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).
Summing up the New Testament principles that are to guide us in our
gospel work, we may say that we are to go as a united force along the
line of least resistance, making the eternal salvation of the
individual our supreme aim.
The Restoration movement became necessary because one of the
fundamental principles of the gospel had been violated; viz.: that of
Christian union. The success of this movement for Christian union on
the primitive gospel has been phenomenal. In eighty years its adherents
have increased from ten thousand to one and a third millions. But what
are these among so many? The work has but fairly begun, and the field
is just beginning to ripen for the larger harvest. Sectarianism is
still present in all of its hideousness, but the people are beginning
to see the desolation and sinfulness of divisions and are groping in
the dark in various efforts at solution. However, a careful
investigation will reveal the fact that the great drift towards
denominational union is more due to a dying faith in sectarian
doctrines than to a growing faith in the doctrines "once for all
delivered to the saints." About a year ago it was declared in a large
meeting of clergymen that "Protestantism is decaying and will be
displaced by some sort of a new Catholicism." The statement was
vigorously applauded. This simply means that sectarian Protestantism is
decaying. It should be remembered that every large religious body in
America, except that represented here to-day, originated in Europe
under the shadow of Roman Catholicism and under political, social and
religious conditions entirely different from those that now prevail in
America. These sectarian systems brought to America have been thawed
out by our free American religious atmosphere so that there is not a
large sectarian body that would dare to promulgate seriously and
persistently the basic principles that gave birth to it in Europe. The
consequence is that sects are hastening to revise their creeds so as to
get rid of their out-of-date features as gracefully as possible. One of
the leading arguments for union with other denominations used at the
recent Canadian General Assembly was that "it would give the church an
opportunity to revise its creeds, and to remove the barnacles and
cobwebs that had gathered around them." The leading speaker declared
that "not a single minister present would dare to enforce his own
interpretation of the Confession of Faith." The ministers hesitate to
enforce these hereditary traditions, and the members neither know nor
care what the creeds teach, and, therefore, we hear on every hand, "One
church is just as good as another."
We thank God for this relaxing of sectarianism and for the trend toward
Christian union. But the movement involves a grave danger. Having lost
faith in their distinctive sectarian doctrines, which they considered
synonymous with New Testament teaching, many sectarian people are
rapidly drifting into indifference, worldliness and unbelief. Forsaking
human leaders and their doctrines, they are in danger of also forsaking
the Apostles as religious leaders and their doctrines once for all
delivered to the saints. Sectarianism is bad, but sectarian life and
strife is better than a lifeless, conviction-less, graveyard,
sentimental union that is the result of a dying faith. In a union
revival in an Eastern city practically all the Protestant churches
worked together for a month, and we could not count five definite
committals to Christ. Any small sectarian church alone could have
accomplished greater definite results. After reducing their doctrines
so as to avoid all that would give offense to any, they become so thin
that there is but little to contend for.
The indifference to the doctrines of the creeds and the New Testament
which is hastening the disintegration of sectarianism, is partly due to
infidelity in the churches. Discerning critics cannot fail to see that
much of the drift toward denominational union is due to the leadership
of preachers who, through rationalism, have lost faith in the
inspiration of the Bible and consequently in evangelical Christianity.
As I was a student for three years at a Unitarian theological school
and have gone through the process myself, I am able to speak on this
subject as perhaps few of our brethren can. Misguided by rationalism, I
thought it my conscientious duty to accept, step by step, the dictates
of destructive criticism until the Bible was only inspired to me in
religion as Kant in philosophy, Milton in poetry and Beethoven in
music. But when I came to the end of the business I discovered that my
conscience, that had urged me along, was gone also. For I was gravely
taught that conscience is simply a creation of experience and education
and that it is right to lie or do anything else so long as you do it
out of love. Doubtless you have all heard of the farmer and his wife at
the World's Fair, who went to see the "Exit." There was nothing in it
and of course they had to pay to get in again. This was my bitter
experience with rationalism. I thought I was following a great light,
but I discovered there was nothing in it, that I was following an
_ignis fatuus_. Rationalism has indeed proven the "Exit" to multitudes,
from the peace, joy and moral security that accompany faith in
evangelical Christianity into the desert of doubt, darkness and
despair. To those preachers who, through rationalism, have lost faith
in the inspiration of the Bible, doctrines are no longer a hindrance to
union, for they have lost faith in all evangelical doctrines and
therefore selfishness and utility draw them toward union.
If this is the religious condition to-day, you can see that we are in
danger of religious anarchy and spiritual death. We are told that the
splendid civilizations of Greece and Rome were made possible through
the moral integrity and manhood inspired by their heathen religious
systems. When unbelief in these systems originated among the
philosophers and through them permeated the mass of the people,
morality and sincerity were displaced by policy, distrust and
deception, which brought utter ruin to the social and civil fabric. How
much greater must the calamity be if the faith, integrity and morality
underlying our splendid Christian civilization should be destroyed by
the antichristian doctrines already taught in the classroom at some of
the leading schools. The only hope lies in a return to "the faith once
for all delivered to the saints." I believe we have been raised up for
this hour. Our past work and opportunities are but a drop in the bucket
compared with our present opportunities for work. As never before, it
behooves us to raise the banner of New Testament Christianity as a
standard to rally and reorganize the divided, confused and retreating
hosts of Christ. It is not a question of staying at Jerusalem until
each individual is converted, but the question is whether we will ever
go to the Jerusalem of teeming millions in our land who have never even
heard the plea for Christian union on the primitive gospel. Just as the
Apostles went to saints (pious Jews) and sinners and demanded upon pain
of their eternal condemnation that they unite under King Jesus, so we
must go to the saints of the sects and sinners of the world and insist
that they unite under the non-sectarian banner of Christ, in order that
the whole world may believe in him as God's Son. As in the days of the
Apostles, so now we need a re-alignment of religious forces in order to
conquer the world for Christ.
Having learned the New Testament principles that should guide us in our
missionary operations, and through these discovered our chief sphere of
work in view of the present situation, let us turn to special
missionary problems that constantly suggest themselves to us and
consider our duty towards them and their relationship to the great
mission that rests upon us as a distinctive people. I refer to the
Indians, Mormons, Jews, immigrants, the lower and slum districts of our
cities, the mountaineers of the Appalachian system, the millions of
unevangelized negroes in the South, etc.
Concerning these problems I wish to call your attention to the
following considerations:
First, these problems are largely educational, legal, social and
philanthropic, and as such should be solved by the united effort of all
the good citizens of the land. Keeping in mind the New Testament
principles that are to guide us, we can readily see that Christians
should do many things that the church was not ordained to do. The
church, as a church, should not go into politics and business. On the
other hand, the church, through its spiritual ministries, should
inspire its members to enter business, politics, philanthropic
associations, etc., in order, as far as possible, to incarnate
Christian principles in their life in the world. We may differ as to
the finer distinctions, but none of us would advocate a union of church
and state or of church and business. As this is a nation in which
Christians can control the laws, they can do much through good
citizenship to solve these questions and bring these classes within the
reach of the spiritual gospel. One of the great duties of the church in
behalf of these people is, through their spiritual ministries, to
constrain their members to make and enforce proper laws for their
education, protection and improvement. Christianity is the religion of
a book, and the first thing needful to bring these classes to an
intelligent Christian faith is at least a common-school English
education. Those of us who have lived in cities that are largely
foreign know that the public schools are doing more to bring these
classes within gospel reach than all other agencies combined.
Second, I wish to throw out a warning against engendering or
encouraging the class spirit which we find so severely condemned in the
New Testament. In the New Testament we read nothing about churches for
different classes or about different classes as separate missionary
problems, but the effort is to reach all classes through the local
churches along the line of least resistance. The best thing on earth
for these various classes is that they might be brought into vital
touch with the best Christian people in our local churches. Some have
even gone so far as to claim that we cannot reach the slum element, but
must leave that to the Salvation Army, etc. If that is true, so much
the worse for our Christianity. A truly New Testament church is the
incarnation of the wisdom and love of God for reaching any and all
classes of people. The class spirit is the outgrowth of ignorance,
prejudice and selfishness and is always sinful among Christians. Our
experience with tuberculosis and with the modern complicated industrial
and political systems, is thrusting upon us anew Christ's teaching
about the brotherhood of man or the solidarity of the race. On the
whole, it is true that the race suffers or rejoices, rises or falls,
together. We condemn the segregation of foreign races in different
sections of our large cities. But the segregation of the better, or at
least more fortunate, classes, is just as bad and more disastrous to
the welfare of the city. Social settlements and institutional churches
are manifestations of the Christ spirit, but they are only proxies and
excuses for the mass of Christians and but samples and crumbs in place
of the square meal that a square deal would supply. What these
institutions are doing in a comparatively unnatural and artificial way
is simply a hint of what could and would be done if all church-members
would practise the Christ spirit in all their daily walk and
conversation. To give a few dollars to help pay a few mission workers
to live Christ in the slum districts is all right, but is no adequate
substitute for all Christians giving all their life to uplift and save
their country and the whole world. The best institutional church is the
one that through its spiritual ministries inspires its members to live
Christ in politics, in business, in society, in the home and everywhere
else. So far as possible, let us minimize and discourage the class
spirit in every way, shape and form. It is marvelous what the true
Christ spirit will do along this line. A church of Christ was recently
organized at Romney, W. Va., with two-thirds of the members foreign
born. With a few days' effort nineteen Italians recently joined the
Christian Church at Uhrichsville, O. Similar results have followed
faithful efforts in New York City and at many other places. If in love
and faith we would make a serious effort to reach these classes through
the local churches, we would do ten times more to reach and help them
than by seeking to reach them as classes.
In the third place, we must avoid the materializing tendency of the age
in our gospel work. The constant tendency is to lose sight of the
spiritual, invisible and eternal, to be blinded by the things of this
world and to be conformed to them. In reading popular books on Home
Missions we cannot but be grieved at the flings and thrusts at the old
evangelism and the laudations of the new evangelism. For the context
shows that the teaching is away from the spiritual and eternal
salvation of the individual, which the New Testament makes the chief
and ultimate thing, to the material and temporal things of this earth,
which the New Testament makes a means to a higher end. To prove that
the old evangelism is defunct, attention is called to the fact that
seven thousand sectarian congregations did not have a single convert in
an entire year. But can that be said of true New Testament evangelism?
How prone we are to forget that only a comparatively few can attain
unto worldly success according to the standard of public opinion and
none so as to be satisfied with the effort. For the more we get the
more we want in wealth and fame and pleasure, and none of these things
in themselves bring happiness or well-being, which is the real thing
the soul hungers for. Who can estimate the eternal good B. F. Mills did
while he pointed individuals to the Lamb of God and thus filled their
souls with new life, hope and courage to do and to dare for self and
others because "of the joy that was set before them"? But in an evil
day he became spiritually near-sighted and spoke about saving society
rather than the individual, and now he is reputed to be a hotel-keeper,
ministering to the material comforts of his fellow-men. Oh, what a fall
was there! But only an example of multitudes who have become
near-sighted and unfruitful through a so-called new evangelism that is
not new. While giving good works their proper and important place, let
us never forget that to save the individual soul for eternity through
the gospel is the chief work of the church, and that it must ever
subordinate the temporal and material to the spiritual and eternal.
Furthermore, it is well to remember that our sectarian neighbors,
having largely lost faith in what they once considered their
distinctive mission, are naturally turning much of their energy to
general educational, philanthropic and civilizing work. Under the
circumstances it is natural and proper that they should give relatively
more of their energies to this kind of work than we, as we have a
distinctive mission that demands our chief effort.
The classes enumerated above present indeed great missionary problems.
We should keep in mind the entire field and never plan for anything
short of reaching, as soon as possible, every creature with the gospel.
But accepting the guidance of the Holy Spirit, revealed in the New
Testament, we must go to the ends of the earth as a body united in
Christ and his truth, along the line of least resistance, ever keeping
in mind the spiritual and eternal salvation of the individual as the
ultimate aim.
These things being true, I still believe, as we have always taught,
that the reunion of God's people on the primitive gospel is at present
the overshadowing issue before us and that in working for its
accomplishment we are doing the utmost in our power to solve all
missionary problems. Christ can never conquer with a hopelessly divided
army. Sectarianism ties up three-fourths of the men and money and kills
three-fourths of the spiritual power that could otherwise be used to
solve all missionary problems. Unite all saints in Christ and set free
these forces, and within this generation the world will believe and
know that Jesus is the Christ whom God sent into the world (John 17:20,
21, 23). I believe that God has providentially prepared both us and the
field, and unless we perform the mission set before us he will raise up
another people through whom to bring about Christian union on the
primitive gospel, to our eternal shame, but to their eternal glory.
Thus it seems that, pre-eminently, our neglected fields lie among the
teeming millions of America, ripe unto the harvest for our plea, but
who, through our negligence, have not even heard that there is such a
plea.
Grapes of Eshcol have been gathered from every corner of our land,
proving that it is a land flowing with milk and honey for primitive
Christianity. Look at the wonders done in Oklahoma. Go to Southern
California and see the recent record. Go to the great Northwest, both
in Canada and the United States, and see the ripeness of the field. If
we turn to the southeast we gather just as large clusters of grapes in
Florida and along the coast. See the marvels accomplished in
Washington, our capital. Two churches offered to us because we are
non-sectarian. Turn to Baltimore and see the marvelous growth. Two
fields offered to us because we stand for Christian union. Look at the
recent and abundant fruit in conservative Pennsylvania, or pass on to
New York and see the wonders at East Orange and in Brooklyn among the
Russians. Wherever we turn, the field is riper than ever and we must
haste to garner it in or the abundant crop will perish. The heart of
the country is already largely ours. Let us go forward with enlarged
numbers and renewed vigor, knowing that the God of the harvest is with
us and we are well able to possess the land. While greatly increasing
all our other activities, let us push the Home Society to the front
where it belongs according to every principle of Scripture, mercy,
economy, efficiency and common sense. If we will renew among us the
zeal and self-denial of the pioneers of this movement, we will soon
gloriously triumph to His honor and praise.