“Before the joy of peace must come
The pains of purifying.
God give us grace,
Each in his place,
To bear his lot,
And murmuring not,
Endure, and wait, and labor.”
CHURCH WORK IN THE SOUTH.
BY REV. C. L. WOODWORTH.
The subject before us is “Church Work in the South.” This work, though it seems to be fundamental to every missionary organization, has yet been sharply challenged both as to its propriety and expediency. Put thus on the defensive, it may be well to recur to first principles, in order to satisfy ourselves that the church is the unit idea in all Christian labor. And to unfold that idea in the conversion of men, and to make it potential in society, through the preaching of the Gospel and the sanctified lives of believers, is the end of the family, of the school, and of all the forces which go to civilize and uplift communities. That work which does not aim at the church as its end, however refining and ennobling it may be in itself, fails, utterly and infinitely, to realize the ideal of the New Testament, or the ideals of history as seen in the progress of Christ’s kingdom in the earth. When, therefore, a society like the one whose anniversary we are now celebrating presents itself for our suffrage and our support, it becomes our privilege, and perhaps our duty, to question its mission and its right to live. Should it appear that secular education is the object mainly aimed at, then we would say it has just as much right to live as there is reason for the work it is doing. But if, on the other hand, it should appear that the regeneration of men, and the founding of pure and intelligent churches, is its central thought and aim, and that all other instruments in its hands are but tributary to this, then we would say it has just as much right to live as there is force and authority in the last command of our ascended Lord. This will become evident if we examine:
(1.) The Commission under which a society like this does its work. The warrant for a missionary society, as for all missionary effort, is found in the words of our Saviour to his disciples, just before he went up on high: “All power is given unto me in heaven and on 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.” Analyze these words, as repeated by three evangelists, and, we submit, they leave upon the mind the single, distinct impression that the work he commissioned his disciples to do was to teach or to preach Christ; was to call to repentance, and show how sin could be atoned and remitted through the blood of the Crucified. That message is given to this society—the most important ever committed to men; and to proclaim it freely and fully, all its resources of men and of money, of learning and of influence, should be put under contribution. This is the work than which nothing greater nor grander can be conceived.
(2.) This will further appear if we study the model of missionary work, which is presented to us in apostolic labor and example. If the words of our Saviour define the work to be done, the example of the Apostles defines and illustrates the manner in which it should be done. And beginning at Jerusalem, we find that the Apostles and the company of the believers gave themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. When the endowment of power had come, they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. They were now divinely empowered and set apart for their work. The Holy Ghost is now their inspirer and guide, and when the multitude came running together to see what this strange thing could mean, Peter, with the eleven, stood up and delivered that searching discourse which went with convincing and converting power to the hearts of 3,000 men.
Indeed, what is the Acts of the Apostles but a record of missionary operations conducted by inspired men, who were specially empowered and guided by the Holy Ghost, in which the preaching of Christ was the all-absorbing theme? Peter and James among the Apostles, and Philip and Stephen among the deacons, were illustrious preachers in their day, and models of devotion to the single purpose of winning men to Christ. Converts were multiplied, churches organized, and believers made to feel that the one supreme work was to teach or to preach Christ. The movement began on the day of Pentecost by preaching Christ, and on that line it continued its triumphant way while the Apostles lived. They neither sought nor asked for anything more. They were content to wield the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. And so they preached Christ, “to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which were saved, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
(3.) If we needed other evidence that this line of work is the true one, we have it in the historical examples of other successful missionary work since the time of the Apostles. We only need to examine those great religious movements in history which not only lifted the Church, but started the human race forward on higher courses of thought and life, to satisfy ourselves that the Gospel was the quickening power, and furnished the motive and impulse to the astonishing results which followed. A single text ringing in the ear of the monk as he slowly and wearily climbed Pilate’s stairs at Rome, on his knees, “The just shall live by faith,” explains the Reformation. That was the key-note to all the preaching and writing of Luther and the Reformers. That truth lifted and saved men; that truth organized the free thought and the Protestant churches of Germany, and made the Reformation a success.
The Puritan movement in England, to some extent contemporaneous with that in Germany, proceeded on the same principles. Men mighty in the Scriptures were raised up to preach the word. They relied on nothing but the simple Gospel of Christ. All the might of king and council and Parliament could not crush a movement having its sources in the word of God. It crystallized into dissenting churches; it flowed beyond the British Islands on to the continent of Europe and to the continent of America, taking possession of a new empire and a new world.