To Infidelity and Back

by Henry F. Lutz

OUR NEGLECTED FIELDS.

NOTE.—This chapter is an address that was delivered at the Centennial Convention of the movement for the restoration of primitive Christianity, held at Pittsburg, Pa., during October, 1909. It is here given because it deals with the same general subject as the rest of the book and shows why and how the reunion of the followers of Christ on the primitive gospel is the greatest issue before the Christian world to-day.

Ask the brotherhood what "Our Neglected Fields" are, and the answer will come in a multitude of voices speaking from diverse viewpoints according to each speaker's knowledge, experience and field of operation. This is natural and proper. If your wife is not the best woman in the world, you are not much of a husband. If your country is not the best country on earth, you are not much of a patriot. Love for everybody and everything in general is a good thing in its way, but the specialized affections are of still greater importance in the world's progress heavenward. But while this babel of appeals in behalf of different places, classes and kinds of work is natural and proper, it does not solve the problem as to what are really our neglected fields and as to the relative amount of work and money we should give to the various calls.

Standing on the banks of the Mississippi, it is impossible to determine the origin of the various color elements in the water; but if we go to the source, it is easy to discover that the red mud comes from the Arkansas, the black mud from the Missouri and the coal dust from the Ohio. So if we wish to discover the principles that will guide us in selecting fields of operation, we must go back to the fountain-head of the New Testament. If we are in the streets of a strange city, all is confusion as to the lay of the land; but if we climb to the hilltop in the rear of the city, we can readily get our bearings. So we must climb to the hilltop with Christ and the Apostles and from there get our bearings in our missionary operations. Let us then turn to the New Testament and see if we can discover where we should go first and the relative importance of the individual and society, the earthly and the heavenly, the temporal and eternal, the material and spiritual, and their relationship to each other.

In looking for the scope of gospel work, we discover that the salvation of the individual and his attainment unto eternal life is the supreme aim in view. From the multitude of Scriptures that teach this we select the following: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:15,16). "Who will render to every man according to his works: to them that by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life" (Rom. 2:7). The Scriptures are just as clear in placing the spiritual, eternal and heavenly infinitely above the material, temporal and earthly: "We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:18). "Set your mind on the things which are above, not on the things which are upon the earth" (Col. 3:2). "Took joyfully the spoiling of your possessions, knowing that ye have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one" (Heb. 10:34). "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth… but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven… for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matt. 6:19-21). "For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory" (Phil. 3:20, 21). At best a very small per cent of Christians can ever hope to attain unto wealth and worldly success; and to present these things as an incentive to godliness is but mockery, for "if we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable" (1 Cor. 15:19). We are constantly tempted to be deceived by the delusion that wealth, health and worldly success necessarily bring happiness, while the opposite is as often true, as these things are not an end in themselves.

While the Scriptures thus clearly teach that the supreme effort of Christianity is to prepare people for a glorious hereafter, good works in this life are demanded and are of vital importance. It is the nature of godliness to seek the well-being of others, in this life and the life to come, and no soul can remain saved without doing all in its power to minister unto others. "Ye tithe mint and anise and cummin and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith: but these ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone" (Matt. 23:23). "Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10). The promise of eternal life is to them who continue patiently in well-doing (Rom. 2:7). "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh it away" (John 15:2). In all his works and words God seeks to reveal his love to men with the purpose of wooing them back to himself, and good works of love have an important place in winning souls to Christ. Thus Jesus did many works of mercy through which he made manifest his and the Father's love for sinners. "Even so let your light shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:16). "Having your behavior seemly among the Gentiles, that wherein they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they behold, glorify God" (I Pet. 2:12). "That even if any obey not the word, they may without the word be gained by the behavior of their wives" (I Pet. 3:1). Emerson says, "What you are speaks so loud, I cannot hear what you say." This is, alas! too true of our Christianity. Unless our love for people is incarnated in the good works of our lives, sinners will lose faith in us and in our religion. This does not mean that the church is to forsake prayer and the Word of God to serve tables, or forsake its spiritual ministries and mainly turn its energies to ministering to the physical, social and intellectual man. Chiefly, the church, through its spiritual ministries, is to inspire its members and others to good works of love in their daily walk and conversation. As the anchor of the buoy or the ballast of the ship holds it upright, so the good works of Christians hold the spiritual salvation aloft to be seen of men, and commend it to a dying world.

Having considered the scope of gospel work as revealed in the New Testament, let us next inquire where we shall go first. As we cannot go everywhere at once, where shall we begin, and where shall we go next? Is this left to chance, or is an order of procedure revealed in the New Testament? We believe that there is, and that it is of the greatest importance that this order should be followed. Christ gave the order of march in Acts 1:8, "Ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." If we have any doubt as to the interpretation, the Apostles interpret it for us in their work under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Other things being equal, they went to the nearest territory first. Again, we notice that the Apostles were especially led to the cities, the great centers of population. This enabled them to reach most people in a given time. Beginning at Jerusalem, their missionary journeys were determined by the location of the leading cities. Furthermore, we learn from the teaching and practice of Christ and the Apostles, that they went to the ripest fields first. Christ came to the Jews, the best prepared people on earth, to gather a nucleus for his coming kingdom and to scatter preparatory light for the gospel message. The Apostles commenced their gospel work at Jerusalem on Pentecost because the most devout and enlightened saints on earth were gathered there. For this reason the order was first the Jews and then the Gentiles (Acts 13:46, 47). Paul passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica because a synagogue of the Jews was there (Acts 17:1). The Spirit forbade him to go to Asia and Bithynia and led him by Mysia into Macedonia because there were hearts there ready to receive the message (Acts 16:6-10). Christ commanded Paul to depart from Jerusalem because they would not receive his testimony there (Acts 22:17-21). Open doors were considered as guides by Paul in his missionary operations (I Cor. 16:8; 2 Cor. 2:12, 13; Acts 14:27; Col. 4:3).

Summing up, we find that the Apostles, in their effort to preach the gospel to every creature, were guided by nearness of territory, density of population and ripeness of field. That is, all things considered, they went along the line of least resistance. This is the way of mercy and common sense as well as of Scripture, as it is the quickest way to reach every creature. It enlarges the army of conquest as fast as possible and always meets the enemy at the point of least resistance.

It will help us to understand the matter if we keep in mind that it was not only the purpose of Christ to save individuals here and there, but also to organize a salvation society or church through which to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth, provide a home for the new-born spiritual babes and to extend his reign on earth as far and as fast as possible.

The matter will become still plainer if we consider another principle taught and practised by Christ and the Apostles; viz., the necessity an absolute union of the forces of God under Christ for the accomplishment of his work. Christ said, "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation: and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand," and he prayed for a perfect union among his followers in order that the world might believe in him (Matt. 12:25; John 17:20, 21). Paul says, "Whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not carnal? For when one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?" (I Cor. 3:3, 4). Again he says, "If ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another" (Gal. 5:15). Divisions inevitably lead to weakness, waste and defeat. A small army united in the authority of a wise commander can defeat the largest army on earth if it be divided through every officer doing as he pleases or as he thinks best. Therefore Christ demanded absolute union in his authority, and the Apostles first of all worked for a union of Jews and Gentiles in one body or working force. If the purpose had only been to save individuals, the Jews might have been saved as Jews, but the object was to enlist the Jews with the Gentiles in God's new army of conquest. This new union under Christ, or re-alignment of religious forces, was so important that the salvation of both Jews and Gentiles was conditioned on their entering it, and, if necessary, all other unions and alliances had to be broken to maintain this. All race and class distinctions must succumb. "There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male nor female; for ye are all one man in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28). Not even family ties were permitted to interfere with this union in the authority of Christ. "He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me. For I came to set a man at variance with his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law: and a man's foes shall be they of his own household" (Matt. 10:35-37). The subjection of wives to their husbands and of children to their parents is limited "in the Lord" (Col. 3: 18, 20).