03 - America's Position in the World Battle

CHAPTER III. AMERICA’S POSITION IN THE WORLD BATTLE That was a great day for the world when the Pilgrim Fathers started on their history-making journey across the Atlantic to America. There is no more thrilling scene in the beginnings of the history of any nation. A service of solemn consecration was held in the church. Then the immortal company marched to the sea led by their pastor, John Robinson, reading from an open Bible those words in Genesis 12:1-3, which must have had a prophetic meaning to every man within the sound of the pastor’s voice.

“Now Jehovah said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto the land that I will show thee; and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

It was a summons across the centuries to a new and profound application of the principles of religion to nation building. The conviction burned in their hearts that God was sending them out on a divine mission and that they were to found on this side the sea a nation which should bear an important part in the world plans of Christianity. There are no words in the Bible which have a more wonderful meaning in the light of the expanding purpose of God for America than these words of commission to Abraham which were accepted as God’s commission to the Pilgrim Fathers. In the days that followed God was as good as his word and the Pilgrim Fathers were as good as theirs.

There is a growing conviction with many leaders in America that one of the central features of our religious life should be this sense of mission. In the history of the expanding Kingdom, God has evidently given to America a commanding place of leadership and power. This is nothing less than a divine appointment. To have such an appointment as this in a time like ours, from our God, is to have a share in a task like no other task the world has ever seen. To make men see that the redeeming of America is strategy of a high order is to strike a high note of summons to extend the sway of Christ to the remotest bounds of our own continent. To hasten the time when this conviction shall leaven the thinking of American Christianity and when this sense of mission shall liberate the measureless spiritual and material energies of America to bless the world should be the aim of every Christian American.

What are some of the signs that America has been called to a place of leadership in the Kingdom? Are there certain principles according to which God selects men and nations for the fulfilment of his world purposes? Do these principles and purposes emerge in God’s dealing with America? The answer to these questions has a deep missionary significance.

Among the principles which God has evidently applied in choosing his prophets through the ages, the following are unmistakably clear:

1. PROPHETS ARE STRATEGICALLY LOCATED.

2. PROPHETS ARE CHOSEN BECAUSE OF A CERTAIN FITNESS OF CHARACTER.

3. PROPHETS HAVE RESOURCES SUFFICIENT FOR THEIR TASK.

4. PROPHETS REMAIN SUCH ONLY SO LONG AS THEY HAVE VISION AND CONSECRATION ADEQUATE TO THEIR TASK.

These principles apply to the outstanding prophetic figures of all times. Amos and Hosea, Isaiah and Malachi in the Old Testament, Paul in the New, Luther and Wesley in modern times, all illustrate the working of these laws. The principles stated above apply to nations as well as to individual men. Israel may be taken as an illustration. Palestine was the crossroads of the world. Israel was centrally located so that she had an unusual opportunity to influence the known world. Her leaders had a message and a spiritual insight unique in their day. They were a people chosen not for privilege but for service, and when in the supreme test the nation failed to understand and accept its world-wide mission, God was compelled to move westward in his choice of a new prophetic race to bear his message to the world.

There is a tradition that Christ died with his face turned westward. Whether this be true or not, men in these Western lands, with the missionary principle at the center of life, may well be steadied and strengthened by the thought that Christ saw across centuries and civilizations the new peoples in the West who were to be called to a prophet’s place in his Kingdom. At any rate the westward movement outlined in Acts and later history, from Palestine to Europe, to the Anglo-Saxon race, to America, is an unmistakable indication of God’s plan. For two thousand years this movement has been gathering momentum for impact on the mighty East. The United States and Canada are standing together solidly in all the great religious and missionary movements of our time. In the discussions that follow there is no thought of minimizing Canada’s position of leadership. She has vast dimensions and almost unlimited latent resources. Her response to the call of world-wide missions is inspiring. The national missionary policy adopted by the Canadian churches at the conclusion of the National Campaign of the Laymen’s Missionary Movement in 1909 set a definite goal for the Dominion which is much more nearly realized to date than that suggested for the United States by the National Congress in Chicago in 1910. These two nations are inseparably united in common missionary ideals and plans and in a common missionary purpose. On both sides of the border Huntington’s hymn may be sung with real sincerity.

Two empires by the sea, Two nations great and free One anthem raise.

One race of ancient fame, One tongue, one faith we claim, One God whose glorious name We love and praise.

Now may the God above Guard the dear lands we love, Both east and west.

Let love more fervent glow As peaceful ages go, And strength yet stronger grow Blessing and blest.

Canadians will find it easy to apply to their own land the principles here stated. Some of the illustrations are taken from Canada, but of necessity a majority refer to the United States. A pamphlet entitled “5,000 Facts About Canada,” published by Canadian Facts Publishing Co., Toronto, is illuminating reading.

AMERICA’S PLACE OF LEADERSHIP IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS INDICATED BY HER STRATEGIC LOCATION AND OTHER GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS.

Provincialism has no place in true statesmanship, especially the statesmanship of the kingdom of God. It was Salisbury who, in the English Parliament, took as the basis of one of his greatest speeches the phrase “Study large maps.” It was Carey who said that he received his call by studying the Bible beside the map of the world. Gladstone had great power of discriminating judgment and it was he who said, “America has a natural base for the greatest continuous empire ever established by mankind.” The strategic position of America is indicated by the following facts:

1. The United States faces the two great oceans. So does Canada, but with that exception there is no other commanding nation that has a great coast-line on both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. With many miles of coast-line on the east, America looks out toward the history-making nations of the past. Westward she faces that sea upon which look out the eyes of one half of the human race where life is all athrob with the new awakening. The six great naval powers of the world in the order of their strength are Great Britain, Germany, the United States, France, Japan, and Russia. The coast-line of the United States is very extensive on both the Atlantic and the Pacific. It is surely significant that God has given America control of so much coast-line on both oceans and so many harbors for commerce and as distributing centers for the gospel. The most significant thing about our past is that we grew out of the best life of Europe and inherit the intellectual and moral fiber of the Anglo-Saxon. One of the most significant facts about our future is that with three thousand miles of coast-line we face toward the Orient where the coming world conflicts are to be waged.

2. The United States is the nearest commanding power to the undeveloped parts of the world. The great undeveloped regions are the Canadian Northwest, Alaska, Siberia, Australia, South America, Africa. All these face on the Pacific Ocean except Africa, and in the aggregate America is nearer to them all than any other great Protestant Christian power. The Panama Canal will make the nearness all the more significant since its completion will bring Shanghai much nearer New York by boat than it is now.

3. The United States has many great harbors. Not one of the nations of Europe has more than two or three great harbors, several of them have none. Russia is too far north. Germany is at a disadvantage because she has no direct access to the Atlantic. Great Britain commands that ocean. The United States has several harbors on the east coast, and the Gulf of Mexico on the south, while on the west coast there are two of the most important harbors in the Western Hemisphere opening into the Pacific Ocean—San Francisco Bay, where come and go the navies of the world, and Puget Sound, the Mediterranean of America, with its 1,500 miles of coast-line.

4. Navigable rivers. The Encyclopedia Britannica says that the Mississippi River with its branches affords 35,000 miles of navigable waterway. All Europe has 17,000 miles, or less than one half the length of the great central waterway of the United States. It is no wonder that Napoleon said, “The nation which controls the Mississippi Valley will be the most powerful nation on earth.” There are only two navigable rivers flowing into the Pacific Ocean in the Western Hemisphere, the Yukon River, navigable for thirteen hundred miles, and the Columbia, opening into a great inland empire. Almost the entire navigable extent of both is within the territory of the United States, although they drain great sections of Canada.

5. Isolation from other commanding powers. The favorable location of the United States for internal development is equaled by no other nation in the world, because of the fact that it is separated by many thousands of miles of sea from the other world powers of our time. Great Britain, Germany, France, and Russia must continually guard their frontiers and are never for a moment free from the tremendous pressure of mighty and aggressive peoples. Our nation has been favored with the one great block of territory in the North Temperate Zone, capable of vast development and with almost infinite variety of soil and climate, remote from other powers. Otherwise it might have been necessary for America to devote her strength to defense rather than the development of her vast resources.

AMERICA HAS QUALITIES OF CHARACTER NEEDED FOR A WORLD TASK As Emerson has well said, “The true test of civilization is not the census, not the size of its cities, nor the crops, but in the kind of men the country turns out.” Leroy Beaulieu has this to say about Americans:

“The history of nations like the history of individuals proves beyond peradventure that no economic strength, no material prosperity, is lasting unless it be sustained by real moral worth.

“Moral worth, which includes the recognition of duties as well as of rights, self-respect and respect for one’s fellows, has contributed fully as much as the magnificent resources of their country to the brilliant success of the American people.

“Of the qualities that have coöperated to elevate them so rapidly to such a commanding position, the most impressive is a great, a tireless energy.”

1. Our debt to the pioneers. The early history of American life has many wholesome chapters for modern men to read. The religious basis of the state was a much more evident and vital fact in the life of the founders of the Republic than of many modern leaders. Quotations from the early charters make it clear that there was a wonderful religious significance in their nation building. “This thing is of God,” said the London Trading Company to the Pilgrim Fathers. “In the name of God, Amen,” are the opening words of the Mayflower compact, and that document ends with these words, “For the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith.” The early settlers of North and South Carolina declared themselves to be actuated by laudable zeal for the propagation of the gospel. America owes much to the character and vigor of the German and Scandinavian elements in her population as well as to those of English parentage. No land has had a higher grade of founders than has the United States.

Leroy Beaulieu says, in The United States in the Twentieth Century: “The Americans have been the product of a selection and of a double selection. Only the boldest, the most enterprising of men have the courage to traverse the sea for the purpose of carving out a new life in an unknown and distant land. Then, having arrived, only the most energetic, the wisest, and the most gifted in the spirit of organization succeed in a struggle which is more severe, more merciless to the feeble, in new countries than in old ones. Thus America, so to speak, has secured the cream of Old World society. That is why the human standard is higher there than in other countries.”

2. Mechanical genius. In the world-wide propagation of the gospel the ability to master the forces of nature and so make modern progress possible has a place in the fitness of character displayed by American life. A large number of the modern labor-saving inventions have come from America as shown by the fact that in one of the great International Expositions five gold medals were offered for the greatest labor-saving inventions. When the awards were made, it was discovered that all of them were bestowed for inventions in the United States.

3. The public school. It is generally acknowledged that whatever may be the faults and imperfections of our intellectual life, the American public school has demonstrated to the world on a larger scale than ever before the possibility of the education of the masses. Japan was quick to see that this was one of the secrets of the power of Western nations. Nowhere is there a more marvelous example of an entire nation going to school than in recent years in Japan, where probably a larger percentage of children of school age are actually in school to-day than in any other country in the world. It is generally acknowledged that America has set the pace for the world in her system of common schools. Education, not ignorance, is everywhere the mother of devotion.

4. The character of the home missionary. The United States and Canada have produced a great race of home missionaries, such as Robertson, who helped to dot the land with Presbyterian churches, and whose name is a household word in Canada, or John Eliot, who wrote the first book published in America, of whom the poet Southey says, “No greater man has ever been produced by any nation;” David Brainard, whose life of prayer has been an inspiration to many thousands of students of missionary history; or Sheldon Jackson, with his eye ever on the horizon, but with practical zeal, not only preaching the gospel throughout the vast regions of the West but introducing the reindeer into Alaska, thus making a great economic contribution to the blessing of mankind. These men are typical of those intrepid heroes, who on the prairies of western Canada, in the mining sections of the United States, or in the heart of great cities, are the founders of empires as well as the builders of churches; as Dr. C. L. Thompson has well said, “The march of our civilization is to the music of our religion.” When the historian correctly interprets the story of national progress in the nineteenth century, he will first of all take account of the home missionary. No one has helped more than he to make the nation great and strong. As J. Wesley Johnston puts it, “The home missionary was a founder of schools, a builder of churches, a maker of states, a signer of treaties, an unfurler of flags, and always and everywhere a genuine American.”

5. The home of great world movements. It must not be forgotten that out of American faith and courage and vision were born the most conspicuous missionary movements of modern times. The Moravians and Lutherans in Germany and William Carey and others in Great Britain blazed the way for the modern missionary uprising. In America the movement for world evangelization was greatly quickened and expanded by companies of students at Williams College and Andover Seminary. The purpose of these young men to carry the gospel abroad when North America was not represented by missionaries anywhere in the non-Christian world, was at the same time a mighty challenge to faith and a rebuke to the narrow vision of American Christianity one hundred years ago. Since that day practically all the conspicuous interdenominational missionary movements have begun their career in America. What student of missionary history can forget that the Student Volunteer Movement was born in a conference called by Dwight L. Moody! This Movement caused America to dream of a union of college men throughout the world for the world-wide propagation of the gospel. The fruition of that vision is The World’s Student Christian Federation, binding together the students of many lands and thousands of institutions of higher learning. Let it not be forgotten that God planted here the conviction that missionary education is central in the life of the Church and that ten years ago at Silver Bay on Lake George, began what was then known as the Young People’s Missionary Movement but which has recently been renamed the Missionary Education Movement of the United States and Canada. This Movement has spread to other lands. In North America alone in the ten years, more than one million copies of text-books and large numbers of other publications have been circulated by this Movement. The latest of these evidences of the missionary life of North America is the Laymen’s Missionary Movement, which is now organized in fourteen of the principal denominations of North America, with affiliated movements in three others, and in six other lands, with the first steps taken toward the forming of three additional national organizations. Never, until the Laymen’s Missionary Movement flung out the challenge have Canada and the United States so powerfully felt the call to proceed seriously to undertake to evangelize their share of the world.

AMERICA HAS RESOURCES SUFFICIENT FOR THE TASK OF A CHRISTIAN WORLD POWER

There is abundance of intellectual, moral and spiritual power available. Here are great vigorous churches with many millions of members. Without any thought of minimizing all these moral and spiritual resources, let us think of the problem first from the standpoint of the “sinews of war.”

1. Size. Bigness is not always to be mistaken for greatness, yet size gives a great advantage to a powerful people. There are vast regions of the earth that will probably never be inhabited by a dense population because they are too far north. This fact puts a limit on the future population of the Russian Empire that is not true of the United States. Brazil has a territory nearly equal to the United States, but it is in the tropics, and it may be generations before the vast regions in Brazil are opened up to civilized life. China is the one formidable rival of the United States because of her size and enormous resources. It will, however, take a long time to develop her powers. The character of the territory of the United States, capable as it is of almost infinite variety of agricultural productions, in a most favorable location in the North Temperate Zone, with so little waste territory, may lay claim to favorable possibilities, equaled perhaps by no single political unit in the world except China. In short, it is not only size that counts but a combination of great extent with other favoring forces. If we add together the eighteen provinces of China proper, Japan, European Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Denmark, and Great Britain, they equal only about the same geographical area as the United States exclusive of Alaska and our island possessions. In the countries named the census shows a population of more than 700,000,000 people. A few illustrations may be illuminating at this point.

There are only three States west of the Mississippi as small as all New England.

California is three fourths as large as France. There are forty millions of people in France, only a little more than two and a third millions in California.

Arizona is about the same size as Italy, and New Mexico is only slightly smaller than Great Britain.

Oregon has only 672,765 population now, but if it were as densely populated as New Jersey there would be thirty-two millions of people in Oregon.

If the United States, including Alaska and the island possessions, were as densely populated as the island of Java, we would have in this country one and one-half times the present population of the entire globe, and yet the United States would not then be more densely populated than Belgium.

Taking the State of Texas as an illustration, if France were an island and Texas a sea, and the island were in the midst of the sea, the people on the island would be out of sight of land in every direction. Counting the population of the world as seventeen hundred millions, if all the millions of Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, North America, etc., were in the one State of Texas,—not a man, woman or child anywhere else in the world,—there would be only ten to the acre!

Sections of America are not capable of sustaining a large population, it is true, but on this topic we quote a third time from The United States in the Twentieth Century:

“If the dry lands of the West account for one third of the 3,000,000 and more square miles of the United States, at least four fifths of Australia and the same proportion of South Africa are far more barren than this arid zone; three fourths of Canada is unfertile, or rendered so by cold; one half of Argentina consists of steppes or semi-desert country; and, finally, fully two thirds of the enormous Russian Empire is uncultivable, either by lack of heat or by lack of rain.

“More than this, in respect to mineral wealth, in respect to water power, and in respect to agricultural possibilities, all of the countries just mentioned are far less endowed than is the United States.”

God has made America a giant in size that America may do a giant’s share in the world-wide propagation of the Gospel.

2. Mineral resources. The United States furnishes the world to-day with 63 per cent. of its petroleum. Copper is indispensable in this electric age, and 57 per cent. of the world’s supply comes from the United States. In the production of coal, America leads the world, and according to the Statesman’s Year Book all Europe has only one fourth as much coal as the United States. The gold output of the United States is many times that of any other country, except the Transvaal in Africa.

3. Railroads. Railroads are an indication of wealth and progress and power. Canada has more railroad mileage than all the continent of Africa. Almost 38 per cent. of the total mileage is in the United States; or, putting it in another way, the United States could duplicate all the railroad mileage of Asia, Africa, South America, and Australia and then have enough left to build a single track line three and three-fourths times around the globe! The United States has six and one-half times as many miles of railroad as any other country in the world There are no railroads where Christ has not gone.

[Illustration: WEALTH OF THE UNITED STATES 1850-1910]

4. Wealth. According to the latest summary prepared by the Bureau of Statistics of the Department of Commerce and Labor, the wealth of the United States equals 42 per cent. of the total wealth of all Europe. In 1910 the deposits in savings banks exceeded the amount for 1900 by sixteen hundred and eighty millions of dollars. The depositors increased more than three millions in the same period of time. The latest figures show that the people of the United States as a whole are now saving an average of about nine million dollars a day. The statistics of wealth as represented by manufactured products show that our nearest competitor is Germany, but that the United States furnishes millions of dollars more of manufactured products annually than any other country. The trade of the United States with foreign lands and its own island possessions, according to reports of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1912, set a high-water mark of $4,000,000,000. As an illustration of the growing wealth of a single city, a statement is in circulation that in 1885, according to the city records, there were only twenty-eight millionaires in New York City; now there are more than two thousand.

5. Agricultural products. Two of the staple agricultural products are corn and wheat. The United States had two and four fifths times as many acres of corn in 1910 as all the rest of the world. According to figures given out by the Bureau of the Census the cotton crop of the United States in 1909 was five eighths of the total grown in the world. Russia alone of all the countries in the world grew a few more bushels of wheat last year than the United States. The value of the farm products of the United States in 1909, according to the report of the Department of Agriculture, was $8,760,000,000. The farm products have considerably more than doubled in ten years, equaling in value eighteen times the world’s output of gold. In commenting on these figures, a writer in the Literary Digest gives the following concrete illustration of what they mean: If the money were all in twenty-dollar gold pieces, it would make a pile 720 miles high, and if the gold pieces were laid on the earth touching one another, the value of the farm products of that one year would make a line of twenty-dollar gold pieces reaching across Alaska, Canada, the United States and Mexico to the Isthmus of Panama, and there would then be enough of these coins left to make a line of gold from New York to San Francisco, and some pieces would fall off into the Pacific Ocean before they were all used! Even this fabulous amount of wealth produced on the farms was increased by one hundred and sixty-eight millions of dollars in 1910.

These few facts, startling as they are, are only the beginning of an exhibit of the prodigality of power centering here. The moral and spiritual meaning of these resources constitutes a challenge to our best civilization.

God needs tremendous financial resources for the work of winning the world. Vast resources are needed for the educational, evangelistic, philanthropic, and industrial work of missions. There seems to be no place on earth where in our time there are such available resources for this task as here in this land.

One of the supreme tests of our civilization is the use we are making of this God-given treasure, for cash and consecration should increase in proportionate ratio. How to be rich and religious at the same time is one of the burning issues in our land to-day. The release of a legitimate portion of this wealth for the blessings of mankind and the refreshing of the thirsty earth is evidently a part of the purpose of God. If the riches of America are to be a resource and not an incubus, a highway and not a terminus, American men, to whom God has given the ability to get great wealth, must be brought face to face with the challenge of the needy world in order to save them from the disaster of selfishness and sin. God is not grieved when his men get rich, but he is grieved when riches are not invested for the enrichment of the world. It seems inconceivable that America could throw away this supreme opportunity for service. “Napoleonic energies require an international program.”

AMERICA CAN RETAIN HER PLACE OF LEADERSHIP IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD ONLY BY DEVELOPING VISION AND CONSECRATION ADEQUATE TO HER TASK

It will be well for American Christianity if it learns the eloquent lessons which are written on many pages of the world’s history, telling of the setting aside of nations and men who have had a great opportunity but have failed to carry out the divinely appointed commission.

All the facts given above emphasize the imperative necessity for greatly enlarged home missionary effort. The world battle cannot be won unless the attack upon sin and the defense of the bulwarks of righteousness at home are aggressive and victorious. The home battle and the world battle are one.

What then is America’s share of the world task? How much will be required of money and men if America does her duty to the non-Christian world?

How to determine a nation’s share of the world task is a very complex problem, and mathematical statements have many serious limitations. In the first place it is no doubt true that whenever the Christian Church really sets out seriously to obey Christ’s command there will be such a pouring forth of the power of the Spirit as will upset all numerical computations. Again, the varying conditions in different parts of the field make any uniform standard impossible. In parts of Africa and Asia where the populations are scattered, perhaps one missionary to every 5,000 people will be necessary. In other fields a large and sudden increase in missionaries might precipitate an anti-missionary uprising, which would greatly retard the growth of the Kingdom. Mission boards are by no means unanimous in judgment as to the most effective way to present the appeal. The condition of the native Church is another factor which is variable in different lands. Account must be taken of quality as well as quantity in the work.

Since this is a spiritual enterprise and dependent upon superhuman forces, no arithmetical statement can be considered as authoritative and final. The great resources in this task are the spiritual energies which God alone can give. But the following study at least has the virtue of being a definite and concrete statement of some factors in the problem. Men are thinking and acting in the realm of the concrete in business and professional life. The call of God is not less sacred when it is stated in terms of every-day life which grip and hold the mind and conscience. The task may be accomplished much more rapidly than now seems probable. That is clearly a possible thing with God. But stating the best judgment of some of the most spiritually-minded men in the conflict as to the visible resources needed is not limiting God.

Therefore as a temporary estimate, leaving the way open for adjustment and reconstruction as new light is thrown on the problem, the following statement may be helpful.

It is the conviction of many that the smallest force of missionaries which can make possible the evangelization of the world in this generation is one for every 25,000 of the population.

Looking at North America’s share of this world task, the following are factors in the problem.

1. In view of the fact that North America is now furnishing nearly one half of the Protestant foreign missionaries and about one half of the foreign mission contributions, and also in view of the fact that the resources of North America are greater than those of many other parts of Christendom, it is probably fair to estimate North America’s share of the non-Christian world as 500,000,000 people. This includes the portion of the world now being evangelized by American missionaries on the field.

2. Toward the evangelization of this vast number of people there are now abroad, representing the churches of the United States and Canada, approximately 6,000 single missionaries and missionary families. On the basis given above these 6,000 missionaries can evangelize one hundred and fifty millions in this generation. This leaves three hundred and fifty millions still to be provided for or seven tenths of the whole number for whom America is responsible.

3. In view of the above facts, in order to occupy their field the churches of North America will therefore need to multiply by two and one third their output, that is, to send out and maintain 14,000 additional missionaries, making 20,000 in all.

4. For the support of the missionaries from the United States and Canada now on the field the Mission Boards spent in 1912 about fifteen millions of dollars, or an average of a little more than $2,000 per missionary. This does not mean that each missionary received a $2,000 salary. Missionary salaries average only half or less than half of that amount. The balance was spent for all other expenses such as traveling, equipment, etc. If we accept this amount as approximately what will be needed for each new missionary sent out, the United States and Canada must increase the amount of money given to about forty-three millions of dollars annually. Can America furnish the men and the money?

There are about twenty-two millions of Protestant church-members in the United States and nine hundred thousand in Canada, about twenty-three millions in all. In order to secure the required number of missionaries American churches must send out and maintain about one in 1,150 of the membership. This is clearly possible and has been largely exceeded by the Moravian Church. This leaves 1,149 out of every 1,150 church-members to carry on the work on this continent. A majority of the volunteers will come from the colleges and theological seminaries. There were 195,724 students in these institutions in the United States in 1909-10. It would therefore take about one in fourteen of these students to furnish the 14,000 workers required to secure America’s share of the missionaries. As far as the financial problem for America is concerned the support of 14,000 new missionaries involves increasing our annual offerings from about $15,000,000 a year to approximately $43,000,000 a year. When reduced to actual figures the average per church-member is pitifully small. To secure the entire budget for 20,000 missionaries would require an average gift from the twenty-three millions of church-members in the United States and Canada of a little less than two dollars per year or two postage stamps a week! And this for the redemption of the world! Many thousands of Christians and hundreds of churches should go far beyond this average.

“Shall America Evangelize Her Share of the World?” This is the ringing challenge flung down to American Christianity.

O America, America, stretching between the two great seas, in whose heart flows the rich blood of many nations, into whose mountain safes God has put riches of fabulous amount, in whose plains the Almighty has planted the magic genius that blossoms into harvests with which to feed the hungry multitudes of earth, nursed by Puritan and Pilgrim, defended by patriot and missionary, guided by the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, sanctified by a faith as pure as looks up to heaven from any land, O America, let thy Master make thee a savior of the nations; let thy God flood thee with a resistless passion for conquest; let thy Father lead thee over mountains and seas, through fire and flood, through sickness and pain, out to that great hour when all men shall hear the call of Christ, and the last lonely soul shall see the uplifted cross, and the whole round world be bound back to the heart of God!

BOOKS FOR FURTHER READING Love, J. F., The Mission of Our Nation. Fleming H. Revell Co., 158 Fifth Avenue, New York. $1.25.

Coolidge, The United States as a World Power. Macmillan Company, 64 Fifth Avenue, New York. $2.00.

Van Dyke, Henry, The Spirit of America. Fleming H. Revell Co., 158 Fifth Avenue, New York. $0.50.

Reinsch, World Politics. Macmillan Company, 64 Fifth Avenue, New

York. $1.25.

Stead, W. T., The Americanization of the World. Horace Markley.

New York, $1.00.