Synopses & Reviews
MEN AND MISSIONS BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS With a Foreword by John B. Sleman, Jr. Founder of the Laymens Missionary Movement and with a statistical and historical Appendix compiled by Abigail J. Davies PHILADELPHIA THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TIMES COMPANY 1909 Copyright, 1909, by THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TIMES COMPANY Entered at Stationers Hall, London, 1909 To My Two Sons, nmfeltfl mtli ilarltttmm Elto, Who Have Early Learned To Delight in World Maps FOREWORD IT is no mere coincidence that at the time when the whole non-Christian world is awakening to new life and a wider outlook, there should also be a stirring among the men of the churches of the great Christian countries. It must be perfectly evident to the Christian who ponders deeply the happenings of our day, that God intends the marvelous wealth in men and women, in education, in material resources and in highly de veloped powers of initiative and accomplishment with which He has endowed the Christian nations, to be used in this generation to bear the tidings of the gospel of Christ to every portion of the globe. What other objective is there big enough to over come in our churches the tendency to selfishness and ease which are the forerunners of utter spiritual decay The Church needs the dynamic of a great vision to give it the power to grapple with those social and economic problems at home to whose solution it must address itself. Mr. Ellis has interpreted with singular clearness, and with the vividness which always attaches to the faithful statement of great realities, the situation in 5 FOREWORD the world to-day, and the relation of the men of the churches to this fundamental problem of evangeliza tion. Upon perusing the book one is forced tothe con clusion that only as we are obedient to that last command of the Saviour to preach the gospel to every creature will we receive power to finish the work which has been committed to our hands here in the homeland. It is not too much to believe that the reading of this book will mean the spiritual re-birth of many a nominal Christian as he catches a glimpse of the possibilities of his own life in this day of marvelous opportunity. JOHN B. SLEMAN, JR. WASHINGTON, D. C, October 29, 1909. PREFACE FOR a year, recently, it was my business as a secular journalist to look into the entire missionary enterprise, both as a principle and in practical opera tion. My investigations led me entirely around the world and over the main mission fields. As I critic ally examined mission schools, mission churches, mission hospitals, and mission evangelistic work often going out into raw heathendom I kept in view the one purpose of telling the truth as I could discover it. I paid my own expenses and held no brief for any cause or organization. Throughout my personal intercourse with hundreds of mission aries, of many denominational names and of none, I earnestly endeavored to keep an open and un biased mind, that I might render a fair judgment upon the missionary and his work. Upon returning home I found myself frequently called upon to address city campaigns and national gatherings of the Laymens Missionary Movement so that I have had opportunities for a first-hand study of the latter in many parts of the continent. Out of these two experiences has come this book, which I have tried to make a hand-book for the average layman. In a subsequent volume, Foreign Missions Through a Journalists Eyes, Ishall en deavor to portray with more of detail than is pos-7 PREFACE sible in this one the actual conditions of mission work as I found them. In each case I have imposed upon myself what the discerning will recognize as the severest condition the production of a book that will bear reading in mission lands by the men and women who know. Wherein my views are not in accord with those of other and wiser men, I can only say that I have tried to Write the thing as I see it For the God of Things As They Are...
Synopsis
This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.