MISSIONS ｜ 宣教

ENMISSIONS. Origin and basis in the Divine commission—to individuals, and to the organized Church. To individuals: Isa. 6:8. I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. Acts 26:15-18. Paul's commission, like Isaiah's, direct from Christ. Rev. 22:17. And let him that heareth say, Come. To the Church or people of God—a general call to evangelism: Isa. 40:9-11. O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain. The Master's Great Commission to all disciples and to the Church as His body: Matt. 28:18-20. All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, . . . teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Herein the Master makes the missionary spirit, actively and faithfully carried out, the condition and the pledge of His presence and effectual working with the disciple and the Church. [The missionary enterprise is not the Church's afterthought; it is Christ's forethought. It is not secondary and optional; it is primary and vital. Christ has put it into the very heart of His gospel. For this reason the spirit of missions has always been the saving and purifying power of the Christian brotherhood: whenever and wherever this ideal has shined clear and strong, it has revealed the figure of the Christ more simply and brightly to His disciples, and guided their feet more closely in the way of peace and joy and love. Van Dyke.]

BSBMatthew 28:18, 19, 20 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

中宣教。其起源与根据在于神圣的差遣——对个人的差遣，也对有组织的教会的差遣。对个人：以赛亚书 6:8 —— 我又听见主的声音说：我可以差遣谁呢？谁肯为我们去呢？我说：我在这里，请差遣我！使徒行传 26:15-18 —— 保罗所受的差遣，与以赛亚一样，直接出于基督。启示录 22:17 —— 听见的人也该说：来！对教会、对神的子民——普遍的传福音呼召：以赛亚书 40:9-11 —— 报好信息给锡安的啊，你要登高山。主对一切门徒、并对作为他身体之教会所颁的『大使命』：马太福音 28:18-20 —— 天上地下所有的权柄都赐给我了。所以，你们要去，使万民作我的门徒……凡我所吩咐你们的，都教训他们遵守。我就常与你们同在，直到世界的末了。在这里，主把『积极忠心地实行出来的宣教心志』立为他与门徒、与教会同在并有效动工的条件与凭据。〔宣教事业不是教会的『事后之想』，乃是基督的『先见之明』。它不是次要的、可选的，乃是首要的、攸关生命的。基督把它放进了自己福音的心脏。正因如此，宣教的精神向来是基督徒团契中拯救与洁净的力量：无论何时何地，当这一理想明亮有力地照耀，它就把基督的形像更单纯、更明亮地显给他的门徒，也更贴近地引导他们的脚走在平安、喜乐与爱的道上。范戴克（Van Dyke）〕

ENPreachers of the Word are to be sent by the loyal people and Church of Christ: Isa. 52:7. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace. Rom. 10:14, 15. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be sent? Paul and Barnabas were ordained and sent forth under the direction of the Holy Spirit as the first foreign missionaries: Acts 13:2, 3. The Holy Ghost said, Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. Divine predictions and promises of success and final triumph, in the Psalms and Prophets. In the Psalms: Ps. 22:27. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee. Ps. 86:9. All nations whom Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee. Three missionary Psalms: Ps. 67 (a prayer for a world-wide spiritual harvest); Ps. 72 (a prayer for Christ's universal and everlasting dominion—its characteristics: peace, righteousness, compassion, redress of wrongs, and the overthrow of evils); Ps. 87 (the home-coming of all nations to Zion).

BSBRomans 10:14, 15 14 How then can they call on the One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

中传道的人当由忠心的信徒与基督的教会差派出去：以赛亚书 52:7 —— 那报佳音、传平安……的，他的脚登山何等佳美！罗马书 10:14-15 —— 然而人未曾信他，怎能求他呢？未曾听见他，怎能信他呢？没有传道的，怎能听见呢？若没有奉差遣，怎能传道呢？保罗与巴拿巴在圣灵的指示下被按立差出，成为最早的国外宣教士：使徒行传 13:2-3 —— 圣灵说：要为我分派巴拿巴和扫罗，去做我召他们所做的工。诗篇与先知书中神对成功与最终得胜的预言与应许。诗篇中：22:27 —— 地的四极都要想念耶和华，并且归顺他；列国的万族都要在你面前敬拜。86:9 —— 主啊，你所造的万民都要来敬拜你。三篇『宣教诗篇』：67 篇（为普世属灵收成的祷告）；72 篇（为基督普世永远治权的祷告——其特征：平安、公义、怜悯、伸冤纠错、除灭诸恶）；87 篇（万国归家般涌向锡安）。

ENIn the Prophets: Isa. 2:2-4 (repeated Micah 4:1-4). It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, . . . and all nations shall flow unto it. Isa. 6:3. The whole earth is full of His glory. Isa. 11:10. Isa. 45:22-25. Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: . . . unto Me every knee shall bow. Isa. 52:10. All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Isa. 60 (the golden age of Messiah's kingdom). Isa. 65:17-25 (under the figure of a new heaven and earth, the permanent establishment of an undisturbed peace). Ezek. 21:27. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: . . . until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him. Ezek. 47:1-12 (the vision of the waters, symbolizing the universal outpouring of the Spirit upon all the earth). Dan. 2:44. In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed. Dan. 7:13, 14. There was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him. Joel 2:28-32. Micah 5:2-5. He shall be great unto the ends of the earth; and this Man shall be the peace. Hab. 2:14. For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Zech. 9:9, 10. His dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. Mal. 1:11. From the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same My name shall be great among the Gentiles. New Testament references—prayer for laborers: Matt. 9:37, 38. The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest. The order of missionary working: Luke 24:47; Acts 1:8. Ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

BSBHabakkuk 2:14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

中先知书中：以赛亚书 2:2-4（弥迦书 4:1-4 重复）—— 末后的日子，耶和华殿的山必坚立，超乎诸山……万民都要流归这山。以赛亚书 6:3 —— 他的荣光充满全地。11:10。45:22-25 —— 地极的人都当仰望我，就必得救……万膝必向我跪拜。52:10 —— 地极的人都看见我们神的救恩。60 章（弥赛亚国度的黄金时代）。65:17-25（以新天新地为喻，宣告不受搅扰之平安的永久建立）。以西结书 21:27 —— 我要将这国倾覆，倾覆，而又倾覆；这国也必不再有，直等到那应得的人来到，我就赐给他。47:1-12（活水的异象，象征圣灵浇灌普天下）。但以理书 2:44 —— 当那列王在位的时候，天上的神必另立一国，永不败坏。7:13-14 —— 得了权柄、荣耀、国度，使各方、各国、各族的人都事奉他。约珥书 2:28-32。弥迦书 5:2-5 —— 他必日见尊大，直到地极。这位必作我们的平安。哈巴谷书 2:14 —— 认识耶和华荣耀的知识要充满遍地，好像水充满洋海一般。撒迦利亚书 9:9-10 —— 他的权柄必从这海管到那海，从大河管到地极。玛拉基书 1:11 —— 从日出之地到日落之处，我的名在外邦中必尊为大。新约诸经——为工人祷告：马太福音 9:37-38 —— 要收的庄稼多，做工的人少；所以你们当求庄稼的主，打发工人出去收他的庄稼。宣教工作的次序：路加福音 24:47；使徒行传 1:8 —— 并要在耶路撒冷、犹太全地和撒玛利亚，直到地极，作我的见证。

EN[The original and sole Master Missionary is our Lord Jesus Christ; and as Lord of His kingdom He has put His own Divine commission upon His followers. It is "Come!" and "Go!"—two commands in one: "Come, learn of Me!" "Go, preach the gospel!" His first command to His disciples was, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men"; His last, "Go ye and make disciples of all the nations." Discipleship and apostleship are one and inseparable. The instinct of true Christian life is everywhere the same: we learn but to teach; we know of Jesus but to tell of Jesus; we commune with Him but to communicate Him. Even so are we sent as He has been sent. Thus the Church is a coin of Divine minting: one side shows the likeness of its Lord, the other the map of the world; both devices are so indelibly stamped into the metal that to mar either harms the coin, and to efface either destroys it. Thus Christ is at once Authority and Pattern, Inspirer and Organizer, Author and End of missions. Missions are but a step—though the first, and it may be the longest single step—in the conversion of the world; the main part of the task devolves on the native church in each land. Our part is to organize the individuals whom we may convert into an indigenous, independent and expansive church, which shall be the type of a native and productive Christianity. We are to found this church on Christ and the apostles, to train it from the start in the principles of self-reliance, self-control and self-propagation; to develop its ministry, found its institutions, organize its work. From that point the attitude of the mission to the church, and of the missionary to the native pastor, is to be that of John the Baptist to Jesus: "He must increase, but I must decrease." Edward A. Lawrence. — The object of missions is the development of native churches, with a view to their ultimate settlement upon a self-supporting, self-governing, and self-extending system. When this settlement has been effected, the mission will have attained its euthanasia, and the missionary and all missionary agency can be transferred to "the regions beyond." Henry Venn.]

BSBJohn 3:30 He must increase; I must decrease.

中〔那位最初的、也是唯一的『宣教之师』，是我们的主耶稣基督；他作为自己国度的主，把他自己神圣的差遣加在跟随他的人身上。那差遣是『来！』与『去！』——两道命令合为一道：『到我这里来，跟我学！』『去传福音！』他对门徒最初的命令是：『来跟从我，我要叫你们得人如得鱼』；最后的命令是：『你们要去，使万民作我的门徒。』门徒身份与使徒身份是一而不可分的。真基督徒生命的本能，处处都是一样的：我们学，只为教；我们认识耶稣，只为传讲耶稣；我们与他相交，只为把他传通出去。他怎样被差遣，我们也照样被差遣。这样，教会就是一枚神圣铸造的钱币：一面是它的主的形像，另一面是世界的地图；两面的图记都如此不可磨灭地打进了金属之中，以致损伤任何一面就伤了这钱币，磨去任何一面就毁了这钱币。因此，基督同时是宣教的权柄与范型、灵感与组织者、创始者与归宿。宣教不过是世界归主的一步——虽然是第一步，或许也是最长的一步；这任务的主体部分要落在各地本土的教会身上。我们的本分，是把我们所领归的个人组织成一个本色的、独立的、能扩展的教会，使之成为本土而多产之基督教的典范。我们要把这教会建在基督与使徒的根基上，从一开始就以自立、自治、自传的原则训练它；培养它的教牧，创立它的机构，组织它的工作。从那一刻起，差会对教会、宣教士对本地牧师的姿态，就当是施洗约翰对耶稣的姿态：『他必兴旺，我必衰微。』劳伦斯（Edward A. Lawrence）——宣教的目标，是发展本土教会，以期它们最终安立于自养、自治、自传的体系之上。这一安立一旦达成，差会便完成了它的『善终』（euthanasia），宣教士与一切宣教机构就可以转往『更远的地方』了。文恩（Henry Venn）〕

EN[Are Christian missions a failure? Not in the thought of those who understand the worth of human nature, and the natural law of progress in moral enterprises. Although the numerical ratio of true religion to the false remains substantially unaltered, a great work has been done: it is much to have become familiar with the principles and methods on which missions should be conducted; it is much to have ascertained the true points of application for the great Christian lever; it is much to have already raised by it some millions into the hopes and fruitions of eternal life. Henceforth more rapid successes may be expected. As planets continually accelerate their pace as they approach the sun, as fortunes increase with larger leaps the larger they become—so the missionary enterprise ever grows in splendor of movement as it advances toward its goal. Its past gains are out at compound interest; its past gains are the first terms of a geometrical series whose final members are nations born in a day, and the kingdoms of the world become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. The world is an occupied field: every race is being taught; every considerable nation is hearing in its own tongue God's wonderful Word. That Word is sounding out in scores of languages; it radiates from thousands of missionary centers. Scores of boards, thousands of trained laborers, and tens of thousands of zealous assistants record already their hundreds of thousands of converts and their millions of eager listeners; ci-devant receivers of missionaries are become missionary senders. Mountains are dwindling, paths are straightening, gates are opening. Everywhere civilization and order wait on the steps of the growing faith; everywhere science and art, commerce and liberty, piety and heaven support her starry train. E. F. Burr.]

BSBIsaiah 66:8 Who has heard of such as this? Who has seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.

中〔基督教宣教是失败的吗？在懂得人性价值、懂得道德事业进步之自然规律的人看来，绝非如此。虽然真宗教与假宗教的人数比例大体未变，一件伟大的工作却已做成：能弄清宣教当循的原理与方法，这本身就了不起；能查明这根伟大的基督教杠杆真正的着力点，这本身就了不起；能借它已经把数以百万计的人举入永生的盼望与实现之中，这本身就了不起。此后可以指望更迅速的成功。行星越接近太阳，速度就不断加快；财富越大，增长的跨度就越大——照样，宣教事业越向其目标推进，其运动的壮丽就越增长。它过往的收益是按复利计息的；它过往的收益是一个几何级数的头几项，而这级数最末的项是『一日而生的国民』，是『世上的国成了我主和主基督的国』。世界是一片已被占据的禾场：每一个种族都在受教；每一个有分量的国家都在用自己的语言听见神奇妙的话语。那话语正以数十种语言发声；它从数以千计的宣教中心辐射出去。数十个差会、数千名受过训练的工人、数万名热心的助手，已经记录下他们数十万的归信者与数百万的热切听众；从前接受宣教士的地方，如今已成为差派宣教士的地方。群山在缩小，道路在拉直，门户在开启。所到之处，文明与秩序都随行在这日增之信仰的脚步旁；所到之处，科学与艺术、商业与自由、虔敬与天国，都为她如星辰般的行列作扈从。伯尔（E. F. Burr）〕

EN[Considerations by which we are bound to the high duty of preaching the Gospel to all nations. 1. We must secure the acceptance of Christianity everywhere, if we are to preserve Christianity anywhere. The final test of truth in any department—whether in science or philosophy or political economy or religion—is the universality of its application, its congruity with fact. No doctrine can survive unless it can conquer; its universal acceptance is the inexorable condition of its self-preservation. Christianity must supplant all other religions, or itself ultimately vanish from every land. 2. The golden rule summons us to love our neighbor as ourselves; and the whole world is our neighbor. Philanthropy commits us to the evangelization of the world. Man is man wherever he is found, and he is entitled to all that man can be; we may not rest until all men have the very best. If our Christian civilization is the best which the world has seen, we are bound, as lovers of humanity, to make it regnant in all lands—and regnant in its principles, not merely in its fruits; for its fruits cannot be made secure unless the seed be made to take root and grow. 3. The command of the Captain of our salvation. We are under marching orders. The question is not, as has well been said, whether the heathen can be saved unless we send the Gospel to them, but "whether we can be saved if we do not obey Jesus Christ." We have been bought with a price; we live not unto ourselves, but unto Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. Faith in Christ means complete and abiding surrender to Him; its perpetual interrogative is the question of the persecutor prostrate on the highway to Damascus: "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" The answer is clear and unequivocal: "Disciple all nations; preach the Gospel to every creature." That imperative, based upon the sovereignty secured by the atoning death on the cross and the resurrection from the grave, silences all objection and rebukes all hesitancy. Be the result what it may, Christian loyalty permits no option. Self-preservation urges us to the task of the world's conversion; philanthropy adds its mighty imperative; the trump of the incarnate Son of God sounds the commanding charge; and the eternal purpose of God makes our march a triumphal procession. Behrends.]

BSBActs 9:6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

中〔那些把我们捆绑于『向万民传福音』这一崇高本分之上的考量。1. 我们必须使基督教在各处都被接受，否则就无法在任何一处保住基督教。真理在任何领域——科学、哲学、政治经济学或宗教——的终极检验，都是其适用的普世性、其与事实的相合。任何教义若不能征服，就不能存活；普世的被接纳，是它自我保存不容通融的条件。基督教必须取代其他一切宗教，否则它自己终必从每一片土地上消失。2. 金律召我们爱人如己；而全世界都是我们的邻舍。博爱之义把我们捆在使世界福音化的责任上。人无论在哪里被找到，都是人；他有权得着人所能得的一切；在所有人都得着那最好的之前，我们不可安歇。倘若我们的基督教文明是世界所见过最好的，我们作为爱人类的人，就有责任使它在万邦作王——并且是在它的诸原则上作王，不只是在它的果实上；因为若不使种子扎根生长，果实就无法确保。3. 我们救恩之元帅的命令。我们是在行军令之下的。问题并不像人们常说的那样，是『我们若不把福音送去，异教徒能否得救』；而是『我们若不顺从耶稣基督，我们自己能否得救』。我们是重价买来的；我们不再为自己活，乃为那爱我们、为我们舍己的主活。信基督意味着向他完全而持久的降服；这信心永恒的疑问句，正是那位扑倒在往大马士革路上的逼迫者所问的：『主啊，你要我做什么？』答案清楚而不含糊：『使万民作门徒；传福音给万民听。』这道命令根植于十字架赎罪之死与从坟墓复活所取得的主权，它使一切异议缄默，责备一切迟疑。结果如何，姑且不论；基督徒的忠诚不容许有别的选项。自保之义催促我们去做使世界归主的工；博爱之义添上它有力的命令；道成肉身之神子的号角吹响了冲锋令；而神永恒的旨意，使我们的行军成为一场凯旋的行列。贝伦兹（Behrends）〕

EN[Narrowness and partiality are not allowable. The world is our parish, as John Wesley said that it was his. There is no land which is not our province; there is no race which we may neglect; there are no classes which we may avoid. It is evident, too, that the division of Christian missions into home and foreign departments is formal rather than real: it is convenient for purposes of administration, but beyond that it has no value. Our obligation to Christianize the Empire State or the Western Continent is not one whit greater or more pressing than our duty to evangelize Asia and Africa. Localization in endeavor, and even in gifts, has its uses, for no man can do everything; but the localization of personal enlistment should always be under the law of universal conquest. Two diametrically opposite dangers confront us here. We may forget the world in our specific tasks—influenced by local attachments, or racial affinities, or purely patriotic motives—while the cry of the heathen world falls upon dull ears: such are the people who tell us that they are interested in home but not in foreign missions. But if we evangelize our own neighborhoods for Christ's sake, we do it for the world's sake; home evangelization must, in the outcome, be foreign evangelization, and therefore it should be such in initiative and outlook. On the other hand, it is possible to be so absorbed in distant communities, and in peoples of strange speech, as to become indifferent to the destitution which environs us. Charity does begin at home, but it does not end there; and, what is more, it is not charity even at home unless the pulse beat for all the world. The field is the world, and you have your own particular plot to plow and seed down and keep: work over against your own door, but do it, as did Nehemiah's associates, in order that all the breaches in the encompassing wall may be repaired. Behrends.]

BSBMatthew 13:38 The field is the world, and the good seed represents the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,

中〔狭隘与偏私是不容许的。世界就是我们的教区，正如约翰·卫斯理说世界是他的教区。没有哪一片土地不是我们的辖区；没有哪一个种族是我们可以忽略的；没有哪一个阶层是我们可以回避的。同样明显的是：把基督教宣教划分为『本国』与『国外』两部，只是形式上的划分，而非实质的：这在行政管理上便利，此外便无价值可言。我们使纽约州或整个西半球基督化的义务，丝毫不比我们向亚洲、非洲传福音的责任更大、更紧迫。在努力上、甚至在奉献上有所在地化，自有其用处——因为没有人能做一切事；但个人投身之地的选定，永远应当置于『普世征服』这一律法之下。这里有两种截然相反的危险迎面而来。我们可能在自己具体的任务中忘了世界——受地方情结、种族亲缘或纯粹爱国动机的影响——而异教世界的呼声落在充耳不闻的耳中：那些告诉我们『我只关心本国宣教，不关心国外宣教』的人正属此类。但我们若为基督的缘故向自己的邻里传福音，我们就是为世界的缘故而做；本国的福音化在结局上必成为国外的福音化，因此它在起意与眼界上就应当如此。另一方面，人也可能过于沉浸于遥远的群体、沉浸于言语陌生的民族，以致对环绕自己身边的贫乏漠不关心。『慈善确实始于家中』，但不止于家中；更进一步说：若脉搏不为全世界而跳动，那连在家中也算不得慈善。禾场就是世界，而你有自己那一小块地要犁、要撒种、要看守：就在你自家门口对面做工吧——但要像尼希米的同伴那样做，好使环城墙垣上一切的破口都得修补。贝伦兹〕

EN[The best training and ability are demanded in foreign missions. Nor should it be overlooked that the foreign missionary among the apostles was the most carefully educated of them all: he had gone from Tarsus to Jerusalem, and sat at the feet of the great Gamaliel; he was the only college graduate. There may be room for lay evangelists, with the scantiest of educational preparation, in lands where Christianity has become naturalized—though even here the necessity of a thoroughly equipped ministry is greater than ever; but the men who are to subdue the paganism of Asia and Africa cannot be recruited from the ranks of the undisciplined. The foreign field needs the best, and must have the best: it requires the clearest personal Christian experience, the most steady poise of mind, the most careful and thorough educational discipline, the most genuine and cosmopolitan sympathy, and the firmest theological equipment which can be found in the ranks of the Church. It is the greatest task committed to her hands, and to it she may well consecrate her choicest recruits. Behrends.]

BSBActs 22:3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but raised in this city. I was educated at the feet of Gamaliel in strict conformity to the law of our fathers. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.

中〔国外宣教所需要的，是最好的训练与才干。也不可忽略：使徒之中那位到国外去的宣教士，恰是他们当中受教育最精心的一位——他从大数去到耶路撒冷，坐在大迦玛列的脚前受教；他是他们中间唯一的『大学毕业生』。在基督教已经本土化的地方，或许还有受过最起码教育训练的平信徒布道者的位置——尽管即便在那里，对一支装备精良之教牧队伍的需要也比以往任何时候更大；但那些要去攻克亚洲、非洲之异教的人，绝不能从未受训练者的队伍里征召。国外禾场需要最好的，也必须得着最好的：它要求教会队伍中所能找到的最清晰的个人属灵经历、最沉稳的心智定力、最精心彻底的教育训练、最真挚而具世界胸襟的同情心、以及最坚实的神学装备。这是交托在教会手中最伟大的任务，她大可把自己最上乘的新兵献给它。贝伦兹〕

EN[An unsupported theory. There is a theory of missions which fixes its thought, not upon the world's conversion to Christ, but upon Christ's second and final advent: to hasten the day of His appearing is made the great incentive. There are others who tell us that the gathering of the elect is the task which the Church is set to accomplish. Every one of these theories projects the goal into the future. But even in the Apocalypse men are not snatched from earth into the New Jerusalem: the City of God descends, and His tabernacle is among men; it is a present and earthly triumph which the inspired seer traces. Our task lies close at hand: it is the historical triumph of the Gospel in all lands, through the voluntary allegiance of individual souls to Jesus Christ, who by the power of His grace are to be renewed in the spirit of their minds and established in righteousness. True, this is only preliminary—the preface or introductory chapter to an eternal volume of history, the plan of which has not been disclosed to us, but in which Jesus Christ retains His royal ascendency. The Lamb slain from the foundation is also the Lord of the eternities; the cross of Christ is the flashing ruby set in the heart of the eternal sovereignties. All this is true; but with it we are no more immediately concerned than we are with the cosmic preparations for the appearance of man upon the globe. The post-historic period is as much a sealed volume to us as is the prehistoric age. Terrestrial history bounds the task which is set us in the establishment of the kingdom of God: in miniature, and among mortal men, the earth is to be made what the immortal heavens are; and this is to be secured by the simple method of personal discipleship to Jesus Christ. If, as President Wayland argued, the dignity of an enterprise must be measured by the vastness of the undertaking, the arduousness of its execution, and the simplicity of the means to be used, then the evangelization of the world is the sublimest which can possibly enlist the energy of man: none is more daring, none is more difficult, and none relies upon simpler methods—the preaching of the Gospel, securing personal repentance and faith. Behrends.]

BSBRevelation 21:2, 3 2 I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.

中〔一种缺乏根据的理论。有一种宣教理论，把心思定在基督第二次、也是最终的降临上，而不是定在世界归向基督上：催促他显现之日的到来，被立为最大的动力。另有些人告诉我们：教会被派定要完成的任务，是把选民收聚齐全。这些理论无一例外，都把目标投射到未来。但即便在启示录里，人也不是被从地上攫走、送进新耶路撒冷：乃是神的城降下来，他的帐幕在人间；受默示的先见所描画的，是一场当下的、地上的凯旋。我们的任务近在手边：那就是福音在万邦历史性的得胜——借着个别灵魂自愿归顺耶稣基督；这些灵魂要靠他恩典的大能，在心志上被更新、在公义上被建立。诚然，这只是序幕——是一部永恒历史巨著的序言或开篇；那部书的计划尚未向我们披露，但耶稣基督在其中始终保有他君王的至尊。那从创世以来被杀的羔羊，也是万世万代的主；基督的十字架是镶嵌在永恒诸主权之心脏上闪耀的红宝石。这一切都是真的；但我们对它的直接关切，并不比我们对『人出现于地球之前的宇宙准备』的关切更多。『后历史时期』对我们是一卷封闭的书，正如『史前时代』一样。地上的历史，界定了在建立神国这件事上派给我们的任务：在小小的范围内、在必死之人中间，要使地上成为不朽诸天的样式；而这要借一个简单的方法来达成——个人作耶稣基督的门徒。倘若像韦兰校长所论证的：一项事业的尊贵，须以其所图之浩大、其执行之艰巨、其所用手段之简单来衡量——那么使世界福音化，就是可能征召人类精力的最崇高的事业：没有哪一件更大胆，没有哪一件更艰难，也没有哪一件依赖更简单的方法——就是传扬福音，使人个别地悔改与相信。贝伦兹〕