cases; but we should not dogmatize regarding every individual of the millions who have never been approached. Taking the heathen as we know them, however, it is sorrowfully, irrefutably true that they are living in known sin, and that by no possible stretch of charity can they be considered beyond the necessity for the revealed gospel. Various statements and figures are used in the New Testament to express the condition of those who know not Christ, but whether they are interpreted literally or figuratively, their fundamental meaning is plain. Jesus came "to save," and salvation is from something. A charitable hope that some are living like the pious Hebrews before the incarnation does not lessen our duty to give them the clearer knowledge which, like Simeon of old, they would eagerly welcome, nor does it modify in the least our obligation towards the masses who are living on a lower level. The light shines for all and those who see it must spread the tidings, for every man, however degraded, is

"Heir of the same inheritance,

Child of the self-same God.

He hath but stumbled in the path
We have in weakness trod."

(c) The Command of Christ.—The circumstances in which He expressed His wish were inexpressibly solemn. He had risen from the dead and was about to ascend to the Father. But ere He left His disciples, He said unto them: "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."' A little later, He reiterated the charge: "Ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." "And He lifted

1 Matt. 28: 18-20.

2

2 Acts 1: 8.

up His hands, and blessed them." 1 "And a cloud received Him out of their sight."

There is no gainsaying that command. Whether we consider the Person who gave it, the circumstances in which it was given, or the duty imposed, we must regard it as the weightiest of utterances. If it were the only motive, foreign missionary work would be a mechanical performance of duty, the missionary merely an obedient soldier; but taken in connection with the preceding motives, it adds the impressive sanctions of divine. authority. It is the bugle call which to the true soldier never loses its thrilling, response-compelling power. It is not a request; not a suggestion. It leaves nothing to our choice. It is an order, comprehensive, unequivocal, a clear, peremptory, categorical imperative: "Go!"

No one can read the New Testament without seeing that the evangelization of the world was the supreme thought of Christ. He came into the world to save it. He sought, not merely for the rich and the influential, but for men as men, irrespective of their wealth or position. When the blind beggar cried out to Him for help, He said unto him: "Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole." When He saw the famishing multitude, He "had compassion on them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd." He could not bear to see men perish, and the very thought of it caused Him keenest agony. He was Himself a missionary and His entire ministry was a missionary ministry. While His earthly life was confined to Palestine, He made it clear that the scope of His purpose was world-wide. He plainly said, "Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice." 5 He declared that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." He taught the sublime truth of the fatherhood of God and the

1 Luke 24: 50.
Mark, 6: 34.

Acts 1:9.

5

" John 10: 16.

8 Mark 10: 52.
John. 3: 16.

brotherhood of man. He broke down the partition wall between Jew and Gentile. In an age when men regarded men of other races as foes, He said, "Love your enemies." He showed the race-proud Jews that the Samaritan was their "neighbour." Going "into the borders of Tyre and Sidon," He saved a poor Syrophenician woman.1 From heaven He gave Paul his commission to the Gentiles. With a vision of world conquest, He exclaimed: "I say unto you that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven." " "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me"; while John declared that on Patmos he heard a voice saying, "I, Jesus, have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. And the Spirit and bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."

8

He

And still the world's evangelization is His supreme thought. He is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever." knows no distinction of race or caste. He loves men, and, as Phelps has said, the most attractive spots to Him are "those which are' crowded with the densest masses of human beings." Now, as of old, the Son of Man looks upon a sorrowing, dying world with pity unutterable. The author of "Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush" represents Lachlan Campbell as grieving over his erring daughter. Yet sinful though she was, he longed for her return, and in faith that she would come back, every evening when the shadows fell, he tremblingly lighted his best lamp, which was only used on special occasions, and set it in the window, that its light might shine "down the steep path" up which he fondly believed that Flora would yet come. In like manner, the Father of us all longs for our home coming. Indeed Christ says that when the 1 Mark 7: 24-26.

Matt. 8: II. 8 John 12: 32.

Rev. 22: 16, 17.

prodigal "was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck, and kissed him." Seeing him "a great way off" of course means that He was looking for him, gazing often and with fatherly yearning far down the road on which He hoped and prayed and knew that the wanderer would soon come. Mrs. Browning truly says:

"He's better to us than many mothers are,

And children cannot wander beyond reach
Of the sweep of His white raiment." I

His love comprehends and seeks the most distant. We complacently imagine that God loves us more than any other people, but the Shepherd who left the ninety and nine sheep in the wilderness and sought the one that was lost is surely most tenderly solicitous, not about us in our comfortable, gospellightened homes, but about the oppressed blacks of Africa and the starving millions of India. Whoever fancies that God does not love all men and that Christ does not desire the salvation of all men but dimly sees the truth. Jehovah is the God of the whole earth. Christ" is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.""

Since the salvation of men is Christ's supreme thought, it should be ours. How is it possible for one who professes to follow Christ not to believe in missions, when missions is simply the organized effort to carry out the will of the Master? Has the Church entered into the mind of Christ regarding this matter? Men talk about heresy as if it related only to creed. Jesus said, "I and My Father are one;" but He also said, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." Is it not as heretical to deny one statement as the other? Failure to do the will of Christ emasculates the essential idea of the Church. There may be a noble edifice, a large congregation, brilliant oratory, inspiring music, but if the Mas

1" Aurora Leigh," Book Third.

9 1 John 2: 2.

ter's call is not heard and heeded, it cannot be a church of the living God.

Those who are solicitous about the salvation of the heathen who die without having heard of Christ may well add some concern about the salvation of professed Christians who, with the Bible in their hands and the condition of the lost world before their eyes and the command of Christ sounding in their ears, manifest but languid interest in the effort to save the world. "Son of man, I have made thee a watchman; therefore hear the word at my mouth.

When I say

unto the wicked, 'Thou shalt surely die,' and thou givest him not warning; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand." It is difficult to understand how those who profess to serve Christ can be indifferent to the most important work which Christ has committed to His followers, or how they can expect His blessing while they neglect His specific injunction! "If a man love Me, he will keep My words," said Christ,' and the word is "gopreach." If we believe in Christ, we must believe in foreign missions.

Foreign missions, therefore, is not a side issue, the object of an occasional "collection"; it is the supreme duty of the Church, the main work of the Church.. So the first disciples understood it, for they immediately went forth as missionaries. It is interesting to note that the word "apostle" is derived from a Greek word which means one sent forth, a messenger, and that the word "missionary" comes from an original which is simply the Latin equivalent of the Greek apostle. Therefore the modern apostle is the missionary, and while men at home are disputing over apostolic succession, the foreign missionaries, who are the real apostles of the present, are doing what their lineal predecessors did-" going away" from home to preach the gospel to the scattered nations of the John 14: 20.

1 Ezek. 3: 17, 18.