AGGRESSIVE EVANGELISM THE NEED OF THE HOUR. N no other age has the great commission given to the Church by our Lord, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature," appealed with such force to the awakening conscience of the Christian world as at the present time. This is a crisis period in the world's history. It is a hour fraught with much danger to every material and moral interest. Never was the need so great for a mighty aggressive comprehensive campaign of evangelism. The unparalleled prosperity of the past few years, particularly throughout the American continent, has brought about a spirit of intense worldliness, such a craze of self-indulgence, luxury, and wealth worship as was perhaps never known. Coupled with this spirit of commercialism, which has driven its talons deep down. into the very heart of men, is an incrdinate seeking for pleasure. The age is borne away by its love of amusement, everything must be amusing, nothing takes unless it is entertaining. There is excess in all directions, an excess that begets a craving, a craving that can only be stimulated by more of the same thing, the stimulant must be made stronger as the craving grows stronger, until in the end the appetite is beyond the power of being satisfied. Unfortunately, this spirit of mammon worship has not been confined to the unchristian world, but has insinuated itself into the Church of God, until many of the very elect have been deceived, betrayed, and carried into the whirling vortex. Never before in the history of Christianity has the divine authority of Jesus over individuals and society, and over all the powers of man, especially the Christian man, so needed to be emphasized. When something like ten hundred million souls are waiting their only chance to hear the Gospel, idleness, apathy, and indifference on the part of the Christian Church is surely a capital offence. While this is a critical period, a period attended with danger, it is also a day of unequalled opportunity and possibility. There never was a time when so much could be accomplished for God and humanity, when so large and inviting a field opened up before the Church-never before did the restless, unsettled multitude need a strong hand to guide them as now. Never was the call so urgent to go and "possess the land." A tremendous responsibility, I repeat, rests upon the Church of God. Aggressiveness has been the need of every hour, the obligation to preach the Gospel to every creature has rested on every generation of the Church. But never before has it been so powerfully re-enforced by the manifest workings of God in preparing the way for the world's evangelization. Never before was such a wide interpretation put upon the great commission. Did it ever occur to you how Jesus seemed to trust the limited intelligence of His people when He bade them, " Go into all the world and preach the Gospel"? They do not understand its scope, but He takes it for granted that sooner or later His words will be understood. In the first instance He spoke to a narrow-minded, bigoted, intensely sectarian people, and yet He told them that this message must be given to all nations, that the field was the world. With few explanations and little amplification of the great thought, He seems to have thrust it out among His disciples, having the utmost faith in its own inherent vitality. During all these centuries the Church has been considering this great commission, and it is only now that its full significance seems to have dawned upon us. of To the immediate followers Jesus, the world at most meant the narrow limits of the Roman Empire. To our Christian ancestors in the old lands it meant, at the furthest stretch of the imagination, the Eastern hemisphere. The courageous Italian, with his band of intrepid followers, who braved the dangers of the unknown seas and brought to light a new continent, gave a still wider significance to the Lord's words, but even their discoveries did not exhaust its meaning. To-day, so far as its geographical significance is concerned, we, I think, have fully interpreted this great commission. No extension of geographical knowledge, no addition to the widening limits of our horizon, finds anywhere a tribe or nation that is not included in the field of Christian evangelism. Nevertheless, I feel compelled to say that, though extensively we have grasped the meaning of Christ's command, yet intensively we are only touching its fringe, for to this old word, "Gospel," must be given still wider interpretations, newer applications, until it not only renovates, cleanses and purifies the unregenerate heart of man, but creates a new environment, social, political, and commercial, excluding in a very large measure motives that are low and base. The Church has an imperative duty to individuals. While we cannot lose sight of the fact that she has a duty to perform for society, a duty too long obscured and neglected, but upon which emphasis is now being placed as never before, yet she has first of all a duty to the individual man, to carry a personal Gospel, a Gospel of pardon, of free and full salvation to every man, without regard to class or caste, to race or color, a Gospel that saves to the uttermost, uplifting, enlightening, transforming, the very power of God. Methods may have to be varied to meet the changed conditions. In the great awakening that is assuredly coming, many of the methods, honored of God in former days, may be wanting; in a large measure the ground of appeal may be altered, for men can no longer be frightened into religion by the thunders of Sinai or the flames of hell. A higher set of motives must and will be appealed to, but to preach a Gospel that saves to the uttermost the man, and the whole man, from everything that is low and base, selfish and sinful, must be the great end sought. Let the Church lose sight of this imperative overshadowing duty and she has ceased to truly and fully represent the teaching of Jesus. "Social Regeneration," "The Reconstruction of Society," "Back to Christ," "The Brotherhood of Man," and other high-sounding, soul-stirring titles, are pregnant with truth too long. ignored, but the first great obligation resting upon the Church is to point the guilty soul to "The Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." Go ye into the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, to the learned and the ignorant, to the rich and the poor, to the high and the low, to black man and white man; preach it in the biting chill of the North and in the broiling heat of the South, amid the sands of the East and the nations of the setting sun; preach it under the indescribable thrill and inspiration of an assembled multitude; preach it to the solitary wayside traveller; preach it to the aged sire, the rollicking boy. the busy man in the strenuosity of Agressive Evangelism the Need of the Hour. life's duties, and to the mother in the home; preach it in the power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, for the essential message of Christianity is that of salvation from sin. In this it is essentially distinguished from all other religions. It has undoubtedly furnished the source and inspiration of all that is best in character and conduct, in art and in literature, in culture and civilization, but all this has been secondary and incidental to its main purpose of saving men. "And thou shalt call his name Jesus because he shall save his people from their sins," said the angel to Joseph. Later, Jesus, defining His own mission, says: The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost.” Salvation is what the human soul wants when brought under conviction of sin. "What must I do to be saved?" is ever the cry of an awakened soul. "Salvation! let the echo fly the spacious earth around, While all the armies of the skies conspire to raise the sound." Now, let us look at some of the essential factors in a campaign of aggressive evangelism. First, let us stop proclaiming to our people, from pulpit and platform, that the days of revival are past. Let us rather pray the prayer of the Psalmist, Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee." The day of revival is not past, and never will pass so long as human nature remains the same and souls are unsaved. Paul's words to the Corinthians are applicable here: "Ye are not straitened in us. Ye are straitened in your own bowels." "Ye receive not because ye ask not." We have so persistently suggested this fallacy that we have convinced ourselves and our people that it is folly 309 to expect again to hear the old soulinspiring cry of the convicted and awakened soul, "Men and brethren, pray for us." Brethren, let us give up this insane notion and offer again in faith the prayer, "Revive us again, fill each heart with Thy love; may each soul be rekindled with fire from above." The triumphal march through the land of such men as Torrey and Alexander demonstrates most clearly that men can still be reached by the soul-saving truths of the Gospel of Christ preached and sung by men whose hearts are filled with divine love and fired with a passion for souls. Second, let us cover ourselves with sackcloth and confess with shamefacedness that the mighty onrushing tide of worldliness, the disturbing, unsettling speculation in the theological and philosophical realm of thought, the transitional period in which we are living, have conspired, if not to loosen the moorings of our faith, to at least bring about a condition of "spiritual inertia." Third, we need to seek earnestly the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We are safe in saying that never was the Church so highly organized; never the equipment so perfect; never was so much money consecrated and used in the great undertaking to carry the Gospel to every creature; never did the Church recognize so recognize so fully its world-wide obligation. And yet is there not a danger that we forget "the hiding of His power"? "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts." There have been times in the past when the Church has grown and trusted in her wealth; when she has grown numerous and trusted in her numbers; when she has grown respectable and trusted in her respectability; when she has bristled all over with the outward form of activity; when she let go her hold upon God. What we need to day more than money, more than numbers, more than social standing, is the mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Christian Church of the first century had no wealth, no social standing, no high-sounding names and titles, but it was charged with the mighty power of God, and under the searching truths of the Gospel men were pricked to the heart, and cried, What must I do to be saved?” “Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." The sound as of a mighty rushing wind we may not hear, the tongues of flame we may not see, but that of which all these outward symbols were the indication we may know and must know if we are to witness a great forward movement. Fourth, the minister as a factor in this campaign of evangelism. The responsibility rests pre-eminently upon the Christian ministry as the divinely appointed leaders in the effort to save men. We cannot shift the responsibility, for if the watchmen see not the opportunity, the duty, the danger, who else can be expected to see it. In the last analysis the desired results will depend upon the fidelity of the individual minister. His action or inaction will determine the attitude of the Church to this great question. How great a responsibility, then, rests upon the preacher of the Gospel who is seized of the overwhelming importance of the work to which he is called. What wonder if he trembles and staggers under the pressure of his obligation? What wonder if, in his conscious weakness, he shrinks for the moment from the task, and cries, "Who is able for these things?" But with the command to go into all the world and preach the Gospel is also the further command, "Tarry ye in Jerusalem until ye shall be endued with power from on high." By the power of the Holy Ghost an allconsuming love for the souls of men kindled at the Cross of Christ and ever kept burning on the "mean altar of our heart," will make the work of saving men an easy and a delightful task. Enlarge, inflame and fill my heart with boundless charity divine, So shall I all my strength exert, and love them with a zeal like Thine, And lead them to Thy open side, the sheep for which the Shepherd died." No task can be too appalling, no witness bearing can be too difficult, no message can be too stern and uncompromising for those who are baptized with the power of the Holy Ghost. A great door is open before the Church. From the divine side there never was so bright and promising an hour for our Christianity. From the human side there is a widespread anticipation of a great coming revival, surpassing all others of the past. The need of such an awakening is acknowledged on all hands to be the greatest. From every quarter comes the call and the encouragement to an immediate forward movement that is not merely of the emotional and temporary type, but one that will work a change, if not in the aims and purposes of Christian effort, yet in its scope and intensity. THE NEW AGE. When navies are forgotten When memory of battles, At last is strange and old, When nations have one banner And creeds have found one fold. When the Hand that sprinkles midnight With its powdered drift of suns Has hushed this tiny tumult Of sects and swords and guns; Then Hate's last note of discord - Frederick Lawrence Knowles. THE YOUNG MAN PROBLEM. I is a healthy sign of the times, and augurs well for the future to see the Christian Church addressing herself seriously to the task of winning young men for Jesus Christ. That, and nothing short of that is the problem we are attempting to solve. It demands an immediate solution, for, in a pre-eminent degree, this is a young man's age. The opportunities, responsibilities and temptations of young men were never so great as they are to-day. Young men are thrown into an arena where they must face greater dangers than men ever faced before, they must struggle with sterner antagonists and fight fiercer battles than any who have gone before them. It may, with equal truth, be said that this is a young man's country. Our virgin prairies are being changed to fertile fields of golden grain, largely by young men, and it is remarkable, too, how large an extent the business of the West is being transacted by them. From their ranks also are being chosen the standard-bearers of both political parties. A glance over the average congregation in a Western church also reveals how few old people there are. In the Assiniboia Conference bald heads are scarce and gray hairs are few. And yet one phase of the young man problem is, how few are offering themselves for the Christian ministry. The Church on this side of the Atlantic, to a much larger extent than on the other, is experiencing increasing difficulty in securing the right kind of young men for this work. For her own sake, then, and much more for the sake of the young men of Canada, it behooves the Christian Church to grapple with the problem until it is solved. The difficulty of the problem does not arise, we are glad to now believe, from any hostility on the part of young men to Christ and His Church. Nor can we say that it is the result of indifference. The fact is, young men make up, to a very large extent, our congregations. They lend us their ears. They come within range of the Gospel arrow. Gospel arrow. I know that many of them are actively interested in sport. Large numbers are straining every nerve to succeed in business. Are we to conclude, therefore, that they have no interest whatever in the great principles that the Church stands for? I do not take that view. Without a doubt, the marvellous material quickening which is now taking place is having its effect in a corresponding numbness of the finer and more delicately constructed part of a young man. And what Lord Goschen has called "the mania of muscularity," is fraught with the gravest consequences to the young men of the nation, but the real difficulty does not lie in either direction. Whatever and wherever the Church succeeds in making young men see that the ideal Christian life and the ideal manly life are one and the same thing, then and there the young man problem will be largely solved. Explain it as we like, and lay the blame where we may, the reason why scores of young men hold aloof from Christianity is a feeling that, somehow or other, a profession of religion will rob them of some of their true manli ness. |