Baptist Courier

Mission Department.

Rev. Wm. Henry Strickland, Editor.

All communications intended for this department should be sent to Wm. Henry Strickland, Anderson, S. C.

THE CLAIMS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS.

"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth."—Matt. 28:18.

"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. Amen."—Matt. 28:20.

"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."—Mark 16:15.

"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."—Mark 16:16.

The word "Gospel" means "Good Tidings," and is universally applied to the Good News of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Gospel is a proclamation of amnesty from the God of Heaven to all the inhabitants of earth. This pardon was first proclaimed by God's only Son, Jesus of Nazareth.

The Bible, which is God's message to man, deals with sin and salvation from sin. This gospel takes for granted man's sinful condition, and his hopeless state in himself considered. God never argues to prove man's guilt. This He assumes.

A sense of guilt and ruin has diffused itself as wide in range as our humanity.

God comes, offering to repair the ruin and take away the guilt.

Does the great God invite man to an interview? It is not to convince man of his fall and guilt, but to show him how he may be delivered from the stain thereof.

Does the Almighty say "Come, let us reason together?" It is but to show to man how he may forsake his sins and accept the pardon offered.

The whole economy of salvation stands on the broad base of man's rebellion and degradation, universally considered.

From lid to lid, the Scriptures assume these facts. In most unmistakable terms Christ re-affirms these doctrines:

"They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick."—Luke 5:31.

"I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."—Matt. 9:13.

"For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."—Luke 19:10.

Says Paul: "For God hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy on all."

Our Lord came to earth to introduce and set up this gospel dispensation. For its establishment on an everlasting foundation, He submitted Himself to death:

"for when we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly."—Rom. 5:6.

Thus the Corner-Stone of our hope and salvation is laid and cemented in the sufferings and death of Christ.

After His resurrection He remained forty days on the earth, confirming His followers, and giving them final instructions concerning the establishment and continuance of His kingdom committed the preaching of His word to His Apostles, and then ascended to heaven.

In the Scripture at the head of this article we have the last words of our ascending Lord to the Eleven!—Not words adieu only, but words pregnant with doctrine and power: words of instruction and authority concerning the salvation of men. These words are called the "Commission"—they are the "last will and testament" of Jesus to His children.

1. They are of supreme authority. "All power is given unto me, in heaven and in earth."

2. They embrace all fallen humanity. "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."

3. Having never been repealed, they are in full force now, and will be to the end of the ages. And all His followers are under obligation to assist in executing this final "General Order" from the "Captain of their salvation."

4. The power of this Saviour. His spiritual presence, His encouragement and support is vouchsafed to all His soldiers in the execution of this command, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

5. Results are forecast. The believing shall be saved: the unbelieving, damned.

And now we Christians acknowledge this law of Christ as binding on us. We worship His name. We chant His praises. We preach His salvation. We take these words of the commission as our "Warrant of Authority" for all our missionary operations.

Jesus we own as King, and as obedient subjects, we feel obliged to do all that we can for the Universal proclamation of this mandate of our Sovereign.

With this introduction I propose to discuss these Scriptures in their bearing on Foreign Missions. I come to plead for the heathen and to ask your sympathy and money in behalf of a dying world. Our object is to enforce the claims of nine hundred millions of perishing men and women who have never heard the name of your Saviour. We offer for your consideration some plain and simple arguments that have affected our mind.

I. We have our first argument on the authority of Christ. The injunction in the Commission addressed to the Apostles not exclusively, but to them as the depositories of the Divine commands, and through them to us and to all Christians in every age. "Go ye" and "Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" rests upon us to-day. "Go ye, disciple all nations, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you," and as the nations have not all been discipled, as the world is not all converted, the command is now ringing in the ear of ministers and churches of this nineteenth century. And yet some when called upon for their aid are heard to say, "I do not approve of the Foreign Mission Work," just as if they had a right to "sit in judgment" on the commands of God, and for themselves decide what they will approve and what they will not approve in the orders of their King—when the command of that King is in their ear and His sword at their heart!

Hark! did ye not hear that thunder?

"Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because they come not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty."—Judges 5:23.

II. Our second argument is drawn from the example of Christ and His Apostles. While our Lord was on the earth he went about everywhere doing good and preaching the Gospel of His kingdom. Every city, and town and village and neighborhood of Judea and Samaria and Galilee, and the adjoining countries, were trod by His weary feet.

His disciples He sent out as a band of Missionaries, and he charged them to preach the Gospel to every creature; and Luke in His record of their work in the Acts says, "They went forth and preached everywhere that men should repent." No one objection can be raised against Foreign Missions at the present day, which would not with greater force have been urged in the day of Christ and His Apostles.

The attempt is no more presumptuous now than when the first Evangelists passed out the gates of Jerusalem. The field is no less inviting, the prospect is more encouraging. It is no longer an experiment, but in every land where the work has been attempted, success has crowned the efforts. The civilized, conservative Chinaman, the proud, ambitious Brahmin, the enervated, effeminate descendant of the Caesarian, the miserable, degraded Ashantee, the Bornean Cannibal, that lately sat gnawing the flesh from human bones for his dinner—all these races have contributed their representatives to the mighty throng that have "washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

The power to give success to the word preached to the pagan world remains the same as when spoken on the day of the ascension—the promise stands, "Lo, I am with you," and human instrumentality to accomplish this work has increased a thousand fold. Twelve men then were charged with the work of bringing the world as a conquest to Christ. Now many thousands of consecrated men and women are engaged in the warfare, and the shouting vanguard is heard in Sweden, Spain, Mexico, Patagonia, China, Turkey, Africa and Micronesia. Yea "wherever man is found," there is found unfurled the banner of the cross. Said the Holy Ghost, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have appointed them," they were separated and anointed and went forth, and two and two the thousands of God's anointed ones have gone out and are still going out to the work, whereunto the Holy Ghost still calls them.

CONTINUED NEXT WEEK.