The great quadriennial convention of the Student Volunteer movement has just closed in Toronto, Ont. In point of numbers it has been the largest student meeting ever held for a like purpose, and for earnestness and zeal it has never seen a parallel. The meeting was held in Massey Music Hall, capable of seating 4,000 people, and overflow meetings were held in Metropolitan and Cook Presbyterian churches. These great edifices were filled from turret to foundation-stone, and hundreds were turned away.
The decorations of the great Massey Hall were simple. The large pipe organ on the platform was draped with the Union Jack and the stars and stripes, and across the entire front of the platform was an immense cotton banner bearing the prophetic motto of the movement, “The Evangelization of the World in this Generation.” Out in the body of the hall and in the galleries, standards were raised bearing white cardboard signs, upon which were such familiar names as New York, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, California, New Jersey, and other equally well-known states.
The immense audience was a notable one; being composed largely of young people in the freshness and buoyancy of youth, coming from the colleges and universities of Canada and the United States. It was not an audience composed of light, frivolous people; but deep earnestness and intensity seemed to pervade all. These young people seem to realize that it means something to live and much of the nonsense which has been seen in similar gatherings, such as applauding speakers and waving handkerchiefs, was not seen, but everything was sane and steady.
The great meeting was presided over by John R. Mott, an earnest Christian man, who is well known all over the world as the friend of students and aggressive missionary work. He is a young man; but every one is at once impressed with his deep earnestness, his tireless energy; and as the meeting progressed, it was seen that he was a matter-of-fact man, capable of dealing with the great question for which the volunteer movement was organized.
The speaker of the first meeting was Robert E. Speer, secretary of the Board of Missions of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Speer is not only an earnest, forcible speaker, but his words indicate that he lives what he says, for he believes the truth he utters.
The key-note of the convention was struck in his address, which clearly indicated the necessary preparation in the lives of all before they could do effective work for God. He asked four questions to help the large concourse of people before him to discern what they must put away: (1) Had Jesus Christ the right place in their lives? Did He control their wills, imaginations, and affections? (2) Were they right with God? Did they want God’s face always turned to them to read their thoughts? (3) Were they right with one another?—Not a sentimental feeling for one another, but each esteeming other men better than himself. “The man that is at peace with God will be at peace with his fellow-men.” (4) Were they free from the sin that would drag them down when they attempted to rise? “When Jesus cleansed the temple, He did thorough work, showing us in this act what He desires to do for us.”
Two general meetings were held each day in Massey Hall from 10:30 A.M. to 12:30 P.M., and from 7:30 to 10 P.M. The afternoons were devoted to sectional and denominational meetings. Representative men and delegates were present from twenty-two different countries; 357 colleges sent over seventeen hundred delegates, and the delegates from fifty-seven theological seminaries brought the total number of delegates to 3,955.
The object of the Student Volunteer movement is to recruit laborers for the mission fields, who in turn will place their services at the disposal of the various mission boards. The first meeting was held in Cleveland in 1891, at which time 680 students were present; this, in comparison with the number present in Toronto, shows that instead of the missionary13spirit dying out, as some have predicted it would, it is, at least in some quarters, becoming more active and more zealous.
It is a significant fact that this organization is gathering out the very best material from the institutions of learning, and they are the hope and guarantee of the missionary work in these needy fields.
Bishop Thoburn was the principal speaker from India; Dr. H. G. Underwood, from Korea; William Hotchkiss, from Central Africa; Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor and Dr. W. S. Ament, from China; and Dr. Baldwin, from Japan. Their addresses were full of interest, and had much to do with awakening a desire in the minds of the young men and women to go and supply the needs in these various representative fields.
At the closing meeting, cablegrams were read from foreign societies. Stockholm sent her word: “Hearty Greetings.” Swedish students from Norway, “To live, Christ,” signed “Viking.” From the German land came the message,—“One blood, one spirit, one motive, one goal.” Calcutta sent an appeal from 297,000,000: “The fields are white, the time is short. Send volunteers full of faith and power.” From China, the scene of the Boxer riots, came the startling words: “1,000,000 students, the leaders of 400,000,000 people suddenly awakened; pray.”
Chairman Mott called upon volunteers who expected to go to some foreign field within twelve months to arise, and 125 young men and women arose to their feet. The scene was an impressive one, and long to be remembered, as one after another briefly stated why and where he expected to go. One young man said, “To China, because I believe that God leads in that direction.” Another, “To India, in answer to God’s call.” Still another, a woman’s voice: “North China, because of the great need.” For fifteen minutes scores of these young people gave their reasons for going. The great audience listened silently, and tears coursed their way down hundreds of cheeks as these devoted young people laid their lives on the altar in obedience to the command of the Saviour. The quartet sang:—
“Speed away, speed away, on thine errand of love;
Go speak to the mourner of mansions above.
To the doubting bring peace, to the weary sweet rest,
To the homeless a glimpse of the home of the blest:
Let angels and men the great wonders proclaim:
Speed away, speed away.”
The hour was nearly 11 P.M. The quartet ceased singing, and the great convention was at an end.
