this the very gist of mission study and mission work? What is mission work but the work of saving the unsaved? And how else can it be done than by bringing them the Gospel of Christ and through this means, under the operation of the Holy Spirit, leading them into the kingdom of God? The whole enterprise has for its center Christ and the power of His resurrection. And He is the heart of the Gospel, as He is the head of the Church.

To us it seems to be in the nature of quibbling to no profit to raise objection to the term "Evangelistics" on the ground that many other activities are involved in the missionary enterprise besides the preaching of the Gospel. Of course there are. But if they do not center about the Gospel, if they are not more or less directly connected with it and permeated by it, they do not properly belong within the sphere of Christian missions. The Gospel is the proper source and the unifying force of all the various questions and activities, whether they pertain to the management of the work at home or to its conduct and prosecution abroad.

But, after all, the important thing is not the choice of name, but the proper conception and presentation of the work itself. Let us give ourselves to this task with singleness of purpose to know and receive the mind of Christ.

CHAPTER IX.

THE PLACE OF MISSIONS IN THE LIFE AND WORK OF THE CHURCH.

The place of the study and practice of missions in the Church is determined by the intrinsic nature of the missionary enterprise, by its place in the Holy Scriptures and the divine economy of salvation. It is not, therefore, a matter of arbitrary choice. It doesn't depend on the character and spirit of the teacher in the seminary or the pastor in the church. The actual or accidental place of missions in school and church may be so determined, but not their real and proper place. This has been settled by the Lord God, who is the unerring Director of missions, as He is the infallible Author of the Scriptures. It is for us, by reverent study of His Word and observation of His providential leading, to find the place He has assigned, and to conform our ways thereto.

I. The Place of Missions in Educational Institutions.

That the systematic and scientific study of missions deserves a place in the curriculum of the theological seminary has been affirmed, on the part of many of the seminaries of our country, by the incorporation of Evangelistics in the regular course. Where this has not as yet for any reason been done, it is to be assumed that different phases of the missionary enterprise receive more or less attention in connection with some of the other and older branches of theology. Such incidental treatment of the subject is quite feasible and natural, especially when the teacher is himself imbued with mis

sionary life. In fact, in some of the theological branches missions, in one or another form, constitute a vital part. This is the case, preeminently, in Church History. Christian missions constitute one of the large and important movements in the life and work of the Church in every period of her history. Accordingly, in the study of Church History the historical phase of the missionary enterprise, the history of the extension of the Church, occupies a large and conspicuous place.

The theoretical phase of the subject, involving problems, principles, and methods, has various points of contact in several of the other branches.

Such is the case, for example, in Exegesis. As the books of the Bible are subjected to critical and exegetical study, the missionary thoughts both of the Old Testament and of the New will come in for proportionate consideration, according to their setting and significance in the sacred text. In Dogmatics the leading doctrines, as, for example, of God, of the sinfulness of mankind, of the redemption of the human race through Christ Jesus, etc., involve fundamental missionary thoughts that need only to be pointed out and applied. In Ethics the consideration of the relations of the Christian to mankind at large, in State and Church, in the family and society, and in these relations the question of Christian duty, will naturally lead to incidental presentation and application of missionary thoughts. For Apologetics the history of missions affords manifold striking evidences of the superiority of Christianity over all the non-Christian religions of the world, of the power of the Gospel to renew and transform the character and life of individuals and of nations, of the truthfulness of the divine Word and the matchless value of the Christian faith.

In Practical Theology, too, there are many points

of contact and opportunities for the occasional and incidental treatment of missionary ideas. In Catechetics, in Homiletics, in Liturgics, and in Pastoral Theology, many principles come under consideration which apply. equally to the established pastorate and to work in the mission field. The missionary, as well as the pastor in the home church, is called upon to catechize or instruct both young and old, to preach, to conduct public worship, and to care for individual souls in the capacity of a shepherd or pastor. Missionary applications will occur naturally, without any forcing or straining, in the adequate treatment of these branches.

But after all, in the opinion of leading missionary advocates and educators, the importance of the missionary enterprise justifies the development of the science of missions and its study as a separate branch of theology. When we consider the immensity of the task and the dimensions to which this enterprise has grown; when we study the Bible with an open eye and heart to note and receive missionary thoughts and impressions; when we make a survey of the copious and rapidly expanding field of missionary literature; when we thoughtfully review present day conditions both in Christian and in heathen lands and consider the opportunities and the urgent need of more vigorous and effective prosecution of the work which the Lord of the harvest has given His Church to do; in view of these and other considerations that force themselves upon the student of missions and the earnest worker in the cause, can there be any doubt as to the desirability of the ampler, scientific development of mission study and enterprise? Incidental references and casual and partial and haphazard treatment do not suffice, do not meet the demands of the

case, do not do justice to the largeness, the importance, and the expanding future of the missionary enterprise.

The feasibility of the undertaking is shown by the not inconsiderable advances that have been made toward the development of a science of missions. Under the leadership of missionary educators and advocates in Europe and America, of able directors and secretaries of the great and growing missionary societies and mission boards, the work is gradually assuming definite shape and ampler form.

If the above argument has any cogency and force, it follows that Evangelistics deserves a place in the curriculum of the theological seminary. Moreover, it is a question deserving the attention of the authorities, whether the missionary enterprise may not profitably be given a place in the college, in the form of volunteer and optional mission study classes, and possibly by the maintenance of a missionary society.

The fact is that, during the last two decades, there has been a marked forward movement in this regard in all the higher institutions of learning, from the great universities down to academies and preparatory schools. In Germany and Great Britain, as also here in America, missionary professorships and lectureships have been introduced in not a few seminaries and universities, and under the leadership of the Student Volunteer Movement, in the United States and Canada, some thirty thousand students are enrolled in mission study classes in more than six hundred institutions.

2. The Place of Missions in Our Churches. Here we give this topic only preliminary consideration. It is a large topic and of such vital importance that it will receive fuller and more adequate treatment