Part 3 (1/2)
=The Conclusion of the Whole Matter.=--Under the weight of this ma.s.s of proof we may accept the interpretation of history given in Isaiah xiv. 26-27. He is answering that question which has challenged thinkers in all ages, What is the vocation of the nations? Isaiah concludes that all nations have a place in G.o.d's purpose and that all peoples contribute to his plan.
”This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For Jehovah of hosts hath purposed, and who shall annul it? and his hand is stretched out and who shall turn it back?”
No man who is willing to accept the facts which have been stated can escape the conviction that Christ is possessing the world in an unmistakable way. Although there are still great battles to be fought out, and problems to be solved,--greater probably than men have ever grappled with in the history of the world,--the final issue cannot be in doubt. In the midst of all the disturbing forces, when many leaders are bewildered by the swiftly moving scenes incident to the transformation of great and ancient civilizations, at a time when the cries of race and clan are deafening and when there is a struggle between age-long forces on a gigantic scale never before witnessed, serene and confident of the outcome moves our Christ.
As Mr. Robert E. Speer puts it, ”Christianity is moving out over the earth with ever-enlarging agencies, with ever-increasing success, and with open and undiscouraged purpose to win the world.”
With the change of a single phrase we may join in the song of Christ's triumph which Longfellow left as an inspiring heritage to the world.
”And him evermore I behold Walking in the midst of the world, Through the cornfield's waving gold, In hamlet, in wood, and in wold, By the sh.o.r.es of the beautiful sea, He toucheth the sightless eyes; Before him the demons flee; To the dead he saith: Arise!
To the living: Follow me!
And that voice still soundeth on, From the centuries that are gone, To the centuries that shall be.”
FOR ADDITIONAL READING AND FOR REFERENCE
Edinburgh Conference Report (9 volumes). Missionary Education Movement, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York. $5.00.
World Atlas of Christian Missions. Student Volunteer Movement, 600 Lexington Avenue, New York, $4.00.
The Statesmen's Year Book, 1913. Macmillan Company, 64 Fifth Avenue, New York. $3.40.
Taylor, Alva W. The Social Work of Christian Missions. The Foreign Christian Missionary Society, Cincinnati. $0.50.
Gulick, Sidney L. The Growth of the Kingdom of G.o.d. Fleming H.
Revell Co., 158 Fifth Avenue, New York. $1.00.
Brace, Charles Loring. Gesta Christ, A History of Humane Progress. George H. Doran, 25 West 32nd Street, New York. $1.00.
Ross, E. A. The Changing Chinese. The Century Company, 33 East 17th Street, New York. $2.40.
Dennis, James S. Christian Missions and Social Progress (3 volumes). Fleming H. Revell Co., 158 Fifth Avenue, New York.
$6.25.
Dennis, James S. Commerce and Missions (A Pamphlet). Laymen's Missionary Movement, 1 Madison Avenue, New York. 5 cents.
Goucher, John F. Growth of the Missionary Concept. Eaton & Mains, 150 Fifth Avenue, New York. $0.75.
CHAPTER II
THE CHALLENGE OF A GREAT TASK
One of the best tests of the measure of a man is in his relation to great forces and opportunities and tasks. A small man will either be unconscious of their presence and significance, or will be overwhelmed by them, and therefore inactive or inefficient. On the other hand a man who is really alive will rejoice that it is given to him to relate himself to life's greatest forces and opportunities and tasks.
It would be difficult to conceive of any combination of human and divine energies, of golden opportunities and inspiring tasks, comparable with those centering in the world-wide propagation of Christianity. In our day more men are undertaking with relentless courage the whole program of Christ than ever before, notwithstanding its immensity, its bewildering complexity, and its taxing difficulty. The first long step toward a solution of the missionary problem is this willingness to face the total issues involved without reserve and without fear.
The following pages present a condensed and swift survey of the unfinished task of the Church of Christ. The size of the task is sketched in its bold outlines. In this chapter is heard the cry that is flung out across the world to every Christian man. It is a cry of neglect and need, of urgency and crisis, the united voice of mult.i.tudes among whom the forces of the new age are battling for mastery. The limits of the chapter make it impossible to discuss many important features of the missionary task, such as the social evils of the non-Christian world, the inadequacy of the vast religious systems to meet the deepest needs of mankind, the strength of the customs of centuries, and many more. The reader is referred to the books listed at the close of this chapter for a discussion of these elements of the problems. These pages will give but a glimpse of the task but enough surely to strike a high note of summons to every man to whom Christ is indispensable to make Christ known to all other men in the world to whom he is also indispensable.