"Our Heroes"! What an appropriate title for a book on home evangelism and home extension. Such a significant and suggestive title is fitting for two or more volumes giving proper recognition to those who wrought faithfully In the distant past, and laid foundations abiding; but services may be forgotten and names unsung by succeeding generations who have built and are building upon those foundations.
And yet, nothing that is true, and good, and loyal to Christ and his cause, is lost or entirely forgotten. The good and great are Immortal. This is God's will and law. Their graves may be unmarked, their tombs neglected, and their deeds covered over with the growth and achievements of later years, but God has ordained that the memory of the righteous shall not perish. For the world needs the inspiration that comes from their heroic lives. Some pen will recount the story of their fidelity, and some poet will sing them out of the silence of human forgetfulness.
The authors of this book have been inspired to perform this blessed service. They have laid hold of hidden treasures and handed down to us and to succeeding generations such as shall richly contribute to the wealth of our church literature and honor our denomination.
How may we expect to emphasize and perpetuate the distinctive principles and spirit with which our denominational life began, it we do not cherish the memory of our pioneer fathers, and pay just tribute to their toils, heroism, and achievements?
The forces of aggressive evangelism and the fires of piety and missionary zeal that marked the origin of our Church will be best kindled upon the altar of the Church by holding sacred the hardships and sacrifices of the fathers In those days when they counted mightily for godliness and the spiritual Christianity.
A perusal of this biography, not only fires one's own heart, but also reminds one of the Old Testament heroes described by the writer of Hebrews. They were giants "of whom the world was not worthy."
So our pioneer fathers were spiritual giants. They were plain men, stalwart in character, mighty in faith, inflexible in purpose, and rich in achievement; for their ministry was marvelously fruitful in souls, who were won to God as the leaves of the forest or the dews of the morning. Without appointment, or salary, or parsonage, or library, they rode on horseback, far away from home and loved ones, hundreds of miles, through the solitary forest, over the rugged mountain and treacherous swamp, flaming home missionaries going beyond the Ohio, the Wabash, the Mississippi, into the western domain then unsubdued but now teeming with the throbbing life of a new civilization. They preached with strange power the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. "There were giants in those days," as well as in the earlier centuries. They left an imperishable Impress upon the consciousness of the denomination for which we owe them a debt of unspeakable gratitude.
Those servants of God had such a rich, joyous, Christian experience and were borne on by such a mighty call and conviction from God that they created an atmosphere in which the Home Missionary Society was born. It is well that that society retains the same spiritual intensity and aggressive life which were wrought into its being over a half century ago.
For the fathers held and illustrated the elements that are to redeem America from her perils and vices, and to make her a real Christian country. They gave the Church a distinct denominational spirit, the spirit of democracy, brotherhood, and broad cooperation. They created an evangelical church in which holiness and spirituality are conspicuous. They expressed faith in the fatherhood of God, the divine sovereignty and atonement of Jesus Christ, and the personality and ministry of the Holy Spirit, in the growth and administration of the Church. They preached the necessity of miraculous con- version and the wonderful saving power of the love of God, through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The authors of this volume have done a fine service for the Church and American Christianity by presenting striking, concrete examples of the elements and spirit that must be incarnated in the religious leaders of to-day in order to Christianize this land of ours.
This second volume even adds to the interest of the first, in making more full the history and record of noble heroes in our Church.
It shows the vital importance of home missions as a home base. The life and resources of the home church must be developed and strengthened. Christianity must be domiciled in every nook and corner oŁ America so that in the regeneration of her cities, the transformation of her communities, the purification of her social life, and the cleansing of her national conscience, she shall become really a Christian nation.
Whoever reads this book will feel like doing his share to forward the work of home missions in this country. For America, with her marvelous growth and opportunities, her vices, perils, heterogeneous elements, and un- toward environments, must command the attention of every Christian citizen. America, with her throbbing, complex life, the laboratory out of which should come the product of a better Christian citizenship, must be evangelized and transformed by the gospel in the interest of a strong, patriotic, dominant, Protestant Christianity. If we do not face this task and strike as never before for the conquest of America, the heroism of our fathers will shame us, their sacrifices mock us, and their spirit depart from us.
The purpose and mission of this second volume being so worthy, it deserves the widest distribution throughout the Church.
G. M. MATHEWS.
Chicago, Illinois.
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