Throughout the course of my ministry I have often been painfully impressed by the persistence of that widespread misconception which supposes the chief end of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be the providing of a better estate in another world for those who confess Him here; and which assumes, to the utter preverting of the truth, that the gospel has no specific gift for the immediate needs of men—that it affords them no practical advantage in the struggle for existence—that it adds, at any rate, but little to the. means whereby they hope to attain success (that is, money, fame, position, power)—that, in short, it may be left out of consideration in estimating the forces which make for the prosperity of a people.

This misconception not only involves a very superficial appreciation of the gospel, but implies also intensely selfish notions about wealth and well-being. The true conception is clear, if men will but look for it.

We—and here I mean the Church in its comprehensive sense, that is, all who sincerely confess and follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour—to whom the Gospel has been committed as a sacred trust, know full well that the gospel call is a call to manhood, that the gospel power is the power of God unto manhood, and that the gospel ideal of manhood is Jesus Christ.

We affirm that the gospel is the mightiest of all factors essential to the true and lasting prosperity of both individuals and nations; and, consequently, that it is of the highest economic value.

Can we justify this assertion? Most certainly.