The first quarter of the century witnessed the advent of new agencies, as well as a multiplication of forces. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was organized in 1810, the English Wesleyan Missionary Society in 1814, the American Baptist in 1814, the American Methodist in 1819, the American Protestant Episcopal in 1820, and the Berlin and Paris Missionary Societies in 1824. Thus, in the comparatively short space of thirty-two years, thirteen societies had been organized by the various denominations here and in Europe, each of which was destined to grow to proportions little contemplated by their founders. Since that time the great China Inland Mission and other undenominational societies have been founded and are sending out men and women in large numbers to the heathen world. Besides these, there have been societies of special workers which have done valuable service in aiding the missionary societies, such as the medical missionaries, the Zenana Missionaries and the university and students' volunteer movements. Statistics recently compiled show that the number of central stations in heathen lands occupied by Protestant missionaries in 1896 was 5055, with out-stations to the number of 17,813. There are now thirty-seven missionary societies in this country alone which have sent out 3512 missionaries. A library of volumes would be needed to give even a sketch of the results of the labors of these devoted men and women. The Church holds their names in holy reverence. Many of them have attained the crown of martyrdom, and a still greater number have fallen victims to the severities of uncongenial climates. Every heathen land has now associated with it the name of valiant soldiers of the Cross, who have given their lives to add it to their Master's, kingdom. In India among many others, there have been Carey, Duff, Martyn, Marshman and Ward. In China, Morrison, Milne, Taylor, John Talmage and Griffith John. In Africa, Moffat, Livingstone, Hannington and Vanderkemp. In the South Seas, Williams, Logan and Paton, while Judson of Burmah and a host of noble men and women in every clime, have toiled and suffered, not counting their lives dear unto them, that they might preach to the heathen the unsearchable riches of Christ.
Preaching To Heathen At Home.
The zeal for the propagation of the Gospel among the heathen, has been paralleled by the efforts put forth for the evangelization of the people in nominally Christian lands. In this enterprise the front rank on both sides of the Atlantic has been occupied by the Methodist Church. Its system of itinerary, relieving its ministers in part from exhausting study, and so giving them time and opportunity for pastoral work and aggressive evangelistic effort, its welcome of lay assistance in pulpit service and its system of drill and inspection in the class-meeting, have all combined to develop its working resources and increase its aggressive power. The fact that there are now in the world over thirty million Methodists of various kinds, makes it difficult to realize that when the century began, John Wesley had been dead only nine years. This century consequently has witnessed the growth and development of that mighty organization from the seed sown by that one consecrated man and his helpers. It is doubtful whether in politics or society there is any fact of the century so remarkable as this. The Church Wesley founded has split into sections in this land and in England, but the divisions are one at heart, and the name of Methodist is the common precious possession of them all. A great writer has contended with much force that the world at this day knows no such unifier of nationalities and societies as the Methodist Church. When the young man leaves the parental roof of a Methodist family for some distant city, or some foreign land, the pangs of anxiety are alleviated by the knowledge that wherever he may be, there will be some Methodist Church where he will find friends, and some Methodist class-leader who will look after his most important interests. The magnificent Methodist organization, unequalled outside the Roman Catholic Church, has developed within the century, and its aggressive forces have been felt throughout Christendom. All the denominations have received an impetus from its abundant energy and each in its measure has caught the contagion of its activities. In country districts, in the great cities and in foreign lands, its representatives, loyal to their Church and the principles of its founder, are pressing forward in self-denial and apostolic fervor foremost everywhere in the van of the Christian army.
Kindred with the Methodist in its enthusiasm and still more highly organized, is the youngest of all the religious organizations—the Salvation Army. In its origin, a daughter of the Methodist Church, with a strong resemblance in spirit and purpose and methods to its mother, the Salvation Army has a mission peculiarly its own. It too has grown with a rapidity unexampled in the religious history of other centuries. More than one quarter of the century had passed when William Booth first saw the light, more than half the century had passed before he had begun to give his life to his Master's service. From 1857 to 1859 he was simply a Methodist minister, at an unimportant town, appointed by his conference, sparsely paid, and certain to be removed to another sphere at the end of his term. In 1865, he and his devoted wife resigned home and income and dependence on conference for support, and went to London. They settled in the poorest and most degraded district of the city, and began to preach in tents, in cellars, in deserted saloons, under railroad arches, in factories and in any place which could be had for nothing, or at a low rental. The people gathered in multitudes wherever Mr. Booth and his wife preached, veritable heathen, many of them, who knew nothing of the Bible and had never attended a religious service in their lives. Converts were numerous and they were required to testify to the change in their souls and their lives and to become missionaries in their turn. In 1870 an old market was purchased in the densest centre of poverty in London and was made the headquarters of the Mission. Bands of men and women were sent out to hold meetings, sing hymns and "give their testimony" in the open-air, in saloons, or any resort where an audience could be gathered. These bands were busy every night in a hundred wretched districts of the great city, and at every stand, some poor forlorn creatures would be gathered in and encouraged to begin a new life in faith in Christ. Some method of organization became necessary, and was eventually devised. The perfect obedience and confidence manifested everywhere to the man who directed the movement, and the entire dependence of every worker on him for guidance and support, may have suggested the military system. However that may be, the military organization was adopted, and a perfect system framed with the aid of Railton Smith, and a few other clever organizers who were attracted to Mr. Booth's side by the novelty of his methods, and his marvelous success. In the spring of 1878, the plans were all matured and the new movement became a compact and powerful religious force. Since that time it has spread throughout England, into several European lands, to the United States, and Canada, to India, Australia and South Africa. Its autocratic character has been steadfastly maintained. General Booth has retained absolute control of every officer in his service and has the management of the enormous income of the army. Occasionally there has been mutiny which has been overcome by tact or prompt discipline, and not until this year (1896), when General Booth's son, Ballington, who was his representative in the United States, resigned rather than be removed from his command, has there been any formidable defiance of the supreme and despotic government of the world-wide organization. The methods of the Army are unconventional and are shocking to staid, respectable members of churches, but criticism is out of place in any method which will redeem the masses in the numbers won by the Salvation Army.
Churches Drawing Together.
A notable characteristic of the religious life of the century, especially in the latter half of it, has been a desire manifested in various quarters, and in different ways, for union among the denominations. That organic union could be attained, no practical man could hope. Uniformity could not be expected, even if it could be proved to be desirable, but friendly association was possible, and there were many who contended that there ought to be a recognition of brotherhood and comradeship, which might issue in some attempt at co-operation. This was the conviction of many prominent preachers and laymen on both sides of the Atlantic, early in the century. And truly the condition of the world and of society was of a character to force such a conviction on the minds of intelligent men. Infidelity was rampant, and intemperance, gambling, unchastity, and other forms of vice were practiced with unblushing effrontery. On the other side, the churches, which should have been waging war on all ungodliness, were fighting each other, contending about the questions on which they differed, and exhausting their strength in internecine conflict. Was it not time, men were asking, that the forces that were on the side of godliness united in opposition to evil? After long discussion, and some opposition, this feeling took practical shape in the Evangelical Alliance. At a meeting held in London in 1846 eight hundred representatives of fifty denominations were assembled. It was found that however widely they differed on questions of doctrine and church government, there was practical agreement on a large number of vital subjects, such as the need of religious education, the observance of the Lord's Day, and the evil influence of infidelity. An organization was effected, on the principles of federation, to secure united action on subjects on which all were agreed, and this organization has been maintained to the present time. Branches have been formed in twenty-seven different lands, each dealing with matters peculiarly affecting the community in which it operates, and by correspondence, and periodical international conferences, keeping in touch with each other. Its usefulness has been proved in the success of its efforts to secure tolerance in several lands, where men were being persecuted for conscience' sake, though much still remains to be done on this line. Perhaps the most conspicuous result of its work is the general observance throughout Christendom of the first complete week of every year as a week of prayer. The proposal for such an observance was made in 1858. Since that time the Alliance has issued every year a list of subjects which are common objects of desire to all Evangelical Christians. On each day of the week, prayer is now offered in every land for the special blessing which is suggested as the topic for the day.
From the same spirit of Christian brotherhood which took shape in the Evangelical Alliance, came at later dates other movements which are yet in their infancy. One of these is the Reunion Conference which meets annually at Grindelwald in Switzerland. Its object is to find a basis for organic union of the Protestant Episcopal Church with Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Methodists and other evangelical denominations. The meetings have been hitherto remarkably harmonious, and suggestions of mutual concessions have been made which have been favorably considered. A less ambitious, and therefore more hopeful movement of like spirit, is that of the Municipal or Civic Church. Its aim is the organization of a federative council of the churches of a city, or of sections of a city, for united effort in social reform, benevolent enterprise and Christian government. It proposes to substitute local co-operation for the existing union on denominational lines, or to add the one to the other. It would unite the Methodist, Baptist, Congregational and other churches in a city, or district, in a movement to restrict the increase of saloons, to insist on the enforcement of laws against immorality and to promote the moral and spiritual welfare of the community. The united voice of the Christians of a city uttered by a council, in which all are represented, would unquestionably exercise an influence more potent than is now exerted by separate action. To these movements must be added another which has been launched under the name of the Brotherhood of Christian Unity. This is a fraternity of members of churches and members of no church, who yet accept Christ as their leader and obey the two cardinal precepts of Christianity—love to God and love to man. Its object is to promote brotherly feeling among Christians and a sense of comradeship among men of different creeds. All these movements are an indication of the spirit of the time. As one of the leaders has said, their aim is not so much to remove the fences which divide the denominations, as to lower them sufficiently to enable those who are within them to shake hands over them. In no previous century since the disintegrating tendency began to manifest itself, has this spirit of brotherly recognition of essential unity been so general, or has taken a shape so hopeful of practical beneficence.
Organized Activities.
Effective influence to the same end has been set in motion, incidentally, by an organization which was originated for a different purpose. This is the Christian Endeavor Society, which is one of the latest of the important religious movements of the century. It was primarily designed to promote spiritual development among young people. It had its birth in 1881 in a Congregational Church at Portland, Me. Dr. Francis E. Clark, the pastor of the church, had a number of young people around him who had recently made public profession of faith in Christ and pledged themselves to His service. Precisely what that implied, may not have been definitely understood by any of them. As every pastor is aware, the period immediately following such a profession is a critical time in the life of every young convert. In the college or the office, or the store, the youth comes in contact with people who have made no profession of the kind, and he is apt to ask himself, and to be asked, in what way he differs from them. The early enthusiasm of his new relation to the Church is liable to decline, and he may become doubtful whether any radical change has taken place in him. He does not realize that he is at the beginning of a period of growth, a gradual process, which is to be lifelong. Taking his conception of personal religion from the sermons he has heard and the appeals that have been made to him, he has a tendency to regard conversion as an experience complete and final, an occult mysterious transformation, effected in a moment and concluded. Disappointment is inevitable, and when non-Christian influences are Strong, there is a probability of his drifting into indifference. Dr. Clark was aware of this fact, as other pastors were, by sad experience, and he sought means to remedy it. Some plan was needed which would help the young convert and teach him how to apply his religion to his daily life, to make it an active influence, instead of a past experience. The plan Dr. Clark adopted was of an association of young people in his Church, who should meet weekly for prayer and mutual encouragement and helpfulness, with so much of an aggressive quality as to exert an influence over young people outside its membership. The plan succeeded. The religious force in the soul, so liable to become latent, became active, and the young converts made rapid progress. Dr. Clark explained his experiment to other pastors, who tried it with like results. The remedy for a widespread defect was found. It was adopted on all hands and by all evangelical denominations. It spread from church to church, from town to town and into foreign lands. Annual conventions of these Christian Endeavor Societies were held, at which forty or fifty thousand young people, representing societies in all sections of the country with an aggregate membership of about two million souls, were present to recount their experience and pledge themselves anew to the service. The basis of their association was made so broad that Christians of every denomination could heartily unite in its profession of faith. Thus, in addition to the primary design, a basis of Christian inter-denominational union was incidentally discovered, and the Methodist and the Presbyterian, the Congregationalist and Episcopalian found themselves united in a common bond for a common purpose. The movement in these present years shows no signs of decrease, but is still growing in numbers, power and influence, and promises to be one of the most potent factors of religious life which springing up in this century will go on to influence the next.
The idea of association and combination in religious life, of which Christian Endeavor is the most extensive illustration, has been embodied during the century in other forms. Springing directly from the Christian Endeavor Society, are the Epworth League in the Methodist Church, and the Baptist Young People's Union in the Baptist communion. The two organizations are practically identical in principle and purpose with the Christian Endeavor Society and differ from it only in the absence of the inter-denominational character. The heads of the Methodist Church apprehended danger to their young people in their being members of a society not under direct Methodist control and feared that they might eventually be lost to Methodism. The Baptists, on the other hand, were not concerned on the question of control, but feared that the association of their young people with the young people of other churches might lead them to think lightly of the peculiar rite which separates them from other denominations, and to diminish its importance in their esteem. Both denominations therefore organized societies of the same kind, to keep their young people within the denominational fold.