The Call of the World Part 2

Number of Volunteers Sailed

1898-1902 780

1902-1906 1,000

1906-1910 1,286

In the year 1911 the total reached was 410, indicating the fact that the goal of two thousand sailed volunteers for the quadrennium is not an impossible number to expect to see go out before the next convention in 1914.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Gifts for Foreign Missions 1891-1912]

=Money Devoted to Missions.=--One hundred years ago the total contributions to the foreign missionary enterprise from all the Christians of the world amounted to about $100,000 annually. To-day the regular annual income is over $30,000,000, or three hundred times as much per year as one hundred years ago. Great buildings are being erected at a cost of millions of additional capital to house colleges and hospitals and printing-presses and all other inst.i.tutions necessary for the propaganda. In 1911 these special contributions from North America amounted to at least five millions of dollars. In all this vast enterprise the cost of administration at the home base averages only about 8 per cent. of the total of the regular receipts. The cost of all other big business is much higher than this. There are perhaps some cases where the efficiency of the mission Boards would be increased if more money was spent on the cultivation of the home const.i.tuency.

=Translation of the Scriptures.=--The Bible is the missionary's book, and translated into the language of the people is an indispensable aid to his work. The Bible Societies on both sides of the Atlantic have done and are doing a magnificent and enduring work the benefits of which all the churches are reaping. In 1800 the Scriptures were translated into 66 languages; to-day the Scriptures in part or in whole are available in more than 500 languages and dialects. One of the most striking intellectual achievements of the world has been made by the missionaries in the translation of the Scriptures, to say nothing of their tremendous contribution to science and all the branches of knowledge by the reduction of languages to writing, by the translation of text-books, and by the publication of many other books in the vernaculars. When it is remembered that the Edinburgh Conference declared that there are 843 languages and dialects in Africa alone and that only about 100 of them have been reduced to writing, a glimpse is given of the magnitude of the intellectual task remaining before the battle is won. The difficulties have been very great. Milne, a colaborer of Morrison, has this to say regarding the learning of the Chinese language:

"To learn Chinese is work for men with bodies of bra.s.s, lungs of steel, heads of oak, hands of spring steel, eyes of eagles, hearts of apostles, memories of angels, and lives of Methuselah!"

III. SIGNS OF WORLD-WIDE VICTORY

=Progress by Centuries.=--The following table used by Gulick in _The Growth of the Kingdom of G.o.d_, indicates the onward sweep of Christianity throughout the last two thousand years. Of this table Gulick says: "The table does not give the number of professed Christians or church-members, but only the number of those who may be fairly said to have accepted the Christian standards of moral life whether attempting and professing to live up to them or not. The word 'Christianity' is used in its broadest, loosest sense."

The first column includes the period to the end of the century named.

The second column gives the number of millions of Christians of all faiths:

2nd century 2 millions

10th century 50 millions

15th century 100 millions

18th century 200 millions

19th century 500 millions

A glance at these figures reveals the following inspiring facts.

The number of Christians reported at the end of ten centuries was doubled in the next five centuries. The total was doubled again in the next three hundred years. At the end of the nineteenth century the number was two and a half times as great as at the end of the previous eighteen centuries.

=Recent Victories.=--While the survey of the progress of the kingdom by centuries just given is inspiring, recent years have witnessed an unprecedented response to the Christian appeal.

Looking at America first we discover that one hundred years ago there were 364,872 communicant members of the Protestant churches out of a population of 5,305,925, or one in fourteen. To-day one in four of the population is identified with the Protestant church. These are not nominal Christians, as in the paragraph above, but actual Protestant church-members. These figures make it clear that the forces of aggressive Christianity in America have realized a tremendous return on their investment. If we include Catholic and all other religious bodies the total communicant members reach 36 millions in round numbers, or about two fifths of the total population.

One hundred years ago only one in ten of the college students in America was a communicant member of the Church; to-day practically every other college student is a member of some church. It is certainly encouraging that fifty per cent. of that small fraction of our population which will furnish an enormous percentage of the leaders are church-members to-day, or five times as large a proportion as a hundred years ago.

The situation in the non-Christian world to-day is summed up, on the basis of the statistics in the chart below, as follows: It took about ninety years to gain the first million converts (1793-1885). The second million were added in twenty-three years (1885-1908). They are now being added at the rate of a million in ten years.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WORLD MISSION PROGRESS

GAIN IN PROTESTANT COMMUNICANTS SINCE 1800 IN THE FOREIGN FIELD]

At the beginning of the nineteenth century there was not a single Protestant in j.a.pan, not one in China, only a few in India, and the great non-Christian world was practically closed to the Protestant missionary. Three of the five continents of the world were inaccessible and a large part of a fourth largely untouched.

Protestant Christian work began in j.a.pan in 1859. In 1913 there are 73,000 Protestant communicants,--among them twelve members of the j.a.panese Parliament. The influence of the Protestant Christians in the Empire is out of all proportion to their comparatively small numbers, because Christianity began with the ruling cla.s.ses in j.a.pan. There are to-day in that one country more Protestant Christians than there were in all the non-Christian world at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Morrison, the pioneer missionary to China, entered that land in 1807.

At the end of thirty-five years of effort there were only six converts; at the end of fifty years there were less than fifty, but to-day, according to the China Year Book, there are 195,905 communicant members of the Protestant churches, and Dr. Timothy Richard has publicly stated that he thinks there are not less than two millions of people in China who accept Christ as Savior, although many of these have not as yet united themselves with the Christian Church.

One missionary in North China reported recently that he had seen more Chinese accepting Christ in the last nine months than in the previous nineteen years of his service in China.

In Korea, on Christmas Day, 1887, the first seven men were baptized in secret; now there is a Christian community of 300,000. There has been an average of one convert every hour of the day and night since Protestant missionaries entered Korea. The Korean Christians are an evangelistic, self-sacrificing, Bible-studying, prayer-loving people.

The training-cla.s.ses for Bible study and preparation for Christian work have been wonderful in their attendance and power. One church has developed into five churches in its short history. The members of a single church in Seoul preach the gospel in over a hundred villages in the vicinity of the city. Pingyang was not entered until 1895. At that time it was said of the city that every other house was a wine shop.

In the short time since the first missionary entered the city such progress has been made that it is now said of Pingyang that every other house has a Christian in it, and that at least one sixth of the population may be found in the regular church services every Sunday morning. The great challenge presented by Korea is to press the advantage at this point in the far-flung battle line, in confident expectation that Korea will be evangelized in this generation.

India furnishes many thrilling ill.u.s.trations of the victorious progress of Christianity. On a journey around the world two years ago, a Christian leader saw one church record in the Baptist mission among the Telugus in which there were the names of 19,000 Christian converts. Forty years ago there were not more than a half-dozen Christians in that section of India.

Uganda in Central Africa has made great progress since the days of Stanley's discovery of Livingstone. Recently an eight-days' meeting was held in one of the stations. The attendance ranged from 3,500 the first day to more than 6,000 on the last day. In the five years ending September, 1907, there was an average increase in membership of 6,000 a year, and in 1909 the total increase reached 8,000.

Even the Near East which has for many years been so comparatively unresponsive to the appeal of the gospel, is more ready than ever to receive the gospel message and especially the missionary school. On a visit to the Near East in 1911, Dr. C. H. Patton, one of the Secretaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, addressed some inspiring audiences, in one place a mult.i.tude numbering three thousand. At Aintab, the crowd was divided into three audiences so that all could hear. There was a total attendance of four thousand. Among many other encouraging signs Dr. Patton found forty sons of pashas and members of the Turkish parliament in one school.

Where a very few years ago there were hatred and hostility, there is now not only toleration but in many places a growing spirit of welcome to the Christian school and the Christian missionary.

These examples are typical of a world-wide response to the gospel never known before. The simplest and most evident proof of the widening sovereignty of Christ in the world is the number of those who are uniting themselves with the Christian Church. It is an inspiring record, but only the beginning of the indications that the kingdom of G.o.d is spreading over all the earth.

=The Native Church.=--Further progress is indicated when it is remembered that there are now about 100,000 native workers in the various non-Christian lands. The calling forth and training of these workers is the greatest and most urgent single task on the field, for the chief hope of Christianizing the world is in the multiplication of the numbers and the increasing of the efficiency of the native workers in all non-Christian countries.

Powerful native leaders are arising in many lands. This is a most heartening evidence of the progress of Christianity. Men like the Hon.

T. H. Yun, the statesman, of Korea, Ding Li Mai, the evangelist, of China, Bishop V. S. Azariah of India, and the late Bishop Honda of j.a.pan are the type of leaders who may well inspire hope in the success of Christianity in the lands from which they come. Native leaders are in the forefront of the great social and moral reforms and evangelistic campaigns among their people. The dependence of China upon her Christian leaders in this present hour of great crisis has thrown a great light upon the value of Christian inst.i.tutions and teachings. The sacrificial giving of the native Church is a revelation of the great depth and sincerity of their Christian life. Dr. Alva W.

Taylor in his very valuable recent book, _The Social Work of Christian Missions_, calls attention to the fact that in China, while the membership of the Protestant Church has increased eleven times in thirty years, the rate of native giving has increased thirty times.

Every land has a contribution to make before there can be a complete interpretation of Christianity. Christendom is as yet only beginning to realize what enrichment of life is to come from Africa and the East, from Mohammedan lands and the islands of the seas, when the living energies of Christ have been brought to bear adequately upon their life.

=Humanitarian Inst.i.tutions.=--One hundred years ago there was not one hospital or trained physician in the non-Christian world; to-day there are 675 hospitals; and 8,000,000 treatments in these hospitals were reported in a single recent year. The relief of suffering, the prevention and cure of contagious diseases, the successful war against plague, asylums for the insane and blind, for the deaf, homes for lepers and consumptives, rescue homes, prison work, famine relief--all these are recent forms of Christian service and are rapidly extending.

=Social Reconstruction and Progress.=--Dr. S. M. Zwemer has well said, "Fifty years ago in the study of missions the emphasis was on theology, to-day it is on sociology."

The expanding influence of Christ in the world is not only shown by the statistical evidences of the growth of the missionary enterprise, but there are also certain large and general aspects of the case which must not be overlooked. Volumes have been written on the subject of humane progress, such as _Gesta Christi, A History of Humane Progress_, by C.

Loring Brace, and _Christian Missions and Social Progress_, by J. S.

Dennis. But two of these humane ideas are enlarged upon here.

1. The growth of the idea of liberty. The freedom of the ma.s.ses is possible only in those lands where Christ is known. From the days when the influence of the Christians put a stop to the sacrifices and gladiatorial combats in Rome to the wiping out of human slavery among all the civilized nations of modern times is an inspiring record of the expansion of the Christian spirit of liberty. Dr. Josiah Strong says "At the end of the eighteenth century slaves were held in Russia, Prussia, Austria, Scotland, in British, French, and Spanish colonies, and in North and South America." To-day no reputable Christian nation tolerates slaves.

2. The elevation of womanhood. Wherever Christ's ideas of the sacredness and value of womanhood have penetrated, women have risen to a place of power. Christ found woman the plaything and drudge of man or worse and has lifted her up to be a queen in the home and a powerful influence in society. To a gentleman who asked a woman in Turkey what her life was like she replied, "Our life is h.e.l.l." Let her answer stand for the life of millions upon millions of women and girls where the purity and love of Christ are unknown.

In the introduction to _Gesta Christi, A History of Humane Progress_ by Brace, the following summary is given:

"There are certain practises, principles, and ideals--now the richest inheritance of the race--that have been either implanted or stimulated or supported by Christianity.

"They are such as these: regard for the personality of the weakest and poorest; respect for women; the absolute duty of each member of the fortunate cla.s.ses to raise up the unfortunate; humanity to the child, the prisoner, the stranger, the needy, and even the brute; unceasing opposition to all forms of cruelty, oppression, and slavery; the duty of personal purity and the sacredness of marriage; the necessity of temperance; the obligation of a more equitable division of the profits of labor, and of greater cooperation between employers and employed; the right of every human being to have the utmost opportunity of developing his faculties, and of all persons to enjoy equal political and social privileges; the principle that the injury of one nation is the injury of all, and the expediency and duty of unrestricted trade and intercourse between all countries; and finally and princ.i.p.ally, a profound opposition to war, a determination to limit its evils when existing, and to prevent its arising by means of international arbitration.

"Ideals, principles, and practises such as these are among the best achievements of history."