kingdom in no wise dependent upon external and accidental circumstances and conditions, as sex, age, color, language, nationality, social standing, wealth, and the like. And it is easily seen how fundamental these universal ideas of salvation are to the development of missionary thoughts and the prosecution of missionary work.

The Son of Man.1 Christ calls Himself by this name repeatedly, and with evident purpose. He cannot intend merely to emphasize the fact that He was true man none of His contemporaries doubted that. But by this title Jesus characterized Himself as the Messianic King not only of Israel, but of mankind.3

The kingdom of heaven and the Son of Man are correlative terms. As man, even the God-man, Jesus founds and completes the kingdom of heaven on earth, and that a universal kingdom, embracing people of all times, of all nations and tongues. Twice Christ referred to the prophet Daniel who, in chapter 7, verses 13 and 14, applies this name to the promised Messiah,

1Cf. Philippi, Glaubenslehre IV. 1, p. 411 ff. No less than twenty-nine times in St. Matthew; in all fifty-five times, not counting parallel passages. Matth. 8, 20; 9, 6 (the Son of Man hath power to forgive sins); 11, 19; 12, 8 (is Lord even of the Sabbath); 12; 32; 12, 40; 13, 37 (He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world); 13, 41 (shall send forth His angels); 16, 13; 16, 27 (shall come in the glory of His Father); 16, 28; 17, 9; 17, 12; 17, 22; 18, 11 (is come to save the lost); 19, 28 (when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory); 20, 18; 20, 28 (came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many); 24, 27; 24, 30; 24, 37, 39; 24, 44; 25, 13; 25, 31; 26, 2. 24; 26, 45; 26, 64; John 3, 14 (even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth, etc); John 5, 53 (except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man). 'Matth. 24, 27 and 30; 26, 64.

ascribing to Him a universal kingdom (all people, nations, and languages) and an everlasting dominion. By appropriating this title the Lord implies that He is the Messiah, whose kingdom is that described by the prophet.

This name was not the one usually employed by the contemporaries of Christ. The popular name with them. was "David's Son," which Christ never applied to Himself. Twice1 He referred to this name in order to show the Pharisees that they had an inadequate and erroneous conception of the Messiah.

Christ was a Jew after the flesh-a loyal Jewish patriot. He wept over His impenitent and perverse nation. Yet He was not nativistic, narrow, national and circumscribed in His sympathies and aspirations, His mission and aim, but broad, world-wide, co-extensive with the human race. He is the Son of Man- - not of Abraham merely, but of Adam. He is the representative of mankind. He belongs to mankind, and mankind should of right belong to Him. The missionary trend and force of all this is evident.

3. Gradual Revelation of God's Plan of Worldwide Evangelization.

Our Savior made provision for the growth and extension of the kingdom which He came to establish. Accordingly we find in His recorded words and teachings ample instruction on all the vital features of the missionary enterprise. This instruction is imparted in various forms, in mere references and allusions, direct statements of missionary import, and by way of illustration through parables. Before giving the express missionary command He had to complete the work of redemption, and while He did so He trained the first class

'Matth. 22, 41-45; Mark 12, 35-37.

of missionaries who were to go forth into the world-field in obedience to His command, and the missionary thoughts which He expressed constitute the fundamental principles of the missionary enterprise for all time. And we are justified in making such application even of His allusions and parabolic illustrations, because they all pertain to the development and extension of the kingdom of God throughout the world.

In this outline we shall endeavor to make a rapid survey of our Lord's instruction concerning the missionaries and mission workers, their chief qualifications, the means to be employed, the kind of service to be rendered, the field of work, and the outlook as to the fruitfulness and the abiding reward of the enterprise.

Personal agency is of prime importance. As the Lord of heaven came in person to establish His kingdom on the earth, so He wants to employ persons in the work of extending it. One of the first acts of His public ministry was to gather a little group of disciples about Him. And He called them apostles. The name is of Latin origin and means, one sent, a herald, an envoy. Surely it is not an empty, meaningless title. It designates and characterizes their office and the work to which they were called. They had a mission; they were missionaries.

The calling, office and mission of the disciples as witnesses and heralds, even ambassadors of the Most High, was clear to Jesus and thoroughly understood by Him at the outset, when He called them. The name, given at the opening of His public ministry, is a prophecy and promise of the Great Commission spoken at its close. This alone is sufficient to show the falsity

1

Luke 6, 13; Matth. 10, 2; John 13, 16; Mark 3, 14.

and emptiness of the claims of certain modern destructive critics who in their asaults upon the New Testament would rob the great missionary command of its divine origin and authority and make it an interpolation of later times.1

The apostolate involved and out of it grew the public office of the ministry, both in the pastorate and on the mission field. And Christ does not leave us in doubt as to the essential, abiding qualifications of missionaries. They must, first of all, be men of faith. Without faith in Him and His Word men will be fruitless laborers, whether on the field or at home. Those who have wrought mightily for the Lord in both spheres have been men of great faith. More than once Jesus had to rebuke His disciples because of their unbelief, or their littleness of faith. He assured them that, if they had "faith as a grain of mustard seed," they would be able to accomplish work that seemed impossible to men. In close relation to this fundamental qualification is another, one on which the Lord laid touching emphasis in His interview with Peter after His resurrection. Peter never forgot His Lord's thrice repeated question: "Lovest thou me?" Fervent, abiding love of Christ is indispensable for the carrying out of His injunction: Feed my lambs; fed my sheep; and follow me.

Early in His ministry the Savior set before the disciples His personal example of whole-souled, self

'Compare, e. g., Harnack's "Die Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten." He makes such bold and unsupported assertions as these: "Missions to the heathen cannot have come within the scope of Christ's view and purpose." "The missionary command was simply constructed out of the historical development of later times." "Matth. 17, 20. John 21, 15-19.

sacrificing devotion to God in mission work. It was on their first journey through Samaria. In answer to the wondering questions of the disciples, Jesus uttered these memorable words: "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work." A matchless expression of the spirit that should imbue all mission workers in His service: eagerness to do the will of God; joyfulness in service (as it is written of Him: "I delight to do Thy will, O my God!"); and constancy and patient endurance unto the end, sustained by His grace, and spending and being spent in His service. "One soweth, and another reapeth," He said; reminding us that we should work together disinterestedly, in unselfish devotion to the part and place assigned, looking forward to the time when the "fruit unto life eternal" shall have been gathered in, when "both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together." 1

Mission workers must be earnest, and urgent, and persistent in their endeavors to bring others into the kingdom of Christ. The Lord gives us such instruction in the parable of the great supper, in the words: "Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." 2 Half-hearted

work accomplishes little. Let us press the Savior's invitation with all earnestness and vigor, not only from the pulpit, but also in private converse and association, in personal work with individuals.

As regards the means to be employed in the work of the Gospel, the Lord offers nothing but His Word. "Preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand." It is the Lord's call and invitation into His kingdom

'John 4, 34-38. Luke 14, 23. Matth. 10, 7.