directly into the homes of the people that can hardly fail to result in enlarged interest and activity.

3. By Ample Provision for Co-operation.

The entire work of the general body is built upon this principle. The body is composed of members, individual congregations. If they fail to cooperate, the work fails, and the body goes to pieces. If the cooperation is weak, the work drags along slowly and heavily, and the faithful members groan beneath their heavy tasks. It is only when the co-operation is general and hearty that there can be anything like success and joyfulness and hopefulness in the enterprise. And Christians ought to aim not merely at performance of duty, but also at the promotion of joyfulness in Christian service, according to the apostolic injunction, “Rejoice in the Lord alway."

To plan and provide for growth of interest and co-operation is, therefore, one of the important tasks of the Church. It is usually done through the work of synods and conferences, by duly appointed officers and agents, by means of the manifold influences that center about and go out from the educational institutions, and through the publication and dissemination of the needful church literature in the form of reports, leaflets, tracts, periodicals and books.

The Church that is wise and faithful to its trust will make large use of these and other means in order to promote among its members intelligent and sustained. interest in its work. Particularly must the power of the press be utilized with all the vigor that can be mustered. People are great readers nowadays. And yet it is a sad fact that in many a Christian home very little, if any, religious reading is done. Very many homes that are

well supplied with secular papers and magazines insist upon getting along without a church paper. It behooves the general body to inquire into existing conditions and inaugurate ways and means of improving them.

The place of missions in the educational institutions of the Church was discussed in a preceding chapter. The relation of this to the development of missionary life in the Church is plain. If the students that go forth from these institutions into the various walks and vocations of life have come into living touch with the Church's missionary interests and have caught something of the fervor of the missionary life, and have gathered some stimulating information on the work in its different departments and fields, having enjoyed the advantages of a good missionary library and the helpful associations of missionary meetings and classes, we may feel hopeful that some missionary life and interest will flow through them into the congregations in which their life's work may be cast. We have a right to expect that these young men and women, trained in Christian institutions, will serve as leaders among the people with whom they associate and among whom they labor. With this farreaching object in view it behooves the churches to make ample provision for the promotion of the missionary interests in their higher schools of learning.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE NURTURE OF MISSIONARY LIFE IN THE

CONGREGATION.

I. Faithful Administration and Application of

the Means of Grace.

It is here, in the congregation, that the principal battles must be fought, and the continuous and telling work must be done. And our chief reliance must be the Word of the living God. That "sword of the Spirit," that "incorruptible seed," that "power of God unto salvation," which is mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds and the extension of the kingdom of Christ in heathendom, is equally powerful in creating and fostering spiritual life and effecting transformations of grace in the home churches and fields.

Let, therefore, the divinely appointed means of grace be faithfully preserved and used in our churches. All other ways and means, methods and measures, are subordinate to these divinely appointed means of working the work of God, raising souls from death, implanting divine and heavenly life in those who by nature are dead in trespasses and sins, and fostering and developing and preserving that life for the accomplishment of God's good and gracious will. If these divine means are wanting, if their administration is feeble and lifeless, or if their use is purely external and mechanical, devoid of real spiritual power and assimilation of divine grace, all other methods and devices, however skilful and ingenious, will prove utterly futile for the fostering of missionary life.

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In our congregational work we may distinguish between two spheres, in which the divine Word must be applied, in order to the edification of the body in its entire membership. These we proceed to examine. The use of missionary means and influences is somewhat different among the younger and the older members.

2. Two Spheres of Spiritual Nurture.

In the congregation there are many members, in various stages of intellectual and spiritual advancement. Due regard must be had for their varying capacities and needs.

A. AMONG THE YOUNG. Various opportunities are presented for the nurture of missionary interest among the younger members of the household of faith. They are golden opportunities, because of the receptivity and pliability of the youthful mind and heart. How unwise, therefore, and unfaithful, too, are those teachers and leaders who neglect the work among the children and the youth! We should give it particular attention and assiduously cultivate the field.

All we can hope to do in this brief sketch is to outline the more obvious opportunities.

α. Missionary work in the Sunday-school. Various ways of wielding a missionary influence in the Sundayschool may be pursued by interested workers. It should not be forgotten, however, that the pastor is the divinely appointed leader here, as he is in the other departments of church work. Let the work be carefully planned, and its unity preserved.

There are two main points to be observed and kept in view, namely, first, the imparting of elementary instruction concerning the missionary enterprise, and, secondly, the cultivation of the spirit of benevolence and

Christian giving. And we would suggest two ways as, among others, well adapted to serve the end: the setting apart of what may be called missionary Sundays during the year, and the annual observance of a children's missionary day, to serve as the culmination of the instruction imparted during the year, as a time of festivity and thanksgiving for the missionary work that has been accomplished by God's grace, and a season of renewed inspiration for the work of the next year. Local circumstances and conditions must determine the details, as, for example, the frequency of the missionary Sundays, whether to be held, say, monthly, or quarterly. These would give the pastor opportunity to impart the needful instruction in missions, particularly in the form of interesting narratives, with such application to local conditions as may be called for. On these Sundays there might be a special offering for missions, though this should not be allowed to interfere with the general offering to be gathered for the annual children's day festivity. Various systems are in vogue and may be successfully operated for the gathering of the offerings, as envelopes, money barrels, mite boxes, etc.

b. Missionary instruction in the catechetical school or class. This is an old, well established, and approved method for the religious instruction and training of the children and youth of the Church. It is regularly maintained and is still proving itself highly effective, especially in the Lutheran Church. What cogent reason is there why it should not be observed, in some form, in all Christian churches? Religious leaders are not making full proof of their ministry with reference to the caring for and feeding of the lambs of the flock, when they refuse to avail themselves of an arrangement of this kind for effective pastoral work in behalf of the youth.