"And they that he wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament;
and they that turn many to righteousness , as the stars forever and ever ”
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0ifrnal
Vol. LVI.
SEPTEMBER, 1905.
No. 3.
THE SIN OF NOT BELIEVING IN FOREIGN MISSIONS.
The fact that unbelief in foreign missions is a sin startles us. Most
of us have been thinking that such unbelief is simply a fault. We
have thought of the unbeliever, and even the disbeliever, in foreign mis¬
sions as one who is simply weak in faith, prejudiced, narrow or covetous,
it may be, and as one who is certainly living below his privileges as a
Christian man. We overlook the fact that all this is sin, and that
such a man is living in sin as long as he lives in his unbelief. Not
infrequently we make merry over his sin, or smile at him, as one who
is simply Inihind the times.
Often the unbeliever looks on himself with complacency, as well
balanced in judgment, not easily carried away by enthusiastic speeches
about the heathen, economical, believing the Scripture that one must
“care for his own,” and “especially they of his household,” and inter¬
ested in the welfare of his church and his community, having good
bona* virtues, priding himself in good citizenship, and apparent hon¬
esty in his business dealings.
Very often the unbeliever in foreign missions, like the unregenerate
sinner, thinks himself better than those wiio are earnest and enthusiastic
in trying to serve the Cord. Like the unregenerate sinner, he has an
eye on all faults both in those who believe, and in the work. He uncon¬
sciously puts himself in the same class with sinners, because in his
unbelief he is a sinner, living in sin.
But how is unbelief in foreign missions a sin? Consider for a
moment these facts: The Captain of our Salvation said, “Go!” The
unbeliever says, “No.” This is unblushing disobedience. The Cap¬
tain demands prompt obedience, the unbeliever says, “Not yet.” His
Saviour had compassion on him and has forgiven his debt of sin. He
refuses to have compassion on his fellow-man. The Holy Spirit moves
him with compassion for the lost, but he grieves the Spirit which would
use him to savo others, by stifling his spiritual impulses. Our Lord
and Saviour says: “Ye shall be witnesses unto Me, both in Jerusalem
and all Judea, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” But the
man who does not believe in foreign missions says in effect, “No, not so
far; only to the place and the object and the time that is to my liking.”
Surely all this is sin.
Stated in this bald way, any one must see the sin. But the sin
