It does not mean that the people are all Christian.  Only a minority so class themselves; the great majority do not.  Neither does it mean that that minority called Christian is controlled in daily life and in business by the principles of Jesus.  For by pretty general consent they are not so controlled.  It is not too much to say that there is more of that same spirit of selfishness that marks the heathen world, dominating the personal lives of people in Christian lands, than there is of the unselfish Christ spirit.  That may sound unkind and too critical to you.  It is not said in a critical spirit, but simply in the desire to get the facts as they are.  I am fully persuaded that the more you think about it the more you will come to see that this is simply the truth.

Nor yet does that term, “Christian lands,” mean that these lands are as distinctly Christian through and through as heathen lands are distinctly heathen, or non-Christian, through and through.  As a matter of fact, Christian lands are not dominated as thoroughly by the Christian spirit as heathen lands are by the heathen spirit.  We really don’t deserve our distinctive phrase as much as they deserve theirs.

It does mean chiefly this, that here in these lands the Christian Church has its stronghold; that Christian standards are commonly recognized, though in practice they are so commonly disregarded.  It means that the enormous incidental blessings, in material and mental life, that always follow the preaching of the Gospel are here enjoyed most fully.  And it means, too, that much of the humanizing, softening, and energizing power of the Gospel of Christ has seeped and soaked into our common civilization and affected all our life.

This is true; yet the mass of persons living in this atmosphere, and enjoying its great advantages, are wholly selfish in the main drive of their lives, and so in being selfish are un-Christian.  While Christian ideals dominate so much of our life, the term “Christian lands” really describes our privileges more than it does our practices.

The Greatest Need.

A word now about these great Christian lands of Europe and America.  The Catholic countries of Europe have been regarded as mission fields by the Protestant churches, and missionary operations have been conducted in them for many years.  Russia has likewise been commonly regarded as missionary territory, and a very difficult one at that.  In portions of Great Britain, in our own Western States and frontiers, in the Southern mountain States, and in other sections, and among special classes, missionary work has been regularly carried on.

And the cities, those great, strange, throbbing hearts of human life, are all peculiarly mission fields.  It is remarkable how the modern city reproduces world conditions morally.  The city is a sort of miniature of the world.  All the varying moral conditions of the heathen world, atheism, savagery almost, crude heathenish superstition, degradation of woman, neglect of children, and untempered lust, may be found in New York and Chicago, in London and Paris, in Vienna and Berlin, and in varying degree in all cities of Christian lands.  The grosser parts are hidden away, more or less.