This is not the first or only men's age. The age of Paul was a men's age. It was the age of one man at least, and you can scarcely think of his gigantic accomplishments without realizing that

O. W. LAWRENCE.

he had associated with him a sturdy company of men, even though the names of but a few of them have found their way into the records. Paul was not only the apostle to the Gentiles--he was an apostle to men.

      How masculine is the vocabulary he uses; how it teems with figures and illustrations of the military life. "Put on the armor of light." "Put on the whole armor of God." "Fight the good fight of faith." "Endure hardness as a good soldier." Even Paul's great benedictions reflect the battlefield. "The peace of God which passeth all understanding, garrison your hearts in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:7). And finally, as he neared the close, "I have fought a good fight."

      The life of the soldier has always appealed to strong men. It is a hard, rough and restricted life. The military discipline is the severest known to man. It is alike in all nations. It knows no democracy. The general in chief has no question as to the right of the war he wages; he belongs to the state as the cannon do.

      The private soldier is subject to his general. The army is a closely compacted machine. Its wheels and limbs of motion are men--the bodies and minds of men. It moves with exactly timed and measured step. It is wheeled into the cannon's mouth as if on dress parade. The soldier must have no more question of self-preservation than does the rifle he carries. He must wade through swamps and rivers, sleep on the ground, keep sentry watch in the rain, live on the roughest food, stiffen in the cold. If he has wife and children, they must for the time be forgotten. If he has fields to cultivate or harvests to reap, they must be as nothing, for he that warreth entangleth himself not with the affairs of this life.

      That masculine element and spirit which makes war possible should be used in other channels. A modern educator says, "We need a moral equivalent for war." Let the church of Jesus Christ furnish that moral equivalent. [162] Too long have we treated the church as if it were a social club, a debating society. The church is an army. "Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

      No real man joins a social club with enthusiasm; he does not throw his hat into the air, unfurl his flag and shout his joy at the anticipation of sitting on a soft seat or rocking in an easy-chair. Men join the army with the wildest enthusiasm. It brings out the spirit of the heroic masculine life at its best. That is what the church needs. Men are needed in the kingdom for just such a time as this.

      Woman has always contributed her part to the church's life; her ministry has been faithful and constant. Whenever sickness has needed a nurse, or charity a sister, or the orphan a mother, she has been present. Her tears have never ceased to flow for the church's sorrow since once they bathed her Master's feet. The alabaster box of precious treasure has always been broken with joy to do honor to her Lord. On the mission field she has always borne her share of the burden and not always received her share of the honor. The body of David Livingstone lies in Westminster, but the bones of his faithful wife are left in the jungles of Africa. Let every man of this generation who loves the cause of his Lord rise up and call the Christian woman of all ages blessed.

      But, men, there are some things the women can not do. The women can not sing bass. What would music be without its bass? Convention music is good because the men sing rugged and powerful. What would the great pipe-organ be without its pedal? Music would lose its diapason without the bass. Its roundness and strength would be lacking.

      So Christianity needs its masculine note, a man's testimony, a man's experience, a man's voice where only men are found, a man's zeal, a man's pocketbook.

      The one great enterprise of the church to-day that calls for men is the missionary enterprise. It is a man's job. The church is an army. An army is at its best in conquest. The world is the empire we seek to conquer for our Lord. "To save the world"--that was the errand of the Christ; that is the business of his church. It is not merely to save a certain number of people out of the world, and to get them safely away to another world, but it is to save the world.

      Commerce, education, culture, civilization herself, wait upon the church. These must be content to go where she has first gone. To save the world is to save the men of the world. What is it to save a man? Salvation is not something metaphysical or legal or sentimental. It does not consist in the belief of certain propositions, simply, or the experience of certain emotions. The belief that it consists in this is puerile. "It is with the heart man believeth, and he believeth unto righteousness." What is righteousness but right relation? Right relation toward God. Right relation toward our fellow-men. Where a nation is saved, where a man is saved, right relationships are established and brotherhood with all its privileges is brought about.

      What a great business we are engaged in when saving the world. Our little enterprises of building houses, digging coal and managing railroads sink into insignificance in comparison. We have treated the subject of Christian union academically for a hundred years. Our theory has not been disputed. What we need now is a demonstration, and that the mission field is giving us.

      Not only a demonstration on the mission field, but here at home as well. Men are coming together regardless of their denominational affiliations to discuss the subject of missions. The layman's missionary movement and the young people's missionary movement are examples. The men of some of our greatest cities have come together to plan for great missionary offerings, regardless of separating lines. Christian men of the Disciples of Christ, we have come to the kingdom for such a time as this. This is our plea. Whether or not this is just the way we expected it to come about, let us join hands in the enterprise. Preacher, business man, one and all, our hands and our hearts to this great cause. [163]

      The iron in the ground yet unborn for years to come has already been organized and provided for by the great steel combination in whose home we meet. The coal that will sleep in these hills for fifty years more is already cared for in the markets and channels of commerce. The ice yet unfrozen in our rivers and lakes will find when it arrives great bodies prepared for its preservation and circulation to the very finger tips of some great city, as surely as the human heart gathers and circulates its own red blood.

      If man can perfect these great enterprises for the physical interests of men, can he not give time and care and money for their spiritual and moral welfare? Is it not time to prepare for the boy yet unborn in China and India, and, for that matter, in New York and Chicago and Pittsburg?

      The only enterprise great enough to unite all men is the evangelization of the world. How it ennobles the individual to be connected with a great enterprise. We grow narrow in our little paths leading from home to office or factory or store. Even that path which leads in and out of the homes of the families of a single congregation, and about the weary duties of a busy preacher's life, may grow very narrow and circumscribed. But to be connected with a world-wide enterprise, engaged with thousands of other Christian men in a like cause, "greatness" a man's life. It gives him vision and perspective. It takes him out of the narrow limits of monotony and places him upon the hilltop. Once a man gets this great vision, it becomes contagious, for ideals are contagious. Millions "caught" missions from Livingstone.

      It is indeed a man's enterprise. It calls for the most heroic that is in him. The battle is on: soldiers are called for. It is a war that has no horrors. We read of that great victory of the fleet of Japan, where the Russian fleet was destroyed. It stirred the blood of the soldier in every man. But what horror accompanied it! Great battleships that cost hundreds of thousands went down in wreck, and water stained with the blood of men covered them over.

      In our Spanish-American war the boys began to cheer when they saw a Spanish ship sinking, and the American commander called out, "Don't cheer, boys; can't you see the poor devils are dying?"

      In the Christian warfare to which the men of this generation are called there is no horror of defeat, for the conqueror and the conquered rejoice alike at the feet of the Master.

      Then let us sing:

[CCR 162-164]