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THE RADICAL FORCES OF CHRISTIANITY, AS EXHIBITED IN THE WORK OF THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.

BY REV. J.W. COOPER, D.D.

The work of Christ is the work of Christianity. By the "radical forces
of Christianity," we mean the simple spirit of the Master, in its
original and energetic operation. We are dealing with no abstractions,
neither are we considering the operation of human agencies. What
Christ was in his earthly ministry, that Christianity is, because of
His living presence {157} in the church to-day. Wherever we discover
the working of those principles which were exemplified in his life,
there He is present in living power, the inspirer of the endeavor, and
the strength of it. The claim that the work of the American Missionary
Association makes upon our attention, may be presented in a variety of
forms. Its work is commended to us, for example, because it is
patriotic, that is, it makes its appeal to our self-interest. The
instinct of self-preservation demands that we sustain it. Four and a
half millions of Negroes in our Southern States are utterly
illiterate. Half that number of Southern whites are in the same
deplorable condition. These men are citizens. They hold the ballot.
Our free institutions are not safe in such hands as these. Education
is an absolute necessity. This wide-spreading and dense ignorance,
among masses of free American people, must be speedily overcome. We do
not wonder, therefore, that Andrew D. White in his scholarly address,
"The Message of the 19th Century to the 20th," puts the education of
the South first among the many great and pressing problems that claim