THE NEW ENGLANDER. No. CLVII. SEPTEMBER, 1880. ARTICLE I-THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF MODERN MISSIONS. ALL great movements affecting the welfare of mankind, sudden as may be their apparent origin, have their periods of preparation. They are never isolated phenomena, but parts of the Providential development of the human race. A sense of the utter inadequacy of this or that religion to meet the spiritual cravings of those who know no other; the manifest failure of systems of Philosophy to solve the great problems of life; the moral decadence that sooner or later attends all forms of civilization not quickened and constantly reinvigorated by new life from above, prepare the way to a just understanding of the great plan of providence and of grace which we call history. While it becomes us to beware of hasty generalizations in judging of the great events and still more of the great movements of history, we have the highest authority for the enquiry we now propose in our Lord's indignant reproof of the wise men. of his day, "Ye can discern the face of the sky, but can ye not discern the signs of the times." By a careful observation we may find a convergence of agencies and events, preparing the way for the early establishment of the kingdom of Christ, in many respects similar to those which heralded its first promulgation. I. As entering into the preparation for the coming of Christ, "when the fulness of time was come," the church historian is woht to dwell on the fact that for the first time in history the civilized world, then embraced in the Roman Empire, had become one in its political and commercial interests; that through the interchange of thought in consequence of the unexampled facilities for inter-communication, and through the prevalence of a common language of law and of literature, a world-wide breadth of thought and sentiment had been induced, wholly foreign to the narrowness of former days, and, that for the first time, men were become capable of conceiving of a kingdom of God that should embrace all nations. But this preparation is more than equalled at the present day as a consequence of the commercial enterprize that brings men of every race and language into such great centers of trade as New York, London, Cairo, Calcutta, and Shanghai, and scatters the products of a common industry to the remotest portions of the globe. The firing on Fort Sumpter sent a thrill through the civilized world, started new industries in Egypt and India, and doubled the price of the scanty clothing of the wanderers on the highlands of Central Asia. The best Roman highway, linking the capitol to the remotest colony on the frontiers of civilization, is not to be compared with the railway that spans the continents, the steamer that ploughs the seas, indifferent to wind or storm; while the months required for the transmission of intelligence to the most distant lands are reduced to hours, almost to seconds. More than two-thirds of the missionaries of the American Board can be reached by telegram within twenty-four hours. The most distant nations are brought, as it were, to our very doors. Our neighbors are no longer the men of the next town or state, or, those who use a common speech, but the human race. The physical world has thus become one to a degree far beyond the conception of the first Cæsar; one too in the play of the intellectual forces that are every where awakening men from the slumber of ages, and the stupor of a mere animal existence, to eager expectation and a generous hope of bettering their condition. The salute from a fifteen-inch gun in the harbor of Nagasaki, stirring the hearts of thoughtful Japanese to self-sacrifice, if need be, to secure for their native land material advantages symbolized by "big ships and big guns;" and the eager inquiry of Mtesa on Lake Nyanza for white men to teach his people the arts of civilized life, are but illustrations of the intellectual agencies of our modern life in securing a new and higher unity to mankind. means of diffusing the knowledge and the thought of the world, contrast the slow labor of Cicero's copyists with the steam presses of one of our great publishing houses. As a II. The decay of the old religious faiths and the general decline of morals at the opening of the Christian era, revealing the necessity for the new and more potent forces of the gospel, have been so ably and so fully discussed by Prof. Fisher in the first seven chapters of "The Beginnings of Christianity," and by Dr. Uhlhorn in the first two chapters of his "Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism" as to leave nothing new to be said. The old religious faiths had lost their power. The intelligence of the educated classes rejected the traditions of the past, and the entire fabric of polytheism seemed ready to crumble to the ground. The moral restraints hitherto imposed by some degree of respect for the old creeds were relaxed, and the moral sentiment left unsupported by any outward aid, gave way under the pressure of a materialistic civilization. The social and moral degradation of all classes justified the fearful picture of the Apostle Paul in the first chapter of his letter to the Christians at Rome. The forms of religion were observed rather from custom than from faith, or possibly as an attempt to satisfy the cravings of deeper spiritual necessities. The want of faith in any one religion was relieved by the priests who were ready to accommodate worshipers by performing such rites as they should prefer. "Unbelief and superstition," observes Mommsen,* "different hues of the same phenomenon, went hand in hand in the Roman world of that day, and there was no lack of individuals, who, in themselves, *Vol. iv. pp. 668, 669. By a careful observation we may find a convergence of agencies and events, preparing the way for the early establishment of the kingdom of Christ, in many respects similar to those which heralded its first promulgation. I. As entering into the preparation for the coming of Christ, "when the fulness of time was come," the church historian is woht to dwell on the fact that for the first time in history the civilized world, then embraced in the Roman Empire, had become one in its political and commercial interests; that through the interchange of thought in consequence of the unexampled facilities for inter-communication, and through the prevalence of a common language of law and of literature, a world-wide breadth of thought and sentiment had been induced, wholly foreign to the narrowness of former days, and, that for the first time, men were become capable of conceiving of a kingdom of God that should embrace all nations. But this preparation is more than equalled at the present day as a consequence of the commercial enterprize that brings men of every race and language into such great centers of trade as New York, London, Cairo, Calcutta, and Shanghai, and scatters the products of a common industry to the remotest portions of the globe. The firing on Fort Sumpter sent a thrill through the civilized world, started new industries in Egypt and India, and doubled the price of the scanty clothing of the wanderers on the highlands of Central Asia. The best Roman highway, linking the capitol to the remotest colony on the frontiers of civilization, is not to be compared with the railway that spans the continents, the steamer that ploughs the seas indifferent to wind or storm; while the months required the transmission of intelligence to the most distant lan reduced to hours, almost to seconds. More than two-t the missionaries of the American Board can be reach egram within twenty-four hours. The most distant brought, as it were, to our very doors. Our neigh longer the men of the next town or state, or, thos common speech, but the human race. The physi thus become one to a degree far beyond the com first Cæsar; one too in the play of the intellec are every where awakening men from the slum |