things, is subject to degeneration and abuse, it remains true that an enthusiasm for foreign missions is essential to the preservation of a true spirit of evangelism in the Church. The foreign missionary enterprise is a constant challenge whether the Church really has a message to give to the world. The question whether it is really worth while to ask a Hindu or a Mohammedan to change his faith, with all the bitter wrench with tradition and environment that such a change implies, compels the Church to investigate afresh the real meaning and value of the faith it professes. It is the great challenge of the non-Christian world that, more than anything else, is bringing the Church back to rediscover the inexhaustible wealth of its spiritual inheritance.

6. THE STRENGTHENING AND DEEPENING OF THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH

Pages might be written regarding the strengthening of the faith of the Church that has come from its efforts to evangelise the world. The Christian Church would be immeasurably poorer without the long roll of heroes and of martyrs which the missionary enterprise has called forth. The strongest evidences of the power of the Gospel are to be found in the mission field. In a society such as exists in a Christian country which has been for generations permeated by the principles of Christian morality, it is possible that a real appreciation of what is due to Christianity may sometimes be difficult, if not wanting. The moral revolutions which take place there may be no less great and real than in non-Christian lands, but the evidence is not so striking and clear. When one studies the changes that have been brought about in the lives of individuals and nations who have passed from a state of heathenism to Christianity, it becomes impossible to doubt that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. In the words of a well-known missionary, "we recognise the unmistakable husbandry of God, and one feels that it is worth while to be a missionary were it

only in order to see for oneself at first hand the authentic working of His Spirit."

The gospel of the Incarnation must necessarily be universal in its scope, and it is as we see it demonstrating its power of universal appeal, that we receive confirmation and fresh evidence of its essential truth. It is in the accomplishment of its world-wide mission that the Church will grow into a full understanding and assurance of its own faith. That faith will become more rich and full in proportion as sons of men in every land bring their varying gifts and aptitudes to the interpretation of the gospel of the Son of Man. Never can we understand the full significance of the meaning of redemption through Jesus Christ until we have the testimony of men of every race and civilisation who have experienced it, never can any race really know Christ until all races know him. Only by becoming a universal religion can Christianity attain to a full understanding of its own nature and meaning, and so adequately fulfil its mission to lands that are already called Christian.

CONCLUSION

The value of missions to the remote nations of the earth can never be computed in human figures. It can be expressed only in terms of eternity. But however valuable this is in the new and renewed intellectual, social, and moral life imparted to peoples who were sitting in ignor. ance and moral darkness, and however much the mission work of the last century has cost in the expenditure of life and money for the advance of the Kingdom of God in the regions beyond, the reflex influence upon the Churches engaging in this work, and upon individuals who have given themselves in whole or in part to it, is well worth all of the cost. We may go even farther and say that, but for the new life that has come to the Church of Christ through the effort it has put forth to evangelise the world, the very life of the Church itself would have been imperilled. Foreign missions are saving the Church to itself and to the world. When we were indifferent to

the fact that there was a great world of living, breathing, aspiring, thinking, dying men living beyond the limit of our natural vision, missions appeared and became our schoolmaster, teaching us the story of "the nations," making us grasp the extent of their distribution and need, until with our broadened knowledge we now find ourselves the possessors of a desire and purpose to make sacrifices in order to alleviate their suffering and introduce them to our Lord and Saviour.

As we endeavour to meet that need, we find ourselves led into a deeper and richer conception of human brotherhood, and discover new links that bind us to our fellowChristians, who, although separated from us by ecclesiastical barriers, have also seen the vision of those who are wandering as sheep without a shepherd, and are with us side by side labouring for their reclamation. In giving ourselves to the work of evangelisation, we gain a new and rich conception of the glory of the universal Kingdom of Jesus Christ, and obtain a deeper insight into the mysteries of the religion we profess. As the Church sets its face to the fulfilment of the great task committed to it, the risen and exalted Christ again becomes incarnate in the hearts of His disciples who, in response to the Divine command, are pressing out to the remote parts of the earth with the message of redeeming love. The Church of Christ on earth is coming into the fulness of its inheritance by losing itself in the supreme endeavour to make Jesus Christ known throughout all the world.

CHAPTER XVIII

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

AFTER this survey of the work of the foreign Missionary Societies, the conditions under which they labour and the methods used for accomplishing the ends of their organisation, the Sixth Commission begs leave to present these conclusions to which their investigations have led its members. The Protestant Missionary Societies of Christendom through their representatives in this Conference, have for the first time given themselves to the careful and comprehensive study of the problem of the evangelisation of the entire non-Christian world. In round numbers 1,000,000,000 of the human race are yet to accept the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. Among these vast populations it is our task to establish, not only the Christian Church, but those institutions of Christianity by which the Church shall be perpetuated.

The Church of Christ, in all its branches represented in this Conference, has at its command resources for the completion of this work possessed at no other period in its history. Its membership is larger, its knowledge of the needs and opportunities more thorough, its experience is riper than at any previous period. At the same time the material wealth in the possession of the membership of the Church has been increasing at a rate far in excess of the increase of gifts for the support of missions.

While this development and increase of ability within the Church has been taking place, science, commerce,

and wide-reaching national movements have together marvellously opened the way into and through the nonChristian countries. Commercial and international interests, through the international post, railroads, and cables have bound together the ends of the earth. These with countless other developed facilities are as available for the Missionary Society as for the merchant or diplomat. The resources of commerce and science are at the service of the Church for the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all peoples. It is the privilege and task of this Commission to suggest methods and means by which the Church may employ its unused assets for the redemption of the non-Christian world. It is not so much a question of new resources as of the development and employment of resources already existing, but as yet either undiscovered or unemployed.

DEPENDENCE UPON PRAYER AND THE HOLY SPIRIT

Much of this Report is engaged with the discussion of material plans and measures which have already been employed with more or less success by different Missionary Societies, or which, in the judgment of the Commission, may be successfully used. The Commission is confident that many of these plans and devices have proved to be of considerable value to different Societies and may yet become of still wider use if more generally adopted. Yet we desire to record our strong conviction that all of them must fail unless they represent first and always the Divine Spirit working through human instruments. There can be no forward movement in missions, no revival of interest, no new era of giving, no great offering of life, except as these are attained through a deepening and broadening of the spiritual life of the leaders of the Church, and a real spiritual revival among the members. New methods, attractive literature, widespread cultivation, and appeals for volunteers can accomplish nothing unless begun, continued, and completed in prayer, and permeated from first to last with the Holy Spirit of God.