoprics
were protected. Under similar conditions the neighbor
ing provinces embraced Christianity. After prolonged
efforts to subdue Prussia and make Christianity dominant
in the land, another order of German knights succeeded,
in the thirteenth century, in exterminating Prussian
heathenism and the majority of the population at the
same time.
After many vicissitudes political interests finally
resulted, in the fourteenth century, in the establish
ment of Christianity in Lithuania. The inhabitants were
baptized in crowds, and each one received a garment as
a present. Among the more distinguished missionaries of the
middle ages should be mentioned the Franciscan, John
de Monte Corvino, who labored for eleven years in
Peking, built two churches in the city, baptized some six
thousand Mongols, and translated the Psalter and the
New Testament into the Tartar language.

36 MISSION STUDIES.
Other members of the Franciscan and the Domin
ican orders put forth zealous but, for the most part,
fruitless efforts to convert the Moslems in Africa and
Spain. This outline of medieval missions may be fitly
closed with the mention of Raymond Lull, the most
illustrious and a most devoted pioneer among mission
aries to the Mohammedans. This nobleman of Majorca,
after spending his life in fervent but vain appeals to the
Church, writing many voluminous works, originating a
method of argument (his Ars major) by which he hoped
to convince and silence Moslem scholars, died a martyr's
death at the hands of the Saracens in North Africa,
whither he had gone on his third missionary tour. He
was stoned to death on the thirtieth of June, 1315, in the
seventy-ninth year of his age. One of his books con
tains the memorable motto : "He who loves not lives
not; he who lives by the Life cannot die."

CHAPTER IV.
THE REFORMATION AND MISSIONS.
i. Failure to Engage in Foreign Mission Work.
During the century preceding the Reformation
missionary expansion had practically ceased. Reform
ing parties, such as the followers of Wiclif, the Bo
hemian and Moravian Brethren, and scattered remnants
of the Waldensian churches, were bearing heroic wit
ness to the truth of the Gospel against the errors and
abuses of Rome, but it was a harassed struggle for
existence in the face of tremendous odds. Amid the
general religious and moral degeneracy, the debasing
practices of the Romish Church, the prevailing prof
ligacy, superstition and spiritual bondage, there was
neither motive nor power to spread the faith and extend
the kingdom of God.
With the open Bible in the hands and homes of the
people, the right of private judgment over against the
autocratic dictates of the papacy, evangelical forms of
worship in place of the sacrilegious practices of the mass,
and the peace and salvation bestowed through the Gospel
by the unmerited grace of God, came new life and
abounding joy all over enfranchised Europe, wherever
the Reformation gained a foothold and had a chance to
develop its fruits. In accordance with its nature faith
impels to confession, deep conviction speaks out in word
and deed, the joy of personal salvation constrains its
possessor to proclaim the good tidings to others. Wher
ever the Gospel of Christ prevails and possesses hearts
and molds lives, there will be missionary activity in some
(37)

38 MISSION STUDIES.
form and measure, corresponding to the strength of
the life and the opportunity presented by the providential
opening of doors.
It was so in the Reformation period. Arid still there
was an evident failure on the part of the Protestant
churches to enlist in the work of carrying the Gospel to
the heathen beyond. And many have wondered why the
Protestants were so slow and apparently inactive, while
the Roman Catholics were occupying many foreign fields,
and some have spoken disparagingly of the Reformation
on account of it.
With a desire to judge fairly, with no intent of
denying weaknesses and blemishes, we need not fear to
look the facts squarely in the face. The leaders of the
Reformation and their successors, the great theologians
of the sixteenth, century, were human and limited by
their environments and the prevailing conditions of the
time, as are men in every age. If, therefore, we dis
cover shortcomings here and there in their work, we
should not on that account underestimate their noble
achievements and the abundant fruits of their arduous
labors. If the home mission work that we perform in our
own lands is mission work in the true sense of the term —
and so we hold it to be, and of paramount importance,
too — the Protestant churches of the sixteenth century
were fairly submerged in missionary undertakings and
deluged with perplexing missionary problems. To in
struct and convert the "heathen at home," to gather
them into congregations and prepare them to maintain
an independent existence in the face of menacing dan
gers, to train efficient ministers and teachers, to estab
lish schools and educate the rising generation, such
labors as these demanded and fairly drained all the

Ch. 4. THE REFORMATION AND MISSIONS. 39
energies and resources of the Evangelical Church. The
coffers of Rome had an abundance of means, and its
monasteries and schools had no lack of trained men,
available and ready to carry on an extended propaganda.
All this was lacking to the Protestants. It taxed them
to the utmost to secure and train enough men to take
charge of the churches, the missions and schools, at
home. This is one cogent reason why foreign missionary
enterprise could not be thought of and did not appear
within the scope of their undertakings.
Another equally cogent reason was the inaccessibil
ity of the foreign fields. From the close of the fifteenth
till the beginning of the seventeenth century foreign
commerce and shipping, colonization and conquest were
under the exclusive control of Roman Catholics. Occu
pation of newly discovered territory and travel to foreign
countries were in the hands of the only maritime nations
of the age, Spain and Portgual, whose ships con
trolled the seas, and whose governments, in conjunction
with the papal authorities, held sovereign sway over
the lands. Under these conditions the foreign fields
were absolutely barred against Protestant missionaries.
Had the men been available, and had they been able in
some way to reach the pagan nations across the seas,
they could never have gained a foothold. They would
have met a fate similar to that of an attempted mission
to Brazil in 1556, when a number of French Calvinists,
having been lured to that country by deception, were
speedily driven out, while several of their number were
condemned to death as heretics. Even to this day the
French government, though agnostic and defying the
papal authorities at home, harasses in every possible way
and obstructs the work of the Protestant missions in
Madagascar, while it favors the Roman Catholics.

40 MISSION STUDIES.
As regards the doctrines and missionary principles
enunciated, the case is by no means made out, even by
the laborious argument of Dr. Warneck, against Luther
and the earlier Reformation period, whatever indictment
may be brought on this score against the later dogma-
ticians. Luther's sermons and expositions are full of
missionary thoughts and principles of fundamental char
acter and far-reaching import. He charged his hearers
to bear witness unto the truth as it is in Christ Jesus
and to preach the Gospel by word and deed wherever
their lot might be cast. To find fault with him, as Dr.
Warneck does in his History of Protestant Missions, for
his failure in express terms to call upon the Church to
inaugurate some foreign missionary undertaking and
endeavor to carry it into execution, is to demand un
reasonable things. We dissent decidedly from the view
I of that earnest and scholarly advocate of missions ac
cording to which he limits the conception of mission
work in the proper sense to the evangelization of the
heathen in foreign parts. This leads him to put a narrow
construction even upon Luther's most eloquent and
glowing missionary messages. To have exhorted and
called upon the evangelical churches in Luther's day to
make provision for the sending of missionaries to the
heathen in foreign lands might have been an exhibition
of great enthusiasm, but the appeal would have been
visionary and wholly impracticable. And Luther, while
he was radical and impulsive at times and did not recoil
from revolutionary action, when loyalty to the Gospel
demanded it, was sane and practical withal. He showed
his good sense by not attempting the impossible or
calling upon the Church to think of planning a mission
that was so clearly beyond the pale of execution.
The indirect services which the Reformation ren-

Ch. 4. THE REFORMATION AND MISSIONS. 41
dered to the modern missionary enterprise should not be
overlooked. The restoration of the Word of God in
its truth and purity as the source and content of the
missionary message, and the advocacy and inauguration
of evangelical methods of spreading the faith, these are
achievements of supreme value which the age of modern
missions owes to the Reformation. Nor is the value of
these achievements lessened by the fact that generation
after generation came and went before the Church of the
Reformation actualized these Scriptural missionary prin
ciples in missionary activity among the heathen on a
larger scale, commensurate with the world's needs. The
moral and material devastation caused by the Thirty
Years' War, the rejuvenation of papal tyranny and priest
craft through the order of Jesuits, the inevitable con
flicts and contentions resulting, coupled with a marked
decline of spiritual life and vital godliness in the Protest
ant churches, these and other events must be taken into
consideration in accounting for the delay of Protestant
missions. But wherever on mission fields today salvation
is proclaimed through the blood of Christ, where people
are led to accept and own Him as their Savior, not by
external force, nor in masses by superficial means, but
through the regenerating power of the divine Word
patiently and perseveringly taught to young and old,
where the Bible is given to the people in their own
language and they are taught how to use it to their
edification, wherever in mission lands Christian churches
are gathered whose members, justified by faith without
any reliance on their own works or the merits of saints,
rejoice in the possession of the divinely appointed means
of grace and of the hope of glory, these blessings are
fruits of the heritage which the modern world has re
ceived from the Reformation of the sixteenth century.

42 MISSION STUDIES.
Unfortunately, in the seventeenth century, when
colonial projects on the part of Protestant governments
began to open a way to foreign fields, the theological
leaders and dogmaticians of the Church of the Refor
mation, by narrowing, in their interpretatin of Christ's
missionary command, the scope of the Church's mission
ary obligations, placed an effectual hindrance in the way
of any possible missionary expansion. The views ex
pressed by the distinguished dogmatician, John Gerhard,
and by the theological faculty of Wittenberg, were fol
lowed in the main by the later dogmaticians generally.
They taught that the missionary command pertained only
to the apostles; that the apostles had fulfilled the com
mand by preaching the Gospel throughout the world;
that, if later generations were without the knowledge of
the truth, it was a judgment of God upon their im
penitence and apostacy ; and that, the apostolate with its
immediate call, peculiar functions, and miraculous powers
having ceased, the Church of later ages had neither
authority nor divine call to send missionaries into all the
world. It was a grievous mistake, and the erroneous
views tended to check the missionary impulses and to
cramp the spiritual life of the Church.
The most distinguished opponent of these views was
a layman, an Austrian baron, Justinian von Weltz.1 By
long continued personal efforts, through several pamph
lets and books which he published and which teem with
missionary truths in telling form, by direct and fervent
appeals and proposals having in view the betterment of
prevailing conditions, he sought to arouse the self-com-

*His remarkable career is fully set forth in a little work
of 191 pages: Justinianus von Weltz, der Vorkampfer der
lutherischen Mission, Von Wolfgang Groszel.

Ch. 4. THE REFORMATION AND MISSIONS. 43
placent universities and churches, pastors, professors and
students. His well-meant efforts failed of their purpose.
Even such an able and excellent man as John Ursinus,
Superintendent of Regensburg, tried to refute his argu
ments, and he was condemned as a dreamer and en
thusiast. Devoting a considerable sum of money to the
execution of his plans, he himself went as a lone mis
sionary to Dutch Guiana, South America, where the
mission soon ended with his death. As an example of
fervent and intelligent missionary zeal he is unexcelled
in the history of missions.
Toward the end of the century a marked change set
in. The revival of missionary thought and life was
promoted by men like Spener, Scriver and Leibnitz,
and the Pietistic movement gave birth to enlarged vision
and enlargement of missionary activity.
2. Feeble Beginnings of Protestant Missions.
The principle of Territorialism, in accordance with
which the religious affairs of a state were controlled by
the regent, which became prevalent even in Lutheran
countries in spite of the clear distinction made by the
Augsburg Confession between the spheres and functions
of the state and the Church, led to the view held by many
that it was the duty of the civil ruler to see to it that
the Christian religion was maintained and spread in his
territorial possessions and dependencies.
The Swedish rulers took the lead in mission work
of this kind. As early as 1559 Gustavus Vasa had
endeavored to provide in this way for the Christianiza
tion of the Laplanders living in the remotest part of his
kingdom to the North. The succeeding kings, Charles
IX. and Gustavus Adolphus, put forth efforts to con
tinue the mission, but the work languished owing to

44 MISSION STUDIES.
the inefficiency and unfaithfulness of the ministers in
charge. A century later the mission flourished for a
time under the faithful labors of the Norwegian pastor,
Thomas von Westen.
In their schemes of colonization in America the
Dutch sought commercial advantages and had little if
any concern about the Christianization of the Indians.
The Swedish immigration, on the other hand, was imbued
with missionary purposes from the outset. In forming
plans to found colonies on American soil Gustavus
Adolphus had in view as his aims : "The planting of the
Christian religion among the heathen, the honor of his
kingdom, and the commercial interests of his subjects."
Though his untimely death upon the battlefield pre
vented him from executing his plans in person, they were
carried out later under the direction of his prime minister,
Oxenstiern. The Swedish pastor, John Campanius, who
had arrived with the third expedition of his countrymen
in 1643, was a most faithful and successful missionary
among the Indians along the Delaware, and for their
instruction in the way of salvation, he translated Luther's
Small Catechism into their language — the first piece of
Christian literature to appear in an Indian tongue.
This was about the time when John Eliot made his first
missionary journey among the Indians on the Charles
River, and forty years before the arrival of William
Penn. Another incident, which deserves to be mentioned
even in this brief sketch, bears eloquent testimony to the
missionary character of these early Swedish colonists.
When, near the close of the century, in response to their
repeated appeals, King Charles XI. sent them three
pastors, together with a shipment of Bibles, hymnals and
books of devotion, the sailing of one of the ships was

Ch. 4. THE REFORMATION AND MISSIONS. 45
delayed for a considerable while, waiting for the com
pletion of five hundred copies of Luther's Catechism in
the Indian language.
A sentiment similar to that which actuated the plans
of Gustavus Adolphus was expressed in the royal char
ter which Charles I. of England gave to the Massachu
setts company in 1628. About eighteen years later John
Eliot, pastor of Roxbury, entered upon his memorable
career as pioneer missionary among the Indians of New
England. In 1661 his translation of the New Testa
ment and two years later that of the Old Testament was
published. Though the tribe has died out and the lan
guage become extinct, Eliot's Moheecan Bible, it is said,
is still of service to students of the Algonquin speech.
It was this sturdy pioneer who, on the completion of his
grammar of the Indian language, remarked: "Prayer
and pains, through faith in Jesus Christ, will do any
thing." When, at the age of eighty-six, he passed away
with the words, "Welcome, joy," on his lips, he left
behind as a part of the manifest fruit of his toil 1,100
Indian members in thirteen congregations, and twenty-
four trained native workers.
The most noted among Eliot's co-laborers was
Thomas Mayhew of Martha's Vineyard, who devoted
his income to the work of the mission, and whose sons
and grandsons for five generations labored as mis
sionaries among the Indians. Not until 1806 did the
last missionary of the Mayhew family pass away, at
the age of eighty-nine — "an apostolic succession extend
ing over a century and a half."
The work of these English missionaries on Ameri
can soil had a stimulating influence upon the churches
in the mother country and resulted, in 1649, m tne for
mation of the first Protestant missionary society, the

46 MISSION STUDIES.
Corporation for the Propagation of the Gospel in New
England. Two other societies (within the Church of
England) were established about the close of the cen
tury: the Society for the Promotion of Christian
Knowledge, which for some time contributed toward the
work of the Danish-Halle Mission in India, and the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts. Holland was the first among Protestant powers to
gain ascendency in foreign commerce and colonial ex
pansion. The Dutch soon succeeded in crowding the
Portuguese out of large possessions in Farther India
and in establishing a colonial empire of considerable di
mensions on the Moluccas, in Ceylon, Formosa, and the
Sunda Islands. But the missionary fruits fell far short
of the advantages thus gained in territory. The mis
sionary work was regarded as properly belonging to the
jurisdiction of the colonial government, and the latter
was under the control of the East India Company that
had been formed in 1602. Under these circumstances
the work was carried on in a manner that may be
termed both official and superficial. The ministers who
were engaged by the company were to serve as colonial
pastors and missionaries at the same time. Many of
them were wholly unfit for the task. Some attempt was
made to translate the Bible into the vernacular and to
train native workers, but the work in general was not
adapted to build up intelligent congregations and en
during Christian communities. Though it was claimed
that at the close of the seventeenth century, there were
400,000 Christians in Ceylon, 100,000 in Java, and 40,000
in Amboyna, much of this apparent Christianity failed
to stand the test of time or to serve as a nucleus for
the Christianization of succeeding generations.

CHAPTER V.
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MISSIONS.
i. Their Scope and Significance.
The situation with reference to the Protestant mis
sionary outlook and expansion seemed to grow more
hopeful and promising in this century, particularly in
Germany. But in the end the promising beginnings
were checked and the hopeful movements were blighted
through the growing influence of rationalism, and it re
quired another revival of spiritual life and missionary
intelligence before the age of modern missions, organized
and equipped for larger undertakings, and more generally
supported by the churches of Christendom, was fully
ushered in.
The eighteenth century may be regarded as the
dawn of a brighter day. Halle and Herrnhut, under
the leadership of Francke and Zinzendorf, were mis
sionary centers where the light of Christian love and
zeal for the spread of the Redeemer's kingdom shone as
brightly as it has in any Christian community since.
The missionary appeals of these men were no less fer
vent, their example and leadership were no less heroic
and forceful, than those of Carey and the other great
pleaders who were privileged, in the providence of God,
to lead the movements that finally resulted in organized
efforts for world-wide evangelization. The difference is
due not only to the better methods of organization and
procedure pursued by the latter, but also and mainly to
the changed conditions of the time, the providential
preparation of the age, the opening of new doors to
(47)

48 MISSION STUDIES.
distant fields, and the greater readiness of the Church
to understand and respond to the divine call.
These facts should be known and in all fairness
duly considered by those who wish to understand the
long delay in the inauguration of Protestant missions in
their present form and scope. Germany surpassed all
other Protestant lands in the eighteenth century in mis
sionary zeal and activity. The most serious source of
weakness and loss lay in the unhappy conditions prevail
ing in the orthodox but secularized state churches, and
the unfortunate conflicts between the leaders of the
orthodox churches and the leaders of the Pietistic move
ment. For it was the latter that, notwithstanding its
errors and weaknesses, fostered vital godliness and de
veloped a missionary activity, the purity and Scriptural-
ness of whose principles, motives, and aims could not be
successfully gainsaid.
Francke and Zinzendorf may in truth be regarded
as the pioneers and pathfinders of the modern foreign
missionary enterprise. They not only blazed the way
and set inspiring examples before the churches, but their
influence reached far beyond their own circles, was felt
even in England and America, and must be counted
among the factors that led to the development of modern
missions. While the two missionary centers in Germany, Halle
and Herrnhut, loom up so prominently as to deserve
separate treatment, the other movements of the century
must be briefly sketched in order to give a true portrayal
of the time.
While the Dutch missions in Farther India, carried
on in connection with the commercial and political in
terests of the state, continued to decline, the colonial
projects of England and Denmark afforded the churches

Ch. 5. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MISSIONS. 49
of those countries opportunities to carry the Gospel to
foreign parts. In the case of the British churches the
activity was limited to some feeble efforts among the
American Indians, while Lutherans of Scandinavia, fol
lowing the paths of Danish commerce and colonies,
carried on hopeful mission work in India, Lapland, and
Greenland. The Danes had secured colonial possessions
in India, in the West Indies, and on the Gold Coast of
Africa, they felt a duty toward the only partially Chris
tianized Lapps, who were their subjects in the North,
and they had commercial relations with Greenland.
Most of the Lapps dwelt on the territory of Norway,
which at that time belonged to Denmark. While in
general the bishops and pastors of the Danish-Norwegian
Church manifested no interest in missions and even ob
structed the efforts that were made, the king, Frederick
IV, showed both a religious and a political interest in his
subjects, and according to the mistaken notions of the
time it was thought that concern for their spiritual wel
fare properly devolved upon him. This, no doubt, ac
counts to a large extent for the prevailing lethargy of
the churches and the individualistic character of such
missions as were undertaken.
For fourteen years a Norwegian school teacher,
Isaac Olsen, did faithful missionary work among the
Finns and Lapps, ably assisting the Norwegian pastor,
Thomas von Westen, who labored as a successful mis
sionary for six years in connection with other workers
who were sent out by the mission "collegium," or board,
which had been created at Copenhagen in 1714. He
made three missionary tours, establishing churches and
schools, and endeavored to provide for the training of
native workers. After his death in 1727 the mission
declined from lack of aggressive leadership at home.

50 MISSION STUDIES.
The principal obstacle was the indifference and oppo
sition of the bishops and pastors of the state church.
About the same time members of the Swedish
Church continued the mission in Lapland which Swedish
kings had begun many years before. The most dis
tinguished of its missionaries was Per Fjellstrom. He
provided literature in the vernacular, translating the
New Testament, Luther's Catechism, the gospels and
epistles, and several psalms. In the second half of the
century the work languished for want of support.
The Greenland mission was the result of the heroic
and persevering efforts of the Norwegian pastor, Hans
Egede. His career is most notable for his patient en
durance amid difficulties. Opposed by the bishops, he
appealed to the king and was finally commissioned. With
his family and a company of traders and colonists he
landed on the southern coast of Greenland in 1721.
There he wrestled with the barbarous tongue and the
more formidable traits of the stolid natives for fifteen
years. When enfeebled health compelled him to retire
from the field, he left one of his sons in charge of the
work, while he continued to labor for the mission in a
seminary at Copenhagen, where young men were pre
pared for work in the Greenland mission. When, in
1733, the first Moravian missionaries, Matthew and
Christian Stach and Christian David, came to Green
land, Egede hailed their advent with delight. But soon
doctrinal differences marred the harmony and made co
operation impossible. The two missions were carried
on in adjoining fields until 1900, when the Moravian
Church transferred its congregations and mission sta
tions in Greenland to the care and jurisdiction of the
Danish State Church.
England was suffering, during the eighteenth cen-

Ch. 5. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MISSIONS. 51
tury, from the prevalence and growth of rationalism,
and only small and scattered communities could be in
terested in the spread of the Gospel. The missions to
the American Indians, which had been begun some fifty
years before, were continued by several small societies,
one of which was the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel, founded in 1701. The Danish-Halle Mission in
India aroused some popular interest in England through
the reports published by Francke, and the Society for
Promoting Christian Knowledge, into whose serviee
Schwartz entered later on, supported the work.
In Scotland a missionary society was organized in
1709. Under its auspices David Brainerd labored among
the Indians along the Hudson and the Delaware. Though
he wore himself out in four short years of devoted toil,
sinking into an early grave, a victim to the white plague,
the record of his godly life has proved to be a fertile
source of missionary incentive and fervor to countless
readers, even as it had a great influence upon such men
as Carey, Marsden, and Henry Martyn.
Toward the end of the century the religious revival
instigated by the Wesleys and Whitefield, who had re
ceived salutary and helpful influence from Halle and
Herrnhut, reacted favorably upon the Continent and
swept over to America, rousing many churches out of
their spiritual indifference and lethargy. About the same
time Captain Cook's voyages and discoveries brought a
flood of new light to Christendom in the way of perti
nent information concerning conditions among the
heathen in the South Seas and in distant lands. The
conjunction of these and other events worked together
in the providence of God to bear fruit in the enlarged
missionary activity of the nineteenth century.

52 MISSION STUDIES.
2. The Danish-Halle Mission.1
The arrival of Ziegenbalg and Pliitschau at Tran-
quebar in 1706, eighty-seven years before the arrival of
Carey in Bengal, marks the beginning of the era of
Protestant missions in South India which has continued
uninterruptedly to the present day. Forms of organiza
tion and methods of administration have changed, and
that for the better. But the work that is carried on
today is still rising on the foundations that were laid
by those pioneer Lutheran missionaries among the Tamils
in India over two centuries ago. The fact that it was
started at the instigation of the king, Frederick IV of
Denmark, that a large part of its financial support flowed
from the public treasury, that it was managed as a royal
establishment under the direction of a state board, does
not nullify the legitimacy of the work and the value of
its fruits. Those were incidental blemishes, which, how
ever, by and by proved to be a means of retarding rather
than of advancing the cause.
The vital forces underlying and supporting the work
came from Germany, where, as fruits of the movement
started by such men as Spener and Francke, living faith
and practical Christianity were beginning to show their
power in works of love. During Francke's life (he
passed from the scene of his labors in 1727), Halle was
the radiant center of fervent faith, genuine piety, and
Christian service. Only later in the century, when piety
degenerated into pietism, when the religious revival be
came doctrinally lax, sentimental, and sectarian, and

1 Cf. Germann, Ziegenbalg und Pliitschau. Die Griindungs-
jahre der Trankebarschen Mission; also Fabricius and Schwartz,
by the same author; and Plitt-Hardeland, Geschichte der lu-
therischen Mission.

Ch. 5. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MISSIONS. 53
when growing rationalism exhaled its blighting breath
upon all Christendom, was the nerve of missionary
activity cut even at Halle.
Under the leadership of Francke, Halle became a
center of "inner" mission activity which fostered in ever
widening circles interest in benevolent work at home.
The Halle orphanage, schools, training institutions, in
dustrial and other activities constituted a missionary
colony whose manifold and arduous duties might have
exhausted the energies of an ordinary man. But when
the opportunity for mission work in foreign parts pre
sented itself, Francke showed that he had a heart for
foreign missions, even while he responded in such ample
measure to the claims of the home field. Without his
aid and support the Danish royal mission to India would
have been humanly impossible. From its beginning the
missionaries were supplied from Halle, and in the course
of the century the Francke institutions furnished no less
than sixty trained workers for the field, among them
such men of noted ability and efficiency as Ziegenbalg,
Fabricius, Griindler, Janicke, Gericke, and Schwartz.
It was fortunate for the Danish-Halle Mission that,
during the period of its early trials, it enjoyed the sup
port of such a whole-hearted pleader and counsellor as
August Hermann Francke. He not only secured the
right kind of men for the work, but he continued to ad
vise and encourage them amid the difficulties they en
countered on the field, and — what was of greatest mo
ment and significance — he was instrumental in gather
ing a Christian constituency at home, in fostering living
interest in the work in congregations and communities,
thus reviving and realizing the apostolic ideal of a mis
sion supported by an interested, praying, and participat
ing Church. From this time on emphasis was laid not

54 MISSION STUDIES.
on the duty of colonial government, but on the duty and
privilege of Christian people to engage in mission work.
In this way there was developed a factor that is of vital
moment in the missionary operations of today, namely,
a sense of individual privilege and responsibility, volun
tary offerings of personal service and material gifts on
the part of individuals and of churches.
The Danish colony along the eastern coast of South
India comprised a population of some 30,000. In Tran-
quebar and vicinity the two pioneer missionaries, Bar
tholomew Ziegenbalg and Henry Pliitschau, began their
labors in 1706. With patient toil they learned the Tamil
language and meanwhile preached to colonists and
traders in Portuguese. It may be truly said that they
had to fight their way forward, step by step. And what
made the conflict so grievous was the fact that the pre
vailing heathenism which they had come to conquer was
far less formidable and trying than many of the other
obstacles that confronted them from time to time. The
chief difficulties were caused by the opposition of the
East India Company from mercenary motives, the hos
tility of the Danish governor of the province, and the
ignorance and inefficiency of the home board.
It is remarkable, however, how much these hardy pio
neers accomplished in spite of the handicaps and their
comparatively meager equipment. When Ziegenbalg
died in 1719, at the early age of thirty-six, after thirteen
years of self-denying toil, the rebuilt and enlarged Jeru
salem Church at Tranquebar had been dedicated, a print
ing plant turning out literature in Tamil and Portuguese
had been installed, on these primitive presses Ziegenbalg's
translation of the New Testament into Tamil had been
printed, and his translation of the Old Testament was
under way, there was a Tamil hymnal containing forty-

Ch. 5. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MISSIONS. 55
eight hymns, Luther's Small Catechism, a Tamil gram
mar and lexicon, besides much other literature in the
form of books and pamphlets and tracts in Tamil and
Portuguese, several congregations, schools, and stations
had been established, ministering to some three hundred
converts and numerous catechumens, a seminary was in
operation for the training of native helpers, and along
every important line the foundations had been laid for
growing and enduring mission work through the evan
gelical means which the Reformation had restored to the
Church. In England growing interest in the work was being
fostered. In 1717 King George I, to whom Ziegenbalg
had been presented on his recent visit among the home
churches, addressed a letter to the missionary, commend
ing his laudable zeal for the promotion of the Gospel
"in this our kingdom," but still nearly a century elapsed
before the Church of England sent missionaries of its
own to the heathen.
After Ziegenbalg's death the work was extended to
Madras, and a mission was begun among the Telugus,
a race that today affords such large and promising fields
for the Lutheran missions in India. The Bible was
translated into Telugu and Hindustani. A providential
opening into Tanjore was speedily followed up. About
the middle of the century Christian Frederick Schwartz,
who in his infancy had been consecrated by his dying
mother to the service of God, reached Tranquebar and
began his career of nearly fifty years of toil and triumph.
His labors extended to Trichinopoly and Tanjore, whence
his influence spread to Tinnevelli and throughout the
southern part of India. The East India Company, which
many years later hindered the work of William Carey at
Calcutta, bestowed favors upon Schwartz, and he re-

56 MISSION STUDIES.
turned the service by his helpful influence with the
Tanjore Rajah and the Mohammedan Hyder Ali of
Mysore. He was the first to establish a system of ver
nacular schools supported by the Rajah, his ward, and
by the British government. In the wars which ensued
the influence of Schwartz, who1 enjoyed the confidence
of all parties, was the dominant factor for the promo
tion of the common welfare. He was remarkably suc
cessful in his work among the natives. In one year
(1792) he was able to baptize 107 souls. At the time
of his death, six years later, the Tanjore church num
bered 2,800 souls. Altogether, between six and seven
thousand converts were won through his ministry.
During the last quarter of the century, owing to the
blight of rationalism, which had spread from England
and France into Germany, and the failure of support
in the way of money and faithful men on the part of
the home churches, the Lutheran missions, once so
promising, and having attained to a membership of about
15,000, rapidly declined. When, at the close of the cen
tury, there set in a revival of Christian faith and life
in England, giving birth to several of the larger mis
sionary societies of modern times, a large part of the
mission territory passed into the hands of the Church
Missionary Society. And when, a little later, the
churches in Germany bethought themselves of the squan
dered heritage of their fathers of the Reformation and
began to develop a new era in positive Christian doctrine
and life, the missionary society at Dresden, which in
1848 transferred its headquarters to Leipzig, took up
the work, some of the lost fields were regained, and the
Lutheran Church entered anew upon its expanding work
of evangelization in India.

Ch. 5. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MISSIONS. 57
3. The Missionary Operations of the Moravian
Church.1 In 1907 the Moravian Church celebrated the four
hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its formal organiza
tion in 1457 in the castle of Lititz, on the eastern frontier
of Bohemia, as the "Brethren of the Law of Christ," a
title which was later changed to Unitas Fratrum, the
Unity of the Brethren, the present official title of the
denomination. The history of this church dates back to the ninth
century, when Cyril and Methodius, missionaries of .the
Greek Church, established evangelical worship in Moravia
and Bohemia. Then followed centuries of trial, during
which with little interruption these sturdy Czechs were
purged and burnished in the fires of persecution. Some
of those who survived the Hussite wars entered into
the formal organization forty-two years after John Huss,
the revered apostle of their faith, had been burned at the
stake. At the time of the Reformation the Brethren
counted 400 parishes with 200,000 members, and had a
hymn book, the Bible, a catechism, and a confession of
faith in the vernacular. Persecutions followed anew
under the relentless power of Rome. At the instigation
of the Jesuits Ferdinand II continued the work of deso
lation, destroying Bibles, Christian books, and people
alike, until Bohemia's soil was saturated with the blood
of martyrs, and the population was reduced from three
millions to 800,000.
When, in 1638, John Amos Comenius, the last
bishop of the church, the distinguished scholar and edu-

"Cf. A. C. Thompson, Moravian Missions; Romer, Die
Indianer und ihr Freund David Zeisberger, Nikolaus Ludwig
Graf von Zinzendorf; Roy, Zinzendorfs Anweisungen fur die
Missionsarbeit.

58 MISSION STUDIES.
cator, was exiled from his native Moravia, "he knelt
on the mountain range overlooking his fatherland and
offered an impassioned prayer that the Lord would not
withdraw His Word from this country, but preserve a
seed to His glory." Some eighty years later scattered
Moravian brethren, lineal descendants of these martyrs,
found an asylum on the estate of Count Zinzendorf in
Saxony. In the providence of God the martyr band had
found a matchless leader. And this happy conjunction
goes far to explain the unparalleled devotion and the
marvelous success of Moravian missionary undertak
ings, giving this little denomination the undisputed title
of "The Missionary Church." The devoted leader and
able organizer consecrated his life, ability, and influence
to the cause of rehabilitating the old organization of
blood-witnesses and marshalling its members for the
spreading of the Gospel to all parts of the earth.
The young Count von Zinzendorf was the grandson
of an Austrian nobleman who had surrendered his es
tates for conscience' sake. In his youth he attended
school at Halle, and there, in the home of Professor
Francke, he heard accounts of the newly undertaken
missions, came under the influence of Francke's mis
sionary zeal, and met, among other missionaries, Bar
tholomew Ziegenbalg. Tholuck's motto became his own
for life : "I have one passion, and that is He, He alone !"
The love of Christ constraining was the motive that in
spired both the leader and his army of followers.
The Moravian refugees began to arrive at Berthels-
dorf in 1722. They were cordially welcomed and given
a hospitable home when the count and his bride re
turned from their wedding trip. Herrnhut became a
haven for the oppressed and a center for missionary
operations. The first decade was a period of prepara-

Ch. 5. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MISSIONS. 59
tion and organization. The situation in different lands
was studied, and volunteers were getting in readiness to
go as soon as the call of the Lord should come to them.
The opportunity came in 1732, after Zinzendorf
and several of the brethren, on a visit to Copenhagen,
had made the acquaintance of a Negro from St. Thomas
and of two Eskimos from Greenland. Of the first four
volunteers Dober and Nitzschmann started for the West
Indies, and the two Stachs for Greenland. Two years
later a company of the brethren sailed for the West
Indies and began operations on St. Croix. Though ten
of them died within a year, there was no lack of willing
recruits to fill up the depleted ranks. They were a
body of seasoned warriors who knew no fear and were
ready for any sacrifice. When Dober and Nitzschmann
were told that they would not be allowed to engage in
Christian work among the slaves of St. Thomas, the lat
ter replied: "Then I will work at my trade as a car
penter." When Sorensen was asked whether he were
ready to go to Labrador, he replied: "Yes, tomorrow,
if I am only given a pair of shoes." These men had
no university training such as the missionaries from
Halle had. They were unlearned men, but men of faith
and piety, and it was only the unanswerable power of
their humility, faithfulness, and endurance that gradually
overcame the prejudice of the cultured classes in Europe.
In the first outburst of enthusiasm the little brother
hood was impelled to undertake far more than even the
bravest could accomplish. Some fields had to be given
up again. Their forces were scattered, and some were
wasted. But the home congregation stood together as
a compact body, sending forth their workers in every
direction. Zinzendorf, who had been ordained, was, until
his death in 1760, the director of the whole movement.

60 MISSION STUDIES.
His instructions to the missionaries were very brief and
simple. They were to preach the love of Christ in
word and deed, seek to win individual souls for Him,
and be guided, under varying conditions, by their own
good sense.
The progress of the work, notwithstanding all its
weaknesses and blemishes, is without a parallel in the
history of missions. Its faulty methods left the native
converts too weak and helpless to constitute self-sup
porting congregations, and the failure to train native
workers made the native churches too dependent upon
the foreign missionaries. Slowly, and naturally with
some difficulty, the Moravians have been laboring to cor
rect this manifest mistake. Still the church, which today,
in its three branches, in Germany, England, and the
United States, numbers only about 37,000 souls, is carry
ing on mission work in the West Indies, Central America,
South America (Surinam), South and West and Ger
man East Africa, in Labrador, Australia, India, the
United States (Indians), and Alaska. Its present in
come from home sources is some $235,000; from the
mission fields, $220,000; a total of $455,000. Its 150
ordained missionaries and 50 lay and women workers
are ministering to over 102,000 converts and souls in mis
sion lands.
The vigorous missionary life of this brotherhood
is illustrated by the record of one of its families repre
sented in the first mission, that to Greenland. After the
Bohnisch-Stach family maintained laborers on various
fields during five successive generations, a representative
of the sixth generation has recently entered the mission
service. The most distinguished Moravian missionary of the
eighteenth century is doubtless David Zeisberger, who

Ch. 5. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MISSIONS. 61
labored among our American Indians for more than
sixty years (from 1745 to 1808). Moravian missionaries
had begun work in Georgia as early as 1735, and from
there the work was extended into New York, Pennsyl
vania, Ohio, and Canada. Driven from place to place,
their settlements frequently broken up and their mission
property destroyed during the incessant wars by Ameri
cans and British alike, suffering repeated massacres of
the most cruel and bloody type, these brethren endured,
as seeing Him who is invisible, but whose kingdom en-
dureth forever. Among his red children, whose fate
he shared, Zeisberger was a beloved father and a revered
patriarch. Meanwhile the established churches of the father
land stood haughtily aloof and looked down in disdain
upon these Christian mechanics and artisans and un
trained missionaries who were raising the standard of
the cross in many heathen lands and conquering the
strongholds of Satan. Why did not such missionary
heroism, such an illustrious example of missionary zeal
and activity, rouse the apathetic churches of Europe
from their lethargy and stimulate them to follow the
example of this ill equipped and yet conquering mis
sionary band?
Alas, the red blood of a living faith was lacking.
English deism, French naturalism, and German illumin-
ism and rationalism had eaten out the heart and be
fogged the mind of Christendom. It is a loud and lucid
warning against the inroads which the new theology
(old rationalism revived) is making in our day in many
pulpits and churches. If the depleting and enervating
process is not checked, the results will be the same.
The emasculation of God's inspired Word, the dilution
pf the Gospel of Christ, the elimination of His vicarious

62 MISSION STUDIES.
atonement, and all the rest of the pitiful scholarship
and assured results of modern advanced thought and
critical research, can have only one effect — the prostra
tion of living faith, and the paralysis of missionary en
deavor. Let serious Christians take warning and hold
fast that which they have, which they have received
as a heritage from the Reformation of the sixteenth
century, that no man take their crown.

CHAPTER VI.
THE AGE OF MODERN MISSIONS.

LEADING PROTESTANT MISSIONARY SOCIETIES AND
DENOMINATIONAL ENTERPRISES.
i. Providential Preparation for Modern Missions.
Notwithstanding the hopeful missionary enterprises
that went forth from Germany in the first half of the
eighteenth century, where Halle and Herrnhut were
radiant centers of throbbing Christian life and missionary
activity and examples which, under more favorable con
ditions, would have exerted far wider influence than they
did, the first of the organizations that led to the larger
development of modern missions arose in England. And
so it has come to pass that Carey is usually mentioned as
the organizer and leader of modern missions, rather than
Ziegenbalg, or Francke, or Zinzendorf.
There is ground for the claim of priority on the
part of England, but the situation should be properly
understood in the light of the facts. The influence of
the German leaders was limited by two factors. The
one was their modesty and confinement to small circles.
There was no lack of fervor and faithfulness on their
part, but they were lacking in largeness of view that
might have caused the leaven to spread more widely.
The other and the larger factor was the apathy and
hostility of the established churches and ecclesiastical
authorities, a condition which, instead of yielding to the
influence of faith working by love, grew worse, more
rigid, more impervious, as the century wore on and
(63)

64 Mission studies.
rationalism became dominant in the churches. The Eng
lish leaders, on the other hand, manifested organizing
talent on a larger scale. They laid plans for larger
enterprises. And their plans met changed conditions
which were favorable for their execution. The revival
of religious life in England had been growing and
spreading during the greater part of the century, and
when Carey took the heroic lead in aggressive missionary
enterprise his appeals found a readier response in wider
circles. Nineteenth century missions owe their success and
extent to the conjunction of the two providential factors
that were so prominent in the apostolic age and account
for the Christianization of Europe in the middle ages.
The two factors are : opened doors and awakened Chris
tians. And it is the King of kings and Lord of glory
who rules in both spheres, in the realm of nature and in
the kingdom of grace. The times and seasons are under
His sovereign control, even as He holds the world in
the hollow of His hand. Men can no more force abiding
development in the work of divine grace than the gates
of hell can prevail against the Church of God which
He has purchased with His own blood. God opens the
doors of the world and the eyes and hearts of the
faithful : the one in His providence through His almighty
power; the other through His Word, the vehicle of His
saving grace. In the extension of His kingdom the
open door has generally and naturally come first. It
was so at the inauguration of every new missionary
period. But in modern times the Christian missionary
has often been the first to open the door for new dis
coveries, for the extension of commerce, and for the
introduction of civilization.
We sometimes fail to take sufficient account of the

Ch. 6. modern missions. 65
opened world as a providential factor in preparation for
the modern missionary enterprise. The distinguished
career of Captain James Cook, English navigator and
maritime explorer, was the direct means both of extend
ing the British domains and of spreading information
concerning the heathen world, particularly in the South
Seas. His description of the condition of heathenism
in his Voyages Round the World fascinated William
Carey, fed his desire to do something for the evangeliza
tion of the heathen, and gave a direct impulse toward the
establishment of the Baptist and the London missionary
societies. The tract which Carey published in 1792, entitled,
"Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to use
Means for the Conversion of the Heathens," was not
clearer nor more fervent and forceful in its setting forth
of Christian truth and its appeals to the heart of Chris
tendom than were the works of Justinian von Weltz in
1664. Yet of Carey's work it is said: "It marks a
distinct point of departure in the history of Christianity ;"
and "it laid the foundations of modern missions." These
judgments are correct when rightly understood ; and yet,
in all fairness, it should not be forgotten that the English
navigator's narratives furnished Carey with a fund of
accurate and appealing information which the equally
earnest missionary advocates of earlier times lacked and
had no means of getting.
And the age of exploration, extensive travel, and
discovery, which set in during the last quarter of the
eighteenth century, has continued uninterruptedly ever
since. It has been reinforced by modern inventions.
The application of steam and the development of elec
tricity, issuing in railways, steamships, and the tele
graph, have furnished means of communication and

66 mission studies.
rapid transit between the most distant parts of the
globe. Improved machinery has resulted in the exten
sion of industry and commerce. And political and
colonial projects, with resulting international treaties,
have made missionary work possible in every land and
on nearly every section on the surface of the earth.
All this advancement, be it remembered, all these
modern explorations, discoveries, and inventions, are the
results of Western civilization and are achievements of
the Christianized countries of the modern world. Thus
did the Lord in His providence open to modern Chris
tendom marvelous and formerly unknown opportunities
for the propagation of the Gospel.
In addition to all this, missionary opportunity was
advanced during the past century through the extension
of political independence, the spread of humanitarian
principles, and growing movements for social betterment
and international comity. This humanizing tendency
began in France, spread to America, then took possession
of the countries of Europe, and, more recently, has
spread in Asia and Africa.
In England the humanitarian impulse resulted in the
agitation against slavery and the slave-trade under the
forceful leadership of William Wilberforce. But he was
far more than a philanthropist and a worker for social
betterment. He was a Christian missionary pleader as
well, and he took an active part in the organization of
the Church Missionary Society in 1799 and of the British
and Foreign Bible Society in 1804.
Toward the close of the eighteenth century public
sentiment was aroused in England against the tyranny
and autocracy of the East India Company, which for
nearly two centuries had been obstructing the progress
of missions in India and exercising the most shameless

Ch. 6. modern missions. 67
oppression upon the natives. But it required more than
half a century of agitation and effort before the domina
tion of the rapacious company was broken. In 1858,
after an existence of 258 years, from Queen Elizabeth
to Queen-Empress Victoria, its charter was revoked, and
the government of India passed under the direct rule of
the crown and the parliament of England.
While the Lord in His providence was thus opening
the world for the reception of the heralds of the Gospel,
His Spirit was at work in the churches, reviving the faith
of many Christians and reminding them of their duty
toward those who were perishing in their sins. The
revivals which began in England and resulted in many
bands of dissenters were far removed from the apostolic
purity of the Gospel. But, while they had grave weak
nesses and faults, they proved to be nurseries of prac
tical Christianity, and this gave evidence of its life in
missionary undertakings.
The movement in the direction of applied Chris
tianity was derided as Methodism in England, as similar
movements were dubbed Pietism and Herrnhutianism in
Germany. There were in the churches many Chris-
tions who felt a growing sense of their obligation to
carry or send the Gospel to the heathen. And when the
churches as such refused to act, when their leaders
assumed a position of hostility to missionary enterprise
and frowned on the appeals as an exhibition of wild
fanaticism, these live Christians got together and, exer
cising the rights and privileges of the universal priest
hood of believers, organized themselves into missionary
bands. Thus arose independent societies apart from the
established churches. And these conditions account for
the fact that this is the prevailing form of missionary
administration in Europe to this day.

68 mission studies.
This mode of administration, while it is not ideal,
nor in full accord with the character and mission of
the Church as such, was far in advance of former
methods, by which the duty was thrust upon the civil
ruler and missionary operations were conducted under
the direction of the government, which had charge of
the affairs both of state and of Church. The societies,
though they embraced only a fraction of the membership
of the churches, had a great advantage, inasmuch as,
in harmony with the principles and methods of Francke,
they emphasized individual responsibility and made the
success of the work depend upon voluntary support.
As long as the established churches and universities
stood aloof from the work, one of the greatest difficulties
was the securing of able and trained men for the service.
Resort was had to lay workers with little or no prepara
tion. Later on most of the societies established sem
inaries of their own for the training of their mission
aries, and these institutions have continued in Europe to
the present day. Here in America, and for mission ser
vice in a few of the dissenting churches in England and
in the Church of Scotland, men receive their training
in the regular theological seminaries of the respective
denominations. The Established Church of Scotland and the Mo
ravian Church are the only ones among the churches of
Europe that carried on mission work under the direct
administration of the churches as such from the begin
ning. In Sweden missions have been carried on under
the auspices of the state church since 1874.
As to the individual societies that sprang into ex
istence in rapid succession, we can here make only brief
mention of some of the leading ones in England, Ger-

Ch. 6. modern missions. 69
many, and the Scandinavian lands, together with the
situation in our own country.
2. Societies in Great Britain.
The Baptist Society, founded at the instigation of
William Carey in 1792, is the first one of the modern
organizations, the pioneer that led the van and gave a
stimulus to many others. Carey's memorable sermon
on the classic theme: "Expect great things from God;
attempt great things for God," was followed by the little
organization of twelve ministers assembled at Kettering.
Carey himself led the way as the first missionary. In
the expanding work in North India he was joined later
on by additional missionaries, the most noted of whom —
scarcely less distinguished than Carey himself — were
Marshman and Ward. Owing to the intolerance of the
East India Company, they were compelled to withdraw
to the Danish territory of Serampore, and only after
the lapse of more than a decade were they permitted to
labor on British territory. The Serampore Mission, with
the unique triumvirate, Carey, Marshman, and Ward,
fills one of the illustrious chapters in the chronicles of
missions. Among the notable results of their work we
find extensive literary products, translations of the Bible
in whole or in part into many languages and dialects,
schools for girls as well as for boys, a college for the
training of native workers and leaders, medical mission
work, and some thirty mission stations.
At present the society is carrying on work in India,
China, Palestine, Central Africa, and the West Indies.
It has 166 ordained missionaries, 49 lay and women
workers (not including wives of missionaries), over
21,000 communicants in native churches, and a total of
45,000 adherents, or native Christians. The income of

70 mission studies.
the society is: From home sources, $438,500; from the
field, $35,000.
The London Society, established in 1795, received
its first impulse from letters of Carey to his supporters
in England and was the direct result of his work in
Bengal. Ministers and members of the Independent, the
Presbyterian, Wesleyan, and Episcopal churches united
in the organization. Cook's narratives suggested the
South Sea Islands as first field. In the spring of 1797
the mission ship "Duff," in command of Captain Wilson,
landed on Tahiti with a company of twenty-nine workers,
four of them ordained missionaries, one a surgeon, and
the others artisans. Among the distinguished mission
aries of this society should be mentioned : John Wil
liams, the apostle of the South Seas and martyr of
Erromanga, Moffat and Livingstone in South Africa,
Morrison and Milne in China, and Chalmers in New
Guinea. Present fields: China, India, South Africa, Mada
gascar, and Polynesia. The society has 166 ordained
missionaries, 122 lay and women workers, 84,000 com
municants, and nearly 310,000 native Christians. Home
income, $714,000; from the field, $204,000.
The Church Missionary Society was organized in
1799 by members of the Church of England. At first
no suitable men for the field could be secured in Eng
land. Accordingly men were drawn from the Janicke
mission seminary in Berlin, and later from the Basel
Society. About a hundred and twenty in all came from
Germany, among them Rhenius, Pfander, Krapf, and
Rebmann. Amid great difficulties and conflicts this so
ciety endured and has grown to be the largest of all
the Protestant organizations. From its seminary at
Islington, since 1825, over five hundred missionaries

Ch. 6. Modern missions. 71
have gone forth. Among them may be mentioned Sam
uel Crowther (who rose from slave boy to bishop in
West Africa), Alexander Mackay in Uganda, Marsden
in New Zealand, and Henry Martyn in India and Persia.
Principal fields at present : Persia, Palestine, China,
Japan, India, Africa, North America, and Australia. On
thirty different fields it has 415 ordained missionaries,
555 lay and women workers, 110,200 communicants, and
347,400 native Christians. Home income, $1,900,000;
from the field, $18,800.
Among the smaller societies of England we would
mention the South American Society, started in 1844 in
consequence of the heroic efforts of Captain Allen
Gardiner on the coast of Patagonia. Its missionaries
labor among the Indians in Tierra del Fuego and Chile.
It is supporting 15 ordained missionaries and 43 lay and
women workers, and has gathered about 3,000 native
Christians. The Established Church of Scotland sent its first
missionary to India in 1829, in the person of the cele
brated Dr. Alexander Duff, pioneer of education and
higher schools in India. Its present fields are in India,
East Central Africa, Palestine, and China. It has under
its direction 34 ordained missionaries, over 100 lay and
women workers, and 16,000 native Christians.
The United Free Church of Scotland (the United
Presbyterians united with the Free Church in 1900)
has been carrying on foreign mission work since 1843.
Much attention is paid to the maintenance and develop
ment of schools in India. Its industrial missions at
Lovedale, South Africa, have become models in this line
of work. Missions are maintained in India, Africa,
Arabia, Palestine, the New Hebrides (John G. Paton,
a veteran of the Reformed Presbyterian Church), Man-

72 mission studies.
churia, Japan, and the West Indies. It has 155 ordained
missionaries, more than 200 lay and women workers,
and 46,000 native Christians.
The China Inland Mission, founded by Hudson Tay
lor in 1865, has become the largest of the societies of
the individual and undenominational type. The some
what eccentric founder was imbued with consuming mis
sionary fervor and inaugurated some radical methods,
many of which have been corrected by experience. One
of the characteristic features of the movement is the
employment of a large proportion of women workers
even as regular preachers. Many workers went out at
their own charges. Emphasis was laid on "faith mis
sionaries" and on "witnessing," it being deemed sufficient
to make a hasty proclamation of the Gospel in rapid
touring. The association, with many branches in dif
ferent lands, is at present maintaining 367 laymen and
307 women workers in 18 foreign fields, where they
are ministering to about 75,000 native Christians.
Summary. British societies report a total of 2,551
ordained missionaries, 2,271 laymen, 2,387 unmarried
women workers, 676,000 communicants, and 1,704,000
native Christians in foreign fields. Home income,
$8,995,000; from the field, $2,509,000.
As the Bible societies of Protestantism have been a
potent factor in the work of evangelization, we must
take note, by way of illustration, of the British and
Foreign Bible Society, organized in 1804. It has ren
dered invaluable aid to missionary societies in the print
ing and distribution of Bibles and Scripture parts. Its
European agents in mission lands rank in every way as
missionaries. There are more than 8,000 auxiliary and
branch societies. It has an income of $1,200,000 and
issues annually above five million copies of the Bible,

Ch. 6. modern missions. 73
the New Testament, and Scripture portions. The whole
number issued since the formation of the society is
upwards of 225,000,000 in more than four hundred lan
guages and dialects.
3. Societies in Germany.
The history and progress of the missions of the
Moravian Church have been sketched in the preceding
chapter. We proceed to note briefly the work of some
of the leading Protestant societies in Germany.
The Basel Society (composed of members of the
Lutheran and the Reformed churches) established a
mission seminary in 181 5, and began to send out mis
sionaries under its own direction five years later. This
society grew out of a movement started in southern Ger
many and Switzerland by Superintendent Urlsperger, of
Augsburg. Its aim was to' nurture faith and revive
Christian life, and it soon led in the* direction of mis
sionary interest and activity. In connection with the
work of evangelization the Basel Society carries on ex
tensive industrial operations. It was the first German
society to engage in medical mission work.
Present fields : South India, China, and West
Africa (on the Gold Coast, where the heroic Ramseyer
labored with great devotion and success for so many
years.) The society employs 228 missionaries and 19
women workers, and has under its care in the native
congregations about 34,000 communicants and 60,600
baptized Christians. Home income, $427,000; from the
field, $100,000.
The Berlin Society (Lutheran within the Prussian
Union) was founded in 1824. Its first missionaries
were sent out ten years later, to South Africa. Among
its able and devoted directors (in English societies they

74 mission studies.
are called secretaries) Doctors Wangemann and Wall-
mann are most distinguished. Of its many able mis
sionaries Posselt, Kropf, and Merensky deserve special
mention. Present fields : South Africa, China, and German
East Africa. It reports 124 missionaries, 28 women
workers, 30,000 communicants, 63,000 baptized Chris
tians, and an income of $292,000.
The Rhenish Society (Lutheran and Reformed)
was founded at Barmen in 1828. Among its faithful
and distinguished missionaries it records the names of
Hugo Hahn, among the Herero, South-west Africa,
and Nommensen and John Warneck, among the Bataks
in Sumatra. Present fields : South-west Africa, Borneo, Sumatra,
Nias, China, and German New Guinea. It has 190 mis
sionaries (including five physicians), 25 women workers,
70,000 communicants, 160,000 baptized Christians, and
an income of $250,000.
The Leipzig Society (Lutheran) was founded at
Dresden in 1836, and twelve years later the headquarters
were removed to Leipzig. Its first distinguished director
was Dr. Karl Graul. Most of its missionaries have had
a university training. Missionaries were sent to India
in 1840 to resume and continue the work of the Danish-
Halle Mission among the Tamils. In questions pertain
ing to caste the Leipzig missionaries have pursued a more
lenient practice than most of the other Protestant mis
sions. Present fields: South India, Burma, British and
German East Africa. It records 71 missionaries, 24
women workers, 11,500 communicants, 24,000 baptized
Christians, and an income of $160,000.
The Gossner Society (Berlin II — Lutheran and Re-

Ch. 6. modern missions. 75
formed) was founded in 1836 by Pastor John Gossner,
formerly a Roman Catholic priest, who ten years before
had publicly embraced Protestantism. He was sixty-
three years of age when he started this new society.
During the first decade he sent no less than eighty mis
sionaries into different fields, most of whom entered the
service of other societies. Later, work was begun in
India, along the Ganges and among the Kols in the
northern hills. This work has enjoyed a healthy growth,
so that now the society supports 51 missionaries and 6
women workers, and has gathered 77,000 baptized Chris
tians in that field. Its income is about $120,000.
The Hermannsburg Mission was started by Pastor
Louis Harms in 1849 m his village congregation in the
Luneburg heath, province of Hanover. His decided
nature and strong Lutheran convictions caused him to
sever his connection with the North German Society.
He established a mission seminary in the hamlet of Her
mannsburg and began the work of training missionaries.
Four years later eight candidates were ready to be
commissioned. They sailed, together with eight colonists,
in the mission ship "Candace," which had been built for
the purpose, and, failing to secure entrance into the land
of the Gallas, on whom the devoted leader had set his
heart, landed in Natal, South Africa, and began to lay
the foundations of this remarkable mission in September,
1854. It has developed into a prosperous and growing
mission among the Zulus and the Bechuanas. A field
started in Australia was later transferred to the Im-
manuel Synod. Work was begun in India in 1866, where,
up to the present time, ten main stations have been estab
lished among the Telugus north and west of Madras.
Today the society, with the help of its many friends, is
supporting in the two fields 65 missionaries and two

76 mission studies.
women workers, has gathered 71,700 baptized Christians,
and has an annual income of about $145,000.
Of the smaller Lutheran societies we would mention
the Breklum, the Bielefeld, and the Neuendettelsau
missions. The Breklum Society (Schleswig-Holstein), founded
in 1877, maintains 25 missionaries and 8 women workers
in India (Teluguland and Jeypur), where they have
gathered 14,000 native Christians.
The German East Africa Society (Berlin III),
founded in 1886, now called the Bielefeld Mission, since
more recently it passed under the direction of Pastor von
Bodelschwingh, is carrying on successful work in Ger
man East Africa, where it is supporting 14 ordained mis
sionaries and one physician.
The Neuendettelsau Society is an organization for
both inner and foreign mission work, and is the result
of the fervent and indefatigable labors of Pastor Wil-
helm Loehe. In addition to extensive diaspora work in
behalf of the scattered Lutheran immigrants in our
country and work among the American Indians as well
as among the Papuas of Australia, the society started a
thriving mission in German New Guinea in 1885. In the
latter field, where John Flierl is the senior missionary
and able leader, there are now 31 missionaries at work.
Summary. German societies report a total of 931
ordained missionaries, 143 lay workers, 158 unmarried
women workers, 272,000 communicants, and 656,000
native Christians. Their income is about $2,500,000.
4. Societies in the Scandinavian Countries.
The Danish Society, founded independently of the
state church in 1821, did not send out missionaries of
its own until forty years later. A mission was begun

Ch. 6. modern missions. 77
among the Tamils in India, where now the society is
supporting 14 missionaries. More recently a mission
was started in Manchuria, where there are now 13 mis
sionaries. It has an income of $60,000.
The Norwegian Society was founded in 1842. In
terest in the work is fostered through numerous aux
iliaries in different places. It carries on mission work
in South Africa, Madagascar, and China. It reports 65
missionaries, 18 women workers, 80,000 native Chris
tians, and an income of $230,000. Numerous smaller
societies have come into existence in Norway in recent
years. In Sweden there are, in addition to the Church
Missionary Society (under the direct auspices of the
state church), founded in 1874, and three independent
societies of larger scope, one of which (the Swedish
National Society) was organized in 1856, several smaller
societies of more recent date. The National Society,
maintaining missions in East Africa and India, appears
to surpass the others in number of missionaries and
amount of income. The Church Mission supports 22
missionaries and 15 women workers in South India (the
Swedish Diocese in connection with the Leipzig Mis
sion) and in South Africa, and has an income of $60,000.
The Lutheran Finnish Society was founded in 1859,
on the occasion of the seven hundredth anniversary of
the Christianization of Finland. It is maintaining 19
missionaries and 10 women workers in South-west Africa
and China, and has an income of about $60,000.
Summary. Scandinavian societies report a total of
185 ordained missionaries, 33 laymen, 70 women workers,
58,000 communicants, 110,000 native Christians, and an
income of $560,000.

78 MISSION studies.
5. Societies and Denominational Agencies in the
United States.
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions, founded in 1810, is the leading one of the few
independent societies in our country. It owes its origin
to the missionary interest and enthusiasm which had
been fostered for some time among students of Wil
liams college and Andover seminary. Among the leaders
of this mission band were the men who became the
first missionaries of the society, among them Samuel J.
Mills, Adoniram Judson, Samuel Nott, and Samuel
Newell. Their petition to the General Association of
Independent Ministers, assembled at Bradford in June,
18 10, led to the formation of the society in the fall.
At the present time the Board represents in the main
the interests of the Congregational churches. Its policy
has laid emphasis on the speedy development of native
churches to a stage of self-support and self-government.
This is exhibited on a large scale in the work in Hawaii,
under Titus Coan, and in Japan. This movement toward
self-government has sometimes been unduly hastened to
the injury of the work.
The American Board carries on extensive opera
tions in twenty leading foreign fields, including the
Orient, the Philippines, and Micronesia. It reports 172
ordained missionaries, 31 laymen, 210 unmarried women
workers, 76,600 communicants, and 171,000 native Chris
tians. Home income, $1,032,000; from the field,
$300,000. Every leading denomination in our land carries on
more or less extensive operations in the foreign field
under the direct auspices of its church organization.
Though the Lutherans rank third among the Protestants
in number of members, the Methodist*,, baptists, and

Ch. 6. MODERN MISSIONS. 79
Presbyterians rank highest in contributions of men and
means for the evangelization of the heathen, and the
Lutherans are surpassed by some of the smaller de
nominations. In regard to the foreign mission work of the lead
ing Lutheran synods we would note the following:
The General Synod ranks first in point of age and
extent of work. It has been carrying on work among
the Telugus in India since 1844. Later, work was begun
in Liberia, West Africa. It is supporting 20 ordained
missionaries and 13 women workers, and has gathered
a native membership of 40,000 Christians. Home in
come, $137,000; from the field, $19,000.
The General Council was induced by the veteran
missionary, Rev. C. F. Heyer, to take up work among
the Telugus in India in 1869. Recently the General
Council has united with the Danish Synod and the United
Synod of the South in co-operative work in Japan. It is
also maintaining a growing mission in Porto Rico. It
has 11 ordained missionaries, 9 women workers, and
17,000 native Christians. Home income, $70,000; from
the field, $5,000.
The United Norwegian Church is carrying on work
in Madagascar and China, where it has 20 ordained mis
sionaries, 13 women workers, and 1,900 native Chris
tians. Income, $84,000.
The Swedish Augustana Synod, besides liberally
supporting the work of the General Council in India
and Japan, is maintaining independently a mission in
China, where it has two ordained missionaries, a physi
cian, and two women workers, expending about $16,000
annually. The United Synod of the South, numbering only
50,000 communicant members, has been maintaining a

80 MISSION STUDIES.
foreign mission in Japan since 1892, where it has four
ordained missionaries and 400 baptized Christians.
The Missouri Synod has been at work in a portion
of the territory of the Leipzig Mission among the Tamils
in South India since 1895. It has twelve ordained mis
sionaries and over 400 baptized Christians.
The little Hauge Norwegian Synod, with a com
municant membership of only 36,200, has been carrying
on a mission in China since 1891, and has at present five
ordained missionaries, two physicians, one layman, five
women workers, and 600 baptized Christians.
Several of the synods support the work of the
Neuendettelsau, the Hermannsburg, and other German
societies. Among the other agencies for the spread of the
Gospel the following may be noted :
The American Bible Society, organized in 1816, be
sides working among the colored people of the South
and the destitute and unchurched classes in our land,
has rendered notable service in mission lands. It is dis
tributing annually over three million volumes of the
Scriptures and portions in more than a hundred lan
guages. It has nine home and twelve foreign agencies,
furnishing many missions with the Bible in the ver
nacular of their field.
The Student Volunteer Movement, the Missionary
Education Movement, and the Laymen's Missionary
Movement have done much valuable work in developing
missionary interest and activity in educational institutions
and churches. No less than five thousand student volun
teers have reached the foreign field, and are working
under the auspices of their respective boards. Thou
sands of students and young people have been enrolled
annually in mission study classes for the purpose of

Ch. 6. MODERN MISSIONS. 81
systematic study and with a view to the increase of
knowledge and active participation in the work. The
men of the churches have been aroused and enlisted in
the cause as never before, and the contributions in many
churches have been greatly increased.
Summary. The Protestant societies and churches
in the United States and Canada report a total of 2,310
ordained missionaries, 838 laymen, 2,072 women workers,
876,000 communicants, and 1,338,000 native Christians.
Home income, $12,290,000; from the field, $2,035,000.
Summary of the Protestant Societies of the World.
According to the statistics of Dr. D. L. Leonard for
191 1, the reports aggregate the following: 6,800 or
dained missionaries, 3,600 laymen, 5,000 unmarried
women workers, 2,305,000 communicants, and 4,876,000
native Christians. Home income, $25,300,000; from
the field, $5,500,000.
During recent years, according to the most com
plete statistics at hand, there has been notable increase
in the work of nearly all the societies and denominations
of Christendom. Of the 995 main and auxiliary and co
operating societies and agencies enumerated in the World
Atlas of Christian Missions, published by the Student
Volunteer Movement on the basis of material collected
for the World Missionary Conference held at Edinburgh
in June, 1910, there are 377 principal societies that ap
point and send out missionaries, 163 auxiliaries to these
principal societies, 117 agencies aiding societies in other
lands, 303 co-operating and collecting societies, 13
auxiliaries to the latter, and 22 independent and uncon
nected missions. The total income and contributions of
these agencies amount to $30,378,500 — or, according to
Dr. D. L. Leonard's tables, $30,816,000.
6

CHAPTER VII.
COMPREHENSIVE SURVEY OF THE LEADING FOREIGN
FIELDS.
i. Some General Observations.
The foreign missionary situation of today is the re
sult of gradual development and expansion since the be
ginning of the nineteenth century. This was due to the
growing missionary interest in the Protestant churches
and the increasing accessibility of the foreign fields.
The normal character of the development is shown by
the fact that by far the largest increase set in during
the last quarter of the century. Within the past thirty
or forty years the number of missionaries and the contri
butions for foreign missions have multiplied threefold.
The fields were occupied not from arbitrary choice,
but in accordance with the Lord's providential guidance,
wherever doors of opportunity were opened. The rel
atively greater accessibility and receptiveness of the un
civilized nations has resulted in greater expansion among
them than among the civilized nations of heathendom.
While in India, China, and Japan there are at present
some 4,000 Protestant missionaries (men — ordained,
physicians, and other lay workers) and 1,214,000 bap
tized Christians in a total heathen population of 700
million, there are 7,000 missionaries and 2,235,000 bap
tized Christians among the 180 millions of the uncivilized
and barbarous races of the earth.
The slowest progress in Protestant mission work has
been that among the Mohammedans. Since its rise in
the seventh century and its spread, first in the Turkish
(82)

Ch. 7. foreign fields. 83
Empire, then westward over North Africa and into
Spain, and in the course of time throughout the East,
into Africa and the islands of the Pacific, Islam has
been the most relentless and formidable foe of Chris
tianity. Today the battle is on in many lands between
the crescent and the cross for the conquest of the heathen
races of the earth. The conflict centers around the realm
of the Turk and the cradle of Islam, whence its emis
saries go forth to challenge and, if possible, arrest the
advance of Christianity in Africa and other lands.
Islam, formerly conquering by fire and sword, has in
modern times appropriated the educational methods of
Christianity and is sending forth trained missionaries to
lead its propaganda. In lands dominated by Moham
medan powers every attempt to win Moslems for the
Christian faith is met by repressive measures that in
many cases involve violence.
In point of numbers, as well as in its fanatical spirit
of hostility, Islam is a formidable antagonist. Of the
1,540,000,000 inhabitants of the earth, the Mohamme
dans probably number more than 200 million, while the
number of nominal Christians (Protestant, Romish, and
Greek) is estimated at 540 million.
Of this insidious enemy of the Gospel Dr. H. H.
Jessup, a veteran missionary in Syria, said : "Islam —
the mightiest system of monotheism the world has ever
known, 'shadowing with wings' the three continents of
Asia and Africa, having in its progress stamped out of
existence tens of thousands of Christian churches and
riveted upon 200,000,000 of men its doctrines, polity,
ceremonial, and code of laws, * * * until it stands
today like a towering mountain range whose summits
are gilded with the light of the great truths of God's
existence and unity, and whose foot-hills run down into

84 MISSION studies.
the sloughs of polygamy and oppression and degradation
of woman." 2. The Situation in the Western Hemisphere.
In this survey we include Greenland and Labrador,
work among the North American Indians, the West
Indies, Mexico, and South America.
The limited population of Eskimos and mixed races
along the southern coast of Greenland has been com
pletely Christianized. The Danish Lutheran Church,
which has charge of the field, is carrying on mission
work in out-lying districts.
In Labrador the mission work is divided among the
Moravians (since 1752) and the London Society. The
work among the Eskimos has been maintained amid
great discouragements. There is still little prospect of
building up self-supporting churches. Much interest has
been awakened through Dr. Grenfell's work among the
American fishermen of the coast.
Alaska was purchased from Russia by the United
States in 1867, and ten years later Dr. Sheldon Jackson,
of the Presbyterian Church, established the first mission
station at Fort Wrangel. The Eskimo population is
about 14,000, and there is about the same number of
Indians in the territory. Pt. Barrow and Sitka are the
most important of the ten stations of the Presbyterian
mission. The Moravians (since 1885) have three sta
tions, and since 1890 several other denominations have
been at work among the settlers and the native Indians
and Eskimos. The story of the heroic William Duncan1
and his old and new Metlakahtla, Christian Indian com
munities of unique and exemplary type, is one of the
fascinating monographs of missionary history.

*The Apostle of Alaska, by John W. Arctander, LL. D.

Ch. 7. foreign fields. 85
Wars of conquest and the rapacity of white settlers
and adventurers interfered greatly with the heroic efforts
of the pioneer missionaries to Christianize the American
Indians. Mission work among them was carried on by
many organizations in every part of the country. For
example, the pastors who were sent over by Wilhelm
Loehe as diaspora or home missionaries founded German
Lutheran colonies and congregations in Michigan, and
also began work among the neighboring Indian tribes.
Among these pioneers were Pastors Craemer and Baier-
lein.1 As civilization and settlement spread westward,
the territory was seized by the whites, and mission work
among the Indians became more difficult and less hopeful.
The Indians acquired many vices and evils from their
white oppressors. In recent years the National Indian
Association, among other benevolent and missionary or
ganizations, has done much, through direct mission work
and suggested legislation, to make the outlook for the
Indian more hopeful. Thirty years of agitation have re
sulted in the abandonment of the reservation system, the
dissolution of the tribal organizations, and the incor
poration of the Indians as individual members of the
American communities. Indian education has been
greatly extended, and special emphasis is laid upon in
dustrial, moral, and political education, so that the In
dians may be enabled to become self-supporting and self-
governing members of the community. Our government
is maintaining for this purpose upwards of three hundred
graded and industrial schools. These, together with the
mission schools, enroll about 45,000 Indian pupils. The
Indian population is not only holding its own, but is in-

1 Baierlein's "Im Urwald bei den roten Indianern" is a thrill
ing story of Christian devotion to an oppressed and, at that
time, diminishing race.

86 mission studies.
creasing in numbers. In 1890 those in the United States
numbered 243,000; in 1910 they numbered 305,000, not
including those in Alaska.
Christian missions are being carried on among the
various Indian tribes by different denominations with
considerable success. The number of those in the
northern part of California, for example, who are reached
by Protestant missionaries has increased from 1,820 to
8,400 in four years. Protestant missions in the United
States have an enrollment of about 100,000 baptized
Indians. In Canada effective work among the Indians is car
ried on by the Church Missionary Society of England
and by a number of denominations.
Mission work in the West Indies, with a population
of some five millions, has been carried on by various
denominations, including the Moravians (since 1732)
and the United Presbyterians of Scotland (since 1847).
At present there are from seven to eighteen agencies at
work on the different islands. They report 630 mis
sionaries and 258,000 communicant members.
Central America has a nominally Roman Catholic
population of about four million, consisting of Negroes,
Indians, and mixed races. In addition to the Moravians
(since 1849), there are fifteen Protestant agencies at
work, represented by a hundred missionaries and 8,200
communicant members.
Mexico is one of the hardest of mission fields on
account of the turbulent, revolutionary character of its
heterogeneous population, the illiterate and morally de
graded condition of the nominal but spiritually neglected
adherents of Rome, and the fanatical domination of the
Romish hierarchy. Still, Protestant missions have made
some headway even in this priest-ridden land, where the

Ch. 7. foreign fields. 87
Romish Church has held sway for centuries, but where
it has left its own people practically without the Bread
of Life. Working among the foreign settlers, and the
native and mixed races, there are eighteen American and
Canadian agencies, represented by two hundred mission
aries, who have under their care 25,000 baptized Chris
tians. They report a total of 92,000 adherents.
South America has a population of forty-three mil
lion, comprising about eight million people of pure white
blood, over the half of whom are residents and settlers
from Europe and America, probably about five million
Indians, and the remainder of mixed race.
It is a land where crosses and saints abound, but
where the Word of the cross has been practically hushed
under the shameful misrule of a corrupt Roman Catholic
hierarchy for four centuries. Illiteracy and immorality
and spiritual famine abound in these states that have
so frequently been the scene of political strife and
revolution. Various Protestant societies and churches are carry
ing on the work of the Gospel among the European and
American settlers and the neglected Roman Catholic
population in different states. Apart from this, some
feeble efforts are put forth to reach the native races
and non-Catholic heathen in Bolivia, Paraguay, the Ar
gentine, and Chile, while the Moravians are carrying on
a prosperous mission in Dutch Guiana, and Anglicans and
Methodists are doing similar work in British Guiana.
In Dutch Guiana (Surinam) the Moravians have
been laboring amid the greatest difficulties and sacrifices
since 1738. In consequence of the unhealthy climate
nearly half of the 370 men and women who were sent
to this field sank into early graves. Still, this band of
sturdy missionaries held out, and now they have six

88 mission studies.
congregations in Paramaribo, the capital, where nearly
half of the total population of 80,000 reside. Altogether
they have 20 principal stations, with a membership of
32,000 souls.
The South American Missionary Society, started
by the tragic death of Captain Allen Gardiner, is work
ing with success among the Indians of Chile and
Paraguay. In the Patagonians Charles Darwin thought
that he had discovered the missing link between man and
the monkey. He had declared that they could never be
civilized. When, some years later, he learned to know
what the missionaries had accomplished among the brutal
Patagonians and Fuegians, he expressed his astonish
ment and admiration and is said to' have contributed
regularly, from this time forth, to the society's funds.
While there are diaspora missions in behalf of the
European settlers in Brazil, no Protestant mission work
is done among its 1,300,000 Indians. There is a little
Bolivian Indian mission, but there is no mission working
among the 1,700,000 Indians of Peru save a single sta
tion of the Regions Beyond Missionary Union of Eng
land, with its industrial farm.
All told there are only about seven comparatively
small evangelical missions working among the Indians
of South America.
3. The Missionary Outlook in Africa.
The story of the early African missions and of the
heroism of such pioneers and pathfinders as Moffat and
Livingstone is one of the historical romances of modern
missions. Many mission workers of today received their
first impulse from the annals of the Dark Continent with
its tales of woe and cries for relief. After spending
thirty years of his life in an unwearied effort to evan-

Ch. 7. foreign fields. 89
gelize the native races of South Africa, to explore and
open a path into the unknown interior, and to abolish
the desolating slave-traffic, Livingstone, as it were with
his dying breath, uttered the memorable words: "All
I can say in my solitude is, may Heaven's rich blessing
come down on every one — American, Englishman, Turk
— -who will help to heal this open sore of the world."
Wonderful are the changes that have taken place
since then. Many have come forward to share the
blessing which the great explorer implored upon mission
workers. From him Henry Stanley received inspiration
to heroic endeavor, and now, after the lapse of a single
generation, the Dark Continent, with its chains of mis
sion stations not only round its coasts, but into its very
heart, looms up as one of the brightest and most hopeful
among mission fields. Let the rising generation read the
story of marvelous transformation and be impressed with
the power of divine grace: "See what hath God
wrought !"
Precious lives have been sacrificed more freely on
this field than in any other of the world's mission lands.
The "waste" was due in large measure to the fatal cli
mate and inability to meet the new conditions of life.
But the supply of willing workers never failed, and
meanwhile the victories of medical science have made
life safer and more endurable there and everywhere on
the earth. After some years of trial and experimenta
tion and endurance, even while the work appeared fruit
less and hopeless to many, the evangelization of Africa
is advancing at a rapid pace.
Within the limits of our survey we can only gather
up a few out-standing points and take a bird's-eye view
of the different sections of the field.
South Africa, being almost entirely under Dutch,

90 MISSION studies.
British, and German rule, is fully open to mission work
and is one of the most promising fields. Even the Hol
landers, who formerly were hostile to missions, are now
maintaining a society that is conducting work farther
north. The natives of the dominant race, the Bantu, in
cluding the Zulus and the Bechuanas, are of a higher
type than the negroes of the Congo region, while the
degraded Hottentots (Nama) and Bushmen are intel
lectually of the lowest grade. Thev influx of a large
immigration of whites, in addition to the different native
races, has resulted in a diversity of racial elements that
interferes with the work of unification in larger church
organizations. Notwithstanding the devastating South African
wars and the more recent menace of the Ethiopian Move
ment, whose aim is to wrest the native churches from the
needful and benevolent supervision of the foreign mis
sionaries and to unite them in an independent national
African Church under native leaders, the Christian
churches are making real progress in the direction of
self-support and self-government that has promise of
permanence. With few exceptions, all of the fifty-two
missionary societies and agencies that are at work on
this field are giving much thought to the solution of
this problem. To this end much emphasis is laid on
education, the training of native workers and leaders,
and the development of the spirit of self-support.
Among the Continental societies at work here are
the Berlin, the Hermannsburg, and the Rhenish. In ad
dition to seventeen South African societies, connected
with various denominational missions, there is a Telugu
Baptist Society (since 1903), laboring among the many
imported coolies from India, who are employed under
contract in the mines. The 52 societies report a total

Ch. 7. foreign fields. 91
of 649 ordained missionaries, 288 laymen (including six
physicians), 187 unmarried women workers, and 623,000
baptized native Christians.
In German South-west Africa the Rhenish mission
aries and others are laboring successfully in Namaqua
land, Damaraland, and (more recently) in Ovamboland.
Here the Rhenish missionary, Dr. Hugo Hahn, was the
pathfinder of the Herero mission. During the era of
colonial expansion and the ensuing wars the missions
suffered greatly.
In Cape Colony Hottentots and Kafirs predominate.
Africaner, the notorious Hottentot chief, known as the
"Bonaparte of South Africa," who had been a terror to
the whole country, was won for Christianity by Robert
Moffat. When a farmer saw Africaner on a journey in
the company of Moffat whom the chief was reported to
have killed, he exclaimed : "O God, what cannot Thy
grace do ! What a miracle of Thy power !" Dr. Kropf ,
of the Berlin Society, rendered a notable service through
his translation of the Bible into the Kafir language. At
Lovedale we find the celebrated industrial schools and
prosperous mission founded by Dr. James Stewart,1 of
the Free Church of Scotland. In Natal, Zululand, and
Transvaal are the growing missions of the Hermanns-
burg Society among the Zulus and the Bechuanas.
Madagascar may fitly be included in the survey of
Africa. Off the south-eastern coast lies the large Martyr
Isle, and farther east the smaller island Mauritius. A
large part of the population of the latter is composed of
imported coolies from India, and the mission work is
now in charge of the Society for the Propagation of the

1 Stewart of Lovedale, by James Wells, D. D. A most
instructive narrative.

92 mission studies.
Gospel. The story of the persecutions triumphantly en
dured by the early Christians of Madagascar should be
read by every friend of missions.
Among the agencies at work on the field are the Nor
wegian society (the Norske Missionsselskab, since 1866),
and the United Norwegian Lutheran Church of America
(since 1893). The two report a total of 49 ordained
missionaries, 19 women workers, and 73,000 baptized
Christians, out of a total of 120,000 reported by the nine
societies there represented.
The French authorities, of atheistic type, have up
to a recent date shown themselves decidedly hostile to
ward the work of the Protestants. It is to be hoped that
the Malagasy Christians of today will endure as faithfully
amid persecution as did their forefathers of three-
quarters of a century ago. But how sad and depressing
the thought, that a professedly Christian nation should
be found emulating the example of a heathen queen in
trying to hinder the spread of the kingdom of Christ !
West Africa comes next as missionary territory in
point of age. It extends from the Senegal to the Congo,
and includes probably the most blood-drenched territory
in mission lands. In this most forbidding field, doomed
to early graves by the fatal climate of the coast, amid
most degraded and demoralized races, and hard pressed
by the encroaching forces of Islam from the North, the
missionaries toiled and endured, and today he who runs
may read of the wonderful triumphs and transforma
tions which have been wrought of God through the faith
of His people.
Here we find the scene of the thrilling story of
Sierra Leone,1 a British colony established in 1787 as

1 Read Dr. A. T. Pierson's Seven Years in Sierra Leone.

Ch. 7. FOREIGN FIELDS. 93
a home for freed slaves, where William Johnson (the
German Jansen) labored in the service of the Church
Missionary Society. At the end of a period of fifty-
seven years the Sierra Leone Church was declared to
be self-supporting. In spite of the great mortality among
the missionaries — 109 men and women succumbing
within twenty-five years — others speedily followed to
fill the vacant places.
Liberia is another state that owes its origin to a
philanthropic movement to colonize American negroes.
In 1847 ^ was constituted an independent republic, but
the colony was ill prepared for self-government, and
much trouble has ensued in consequence. Here, in Mon
rovia and vicinity, the Lutheran missions of the General
Synod (since i860) are taking on new life and expand
ing hopefully. On the Gold Coast (British territory) there are ex
tensive missions. Among the pathfinders of this district
we find Thomas B. Freeman, a mulatto, in the service of
the Wesleyan Society. The Basel Society sent its first
missionaries to this field in 1828. None of the races had
a written language. Two Basel missionaries, Zimmer-
mann and Christaller, created a native literature and
translated the Bible into two of the vernacular tongues.
Here, at Kumassi, the capital of Ashanti, the brave
veteran, Missionary Ramseyer,1 toiled and suffered and
endured, and has lived to behold and, as solace and cheer
in his declining days, enjoy rich fruits and triumphs of
the cross. Here, on the Slave Coast, are missions in Togoland
(the North German Society), Dahomey, and Yoruba.

1 Those who are fortunate enough to be able to read
German should read Gundert's "Vier Jahre in Asante."

94 mission studies.
In the latter country is Abeokuta with its romantic his
tory, a refuge for those who fled and escaped from the
slave-hunters. This district is bounded on the east by
Nigeria, a large and prosperous field of the Church Mis
sionary Society, where the work has from the beginning
been conducted by native missionaries, chief among
whom was the colored bishop, Samuel Crowther.1 From
this center the mission is about to be extended among the
Hausa tribes of the Western Sudan.
Next we come to the large German territory of
Kamentn, where within the short period of twenty-five
years the Basel missionaries have established twelve main
and many out-stations, and where they are assisted by
260 native helpers.
Central Africa comprises the Congo region, ex
plored in part by Livingstone and more completely by
Stanley in 1876 to 'yy. The Congo Free State was
established by the celebrated Berlin Conference in 1885
and made subject to Belgium. It is to be hoped that
the atrocities perpetrated by the local authorities and
the tyranny of King Leopold upon the helpless natives
are subsiding and will soon be forever past, though we
are just now reading about similar barbarities practiced
upon the poor rubber gatherers in Peru.
The doors of opportunity opened by exploration and
railway construction induced many workers to enter this
inviting field. Much of the work was done hastily and
lacked permanence. The region seemed specially at
tractive to what are known as "faith missions," as those
of the Plymouth Brethren and others. The Moravians,

1 Page's Samuel Crowther, the Slave Boy who became
Bishop of the Niger. A stimulating example for youthful ambi
tion unto a worthy life.

Ch. 7. FOREIGN FIELDS. 95
together with German and Scotch societies, have, how
ever, laid strong foundations for permanent work.
The English Baptists were the pioneers of the evan
gelical Congo missions. Among the leaders were such
men as Thomas J. Comber and George Grenf ell, a skilled
engineer as well as a devoted missionary. While the
territory gives promise of hopeful expansion, the work
is still in large part in the primary stage of develop
ment. Great has been the heroism of the self-sacrificing
missionaries whose graves are on the Congo, as, for
example, six members of the Comber family. Of these
men the natives have said : "How they must love us,
seeing that they die for us !" Such seed has the promise
of a large harvest.
East Africa was wholly unexplored territory, a
closed land, sixty years ago. Here it was that Protestant
missionaries led the advance that was followed by
colonial occupation.
The pioneers were two German missionaries, Krapf
and Rebmann, in the service of the Church Missionary
Society. In 1844 Dr. Krapf, having failed to gain a
foothold in Abyssinia and among the Gallas, landed at
Mombasa and established the first East African mission
station. When two months later his wife and only child
died, and he himself lay prostrate with fever, he wrote
to the home society these prophetic words : "Tell our
friends that in a solitary grave on the African coast
there rests a member of the mission that is connected
with your society. That is a sign that you have begun
the conflict with this continent, and as the victories of
the Church lead over the graves of many of her mem
bers, you may be the more fully assured that the hour
is approaching when you will be called to convert Africa
from the eastern coast."

96 MISSION STUDIES.
That vision is being realized in the execution of
the far-reaching plans projected by Krapf himself. They
include a chain of mission stations across the continent
from Mombasa to the Gabun, and a completely equipped
native ministry to take charge of the African churches.
Krapf and Rebmann discovered the snow-capped range
of Kilimanjaro, brought Uganda and the great lakes to
the knowledge of the world, giving an impetus to further
exploration, and laid the foundations for East African
missions. About this same time Livingstone was pushing his
explorations northward, even to the extremity of Lake
Tanganyika, and was sending fervent appeals to Chris
tendom to put an end to the slave-traffic. He believed
that the mission of the explorer was not to enrich com
merce and science for their own sakes, but to bring
practical blessings to mankind. He said : "The end
of geographical discovery is the beginning of missionary
undertaking." Livingstone has been truly called a king
among the discoverers of the present age, but one who
sacrificed his life in the service of Christ, in order that
he might bring redemption to Africa.
The news of Livingstone's death was speedily fol
lowed by more aggressive warfare against the slave-
traffic, the complete opening of Central Africa, and the
rapid development of missions in the interior. Mission
work was started and energetically pushed in Uganda
and along the great lakes. They were followed by the
Universities' Mission (started by Oxford and Cam
bridge) at Mombasa. Throughout this part of the con
tinent the missionaries are coming into conflict with
Islam in its efforts to take possession of Central Africa.
The story of the winning of Uganda, in spite of its
cruel and rapacious kings and other apparently insuper-

Ch. 7. FOREIGN FIELDS. 97
able obstacles, with such heroes as Alexander Mackay,
and such martyrs as Bishop James Hannington and G. L.
Pilkington, is a convincing illustration of the truth of
Christianity and the saving power of the Gospel of
Christ. It was the young candidate Alexander Mackay
who, on being sent forth with several other missionaries
to Central Africa, said to the committee: When the
news of the death of any one of us comes to you, "do
not be cast down, but send some one else immediately
to take the vacant place."
While mission work has been carried on in British
East Africa since 1862, the work in German East Africa,
following German colonial expansion, did not begin until
more than twenty years later. The Neukirchener, the
Leipzig, the Bielefeld, and the Berlin societies, together
with the Moravians, are working hopefully in different
parts of the territory.
One of the most prosperous missions in this part
of Africa is the Livingstonia Mission, a chain of sta
tions along the western coast of Lake Nyasa, under
the direction of Dr. Laws, of the Free Church of Scot
land. Extensive industrial, medical, and educational
operations are carried on. The Livingstonia Institution,
for the training of evangelists, teachers, physicians, and
merchants, is patterned after the schools at Lovedale.
North Africa, an immense tract extending from
the Mediterranean Sea to the southern border of the
Sudan, and from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, is still
unoccupied or only very sparsely occupied by Protestant
missions. The flourishing Christian churches of the
early centuries along the northern coast have been swept
out of existence, and Islam has taken possession of the
land and the people.

98 MISSION STUDIES.
In the Sudan a small beginning has been made. A
school has been established in Khartum. Direct mission
work is still forbidden in Mohammedan districts. The
British government, as far as its sway extends, favors
Protestant mission work. The Swedish National Society
has finally succeeded in establishing several stations
among the Gallas.
The North Africa Mission is endeavoring, along a
chain of stations extending from Egypt to Morocco, to
bring Christian influences to bear upon the Mohamme
dans. It is in the nature of personal work among in
dividuals. Several small missions are maintained in
Egypt. 4. Survey of Asia and the Far East.
This survey will include a general review of the
situation in the Turkish Empire and Persia, India and
Farther India, the Dutch East Indies, China, Korea,
Japan, and the Philippines.
The first Protestant missionaries, of the Church Mis
sionary Society and of the American Board, were sent
in the second and the third decades of the last century
to Smyrna, Beirut, and Constantinople. For twenty-five
years after the work was begun it was an offense punish
able with death for a Moslem to make a profession of
Christianity. As there was no possibility of working directly and
openly among the Mohammedans, the hope was indulged
that, if the old and sterile Oriental churches could be
revived and reformed, they might become efficient agents
for the evangelization of the Mohammedan world. After
some hopeful beginnings the original hope of the Chris
tian workers was largely dissipated through the persistent
opposition of the ecclesiastical leaders and the bitter
jealousies between the different churches and com-

Ch. 7. FOREIGN FIELDS. 99
munities, as the Bulgarian, Armenian, Jacobite, Nes
torian, and Coptic. At the same time the suspicion of
the Mohammedans was awakened and resulted in repres
sive measures on the part of the Moslem governments.
A crisis was finally reached, and most of the evan
gelical organizations, rather than give up the attempt
and withdraw from the field, determined upon the only
other course open to them, namely, that of establishing
independent evangelical churches. And this has been
done without any intention or effort to antagonize the
existing Oriental churches.
In Palestine the work, centering in the English-
Prussian bishopric of Jerusalem, was greatly advanced
by Bishop Gobat, through whose influence the Pilger
Mission of St. Chrischona and the Church Missionary
Society were induced to send workers into the field.
The latter has established fifteen stations, and, by means
of schools, Christian literature, and medical missions, is
exerting considerable influence both upon Oriental Chris
tians and Mohammedans. Aside from the missions of
the Jerusalem Union (since 1852), we must note the
benevolent activity of the Syrian Orphanage in Jeru
salem, opened in i860, and for many years under the
direction of Dr. Ludwig Schneller, as also that of the
home and school for girls (Talitha Kumi), and the
hospital and deaconess' home, established by Pastor
Fliedner of Kaiserswerth. Both are exerting a wide
Christian influence in the Holy Land.
In Syria, centering in Beirut, the American Presby
terians are conducting large missionary operations. In
that city they have established a university, the Syrian
Protestant College, with a medical school, among other
departments, which trains native physicians for the entire
country. Much attention has been paid to the spread

100 MISSION STUDIES.
of Christian literature. Among the different versions of
the Scriptures is the celebrated translation into Arabic
by Doctors Eli Smith and Van Dyck, which has a very
wide circulation.
In the course of time the American Board, among
the first to enter this field, transferred some of its work
to the Presbyterians. It is carrying on extensive mis
sions in European Turkey south of the Balkans and
throughout Asiatic Turkey. The large territory is di
vided into four districts, and has, in the aggregate, 150
congregations, with a communicant membership of
16,000. Throughout the Turkish Empire Christian influence
is brought to bear on a large scale upon the many dif
ferent nationalities through the distribution of Christian
literature, the extensive circulation of the Scriptures, and
the educational work of the numerous schools of all
grades and for all classes. Much progress has been made
in higher education. Christian colleges are maintained in
various parts of the country, and they are attended by
students of all nationalities and religions. Besides the
celebrated Robert College at Constantinople, the pioneer
in this sphere and the Syrian Protestant College at
Beirut, there are influential colleges at Smyrna, Harpoot,
Aintab, and Tarsus, and hundreds of other high and
boarding schools for boys and girls.
In Arabia, largely under the nominal rule of the
Sultan of Turkey, with a population of eight million,
there are only about twelve Protestant missionaries at
four points along a coast of four thousand miles.
In Persia missionaries of the Presbyterian Church
in the United States and of the American Board en
deavored to carry on evangelizing work among the
Nestorian Christians since 1835. In 1871 the American

Ch. 7. FOREIGN FIELDS. 101
Board transferred its missions to the Presbyterians, and
now the work of the latter is divided into two districts,
centering in Urmia and Tabriz in the west, and at
Teheran and Hamadan in the east. The devoted work
of Miss Fidelia Fiske among the girls is well known to
missionary readers. The Church Missionary Society is
sustaining a few stations in Persia and has extended its
operations to Bagdad, which, though in the Turkish
Empire, is a place of importance for Persian work.
In the neighborhood of Urmia several Lutheran
pastors, in affiliation with Hermannsburg, have for over
thirty years been serving congregations that manifest
little or no progress toward self-support. Among the
other agencies that are at work in this field, the Inter-
synodical Lutheran Orient-Mission Society, of America,
has started work with two missionaries at Soujbulak,
with the aim of carrying on evangelistic and medical
work in Persia and Turkish Kurdistan.
The work on this most difficult territory, comprising
Turkey, Syria and Palestine, Persia, Arabia, and Egypt,
has not been fruitless. There are no less than 300 or
ganized evangelical churches, with 35,000 communicants
and more than 100,000 adherents. Educational, literary,
and medical enterprises are sowing the seed of the Gospel
over a wide area, and there is well grounded hope for
increasing harvests.
India, virtually a continent, about one-third of the
size of Europe and one-half that of the United States,
has (including Burma) a population of 295,000,000 —
nearly one-fifth of the population of the earth. In ad
dition to the many diverse races, of which the native
Dravidians and the Aryan invaders from the North are
the most numerous, there are over sixty-two million
Mohammedans. Of the one hundred and twenty Ian-

102 MISSION STUDIES.
guages used in India, Hindi and Bengali are the most
widely spoken among the Aryans, while Telugu and
Tamil are the leading languages of the Dravidian races.
When to these diversities are added the many religions
and cults here represented, together with the rigid sys
tem of caste, it is apparent that many perplexing prob
lems are encountered in Protestant mission work.
By far the larger number of the Christian converts
have been won from the lower castes and the outcastes,
or pariahs, as they are called. In recent years the mis
sionaries have been greatly encouraged by the growing
movement toward Christianity among the Sudras and
others of the higher castes.
In addition to the extended evangelistic work and
itinerant preaching by the missionaries and their native
helpers, there has been a rapid development of education
by means of schools of all grades, even up to the uni
versity, together with expanding medical and industrial
missions, literary activity, and zenana work. Not less
than forty-four Christian colleges are in successful opera
tion. There are in India 300 medical missionaries (men
and women), 170 mission hospitals, and 355 dispensaries.
The Bible has been translated into eighteen of the prin
cipal languages of India, and there are versions of the
New Testament and Scripture portions in more than
fifty other tongues. Woman's work for woman is one
of the splendid features in the development of modern
missions ; and in India, as in many other mission lands,
Christian women are doing invaluable work for the
uplift of womankind in heathendom.
South India is the oldest mission territory and con
tains the most compact Christian communities. About
two-thirds of the Christian population of India are found

Ch. 7. FOREIGN FIELDS. 103
in the Madras Presidency and the native states con
nected with it.
Here, laboring among the Tamils, we find, besides
several other societies, the Leipzig Lutheran missions
that have taken up and extended the work of the old
Danish-Halle Mission. On the western or Malabar coas't
are the communities of the old Thomas Christians, many
of whom have been incorporated in evangelical congre
gations ; and here, among other Protestant agencies, the
Basel Society is carrying on extensive mission work,
including industrial operations in the line of weaving,
carpentry, and tile works. The Lutheran missions, Am
erican and German, among the Telugus extend in con
tiguous territory from Madras northward for many miles
along the eastern coast.
In the Bombay Presidency there is a Christian popu
lation of more than 220,000. Nine societies have their
headquarters in Calcutta and have gathered a member
ship of some 20,000 Christians in that district.
From South India the work was extended to Ceylon,
where at present four American and twelve British so
cieties are represented by 54 ordained missionaries and
125 unmarried women workers.
In Burma, a province of Farther India, belonging
to the Indo-British Empire, the chief missionary center
is Rangoon, where in 181 3 Judson laid the foundations
of the prosperous missions among the Karens.
From Siam, where Christian missions have been
maintained in the face of great obstacles, the work was
extended into Laos with promising results in spite of
the despotic rivalry of Romish missionaries. There are
no Protestant missions in the other four states of French
Indo China, with a population of more than twenty-
five million.

104 MISSION STUDIES.
In India proper there are, all told, no less than
no societies at work, reporting a total of 1,358 or
dained missionaries, 352 laymen, 1,400 women workers,
and 913,000 baptized Christians.
In India, Ceylon, and Burma Protestant missionary
societies have invested more than ten million dollars
for the advancement of the work of the Gospel. The
money has been spent in the purchase of land and the
erection of churches, chapels, school buildings, hospitals,
publishing houses, and other institutions. Strong native
churches have been built up, and there is a growing ten
dency to unite in larger movements and organizations.
The Dutch East Indies form a connecting link be
tween Asia and Oceania and comprise the laiger islands,
Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, and Java, together with the
Lesser Sunda Islands, and the Moluccas. On this terri
tory there is a remarkable commingling of races and
tongues, the Malay predominating, being the official lan
guage of the archipelago, while English is very ex
tensively used.
While the Netherlands Society has done successful
work in the Minahassa District of Celebes, which is now
entirely Christian, the Rhenish Society has won marvelous
triumphs among the wild Bataks of Sumatra.1 At the
recent semi-centennial of this mission, native Christian
congregations numbering over 100,000 souls united in
the jubilee services. The conflict on that field has been
waged not only with animistic heathenism, but also
against Islam. The Christian Bataks are erecting their

1 Read Dr. John Warneck's "50 Jahre Batakmission in
Sumatra," a thrilling narrative of successful work among the
cannibal islanders ; and The Living Christ and Dying Heathen
ism, by the same author, translated from the German, Die
Lebenskrafte des Evangeliums.

Ch. 7. FOREIGN FIELDS. 105
own churches and school buildings and are largely sup
porting their native pastors and teachers. This is the
result of the wise policy pursued by this mission from
the beginning. In Java the work of the missionaries has been
hindered by the favor which the Dutch government has
shown toward the Mohammedans. In Borneo the promis
ing work of the Rhenish missionaries among the head
hunting Dyaks came to a standstill through a revolt of
the Mohammedan Malays against the government, when
all the inland stations were destroyed, and seven mis
sionaries lost their lives. Some years later the work
was resumed and is now beginning to bear fruitage.
China, with her dependencies, is equal in area to
the United States, and, with a population of about
400,000,000, is the most populous country in the world.
It is regarded as the most important missionary land
today, both in view of its size and because of its re
markable development in the sphere of commerce and
politics. The first Protestant missionary, Robert Morrison,
of the London Society, reached Canton in 1807. As
the missionaries were not permitted to work openly or
even to appear as foreigners on the mainland, they estab
lished bases at out-lying points, Malacca, Batavia, and
Singapore, and spent much time in learning the difficult
language, preparing a Christian literature, and getting
acquainted with the customs and religions of the people.
When Morrison died, in 1834, after twenty-seven years
of labor on the field, he had singlehanded translated the
largest portion of the Bible, had produced an English-
Chinese dictionary, had prepared numerous pamphlets
and tracts, had established a college and a dispensary,
besides the regular work of preaching and teaching.

106 MISSION STUDIES.
Foreigners had no treaty rights in the country until
1842. In that year five ports were opened to foreign
residents, and the island of Hongkong was ceded to
Great Britain. The treaty of Tienstin in i860 resulted
in toleration to Christianity and freedom of travel
throughout the land.
The work in China has frequently been interrupted
by wars and terrible massacres, in which foreigners and
native Christians alike suffered. The most recent of
these violent outbreaks was the Boxer uprising of 1900,
in which, it has been estimated, 16,000 native Christians
perished because they refused to deny their Christian
faith. So far from banishing Christianity, these violent
assaults upon the "foreign devils" resulted in the end,
as did the persecutions of the early Christians, in the
further spread of the Gospel and an increase of con
verts to Christianity. So, by 1904, every one of the
nineteen provinces was occupied by missionaries, and
during these four years the number of native Christians
had greatly increased.
From the beginning of the modern mission work
in China much emphasis has been laid on the training of
native workers. The work of evangelization has been
aided and advanced by extensive educational operations,
by the preparation and dissemination of Christian lit
erature, and by the rapid development of medical mis
sions. Dr. Parker's hospital, opened in Canton in 1835,
received nearly 2,000 patients the first year. At present
there are 365 physicians (men and women) at work, in
connection with 207 hospitals and 292 dispensaries.
Protestant missions are being prosecuted in this vast
realm by 92 societies and churches, which report a total
of 920 ordained missionaries, 583 laymen, 1,093 un"
married women workers, and 215,000 baptized Christians.

Ch. 7. FOREIGN FIELDS. 107
The recent awakening of the "sleeping giant" is re
sulting in such revolutionary progress as the world has
never seen before. The Chinese are acquiring Western
civilization with marvelous rapidity. The ancient Em
pire has been transformed as by a single bound into a
progressive Republic. Many of its political leaders are
professed Christians or favorable to Christianity. Presi
dent Yuan Shih Kai has declared that Christians
throughout the land shall enjoy the fullest freedom of
worship, and that Christian churches are not to be op
pressed with taxation. In the filling of public offices
there is to be no discrimination against Christians.
In all this there is mingled promise and peril for
the rapidly growing Christian churches and the advanc
ing mission work in China. There is great danger of
large accessions from motives other than Christian con
viction. Those who have grown up in the belief that
they could be Confucianists, Buddhists, or Taoists in
turn, or all at the same time, may add to their former
beliefs some of the truths of Christianity and without
compunction enroll themselves as its adherents. Amid
the wide-spread poverty of the people the danger of
receiving "rice-Christians," a term used to denote those
who accept the new faith for temporal gain, is very
imminent in China, even as it is in India. Missionaries
are fully aware of the danger, however, and most of
them are exerting due care and precaution to build up
Christian congregations that will be able to endure the
trials and storms of time.
Tibet, called one of the integral parts of China,
with an estimated population of six million, is still a
closed land to evangelical missions. The government
is in the hands of the priests or lamas, who are bent on
keeping foreigners out in order to maintain their power

108 MISSION STUDIES.
over the people. For half a century the Moravians have
been doing preparatory work in what is called Little
Tibet upon the border, ready to penetrate into the in
terior as soon as the way is open. More recently the
China Inland Mission and several other agencies have
been making similar preparations at other points on the
border, in hopes for the open door which, it appears,
cannot be delayed much longer.
Korea, the Hermit Nation, was as effectually closed
a third of a century ago as is Tibet today. Mission
work was begun two years after the treaty was made
with the United States in 1882. Now the twelve million
people of the peninsula are receiving Christian instruc
tion at the hands of missionaries of eight American
and Canadian, six British, and two Korean societies.
They report a total of 90,000 baptized Christians.
The Koreans have responded with great eagerness
to the message of the Gospel and have exhibited great
earnestness in propagating the new faith. Many of the
native congregations have organized societies of their
own and are conducting large home missionary opera
tions. Japan is another of the Oriental kingdoms that has
leaped into prominence during the life of a single genera
tion. Until about forty years ago Christianity was a
prohibited religion, regarded as subversive of the state.
When Commodore Perry entered the harbor of
Yeddo in 1853, he succeeded in negotiating a treaty be
tween Japan and the United States, by which two ports
were opened to American trade. The first Protestant
missionaries began work in 1859, but still it continued
to be a crime for a Japanese to become a Christian, until
the ban against Christianity was officially removed in
1873. The execution of the law against Christianity

Ch. 7. FOREIGN FIELDS. 109
having relaxed, the first Christian church in the Empire
was organized the year before.
In this comparatively short period there have been
rapid and extreme changes in the missionary outlook
in the Sunrise Kingdom. Seasons of great brightness
and hope alternated with times of darkness and despair.
Unlike the experience in most of the other mission
lands, Christianity made its greatest progress in Japan
among the higher classes. The Samurai, or old military
class, were greatly interested particularly in the educa
tional work of the missions and readily adopted the
new faith.
One of the most remarkable characters among the
native leaders was Joseph Neesima, who, after receiv
ing a thorough education in the United States, under
took the establishment of a distinctively Christian
Japanese university, the celebrated Doshisha. In 1875
the school was opened with eight pupils and two teachers
in Kyoto, the sacred city, with its 3,500 temples and
8,000 Buddhist priests. This was followed by the estab
lishment of schools in Tokyo, Sendai, and other places.
Great progress was made in the establishment of
churches and schools until 1890, when a reaction set in,
putting a stop to further progress. A futile attempt
was made to revive the old Shinto faith and customs,
and the Christian congregations were thoroughly sifted
and purged of much dross. This season of trial and
conflict lasted about ten years, when the churches re
gained their footing, and the progress has since been
more normal.
The Japanese government has done much to advance
the cause of modern education. It has established schools
of all grades and pursues a liberal policy in their main
tenance. The native Christian leaders have been very

110 MISSION STUDIES.
aggressive. A number of the churches have organized
missionary societies, managed by themselves and sup
ported by their own contributions, and through them
they reach out in evangelistic work beyond their own
borders across into China and Korea.
"There is," as one writer says, "a general intel
lectual acceptance of the truths of the principles of
Christianity." There is reason to fear that very much
of the present popular trend toward a national form of
Christianity and a Japanese Church is strongly imbued
with the new theology and the rationalism that has been
carried in from the West. It is to be hoped that, amid
this and other perils, the Christian churches may not
lose their distinctive character and the saving power of
the cross of Christ.
Forty-eight societies and churches, at work in Japan
and Formosa, report a total of 305 ordained missionaries,
54 laymen, 363 women workers, and 82,000 baptized
Christians. The Philippines, with a population of nearly eight
million, were, ever since their discovery in 1520, under
the exclusive domination of Romish priests and monks
until the United States seized the reins of government
in 1898. The Roman Catholics claim over 6,500,000 of
the inhabitants as belonging to them, while of the non-
Catholics 648,000 are registered as "wild and wholly
uncivilized." The first American churches to begin mission work
in our new possessions in the Far East were the Presby
terian and the Methodist Episcopal churches. Their
work began in 1899. At present eight American so
cieties and churches, together with the American and the
British and Foreign Bible Societies, are prosecuting mis
sion work in the Philippines and Guam. They have

Ch. 7. FOREIGN FIELDS. Ill
made an amicable division of the field, with Manila as
a common center. The United States government is
maintaining an efficient system of public schools, with
about one thousand American and over four thousand
Filipino teachers. The Protestant missions report 62
ordained missionaries, 6 laymen, 27 unmarried women
workers, 37,000 communicant members, and 76,000 ad
herents. 5. The Work of the Gospel in the Isles of the
Sea. Oceania, the island world of the South Seas, offers
many interesting and thrilling chapters to the reader of
missions, and the narratives must be read in detail if
one would gain a vivid and truly helpful impression of
the blessed work of regeneration and transformation
that has been accomplished through the power of the
Gospel in less than a century. Here we can only at
tempt to give an outline and call attention to some of
the points of special interest.
In a third part of the globe covered by the Pacific
Ocean, between Asia and the Americas, there are seven
teen groups of islands, many of which have been alto
gether and the others partially Christianized, and that
practically in a period of fifty to seventy-five years.
This bewildering world of islands and islets has
been variously grouped. We may view them in the fol
lowing five principal divisions:
Polynesia, the largest division, including, as main
islands, Hawaii, Samoa, Marquesas, Society (Tahiti),
Cook (Hervey), Tonga (Friendly), and Fiji;
Micronesia, embracing the Gilbert, Marshall, and
Caroline Islands;
Melanesia, comprising New Caledonia, Loyalty, New
Hebrides, Solomon, Bismarck, and New Guinea;

112 MISSION STUDIES.
Australia; and New Zealand.
The work of evangelization began with Tahiti,
whither missionaries of the London Society were sent as
early as 1797. After a season of futile endeavors and
trials, due in part to inexperience, the work was gradually
extended over a large part of Polynesia, and as far as
New Guinea. The Church Missionary Society followed
by sending missionaries to New Zealand. The Wes-
leyans and other societies established missions on Fiji
and Samoa. The American Board sent missionaries to
Hawaii and later into Micronesia, and Scotch and
Canadian Presbyterians entered upon the work in tLv
New Hebrides. Later other societies and churches be
gan missions on different islands, until at the present
time there are, all told, from three to sixteen societies
at work in the different groups.
These societies and churches report a total of 277
ordained missionaries, 64 laymen, 95 women workers,
200,000 baptized Christians and many more adherents.
The Bible in whole or in part has been translated into
some forty languages. A large number of congregations
have become self-supporting and are, in turn, sending
missionaries of their own to neighboring or distant
islands where there are still heathen to be Christianized.
Without attempting to touch upon all the islands
mentioned, let us note the most important features of
the leading groups.
Hawaii1 (the Sandwich Islands), which was an
nexed to the United States in 1898 and constituted a
territory in 1900, was Christianized by missionaries of
the American Board. The first ones arrived in 1819.
So great was the progress made that, in 1870, the Board

xThe Transformation of Hawaii, by Belle M. Brain.

Ch. y. FOREIGN FIELDS. 113
felt that its work was done, and the management of the
fifty churches was turned over to the Hawaiian Evan
gelical Association. The native leaders, however, were
not equal to the task thus imposed upon them, and the
churches suffered a noticeable decline.
At present the Hawaiian Church co-operates with
the American Board in its Micronesian Mission. Work
was begun on the Caroline Islands in 1852, and from
there extended to the Marshall and Gilbert Islands.
Here, as on all the other islands, the pagan languages
had to be learned and reduced to writing, portions of the
Scriptures were translated, schools established, and a be
ginning was made in the training of native workers.
Since the cession of the latter group to Germany the
work is being transferred largely to German mission
aries. In the little islands of Micronesia there are over
fifty churches with more than 20,000 members and ad
herents. Tahiti was the scene of great suffering and trial for
the early missionaries. Gradually those who remained
gained a stronger foothold, and the work began to
prosper. The light spread from island to island until,
on many of them, idolatry and heathen practices were
utterly abolished.
In 1819 John Williams, who has been truly called
the Apostle of the South Sea Islands, took possession
of Raiatea and from there made his extended missionary
voyages, planting missions in the Hervey group, estab
lishing the Samoa mission, and starting work in the
New Hebrides, where, on the shores of Erromanga, he
fell a martyr at the hands of the savages, thus gloriously
closing a most fruitful missionary career of twenty-two
years. In Fiji, Tonga, and other groups the way had
been prepared for the missionaries of other societies that

114 MISSION STUDIES.
took up the work. For fourteen years after the first
missionaries landed on Tahiti not a single convert was
won. Under the energetic leadership of Williams there
was such a wide diffusion of the Gospel with the help
of native Christians that, before his death, no group of
islands nor any single island of importance within two
thousand miles of Tahiti had been left unvisited.. Fifty
years after Williams fell, one of the sons of his mur
derer laid the corner-stone of a memorial erected by the
natives in honor of their beloved father, while another
son was preaching the Gospel for which the devoted
missionary had died. This is but one of the many re
corded incidents that show how speedy and complete
were the triumphs of the Gospel in the South Sea
Islands. Today the islands of the Hervey, the Samoa, the
Fiji, and other groups are completely Christianized and
civilized, and the native churches are not only support
ing their own ministry, but are sending out mission
aries of their own to preach the unsearchable riches of
Christ to those who are still in the dire poverty of
heathenism. Among all the narratives of Christian devotion and
heroism in the South Seas, none surpass in thrilling in
terest the annals of the New Hebrides missions, where
the soil has been so freely drenched with the blood of
Christian martyrs, among whom we would mention John
Williams, James Harris, George Gordon and his wife,
and his brother James, on a single island — Erromanga,
besides Bishop Patteson and other missionaries, together
with many faithful native teachers and converts. In
1857 even the forbidding Erromanga was occupied and
is now completely won for Christianity. The following

Ch. y. FOREIGN FIELDS. 115
year John G. Paton,1 who died in 1907, began his
memorable career of nearly half a century on Tanna and
Aniwa, and in pleading the cause of the New Hebrides
missions in England and America.
No less interesting and instructive is the story of
mission work in New Guinea, the largest of the Pacific
Islands, and one that has a most promising future.
Missionaries of the Gossner Society began work among
the cannibal Papuan tribes in 1854. In the Dutch terri
tory (the northwestern part) the Utrecht Missionary
Union has established a number of stations. In Kaiser
Wilhelm's Land (German possession) the Neuendettel
sau2 Society (since 1885) and the Rhenish Society
(since 1887) are carrying on missions that are beginning
to bear rich harvests.
In British New Guinea successful work is carried
on by the London Society (since 1871), aided by the
Australian Wesleyans. The missionaries are ably as
sisted by native evangelists from Tahiti, Rarotonga,
Samoa, and the Loyalty Islands. On a missionary ex-

*No friend of missions should fail to read Dr. Paton's
Autobiography, published in 1889 in two parts by his brother.
More recently this brother, Dr. James Paton, published in con
densed form The Story of John G. Paton, Told for Young
Folks. Thirty Years among South Sea Cannibals. Then read :
Lomai of Lenakel, a Hero of the New Hebrides. A Fresh
Chapter in the Triumph of the Gospel, by Frank H. L. Paton,
a son of the veteran missionary, and since 1897 resident mis
sionary on the western coast of Tanna.
2 Those who are conversant with the German should read
the following monographs by Johann Flierl, senior missionary
of Neuendettelsau in New Guinea : "Wie ich Missionar wurde" ;
"Gedenkblatt der Neuendettelsauer Mission in Australien und
Neuguinea"; and "Dreiszig Jahre Missionsarbeit in Wvisten und
Wildnissen." Published by the Neuendettelsau press in 1910.

116 MISSION STUDIES.
tension tour James Chalmers1 and twelve native helpers
were killed by the savages in 1901. Of his death one
of his fellow workers wrote: "If I am right in think
ing, this will put an end to such tragedies. I know that
he or any of his fellow missionaries would unhesitatingly
welcome the opportunity for the sake of its end."
Australia, an island of the Pacific, and yet really a
continent, has become in its habitable portion (particu
larly the southern, eastern, and western coasts) a pos
session of foreign colonization, the white population
numbering more than four million. The evangelical
churches of Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria
are prosecuting extensive missionary operations. In
Tasmania the aborigines have completely disappeared,
while in Australia there is but a remnant of sixty to
seventy thousand of the native Papuans left. Mission
work is carried on among them on their reservations by
the Moravians, and the Lutheran, Anglican, and Presby
terian churches.
In addition to the Neuendettelsau and the Moravian
missions, there are seven Australian societies that carry
on mission work in Australia. They report a total of 17
ordained missionaries, 10 laymen, 10 unmarried women
workers, 634 communicants, and 1,480 adherents.
In New Zealand the diminishing Maori population,
together with mixed races, number only about 43,000.
Since 1840, when the island became a British Colony,
the white population has increased to 800,000. It was
upon the solicitation of Samuel Marsden, a colonial chap
lain at Sydney, New South Wales, that the Church Mis
sionary Society began mission work in New Zealand in

1 Read the refreshing narrative of this fearless worker,
James Chalmers. His Autobiography and Letters. By Richard
Lovett.

Ch. 7. FOREIGN FIELDS. 117
1814. Amid the turbulent period of English colonization
and the anti-foreign, mongrel religious movement among
the Maori, known as "Hau-hauism," the missions had to
endure fiery trials. Bishop Selwyn founded the Epis
copal Melanesian Mission and personally visited more
than fifty islands.
After a visit in New Zealand, on his voyage round
the world, Charles Darwin wrote at length of the won
derful and admirable changes he beheld, saying, among
other things : "The lesson of the missionary is the en
chanter's wand. * * * * I took leave of the mis
sionaries with thankfulness for their kind welcome. I
think it would be difficult to find a body of men better
adapted for the high office which they fulfil."
Three New Zealand societies, together with the
British and Foreign Bible Society, report a total of 16
ordained missionaries, 2 unmarried women workers,
3,225 communicants, and 26,000 adherents.
6. Concluding Thoughts.
What is the lesson we learn from even such a
rapid survey of the work of the Gospel in mission lands ?
The truths and principles, as they have been de
veloped in recent times in scientific form, will be dis
cussed in the Second Part of this work. The history of
missions invites to a systematic consideration of the
fundamental principles involved and of the methods of
work that have proved their efficiency in practical ex
perience on many fields.
But let us not, as we look back over the trials and
triumphs, the hopes and fears, the victories and the con
quests of the Christian hosts under the leadership of
Christ, the Captain of our salvation, miss the chief les-

118 MISSION STUDIES.
son — the practical truth that should be impressed on
the heart of every reader :
God omnipotent, and His grace mighty to save even
unto the uttermost;
Christian faith and love triumphant;
Conquering and to conquer through the Lamb's re
deeming blood.
In the history of missions we find one continuous
vindication and exemplification of the Lord's promise:
"And lo, I am with you alway, even unto the
end of the world."
In view of these overwhelming evidences of Chris
tianity, believers should take courage, and unbelievers
should stop and reflect, as we point to the results of the
Gospel and say :
See, what hath God wrought!

SECOND PART.
MISSIONARY PRINCIPLES IN GENERAL,
WITH PARTICULAR APPLICATION TO
FOREIGN MISSIONS.
(119)

I. Scientific Aspects of the Subject.

CHAPTER VIII.
THE SCIENCE OF MISSIONS AND THE SCOPE OF
MISSIONARY PRINCIPLES.
i. Scientific Treatment both Feasible and Neces
sary. In the present age of educational advancement the
word "science" is not confined to the schools. The term
is a familiar one among intelligent people in every walk
of life. Even in the world of business and manufacture
there is "scientific management" today. And why should
it be lacking in church work, in the study of the Bible,
and in the most important work of extending the king
dom of God, seeing that it stands for system, order, and
efficiency? Accordingly, not only should students in
higher educational institutions and candidates for the
mission field be led to study the subject scientifically,
but the members of our congregations who are interested
in mission work and desire to advance it will welcome
the scientific aspects and treatment of the enterprise
when they are properly presented to them. If the pro
fessors in our institutions and the pastors in our
churches will develop aggressive leadership in this regard,
we may confidently look for great advance in deeper
missionary intelligence and more general and active
participation in the work.
What is meant by science ? A science may be briefly
defined as "knowledge reduced to law and embodied in
(121)

122 MISSION STUDIES.
system." Without being too exact or exacting, any de
partment of knowledge in which the results of investi
gation have been worked out and systematized may be
designated by the term science. Such a procedure and
process is scientific.
In the sphere of missions this requirement has to
a large extent been met. It is true, men of wide ex
perience in many foreign fields tell us that there is even
to this day in mission fields and among missionaries
an absence of any body of accepted principles governing
msisionary operations.1 And even such a thorough stu
dent of missions and versatile author as Dr. Warneck
laments the fact that no work has as yet been produced,
in which the missionary enterprise in its entire scope has
received adequate, scientific treatment.2 Yet great
strides have been taken in recent times toward reducing
the mass and multiplicity of facts and incidents and
forces to scientific form, and neither the student nor the
missionary is left to grope about helplessly, without
competent instruction and safe guidance, if he is willing
to learn and be guided by the wisdom that has grown
out of experience.
2. Two Lines of Study to be Pursued.
Mission study is properly and naturally divided into
two classes : The history of missions; and the theory
or principles of missions.
Both lines of study are capable of scientific treat
ment, and in both departments excellent works have
been produced. The history of missions has been traced
from the earliest times down to the present. Besides
works of a general character, giving a connected por-

1 Missionary Principles and Practice, Robert E. Speer, p. 44.
1 Evangelische Missionslehre, Dr. G. Warneck, I. p. 8.

Ch. 8. THE SCIENCE OF MISSIONS. 123
trayal of events and movements during longer or shorter
periods of time, there are books, almost without number,
in which particular phases or features of the work or
separate mission fields are set forth. The missionary
literature of our day is particularly rich in biographies —
a most interesting and at the same time instructive form
of presenting the work. And while the literature em
bodying the theoretical study of missions is not nearly
so large or copious as that which may be designated as
historical, descriptive, or biographical, there are not
wanting a few works that substantially cover the whole
ground, besides many in which this phase of the sub
ject receives partial treatment.
The two lines or classes are not always distinct, nor
can they always be kept apart. Very many questions
of theory and method, principles and relations, causes
and effects, and the like, come under discussion in his
torical works, while theoretical treatises draw in, by way
of illustration and otherwise, many historical facts and
events. After the student of missions has once ac
quainted himself with the leading movements in the ex
tension of the kingdom of God during the Christian era
and has gotten a comprehensive view and a firm grasp
of the leading principles that underlie and support and
direct the whole work, he will be prepared to enjoy more
fully and to employ more effectively whatever literature
may come to his hand, or the lines along which he de
sires to specialize.
In the First Part of our Studies we took a general
survey of the history of missions from the time of Christ
and the apostles to the present day. This may serve as
an outline for further study and collateral reading.
We now proceed to the systematic study of mis
sionary principles and problems. These constitute the

124 MISSION STUDIES.
theory of missions, or the science of missions in the
strict sense. An elementary knowledge of the history
of missions being presupposed, the student is prepared
to note intelligently just how a science of missions, in
the true sense, has begun to be developed.
It is an interesting process to note and follow. A
certain work has been done, from various motives, with
a variety of aims, and by different methods, and this
work has extended through many centuries and unto the
ends of the earth, among all nations. The investigator
is in possession of a vast abundance and a great variety
of facts. These it is the task of the scientist to analyze,
compare, verify, classify and systematize. By an induc
tive study of the missionary experience of the Christian
Church throughout the ages, in the light of God's Word,
the underlying principles and the most efficient means and
methods of accomplishing the aim are brought to light,
arranged, and recorded. In this way there ensues a
science of missions that embodies assured and approved
results, by which workers in similar spheres may be
guided, thus profiting by the experience of those who
have gone before and avoiding ruinous experimentation
and needless waste of lives and treasure.
The order of development is the same in this sphere
as in all other spheres of human thought and activity.
Every true and substantial science has been preceded by
and grown out of corresponding practice, experience,
and observation. Thoughtful men observed the stars in
their courses, noted the constellations, etc., long before
there was a system of astronomy. So in theology, every
practical branch was preceded by long practice in the
corresponding sphere ; for example, instruction, catechis
ing — leading to Catechetics ; preaching, to Homiletics,
etc. So mission work, carried on with varying interest

Ch. 8. THE SCIENCE OF MISSIONS. 125
and varied success since the day of Pentecost, is finally
resulting in the development of a mission science, for
which, however, an acceptable and generally accepted
name has not yet been found.
A writer has said: "The science of missions is one
of the most fascinating and sublime of sciences, demand
ing the exclusive devotion of a lifetime of study and
experience; and this because the foreign mission work
is one of the most glorious of enterprises." L There are
many other branches of study and employments that
engage our attention. But it ought to go without say
ing that a work which occupies such a large and com
manding place in the New Testament, in the mind of
our Lord and Savior, in the life of the Church and the
development of the kingdom of God, deserves and de
mands the earnest attention, the unremitting interest and
the lifelong activity of every Christian, whatever and
wherever his place in the Church may be.
3. What is Embraced under the Head of Mis
sionary Principles.
The most important material and the vital factors
of the enterprise, in its origin and inception, its manage
ment and conduct, its completion and goal, may be sum
med up under Three general heads: a. The ground or
basis of missions ; b. Their purpose and aim ; c. The
means and methods employed in the work. A very brief
and summary statement of these factors is all that is
desired here, as they are to be amply set forth, each in
its proper place, in the succeeding discussion.
a. The ground or basis of missions is the grace of
God revealed in the Holy Scriptures and manifested in
the redemption of mankind, and the love of God shed

1 Lawrence, Introduction, etc. Modern Missions in the East.

126 MISSION STUDIES.
abroad in the hearts of His redeemed people. Here we
have to do mainly with the source and origin of the
work, the foundation which supports it, and the power
that directs, sustains, and propels it.
b. The purpose and aim of missions is to make dis
ciples of Christ and gather them into Christian churches
that shall be self-supporting and self-extending. It is
the extension of the kingdom of God on earth, through
out the world.
c. The means and methods employed in Christian
missions are the means of grace, God's holy Word and
sacraments, administered by the Church, to whose stew
ardship the Lord has entrusted them. The administra
tion of the sacred mysteries involves, in a very large
measure, human agency. Hence there result differences
and difficulties which have obstructed the progress of
the work in the past and are hindering its efficiency to
this day. Now, all this is very simple, and yet it is profound,
involving the deep things of God and the powers of the
world to come. A little child can apprehend the simple
truths, and scholars and mighty men of God, men of
gigantic spiritual and intellectual stature, are called upon
to wrestle with the problems and endeavor to solve the
difficulties presented. Look at this plain and simple
summary: The ground of missions, the love of God in
Christ Jesus ; The aim of missions, Christian discipleship
and fellowship; The effective means, to be employed in
the work of missions, the inspired Word of the living
God. Could anything be simpler in statement? It is
the A B C of missions. But if that is true, it gives a
suggestion of the distance to be traveled in pursuing
the enterprise through multitudinous ramifications to its
ultimate goal. There is a considerable distance between

Ch. 8. THE SCIENCE OF MISSIONS. 127
the learning of an alphabet and the mastering of a lan
guage, with its literature. But the task is inviting, and
the work delightful, ever progressing, unfolding, widen
ing. The labor pays. It is amply rewarded. There
are great compensations for all the efforts put forth.
Even so it is in the study and prosecution of missions.
And it is not merely or mainly an intellectual operation.
God's grace and God's glory beam all along the way,
sustaining and quickening interest, and inviting to larger
effort. Let the student be docile,1 patient and persever
ing, and great will be his reward.
4. The Science Named Evangelistics.
The mission studies that we are pursuing have not
as yet reached the stage of development and completion
that is desirable and required in a science. It is not
strange, therefore, that there is as yet no agreement as
to its scientific name. Many names have been suggested
and used, but objection has been raised against every one
of them. This is not a matter of great importance, and
yet it deserves the attention of the student, who is inter
ested in the scientific phase of the subject.
Under the leadership and advocacy of such men as
Dr. Anderson, of the American Board, Dr. Somerville,
of Scotland, Henry Venn, secretary of the Church Mis
sionary Society, Dr. Christlieb, of the University of
Bonn, and Dr. Warneck, the most versatile author and
one of the ablest advocates of missions in Germany for
over thirty years, and during the last years of his life
the encumbent of a professorship of missions at Halle,
considerable progress has been made in the development

'As Jesus invites us to be, when He says : "Learn of me.''
Matt. 1L 29.

128 MISSION STUDIES.
of the science of missions since the American Board
published its "Outline of Missionary Policy" in 1856.
And this half century of progress and development was
preceded by a line of pioneers and pathfinders whose
memory will always be dear and their example inspiring
to students of missions — men, for example, like Jus
tinian von Weltz, whose ringing missionary appeal in
1664 failed to rouse the slumbering churches to a sense
of duty, and Bartholomew Ziegenbalg, the Lutheran
missionary pioneer, who had caught the missionary fire
at Halle and entered upon his labors in South India
nearly a century before Carey began operations in North
India, and a full century before Alexander Duff was
born. These and others of like mold and mind were
the forerunners, the John the Baptists, the voices crying
in the wilderness, the fearless pathfinders and forceful
pioneers of the modern missionary enterprise and its
development in the promulgation of a body of scientific
principles. And the name of the science? The titles are inter
esting and suggestive to students ; others may pass them
by. Look at this formidable array of titles : Halieutics,
Keryctics, Apostolics, Missionics, Propagandics, Evan
gelistics. All have been suggested, but none generally
adopted. Note briefly their significance:
Halieutics — ( from the Greek dAieiW, to fish, Matth.
4, 19 ff. ; "I will make you fishers of men.") Used by
Van Oosterzee in his Practical Theology as a designa
tion for the science of missions. He says : "Some
prefer the name 'Apostolics.' The name 'Evangelistics'
appears less suitable on account of its great vagueness."
Keryctics — (from Kvpvacruv to serve as herald, to

Ch. 8. THE SCIENCE OF MISSIONS. 129
proclaim as a herald, Mark 16, 15; Matth. 24, 14; Luke
24, 47-) Used by Zezschwitz, and later by Christlieb.1
Apostolics — (from cwroo-TeAAeiv, to send forth, John
20, 21. The sending forth of apostles, messengers, mis
sionaries.) Missionics — (from the Latin mitto, I send, the
equivalent of the Greek aTroarlWu,. ) Used by Law
rence.2 Propagandics — (from the Latin propagare, to prop
agate, extend — from which comes the English word
propaganda.) The last three terms are simply men
tioned, but not adopted by Dr. Warneck.
Evangelistics— (irom evayyz\i£,tar6ai, to tell good
news, to preach the Gospel, Luke 9, 6; 20, 1.) Used
by Duff in his inaugural address in 1867 and adopted
by the Free Church of Scotland, establishing a profes
sorship of Evangelistics; by Plath in Zockler's Hand-
buch der theol. Wissenschaf ten ; by Harnack in his Prac
tical Theology; and by many others in more recent
times. Dr Warneck discards all these terms, including
the last, as in his opinion too partial and inadequate, and
prefers the plain vernacular "Missionslehre," theory or
science of missions.
Of all these terms of foreign origin, the author
gives decided preference to the last. It is the only one
that has attained any considerable prevalence and popu
larity. We believe it has come to stay in English, and it
is worthy of the distinction. No sweeter name can fall
on the ear of Christian or heathen than the sweet Evan
gel of Bethlehem and Calvary, the Word of the cross
which is the power of God unto salvation. And is not

1 Der gegenwartige Stand der evangelischen Heidenmission,
1880, p. 135. 2 Modern Missions in the East.

130 MISSION STUDIES.
this the very gist of mission study and mission work?
What is mission work but the work of saving the un
saved? And how else can it be done than by bringing
them the Gospel of Christ and through this means, under
the operation of the Holy Spirit, leading them into the
kingdom of God? The whole enterprise has for its
center Christ and the power of His resurrection. And
He is the heart of the Gospel, as He is the head of the
Church. To us it seems to be in the nature of quibbling to
no profit to raise objection to the term "Evangelistics"
on the ground that many other activities are involved
in the missionary enterprise besides the preaching of the
Gospel. Of course there are. But if they do not center
about the Gospel, if they are not more or less directly
connected with it and permeated by it, they do not prop
erly belong within the sphere of Christian missions. The
Gospel is the proper source and the unifying force of all
the various questions and activities, whether they pertain
to the management of the work at home or to its con
duct and prosecution abroad.
But, after all, the important thing is not the choice
of name, but the proper conception and presentation of
the work itself. Let us give ourselves to this task with
singleness of purpose to know and receive the mind of
Christ.

CHAPTER IX.
THE PLACE OF MISSIONS IN THE LIFE AND WORK
OF THE CHURCH.
The place of the study and practice of missions in
the Church is determined by the intrinsic nature of the
missionary enterprise, by its place in the Holy Scriptures
and the divine economy of salvation. It is not, there
fore, a matter of arbitrary choice. It doesn't depend
on the character and spirit of the teacher in the seminary
or the pastor in the church. The actual or accidental
place of missions in school and church may be so deter
mined, but not their real and proper place. This has
been settled by the Lord God, who is the unerring Direc
tor of missions, as He is the infallible Author of the
Scriptures. It is for us, by reverent study of His Word
and observation of His providential leading, to find the
place He has assigned, and to conform our ways thereto.
i. The Place of Missions in Educational Institu
tions. That the systematic and scientific study of missions
deserves a place in the curriculum of the theological
seminary has been affirmed, on the part of many of the
seminaries of our country, by the incorporation of Evan
gelistics in the regular course. Where this has not as
yet for any reason been done, it is to be assumed that
different phases of the missionary enterprise receive
more or less attention in connection with some of the
other and older branches of theology. Such incidental
treatment of the subject is quite feasible and natural,
especially when the teacher is himself imbued with mis-
(131)

132 MISSION STUDIES.
sionary life. In fact, in some of the theological branches
missions, in one or another form, constitute a vital part.
This is the case, preeminently, in Church History.
Christian missions constitute one of the large and im
portant movements in the life and work of the Church
in every period of her history. Accordingly, in the study
of Church History the historical phase of the missionary
enterprise, the history of the extension of the Church,
occupies a large and conspicuous place.
The theoretical phase of the subject, involving prob
lems, principles, and methods, has various points of
contact in several of the other branches.
Such is the case, for example, in Exegesis. As the
books of the Bible are subjected to critical and exegetical
study, the missionary thoughts both of the Old Testa
ment and of the New will come in for proportionate
consideration, according to their setting and significance
in the sacred text. In Dogmatics the leading doctrines,
as, for example, of God, of the sinfulness of mankind,
of the redemption of the human race through Christ
Jesus, etc., involve fundamental missionary thoughts that
need only to be pointed out and applied. In Ethics the
consideration of the relations of the Christian to man
kind at large, in State and Church, in the family and
society, and in these relations the question of Christian
duty, will naturally lead to incidental presentation and
application of missionary thoughts. For Apologetics the
history of missions affords manifold striking evidences
of the superiority of Christianity over all the non-Chris
tian religions of the world, of the power of the Gospel
to renew and transform the character and life of indi
viduals and of nations, of the truthfulness of the divine
Word and the matchless value of the Christian faith.
In Practical Theology, too, there are many points

Ch. 9. MISSIONS AND THE CHURCH. 133
of contact and opportunities for the occasional and in
cidental treatment of missionary ideas. In Catechetics,
in Homiletics, in Liturgies, and in Pastoral Theology,
many principles come under consideration which apply
equally to the established pastorate and to work in the
mission field. The missionary, as well as the pastor
in the home church, is called upon to catechize or in
struct both young and old, to preach, to conduct public
worship, and to care for individual souls in the capacity
of a shepherd or pastor. Missionary applications will
occur naturally, without any forcing or straining, in the
adequate treatment of these branches.
But after all, in the opinion of leading missionary
advocates and educators, the importance of the mission
ary enterprise justifies the development of the science
of missions and its study as a separate branch of
theology. When we consider the immensity of the task
and the dimensions to which this enterprise has grown;
when we study the Bible with an open eye and heart
to note and receive missionary thoughts and impressions ;
when we make a survey of the copious and rapidly ex
panding field of missionary literature ; when we thought
fully review present day conditions both in Christian
and in heathen lands and consider the opportunities and
the urgent need of more vigorous and effective prosecu
tion of the work which the Lord of the harvest has
given His Church to do ; in view of these and other con
siderations that force themselves upon the student of
missions and the earnest worker in the cause, can there
be any doubt as to the desirability of the ampler, scien
tific development of mission study and enterprise? In
cidental references and casual and partial and haphazard
treatment do not suffice, do not meet the demands of the

134 MISSION STUDIES.
case, do not do justice to the largeness, the importance,
and the expanding future of the missionary enterprise.
The feasibility of the undertaking is shown by the
not inconsiderable advances that have been made toward
the development of a science of missions. Under the
leadership of missionary educators and advocates in
Europe and America, of able directors and secretaries
of the great and growing missionary societies and mis
sion boards, the work is gradually assuming definite
shape and ampler form.
If the above argument has any cogency and force,
it follows that Evangelistics deserves a place in the
curriculum of the theological seminary. Moreover, it
is a question deserving the attention of the authorities,
whether the missionary enterprise may not profitably
be given a place in the college, in the form of volunteer
and optional mission study classes, and possibly by the
maintenance of a missionary society.
The fact is that, during the last two decades, there
has been a marked forward movement in this regard
in all the higher institutions of learning, from the great
universities down to academies and preparatory schools.
In Germany and Great Britain, as also here in America,
missionary professorships and lectureships have been in
troduced in not a few seminaries and universities, and
under the leadership of the Student Volunteer Move
ment, in the United States and Canada, some thirty thou
sand students are enrolled in mission study classes in
more than six hundred institutions.
2. The Place of Missions in Our Churches.
Here we give this topic only preliminary considera
tion. It is a large topic and of such vital importance
that it will receive fuller and more adequate treatment

Ch. 9. MISSIONS AND THE CHURCH. 135
in later chapters. The purpose of taking it up at all
at this stage of our discussion is to secure our proper
bearings and get established for future operations. A
broad and comprehensive view of the study and the
enterprise at the outset is a great advantage. It arouses
interest and sets before us what is to be the aim of
our endeavors. There is no vital difference between the place of
missions in Christian educational institutions and their
place in the life and work of Christian churches. Under
normal conditions there is no vital, permanent Chris
tian life apart from the Church. No duties in the sphere
of missions devolve upon individual Christians which are
not encumbent upon the Church. And, contrariwise,
whatever missionary obligations rest upon the Church
the individual Christians are in duty bound to share.
We must emphasize duly, but also distinguish properly
between individual responsibility and corporate enter
prise. And one of the most important tasks of our
educational institutions is to train and develop strong
and able leaders.
The Church which Jesus Christ established on the
earth has a twofold task: edification and extension.
They are co-ordinate activities and act and react upon
one another. Upbuilding and propagation, activity with
in and outward — these two processes embrace all the
forces and activities of the Christian life and the work
of the Church. And these are fundamental and vital,
the one as well as the other. Persistent neglect of the
missionary life has the same effect as persistent neglect
of the devotional life. The life shrivels, decays, dies.
As a missionary secretary of large experience has re
cently said: "Propagation is a law of the spiritual life.

136 MISSION STUDIES.
A living organism must grow or die. The Church that
is not missionary will become atrophied." 1
Too many, both individuals and churches, treat the
missionary enterprise as though it were a neat, but need
less grace, a beautiful, but expensive and hence negli
gible ornament, a grace and ornament superadded to
Christianity, rather than an impulse, a force, a factor,
inwoven in the very fabric of Christianity. As we study
the subject in the light of the Scriptures and the history
of the Christian Church we see, ever more clearly, how
mistaken this notion is, and how short-sighted and suici
dal the policy that persistently ignores the claims and
belittles the significance of missions.
Let us be open to conviction, glad to receive the
instruction of the Holy Spirit through the Word, and
willing to abide by and act upon the results of His
tuition.

Arthur J. Brown, in The Foreign Missionary

CHAPTER X.
UNITY AND DIVERSITY OF THE MISSIONARY
ENTERPRISE.
r. The Unity of the Missionary Enterprise.
The author realizes that he has undertaken a dif
ficult task — and it may appear of questionable utility, if
not propriety, to some — in endeavoring to comprehend
in one small treatise a discussion of the fundamental
features of the various lines and departments of mission
work. But there are two considerations that, as it
seems to us, support and justify the attempt. First,
the fact that this is intended to be an elementary, not
an exhaustive treatise; and secondly, the vital and es
sential unity of the work. It is the latter that we are
most concerned about. It is a principle for which we
contend. With all the diversity and multiplicity of times,
places, people, conditions and methods, there is in the
different spheres and avenues of missionary endeavor
substantial unity of idea and fundamental aim. There
is no essential difference between home and foreign mis
sions. There are manifest and important differences of
distance, of conditions, of details in methods of manage
ment and prosecution, but there is, withal — and this is
a matter of primal consideration for the instruction of
our home churches, for the intelligent grasp of the vital
features of the whole missionary task which the Lord of
glory has laid upon His Church, for reflection on the
part of the volunteer who desires to become a mission
ary, as well as of the pastor and the average layman,
(137)

138 MISSION STUDIES.
(this treatise makes no pretensions to a hand-book for
specialists) — there is in all the lines of true and legiti
mate missionary endeavor substantially the same source,
the same ground and motive, the same purpose and ulti
mate end.
The distinction between home and foreign missions
is made and maintained for convenience, in order to
facilitate the systematic administration and prosecution
of the work.
2. There are Three Distinguishable Spheres or
Departments of the Enterprise:
Home missions ; Inner missions ; and Foreign mis
sions. These may be briefly defined as follows :
Home mission work is mission work that is carried
on in our own, a nominally Christian land, and consists
in gathering into self-supporting congregations the scat
tered brethren in the faith, together with the unchurched
masses of our mixed population.
Inner mission work is mission work that is carried
on in our own country, and consists in combining, by
systematic endeavor, works of mercy (various Chris
tian philanthropies) with evangelistic effort in behalf
of the salvation of the physically and spiritually needy
classes of our population.
Foreign mission work is mission work that is car
ried on, for the most part, in foreign lands, and consists
in the Christianization of non-Christians (heathens,
Mohammedans, and Jews), and gathering them into self-
supporting, self-governing, and self-extending Christian
churches. These distinctions and limitations are not always
clearly distinguishable nor consistently maintained.
Home missions and inner missions naturally overlap and

Ch. 10. UNITY AND DIVERSITY. 139
are often intertwined and combined. And as for work
in behalf of foreigners within our gates, Chinese, Japan
ese, etc., some churches classify it under home missions,
while others consider it, as it really is, foreign mission
work carried on within our own borders. As regards
mission work among our American Indians, Negroes,
and the Jews in our immediate communities, it would,
in our opinion, be more in harmony with actual condi
tions and practices to treat it as more properly belong
ing to the sphere of home missions.
Let it be noted, for the sake of clearness, that the
missionary principles discussed in this Second Part of
our treatise are applied, in large part though not exclu
sively, to foreign missions, while home and inner mission
work are reserved for special treatment in the Third
Part. 3. Diversity of Operations, but the Same Lord,
the Same Faith, the Same End.
In his first epistle to the Corinthians1 St. Paul has
a fine chapter on diversities of gifts, diversities of
ministrations, diversities of workings ; but the same
Spirit, the same Lord, the same God who worketh all
things in all. This is the language of inspiration, the
thought of God, the Author, the Administrator, and the
Operator of the missionary enterprise.
The unity of the work is apparent from the defini
tions given above. The three forms of endeavor are
summed up under the term "mission work." The latter
goes out in different directions, is carried on in different
places, and consists in going out after the unsaved,
reaching down to the wayward, the lost, the imperiled, in
order to bring all men under the fostering care and

rl Cor. 12, 4-6.

140 MISSION STUDIES.
shelter of the Church and extending the kingdom of
God in all the earth.
There are decided advantages to be gained from
this view. It ministers not to confusion, but to clearness
of thought. It shows the groundlessness and the un-
scriptural and unchristian character of the position of
those who claim to be in favor of home missions, while
they are opposed to foreign missions. The true mis
sionary spirit is not fettered by local, incidental consid
erations and advantages. It looks out, with the sym
pathetic heart and yearning love of Christ, the Savior of
the lost and the Lord of the vineyard, upon the fields
that are white unto the harvest, whether they be near at
hand or far away. The near are not to be overlooked in
our haste to reach those far away; nor are the latter to
be neglected on the score of the ofttimes empty excuse
and pretense : "There is work enough to do at home."
To those who, to cover their neglect of duty and lack of
interest, make use of the old adage, "Charity begins at
home," an advocate of foreign missions makes the
pointed and pungent reply : "One might urge with equal
truth that education begins with the alphabet, but it ends
there only with the feeble-minded."1
In the treatment of the subject from a theoretical
point of view, just as in the carrying on of the work,
proper allowance must be made and account taken of
the diversities of factors and features, while emphasis
is laid on the vital and fundamental truths which are
common to all.
Answer to objections made. No cogent objection
can be raised against this view on the ground of the
derivation of the word "mission." There is a sending
and going forth of workers in each department, in home
1 Arthur J. Brown. The Foreign Missionary, p. 334.

Ch. 10. UNITY AND DIVERSITY. 141
and inner, as well as in foreign mission work. To seek
and to save that which is lost or even in danger of perish
ing, if no effort at rescue is put forth — this is the es
sential idea of mission work. Our blessed Lord and
Savior used two words of far-reaching import : "Come,"
and "Go." "Come" leads to discipleship ; "Go" directs
the disciple out into the missionary enterprise.
We cannot agree with the view expressed by Dr.
Warneck when he says : "The distinction between home
and foreign missions rests upon unclearness with respect
to the missionary idea." He insists that the objects of
missionary endeavor are non-Christians and concludes
that the term "mission" is used incorrectly not only in
the designation home missions, but also when applied to
inner missions. For the latter work he would prefer the
term "diaconics."
We agree with this scholarly teacher and sys-
tematizer of missionary principles when he affirms that
"mission work is the work of Christianizing" the na
tions.1 But that does not imply that the nation as a
whole must be steeped in heathenism before it becomes
an object of mission work, nor that in nominally Chris
tian nations there are no persons who are, in a true and
proper sense, objects for missionary endeavor. Those
who are in need of Christianization are not only the

1 Dr. Warneck, in his "Missionslehre," I., page 3, confesses
that it is not easy for them (in Germany) to understand what
we in America mean by home missions. He speaks of "die fur
uns nicht ganz leicht verstandliche home mission.'' Another
passage which is characteristic of his view is the following :
"Mission work is the work of Christianizing; hence those na
tions which bear the Christian name and have through baptism
been received within the pale of Christendom, who are there
fore no longer non-Christians, cannot be regarded as objects of
mission work, whatever deficiencies may be found in their Chris-

142 MISSION STUDIES.
heathen who have never heard of Christ, but those, too,
who, even under the shadow of Christian churches, are
virtually and vitally heathen. If in the work of home
and inner missions many are dealt with who are Chris
tians, they are Christians in need, imperiled, in danger
of losing their faith and lapsing into virtual heathenism.
To rescue such, and save them for the kingdom of God,
is a form of Christianization, too. And besides, in both
spheres many are sought out and won for the Church
who are no Christians at all, but really heathens, unbe
lievers, worldlings, strangers from the covenants of
promise. "Far off" from the kingdom of God, they are
"made nigh by the blood of Christ,"1 and brought into
His kingdom through the missionary efforts of the
Church. This view is supported by Scripture and confirmed
by apostolic missions.
Look, for example, at the expressions used by
Christ in His missionary command, in the various forms
in which it is found in the Gospels and the Acts. Go ye
into all the world; make disciples of all the nations; the
uttermost part of the earth; every creature. Surely
these terms include the near as well as the remote. The
heathen at our doors are not to be overlooked, nor are
the heathen abroad to be left to their fate. Repentance
and remission of sins is to be preached in Christ's name
among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.2 The work
tianity from the standpoint of another department of church
work." This view is evidently colored and determined by con
ditions as they exist in the state churches of Germany. While
we, on this side, sympathize with the members of these churches
in their unhappy and deplorable situation, their modes of pro
cedure, amid perplexities and restriction, are not always clear
to us. 1 Eph. 2, 13. * Luke 24, 47.

Ch, IO. UNITY AND DIVERSITY. 143
of evangelization and Christianization is to begin at
home and extend unto the ends of the earth.
And this is the very course taken by apostolic mis
sions. Mission work began in Jerusalem when, on the
day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon
the disciples and apostles whom Christ had chosen, when
they were endued with power from on high, according to
the Savior's promise, and when three thousand souls
were added to the Church. From here the work con
tinued, first in the immediate vicinity, in Samaria, then
in Csesarea and at Antioch; and from these and other
centers the Gospel was carried on and outward North
and South and East and West. This is in reality a com
bination of home and foreign mission work. It gives to
the Church for all time a principle and an example to be
followed both in the work at home and in the work
abroad; we are to influence and win those near at hand
and make every station won a center from which, in
ever widening circles, the light of the Gospel is carried
outward until it penetrates the darkest corners and the
uttermost parts of the earth.
4. The Scope of the Present Discussion of the
Missionary Enterprise.
This is necessarily and properly limited in a treatise
like this. It is confined to fundamentals and essentials,
to points of general importance and interest to those en
gaged in the work, leaving out of view many topics that
belong to the technical phases of the enterprise and enter
into the special equipment of the missionary and the ad
ministration and prosecution of the work.
With this limitation in view we confine our discus
sion here to three general heads : The Scriptural ground
of mission work; the aim of missions as distinguished

144 MISSION STUDIES.
from incidental results and temporal blessings; and the
means and methods employed by the missionary. And
even these subjects cannot be treated exhaustively, but
are studied electively and by way of suggestion of the
main points involved. It may suffice the purpose of a
general grasp of the missionary enterprise to contemplate
the chief worker, his personality and relations, the aim
and end of his work, its motives and supports and, in a
very general way, the means and manner of its prosecu
tion. In the Third Part of the book these principles are
applied in the spheres of home and inner missions.
Recapitulation. In this introductory section,
comprising the last three chapters, some preparation has
been made for the systematic study of the leading prin
ciples underlying and pervading the missionary enter
prise. This preparation includes preliminary considera
tion of the question as to> the actual and possible develop
ment of a science of missions, the scope of missionary
principles, and the place of missions in Christian schools
and churches. We have seen that, while the study of missions
has not as yet been developed into a complete and gen
erally recognized science set forth in scientific treatises,
considerable progress has been made in this direction.
Both in the historical and the theoretical departments
some standard works have been produced. We have
seen that the scope of missionary principles includes the
ground, the aim, and the means and methods of mis
sions. It is, summarily, the work of Christianizing all
the people of the earth by the grace of God through His
Word. Next to the planting of the Church itself, it is
the greatest work in the world and, hence, occupies a

Ch. IO. UNITY AND DIVERSITY. 145
prominent place in the Christian life and the work of the
Church. And, finally, we have viewed the enterprise in its
essential unity amid the diversities that are incidental to
home, and "inner," and foreign mission work.
With these introductory reflections, it is hoped, the
reader is prepared to study with growing interest the
fundamental principles of missions, touching the mis
sionary enterprise in its origin and foundation, its aim
and end, and its prosecution in various places and un
der varying conditions.

10

II. The Biblical Ground of Mission Work.

THE NATURE AND SCOPE ON THIS SECTION.1
i. Of Fundamental Importance.
The importance of a foundation is generally recog
nized in all occupations and undertakings. It is folly to
erect an elaborate structure on a defective and insuf
ficient foundation. In all wise building the dimensions
and strength of the latter are planned in view of the size
and extent of the structure to be erected.
The missionary enterprise is no exception to the
rule. At one of the early trials of the apostles Gamaliel,
a doctor of the law, spoke these significant words : "If
this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to
nought; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it, lest
haply ye be found even to fight against God." If the
missionary enterprise had been of men, it would have
been completely checked and the Christian Church would
have been exterminated long before the time of Con-
stantine and his edict of toleration. The fact that it has
endured amid all the violent and mighty assaults from
without, and all the human weaknesses and folly within
the bounds of Christendom, bears strong presumptive
evidence that the Church and her missionary enterprise
are of God.
To believers, who accept the Bible as God's inspired

1 For purposes of further research the student will do well
to consult, in the study of this entire section, the exhaustive
work of Dr. Warneck, Missionslehre, vol. 1.
(146)

BIBLICAL GROUND OF MISSIONS. 147
and revealed Word, it is more than presumptive evi
dence, it is positive assurance and confirmation of faith
in the Savior's promise to the Church which He has pur
chased with His own blood, that "the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it." Yes, there are many evidences,
both in the history of the Church, and in the witness of
the Spirit of God in the hearts and lives of believers,
that the Church is divinely established, and that mission
work is God's work.
The Lord Himself laid the foundations of the mis
sionary enterprise, and He has revealed them to us in
His Word. They support the whole structure of His
work of grace and salvation among men, in men, and
through men, and in behalf of men. All the force and
vitality, and all the vital features of the enterprise are
set forth for our learning. And as Christ is the great
Teacher sent from God to work out redemption for
mankind and to interpret to us God's good and gracious
will and ways, let us sit as faithful disciples at Jesus'
feet and learn of Him.
2. General Reflections on the Subject.
How does it come that the missionary efforts of
many disciples and church-members are so fitful and
haphazard, so lukewarm and dilatory? May it not be
due in part to the fact that their knowledge of the con
nection between the Bible and missions is fragmentary
and imperfect, that they have not grasped in their ful
ness and depth the missionary thoughts that run through
the Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testaments ?
At any rate, it is certain that knowledge of these truths
is essential to abiding interest and sustained activity in
the Lord's work.
There is an erroneous notion, widely prevalent,

148 MISSION STUDIES.
which must be overcome, namely, that live missionary
interest is a beautiful, but unessential ornament of
Christianity, that mission work is not something es
sential and obligatory, but accidental and optional to the
Christian, an enterprise of superior and superfluous
piety. Nothing will help to overcome this erroneous
and pernicious notion like a thorough and comprehen
sive acquaintance with the central, vital, integral place
which missionary thought, enterprise and principle hold
in the Bible — the all-pervasive, dominant influence of
the divine thought and idea of missions in the economy
of divine grace and in the revealed Word of God. Not
only that the Bible is full of missionary thoughts ex
pressly stated in different forms, in prophecy, symbol
and type, historical narrative, command and promise,
but that the missionary thought and purpose is a vital
element of Christianity, a constituent part of God's
revelation and gracious plans and purposes, permeating
all Scripture, filling and forming the entire economy of
grace and salvation, from the eternal purpose of God,
which He purposed in Christ Jesus before the world be
gan, to the culmination and completion of His counsels
in His second advent, the final judgment, and the king
dom of glory.

CHAPTER XI.
MISSIONARY THOUGHTS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.
i. Character of Old Testament Missionary
Thoughts.
Their distinctive character is in accordance with the
nature and purpose of the Old Testament itself, and its
relation to the new dispensation. We do not therefore
expect to find missionary thoughts as specifically ex
pressed and as fully developed as they are in the New
Testament. Still, when we make a careful search and
begin to note and group them, we may be surprised to
find how many precious missionary truths we have
gathered from the Scriptures that were fulfilled in the
person and work of Christ Jesus.
Christian chronology and the Christian dispensation
began historically with the birth of Christ and the found
ing of the Christian Church on the day of Pentecost.
But as the New Testament is founded upon and is the
fulfilment of the Old Testament, so Christianity, with
its universal adaptation, provision and aim, its mis
sionary character as the world religion and the only sav
ing religion of the world, has its roots in the Old Testa
ment, and that not only in its prophecies, but in the re
ligious consciousness, life and leading of Israel. Juda
ism, as historically developed, was not a missionary re
ligion. But this development was not in full accord with
the revelation of the Old Testament, nor was it a true
expression and interpretation of what we may call the
missionary spirit which continued to throb in the hearts
(149)

150 MISSION STUDIES.
of the true believers, the saints of the Old Testament
dispensation, the remnant of Israel.
The missionary thoughts and words of the Old
Testament are of a general, preparatory character. They
contain germs, seeds, roots and promises of the mis
sionary enterprise rather than clearly expressed plans
and purposes, and developed fruits. The seeds and
roots sprouted and bore fruit in "the fulness of time."
2. Some Leading and Typical Missionary
Thoughts. In the Old Testament we find clear and emphatic
declarations of the purpose of God to provide salvation
for all the world, of the brotherhood and kinship of
mankind, of salvation for Jews and Gentiles through the
promised Messiah, of the praises which shall be given to
Jehovah even among the heathen, and of the missionary
service rendered by Jonah to Nineveh, and by devout
Israelites of the dispersion in the heathen lands of the
East. These are all thoughts that are fundamental in
the missionary enterprise. Let us look at them a little
more in detail.
Tracing the thought of Christian missions back to
its origin in the heart of God, we may ask, where, in
His revelation to man, do we find the first distinct ex
pression of the thought? While it is true, as a writer
says1, "that the historical development of Christian mis
sions begins with Abraham as a preparation," we must
go much further back, beyond Abraham, back to the
first verse of Genesis. When it is there declared that
"in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,"
the living God claims mankind as His possession.

1 Short History of Christian Missions, by George Smith.

Ch. II. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 151
The missionary idea, the fundamental missionary
thought, has its origin in God, and is ascribed to God,
not merely nor first as Redeemer of the fallen race, but
as the Creator of heaven and earth. The missionary
idea is an integral part of the divine thought of creation,
which includes not merely existence, being, but the
blessedness of the world, as Dr. Duff has said truly;
God's "purpose from all eternity was to create the uni
verse, visible and invisible, for the manifestation of the
divine glory."1
The God of Israel who, for the accomplishment
of His gracious designs, chose that nation and, for the
time being, confined His work of grace to Israel and the
Holy Land, was not a mere national God of Israel. He
was the almighty Maker of heaven and earth before He
made a particular covenant with Israel. In the act of
creation God revealed Himself in His relation to all
creation, not merely a part of it; to all mankind, not to
one nation only, nor to one before another. The Lord
Jehovah here virtually made a covenant with mankind,
and one that was not annulled by the particular cove
nant with Israel, made later.
As Creator of all He is Lord of all, as St. Paul de
clared at Athens: "God that made the world and all
things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and
earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands." In
the history of Israel He revealed Himself as the King
and Judge of the nations, the supreme Sovereign, using
kings and nations as His agents or scourges, according
to His will. As Lord of all He is to be feared, and
honored, and worshipped. As this idea is unfolded and

"Read Eph. 3, 1-9; cf. 2, 19. God "created all things by
Jesus Christ," and made a revelation of the hidden mysteries in
the fulness of time.

152 MISSION STUDIES.
its implications become clearer, it naturally leads to the
further thought: The whole earth is to become His do
main; all nations and all men are to become His subjects.
The Biblical account of the creation of man, in the
first chapter of Genesis, likewise implies a missionary
thought, and that with reference to the brotherhood and
blood-relationship of mankind. Adam and Eve were the
progenitors of the human race. Created in the image of
God, man was to have dominion over the earth and all
the lower creatures, but there is nothing to justify one
race in oppressing another. In his address to the men
of Athens the Apostle to the Gentiles interpreted this
truth when he said : God "hath made of one blood all
nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth."1
The heathen had lost this knowledge and conscious
ness of the oneness and the common origin of the human
race.2 In the view of the heathen the diversity of peoples
and castes is original and normal, and universal brother
hood is to them a chimera and to a degree an abomina
tion, while autochthony (nativism, origin from the soil
of a country) is the highest pride of a people. Not so
Israel, however exclusive it became, and however proud
ly it looked down upon non-Israelites. Mosaism, in its
list of nations (Gen. 10), preserves the consciousness of
the blood-relationship of all nations, which are again to
be united in time to come by one blessing of God. The
register of nations was intended to keep in memory the
original brotherhood of all the nations of the earth.3
Here again we have a pregnant thought, germs of

"Acts 17, 26. 2When St. Paul thus preached on the Areo
pagus, "he attacked the very heart of heathenism and Athenian
pride." Oehler, Old Testament Theology. Compare also Speer,
Missionary Principles and Practice, p. 278 ff. 3 Old Testament
Theology, Oehler, p. 57.

Ch. II. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 153
missionary thought and activity, a bridge to span the
chasm that in the course of time arose between Israel
and the Gentiles. Blood relationship among races and
nations implies a common relationship with God, hence
community of interests, even to religious fellowship and
communion. The missionary thought of the Old Testament is
implied even more clearly in the promise which God
made, after the fall, touching the triumph of the seed
of the woman over Satan.1 It is the first gospel message
recorded in the Scriptures, for it is a general promise
of redemption for mankind through Him who was to
come in the fulness of time. It presupposes the univer
sality of sin. All men are in need of salvation, and
salvation is to be provided for all.
During the period between this event and the estab
lishment of the Jewish nation there ensued, in the his
tory of the human race, increasing wickedness, the divine
judgment of the flood, separation from God, dispersion
of the human family, and the rise and spread of hea
thenism. The call of Abraham2 and the covenant-promise
given him mark a distinct advance in the unfolding of
the missionary thought and purpose of God. Abraham
is the first specific missionary, the first man whom God
sent forth as a missionary, upon a distinct mission of
salvation for Jews and for Gentiles. The blessing be
stowed upon Abraham and through him may be referred
to as an example for the encouragement of missionaries.

1 Genesis 3, 15. 2Gen. 12, 1-3; 18, 18; 22, 18. Note Peter's
sermon to the Jews, reminding them of this promise and of their
covenant-relationship with God (Acts 3, 25), and Paul's match
less argument on the ground of the same promise, showing that
it implies salvation for the heathen also.Gal. 3, 8-29.

154 MISSION STUDIES.
Isaiah refers to it in these words -,1 "Look unto Abra
ham your father and unto Sarah that bore you; for
when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him,
and made him many." It was with this reference to
Abraham that Carey used to comfort and encourage
himself before he had won a convert.
"In thy seed" — "all nations blessed" — this "germinal
promise," at the very taproot of the Hebrew nation,
involves the missionary idea, for it indicates the divine
aim and purpose of the special covenant, and implies
the mission of Israel, to be the bearer and herald of
salvation to the nations. "The fulfilling of that covenant,
apparently now slow, now by leaps, but always accord
ing to what has been called God's leisure and God's haste,
is the history of missions."2
This covenant with Abraham, reaffirmed and re
peated to Isaac and Jacob, was a covenant of grace, re
quiring faith, and not annulled by the law which was
afterwards revealed. Compare ,the forceful argument of
St. Paul in Romans and Galatians.
After Israel had been chosen to be God's peculiar
people, a people for His own possession, there ensued a
period of pronounced and accentuated particularism —
the universal idea and intent of salvation receding, and
necessarily so. This period, like the law, served as a
7rai8ay(oyos, a school master (Gal. 3, 24), to teach and
train the people, so that God's plans might not be frus
trated, but His will accomplished. The people of God
had to be separated from the heathen, and kept separate,
in order to be trained and kept as God's people, in order
to preserve His statutes, in order to the accomplishment

1 Isaiah 51, 2.
2 Smith, Short History of Christian Missions.

Ch. II. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 155
of His gracious purposes with reference to mankind.
Yet even during this period, the theocratic exclusiveness
was not absolutely exclusive. Consider the humane and
liberal regulations with reference to the treatment and
rights and privileges of slaves and strangers1 in contrast
with the practice of the heathen.
During the period of prophecy the vision clarified,
and the -view broadened again, brought about in connec
tion with religious revival and moral reforms in Israel
together with visitations, defeats, and judgments — events
of national scope and world-wide importance. Here,
as ever in the history of missions, we find missionary
activity and enterprise growing out of a revival of spirit
ual life, and contingent upon movements and events of
critical and epochal importance in the world's history.
There were seasons of spiritual decline and apostacy,
when Israel was in need of reform. The prophets, as
Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, were mighty
preachers of repentance, calling upon the people to re
turn to Jehovah, to be circumcised in heart, and to serve
the Lord truly,2 and proclaiming God's grace unto the
forgiveness of sin and the spiritual renewal of the pros
trate and helpless people.3
Upon the fall of Jerusalem, in 586 B. C, at the very
time when the old form of the theocracy was overthrown,
Jeremiah predicted the new eternal covenant which G°d
would make with His people. "The Lord our Righteous-

1They were received into fellowship by circumcision and
participated in the worship of Jehovah.
"Hosea 6, 6; Isa. 1, 11 fr.; Jer. 4, 4.
'Jer. 31, 31-34; 23, 5-6; Ezek. 36, 25 ff.; Zech. 13, 1 ff. In
this chapter occur the words : "Smite the Shepherd, and the
sheep shall be scattered." The words are quoted by Christ as re
ferring to Him (Matth. 26, 31; Mark 14, 27),

156 MISSION STUDIES.
ness" will establish the new covenant of restored faith
and righteousness. Thus was formed and gathered a
regenerated congregation, a holy seed, "the remnant of
Israel," which recognized its mission to be "a light unto
the Gentiles."1 These reforms in Israel were aided by divine judg
ments, which showed the God of Israel to be the Lord
of the whole earth, who has authority and power over
all nations, even using them as His executioners and
scourges, and brought Israel into touch with the heathen
nations. And under the tuition and instruction of the
prophets the devout and believing among the covenant
people learned in some degree to understand that they,
as "the servant of Jehovah," had a mission to these
nations. A further advance in the development of the mis
sionary idea is found in two lines of thought, expressed
in many passages in the psalms and the books of the
prophets. These thoughts, in brief, are: On the one
hand, the power and majesty of Jehovah in His relation
to the nations of the earth; and, on the other, the king
dom of Israel as the beginning and center of a future
kingdom of Jehovah, into which the nations shall be
gathered. The psalms are hymns of praise connected with the
worship of the adorable majesty of the great God. The
praises of Israel alone are not sufficient. The Lord
Jehovah deserves to be the object of universal reverence
and homage. Hence all nations, all creatures, earth and
heaven are called upon and invited to join in the uni
versal acclaim of praise to the Lord of hosts.2

xIsa. 42, 6 and 7; 49, 6.
aPs. 47; 66; 96; 97; 100; 117; Is. 42, 8 and 12.

Ch. II. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 157
Here we note invitations and exhortations to tell
among the heathen what the Lord has done for Israel.1
These are distinct missionary thoughts and bear evidence
of a missionary spirit. For the underlying idea is : What
God does for Israel is of concern to the heathen. The
psalms express the confident expectation that all man
kind will at length acknowledge Jehovah to be the true
God.2 In the description of the latter days given by Isaiah
and Micah, we are placed upon the heights of prophetic
vision. All nations are going to Zion, which is spiritually
elevated above all the mountains of the world, to receive
there the divine law as the rule of their lives, while
universal peace prevails under the rule of Jehovah.3
Here we meet with the following passages, that have
been so often quoted, but will bear repetition and deserve
reverent study: "For the earth shall be filled with the
knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover
the sea."4 "The desire of all nations shall come."5 "For
from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of
the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles ;
and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name,
and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among
the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts."8
These Dr. Warneck rightly calls vital roots of mis-

1 "Declare His glory among the heathen, His wonders
among all people. . Say among the heathen that the Lord
reigneth." Ps. 96, 3 and 10. Cf. Ps. 9, 11; and 105, 1. 2 Ps.
22, 27 and 28. 3Is. 2-2-4; Micah 4, 1-4. "Habakkuk 2, 14.
6 Haggai 2, 7. "The desirable things of all nations shall come."
Rev. V. Compare Luther's translation : "Then shall come the
consolation of all the heathen" (aller Heiden Trost). 'Malachi
1, 11. Cf. Is. 25, 6-7; Jer. 3, 17; Zech. 2, 11; Ps. 22, 27 and 28;
47, 7-9; 68, 31 and 32; 72, 10 and 11; 86, 9; 96.

158 MISSION STUDIES.
sionary thoughts. They are missionary prophecies and
promises. They afford the assured prospect of mission
ary enterprise and world-wide extension at some time
and in some way.
The realisation of these hopes with reference to
Jehovah's kingdom is indicated in many passages. In
some of them the heathen are described as coming of
their own accord to Israel, to participate in the worship
of Jehovah and in the salvation of Israel;1 while in
others we find even reference to preaching among the
heathen."2 Chapters forty to sixty-six of the prophecy of Isaiah,
setting forth the mission, the suffering and death, and
the final triumph of the Servant of Jehovah, constitute
the bright summit of Old Testament prophecy. This
section has been truly called "the Gospel before the Gos
pel." Isaiah is surely the "evangelist" among the
prophets. In the historical sense of the prophecy the servant
of Jehovah who is to be His witness among the nations
is the Old Testament covenant people of God. This ap
plies, in particular, to the true Israel, the remnant, the
Church invisible of the Old Testament dispensation.3
This remnant, trained and preserved, is to transmit
the revelation of the true God to mankind, to be "the
light of the Gentiles."4 Paul and Barnabas found in
these words of prophecy their justification for turning
to the Gentiles. They even regarded the prediction as
equivalent in meaning to a divine command to preach the
Gospel to the Gentiles : "For so hath the Lord com
manded us, saying."5

1 Is. 2, 3 ; 11, 10 ; Jer. 16, 19. ' Ps. 9, 11 ; 18, 49 ; 57, 9 ; 96, 3
and 10. Is. 12, 4. 3 Is. 65, 8-9; cf. Jer. 23, 3; Micah 2, 12,
'Is,. 49, 6.. "Acts 13, 46 and 47..

Ch. II. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 159
But this remnant culminates at last in the person
of the Messiah, and in Him and through Him this proph
ecy finds its ultimate and complete fulfilment.1
Jonah, an Old Testament missionary. The mission
ary thought came to full blossom in the old dispensa
tion and once, at least, to actual fruitage in the reluctant
and hesitating missionary to Nineveh. While Jonah was,
personally, an exemplification of the proud particularism
of the Jews, which reached its height in the Pharisaic
sect of Christ's time, Jehovah revealed His mercy and
longsuffering with reference to the heathen, too; and
the evident purpose of the book is "to announee against
Jewish prejudice that God's grace is over all nations."
"God's mercy is over all His works. He has chosen
Israel for a time, but to be the messenger of peace to
all men."2 To the Old Testament missionary thoughts belong
the providential leadings and events as preparatory steps
for the spread of the Gospel.
The missionary idea in the Old Testament remained,
on the whole, theoretical and limited, and was after all
comparatively vague and indefinite. Judaism in the time
of Christ had degenerated into a form of narrow, na
tional particularism. The Messianic prophecies, intended
to serve as a bridge for Israel to the Gentile world, were
distorted and deflected into new barriers between Israel

'Is. 49, 6 compared with Luke 2, 32. And Is. 42, 1-4, 6 and
7, compared with Matth. 12, 17-21. "He shall bring forth judg
ment to the Gentiles." Luther translates : Er "soil das Recht
unter die Heiden bringen," to which he makes the comment :
"Wie man vor Gott muss gerecht und selig werden." The
Weimar Bible comments : unter die Heiden "durch die Predigt
des Evangelii." Compare also Is. 60 and 66. 2Bible Literature.
John A. W. Haas, D. D.

160 MISSION STUDIES.
and the Gentiles. The process of nationalizing the Mes
sianic hope and ceremonializing the law fed the Jewish
pride as being the elect people of the earth and made
them recreant to their divine mission. And yet, in spite
of this blindness and unfaithfulness of Israel as a nation,
God's purpose of grace was accomplished, and in the old
dispensation the foundation was laid for world-wide mis
sionary enterprise in the new dispensation. All the mis
sionary thoughts and words we have considered were
preparatory steps and stages in the development of the
divine plan and the execution of the divine work of
missions. To these preparatory steps belong also the provi
dential leadings of Israel, the calamities which came
upon the unfaithful nation, occurrences amid which the
Jews were led to perform, in part, their mission to the
nations. Consider, for example, the following:
The dispersions. The growth of the expectation
that all nations should some day know the one true God
advanced most rapidly just when those who were able
to make Him known were being scattered most widely
among the nations.
It is estimated that 350,000 Hebrews, first and last,
had been carried captive to the Euphrates and beyond.
Fewer than 50,000 returned. By the beginning of our
era these had increased to millions.
In the time of Philo about a million Jews dwelt in
Egypt — about one-eighth of the whole population — and
the influence of Alexandrian Judaism upon the cultured
Greeks and Romans was particularly great.
Jews were carried by captivity and by commerce
throughout the Roman world and even into India and
China. The missionary trend and tendency of all this is

Ch. II. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 161
evident. The people, under castigation, became penitent
and bethought themselves of the blessings which they
had possessed, but had neglected. In exile they were
more thoughtful and more faithful than they had been
in time of prosperity. They bore witness to Jehovah,
the true and living God, and continued to worship
Him in the strange lands whither they had been carried.
This witness and worship were not without effect upon
the surrounding heathen. Thus real and telling mis
sionary work was performed.
The Septitagint. This Greek translation of the Old
Testament, prepared during the period between 280 and
150 B. C, served an important missionary purpose in
providing the Word of God not only for the Jews of
the dispersion who were more and more forgetting
their mother tongue and the language of the Old Testa
ment (a service akin to home mission work), but also for
heathen who came in contact with them in their places
of worship and there heard the Word of life in their
own language.
This version of the sacred Scriptures was the most
important missionary work of the Hebrew race before
the advent of Christ. Such work of Bible translation
is a large and important factor in the pioneer work of
Christian missions. It was the chief service and achieve
ment of Carey and Judson, of Morrison and Henry
Martyn. The synagogues. Besides the synagogues, where the
Old Testament was read and expounded, there were
regular places of meeting for worship under the open
sky, just as the Greek theaters were built without roofs.
There was such a place of prayer at Philippi, for in
stance. These synagogues throughout the empire made

162 MISSION STUDIES.
monotheism visible, as it were, to every passerby. They
set before the heathen the possibility of a religion with
out idolatry. They were as lights amid the darkness of
heathenism. Later many of them served as places where
Christ was preached.
All this may be regarded as indirect and preparatory
missionary work on the part of the people of the old
covenant.

CHAPTER XII.
MISSIONARY THOUGHTS IN THE GOSPELS.
i. Introductory Reflections.
Interesting as is the contemplation of the mission
ary thoughts of the Old Testament, the study of the
Gospels leads us into a missionary gallery whose sketches
and scenes fascinate the interested student, into a mis
sionary treasure-house of inexhaustible wealth, to the
very mountain top where the blessed Savior, ascending
to His Father and to our Father, stretched forth His
pierced hands in blessing upon His chosen apostles, and
in them upon the whole Church of the Christian dis
pensation, having given to them and the Church of all
time, until His return, this wonderful Commission:
ALL power is given unto Me in heaven and in
earth.
Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, bap
tizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to ob
serve all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
And lo, / am with you always, even unto the
end of the world.
To trace the missionary thoughts in the words of
Christ, from the beginning of His earthly ministry un
til its culmination on Mount Olivet, will prove a de
lightful and profitable occupation to every Bible reader
and mission worker.
As Christ is the foundation and head of the Church,
so He is the central figure and the centralizing force
of Christian missions. As He is the fulfillment of Old
(1«3)

164 MISSION STUDIES.
Testament types and prophecies, so the missionary
thoughts of the Old Testament are developed in and
through Him and find clearer and fuller expression in
His words. Contrasting the missionary thoughts of the new
dispensation with those of the old, we may affirm in a
general way that, while in the Old Testament we find
missionary roots, evangelical principles, and evangelical
forces wrapped up, as it were, in the seed, in the New
Testament we find the missionary plant developed, bear
ing foliage and fruit. In the Old Testament the founda
tion is laid for world-wide misions ; in the New the
superstructure is erected, and the work is actually begun.
In the Old the universality of salvation is expressed in
prophecy, held out as a glorious hope to be realized in
due time; in the New this universality begins to be ful
filled and carried into effect, fully realized in apostolic
missions and directed for all future ages to the end of
time by the Great Commission of our Lord to His
Church. In the fulness of time Christ appears, the Great
Missionary, sent from the realms of glory, working
out the world's redemption and training a band of ef
ficient missionaries to go forth and inaugurate the era
of world-wide missions. His words and teachings from
the beginning and throughout His ministry, are per
meated with missionary thoughts. Without being able
or attempting to arrange and classify His missionary
words and declarations in strictly chronological order,
we can observe a gradual development in clearness and
fulness, culminating in the direct and explicit mission
ary command after His resurrection. In this appears
the wisdom and tact of the Great Teacher, in view of the
national exclusiveness and particularism of the Jewish

Ch. 12. IN THE GOSPELS. 165
people,1 and the deep-seated prejudices of His own dis
ciples, who had grown up in this atmosphere of Jewish
narrow-mindedness. Moreover, the missionary com
mand follows at the end of His earthly career as the nat
ural and necessary sequence of His atonement and work
of redemption — the ripened fruitage of the revelation
concerning His person and His work.
We may distinguish three stages in the development
and progress of our Savior's missionary instruction, and
so study His missionary words in three groups. In them
are gathered together Christ's teaching concerning the
world-wide redemption prepared by Him, the gradual
unfolding of God's plan for the evangelization of the
world, and the Great Commission, in accordance and in
obedience to which the work is accomplished.
2. The Universality of Redemption through
Christ. This part of Christ's teaching may be regarded as
the New Testament foundation of all missionary in
struction and work. The universality of salvation, pro
claimed in symbol, and type, and prophecy, in the Old
Testament, is clearly and fully set forth in the appear
ance of the world's Redeemer and the kingdom which
He established. These fundamental missionary princi
ples are wrapped up in two significant and comprehen-

lTake, for example, St. Paul's experience. He was ad
dressing the people in Jerusalem, telling the story of his life and
experiences, his conversion and call to the apostleship. "And
He said unto me, Depart; for I will send thee far hence unto
the Gentiles. And they gave him audience unto this word and
then lifted up their voices and said, Away with such a fellow
from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live." Acts 22,
21 and 22.

166 MISSION STUDIES.
sive terms so frequently used by Christ Himself, namdy,
the kingdom of God, and the Son of Man.
The kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven.
We find the term used in Scripture in different senses,
viewed from different points of view; now as present,
existing in the hearts of believers, established at Christ's
first advent : and again as future, to be established at His
second advent. These declarations may be understood
and readily harmonized without resorting to millenarian-
ism. The kingdom of Christ has been founded, but is not
yet completed. It is sown now as seed; the complete
fruit and final harvest lie in the future. Hence we note
a development, a growth, in the use and application of
the term. There is in a very radical and true sense a
"coming" of the kingdom. "Thy kingdom come!" — to
us and to all men. In its final completion and culmina
tion it is the absolute sovereignty and dominion of God
over all creatures in majesty and glory.
Much is said nowadays about the kingdom of God
and its extension even by social workers who make no
attempt to preach and apply the Gospel of Christ for the
saving of the souls of those whose bodily and temporal
ills they are ameliorating. The popular teaching and
preaching on the subject is so utterly misleading that we
do well to give heed to our Savior's teaching and learn
from Him, the King Himself, something reliable and
trust-worthy in regard to the essential character of the
kingdom, its scope and extent, the conditions of admis
sion, and service in the kingdom.
The essential character of the kingdom. It is not a»
earthly, temporal realm, the reign of civic righteousness
and benevolence, of fairmindedness and square-dealing
and equitable and just government for rich and poor,

£h. 12. IN THE GOSPELS. 167
and th« like. All this is desirable. But it comes far
•hort of the kingdom of God. It belongs to the kingdom
of nature and is a part of the world that will not abide
forever. The kingdom of Christ is spiritual and eternal.
Before Pilate Christ testified: "My kingdom is not of
this world."1 To certain Jewish inquirers He said :
"The kingdom of God cometh not with observation, .
the kingdom of God is within you."2 The kingdom of
Christ was not the kingdom of David as the Jews under
stood it.3 When, on one occasion, they attempted to
take Him by force, to make Him a king, He withdrew
from their grasp and departed into a mountain, Him
self alone.*
Reach and extent of the kingdom. It is intended to
embrace and include not the Jews only, but all mankind.
The Jews, indeed, are termed "children of the kingdom."
They were called first, but not exclusively, nor uncon
ditionally. Contrasting the unbelief of the Jews with the
faith of the centurion of Capernaum, He said: "The
children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer
darkness."5 On another occasion He said: "The king
dom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a
nation bringing forth the fruits thereof."6 It is true,
as He reminded the woman of Samaria, that "salvation
is of the Jews."7 It began with them, and issued forth
from them, inasmuch as Christ was born of the seed of
Abraham. But it was not limited to them.8
Now, what does Christ say of Himself as the
Founder of the kingdom, of His calling and sphere, His

^ohn 18,36. "Luke 17, 20 and 21. 'Mark 11, 10. 'John
0, 15. 'Matth. 8, 12. "Matth. 21, 43. 'John 4, 22. "Compare
the parable of the marriage of the king's son, Matth. 22, 3 ff.,
and the parable of the great supper, Luke 14, 16 ff.

168 MISSION STUDIES.
mission? He speaks of His having come "into the
world." While this may mean, and in most of the pas
sages where it is used does mean, simply that He was
born on earth, that He became man, it implies also that
He came into the world to be the world's Redeemer, it
suggests the sphere of His activity and the object of His
redemption.1 Moreover, Christ calls Himself "the
Light of the world"2 — not the light of Judea, or the
light of Asia. Even His disciples He calls the "light of
the world" and the "salt of the earth"3 — characteris
tics and sphere of influence and work which they derive
from Him.
Again, Christ declares that "the field is the world"
— the field, namely, into which the Son of Man sows the
good seed and which is to be harvested at His second
coming. The "net" which "gathered of every kind"
was cast "into the sea." 4 Further, Pie says : "The Son
of Man is come to save that which was lost." 5 This
expression is quite general and includes, without distinc
tion, all that in the common fall and wandering away of
mankind has been lost, wherever it may be.6
The conditions of admission into the kingdom are
repentance and faith.7 They are the same for Jews and
for Gentiles. Jesus marvelled at the centurion's great
faith. He contrasted it with that which He found in
Israel.8 Pronouncing a dreadful woe upon Chorazin and

'Cf. John 3, 16 and 17. 2John 8, 12. 3Matth. 5, 13 and 14.
'Matth. 13, 38 and 47. "Matth. 18, 11. owa« rb arroKaUs, that
which has been lost. This verse is omitted in the best Mss., also
in the R. V., but it occurs again in Luke 19, 10. "Compare the
parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal — apply
ing to the lost in the wilderness, the house, the regions beyond —
Jews, diaspora and home missions, foreign missions. 'Matth. 4,
17; Mark 1, 15; etc. 8Matth. 8, 10.

Ch. 12. IN THE GOSPELS. 169
Bethsaida, He declared that even Tyre and Sidon would
have repented, if the same mighty works had been done
there.1 The conditions are the same for all men.
It was in the night of His resurrection day that Jesus
told His disciples that "repentance and remission of
sins should be preached in His name among all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem." 2 The kingdom belongs to the
spiritually poor, to them that hunger and thirst after
righteousness, to babes, to children.3 All who are weary
and heavy laden Jesus invites to come unto Him.1
Service in the kingdom. The heart and crown of
the service to be rendered is pure and spiritual wor
ship of God.5 It is worship in spirit and in truth, cor
responding to the character of the kingdom. This word
of Christ, let it be noted, was spoken to a Samaritan
woman. A suggestive and prophetic circumstance. The
disciples marvelled, but were silent. They did not un
derstand it, but wisely and reverently deferred to the
superior wisdom of the Master. Such worship is not
boitnd to a particular place, nor to a particular form.
Hence no local, national, civil, social or ceremonial limi
tations are placed upon service in the kingdom of Christ.
In this passage Christ declares a new principle of wor
ship, opposed to a dead, hypocritical, legalistic, formal
worship, confined to a certain place and depending on a
particular priesthood.
All this shows the universality of the kingdom of
God, its spiritual character and universal scope ; provis
ion made for the salvation of all mankind without re
spect of persons; the adaptation of the Gospel to all
classes and conditions of men; and entrance into the

'Matth. 11, 21. 2Luke 24, 47. Compare Acts. 17, 30.
"Matth. 5, 3ff.; 11, 25; 18, 2; 19, 14. "Matth. 11, 28. "John 4,
20-24.

170 MISSION STUDIES.
kingdom in no wise dependent upon external and acci
dental circumstances and conditions, as sex, age, color,
language, nationality, social standing, wealth, and the
like. And it is easily seen how fundamental these uni
versal ideas of salvation are to the development of mis
sionary thoughts and the prosecution of missionary
work. The Son of Man.1 Christ calls Himself by this
name repeatedly,2 and with evident purpose. He cannot
intend merely to emphasize the fact that He was true
man — none of His contemporaries doubted that. But
by this title Jesus characterized Himself as the Messianic
King not only of Israel, but of mankind.3
The kingdom of heaven and the Son of Man are
correlative terms. As man, even the God-man, Jesus
founds and completes the kingdom of heaven on earth,
and that a universal kingdom, embracing people of all
times, of all nations and tongues. Twice4 Christ re
ferred to the prophet Daniel who, in chapter 7, verses
13 and 14, applies this name to the promised Messiah,

1 Cf. Philippi, Glaubenslehre IV. 1, p. 411 ff. 2No less than
twenty-nine times in St. Matthew; in all fifty-five times, not
counting parallel passages. s Matth. 8, 20 ; 9, 6 (the Son of
Man hath power to forgive sins) ; 11, 19; 12, 8 (is Lord even
of the Sabbath) ; 12; 32; 12, 40; 13, 37 (He that soweth the
good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world) ; 13, 41
(shall send forth His angels) ; 16, 13; 16, 27 (shall come in the
glory of His Father); 16, 28; 17, 9; 17, 12; 17, 22; 18, 11
(is come to save the lost) ; 19, 28 (when the Son of Man shall
sit on the throne of His glory) ; 20, 18; 20, 28 (came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom
for many); 24, 27; 24, 30; 24, 37, 39; 24, 44; 25, 13; 25, 31;
26, 2. 24; 26, 45; 26, 64; John 3, 14 (even so must the Son
of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth, etc) ; John 5,
53 (except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man). *Matth. 24, 27
and 30; 26, 64.

Ch. 12. IN THE GOSPELS. 171
ascribing to Him a universal kingdom (all people, na
tions, and languages) and an everlasting dominion. By
appropriating this title the Lord implies that He is the
Messiah, whose kingdom is that described by the prophet.
This name was not the one usually employed by the
contemporaries of Christ. The popular name with them
was "David's Son," which Christ never applied to Him
self. Twice1 He referred to this name in order to show
the Pharisees that they had an inadequate and erroneous
conception of the Messiah.
Christ was a Jew after the flesh — a loyal Jewish
patriot. He wept over His impenitent and perverse na
tion. Yet He was not nativistic, narrow, national and cir
cumscribed in His sympathies and aspirations, His mis
sion and aim, but broad, world-wide, co-extensive with •
the human race. He is the Son of Man — not of Abra
ham merely, but of Adam. He is the representative of
mankind. He belongs to mankind, and mankind should
of right belong to Him. The missionary trend and force
of all this is evident.
3. Gradual Revelation of God's Plan of World
wide Evangelization.
Our Savior made provision for the growth and ex
tension of the kingdom which He came to establish. Ac
cordingly we find in His recorded words and teachings
ample instruction on all the vital features of the mis
sionary enterprise. This instruction is imparted in
various forms, in mere references and allusions, direct
statements of missionary import, and by way of illustra
tion through parables. Before giving the express mis
sionary command He had to complete the work of re
demption, and while He did so He trained the first class

'Matth. 22, 41-45; Mark 12, 35-37.

172 MISSION STUDIES.
of missionaries who were to go forth into the world-field
in obedience to His command, and the missionary
thoughts which He expressed constitute the funda
mental principles of the missionary enterprise for all
time. And we are justified in making such application
even of His allusions and parabolic illustrations, be
cause they all pertain to the development and extension
of the kingdom of God throughout the world.
In this outline we shall endeavor to make a rapid
survey of our Lord's instruction concerning the mission
aries and mission workers, their chief qualifications, the
means to be employed, the kind of service to be ren
dered, the field of work, and the outlook as to the fruit-
fulness and the abiding reward of the enterprise.
Personal agency is of prime importance. As the
Lord of heaven came in person to establish His king
dom on the earth, so He wants to employ persons in the
work of extending it. One of the first acts of His pub
lic ministry was to gather a little group of disciples about
Him. And He called them apostles.1 The name is of
Latin origin and means, one sent, a herald, an envoy.
Surely it is not an empty, meaningless title. It desig
nates and characterizes their office and the work to
which they were called. They had a mission; they were
missionaries. The calling, office and mission of the disciples as
witnesses and heralds, even ambassadors of the Most
High, was clear to Jesus and thoroughly understood by
Him at the outset, when He called them. The name,
given at the opening of His public ministry, is a
prophecy and promise of the Great Commission spoken
at its close. This alone is sufficient to show the falsity
'Luke 6, 13; Matth. 10, 2; John 13, 16; Mark 3, 14.

Ch. 12. IN THE GOSPELS. 173
and emptiness of the claims of certain modern destruc
tive critics who in their asaults upon the New Testament
would rob the great missionary command of its divine
origin and authority and make it an interpolation of later
times.1 The apostolate involved and out of it grew the pub
lic office of the ministry, both in the pastorate and on
the mission field. And Christ does not leave us in doubt
as to the essential, abiding qualifications of missionaries.
They must, first of all, be men of faith. Without faith
in Him and His Word men will be fruitless laborers,
whether on the field or at home. Those who have
wrought mightily for the Lord in both spheres have been
men of great faith. More than once Jesus had to re
buke His disciples because of their unbelief, or their
littleness of faith. He assured them that, if they had
"faith as a grain of mustard seed,'' they would be able
to accomplish work that seemed impossible to men.2 In
close relation to this fundamental qualification is another,
one on which the Lord laid touching emphasis in His in
terview with Peter after His resurrection.3 Peter never
forgot His Lord's thrice repeated question : "Lovest
thou me?" Fervent, abiding love of Christ is indispen
sable for the carrying out of His injunction: Feed my
lambs ; fed my sheep ; and follow me.
Early in His ministry the Savior set before the
disciples His personal example of whole-souled, self-

'Compare, e. g., Harnack's "Die Mission und Ausbreitung
des Christentums in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten." He makes
such bold and unsupported assertions as these : "Missions to the
heathen cannot have come within the scope of Christ's view and
purpose." "The missionary command was simply constructed
out of the historical development of later times." 2Matth. 17, 20.
"John 21, 15-19.

174 MISSION STUDIES.
sacrificing devotion to God in mission work. It was
on their first journey through Samaria. In answer to
the wondering questions of the disciples, Jesus uttered
these memorable words : "My meat is to do the will of
Him that sent me, and to finish His work." A match
less expression of the spirit that should imbue all mis
sion workers in His service: eagerness to do the will of
God; joyfulness in service (as it is written of Him: "I
delight to do Thy will, O my God!"); and constancy
and patient endurance unto the end, sustained by His
grace, and spending and being spent in His service.
"One soweth, and another reapeth," He said; reminding
us that we should work together disinterestedly, in un
selfish devotion to the part and place assigned, looking
forward to the time when the "fruit unto life eternal"
shall have been gathered in, when "both he that soweth
and he that reapeth may rejoice together." 1
Mission workers must be earnest, and urgent, and
persistent in their endeavors to bring others into the
kingdom of Christ. The Lord gives us such instruction
in the parable of the great supper, in the words : "Go
out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to
come in, that my house may be filled." 2 Half-hearted
work accomplishes little. Let us press the Savior's in
vitation with all earnestness and vigor, not only from
the pulpit, but also in private converse and association,
in personal work with individuals.
As regards the" means to be employed in the work
of the Gospel, the Lord offers nothing but His Word.
"Preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand." 3
It is the Lord's call and invitation into His kingdom

'John 4, 34-38. 2Luke 14, 23. "Matth. 10, 7.

Ch. 12. IN THE GOSPELS. 175
and fellowship that the servants are to publish and press
upon the attention of men. "The seed is the Word of
God," says Christ in His interpretation of the parable
of the sower.1 To those Jews who believed on Him,
He said : "If ye continue in my Word, then are ye
my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free." 2 The divine Word
which has made and which keeps them disciples is to
be applied by them in winning disciples. From another
point of view believers are themselves good seed that
is sown in the world field, as the Lord teaches in His
parable of the tares.3 "The good seed are the children
of the kingdom," while "the tares are the children of
the wicked one."
Not only do ministers and missionaries in the strict
sense find instruction in the Savior's words, but much
of it applies also to laymen and lay mission workers.
To this effect are the lessons taught in His parable of
the good Samaritan.4 Here we learn something about
the spirit and manner of true neighborly service, and
how every one of us may engage in it if we will only
cultivate an open eye for the opportunities, and a com
passionate heart to respond to the expressed or mute
appeals of the needy.
The Lord of the harvest is seeking and suing for
laborers — workers both in the public ministry, and in
the ranks of the laity. To both spheres are the lessons
of His parable of the laborers in the vineyard addressed.5
"Go ye also into the vineyard." For you that may
mean, to church, to Sunday-school, to the young peo
ple's society; it may mean, to college in preparation for

'Luke 8, 11. 2John 8, 31 and 32. "Matth. 13, 38. "Luke 10,
33-35. "Matth. 20. 1-16.

176 MISSION STUDIES.
the holy ministry; it may mean, to the foreign mission
field ; it may mean, to the needy and neglected, the way
ward and indifferent, in your immediate neighborhood.
There are many places and manifold services in the
vineyard. We cannot all do the same thing, nor does
our gracious Lord expect us to try it, and then fret
over failure. But we can all learn to know the Lord's
will in regard to us and our service in His kingdom,
if we will earnestly and prayerfully seek it. Happy
are they who follow the guidance of His Spirit and
providence and find their proper place.
What St. Paul teaches in the twelfth chapter pf
first Corinthians concerning diversities of gifts is taught
and illustrated by Christ in the parables of the talents1
and of the pounds;2 and in both He shows that faith
fulness in the use of the entrusted gifts and talents and
opportunities is rewarded, and that unfaithfulness re
ceives its merited punishment. Let not those of meager
ability hide their one talent in the earth or lay up their
pound in a napkin. Let us rest assured that, so far
as the Lord's distribution of talents is concerned, we
have received "every man according to his several
ability." When you hear the voice of the Lord, as
you do in His Word, saying: "Son, go work today in
my vineyard," 3 do not follow the course of either of
the sons in the parable, but go cheerfully to work in
the spirit of Peter when he said : "Master, at Thy word
I will let down the net." The barren fig tree4 and its
fate impresses a solemn warning against neglect and
consequent unfaithfulness. On the other hand, the
Savior tells us plainly what is the indispensable condi
tion of a fruitful Christian life:5 "Abide in me. and

'Matth. 25, 14-30. 2Luke 19, 11-27. 'Matth. 21, 28. 4Luke
13, 6-9. "John 15, 4 and 8.

Ch. 12. IN THE GOSPELS. 177
I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye
abide in me. * * * Herein is my Father glorified,
that ye bear much fruit ; so shall ye be my disciples."
The matter of 'Christian stewardship occupies a
large place in mission work. And our Lord gives us
ample instruction on the subject in its application both
to personal service and to the handling of our temporal
possessions. In a general way the Lord inculcates the spirit of
benevolence in the words: "Give, and it shall be given
unto you."1 When He sent out His disciples on their
first preaching tour, He reminded them of the spirit
which should characterize the service, saying2 : "Freely
ye have received, freely give.' It was left for St. Paul
to preserve and record one of the precious words of
Jesus on giving. He bade the elders of the church at
Ephesus "remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how
He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' "3
The all-seeing Lord, we may be sure, is observing our
gifts and offerings today, as, sitting over against the
treasury in Jerusalem one day, He beheld how the peo
ple cast in their contributions.4 His words of praise
in behalf of a poor widow and her two mites show that
the heavenly standard of measurement is not dollars
and cents, but the spirit of love and sacrifice that im
pels to the gift.
One of the besetting sins of human nature and a
'fatal snare to countless souls even among church-mem
bers is covetousness. He who knoweth our frame and
remembereth that we are dust, and who is touched with
a feeling of our infirmities, said : "Beware of covetous-

'Luke 6, 38. 2Matth. 10, 8. "Acts 20, 35. "Mark 12, 41-44.
12

178 MISSION STUDIES.
ness !" And He impressed the warning with the graphic
parable of the rich fool,1 closing with the words: "So
is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not
rich toward God." When a certain young ruler, an
admirable man in his way, turned away sorrowfully
from Jesus, "for he was very rich," Jesus, seeing his
sorrow, said: "How hardly shall they that have riches
enter into the kingdom of God !" 2 "Give an account 'rff
thy stewardship !" is the summons that comes at length
to every mortal man. And when our Lord, in the parable
of the unjust steward,3 says: "Make to yourselves
friends of the mammon of unrighteousness," we under
stand from the context and His other teaching on the
subject that it is done, not by hoarding, or embezzling,
or purloining entrusted funds, nor withholding more
than is meet, which "tendeth to poverty," but by apply
ing our temporal treasure to the advancement of the
Redeemer's kingdom and the winning of souls who will
bear witness to our helpfulness in the everlasting habita
tions. On the other hand, the rich man in hell4 utters
a forceful warning against the form of indifference and
unbelief that leads the rich and well-to-do to squander
their Lord's treasure in self-indulgence and luxurious
living. .The field of work is the world, as our Lord stated
repeatedly in different forms and connections. And it
is "white unto harvest" today, even as it was in His
day.5 Generation after generation has come and gone,
but however long the time of His coming may be de
layed, the word of the Lord will be fulfilled: "This
Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world

'Luke 12, 16-21. 2Luke 18, 24. "Luke 16, 1-9. "Luke 16,
19-31. "John 4, 35.

Ch. 12. IN THE GOSPELS. 179
for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end
come." '
To the Jews of His day, who boasted of their supe
rior privileges and were blind to their true mission,
Jesus spoke many sharp words of rebuke and warn
ing. He referred to the mission of Elijah2 to the
widow of Sarepta, of Sidon, and Elisha's service to
Naaman the Syrian, to the penitent Ninevites and their
missionary Jonah, and to the queen of the South who
came afar to hear the wisdom of Solomon.3 They shall
rise up and shall condemn this unbelieving geenration,
He told them. If, through the ministry of Elijah and
Elisha, of Jonah and Solomon, divine favor was be
stowed upon the Gentiles, how much more, under the
kingdom of Him who is greater than these, shall the
Gentiles be made partakers of His saving grace. On
another occasion He uttered, incidentally, a missionary
thought when He said to them: "Is it not written,
My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the
nations4?" The house which they were desecrating was
intended to be a house of prayer, and that not only
for Jews, but for Gentiles also. Yet these are still re
garded as coming to Jerusalem for instruction, to the
temple for worship, a missionary thought of much less
force and directness than that expressed in the mission
ary command. Christ did not leave His hearers in ignorance of
the fact that the Gospel would be preached to the Gen
tiles, while many of those who were priding themselves
on being children of the kingdom would be rejected on
account of their unbelief and apostacy. For example,

'Matth. 24, 14. 2Luke 4, 25-27. "Matth. 12, 41. 42. "Mark
11, 17. Rev. V.

180 MISSION STUDIES.
in connection with the healing of the centurion's ser
vant at Capernaum, contrasting his great faith with the
prevailing unbelief in Israel, He said1 : "Many shall
come from the East and West, and shall sit down with
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of
heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall be cast
out into outer darkness." To the chief priests and eld
ers of the temple, where Christ was teaching, He said2:
"The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and
given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof."
Later, St. Paul had occasion to speak similar words to
the unbelieving Jews at Antioch, and Corinth, and Rome.
Among the beautiful words of Christ with reference
to the world-wide scope of His redemption are those in
which He speaks of Himself as the good Shepherd,
who lays down His life for the sheep, adding3 : "And
other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them
also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and
there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd." Evidently
He refers to the Gentiles who shall be gathered into
the kingdom. When, in the parable of the great supper,
He speaks of the "highways and hedges"4 beyond "the
streets and lanes of the city," it is plain that He is re
ferring to the conversion of the heathen, which has been
going on ever since.
And what about * the outlook? Is the twentieth
century to complete the evangelization of the world?
Some Christian people grow weary of the perpetual ap
peals for missions and wonder when they will cease.
Some even ask, Is the work worth while? Does it pay?
Perhaps we can do no better than to ask such question-

1 Matth. 8, 11. 12; cf. Luke 13, 29. 2Matth. 21, 43. 'John
10, 16. "Luke 14, 23.

Ch. 12. in THE GOSPELS. 181
ers to look at the matter in the light of the Savior's
words. To the apostles, who, after receiving the Great Com
mission, asked about the restoration of the kingdom to
Israel, Jesus replied1: "It is not for you to know the
times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His
own power." One of the significant words in the par
able of the pounds is : "Occupy till I come." 2 And "of
that day and hour knoweth no man."
It is evident that what the Savior is concerned
about, and what should concern us, is the doing of
God's will while it is day, before the night cometh when
no man can work. And in order that we might work
on hopefully and confidently, He gave us strong en
couragement and precious promises.
Growth in the kingdom of God is not different in
principle from that which obtains in the sphere of
nature around us. "For the earth bringeth forth fruit
of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the
full corn in the ear." 3 So it is, too, in the kingdom of
God. The workers must have patience. They must not
expect to reap where they have not sown, and after
they have sown they must give the seed time to sprout
and bear fruit, waiting upon God and the Word of His
grace to give the increase. The parable of the sower,4
with the Lord's interpretation, teaches us to sow in
hope. There is promise of large fruitage, notwithstand
ing the many impediments and obstacles and we should
not forget that the enemies of Christ and His kingdom
are ever busy, sowing tares and deceiving souls. To
the same effect are the parables of the mustard seed
and the leaven.5 The former illustrates the spread of

'Acts 1, 7. 2Luke 19, 13. "Mark 4, 28. "Luke 8, 5-15.
•Matth. 13, 31-33.

182 mission studies.
the kingdom of God over the earth, as exhibited in the
history of missions to the present day; the latter is aa
illustration of the regenerating and transforming power
of the Gospel in the hearts and lives of men. And both
afford ample encouragement to Christian workers. Our
labor is not in vain in the Lord. His Word shall not
return unto Him void.
And as for the reward of service in the Lord's
cause, every faithful worker knows that there are many
rewards even in this life. There are reflex blessings,
that come to the individual toilers and the churches that
take an active part in mission work. And the Lord
of the harvest has promised an ample reward of grace
to every faithful servant in His kingdom of glory. Un
speakable will be the compensation for all toil and trial,
when we shall hear the commendation1: "Well done,
good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of
thy Lord." And doubtless a large part of that joy in
heaven, in which the angels will take part, and of which
the Lord of glory will be the crowning theme, will be
over sinners redeemed and reclaimed to the glory of
God2. On the occasion of certain Greeks, proselytes, prob
ably, coming up to worship at the feast and desiring to
see Jesus, the Savior spoke these significant words3:
"Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much
fruit." "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all men unto me." In these passages we have
the key to the question why Christ confined His personal
labor to Israel and postponed giving the direct commis
sion until after His resurrection.

'Matth. 25, 23. 'Luke 15, 7. 'John 12, 24 and 98.

Ch. 12. IN THE GOSPELS. 183
Christ, having given His life as a ransom, having
poured out His soul unto death, shall see of the travail
of His soul, shall be satisfied, shall divide the spoil with
the strong.1 The completion of the sacrifice for the
propitiation of the sins of the whole world was necessary
in order to the inauguration of the era of world-wide
missions, the era of universal proclamation of salvation
and universal ingathering of fruit. With this "drawing"
of Christ crucified begins the realization of the universal
ity of salvation, of which the prophets and saints of the
Old Testament spoke and sang. All things are now
ready. And now follows the direct command to pro
claim the good tidings unto the uttermost parts of the
earth. As we close this review of missionary thoughts in
the words of Christ, and by way of transition to a
closer examination of His direct command to the
apostles and the Church of succeeding ages, these words2
of His should have a large place in our thoughts and
meditations :
"The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers
are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest,
that He will send forth laborers into His harvest."
Harvest plenteous — laborers few! That was the
situation in Christ's day. That is the .situation in our
day. It has always been so. The supply of mission
aries and mission workers has never been equal to the
greatness of the possible harvest. Why is it so ? There
is an element of mystery in it which we cannot under
stand, just as there are other questions which the Lord
in His wisdom left unanswered. But still there can be
for devout believers only one answer. The fault of the

'Is. 53, 10-12. 'Matth. 9, 37 and 38.

184 MISSION STUDIES.
shortage of laborers is ours, not the Lord's. It must be
that there is in the Church at large, in Christian con
gregations, and in the lives of individual believers, a
dearth of fervent, importunate, persistent, and prevail
ing prayer. And the serious question that comes to us
is : Are we aware of the dearth, and is it a burden on
our hearts? Perhaps some of us must ask the Savior,
as did the disciples: Lord, teach us to pray! Prayer,
you know, is not saying prayers, reading prayers, mere
ly. This is the grave missionary problem to which our
pastors and teachers and churches should address them
selves with all the earnestness of faith and the ardor
of the love of God.
4. The Great Commission.
The way has been paved. The divine thought of
missions has been presented and developed. Apostles,
missionaries, have been prepared. And then, after
Christ has fully completed the work of redemption
and filled the Gospel with the saving power of His
love and vicarious sacrifice, and He is about to ascend
to the seat of divine power and majesty and universal
dominion, He sends His ministers and heralds forth
into the harvest field of the world, and lays upon the
Church of all succeeding generations and ages the obli
gation to carry on the work of evangelization until
His second advent in glory. How much time has
elapsed, what a long way has been traveled, what in
finite care and patience, forbearance and long-suffering,
have been exercised by the Lord of all before the world
was ready for this golden age of peace and good will
and salvation !
The Great Commission appears as the mature fruit
that has passed through all the natural stages of growth.

Ch. 12. THE GREAT COMMISSION. 185
The point of advance upon the previous words of
Christ is not this, that salvation is to be offered to all
men through the preaching of the Gospel. This had
been clearly stated and taught, first by the prophets and
the providential movements and events of the old dis
pensation, and then more clearly by Christ Himself be
fore His death. But the point of advance, the new de
parture, is this, that now, all things having been pre
pared, and God's set time having come, messengers are
specially sent out, expressly commissioned, to carry this
divine purpose into effect.
The Great Commission appears in the sacred ^
records five times, in different forms of statement and
in somewhat different connections and relations. It was
spoken to the disciples in Jerusalem on the evening of
the resurrection day, and repeated and reaffirmed on
the mountain in Galilee, and on the Mount of Olives just
previous to the ascension. It is both interesting and
profitable to make a careful study of each one of these
records, to compare and combine them.
Three of the evangelists incorporate the words in
their account of that memorable scene in Jerusalem in
the evening of the day of resurrection, when, the doors
being shut where the disciples were assembled for fear
of the Jews, the risen, glorified Redeemer appeared in
the midst of them with the word of greeting and bene
diction: "Peace be unto you!"
Mark has recorded the words of command in this
form: "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel
to every creature (Revised Version: to the whole
creation). He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned." x

1Mark 16, 15 and 16.

186 MISSION STUDIBS.
According to Luke's account the two disciples had
returned from Emmaus and "found the eleven gathered
together, and them that were with them." While they
were rehearsing the wonderful experiences of the day,
the Lord appeared among them with His words of peace.
The thoughts included in the missionary command are
given in this amplified form: "Thus it is written, and
thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the
dead the third day; and that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in His name among all na
tions, beginning at Jerusalem; and ye are witnesses of
these things." *¦
John has given us this illuminating record of the
Lord's words : "Peace be unto you ! As my Father
hath sent me, even so send I you. And when He had
said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them,
Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whosesoever sins ye remit,
they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye
retain, they are retained." 2
Comparing these accounts, we observe that, while
the essential factors of the Great Commission are ex
pressed or implied in all of them, there is a difference in
the grounding of the command — a difference, however,
not antagonistic, but complementary, in full accord with
the general character and purpose of the Gospels.
Christ has laid repeated emphasis on the fact that
His coming and His work of redemption were in ful
filment of the Old Testament prophecies concerning
Him. He reaffirmed it in that solemn evening hour.
And so Luke recorded it. One of the important factors
in the deep and eternal ground of the Commission to
world-evangelization is : The Scriptures must be ful-

'Luke 24, 46-48. 2John 20, 21-23.

Ch. 12. THE GREAT COMMISSION. 187
filled. The provision and offer of salvation are traced
back to the eternal counsels of God's grace, and are in
fulfilment of His promises made of old. "Ye are wit
nesses of these things," the Savior added significantly.
Not merely preachers, but witnesses. They had been
witnesses of the things pertaining to Christ's person
and work, and now they were to be witnesses to Him
and His work of redemption among men. Missionaries
are not merely teachers and preachers, but witnesses,
telling of their own personal knowledge, conviction, and
experience. John has recorded another factor in the divine
ground of the missionary command. The words which
Christ used had occurred in His high-priestly prayer1.
Here the command is based on the authority implied
and embraced in His own mission. The authority of
Christ to send forth apostles is the same as the authority
of the Father in sending Him. And the character of
their commission is the same as that of Christ, namely,
to bear witness unto the truth.
Matthew gives an account of an assembly of dis
ciples, after the resurrection, in Galilee, on "a moun
tain where Jesus had appointed them." The eleven
apostles were there, and probably also those disciples
to whom St. Paul refers in the fifteenth chapter of first
Corinthians, when he states that Christ "was seen of
above five hundred brethren at once." The wording
of the Commission here recorded is the fullest of all,
closing, as it does, with the promise that has sustained
the missionary hosts amid all trials and conflicts. The
words are these: "All power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all

'John 17, 1«.

188 MISSION STUDIES.
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to ob
serve all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And
lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the
world."1 The Lord here grounds His command upon the ful
ness of His own authority and power as Lord and King
in heaven and earth. He who has prepared salvation
has authority to send out heralds to proclaim it. He to
whom is given all authority in heaven and on earth shall
have dominion from sea to. sea, even unto the uttermost
part of the earth. His ambassadors go forth, backed
and supported by His divine authority and power.
They are men, frail and faulty; but theirs is a divine
mission, as they have received a divine commission.
Finally, in Luke's account of the ascension, given
in the first chapter of the Acts, the words occur in this
form: "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy
Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto
me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost part of the earth." The com
mand is here based upon the impelling and sustaining
power of the Holy Spirit promised unto them.
The normal order of development and extension
will always follow the order here indicated : Jerusalem,
all Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth. It was so in
the apostolic age. From the home church as a center,
in the regions round about, and to regions beyond: this
should be the aim of every congregation of Christians.
The Great Commission, so grounded upon the ful
ness of Christ's power, upon the Scriptures, which can-

'Matth. 28, 18-20,

Ch. 12. THE GREAT COMMISSION. 189
not fail, upon the authority inherent in His own mis
sion, and upon the impelling power of the Holy Ghost,
closes with a great promise, which, in view of the great
ness of the task assigned, the difficulty of the work, the
weakness of the instruments and agents, and the num
ber and strength of the enemies to be met, is most need
ful and a source of never-failing encouragement to
Christian workers. "Lo, I am with you alway." In
the language of the day a writer has said: "The Great
Commission is a check on the bank of heaven as truly
as it is a command for the Church on earth." 1 If the
task assigned is stupendous, the resources available and
the promised encouragement are inexhaustible. Lord,
increase our faith and make us more faithful.

'The Holy Spirit in Missions, by Dr. A. J. Gordon.

CHAPTER XIII.
MISSIONARY THOUGHTS IN THE ACTS OF THE
APOSTLES.
i. Introductory Remarks and Reflections.
Here we have a book of such importance in mis
sion study that it may profitably engage the attention
of all Christians, alongside of their devotional reading
of other pertions of the Bible, year in and year out.
We have before us the first and original history of
Christian missions during the apostolic age. And it is
a portion of the inspired Word of God, showing how
the apostles understood and carried out Christ's mis
sionary command. Dr. Warneck has repeatedly, in his
writings, made the suggestion that the Acts would
form the subject of most profitable study and exposi
tion in "Bibelstunden" — midweek services — every two
years. Similarly Ahlfeld, and Gerok.
The name of this history is "Acts of the Apos
tles," a name or title in use at the close of the second
century. It has been more recently called "The Acts
of the Holy Ghost," and "The Acts of Jesus by the
Holy Spirit." Apart from the immediate occasion
and object of the writing, the general or universal aim
of the book may be stated as that of furnishing a divine
record of the planting and the propagation of Christian
ity, the founding and extension of the Church in the
apostolic age; showing what the exalted Savior has
done through His apostles, under the guidance of the
Holy Spirit, to continue the work which He had begun
in His humiliation. (190)

Ch. 13. IN THE ACTS. 191
The theme of the book is stated in the first chap
ter and eighth verse, being a re-statement of the
Great Commission. In the carrying out of this theme
and the general aim of the book there are several strik
ing points to be noted.
We see Christ, as Lord, in and among His people.
For example,1 it is He who fills the vacant apostleship,
sends His Spirit, increases the newly founded congre
gation, makes Saul an obedient servant of His, calls
Paul to Europe, and opens Lydia's heart.
The activity of the Holy Spirit is manifest in the
work. The Lord acts not only through His angel, but
through His Spirit. For example,2 the Holy Spirit im
parts the gift of tongues, works in and through believ
ers, lives in the congregation, directs the apostles, thus
showing the fulfillment of the promise of power.
The narrative covers a brief space of time, but a
large territory. Within a period of thirty years the Gos
pel was preached and heard throughout the length and
breadth of the Roman Empire. Three strategic radiat
ing centers had been established: Jerusalem, Antioch,
and Rome. They were Jewish, Greek, and Roman cen
ters respectively — centers of the three dominating
races of the world of that time.
Three conditions favored the marvelous extension
in so brief a time: The universal rule of the Roman
Empire ; the general use of the Greek language ; and the
wide dissemination of the Old Testament in the Jew
ish synagogues, where the new faith was preached.
It is an uncompleted book. It is the earliest and
oldest missionary history of the Christian Church, a

'Chapter 1, 24; 2, 33; 2, 47; 9, 5ff; 16, 10; 16, 14. 3Ch.
2, 4; 15 28; 16, 6 and 7; 24, 49.

192 MISSION STUDIES.
history begun during the earthly lives of Christ and His
apostles, and continued under His sovereign authority
and the operation of the Holy Spirit until the present
day, and to be continued until the end of time. The
narrative is continued in the many histories, narratives,
and biographies with which church literature has been
enriched. But the book of Acts affords a norm and
guide for all future ages. It exemplifies the providence
of God, the leadership of Christ, and the administra
tion of the Holy Spirit.
2. General Plan and Outline of the Book.
The first chapter is introductory, telling of the
time of preparation, when the disciples were waiting, af
ter the Lord's ascension, for the enduement with power
which He had promised unto them, and recording the
sad fate of Judas, and the choice of Matthias to fill the
vacant place.
The remainder of the book naturally falls into two
main parts, corresponding to the activity of Peter among
the Jews and of Paul among the Gentiles.
The first part, closing with chapter twelve, de
scribes the spreading of the Gospel among the Jews
through Peter, assisted by John, and James, and Philip.
The sphere of action is confined to Palestine. This
part records the history of the Church from its found
ing at Pentecost till, leaving the mother congregation at
Jerusalem, it is ready to begin its career of conquest
among the Gentiles.
There are two periods in this stage of the work,
the transition being marked by the martyrdom of Ste
phen. The leading events of the first period are : The
account of Pentecost and the founding of the Jewish-
Christian church in Jerusalem, the first apostolic mira-

Ch. 13. IN THE ACTS. 193
cle, the first persecution, the first apostacy, the first
church officers, and the first martyr. In the next per
iod, beginning with chapter eight, there is divine prep
aration for mission work among the Gentiles. The
leading events described are : The mission work in
Samaria, an African convert won in the person of an
officer of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, the con
version of Saul, the planting of a church at Joppa, the
conversion of Cornelius, and the admission of Gentiles
into the Church.
The second part, from chapter thirteen to the end
of the book, describes the spreading of the Gospel
among the Gentiles in Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, and
Rome, under the leadership of Paul, assisted by Barna
bas, Silas, Luke, Timothy, Titus, and others. In this
period Christianity throws off its Jewish fetters and be
comes cosmopolitan. We have in this part of the book
the account of Paul's three missionary journeys, of his
experience at Jerusalem, and his captivity at Rome.
We shall now endeavor to gather together the lead
ing missionary thoughts of the book in three groups:
The Church at Jerusalem, the Church at Antioch, and
the Missionary Character and Career of St. Paul.
3. The Church at Jerusalem.
The evangelization of the world was a stupendous
task for a little handful of believers such as we find
gathered together in Jerusalem — about a hundred and
twenty in all. But they continued with one accord in
prayer and supplication, waiting for "the promise of the
Father." The Lord had bidden them wait, "until ye be
clothed with power from on high."1

'Luke 24, 49.
13

194 MISSION STUDIES.
Just before His ascension He reminded them again
of their need of this indispensable equipment. And so
we find them praying and waiting, in humble obedience
and devout resignation. Let us not fail to note that this
very attitude, this frame of soul, is a prime condition
of success in the work of God's kingdom. It applies in
an eminent degree to the minister and missionary in all
his work, at every stage of his career.
These humble believers had before them, under con
sideration, the Great Commission of their Lord.1 It
pointed out the way of the Gospel, from the home cen
ter to the ends of the known world. They were com
missioned to be heralds and witnesses. The latter in
Greek is a term from which our English word "martyr "
is derived. In German, they would be Blutzeugen —
blood-witnesses. Truly, they needed the gift of the Holy
Spirit to give them courage, power, and efficiency in the
work. When the time came to choose a successor to Ju
das, the apostle Peter announced the qualifications that
were required in the candidate.2 In essence, they apply
also to the ministry and mission service. They are two
fold: Christian knowledge — knowing Christ and the
power of His resurrection; and loyalty and faithfulness.
The congregation proposes candidates, and the Lord de
cides between them.3 It is He, then, who fills the vacant
apostleship. And when affairs are conducted properly
today, it is He still who calls ministers and sends forth
missionaries, through the service and agency of the
Church. One of the manifestations of the pentecostal mira
cle was the speaking "with other tongues, as the Spirit

'Ch. 1, 8. "Ch. 1, 21 and 22. 3 Ch. 1, 23-25.

Ch. 13. IN THE ACTS. 195
gave them utterance." x We are reminded of the Sa
vior's words: "Out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaketh." The connection shows that they spoke
in foreign languages. It was a pentecostal prophecy.
The Gospel was to be preached in all languages, among
all nations. Great strides have been made in this direc
tion during the past century. The Bible has been trans
lated, in whole or in part, and is being circulated and
taught in more than four hundred of the languages and
dialects of the world.
The brotherly love and fellowship of the church at
Jerusalem found expression both in spiritual communion
and in community of goods and possessions.2 They
"parted them to all men, as every man had need." It
was only a temporary, not a permanent arrangement. It
was not introduced elsewhere in Christian communi
ties. It was a spontaneous manifestation of brotherly
love under the stress of singular conditions. The mod
ern imitations of it under wholly changed conditions
have naturally proved failures. That early Christian
community is a true and suggestive model for mission
work, particularly in the sphere of inner missions, not in
form and method, but in spirit and principle, an exhibi
tion of the spirit of true brotherhood in Christ, and of
Christ-like service. It is exhibited in many ways in
Christian mission work : in medical missions and chari
ties on the foreign field; and in all spheres and depart
ments of inner missions.
In the sermons preached by Peter in those days
he thrust upon the hearts of his countrymen many
weighty truths touching their privileges and the grave

'Ch, 2 4. Cf. verses 6 and 8. 2Ch. 2, 44-47 ; 4, 32-37.

196 MISSION STUDIES.
account they would have to render. At one time he
reminded them that they were the children of the
prophets and said : "Unto you first God, having raised
up His Son, sent Him to bless you." 1 Unto the Jews
first, but not exclusively. That suggests the privileges
and blessings of the people of God. It is a good text
for the study of a topic that is always timely : Privilege
and Responsibility. To whom much is given, of him
will much be required.
The first trial came upon the apostles while they
were going about fulfilling their mission.2 "As they
spake unto the people," while they were setting forth
the way of salvation and pleading with the people to
accept Christ their Savior, they were arrested and thrown
into prison. Trial came upon them while they were in
the path of duty. So let it be with us, when trials come.
Think of the lives and deaths of John Williams, Bishop
Patteson, the Gordon brothers, and many other mis
sionary martyrs.
At the hearing of the apostles before the Jewish
rulers and elders, Peter made a fine defense when he
said:3 "If we this day be examined of the good deed
done to the impotent man, by what means he is made
whole," and then preceeded to preach Christ to them.
The word here translated, "made whole," is the same
word as that used for salvation, soul-saving. It means
to be delivered, healed, saved. The man was made
whole. He was saved in body and soul. His healing
embraced salvation physical and spiritual. This is a
concrete example of the work of inner missions, Chris
tian and churchly rescue mission work. In this de-

'Ch. 3, 25 and 26. Cf. 2, 39 and 13, 46. Also Rom. 1, 16 ;
Matth. 15, 24 ; John 4, 22. 2Ch. 4, 1-22. 3Ch. 4, 9.

Ch. 13. IN THE ACTS. 197
fense of Peter occurs the passage that should be famil
iar to every Bible reader: "Neither is there salvation
in any other ; for there is none other name under heaven
given among men, whereby we must be saved." That
is the central, fundamental missionary thought of the
New Testament and of the Gospel. Jesus Christ is the
only Savior of men ; and in Him there is salvation for
all men.
Those were dark days of sorrow and depression
that came upon the early Church, when the hypocrisy of
Ananias and Sapphira was exposed and dire punishment
was inflicted.1 The experience teaches us that we must
not look for a state of perfection on earth, even in the
church. There will always be tares among the wheat.
The Gospel net encloses fishes good and bad. The
young pastor and missionary should be forewarned. It
is an example of the candor of the Scriptures in reveal
ing and condemning the sins of those numbered among
the Lord's people. The Lord "searcheth the heart," and
this has reference also to our gifts and offerings. Look
well to the purity of the motive. We learn too, that
severity of judgment is gauged by the measure of grace
and blessing received. And even such trials in the
Church redound to the glory of God. A wholesome fear
fell upon the whole community. It was an earnest warn
ing to many and an incitement to greater watchfulness
and more fervent godliness. This wholesome discipline
was followed by marked growth and extension of the
Church. The time soon came when the work grew beyond
the ability of the apostles to attend to all the tasks, and
spontaneous service of volunteers no longer sufficed.
'Ch. 5, 1-11.

198 MISSION STUDIES.
Then it was that the first apostolic helpers were
appointed1. It was required that they be men of good
reputation, filled with the Holy Spirit, men of wisdom
and practical tact. Today there are about 90,000 native
helpers in Protestant foreign mission fields. The service,
whether in a higher or a lower station, whether apostolic
or diaconal, clerical or lay, is a ministering, a serving. It
is worthy of note that the term used for "ministry of the
Word" in verse four and for "serve tables" in verse two
is the same, the word meaning serving or service, from
which our English words deacon and diaconate are
derived2. One of these lay ministers, Stephen, developed
wonderful gifts and powers.3 This example illustrates
the truth that God distributes talents according to His
own wisdom ; that those who are faithful in lower sta
tions may be advanced to higher ; and that spiritual prep
aration is the main requisite.
Chapter seven is the first chapter in Christian
martyrology. Stephen proved himself a fearless witness
and a forceful preacher of repentance. His end was
marked by victorious faith, calm and joyful hope in
death, and intercession for his enemies. And this first
martyr has had many followers in the history of the
Church and of missions. Illustrious examples are
afforded by the Christians of the first three centuries,
and in modern times by the martyr churches of Mada
gascar and Uganda.
The death of Stephen was followed by the first
general persecution of the Church, It resulted in the
scattering of believers through Judea and Samaria, and

'Ch. 6, 1-6. 'Compare Christ's words, Mark 9, 35. "Ch. 6, 8,

Ch. 13. IN THE ACTS. 199
as far as Greece.1 This may account for the rise of
Christian congregations, without the direct intervention
of the apostles, an Rome, North Africa, Spain, and
France. In this way a crisis was reached in the history of the
Church. God overruling the wrath of man, the perse
cution became a divine preparation for mission work
among the Gentiles. Chapter eight depicts the general
persecution, the activity of Philip, the evangelist,
resulting in the Samaria mission, and the beginning of
an Ethiopian mission. The flight of the scattered
believers was no denial of the faith, but a means of wit
nessing and of spreading the Gospel. One of the most
successful of these lay preachers was Philip, who went
to the city of Samaria and preached Christ, the Messiah,
who had Himself laid the foundation of the work in
that country.
The experience of Philip, and later of the apostles
Peter and John, with Simon the sorcerer is a typical
illustration of one of the fearful evils among the heathen,
namely, superstition and ignorance, imposition and fraud,
sorcery and magic.
While Philip was in the midst of the promising
work in Samaria, the Lord directed him to go toward
the south into a desert — an apparently barren field. It
must have tried his faith when he contrasted the prospect
with the hopeful outlook in Samaria. But he went with
out hesitation, and the result was the baptism of the
Ethiopian eunuch, who had come to Jerusalem to wor
ship, being probably a proselyte of the gate, a heathen
who had been partially won over to the worship of
Jehovah, and was returning to his home in northern

'Ch. 8, 1 and 40; 9, 30; etc.

200 MISSION STUDIES.
Abyssinia, or the present Nubia. It is a sacred and
solemn lesson for candidates of theology and missionary
candidates : Go zuhither the Lord calls or sends you.
In the ninth chapter we meet the two great apostles :
Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, in the school of prepa
ration and in the early stage of his career; and Peter,
the apostle to the Jews, in the midst of his life's mission.
We can stop only a moment to draw a practical lesson
from Saul's conversion. It is an illustration of the power
of divine grace. Where sin abounded, grace did much
more abound. We might compare with this conquest of
the Lord the conversion of Augustine and the great
work he performed as the foremost theologian of his
day. There is in such triumphs of grace encouragement
for the pastor, and the missionary, and every Christian
worker. We should not give up too readily, but should
hope and pray for and patiently go after the wayward,
the backslidden, the fallen, and the lost.
In the vision that came to Peter, and the conversion
of Cornelius, the Roman centurion, which followed, we
note events of epochal importance for the continuation
and progress of apostolic missions. Peter's baptism of
the first heathen was a point of transition to direct mis
sion work among the heathen. For the preparation of
the apostles for this world-wide enterprise there was
needed, in addition to the missionary command of Christ,
or rather, for its interpretation and full exposition, the
removal of Jewish prejudice that clung even to the
apostles. Peter, the first missionary to the Gentiles,
introduced the work for which St. Paul, in particular,
was called. While Peter was wondering what the strange vision
might mean, messengers from Csesarea appeared at the
gate, seeking an interview with the apostle. Here we

Ch. 13. IN THE ACTS. 201
have a luminous example of providential guidance, in the
conjunction of inner suggestion, spiritual preparation,
readiness on the part of the agent, the missionary, and
of the external event, opportunity, paving of the way, and
opening of doors. It has been repeated in the history of
missions in every period and on many fields.
The apostle to the Jews learned that he "should
not call any man common or unclean" — religiously ostra
cized.1 Christian service is to be rendered to the lowliest
and even to1 the lowest, whether they be found among the
brutalized heathen or in the slums and moral cesspools
of the great city. In congregational circles, too, social
differences should be minimized, not magnified and
fostered. The great lesson taught through this vision is, that
God is no respecter of persons.2 He regards the heart,
not the person, that is, external conditions, rank, social
standing, learning, wealth, and the like. Truly, it was by
divine inspiration that Peter declared: "Of a truth I
perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every
nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness
is accepted with Him."
The great truth here expressed has been greatly mis
understood by many, owing, in part, to the faulty trans
lation of the Authorized Version.
The word is not "accepted with Him," but accept
able to Him — Sexi-os at™, that is, he does not need to
undergo circumcision, etc., but may be admitted directly,
by baptism, into the communion of the Christian Church.
The text speaks of persons who are acceptable as cate
chumens and candidates for baptism.
Who is thus acceptable to God? He who feareth God

'Ch. 10, 28. 2Ch. 10, 34 and 35. Compare James 2, 1-9.

202 MISSION STUDIES.
and worketh righteousness, not in the full sense of the
Gospel of the grace of God, but incipierniy, according to
the light possessed, the light of grace received, who is
religiously earnest, longing for salvation, hungering after
righteousness. Some knowledge of revealed truth is
necessary to this end. A common misinterpretation of
this text construes it as though it meant that civic
righteousness and religious earnestness would insure the
salvation of Jew or Gentile, whatever his particular
belief. 1 Such an interpretation is very hasty and super
ficial, in opposition to the whole procedure here recorded,
as well as to all Scripture and the analogy of faith. But
this passage, rightly interpreted, is a powerful missionary
text, a truth new to the Jews and to the heathen:
Equality of all men before God?
It took some time for Jewish Christians to become
reconciled to the idea of receiving Gentiles into the
Church and of associating with them as religiously their
equals. Fault was found with Peter on this score, when
he returned to Jerusalem.3 His account of his dealing
with men uncircumcised is a model of an apology and
self-defense. Note Peter's meekness and humility. He
does not resent the questioning of his brethren. He
makes no appeal to his apostolic dignity. There is in
his conduct graceful recognition of the rights of the
brethren, even when they are in the wrong. A most
important lesson for the minister and missionary : Try
to eliminate oversensitiveness. Accept rebuke and cor
rection. Cultivate calmness and consideration in rebuttal.
Notice the source and secret of Peter's firmness and
decision. Who was I — as against God? The Lord has

'Cf. Warneck, Mission in der Schule, chapter IV. 'Com
pare Acts, 17, 26; Rom. 2, 11. "Ch. 11, 1-18.

Ch. 13. IN THE ACTS. 203
spoken — (in the vision; by direct behest of the Holy
Spirit, v. 12; in deed and truth in the house of Cor
nelius) — that is final. That was the secret of Luther's
"stubbornness" at Marburg when, in his controversy
with Zwingli, he wrote on the table the words of Christ :
"This is my body."
4. The Church at Antioch.
Among the believers who were scattered far and
wide by the persecution there were both Jewish and
Gentile Christians. They carried on what may be
called lay mission work on an extensive scale.1 Some
travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch,
"preaching the Word to none but unto the Jews only."
They were Jewish Christians who had not yet overcome
their ceremonial prejudices. Others, men of Cyprus
and Cyrene, also came to Antioch, and they (Hellen
ists, of Gentile extraction, doubtless) preached the Lord
Jesus unto the Grecians. This was the entering wedge
for the formation of stubborn factions in the new
church at Antioch, and the contention caused no little
trouble before it was settled.
When tidings of the incipient mission at Antioch
came to the ears of the church at Jerusalem,2 they
sent Barnabas thither as missionary. He, good man
that he was, "full of the Holy Ghost and of faith," felt
the need of efficient assistance, and he sought out Saul
at Tarsus, and brought him along to Antioch. And
these two able leaders served a whole year in this rap
idly growing church, and here it was that the term
"Christians" was first applied to the disciples of Christ.
Let us note, in passing, the pure-mindedness, the art-
lessness, the noble Christian spirit of Barnabas. He was

^h. 11, 19-21. 'Ch. 11, 22-2C.

204 MISSION STUDIES.
instrumental in starting Paul upon his career as the di
vinely chosen missionary and apostle to the Gentiles.
And though Paul surpassed him in gifts and perform
ance, there was no selfish interest, no suspicion or car
nal rivalry between them, though they did disagree later
on as to John Mark's fitness for the mission service.1
That the spirit of benevolence was fostered at An
tioch is shown by the fact that, in a season of famine,
the church sent relief to the brethren in Judea. They
sent their contributions to the elders by the hands of
Barnabas and Saul.
It was just at this time, too, that Herod, the king,
took it into his haughty head to vex and oppress the
Christians. He beheaded the apostle James and threw
Peter into prison. But His high-minded tyranny was
of short duration. In him were fulfilled the words of
the second psalm: "He that sitteth in the heavens shall
laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision." He who
"gave not God the glory" — "was eaten of worms."
"The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much," writes St. James.2 And our Lord spoke
precious words of promise touching the efficacy of be
lieving prayer on the part of the individual suppliant, of
two agreeing and uniting in supplication, and of believ
ers gathered together in a congregation, whether large
or small. We find a striking example of it here. Her
od, the proud and pompous monarch, was "intending"
— he had in mind large plans for the morrow — but
meanwhile the threatened Christians were gathered to
gether praying unto God, the God of all power and
might. And we know the result.3

'Ch. 15, 37-40. 'James 5, 16. 3Ch. 12, 21-23.

Ch. 13. IN THE ACTS. 205
We should not fail to reflect on this striking con
trast: Herod intending; the believers praying.
Man proposes, but God disposes. Men plan and
plot, but the Lord reigns and is not mocked. Was
there a connection between these earnest and importu
nate prayers of the Church and Peter's miraculous de
liverance? In the light of Scripture, and of church and
missionary history, there can be no doubt about it. Con
template, in this connection, the experience and work
of such men as Louis Harms, the Lutheran pastor in
the Lueneburg heath, Gossner of Berlin, George Muel
ler of Bristol, Loehe of Neuendettelsau, and many oth
ers — men of prayer and of power.1
Barnabas and Saul returned from their mission of
benevolence at Jerusalem and continued their work at
Antioch. With them were associated a number of oth
er able teachers.
A missionary era was inaugurated in this congre
gation one day, when through the operation of the Holy
Spirit the church was directed to send out Barnabas and
Saul into regions beyond.2 With the prayer and bless
ing of the church upon them, and a praying congrega
tion back of them, these first foreign missionaries in
the strict sense of the term were commissioned for the
work of the Gospel among the heathen.
To this congregation they returned after a season,
and made their first missionary report.3 It is a model
in its way. They reported what God had done, "with
them," through them as agents, seeing that from Him

'Read, on this general topic, Dr. A. C. Thompson's fine
lecture (VIII.) on "Prayer for missions answered," in his
Foreign Missions. Also a chapter on "Answers to prayer" in
the New Acts of the Apostles, Pierson, p. 352. 2Ch. 13, 2 and 3.
'Ch. 14, 27.

206 MISSION STUDIES.
comes all power, all success, and that to Him belongs all
glory, and how much God had done. The results, small
apparently, were full of promise, for they were the be
ginnings, the laying of foundations. So it is in all mis
sionary undertakings.
Factional strife was fomented in the vigorous
church at Antioch by the advent, one day, of certain
Jewish Christians from Judea.1 They insisted on cir
cumcision after the manner of Moses as a condition of
salvation for all men. It was a momentous question,
and it had to be settled once for all. It was every way
worth while to send a deputation to Jerusalem for the
purpose of conferring with the apostles and elders
about the question. And it soon became apparent that
among the believers in the mother church there were
people of influence who fully agreed with the Judaiz-
ing party at Antioch.
The question involved fundamental truths of the
Gospel and the very life and stability of Christianity.
The momentous alternative was : Moses or Christ? It
involved, among other things, the missionary question,
whether Christianity was to become the universal relig
ion which it was designed to be, or whether it was to
become a Jewish sect. After mature and calm delib
eration, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, wise and
evangelical counsel prevailed, circumcision and other
ceremonial laws of the Old Testament were declared to
be no longer binding on consciences, and Christian
workers felt encouraged to go on with the blessed work
of spreading the Gospel among Jews and Gentiles alike
and gathering them into peaceable and united Christian
churches.

'Ch. 15, 1-35.

Ch. 13. SAINT PAUL THE MISSIONARY. 207
5. The Missionary Character and Career of St.
Paul. The second part of the Acts describes with con
siderable fulness the experience and work of St. Paul,
the greatest of Christian missionaries. We cannot be
gin to mention in order the multitude of missionary
thoughts with which these pages are crowded. Rather
shall we attempt to summarize the leading points in a
rapid review of the apostle's career and of the charac
teristics that made him such a successful missionary.
Paul was different from the other and earlier
apostles of the Lord in this, that he was not an "unlearn
ed" man, who had never had preliminary education
al advantages, but was a man of learning and cul
ture, who had enjoyed thorough intellectual training.
He had sat at the feet of Gamaliel, one of the most cele
brated Jewish teachers of the time. He had been in
structed "according to the perfect manner of the law of
the fathers." Paul's journey to Damascus and his miraculous con
version on the way marked the turning point in his
eventful life. His surrender and submission to Christ
were complete. "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?"
he said. And from that moment he never wavered in
his allegiance and devotion to the King of kings.
"He is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name
before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Is
rael."1 This word of the Lord, spoken of Paul, re
minds us of the words He addressed to the other apos
tles : "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you."
This is true of every Christian and missionary worker:
chosen by His grace to be His, and to be a worker for

Ch. 9, 15. Compare Gal. 1, 1. 15. 16 ; Eph. 3, 1-8.

208 MISSION STUDIES.
Him. Here we are reminded, too, of the importance
of securing the proper men for mission work. ' The
boards act wisely in maintaining high standards of ad
mission to service.1 Do not fail to recall and act on the
Savior's behest : "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the
harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harv
est." Paul's sphere of labor was assigned him by the
Lord who called him. It was the Gentile world, in par
ticular, though it did not exclude service among the
Jews. And so the apostle declared himself to be a debt
or both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians, the wise
and the foolish.2 On his extended tours he established
mission stations and congregations wherever possible,
selecting the larger cities and centers of population,
from which the Gospel might spread to the regions
round about.
In the selection of fields Paul was implicitly obe
dient to the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit.3
And so he was forbidden to go in one direction that he
had chosen, while the way was opened into a larger field
of which he had not thought. This "geographical plan"
of missions, as indicated by the Lord in His providence
and by special revelation, included such centers as An
tioch, the capital of Syria, Philippi, the chief city of
Macedonia, Corinth, the capital of Achaia, Ephesus, the
capital of Proconsular Asia, and Rome, the capital of
the Empire. The history of missions is full of in
stances of providential guidance and intervention. For
example, in spite of the vehement desire and prolonged
efforts of Louis Harms to begin work among the Gal-

' The Foreign Missionary, by A. J. Brown, chapter IV.
'Rom. 1, 14. 3Ch. 16, 6-10.

Ch. 13. SAINT PAUL THE MISSIONARY. 209
las, the missionaries were deflected to South Africa, and
their work among the Zulus and the Bechuanas has been
richly blest. Judson meant to labor in India, and ac
tually arrived at Calcutta, but his course was changed,
and he became the "apostle of Burma." Livingstone
wished to devote his life to China, but through the in
tervention of the London Missionary Society, he was
sent to Africa and became the great explorer and one
of the most inspiring pioneer missionaries of the Dark
Continent. The three missionary tours of St. Paul should be
familiar to all students and Bible readers. The first
(chapter 13, 2 to 14, 28) covered a small circuit
through Asia Minor and consumed a little more than a
year. The second (chapter 15, 36 to 18, 22), lasting a
little less than three years, took the apostle over into
Macedonia and resulted in the establishment of missions
and congregations in Europe. The third (chapter 18,
23 to 21,14), requiring nearly four years, of which two
were spent at Ephesus, enabled the apostle to confirm
and strengthen the established churches and to expand
the sphere of Christian influence.
The only means of which the apostle availed him
self for the planting and extension of the kingdom of
God was the Word of God, the Gospel of Christ, of
which He was not ashamed, but in which he gloried.
He knew how to apply the Word to different hearers.
In preaching to the Jews he drew from the Scriptures
the proof that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah prom
ised by the prophets. When he addressed the Gentiles
he preached concerning the living God, the Creator, in
contrast to their idols, of true worship, and the one way
of salvation through Christ.1 And when he was away
'Ch. 13, 33-37; 14, 15ff.; 17, 22ff.

210 MISSION STUDIES.
in distant parts and could not address his people by
word of mouth, he instructed and exhorted them by let
ter. In this form — the epistles of the New Testa
ment — he is still teaching the Church and confirming
believers in the faith.
The aim he kept in view was the establishment of
self-supporting congregations. To this end he had a
care of all the churches and sought to provide them
with shepherds, pastors of their own, who should build
them up and enable them to spread the knowledge of
the Gospel in their communities.1
The need of evangelists and pastors imposed upon
the tireless missionary the task of training helpers and
fellow zvorkers. Timothy and Titus, Silas and Luke,
and some thirty others were won in this way for the pas
torate and mission service. At one time Paul had seven
of these young candidates in his company. It was a
peripatetic missionary seminary.
St. Paul is a model in endurance amid trials and suf
ferings. Like every missionary he met much opposition
and many obstacles in the work. Often his experience
could be described in the words : "A great door and ef
fectual is opened unto me, and there are many adver
saries." Such conflicts call for men of God who are
fearless, men of courage and indomitable perseverance.
Such a man was Paul, and there are many examples in
the history of modern missions.2 When tumults arose,
and their lives were in peril, the apostle and his fellow

'They were called elders, ch. 14, 23, or bishops ch. 20, 17
and 28. 2For example, Ramseyer, the Basel missionary at Ku-
massie, the capital of Ashanti; and John G. Paton in the New
Hebrides.

Ch. 13. SAINT PAUL THE MISSIONARY. 211
workers bore persecution or fled, as duty dictated.1 At
one time, when unjustly punished, Paul appealed to his
rights of Roman citizenship.3 The messengers of the
Prince of peace, like other citizens, have a just claim
upon the protection of "the powers that be." Mission
aries must be ready to suffer innocently, to endure much
in silence, but they are not bound to suffer every wrong
and injustice without protest. They may use their po
litical rights for their defense, when such defense, as in
the case of Paul, is advantageous to the cause of the
Gospel. At another time there was opposition on the part
of those whose traffic in idol shrines seemed to be
threatened by the new doctrine. This experience has
been frequently repeated in the history of missions. For
example, godless traders in seaports and the South Sea
Islands; various colonial governments, as for instance,
King Leopold and Belgium in the Congo Free State,
and the recent encroachments of the French upon the
rights of the mission churches in Madagascar.
During the two years' imprisonment of the busy
missionary at Csesarea, the interim of comparative idle
ness and cessation of missionary operations must have
tried the apostle's patience, though he embraced every
opportunity to bear witness of Christ and win converts
for Him. Such seasons of rest and withdrawal from
the stirring scenes of life's toil and turmoil serve to test,
develop, and strengthen the Lord's servants. Such was

'An application to present conditions : "If missionaries in
China could do no dood by staying in interior towns during the
Boxer troubles, and only imperilled the Chinese converts by re
maining, it was their duty, following Paul's example, to leave."
Speer's Missionary Principles and Practice, p. 262. Acts 13, 50.
51; 14, 5; 9, 25. 2Ch. 16, 37-39.

212 MISSION STUDIES.
the experience of Joseph in prison, Moses in Midian,
Elijah in the desert, John the Baptist in prison, and
Luther at the Wartburg.
The Lord had said of His chosen servant: "I will
show him how great things he must suffer for my name's
sake." And St. Paul learned to regard his sufferings
in that light.1
If, in conclusion, we inquire into the power of St.
Paul as a missionary, we learn that several vital fac
tors constitute the secret of his success. For one thing,
he was certain of his call.2 He was a minister of
Christ, and he went wherever the Lord sent him. That
consciousness and certainty sustained him in every trial.
He had abiding faith in Christ. His farewell address3 to
the elders of the church at Ephesus affords glimpses
into the personal life and faith of the apostle as well as
his missionary principles and methods. And coupled
with his faith was his profound love to his Lord, the
blessed Redeemer of men. "The love of Christ con-
straineth us."4 That was the impelling motive of all his
undertakings, as it is the true and perpetual motive of
the entire missionary enterprise. And St. Paul was a
man of prayer, as his epistles abundantly show. Real
izing his own weakness and insufficiency, he was strong
in the Lord and in the power of His might.
When, at length, the apostle landed in Rome as a
prisoner for Christ and the Gospel's sake, he was not
idle during the two years of his rather mild form of
incarceration. His missionary activity reached out to
the Christians and the heathen in the metropolis. The
message of Christ penetrated even into the imperial cir-

'Read 2 Cor. 4, 8-18; 11, 23-33. '1 Cor. 9, 16. 17. sCh.
20, 17-35. 42 Cor. 5, 14.

Ch. 13. EXCURSUS ON THE EPISTLES. 213
cles. In addition to this oral testimony the apostle was
also engaged in literary activity, carrying on mission
work by correspondence. During this time he wrote
his letters to the Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, and
to Philemon. Whether the earthly career of the great apostle to
the Gentiles ended with this imprisonment at Rome, or
whether, having been set free after two years, he made
another missionary tour, as tradition tells, to Spain, is
still a debated question among scholars. The book
would end abruptly in either case. The missionary nar
rative is continued in the history of post-apostolic, me
dieval, and modern missions.
Excursus on the Epistles.
In our studies of the missionary thoughts in the
Gospels and the Acts frequent reference has been made
to the epistles. The latter, growing out of the mission
ary activity of the apostles, are naturally full of mis
sionary thoughts. We shall not extend our studies into
that field, but must be content with a general reference
to its fruitfulness particularly from a dogmatical and
ethical point of view.
The epistles explain and apply the doctrines of sal
vation. And these doctrines, as they are gathered from
the Gospel of Christ, involve in their very nature fun
damental missionary thoughts. By studying these doc
trines of salvation and the duties involved in them we
obtain what may be called the dogmatical and ethical
ground of missions.
According to the Word of God the Christian re
ligion has a universal character, a breadth and scope, a
sweep and destiny, such as attaches to no other relig
ion. Even those non-Christian religions which, like

214 MISSION STUDIES.
Mohammedanism and Buddhism, have exhibited a kind
of missionary character, lack the very essential elements
which make Christianity the absolute and final religion
for all mankind, and hence the world-wide missionary
religion.1 Christianity has lost its essential character, and
Christians have ceased to be such except in name, when
they have lost faith in the Bible as the perfect, the only
adequate, and the completed revelation of God touching
the salvation of mankind.
Because of the world-embracing character of the
divine revelation, the Gospel is a missionary power, and
Christianity is a missionary religion. The truth that
there is salvation from sin and death in none other but
Christ is not an incidental attachment, but an essential
element of the Gospel. Accordingly the Christian re
ligion must be intended for all mankind, and Christian
ity is required, in accordance with its very nature, to
carry on a world-wide missionary enterprise. And hence
it is that the Gospel of Christ contains a missionary com
mand that lays this obligation as a sacred heritage, a
royal privilege, upon the Church. The last command of
Christ may be said to be one of the leading missionary
motives. But to be really effective, in the spirit of the
Gospel, it must be rightly understood in its setting in
the Gospel and its place in the Christian life. It is some
times unwisely urged as a motive, in a legalistic spirit
that is quite opposed to the Gospel.
The "marching orders" abide in full force not as
an optional thing, a matter of preference or indifference,
but as a royal command, the behest of the Captain of
our salvation. But they are given to disciples who have
"the mind of Christ." These disciples, in possession of

'Cf. Warneck, Missionslehre I, p. 82ff.

Ch. 13. EXCURSUS ON THE EPISTLES. 215
the riches of Christ, have within their hearts the de
sire and impulse to bear witness of Christ. This is, af
ter all, the telling, the true and reliable motive. In oth
er words, the Gospel is a missionary power and would
impel to mission work, even though Christ had not giv
en the explicit missionary command. The fact that He,
the great Teacher, gave the command, shows that it is
not superfluous. Christians need it in order to under
stand more fully the Lord's will, and because of the in
firmities of the flesh.
Take for example, the doctrine of sin. This doc
trine is not popular today. It is practically ruled out
of consideration from many pulpits and churches. But
these only add their testimony to the prevalence and
the fearful ravages of sin. All men have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. Sin is in the world,
and death by sin. Without the Gospel of the grace of
God mankind is involved in helpless, hopeless ruin. Those
who laugh at this doctrine as old fogyism, an exploded
theory of antiquity, see no need of missions and have no
use for them. That is as natural as it is pitiable. But
those who believe the Biblical doctrine of sin, and have
themselves been saved by grace, are bound and impelled
in proportion to the reality and the intensity of their
conviction and experience, to extend a helping hand to
those who are perishing in sin.
There are those who endeavor to minimize the
faults and evils of heathenism and to magnify the vir
tues of their religions and their ethical and philosophi
cal systems. It is a fruitless and a thankless task. The
testimony of trustworthy witnesses, Christian scholars,
missionaries, travelers, and officials, to the evils of
heathenism and the insufficiency and failure of all non-
Christian religions is convincing and overwhelming. To

216 MISSION STUDIES.
give but a single one out of hundreds, note what John
R. Mott says on the basis of his own extended observa
tion: "The need of the non-Christian world is indescrib
ably great. * * * See under what a burden of sin
and sorrow and suffering they live. Can any candid
person doubt the reality of the awful need after review
ing the masterly, scientific survey by Dr. Dennis of the
social evils of the non-Christian world? No one who
has seen the actual conditions can question that they who
are without God are also without hope."1 "Having no
hope, and without God in the world." Those to whom
this is a true description of heathenism will be impelled
to activity by the missionary motive that filled the heart
of Christ when He said : "I have compassion on the mul
titude, because they are as sheep having no shepherd."
So we may study the missionary thoughts involved
in the doctrine of the Church.
The Church is the divinely established institution
for the propagation of Christianity. This is its plain
and distinctive mision. There are voluntary and
arbitrary societies of men who unite for certain pur
poses and arrogate to themselves the performance of
functions which properly belong to the Church. The
Church, from the standpoint of its essential character,
is the communion or congregation of true believers in
Christ. Wherever these gather about the administra
tion of the divinely appointed means of grace, the Word
of God and the sacraments, Holy Baptism and the
Lord's Supper, there the Church appears as the congre-

'The Evangelization of the World in this Generation, p. 17.
Cf. Christian Missions and Social Progress, by Dennis, Vol. I;
Non-Christian Religions of the World, papers by Muir, Legge,
and others; and Religions of Mission Fields as viewed by Mis
sionaries.

Ch. 13. EXCURSUS ON THE EPISTLES. 217
gation or association of men for the performance of
the work which the Lord has given His people to do.
That work consists in spreading the leaven of the Gospel
throughout the earth and thus building up and extending
the kingdom of God in all the world ; in making disciples,
winning souls for Christ, and gathering them into
churches for the maintenance and continuation of the
work. "The Word of God increased, and the number
of the disciples multiplied," is the condensed record of
the work in the apostolic Church.
The Church is misionary by birth: it is the pro
duct of missionary effort and has an inborn mission
ary character. The Church is missionary by appoint
ment : this is implied in many passages of Scripture
and expressly stated in the Great Commission. The
Church is missionary by inner necessity : self-preser
vation demands it. Propagation in order to perpet
uation of life is an organic law in all the realms of
living creatures, in nature and in grace. By scatter
ing, the seed is increased; by giving, new blessings are
received; by laboring, health is conserved and life pro
longed. In accordance with this principle of life and
growth the churches that actively engage in mission
work enjoy reflex blessings which they would otherwise
forego. In a similar manner all the fundamental truths of
salvation have a direct bearing upon the missionary
enterprise. We will close, however, with a brief refer
ence to Christ's second advent and the final judgment.
Both presuppose the universal offer of salvation by the
preaching of the Gospel throughout the world. Christ
expressly states that before the end of the world, when
He shall come again to judge the quick and the dead,
there shall be a world-wide proclamation of the Gospel

218 MISSION STUDIES.
for a witness unto all nations. According to the uniform
teaching of Scripture the interval of time elapsing be
tween His return to the Father and His second advent
in the glory of heaven to exercise the authority of Judge
of those whom He has redeemed, is the period of mis
sions, the time for working while it is day — the day of
grace, before the night of the judgment descends to
usher in the eternal day of the Church Triumphant, the
kingdom of glory.
In this, as in other topics, it is only a source of
weakening and loss to allow speculative questions to
thrust themselves in and encroach upon and gradually
reduce and enfeeble the work which the Lord of the
harvest and the Judge of all has laid upon His Church
as an urgent and an indispensable task — that of preach
ing the Gospel of the kingdom in all the world for a
witness unto all nations.

III. The Purpose and Aim of Missions.

CHAPTER XIV.
THE CHIEF AND DOMINATING AIM.
Much confusion prevails on this topic in missionary
literature, owing to misapprehension of the true purpose
of Christian missions as also to divergent meanings at
tached to terms and phrases that are used. This makes
it all the more imperative to examine the subject care
fully so as to distinguish properly between the aim and
the results of missions, between what is essential and
what is incidental, between the chief blessings of Christ's
redemption which abide forever and its subsidiary bless
ings which are temporal.
i. The Real Aim of Missions is Salvation from
Sin and Death.
This is old-fashioned doctrine that seems out of
date when compared with the pretentious aims and
claims of some treatises on modern "Christian Social
ism." But we prefer to live and die by "the preaching
of the cross,"1 as we are firmly convinced that the mis
sionary enterprise will live and thrive upon it, while
it will perish without it. The salvation which Christ
came to accomplish for mankind has reference to the
whole man, body and soul, in time and for eternity. It
does not ignore the ills and aches, the needs and in-

'Read and meditate upon the first chapter of St. Paul's
first letter to the Corinthians. (219)

220 MISSION STUDIES.
. firmities, to which man is subject in this world "that
lieth in wickedness." But neither does it obscure or
belittle the more tremendous and enduring issues that
hinge upon the reality of death and a judgment to come.
These stern realities of the soul and of eternity are, in
fact, the main issues. If these are rightly attended to,
the other matters will not fail to be provided for.
How is. the aim to be determined? In such an all
important matter as this we are not left at the mercy of
the faulty judgment of man and the varying fashions
and foibles of passing generations. If Christianity
means anything, the aim of the missionary enterprise
must be determined once for all by the mission and re
demptive work of Christ Himself. True to the name
Jesus, given Him by angelic messenger, He came to
seek and to save that which was lost. The Scriptures
must be twisted altogether out of their true meaning
and intent to make this and countless other passages of
like import refer merely or mainly to the losses and the
burdens and the oppressions that men are suffering in
temporal things. Sin, and the ravages of sin, and the
consequences of sin, are realities which no sophistry or
philosophy will ever dispose of.
The mission of Christ was to plant and extend the
kingdom of God on the earth — that kingdom which is
not of this world, which "is not meat and drink, but
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."1
And the chief mission of the Church is the extension
of this kingdom of Christ throughout the earth.
The missionary command of Christ makes it plain
what God's will is in this respect, namely, to make Christ
as the only Savior and Lord2 known to all the people of
the world, to win them, if' possible, as His disciples, and
'John 18, 36 ; Rom. 14, 17. 2Acts 4, 12.

Ch. 14. THE AIM OF MISSIONS. 221
make them heirs together of the grace of life, the spirit
ual and eternal life that is in Christ Jesus. This is the
general aim of missions, as presented in Christ's in
structions to His Church. And the Acts and the epistles
of the New Testament show how the apostles under
stood the command and how they carried it out. Any
candid student of these books will be led to the conclus
ion which a writer, at the close of a somewhat extend
ed examination of the sacred text, states in these words :
"The aim of the apostles was the establishment, in as
many and as important centers as possible, of self-gov
erning, self-supporting, and self-extending churches." 1
2. The Aim More Carefully Defined and Ex
plained. Much energy has been vainly spent, much unpro
fitable controversy has been carried on, much unwhole
some and unfruitful enthusiasm has been aroused by
arguments and in articles and addresses in which terms
and phrases were vaguely used, without any clear ap
prehension of their meaning, or in which, at different
times, the same terms were used with entirely different
meanings. It becomes necessary, therefore, to be ex
plicit and precise in the use of expressions and to de
fine the aim of missions so carefully that it cannot be
misunderstood. We will confine our attention here to a single word
of the missionary command as it is found in the last
chapter of Matthew. It is a word that is far-reaching
and full of meaning, namely, to "make disciples." "Go
ye, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, bap
tizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all

'Apostolic and Modern Missions, by Chalmers Martin, p 37.

222 MISSION STUDIES.
things, whatsoever I commanded you."1 According to
this passage the missionary task is to make disciples of
Christ, and to do so by administering Christian baptism
under proper conditions and continuing the instruction
according to needs and opportunities. Plainly, the work
of discipling is a continued procedure which, under
ordinary conditions, will require considerable time. It
is not a work that can be quickly performed by a single
act, but it is a progressive occupation that implies pa
tient and long continued instruction.
A careful study of this text and a comparison with
parallel passages will surely lead us to agree with Dr.
Warneck when, as the result of a thorough, exegetical
study of the word, he states that "discipling" means "to
persuade men to put themselves under the influence of
Jesus as their Teacher and Savior and to yield more
and more to this influence upon their faith and upon
their life, until they grow into full discipleship." Again,
he says : "As defining the missionary task, (m6i)Teitw
virtually means to make Christians of non-Christians.
To Christianize is the most characteristic designation
of the, missionary task of making disciples." 2
There is much confusion and unclearness among
many authors of missionary articles and treatises in
the use of the words evangelisation and Christianiza
tion. At times they are used with a distinction, as
though evangelization meant less than Christianization,
and as though a hasty and superficial announcement of
the Gospel would suffice its requirements; and again
they are used interchangeably. In order to avoid con
fusion and unfair judgments and criticisms it is of

'American Revised Version. "Missionslehre III, 1, p. 201ff,

Ch. 14. THE AIM OF MISSIONS. 223
prime importance in any discussion that the terms used
be clearly defined and understood.
Now, with reference to the terms under considera
tion, it appears that Biblical usage justifies us in regard
ing and employing the words evangelize and Christian
ize as practical equivalents, that the work of missions
and the lessons taught by the history of missions support
this view, and that misconceptions and confusion will
be avoided by so employing the words. The word evan
gelize means, according to its derivation, to tell good
news, to preach the Gospel. It is so used in many pas
sages of the New Testament. And when it is employed
as a missionary aim, it has no other meaning or intent
than our Savior had when, in His great command, He
used the word discipling, or to make disciples of, to
designate in general the main task, the aim and end
of the preaching of the Gospel to every creature and un
to the ends of the earth. Disciples of Christ are Christ
ians, now as of old, when "the disciples were called
Christians first in Antioch." The purpose and aim is
always the same, whether we speak of preaching the
Gospel, Evangelizing, making disciples, or making
Christians, Christianizing. The aim is to win souls for
Christ, to gather men out of the kingdom of nature into
the kingdom of grace, the kingdom of Christ.
There is just as little justification for the use of
the term evangelization in a superficial sense, as though
it meant a hurried announcement of the good tidings
of salvation without regard to permanent results, as
there is for the use of the word Christianization,1 as

'Dr. Warneck (Missionslehre III, 1.) summarizes the re
sults of his very elaborate treatment of the topic in these words :
"By the term 'Christianization of the nations' we accordingly un
derstand not a general conversion of the world, but such a

224 ' MISSION STUDIES.
though it implied a finished product, a Christianity com
plete and fully matured. True Christianity is a growth,
a continued struggle, a progressive triumph over sin
and evil.2 Mission work, as the work of evangelization
or Christianization, must be a thorough, not a slipshod,
haphazard work. It must lay strong foundations for
the future and, from the outset, have an eye to perman
ence. The time comes when, in particular fields, the
mission work, as it had hitherto been carried on, ceases,
while the work of Christianization goes on.
When will the end of the work of foreign missions
be reached? We use the word "end" here in the sense
both of the ultimate goal and of the close of operations.
The end is reached when the mission congregations have
become self-supporting, self-governing, self-extending
churches. When the native Christians in any field,
larger or smaller, have become strong enough in their
corporate capacity, as native churches3 to carry on the
work of the Gospel independently of the support and
direct intervention of the home churches, and to do this
safely, maintaining their own ministry, and themselves

general offer of salvation as will enable all the people of all
nations to accept it, inasmuch as the seed of the Gospel is sown
over the entire field of national life, and the whole atmosphere
of the nation is charged with a Christian spirit. * * * * What
we hope for as the final accomplishment of Christian missions
is not a world-embracing church in which all the members are
believers, but rather such a triumph of Christianity that the
power of heathenism as a national religion is everywhere being
overcome, and that every nation may be living in such a Chris
tian atmosphere as shall render it possible for all its people to
know the truth and to accept salvation." 2 Phil. 3, 12ff. ; Gal.
5, 17 ; 2 Tim. 4, 7 and 8. sThe development and organization of
great "national churches,'' it seems to us, is not material in the
case.

Ch. 14. THE AIM OF MISSIONS. 225
sending out missionaries to fields not yet evangelized,
the work of foreign missions in their behalf is ended.
If things are as they should be, these native churches
will, of course, continue in fraternal fellowship with the
"home churches," but will no longer be dependent upon
them as they were before.
When all the mission fields of the world have been
thus evangelized and developed into self-supporting
Christian churches, the foreign missionary enterprise as
such will have come to an end, but there will still remain,
particularly in the larger countries, such work as still
devolves upon us in our own Christian land, and which
we call home and inner missions.

15

CHAPTER XV.
TEMPORAL BLESSINGS RESULTING.
i. The Real Aim of Missions is not Civilization
and Culture.
As the secretary1 of one of the larger foreign mis
sion boards has so well and forcibly said, the purpose
and aim of the Church in sending out missionaries is
not to alter the style of dress of the heathen, not to im
prove the industrial conditions of Asia and Africa, not
to reform politics, not, primarily, to reform morals or
check social abuses. The assertion of one who claimed
that the foreign mission must aim at the total reorgani
zation of the whole social fabric of the heathen world
he very properly declares to' be "a mischievous doctrine."
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the heart and soul, the
radiating center and inspiring force of the Christian mis
sionary enterprise. And the Gospel does not aim pri
marily and directly at the improvement of the temporal,
the social, civil, political and industrial conditions of man
kind. The distinguishing characteristic of Christ as
the founder of a new religion is that He came not to be
a Reformer in temporal matters, but to be a Savior in
matters pertaining to immortality and eternity.
The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. It
is the divine seed which brings forth a new life, that
vital godliness which "is profitable unto all things, hav-

'Read Speer's Missionary Principles and Practice, on the
topics : "What are Christian missionaries trying to do ?" and
"The aim of Christian missions." (226)

Ch. 15. TEMPORAL BLESSINGS RESULTING. 227
ing promise of the life that now is, and of that which
is to come."1 Accordingly, the spread of the Gospel
is accompanied and followed by vast changes and im
provements in temporal conditions, moral 'and social
transformations in the lives of individuals and of nations,
while the aim of the Gospel is far higher and has to do
with matters of far more serious import.
2. Christian Missions Show Large Results along
the Line of Civilization and Culture and Moral Im
provement. These are so vast and important and striking that
it is worth our while to stop at this point long enough
to take a brief survey of the ground. But it is of vital
moment to note that the changes wrought are results,
not the aim, — effects, not causes of the missionary en
terprise, that they are incidental, not essential to Christ
ian mission work as such, as divinely planned and Scrip-
turally executed. In order to clearness of view, purity
of purpose, and permanent success, it is of great im
portance to distinguish properly both between the aim
and the results and also between the aim and the methods
which may be pursued in order to accomplish the pur
pose. If anyone has any doubt or question about the re
sults of foreign missions in the sphere of temporal im
provements and gains he should consult and read the
classic work of Dr. James S. Dennis, entitled, "Christ
ian Missions and Social Progress." In the perusal of
these three royal octavo volumes comprising some 1,600
pages, with their wealth of accredited facts gathered
from all missions fields and showing something of the
fruitage of Christian missions in the sphere of civiliza-

'Rom, 1, 16; 1 Tim. 4, 8.

228 MISSION STUDIES.
tion and culture, touching temperance, social purity, the
elevation of woman, the suppression of polygamy, adult
ery, infanticide, cannibalism, the slave-traffic, and many
other cruelties and crimes, with reference to the promo
tion of commerce, industry and trade, agriculture, san
itation and cleanliness, besides the large and varied bless
ings in the way of healing the sick, caring for the in
firm and helpless, abolishing ignorance and superstition,
and promoting the interests of general knowledge and
universal peace, — in the contemplation of such an ar
ray of authenticated facts the questioner will be likely
to get a comprehensive and cumulative impression of
the significance of the missionary enterprise from this
point of view. As another writer says : "Volumes
might be filled with the testimonies of statesmen, travel
ers, military and naval officers, to the value of mission
ary work from this viewpoint."1

'The Foreign Missionary, Brown. Read also: Modern
Missions and Culture, Warneck (translated from the German) ;
and "Social Evils of the Non-Christian World" (a cheap reprint
from the first volume of Dr. Dennis's work. Sir H. H. John
ston, who had traveled extensively in Africa, wrote: "Indi
rectly, and almost unintentionally, missionary enterprise has
widely increased the bounds of our knowledge and has sometimes
been the means of conferring benefits on science, the value and
extent of which it was itself careless to appreciate and compute.
Huge is the debt which philologists owe to the labors of British
missionaries in Africa! By evangelists of our own nationality
nearly two hundred African languages and dialects have been
illustrated by grammars, dictionaries, vocabularies, and trans
lations of the Bible. Many of these tongues were on the point
of extinction, and have since become extinct, and we owe our
knowledge of them solely to the missionaries' intervention." "It
is they who in many cases have first taught the natives carpentry,
joinery, masonry, tailoring, cobbling, engineering, bookkeep
ing, printing, and European cookery; to say nothing of reading,
writing, arithmetic, and a smattering of general knowledge."

Ch. 15. TEMPORAL BLESSINGS RESULTING. 229
3. How these Results Should be Estimated.
Our estimate should be just and fair. These re
sults, incidental benefits and indirect fruits, must occupy
their proper place in the study of missions and must be
estimated at their true worth, neither too high nor too
low. It is only a sign of our times, that there is ap
parently a growing disposition unduly to exalt this whole
class of missionary facts and to marshal them as mis
sionary motives. "Our humanitarian, commercial and
practical age," writes a missionary secretary, "is more
impressed by the physical and temporal, the actual and
the utilitarian. The idea of saving men for the present
world appeals more strongly than the idea of saving them
for the next world, and missionary sermons and address
es give large emphasis to these motives."1 But this is
due largely to the fact that many professedly Christian
ministers and churches have lost their grip upon the
vital and fundamental truths of the Gospel, and mission
work, when pursued from this motive, is carried on at
the cost of shifting the missionary enterprise from its
Scriptural foundation and "cutting the nerve of mis
sions." It is a sad and ominous fact that in some of
the large and influential foreign missionary societies
there are leaders who are leading the churches astray
along this line.2 When the vital truth and power of
Christianity as the only saving religion of the world is
denied, while the glaring spiritual insufficiency of the

'The Foreign Missionary, p. 25. "A notable example is a
secretary of the London Missionary Society, who, in an address
in June, 1908, before a missionary gathering in London, is re
ported to have "closed that audience's eyes to the supposed lost
and ruined condition of the heathen and their hopelessness in
the life to come without a saving knowledge of Christ, and
opened the door to a more optimistic outlook."

230 MISSION STUDIES.
non-Christian religions is minimized and their supposed
or real partial truths and virtues are magnified out of all
proportion to their worth, it becomes necessary, in order
to the continuance of the missionary propaganda, to ap
peal to humanitarian motives instead of depending, as
of yore, upon the true Biblical motives.
Dr. A. C. Thompson correctly says that "a dispro
portionate value may be placed on the incidental benefits
of Christian missions."1 This is done when these are
so presented and emphasized as to become, in appear
ance, or in fact, the object and purpose of the mission
ary enterprise and to displace or even supplant its true
aim. Another writer says : "Such results are incidental
arguments for missions, evidences of their efficiency.
. . . . But while they reinforce, they do not con
stitute, the mission motives, being of a distinctively
philanthropic, not missionary character."2 While in no
true sense the aim of missions from the standpoint of
the revealed Scriptures, they may appeal as motives to
benevolently inclined people of the world, correcting
misapprehensions, creating sympathy, and fostering a
sort of philanthropic interest in the work. It is just and
proper, too, that in such circles these temporal benefits
should be pointed out — in answer to objections rather
than as a basis for direct appeal.
It may be shown that the work would be worth
while from a philanthropic point of view, if these tem
poral results were all the benefits that have been gained.
Missions pay even from this viewpoint of commercial
ism and material interest. Much more are they worth

'Protestant Missions. Their Rise and Early Progress, p.
215. 2 Lawrence, Introduction to the Study of Foreign Mis
sions, p. 39.

Ch. 15. TRUE MISSIONARY MOTIVES. 231
while, and much more do they pay, from the higher
ground of the everlasting Gospel of Christ.
The true missionary motives grow out of the Scrip
tural ground of the missionary enterprise. They may
be expressed in various forms according to varying
points of view: The will of God as expressed in in
numerable passages of His Word, particularly the words
of Christ, culminating in the Great Commission ; Christ's
compassion and His love constraining; the history of
apostolic missions; the inner compulsion growing out of
the universal scope of the leading doctrines of salvation ;
the obedience of faith; the mind of Christ and the life
of Christ planted and nurtured in the believer; the need
of those perishing without Christ, without God and with
out hope; the urgency of the King's business — the work
day passing, the night of death and judgment coming
on apace; consistency of our Christian profession and
regard for the preservation and the perpetuation of the
Church ; thankfulness in view of what we have inherited
and enjoy in consequence of missions and the godly im
pulse to glorify and adore the majesty of the King of
kings who rules in the realms of nature and in the sphere
of grace, and whose is the kingdom, and the power, and
the glory forever.
Yet, after all, these motives, variously expressed,
all center about and are connected with one motive, the
supreme motive expressed by St. Paul in the words :
"The love of Christ constraineth us." This is the love
of Christ which we are "to know," and which still
"passeth knowledge," that we "might be filled with all
the fulness of God." It is the infinite love of God in
Christ Jesus, shed abroad in the hearts of true believers,
and impelling us to love Him who first loved us and died
for us, and to love those for whom, together with our-

232 MISSION STUDIES.
selves, He shed His blood, and who are just as needy
of Him as we are.
The love of Christ constrains us to have compas
sion on our fellow men who are in distress, wherever
they may be. This includes the temporal woes of heath
endom. To relieve these and to improve the physical
life of the heathen comes within the scope of the mis
sionary's endeavor, while he never, in all his labors, loses
sight of the real and abiding aim of the missionary en
terprise.

IV. Missionary Means and Methods.

CHAPTER XVI.
CHARACTER OP THE MEANS IN GENERAL.
i. Not Carnal, but Spiritual.
The very nature of the Gospel and of Christianity
requires this. The Gospel of the grace of God in Christ
Jesus is the message to be proclaimed, and the kingdom
of Christ is to be established and extended. "The king
dom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness,
and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."1 Christ, the
King, said: "My kingdom is not of this world." And
St. Paul declares: "The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down
of strongholds."2 The burden of the message of Christ's
ambassadors is: "Be ye reconciled to God." That
cannot be brought about by force, by the learning
and wisdom of this world, by appealing to natural in
stincts and interests. All such methods are fleshly, of
the earth, earthy. "Not by might, nor by power, but by
my Spirit," saith the Lord of hosts. The work can be
accomplished by no other power.
Contrast, for a moment, with these evangelical prin
ciples the methods of the Moslem propaganda and of
Roman Catholic missions. From its beginning it was a
principle of Mohammedanism to spread the faith, exter
minate "heresy" and conquer the nations, by fire and

aRorn. 14, 17. 'II. Cor. 10, 4.
(233)

234 MISSION STUDIES.
sword. Those measures of violence and oppression were
in accord with its intrinsic character. The false prophet
had undertaken to found a kingdom of this world. And
he succeeded, to the consternation of Europe, and to the
extent that causes Mohammedan countries today to be
the most formidable fields for Christian missions.
In medieval missions we find similar means and
methods employed to a very large extent. This perver
sion of methods was due to the degeneracy of the dom
inant church and the deterioration of Christianity. This
is only one example of wrongs done by ignorant and
nominal or apostate Christians in the name of the
Church, and for which inconsiderate and hostile world
lings hold Christianity and the Church of Jesus Christ
responsible. The monks and priests of the middle ages,
many of them, were zealous, even fanatical mission
aries, but their zeal was largely without knowledge.
Their methods were formal, hasty and superficial. En
tire -communities and tribes were "converted," baptized
and enrolled as members of the papal church, with little
instruction and with hardly any understanding of what
true Christianity meant. The Jesuits in China openly
declared that they only changed the objects of worship,
substituting for the idols of the natives crucifixes, amu
lets, and rosaries. The Romish Church of the twentieth
century shows by many marks, particularly in Pro
testant countries, how greatly it has been modified and
improved by contact and competition with Protestant
ism. But still, to this day and in every land, Romish
missions are radically different from Protestant missions
in principle, aim, and methods.

Ch. 1 6. MISSIONARY MEANS. 235
2. The Word of God, the Fundamental and Final
Reliance. Other factors and influences may intervene, accom
pany, or follow the administration of the divine Word
and ordinances, to prepare the way, remove prejudice,
gain a hearing, and the like, but no power or means ex
cept the Word of the living God can convert the heart
and accomplish the aim of missions. The Word of God
exerts its power in different forms.
The spoken Word. The divine command is not, to
begin mission work by sending Bibles to the heathen,
but to preach the Gospel. That always implies oral tes
timony, the living voice, the personal witness. And
such proclamation, declaration, or witnessing, in order
to be intelligible and effective, must be made in the lan
guage of the people to be reached. Whatever use may
have been made of interpreters in the past, whether
from motives of convenience and ease, or as emergen
cies required, that method is discarded today in all- per
manent mission work. The first task of the young mis
sionary, and it is often a trying, laborious task, is to
acquire the language of the natives.
The Word in the form of "living epistles." This
is the divine Word as it has become flesh and blood,
principle and life, in Christian disciples and workers,
as it is reflected in the Christian life and walk of mis
sionaries and their families, as well as in the lives of the
native Christians who have been won by the Gospel.
These "children of the kingdom" are also a species of
"good seed" sown upon the soil of heathendom, and it
has the promise of rich fruitage. These Christian lives
are an object lesson set before the heathen, one which
they can read and understand even before the Gospel
has been preached to> them or they are able to compre-

236 MISSION STUDIES.
hend it. Livingstone, Schwartz, Paton, and many other
experienced missionaries have given striking illustrations
of this important phase of the missionary life. It is this
fact that has led heathens to confess: "We have not
heard your teachings, but we have seen it."
The printed Word. The Holy Scriptures in the
native tongue must accompany and follow the mission
ary. Sometimes the printed Word has been carried in
advance of the missionary and prepared the way for his
coming, though this is exceptional. In some cases the
printed page goes where the living voice cannot be heard.
The printed Scriptures are indispensable to the perma
nence of the work. The aim is to make Christian dis
ciples and establish Christian churches. And these, in
order to be true and enduring, must be built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ
Himself being the chief corner stone. The Nestorian
mission in China and the Roman Catholic mission in
Japan made no provision for giving the printed Word to
the people; and these missions disappeared. On the
other hand, the open Bible saved Madagascar amid the
bloody persecution that swept for a quarter of a century
over the newly established churches.

CHAPTER XVII.
THE MISSIONARY: HIS CHARACTER AND
QUALIFICATIONS.
i. General Importance of the Subject.
Apart from the missionary himself, this topic is
of great importance to the Church at large, to the pastor
and to every Christian. The Church must supply and
select, send forth and sustain the missionaries. The
latter go forth and labor in a representative capacity,
to do in person and in the service of the Lord and of the
Church the work which the Lord of the harvest has as
signed to His Church. It is, therefore, important to
understand what sort of workers are needed and what
qualifications are required. Moreover, such consider
ation should put Christians in mind of the life which
they ought earnestly to cultivate in their churches, seeing
that the missionaries, like workers generally, reflect the
life of the home church.
To pastors and students of theology this topic is
of particular importance because of the need of mis
sionary-spirited pastors in every parish. Dr. A. C.
Thompson, in one of his lectures to students, under the
heading, "Every minister a missionary," says: "Who
ever in the sacred office remains at home is on this ac
count none the less held to service in the general cause."1
This phase of the subject will be more fully discussed
in a later chapter.

'Foreign Missions, p. 4. (237)

238 MISSION STUDIES.
2. Fundamental Character and Characteristics.
Certain qualifications are common to all workers in
the Lord's vineyard — and that includes all disciples and
professing Christians — at home and abroad, in mission
fields and established parishes, in all ranks and stations,
It is to be hoped and desired that they appear in keen
and intensified form in leaders, pastors and missionaries,
but the latter are not different in kind from the rank and
file of Christians. Among such general Christian qual
ifications may be mentioned: Faith, and love, and pro
found interest in the work.
The spiritual gifts of faith and love. These make
and pervade the Christian life and make it a force in
spreading the light and life that Christ brought into the
world. And this is a fundamental qualification in the
missionary. He is a messenger, sent of God to bear the
message of salvation to men. He is to "preach the
Gospel of peace," and bring to the poverty-stricken and
perishing of mankind the unsearchable riches of Christ.
In the preparatory stages of mission work preaching,
oral teaching and testimony, precedes the spreading of
the truth in written form. And it remains one of the
chief functions of the missionary throughout his career.
The Lord in His wisdom and mercy has provided that
His message to mankind be conveyed and delivered by
living agents; men sinful and faulty in themselves, but
saved and sanctified by grace, and able and eager to tell
to others what the Lord has done for them. • It would
not suffice to send Bibles to the heathen, even though
they were able to read the Word in their own tongue.1
This is the qualification that makes every true Chris
tian a missionary. Living faith is followed by confes-

* Reflect on Mark 16, 15; Acts 1, 8; Matth. 24, 14.

Ch. 17. MISSIONARY QUALIFICATIONS. 239
sion, impels to utterance, as it is written : "I believe, and
therefore have I spoken; we also believe and therefore
speak."1 What we have received is not only to be kept,
but to be communicated. If Christ has become all in all
to us, we will want to make Him known to others, that
He may become their possession, too.
Intelligent and whole-souled interest in the mis
sionary enterprise. There must be ability and willing
ness to get a broad and deep grasp of the work in the
light of God's Word. What is needed in the efficient
and successful worker is personal devotion that is not
fitful and transitory, but abiding and growing. If we
have embraced Christ as our Savior and Lord, it is for
life, and that implies service for life. That should be
the motto and watchword both for the Christian at home
and for the missionary abroad — life service. Nothing
less than that purpose is worthy of a disciple of Him
who said, "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent
me, and to finish His work;" and again: "I must work
the works of Him that sent me while it is day, the night
cometh when no man can work."2
If it is a piece of intolerable hypocrisy for a per
son to be only a nominal Christian, to make a Christian
profession with the mouth while the heart is consciously
far from God, much more intolerable and abominable
is it in the pastor and missionary to presume to occupy
the holy office from motives of carnal convenience or ad
vantage, with no heart and life interest in the work.
Matthew Henry has well said : "The Gospel ministry is
a noble calling, but a wretched trade."

'II. Cor. 4, 13. 'John 4, 34; 9, 4.

240 MISSION STUDIES.
3. Special Qualifications of the Missionary.
There was a time when many thought that anybody,
men with the most meager talents and equipment, would
do for the ministry and the mission field. Very few per
sons hold that mistaken notion today. It is known now
and generally recognized that both spheres of service re
quire superior men — the best that the churches can
furnish, and men equipped with the best training at
tainable. The standard of requirement for foreign mis
sionary appointment has in recent years been raised in
all the leading missionary societies and boards.
In addition to the general qualifications that have
been mentioned and that dare not be lacking, there are
many other characteristics and traits that go to con
stitute the successful missionary. Briefly, these may be
summed up under the following heads.
Physical health and strength is an important factor
to consider with reference to service in the Church in
any official capacity. As it is a mistake to select phys
ically weak and infirm boys as prospective candidates
for the ministry, so it would be a serious blunder to
overlook this requirement in missionary appointment.
On account of climate, unsanitary conditions, exposure,
and the like, the demands upon health and strength are
usually much greater in foreign mission fields.
Intellectual gifts and acquirements are indispensa
ble. It is sufficient for our present purpose to consider
these under two classes. There must be ability in two
directions : As a teacher, and as a leader.
The gift of teaching. Among the apostolic require
ments made upon one who desires to be a minister is this,
that he be "apt to teach."1 That implies that he possess
1 1. Tim. 3, 2.

Ch. 17. MISSIONARY QUALIFICATIONS. 241
the necessary knowledge and be able to impart it. How
essential this is for the successful missionary is apparent.
His natural talents need careful training. The Twelve
were called to be disciples before they were made apos
tles: first learners, then messengers. The missionary,
like the minister at home, must have a true student spirit.
Though he may never become what the world calls
"learned," he must be and continue eager to learn. And,
as a missionary writer has said, "the study of all studies
for the missionary is the study of God's Word." * Said
a misionary to a class of students : "Steep your minds
in Scripture." And this to the end that they may, by
God's grace, become more efficient in imparting out of
their treasure things new and old and winning souls for
Christ. The gift of leadership. No man can be a success
ful minister or missionary without this gift in some
measure. And a great many qualities are comprised in
it. The missionary is called upon to deal with all sorts
of men and to meet a variety of conditions. To do this
successfully he must have a well balanced judgment,
tact, perseverance and patience.
Backed by many years' experience in the mission
field, Dr. J. Chamberlain, of India, gave a terse sum
mary of missionary qualifications in these words : "What
further is neded" (besides good health) "may all be
summed up in the old minister's 'three royal G's' —
Grace, Grit, and Gumption." By this he means conse
cration 'to Christ, perseverance in the performance of
duty, and ability to adapt oneself to circumstances, to
make the best of his surroundings.

'Principal Drury, of London, in The Call, Qualifications and
Preparation of Candidates for Foreign Missionary Service.
is

242 MISSION STUDIES.
In conclusion, let us note a qualification that shows
the true temper and spirit of men who aspire to the
noblest service, whether in the pastorate or in the mis
sion field. It is willingness to go wherever the Lord
calls or sends, and readiness to endure hardness as good
soldiers of Jesus Christ. What if you who have assayed
to serve the Captain of our salvation in this capacity
find conditions in the field far different from what you
had expected? What if you encounter unforseen
difficulties and obstacles ? Are you going to despair on
that account, or give up and turn back ? What have you
gone out for at all if it is not to overcome difficulties?
Surely, you have not entered upon this office and service
seeking an easy place, making personal comfort and ease
the chief requisite. Be a man. Be a man of God. Be
loyal to the Lord whose you are and whom you serve.
And He will sustain you. His grace will be sufficient for
you. At the close of a fine presentation of the qualifi
cations of the missionary, Dr. Warneck recommends the
study of missionary biographies as the best means of
learning, by concrete example, what goes to constitute
an efficient missionary. "Good models," he says, "are
at once good mirrors and good schools."
On Missionary Qualifications, note the following
paragraphs by representative men:
Dr. Warneck says : "For mission service abroad and for
mission work at home we need men with whom the missionary
enterprise is not a secondary matter, a matter of play, an enter
tainment, or a fashion, but a concern of the heart, a part of
their own life. We need men who, with decided convictions and
positive faith and in all sincerity and truth, will put their
strength into the missionary service, who will hold their position
manfully over against the hostility and prejudices that are di-

Ch. 17. MISSIONARY QUALIFICATIONS. 243
rected at the cause as well as over against the unbiblical per
versions of its aims and ways. Above other undertakings the
missionary enterprise requires men, all-round men, energetic,
self-sacrificing, fearless men, firm in the faith. What shall we
do to get such men and to become such men ourselves? In har
mony with the regal Founder and Leader of Christian missions
the Apostle to the Gentiles gives the answer : 'I exhort therefore
that, first of all, . . . prayers . . be made.'"
Dr. Chamberlain, of India, writes : "The intellectual prepa
ration should be the very best attainable. We are, none of us,
responsible for the amount of intellectual ability with which we
have been endowed, but we are responsible for its thorough
culture.'' Dr. M. S. Baldwin, Bishop of Huron, says : "God
chooses a man who believes himself unfit for the work given him
to do. God never wants the self-sufficient." Humility is a trait
that is needful in order to efficiency.
Dr. Henry H. Jessup, of Syria, speaks out of "an ex
perience of nearly forty years at the front" : "No one should go
who is unwilling to go anywhere. There should be complete self-
surrender. The wise and experienced officers of our mission
boards are always ready to consider the personal preferences of
candidates for special fields. But the true spirit of a missionary
is one of readiness to go 'where duty calls or danger,' making no
conditions." "Common sense . . is a virtue, the want of which
nothing else will supply. Brilliant talents, great linguistic gifts,
impetuous zeal, all, alas, will fail without mental balance. A
man without level-headed common sense will do more mischief
in a day than a whole mission can undo in a year."
John R. Mott writes : "Too much stress cannot be placed
on having missionary candidates form the habit of thorough and
devotional Bible study before they go to the field, because a man
mighty in the Scriptures is almost sure to be mighty in Chris
tian work." Arthur J. Brown writes: "The harder the field, the more
evident is it that the Gospel of Christ is needed there. No one
worthy to be a missionary should want an easy place. Difficulty
should beget inspiration to more resolute endeavor."
Robert E. Speer writes : "Men are wanted who have the
qualities of spiritual leadership. Among these qualities are
good sense, open and comprehensive judgment, some good

244 MISSION STUDIES.
measure of personal power, . . . and a deep and true and pray
erful life." "A happy spirit and pluck, rather enjoying hard
ship, are two good qualities in a missionary. Coleridge Patteson
wanted for his work 'bright, cheerful, happy fellows.' There is
much to discourage. The air is full of despondency and hope
lessness, the results of heathenism. . Men who are blue of
disposition, and who instinctively run rather than fight, will
have an uncomfortable time."

CHAPTER XVIII.
THE MISSIONARY: HIS COMMISSION.
In this chapter we speak of the missionary as he
is sent forth from the home church and goes to the field
of labor assigned him. Who is to send him and by what
authority? Who is back of him to oversee and direct
the administration and support of the work ? This nec
essarily involves also the question of reinforcements.
For it is presumed that the work has been taken up with
a view not only to its beginning, but to its continuance
and completion. i. Necessity of Competent Authority and Order.
Redemption is finished, salvation is free. It has
been prepared by Christ for all mankind. The good
tidings are to be published abroad. Only those who hear
the glad Evangel can be profited by it. How shall the
communication be made? By the individuals who have
received the unspeakable good as they may be impelled
and may have opportunity to impart it? In the very
nature of the case there is such an impulse. And the
fact, that the early Christians were true to it and bore
witness of Christ wherever they were and whithersoever
they went, accounts to a large extent for the rapid and
wide spread of Christianity in the apostolic age. But it
is apparent, and history shows, how unsafe it would
have been to have depended on such voluntary and un
systematized witnessing and preaching alone, without
some provision for the orderly conduct and continuance
of the work. (245)

246 MISSION STUDIES. •
Our Lord in His wisdom made such provision.
Not, indeed, by organizing a missionary society in the
modern sense, but by laying down fundamental princi
ples to govern the work, just as He did with reference to
the Church which He founded, leaving it to His faithful
people under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to work
out, under varying conditions, the problems of organiza
tion and methods of work. Christ made the needful
provision by giving the missionary command to His
chosen apostles and to the Church at large, further con
firming and illuminating these instructions by His ex
traordinary appointment of St. Paul to be the special
"Apostle to the Gentiles."
The Great Commission is the fundamental statute
of the missionary enterprise. It does not repress the
sanctified impulse of the disciple to tell out the good
news of salvation, but neither does it leave the needful
work to chance or caprice, to arbitrary choice between
performance or neglect, to fitful, uncertain and unregu
lated effort. Christ's command comes with divine au
thority to the Church and is all-sufficient for the purpose.
He did not utter needless words or hamper the progress
of His work by superfluous and bewildering details.
The brevity of His utterance of great principles and the
simplicity and ordinariness of their surroundings is
marvelous to behold. So with the missionary command.
Short and to the point! Full and final! It involves au
thority, obligation, aim, means, and the promise of
success. The apostles were slow, even after Pentecost, in
comprehending the world-wide character ana intent of
the commission. They were hampered by national and
local prejudices. They did not understand just how the
heathen were to be gathered into the kingdom of Christ.

Ch. l8. SENDING OF THE MISSIONARY. 247
The appointment of St. Paul, in addition to the original
apostles, with emphasis upon the extra-Judaic, ethnic
sphere of his labors, threw light upon Christ's universal
missionary command and left no doubt as to its world-
encircling scope.
2. Divine Authority and Commission.
How shortsighted it is for any one to treat the
missionary enterprise as though it were a man-chosen
and man-made work! It is God's work. The mission
ary idea is God's thought. Mission work is God's plan.
It is as old as the eternal counsels of God with reference
to the salvation of mankind. In the fulness of time
those gracious counsels were realized in the mission of
God's only-begotten Son. He is the One sent from
God, the pioneer Missionary from heaven, the chief
Commander, as He is the type and model, of all mis
sionaries. Christ sent forth His disciples just as the
Father had sent Him. That is the plain answer to the
question as to who really and originally sends out Chris
tian missionaries. They are messengers of Christ, even
as Christian ministers are ambassadors of Christ.1 Of
course, there is a distinction to be made.
The mission of the apostles. Their commission,
their appointment as apostles or missionaries, like their
call to discipleship, was immediate, that is, it took place
by Christ in person, without the intervention of human
agency. And for their work, the work of planting and
extending the Church, they enjoyed the special illumi
nation and guidance of the Holy Spirit. And yet, even
in their case, and during their lifetime, preparation and
call or commission through human agency were not ex
cluded. Note the action of the church at Jerusalem in

lU Cor. 4, 20.

248 MISSION STUDIES.
recognizing and endorsing the work of Paul and Barna
bas at Antioch, and in sending representatives to assist
and co-operate with the brethren there. Note further
the sending forth of Paul and Barnabas as missionaries
by the congregation at Antioch; the appointment by St.
Paul of Aquila and Priscilla, and the ordination and
commissioning of Timothy.1
The sending forth of later missionaries. It would
betray a fundamental misapprehension of all Scripture,
to think of limiting Christ's missionary command to
the apostles and of denying to later missionaries the
honor and joy of being likewise commissioned by Christ.
Such commission is on a par with the call to the Chris
tian ministry and pastorate. The call takes place
mediately, that is, through the intervention of human
agency, through the Church; but that does not exclude
or supplant the authority and the sovereignty of Christ,
the Head of the Church. Those who are rightly called
and sent are ministers and missionaries of Christ. The
inner conviction, the personal willingness and desire to
serve the Lord in the holy office, is tried, approved and
confirmed by the Church that extends the formal call
and gives the commission in Christ's name.2 "How
shall they preach except they be sent?"8
The minister and missionary of the Church, who
is a servant of God and an ambasador for Christ, has
every reason to realize and magnify this relation to the
King of kings. He is a pitiable hireling if he does not.
Such an one has degraded the holy calling to a wretched

'Acts 15, 22; 13, 1-3; 18, 3, 19; 16, 3; Rom. 16, 3; I Tim.
4, 14. 2The Holy Spirit voices His call in the heart: By faith
impelling to utterance (II Cor. 4, 13; Acts 4, 20); love con
straining to service (John 21, 15-17; II Cor. 5, 14). *Rom.
10, 15.

Ch. l8. SENDING OF THE MISSIONARY. 249
trade. The true Christian minister and messenger serves
the Church in the joyful conviction of being in the serv
ice, under the direction and care, of the Lord of glory.
To realize that he is, in a most true and real sense, a
servant, a messenger, an ambassador of the Most High,
even of the court of heaven, this imparts dignity to his
office and value to his work, mitigates and glorifies hard
ships, makes him courageous, hopeful and preserving,
lifts him above the incidental features of time, place and
condition, and rivets his view upon the abiding posses
sions of heaven and heavenly glory. Let the candidate
duly meditate upon the high honor, the great responsi
bility, the immortal glory of the holy service.
3. Churchly Authority and Commission.
Christ gave the Great Commission to the whole
Church, to all disciples and Christians, both in their in
dividual and corporate capacity, to be carried out, ac
cording to opportunities and conditions, in ways that
are in harmony with the principles of His Word. He
laid the commission as a sacred privilege and obligation
upon the Church without specifying the mode and man
ner of its execution. This was left for His people to
determine and develop in accordance with the spirit and
principles of the Holy Scriptures.
During the centuries that have elapsed since Christ's
ascension three modes of administration, in the main,
have been tried and put in operation: individual en
deavor, independent societies, and church administra
tion. We will confine our attention to the second and
third modes, dismissing the first one with only a few
words. Individual missions, carried on apart from the
Church and its institutions, by free lances that wish to
follow their individual bent or whims, as may be, cannot

250 MISSION STUDIES.
stand approved or justified in the light of God's Word.
Except under extraordinary conditions, when the way of
churchly order is entirely out of the question, they are
irregular and disorderly efforts and have generally ended
in confusion and failure.1 We proceed to a brief dis
cussion of the other two modes of administration.
Independent societies. While here in America the
work of foreign missions is almost universally carried
on by denominations and churches and synods as such,
administered through their duly appointed boards, in
Europe, with only few exceptions, the work is carried
on and administered by societies that were organized
and are maintained independently of the established
churches. How this came to pass was shown in chapter
five. When, by the Lord's providence, open doors in
vited the Church to renewed missionary effort, the
apathy of the churches both in Germany and England
was such as to defeat any attempt to rouse the churches
as such to undertake the work. The authorities, coun
cils and leading men strenuously opposed every sug
gestion and continued in this position of hostility for
many years. So it came about that missionary inter
est and effort were confined to Pietistic circles, and these
gatherings of friends and supporters of missions within
the churches gradually led to the organization of the ex
isting independent societies. And the churchly condi-

1 Compare Warneck, Missionslehre II, p. 12ff. Also in
The Foreign Missionary, by Brown, the testimony of Wm. T.
Ellis, who made a special investigation of mission work in 1907.
He wrote from Asia : "My own observation leads me to con
clude that they (independent missionaries) make more stir in
the home land, where their money is being raised, than they do
here. They are usually temporary."

r

Ch. l8. CHURCH ADMINISTRATION. 251
tions in Europe as regards the state churches are still
such as to make the continuance of the work in this
form advisable rather than to risk the stability and
soundness of the enterprise by turning over its manage
ment to the state churches.
This arrangement is doubtless the best attainable
under the circumstances. It was begotten out of the
exigencies of the times, has proven to be a very suc
cessful and efficient mode of administration, and may
be regarded as substantially meeting, under the given
conditions, the fundamental demands of Scriptural prin
ciples. Church administration. As stated before, here in
the United States, where churches are independent of
the state, the work is carried on, as under normal con
ditions it should be, by whole churches and synods. Even
Dr. Warneck, while he justifies the existence and main
tenance of the independent societies of Europe, concedes
that our mode comes nearer to "the ideal solution of the
problem."1 There can be no question about the correct
ness of the principle or the practical advantages of this
mode of administration. The missionary enterprise has
been laid as a task upon the whole Church. To the
Church as it appears on earth and is organized for
church work, the congregation of believers who make
united confession of their faith, to which the Lord has
entrusted the administration of the means of grace,
which is competent and obligated to call ministers and
maintain the ministry, — to this body the missionary
command is given. Accordingly the Church is properly

1 Read his elaborate presentation in the second volume of
his Missionslehre.

252 MISSION STUDIES.
the body which should send out missionaries and super
vise and support their work. The Church has a duty and
a responsibility which it cannot shirk or shift with im
punity. If it neglects its duty and by neglect forces the
responsibility upon others, it must suffer the conse
quences of its unfaithfulness.
The Christian congregation, as such, whether large
or small, is in possession of the means of grace and,
from the standpoint of principle, competent to perform
all the functions of the Church. But as many enter
prises exceed the ability of a single congregation, it is
the part of wisdom and in accord with Christian princi
ples for congregations of the same faith to join together
for the more efficient and successful prosecution of such
undertakings. So it comes about that general bodies
have been formed, whether they be called synods or bear
other names, according to the church polity in vogue.
Such general bodies, then, have authority to carry on
the general work of the congregations so united. They
manage the work through boards or otherwise, commit
tees that receive instructions from and are responsible
to the general body. Missionary societies in the congre
gations of such a body are only auxiliaries organized for
the systematic gathering of resources for the work.
We are glad to find in one of the books published
by the Student Volunteer Movement such a sound plea
as Dr. Lawrence makes for "direct participation by the
churches in the administration of the mission work.
Volunteer societies and close corporations are often a
necessary makeshift when the church is not as yet awake
to its privileges. But the true mission society is the
church itself, and everything else should only prepare

Ch. l8. DUTY OF THE CHURCH. 253
for the time when the church shall administer its great
enterprise."1 4. Corresponding Duty of the Church.
Laborers are to be furnished, and additional supplies
and reinforcements, as the work expands. The Church's
duty, aside from technical administration, may be
summed up under two heads: To supply and equip
suitable workmen, and to support them in their work.
The supply of men and the training of missionaries.
Men! How are we to secure them? Just now there is
in many denominations a growing dearth of ministers
for the home fields and pastorates. In most of the theo
logical seminaries the classes are relatively small, and new
recruits are few and hard to find. The attractiveness and
secular inducements of other pursuits draw away from
the churchly service many of the brightest minds and
stoutest hearts. With all the earnest efforts of the Stu
dent Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, the
number of suitable missionary candidates, while it has
been growing in an encouraging manner, is none too
great. This is not the first time in the history of the
Church that the harvest is plenteous and pressing, while
the laborers are few. It .was so in Christ's day. What
did He do and say and recommend? If we have His

'Introduction to the Study of Foreign Missions, p. 140.
Note also the instructive chapter (III.) on missionary admin
istration in Brown's The Foreign Missionary. He tells us, for
example, that "in general, it may be said that the percentage of
administration proper ranges from five to eight per cent. That
is, it takes but little more than the value of a foreign postage
stamp to send a dollar to Asia or Africa." This in answer to
the plea of some objectors, that the administration of missions
is very expensive and wasteful.

254 MISSION STUDIES.
word in the matter, we may be assured of an efficient
remedy and relief. Now, we have His word. He has
spoken. And surely it is one of the words of Jesus that
is familiar to every Christian. "Pray ye therefore the
Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers
into His harvest."
Our Lord Jesus Christ is Lord of the harvest. It
is His harvest. The missionary enterprise is His. He
only can raise up the right men, endow them with His
gifts and make them willing and efficient workers,
chosen vessels unto Him. Why does He not do it?
Wonderful, indeed, it is that He has made such a vital
matter contingent upon the faith and faithfulness of His
people. This fact ought to lead to very serious re
flection. Are we, then, we, the people of His pasture and
sheep of His hand, we who are His "peculiar people"
whose peculiar calling it is to be "zealous of good
works," are we closing the windows of heaven? Are we
clogging the wheels of the Lord's chariot? Are we hin
dering the progress of His work? Are we doing it by
our prayerlessness ? our coldness and formality in
prayer? our neglect of prayer? No amount of money
contributions can make good or atone for neglect at this
point. Our Lord said a good deal about money and
stewardship with reference to His kingdom. But as re
gards the supply of workmen — ministers and mission
aries, He gave this one plain and specific suggestion and
direction : "Pray ye !"
If, as a Church, we were really fulfilling our Lord's
behest, other favoring conditions and conduct would
ensue: a more spiritual atmosphere and life in our
churches and homes and schools; greater boldness and
persuasive power with boys and girls, young men and

Ch. l8. DUTY OF THE CHURCH. 255
women, whose talents and energies are so greatly needed
in the ministry and missionary service, the deaconess
calling, and the like.
The Church must provide for the proper education
and training of its workmen. We cannot depend on
secular schools for this purpose. And this consideration
makes adequate equipment of our church institutions an
urgent necessity. This is a very important item in mis
sion work, both home and foreign, and demands the most
earnest attention of Christian people.
The larger foreign missionary societies of Europe
have special training schools for their missionaries,
seminaries that give a four to six years' course of train
ing with special reference to the missionary service. In
this country churches depend upon their regular col
leges and seminaries for this purpose.
Moral and financial support of the missionaries.
We put the moral first, because it is foremost in its bear
ing upon interest at home and encouragement out in the
field. It is the assurance that comes to the missionaries
in many ways that the church at home cares for them,
remembers them, is praying for them — "holding the
ropes." The experience of Judson at a critical period
of his work in Burma may have been extreme, but in
some measure it has come to the lot of many a mission
ary. In the agony of disappointment and discourage
ment Judson cried : "I thought they loved me, and they
would scarce have known it, if I had died! I thought
they were praying for us, and they have never once
thought of us !" The isolation and loneliness of the
missionaries is often excruciating. And then to think
that they are practically forgotten at home! At most
their small salaries supplied! No, let them have, first

256 MISSION STUDIES.
and foremost, indubitable evidences of the church's per
sonal interest and moral support.1
As for salaries, they are relatively small, all out of
proportion, from a business, secular standpoint, to the
character and amount of services rendered. There are
no princely salaries anywhere in mission fields, in any
stations and positions, from the lowest to the highest.2
The boards, as a rule, are faithful in the punctual pay
ment of the salaries of their missionaries, even though
debts must be temporarily incurred.
Through the Laymen's Missionary Movement
greater interest has in recent years been aroused among
the men in the churches. In addition to the women and
children and young people, to whose interest and activ
ity the work of missions had been practically confined in
many quarters, there is now, on a growing scale, the
enlistment of men, grown men, busy men, business men,
men of affairs, of large financial interests, and broad
commercial or professional experience. Such talent, en
listed, sanctified, consecrated, made fit and meet for the
Master's use, will surely lead under the divine blessing
to large results.
5. Reflex Blessings upon the Church.
There is no conflict between churchly activities
properly carried on. The varied gifts and diversities of
operations are intended to work together harmoniously
to the same end. There is action and reaction between
home and foreign missions. There can properly be no

' On the heroism of isolation read some typical illustra
tions given in Speer's Missionary Principles and Practice, p.
402 ff. 2 Read the telling information given by Secretary Brown
on the missionary's financial support, chapter VII, in The Foreign
Missionary.

Ch. 1 8. REFLEX BLESSINGS. 257
rivalry between them,, and choice of field is to be determ
ined by opportunities and needs. It is inexcusable short
sightedness to limit arbitrarily the sphere of the Church's
operations. "As we have opportunity," is an apostolic
principle that ought to find large room in the lives of
Christian workers.
As we strengthen our home churches and extend
the sphere of our home mission activity, we cultivate
and enlarge the forces that are needed and fitted for the
expansion of foreign missionary operations ; and as we
support and extend the work of foreign missions, our
home missions and home churches are encouraged and
stimulated. Such reflex influence of missions is abun
dantly exemplified in the apostolic period and in all the
later history of missions. It is not a matter of theory,
therefore; but the lesson of history, as it is in accord
with the principles of the Gospel, that the epochs of
greatest missionary activity have been the times of great
est spiritual vigor and activity in the home churches.
The most intelligent leaders, both in foreign missions
and home missions, iterate and reiterate the conviction
that enlarged interest in either sphere will act favorably
upon the other, and that the home churches will reap
abundant and varied blessings from all the varied
activities.1 Of all the Protestant denominations in this country,
the Lutheran Church has the most extended fields and a
most gigantic task in the sphere of home missions. But

'Cf. At Our Own Door, by S. L. Morris, D. D., p. 55ff.;
Mott, The Pastor and Modern Missions, p. 45ff., and The Evan
gelization of the World in this Generation, p. 24ff. ; some fine
paragraphs, too, in Leavening the Nation, by Joseph B. Clark,
D. D., p. 346ff. ; and The Incoming Millions, by Howard B.
Grose, p. 207.
17

258 MISSION STUDIES.
while her different synods are devoting themselves with
awakened consciousness and aroused energy to this ardu
ous and strenuous work, they are at the same time wisely
reaching out to the fields beyond. And it behooves them,
by every consideration of principle and polity, to keep
in view and press the claims of the latter, lest their eyes
be blinded and their energies deflected and dwarfed by
the specious cry: "We have enough to do at home."
Among the tangible evidences and results of the
reflex influence of foreign missionary endeavor may be
mentioned not only quickened interest in home missions,
but the work of Bible societies, the varied operations in
the sphere of inner missions, the development of the
service of laymen in churchly movements, not to speak
of the many and varied forms of philanthropy and hu
manitarian endeavor within the pale of Christendom.1
This is a subject that calls for vigorous treatment
in our churches. It ought to be pressed upon the atten
tion of Christians generally. It will recur for discussion,
in a later chapter, under the head of the fostering of
missionary life in the home church.

1 Cf. Warneck, Missionslehre I, p. 258.

CHAPTER XIX.
MAIN METHODICAL LINES OF THE WORK.
The scope of our present studies confines us to a
brief and condensed treatment of this topic. Special
workers will seek and find the discussion of technical
questions and many needful details in other treatises. A
general survey of the main departments of the foreign
mission enterprise is all we attempt here. They may be
grouped logically under two heads: i. Direct evangelism;
2. Indirect evangelistic effort.
i. Direct Evangelism.
By this is meant the direct, and generally oral, pre
sentation of the Gospel. This must always be the main
method, as it involves the divinely appointed means for
accomplishing the end of missions. It consists in the
"preaching" of the Gospel in the widest sense of the
term, in private and in public; whether by the mission
ary, the ordained native pastor, the lay helper, or other
native convert.
It assumes various forms. It includes private con
versation and interview ; formal preaching to a larger or
smaller gathering; and a regular course of instruction.
The most telling work, both at home and on the
foreign field, is often that which takes the form of indi
vidual effort and personal interview. There are instruc
tive examples of this in the ministry of Christ and in the
experience of the most successful public workers. "The
bulk of the work is personal dealing with a few," is the
(259)

260 MISSION STUDIES.
testimony of a missionary in Arabia.1 "The preaching
in Arabia and China and India is not after the style of
Peter at Pentecost, but of Christ at the Samarian well-
side. We must learn to do the personal work with one
or two in the same spirit in which the well prepared ad
dress that will reach hundreds is delivered, bringing
them the message of the Gospel." It is just at this point
that not a few ministers, who are eloquent, fearless and
forceful in the pulpit, are weak. It would be a very
^erious weakness in the missionary.
The preaching of the Word frequently takes the
form of itinerating. This means the undertaking by the
missionary and his assistants of longer or shorter tours,
endeavoring to reach as many people as they can and
bring them under the influence of the Gospel. Some
missionaries have made the mistake of undertaking too
large a field, and consequently of scattering their ener
gies and doing the work very superficially. "Mission
aries nowadays attempt less. They spend a week or
two at a place and return frequently to the same spot.
The sown seed is watched, the ripening harvest gar
nered."2 In this work the missionary will make use of
as many native helpers as have been trained and can be
mustered for the service.
The catechumenate is an important form of direct
communication of the Word. Those who in private
conversation or under the preaching of the Word be
come sufficiently interested in their souls' salvation to
make further inquiry and to seek further instruction are
gathered together into classes, or met privately, for the

'Rev. S. M. Zwemer, the author of Islam: A Challenge
to Faith, and one of the leading authorities on Mohammedanism.
2 Lawrence, Introduction, etc., p. 65.

Ch. 19. MISSIONARY METHODS. 261
purpose of giving them the needful instruction in the
truths of the Gospel and the way of salvation. Trained
catechists assist the missionaries in this work of prepar
ing converts for baptism and the public confession of
their faith. In this way they become members of the
congregation that is formed of the converts that are won.
This leads to organized centers of operation. As a
result of such work as is briefly indicated in the preced
ing paragraph mission stations and out-stations come
into existence. It is the aim of every healthy mission to
gather organized congregations and schools, as centers
for the continued work of evangelization, where the old
and the young may be nourished with the sincere milk
of the Gospel, may, under the administration of the di
vine Word and sacraments, become stronger in faith,
more intelligent in their knowledge of divine truth, and
stronger to suffer, if need be, for the Gospel's sake, to
resist temptation that surges and rages like a flood about
them, and to bear witness, in word and deed, to their
Lord and Savior. As the work advances churches, with
all needful appurtenances, must be built.
The question of self-support and self-government.
If this, the ultimate aim of missions, is to be realized and
successfully inaugurated, it should be kept in view from
the outset, and the methods of work shaped accordingly.
Grave mistakes have been made along this line by many
of the older missions. It is one of the instances where
Christian benevolence, coupled with lack of foresight, in
ured to the injury of its beneficiaries. Foreign support
was carried to the point of pauperism, and paternal su
pervision to the point of enfeeblement and helplessness.1

1 The Hermannsburg Mission in Africa was started under
the leadership of Louis Harms a little over half a century ago.
It is instructive to note the remarks of one of the present leaders

262 MISSION STUDIES.
A good deal of practical wisdom is condensed in the
short statement of Secretary Brown: "The spirit of
self-help is as vital to character abroad as it is at home."
The subject involves no little difficulty and offers a prob
lem which will require great wisdom and tact for its
full and final solution.
2. Indirect Evangelistic Effort.
We shall confine our attention to the principal lines.
There are three leading agencies: Education; Literary
work; and Medical missions.
Education. This is a topic that has been much dis
cussed, and on which there have been many conflict
ing and divergent opinions and a great diversity of prac
tice. The true aim of the mission school has not always
been kept in view. Here a method has become an aim
with many. Christianity has been made subordinate to
secular education. Mission schools have a place, and a
most helpful and salutary place in the missionary enter-

of the Mission, Director Egmont Harms, who has spent several
years in Africa, personally inspecting the field and making im
provements in its management. In his report of the work for
1906 he touched upon the question of training the native con
gregations in the direction of self-support. "It is to be re
gretted," he said, "that we neglected to give due heed to this
important matter from the very beginning of the work, and it
is hard to make up for what has been lost." The missionaries
have a hard time of it trying to make plain to the people that
all their contributions are applied to their own welfare. They
are still suspicious that the missionaries appropriate the money
to their own use. "Their last argument is, 'We are poor.' If
they would say 'lazy,' it would be nearer the truth. And yet
we dare not grow weary or give up; we must train our con
gregations to support and maintain their churches and schools.
It is in reality not a question of money, but it concerns a most
important method and measure of education and culture that
cannot be neglected without loss to the congregations."

Ch. 19. MISSIONARY METHODS. 263
prise, but only as they are thoroughly Christian, are
maintained on a positively Christian basis, and, as one of
the missionary methods, are made to serve the cause of
Christianity and the perpetuation of the Christian
Church in mission lands. This department of the work
is said to be the most conspicuous work on the field.
And we may agree with the judgment of one who says
that "the hope of the future is largely in these schools."
But all the greater reason to guard their evangelical and
decidedly missionary character with zealous care.
Schools are variously graded and classified in mis
sion lands. In general, there are three groups or grades
that can be distinguished.
First, there are primary schools. Their purpose is
plain. And that, taking charge of the youngest children
and bringing them up under Christian teachers and
Christian instruction at the most plastic and pliable age,
they have a most important mission, goes without saying.
Then, there are secondary or academic schools.
These include what are known among us as the inter
mediate or grammar grades, reaching out also to high
school and collegiate work. In many of these schools
industrial features are added both for boys and girls,
serving a useful purpose in teaching them the most help
ful arts of everyday life, preparing them to cope suc
cessfully with the conditions about them and to occupy
the more important positions in society and in the
church. And, finally, there are professional schools. These
are technical schools of higher education and aim to train
special workmen for various spheres of activity. They
include, among others, pedagogic, theological, medical,
and industrial schools. These well-known terms indicate
their special character and purpose. They train teach-

264 MISSION STUDIES.
ers, catechists, pastors, physicians and medical assist
ants, artisans and mechanics, and skilled workmen gen
erally. The trend of all this is evident. In general, it
tends to improve all existing conditions, to provide the
natives with the means of advancing the best interests
of the community and to care, in an intelligent way, for
their physical and spiritual necessities.
Emphasis must be laid continually upon the Chris
tian and churchly character and purpose of all these edu
cational facilities.1 The idea is to permeate society
with the leaven of the Gospel, to train the native Chris
tians to be a salt in the community and leaders among
their countrymen, and, in particular, as the most import
ant branch, to train native helpers, readers, catechists,
evangelists, and pastors for service in the Church.
When we note that there are now on the foreign field
over 31,000 mission schools, of which more than a thou-
•sand are of the higher grades ; that the number of trained
native helpers approaches 90,000, of whom over 6,000
are ordained, laboring at 50,000 stations and out-stations,
in congregations numbering 2,305,000 communicants,
and 4,876,000 adherents or native Christians, and 1,477,-
000 scholars and students attending the mission schools,
we begin to realize what a present force and what a
promise for the future these educational institutions on
the foreign field are.
Literary zuork. The importance of this work cen
ters about the translation and publication of the Holy
Scriptures, and the preparation and circulation of Chris
tian literature in the form of leaflets, papers and books,
including those that are required in school and church.

1 A most interesting account of this purpose and work is
given by Dr. George Washburn, in Fifty Years in Constantinople
and Recollections of Robert College.

Ch. 19. MISSIONARY METHODS. 265
Much has been done in this sphere, and the fruits of
these wise and unwearied endeavors are incalculable.
Secretary Arthur J. Brown remarks : "We often hear
that the Bible is now accessible to practically all the
nations of the earth. It is true, and the missionary is
the one who has made it so." The Bible societies of
Christendom have rendered the most valuable services
in this department of mission work, co-operating with
the missionary societies in the work of Scripture trans
lation, printing and circulation. During the past century
upwards of 225,000,000 copies of the Bible, in whole or
in part, have been printed and circulated in more than
400 different languages and dialects, and these among
the leading languages of heathendom.
Medical missions. This is the youngest of the main
departments of foreign mission work. Following the
example of Christ who, besides preaching the Gospel of
the kingdom, "went about doing good," and especially
healing the sick and relieving the pains and woes of
humanity, medical missions, together with allied forms
of Christian benevolence, are pressing to the forefront in
waging magnanimous and successful warfare upon the
nameless sorrows and woes that are rampant and stalk
ing, ghastly and deadly specters of heathenism. It is a
gracious ministry wrestling heroically with great need.
It is only to be hoped that medical missionaries will not
forget the frequent cautions and reminders of their
brethren, that the missionary should never shrink into
a mere physician, that he must always remain also a
preacher of the Gospel, and that, while ministering to all
manner of sick, not fearing or failing to mitigate even
the horrors of leprosy, he crowns his office with its
noblest and sweetest wreath when he faithfully applies

266 MISSION STUDIES.
the only remedy known to man for the healing of the
monstrous leprosy of sin.
Some conception of the volume and extent to which
this work has grown since its inauguration, some three
score years ago, may be formed in view of the fact that
the Protestant boards of Christendom are maintaining
on the foreign field more than sixteen hundred hospitals
and dispensaries, and that last year some four million
patients received treatment.
Well may we close this section with the words of
Dr. James S. Dennis1 : "The Gospel leaven has pene
trated every land; Christian instruction is disseminated
in almost all the languages of the earth; medical mis
sions with healing touch are allied with evangelistic
agencies on every field. There are many and varied
facilities waiting to do our bidding all throughout the
earth." And at the end of all, and over all, we will inscribe
the motto: See, what hath God wrought!
To Him be glory forever!

1 Foreign Missions After A Century, p. 35.

THIRD PART.
HOME AND INNER MISSION WORK.
(267)

I. Home Mission Work.

CHAPTER XX.
THE SCOPE AND AIM OF HOME MISSIONS.
i. Distinctive Character of This Part.
The essential unity of the missionary enterprise we
endeavored to show in the tenth chapter and have as
sumed throughout our studies of missionary principles
and practice. There is no radical or fundamental dif
ference between foreign, and home, and inner missons,
in source and origin, purpose and aim, ground and
motive, or even in the principal means and methods of
work. This is practically the scope of the principles
we have studied in the Second Part. The agreement is
fundamental all the way through. And yet there is
room and occasion for the separate treatment of the
work of home and inner missions. This is owing to the
fact that there is a marked difference in the spheres of
work and, consequently, important differences in the
mode of applying the general principles, which are the
same in all spheres.
2. The Relation of Home Missions to Other
Activities of the Church.
As has been emphasized in a preceding chapter,
there are reciprocal influences between the Church's
missionary operations in different spheres and the life of
the Church itself. The relative importance of home
missions appears from several considerations.
(269)

270 MISSION STUDIES.
a. Home mission work comes first in the Biblical
and the natural order of work. The Great Commission
has been called the Church's "marching orders." So
regarded, it also points out plainly the order of march.
Witness is to be borne unto Christ for the planting and
extension of His kingdom in Jerusalem, (the home
church, parish and city missions), and in all Judea and
Samaria, (home missions), and unto the uttermost part
of the earth, (foreign missions). It would be fatal
folly as well as unfaithfulness to neglect the work at our
doors in our eagerness to get to distant parts. The very
nature of the work of missions, witnessing to Christ,
confessing the faith, preaching the Gospel, always leads
and must lead from center to circumference, from the
individual believer unto the ends of the earth, and in
doing so it aims, under normal conditions, to influence all
the territory that lies between. Just as a Christian
would be very unwise as well as unfaithful if he were to
look zealously after the welfare of strangers and people
at a distance, while at the same time he were persistently
neglecting the welfare and spiritual life of his own soul
and that of his own family, so Christian churches are
unwise as well as unfaithful to their trust if they neglect
the mission work within their parish boundaries and the
communities round about them, while they are hastening
to the relief of the heathen in distant parts of the world.
b. Home mission work supplies the basis of other
churchly operations. As the Church is extended at
home more ministers are called for, and this leads to the
founding and enlargement of institutions of learning for
the preparation and training of the workmen that are
needed. This was the way in which the seminaries and
colleges of the churches came into existence in our coun
try. Home missions were the immediate occasion that

Ch. 20. SCOPE AND AIM OF HOME MISSIONS. 271
called them into being and then supplied a continual in
centive for their better equipment and extension. And
the mission congregations, very many of them established
in smaller towns and rural communities, have furnished
a large contingent of the ministerial candidates. In like
manner they have supplied, and continue to supply, both
men and money for the extension of the work of the
Lord in foreign fields. Home missions have formed
and furnished a growing base of supplies for the foreign
missionary work, and foreign missions have sent a
blessed influence back for the stimulation of home mis
sionary endeavor and the enrichment of the home
churches. Thus is exhibited the essential unity of the
missionary enterprise, the interdependence of its various
departments, and the benign influence of all these Chris
tian activities upon the life and work of those who
engage in them. This is no theory merely, but the ex
perience and history of the work.
By careful comparison and computation on a large
scale it has been estimated that from four-fifths to nine-
tenths of the evangelical churches in the United States,
varying in different denominations, are of home mission
ary origin.1 During the last century, in the early dec
ades of which organized home missions began, the
membership of Protestant churches in this country in
creased, on an average, no less than three times as fast
as the population, and the increase was largely the direct
result of home mission work. In the Lutheran Church,
for example, the increase in communicant membership
was from 22,000 in 1800 to over 2,280,000 in 1912.
Its proportionate increase has been larger in the last
decades than that of any Christian denomination,

'Cf. Clark's Leavening the Nation, p. 330 ff.

272 MISSION STUDIES.
Protestant or Roman Catholic. Such fruitage is due
directly to its unparalleled opportunities for home mis
sions, coupled with a growing measure of responsive
fidelity on the part of the churches, that have been caring
not only for the ingathering of the Lutherans who have
been coming in such large numbers from the fatherland,
but also for the Christian instruction and training of
their own children and, with growing consciousness of
the urgency of the mission, for the evangelization of the
unchurched people about them. To give a single, con
crete illustration, we may refer to the experience of one
of the smaller synods, the Joint Synod of Ohio and other
States, in regard to which the author has direct knowl
edge. During the last twenty-eight years this synod has
increased the number of its home missionaries from
twelve to over one hundred, established some six hun
dred mission congregations, fully half of which have
become self-supporting, has extended its sphere of oper
ations in some twenty of our states and into Canada and
formed, as the direct result of its home mission work,
six new districts, while its membership has grown in
this period from 60,000 to 132,000 communicants, a
very large percentage of which is the direct fruit of
home missions.
c. Home missions and general benevolence. The
record of home missionary congregations in point of
self-help and benevolence is most encouraging. Not only
have they, as a rule, exerted themselves loyally from
the start, co-operating with the mission boards in reach
ing the desired goal of self-support as speedily as pos
sible, but they have, even while depending on the
mission treasury in part for support and after becoming
self-sustaining, set the older congregations stimulating
examples in the active support of the general work of

Ch. 20. SCOPE AND AIM OF HOME MISSIONS. 273
the Church. A careful student of statistics has com
puted, on the basis of the reports of one of the large
denominational home mission boards, that fully one-half
of the amount contributed in one year for home missions
came from churches that were at one time and, in part,
are still aided by home missionary funds ; and further,
that in the last twenty-five years these churches con
tributed more money for their own denominational
missionary work of all departments than the entire cen
tury of home missionary endeavor cost that denomina
tion.1 Those who have some intimate acquaintance with
the work of home mission churches will be likely to bear
testimony to the fact that a similar condition exists in a
large proportion of them.
3. A Survey of the Home Mission Field.
a. As to extent. As the name implies, the field
includes all the states and territories of our land. It
reaches out, very naturally, into adjacent territory, in
cluding particularly the immense British possessions to
the North, with their large and rapidly developing prov
inces that extend from Quebec to Columbia. The extent
of territory and abundance of resources are attracting
new settlers in large numbers. It is claimed, for ex
ample, that among the hundreds of thousands of new
comers there are no less than 40,000 of Lutheran pro
fession and parentage who are entering Canada annually
from the states and from the fatherland.2
There is much home missionary territory in the
older sections of our country, in New England and the

1 Leavening the Nation, p. 336.
The Lutherans in America. Their Heroic Past and their
Promising Future. By Rev. J. C. Kunzman, D. D., Superin
tendent of Home Missions.
18

274 MISSION STUDIES.
middle states. But the field for largest expansion and
ingathering is doubtless the rapidly growing West and
the New Southland. The tide of population that has
for many decades been rolling westward is filling that
extensive section with marvelous rapidity. The public
lands are being occupied, and there is no new territory
to be opened. The West has been truly called "the
battle ground of this country." The extent of territory
is stupendous. As a matter of fact the area beyond the
Mississippi is two and a half times the size of that on
the east. And as for the South, take just the one state
of Texas. Dr. Strong1 has estimated that, if the entire
population of the United States in 1890 had been crowded
into Texas, it would not have been as dense as that of
Italy. Texas, and, in fact, the entire newly developing
South, is another name for opportunity, and that always
involves responsibility.
b. The material. Two classes of people go to
make up the material that calls for home missionary
effort: Professed Christians in need of the Church;
and the unchurched masses.
There are in our land many professed Christians,
temporarily severed from their churches, and scattered
as sheep having no shepherd. Many factors contribute
to the restlessness and instability of humanity. Various
motives and aims bring the streams of immigrants to
America and cause people here to move from one section
to another. In the fewest cases it is a religious motive ;
generally it has a strong commercial flavor. These up
rooted Christians are in the greatest spiritual peril.
They are in dire need of those ministrations that seek
to save the imperiled as well as the lost. These scat-

*Our Country.

Ch. 20. SCOPE AND AIM OF HOME MISSIONS. 275
tered members are to be found not only in the newer
territories, but in older communities, too, and even in
crowded cities. In fact, the tendency of people to move
from rural communities into the larger centers affords
large occasion and the most perplexing problems for
home mission work. To give but a single illustration :
It is estimated by those who are giving the situation
thought and attention that in New York and Chicago
alone there is an unchurched Lutheran population
(persons of Lutheran profession and connection) of
more than a million souls. If that claim is anywhere
near the actual condition, could any fact afford a louder
call to any church for the enlargement and the more
zealous prosecution of its home missionary work?
The unchurched masses, both native and alien, call
for enlarged efforts. Caring simply for their own mov
ing and, in part, estranged people would not impose a
very great burden upon the churches. It is immigration
that enlarges the task to stupendous proportions. Apart
from its character, the volume alone affords a large
problem. During the past 87 years 25,000,000 immi
grants, in round numbers, landed on our hospitable
shores.1 "A million a year" was the average between
1900 and 1906. And as to nationality, whereas in
former years the majority of the immigrants were of
Teutonic race, English, Scandinavian, German, and in
the main desirable citizens and easily assimilated, more
recently the streams have been composed, in threatening
measure, of the more illiterate classes from eastern and
southern Europe, Italians, Russians, Poles, Hungarians,
and allied peoples. It is a mistake to regard all these
indiscriminately as ignorant, vicious and immoral classes.

'The Incoming Millions, by Howard B. Grose.

276 MISSION STUDIES.
There are not a few Christians and people of staunch
character among them. But they are all adrift in a
strange land, and they are in sore need of the ministry
of the Church, as the interests of both Church and state
urge the need of ministering unto them.
c. Character of the material. In all fairness and
justice it must be conceded that a large part of the
heterogeneous material that has for years been rolling
and will continue to roll upon our shores and through
our land is of a character which, unless it is brought
under the influence of the Gospel, will prove, as it is
already proving to be, a menacing and perilous factor in
our body politic. On the one hand, there is a growth
of the spirit of commercialism and materialism, and
connected with it inevitably there is increasing infidelity
among all classes and in all stations, high and low. And,
on the other hand, there are the ravages of an irreligious
socialism, coupled with the illiteracy and moral degen
eracy of the worst and vilest immigrant classes. These
elements, of course, congregate and concentrate and are
apt to become seething hot-beds of infamy in the con
gested centers of our population.
"The twentieth century city," with its concentration
of evils and dangers, its sins and woes, has become the
center of stupendous problems in the spheres of evan
gelism, legislation, social economy, and reform. The
large city has been called "the scab on the body of
humanity," and "the plague spot of nature." Another
has said: "The city is the nerve center of our civiliza
tion. It is also the storm center."1

'Cf. Christianity's Storm Center, by Charles Stelzle; Our
Country, and the Twentieth Century City, by Josiah Strong;
The Incoming Millions, by Howard B. Grose; and many other
works of similar trend.

Ch. 20. SCOPE AND AIM OF HOME MISSIONS. 277
4. The Home Missionary Aim.
a. Not reform merely, but regeneration. The aim
of home missions is the same as that of foreign missions
and need not be repeated at length. The aim is to make
disciples of Christ, in the spirit and according to the
direction of His great command: warming up and win
ning back those professed Christians who may have
become cold and indifferent, those who have backslidden
from the faith, those who have become so engrossed with
worldly interests that they are in danger of making
complete shipwreck of their faith; and bringing the
power of the Gospel to bear upon those who are outside
of the kingdom of God, who have never known Christ
and the power of His resurrection, the unchurched
masses of the world, irrespective of language, nationality
or social standing — in short, making Christians of non-
Christians. This aim must be kept in view and pressed to the
front in our missionary endeavors at home, as well as on
the foreign field. Amid the multiplicity of interests, the
multitudinous activities, and the evident secularization
of our churches, even Christians are in danger of over
looking this true aim and being satisfied with something
less and something lower, something that falls far short
of the kingdom of God and the salvation of the soul,
some outward conformity to Christian ways, a form of
morality and civic righteousness that is only a beautiful
carcass, because it is spiritually dead, lacking the life of
Christ and the power of the world to come, as truly
without God and without hope in the world as are the
unconverted heathen in Africa or Asia. The task of
home missions for us Chfistians is the task of Christian
izing America.

278 MISSION STUDIES.
b. Not societies for ethical culture, but self-sup
porting Christian churches. Many schemes are set in
motion for the amelioration and improvement of con
ditions. They are well-meaning, and many of them are
effective, as far as they go. But they fall short of the
goal, because they lack the only efficient remedy that can
save mankind, in America or anywhere else. The aim
of home missions is not the multiplication of societies
that consume a large amount of energy, scatter the forces
in this direction and that, and in the end leave the
greatest needs untouched, but the planting and fostering
of Christian churches, that are in possession of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ which is the power of God unto
salvation. The aim of the Gospel is always to win souls
for Christ, to beget believers, and to gather these into
congregations having the means of grace, the divine
Word and sacraments, supporting the public ministry of
the Word, caring for the spiritual welfare of young and
old, and co-operating with their brethren in the general
work of evangelization and church extension. Let this,
the distinct office of organized home missions, be kept
constantly in view and plied with a vigor and earnestness
commensurate with the size and seriousness of the task
before us.

CHAPTER XXI.
THE FORCES AND METHODS OF HOME MISSIONS.
i. The Home Missionary Forces.
For the compassing of the task of home missions in
our land, as for the prosecution of the work of missions
in heathen lands, there can be but one answer to the ques
tion as to the forces competent and called to do the
work. By divine appointment the task has been laid as
a sacred obligation and royal privilege upon the Church
which Jesus Christ established on the earth. Is the
Church competent to discharge the obligation and per
form the task assigned ?
The Christian churches of our land must recognize
the obligation. The task cannot be shifted or delegated
to other institutions. Philanthropic associations, legis
lation, institutions of the state, and reform movements
have their purpose and a place in the general effort to
solve the many and complex problems of our civiliza
tion. But all these secular movements and institutions
are established on a humanitarian basis and labor from
a civil, social, moral and philanthropic point of view.
Even if they are more or less religious in character and
supported and directed by Christians, they are neither
divinely instituted nor divinely equipped, as is the Church,
nor have they the calling to do the distinctive work of
the Church. Are the Christian churches equal to the task? Let
us attempt a general survey of the ground, making some
comparisons and inquiring into the conditions of success.
a. In point of numbers. With the present popu-
(279)

280 MISSION STUDIES.
lation of over ninety million in the United States, there
are, according to the statistical tables prepared by Dr.
H. K. Carroll, about thirty-five million communicant
members in those religious denominations that may be
regarded as Christian. We would leave altogether out
of consideration in our estimate, if we could, those who
refuse to stand for positive Christianity in the sense and
spirit of the New Testament, those who deny the
divinity of Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, and
the need and reality of His vicarious atonement, as those
who thereby put themselves outside the pale of true,
Scriptural and apostolic Christianity and unfit them
selves to bear effective witness unto Christ as the world's
only Redeemer and to serve as efficient agents in con
veying to a dying world the Gospel of the Son of God.
The thirty-five million communicants, reported by stat
isticians, include over twelve millions of Roman Cath
olics. Many and gross as are the errors of that church,
and great as is its departure at many points from "the
faith once delivered unto the saints," it has not as yet
done what not a few leaders and churches among Protes
tants have done, it has not professedly set aside as a
figment or a legend the heart of the Gospel, salvation
through the blood of Christ, God's only-begotten Son.
In so far it is still competent to save the souls of those
who put their trust in Christ and are not led astray
by the many grievous errors with which the Romish
Church has unfortunately overlaid the Gospel.
The only object in entering upon this explanation
is to make a distinction, as sharp as may be, between
positively Christian and non-Christian forces among
the religious denominations, as they are usually reported.
Taken for granted now, that, in a total population of
ninety million, we have from thirty to thirty-five million

Ch. 21. HOME MISSION FORCES. 281
church members who, professedly at least, stand for the
positive truth that without Christ there is no salvation,
and that the Gospel is "the power of God unto salvation
to every one that believeth," what does the assumption
lead us to conclude with reference to the work of home
missions ?
From the standpoint of numbers the permeation of
our population with the leaven of the Gospel and the
Christianization of the present unchurched masses would
almost look like an easy proposition. From this view
point the task does not, at least, present a formidable
aspect. Moreover, these Christian forces are widely
distributed and are favorably situated for effectively
influencing the non-Christian population. They are
round about us, at our very doors, in our neighborhoods,
under the very shadow of our churches. Among the
incoming millions there are people of all faiths and of no
faith, Roman Catholics and Protestants, Christians and
agnostics. There is room for all the Christian churches
to put forth helping hands in gathering their brethren
and such as they can win from the world of infidelity
and iniquity under their sheltering protection.
There is another advantage that is worthy of con
sideration. A good start has been made. The work of
home missions, so far as it has been earnestly pushed
in the churches, has been successful and has borne ample
fruit. There are in connection with the Protestant
churches of our land some thirty organized home mis
sionary societies, that have, it is claimed,1 expended
$140,000,000 in carrying on the work. This gives some
indication of the extent and distribution of the Christian
forces, of what the churches have done in the past and

1 Leavening the Nation, p. 331.

282 MISSION STUDIES.
might do for the future. Nothing succeeds like success,
even in church work. Each triumph is an incitement to
attempt more victories.
b. Conditions of success. Under what condi
tions will the churches be able to face the new tasks
before them with hope of success? There are three su
preme and indispensable requirements that may be tersely
comprehended under the terms : The Gospel, faith,
and tact. Possession of the one thing needful — the Gospel.
There is abundant reason for the reiteration of this fun
damental truth. It divides the Christian forces from the
non-Christian and distinguishes the victorious armies
of the cross from the vanquished exponents of some
other cult. Home mission work will prosper in the
hands of those churches that hold fast the Gospel of
Jesus Christ in spite of the destructive forces and the
"assured results" of the "new" theology. Home mission
work and all the work of the churches, whatever its ap
parent, outward success, is bound to be a failure in
spiritual power and results, if it gives up the Gospel of
the grace of God, the Word of the cross, with its central
doctrine of justification by faith in the Son of God who
by His vicarious sacrifice upon the cross made atone
ment for the sins of the whole world.
Power in plying and applying that one thing. Where
the Gospel of Christ is maintained and preached, chil
dren of God will be born into His kingdom. And these
believers constitute the Church in its essence. It is of
such that Christ speaks, when He says : "Ye are the light
of the world;" "ye are the salt of the earth." And this
is another indispensable need for the successful prose
cution of home mission work. We need not only faith
in Christ as our personal Savior, but also faith in the

Ch. 21. HOME MISSION FORCES. 283
Gospel as "the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth." The history of foreign missions gives
us many examples of the power of the Gospel to save
and uplift, enlighten and Christianize even the lowest
and most degraded races. We may gather inspiration
and hope from such records and testimonies. We de
spair too easily and give up too readily in some of our
Christian efforts. Our churches need profounder faith
in the Gospel, and larger hope for humanity, and greater
patience and persistence in going after that which is
lost. Wisdom and courage in applying the one thing in
the right way. Above all, and first of all, in order to be
successful workers in the cause of home missions, we
must have the Gospel. That is the message of salvation.
That conveys the only Savior to men. Without this,
no amount of human wisdom and ingenuity will avail.
All man-made philosophies and schemes for the redemp
tion and the regeneration of man have failed and, in the
nature of the case, must fail. The Gospel is the only
means to the end, as it is the only remedy for the heal
ing of the radical ailment of mankind, the source of all
human aches and ills — sin. But the Gospel in the hands
of untactful, injudicious, timid men is not as efficient as
it might be. Awkwardness, poor judgment, inconsid
erate haste, impetuous zeal without knowledge, and the
like, may repel at the outset those whom we aim to
reach, and the Gospel does not get even a hearing. Wise
and faithful workers must, therefore, study to spread
and apply the Gospel in the most effective manner. Time,
and place, and circumstances and conditions must be
taken into deliberate consideration. Some of the busi
ness principles that are legitimate and effective in the
affairs of the world, and that are calculated to meet

284 MISSION STUDIES.
present day conditions, may be applied with advantage
in church work. It does not weaken the cause, but
strengthens it, to carry on the work in a systematic,
thoroughly planned and capable way.
Among the leading factors of such systematic work
and efficient way of plying the Gospel are personal
effort, division of labor, and co-operation of forces.
These we may consider briefly under the following para
graph, with reference to methods of work.
2. Home Missionary Means and Methods.
They are very similar to those employed in foreign
mission work. In fact, we may profitably follow the
same outline of general methods, merely making the
application to the particular conditions prevailing on the
home field.
a. Evangelism. This refers to the direct adminis
tration of the means of grace, the Word of God, Holy
Baptism, and the Lord's Supper, for the establishment
of congregations that shall be in possession of the same
means, shall support and maintain the public ministry,
and aid in carrying on the general work of the Church.
This work includes a thorough canvass of the field, a
large amount of individual effort, the work of visiting
and pleading the cause of the Gospel in families and with
individuals, appointing and conducting public services,
organizing Sunday-schools and congregations, building
chapels and churches, and marshalling all the local forces
for the common cause.
In the prosecution of these varied tasks that all tend
to the one end of planting the Church and extending
the kingdom of God, not only the ministers and the
officially appointed workers, but all the members have
part. Care should of course be exercised that unwar-

Ch. 21. HOME MISSION METHODS. 285
ranted assumption of authority, interference with official
acts, and the like, be avoided, and that all things be done
decently and in order. But, on the other hand, there
should be no shirking of Christian duty. This is the
point at which the work is apt to suffer most. There is
too much dependence on the fact that there is an organ
ization and a group or body of men to carry on the work,
and too little and feeble sense of individual responsibility.
There must be organization for effective work. It can
not be done, if undertaken in a haphazard, disorderly
way. But it is most deplorable and a source of untold
weakness, especially in church work, when the individual
practically loses his identity in the organization.
Personal effort depends upon a keen sense of per
sonal responsibility. Every Christian is a witness for
Christ and ought to be some kind of a worker. Gifts
and talents and opportunities vary, and it is unwise to
require all duties to be performed by all alike. If each
one is alert to his opportunities and faithful in doing
what lies near, he will soon find his proper place and
grow in efficiency. There will be in the mission, and
among the mission workers, division of labor that will
make the individual efforts far more effective than they
would otherwise be. One of the telling features of
leadership is to discover the talents and energies of those
to be engaged and then to distribute and place them
wisely. For most successful work there must be not only
personal effort and division of labor, but also co-operation
of forces. Unity of aim and unity of effort, is a funda
mental principle of work in every sphere. It is exem
plified in the large department stores and the financial
and industrial concerns that exhibit such marvelous sys
tem and produce such large results. The secular, com-

286 MISSION STUDIES.
mercial spirit, alas, is creeping into our churches in ways
that are alarming. It is not the spirit of commercialism
and materialism that is needed and wanted in our
churches, but its methodical way applied in the sphere
whose spiritual interests are supreme and ought to be
supremely guarded.
b. Education. In the widest sense home mission
work may be regarded as embracing not only primary
and elementary education, but higher education as well.
This is manifestly a sphere of great importance for the
maintenance and the future stability of the work. It has
to do with the religious instruction and training of the
young, the conservation of intelligent and well-equipped
forces in the Church, and the preparation of efficient
workmen for every line of service.
Primary and secondary schools. Are the Christian
churches of America doing their utmost in this sphere?
It is generally conceded that the church that has the
youth will hold the future. Keeping the children in the
church and training them for the church is therefore a
task of prime importance and far-reaching results. Are
we doing it? Is the average church accomplishing the
aim? The Sunday-school is a fine institution and is
serving an excellent purpose. But is it giving the chil
dren of the church adequate religious instruction and
Christian training? Can it in the nature of the case be
expected to do so? Here is a topic that is still an un
solved problem in many church circles.
The Roman Catholic Church is solving the problem
by enlarging and improving its parochial school system.
It is caring for the religious and churchly interests of the
young with a faithfulness and persistence and success
that should set Protestants to thinking.

Ch. 21. HOME MISSION METHODS. 287
The Lutheran Church in America only follows in
the footsteps of the Church of the Reformation when
it bestows much care upon the Christian education of the
young. Luther and Melanchthon are recognized leaders
in pedagogy and in the advocacy and the establishment
of schools of every grade, from the lowest to the
highest, in which the Word of God shall hold sway as
the only ground and atmosphere for the training of the
whole man, which shall be dominated by the principle,
that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."
In accordance with this principle the Lutheran Church
has been a zealous advocate of the maintenance of the
Christian school. The execution of the principle and the
realization of the aim involves the gravest difficulties in
our land of highly developed, but thoroughly secular
public schools. Whether our churches succeed in con
ducting their own Christian day schools or not, they aim
to supplement all other religious education by giving
their children systematic instruction in regular cate
chetical classes, thus aiming to root and ground them in
the knowledge of God's Word and to bring them up as
intelligent and God-fearing Christians and loyal mem
bers of the Church.
In portraying the work of certain mission schools
in the Indian Territory, embracing among their pupils
the white children of the community as well as the
Indian children, Dr. S. L. Morris, Secretary of the
General Assembly's Home Missions of the Presbyterian
Church, in his excellent study of home missions, entitled,
"At Our Own Door," writes as follows, page 54: "To
reach even a percentage of these" (the children of school
age, both white and Indian) "our 'mission schools' have
increased to about a dozen. Recognizing that secular
education without religious training is often a delusion

288 MISSION STUDIES.
and a curse, we are not only teaching the secular branches
of the common school system, but making the Shorter
Catechism one of the text-books ; and if the Shorter
Catechism be the seed sown, 'what shall the harvest be?' "
If this holds good in the Indian Territory, why not in
Ohio and New York? If the principle applies to mission
schools, why not to Christian schools generally? The
inadequacy of a purely secular education is acknowledged
by the best educators everywhere. What scheme of
education has the best oromise of furnishing the needful
remedy? The Lutheran Church, with great unanimity
and heartiness, while recognizing the practical difficulties
involved, replies : The Christian school, maintained and
controlled by the Church. Others are seeking solutions
of the problem along other lines. But the problem
remains and is still unsolved.
Schools of higher education. It is generally recog
nized that upon the Church devolves the important duty
of training its pastors and teachers and other workers.
Academies, colleges, and seminaries are founded and
maintained for this purpose. As institutions of the
churches that they serve they demand the loyal support
of all the congregations and members. This is a large
subject, but for our present purpose it is not necessary
to enter further upon it here.
c. Literary work. The power of the press is a
recognized factor in the march of civilization and in all
the work of the Church. The home missionary enter
prise must aim to utilize it to the largest possible extent.
The churches that are wide-awake and progressive will
aim at the publication and dissemination of such liter
ature as, in character and form, is best adapted to the
practical needs of different fields and spheres of work.
Not only should the needful books, church and school

Ch. 21. HOME MISSION METHODS. 289
books and others, and periodicals and papers be provided,
but much literature in smaller and briefer form may be
used to good advantage, as leaflets and booklets, an
nouncement slips, invitation cards, and the like.1
d. Charities. The home missionary church must
have "a heart for every plea." Workers who would
follow the example of Christ and make full proof of
their ministry and stewardship must cultivate active
sympathy with every form of sorrow and woe. Where
this spirit prevails there will be readiness to help where
help is needed. In this sphere, as also in some of the
other spheres mentioned above, what we call "inner
missions" join hands with home missions, and the two
departments overlap and to a large extent coincide. This
' is taken up for consideration in the next section.

See Methods of Church Work, by Rev. Sylvanus Stall.

18

II. Inner Mission Work.

CHAPTER XXII.
DISTINCTIVE CHARACTER OF THE WORK.
i. Works of Mercy Joined with Ministrations
of the Gospel.
The term "inner mission work," or "inner missions,"
sometimes used also in the singular after the manner of
the German term, "the inner mission," is new to many
warm friends of missions in this country. The work
itself, so far as its main features are concerned, is not
new ; but it is not generally known under this term.
The latter is a German copy, and it is at least a debatable
question, whether it is equally pertinent to conditions
and relations in and among the Christian churches in
America. Even in Germany the significance and perti
nence of the term has at times been called in question,
and other names have been suggested, but not generally
adopted. The adoption of the term, "die Innere Mis
sion," was suggested by the nature of the work proposed,
namely, the reformation and moral and spiritual renewal
of the national church itself, "die Volkskirche,"1 which
had lapsed into an alarming condition of degeneracy.
The idea was to arouse the believers, the living members
of the state churches to a sense of the dire extremity of
the nominal Christendom about them, which had become

1 Compare "Was jedermann heute von der Inneren Mission
wissen muss," (p. 11), by Dr. P. Wurster and Pastor M. Hen-
nig. Also, The Inner Mission, by Dr. J. F. Ohl, pp. 13 and 67.
(290)

Ch. 22. INNER MISSION WORK. 291
a virtual heathendom in consequence of the fearful
ravages of the revolutionary wars and allied causes, and
of the urgent need of doing something to. save the perish
ing and revive the dead members of the parishes and
communities. In view of such conditions the term
"inner mission" is significant and pertinent. But in our
country of independent, or as our German brethren say,
"free churches," where the churches are quite distinct
and separate from the state, relations are very different,
even if the conditions of bodily, moral, and spiritual
needs are substantially the same. Here, while the inner
mission principle finds application also to many lapsed
Christians and needy members of Christian churches, it
is in the main, so far as the term "mission" is applicable,
* a battling of the churches with the world outside, with
the unfortunate and suffering, and, in large part, ungodly
masses that have no sort of connection, organic or other
wise, with the Christian Church.
So much by way of introduction. We are not,
however, much concerned about the name. We must
hasten on to get a glimpse of the work itself, its under
lying principles, and the leading lines and methods of
inner mission work.
a. How distinguished from home mission work.
In the early part of this treatise we gave the follow
ing brief definition of the work: Inner mission work
is mission work that is carried on in our own country (in
contradistinction to foreign mission work), and consists
in combining, by systematic endeavor, works of mercy
(various Christian philanthropies) with evangelistic
effort in behalf of the salvation of the physically and
spiritually needy classes of our population. In order to
make any proper distinction between home and inner
missions, a distinction that will not be more confusing

292 MISSION STUDIES.
than enlightening, emphasis must, according to our
opinion, be laid upon the feature of "combining, by sys
tematic endeavor, works of mercy" with the ministrations
of the Gospel. It is an erroneous and misleading dis
tinction that is made in Bulletin No. i of the Lutheran
Inner Mission Society of Philadelphia, organized in 1902,
in these words: "The latter" (home mission work) "is
directed to the gathering and spiritual care of the scat
tered members of the household of faith; the inner
mission seeks to reach the imperiled, the indifferent, the
ignorant, and the fallen;" whereas with the succeeding
sentence we are in accord: "It is still further differen
tiated from home missions by the fact that in this labor
of love it combines a large benevolent activity with the
communication of the Word." Home mission work
actually and necessarily includes much more than is
mentioned in the first declaration. It is not limited to
the scattered members of the churches, but reaches out
and goes after the unchurched masses outside, so min
istering in every way possible to "the imperiled, the in
different, the ignorant, and the fallen."
The point of distinction, as it seems to us, lies in the
fact, first, that in the work of home missions, at least as
it is carried on in the Lutheran Church, the charity work
is more incidental, while in the inner mission work it is
more prominent, a leading feature, one of the main and
engrossing methods, carried on by systematic endeavor
and in organized forms; and, secondly, that home mis
sions have for their immediate and ultimate aim the
establishment of self-supporting churches, while the
inner mission endeavor is only a handmaiden and helper
to the home missionary enterprise in compassing this aim
and end of the Church.
From all this, and in the light of the history of the

Ch. 22. INNER MISSION WORK. 293
work, it is clear that it is not easy to draw the line of
distinction with anything like absolute accuracy, and it is
hardly a matter of wonder that the distinction is not con
sistently maintained or that it is sometimes made in a
way that is rather confusing and misleading. The fact
is, the activities in the two spheres overlap and are inter
twined ; there are many points of contact and co-operation
between home mission and inner mission work.
b. Identified, in part, with home mission work.
Inner mission work falls short of its true aim, in fact
it ceases to be Christian mission work at all, when it
fails to preach the Gospel and to saturate all its charitable
activities with the leaven of the Gospel. But this very
ministry is the distinctive office of the Church and is the
chief reliance in home mission work. What wonder,
then, that very much of that which goes by the name of
inner mission work is done also by home missions, and
vice versa? It is not strange, therefore, to find that, in
nearly all the Protestant denominations outside of the
Lutheran Church, inner mission activity on a very large
and extensive scale is included in their home missionary
department. It was most natural, with them, so to
classify it. And there are some cogent reasons for
embracing the two lines of Christian work in the one
department of home missions.
And yet the two lines of work may profitably be
kept apart and managed as separate departments.
Especially is this so in the case of the Lutheran Church
whose home missionary enterprise in this country is so
unique, urgent, and extensive, and whose inner mission
work is just beginning to develop in organized form and
on a far larger scale than it has heretofore been
attempted.

294 MISSION STUDIES.
2. Occasion for Inner Mission Work.
The question as to the conditions that have given
occasion for this line of mission work lead us to take a
very brief, bird's-eye view of its historical development
and of present day conditions about us.
a. A summary view of the history of the work.1
An important thing to note is that inner mission work
is not a new idea. At times it is magnified as though
it were a discovery of modern times. It is as old as the
Church. It is embedded in the life of the Church and
has been realized, in varying forms and measure, in every
era of the Church's history. It was not wanting even in
the Old Testament dispensation. And in the fulness of
time Christ set the example of its ampler development.
The Apostolic Church is a model for all time in this line
of endeavor. The spirit of Christian brotherhood and
helpfulness reigned supreme. If one member suffered,
all the members suffered with him and hastened to his
relief. Nor were the ministries of mercy confined to the
membership of the Church. They were freely bestowed
also upon unbelievers and strangers. There was little
organization, no complicated machinery, no charitable
institutions outside of the churches, but marked spirit
uality, living faith, ardent love. As occasion demanded
some orderly arrangement and distribution of labor,
helpers were appointed, deacons, and later deaconesses,
too, to look after the temporal needs, while the apostles
and evangelists devoted themselves unintermittently to
the ministry of the Word.
During the post-apostolic period, in the times of
general persecutions, the martyr churches had abundant

1For the literature of the subject look up this depart
ment in the Bibliography, given in the Appendix.

Ch. 22. INNER MISSION WORK. 295
occasion for the performance of works of mercy in con
junction with the preaching of the Gospel by word and
deed, and loyally did they measure up to their responsi
bilities. In the time succeeding the reign of Constantine,
when the Church was taken under the sheltering arm of
the state and became the heir of all the evils as well as
the benefits resulting from the coalition, the work of
charity was developed in organized form, and charitable
institutions were founded by some of the leading bishops
and church fathers. Soon the monasteries and monastic
life came into existence and developed both in the Orient
and in the Occident. During a large part of the middle
ages the monasteries and churches were the centers of
alms-giving and charity work on a grand and ample
scale, so free and ample, in fact, that indiscriminate and
unwise almsgiving encouraged and fostered wide-spread
beggary. Meanwhile, the institutional form of the work
was developing and issuing in the erection of many hos
pitals and asylums for the care of the sick and needy of
all classes. In the time of the Reformation the evangelical
churches, bereft of the rich and ample charities of the
papal establishment, put forth heroic efforts, hand in
hand with the promulgation of the pure Gospel and the
spread of the open Bible, to provide for the care of the
poor and needy by supporting them from the common
treasury. The Reformed churches in France, Holland,
and Germany organized and maintained an efficient
diaconate, including men and women, for the systematic
prosecution of the work of mercy.
During the age of Pietism, soon to be followed by
the period of rationalism and blighting infidelity, and
this in turn followed by a revival of evangelical faith at
the close of the eighteenth century, led by men like

296 MISSION STUDIES.
Spener, Francke, and Zinzendorf in Germany, and by
the Wesleys and others in England, the work of or
ganized charity combined with the preaching of the
Gospel continued to spread. The work of inner missions
as inaugurated in Germany about the middle of the
nineteenth century received its earliest impulses from
similar movements in England, that had been started
earlier and flourished more freely. This is true of the
missionary societies, the Bible and tract societies, the
Sunday-schools, prison reform, and city missions. In
all these lines English examples furnished the model and
formed the incentive for similar work in Germany.
Under the leadership of such men as Wichern, Fliedner,
Loehe, Bodelschwingh, Stoecker, Uhlhorn, and Schaefer;
the inner mission work was developed in forms and
along lines adapted to meet the surrounding conditions.
In conjunction with Pastor Fliedner, the founder
of the Deaconess Motherhouse and other charitable in
stitutions at Kaiserswerth, Dr. W. A. Passavant,1 the
Lutheran pioneer of organized inner missions in
America, put forth earnest efforts to plant the deaconess
work on American soil and became the father and
founder of various institutions of charity. Our churches,
however, were not ready to follow in the footsteps of his
gigantic stride, and the work did not develop among
them as otherwise it might have done.
b. Conditions today, and in our country. Sub
stantially the same conditions that called for inner mis
sionary effort in every age exist among us today. There
are physically and spiritually needy people, in large num
bers, both within and without the churches. Our modern

"Cf. Life and Letters of W. A. Passavant, D. D., by Dr.
G. H. Gerberding.

Ch. 22. INNER MISSION WORK. 297
complex and highly organized and superheated civiliza
tion has not lessened, but rather increased and aggra
vated, the woes of humanity. The immigration of the
millions of foreigners, Christians and non-Christians,
moral and immoral, virtuous and vicious, literate and
illiterate, into our land, and the tendency of our entire
mixed population to congregate in the larger cities and
to swell these into congested centers of gigantic propor
tions, — these movements, combined with the greed for
gain, the grinding hum of industry, the pitiless process of
competition, the tendency to look down to the earth and
forget heaven, the prevailing neglect of the religious
training of the young, disintegration of the home and
wreckage of family life, and other indications of earthly-
mindedness, have rolled upon our body politic and upon
our churches the gravest sort of problems, economic,
civic and social, as well as moral and religious.
What we need to do is to study present conditions,
in the churches and outside, and apply the principles and
methods of inner missions accordingly. We can learn
much from the highly organized system in vogue in Ger
many, and our leaders should make a careful study of
the history and development of the movement there.
But it would be folly for us merely to copy or duplicate
the arrangements and the institutions that have grown up
in the fatherland. On the contrary, we must sift out
fundamental principles, pertinent facts and suggestive
methods, and then adapt these to our own local conditions
and needs. 3. Justification of Mission Work in This Form.
To some it may appear as though the many activities
in temporal things which occupy so large a place in inner
mission work were wholly outside the province of the

298 MISSION STUDIES.
Church. They would let the state provide hospitals, and
asylums, and other places of relief and refuge for the
care of the poor and needy. But the Church has not
been willing to shift the whole responsibility and burden
of caring for the world's bodily needs upon the state.
Her prime and fundamental mission is to apply and
confer upon men, by the administration of the means of
grace, all the blessings of Christ's redemption. But
seeing that the Church is in the world, and that sin
entails sickness and suffering and woe of body as well
as of soul, it falls to the office of the Church, also, to
bring relief to the suffering bodies of men as well as to
their souls, to provide for widows, and the fatherless,
and the stranger, as opportunity is afforded and the
need may require.
If a justification of such activities on the part of
the Church is required, we would point out four main
factors as constituting the Scriptural ground of inner
mission work.
a. The inherent nature and spirit of the Gospel.
It is a message of love and life, of deliverance and salva
tion, of liberty and service. Once implanted in the
heart, it is transmuted into life and action. It impels
the believer to bear witness unto Christ as the only
Savior from sin and death and to perform deeds of
kindness and mercy in < His name. This is the most
potent, pervading, and enduring motive to mission work
in all its forms and in every possible and proper form.
It moves the Christian to bring the help that is needed
in the form in which it is required when the cry of the
needy falls upon his ear. What is immediately needed
may be bread for the hungry, or clothing for the naked,
or shelter for the homeless. The giving of these tem
poral necessities is a work of mercy, prompted by the

Ch. 22. INNER MISSION WORK. 299
same love that prompts the believer to tell the sinner
of the Savior.
b. The explicit teaching and the example of Christ.
It is a belittling of Christ and a denial of His redemp
tion to laud Him merely as a social reformer, as is done
so frequently nowadays. The social service of Jesus is
greatly misunderstood and misinterpreted by many. He
came to work out redemption for mankind and to estab
lish the kingdom of God among men. The new social
spirit begotten by the Gospel is the spirit of Christian
love, born of living faith in Him who gave His life a
ransom for all mankind.
This new social spirit, this spirit of true, Christian
brotherhood, of love toward man as man, even toward
enemies, Christ begets and fosters by His teaching, by
His sacrificial redemption, and by His example. His
was a new doctrine in a selfish, loveless world. He
taught the infinite value of a single soul, of every soul,
without distinction of class, standing, or condition. He
taught man's essential equality before God, and showed
that all are called to citizenship in His kingdom on
equal terms. He came into this world to serve, and to
give His life a ransom for many. In serving He gave
us an example, that we should follow His steps. His
miracles of mercy, His works of love and compassion in
behalf of the sick and afflicted, were credentials of His
divine mission and authority. But they were likewise
expressions of divine love, the love that is to be begotten
in us and that we are to exercise as His followers.
c. The missionary command of Christ. This is
only the concrete expression, in form of a mandate, of
the blessing and activity implied in the Gospel and accom
plished by Christ's vicarious offering for sin and for the
world's redemption. The Lord charges His followers,

300 MISSION STUDIES.
who as believers have come into possession of the bless
ings of redemption, to preach the Gospel to every creature
and make disciples of all the nations. And as they
earnestly endeavor to carry out the commission, at home
and in regions beyond, they soon find out, not only in
the crowded centers of our own country, but in foreign
fields among the heathen as well, that there are many
needs and evils besides the spiritual death and woe which
sin has brought into the world that cry out for relief,
and that it is utterly impossible to apply the direct remedy
of the Gospel in many cases until the physical needs, the
aches and ailments of the body, have been in some meas
ure relieved. The history of rescue missions and slum
work is full of illustrations of this practical truth. And
so we find that in all Christian mission work every
where, more especially in the department of inner mis
sion work, a large amount of ministering in temporal
things is combined with the direct service of the Gospel.
While the former is not neglected, the latter is always
kept in view as the chief thing, because what stranded
and fallen men need is not only amelioration of bodily
ills and reformation of life, but also and supremely
regeneration of heart and spiritual life, without which
an outwardly reformed life is only a temporal good and
may be a refined form of hypocrisy and self-righteous
ness. d. Apostolic injunction and example. Consider,
for instance, the words of St. Paul in the sixth chapter
of his epistle to the Galatians : "Bear ye one another's
burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. * * * Let
us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall
reap if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity,
let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who
are of the household of faith." The history of the early

Ch. 22. INNER MISSION WORK. 301
Church is a luminous exemplification of these principles
of Christian brotherhood, good will, and service to man
kind. The diaconate, both male and female, was an
office that grew out of the needs of the growing Church
and provided for the ministry of mercy, service among
those in need of temporal relief, under the direction and
control of the Church. The community of goods in the
church at Jerusalem was only a local incident, but it is a
beautiful illustration of Christian love and fellowship
which includes the sharing of temporal goods as occasion
may require. And besides providing for the needy
members of the household of faith, the early Christians
unstintingly bestowed kindnesses upon strangers and
ministered even unto their heathen persecutors, when the
latter were in need of help.
4. The Aim as Distinguished from the Methods.
In conclusion, to avoid any possible misunderstand
ing as to the nature, the scope, and the legitimacy of the
work, let the true aim of all Christian mission work be
duly emphasized and kept in view.
a. The aim is salvation from sin and death. As
a work of the Church, and not merely a form of Chris
tian philanthropy, this is the aim that must be kept
supreme in all forms of inner mission work. The
Gospel of Christ is the great remedy that must be applied
wherever it can get a hearing. In many cases of need
and distress it gets a hearing and a cordial welcome
through some ministration to bodily ailments. This,
then, becomes a means to the higher end of reaching the
soul. The physical is subordinate to the spiritual; the
temporal, to the eternal. The works of mercy are not
in themselves ends, but means. Even though they be
regarded as aims in a subordinate sense and within the
limited sphere of a particular charity, the workers must

302 MISSION STUDIES.
be conscious of their setting in the whole enterprise and
of their relation to the ultimate end of the Gospel and
of the Church. That is to save souls, to win disciples
for Christ and to incorporate them, wherever possible,
in the Church. The displacement of this aim, the eleva
tion of methods and secondary objects into the place of
an independent aim, leads to perversion here, just as it
does in foreign missionary work.
b. The methods vary according to the needs. The
relatively large place of charities in inner mission work
does not change the matter, nor justify a modification of
principle in the case. If the charities are maintained for
their own sake, independently of the Gospel, and without
the distinct and constant presence and power of the
Gospel, they deteriorate into philanthropies and human
ities, they change their character and the class to which'
they belong, they cease to be a part of the specific work
of the Church, they no longer belong to the sphere of
Christian missions and are no longer a part of the great
and ramified missionary enterprise which the Lord of the
harvest has given His Church to do.
Such considerations will impel the leaders of the
movement to shape their methods of work not only
according to the needs that appeal for help, but also with
a view to the immediate and the ultimate aim. Any
forms of activity that leave practically no room for more
or less direct influence of the Gospel are to be discarded
as not coming within the scope of the Church's inner
mission activity. And when certain lines of work are
undertaken, provision will be made from the outset for
the work and influence of the Gospel, to be carried on
wisely and prudently, with due regard for time and con
ditions, but faithfully and persistently, as good stewards
of the manifold grace of God.

CHAPTER XXIII.
PRINCIPAL METHODS OF THE WORK.
i. Congregational.
The division of methods, attempted here, is not the
one that is commonly made and accepted in the standard
German works on inner missions. From their point of
view the entire work is institutional, and work in the
congregation is enrolled as one of the forms of the in
stitutional activity. And for them that idea and order
is quite natural. It is in accord with the historical de
velopment of the enterprise in its modern form in
Germany as well as with the conditions still largely
prevailing in the fatherland. But is it in harmony with
the situation in America where we are fortunately free
from the entanglements and limitations in which the state
churches of Europe are involved, and where we have
neither occasion nor call to inaugurate and carry on the
work through independent organizations separate and
apart from the churches? We are of the decided opin
ion that it is not. Moreover, from the Scriptural point
of view, as we had occasion to show in another connec
tion, all such work which devolves upon the Church
and belongs to the sphere of churchly activity should,
under normal conditions, be under the control and super
vision of the churches in whose name it is carried on.
For these reasons the development of the inner mission
enterprise, so far as it has progressed among us, is for
the most part different from that which it has taken in
Europe. This is a great advantage for us, and the ad
vantage should be consistently followed up.
(303)

304 MISSION STUDIES.
a. This form of inner mission activity is of prime
importance. It is so from every point of view, whether
we regard it in the light of Scripture, or of the example
of the apostolic and early Christian Church, or of the
natural order of development. In this sphere, as in all
other mission work, the Gospel of Christ must be the
chief reliance for the accomplishment of the end of
Christian missions. And the Church is the divinely
planted and appointed institution for the propagation
of the Gospel and the administration of the means of
grace in general. The Church is, therefore, the proper
body to train and send out and support missionaries and,
consequently, also to have the general oversight of the
work. This is the Scriptural idea, and it is beautifully
exemplified in the early Church.
Our congregations would do well to make a more
earnest study of the spirit and work of the apostolic
churches. It was springtide in the Church, the season
of new life and freshness, of vigor and beauty, of health
and hope. It is like a cooling breeze from the mountains
to read the plain record of this purling life in the Acts
of the Apostles. There we find such phrases and state
ments as these : With one accord ; they continued stead
fastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in
breaking of bread, and in prayers; they lifted up their
voice to God with one accord; all that believed were
together and had all things common; they were of one
heart and of one soul; they attended to the work with
gladness and singleness of heart. And so we are prepared
to read, further, that, praising God, they had "favor
with all the people," and "great grace was upon them
all." Is there not in all this a lesson for our time ? Ought
it not at least to act as a check upon our distracted
strenuosity and as a spiritual tonic for our disjointed

Ch. 23. INNER MISSION METHODS. 305
congregational life? It is the spirit, the spirit of life
and love, that we must try to copy and cultivate, not
the particular forms of expression and application. The
latter vary and must be adapted to the varying conditions
of the times.
What would naturally result if the spirit of apos
tolic Christianity could be made to prevail in our
churches and to permeate all our church activity?
First of all, more voluntary personal service and help
fulness. That is the very thing that is so largely lack
ing, sadly lacking, in our modern church life. If any
need appears, and some special distress calls for relief,
the first thought is the formation of a society to combat
the evil. We are inclined to substitute machinery for
spirituality. Many are ready to give large sums of
money, but very few are willing to bestow personal
service. Giving money is far better than doing nothing,
and in many cases it is all that is called for. It is one
of the ways in which the individual can make his help
effective. Very much work we must do by proxy. But
it is a distinct loss and an evidence of declining vigor in
our churches that there is comparatively so little direct,
personal, spontaneous work and so much inclination to
drift into the institutional and official form of activity.
Such practical and pertinent suggestions as the fol
lowing deserve more than a passing thought. "Be a
missionary. Do not stop with being a member of a mis
sionary society and a contributor to its funds. . . .
Do some personal missionary work. . . . To be a
missionary is the surest way to do your part to awaken
your church to its duty and to quicken its spiritual life."
Very much of this work, particularly that in local par
ishes, falls to the lot of Christian women, as the only
persons who can render the needful services. "It will
20

306 MISSION STUDIES.
be a blessed day for America when a multitude of good
women come to realize with impelling force that the mis
sionary meeting that needs most to be held is that of a
devoted Christian woman of refinement and culture with
her needy and homesick and isolated sister from a far
away land, who lacks nothing so much as a bit of
womanly sympathy and cheer."1
b. How the work may be begun. In many con
gregations it doesn't need to be begun, but simply
fostered and developed. Not a few churches in
nearly all the Christian denominations are carrying on
extensive operations in the sphere of inner mission
work. There are interested and industrious bands of
workers in many congregations. Still there is large room
for improvement and advance, for a more general and
more efficient prosecution of the work.
There is need of arousing in our churches a more
general consciousness of the crying ills and the oppor
tunities for effective work in relieving them in all com
munities as well as in the country at large. We need
to be aroused out of our churchly ease and comforts and
complacency and made to cultivate a keener sense of in
dividual responsibility in church work. In a suggestive
paragraph on "the futility of mere church-going," the
Sunday School Times made this true remark : "The
test of the efficiency of the church is shown by how much
of the Gospel gets beyond the church walls into the lives
of the unsaved world just outside." And a leaflet, en
titled, "Who Cares?" published by the National Bible
Institute, New York, after calling attention to the fact
that in New York City alone fully one and a half millions
of people are unaffiliated with any church whatever,

* Grose's The Incoming Millions, pp. 112 and 124 ff.

Ch. 23. INNER MISSION METHODS. 307
and that it is the duty of the churches to take the Gospel
to them, remarks : "It is our deliberate opinion that the
vast majority of those who are in the Christian churches
in America today are so occupied with the things of
self, so destitute of the essential Christian quality
of aggressiveness, so blind to the awful havoc sin is
working in the lives of our fellowmen, that it may
rightly be said of us, 'You do not care.' Unless we re
pent, these sins of neglect and lukewarmness and in
difference will rise up in the judgment against us."
The first thing to be done, after a live interest has
been aroused, is to look around in the parish and im
mediate community, in one's own neighborhood, with
an eye open to see the opportunities near at hand. Here
is a field of service for the women's societies of our,
churches, especially, and it is a sphere that has remained
largely unworked. There are in many congregations
women's aid societies, and women's missionary societies,
that put forth laudable endeavors in behalf of the gen
eral work of the church, but fail utterly in the ministry
of mercy among the sick and needy, the indifferent and
neglected, in their own neighborhoods. As soon as such
work that calls so loudly for workers is earnestly begun,
it will open the way for the appointment of trained lay
helpers in many places. The busy women of our con
gregations might, upon studying the situation and arrang
ing their forces, do much more work than they have as
yet undertaken in the way of systematic work in behalf
of the needy classes round about them. And in smaller
congregations and rural communities that might be suffi
cient for all practical purposes. But in the larger fields
there would soon be a call for special workers and trained
helpers. This would open the way for the appointment,
first of all, of deaconesses and kindergarten teachers,

308 MISSION STUDIES.
whose duties as Christian teachers, visitors, nurses, and
the like, would vary according to the needs and oppor
tunities of the local fields. From such a beginning the
work would, in some parishes, develop to still larger
proportions along various lines of inner mission activity.
In congregational activity maintained in this spirit care
would have to be taken to encourage and engage the lay
forces of the congregation as indispensable aids to the
official workers so as to preserve and foster the spirit
of spontaneous and personal helpfulness.
c. Large city churches. The largeness of the op
portunities of the larger churches in the teeming centers
of our population deserves some particular consideration.
Not all the larger Protestant denominations of America
have shown the wisdom and farsightedness of the Roman
Catholic Church in occupying the great strategic centers.
Some of them in fact, notably the Lutheran Church, have
been exceedingly slow and remiss in grasping the situ
ation and placing their forces and fortresses in positions
most favorable for effective service. The trend of events
is too plain to be misunderstood. The church of the
future is the church that faithfully cares for the religious
training of its children and establishes itself strongly in
the large cities of the land. In both directions the Roman
Catholic Church is setting an example that Protestants
may study with considerable profit.
And what of the churches in the large cities? Of
what consequence are they as missionary centers among
the masses and the classes that surge about them? That
is the great question for the city churches to consider,
and to do so with a vigor and earnestness that is in some
degree commensurate with the seriousness and urgency
of the problem proposed. But not upon these heavily
burdened city churches alone does the solution of the

Ch. 23. INNER MISSION METHODS. 309
problem devolve. It is a matter that vitally concerns the
entire Church and the whole country. And so the
city churches should receive adequate support from the
other affiliated churches of the body to which they
belong. It behooves the churches in the growing cities to
exercise prudence and foresight in "swarming," send
ing out new colonies, and occupying the most promis
ing positions for future growth. This is done by the
planting of Sunday-schools and missions in different
parts of the city. The success . of this work depends
largely upon the faithfulness and loyalty of those who
are responsible for its maintenance. Unless it receives
the attention that it demands, unless, for example, the
older church members are willing to identify themselves
and their churchly interests with the work of the mission
that has been started in their locality, and unless the
mother church is willing to make large sacrifices for the
welfare of these new households of faith, they are likely
to drag on an uncertain existence for a long time and be
the source of much discouragement and worry. It may
be instructive, in this connection, to note the opinion and
testimony of one of the larger church papers, favorably
situated for the gathering of reliable information on the
subject. "Our city missions," said a writer in The Christian
Advocate of New York, "are mostly a disgrace to us.
And the people whom we are attempting to reach know
it. Their minds are often quite as keen as ours. The
trouble with our churches is that they are not willing to
spend sufficient money and to show a real interest in these
city mission efforts. A rich city church, with a home of
its own costing thousands of dollars, carpeted, cushioned,
adorned with rich pews, pipe-organ, and stained win-

310 MISSION STUDIES.
dows, will have as a 'mission' a wretched, unpainted hut
on a side street, alongside negro cabins, with battered
chairs, worn-out hymnals, no facilities for Sunday-
school work or the physical comfort of the children, and
expect the 'poor' to crowd into it. The kind of poor
we have in our cities of moderate size will do nothing
of the kind. Nor can they be blamed. Neither will they
go to service in the rich church itself — at least not till
their wages have increased so that they can dress as they
see others dress."
Now, the organizing of Sunday-schools and the
planting of churches is the work of home missions, ac
cording to the distinction we have made. But this is the
direct basis for the prosecution of inner mission ac
tivity as well. It brings the larger and stronger churches
into touch with the classes who need to be reached and
helped through the various ministries that may be set
in operation for the carrying on of the redemptive and
benevolent work of the Church.
The "institutional church" is one of the modern at
tempts to solve the problem of city evangelization. We
cannot here enter upon a discussion of its merits and
faults, its strength and its weakness. But whatever we
may think of it, there is no doubt that it can teach us
some needed lessons with reference to the adaptation of
the Church's ministrations to present day conditions and
along lines that may properly and profitably be under
taken in the development of inner mission work in the
large cities.
d. City missions and inner mission societies. The
term "city missions" is commonly used among us in two
senses, now in the home missionary sense of gathering
and building up congregations, and again in the sense
which it has in the sphere of inner mission activity, that

Ch. 23. INNER MISSION METHODS. 311
of constituting the center of extensive and varied opera
tions that bear an evangelistic, diaconal, and reforma
tory character. This work is extensively carried on in
all the large cities of Europe and America. The Berlin
city mission, for example, at its thirty-first anniversary,
reported in its employ seven inspectors, fifty city mis
sionaries, and eleven women assistants.
"In spite of the fact," writes Dr. S. L. Morris,1
"that all denominations are building up great churches
in the city, thoroughly alive seemingly to the wants of
humanity and the interests of the kingdom of Christ, it
yet remains an awful fact which we cannot ignore, that
the great masses have drifted away and are dying with
out Christ, under the very shadow of the Church. Is it
not equally true — perhaps the explanation of it all —
that the Church has drifted away from the masses?
. . . . The rich, benevolent people of our city
churches see the needs of the slums and are willing to
give of their abundance for the needy whom, alas, their
money can seldom reach. Multitudes will give money.
They need to give something more valuable than this."
We mention city missions and inner mission so
cieties under the head of congregational operations, be
cause we hold that these, in particular, of all the forms
of organized inner missions should stand in direct re
lation and constant communication with the churches.
So far as the work has developed in the Lutheran
Church on American soil this principle has been sub
stantially observed. There are in connection with dif
ferent synods five organized mission societies,2 with head-

•At Our Own Door, p. 78 ff.
2City missions are in operation in Philadelphia, New York,
Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Minneapolis, Brook
lyn, Buffalo, and Toledo, Ohio.

312 MISSION STUDIES.
quarters in Philadelphia, New York, Pittsburg, Chicago
and Minneapolis, together with the Inner Mission League
of Columbus, Ohio. One illustration may suffice to show
the manner of work observed in city missions under
the direction of these societies. The character of the
work done at Philadelphia is announced on a card which
is freely distributed throughout , the /city: "The
Lutheran City Mission furnishes missionaries for relig
ious services in the charitable, reformatory and penal
institutions of the city, or for private spiritual minis
trations among those who are without pastoral care, es
pecially when such persons are, or have been, identified
with the Lutheran Church. Other helpful services ren
dered as far as possible." At the present time services
are being held, or visits made, from time to time, in thirty-
five different institutions. The superintendent and his
assistants visit the sick in hospitals, the aged and infirm
in homes, and prisoners in their cells. They minister in
a variety of ways to the poor and neglected, the indif
ferent and the fallen. They aid convalescents, the aged
and dependent, and orphaned children by securing for
them temporary or permanent homes.
One of the aims of the general or synodical so
cieties is to encourage the organization of congregational
societies for systematic neighborhood visitation, for
work among children and the young in general, by con
ducting day nurseries, kindergartens, reading rooms for
boys and young men, sewing schools for girls, and the
like, for the relief of the indigent sick and the worthy
poor, and for whatever other ministrations of love may
be practicable. Among the objects of these societies is
that of stimulating missionary activity and encouraging
works of mercy in their own congregations.
e. Some further practical suggestions. Under the

Ch. 23. INNER MISSION METHODS. 313
leadership of the pastor, with the cordial co-operation
of the members — men, women, young people, and chil
dren — much might be done, far more than the ordinary
parish is now doing, by way of relief, help, rescue, pre
vention of disease and crime, physical, moral, and spirit
ual improvement of the community. The church and the
parish house — and fortunate is the congregation that is
able to have one — should be a center of spiritual and
benevolent activity. With all classes of members not
only invited out from time to time for entertainment and
pastime, but marshalled for real service, for organized ef
fort, intelligently directed and reported, persistently main
tained and followed up, any one who knows something
about the prevailing conditions in different communities
can estimate what an amount of work might be accom
plished in time, real work, telling work, truly Christian
and proper church work. At the beginning, on a small
scale, volunteer workers might suffice, as they did for a
time in the early Church. But soon, in larger parishes
and in some communities, volunteer service would prove
to be inadequate, and trained workers would be needed.
In this way the institutional phase of inner mission work
grows naturally out of the parish work. The latter
should include attention to inmates in public, charitable
and penal institutions, where there is no regularly ap
pointed city missionary to attend to this work.
In this connection we would call the attention of
pastors and mission workers to two excellent and sug
gestive chapters in Dr. Ohl's "The Inner Mission", on
city missions, and the relief of parish needs. We quote
a few characteristic statements.
"In the American city, with its large number of churches,
every established congregation should be a center of missionary
activity, but especially those whose churches are located in the

314 MISSION STUDIES.
midst of a congested and unchurched population. If the church
£t today does not have the hold upon such masses that she
should have, we cannot close our eyes to the fact that some
thing has been and still is lacking on her part. The chasm
that in many places separates her from the masses is at Teast
to some extent due to the failure of congregations to take
note of the rapidly changing conditions of modern life, and to
adapt their methods to these changed conditions. The result
is that much of the work that churches ought to do is done by
purely humanitarian associations,' or left to the Salvation Army
and kindred organizations. — A city congregation should not
think of leaving a neighborhood in which its presence and work
as an uplifting and saving power are most needed. * * *
It must make a systematic effort, through an increased and
willing working force, to reach out into the masses surrounding
its place of worship, that it may discover their spiritual and
temporal needs, and furnish the relief. Why should not a
church in the midst of a teeming unchurched population be a
hive of activity all the while, week-days as well as Sundays,
making use of every legitimate gospel means to win old and
young for better life? Why should it not have, besides its
pastor or pastors, an entire staff of trained deacons, deacon
esses, and teachers, and a whole host of volunteer helpers to
come into personal touch with and to do individual work among
those who are right about it, and who most need such effort?
Why serve a class instead of the mass? * * * In the dis
position to serve a class rather than the mass is probably found
one of the most potent reasons why many congregations desert
a neighborhood when the population begins to change, and the
well-to-do members move into newer and better localities. Un
fortunately this is true only of Protestants. Roman Catholics
never abandon a field, and often immediately occupy those left
by Protestants. * * * The question becomes an intensely
individual and personal one. * * * And to inspire this larger
measure of duty pastors themselves must be vitally interested."
We would call attention also to another chapter on
this practical phase of the subject, in "Social Ministry"
(edited by Harry F. Ward). Rev. Worth M. Tippy,
Pastor of Epworth Memorial Church, Cleveland, Ohio,

Ch. 23. INNER MISSION METHODS. 315
tells from his standpoint how a congregation may be
organized for "social ministry." His article is suggestive
and helpful because it has grown out of personal exper
ience and practice. We stop to quote some of its perti
nent features.
He properly assigns to the pastor the central place in the
work. "A pastor who desires to socialize his church should
begin by giving himself to the poor, to the aged who are in
straitened circumstances, to neglected children, to the families
of drunkards, to widows and deserted women who are strug
gling to hold their children together, to the unemployed, to
helping young people desiring an education, and to the victims
of accidents and sickness." * * * The Social Service Committee
"shall provide all possible relief in cases of distress or need in
the church and parish, involving employment, destitution, sick
ness, or infirmities of age, making such expenditures therefor
as shall be authorized from time to time by the Official Board."
* * * The work is largely "directed by the church deaconess,
under the general supervision of the pastor. She is surrounded
by a staff of friendly visitors and representatives" of the Sun
day-school, the women's societies, young people's societies, and
men's club. * * * "After extended experiment the church
has settled upon certain well defined principles. It cares for
the need of its own members and the families connected with
the Sunday-school, with occasional help on outside cases in the
parish. It refuses kindly but firmly to give assistance to un
known people who apply at the office or to the pastor. Such
persons are almost invariably professionals and are referred to
the Associated Charities, with the explanation that this organ
ization was created for such work as a part of its duties, and
that the church cannot undertake it. People from other parts
of the city are referred to the same organization, or to a church
in their own parish." * * * "Many suburban churches, and
churches in fine resident sections of cities, have no cases re
quiring relief in their membership and yet they are able to do
largely. Such churches should rally to the support of institu
tions which are at work in industrial neighborhoods. It should
be considered a reproach to a church to have no systematic
charities."

316 MISSION STUDIES.
"Careful records are kept of all cases and families. * * *
Every effort is made to secure employment for those out of
work. The church has found that in times of unemployment
there are large resources in the homes of a church. * * *
In times of unemployment people should be encouraged to give
work to the unemployed which under ordinary circumstances
they would do themselves. * * * The church finances its
charities by an annual Thanksgiving offering which is worked
up in advance." This is supplemented by communion offerings,
Christmas gifts of the Sunday-school, and occasional private
contributions. Among the principles that ought to guide the
development of a church as a social center "the first is that
every church should determine, as the first obligation, to min
ister to the people of its own parish. * * * The second prin
ciple is that the character of the work which is to be under
taken should be determined by a study of the needs of the
parish and of the membership of the church. * * * Even
in industrial neighborhoods, what the church should do will be
influenced by what the schools, the city, the private organiza
tions have undertaken for the same community." * * *
Whether a church shall have night schools, reading and game
rooms, a kindergarten, nursery, dispensary, etc., "will depend
partly upon its ability to finance and manage such features,
but primarily upon whether the community really needs them."
Note, in conclusion, the following incisive and suggestive para
graph :
"Protestant churches in America are neglecting industrial
neighborhoods. They tend to seek self-support, and turn nat
urally to residence suburbs, or to sections of cities where better
paid workingmen have their homes. There is urgent need of a
new policy, in which strong churches and city missionary unions
shall systematically plant highly socialized churches, with prop
erly trained and sympathetic pastors, in crowded sections of
cities, or provide better facilities for churches already existing.
This is the most effective way for the churches to keep near
to the masses of the people."
2. Institutional.
The development of works of mercy in our congre
gations leads naturally and inevitably to the establishment

Ch. 23. INNER MISSION METHODS. 317
of institutions of various kinds. Forms of work are de
veloped which transcend, in character and size, individ
ual and congregational ability, and which can be carried
on efficiently only by means of suitable institutions.
We do not undertake here to present anything like
a complete list of the charitable institutions that may be
or that have already been established to this end. In
this department we must refer the reader to the litera
ture on the subject, typical and helpful examples of which
are given in the Bibliography at the end of the book.
By way of a summary, and to give some idea of
the ground to be covered, we will merely mention three
groups of institutions that are of chief importance in
the prosecution of the work of inner missions.
a. Training schools for workers. These are
called for by the very nature of the work. And a great
many have been established and are maintained by dif
ferent churches in various cities. They prepare workers
of every class, men and women, settlement and slum
workers, deaconesses, women missionaries and teachers,
nurses, and others. In the Lutheran Church there have
been established ten deaconess motherhouses which serve
both as training schools for the preparation of deacon
esses and as centers and homes from which these workers
go forth, and to which they look for direction and sup
port. The deaconesses serve as teachers in schools,
nurses in hospitals, and helpful workers in congregations.
b. Charitable institutions. Of these there is a
large variety, aiming to meet the wants of every form of
need. They are variously classified. There are schools
for the care and training of the young, including nurs
eries and kindergartens, day schools, night schools, in
dustrial schools, etc.; shelters and homes for the safe
guarding and ptotection of those who are in special

318 MISSION STUDIES.
danger, as shelters for girls out of employment, hospices
for young men, and the like ; rescue missions of various
description, Magdalen homes, reformatories, etc. ;
asylums for the care of the sick and afflicted, hospitals,
homes for the aged and infirm as well as for the or
phans, asylums for epileptics, the deaf and dumb, the
blind and crippled, the feeble-minded and insane, etc. ;
and also special missions for particular classes, as sea
men's missions and immigrant missions.
In all these and many other forms the work of
mercy is being carried on in our country. The home
missionary societies of many of the Protestant churches
support missions at the leading seaports in behalf of the
incoming foreigners, ministering in this way to some
fifteen to twenty nationalities. The Lutheran Church is
maintaining no less than 35 homes for the aged, 45 hos
pitals, 64 orphanages, 10 deaconess institutions, 22 im
migrant and seamen's missions, 9 hospices or Christian
inns, 9 city missions, and 14 other enterprises, includ
ing settlement work and homes for defectives.
c. The dissemination of Christian literature. In
this sphere much remains to be done by way of extending
and perfecting the present operations of the churches.
The denominational publishing houses are producing a
large amount of valuable and timely literature. But
very few churches have adequate means for the dis
tribution of suitable literature among and in behalf of
the spiritually indifferent classes. In some of the cities
of Europe printed sermons and leaflets are distributed
every Lord's Day and at other times by the hundreds of
thousands, and colportage is a form of inner mission
work that is maintained on a grand scale.
This topic deserves special attention and emphasis.
Among the manifold forms of inner mission activity,

Ch. 23. INNER MISSION METHODS. 319
the work of supplying and spreading Christian literature
must be regarded as of primary importance. This is a
reading age. The printed page takes foremost rank
among the educating forces of the day, among the agen
cies that aim at the spreading of information, the mold
ing of sentiment, the winning of supporters and workers,
the accomplishment of some specific work. Both in order
to offset and counteract the flood of worthless and per
nicious literature that finds its way into the hands and
homes of our people, and in order to fortify them and
charge society with the life-giving, redeeming, and
transforming power of the Gospel, Christian churches
should become more alert, active, and persistent in the
systematic preparation and distribution of Christian
literature. In contents, form, and style the literature must ap
peal to present day readers. It should aim to cover the
whole range of the Christian life and the work of the
Church. It must be crisp and direct, plain and forceful.
The truth of the Gospel must be set forth in terms that
will arrest attention and compel thought, and it must
be applied to current thought and the issues of the day.
Church papers, periodical literature, and books are very
good among a fraction of our church-membership, but
their distribution and use will, it would seem, always
remain limited. In addition and supplementary to these
forms, there is room and an urgent call for leaflet evan
gelism. Tracts and leaflets should be adapted for gen
eral distribution in every community, to meet the varied
needs of society, to reach both indifferent and lukewarm
church-members and the unchurched classes, to help and
influence and win for the kingdom of God the physically
and spiritually needy among whom, whether in their
homes or in public institutions, inner mission workers

320 MISSION STUDIES.
endeavor to labor. The latter ought never to be with
out a bunch of leaflets suited to diverse conditions and
needs. The publication of such literature on an ample
scale devolves upon the larger church bodies.
Given the literature in suitable variety and quantity
for general distribution, it must be distributed broadcast,
else it will lie as dead stock on the shelves of the publish
ing houses and fail to accomplish its purpose. This is one
of the grave problems with which synods and churches
ought to wrestle earnestly until it is solved far more
satisfactorily than is the case in the average parish today.
Various sects and secular movements succeed in making
large and effective use of the press in the interest of their
propaganda. Must the churches that are in possession
of the Gospel, the power of God unto salvation for time
and for eternity, confess and concede helplessness and
inability in this potent and pregnant cause?
Inner mission workers have shown and led the way
of broadcast distribution of Christian literature. It is
a live system of colportage. Some literature can be dis
tributed by mail. But the most effective way is by per
sonal agency. If it is not possible to employ trained col
porteurs, as is done in Germany and other countries, it
may be possible to inaugurate some system of synodical
and parish colportage, by which, under a strong central
management and the supervision of the pastors, a large
number of volunteer workers may be enlisted in this
promising field of labor.
Within the parish the work can be done most thor
oughly through a regularly appointed missionary com
mittee, selected by the pastor and vestry, and organized
under the direction and leadership of the pastor. There
should be regular meetings for conference and instruc
tion both as to the best way of approaching people and as

Ch. 23. inner Mission methods'. 321
to the objects of the literature to be distributed. If a
member is able to express a few words of personal ap
preciation of the cause presented on the printed page, the
message will be more likely to be read with interest by
the person who receives it at his hands. Systematic
work requires the division of the parish into districts
and the appointment of two members for each district.
They should not have too many families to visit, lest the
work become too burdensome and be neglected.
The plan of distributing through a missionary com
mittee has many advantages. It brings the members of
the congregation into more frequent contact and active
relation with each other. In the distribution of litera
ture it adds the very influential element of personal in
terest and fraternal fellowship. It helps to develop and
employ many valuable forces in the congregation that
are now latent and dormant, because they have never
been called into active service. It may furnish valuable
aid to the pastor in many ways.

21

FOURTH PART.
THE NURTURE OF MISSIONARY LIFE IN
THE HOME CHURCH.
(323)

CHAPTER XXIV.
THE MISSIONARY LIFE.1
i. A Vital Issue.
The development of missionary life among us is em
phatically a vital issue, a life question, in at least two
important regards : in the sense of having to do with the
nurture of spiritual life and the apprehension of life
eternal, and in view of the fact that its solution will
engage our closest attention and vital energies during our
whole life. If we apprehend the matter in this light, we
will not soon reach a stage when we feel that further
study of the theme is superfluous, but we will welcome
whatever stimulates us to faithfulness in the perform
ance of our duty and promises to increase our efficiency
as laborers together with God in the work of His
kingdom. The development of missionary life in the home
churches is a factor the importance of which cannot be
overestimated. It is indispensable to the inauguration,
the maintenance, and the successful prosecution of the
work of missions. The work devolves, by divine ap
pointment, upon the Christian Church. Wherever

'For helpful literature on the subjects of this section
consult: Warneck, Missionslehre II, ch. 21; a work of his
entitled, Die Belebung des Missionssinnes in der Heimat, 1878,
is out of print; Hesse, Die Mission auf der Kanzel; Mott,
The Pastor and Modern Missions, and The Evangelization
of the World in this Generation ; Adams, The Missionary
Pastor; Brown, The Foreign Missionary, ch. XII; Thompson,
Foreign Missions, lectures V., VI., and VII.; Stein, Was will
die innere Mission? lecture VIII. (325)

326 mission studies.
churches cultivate the missionary life within their ranks,
they become a missionary force in carrying the work
forward. Whereas the churches that neglect the nur
ture of missionary interest bestow little, if any, energy
upon the task and even act in the nature of weights and
brakes, retarding by their injurious example and general
lethargy the progress of the work.
The vitality of the Church depends on its being
missionary. "Its life's blood," as Bishop Selwyn has
truly said, "would lose its vital power, if it never flowed
to the extremities, but curdled at the heart." And as
Secretary Brown reminds his readers : "Here is one
cause of the poverty of spiritual life. The Church is
living too much for itself."1
The reflex influence of missions upon the life of
the home churches comes under this head and should be
duly emphasized. The following paragraph from the
Sunday School Times is directly to the point: "Relig
ion is a thing that spoils by keeping. It is as little meant
to be bottled and preserved as is the air of heaven. In
the year 1812, the American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions asked the Massachusetts Legislature
for a charter, and it was refused. The main objection
was that this organization was designed to afford means
of exporting religion, whereas there was none too much
of that article to spare from among ourselves. To this
the petitioners made the unanswerable reply that religion
was an article of which the more we exported, the more
we had. Finally their request was heeded, to the eternal
benefit of the home field as well as the foreign. Neither
churches nor men can live spiritually unless they export
their religion. All the good we have must be kept mov-

1 The Foreign Missionary, p. 233.

Ch. 24. THE MISSIONARY LIFE. 327
ing. He may take the Christianity who will, but he that
hoards it loses it, while he that gives it out has it the
more abundantly."
The essential and fundamental character of mission
ary work, its place in Christianity and the Christian life,
has been clearly shown. Aside from the preservation of
the truth and the maintenance of the true doctrines of
salvation according to God's Word, the missionary enter
prise is the main work of the Church. In order that it
may be done, there must be missionary life in the Church.
And that life, like all life, must be fostered and furthered,
if it is to be maintained and perpetuated.
Missionary life is the throbbing heart of missionary
work. It is the driving wheel that keeps all the other
wheels in motion. No natural force can take the place
of this vital, spiritual energy. Here the word applies,
"Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." No natural genius
or human ingenuity can accomplish the work which God
has assigned to the humble believer. When, as is so fre
quently the case, for the carrying on of the Lord's work
appeals are made to the flesh, and resort is had to carnal
methods and measures, there may be apparent success in
that the immediate object seems to have been gained,
but we may rest assured that appearances deceive, and
such efforts will end in dismal failure. Efforts that are
not in harmony with the Gospel, are not prompted by
faith nor supported by divine promises, cannot be suc
cessful. They are without the blessing of God, and they
cannot redound to His glory.
One of the ever present and pressing needs in
mission work is money. We should not be afraid to tell
our people so and lay this burden as a divine call upon
their hearts. But the very effort to raise the money
that is needed for the carrying on of the Lord's work,

328 MISSION STUDIES.
and which He expects His people to lay as thank-offer
ings at His feet, may be made in such a way as to
obstruct and stunt rather than promote and foster the
growth of spiritual life, thus defeating the very object
which it was intended to serve. Here, as elsewhere in
the mission cause, we need to lift up our eyes and take a
broad and far-reaching view of the matter, lest we
become guilty of the folly and error of trying to reap
Where we have not sown, or expecting to reap grapes
of thorns or figs of thistles. We should under certain
circumstances be less solicitous about immediate results
than we are about remoter effects, less solicitous, for
example, about securing a contribution now than about
guarding and promoting a spiritual condition that will
prompt a person to make sacrifices whenever the Lord
calls for them.
2. A Work of Divine Grace.
Wherever there is true missionary life, it has been
wrought of God, has been called into existence and is
developed and fostered by His grace and Spirit. This
is implied in the very nature of the missionary life. It is
the spiritual life of the regenerate soul in action, impell
ing the Christian to live in accordance with his profes
sion, in the obedience of faith, to do God's holy will, to
spend and be spent in the work of extending the kingdom
of God. We must not be satisfied with a momentary interest
and impulse, nor deceived by spasmodic efforts and fitful
enthusiasm. Missionary life implies far more than a
knowledge of facts and conditions in the sphere of
missions, an occasional contribution to mission work,
natural sympathy with people in distress, willingness to
feed and clothe the beggar at the door, and the like. Our

Ch. 24. THE MISSIONARY LIFE. 329
conception of missionary life is radical, in that it aims
to go to the root of the matter. It joins the workmen
with the Lord whose work they are to do, in whom
they live, and without whom they can do nothing.
Missionary life is faith applied and exercised, the dynam
ics of the inner man. There can be no true missionary
life, no healthy and abiding impulses, desires, purposes
and products along missionary lines, where there is no
living faith and spiritual life. And there is no healthy
and vigorous and intelligent spiritual life that does not
sooner or later, according to its opportunities, seek and
find channels of activity that exhibit its missionary
character. The history of missions is full of proofs and ex
amples of the intimate correspondence between vital
godliness and missionary interest and zeal. Wherever,
in periods of spiritual decline and decay and religious
stagnation, there has been a revival of faith and piety, a
spiritual awakening and a season of refreshing from the
presence of the Lord, the new life has always applied and
expended itself in the interest of soul-saving, in the
spread of the Gospel and the extension of the kingdom
of God. Instructive illustrations may be found in the
career and work of such men as Francke, Gossner
Harms, George Miiller, Hudson Taylor, and many others
Since missionary life implies and requires a re
generate heart and cannot be maintained without a living
faith that "worketh by love," it is just as much, as truh
and fully, the work of divine grace as is conversion and
sanctification. If this fundamental truth, certain and
undeniable as it is, is not merely held as a theory, but
becomes within us a dominant conviction, it will neces
sarily wield a powerful influence in shaping our conduct
with reference to the awakening and fostering of mis-

330 MISSION STUDIES.
sionary life. We will then place our dependence not on
organization, numbers, external arrangements, appeals
to the flesh, or any human devices, but upon the living
God and the Word of His grace which is able to build
up saints and save and reclaim sinners. As we wait upon
the Lord and trust in His saving grace to bless the Word
of truth and make this incorruptible seed fruitful in the
enlightenment and ingathering of souls, so we look to
Him for spiritual quickening, for a deepening of devo
tion and an increase of interest and zeal in aggressive
missionary enterprise.
When Henry Martyn, as he lay burning with fever
in Persia, received a letter asking how the missionary
interest of the Church at home could be increased, the
dying missionary, whose brief career had been spent in
consuming zeal for the extension of God's kingdom,
replied: "Tell them to live more with Christ; to catch
more of His spirit; for the spirit of Christ is the spirit
of missions, and the nearer we get to Him the more
intensely missionary we must become."

CHAPTER XXV.
THE NURTURE OF MISSIONARY LIFE IN THE
CHURCH AT LARGE.
i. By Joint Effort of the Affiliated Congrega
tions. There is a strong tendency in our day to advocate
and attempt to form large unions of forces, denomina
tional and inter-denominational combinations, and the
like. Some are wise, and some are otherwise. There
is no reason why churches that hold the same faith, that
are separated by no matters of conscience or Scriptural
principles, but merely by matters of opinion, preference
or church polity, should not unite for the more success
ful prosecution of the larger church enterprises. That
is a matter for Christian love, coupled with wisdom, to
decide. But these are not the most important unions in
the Church, by any means. Far more important is it to
urge and labor in the direction of united effort in the
congregations themselves, and in the larger, general
bodies to which these congregations may belong. Con
gregational and synodical loyalty and unity, the vitaliza-
tion and compactness of all the members within these
spheres, this is the issue of prime importance. And
there are two points that we would especially emphasize,
namely, the importance of the individual, and the pastor
as missionary leader.
The reason for considering these points here, rather
than in the succeeding chapter, is obvious. Both factors
are equally important in the work of the Church at large
and in that of the congregation. We depend, under
(331)

332 MISSION STUDIES.
God, upon the interest and loyalty of our members and
look, in the main, to our pastors for leadership in both
spheres. a. The importance of the individual. We have
had occasion to refer to this before, but repetition of
the fact is not superfluous. The importance of the in
dividual is too often and too easily lost in the contem
plation of the mass. This or that is pointed out as the
duty and work of the Church, a resolution is passed by
the proper body, some enterprise is undertaken, and it
is expected that the work will be done as it has been
enthusiastically resolved upon, but — the result is often
disappointing, why? Simply because there are too
many members, congregations, and pastors who fail to
feel with sufficient intensity that the doing of it depends
and devolves in part upon them. One of the problems
in church work is, how to reach and rouse and enlist the
individual member. What makes some little missions
strong is the fact that every member is a worker; and
what makes many a large and well-to-do congregation
weak is the fact that it has so many members who are
shirkers. b. The pastor as missionary leader. When the
infirmities and shortcomings of the Church are under
consideration, the pastors invariably and inevitably come
in for a large share of blame. This fault-finding with
the conduct and work of pastors may be carried too far,
and by hasty and indiscriminate reproach injustice may
be done to some faithful and conscientious pastors, for
whose difficult and trying situation not enough allow
ance is made. We should be just and fair, as well as
fervent in spirit.
The pastor himself is the last person who can afford
to underrate the importance of his position as a spiritual

Ch. 25. IN THE CHURCH AT LARGE. 333
leader of the Lord's people. The work of the Lord is
not dependent upon man or any human power, but this
does not justify us in undervaluing the importance of
the personality of the minister who is set as a watchman
on Zion's walls and stands as a divinely appointed leader
and overseer among his people. It behooves the con
scientious pastor to study his relation to the development
of missionary life in his own congregation as well as in
the synod or larger church body to which he may belong,
and he may well have regard for the influence of his per
sonal example not only among the members of his con
gregation, but also upon other pastors and congregations.
Because of his position and relations a special re
sponsibility rests upon the pastor. "He holds a key
position," as a missionary leader remarks. "If he lacks
the missionary spirit, if he is not fully persuaded that
the cause of missions is the cause of Christ Himself, his
church will not be missionary. As the pastor so the
people, is generally true in relation to this subject. It
would be difficult, if not impossible, to find a case of a
pastor deeply and actively interested in missions who has
not met with a real response from a goodly number of
his parishioners. * * * Pastors should be taught to
look on their churches not only as a field to> be cultivated,
but also as a force to be wielded on behalf of the world's
evangelization."1

'John R. Mott, The Evangelization of the World in this
Generation, p. 191, ff. In The Pastor and Modern Missions,
Dr. Mott writes: "It is not a question of the location of the
pastor, or of his special natural ability. Wherever you find a
pastor with overflowing missionary zeal and knowledge, you
will find an earnest missionary church. * * * The mission
ary visitor may arouse temporary interest. But it is the mis
sionary pastor who makes a church a missionary power the
year through." Dr. Theodore Christlieb, in a pointed para-

334 MISSION STUDIES.
2. By Faithful Supervision of the General Work.
In our church work we entrust certain interests to
the general body composed of the affiliated congregations.
This is the case particularly with the larger enterprises
of the Church, as the educational institutions, the general
mission work, the publication interests, and others. It
goes without saying that their success depends largely
upon the way in which they are managed and their in
terests are presented to the churches.
Two things, therefore, are required, in order to
promote the general work, namely, faithful administra
tion and ample reports. The churches secure the former
by appointing to their offices and positions of trust faith
ful and experienced men, and they have a right to expect
the fullest possible information in regard to the needs
and progress of the work. This is usually imparted
through the church papers and magazines, the published
proceedings of synodical conventions, and special reports.
Through these channels, if they are widely distributed
in the churches, as they should be, influences are carried

graph on the conduct of pastors as missionary leaders, says :
"Their congregations soon become like them in Christian works
of love. If the pastor concerns himself very little about the
history of modern missions, if he denies himself the strength
ening of faith and spiritual quickening that come to the man
who, on his lonely post, is intent on catching the distant ham
mer-strokes of those who are laboring on the upbuilding of
the kingdom of God, if he only hastily looks at the reports
to see whether they contain any material for immediate use in
missionary services, if the latter are to him more an assigned
task and burden than a matter of real and hearty interest —
and the congregation is quick to feel and detect the difference,
* * * then it will soon become ever more difficult for him
to maintain the missionary interest even upon the plane that
has been attained, to say nothing about developing and enlarg
ing it in accordance with the needs of the missionary society."

Ch. 25. IN THE CHURCH AT LARGE. 335
directly into the homes of the people that can hardly
fail to result in enlarged interest and activity.
3. By Ample Provision for Co-operation.
The entire work of the general body is built upon
this principle. The body is composed of members, indi
vidual congregations. If they fail to co-pperate, the
work fails, and the body goes to pieces. If the co
operation is weak, the work drags along slowly and
heavily, and the faithful members groan beneath their
heavy tasks. It is only when the co-operation is general
and hearty that there can be anything like success and
joyfulness and hopefulness in the enterprise. And Chris
tians ought to aim not merely at performance of duty,
but also at the promotion of joyfulness in Christian
service, according to the apostolic injunction, "Rejoice
in the Lord alway."
To plan and provide for growth of interest and
co-operation is, therefore, one of the important tasks of
the Church. It is usually done through the work of
synods and conferences, by duly appointed officers and
agents, by means of the manifold influences that center
about and go out from the educational institutions, and
through the publication and dissemination of the needful
church literature in the form of reports, leaflets, tracts,
periodicals and books.
The Church that is wise and faithful to its trust
will make large use of these and other means in order
to promote among its members intelligent and sustained
interest in its work. Particularly must the power of the
press be utilized with all the vigor that can be mustered.
People are great readers nowadays. And yet it is a sad
fact that in many a Christian home very little, if any,
religious reading is done. Very many homes that are

336 MISSION STUDIES.
well supplied with secular papers and magazines insist
upon getting along without a church paper. It behooves
the general body to inquire into existing conditions and
inaugurate ways and means of improving them.
The place of missions in the educational institutions
of the Church was discussed in a preceding chapter. The
relation of this to the development of missionary life in
the Church is plain. If the students that go forth from
these institutions into the various walks and vocations
of life have come into living touch with the Church's
missionary interests and have caught something of the
fervor of the missionary life, and have gathered some
stimulating information on the work in its different
departments and fields, having enjoyed the advantages
of a good missionary library and the helpful associations
of missionary meetings and classes, we may feel hopeful
that some missionary life and interest will flow through
them into the congregations in which their life's work
may be cast. We have a right to expect that these
young men and women, trained in Christian institutions,
will serve as leaders among the people with whom they
associate and among whom they labor. With this far-
reaching object in view it behooves the churches to make
ample provision for the promotion of the missionary
interests in their higher schools of learning.

CHAPTER XXVI.
THE NURTURE OF MISSIONARY LIFE IN THE
CONGREGATION.
i. Faithful Administration and Application of
the Means of Grace.
It is here, in the congregation, that the principal
battles must be fought, and the continuous and telling
work must be done. And our chief reliance must be the
Word of the living God. That "sword of the Spirit,"
that "incorruptible seed," that "power of God unto salva
tion," which is mighty through God to the pulling down
of strongholds and the extension of the kingdom of
Christ in heathendom, is equally powerful in creating and
fostering spiritual life and effecting transformations of
grace in the home churches and fields.
Let, therefore, the divinely appointed means of
grace be faithfully preserved and used in our churches.
All other ways and means, methods and measures, are
subordinate to these divinely appointed means of working
the work of God, raising souls from death, implanting
divine and heavenly life in those who by nature are dead
in trespasses and sins, and fostering and developing and
preserving that life for the accomplishment of God's
good and gracious will. If these divine means are want
ing, if their administration is feeble and lifeless, or if
their use is purely external and mechanical, devoid of
real spiritual power and assimilation of divine grace, all
other methods and devices, however skilful and inge
nious, will prove utterly futile for the fostering of mis
sionary life. (337)

338 MISSION STUDIES.
In our congregational work we may distinguish be
tween two spheres, in which the divine Word must be
applied, in order to the edification of the body in its
entire membership. These we proceed to examine. The
use of missionary means and influences is somewhat dif
ferent among the younger and the older members.
2. Two Spheres of Spiritual Nurture.
In the congregation there are many members, in
various stages of intellectual and spiritual advancement.
Due regard must be had for their varying capacities and
needs. A. Among the young. Various opportunities are
presented for the nurture of missionary interest among
the younger members of the household of faith. They
are golden opportunities, because of the receptivity and
pliability of the youthful mind and heart. How unwise,
therefore, and unfaithful, too, are those teachers and
leaders who neglect the work among the children and the
youth! We should give it particular attention and as
siduously cultivate the field.
All we can hope to do in this brief sketch is to out
line the more obvious opportunities.
a. Missionary work in the Sunday-school. Various
ways of wielding a missionary influence in the Sunday-
school may be pursued by interested workers. It should
not be forgotten, however, that the pastor is the divinely
appointed leader here, as he is in the other departments
of church work. Let the work be carefully planned, and
its unity preserved.
There are two main points to be observed and kept
in view, namely, first, the imparting of elementary in
struction concerning the missionary enterprise, and,
secondly, the cultivation of the spirit of benevolence and

Ch. 26. IN THE CONGREGATION. 339
Christian giving. And we would suggest two ways as,
among others, well adapted to serve the end : the setting
apart of what may be called missionary Sundays during
the year, and the annual observance of a children's mis
sionary day, to serve as the culmination of the instruc
tion imparted during the year, as a time of festivity and
thanksgiving for the missionary work that has been ac
complished by God's grace, and a season of renewed in
spiration for the work of the next year. Local circum
stances and conditions must determine the details, as,
for example, the frequency of the missionary Sundays,
whether to be held, say, monthly, or quarterly. These
would give the pastor opportunity to impart the needful
instruction in missions, particularly in the form of in
teresting narratives, with such application to local con
ditions as may be called for. On these Sundays there
might be a special offering for missions, though this
should not be allowed to interfere with the general of
fering to be gathered for the annual children's day fes
tivity. Various systems are in vogue and may be suc
cessfully operated for the gathering of the offerings,
as envelopes, money barrels, mite boxes, etc.
b. Missionary instruction in the catechetical school
or class. This is an old, well established, and approved
method for the religious instruction and training of, the
children and youth of the Church. It is regularly main
tained and is still proving itself highly effective, espe
cially in the Lutheran Church. What cogent reason is
there why it should not be observed, in some form, in all
Christian churches? Religious leaders are not making
full proof of their ministry with reference to the car
ing for and feeding of the lambs of the flock, when they
refuse to avail themselves of an arrangement of this
kind for effective pastoral work in behalf of the youth.

340 MISSION STUDIES.
In this sphere of activity the Catechism and Bible
History afford frequent opportunities and occasions for
missionary instruction and application which the wise
and faithful teacher will not ignore. And such incidental
exposition of missionary thoughts in the regular course
of religious instruction will be very effective and fruitful.
c. Missionary instruction in the Christian day school.
Congregations that are fortunate enough to have a well-
organized parochial school are much better equipped than
are other congregations for the Christian training and
nurture of their children. These schools have a difficult
task to perform. They must include in their course of
study all the needful secular branches of instruction as
well as the religious branches. Their teachers are, as a
rule, far more heavily burdened than are the teachers in
the public schools. It will not be adding anything to
their burden, however, but will infuse into it a buoyant
element that will, in the long run, tend to lighten it, if
they will make such a study of the missionary enterprise
as may enable them to make use of missionary thoughts
in connection not only with the religious branches of
instruction, but with some of the secular branches also,
particularly Geography.1
B. Among the older members. In all his rela
tions and activities the pastor may have opportunity,
now and then, to exert a conscious missionary influence,
while unconsciously the missionary-spirited pastor will
be wielding such an influence all the time. Particularly
should pastoral work and public preaching, soul cure and
exposition of the Word, go hand in hand and supplement
each other.

1 Teachers will find an excellent help in Warneck's Die
Mission in der Schule, and Schaefer's Die Innere Mission in
der Schule.

Ch. 26. IN THE CONGREGATION. 341
The missionary opportunities of the pastor in con
nection with public services and organized efforts lie and
should be developed in two directions.
First, the regular divine services. This is the cul
minating and crowning point of all ministerial activities,
and here, as in all other relations, the minister of Christ
must labor to make full proof of his ministry.
In the work of our ministry, and in order to make
full proof of it, we cannot bestow too much care and
study upon the apostolic injunction : "Rightly dividing
the Word of truth." It is a fatal mistake to imagine
that missionary life can be created or fostered and de
veloped by the preaching of the Law, by denunciation
and castigation of sins, by the threatenings of God's
wrath, by the thunders of Mt. Sinai, by legal enactment
and regulations, by legalistic methods in public preaching
or pastoral visiting, in church discipline or church
finances. Righteousness is not by the Law. Jesus, the
Mediator of the new covenant, says, "My words, they
are Spirit, and they are life." The Gospel "of Christ
is the power of God unto salvation. The Gospel con
tains and conveys the unsearchable riches of Christ.
It gives life. Let us remember that we are ministers
of the New Testament. The Word which must dis
tinguish our ministry and prevail in our work is the
Word of reconciliation. But it would likewise be a
fatal mistake to conclude that the Law had no proper
place in our ministrations and work. "By the Law is
the knowledge of sin." It is our schoolmaster to bring
us unto Christ. The Law must be preached in our
churches in all its terrifying and crushing might, to the
end that conviction of sin may be wrought and the way
prepared for the healing and saving and sanctifying
power of the blood of Christ. Even the children of

342 MISSION "STUDIES.
God have need of the application of the Law so far
as they are in the flesh, and the flesh warreth against
the Spirit. But let it be noted that the tone and spirit
and power of our ministry must be evangelical. We
must depend upon the Gospel and the power of the
Holy Spirit in its application to the soul for the awaken
ing and fostering of a new life, a life from above, the
life of God, the mind of Christ, missionary life.
"God is love." Therein lies the power and hope
of an endless life for sinful man. "The love of Christ
constraineth us." That is the perpetual and never-
failing impulse to godliness and godly service. Let
our ministry be so directed and over-shadowed by the
Spirit of God that the cross of Christ and the power
of His resurrection shall have free and unhindered
sweep. So> will we strive to be workmen that need
not to be ashamed, "rightly dividing the Word of truth."
Whatever other principles and rules of Homiletics
we observe or forget, we ought to remember that our
business in the pulpit is to be ambassadors for Christ,
heralds to declare the oracles of God. To bring His
message to the people is the mission of those who lay
claim to the authority couched in the words : "He that
heareth you heareth me." Now, if we are faithful in
expounding the Word of God, not merely preaching on
a text, using it largely perhaps as a motto, but getting
into the text and setting forth, so far as we can grasp
them, the thoughts of God, we will find a rich and
copious supply of missionary thoughts in the regular
text, whether it be the regular gospel or epistolary les
sons or any other series of texts that we use. And it
is of the most vital importance for the development of
missionary life that these missionary thoughts, as they
occur and recur in the regular text, be utilized. There

Ch. 26. IN THE CONGREGATION. 343
need not always be a lengthy missionary excursus, some
times a mere reference, a calling to remembrance of a
well known truth, a pointed application, may suffice and
be all that the text requires. There may be a faithful
and effective presentation of missionary thoughts with
out even mentioning the word missions.
By expounding and setting forth the missionary
thoughts of the Bible whenever they are found in the
text, on any occasion whatever, we will do much to
avoid and correct a wrong and pernicious notion that
some people have and are pleased to harbor in regard
to mission work, namely, that it is a sort of luxury
and ornament, rather than the brawn and muscle of
Christianity, that it is a work of supererogation rather
than a form of activity that belongs essentially and
vitally to the life of a Christian. Special missionary
services are rightly understood and salutary, are of per
manent educational value, only when they are conducted
upon the solid and intelligent ground that has been laid
in the regular exposition of the Word.
While thus we will have frequent occasion to ex
press missionary thoughts and speak of missions in our
sermons, it is well to be on our guard against the danger
of using platitudes and set phrases. The charge of
"glittering generalities" cannot properly be brought
against every repetition of truths that might be regarded
as familiar and well known. We may properly resent
the demand for new things and specific facts every time
a reference to missions occurs in the sermon. The
fundamental truths of salvation will bear very frequent
repetition, and the missionary thoughts of God belong
to the fundamental doctrines of His Word. What we
should try to avoid is sameness of expression, and these
used in a spirit and manner tending to monotony. Let

344 MISSION STUDIES.
familiar truth be repeated and emphasized by reiteration,
but let it be presented in endless modifications of ex
pression of which it is capable and always with the
freshness and warmth of real life. What believer ever
tires of the "old, old story" of the manger and the cross,
or feels surfeited when he hears again and again the
old, familiar truth, that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin? Even so the missionary
thoughts of the Bible may be safely repeated again and
again, for they are a vital part of the Gospel of Beth
lehem and Calvary, and flow from the fountain of sal
vation, opened in our Savior's wounds.
Apt and pointed illustrations from the history of
missions may frequently be used with good effect in
elucidating Scripture and enforcing missionary thoughts.
But such missionary narratives and incidents are to
be employed, just as are any historical references or
other illustrations, for the purpose of making the truth
plainer, enforcing the lesson to be conveyed, and aid
ing the memory to retain it. For the fostering of mis
sionary life we are to place our reliance not upon nar
ratives of human achievement or stories of hardship or
heroism in the Lord's work, however thrilling and
fascinating they may be, but upon the incorruptible seed
of God's Word that liveth and abideth forever, by which
souls are begotten unto a living hope, and through which
faith and love and hope are strengthened and fed. Mis
sionary illustrations should be used to show forth the
power of God and the wisdom of God, how faithful He
is in carrying out His promises, how richly He has blest
the labors and the trials of His people who have striven
to do His holy will, how His Word does not return
unto Him void, and the like. But in every case it is
God which worketh in us both to will and to do of His

Ch. 2fj. IN -fHE CONGREGATION. 345
good pleasure ; and the point of our illustrations should
be: "See what hath God wrought!"
Secondly, special missionary services and lines of
work. An outline which, it is hoped, may prove sug
gestive and stimulating, is all that is attempted here.
a. Regularly recurring missionary services. The
Germans call them "Missionsstunden," and in Eng
land and America, among English-speaking people, the
favorite term for these special services used to be "mis
sionary concerts of prayer," or "concerts of prayer for
missions," emphasizing, as main purpose, concerted or
united prayer. These special services that were the cen
ter and source of much blessing in their day have almost
entirely ceased to exist in many churches, and the earnest
missionary leaders are suggesting their re-introduction.
The origin and entire history of special missionary
services, together with the varying modes of conducting
them, is most interesting and suggestive. In Germany
the origin of "Missionsstunden" is to be traced to the
Pietistic circles that throbbed with the spirit of prayer
and devotion, while established churches were wrapped
in slumber induced by the choking atmosphere of
rationalism and dead orthodoxy. There can be hardly
a question about the need of some arrangement of this
sort as a means of imparting missionary information and
stimulation to the whole congregation, or at least to a
large and forceful part of it. These missionary services
sustain the same relation to the annual "mission festival"
as the missionary Sundays in the Sunday-school, with
the missionary instruction imparted, sustain to the chil
dren's missionary day. And this arrangement has been
introduced and is in successful operation in not a few
congregations. It would be well if earnest efforts were
put forth to introduce it more generally in our churches.

346 MISSION STUDIES.
In all such matters the details ought to be de
termined by an intelligent study of local conditions. We
would not insist on beginning with monthly services.
There is a great deal of work connected with them, and
they ought to be thoroughly prepared. It is better to
hold fewer and more instructive services than many
that are unsatisfactory and disappointing. Let a be
ginning be made with four services the first year. If
they are carefully planned and prayerfully sustained,
they may grow to six the next year, and in the course
of time monthly services may be called for. A natural
growth is always hardier than an artificial arrangement.
Each pastor and congregation must select for them
selves the most suitable time for holding the services,
whether on Sunday evenings, or as a mid-week service.
Then, one of the first requisites for satisfactory work
is at least a small, carefully selected missionary library,
to which a little new material is added each year. With
out the necessary literature from which information can
be drawn the most well-meaning efforts to conduct
regular missionary meetings will only prove a source of
discouragement and disappointment. Wherever there is
enough spirit and interest, however, to secure the needful
helps, and these are begun to be used with earnestness,
there will be little doubt as to the result.
When arrangements are to be made, it is well to
plan ahead for the services of the year. The number
of subjects and departments and fields to select from
is very large. Do not attempt to take in too large a
scope. Aim at concentration and avoid distraction.
While there should be a distinct and clearly apparent
connection between the different services of the year,
each one should furnish something complete in itself
and well-rounded, so far as it goes. If "readings" are

Ch. 26. IN THE CONGREGATION. 347
introduced, they should be used sparingly. Interest can
be sustained far better by addresses delivered freely and
narratives spiritedly told than by reading long articles
and papers. The facts and the heartiness of presenta
tion outweigh all finished forms. Let the work be under
taken in the fear of the Lord and with an eye single to
His glory, with determination and in humble dependence
upon His grace and guidance, and great will be the re
ward. b. The annual mission festival. This is a special
missionary service in which the missionary enterprise
constitutes the festive thought of the day. Just as at
Christmas the birth of the Savior, and at Easter, the
resurrection of Christ, is celebrated, so at the annual
mission festival the work of missions is made the object
of celebration. Hence, in good churchly style, the Ger
mans call it a festival.
In answer to the question : "Why do we celebrate
mission festivals ?" a German missionary writes : "They
are to be a thank-offering for the blessings of the Gospel
received at home and in the heathen world ; they are to
serve the purpose of encouraging and strengthening the
churches at home to rally to the energetic support of
missions through prayer and offerings, and of uniting
them more closely for co-operation in mission work."
He says further: "Accordingly, mission festivals are,
as a rule, to be celebrated only in places where, by
means of stimulation and instruction in the sermon, in
missionary services, through missionary literature, and
the like, the proper ground has been prepared. In like
manner it is a glaring inconsistency if, after the mission
festival, the mission call is suffered to die out and grow
silent, and mission work is not so much as touched."
As to time and method of observance, considerable

348 MISSION STUDIES.
latitude and variety prevail. The autumn season ap
pears to be generally preferred in our churches. The
Epiphany festival has been frequently pointed out, not
only among us, but in Germany also, by Dr. Warneck
and others, as the most natural time for the observance
of a universal, churchly mission festival. Some of our
pastors unite the mission festival and the children's
missionary services, and observe the day either in June
or in the fall. It is far better, however, in view of the
importance of the cause, to observe the two separately,
as is done in most of our churches. In some places the
annual harvest and missionary festival are combined.
Some pastors and congregations seem to require from
two to four preachers from abroad to enhance and mag
nify their mission festival, while others are inclined to
save the expense of importing preachers, and, hesitating
to ask other pastors to close their own churches and rob
their own congregations of services for the day, are
satisfied to have the pastor himself rise to the occasion
and preach a festival sermon in his own church. The
prevailing idea in Germany, in regard to the mode of
conducting the mission festival, is to have a festival ser
mon and missionary reports and addresses in separate
services — the regular churchly service, and the after-
meeting. In general, this is a fine custom and deserves to
be vigorously maintained. It brings into prominence
the thought of what God has done in the great work
of missions at home and on foreign fields. The effect
may be to humiliate us in view of the little that we
have done in the cause that calls so loudly for support
and extension, and to arouse us to more earnest and
more united effort in its behalf.

Ch. 26. IN THE CONGREGATION. 349
c. Distribution of missionary literature. This topic
has been touched on several times. It is an enterprise
that needs far more energetic cultivation in the average
congregation than it is receiving at present. Those who
have begun to hold special missionary services, whether
monthly or at longer intervals, and to observe the annual
mission festival may learn a valuable lesson from a
custom prevailing in Germany in connection with these
services, namely, that of distributing missionary litera
ture in the form of tracts, pamphlets, and books. It
must be evident to all thoughtful workers that this is an
up-to-date means of spreading information, deepening
and fixing the impressions received at the services, and
that, if carried on in an enterprising spirit, it may be
made a vehicle of communication with the homes into
which the living voice has not penetrated.
d. Societies and mission study. While we must
guard against the needless multiplication of machinery,
more or less organization is indispensable to the require
ments of the missionary enterprise. There are three
spheres in which organized work is being done, and in
which there is much room for enlargement of effort.
Women's missionary societies. Much has been said
in praise of the devotion of Christian women in the work
of the Lord. And deservedly so. They are veritable
pillars in most congregations and have supplied a large
part of the moral and financial support of the missionary
enterprise. They have been persistent and persevering
in the cause. Their ardor has not been fitful, but con
stant. Let the godly women of our churches every
where labor to manifest and maintain this spirit of de
votion and thus to be a potent means for the nurture of

350 MISSION STUDIES.
missionary life in their congregations and in the Church
at large.1 Young people's mission study courses. One of the
great problems in the Church today is that of caring
for, safeguarding, training and retaining the young peo
ple in our churches. Many ways have been suggested,
and many expedients are being tried. There is a good
deal of aimless experimentation and much discourage
ment in the efforts. One thing is certain: there must be
a definite aim and patient labor to' attain it. The Stu
dent Volunteer Movement, and the Missionary Educa
tion Movement, have adopted the noble and worthy aim
of definite work in behalf of world-wide evangelization.
Plans to this end have been carefully worked out. They
include the systematic study of missions in mission study
classes and otherwise. Textbooks are prepared for this
purpose. Under the joint auspices of the Annual Con
ference of Foreign Mission Boards, the Home Missions
Council, the Laymen's Missionary Movement, and the
Missionary Education Movement (formerly known as
the Young People's Missionary Movement), a joint com
mission has been at work for several years upon a
unified plan of missionary education and giving.
If it is not deemed desirable in congregations to
form mission study classes, it might be found profitable
to arrange for mission study courses in connection with
the work of the young people's society. In selecting the
books that are listed in the Bibliography2 we have aimed
to keep this purpose, too, in view. The not infrequent

1 Fine articles and helpful suggestions will be found in
Morris's At Our Own Door, ch. X. ; Clark's Leavening the
Nation, ch. XIX. ; and Grose's The Incoming Millions, chap
ters V. and VII.
2See Appendix.

Ch- 26. IN THE CONGREGATION. 351
requests which have come to the author from young
pastors, asking for suggestions with reference to suitable
literature for this purpose indicate that there is a field
to be worked in this sphere. And it is a sphere that
clamors for attention, while it opens a most hopeful
outlook to the wide-awake and enthusiastic leader.
Interest among the men. The conviction has grown
upon many churches that their missionary interests have
engrossed the attention of only a small part of their
membership, and that, for the most part, confined to the
women and children. The women in their missionary
societies, and the children and young people in Sunday-
school, have for years, in fact from the very beginning
of nineteenth century missions, been interested and
zealous workers in the cause. Gradually it has been left
to fall upon them, almost exclusively, for direct support
and work. In recent years there has been an awakening along
this line in many churches, and it has issued in the Lay
men's Missionary Movement, which has very speedily
developed in the enlistment of the men in counsel and
work in behalf of the missionary enterprise. It has
served to stimulate interest and advance in many
churches. The plans inaugurated aim to provide not
merely for immediate enlargement of contributions and
funds, but for the cultivation of permanent interest.
The form of effort is not the essential thing. The
forms of activity may vary according to needs and op
portunities. But wherever the want of interest and
co-operation on the part of the men of the congregation
is felt, there is a call for earnest thought with a view to
remedying what must be regarded as a great evil and
source of weakness.

352 MISSION STUDIES.
e. System in the gathering of offerings. It is cer
tainly time that the haphazard, irregular, and spasmodic
"methods" of many congregations be displaced and
superseded by regularity and system in the matter of
giving and gathering of offerings for the Lord's work.
The basket collections at special services and mission
festivals are too incomplete and partial, allow too many
members to be overlooked, and are wholly inadequate
to the demands of the cause. Some of the most suc
cessful missionary leaders, among whom Pastor Louis
Harms, the founder of the Hermannsburg Mission in
Africa and India, is a notable example, never took up
collections at missionary meetings, but left it to the im
pressed hearts of their hearers to give from a sense of
awakened conviction and according to the needs pre
sented. To this effect is the remark of the secretary of one
of the larger mission boards, who writes: "We .insist,
too, that missionary operations have gone about as far
as they can go in dependence upon the passing-the-hat
method among those who happen to be present at a
given service."1 No system should be introduced that
will interfere with the fundamental principle: "The
Lord loveth a cheerful giver." But neither does insis
tence upon free will offerings eliminate the propriety
or the necessity of system in the highly organized society
of our day. There is need of system in the gathering
of missionary offerings not only for the purpose of rais
ing our apportionments in full, year after year, and of
aiding in the work of getting all the members to take
part and begin to do their duty, but in order to cultivate
liberality, to educate and train ourselves in benevolence,

1 Arthur J. Brown, The Foreign Missionary, p. 226.

Ch. 26. IN THE CONGREGATION. 353
to exercise and develop the grace of giving. Unity and
regularity and the contagious influence of good examples
are important and weighty elements in this direction.
It is high time that we were realizing the imperative
need of a higher conception of Christian stewardship
and a higher standard of Christian giving. Let there
be, first of all among the pastors and teachers, a quicken
ing in this respect, an enlargement of view, an elevation
of aspiration and hope, an enhancement of expectation,
of urgency, of requirement upon ourselves and upon
those to whom we minister in holy things. There are
examples around us that should stimulate us to expect
and attempt greater things in this regard. We are in
clined to be too easily satisfied with a pittance, whereas
we should give and solicit according to a large measure.
The fear of some timid pastors and congregations
that the raising of missionary offerings will impoverish
them and reduce their ability to meet their home ex
penses is certainly unfounded. It has been disproved
times without number, not only on the ground of the
spirit and principles of the Gospel, but also by numerous
actual examples. "The plea that they are small and
weak," writes Secretary Brown, "reminds one of some
little home missionary churches, mere handfuls of poor
people, who send offerings for every one of the boards
of the Church. A feeble congregation is made stronger
by doing what it can."1 Jacob Riis, who is known as an
enthusiastic and indefatigable worker in behalf of the
poor of New York, declared that "for every dollar given
to those in need abroad, the spirit that gives it provides
ten for home use." And again he is quoted as saying
that "for every dollar you give away to convert th*

lThe Foreign Missionary, p. 224.
13

354 MISSION STUDIES.
heathen abroad, God gives you ten dollars' worth of
purpose to deal with your heathen at home."
We cannot here enter upon particulars with re
spect to methods in the raising of offerings. The "en
velope system," in various forms, offers many ad
vantages. The boards in most of the churches provide
for all needful supplies that are furnished ready to hand.
We are glad to find in American missionary lit
erature such sound and sensible advice as this : "Avoid
raising money by indirect means, such as fairs and
festivals. These often belittle the dignity of the mis
sionary enterprise in the minds of Christians, provoke
scorn among unbelievers, and dishonor Jesus Christ."1
/. A missionary library for pastor and people. This
is a topic that deserves special attention among the ways
and means of fostering and furthering missionary life
in the congregations. It was mentioned under the head
of missionary services. It is more fundamental, because
it is required as a working basis for other needful en
deavors. Public libraries are increasing, indeed, and
many of them are well supplied with books on missions.
They cannot always be depended on, however, to supply
the books that are the most needed and the most reliable.
Many pastors find it practically impossible, out of
their meager salaries, to supply themselves with all the
books they need in order to continue their studies and
grow in knowledge and efficiency. Now, with respect
to a missionary library it is our decided conviction that
no investment that the average congregation can make

'John R. Mott, The Pastor and Modern Missions, p. 122.
His entire chapter on "The pastor as a financial force in the
world's evangelization," is full of suggestive points. On "special
object giving,'' its advantages and difficulties, read Brown, The
Foreign Missionary, p. 57 ff.

Ch. 26. IN THE CONGREGATION. 355
would bring in larger direct returns than the expenditure
of only a small sum, say $25 or $50 to begin with, in
the purchase of a carefully selected missionary library
for the use of the pastor and congregation. Each year
some new books could be added, at very little expense.
It would require, in many cases, only a suggestion to
induce a women's society, or a young people's society,
or the Sunday-school, to furnish the required sum. In
selecting the list of books given in the appendix, our en
deavor was to furnish some suggestion in this direction.
g. Prayer for missions. This is mentioned last,
not as though it were the least important and essential
of the forces that are to be applied for the fostering
of missionary life, but because it is regarded as the
cap-stone of the whole structure, the crowning force
and vitalizing fervor of all effort in this direction.
Omission of believing prayer and coldness in prayer
must needs entail failure at every point. When the
spirit of prayer departs, there follows of necessity
spiritual decline and decay. Pastors who are so often
called upon to pray in an official and professional
capacity may nevertheless need to remember and heed
the advice of one who said, "Often pray for the gift of
prayer."1 "One topic of supplication," writes Dr. A.
C. Thompson, "should be an enlargement of desire, hope
and faith commensurate with the scope of Scriptural
promises."2 Surely we cannot too earnestly or too often
ponder, repeat, imbibe and pray over the direction which
our Lord gave to the disciples: "Wait for the promise
of the Father;" "Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem,
until ye be endued with power from on high."

1 Mason, Student and Pastor. 2 Foreign Missions, p. 137.

356 MISSION STUDIES.
It is with deliberate intent and in view of their
preeminent importance and indispensableness for the
fostering of missionary life that, in the presentation
of ways and means to this end, the divine Word is
made to begin and prayer to end the list. All our work,
all our fitness, all our force, hinges upon this. It is
sanctified by the Word of God and prayer. Let all
other methods and devices, all human plans and arrange
ments, be brought into subordination to the power of
God and the wisdom of God and be permeated with the
spirit of absolute surrender to God and of unquestion
ing reliance upon His might. May He continue to enrich
us in all things and bestow upon us every needful gift
and grace, that we may "be filled with all the fulness
of God."

OUTLINES OF COURSES
SUGGESTED FOR
MISSION STUDY CLASSES AND READING
CIRCLES.
These are planned on the basis of the present Mission
Studies. Some of them, rounded out according to topics, will
prove too long for ordinary purposes. These may easily be
broken up into smaller sections of manageable length, or selec
tions may be made, according to circumstances.
General Historical Course.
Mission Studies, First Part. Auxiliary books suggested:
Smith, Short History of Christian Missions; Bliss, The Mis
sionary Enterprise; Gareis, Geschichte der evang. Heidenmis-
sion ; Dennis, Foreign Missions After a Century ; Thompson,
Protestant Missions ; Striimpfel, Was jedermann heute von
der Mission wissen muss; Warneck, History of Protestant Mis
sions, and his Mission in der Schule; Plitt, Geschichte der Ev.
Lutherischen Mission; Laury, History of Lutheran Missions.
This course may be divided into sections, somewhat as
follows : Shorter Historical Courses.
1. Apostolic and Post-apostolic Missions. Mission Studies,
chapter II; Martin, Apostolic and Modern Missions; Ramsay,
St. Paul The Traveler.
2. The Reformation and Missions. Mission Studies, chap
ter IV; Plitt, Lutherische Mission; Warneck, History of Prot
estant Missions.
3. Early Protestant Missions. Mission Studies, chapter V;
Plitt, Gesch. der Luth. Mission; Laury, Lutheran Missions;
Thompson, Moravian Missions; Grossel, Justinianus von Weltz;
Price, Chr. Fred. Schwartz. (357)

358 MISSION STUDIES.
Studies of Modern Mission Fields.
1. The Americas. Mission Studies, chapter VII, section 2.
North America. Arctander, The Apostle of Alaska ; Baier-
lein, Im Urwalde ; Roraer, Die Indianer und ihr Freund David
Zeisberger ; Lives of Brainerd and Eliot.
South America. Beach, Protestant Missions in South
America ; Speer, South American Problems ; Guinness, Peru.
2. Africa. Mission Studies, chapter VII, sec. 3; Naylor,
Daybreak in the Dark Continent; Blaikie, Life of Livingstone;
Richter, Uganda (German) ; Mackay of Uganda; Gundert, Vier
Jahre in Asante ; Pierson, Seven Years in Sierra Leone ; Mer-
ensky, Erinnerungen aus dem Missionsleben in Siidost-Af rika ;
Wells, Stewart of Loveland.
3. Turkey, Syria, and Palestine. Mission Studies, chapter
VII, sec. 4; Barton, Daybreak in Turkey; Jessup, Fifty-three
Years in Syria; Washburn, Fifty years in Constantinople;
Zwemer, Islam, a Challenge to Faith ; Wherry, Islam and Chris
tianity — the Irrepressible Conflict.
4. India and the Dutch East Indies. Mission Studies,
chapter VII, sec. 4 ; Richter, Indische Missionsgeschichte ; Tho-
burn, The Christian Conquest of India; Chamberlain, The
Kingdom in India; Mitchell, The Great Religions of India;
Worrlein, Geschichte der Hermannsburger Mission in Indien;
Baierlein, Unter den Palmen ; Pandita Ramabai ; Lives of
Schwartz, Carey, and Duff; Wolf, Missionary Heroes of the
Lutheran Church ; Warneck, Fiinfzig Jahre Batakmission in
Sumatra, and the same author's luminous work (translated from
the German), The Living Christ and Dying Heathenism.
5. China and Korea. Mission Studies, chapter VII, sec.
4 ; Legge, The Religions of China ; A. H. Smith, The Uplift of
China, and, Chinese Characteristics ; Lives of Morrison, Nevius,
Gilmour, and Griffith John ; Gale, Korea in Transition.
6. Japan. Mission Studies, chapter VII, sec. 4; Scherer,
Japan To-day, and, Young Japan ; Clement, Christianity in
Modern Japan.
7. The Islands of the South Seas. Mission Studies, chap
ter VII, sec. 5; Belle Brain, The Transformation of Hawaii;
Flierl, Dreiszig Jahre in Wiisten und Wildnissen, and, his Ge-

OUTLINES OF COURSES. 359
denkblatt (Rhenish missions in New Guinea and Australia) ;
Matthews, Thirty Years in Madagascar; Roberston, The Mar
tyr Isle of Erromanga; Autobiography of James Chalmers;
Lives of John Williams, Bishop Patteson, and John G. Paton;
Paton's Lomai of Lenakel.
Home and Inner Missions.
General.
1. Home missions. Mission Studies, chapters XX and
XXI; Morris, At Our Own Door; Clark, Leavening the Na
tion; Stewart, Sheldon Jackson; Norlie, United (Norwegian
Lutheran) Church Home Missions. These have particular ref
erence to the home mission work of their own church bodies,
but they also throw light on the home mission problems in
general. 2. Inner missions. Mission Studies, chapters XXII and
XXIII ; Ohl, The Inner Mission ; Gerberding, Life and Letters
of Dr. W. A. Passavant; Wurster and Hennig, Was jedermann
heute von der Inneren Mission wissen muss.
Special.
1. City missions. Stelzle, Christianity's Storm Center;
Strong, The Challenge of the City; Riis, The Children of the
Poor : Battling with the Slums ; Warner, American Charities.
2. The Immigration Problem. Steiner, The Immigrant
Tide — a most instructive and fascinating presentation of the
subject ; Grose, The Incoming Millions, and, Aliens or Ameri
cans? 3. Orphanages and other institutions of mercy. George
Muller's Autobiography; Hertzberg, August Hermann Francke;
Julie Sutter, A Colony of Mercy.
4. Deaconess work. Sister Julie Mergner, The Deaconess
and Her Work (translated from the German) ; Hanna Rhiem,
Hinter den Mauern der Senana.
Biblical Studies.
1. Missionary thoughts in the Gospels. Mission Studies,
chapter XII. Studied in sections, parts being assigned to dif-

360 MISSION STUDIES.
ferent members, and studied with Bible in hand, reading up con
nection, parallel passages, etc.
2. Missionary thoughts in the Acts. Mission Studies,
chapter XIII. Studied in the same way, with the help of com
mentaries, and such books as Ramsay's St. Paul the Traveler,
and Gilbert's The Student's Life of St. Paul.
Mission Problems.
Missionary means and methods ¦ — the enterprise as carried
on and sustained. Mission Studies, chapters XVI to XIX;
Brown, the Foreign Missionary; Mott, The Evangelization of the
World in this Generation, and, The Decisive Hour of Christian
Missions; Speer, Missionary Principles and Practice; Barton,
The Unfinished Task; Lawrence, Introduction to the Study of
Foreign Missions; Fenn, Over Against the Treasury.
Two Reading Courses for Women's Societies.
Course in Inner Missions: The Deaconess and Her Work,
by Sister Julie Mergner; The Immigrant Tide, Steiner; The
Incoming Millions, Grose.
Course in Foreign Missions: Missionary Readings for
Missionary Programs, by Belle M. Brain; Wrongs of Indian
Womanhood, by Mrs. M. B. Fuller; Our Moslem Sisters, edited
by S. M. Zwemer; Pandita Ramabai, by Helen S. Dyer; Jap
anese Girls and Women, by Alice M. Bacon.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.
The following list of books is intended to be suggestive and
helpful to missionary workers. No effort has been put forth
to make the list extensive. On the contrary, care was exercised
to keep it within narrow limits, to select works that are
representative and, in the author's judgment, best adapted for
the purpose which he has tried to keep in view in "Mission
Studies." All such works must be read with discrimination. It is not
to be expected that one will agree with all the opinions expressed
by different authors. The works are recommended, in the main,
for the helpful and stimulating information which they contain.

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 361
The classification is along general lines, and these are not
always entirely distinct and exclusive. Opinions will vary as to
the class to which some of the books belong. To make the list
as helpful as possible we have added the price of the books
according to catalogues that were accessible.
I. Foreign Missions.
Theoretical and Homiletical.
Barton, James L. The Unfinished Task. 50 cents.
Begrich, F. Missionsgedanken aus den altkirchlichen evange-
lischen Perikopen. 75 cents. Very suggestive and helpful.
Brown, Arthur J. The Foreign Missionary. $1.50. A lucid
and informing presentation of the many questions and prob
lems entering into the life and work of the missionary in
all his relations, at home and abroad.
Dietel, R. W. Missionsstunden. $3.35.
Fenn, C. H. Over Against the Treasury. Paper Edition, 10
cents.
Gilbert, G. H. Student's Life of St. Paul. 60 cents.
Hesse, J. Die Mission auf der Kanzel. Texte. Themata, Dis-
positionen und Quellennachweise fur Missionsvortrage. $1.00.
Full of valuable material.
Lawrence, Edward A. Introduction to the Study of Foreign
Missions. 40 cents.
Maclear, G. F. Missions and Apostles of Medieval Europe.
40 cents.
Martin, Chalmers. Apostolic and Modern Missions. $1.00.
Mayer, G. Missionstexte des Neuen Testaments. Dispositionen.
I. Evangelien. II. Apostelgeschichte. 75 cents each.
Mott, John R. The Evangelization of the World in this Gen
eration. $1.00. Full of pertinent facts and valuable infor
mation.
Mott, John R. The Pastor and Modern Missions. A Plea for
Leadership. $1.00.
Mott, John R. The Decisive Hour of Christian Missions. 50
cents.
Non-Christian Religions of the World. Selected from Living
Papers Series. $1.00.
Schlier, J. Missionsstunden. Five small volumes. $3.40. Mod
els for popular presentation of the subject.

362 MISSION STUDIES.
Speer, Robert E. Missionary Principles and Practice. $1.50.
Thompson, Augustus C. Foreign Missions. Their Place in the
Pastorate, in Prayer, in Conferences. Ten Lectures. $1.75.
A source of information and stimulation to pastors.
Tiesmeyer, L. und Zauleck, P. Wie man Kindern den Heiland
zeigt. Eine Sammlung von Predigten und Ansprachen, vor
Kindern gehalten. $1.20. Helpful models.
Warneck, G. Die gegenwartigen Beziehungen zwischen der mo-
dernen Mission und Kultur. $1.50. Modern Missions and
Culture. Translated by Thomas Smith.
Warneck, G. Die Mission in der Schule. Ein Handbuch fur
den Lehrer. $1.00.
Warneck, G. Evangelische Missionlehre. 5 vols. $8.50 net.
Warneck, G. Missionsstunden. 3 vols. $1.65 and $1.90 each.
Warneck, John. The Living Christ and Dying Heathenism.
$1.75. From the German : Die Lebenskrafte des Evange-
liums.
Wegner, R. Einzelziige aus der Arbeit der Rheinischen Mission.
Ein Handbuch fur Missionsansprachen. $1.35. Illustrations
from the experience and work of the missionaries.
Historical and Descriptive.
Arctander, J. W. The Apostle of Alaska — Wm. Duncan. $1.50.
Baierlein, E. Im Urwalde. Bei den roten Indianern. $1.00.
Barton, J. L. Daybreak in Turkey. Paper. 50 cents.
Beach, H. P. Protestant Missions in South America. 50 cents.
Bliss, Edwin M. The Missionary Enterprise. $1.25.
Brain, Belle M. Missionary Readings for Missionary Programs.
60 cents. Narratives selected from missionary literature.
Twenty-five readings.
Brain, Belle M. The Transformation of Hawaii. $1.00.
Chamberlain, J. The Kingdom in India. $1.50.
Clement, E. W. Christianity in Modern Japan. $1.00.
Dennis, James S. Foreign Missions after a Century. $1.50.
Dennis, James S. Christian Missions and Social Progress. 3
vols. $2.50 each. Social Evils of the Non-Christian World,
reprinted from vol. I. Paper 35 cents.
Fliekl, J. Dreiszig Jahre in Wiisten und Wildnissen. And his,
Gedenkblatt der Neuendettelsauer Mission.

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 363
Gale, J. S. Korea in Transition. 50 cents.
Gareis, R. Geschichte der evangelischen Heidenmission. Illus
trated, $1.75.
Guinness, Geraldine. Peru — Its Story, People, and Religion.
$2.50.
Gundert, H. Vier Jahre in Asante. 75 cents.
Laury, Preston A. A History of Lutheran Missions. Second
edition, $1.25.
Legge, J. The Religions of China. $1.50.
Lowe, John. Medical Missions. Their Place and Power. $1.50.
Matthews, T. T. Thirty Years in Madagascar. $1.75.
Merensky, A. Erinnerungen aus dem Missionsleben in Siidost
Afrika. $2.00.
Mitchell, J. M. The Great Religions of India. $1.50.
Naylor, W. S. Daybreak in the Dark Continent. 50 cents.
Pierson, Arthur T. The Miracles of Missions. 4 vols. $1.00
each. Short' sketches from the history of missions.
Pierson, Arthur T. The New Acts of the Apostles. $1.50.
Pierson, A. T. Seven Years in Sierra Leone.
Plitt, G. Geschichte der ev. lutherischen Mission. Neu von
O. Hardeland. $3.50.
Ramsay, W. M. St. Paul, The Traveler and the Roman Cit
izen. $1.50.
Richter, Julius. Indische Missionsgeschichte. 1906. About
$2.50. Most complete and excellent history of missions in
India.
Richter, J. Uganda. $1.25.
Robertson, H. A. The Martyr Isle of Erromanga. $1.50.
Scherer, J. A. B. Japan To-day. Description of Life and
People. $1.50.
Smith, George. Short History of Christian Missions. $1.00.
Speer, Robert E. South American Problems. 75 cents.
Struempfel, Emil. Was jedermann heute von der Mission wis-
sen muss. 55 cents.
Thoburn, James M. The Christian Conquest of India. Cloth,
50 cents.
Thompson, A. E. A Century of Jewish Missions. $1.00.
Thompson, A. C. Moravian Missions. $2.00.
Thompson, A. C. Protestant Missions. Their Rise and Early
Progress. 50 cents.

364 MISSION STUDIES.
Warneck, G. Abriss einer Geschichte der protest. Missionen
von der Reformation bis auf die Gegenwart. $2.00. Also
in English; Outline of the History of Protestant Missions.
$2.80.
Warneck, John.. "50 Jahre Batakmission in Sumatra. 90 cents.
Wells, J. Stewart of Lovedale. $1.50.
Wherry, E. M. Islam and Christianity. $1.25.
Woerrlein, J. Geschichte der Hermannsburger Mission in In-
dien. 60 cents.
Zwemer, S. M. Islam. A Challenge to Faith. $1.00.
Biographical.
Blaikie, W. Garden. The Personal Life of David Livingstone.
$1.50.
Chalmers, James. His Autobiography and Letters. $1.50.
Creegan, Charles C. Pioneer Missionaries of the Church. 26
short sketches. $1.25.
Dalton, H. Lebensbild von Joh. Evang. Gossner.
Dyer, Helen S. Pandita Ramabai. $1.25.
Flierl, Johann. Wie ich Missionar wurde. Pamphlet of 32
pages.
Groessel, W. Justinianus von Weltz, der Vorkaempfer der lu-
therischen Mission. $1.00.
Harms, Theodor. Lebensbeschreibung des Pastor Louis Harms.
45 cents.
Page, J. Missionary Biographies : Moffat, Carey, Williams,
Crowther, Martyn, Brainerd, and others. 75 cents each.
Paton, John G. Missionary in the New Hebrides. An Auto
biography. One volume. $1.50. A most inspiring narrative,
full of instructive lessons.
Paton, Frank H. L. Lomai of Lenakel. A Hero of the New
Hebrides. A fresh chapter in the triumph of the Gospel.
$1.50.
Price, Wm. H. Christian Frederick Schwartz. 25 cents.
Roemer, H. Die Indianer und ihr Freund David Zeisberger.
50 cents.
Sherwood, J. M. Memoirs of David Brainerd. $1.50.
Smith, George. Life of William Carey.

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 365
Smith, George. Life of Alexander Duff.
Smith, George. Henry Martyn. $1.50.
Thompson, A. C. Modern Apostles in Missionary Byways.
40 cents.
Wallmann. Leiden und Freuden Rheinischer Missionare. $1.25.
Wolf, L. B. Missionary Heroes of the Lutheran Church. 75
cents. II. Home and Inner Missions.
Bergin, C. F. Autobiography of George Miiller (Orphanage in
England). 90 cents.
Clark, Joseph B. Leavening the Nation. The Story of Ameri
can Home Missions. $1.50.
Eichner, K. Wilhelm Loehe.. Ein Lebensbild. 60 cents.
Gerberding, G. H. Life and Letters of Dr. W. A. Passavant.
$2.00.
Grose, Howard B. The Incoming Millions. 50 cents.
Grose, H. B. Aliens or Americans? 50 cents.
Hennig, Martin. Taten Jesu in unseren Tagen. Skizzen und
Bilder aus der Arbeit der Inneren and Aeusseren Mission.
$1.25. Very interesting and instructive sketches.
Hennig, M. Dr. Joh. Hinr. Wicherns Lebenswerk. 75 cents.
Hertzberg, Gustav F. August Hermann Francke und sein Hal-
lisches Waisenhaus. 75 cents.
Mergner, Sister Julie. The Deaconess and Her Work. 75
cents.
Morris, S. L. At Our Own Door. A Study of Home Missions
with special reference to the South and West. $1.00.
Norlie, Olaf M. The United Church Home Missions. (The
United Norwegian Lutheran Church.)
Ohl, J. F. The Inner Mission : A Handbook for Christian
Workers. $1.00.
Rhiem, Hanna. Hinter den Mauern der Senana. 60 cents.
Schaefer, Theodor. Die Innere Mission in der Schule. Ein
Handbuch fur den Lehrer. $1.00.
Schaefer, Theodor. Leitfaden der Inneren Mission. $2.35.
Steiner, Edward A. The Immigrant Tide — Its Ebb and Flow.
$1.50.
Stelzle, Charles. Christianity's Storm Center. The modern
city' $1.00.

366 MISSION STUDIES.
Sutter, Julie. A Colony of Mercy. $1.00. (Paper cover 30
cents.) Interesting description of the charities at Bielefeld,
under the leadership and direction of Bodelschwingh.
Uhlhorn, G. Die christliche Liebestatigkeit. 1. in der alten
Kirche ; 2. im Mittelalter ; 3. seit der Reformation. 3 vols.
$3.00 each.
Wurster, P. Die Lehre von der Inneren Mission. $2.70.
Wurster, P. und M. Hennig. Was jedermann heute von der
Inneren Mission wissen muss. 70 cents.

INDEX.

Abraham, call of, and promise
given him, 153.
Abyssinia, 18.
Acceptable to God, Acts 10,35,
explained, 201.
Administration of the work, by
independent societies, 250; by
the Church, 251; cost of, 253;
faithfulness required, 334.
Africa, 17; modern missions in,
88-98; South Africa, 89; West
Africa, 92; Central Africa, 94;
East Africa, 95; North Africa,
97.
Aim of missions, in general,
219-225; in home missions,
277; in rescue and inner mis
sion work, 301.
Alaska, missions in, 84.
America, early Protestant mis
sions in, 44, 61; missionary
societies and agencies in, 78.
Ansgar, apostle to the Scandin
avians, 33.
Apostles, immediate call of the,
247; import of the name, 1721.
Apostolic Church, missionary
character of, 18-22; extent of
the work in the apostolic age,
13; community of goods in,
195.
Apostolic missions, a norm and
guide, 5.
Arabia, missions in, 100.
Australia, missions in, 116.
Authority for mission work, di
vine, 247; churchly, 249.
Bataks of Sumatra, 104.
Bible distribution, 265.
Bible Societies, 265; British and
Foreign, 72; American, 80.

Biblical ground of missions,
146-218; in the Old Testament,
149-162; in the Gospels, 163-
1S9; in the Acts and the
Epistles, 190-218.
Bohemia and Moravia, early
missions in, 33.
Boniface, apostle of Germany,
31.
Brainerd David, 51.
Bulgaria, Christianization of, 34.
Burma, missions in, 103.
Campanius, John, missionary to
the American Indians, 44.
Carey, William, 65, 69.
Caroline Islands, missions in
the, 113.
Caste, power of, in India, 102.
Catechetical class and missions,
339.
Central America, missions in,
86.
Chalmers, James, 116.
Child-training, example of Ro
man Catholics, 286, 308; in
the Lutheran Church, 287.
China, missions in, 105.
China Inland Mission, 72.
Christianity and missions, 135,
148, 325.
Christianization denned, 222.
Christians, number of, close of
the first century, 17.
Church, The, duty to supply
workmen, 253; to support the
missionaries, 255; missionary
character of, 216.
City churches and inner mis
sion work, 308.
City missions, 276, 310.

(367)

368

INDEX.

Civilization and culture, results
of missions, 226; large results
of this kind, 227; value of,
229.
Columba, of Iona, 28.
Commission of the workmen,
divine, 247; 'churchly, 249.
Commission, The Great, 184-189.
Community of goods in the
Apostolic Church, 195.
Coroperation, importance of, in
mission work, 252, 285, 331,
335.
Crowther, Samuel, 94.
Cyril and Methodius, mission
aries to Moravia and Bo
hemia, 33, 57.
Danish-Halle Mission, 52-56.
Denmark, Christianization of,
33; missionary societies in, 76.
Denominational societies and
agencies in the United States,
78-81.
Doctrinal ground of missions,
explained, 213.
Duff, Alexander, 71.
Dutch colonies and missions, 44.
Dutch East Indies, missions in,
104.
Early Protestant missions, 43-46.
East India Company, hostile to
missions, 54.
Eastern Church, The, 27.
Eastern churches, decadent, 27,
98.
Education, as a missionary
method, 262; schools in mis
sion lands, 263 ; higher educa
tion, 100, 109, 263, 288; train
ing of native workers and
leaders, 106, 264; industrial
training, 85, 97, 103.
Educational institutions and
missions, 131, 336.
Egede, Hans, 50.
Egypt, missions in, 17.
Eliot, John, 45.
England, early missions in, 28;
missionary societies in, 69-72.

Erromanga, the martyr isle, 113.
Eskimos, missions to, 50, 59, 84.
Ethiopianism in South Africa,
90.
Evangelistics, use and meaning
of the term, 129.
Evangelization and Christiani
zation, practically equivalent,
223.
Faith, Christian, a, missionary
qualification, 238.
Faith societies and missions, 72,
94.
Fiji Islands, 112, 114.
Foreign and home missions,
relation between, 137.
Francke, August Hermann, 47,
53.
Gardiner, Allen, 88.
Geographical discoveries and
missions, 65, 96.
Germany, missionary societies
in, 73-76.
God's hand in missions, 9, 23,
63, 96, 159.
Gospel, The, as a missionary
power, 4, 117, 174, 226, 233,
235, 284, 298, 337.
Goths, conversion of, 29.
Greek Church, The, 27, 33.
Greenland, Christianized, 84.
Halle, as a pioneer and path
finder of modern missions, 47,
52.
Hawaiian Islands, The, 112.
Hermannsburg Mission, The, 75.
Home missions, in relation to
other activities of the Church,
269; and general benevolence,
272; field of, 273; aim of, 277;
forces to be enlisted in, 279;
conditions of success in, 282;
means and methods, 284.
Inauguration of modern mis
sions, 47, 63; Francke and
Zinzendorf, 48; Carey, 65.
Independent missionary socie
ties, occasion and origin of,
67, 250.

INDEX.

369

India, Thomas Christians in,
17, 27, 103; early Protestant
missions, 52; missions at work
today, 101.
Indians of North America, early
Protestant missions, 44;
schools and missions at pres
ent, 85.
Indians of South America, Prot
estant missions among, 87f.
Individual effort, importance of,
285, 305, 332.
Industrial missions, 85, 97, 103.
Inner missions, 290-321; distinc
tive character of the work,
290; relation to home mis
sions, 291; survey of the his
tory of, 294; justification of,
297; the aim distinguished
from the methods, 301; prin
cipal lines of the work, 303-
321; congregational, 303; in
stitutional, 316.
Inner mission societies, 311.
Immigration and missions, 275.
Irish, conversion of the, 28.
Islam, 82, 98.
Japan, modern missions in, 108.
Jonah, an Old Testament mis
sionary, 159.
Judson, Adoniram, 103, 255.
Kingdom of God, The, as a mis
sionary thought, 166.
Kols, The, missions among, 75.
Korea, missions in, 108.
Krapf, Dr. John L., 70, 95.
Laborers, prayer for, 183, 254.
Labrador, missions in, 84.
Language, native, knowledge
of, essential, 195, 238.
Lay preaching, in the Early
Church, 19.
Lay workers, need of, 175, 304.
Leadership, of the missionary,
241; of the pastor, 313, 332.
Library, missionary, for pas
tor and people, 354.

Literary work in missions, 264;
in home missions, 288; in inner
missions, 318.
Literature, Christian, distribu
tion of, 105, 288, 318, 335, 349.
Livingstone, David, 88, 96.
Lull, Raymond, pioneer mission
ary to Mohammedans, 36.
Lutheran Church, Christian
education in the, 287; home
mission work, 271; inner mis
sion work, 296. 311;' foreign
mission work, 74-76, 79, 92,
101, 103.
Madagascar, missions in, 91.
Martyn, Henry, 330.
Medical missions, 99, 265.
Medieval missions, distinctive
methods of, 25; extent of, 28-
36.
Men and missions, 256, 351.
Methodius and Cyril, mission
aries to Slavs, 33, 57.
Methods of work in foreign mis
sions, 259-266; in home mis
sions, 284-289; in inner mis
sions, 303-321.
Mexico, missions in, 86.
Ministry, meaning of, 198.
Missionaries, how sent forth,
248.
Missionary biographies, use
and advantage of, 242.
Missionary enterprise, The, its
unity and diversity, 137-145.
Missionary life, its character,
327; its development: in the
Church at large, 331; in the
congregation, 337.
Missionary motives, 231.
Missionary offerings, system in
gathering, 352.
Missionary reward, 182.
Missionary services, 345.
Missionary societies, historical
survey of, 69-81; British, 69;
German, 73; Scandinavian, 76;
American agencies, 78.
Missionary success, 180.
Missionary tours of St. Paul,
14, 209,

370

INDEX.

Missionary trials, 89, 93, 95, 106,
114, 196, 210.
Mission festival, The annual.
347.
Missions, science of, 121-145.
Mission study, in classes, or in
societies, 3501, 357.
Modern missions, inauguration
of, 63; development of, 64-69.
Mohammedans, first mission to,
36; formidable foe of Chris
tianity, 83; missions among,
98, 104.
Moravia and Bohemia, Chris
tianized, 33.
Moravian missions, 57-62, 84, 87.
Morrison, Robert, 105,
Motive of missions (see Mis
sionary motives).
Native workers and leaders,
training of, 106, 264.
Neesima, Joseph, 109.
New Guinea, missions in, 115.
New Hebrides, missions in, 114.
New Zealand, missions in, 116.
Oriental churches (see Eastern
churches).
Pacific Islands, The, missions
in, 111-117.
Palestine, missions in, 99.
Parochial schools and missions,
340.
Paton, John G., 115.
Patrick, apostle of Ireland, 28.
Persia, missions in, 100.
Personal responsibility, 196, 285,
306.
Philippine Islands, The, mis
sions in, 110.
Pietist movement, The, and
missions, 43, 48, 67.
Prayer and missions, 183, 204,
254, 355.
Prophecy in the Old Testament,
missionary bearing, 155.
Providential leading in mis
sions, 9, 23, 63, 96, 159.
Psalms, missionary thoughts in
the, 156.

Qualifications of the missionary,
173, 240.
Readiness to go where sent, 200,
242.
Reflex influence of missions,
256, 326.
Reformation, The, and missions,
37-46; the later dogmaticians
and missions, 42.
Russia, Christianization of, 34.
Saint Paul, a typical missionary,
14, 207-213; secret of his suc
cess, 212.
Salvation, meaning of, 196.
Schools, mission, 263; in home
mission work, 286; for training
of inner mission ^YOr!^ers, 317.
Schwartz, Christian Frederick,
in India, 55.
Science of missions, 121-145;
technical names of, 128; de
velopment of, 124.
Self-support, the ultimate aim
of missions, 261.
Sermon, missionary thoughts in
the, 341.
Son of Man. The, missionary
bearing of the name, 170.
South America, missions in, 87.
South Sea Islands (see Pacific
Islands).
Stewardship, Christian, 177.
Student Volunteer Movement,
80, 350.
Sumatra, missions in, 104.
Sunday-schools and missions,
338.
Sweden and Norway, mission
ary societies in, 77.
Syria, missions in, 99.
Syrian orphanage, Jerusalem,
99.
Tahiti, 112f.
Theology and missions, 132.
Tibet, 107.
Turkish Empire, missions in,
100.
Uganda, 96.
Ulfilas, Bishop of the Goths, 29.

INDEX.

371

TJnited States, missionary so
cieties and denominational
agencies in, 78-81,
Weltz, Justinianus von, pioneer
missionary leader, 42.
West Indies, missions in, 59, 86.
Williams, John, 113.
Witnesses, Christian, 194.
Women missionaries and work
ers, 102, 305, 317.

Women's societies and missions,
307, 349.
Young people's societies and
missions, 350.
Zeisberger, David, 60.
Zenana work, 102.
Ziegenbalg and Pluetschau, pio
neer missionaries to India, 52.
Zinzendorf, Count, 47, 58.