THINGS TO BE REMEMBERED—NO 4.
The Duty: To preach the Gospel to every creature, in the shortest possible time, is the duty laid upon the church by the last command of her King. The part of the work assigned to us is to be determined by our surroundings, and especially by our opportunities to reach the unsaved races of men. We are bound to put in our labor where it will go farthest and move greatest masses of men towards God. If we find that the “dark lands” can best be reached through their children on these shores, then must we seek and save the children for the sake of their kindred.
Take now the map of the world and turn to Asia; the merest glance shows that our nearest point to that greatest of the World’s divisions is the California coast. On that coast the old civilization and the new stand face to face. There, too, meet the old Paganism and the newer Christianity, and there, emphatically, will be the battle-ground between the past and the present, the false and the true. As Christian men we mean to regenerate the Asiatic continent, and in particular the Mongolian race. If our Bibles left us in doubt our geographies would show that the Pacific coast was the spot on which to initiate a Christian movement for the capture of China. And anyone can see that Paganism and Christianity are now in contact on that coast, and one or the other will soon be master. If only for the honor of our faith, we must accept the contest and abide the issue. The capture of the thousands of her children in this land means the capture of the Empire of China. The stake is too immense to be treated with indifference. The prize to be won involves mighty races and is offered to us alone. To secure it is to cover ourselves with glory; to decline it is to cover ourselves with guilt and shame.
If with united heart and hand we bent ourselves to the task, how easily we might absorb the Chinese into the life of the nation and into the faith of the churches. And then, when they all went back—as they all intend to do—they would bear with them the new thoughts and the new life to become the regenerating leaven for their continent. If we give them the Gospel, accompanied by the renewing energy of the Holy Ghost, they will return in the power of the Highest to save their people.
And, now, look to Africa—barbarous, wretched, and apparently hopeless. But, lo, within our own borders are seven millions of her sons and daughters, born into our civilization, already feeling the quickening forces of our learning and our faith. Who touches the African race as we do, or who can so influence the African mind and heart? Here are the African souls that are best fitted to regenerate the African race. These young Christian scholars are a hundred years in advance of anything we can find in Africa. And are they not the men to be organized into a mission to save their fatherland? We are related to Africa as no other nation on the globe is; touch more of its people and control more of the African heart and mind. This is our special opportunity and puts us under obligation to move upon the African race with all the forces of light and truth at our command.
The whole matter is in a nutshell and may be summed up thus: We have the power to preach the Gospel to every Chinaman, every Indian, and every Negro in the land, and having the power, we are in duty bound to use it.
Did we do this, our simplest duty, these people in turn would have the power to preach the Gospel to all the millions of their own countrymen. Nothing can be plainer. Then why do we hesitate to muster the forces and put these races in training for Christ and the salvation of their own lands? The opportunity to do this work brings with it the obligation to do it. But when it is added to this that we alone can do it in the way suggested, and in the only way that seems to make its near and easy achievement possible, there is no excuse for a moment’s delay. If we have men and money enough to go after these races in foreign lands, we certainly cannot lack means to provide for them here. To us alone is given this privilege of preaching this Gospel to the world at our own doors. And while the best statesmanship of the country is tasked to show how we may deal with these races for our highest good, the church of God is set to the task of showing how we may deal with them so as to secure the speediest regeneration of the yet unsaved continents.
The American Missionary Association believes that this result will be soonest realized by at once bringing these children of theirs under the full light and power of the Gospel. And it believes that the interest of this land and of those lands will be best promoted by throwing among those populations a Christian force so large that not one shall fail to hear of Christ. To reach one in twenty or thirty is to trifle with the whole problem. Nothing short of reaching every soul, or making it possible for every soul to be reached with the power of the Gospel, will be adequate.
The way is all open; we can see clear through to the end. The question is pressed upon us and we must answer distinctly whether we will accept this opportunity to save China and Africa, or whether we will decline the offer and withhold the bread of life.
C. L. WOODWORTH.