shelter of the Church and extending the kingdom of God in all the earth.

There are decided advantages to be gained from this view. It ministers not to confusion, but to clearness of thought. It shows the groundlessness and the unscriptural and unchristian character of the position of those who claim to be in favor of home missions, while they are opposed to foreign missions. The true missionary spirit is not fettered by local, incidental considerations and advantages. It looks out, with the sympathetic heart and yearning love of Christ, the Savior of the lost and the Lord of the vineyard, upon the fields that are white unto the harvest, whether they be near at hand or far away. The near are not to be overlooked in our haste to reach those far away; nor are the latter to be neglected on the score of the ofttimes empty excuse and pretense: "There is work enough to do at home." To those who, to cover their neglect of duty and lack of interest, make use of the old adage, “Charity begins at home," an advocate of foreign missions makes the pointed and pungent reply: "One might urge with equal truth that education begins with the alphabet, but it ends there only with the feeble-minded."

In the treatment of the subject from a theoretical point of view, just as in the carrying on of the work, proper allowance must be made and account taken of the diversities of factors and features, while emphasis is laid on the vital and fundamental truths which are common to all.

Answer to objections made. No cogent objection can be raised against this view on the ground of the derivation of the word "mission." There is a sending and going forth of workers in each department, in home

'Arthur J. Brown. The Foreign Missionary, p. 334.

and inner, as well as in foreign mission work. To seek and to save that which is lost or even in danger of perishing, if no effort at rescue is put forth-this is the essential idea of mission work. Our blessed Lord and Savior used two words of far-reaching import: "Come," and "Go." "Come" leads to discipleship; "Go" directs the disciple out into the missionary enterprise.

We cannot agree with the view expressed by Dr. Warneck when he says: "The distinction between home and foreign missions rests upon unclearness with respect to the missionary idea." He insists that the objects of missionary endeavor are non-Christians and concludes that the term "mission" is used incorrectly not only in the designation home missions, but also when applied to inner missions. For the latter work he would prefer the term "diaconics."

We agree with this scholarly teacher and systematizer of missionary principles when he affirms that "mission work is the work of Christianizing" the nations. But that does not imply that the nation as a whole must be steeped in heathenism before it becomes an object of mission work, nor that in nominally Christian nations there are no persons who are, in a true and proper sense, objects for missionary endeavor. Those who are in need of Christianization are not only the

'Dr. Warneck, in his "Missionslehre," I., page 3, confesses that it is not easy for them (in Germany) to understand what we in America mean by home missions. He speaks of "die für uns nicht ganz leicht verständliche home mission." Another passage which is characteristic of his view is the following: "Mission work is the work of Christianizing; hence those nations which bear the Christian name and have through baptism been received within the pale of Christendom, who are therefore no longer non-Christians, cannot be regarded as objects of mission work, whatever deficiencies may be found in their Chris

heathen who have never heard of Christ, but those, too, who, even under the shadow of Christian churches, are virtually and vitally heathen. If in the work of home and inner missions many are dealt with who are Christians, they are Christians in need, imperiled, in danger of losing their faith and lapsing into virtual heathenism. To rescue such, and save them for the kingdom of God, is a form of Christianization, too. And besides, in both spheres many are sought out and won for the Church who are no Christians at all, but really heathens, unbelievers, worldlings, strangers from the covenants of promise. "Far off" from the kingdom of God, they are "made nigh by the blood of Christ," and brought into His kingdom through the missionary efforts of the Church.

This view is supported by Scripture and confirmed by apostolic missions.

Look, for example, at the expressions used by Christ in His missionary command, in the various forms in which it is found in the Gospels and the Acts. Go ye into all the world; make disciples of all the nations; the uttermost part of the earth; every creature. Surely these terms include the near as well as the remote. The heathen at our doors are not to be overlooked, nor are the heathen abroad to be left to their fate. Repentance and remission of sins is to be preached in Christ's name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. The work

tianity from the standpoint of another department of church work." This view is evidently colored and determined by conditions as they exist in the state churches of Germany. While we, on this side, sympathize with the members of these churches in their unhappy and deplorable situation, their modes of procedure, amid perplexities and restriction, are not always clear to us.

'Eph. 2, 13. 'Luke 24, 47.

of evangelization and Christianization is to begin at home and extend unto the ends of the earth.

And this is the very course taken by apostolic missions. Mission work began in Jerusalem when, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples and apostles whom Christ had chosen, when they were endued with power from on high, according to the Savior's promise, and when three thousand souls. were added to the Church. From here the work continued, first in the immediate vicinity, in Samaria, then in Cæsarea and at Antioch; and from these and other centers the Gospel was carried on and outward North and South and East and West. This is in reality a combination of home and foreign mission work. It gives to the Church for all time a principle and an example to be followed both in the work at home and in the work abroad; we are to influence and win those near at hand and make every station won a center from which, in ever widening circles, the light of the Gospel is carried. outward until it penetrates the darkest corners and the uttermost parts of the earth.

4. The Scope of the Present Discussion of the Missionary Enterprise.

This is necessarily and properly limited in a treatise like this. It is confined to fundamentals and essentials, to points of general importance and interest to those engaged in the work, leaving out of view many topics that belong to the technical phases of the enterprise and enter into the special equipment of the missionary and the administration and prosecution of the work.

With this limitation in view we confine our discussion here to three general heads: The Scriptural ground of mission work; the aim of missions as distinguished

from incidental results and temporal blessings; and the means and methods employed by the missionary. And even these subjects cannot be treated exhaustively, but are studied electively and by way of suggestion of the main points involved. It may suffice the purpose of a general grasp of the missionary enterprise to contemplate the chief worker, his personality and relations, the aim and end of his work, its motives and supports and, in a very general way, the means and manner of its prosecution.

In the Third Part of the book these principles are applied in the spheres of home and inner missions.

RECAPITULATION. In this introductory section, comprising the last three chapters, some preparation has been made for the systematic study of the leading principles underlying and pervading the missionary enterprise. This preparation includes preliminary consideration of the question as to the actual and possible development of a science of missions, the scope of missionary principles, and the place of missions in Christian schools and churches.

We have seen that, while the study of missions has not as yet been developed into a complete and generally recognized science set forth in scientific treatises, considerable progress has been made in this direction. Both in the historical and the theoretical departments some standard works have been produced. We have seen that the scope of missionary principles includes the ground, the aim, and the means and methods of missions. It is, summarily, the work of Christianizing all the people of the earth by the grace of God through His Word. Next to the planting of the Church itself, it is the greatest work in the world and, hence, occupies a