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قراءة كتاب The Call of the World; or, Every Man's Supreme Opportunity
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The Call of the World; or, Every Man's Supreme Opportunity
small impress on world civilization.
"The Greek language became the vehicle in which the gospel story was borne to the educated world of the first century. The English language seems destined in the providence of God to be the bearer of the gospel to the races of the twentieth century."
The following table indicates the remarkable growth during the nineteenth century of the English language as compared with other tongues. The estimates are given by Mulhall and John Bartholomew of Edinburgh and appear in the 1912 World Almanac.
| 1801 | 1901 | |
| French | 31,450,000 | 52,100,000 |
| German | 30,320,000 | 84,200,000 |
| Italian | 15,070,000 | 34,000,000 |
| Spanish | 26,190,000 | 46,500,000 |
| Portuguese | 7,480,000 | 15,000,000 |
| Russian | 30,770,000 | 85,000,000 |
| English | 20,520,000 | 130,300,000 |
In the light of these figures the total given by Dr. Halsey quoted above is perhaps too high. It will be seen, however, that the number speaking German has multiplied nearly threefold and the number of those speaking English six and a half times in the century under review. Since an overwhelming majority of missionaries speak either English or German or both, the significance of the spread of these languages is apparent.
The Geographical Control of the World.—One of the most inspiring evidences of the widening sovereignty of Christ is that he has passed over the control of the territory of the world to the Christian nations. According to Gulick's Growth of the Kingdom of God, in 1600 only 7 per cent. of the territory of the world was controlled by Christian nations, but to-day 82 per cent., so that the growth of Christian control has passed in three hundred years from 7 per cent. to 82 per cent., while the control of non-Christian nations has decreased from 93 per cent. to 18 per cent.
The increasing control of the world by Christian nations is due in no small measure to the fact that they are masters of most of the great waterways and highways of the world. The Suez and Panama Canals and the Khaibar Pass in India are striking illustrations.
In 1800, four hundred millions of people were governed by Catholic and Protestant Christian powers; in 1912 at least one thousand millions, or two and a half times as many as were thus governed in 1800. In 1500, there were no Protestant political powers in the world. To-day, England, Germany, and the United States rule over about six hundred millions of the population of the world. These three Protestant powers alone now have dominion over more millions of people than are ruled over by all the non-Christian nations of the world added together.
The Mohammedan world furnishes a startling illustration of this shifting control of the world. A few generations ago Mohammedan political and religious control were coextensive. To-day over three fourths of the Mohammedans of the world live in lands which they do not rule politically. The passing of Mohammedan political dominion from Africa is of profound significance for that continent. France has extended and consolidated her African possessions by taking Algeria and establishing a protectorate over Morocco, which is one of the greatest strongholds of orthodox Mohammedanism. Italy has now taken full control of Tripoli. Only a few of the forty or more millions of Mohammedans in Africa are under Moslem political rule. Italy has already begun the construction of 400 miles of railway in Tripoli. In Algiers and down through the Sahara toward the Sudan the steel lines are being laid by France. God is evidently preparing his people for a great advance among Mohammedans. The great question now is whether his Church will be equal to the emergency.
II. The Multiplying Agencies of the Kingdom
The Number and Growing Efficiency of Missionary Societies.—More than two hundred years ago Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and his colaborer Plütschau were ordained missionaries to India in the city of Copenhagen; and two years later, in 1707, at Tranquebar, the first Protestant Church of the non-Christian world was established in South India among the Tamil people. Later the great Schwartz and others carried on the work resulting in the founding of the missionary work of the present day in India.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century there were two important missionary organizations in Great Britain. On the continent the Lutherans and Moravians were struggling heroically in the carrying on of their missionary operations. There were scarcely more than a dozen missionary societies altogether in the whole world, either well established or just beginning. It was a very small and feeble list of organizations compared with that of the present day. The Edinburgh Missionary Conference reported that there were 994 missionary organizations in Christendom in 1910. These have nearly all come into existence within the century.
Among the indications of increased efficiency the following may be named:
1. Unity and Coöperation. It has been well said that "The three dominant notes of our time are unity, reality, and universality." That there is a growing spirit of unity in the home Church is illustrated by the way the mission boards are coöperating in the work of the interdenominational missionary movements, by the growing number of interdenominational training-schools for missionary candidates, and by organizations like the Home Missions Council and the Conference of Foreign Mission Boards in which there is interchange of ideas and plans and methods among the leaders of the home and foreign missionary activities.
Nowhere have Christian unity and practical coöperation made greater progress than in the foreign missions of American Churches. In several lands there are now conspicuous illustrations of the practical working of this spirit in the organization of union colleges, theological seminaries and training schools and in united campaigns of many different kinds.
In Korea a union hymnal was issued some time ago and the first edition of 24,000 copies was sold within the first few weeks. In this same land, in dividing the territory between the different missions, the Methodists and Presbyterians exchanged several thousand converts, and now, Korean Christians moving from a territory occupied by one mission into that occupied by another automatically transfer their membership to the other denomination.
2. The Science of Missions. Modern Missionary leaders are doing much to create an interest in and to develop the science of missions. The Edinburgh Conference took a great advance step when it appointed the Continuation Committee. This committee represents Christendom in making a scientific, continuous and united study of missions. The International Review of Missions, a quarterly magazine, is the Committee's organ for reporting investigations to the Christian world. The committee has appointed a number of commissions which are at work on the various problems of missions. Their reports from time to time are awaited with great interest.
3. The Principles of Strategy. There never has been a time in the history of the missionary enterprise when the principles of strategy in the promotion of missions were

