Every church in the world to-day that moves and lives and really does things, must have, besides a number of personal workers, a pivotal man and leader. Every great missionary church has back of it, to guide it, lead it and inspire it, a missionary pastor. Missions is the work of the church. God has not called us to erect beautiful edifices, to ring church bells, to listen to pipe-organs, to sing and to preach sermons, simply to have something to [160] do, and a place to which we may go. But in it all and through it all is the spirit of the conquering Christ, who said, "All authority is given unto me: go ye therefore and teach all nations."

      If missions is the work of the church--as it is--what other man ought to be more interested in this great work and his own preparation for leadership than the preacher in that church? To-day he must have a vision, and he must be enabled to impart that vision unto others. Many a church that might be a potent factor for good in a community, and likewise send its influence beyond State and national lines, is to-day as dead as a mummy, because it has never been moved by a great vision. He who will inspire others to live and to work must first himself be inspired with his mission. The pastor's vision ought to be one of the imperative importance of missions. He ought not to think it a matter with which to play fast and loose, simply preach a missionary sermon now and then when an offering is to be taken, and then spend the first half of the time to be given to that service in making an apology. He ought to realize that the great work to which God has called him is to so lead and to so inspire men that they will be saviors of men. His vision ought to also see the great need in the heathen lands to-day. His people are willing to give and his people are willing to do when they realize the great need of giving and doing. If your Christian men and women in America to-day could make a journey through all the missionary fields and through heathen lands, and behold the darkness and superstition and need that is there, they would all come back home, and every one would be enthusiastic in the great work of world-wide evangelization.

      The pastor must read, he must study, he must come in contact with men who are upon the firing-line. Eight years ago the Congregationalist asked sixty of the leading pastors of this country to name the series of books which they expected to read in the next twelve months. Out of those sixty leading pastors of America only two mentioned a missionary book in the list. The pastor who has this vision and this full knowledge must make these known to his people in his sermons, in his prayers, in his illustrations, in the missionary library, in the church, in the great mission-study class in the church, in the Bible school, and everywhere, in season and out of season, make that his chief and main work.

      The pastor is the pivotal man in overcoming opposition to missions. Friends, travel around the globe, and you will find in every great missionary church there will be some men--not many, but some--who will be unalterably opposed to missions. They will tell you that missions do not pay. They will tell you that missions are a failure. They will tell you that it costs too much to send the money to foreign fields. They will tell you that if God wants to save the heathen he will save them, and he is saving them without our help. I read the other day of a man down in Tennessee who had a great sawmill. The boiler burst and the mill was scattered all over that end of the

P. H. WELSHIMER.

woods. He wrote to the manufacturers and said: "How much will it cost to come down and repair my sawmill? It is all blown to atoms." And they replied: "We will come down and rebuild your mill for ten thousand dollars." And the owner of the mill wired back: "If I had ten thousand dollars, what under heaven would I want with a sawmill?"

      Now, friends, if God is saving men to-day without the aid of the church and without the instrumentality of the gospel, what does he want with the church, and why has he given us the gospel? The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and that gospel has been committed, not to the hands of angels, but it has been placed in the hands of men--real flesh-and-blood, living men--and they are commanded to go to all the world and tell the story onto all people.

      The pastor as a pivotal man must therefore never waver. And while his [161] chief elder, or his chief deacon, or other members of the official board, for that matter, may say, "Go slow on missions," it is his mission, it is his business, to preach it in season and out of season, and by his earnestness and by his faith and by his enthusiasm, if he only keeps at it long enough, he will create a change of heart.

      The preacher must himself be a giver, or by his own giving he sets the example and inspires his men and his women to give. The preacher must also be searching for recruits to the missionary field. All around us comes the cry to-day, "Come over into the field and help us." The commercial spirit of the times has seized the young men. Their ideal to-day is not the man upon the mission field, but he is the captain of finance. And it seems to me that by preaching the Word, by personal interview, by prayer, he is to turn young men and to turn young women into the field that leads to the saving of the world. And when he does this, and when he feels the heart-throb of the great Son of God, and prays to the Lord of the harvest to send forth workers into the field, then possibly within this generation the people of the whole round world will be led to the foot of the cross, and the servant of God will receive the praise of the pierced hands.

[CCR 160-162]