THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY THE STUDENT VOLUNTEER CONVENTION.
By J. W. Collie
[From our own correspondent.] It would be impossible for an individual to sit for five days in a great convention like the one just closed at Toronto, and not be impressed with the significance of the Gospel message and what it will accomplish for the world. Speaker after speaker who had spent years in these far-distant lands told what the story of the cross was doing, and showed the effects of Mohammedanism, Buddhism, and all the other heathen systems,—that heathenism degrades woman, sets her aside as being unworthy of any place but that of a slave and a servant, and also that Christianity is the only religion that makes provision for a child. Pathetic instances were told of the little slave children gathered up by slave-traders in Africa, branded upon their little cheeks, and made to suffer every imaginable cruelty. But time and space will not allow me to enter into a history of the world's great need,—of the millions in far-distant lands who do not know Christ, and the millions in our own home country who are going down to death because of intemperance, vice, gambling, and other evils, and to contrast with this great need the expenditures of the civilized nations of earth on things that are hindering rather than hastening the work of the Gospel. The United States and England have spent enough in the wars in the Philippines and South Africa to keep 40,000 missionaries at work for the next generation. One church in New York City is putting up a fifteen-million dollar cathedral, the cost of which would keep a thousand missionaries at work for fifteen years. The spirit of sacrifice in the early church has been lost sight of, and to-day the church and the world walk hand in hand. The message from the returned missionaries from darkened India and China, from Africa and Japan, from Korea and South America, was that the opportunity just now for the presentation of the Gospel is most favorable. In a wonderful way the “open door” stands invitingly before the church, giving it opportunity to carry to those sitting in darkness the marvelous light of the Gospel. The man and the hour are made to meet, and we are facing a wonderful to-morrow, facing a crisis, and our duty lies plain and marked before us. The times demand from every child of God the very best service that can be given. If we are not stirred by the needs of a world sunken in sin, by the facts that stand out so prominently to-day; if we do not feel “woe is me” if I do not do my part in making known the story of Calvary, then we need to feel alarmed, and question very closely our religious experience. It should be no longer a sentimental feeling of waiting for impressions as to the field we should enter; but the calls to all these fields are manifest in the opening providence of God, and where the need is the greatest, and our talents can be used, that is the place to which we should go. But it is clearly evident that the necessary qualification to-day for those who will do effective work for God is the Christ-life lived and manifested in devotion and earnestness, with a faith that will look beyond all the hardships before us, and see the end of the race and the reward of the faithful. The Neglect of the Church.
This is the sad picture we are obliged to look upon to-day. The professed church of God, to which has come light and knowledge and great spiritual blessing, is indifferent to a large extent to the plaintive calls of millions of our brethren and sisters. Individuals are interested, mission boards are interested; but the church, that should be looking for the return of the Saviour, is indifferent and asleep. The admonition is, “Awake! awake!” The fact that the world lies in darkness should be an incentive to the true child of God to press out into the great harvest-field, and work with activity and zeal. It is the duty of the people of this generation to make known the Gospel in this time. The Christian workers of the past or the future can not do the work allotted to the Christians of this day, and therefore there is the need of personal responsibility being manifested. The command from the lips of the Master, “Go,” is to every blood-bought man and woman; and the “Lo, I am with you,” is conditioned upon our obedience. We are not responsible for success; but we are responsible for obedience. Looking at the work before us from a human standpoint, it is an impossibility; but we turn away from the feeble, futile efforts of man, and the gracious words of the Lord come to us with comforting assurance, “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” We have a right to expect great things, for we serve a great God, who is abundantly able to do far above that which we think or ask for. Like Elijah we are to ask for rain in this time of the latter rain, and if we can only realize that the energies of God are released by prayer, we shall not let go until we see the cloud of promise arising. It may be no larger than a man's hand at first; but soon the rain-drops will fall, and we shall have showers of blessing. J. W. COLLIE.