shall be seen upon thee. And nations shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising" (Is. 60: 1-3). The nations should gather about that people whom the Lord had blessed as doves fly to their windows. The whole earth should be enlightened with the glory of the Lord. Again, "For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations" (Is. 61: 11). Contemporaneous systems were tribal and local. They had no thought of being anything else. But from the first and all along the idea that the gospel is for all nations is made prominent. As the spirit of God moved the prophet he said, "For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her righteousness go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burneth. And the nations shall see Thy righteousness, and all kings Thy glory" (Is. 62: 1, 2). It was God's purpose to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see His glory.

Another prophet said, "At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered into it, to the name of the Lord" (Jer. 3: 17). When Israel's backslidings should be healed, God would be merciful to His people and prosper them. Then other nations would come to share in their prosperity and joy. "If thou wilt return, O

Israel, saith the Lord, unto Me shalt thou return; and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of My sight, then shalt thou not be removed; and thou shalt swear, As the Lord liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him shall they glory" (Jer. 4: 1, 2). Everywhere the thought that Israel is to impart blessings to the nations is emphasized. O Lord, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, unto Thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Our fathers have inherited naught but

lies, even vanity and things wherein there is no profit. Shall a man make unto himself gods, which yet are no gods? Therefore, behold, I will cause thee to know, this once will I cause thee to know Mine hand and My might; and they shall know that My name is Jehovah (Jer. 16: 19-21). By their sins they cut off blessings from the nations; by their fidelity and nobleness they caused good to come to the ends of the earth. Daniel tells us that the King of Babylon saw a great image. Part of it was of gold, part of silver, part of brass, part of iron, and part of clay. He saw a stone cut out without hands, and it smote the image and ground it to powder, and the stone became a great mountain, and it filled the whole earth. The King of Babylon was the head of gold. Other kings that should come after him were represented by the inferior ingredients. In the days of these kings the God of heaven would set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty thereof be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever (Dan. 2:31-35, 44). Micah, speaking of the glorious work of Christ, said, “And He shall stand, and shall feed His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God; and they shall abide; for now shall He be great unto the ends of the earth" (Mic. 5: 4). Speaking through another prophet, the Spirit said, "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Hab. 2:14). Through another prophet still it is said, "For thus saith the Lord of hosts: Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations; and the desirable things of all nations shall come" (Hag. 2: 6, 7). Another said, "Sing and rejoice, O daughter I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be My people; and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts

of Zion; for lo,

hath sent Me unto thee" (Zech. 2: 10, 11). "It shall yet come to pass that there shall come peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities; and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, 'Let us go speedily to intreat the favour of the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts; I will go also, yea, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favour of the Lord.' Thus saith the Lord of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you" (Zech. 8: 20-23). Israel was blessed. This was evident to all. Because of the loving favour of God peoples from the ends of the earth came seeking to participate in His blessings. The prophet says again, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold thy King cometh unto thee; He is just and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, even upon a colt the foal of an ass. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off; and He shall speak peace unto the nations; and His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth" (Zech. 9: 9, 10). Through Malachi God said, "For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same My name is great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense is offered unto My name, and a pure offering; for My name is great among the Gentiles" (Mal. I: II). From the call of Abram to the close of the Old Testament canon the catholicity of the divine aim is apparent. God insists upon it, that it is His purpose to bless all the nations. He called Israel to the highest of all services, and not to selfishly enjoy the blessings bestowed. His chosen people were to be a light to the heathen world by bringing to all peoples the knowledge of His revealed will. This idea did not take possession of the Jewish mind in the Exile. The universality of the perfected Kingdom of God was

not borrowed from the world-empire of Assyria. This idea was rooted in the thought of the people from the days of Abraham; it was implanted by the Divine hand, and was not a product of the captivity.

The evangelization of the world is set forth with much greater fullness and clearness in the New Testament than in the Old. Paul teaches that it was not revealed in other generations as it has since been revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit. Abraham and Moses and David and Isaiah and Daniel and Micah and Malachi knew much of Christ and of the fullness of blessing in Christ for all the families of the earth, but they did not know the full extent of God's grace to all mankind, and did not know that the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile was to be wholly broken down and all inequality removed. What they saw dimly we see clearly because of the fuller revelation in Christ. While this is true, it is also true that the universality of salvation is presented in the Law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms. This is a fundamental idea in the Divine plan of human redemption, and was foreshadowed from the very beginning. What was written aforetime was written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope.

III

THE CHURCH A MISSIONARY INSTITUTION

ACTS I I-9

IN the third verse of this chapter we are told that our
Lord showed Himself alive after His passion by many

I

proofs, appearing to the apostles by the space of forty days, and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God. I think it a significant fact that, of all the things He said to them in that supremely important period, only one has been recorded. And what is yet more significant is that that one thing has been recorded by all four evangelists. Every student of the New Testament knows how few things all four do record. We do not have a fourfold record of the birth of Christ, or of His baptism, or of His temptation, or of the transfiguration, or of His ascension to glory. We do not have a fourfold record of a single one of our Lord's discourses or parables or prayers. All give us an account of His agony in the garden, of His trial and condemnation, of His burial, and His resurrection from among the dead. And all four give us the great commission in some form.

As given by Matthew the commission reads, "All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." As given by Mark the commission runs, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that