THERE is a very definite idea, in the Christian church, that the gospel of Christ can, should, and will be given to all the world in this generation.
This idea is not a mere suggestion — a superficial, half fanatical sentiment. It is an intelligent, well defined belief, a positive, deep seated conviction. It is being expressed and emphasized by thousands of earnest Christians in a definite, practical way.
This conviction is based upon the Scriptures and what are believed to be God's overruling providences. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," was Christ's parting command to His church.
In giving this command, the Master was careful to add, "All power [authority] is given unto Me in heaven and in earth," and, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." In these words, Christ left the most positive assurance that His command to the church to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature would be obeyed.
The Daring Watchword
THIS scripture, and others of like import, lead thousands of ardent Christians to believe that the gospel can, that it should, and that it will be carried by the church to all the world in this generation. "The Evangelization of the World in This Generation" is the ringing, thrilling, daring watchword of the student volunteer movement. May the fullest success crown the Scriptural, consistent, and timely effort of this great movement.
The student volunteer movement was set on foot thirty years ago. Its purpose is fourfold; namely: (1) to awaken among all Christian students in all Christian lands intelligent and active interest in foreign missions; (2) to enroll a sufficient number of properly qualified student volunteers to meet the continuous demands of missionary boards; (3) to help all such intending missionaries to prepare for their life work; (4) to lay an equal burden of responsibility on all students who are to remain as ministers and lay workers at home.
Its special field of operation is the students attending the colleges, seminaries, and universities in all Christian lands. It is a recruiting society for missionary enterprises throughout the world. Since its inauguration in 1886, this movement has supplied the various mission boards with thousands of missionaries who have been sent to foreign lands. It is in touch with nearly a thousand educational institutions. In the classes formed in those schools, there are fifteen thousand students carrying on a progressive study of missions. These students and their professors contribute more than $100,000 annually to the support of foreign missions. This movement has extended from the United States, where it had its inception, to all lands where Christian institutions of higher learning have been established.
Let it not be forgotten that that which created this great movement, and still continues to stimulate the strenuous, never ceasing activities of its members, is the profound conviction that Christ's gospel of salvation must be given to all the world in this generation.
Why in this generation more than any other? The principal reason given by the leaders of this movement is this: "We who live now and have this message must carry it to those who live now and are without it. It is the duty of each generation of Christians to make Jesus Christ known to their fellow creatures." This reason is both Scriptural and logical. It is based upon the general teaching of the Bible.
Points to This Generation
BUT there is a stronger and more definite reason to be given. The Scriptures specifically point to this generation as the one in which the gospel must without fail be given to all the world. The following is one of the scriptures upon which this assertion is based: "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Matt. 24: 14. These words were spoken by Christ in answer to the question asked by His disciples, "What shall be the386sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" The Teacher's answer was as simple, direct, and sincere as the question. He gave a number of signs, and one of them was that the gospel of His coming kingdom was to be preached in all the world. This was to be a witness to all nations that His coming was at hand; and when this world-wide witness has been borne, then the end will come.
All the other signs mentioned by Jesus have occurred. This one must now appear before the eyes of all the world. It is to fulfill this word of Christ that His Spirit has led the church to carry forward the splendid missionary endeavors of the last century. This is why there is at this time laying hold of the church such a deep conviction that the gospel must be given to all the world in this generation.
This world-wide missionary movement, given by Christ to His disciples as a positive sign of His coming, was revealed in greater detail by the Holy Spirit to the beloved John on the isle of Patmos. This is John's description: "I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His Judgment is come." Rev. 14: 6, 7.
Every Bible student knows that the Judgment is a last-day event. It had not come in Paul's day, for he reasoned of a "Judgment to come." Acts 24: 25. When this gospel message declaring that "the hour of His Judgment is come," has been given to all the world, then will be seen what John described—"a white cloud, and upon the cloud One sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle." Rev. 14: 14.
It is because the Judgment hour has come that there is now such activity on the part of the church to give the gospel quickly to all the world.
Explorers the Missionary Pathfinders
AND now what are the possibilities and prospects for making the gospel known to "every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people" on the globe in this generation? — The possibilities are all that could be desired, and the prospects are as certain as the certainty of the fulfillment of God's word. Much that pertains to exploration, discovery, invention, education, and the world's progress generally, has surely been stimulated and controlled by an overruling Providence.
Exploration and discovery have given civilized nations a clear, well defined knowledge of the whole world. This is the first time in the history of the world that all the inhabitable parts, and all the people inhabiting them, have been known the world over. As late as the opening of the nineteenth century, not more than half of the world was known to civilized people; but during the century, explorers, navigators, and discoverers have found every land, ascended every navigable river, and have found their way to the very heart of nearly every nation and tribe on the face of the earth. This has opened India, China, Japan, Africa, the island groups of the Pacific, South America, and all other lands, to Western civilization and Christian missionary endeavor.
Marvelous Transportation Facilities
WHILE explorers have been bringing to the knowledge of the world the location, distribution, and conditions of all the races, inventors and capitalists have been hard at work providing transportation facilities for safely and yet quickly reaching any and every part of the world. When the nineteenth century opened, there was not an ocean steamer afloat, nor was there a mile of railroad on the planet.
Now there are steamship lines traversing the seas to every important port on the globe, while the railway lines reach the enormous total of nearly 1,000,000 miles — enough to belt the globe forty times. These railroad lines span continents, cross sandy deserts, bridge rivers, and scale and tunnel mountain ranges. By means of these transportation facilities, a journey can be made around the world in a little more than a month, and almost the remotest mission station in a heathen land can be reached from an administrative center in a Christian land within two months.
The captains of industry who have provided these transportation facilities at the expense of untold millions of dollars have had only the world's commerce in their plans; but God has had in view the evangelization of the world in this generation, and has thus kindled their desires and directed their energies.
By means of the public school systems, the printing press, the public libraries, the telegraph and cable lines, the telephone systems, and the scientific, historical, and geographical societies, information can now be easily and speedily conveyed to the great masses throughout the world. There are sixty thousand newspapers published in the world, and they are distributed throughout all lands. The Bible is now printed in more than four hundred and ninety languages and dialects. One hundred years ago, it was printed in only ten languages. During the century, 300,000,000 Bibles, New Testaments, and parts of both, have been circulated. The sacred Scriptures are now placed within the reach of nearly the whole population of the world. These, with the aid of the immense output of Christian literature in all lands, and the personal service of the living missionaries stationed in the midst of nearly every tribe on the globe, certainly make it possible for an awakened church to tell the story of the cross to the entire world in an incredibly short time.
Never has the church faced such opportunities and possibilities before. Nor has she ever faced such vast responsibilities. The day of the Lord's preparation is here. The hour of His Judgment has come. This gospel of the kingdom must be preached in all the world, that the glory of the Lord may lighten the earth. This must be done in this generation.
It is with profoundest gratitude that we see in active, vigorous progress the precise work for which all these marvelous openings and facilities have been, by God's providences, created. Only a few places remain yet unentered. The gaps must now be filled, so that the rays of light will touch; and then the Lord, by the outpouring of His Spirit, will, through His channels, flood the world with His light and glory. Every one who loves Christ, and yearns for the salvation of a lost world and the final consummation of the gospel, should pray now as never before that the Lord will baptize His church, and especially His ministers and missionaries, with a full measure of His Holy Spirit.
