The Fundamentals - 1910: Vol.12

92

The Fundamentals And, manifestly, this preparatory work will bring to pass the event which is described as following it, that is, the coming of Christ. This then is the final and consummating motive which God sets before Christians, namely, to go forth everywhere, preaching the good tidings to every creature, in order that the Church may be made complete and that the King and the kingdom may come. THE EFFECT OF SCRIPTURAL MOTIVES It will need only passing consideration to discover that the three motives which have been mentioned, namely, the com­ mand, the compassion and the coming of Christ, are like the God who gave them, and are thus worthy of being accepted by the noblest and most devoted of men. And there are two reasons why they are this. First, because they represent spiritual and eternal truths; and second, because they make for the highest glory of God and the greatest good of man­ kind. As to the last effect, no other motives are so uplifting and purifying to the person who is moved by them, and no other motives are so su ri of divine favor and blessing in their exercise. There is enough power in these motives, singly and collectively, to raise the missionary propaganda above every­ thing earthly, selfish and narrow, and to place it, where it ever belongs, upon the plane of the heavenly, the spiritual and the infinite. Moreover there is enough potency here to turn the “forlorn hope” of present-day foreign missions, in which a Gideon’s band of men and women are bravely fighting on against overwhelming odds, into an ever victorious army of the Church, where the battle will not only be fought but also be won, and where the end of saving the elect, and thus of bringing back the King and bringing in the kingdom, will be surely and speedily brought to pass. For what foes on earth, or what demons in hell, could stay the onward progress of a people which had determined, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to obey Christ’s command, to show forth His com-

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