The Missionary Review of the World — July 1894
G. L. )'lACKAY, T.OfSlJI, FORMOSA. REV. GI.4.)I CHENG H()A , FOn:'-'fOSA, FIR:'T CON
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XVII. No. 7.-0ld &ries.–JULY.–VOL. VII. No. 7.-Ne1IJ SerieB.
THE IMPERATIVE NEED OF A NEW STANDARD OF GIVING.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
Evangelization, like all work for God, has a financial basis, and, if that basis is rotten, unsound, unsteady, the whole structure is in peril.
One needs but to compare the prevailing practice of giving, or rather of not giving, with the teaching of J:!oly Scripture and the demands of God's work, to see that from the very foundations upward our whole system of so-called benevolence needs reconstruction. Such comparison becomes contrast at every point. It is only in rare and exceptional instances that there can be found any real conformity or approximation to the pattern showed us in the mount; and it is a sad fact that the current impression is that the biblicll standard is an impracticable ideal!
This whole matter must have radical treatment, for the evil is radical. We shall never reach it, therefore, until we are ready to eradicate the selfishness which is its root. Evils which are deeply rooted in the human heart are hard to exterminate. As the farmer is tempted to be content with breaking off, at the surface, an obstinate weed which should be pulled up, and which, if not pulled up, will only sprout again and gather new strength deeper down, making more difficult its eradication, so we are constantly prone to be satisfied with superficial remedies for evils which only grow stronger under our mistaken treatment.
The wrongdoing which we are now seeking to expose is not only radical, but respectable, and it hides behind respectability. This is the favorite refuge of all the most subtle social sins. Now that slavery is abolished in Britain and the United States, we all marvel that such a system could ever have found a cloak or its deformity and enormity. Human beings were put on the auction-block and sold like cattle. Maiden modesty was openly profaned to make appeal to the lowest passions of buyers; husbands and wives sold to different owners, and then taught to enter into new marital relations with other parties, so that all sanctity was lost to marriage; parents and children hopelessly parted, as unfeelingly as a calf
THE IMPERATIVE NEED OF A NEW STANDARD OF GIVING
and a cow-every nameless atrocity was p~rpetrated by a system that made merchandise of the bodies and souls of human beings; and a chief jus- tice (1) insulted his title by deciding that a black man had "no rights which a white man was bound to respect." And yet such an organized iniquity hid behind law, as legal; hid behind custom, as respectable; hid bchind commerce, as profitable; hid behind ethics, a!'! moral j hid behind even philanthropy, as benevolent, and behind religion, as pious! And to-day the drink habit, and the still worse drink traffic, find similar hid- ing-places j but the time will come when men will look back and wonder that ever in a "Christian nation such arguments and apologies could be allowed to shelter evils so outrageous."
Hung Fung, the Chinese sage, nearly a hundred years old, being asked by the emperor what was the great risk of the empire. answered, "The rat in the statue j" and he explained that the rat hides in the hollow, painted, wooden statues, erected to the memory of dead ancestors; and he cannot be smoked out, because that would desecrate the statue j and can- not be drowned out, for that would wash the paint off; and so the vermin can find secure refuge in the sacred enclosure. Everywhere social evils are the rat in the statue. Many a sin gets into the Church itself, and cannot be smoked out lest we defile the Church, nor drowned out lest we wash off from the Church the paint of respectability.
It has been hinted that this radical, respectable evil of withholding from God and His cause, is furthermore entrenched behind positive resistance to the plain teaching of Scripture. A senator of the United States shocked the sentiment of the community by declaring that the Golden Rule and the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount cannot be carried out in politics j but it is a fact that the body of professed Christians do not believe Bible teaching on the subject of giving. A tree is known by its fruit, and faith is proved by works. What our real creed is, character and conduct reveal. Were Christ's precepts really received by us, our whole present . system of giving would give place to another j and our present object is to deal fearlessly and faithfully with this whole question, studying only to show ourselves approved unto God. Missions are to-day threatened with a collapse, from the dry rot in the floor timbers of our financial system!
Paul committed to the Ephesian elders the crown of the beatitudes : "Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, 'It is MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE.''' That is the law about which the whole conception of Christian giving must crystallize. Life has a double aspect: getting and giving-the receptive and the impartive sides. Both represent good, but giving is the higher. Yet it is obvious that there can be no giving until there is getting j but it is as true that the ultimate object of getting is to be found in giving. To enjoy what we receive is lawful, but not if it be final j we receive in order to impart, and the highest joy comes only when the blessing passes on to others. It is in the course of impartation that the stream develops and deposits its richest residuum. He who retains what he receives forfeits the" more blessed" experience. Now everybody believes it is blessed to receive, and some know that it is also blessed to give; but very few really believe it is more blessed to give, and hence the blessings imparted by us are everywhere but a fraction of what are bestowed upon us: the bulk of God's best gifts are wasted or worse than wasted on self-indulgence, or held and hoarded to be finally lavished on vicious pleasures by heedless heirs, or perhaps dissipated among greedy lawyers!
The grand lesson of God's Word is that the highest grade of living is giving, not of substance only, but of self. In Provo 11 : 24 we read, " There is that scattereth and yet increaseth : and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty." In Mark 8 : 35 we have the corresponding New Testament lesson: "Whosoever will save his life shall lose it : but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel's, the same shall save it." This is to the natural man not only a paradox, but the apex of absurdity. To increase by scattering and grow poor by hoarding; to save by losing and lose by saving is the climax of contradiction, yet here is to be found the summit of Divine philosophy.
God's law is impartation. "I will bless thee, . . . and make thee a blessing. " "Who comforteth us, . . . that we may be able to comfort others" (Gen. 12 : 2 ; 2 Cor. 1 : 4). We can understand this scriptural law only as we first perceive what is the depraved tendency of our sinful nature.
" The love of money is the root of all evil," yet that love of money is only one branch from a deeper root-the LOVE OF SELF. Selfishness is the great radical sin, of which all sins are ramifications; selfishness, the sum of all deformities, the parent of all enormities. Paul's awful catalogue of apostasies begins and ends with selfishness: "Men shall be lovers of their own selves, . . . lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God" (2 Tim. 3 : 2, 4). The corner-stone and capstone of wickedness is the same idolatry of self.
All men are therefore divisible into two classes: those whose supreme aim is to get, and those whose grand aim is to give. The former aim feeds and fattens selfishness till it becomes monstrous ; the latter starves selfishness that it may develop benevolence.
It has been hinted that selfishness is but a root-stock, having many branches. The three branches from which all the more minute ones spring are the three lusts : appetite, ambition, avarice, or the lust of pleasure, of power, of gain. To make the lesson the more startling, we take the one branch, avarice, and trace some of its" apples of Sodom." Let us see how greed paralyzes all true giving.
1. First, greed brings absorption. The law of selfishness is, Get all you can, and keep all you get. No wonder it makes monopolists and monsters, and that modern society presents the awful contrast of enormous accumulations looking down like Alpine peaks on abject want and hopeless degr~dation. Dives, everywhere, among dainties, with Lazarus at his gate, among the dogs j the one fattening on luxuries, the other starving for necessities. But what is worse, there is deliberate adoption of the policy of self-indulgence. The good gifts which God meant we should weave on love's magic loom into a garment to cover human nakedness, we calmly braid into a hammock of ease, in which we lie, pillowed on down, swung between the Church and the world, fanned with refinement and sprinkled with rosewater. A recent article in a leading secular magazine, on " How to Live on Seven Huudred Pounds a year," makes provision for house rent, food, clothes, education, travel, resthetic culture, and even worldly amusement, but not a penny allowance for charity! The theatre and opera are necessities, but to compassionate poverty and misery is optional. and may be left out of life's scheme entirely. Meanwhile, a woman advertises for a lost poodle, worth two hundred and fifty pounds sterling, whose diamond collar and silver chain are worth thirty-seven pounds more. A poodle that represents nearly three hundred pounds is a necessity, but to gi,'c anything to suffering is not needful! A professing Christian in America spends in one year on a new house for himself more than the four leading missionary boards of the world spend that year to evangelize a thousand millions of heathen.
Absorption means the sucking-up process, and suggests the sponge which drinks up what it is dipped in, and swells larger and larger, till it can hold no more, but never gives out anything except under pressure. Hundreds and thousands are mere sanctified sponges that soak up all God's gifts, and have to be squeezed hard to give out even a reluctant drop. What is a dead sea but a basin into which rivers pour their sweet waters only to stagnate, become bitter, heavy, acrid, because they have no outlet j and around such dead sea no plants grow, over it no birds fly, in it no fish swim. Life comcs into it, but turns to death! There are many dead seas in Christian congregations. God pours His gifts upon and into them, but there is no outpour in blessing to man! In the light of Christ's words, " Lay not np for yourselves treasures upon earth," it never seems to occur to some to ask whether a disciple has a right to hoard riches 1 II. Again, such absorption is idolatry, for idolatry is the intervention of any object between the soul and God, to hide or displace Him. One needs not to bow before stocks and stones or brute beasts, to worship idols. Whatever God sees to stand in the way of the supreme love and obedience due to Him constitutes an idol. No idol is so common and universal as SELF.
The law of all idolatry is assimilation of the worshipper to the object worshipped. If it be a brute beast, he becomes brutal, beastly j if a stock or stone,he grows dumb and senseless, helpless, irrational,like the wood or stone. And so, whatever be the idol, the worshipper comes to resemble it. " They that make them are like unto them j so is everyone that trusteth in them" (Ps. 115 : 8). This law is universal. He who practically worships horses, and is found absorbed in the race-course, gets " horsey"-has the smell of the stable, the look of the jockey. The dev- otee of fashion becomes the mere animated tailor's dummy or wax doll. Beau Brummel spent £~~r thousand dollars a year on his wardrobe; spent three hours sometimes in artistic tying of a starched cravat, and invited a score of friends to witness his feat. Such a man has no character, except what he wears on his back, and that is made at so much the yard, in the tailor's shop. How hollow and shallow grow the fashionable women at our watering-places, who have nothing to do from morn to night but to dress three or four times a day, comb or curl their hair, and study to give impression of a boundless resource of wardrobe and wealth! And the worshipper of money! A coin is hard and unimpressible ; it has a metallic ring. He who makes an idol of money gets to be hard, unimpressible, irresponsible; he gets the ring of metal, and ., drops into his coffin with a chink"! There was a manufacturer in Britain, who for a score of years spent his time in counting over his hoarded sovereigns, daily repeating the process that he might gloat his eyes over his treasure. Such a man worships the golden calf, and becomes a golden calf himself. Those who idolize worldly pleasure get to be frivolous and empty, incapable of seriousness and sobriety, like the crackling of thorns under a pot. Those who pursue fame, the bauble or bubble of reputation, become as a bauble or bubble, dazzling but unsubstantial, mere illusions of display. Even culture, made an idol, transforms a man into a bookish semblance of true manhood, stiff, stately, to be jealously guarded from all defiling contact with common folk, securely shelved behind glass doors!
III. A third result of greed is moral and spiritual atrophy. This word means, in medicine, an emaciation or wasting of the body for want of nourishment. In some cases the stomach, kidneys, liver, lungs shrink to one third of their natural dimensions. There is a corresponding emaciation of soul-a contraction of the intellect.ual and moral faculties, a consumption of vital powers, an absolute loss of function. Simple selfishness may atrophize the soul, until sympathy and sensibility are lost, and one can look calmly on sorrow and suffering unmoved. The benevolent impulses grow by exercise, and shrivel from want of true activity. Inaction becomes incapacity for action. True life grows by its very exhaustion, as the stream that pours from the spring leaves room for water to pour into it. To restrain noble action is to become incapacitated for noble action. vVhen one gratifies good and unselfish motives, he becomes magnanimous, great-souled. When he learns to concentrate all upon himself, the very process by which he hopes to enlarge, belittles, he becomes pusillanimous, little-souled. Indulgence of self seems harmless, but it is dangerous. Simply to say, "I want this, and, therefore, will have it," is destructive of the highest type of manhood. In the fable of the "Magic Skin" the wearer got every wish, but with every fulfilled wish the skin shrank, and held him the tighter, until with the last gratification life itself was crushed out. The fable needs no interpreter. The magic skin is selfishness; and every time self secures a new gratification, the power to enjoy is lessened, and the vital orgallB of the soul are cramped into narrower quarters. God's gifts, even in their so-called enjoyment, are perverted to self-loss and self-ruin.
There was a man who, as a foundling, was picked up on a doorstep and sheltered in an orphan asylum. There he found friends and a start in 'a successful business life. Afterward when he walked on 'change, a merchant prince, he refused help to the very institution to which he,owed all he was. Monstrous ingratitude! Yet" Nathan said to David, Thou art the man!" He who is indifferent to the cause of missions ,and says, "Missions do not pay," forgets the pit whence he was digged. Our Scotch ancestors were once cannibals, and counted: the herdsman a better meal than his herd, and a female breast a special luxury at a feast. He who scorns cannibals as too degraded to be worth saving, forgets that the missions he will not help, educated his forefathers for the manhood they have attained and transmitted.
The proof of this moral atrophy is found in the fact that many a selfish soul is to.day looking on the absolute, destitution of hundreds of millions, without a sympathetic pang that answers to their cry for help! Douglas Jerrold caricatured such iu the man who, hearing that it was desired to raise, in pounds sterling, "five and four naughts," benevolently said, " Put me down for one of the naughts /" He was one of those who give " nothing to nobody."
The terrible influences of habitual selfishness on character make heroic treatment of this whole question necessary. However respectable the evil, we must boldly ferret it out in its hiding-place, and drive it forth into daylight and compel ourselves to see its hideousness.
A gracious God has provided an antidote for all this inordinate and destructive selfishness, and His great remedy is GIVING-habitual, systematic, self-denying, universal giving-a life whose law is impartation, which is the royal law of love.
As we turn to consider this counter-aspect of the theme, let us tarry to learn a fundamental lesson. 'What is the primary object of giving? Most people would answer that God needs our gifts, or His poor do ; but the real reason why He calls for our gifts lies farther back than this, in our need of imparting. Psalm fiftieth contains a remarkable lesson on this subject. There the Judge of all summons to His court those who, in the matter of sacrifice, have entered into covenant with Him. It was an age when' the apostasy had begun, that ripened into such hypocrisy and formalism five hundred years later. As yet the offerings continued to be brought, but instead of being presented as the gifts of a grateful heart for mercies bestowed, they were brought in a self-righteous spirit, often by ungodly worshippers, who imagined they were putting God under some sort of obligation, instead of acknowledging a boundless obligation under which He had put them! Hear Jehovah's sharp rebukes. Does He need our gifts ~ "If I were hungry I would not tell thee, for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof." Hear Him again rebuke all ungodly and disobedient givers: "What hast thou to do to . . . take My covenant in thy mouth ~ seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest My words behind thee." Not only has God no need of our offerings, but He will accept none of them unless brought by a docile, obedient soul. He will take no "blood money" from him who consents to thievery or partakes of adultery. He will not have man think that He is " altogether such an one" as himself, to grecdily accept a gift becaU8e it is a gift,. and the Church is here taught a lesson that the Word of God gives no warrant for asking any impenitent and godless man for money to carryon Christian enterprises. God wants consecrated gifts, and never separates the offering from the offerer. We must, then, learn, first of all. thiB lesson, that the value of a gift., in God's eyes, depends entirely not on its amount, but on the character and spirit of him who presents it.
·What, then, is the primal purpose of our being permitted to give? Hear our Lord: "The poor ye have always with you, that whensoever ye will ye may do them good." "Vell wishing is benevolence ; well doing is beneficence; and the reason why poverty is allowed always to confront us, is that our benevolent will may find exercise in beneficent doing.
1. There is in giving first a salvation implied. Salvation is a big word; it includes salvation from penalty, which is justification; salvation from power of sin, which is sanctification; and deliveranc.e from selfishness and self· idolatry, which is service. Salvation means development, full growth; we need to be saved from the sin and crime of smallness, the hell of a heart that is a temple full of idols, and self the central deity. Man is naturally a snail, and his shell his little world, out of which he ventures only to pick up some dainty morsel, always returning again into his shell to enjoy it; outside of that shell he knows no world. To learn to give, as God gives, is to drop the shell, and find the world our sphere of service; and every precious gift is to be best enjoyed as we share it with others, equally in want, or pass it on to others more needy still. No soul is ever fully, gloriously saved who does not habitually give.
2. Again, giving recognizes stewardship. Some think it means one who " stews," cooks another's victuals. Probably it means the ward or guardian of another's work. The bottom idea i!'l that of a trustee of another's property. Hear Peter: "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same as good stewards of the manifold grace of God" (1 Peter 4 : 10 ; compo 1 Cor. 12 : 6, 7). The root-conception is that all is originally and inalienably God's, and we ourselves belong to Him. Consequently we can have nothing in our own right. ·What we have wc holdhold in trust, not to hoard, or enjoy as we will, but to use as He will. The teaching of Scripture is eJ:plicit and undeniable. "vVhatsoever ye do, whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." Not only is the" Lord's portion" His own, but all is His-we are to eat, drink, clothe ourselves, furnish our home, not for our pleasure, bllt for – His glory. That is the Bible rule, as plain as words can make it. The tithe system was the outgrowth ar..d acknowledgment of this stewardship. The Jew brought a tenth to God as a constant tribute to the Owner of all, and it represented not fne maximum, but the minimum-what the poorest must give. Many a Jew gave two, sometimes three, tithes of his whole income, not including voluntary thank-offerings. And then the firstfruits and first born, what a challenge to faith! How knew the farmer or shepherd whether he should ever reap the rest of his crop, or enjoy the further increase of his flock, when he brought these first yields to the altar? He made his first acknowledgments to the Owner of all, and then trusted Him for the rest.
The tithe system cannot satisfy God's claims. Fidelity has no fixed standard, for God's bestowments vary; and the ratio of our gifts must increase according to the ratio of God's gifts to us. He who gives one hundred dollars out of a thousand must surely give a larger proportion out of ten thousand or one hundred thousand ; for can God judge by what we" give, without reference to what we keep! Is he equally as faithful a steward who reserves nine thousand out of ten, or ninety thousand out of a hundred thousand, as he who keeps but nine hundred out of a thousand dollars? In oue case there may be great self-denial, in the others absolutely none. The Christian dispensation marks a grand stride in advance, in that it no longer recognizes even the tithe as adequate, but reveals to us more fully the fact that Redemption by blood covers all we are and have, and buys it anew for our Redeemer. The highest type of Christian feels that lw is himself the Lord's portion, and he cannot put God's money into a gluttonous stomach or on a self-displaying body.
,).nd yet Cyrus H. Wheeler has shown us what even a tithe can do, in those little churches along the Euphrates, where ten humble believers, each paying his tenth, make a self-supporting church, whose native pastor can live on a level with his people, because his living is as large as their average.
3. Once more, giving develops sacrifice, and sacrifice is the necessary element in all heroic discipleship. The purpose of the Gospel is to elimInate and finally exterminate sel£. This is "the offence of the Cross," which will never cease-self-abnegation-and this doctrine, however plainly taught in the Word of God, cannot be preached even to disciples without finding resistance. The first element in all religion is self-sacrifice j it is the essence of the religion of Christ. " Deny thyself, take up thy cross, and follow Me." Those are the terms. What is self-denial? A much greater attainment than most of us imagine. If a man uses tobacco and gives it up, he calls it " self-denial;" but that is not denying ,elf, it is denying tobacco. If a woman renounces jewelry, that is not denying self, but denying jewelry. Down beneath all these and like denials, self may survive prouder and more insolent than ever; the man may get compensation for his sacrifice of the weed in the pride of his self-discipline; and the woman may carry a more boastful spirit beneath her Quaker drab than iu her finery. The Pharisees thus deceived themselves, and grew proud of their humility and more self-righteous by their very austerities. Christ says" they have their reward," in the praise they sought; but to deny self is to root up the plant of which the indulgences we cut off are only the twigs. To kill self, to destroy the very idol and its shrine, and set up God in its place-that is a very different matter; it means a revolution in the whole heing. The empire where self ruled becomes the kingdom where God reigns alone and supreme.
So as to cross-bearing. We belittle the whole phrase by talking of our "many crosses," by which we mean our thousand little vexations. Christ means one cross. The Bible never speaks of crosses, and has not once the plural form. The one and only CROSS is that whereon the disciple is crucified to the world and the world to him-each made hateful forever to the other. In other words, he only bears the cross who, like his Master, knows entire loss of self; and who, like 'him, cannot save himself because he saves others.
Space compels an abrupt conclusion to this important discussion; but we must not dismiss such a theme without noting a few "corollaries" which belong to our" theorem."
1. We have an instinctive sense of the sublimity of self-sacrifice. As Froude suggests, the artist who, in the midst of his creative work, stops to calculate how much pay his statue or picture will bring him, finds his genius forsaking him, for it <:annot breathe such a stifling air when he descends to such a carnal plane. And it is an essential element in all true giving that we corrupt it with no selfish reckoning as to return, in kind. Missions do not pay in the coin selfishness values, but it is for this reason that this field of service is most blessed in our discipline toward Christliness. We bid to the feast those who can make us no recom- pense. 2. Sacrifice must not be evaded or avoided. All excellence is propor- tioned to self-oblivion. Giving to the Lord what costs me nothing forfeits the blessing. What is attended with no sacrifice He values not. If you " give so as not to feel it," nobody else will feel it, nor will you feel its benefit. You may call it benevolence when you get rid of half-worn garments, or buy off a beggar with a shilling, or purchase respectability by getting your name on the published" list of donors j" but God calls such giving by other names. The widow, who in her mites cast in all her living, He recognized as the first of all givers, because she kept nothing, and it cost her everything. There is too much of an eye to returns. We seem to think the offertory 'boxes in God's temple 'are automatic sweetmeat machines-you put in your penny and get out your caramels. The ointment has no odor without self-denial; and the odor constitutes the preciousness and sacredness of the ointment. The avoidance of self-sacrifice is therefore not success, but disastrous failure.
3. Hence a.ll need to give. The great question is not that of securing more money, but more contributors. Vhere the large gifts of a few, who are wealthy or generous, serve to hide the neglect and indifference of the many, they are a curse rather than a blessing. In chemical galvanism the volume of the galvanic current is not increased by enlarging the individual cell, but by multiplying the number of the cells. In the Church there may be a doubling of the amount given without any real increase of the Divine 1ife in the Church j but when the number of self· denying givers is doubled, the volume of blessing is greatly increased.
The secret of sustaining missions is simple, but it requires a deeply spiritual body of disciples to learn it and live it out. To regard ourselv~s as God's stewards; to think of nothing as our own; to become mere channels of distribution, never obstructing the outflow any more than the inflow j to cultivate self-denial rather than evade it j to deny self and not simply certain indulgences; to bury self out of sight and exalt God to the throne upon its ruins j to look with Christ's eyes on a dying world and choose to save men at the expense of not saving ourselves; to withhold nothing from God, and spend every dollar as trustees of His estate ; to hide no selfishness behind ot)1ers' genero~ity, but bring out all our witches that draw us from holy serving and suffering, and slay them before God-were such the law of life with Christ's disciples, what a basis would be laid for every good work of God, and what streams of ceaseless bounty would flow into God's treasury, and from God's higher treasury into our own souls!
What lesson nature teaches us on service! The royal cocoanut palm, with its majestic coronal of long green leaves-what a type of an imparting life! Its wood is very hard and is used for posts and paddles, clubs and spears; its branches for thatching roofs; its leaves for bonnets, baskets, fans; the shells of the nut for goblets, dippers and various utensils. The milk furnishes nutritious drink; the husk, fuel; the fibres are hraided into ropes and robes; the juice of the tree yields a healing balsam; the oil is useful for embalming and anointing. No other tree yields so much fruit; four hundred nuts are often gathered from one tree in a year; and the groves of palm are a grateful shade from the heat. It is said that the tree may be put to as many uses as there are days in the year!
Elizabeth Fry left on record the secret of her amazing usefulness: "Since, at the age of seventeen, my heart was touched, I believe I have never awaked from sleep, in sickness or in health, by day or night, without my first waking thought being, how best I might serve my Lord." Here was a true cocoanut palm in the Lord's garden!
MISSION WORK IN FORMOSA
MISSION WORK IN FORMOSA. * COMPILED FROM ADDRESSES BY REV. G. L. MACKAY, D.D., OF TAMSUI, FORMOSA. DELIVERED AT TORONTO, ONTARIO, FEBRUARY, 1894.
In the beginning" God created," not man. Geology testifies to creation. Two books, but the one Author-the book of nature and the book ot' grace. John tells us, " All things were made by Him"-by Jesus. He was prcsent at creation. This is the Jesus we preach in Formosa, as the Author of the new creation.
The island of Formosa is about 250 miles long, and about 70 or 80 broad. The Formosa Channel, which separates it from the mainland, is about 100 miles wide. There are two nationalities on the island-the Chinese or Mongolian on the west side, and the savages or Malayan in the centre and on the eastcrn side. About 4000 of the Malayan population in the Kap-tsu-Htn Plain are civilized, and about 100,000 are savages.
My work bcgan in Tamsui. Here thc first convert was brought into the kingdom of Jesus, and another soon followed; these were both young men, and they were just what I had prayed for. Our method of carrying on the work has been to travel around and preach Jesus and Him crucified. Every month I made a tour down the west side, and very often had to spend the night in dark and damp places. On one occasion we started, as we had supposed and intended, at a very early hour in the morning; we kept travelling on and on for miles, wondering that daybreak did not come. Beginning to fee.l cold on account of the heavy rains, we kindled a fire to warm ourselves, set out again over stones and weeds until we made fully ten miles more before daybreak. The fact was that it had been simply moonlight when we started, and we had mistaken it for the approach of daybreak ; but our mistake turned to good, for we met a man at the place of our destination who was just going to leave, but who stayed because we arrived, and was thus brought to ~ knowledge of the true God. And a further and greater result was the building of a place of worship there. We went to a village far down on the coast, where a delegate met us with a strip of paper bearing seventy names, inviting us to remain. We erected a chapel iu this village also. An earthquake turned it over a little, and the people cried out that the very earth itself was against the " foreign devil. "
On my next visit, while sitting in a small, dark room, I received a letter to this effect: "Now, you barbarian, with your followers, must • Dr. Mackay'. stations are chiedy grouped round about Tamstli and on the northeast coa~t thil second gronp, very numerous, being mostlr planted among the aborigines. Dr. Mackay reporta for 189il, 97 adult baptisms and a total full membership of 1751. There are two ordained native pastors and 56 preachers, besides 22 atudents iu the doctor's peripatetic college (the Itudente accompanying him in his tours), many of whom frequently preach. The native Chri.tianl gave ..bove 82000 In 1892 toward the support of their own churches. Tbe bospltal has been larrely blessed; d1U'ing the year 11,000 patients were prescribed for. either leave this village to-morrow morning, or you must sit inside of the house for three days. vVe are worshipping our ancestors, and cannot allow any outsider to remain in the village and witness our rites." We laid this matter before our Master, and decided to write to the party who had sent the letter, as follows: "vVe will neither stay in the house three days nor start away in the morning to leave the village; we depend on the power of our Master to protect us." A little while after the whole village was in a great state of excitement. ~ome were suggesting one thing and some another. Most of1l them proposed that we should be taken out and beaten, but others opposed this. The morning came, and I said to the students: "I do not wad yon to get into trouble, but I am going to stay here for life or for death." Everyone of them determined to remain at my side. Aftar breakfast we walked out through the village. The people stood in groups, angry and excited. A number of them had broken pieces of bricks in their hands, and they had stones piled in heaps, ready for use. Only one stone, however, was actually thrown; it was evidently intended to strike one of the students, and was thrown by one of the aborigines. We remained most of the day. On the third day we went to where the chapel stood. Fifty or sixty came to hear us, and some spoke in a friendly way to us. On the fourth day they seemed ashamed of their conduct. The savages in the island afterward claimed me as their kinsman and also as their great· grandfather. They said that their people had no queue, and, as I had none, therefore I must belong to the same race as themselves. We fixed up the chapel, and there preached Christ and Him crucified. We had one, two, and even three, hundred, many times listening, in that place, to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the world's Redeemer.
We went to another place further inland, among the mountains, and there put up a log church. Again, within sight of the lofty mountain ranges we preached Jesus to the people. The aborigines stood around the fires with us, and joined in singing praises to God in that territory of savages. One Sabbath, while at the place referred to above, I received a letter which read thus: " If you dare to come in again with your party, the savages declare that they will shoot you. They are determined to put you to death, and I would advise you not to come again." I went out to the service as usual that evening, and also decided to go about my Master's business again in the morning, irrespective of any letter sent by men, influenced by demons. When advancing toward these people in the jungle, and when on a peak, 1000, 1500, or perhaps 2000 feet high, we heard the shouts of the savages on the neighboring peak. This is a savage custom. We hailed them. They came 'out and looked for a moment, and then fired a volley, pointing their muskets upward. The leader signed, "It is all right." Since then five, ten, fourteen, sixteen years have passed away-yes, eighteen years. During my last visit to the place an old man eighty years of age came to me and said: "Do yon remember getting a letter from that place within the mountains? It was I who wrote that. I did my best to get
COLLEGE
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SAVAGES, EASTERN FORMOSA, WITH DR. MACKAY.
lB94.] MISSION WORK IN FORMOSA. >
the savages to put you to death. I did all I could. I dare not go to the savages myself, but live in these barren hills. I am very sorry for what I did. I ha'e listened to the Gospel, and now believe that Jesus Christ is my Redeemer, and I want to be baptized." All who know him declare that he is an entirely changed man. Even his face does not look the same, now that his whole body and soul is given to the Redeemer. Yes, his very countenance, at eighty, was changed. I baptized him and enrolled him as one of the converts in Formosa.
I and my students traveIled through many parts of this wild country. There are many changes in the islaud in twenty-two years. I love my native Canada, but not more than this beloved land. A bamboo like this that I hold in my hand is an old friend. I used it in fording streams, feeling the bottom where we were to step, and also supporting myself with it in travelling. We carried wild banana leaves to scrve us as umbrellas during heavy rains.
We went to one large city caIled Bang-kah, and tried to get an opening there. We succeeded in getting a house at the outskirts near an encamp- ment of soldiers. We put out over the door, " Jesus' Holy Temple." A soldier came and told us that we must get out of that place, as the ground did not belong to the owner of the house. I told the studeuts they would better Jeave. me. The soldiers got excited, and I found it absolutely necessary to leave, as the Jand belonged to the government and the house to the soldiers. I started to leave, and the city got excited, and the British con- 'sul came to see what the matter was. Dense crowds gathered. Some of the people threw bricks from the roofs of the houses. They reviled and hooted. The consul said to me, " You would better go down to Tamsui for the present, as it will be illlpossible to get in here for three years at least." Then I asked God to open up a way for us into that city. At nine o'clock we walked back and got into the suburbs on the other side, where I rented another house, getting the proper legal doculllents from the owner of the house before midnight. I put> up again over the door, " Jesus' Holy Temple." The people came from the streets and looked in for a moment. Some of them did not wait to give expression to their thoughts ; but others said, " He is a perfect devil out and out." A great crowd gathered, and they were getting excited. Very soon they began to send in beggars; some were sitting down, others standing and pushing us about. Beggars and lepers coming in in snch large numbers soon left us yery little space even for standing. The crowd was getting> more and more excited. I saw one or two from the places where we had been before, and extracted some of their teeth for them. We overlleard some saying, " He is not big; one blow would be sufficient." Day after day they were getting more aroused; and the third day, in the middle of the afternoon, they began to twist their queues around their heads and tie up their clothes around their waists, ready for actiou. One man threw a stone at the building, aud then-if you have ever seen an angry Chinese crowd! It baffles description. The Chinaman is easily excited, and is ungovernable, when enraged. Then they pulled the building down, carried it away, and took up even the very foundation. I directly walked with the students into a building right opposite. The owner of that inn came with tears in his eyes and begged us to leave. The British consul came again, and a mandarin, in his large chair. The mandarin told the consul to order me out of the city, but the latter said he had no right to do that. I felt that Jesus was my Master, and He had said, " Go preach the Gospel." When the consul started to leave they yelled and screamed at him with contempt.
I walked with him as he bravely stepped out of the city. The ~andarin then tried another way-begging and begging that I would also leave the city. I showed him my forceps and my Bible, and told him I was there in obedience to my Master. He wrote officially to say that he would put up a building outside of the city for me if I would go there ; but we had planted stations outside of the city already, and now we determined to plant our standard inside its gates. Finally, we had another building put up on the very site of the one tbat had been torn down, not an inch from it one way or the other. That also was pulled down, and then we erected a larger one near it, and that shared the same fate. But there now, in Bang-kah, we have a church with a spire! There is a great change. We see what God has wrought. Dark, proud, ignorant Bang-kah, with all its bigotry, welcomes the worship of the living God. Some of the same head- men who at that, time stirred up that mob of four thousand, who gathered around to kill us, called the people together a short tiI,lle ago, and said: " The missionary is now going to leave us to visit his native land, and we must show him what the meaning of our heart is. " Tbe people had done what they chose in village, town, and city everywhere when I travelled through at first, and I decided tbey should follow out their own free will, when leaving, though I neither w,anted nor needed any of their honors, even as I do not want them from Canada. They did it with a purpose. They as- sembled in the large opeu space in front of the tent where the mob bad assembled formerly ; aud many of the chief men ordered for us a grand parade, and came with eight bands of Chinese music, and banners and umbrellas of state, such as they would carry before the governor. They formed a procession, beginning in front of a large temple ; asked me to sit in a large sedan chair lined with silk, and went through the city with flags flying, and thus they insisted on carrying me through the town, and escorted us to the boat, wishing us blessing and offering gratitude to God.
There in foreign style they cheered us, while the converts sang what tbey knew: .. I'm not ashamed to own my Lord, Or to defend His cause; Maintain the glory of His cross, A.nd honor all His laws," etc.
This showed the great power of God, the living God. We do not ack~owl- ~dge His power as we ought. I am afraid that many in Christian lands do not believe what they profess respecting the living God. At other places scattered about yonder we planted twenty or thirty churches, and then caine to a plain, travelling with the students among the aborigines on the east side. The people in one village 'said: "You have been going up and down through this plain for some time ; if you will come to ouI' place you will see what we can do." They fixed up a shelter with poles and sails, and we'remained there the whole night. At daybreak the leader decided to erect a place of worship, and the people, instead of going out to fish, went to get rafters for the building. There we taught them the Gospel. Would to God many of the people of Canada were there to see-fishermen going out in their boats singing praises to God, and the old women weaving and singing. They were taking in the plain Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is ever fresh. In a short time the whole village of these aborigines, men, women, and children, would meet j one would take a shell and blow on it, aI.1d then all would join and sing praises to God : " All people that on earth do dwell Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice; Him serve with mirth, His praise forth tell, Come ye before Him and rejoice."
Here, back in Canada, I am quite at sea in the midst of ever-increasing machinery. There we have everything so simple–just the plain Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the plain asking for aid in His work-no ceremony about it. Yonder we are living back in the first century.
After that the people in another village came, and we soon had fifteen churches planted in that plain. We put a native preacher in each village, to preach Jesus Christ simply, and not waste precious time in declaring vain speculations, for we are not wont to spend our time on any such menevolved schemes. My students in Oxford College-not Oxford, England, but Oxford, Formosa-study the BibIe in the morning, at noon, and at night; we begin with the Bible and end with the Bible, and preach Jesus Christ as the only Saviour of men. We can trust these students to preach what they know of Divine truth. Some people may suppose that these aborignes, or the Chinese, cannot get a clear idea of the Gospel plan of salvation. They do get a very clear idea of it, because God intended that they should. One of them went to a place on the plain further down and labored there. For eleven years I had purposed going in that direction; but now receiving a letter from him to come down, I felt that I had a call to.go. I got a boat and went down at night, lest the savages might see us. Four hundred soldiers had been killed there. We narrowly escaped a similar fate. When the boat came up to the place of landing a man met us, and said: "You are Mackay, the missionary." A pony was brought for myself to ride on, and the students rode in an ox-cart. We got five villages to assemble, to Wb()Ill we proclaimed the truth day after day, exhorting and discussing. One night all the headmen assembled in front of the house and began to talk very loud. I asked what was the matter j and they said: "Nothing, only we are angry that we have been so long deceived with the worship of idols. " Who could sleep under such circumstances? I have spent many a sleepless night in Formosa, and I do not car~ how many more I spend for such reasons as these. Our Master suffered ten thousand times more than that. These people brought their idols in baskets from all around; and when they were piled in a heap, we sang again: " I'm not ashamed to own my Lord."
And then the heap was set on fire. Some of the people who were indignant at their having been so long deluded were shoving the idols further and further into the fire, so as to get rid of them the sooner.
In Northern Formosa we had twenty churches here, and twenty more there, and others further down; and after the French had bombarded us there we started twenty more. As we met eight Frenchmen in a ravine they were suddenly on their knees, pointing their guns at my breast; but their attention was turned at once to this white flag of truce in my hand. At that moment no American or British or German flag could have saved us as this flag of truce did. I have often thought that no flag of external forms of righteousness, or meritorious acts, Qr speculative theological dreams could save the perishing soul. The blood-stained banner of Jesus can save the sinner from pole to pole, and nothing but that. Young men attending the universities and colleges can do nothing without that banner.
We have thus established sixty churches and put a trained native minister in each church. I am enabled to be here because of the sterling ability of my first convert, whom I have entrusted with the oversight of the whole work in my absence. He has stood faithful to the cause for more than twenty years. When my second convert told his mother that he was going to accept the Saviour, she took a stone and nearly killed him; but now she is saved, herself. One of my converts is a Tauist priest, who accepted the truth. Some might say that the poor aborigines who have no minds may be simple enough to believe in Christianity; but here is a priest who was brimful of speculative philosophy, and he is now a preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel has not lost its power. It is still the chosen instrument for bringing souls into the kingdom. .A.nother convert is a Bachelor of Arts, who might be seen in his graduating dress, standing six feet high; and he who used to lOOk down upon me with contempt now looks up to me with respect. When he accepted the Gospel he was so humble, so gentle, that all were impressed. He is a man of great mental calibre, and is now in a city of 50,000 inhabitants, preaching Jesus and Him crucified. He was a Confucian of the Confucians, but is now a defender of the glorious Gospel. Another convert is a young man, who two years ago went up to an examination where there were 3000 candidates, and his name came out at the top of the list. He, too, is a Confucianist no longer, but has accepted the Gospel of Jesus.
r would not spend five minutes teaching the heathen anything, before presenting the Gospel to them; but r would teach them afterward what may assist them in preaching the Gospel. The religion of Jesus Christ has pervaded the public mind so fully, that it would be impossible to trump up, in the northern part of the island, any such stories as that we missiona- ries were seeking to dig out the eyes of the Chinese children. What a change has been wrought there by the Gospel! The idea of a mandarin coming inside a chapel twenty-two years ago! But now they send in their cards and visit us with bands of soldiers !
For a long time we had trouble on account of the French invasion of the island. The French bombarded a town where we had a mission, and the shells fell all about us-some only a few feet away, but not one of us was hurt. Once we were intercepted by the French and taken prisoners. They blindfolded us and marched us for miles out of our way, but we escaped. Once on board a British man-of-war the balls from the French guns cut the air all about us, but we plllled out from the French lines and were saved. Once r wanted to go to the a.thar part of the island during the invasion. r applied to the British consul for protection, and then went, carrying the British flag, and the Chinese broke their ranks and divided before me. Once. as I have said, eight guns were pointed at my breast, for they took me for a German spy, but I held up a white flag of truce, and so again escaped with my life.
The natives had great resentment toward us after the invasion, and pulled down our churches and persecuted the converts terribly. One convert, an old lady with considerable means, had everything she had in the world stolen from her. Her house was demolished and her body was bruised black and blue, but she would not deny her Lord. A young man had his fingers joined by bamboo splits and tied till the blood oozed out of them ; they' demanded of him to forsake his trust, but he did not turn his back on Jesus. In another place they pulled down the splendid church and took every vestige of it off and buried it in a huge grave. They placarded it with these words, " Mackay, the black-bearded devil, is here." " Now," said they, "we have wiped out the work; now it is all gone." But they did not wipe it out. Men and devils cannot do that; as well try to wipe out the universe. All these trials they endured for the same Jesus, the same Spirit, the same Word. I cannot understand people being ashamed of the Jesus that the people of Formosa can love. Oh, that book, the Bible! It is full. It teems. You can never get to the bottom of it. I have found it a spring which never can be drained. There is no use in telling me that the Chinese are not faithful, that they are double-minded. There are people with double minds in more places than China. Of course they are not all sincere, neither are they here in America; but I never saw more fidelity to Christ anywhere than in Formosa, In the north I built not only Oxford College, for training native evangelists and teachers, but the girls' school, and a hospital. In some places where we tried to preach to the people the men just deliberately left and the women and children crept off into the house. You say that is discouraging when they will not stay to listen. " Discouragement!" Destroy that word! Blot it out of the Christian's vocabulary! With the living God in front of us, behind us, below us, within us, above us, where is the place for discouragement 1 I do not understand that word. Jesus says, "Go !" and" Come !" and no "ifs" nor "buts" nor "ups" nor " downs" about it.
I have found it a help to my work to minister to bodily ills. I extracted twenty-one thousand teeth in twenty-one years, and thirty-nine thousand in all; and have dispensed considerable medicine. Extracting teeth is cheaper than dealing out medicine, for after you have your instrument there is no outlay. The natives have lost all faith in their old doctors. Here is one thing that most people do not know-that a commander of a British man.ofwar helped the Lord's work wonderfully there in Formosa in its inception. More than can be told in words or put on paper he helped. He would repeat sentences and ask me to translate and repeat them to the natives. He said, " Tell them that I am a Christian. Tell them that I am on a British man-of-war of Queen Victoria, but I serve a greater king." May his name go down with Formosa-he stuck to it.
In one place where we went to preach, the chief man ordered the sails to be brought from the boats and to be stretched upon bamboo poles. Here we preached and sang. There is one hymn that always takes with the Chinese; it is about the shortness of life. " We come into the world with our empty hands and we leave it in the same way." This the Chinese have in proverb, which sentiment we have also in hymn. Some of you are rich and live in fine houses, but you will have to go with your hands empty. 'Ve are all marching on, all crossing the same narrow strip. What does it matter, it's only for a day and then we are off. There is a generation pushing us off the stage, and that generation behind us is in turn being pushed on. I have told you how, the first day I spent in one city in Formosa, I had the privilege of gathering together the idols of five villages, representing five thousand people, and casting them into the fire. " I have cast their gods into the fire, for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands." Yes, we truly" cast them to the moles and to the bats." We fling them into oblivion. Some were so disgusted with them that they split them up before bringing to us. How mighty the gcspel seemed ~mid such scenes as this !
OIlce, where we began to build a chapel, and the natives went in ba,nds to the mounta.ins to get timber for the rafters, they had to fight their way, weapons in hand, and many came home at night bleeding. Now, in that village-I repeat it-you could hear the fishermen, as they rowed their boats out into the sea, keeping melody with the oars, singing, " I'm not ashamed to own my Lord, Or to defend His cause."
I have heard them, and the poor old women in their huts singing, "There is a happy land"-the whole village worshipping God. When the people in the neighboring villages witnessed this, they said, ' , We must have something like this," and thus churches were established around, and so it came to pass that we have sixty churches in all and two thousand converts, and native pastors in each church.
Once we were confined in a chapel all night, with the savages from the mountains on the outside. They would creep up with long poles and try to fire the building. We had no human protection, but we had God, and if it had been His will everyone of us was ready to welcome death. As the morning began to dawn the cowardly savages skulked away to the mountains.
Once with two converts I started for the southern part, where we wanted to establish a church. We arrived near the small village just at dark. We inquired at a house if we could stay with them for the night. They shut the door in our faces. The next place we asked to stay, they said, ' , No place here for foreign devils.' , We inquired at another place, and the man said, after a long hesitation, "There's an ox-stall; you can stay in there." He did as much as give us each a bowl of rice, which we were thankful for. The ox-stall was very much like the old stall in this country, with upright poles. One of the converts with me was an old man who had owned rich tea farms, and had lost all for Christ's sake. He was not used to sleeping in an ox-stall, but it humbled him, and afterward he did better service as a preacher to his people. How all this does make one think of the Redeemer, who came down to do His best for us! The Lord of glory was rejected. It is of little consequence if we do not get quarters for the night. I hope no one will ever mention my name in connection with persecution in Formosa if he does not speak of those natives who with me carried the banner of the Lord Jesus. Over and over again I have seen men shed tears when they remembered the way they had treated us, when they thought how badly they had persecuted us. They are themselves astounded at what they did.
When you are young you think you can put off God ; but come with me to the city of the dead, and you will find the young at eighteen and nineteen there. "Shame /" is the word, that men in Canada will not believe Jesus. They ask me over there in Formosa if every living soul in Canada is a Christian and a zealous follower of Jesus. What can I say to them ~ In a large city toward the northwest of the island we searched for a little room to begin work in. We got a small room, where pigs were kept j we drove two pigs out, and got a man to come and clean up a little and w:Qitewash the place. A mob stopped the work for a while, and we rcmain~d out in the streets till they left us to go on with the building and cleaning. They spit on us and taunted us, but that was not anything. It is there, that to.day the converted Confucianist, a graduate, a B.A., preaches in a large church. Crowds come to converse with him.
An old man over seventy walked to our services on Saturday for three years and brought others with him a long distance. Some of the converts sent $10 back with him to help start a chapel where he lived. Talk about self-supporting churches, self-propagation! There is self-propagation in a score of churches in Formosa, and the work is but twenty-two years old. In each church is a map of the world, and through the week the native preacher announces that he will speak at night on Germany, or England, or America, or some other country, till they go through every country in the world. He tells them of Toronto and of the university there, etc.
I once fell in with an English Church clergyman at sea, coming from the Philippine Islands. He said, " I have just been speaking with a Baptist missionary and telling him that this missionary business is all stuff. You're a missionary, are you~" I said, "Yes." "Well, I want to tell you it's all bosh and sham. I've been at the Philippine Islands a while, and let me tell you you are just fooling away your time. One day a man will say he is a Chrbtian, just to get employment, and the next day he is a heathen, just to get employment. It's all fraud. " " Now," I said, " I have listened, and treated your statements courteously j will you do the same to my statements~" He said he would have to do so. I told him that men in Formosa were not saying they were Christians or heathen as it suited them, to get employment. They were not getting and keeping money there, but they were rather giving out their money. In one place they pay their pastor $17 a month. During the famine they took up a large subscription and sent it to their suffering brothers on the mainland. I told him, as I have told you, that there are double-faced people all over the world, who are characterized by duplicity, but they were not all so. Re admittcd that when he left, there were a few who came to see him off and were grieved to see him go.
I do not agree with the popular notions about the Chinese. I claim to know something of Chinese character, and think I have a good right to know their dispositions, virtues, vices, etc. j for my own wife is Chinese. The first five students who were baptized have remained faithful during these twenty-OM long years j and they have passed through many trials and persecutions. Whenever we arrived at a stopping-place they would always go and get water to wash our feet, and would help change our clothes and do our evening work, attending to sick people and preaching Christ.
Some will say that it is all very well to talk of converts in Formosa in a speech j but we all know the duplicity of the Chinese. I can say that I know of similar traits in many Canadians. Christian Chinamen in Northern Formosa are just as 1rue as any disciples that I know of anywhere. Four hundred of those converts in Formosa have come to the end of the fight, including men, women, and children j and they have fought a
AT BJ.:<u-;';:"a
MISSION WORK IN FOlUlOBA
good fight. I have stood beside death-beds in Scotia, my native land; I have seen men die in Canada, in Africa, in China, and I have found these foUl' hundred converts, who have died in Formosa, showing evidences of – the same faith in God. And the first convert, my main helper, still remains faithful, and is now taking charge of the whole work in my absence as a sort of bishop. Let us work on, press on for our Redeemer, for the time is short. "Not unto us, 0 Lord; but unto Thy name give glory."
Many of these converts have gone to their eternal home. Their names may be treated with ridicule, indifference, or slander; no such things can affect glorified saints. They have finished their earthly course, and are beyond the reach of harm. They breathed their last, trusting Jesus.
Where is the room for "waiting" in their case to see whether they backslide or not 1 Among the living also we have all classes-tradesmen, mechanics, scholars-men tried in all the ways in which we are tried here, preaching Jesus Christ and walking under His banner.
We add some extracts from a remarkable letter written by a Chinese con- vert, describing the departure of Dr. Mackay for home. He has labored in that island as a missionary for about twenty-two years; and his success has been very notable, impressing his personality on all the people in a most extraordinary way, to call forth such demonstrations.
"When Pastor Mackay visited the stations throughout Tek-cham dis- trict, converts and heathen crowded to show him honor and respect. At every station several hundreds came out to meet him, and then followed again when he was leaving, converts waving green branches, and heathen burning fire-crackers. The church people were very sad and could not keep back thcir tears. Indeed all were of one mind and unwilling to let him go, though they wished him a pleasant visit to his native Canada.
" All through Rap-tsu-lan district whole villages came out to meet him, and escorted him when he left, entreating him to return soon. On this trip it was not merely converts who came; throughout all North Formosa the heathen joined with converts to honor Pastor Mackay and wish him a safe journey. Men and women, old and young, wept much. They could scarcely bear to let him go even for awhile, because he has been in and out among Chinese now for twenty-one years, and everyone loves him.
" Throughout Tamsui district it was the same, hundreds expressing good wishes. Everywhere crowds and music and gunpowder, but in Bang kah City the greatest crowd of all. There in the procession were three mandarins, five head men, twenty sedan chairs, six horses, and many, many people, with drums and gongs and other things more than I could write about. Then they hired the little steamer to take Pastor Mackay to Tamsfii, and more than three hundred people came down with him. Little over twenty years ago Bang kah people were such determined enemies, verily wicked in their hatred. Now they have been even more enthusiastic than others in showing their good will ; that day all through the city the Chinese were praising Pastor Mackay and his teaching, not a single soul uttered an ill word. Thank God! because in all North Formosa the yery strongest fort of the enemy was Bang kah City. Praise our Jehovah, praise Him for what He has done !
" On the 18th, at two o'clock, there were more than seven hundred of the converts, men, women, and children, to see Pastor and Mrs. Mackay and the rest .go. Chinese had drums and gongs and firecrackers, for-
UNOCCUPIED FIELDS OF THI£ WORLD
eigners fired guns, and there were bands of music. All the foreigners boarded one steam launch, the mandarins and head men another, convertsmany in tears-took a third, old and young filled little boats, and the whole crowd-as many as the boats would hold, followed the vessel right out to sea, as far as they dared go. "
UNOCCUPIED FIELDS OF THE WORLD.-II.
BY REV. JAMES DOUGLAS, LONDON, ENGLAND.
Mongolia.-Passing from Thibet we naturally think of another section of the Chinese Empire beyond the Wall of much larger area, though smaller population-namely, Mongolia. This immense region, larger than China proper, consists of an elevated plain 4000 feet above the sea, unfit for the most part for agriculture, but possessing, in the north especially, grasslands in sufficient abundance to support the flocks of the nomad in- habitants. The climate is excessively cold and dry, the winter long. and from the reluctant soil a little wheat, oats, buckwheat, and millet are wrung. Mongolia has four divisions: (1) Inner Mongolia, which lies beyond the south of the desert of Gobi and the Wall j (2) Outer Mongolia, extending from the north of the Gobi to the Altai Mountains; (3) the country adjoining Koko-nor j and (4) the dependencies of Uliassutai.
The entire population is reckoned at 2,000,000, and consists of Kalmuks in the west, Buriats in the northeast, and Khalkhas in the centre. It re- mains to add that all that religiously obtains in respect of Thibet applies to Mongolia.
This vast tract of country has had, so far as is known, only one mis- sionary, "the lamented Gilmour," and still must rank as an unoccupied field. On inquiry, however, we learn that though" Gilmour" has ceased from his labors, it is not the intention of the London Missionary Society to allow his work to lapse. The intention is to put two, if not more, laborers into this field who, like Gilmour, shall itinerate and sow the seed of Gospel knowledge as widely as possible. No reason exists why Mon- golia should not be occupied. The door is open enough. The real diffi- culty concerns the immensity of the region, the severity of the climate, the sparseness of the p~pulation, the poorness of the country, the abound- ing squalor and filth, and the general depravation of type. Are there Christians who have love enough for Mongolia to come into line with these Mongol tribes, content, as it were, to go out of the world in order to save the world ~ At present there are no Prote&tant missionaries in all this vast region, including Koko-nor, but Roman Catholics are at work among the Ortus Mongols. The Roman Catholics are also at work among the Kalmuks of Kuldja.
Closely related to Mongolia is the extensive province of Manchuria.
But this country, while little known and still less occupied, does not strictly come within the sc<>pe of this paper, for at Niu-chwang, Mukden, and Kirin, Presbyterian missionaries have raised the standard of testimony. The Greek Church, also, is seeking to Christianize the Gilyaks and the Goldi, nomad tribes of the Lower Amur and Assuri.
Ili.-The populous land of IIi, however, is emphatically a field unoccu- pied. IIi, to which the Chinese have given the name of Sin-Kiang, or the New Province, comprehends what is generally known as Sungaria and Chinese Turkistan. There is nothing like unity of race in these vast domains. Sungaria, which is the open highway to China, Dr. Lansdell calls " an oUa podrida of races, languages, and religions." The Kalmuks are, as the Thihetans in creed, Lamaists ; the Turkish peoples, otherwise known as Uigurs, Dungans, Turanchis and Kashgarians, are followers of the false prophet ;/while the Chinese, who figure as the lords of creation, are Confucians or else Buddhists proper. To this number is to be added the Manchus, from whom throughout IIi the army in possession is drawn, and who are Buddhists of the Lamaist type. The population of Sungaria is reckoned at 2,000,000, but what the population of Chinese Turkistan is we have no sufficient means of determining. Probably it is double the above amount.
The chief races occupying Chinese Turkistan may be classified as follows: Kalmuks, Manchus (soldiery), Kirghese, and Turks. The Kirghese and Turks are the most widely spread-the former ranging over the mountainous land principally, " north, south, and west of Kashgar as far as the Pamirs," the latter forming the staple population of the cities and towns. The Kirghese are remarkable for their powers of organic resistance. The temperature of their blood is high, and they excel in withstanding cold, heat, hunger, thirst, and physical sufferings of all kinds. To complete the marvel, their wounds quickly heal. The wondcr is that with all these advantages they do not rival the antediluvians in longevity; but in this matter they fall short of our own dimensions.
The town population of Chinese Turkistan, whom we may designate Turks, seem to be a mixed race, the ground type being Mongol with an infusion of Aryan blood. Among them faces presenting the characteristic traits of the Caucasian race appear, aquiline with thick beard; but the prevailing features are Mongolian-projecting cheek-bones, little beard, large nose, thick lips, complexion swarthy, but devoid of the yellow tint of the Chinese. As a rule the race is hard-working and theft rare; but narcotics are much used-hemp, tobacco, opium, henbane, thorn-applethe result being that the nerves are enfeebled and madness common. So loose is the marriage tie that it can hardly be said to constitute a bond at all. For four or five shillings a wife may be bought at any time, and virtually may be divorced at will. Hence there are women among them who have had their thirty or forty husbands, and think no shame of it. Still lower in the scale of morality are the Dolan settlements along the Yarkand, a race of degraded physique, promiscuous social habits, and enfeebled intelligence. Such, after centuries of unresisted sway, are the fruits of Islam's rule. Can it be wondered at that the countenances of the people should lack expression, tkt the lustre of life should have died out, and that through the excessive stimulation of the flesh the spirit should soon subside wearily to exist, we cannot call it live, in the neutral zone of indifference?
The power of the false prophet, viewed from the standpoint of the permissive will of God, is one of earth's greatest mysteries. Why has that fleshly system, reared on the key-stone of woman's degradation, been suffered ruthlessly, over the whole Asiatic mainland, to lord itself over God's heritage? There was a time when almost the whole of Asia was an occupied field. Amru, who wrote about 1349, mentions twenty-five metropolitan and episcopal sees covering the entire continent. "Christians existed at Kashgar, at Yarkand, at Urumtsi, Suchau and Kanchu, at Tenduc, as well as in Manchuria and the country bordering on Korea." Missionary fervor and enterprise were by no means defunct even in the Dark Ages, when the Church of the West was locked in sleep; for then Nestorian Christians were carrying the torch of Gospel light to the ends of the carth. And when the light was diffused and churches planted in all parts, the forces of Islam came, like fiends let loose from the pit, and by brute force stamped out the cause of Christ in Central Asia, so that for centuries it was unsafe for one who bore the name of Christian even to travel in the land.
Happily now, though that bl'Utal faith remains the religion of the people, it no longer is the creed of the governors. We may infer, therefore, that Islam in IIi has seen its best days. Islam is mighty when backed by carnal weapons, and when, invested with rule, she can make her own terms with the " infidel." But those palmy days are over in IIi. The Chinese Mandarins have no interest in, no association with, the religion of the people; hence the field, though unoccupied, shows a door at least ajar. There is no reason why, speaking after the manner of men, this field should remain unoccupied. If Roman Catholics can carryon missionary work at Kuldja, there is no reason to believe that the Protestant missionary would be unable to find a footing at Yarkhand, or Kashgar, or Aksu, or Khotan. Dr. Lansdell is strongly convinced as to the feasibility of such an undertaking. The time is ripe for it. Islam has not now the sword to wield in IIi against the infidel. She is shorn, accordingly, of her argumentative power. Besides, the people are not soaked in their creed to the extent that Moslems arc elsewhere. They have been too often upset by Buddhists and others. There is not so much, therefore, of long-standing and fanatical prejudice to tear up. "Who will go and build again the walls of this ruined Jerusalem ?"
Nepal and Bhotan.-Both these countries come within our present scope, and as they adjoin and h/lve many features in common, we place them before the reader in their juxtaposition and total lack of the one thing needful. Nepal is confined almost entirely within the Himalayas and is a kind of parallelogram, the length from west to east being 450 miles aud the breadth from north to south on an average 100 miles. Thibet forms the northern boundary, Sikkim and Bhotau the eastern, while on the west Nepal is bounded by the English province of Kumaon, and on the south by the plains of the Ganges. The country is governed by the Ghoorkas, a brave tribe which about the middle of last century acquired ascendancy over the other tribes of the land, and wnose prince is sovereign. The area is estimated at 54,000 square miles, and the population between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000. Unlike Thibet, the tribes inhabiting Nepa! are not homogeneous in religion. Some are of Mungol origin and are Buddhists, but the majority are Hindu in faith and in descent. The country has been locked against the civilized and religious world. Sir Jung Bahadoor was a prominent figure while he lasted. For thirty years he was, as Joseph to Pharaoh, the prime-minister in the land, with this difference that he was greater than Pharaoh himself, the king being a mere puppet in his hands. This despot, after swaying the fortunes of Nepal for a whole generation, died in 1877. His wisdom was not equal to his strength of will and power to govern. The country was left by him very dark indeed, without a shred of education, slavery existent in its worst form-a land, too, closcd equally in the face of the merchant and the missionary, the geologist and the sportsman. We know of nothing that is being done for the tribes that dwell in this dark region.
The like applies to Bhotan, a country of much smaller area than Nepal, but possessing a larger population, the area being 20,000 square miles, and the population over 3,000,000. Since 1865 the independence of the kingdom has been seriously curtailed by the British occupation of the Dwars or passes, a measure taken by the British Government in selfdefence. Throughout the country the religion is Buddhism, and the government ecclesiastical and oligarchical. The nominal head is marked off from the common clay of earthly lineage as a vase too sacred to be pro. faned to common uses, and is, in fact, treated more as a god than a sovereign j but in place of the Dherma Rajah, the nominal head, is the Deb Rajah, the actual head, whose jurisdiction is circumscribed by a council of eight. The Bhotans, while miserably degraded and of dirty habits, given over to polygamy on the one hand and polyandry on the other, arl> said to be a fine race, ingenious in the construction of their houses and in other manual efforts.
Afgltanistan and Beloochistan, which, although politically separated, are normally one, constitute another large unoccupied mission field. The Afghans are excessively fierce, and in later times have degenerated from the high chivalry which formerly was an eminent trait in their character. They are described as being "most consummately deceitful, wantonly and ferociously babarous, revengeful and rapacious j" and while " always on the alert for war," yet" lamentably deficient in intrepidity and coolness, and quite unable to withstand the steady charge of a determined foe." The leading towns, Cabul, Peshawur, Ghiznee, Candahar, etc., are inhabited mainly Qy Hindus and Persians. The Afghans themselves scorn commerce, and are nearly all soldiers or priests. Mohammedanism prevails, and is of the most fanatical type.
Bounded on the north by Turkistan, on the east by tte Punjab, on the south by Beloochistan, and on the west by Pllrsia, Afghanistan consists mainly of an elevated tableland which reaches a height of 6000 feet above the sea, gradually diminishing, however, as it extends westward toward the Persian frontier, to half that height. The Indus is the principal river, which runs in a south-southwest direction between two immense mountain ranges, which rise in some parts to 18,000 and 20,000 feet. A feature of special interest in the geography of the country is the valley of the Cabul River, a valley containing three basins or plains, which are named respectively after the cities there located-Cabul, Jellalabad, and Peshawur. The population is mixed. The Afghans, who are the ruling nation, and believed by themselves to be sprung from Jewish captives, are spread over the whole of the tableland j but among them are settled Tajiks, Hindus, Khuzzilbashes, and Arabs, with a slight sprinkling of Armenians, Abyssinians, and Kalmuks, while the mountains are largely in the possession of other tribes. Afghanistan, which is autocratically ruled, has a population, including Beloochistan, which only numbers about 500,000, of about 6,000,000 or 7,000,000. * Siberia.-It is difficult to know how to assign this immense and thinly peopled region, the square mileage of which is 6,000,000 and the population 5,000,000. Deficient in solar warmth, it is yet more terribly shorn of the Gospel's vivifying beams. The Greek Church is horribly dead-a mere mumble of confession and sacrament. Still, of late years God has not left Himself without a witness in that sad, benighted land. Dr. Baedeker has repeatedly traversed the Siberian Continent with the view of opening the prison doors to them that were bound, and much blessing has rested on his evangelizing tours. Like another Paul the aged, he makes an appeal to the Timothies of our age which, we trust, will bear much fruit. "My time is running out j I am now seventy years of age j consequently I can scarcely hope to repeat my visit to Siberia. I, therefore, wish to stir up the holy ambition of my younger brethren to take up this glorious work of carrying the light into the darkest places of the world, where sin rules over men, and where nothing but the Gospel of redemption by the blood of Jesus can be of any avail."
Annam.-The kingdom of Annam, with an area of 200,000 square miles and a popUlation of 6,000,000, is virtually unoccupied, for there • The Waziris of Afghanistan have just come under the British Protectorate. The probabilities are that a missionary entrance will be effected from Bunnu, a medical station of the Church Mi.- .ion…,. Society. The way is paved by the translation of the Scriptures into .. Pushter."
MISSIONS AMONG THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS
are absolutely no Protestant missions in Annam. In 1889 the Gospel of St. Luke in the Annamese tongue was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society from a translation made by M. Bouet, a French Protestant, who resided twenty years in the country, and is now chief Government Interpreter at the Paris School of Oriental Languages. This is the only part as yet translated into this tongue out of the whole Bible, and the country still awaits the preacher who shall make known its message of love.
Tonquin, with a population of 12,000,000, is in a similar condition to that of Annam. This, the most thickly populated district of the peninsula, has balf a million of Roman Catholics, but " no one to show them the' more excellent way '-the only way."
The like is true of Lower Cochin China, the Philippine Islands and Oambodia. For a time Mr. F. de P. CastelIs, of the British and Foreign Bible Society, circulated many Chinese and other Scriptures in Saigon, but after a brief stay illness obliged him to leave. From all these regions rises the Macedonian cry, " Come over and help us."
Arabia is not now entirely without Gospel agency. On the extreme southwestern coast is the Ion Keith-Falconer Mission of hallowed memory, while in Northern Arabia the North Africa Mission made a start in 1886 by sending a brother to labor among the Bedouin descendants of Ishmael. The brother in question has retired, but another brother and his wife are taking up the work, and are at the present time in training in Egypt.
(To be concluded.) MISSIONS AMONG THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.
BY REV. EGERTON R. YOUNG, TORONTO, ONTARIO.
Parkman's fascinating volumes charm us with the recital of the heroic zeal and dauntless courage of the early ecclesiastics of the Church of Rome, who, in their efforts to save from a dark and debasing paganism the red Indians of North America, displayed such a spirit of self-abnegation and self-denial.
While most emphatically differing from some of their teachings and methods, we cannot but admire the spirit of sacrifice, of thorough consecration to their work, and the almost longing for the crown of martyrdom which characterized some of those heroic souls. Fearlessly and cheerfully they trod the then unknown wilderness for hundreds of miles, that they might reach the forest retreats of the fierce Mohawk, the timi.d and disheartened Hurons, or the bloodthirsty and then almost always victorious Iroquois. Where the pestilence raged among these savage tribes, these priests of Rome seemed almost ubiquitous. Utterly devoid of all fear, and apparently proof against contagion, they went where death held high carnival, that they might, as they fondly imagined, by performing their simple rites of baptism, and making the sign of the cross, open the portals of heaven to the expiring victims of small-pox or other loathsome diseases. Then when inter-tribal wars were prevailing, which was nearly always the case, and the terrible Iroquois were driving all before them, and many a forest glade was turned into a bloody battle-field, almost ere the echoes of the terrible war-whoop had died away, these Jesuit fathers and their co-laborers were to be found prowling among the dying and the dead, rapidly performing on the former the rites of their Church, and exulting in their delusion that thereby they had opened for them the gates of Paradise.
Traces are still to be found of the work of these early priests of the Roman Catholic Church. On the shores of the great lakes and in other parts of the Northwest some Indian missions still exist, as the surviving few of the many ouce established when the French was the dominant power on the northern half of this great American Continent, and the Indian tribes were numerous and powerful.
The missions to the North American Indians established by the Protestant churches are of a later origin. Among the earliest to enter the field were the devoted Moravians, whose self-sacrificing and persistent efforts to lead the Indians to a pure and simple Christianity form some of the grandest and most pathetic chapters of missionary toil in the new world. Very unfortunate and gloomy for the Indians were many of those years long antedating the Revolution, in which some of the best and bravest of that truly missionary church struggled so grandly to benefit both spiritually and temporally the poor red men of the forest.
The greed for land had entered into the hearts of the grasping white man, and so the poor Indian had to go. What cared they for his prior claims! Treaties, solemnly made and scrupulously kept by the natives, were unhesitatingly broken by the stronger race as soon as the land was wanted, and in spite of the entreaties and expostulations, and at times even tears of the Moravian missionaries, the poor Indians were remorselessly driven away from their hunting-grounds and the graves of their fathers. Broken-hearted and disconsolate, whole missions were obliged to retreat farther still into the then almOl;t unknown Western wilderness before the ever-advancing paleface, thankful if even there a few years of respite were given them, ere they were again compelled to sacrifice their all and again and again flee into the forest wilds.
The self-sacrificing spirit manifested by their Moravian missionaries, who accompanied these unfortunate tribes in their exile and shared their many privations, is beyond all praise. It is to be regretted that, in spite of such unremitting toil and effort, no abiding results remain. Hardly a vestige of their work continues to this day. The hardships of such conditions so told upon those once numerous tribes, that they are now like the tribes to whom Eliot and Brainerd ministered-annihilated. Amid the sadness and regret which come with the contemplation of the history of the red man, it is refreshing to read in old annals that, while several European nations were pa<rcelling out thc American Continents among themselves, and sovereigns were coolly giving charters" to court favorites" or "bands of ad,'enturers," iu some of them there were some injunctions or commands in referenee to the spiritual welfare of the Indians. For example, in the charter granted to the band of adventurers who, in the year 1607, selected that portion of the new continent which they called Virginia, in honor of Queen Elizabeth, as their colony, it was specifically ordered that they should" use all proper means to draw the savage and heathen people to the true knowledge and service of God."
It is also cheering to read among the reports which have come down to us, that in the early settlement of Maryland there were, among the first colonists, a number of devout and godly men, who, pitying the superstitions and degraded condition of the Indians, did much for their advancement in things temporal and spiritual. In one of the first lelters written back to England after the arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth Rock, Mr. Cushman, one of the elders, mentioned the matter of Indian evangelization, and hopefully referred to " the tractable disposition of the Indian youths and the possibility of doing them much good."
Of the heroic efforts of Eliot and Brainerd I need not here write. The intensely interesting articles frcnD the pen of Dr. Gordon, already published in previous numbers of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW, have been an inspiration to multitudes. Their consecrated zeal and marvellous successes fired anew the hearts of such glorious men as Jonathan Edwards, Ge~rge Whitefield, and the two Wesleys. An eminent writer has declared that " the work of God among the Indians at that period was perhaps without parallel in heathen missions since the days of the apostles." David Brainerd, in writing of the wondrous work, said: "The power of God seemed to descend upon the Indians like a mighty rushing wind, and with astonishing energy bore down all before it. Marvellous were the results. Old men and women were in deep distress for their souls, and the most stubborn hearts were compelled to bow, and thousands were happily converted to God."
So profoundly impressed was John "Vesley with the scriptural character and genuineness of Brainerd's work among the Indians, that we hear him at one of his conferences with his ministers asking the question, " Vhat cau be done in order to revive the work of God where it is decayed ?"
In the reply, which is doubtless his own thought, among other things we read: "Let every preacher read carefully over the life of David Brainerd. Let us be followers of him as he was of Christ in absolute self-devotion, and in total deadness to the world and in fervent love to God and man. Let us but secure this point, and the world and the devil must fall at our feet." In Mr. Wesley's journals of 1767 he says, where he had, as desired, had a collection taken up for missions: "Will money convert heathen ~ Find preachers of David Brainerd's spirit, and nothing can stand before them j but without this what will gold or silver do 1" As an Indian mis- sionary himself Mr. Wesley cannot. be considered as having been a great success during the two or three years he spent in Georgia. Bound up in those early days in the trammels of a cold, dead formalism, destitute of that blessed spiritual" heart warming" which came to him in after years, and made his life and work so glorious, we hear him on his return voyage to England giving utterance to his sad thoughts in these words: "I went to America to convert the Indians j but oh ! who shall convert me? who, what is he that will deliver me from this evil heart of unbelief ~ I have a fair summer religion. I can talk well j nay, and believe myself while no danger is near j but let death look me in the face, and my spirit is troubled. Nor can I say, ' To die is gain.' "
The honorable Hudson's Bay Company, which received its charter from Charles I., was expressly ordered to look after the spiritual interests of the Indians of the vast northern regions, where for over two centuries it held almost despotic sway. In compliance with this command, until a very recent date, many of the missions of different churches were in part sustained by grants of money from this wealthy corporation.
In the limited space of a MISSIONARY REVIEW article it is impossible to given even a brief resume of the whole continental field of missionary work among the Indians, and so in the space left at my disposal in this paper I will endeavor to confine myself to a cursory review of the Indian work as carried on by the Methodist Church in Canada. Other churches are doing grand work in the Dominion, and doubtless in future articles will have honorable mention.
The early pioneer Methodist missionaries who crossed over from the United States into the then new provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, now known as Ontario and Quebec, were deeply impressed with the degradation and needs of the poor Indians, who, wandering in the dense forests or on the shores of the great lakes, were the victims of the unprincipled vendors of the fire-watel". Once made drunk by the terrible intoxicant, the unfortunate hunters were then easily defrauded of their rieh and valuable furs. Poverty and !mffering the most deplorable naturally followed. For a time the government was apathetic and indifferent, and it seemed as if the whole raee of the red men would be annihilated by the rum fiend. Amid many discouragements the missionaries toiled, but for a long time the results were most discouraging.
h the year 1823 the conversion of an Indian lad, who afterward became the Rev. Peter Jones, gave the first real impetus to the work. The Rev. William Case, who had been one of the principal agents in his conversion, as he heard the once wild Indian boy in clear and scriptural language tell the simple story of his acceptance of Christianity, exclaimed with joyous emotion, "Now is the door open for the work of conversion in his nation." From this time onward for a number of years the work of evallgelizil1g the Indians was very successful. Whole bands of these wandering red men accepted Christianity, and a number of flourishing missions were established. The missionaries, true to their discipline, made total abstinence from all intoxicating beverages a necessary qualifica. tion for membership of the different societies. Thousands of the once drunken Indians became and continued total abstainers, often in the midst of the most persistent and dastardly efforts that were made to lead them astray. The Rev. Peter Jones, whose Indian name was Rah-ke-wa-quona-by, was a man of power_ Full of zeal and courage, under the guidance, and often in company with the Rev. William Case, who has most aptly been caned the father of Canadian missions, he went up and down among the Indian tribes of Canada, preaching the Gospel of the Son of God, which had so wondrously transformed him.
In those early days of that then new country's history, churches and even school.houses were hardly known outside of the few towns or villages j but" the groves were God's first temples," and so in some favored spots, under the sturdy oaks or beautiful maples, the tents were pitched and the primitive camp-meetings were held. vVith the multiplication of churches, these unique services have in their early effective methods passed away j but grandly did they serve their purpose in those crude times.
Not only did the early settlers from their lonely log-cabin homes come many miles through the forest roads to attend them, but the Indians, hearing that the" palefaces" were worshipping the Great Spirit in the woods, also were attracted to those leafy temples. The preachers of those days believed in all the verities of God's Word. They believed God and His ·Word-all of it. To them hell as well as heaven was a reality. They thundered against sin and its consequences, and spoke of punishment as well as reward. Multitudes of the unconverted went down before these faithful appeals, as those Boanerges thundered forth Jehovah's threatenings, and" reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. "
In these ministrations the Indians were not forgotten. Those among the ministry who could address them in their own language did so. Others, using interpreters to aid them, faithfully preached to them the glorious Gospel of the blessed God. Great success attended these efforts.
Amoug the Indian converts at these camp-meetings and similar services were a number of young men who afterward became successful ministers among their own people. To two of them only have we space here to refer.
John Sunday is our first example. His Indian name was Sha-wundais, and he was once a dark, degraded pagan of the lowest type. Acquiring a love for fire-water, which was very frequently given him by the wretched liquor sellers in exchange for his furs, he sank about as low down as ever a poor Indian could j but the Gospel had not lost its power to save, and 80 when Sha-wun-dais came under its influences, and was willing to be saved, it was not long before there was a marvellous transformation. The story of his conversion, as it was the writer's joy in boyhood days to hear him tell, was thrillingly interesting. In quaint language, often with his homely face wet with tears of gladness, he would say : " I kneel down to pray to God. I do not know what to say to ask for religion. I only say this: '0 Ke-say-man-ne-do Shah-na-ne-me-shim ! ' (' 0 Lord, have mercy on me, poor sinner ! ') By and by the good Lord, 'He pour His Spirit upou my poor wretched heart j then I feel He hears me, and I am happy in my heart. Oh, how glad I am! I look up. I look out at the trees j the same is everything NEW to me. I hope I got religion that day."
There was no doubt about it. John Sunday at once began to tell to his countrymen the story of his conversion, and to urge upon them the acceptance of this great salvation. For many years he lived a godly, consistent life, beloved by all that knew him. In England, where he was taken, thousands crowded to the missionary meetings where he was announced to speak. In that old land, as well as in Canada, he charmed the multitudes by his inimitable addresses, which sparkled with wit and yet were full of unction and power. He finished his course most triumphantly, and his body rests in the little Indian cemetery at Alnwick, near Rice Lake, close by the grave of his lifelong friend, the Rev. William Case.
Henry Steinheur was a native Indian convert who became also a missionary of great influence and usefulness. When a poor little, neglected pagan child he was picked up by the Rev. William Case, and brought up with loving Christian care. He developed into a bright and clever student, and at school and college acquired a broad and liberal education. When but a child he was found to be possessed of a very musical voice, and so with others was chcsen by Mr. Case to form a little company of native Indian children, with whom he travelled through various parts of the United States and Canada. Large audiences were attracted to the services, where these Indian children sang in their own language the sweet songs of Zion. Many hearts were touched and many erroneous impressions in reference to the poor Indians were removed, and multitudes who had been apathetic about the conversion of the Indians became interested in the subject, and an impetus was given to the work of evangelizing the red men rather than destroying them, such as it never had before.
When these singing tours and his college life were ended, Mr. Steinheur devoted himself most thoroughly to missionary life among his own people. He was a useful and a godly man. Not only in the old province of Ontario did he labor among the tribes there, but in the days of his man400d's prime he went far West, even to the Rocky Mountains, and there amid their glories, as well as on the great prairies, he faithfully labored, and not in vain, to bring many of the wild, proud Indians to the Cross. With the Rev. James Evans, the grandest, the most heroic, and the most useful of all our Canadian Indian missionaries, Mr. Steinheur labored among the northern Crees, whose hunting-grounds are far north of the now province of :Manitoba. In after years, when it was the writer's great ' privilege to labor in that same wild land, his heart was often gladdened by hearing some old Indians ask about Mr. Evans, that great miSSIonary who had given them his wonderful invention, the syllabic characters, by which they were able to read the great Book so easily. When the story of his sudden death had been told them, after a time of silence they would ask very kindly about Henry Steinheur, the missionary of their own race, who had been such a blessing to them, and whom they had loved so well.
Mr. Steinheur toiled during the closing years of his long ministry among the Cree and Stoney Indians, in the great Saskatchewan country of the Canadian Northwest. Wonderfully sustained by that Gospel which he had so long proclaimed to his countrymen of various tribes, he triumphantly passed away to his reward. Two well-educated and devoted sons have followed him into the ministry, and are faithfully carrying on the good work among their own people.
In a work so extensive, carried on in regions beset with so many dangers and where the toilers were" in perils oft," it is not to be wondered at that some, amid tragic surroundings, ended their career. The only wonder is that more fell not. One of the saddest cases was that of the Rev. George McDougall. His name had become a household word in the Dominion of Canada in connection with Indian evangelization. For over thirty years with indomitable zeal he had labored for the temporal and spiritual uplifting of the Indians. His mission fields were as large as empires. Neither the fierce, dangerous wintry blizzards nor the summer's exhausting heat could restrain his ardor and his courage.
Beloved by whole Indian tribes, and trusted by his Government as the wise, prudent counsellor to quiet and conciliate the restless, warlike ones, _e steadily rose in usefulness and commanding influence.
Sad and mournful and utterly inscrutable was his end. Caught in a blizzard storm not far from his place of refuge, he perished on the plains. Long days passed ere the frozen body was found. When discovered, it appeared as though angel hands had laid him out for his burial.
Thus they fall at their posts; but the work goes on. Sons rise up to take the places of the fathers. Thus it will be until the final consummation, when to His Son shall be given" tbe heathen for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession."
Haste, happy day!
NEW METLAXAlITLA
NEW METLAKAHTLA.
The Rev. Bishop Cridge and Senator Macd.onald. recently visited New Metlakahtla, where the inhabitants of Metlakahtla, B. C., headed by Mr. Duncan, have established themselves. Senator Macdonald was interviewed by a representative of the Golonist with thc following result. He said: " As to the present condition and the future prospects of the Metlakahtlans, the village site at Port Chester is a better site in every way than the old Metlakahtla, situated on a beautiful plateau, nearly level land extending to one thousand acres, with clean shady beaches oU three sides; which are highly appreciated by the Indians as affording facilities for launching and hauling up canoes, as well as for landing and shipping fish, wood, and other commodities. The soil is capable of cultivation when drained and cleared. The food supply is abundant, venison, salmon, and halibut to be had almost at iheir very doors. During our visit the beach was covered with millions of small fish, very good eating, and could be picked up by the cartload. The Indians appear satisfied with the change -no repining, no desire to go back to the old home.
" We questioned Mr. Duncan closely as to the reports about disaffected Indians retU:rning to old Metlakahtla, and he told us so far as he knew none of his people had left, excepting probably six in all, whom he would not have at the new settlement, and he could not say where they had gone to. About six hundred were at the new settlement, and about two hundred were working at the gold mines and canneries, who had not yet returned for the winter. The demand for men trained by Mr. Duncan is so great that they command from $2 to $3 wages per day.
" There is at the settlement one day school at present conducted by Mr. Duncan with the help of Indian assistants. The day we visited the school ninety-eight children were present. A building for an industrial school is being finished, with accommodations for sixteen girl pupils, boarders, and a male and female teacher, and a smaller building is to be erected for an equal number of boys. In the mean time, thirty young men have been sent to the industrial school at Sitka, where they stand out in bold relief from the other pupils for their good conduct and cleverness. The United States Government gives $1200 annually in aid of the day school, and will so maintain the industrial school also.
" As to industries carried on, only a saw-mill is operated at present, which has paid for itself in one year, and is found too small to supply the demand. The canneries, which have been getting their boxes from Portland, find that New Metlakahtla can supply better boxes much cheaper, and intend in future to get their boxes there, which means trade to the value of $20,000 and employment to a number of people. The logs are supplied, all the sawing done, the boxes cut and brand printed on by Indians, who are fully as expert as white men.
" As to buildings at the settlement, Mr. Duncan lives in a log-house; with an abundance of air and daylight coming through the chinks. Dr. Bluett has built a very neat frame cottage, which will be comfortable when finished. The.Jndians live in small houses at present, but will soon commence to erect their permanent houses on an improved plan on the new town site, in the laying out of which Mr. Duncan took counsel with Bishop Cridge and myself. It is intended to have a wide road on the sea front on the three sides of the village, a square of twelve acres in the centre, in which will be the church, day school, and two industrial schools. From this square streets for residential purposes will radiate. The most convenient part of the immediate water front will be for commercial purposes, and on a very pretty and well-wooded point will be the town hall and recreation grounds. There are also two large buildings, one built for a cannery, now used for a church and school-house, and one for the trade shop. A large building called the guest-house is erected on a convenient spot, where strange Indians can find shelter, with fuel, tables and benches. Such a building is a great boon, and is much patronized.
" Mr. Duncan gives the greater part of his time to the church and school. Dr. Bluett, a medical gentleman from England, who gives his services gratuitously, attends to the sick and takes some of the Sunday services (there being four). When Mr. Duncan is away, David Leask and others assist with the services. David Leask and John Tait manage the mercantile department, the former making periodical trips to Portland to purchase goods. The trade compares with that of old MetlakahtIa very favorably, being nearly double the volume, and goods of all kinds are 25 per cent cheaper than at the old settlement. Other industries are likely to be commenced.
"Mr. Duncan is trying to raise a capital of $20,000 to establish a cannery next spring. Dogfish oil will become a large industry, and already Indians are forming joint-stock companies for its development. Logging and cutting cord wood will be a remunerative industry. During our stay four steamers called for firewood. The manufacture of furniture has been commenced. In Frederick Ridley'S house we found a large turning lathe and mortising machine, and other tools of many descriptions, with which he was turning out bedsteads, wash-stands, tables, window-sashes, etc., which would do credit to any of our factories. He had received an order from Portland for furniture for which he was seasoning yellow cedar.
" There was an unexpended balance from the trade of the old place sufficient to purchase a stock of goods for the new. An agency was established at Portland, and unlimited credit could be had. The contributions in the States, all unsolicited, were nnder $4000, none of which have been put into the trade or industries of the place, but has gone tu assist in the emigration, building the guest-house, road making, and aiding the poor.
" The day after our arrival the Indians gave Bishop Cridge and myself a feast, as they call it. The food was well cooked and well served. A raised table was prepared for us, ornamented with a canopy of evergreens
A TRULY APOSTOLIC MISSIONARY, JAMES WILLIAM LAMBUTH. D.D
and flags. About four hundred persons partook of the feast, nice white table-cloths and good crockery on the tables. An hour previous to our entering the supper-room a salute was fired. After supper eight of the most prominent men made eloquent speeches, thanking us for coming to visit them, and referring to their present happy and united condition, with no allusion, strange to say, to their old home, the land grievance, or to any official or other person who may have treated them unjustly. They display the greatest patience and forbearance, and use such temperate language. Very few of us whites would under similar circumstances act with such commendable prudence. Between each speech a trained choir sang sacred songs, and throughout good order and harmony prevailed.
" Mr. Duncan does not desire a rapid increase j if he did, the population would be doubled in three years. He will not sanction or encourage more than can be conveniently absorbed and furnished with employment, and church and school training.
"As to provision for maintaining law and order, Mr. Duncan is a justice of the peace, and has commenced dealing with some lawless characters already, and will soon turn his attention to rooting out the whiskey traffic in Alaska as he did in British Columbia, and there is every prospect that he will acquire the same infltlence for good over the surrounding tribes which he exercised so wisely and usefully at old Metlakahtla."
A TRULY APOSTOLIC MISSIONARY, JAMES WILLIAM LAMBUTH, D.D.
BY REV. J. P. DRAKE, D.D., EDWARDS, MISS.
The telegram which flashed across continents and ocean April 28th, 1892, announced the death of one of the most remarkable men of his age. Accompanying the sad tidings was a stirring message to his brethren, which fell from the dying lips of the heathen's friend: "Tell the Church I die at my postr-the work to be done is very great. Send more men !"
That excessive work, though long sustained, had at last shortened his valuable life, none can doubt who knew the man and his marvellous career.
Descended for two generations from missionary parentage, James W. Lambuth was born at Demopolis, Ala., March 2d, 1830. His father, Rev. J. R. Lambuth, a missionary to frontier whites, Indians, negroes, and French Catholics, came to Mississippi when the subject of this sketch was quite a boy. Serious and thoughtful from childhood, he was thoroughly regenerated while a student at Oxford, at the age of twenty-one. Immediately he began planning for a useful career in life. He studied, first medicine and then law j but the voice of the Spirit pursued him with a call to preach.
Soon after beginning this life work-viz., in his twenty-fourth yearhe volunteered for the foreign field. His noble young bride was equally ready and consecrated to the work. In May, 1854, they sailed from New York for China, being sent out by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. These were among the first representatives in the foreign field of this then new division of the Lord's invading army.. None have ever proved more faithful-few if any so efficient.
Sailing over such a stretch of sea, doubling the Cape, gave them a voyage of nearly five months' duration, with many accompanying dangers. The hand of God was manifest in saving them from impending shipwreck in direct answer to prayer.
When they reached Shanghai, China, September, 1854, there were only three hundred native Christians in that vast empire of spiritual darkness. The outlook was the more unfavorable, as the country was much disturbed by the Taiping Rebellion.
By dint of faithful application, and of a wonderful readiness to acquire language, our missionary was able in six months' time to begin to preach to the curious natives, so as to be somewhat understood in the most difficult of earth's confused tongues. He soon became known as the" Jesustalking man," and won his way where others had utterly failed. With headquarters at Shanghai, he established many other preaching places and mission stations. " In Jesus' name" (his favorite phrase) he planned, he wrought, he spoke, he wrote till the work became well established. It was noticeable that nearly all who came into the Church under his ministry proved faithful as Christians. Many have already passed into the better land and welcomed their brother home. He w.as too conscientious and loved men's souls too well to drag them hastily and uninstructed into fellowship with the Church. Thus magnifying the ideal of true Christianity, his converts magnified the grace of God within them.
As usually happens to foreign missionaries in that malarious region, his health gave way, and he was ordered home in 1861. He found our land in fratricidal strife, but braved all dangers to reach the Southern home of his parents, who received him as one given back from the dead. As soon as sufficient health returned, he began pushing his way through contending armies, his faithful wife always with him, to get back to the work into which God had so distinctly called him. On foot, and in every possible conveyance, they made their way to Ncw York. Robbed of their little money for crossing the ocean, they finally procure passage with a shipmaster who is willing to wait for his pay. To return this Mr. Lambuth did hard extra labor, while at the same time sustaining himself and growing family at his own charges; for his native land was swept by the storms of war, and the Church which sent him forth could not maintain him in the field. After the war clouds dispersed better times came, and reinforcements were sent. Of these he became the great and trusted leader or superintendent. Thus" much was added to the Lord." .
In 1886 he planned a mission for Japan. He quickly perceived the effectual door which was opening here for the true light of life.
CHRISTWARD MOVEMENTS AMONG THE JEWS
Here, among a people of different languages and customs, he speedily became a ready and successful preacher of the same blessed Gospel. With the aid of his son, Dr. W. R. Lambuth, and Dr. O. A. Dukes (with their wives), he was instrumental in bringing our native Japanese membership in one year from nothing up to one hundred. For about six years he toiled with quenchless zeal for the Master in this new field of effort. Fourteen hours a day of preaching and explaining God's Word was his accustomed task.
More than a year before his death he had this most marvellous experience : While very sick he had a vision of one like unto the Son of man, who said plainly, " Old servant, it is time for you to be going home to rest." He replied, "Lord, let me stay a little longer to work for Thee. So many of these heathen are perishing in their sins. " The vanishing form said, "You may stay a little longer." He rose at midnight rejoicing, and shouted till the break of day.
Henceforth he labored on more diligently than ever and with greater success, till at last the Master came to give a final summons. He ceased at once to work and live, while, to use his own words, "inexpressibly glorious things were opening up before him, coming and going."
Three nations mourn him, while hundreds of redeemed souls greet him as their greatest human helper. In honoring such heroes, we honor ourselves. The secret of his good and great success was the faithful use of all the powers with which God had endued him, "looking ever unto Jesus. "
CHRISTWARD MOVEMENTS AMONG THE JEWS.
BY PROFESSOR GEORGE H. SCHODDE, PH.D., COLUMBUS, O.
The presence in Chicago during the ·World's Fair season of Joseph Rabinowitz, of Kishnev, Bessarabia, Russia, the leader for ten years of the unique, spontaneous, and independent Christward movement among the Jews of Southeastern Europe, who came to America at the invitation of Mr. Moody to participate in the great and glorious Gospel work in connection with the Exposition, in which Stocker and other prominent European evangelists also took part, has brought to the forefront in the religious world the noteworthy agitation headed by the learned Jewish lawyer of the East. The fact that this movement has prospered and developed for a whole decade, and continued to be a positive factor and force in the religious thought of the Eastern Jews, is evidence sufficient that it is not the mushroom growth of a night, but has in it the elements of permanency, and has become a fixed fact in modern evangelical history. When it first arose the venerable Professor Delitzsch greeted it as the dawn of a new day for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. While his ideals and hopes may not have been realized, especially not in the slow numerical growth of the open adherents of this new religious communion, the quality and character of the movement is of a superior kind. It is not the only move- meut of the kind that has spruug up in the ranks of Eastern Judaism dur- ingthe last decade, but it is the first and the only one that has a promise of a future. Rabbi Lichtenstein, of Tapio-Szele, Hungary, has also learned to see in Jesus of Nazareth the Messiah promised to lsrael by her seers and prophets; but he has not come so close to the heart of Chris- tianity as has the Ki,shnev reformer. Lichtenstein still refuses to be bap- tized, on the plea that he can serve Christ among the Israelites all the more effectively by remaining unbaptized; but Rabinowitz was b:.ptizcd half a dozen years ago in Berlin by Professor Mead, of Andover. Then the agitation inaugurated by the former has not led to the organization of a church or congregation of like-minded Israelites, while the preaching of Rabinowitz has. Lichtenstein has recently begun to labor among his people, with headquarters at Buda Pesth. He is working under the auspices of the English Mildmay Mission. A third movement of this kind was begun about eight years ago at Tomsk, Siberia, by a Polish refugee named Scheinmann, and Delitzsch gave an enthusiastic account of the movement in an article entitled" Eisaufbrnch in Siberien," in his Jewish mission quarterly Saat auf Hoffnung, 1887. Nothing further was heard about the man or his work, until in recent months German church papers were compelled to publish notices warning Christians against giving finan- cial aid to Scheinmann, who has been abusmg the prominence gained by his agitation for private gain. On the other hand, Lichtenstein and Rabinowitz have both been very active with their pens as well as with their tongues. The former has published a number of brochures, in which his views and how he gained them are found in interesting detail discussion. Rabinowitz has published several brochures containing the official confession of the communion headed by himself, as also a large number of sermons, lectures, and the like. He is a literary man, and before his conversion was a favorite correspondent of the I£ammelitz and other prominent Hebrew journals published in Russia. An interesting biographical sketch of the reformer, prepared by himself at the request of Professor Delitzsch, and translated into German by the latter from the original Jewish jargon, which he generally uses for his preaching and publications, has been issued by the Institutum Judaicum of Leipzig, where the other documents pertaining to this movement have also been printed.
The ideal and aim of Rabinowitz is one that is unique in Church his_ tory, although he regards it as a reproduction of the plan upon which the Jewish-Christian churches of the apostolic era were organized. He states that just as the Frenchman remains a Frenchman as far as nationality is concerned when he becomes a Christian, and an Italian an Italian, thus a Jew is to continue to be a Jew in his nationality, notwithstanding the fact that he has learned to accept Jesus of Nazareth. He accordingly aims at the organization of a national Jewish Church, in which the Christian Jew .shall retain those characteristics and marks which distinguish his nationality and race, and ao not belong to thoRe religious beliefs which are inconsistent with an open and full confession of Christ. Among these national traits he counts among other things also the observance of the seventh day as the day of rest and worship, also the rite of circumcision, which is to be retained in addition to baptism. Accordingly, too, Rabinowitz has not allied himself to any of the existing Christian churches, although his faith is positively evangelical and is based upon a full acceptance of the New Testament Covenant and its Scriptures. Years ago Delitzsch expressed the conviction that the Pauline standpoint taken by Rabinowitz would sooner or later lead him to accept the Pauline conclusions in reference to Sabbath and circumcision; but this step has as yet not been taken. That it has not been taken has estranged not a few friends of Jewish Gospel work, who at first enthusiastically welcomed the reformer and his ideas, but now fear that the agitation will end only in half-way measurism and syncretic compromise.
The confessional standpoint of the Kishnev Jewish-Christians is officially expressed in the thirteen Theses with which Rabinowitz begall his crusade, and is the Confession of Faith adopted by the communion. Both of these are exceedingly interesting documents, and give a clear idea of the religious atmosphere and surroundings in which these people live and move and have their being. To give these in extract at this place is certainly not a work of supererogation. In the Theses, after pointing out in the first five the deplorable condition of the Israelites in the East, the document continues : " 6. The material condition of the Jews cannot in any way be improved, unless the moral and spiritual status has been first bettered.
" 7. In order to elevate the people morally there is need of a deepseated regeneration, of a spiritual renewal. We must cast aside our false gods-namely, our love for money, as such, and in its place must plant into our hearts the love of truth, as such, and the fear of evil, as such.
" 8. In order to renew our innermost being and to aid us to love the truth and to hate the evil, we stand in need of a Helper, of a reliable and experienced man, of a Physician, whose personality and medicine have already stood the test of experience.
" 9. Such a Helper we must seek among the descendants of Jacob, and must select a man who loves Israel; one who has given up His life for the sanctification of the Divine name and for the sanctification of the Thorah (Law) and of the Prophets; a man who has become known to all the inhabitants of the globe, on account of the purity of His clean soul and His strong love for His people, the children of Israel; a man who has lived in a time when Israel had already accepted the traditional law, and had already taken its place among the nations of the earth; a man who, on"the one side, had thoroughly recognized the haughtiness of heart in his Jewish brethren, as they boasted of their noble descent from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, their fathers, blessed of the Eternal God, and who were proud of their wisdom that had been given them in the Thorah received on Mt. Sinai j and who, on the other hand, saw through their stubbornness and their propensity, in good and prosperous days, to forsake the living God, their heavenly Father, and to choose new gods for themselves, such as the love of money and the supremacy over their brethren through science and Mammon.
" 10. The man who unites all this in Himself, after a careful search in the old books of the history of our people, the children of Israel, we have found in the one Jesus of Nazareth, who was slain at Jerusalem before the destruction of our last temple.
" 11. The wise men in Israel among His contemporaries were not yet able to understand His teachings, nor the blessed purposes of His work which He sought to perform for His Jewish brethren-namely, this, that He sought to lay the stress upon the observance of the prescriptions of the law pertaining to the heart and the head, and not on the minutire of outward acts and deeds, which are set to be changed according to time and place and political condition of the Jews. We, however, who are living in the year 5644, can say with a certainty that He, Jesus, sought only the welfare of His brethren, and offered peace to their whole race.
" 12. Therefore the strength of our love for our Israelitic brethren impels us to hold in reverence the name of this Jesus, our Brother. We should learn to appreciate His holy words, spoken in love and truth, as they are found written in the Gospels, and should impress these truths on our children in the schools, should speak of them constantly in the society with others, should receive the Gospel books as blessings into our houses, and should unite them with all the sacred books which have been left to us as a blessing from our really wise men in all generations.
" 13. We hope confidently that the words of our Brother Jesus, which were spoken aforetimes to our Israelitic brethren in righteousness, love, and pity, will find root in our hearts and bring forth the fruits of righteousness and salvation. These will change our hearts and make them love the true and the good, and then, too, the hearts of the people and the governments will turn toward us in kindness, to give us continuance and a position among all the other nations, which live in safety under the shadow of the Jaws of Europe, which have been given and written in the spirit of our Brother, who has given up His life in order to make the world happy and to remove evil from the earth. Amen. "
The official Confession of Faith of this J ndreo-Christian congregation is given in ten different propositions. Of these the ninth is the most important, as bearing on the relation sustained toward the Messiahship of Christ. The first eight are historico-dogmatical statements, based on the Old Testament., of the promised Messiah and the fate of Israel. Then comes the ninth, reading as follows : " The word of the Lord, spoken to Abraham, our father j to Moses, our prophet j to David, our king j and to His servants, the true prophets, has found its fulfilment and realization about seventy years before the
rJuly
destruction of our second temple; for thc Lord has taken pity on His peop1e, and has exaited the house of our salvation in the house of David, His servant, and has caused to shoot !orth for us a righteous branch- Hamely, the Lord Jesus, the Christ, who has come forth for us out of Bethlehem, the city of David, to be the ruler in Israel-He who is the exalted son of the Most High, to whom His Father has given the throne of David. He it is who rules over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there is no end j He has suffered and has been crucified and has been buried for our salvation, and arose again from the dead, and now lives, and, behold, He sits at the right hand of our Father in heaven.
" 10. According to the decree of the impenetrable wisdom of God, our fathers were struck with hardness of heart, and the Lord has inflicted them with a spiritual sleep, so that they resisted Christ, and sinned against Him from that day to our own, in order thereby to stimulate other nations all the morc to zeal and to contribute to the reconciliation of the world, since these people learned to have faith in Jesus the Christ, the Son of David, our King, when they heard His messengers of peace (Isa. 52 : 7), who had been cast from Israel in disgrace. But now since, in consequence of our sins against the Christ of God, the world has become rich in faith in this Christ, and in consequence of our unbelief the times of the Gentiles have been fulfilled (Luke 21 : 24), and these have entered into the kingdom of God in their entirety, the time for our entrance has also come j so that we, the descendants of Abraham, become blessed through our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and that the God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, may again have mcrcy upon us, and again may implant the torn-out branches into our holy roots-i.e., into Christ, and that in this way all Israel may partake of eternal salvation, and our holy city, Jerusalem, may again be built, and the throne of David may again be established forever and ever. Amen."
In addition to the above, the communion has also published a " Short Explanation of the Faith in the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, in the Convictions of the National J ewish New Testament Congregation now being Organized." This document is of considerable length, but contains no prominent ideas not already mentioned, only preliminary historical statements, also of the faith as understood by Rabinowitz and his followers, the positive commandments, and the unity of God. In this document especially the national and Jewish characteristic features of the new communion are set forth, such as the retention of circumcision, observance of the seventh day, reasons for not connecting themselves with any of the existing Christian churches, etc. Further sources of information on this movement are the" Fortgesetzte Documente," and the" Neue Documente," published by Delitzsch, containing an historical introduction, a most interesting autobiography of Rabinowitz, and three sermon sketches or articles by the latter. An appendix gives the titles of sixteen publications, mostly brochures and pamphlets, by the leader of the movement.
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
:Methodist Educational Institutions in people seemed to be shut off. A boys' Ohina-Historical Glance. day school was proposed by the young missionary as a possible agency by llY REV. F. OHLINGER, FOOCHOW, CHINA. which a breach might be made in the solid ranks of heathen society. The Drs. Maclay and Gibson were prob. mIssion readily gave assent and means ably the first among the Methodist mis- " to try school work once more in hard sionaries to China who took an active fields like the great city." A memorainterest in the education of Chinese ble" concert of prayer," a meeting that boys. They had at various times and has been held monthly by the Proteswith varying succeSs conducted a boys' tant missions at Foochow for more than boarding school in the mission com- a generation, took. place at about this pound. time. The subject was, Missionary Means and Methods. Schools came in Failing health and the opening of two for a due amount of attention, and one new missions (Central China and North after another of the senior missionaries China in 1868) so depleted the working denounced them roundly as" missionforce of the mission that the school had aryhot-houses," and the Christians that to be disbanded. The results of the were raised up in them as " hot-house school were generally pronounced Christians." "Indeed, one could not meagre and unsatisfactory, though the help seeing the difference between the mission had gained by it two of its best convert of the boarding school and men preachers, Yek Ing Kuang and Ding of the rugged, holy obstinacy and pug· Neng Ciek, and several of its best lay- nacity of a Ling Cing Ding." Finally, men, among them Ding Heng Mi, one a pause occurred in the meeting, and a of our first ordained local preachers, man of unusual stammering force, Rev. -one of our first Chinese lay delegates- J. Doolittle, took up the defence. In .elect to General Conference, for many a few moments the atmosphere of the 'years foreman of our press, and finally meeting had completely changed, and monitor in our Anglo-Chinese College. more than one confessed, saying: "I The Church should remember these forgot myself, and simply drifted into men as the first-fruits of her educational that line of remarks about our former work in China. Inasmuch as the ma- schools." The school at Hok Ing Dong jority of the pupils had proved failures was never opened, but in its place, after and the eminent usefulness of these few a careful survey of the ground gone could not be foreseen, confidence in over, of the difficulties encountered, mission schools sank to a low ebb. Re- and of the gradually changing circuminforcements were sent out in 1870, and stances and condition of the field, a one of the young brethren was appoint- school for the education of young men ed to our chapel in the city. This who felt called to the ministry, and church (Hok lng Dong) had been in a who had held and used exhorter's lideplorable condition, no additions to cense acceptably for at least one year, the membership having been received was opened in the old Boys' Boarding for years. The anti-foreign feeling I::ichool bungalow. A Boys' High that had culminated in the Tientsin School, for the education of our preachmassacre in the north, and subsequently ers' sons, was soon added, the mission found vent in the" Fairy Powder" riots paying a nominal sum ($2.20 per month) in the south, was strong in this centre to each pupil in the" Training School" of wealth and culture. " Open-door (Biblical Institute) and 50 cents to each preaching" could not be conducted with safety, and all approach to the preacher's son in the High School. " Many of our preachers are graduates With this aid all the pupils were to fur- of this school;" and now: "The ma- nish their own food, beds, books, and jority (or about four fifths) of our clothing. preachers are graduates of the Biblical This was quite an advance on pre- Institute. "
vious rules and conditions. It was also In 1888 the Boys' High School was made an essential feature of the schools united with the Biblical Institute as a that the missionary should not sit in preparatory department.
the school-room and have the whole re- The influence of this school was first sponsibility for its order and discipline, noticed in an awakening desire to open but that, as efficient workers had been boys' day schools at our more prosper- raised up in other departments of the ous inland stations. Confidence in edu- work by gradually placing responsibili- cational work grew apace. The for- ties upon them, so school-teachers eign missionary, tpe native presiding should gradually be trained to whom elder, and the preacher in charge were Christian schools might be entrusted at constituted examining committees, and any distance from the mission head- the responsibility for the work, charac- quarters. The great aim of those in ter, and reputation of the schools was charge of these schools was not to build placed on their shoulders. After some up large and expensive institutions, but failures and haphazard experimenting rather to give (to the native church) and they came into line as a permanent take a course of training on the difficult branch of our missionary work, and are problem of Christian schools in heathen still the best "feeders" of our higher China. It was emphatically a process institutions of learning. They cost the of " feeling our way." The missionary missionary society $10 each per annum.
at the head of these schools was not The effect of all this educational work withdrawn from the general work, might have been in a measure foreseen.
though the older missionaries and our During the last half of the seventies lamented Bishop Wiley frequently pro- voices were heard among the native posed to " set him apart for educational -preachers and some of the more intelli- work exclusively." But it was always gent laymen pleading for" greater edu- felt that the object and purpose of the cational advantages" for the Christian schools could not be reached unless the children of China. The missionaries one in charge continued in vital con- were not even willing to consider any- nection with the native church. He was thing further than the gradual develop- therefore not only pastor of a church ment of the schools we had. In De- and editor of a monthly paper, but cember, 1880, while two of the mission- usually also" missionary in charge" of aries were travelling in the work and one or two districts. By this means it the third one keeping up the schools was possible to keep a close watch over and general interests at Foochow, the the influence of the schools on the latter on a rainy afternoon took the rec- church, to hear criticisms and sugges- reation of which he felt a special need tions, and, on the principle of "going by visiting Mr. Ahok, a man whose abroad to get the home news," learn name has since become known through- how they were conducted and govern- out the Christian world. Mr. Ahok ed. When he left Foochow, early in asked the missionary into his private 1886, he bore this testimony from the room, and while enjoying the cup of graduates and pupils of the Biblical In- Chinese courtesy together, Mr. Ahok stitute, among them one presiding eld- said: "Teacher, I am getting old and er: "Over twenty persons owe their may not live much longer. You know promotion to the pastorate and elder- something of my financial circum- ship to your wise and faithful instruc- stances. The General Hospital on yon- tion. " His successors first reported : der island I shall have to continue to assist; but I can do more. I think, claimed, as he looked at it from all teacher,TIl buy this lot and building points of the compass: "It is a liberal above my store here and use it as my education just to look at it I" "Oppo· guest house while I live. Your bish- sition and kindly fear" sprang up in ops could be entertained there when unlooked-for quarters. The three famvisiting Foochow. I think I can get it ilies in the mission toiled long and dilifor $10,000. When I die it will be the gently before others arrived who were property of your mission to be used as both willing and able to assist. Bish. an Anglo. Chinese College." The mis- ops Wiley and Bowman were its first sionary left Mr. Ahok and returned, and strougest friends in the Board. amid a cold, drizzling rain, to his classes The former, baving episcopal superin the Biblical Institute. He could not vision of our missions in China, de· help wondering at the calm manner of clared its organization " a very marked Mr. Ahok, his un-Chinese reference to step of progress." Before it had cele· his age, and, most of all, what opening brated its first anniversary a strong God might be pointing out in tbis un- committee of native ordained preachers usual manner. Three days later the pronounced it .. an everlasting, firm Rev. R. S. Maclay, D.D., for many foundation-stone for our church." The years superintendent of tbe mission, principal reported to the church, say· but after 1873 superintendent of tbe ing: "Friends, Jesus Christ is in the mission in Japan, revisited Foocbow. habit of visiting the Foochow Anglo- When the brethren returned from tbeir Chinese College." The example of so " country trip" Dr. Maclay, in various many poor boys and young men paying meetings of the mission, related the ex· so liberally for an education stimulated perience of the Japan mission in educa- the native church along the line of self· tional work, expressing his strong con- support. Revivals took place on some viction that a system of higher educa- of the hardest fields, but, best and most tion conducted by the mission in Foo- timely of all, in the college itself. Be· chow would prove of great benefit to fore its second anniversary came round the work. In a meeting of the mission- the :l1issionary Board bad given its un· aries, with the native presiding elders, reserved sanction, the number of stu- Mr. Ahok and other laymen, on January dents had doubled, and another com· 19th, 1881, it was decided to open a mittee of native preachers had said on preparatory department in February. behalf of the whole conference: "The Mr. Ahok showed with much clearness Anglo-Chinese College is as a child just that the mission had delayed too long born, and pleases us greatly." in the matter, and that some oppor- The last word from the President. tunities and advantages had already Rev. George B. Smyth, is as follows: been lost. He nevertheless manifested .. The college has now one hundred and a deep interest in the movement, and thirty·two students, the largest attend· instead of purchasing the building he ance it has ever had. A good many of had spoken of as a guest house, he the boys are Christians, and they are placed $10,000 cash in the hands of the doing good work. Four companies of trustees. This was the first Christian six each go out every Sunday afternoon college ever established on Chinese soil, to teach in as many Sunday-schools." and it WaS founded by a Ohinaman! A Girls' Boarding School and anum· Others, however, soon followed at ber of Girls' Day Schools had been in Shanghai and other ports. A com- progress for many years before the mittee of native gentlemen connected opening of the college. To this board· with the foreign hongs raised $2000. ing school the Misses Woolston had de· On January 17th, 1882, one of the finest voted years of faitbful service, and sites in the east was purchased for their name will ever be associated with $14,000. The Rev. Joseph Cook ex- the first stage of Christian education in China. A woman's school had also to the great objects we have before US,. been attempted. These were all stimu- and it is gratifying that it is being orlated into new life, broadened and en- ganized and developed in harmony with larged by the revival of the interest in these great objects. The Peking Uni-· Christian education that had culmi- versity is the head and centre of this. nated in the founding of the colIege_ department of work. While organized The enthusiasm, often denounced as a upon an undenominational and inde- " craze," reached all our missions in pendent foundation, it is essentially and China, and soon each of the younger practically, and we hope ever will be, missions had not only a " college," but an invaluable aid to our mission York. a .. university." They took a •• high An endowment and the erection of other aim" to be sure, but have not shown needed buildings will be a direct COI!lany signs of coming short of it thus tribution to the work of evangelization_ far. Rev. C. F. Kupfer took a leading Here our preachers, teachers, doctore. part in the work in our Central China and intelligent men of business are to Mission, where we now have the Kiuki- be fitted for influential places in the reo ang Institute, the Chinkiang Institute, generated society that must replace the and the Nankin University. Miss Ger- institutions of the past. Hundreds of trude Howe has always taken the lead our youth, who will never pass entirely in the development of the means for through the courses of study, will reeducating the girls and women. It is ceive an impetus and inspiration that fair to state here that the W. F. M. S. will fit them for useful lives. Around and its agents are not slack in this line the university as a centre and an inof Christian work, but are everywhere spiration our schools are being better doing the best in their power to keep organized and are producing more satpace with the efforts of the parent so- isfactory results. Intermediate schools ciety. It seemed to be supernaturally are established at Peking, Tientsin, brought home to nearly all our agents Tsunhua, Taian, and Lanchou, while on the field in 1880 that, not only c'Oery the day schools are receiving more athuman mind but e'Oery faculty of that tention than ever before. One encourmind i8 sacr8d, and therefore worthy of aging feature of these country and intraining. Our faithful German Meth- land city schools is that the native odists have sustained Brother Kupfer's churches are manifesting increased inenterprises with characteristic liberal- terest by contributing for their support. ity. The buildings at Kiukiang and Most of our day schools are now en- Chinkiang are monuments of their quiet tirely self.supporting, with the excep- tion of the teacher's salary, while very generosity. encouraging amounts in money and In North China the lamented Dr. grain have been given for the boarding schools at Taian and Lanchou." Pilcher was largely in charge of the educational work from its inception to Miss Anna B. Sears has for many its present stage. He was one of the years ably conducted the work of edufirst to express confidence in the move- cating women and girls. Here also the ment at Foochow, and was not afraid women of the Church are coming up to coPY some of its essential features. nobly to the new demands of the old, In an eminent degree qualified for the empire field. Considering that China work of an educator, his early promo- has by her system of education always tion to higher service, however fitting, conquered her conquerors, that she was for the present frustrates our plans for several millenniums the schooland almost prostrates our hopes. The teacher of Asia, that she is the only status of the work is well expressed country in the world that favors an in a few lines from the senior mission- aristocracy of letters, the wonder is ary, Dr. H. H. Lowry: "Educational that it took us so long to decide how work bears a most important relation to approach her. And yet at one time the war of 1860 was the discovery that it seemed as if the whole missionary Peking is by no means so large a city body were to be rent in twain before as many of us had supposed! Now the "new departure" in educational that this capital has been occupied by work could be fully inaugurated. Dis- foreigners for nearly a third of a cencussion became violent and assumed tury, one would suppose that every- many of the features of the f'vexed thing of interest regarding it would term question." It was a hot though long since have been found out, and brief battle, and now that the smoke have been communicated to the world. has cleared away and higher education But while desultory descriptions of is almost universally acknowledged as special objIJcts and places have often a legitimate missionary agency, as the been published, it is a singular fact that tree is becoming known by its fruit, no comprehensive account of Peking both he that planted and he that W1- and its people, their peCUliarities and tered rejoice in great hope and expecta- customs, has ever been issued. tions. Twenty years ago there was no diffi- Peking and the" Great Wall." culty in inspecting the grounds of the Temple of Heaven, undoubtedly the BY REV. ARTHUR H. SMITH, P'ANG most characteristic structure in the em- pire. But the privilege was often CHIANG, NORTH CHINA. abused, sometimes shamefully so, and the lavish expenditure of many persons In the "more former days," that is who had no knowledge of the proper before the war of 1858-60, the city of way to deal with Asiatics, and no inter- Peking was regarded by almost all for- est beyond the single visit which they eigners who knew anything about it were to make, soon tended, if not to with a mixture of curiosity and awe. kill the goose with the golden eggs, at lt was the centre of the great empire least to stop the laying. Within a few which foreigners of all nationalities had years the finest of the many buildings been struggling, for more than three connected with the Temple of Heaven, hundred years, to penetrate, but which and the one most frequently representvery few had ever explored, those few ed in cuts, has been destroyed, by what almost exclusively diplomats or mis- was called in the Peking Gazette" lightsionaries. The former did not see ning." and until it is rebuilt, which much, and the latter, as a rule, did not will be no one kuows when, that great report much, though to this remark landmark is gone; moreover, it is genthere are a few conspicuous exceptions. erally hopeless to try to see the grounds, not to speak of the buildings. It is not strange that the Chinese who came in contact with foreigners should The great Lama Temple (Yung Ho have invariably exaggerated the great- Kung) is another spot which was once ness and grandeur of their capital. easily accessible, but is now closed, ex- .. The unknown passes for the magnifi- cept to such adventurous spirits as Mr. cent," and with a ready credulity, many Henry Norman, whose extraordinary of the Chinese statements were absorbed account of his proceedings there must by the foreigners to whom they were have impressed every discerning reader communicated, and so passed on into with that gentleman's total unfitness to current literature, where many of them deal with the Chinese. seem still to remain. With the end of the war all this was altered. So intel- The monks in this lamasery are a set ligent and discriminating a historian as of bullies, who have been totally de- Mr. Justin McCarthy remarks in his praved by the reckless waste of cash "History of Our Own Times," that upon their temple, which has indeed perhaps one of the principal results of some notable sights, but by no means worthy of the trouble to which th(l traveller must now be put, even Were be defined as places where one is" furthere no actual danger. There is noth- nished with shelter and vermin for the ing so attractive about an image sev- night;" if he objects to extortion by enty-two feet high, that one would care inn-keepers with connivance from every to be insulted at every court entrance, one else; if he considers one pile of nor is even the chanting of a choir of stones and bricks as good as another, yellow-jacketed boys to be put against and a1Jile of them ranged upon a range the fright likely to be caused by an at- of hills in the light of a monument to the tack on one's life. Putting aside these lunacy of the builders-if he is in this sights, then, o.s unattainable, we have frame of mind, he will do well to adleft the Confucian Temple, and the jure the Great Wall. It has been astronomical instruments in the Ob- lauded as the greatest work on the servatory. Each of these places is well planet, and stigmatized as the greatest worth visiting, and they have been fraud. The inscription in six lanoften described, so that what is to be guages (on a stone in the midway arch), seen can be readily ascertained in ad- which hardly anyone is learned enough vanee. We are not aware that the Con. to decipher, and which is of little infucian Temple has ever been closed to terest to any mortal when it has been foreigners, but the Observatory has deciphered, mayor may not be a great been so, and for long periods together, attraction. One must understand that although at present accessible. We the age of this particular section of the omit all mention of the stable of the wall is wholly uncertain; he must enimperial elephants, and the Examina- deavor to dissociate it from thoughts tion Hall, as these places contain noth- of the personal inspection of Ch'in Shih ing which may not be seen elsewhere Huang, the great Vandal of the third equally well. century before the Christian era, and he must not attempt to entangle the in- A view from the wall of the city is tricacies of the history of this special of course interesting, but with the ex· section of the great barrier. In short, ception of the imperial palaces, which he must have faith as a grain of musare much like other Chinese structures, tard-seed, and he will be enabled to see and a few dagobas, there are in the in review much of the history of the main only the same sights as in other empire. It is only of late years that large Chinese cities. the pass leading to Ch'a Tao (Forked Roads) has been put into tolerable re- There are two places of historical in- pair, so that it is possible to traverse it terest ,to foreigners in connection with without the agonies which were once Peking, one within the city and one inevitable. The Chinese had good reawithout. The former is the seat of the son for leaving it in a wretched condi- Russian Mission, which has been in ex- tion, as a protection against invasion istence in Peking since the days of from that quarter, although, as experi- Catherine in 1727, when a treaty was ence has so often shown, a most ineffecmade'between Russia and China, lasting tual one. But if we satirize the effort till 1858, being, according to Dr. Will- to keep out a savage race by piles of iams, the longest-lived treaty on record. stones and bricks, let us remember that The other spot is the Roman Catholic it was the best way known to those who Cemetery outside the P'ing Tse Gate, adopted it, and that to a gIeat degree which contains the remains and monu- and for a long period of time it was ments of some of the ablest men who successful. And if the wisdom of the ever 'set foot on Chinese soil, Ricci, ancient wall-builders of China is put Schall, and Verbiest. into competition with the modern legis· lators in the United States, who are Whether the Great 'Wall is or is not struggling to build up a Chinese wall worth visiting will depend much upon the visitor. If he objects to sleeping in inns, which, like those in Spain, may against the Chinese themselves, it may proof which both the original Bab and perhaps be ultimately made evident Beba have put forth in support of their even to these modern crude wall-build- claims is, that they are writing ma- ers, that while supposing themselves to chines-that is, that they can write be the "heirs of all the ages in the more verses on any given subject in a foremost files of time," they are in real- certain time than any other man. The ity more than twenty centuries behind Bab, for instance, it is said, in Ispahan, it, and that their work will not stand. wrote out one thousand verses on a given subject in three hours (according to another account he took six hours).
Wahabiism and Babism-Bibliography. One account credits him with writing a million verses, which another reduces [Having solicited from Rev. P. Z. to one hundred thousand, in the course Easton information as to the difference of his six years' ministry. One characbetween the religion of the Wahabis teristic of those I have seen is their and that of the Bab, and also having utter lack of originality, being merely asked for the titles of a few books that a hash of sentences, phrases, etc., from could be followed for further investi- the Old and New Testaments, Koran, gation, the answer received is herewith and other religious works, in a setting furnished to aid others interested in the of high-sounding words. subject.-J. T. G.] The principal work of the original "Taking up your queries of April Bab is the Beyan (explanation). Those 24th, I would say that Wahabiism and of Beba are the Kitab i Akdas (most Babism are antipodes-the one taking holy book) and Ikan (assurance).
its stand on the letter, the other claiming Browne, of Cambridge, who is to-day that the spirit is all in such a sense that the historian and expounder of Bablsm, the letter becomes a mere mass of wax, has translated two original Babi works, which may take on any shape that is .. The Traveller's Narrative" and" The desired. The Wahabi desires that New History of the Bab, " and enriched everything should be done now exactly both of them with valuable notes.
as it was in the days of Mohammed, Needless to say that many of the state- nothing less and nothing more; the ments made by the Babi writers are to Babi makes a tabula 'l"aaa of the past be taken c'um grano salis. To lie for and starts anew. One of the questions the glory of their leader is with the of greatest moment at the present time Babis, as with their predecessors, a is, Do we not find both these elements great virtue. Other valuable works ot in the Koran 1 Was not Mohammedan- Browne's are the articles in the JournaZ ism, if not from the beginning, at least of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1889 and during the lifetime of its founder, a 1892, his two articles on Sufiism and system of self-contradictions which Babism in "Religious Systems of the were bound to rend the body in twain World" (Swan, Sonnenschein & Co.), in the course of their development? and his last and in some respects most The letter which killeth on the one important work, " A Year Among the hand; the abrogation instead of the ful- Persians. " All these books can be got filment of the law on the other. Bab- through Macmillan & Co., who have an ism, like all other forms of pantheism, agency here in New York. Before claims that it contains "the roots of passing from Browne let me state that the roots of the roots of religion." while he has rlaced the Christian and As a matter of fact, like all other forms learned worlds under great obligations of pantheism, it is an atheistic system by his valuable works, he himself is which makes use of religion as a mask too much under the spell of panthe- to cover its infamous designs. ism to be a safe guide. How was it Now as to bibliography. The great possible, that when he had onGO had his eyes opened by such an experience works on the subject are: 1. Nasikhat as that of Kirman, he could be again Tawarikh; 2. Rawzatu's Safa; 3. Kideceived? Truly, there are none so sasu I Ulama. A summary of these blind as those who see. works, so far as they relate to Babism, is given in " The Episode of the Bab," Adding to the list two French works, pp. 173-98. Gobineau's "Religions et Philosophies dans l'Asie Centrale" and Mirza Kazem I would suggest that it would be a Beg's articles on .. Bab et les Babys," good thing to apply to other missionin the Journal .Asiatique tor 1866, we aries for bibliographies of all lands and have sufficient to give us a pretty good religions, so that those extant might be idea of that branch of pantheism which perfected. " is called Babism. Now for the tree itself. For the general reader I would From Our Mail-Bag. say that the best work to give one a general idea of the system, the best be- -Rev. Charles W. de Lonza, of the cause everywhere accessible, is Moore's Methodist Episcopal Mission, presiding co Lalla Rookh," which, it is to be re- elder of the Ajmere District, Rajputana, membered, is nQt a mere work of fancy, India, writes: "I am struck, as other but based on historical facts. I know missionaries must be, with the marvelof nothing that gives a better idea of lous hold that Christian truth is taking what this system really is than Mokan- on the low or depressed classes in alna's soliloquy. most every part of India. Our society is not singular in this advance work, Von Hammer's" History of the As- but is paralleled by the Presbyterians sassins," which it is difficult to find in the Punjab, and the Baptists in the outside of the great libraries, is a book south. which should be not only read, but studied. It would be well if it could "The pressing question to-day is, be made a text-book in our higher What shall we do with these thousands schools, in order that the youth might on our hands? How shall we train know the danger to the State of nour- them and help to elevate them? They ishing such serpents in her bosom. cannot be expected to derive their sup· port from the mission, and yet as surely Now, and not till now, with eyes as they become Christians they look for wide open to the practical outcome of emancipation and release from some of the system, should one enter into that their old difficulties and oppressions. enchanted palace of the Mesnevi, the May it nat be the time now for Chris- Persian Koran, the mine of mysticism, tian missions to consider the industrial as it has been called_ There are two side of the question, besides the purely English translations of parts of this educational 1" monumental work, Redhouse's and Whinfield's. Begin with the former Rev. G. W. Morrison, of the United and read carefully "The Acts of the Presbyterian Mission Rawal Pindi, Adepts" before commencing on the Punjab, India, writes: "The work of Mesnevi. Of the two translations Whin- our mission in the Punjab has been field's is the more literal and gives ex- largely among the outcast races. tracts from all the books, While Red- Large numbers have been gathered inhouse's gives a translation of the whole about ten thousand, adult and infant. of the first book. Whinfield's intro- There are many discouraging features. duction, however, shows that he too Some of the people are given to eating has been deceived as to the character of carrion, and in some cases have been the work, and how necessary it is that charged with cow-poisoning to keep the we should have more than human wis- supply of carrion. Yet where we have dom to direct us. been able to reach them and to look after them properly, they are showing The orthodox Persian historical most encouraging progress. Our best Bible translation has gone on, and now.
workers, with few exceptions, are from with our committee completed by the among these people. Many noble men addition of Mr. Lambert, of the London who give less trouble in regard to moral Missionary Society, we are pushing conduct than those of the upper classes, ahead rapidly. Dr. Hooper has proved are found among these converts. We a most congenial fellow.worker. It make no effort to furnish support of would be impossible for a committee to any kind to converts. They are expect- work more harmoniously and smoothly ed to remain in their villages and go on than we have thus far. We shall put with their work. We give them schools to press some specimen portions of our for all who will attend." work in the course of a few weeks, to Rev. Hiram Bingham, the venerable invite the criticism of the general pub- missionary of the American Board to lic.
the Gilbert Islands, Micronesia, for " During the winter I did some work thirty-seven years, after having seen lecturing on Christianity to educated through the press in America his trans- natives in Lahore, Amballa, and else- lation of the Scriptures, in September where, and was greatly encouraged by last retired to Honolulu, where he and the audiences I had and the spirit mani- his noble wife find health reasons oblige fested. Such a work would have been them to remain. He asks that the na- impossible when I left India in 1876, tive catechists and preachers in the Gil- and is one of the very many evidences bert Islands be remembered in prayer of progress that has been made since.
by persons of Christian lands; and also And yet it is the same story still; so that prayer be made for the removal of many who are evidently convinced in- obstacles to Christian work in Hawaii, tellectually of the truth of Christianity and that Divine Provid~nce may direct dare not come out and profess Christ in all matters connected with the organi- for fear of consequences, which, as zation of a permanent form of govern- much as ever, may, in many cases, ment in those islands. mClin sore persecution, even assassina· Rev. K. W. McFarland, of the Ameri- tion. When one sees how much of vol- can Mission of the United Presbyterian untary self-denial and suffering these Church at Assiout, Egypt, writing us, faquirs here endure for the sake of a says: "The work in Egypt is moving false god, one cannot but wonder that along quietly, but encouragingly. In the Hindu character does not show our college here we had the largest at- itself rather more ready to endure suffer- tendance last year in its history. The ing for Christ's sake when once con- largest enrolment during anyone term vinced that He was what He claimed was 288, but the first term of this year to be."
there are 293. From these come our pastors, evangelists and teachers. Book Mention. " Our work is largely among the old Coptic Church, which has become very -The nineteenth volume of "By· illiterate, and is almost as far away Paths of Bible Knowledge," by Dr.
from the soul-savin~ Christian truth as Joseph Edkins, is entitled" The Early its Mohammedan neighbors." Spread of Religious Ideas, Especially in the Far East." Whatever Dr. Edkins writes is sure of a wide reading. He -Rev. S. H. Kellogg, D.D., writing has spent nearly fifty years as a mis- from Landaur MUSBoori, North India, sionary in China. Rev. T. Richards, of says, after recounting the items of seri- Shanghai, writing in The Mes8enger, ous and protracted illness of his fam- says many important facts stated in this ily and himself: "Despite all the in- book are not to be found elsewhere in terruption of so much sickness, the the English language. He thinks, tOOl that the question, Where did the high the American eye 8S to the relative poreligious ideas of the Chinese come sition of this country to the rest of the from? one of the greatest of the times. world, and in itself emphasizes the obli- -The 00nr;er8ion of India. from PantU!nUB to the Present Time, A.D. 193-1893, gation on us to.be a missionary nation. by George Smith, C.I.E., LL.D., with illustrations (Fleming H. Revell Com- -Folk Tales of Angola, by Heli Chatepany, New York, Chicago, and Toronto). The preface explains the occasion lain, late United States Commercial of this bOok. The first of the churches of the Reformation to become mission- Agent at Loanda, Angola, West Africa, ary was that of the Netherlands. The and author of "Kimbundu Grammar." earliest work among the Red Men of America was by the Dutch of Manhat- With two Maps and several Melodies. tan Island. The Reformed Church of America has one of the" most remark- 8vo, $3. To be had of the author, 118 able missions in British India, the Arcot Mission." One of the elders of this East Forty-fifth Street, New York. Church, Mr. NathanF. Graves, of Syra- This is the first volume in a proposed cuse, N. Y., established a ProfessorShip or Lectureship on Missions in the Theo- series of memoirs of .. The American logical Seminary at New Brunswick, N. J. This volume is an expansion of Folk Lore Society." Mr. Chatelain, the fifth in that course of lectures. Dr. George Smith is perhaps the most capa- during a stay of several years in Anble man alive to write on .. The Conversion of India." His" Lives" of gola, possessed exceptional opportuni- Carey, Martyn, Duff, Wilson, Histop, and Somerville WOUld, anyone of them, ties for observation of African life. As establish his reputation. He treats the Greek, the Roman, the Dutch, the a result of his labors, he has been able British, and the American attempts to convert India; the Roman Catholic to make a gathering of Angolan folk effort; the East India Company; and then in three lectures: "The Methods tales, which represent the traditional of the Evangelical Mission to India," lore of the West Coast In the same manthe " Results," and the" Prospects of ner as the Zulu collection of Bishop India's Conversion." Since Sherring's Callaway represents that of South Af- "Protestant Missions to India" there rica. has been nothing to be compared with this treatment of the subject of the The tales, fifty in number, arc print- Evangelization of India. This goes ed with Kimbundu text and English farther than that, and is more full of translation, on opposite pages, and are great seminal thought. illustrated by copious linguistic and ethnographic notes. In an introduc- -The World on Mercator's Projcc- tion the author gives a sketch of the tion. Size 8 ft. 6 in. X 4 ft. 6 in. geography, ethnography, and orallitcra- Papcr, $1.50; cloth, $2.50 (Congrega- ture of the province. The whole work tional House, Boston). This map puts consists of more than three hundred America where it belongs, in the centre pages, uniform in size and style with of the world. It has many decided ad- the" Journal of American Folk Lore." vantages over the old maps which divide differently. It is an education to The collection includes stories answer- ing to European Mlirchen or fairy tales, heroic narratives of an African stamp, and animal tales corresponding to those familiar to American negroes, to~ether with anecdotes and relations cvnsldered by Africans to be accounts of actual events.
As popular narratives givin~ an ac- curate representation of native hfe these offer the best means for comprehension of the habits, character, and ideas of the population of the West Coast, the source of the American negro immigra- tion; the relation of the material to the traditions and notions of the latter bringing the work within the scope of the American Folk Lore Society. The book has a relation to African ethnol- ogy, the author maintaining the sub- stantial identity. in point of mental conceptions, as well as physical char- acteristics, of the Bantu stock with the upper Guinea and Soudan negro, and the general homogeneity of African trv,ditionallore.
I1I.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
Islands of the Sea,* Australasia,t Oiroumpolar Mi88ions, North American Indians.t MII!BION WORK IN THE ISLANDS OF Hebrides, where, after long sowing in tears, they are now reaping in joy. THE SEA. The Melanesian Episcopal Mission BY REV. JOSEPH NETTLETON. has for its special field the Banks, Santa Cruz, and Solomon Islands. The history of Christian missions in the Pacific is full of intercst. Its inci· This division of the many groups of dents are more romantic than any other islands among the various Protestant tale of remarkable adventure. The biog- missionary societies saves a great deal raphies of its pioneers are rich even to in men and in money, as well as in fricprodigality with the heroic and marvel- tion and needless rivalry. It is the lous. The wonderful romance of for- .. more excellent way," and has proved mer years is fast passing away or shift- itself to be such in practical working. ing toward New Guinea and the islands Roman Catholicism has intruded itself, along its coasts. The patient work of wherever possible, as a dividing element. teaching and building' up the Christian Certain great principles are common to life is quiet and intensely practical, but all the Protestant missionary societies, this work is being well done. The and variety is found only in special ex- Polynesian churches of the future will be self·sustaining, self-governing, and pression. self-extending. Settled communities One agency common to all is a verof Christiallil are now found where cannibalism and widow-stIangling once de- nacular Bible. This has been especially graded man and dishonored man's God. owned of God. The first work of the missionary in the South Seas was to re- For all the purposes of mission work duce the language to a written form, the islands are practically apportioned and then to give the people the Word in separate fields among the different of God in their own tongue. The books Protestant missionary societies. The of the Bible were generally printed one English Reformed Catholic Mission In by one in the islands, and revised on Honolulu and the Australian Wesleyan the ground. Then the American Bible Mission in Samoa are exceptions. Society printed the Scriptures in the Hawaiian language for the Sandwich The Hawaiian Islands were evangel- Islanders, and the British and Foreign ized by the A.merican Board of Com- Bible Society has rendered invaluable missioners for Foreign Missions, and help to the London, Wesleyan, and transferred in 1873 to the Hawaiian Presbyterian missionary societies. Evangelical Association. Without the Bible societies missionaries in the South Seas would have been like The Wesleyan churches of Australasia Belshazzar in the balances, miserably have successful missions in Fiji, the wanting. The Word of God was neces- Friendly Islands, Samoa, New Britain, saryas a Iltandard of appeal, where the New Ireland, the Duke of York's group, moral sense was perverted and so much and New Guinea. twisted that revenge and cunning were regarded as the highest virtues. Con- The London Missionary Society has science, like a compass that deviates a fine record of good work in the So- from the pole, needed to be adjusted. ciety Islands, Samoa, the Loyalty and Such a thing as a New Testament con- Hervey groups, and in New Guinea. science was unknown. A clever lie. where the cunning deceit made discov- The Presbyterian churches of Aus- ery impossible, was an excellent thing. tralasia carry on a mission in the New Thieving was not dishonorable in itself ; * See a110 pp. 108 and 130 (February).
*t See p. 30 (Janua1'J'). Bee pp. 507 and 514 (present issne).
l!'IELD OF :MONTHLY SURVEY
it was disgraceful only when done so ment was the' agency by which their clumsily as to be found out. Canni- eyes were opened, and they were led to balism had its root in human sacrifice. see their sin and to find the Saviour.
His religion taught the Fijian that the At the dedication of a new church a most acceptable offering he could make native chief said: "Thirty years ago to his gods was the dead body of his I saw the first two missionaries land on enemy. This was offered by the priests this island. What changes since then ?
in the temple compound, and then Instead of heathen temples we have cooked in ovens never used for cooking Christian churches. Instead of the old ordinary food. His cannibal fork was myths and songs, we have God's Word, used exclusively for the Bokola (human and can read it. Instead of the old sacrilice). His religion gratified his priests, with their cunning and deceit, worst passions. Widow-strangling also we have our own 'sons as Christian had its poisoned source in his religion. teachers. Instead of killing and eating Burotu, the elysium of the South one another in chronic war, we have a Seas, always toward the west, was for- Christian chief ruling over a Christian bidden to bachelors. They were doom- people. What brought these changes ed to wander in misery and hunger on about? Those two missionaries brought sterile mountains, forever seeking rest, the Holy Book and put it into our lan- but never finding it. The widow!! were guage. They came from white man's strangled to accompany their husbands, land. If the great chiefs in white man's to prove them to have been married land had sent ships of war to fire upon men. It was a point of honor with the us with shot and shell, we might have widows of the polygamist chief, if not been blown to pieces, but these changes from love, then from pity, to go with would not have come about. If the him to Burotu, for without them he great chiefs in white man's land had could not enter elysium. Conscience, sent an army of soldiers to cut us down pervelted by generations of such teach- with swords, we' should never have ing, could not be an infallible guide. A given up widow-strangling or cannibal- watch with the main spring broken ism, for we should have been cut to would be as good a standard of appeal pieces first. Yet what neither sword for knowing the time of the day. In nor cannon-ball ever couId have done has many thousands of cases the first con- been done by that sword of the Spirit, version from heathenism was to formal which is the Word of God." The hon- Christianity. They gave up cannibal- or that God has put upon His own ism, widow-strangling, and chronic Word, in the success of missions in the tribal wars, and were teachable as little South Seas, has been very striking to children. The great school book was those who have seen the Bible taking the New Testament, and in patiently the place of heathen myths and songs, learning to read, verse by verse, they and moulding the lives of Polynesians_ were spelling their way into conviction The following native boat song, trans- of sin, and their need of a change of lated into English rhyme, will show heart. The Bible, therefore, was need- these changes from the native stand- ed as an instrument or an agent of con- point. The missionary referred to is 'lJM'aion or the new birth. Meetings for John Williams, the martyr of Erro- religious testimony, where careful notes manga.
were taken in each case of the means " Tall were the trees, and sweet were the fruits used by the Holy Spirit to open the of Aana; eyes of the people to their guilt and But the Warriors came from Manono, danger, and to lead them to the" Lamb And with cruel spite in their power and might of God, who taketh away the sin of the Cut down all the fruit trees of Aana ; world," prove beyond doubt that in 60 But Williams came with the Gospel of Peace, per cent of the cases the New Testa- And tall trees and sweet fruits again grow in Aana. .
.. Clear were the streams, and sweet were the wa- arrowroot to pay for their Bibles, and ters of AlIna ; in six years the British lind Foreign Bible Society received £6399 38. lOa. But the Warriors came from Manono, from the South Seas in payment for And they dyed the clear flood with the heart'li Scriptures. These facts show clearly best blood Of the slain of the sons of Aana ; Bnt Williams came with the Gospel of Peace, that the Christian natives of the South And clear streams and IIweet waters again flow Seas love the Bible, and recognize in it one agency that God has honored in on Aana.
.. Green were the fields, and neat the houses of successful mission work. Aana; , Another agency common to all mis- sionary societies is a vernaeular minis- But the Warriors came from Manono, t1·Y. In no other part of the world has And the fields became red, and the war flame a native pastorate been developed 80 quickly or used so extensively as in the was fed, South Seas. Tbe people are given to With the wreck of the houses of Aana ; see that Christianity is not an exotic, or But Williams came with the Gospel of Peace, And green fields and neat houses are again seen on Aana.
" Cruel and dark were the old gods of Aana- a thing of the pale·faced foreigner, Like the gods once adored on Manono, brought simply to further the interests And they heard not the prayer, nor the shriek of of the predominant race, but native to their own islands, and watched over and despair, Which rose from the altars in AlIna; But Williams came with the Gospel of Peace, watered by Pauls and Apolloses of their And Jehovah.now smiles npon Aana." own. A native agent has often recon- The late King Thakorubau, of Fiji, ciled them to a message which, if taken was beset with many difficulties, but to them by the white missionary only, when he could free himself for an hour would have been rejected. Moreover, from his business affairs, he would say the chiefs are proud to see their own to his blind chaplain, Shem: "Now I countrymen in these positions, and are am disengaged, let us retire, that we greatly influenced in favor of self-sus- may hear what the Lord will speak." taining churches. It would be simply The king was the reader and Shem was impossible to provide European mis- the expositor. If the passage proved sionaries for populations 80 widely scat- a little difficult of explanation, the king tered over many islands and in small would say: "We can believe what God villages. The late Bishop Patteson speaks, for His Word is truth, even if said: "No church can take root with- we cannot fully understand it." out a native clergy." Each missionary When King George, of the Friendly society has its college for the special Islands, held the jubilee of missions, he training of native pastors. The London said: "A heathen nation has become Missionary Society founded a training Christian. Churches and schools are college at Malua, on the island Upolu, in all the islands. It the leaves of the in 1844. For fifty years that college trees and the stones of Tonga had has been supplying biblical and theologi- mouths, they would shout forth their cal training to about one hundred stu- thanks to God for what He has done dents. They generally remain four for Tonga. To His Holy Word Tonga years, and about twenty·live teachers owes all that it is and all that it hae." per year have becn supplied to various The Rev. F. Vernier, of Tahiti, islands for Christian work. The Church writes: "The Bible has been and stilI Missionary Society has its college on is the book of the natives. They would Norfolk Island, under the direction of not exchange it for all the bOGks in the the Bishop of Melanesia. The standard world. .. These testimonies might be of education is probably higher at this given from all the different groups. college than at others, before a native The poorest natives, like those of Ani- candidate receives ordination. Com- wa, will set apart their whole crop of paratively few have been ordained in Melanesia. The Wesleyans have had a He is sometimes intoxicated by his own flourishing college at Navuloa, in Fiji, success. Some of them, who could bear which has given them a continual sup- persecution with fortitude, have fallen ply of trained men for many years. through pride, when honored with suc- Captain Hope, R.N., writes of this cess, or when they have been unwisely college: "The whole establishment praised for their work. 'l'he real hope forms a model village, whose inhabit- of the future in the South Seas is in a . ants are trained to habits of cleanliness, soundly converted and well-trained na- order, and decency, as well as method tive pastorate. The white missionary and industry. We were much struck is temporalY, and in many islands his with the neatness and order which pre- work is done and out of hand. Self- vailed, and there seemed nothing to be governing churches now sustain their desired in the arrangements. We ex- own pastors. amined the students and wele much gratified with the practical nature of Extension is also common to all the the system pursued, and the intelli- societies at work in the South Seas. gence and proficiency of the young men. New Guinea and its adjacent islands They ale taught everything necessary will be very largely evangelized by for their position as village pastors." Polynesian agents. The training col- leges supply suitable evangelists. The Such testimonies might be multiplied, reproductive power of a mission is one but the real proof of efficiency is found good test of its success. If its converts in practical results. The men are every- become agents of conversion, aggressive where an elevating influence, intellect- evangelists spreading the Gospel, that ually, socially, and religiously. Re- mission will grow and prosper. The sponsibility compels them to think and London Missionary Society has appoint- to act with caution. The necessity of ed its Samoan and Raratongan teachers leading others develops manliness and to its stations in New Guinea. The independence. Often far away from climate is trying to them, and malarial the European missionary, they must act fever has proved fatal to many. They upon their own judgment in emergen- acquire the language quickly, and in cies that arise in their church life. school work and preaching soon be- They are not denationalized. They come efficient for all missionary purlive in good native houses with native poses. The work is ever extending, and furniture, and dress largely in native perpetual demands are made upon the costume. They prefer a loose black training colleges for reinforcements and coat for preaching, but all their wants additions to the staff of native evangelarc easily supplied by the native ists. The South Sea natives cannot live churches to which they minister. They inland. They attribute every sickness have an enormOUs advantage over the to being away from the sea. The Rev. European missionary in the use of local W. G. Lawes has commenced a college illustrations and native proverbs. They at Fort Moresby to train the New Guinea have a wonderful knowledge of the Bi- converts for evangelistic work in the ble, and quote it copiously and correct- interior of their own country. The misly. They have never to be pushed to sion at the eastern end of New Guinea the place of peril. As pioneers among has extended rapidly, for Samoan evanthe heathen they have been heroic, and gelists can work admirably along the many of them will wear the martyr's coast. The prospects of mission work crown. They require oversight and an in that part of New Guinea which is occasional visit from the European mis- specially under the care of the London sionary. A word of appreciation and Missionary Society is full of promise. encouragement is often a stimulus to The Wesleyan missions in Fiji have still greater devotion. The weak side also found their line cf extension in of the native pastor is often vanity. New Guinea, with Dobu as their centre. Sixty catechists from Fiji and Tonga the future of mission(with the light of have mastered the language, and are a great hope. meeting with pleasing success. Their great cry is for reinforcements, for Statistical Notes. many places are asking for teachers and wishing for Christian instruction. Of According to Wagner and Supan, in all moderu missions, New Guinea is the the last edition of Die Be'Dolkerung der most rapid and abundant in a fruitful Erde, of the earth's 52,000,000 square harvest. Dobu has only been occupied miles of land surface about 2,000,000 for about three vears. and Sir William belong to the polar regions, and only McGlegor, the British governor, says in some 760,000 to the oceanic islands. his report: .. At my first visit to Dobu, These same authorities estimate the in- a few years ago, the natives were a habitants of the globe at 1,500,000,000, howling pack of demons, and to-day and assign 7.420,000 to the various in- there is such a marvellous improvement sular tracts, with but 80,400 to the arc- that no man breathing could possibly tic and antarctic regions. Japan, Mada- believe the change that has been gascar, the Dutch East Indies, etc., are wrought, unless he had seen it as I included with the contments to which have." In the district which the Rev. they are adjacent. W. E. Bromilow superintends from Dobu, there are now 6839 attendants at The Eskimo are in almost sole posses- public worship. Very few have been sion of arctic North America. The, yet baptized, for they need much more number about 40,000. Greenland IS tl,laching than can be given in three the home of some 11,000, Alaska of years, before formal admission into 13,000, the Aleutian Islands of 2400, the Christian Church. The people Labrador of 2000, while 4000 are scat- clamor for teachers, and a glorious tered here and there from Bering Straits harvest is here awaiting the reaper's to Baffin's Bay. In Greenland and sickle. Labrador much the larger number have been redeemed from heathenism by the Elementary education 'Work is under- faith and patience of the Moravian mis- taken by all the missionary societies, sionaries, whose toils began as far back and day schools have been practically as 1733, and who have now nearly 3000 free all through the South Seas. Now communicants. In Alaska only a few ladies' colleges are giving a hi~her edu- years have passed since the glad tidings cation in many centres, and mdustrial were first proclaimed to these dull- schools give the boys the great advan- minded hyperboreans. tage of being taught useful trades. Missionaries in the South Seas were the The term American Indiam is com- first to preach the Gospel of peace monly employed to mean not the entire where chronic tribal wars prevailed. 12,000,000 aborigines who dwell be- They were able instructors in many tween the Arctic Ocean and Cape Horn, mechanical arts. They have prolon~ed but only those in the United States and life and modified suffering by healmg the Dommion of Canada, in number the sick. They were the first to make probably about 400,000. A.laska conknown the Divine Fatherhood or man's tains 30,000, the British possessions universal brotherhood. They have re- 125,000, and the various t!tates and Tersisted oppression and taught the dig- ritories 250,000. It is somewhat startnity of womanhood. They have lifted ling to be instructed by historians of up the sex which in every savage land the present generation that the red mQll is degraded, so that woman is now re- of this country never numbered more spected and holds a good social posi- than 500,000. How active and entertion. They have founded schools and prising thia handful must have been to a vast system of education, which is make such a tremendous stir from practically free, being graduated from Jamestown and Plymouth Rock even the infant class up to the college for until now! training native ministers. They have been the first to give a simple but Our British brethren have cared for suitable code of laws, and they have the spiritual interests of their contin- 'been pioneers of civilization. They gent of Indians fairly well. The govhave founded self-sustaining Christian ernment early fixed a rational Indian churches. The pioneers suffered great policy, so that wars have been rare and hardships, but their self-sacrifice, their evangelizing efforts have seldom suflove and heroism and sanctity have not fered mterruption. The Presbyterians been lost. Not only are their names a have gathered about 400 into their fragrant memory, but their deeds kindle churches. The Methodists sustain more enthusiasm, insphe faith, and brighten than 100 missionaries, and the nearly 4500 church-members are organized into 8 conferences; but the gr~ater part of AREA. POPULATION.
the Indian work, at least m extent.of 'Caroline…………. 560 85,000 Society.. .. .. …. .. .. 875 23,000 territory, is performed by the Enghsh GUbert…. …. …… 170 86,000 Church Society. Beginning in 1826, it Nowhere else in the annals of Chris- has now five grand divisions, each with tianity can a story be found more re- its bishop, and stretching from Hu(!son markable or more thrilling than that of Bay to the Polar Sea, The statIons the conversion of the islands to the Gos- number 56 held by 33 European and 17 pel; nowhere have the triumphs of the native clergymen, a total missionary Cross been more complete. The names force of 177, 2448 communicants, and FNiej~i Samoa, Madagascar, Japan, the Hebrides. Sandwich Islands, and the 14,076 adherents. Add the. re- sults from missions of other denomma- Society Islands are sufficient to bring tions and we have nearly 8000 Indian to mind the inspiring facts. In the churbh-members in Canada, and up- North Pacific, by a strange providence, ward of 25,000 adherents. idols were cast out just before the mis- In the United States almost all lead· sionaries arrived, and a six years' rc- ing churches are represented in labo~s vival followed in which 27,000 were re- for the various tribes, while t~e eVI· ceived into the churches. In another dence is convincing that the IndIan ~an group peopled by fierce~t ~annipals, be thoroughly civilized and ChristIan- devils incarnate, almost wlthm a smgle ized. }<'rom the fierce Sioux alone up- generation such an astounding moral ward of 4000 communicants.have been revolution was wrought that wars and gathered, There is a Dakot!l Presby- violence ceased, and out of a popula- tery composed wholly of these once tion of some 125,000 nearly 30,000 are wild and bloodthirsty braves, with 13 now church-members, and upward of native pastors, 18 churches, and 1222 1li0g0i~0u0s0 are regular attendants upon re- services in the. 800 places of members. In the Indian Territory the Southern Methodist Church has 181 na- worship. Madagascar IS umque ~s a tive preachers and 12,759 memhel's. mission field. When the foundatIOns Out of a population of abou~ 69,00~, of the kingdom had scarcely been laid, upward of 28 000 are commumcants m a bloody persecution broke out and the 785 church organizations, raged for five-and-twenty years, but so The interest felt in the islands of the receptive were the people and so 8ea, and the part they have played in mighty t~e truth, that th~ number of the world's history, are out of all pro· believers mcreased so rapldly that the portion either to their size or the num- 2000 converts increased to 40,000. Now her of their inhabitants, They are the London Missionary Society, the roughly estimated at 30,000, If yve Norwegian Missionary Society, and the omit a few of the most populous lIke English Friends together reckon 112,000 Japan, Java, the Philippines, etc,! the converts and 435,000 as largely redeem- popUlation does not equ~l tha~ of sl~gle ed from idolatry.
states in Ionfdtiah~ or provmces m Chma. The Dutch churches have heen The least continents is ten times larger than the largest .of the isla~ds. strangely remies in carrying the tidings The following table wIll present Im- of salvation to their populous posses- pressively to the eye these two related sions in the far East, though of late, facts : with the aid ()f their German cousins, AREA. POPULA.TION. they have put forth considerable effort.
Europe …………. 3,825,000 357,380,000 In Java the Netherlands Society reports Australia ….. , ….. ' 3,000,000 3'~~;88& f12r~0m00Isaladmhe.renTtshe gained in the main New Gninea……… 310,000 Rhenish Society is Borneo. . . . .. . . . . . . . . 285,000 1,600,000 MadI'Plcar……… ,230,000 3,r.oo,000 the chief missionary force in Sumatra, Sumatra.. ……….. 160,000 2,720,000 and has some 6000 communicants with 800,~ Celebes … , . . . . . . .. . 70,000 25 000 adherents, of Whom 4200 were Java ……………. OO,SOO 23,900, Cuba……………. 41,650 1,632,000 ba'ptized in 1892. In Celebes, espe- Hayti . . ……….. 28,250 1,r.oo,000 cially in Minahassa, the northeast por- Ceylon …………. 24,864 3,008,460 Formosa…………. 15,000 1,WIJ,000 twioo~n, most notable successes have been New Caledonia….. 7,750 63,000 Out of a population of .145,000, Jamaica…. … …… 4,200 639,490 about 120,000 have become In some.
Porto Rico………. 3,550 806,700 sense Christians. In Sangir also, so Trinidad …….. ,… 1,750 200,000 lately desolated by a terrible catastro- ISLAND GROUPS: ]47,000 40,450,000 ipnhhe~bimtaonrtes than a third of the 80,000 7,000,000 have forsaken their false Jap&n …………. .. 114,300 5,500,000 Philippines ……… . 92,000 gods. According to the cemus of 1890 West Indies …….. . 7,740 125,400 Fijl. ……………. . 6,640 90,000 the nominal Christians in all the Dutch Hawaiian ………. .. 5,300 75,000 New Hebrides……. possessions in the Indian Archipelago ~ numbered 277,450.
EDI'rORIAL DEPAR'rMEN'r
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
At the Foreign Mission Convention 3. Every disciple is a steward, and held in Toronto in February last, Dr. every honest calling a stewardship. Gordon and myself felt that the spirit- Property is God's-even Dorcas's needle ual interest rose to a higher flood- is a Divine instrument and implement. mark than either of us had ever before seen in any missionary gathering_ One 4. Need constitutes a claim on all who of the principal speakers was Rev. G. L. can supply it. Believers form a Divine Mackay, D.D., of Formosa. We felt brotherhood. Compare the prophecy that his addresses should have a wider of Agabus and the consequent help sent influence, and we sought to obtain ex- to the famishing. act and full reports of them. Such as we could get we have utilized in the 5. There is to be a distribution of la- June and present issues of this REVIEW, bor, so that no department of need shall having by his courtesy obtained also be uncared for and no disciple be withfine illustrations from photographs out a sphere of ministry. (Compare the made by his native helper, who is with institution of the diaconate.) him in Canada. 6. Lay agency in evangelization is to These addresses, as reported, do but be emphasized. Proclaiming the Goslittle justice to his power as a speak- pel is a prerogative of all believers. er. His unique personality cannot be Compare the Pentecost at Samaria unphotographed nor printed. It is as im- der Philip, the scattering of disciples, possible to express on the printed page etc. (Acts 8 and 11). as the aroma of a flower. Dr_ Mackay is one of the best examples of simplic- 7. The Church is to obey the law of ity, resoluteness, old-fashioned ortho- diffusion, not concentration. God sent doxy, and faith in the Gospel and in the persecution to break up centralization Spirit of God, that we have ever met; at Jerusalem and scatter disciples and his success proves that missionary abroad. methods are not likely to improve upon those of the apostles. As he himself 8. Sovereignty of grace is everywhere says, out there in Tamsui they are liv- recognized, as in Saul's conversion, ing in the fir8t century;, and we may preparation for, separation unto work, add, are seeing somewhat of the power as a chosen vessel. which was then exhibited. 9. Supremacy of grace is equally The Acts of the Apostles is a 'VocaZ prominent, confined to no spot, but book-it is full of Divine voices, meant making all places holy ; to no time, but for all ages. Take, for example, the making every day a Sabbath; to no following lessons taught there, for all persons, but lifting all believers to time; and let Dr. Mackay's work at For- priestly rank. A sacramental or sacramosa show that they can be embodied mentariau religion finds no support here. in modern missionary enterprise. 10. The universality of the Church is 1. The first and leading lesson is that taught in Peter's vision on the housetaught by our Lord Himself: "Ye top. Wbat a rebuke of caste, What a shall be witnesses unto Me." The one testimony to the essential dignity of great duty of the Church is universal man, and what a type of the Church is testimony-all taking part and uttering that all-comprehensive sheet! their witness to all men. 11. The power of prayer is the one 2. This dispensation is the acceptable grand force that rules in the spiritual year of the Lord-the great day of realm, and which every believing dis- Pentecostal effusion. ciple can command for God's work.
12. All true qualification for God's service is, at the lailt, Divine. It is a matter of the Spirit's anointing. Pris- cilla and Aquila, common tent·makers, became under the Spirit's unction the and in answer to their prayers he was teachers even of Apollos. raised up when given over by physi- cians. He has now, at least for the 13. God's providence and Spirit have time, abandoned his project, and is the charge of missionary work. Paul maintaining himself as a shopman in is forbidden to go into Bithynia, and is the Church Missionary Society bookcalled to Macedonia. At Corinth he is store. His companions (for there were assured that God has much people in three of them in all) have gone forward that city, and bidden to stay there, etc. into the country, though they have abandoned the idea of making the im· 14. 'rhe common verdict of spiritual pOl·tant journey referred to above. minds is to be taken as a voice of God. Compare the Council at Jerusalem. Surely the whole facts need to be known before we glorify this kind of 15. The programme of the kingdom enterprise. "Faith" is easily pressed is given in Acts 15. First, the outgath- to presumption. Can we afford to treat ering of the Ch~rch. Second, the re- slightingly the steady work of experiturn of the Lord. Third, the rebuild- enced missionaries whom God has blessing of the Tabernacle of David. Fourth, ed to hundreds of souls, while we comthe conversion of the residu!l of Gen- mend the imprudent and often reckless tiles. ventures and adventures of those who have not counted the cost and sometimes 16. The Regions Beyond constitute actually thrown away not only their own the great field of missions. The questiou lives, but the lives of those they have is one of destitution, and where the need carelessly led into an untried and unis greatest the call is loudest. known exposure? Africa, of all lands, has been the grave of hazardous but 17. The Holy Spirit is the presiding well-meaning pioneers. We feel that power in the true Church. Ananias great caution should be exercised even lied to the Holy Ghost. Those who in commending missionary enterprises. drew up the deliverance of the first Council said, ., It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us," as though He were one of the Council, as He was.
Our English editorial correspondent, Woman has a missionary apostolate. Mr. Douglas, writes, in the May issue, of Paul's words to the Corinthians, instead two young men going to Soudan via the of prohibiting her testimony, rather reg- Niger, in connection with the Central ulate it. She is forbidden to usurp au- Soudan Mission, and of the route they thority over the man; or to be disputaintended to follow. He does not tell, tious in public assemblies; but the idea however, that this route has never been that any Scripture forbids woman to taken by a European, and would require tell the Gospel story, or to teach the unmost careful preparation and African saved great saving truths, is a strange experience to accomplish it. Even perversion of the Word of God. While Bi~hop Crowther, African as he was, Christ Himself owned the Samaritan failed. though he tried it. Graham Wil- woman's preaching, and made Mary of mot Brooke wanted to do it, but well Magdala His first witness of His resurknew it would take some years to fit rection ; so long as Priscilla taught Apolhim for such a venture. The two young los and Phebe was a deaconness who lamen, whom Mr. Douglas mentions, reach- bored with Paul in the Gospel; so long ed Lagos almost penniless, and without as the sixteenth of Romans stands to either proper clothing or that indispen- qualify the apparent teaching of the sable safeguard, quinine! They at once Epistles to Corinth, can we have any fell sick, and one was thought to be real doubt that woman is man's authordying in the hospital, where the late ized co-worker in missions? And if such Bishop Hill and other missionaries of the false exegesis :Q.eeds any other correc- Church Missionary Society visited him, tive, is not mission history enough 2 In the REVIEW lately appeared the saka; Rev. E.:O. Harris and Mrs. Har- following: ris, Niffoo.
" Bishop Taylor has 43 white mission- Under ~pecial appointment in Liberia. aries at his' self-supporting' stations in Angola and the Congo Free State, to- D. E. Osborn, missionary carpenter; gether with quite a force of native evan- Miss Anna Whitfield, Monrovia Semi- nary.
gelists and teachers. Twelve died at Opening new Jl[is~ion~ in Zambesia. their posts last year. " Rev. Erwin H. Richards.
Rev. Ross Taylor has kindly sent the names and the stations of these mis- Sailed for Kimpoko, Oongo, April 25th.
sionaries, and we are glad to supply the Rev. William Rasurnssen ; Mrs. Helen readers of the MISSIONARY REVIEW with Rasumssen and Baby Harold; Crellis the fuller information for which this H. Jens6n and wife.
brief paragraph in the REVIEW has For White Plaim, Libe'ria, May 13th.
awakened a desire. He says: Rev. E. H. Greeley, Superintendent of Seminary; Mrs. Gleeley, teacher in .. Those marked as sailing this week Seminary. go out under the auspices of the Missionary Society of this Church, to Sailing for Loanda, Angola, May 26th.. take charge of the seminary at White Plains, Liberia, long ago abandoned, but J. W. Shuett and wife; Miss Louise which was once in successful operation Raven. under the superintendence of Annie Wilkins. They are the first white mis- The statement which appeared in the sionaries that said Society have sent to REVIEW originally was, as now ap- Africa for a number of years, and cannot pears, incorrect. The above list gives be counted as engaged in Bishop Tay- but twenty-two instead of forty-three lor's work." names as connected with Angola and Congo work, and of these we are in- Province of Angola, Southwest Ooast. formed that Rev.(?) Herbert Withey is a young man of perhaps sixteen, and that Rev. A. E. Withey, Superintendent. William Mead Is dead, Jnlia Mead is a Mrs. Irene Withey (General). Mrs. Will- child, and William O. White is a trader_ iam Schneidmiller, N'hangue-a-Pepo; Of course, Bishop Taylor would not Mrs. Charles W. Gordon, Dondo ; Mrs. wish us to mislead the public by count- William P. Dodson, Mrs. Catherine ing children as missionaries. It is to be Dodson, and Rev. Herbert Withey, Hen lamented that so high a death·rate has Barrett Station; Rev. Robert Shields prevailed among them.-EDITOR. and Mrs. Whiteside·Shields, Pungo- Andongo; Susan Collins (colored American), Canandua; Rev. Samuel J. Mead, Mrs. Ardella K. ~1:ead, :Mrs. Minnie Mead and child, John Mead, William Mead, and Julia Mead, Malange.
In the Oongo Free State and Oilongo. A recent writer has called attention to Paul's work in the school of Tyran- Rev. William O. White, Vivi; Miss nus as the conduct of a missionary train- Mary Kildare, Natomby ; Rev. William ing school, a kind of missionary labor, Snape, Isangila: Dr. Harrison, Kim- in which his greatest success and most poko; Henry Nehne and Mrs. Kah- satisfactory and permanent results were Nehne and baby, Mamby.
Native work in the Republic of Liberia. effected.
Rev. A. L. Buckwalter and Mrs. Mc- ., He appears as the head of a mis- Neil-Buckwalter, Cape Palmas and Pluky; Miss Alma Lawson, Cape Pal- sionary institute, in which he instructed mas; Miss Grace White and Miss Anna and trained and directed a staff of as- sistant evangelists, through whose la- White, Barraky ; Miss Agnes McAllister and Mrs. Jennie Hunt, Garaway; Mrs. bors in conjunction with his own the Nora Garwood and Miss Eliza Bates, most marvellous results were accom- Beaboo; Rev. J. G. Tate, Mrs. Tate and daughter, Sass Town; Rev. J. B. Rob- plished. I adopt the view that, when ertson and Mrs. Lena Robertson, Grand he withdrew from the synagogue to Bess; John Smith and Mrs. Smith, Wis- the school of Tyrannus, he took the twelve men who had previously known the baptism of John, and after their instruction by him were baptized into the possession of his fortune. he sought to name of Jesus, and who after Paul had lain his hands on them spoke with use it for the salvation of the common people. The Great Assembly Hall will tongues and prophesied, and all the other converts. From various places hold 3000 persons, and is often filled by in the Epistles and narrative we learn eager audiences in the cause of Chrisof many of his cOlp.panions in labors at different other places being with him tIan truth and temperance. Not far off is the People's Palace, where liberal for longer or shorter periods of the two years at Ephesus. From the statements provision is made for popular recrea- made to the elders who met him at a tion, etc., but under legal arrangements subsequent time at Miletus. it appears that a church was organized and a full which exclude all sale of intoxicating staff of elders ordained over the church. liquors from the precincts.
Now with such a staff of assistant evan- gelists assembled there with him in Mrs. George A. Paull, of Bloomfield, Ephesus, it is not supposable that the wondrous results as stated in our text, N. J., wishes the editor to say that the • All the :people of Asia heard the word article accredited to her on the" Little of Jesus, was effected by Paul's individual labors. I suppose that Tyran- Wives of India" was by Mrs. H. Ella nus, who was probably a teacher of Cook, of Bloomfield, 'and merely sent rhetoric, was converted and gave up forward in her behalf by Mrs. Paull.
his school and handed over the building to Paul for his evangelistic and church uses, and following the example of Dr. Stuckenberg, our editorial cor- Apollos, became a preacher under Paul; and that these bands of assistants, avail- respondent, has left Berlin, after hav- ing themselves of the facilities afforded ing charge of the American chapel there by the good roads to all parts of Asia for thirteen years. He has done a work Minor, went everywhere, preaching the there never to be forgotten, and heleto- Word. As Paul says, that he with his own handel provided his own support. he fore noted in these pages.
could not be absent from the city. l'he extent of the country precludes the idea that Paul's own individual efforts car- Pastor Benjamin 1. Greenwood, of ried on the work. Anatolia, as the re- London, writes: gion comprised in Asia Minor was call- .. An enthusiastic meeting was held ed, was some 270,000 square miles in extent, or more than five times as large at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, LOD- don, on May 1st (under the auspices of as Pennsylvania, with some five mill- the Pastors' College Missionary Society) ions of inhabitants." to welcome Dr. JohnG. Paton and hear from him an account of his labors on London has joined America in the cel- the mission field. Pastor Thomas Spur- geon presided, and the platform was ebration of the nineteenth anniversary of filled with various representatives of the birth of General Neal Dow, the well- the religious fraternity, including Dr. James Spurgeon, Pastor Charles Spurknown advocate of prohibition in the geon, Rev. W. J. Mayers, and others. matter of strong drink. On March 20th "After prayer had been offered by there was a crowded gathering in Exe- Dr. James Spurgeon the chairman wel- ter Hall, presided over by Lady Henry comed Dr. Paton to the Tabernacle (this being the occasion of his first vis- Somerset, and addressed by Sir Wilfrid it), and remarked that during the day Lawson and others. The fiags of both he had enjoyed the privilege of intro- nations were displayed. On March 22d ducing Dr. Paton to bis mother at West- a large meeting was convened in the wood. and they had also stood together at the hallowed spot where the body of Great Assembly Hall, in the East End, his father had been laid. He called to where Mr. Charrington carries on his mind the occasion when Dr. Paton had evangelistic and temperance work. He visited his father at Westwood, when was the son of the leading partner in a his father. in his usual happy- mood, had introduced the veteran missionary to brewing firm, but on his conversion he the assembled students of the Pastors'
withdrew from the business; and when, College as "the king of the cannibal on the death of his father, he came into islands." The chairman concluded by saying that if in this large building any der Vereinsbuchhandlung. Pp. iv. 53l. should fail to hear all that Dr. Paton (Protestant Missions, their Lands, Peomight say. yet it would be a • means of ples and Labors. By the late B. grace' even to see him. Gundert, Ph.D. Third, essentially enlarged edition. Calw & Stuttgart. .. The orphan boys from the Stock· Publishing House of the Union. Pp. well Orphanage having, at the special iv. 531.) An admirable compendium, desire of Dr. Paton, sung' The Morn- very full, very compressed, very dising Land,' he then addressed the meet- tinct, very impartial, and apparently extraordinarily accurate. It seems to ing. be all merits and no defects. At least .. In a brief notice it is impossible to we have thus far noticed only one error, on page 4, a slip of " 2 millionen mark" convey any accurate report of Dr. Pa- for .. 2 millionen pfund," corrected, ton's speech; suffice it to say that he however, by the details. pointed out that the marvellous transformation that had occurred in the in- The venerable author has not lived to habitants of the New Hebrides was the oversee the preparation of the third ediwork of but thirty-five to forty years, tion, but his. ample notes have been and it was the simple Gospel, and that digested and supplemented by missionalone, that had wrought this reforma- ary authorities of the first order-Protion. At a recent missionary meeting fessor F. H. Kruger, of Paris, Dr. R. he had attended, in consequence of Grundemann, Provost Vahl, and others. many thefts, It had been necessary to warn the audience to • Beware of pICk- This little work is as perfect a 'Iladli pockets;' he ventured to say that no mecum of missionary facts, in the most Buch caution was necessary among the lucidly digested form, as could be dereligious meetings at the islands of the sired. Besides Protestant missions, a New Hebrides where the Gospel had great deal of information is incidentally obtained a footing. From the depths given as to Roman Catholic. of depravity and cannibalism the people had in a few years been raised to a Dr. Joseph Parker says that the trinstandard of morality that would com- ity of evil in our day is this: "The world, pare favorably with that of so·called the flesh, and the devil, translated into Christian countries. present day dialect, means society, en- vironment and tendency." .. Dr. Paton then proceeded to give some vivid accounts of the direct and The Gross-Bearers' Missiona.ry Reading miraculous interpositions of God, for Oirele. the preservation of his life in times of imminent danger, and these were told Literature for 1893-94 as follows: with that same simplicity and absence I. Autobiographical-l. .. My Missionof vanity that characterize the written ary Apprenticeship," by Bishop J. M. account of his experiences in the New Thoburn, $1.20; 2. "The Story of Hebrides. He told how the blood of John G. Paton," $1.35. II. Theologimartyrs had been shed upon the soil cal-3. "Doomed Religions," by Rev. before any sign of harvest from the seed J. M. Reid, D.D., $1.20. III. Prophetof the Word could be discovered, and ical-4. .. The New Era," by Rev. in conclusion pleaded for the funds nec- Josiah Strong, D.D., 75 cents. IV. essary to equip and maintain the steam Periodical-5. THE MISSIONARY REvessel that is so essential to the effec- VIEW OF THE WORLD, to C. M. R. C. tual maintenance and extension of the members, $1.50, work he represented.
.. In response to this appeal, offerin~s to the amount of about £100 were collected before the meeting closed, which will doubtless be supplemented by further gifts from those whose interest in the work has been awakened or quickened by the meeting."
Rev. C. C. Starbuck sends a note of comment and review upon" Die Evan- gelische Mission, ihre Lltnder. Volker und Arbeiten." VonR. Gundest, t Dr.
phil. Dritte, durchaus vermehrte Au- flage. Calw & Stuttgart, 1894. Verlag
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDlTED BY BEV. D. L. LEONARD.
ExtralJts and Translations from Foreign opium curse in China, illustrated by a Periodioals. good many engravings in the Chinese style. BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, -Among the Battaks of Celebes "ly- MABB. ing" and "gossiping" are the same word. -Bishop French, as we remember, after ten years' occupancy of the see of, -We have received from Rev. R. A. Lahore, resigned it for missionary work Hume, of Ahmednagar, India, an exin Arabia; and Bishop Stuart, of New cellent, closely reasoned pamphlet of Zealand, has resigned the Jee of Waiapu, sixteen pages, presenting the various in order to take up missionary work in evidences for the Gospel against the ob- Persia. The memory of Raymond Lull, jections of Hindus. It is calm and whose great life Dr. Gordon has lately temperate in tone, but very cogent, only described to us, begins to germinate. taking such positions as can be well sustained, and preBBing them home. -" The Norwegian Church carries on work in five foreign fields. and -The first missionaries sent abroad although in comparison with other by an independent Swedish society went churches it is both small and poor, it to China in 1848. Since then a certsin raises over half a million kroners (£25,- predilection for China has always pre- 000) per annum for this purpose. This vailed in Sweden among the friends of devotion is reacting in quickened life mil!!Sions. at home."-Bomball Guardian.
-The AUgemeine Mi88ions.Zeitschrift -The Emperor Akbar, being once calls attention to a hitherto unnoted remonstrated with by the Mollabs for prophet of missions, Pastor Christian his friendShip with the Portuguese mis- Gerber, of Lockwitz, Saxony (1660- sionaries, answered: "I am not going 1731), who, in 1690, stirred up by the to adopt their creed; yet is it not illustrious Justinian von Welz, pub- worthy of thought, that the Moslems lished a treatise, co Unrecognized Sins spread their religion by shedding the of the World," including among these blood of others-these Christians, by .. sleepy indifference in extension and shedding their own 1" advancement of the kingdom of Christ and His honor," and especially exhort- -It is known how the French Goving student,s to dedicate themselves to ernment has driven the English misthe service of missions, adding practi- sionaries out of various Pacific isles, as cal suggestions respecting the carrying well as out of Tahiti. For this intolerout of this work. ance and bigotry, however, the French Protestants, as a body, are not responsi- -The Moravian Missions BZatt for ble. It is political rather than religious, January, 1894, speaking of Cape Colo- and is hardly greater than the coone Inny, says: "We have more and more tolerance shown by the German colonial occasion to feel that the English ele- authorities toward their fellow-Protment has lost its power in the colony, estants, the American missionaries in and that the rude, unrighteous Boer the Marshall Islands. Toward the Engparty has the reins in its hands." lish missionaries in German East Africa they are beginning to be more reason- -The Revue des Missions Oontem- able. But a narrow, blustering Chauporaine8 for January devotes its first vinism seems at present to have comfourteen pages to an exposition of the plete possession of both France and
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATION!!
Germany in their colonies. The Ger- rectors perceive, will either expose it to man Protestants, so far as interested in be suspected by the Malagese as treach- missions, protest unremittingly against erous to Protestantism if it identifies this. If the French Protestants do not itself with France, or by the French a8 speak out quite so boldly or continuous· treacherous to France if it identifies it- ly, we must remember their situation, self with Protestantism.
in the midst of a country half atheist, -Bishop Bompas, of Athabaeca, half ultramontane. They have ~poken speaking of his diocese, says: "The out, however, repeatedly, and so ener- chief characteristic of an Arctic life congetically as to bring on them bitter re- sists not so much in what is present as proaches, both Romanist and infidel. in features that are conspicuous by their As France, however, seems absolutely absence. No cities, towns, or villages, determined that there shall be no Eng- ~treets, roads, or lanes; no markets, lish missionaries in her Pacific domain, farms, or bazaars; no flocks, Qr herds, thc Societe de8 Mi88ions Evangeliques has or carriages; no money, whether coin been compelled to take up the work there or notes; no railways, mails, or telefrom which the English have been graphs; no government, or soldiers, or driven. The Journal now announces police; no prisons or taxes; no lawyers that the London Missionary Society has or doctors." The bishop thinks that in decided to surrender all its real property the stern magnificence of Arctic nature, in the islands of Huahine, Raiatea, Bora- varied by a few weeks of summer lovebora, and Tahaa to the Paris society, on liness, one is brought so near to the condition that it remains dedicated to Creator as to compensl1te for the lack its original purposes. The Paris breth- of many things. ren give 2000 francs as indemnity for movable property abandoned. "Our " ResUlt8 oja Di8appointment.-A col- friends," they say, "will join with us porteur went to an Indian village' mela '
in tbanking the directors of the London (religious festival), forty miles from hi'l society for a deci~ion which does honor home. In order to reach his destination to their brotherly spirit, and whicb he was obliged to swim across a swol- yields us a valuable assistance in our len river, and narrowly escaped with growing work." his life. We can judge of his disap- -Although Madagascar is an African pointment when, on arriving at the island, neither its fauna nor its flora nor «mel.a,' he was driven away after havits men are African. The Hovas, the ing sold only one Gospel. He returned ruling tribe, have not even been suffi- home weary and disheartened. thinkciently mixed with African blood to ing.his brave exertions had been all in lose the smooth, glossy hair of the Poly- vain; but on visiting the place a year nesian or Malay race. Their speech later, a man came up to him and said: also is of a Malay type. «Last year you sold me a Gospel. I and my brother have been reading it: -The Paris Societe des Mission8 Evan- The colporteur accompanied him to his geliques has been considering the ques· home, thirty miles away, and found tion whether it is its duty to establish a that not only he and his brother, but mission in the great island of which its three or four families besides were pre- government has so unwarrantably, as pared to accept Christianity. Sixteen l't'L Saillens has abundantly shown, persons were soon afterward baptized, usurped the control, externally, and and the number of Christians in that will undoubtedly endeavor to reduce it village has since doubled. God '8 ways gradually into a mere French province. are not as our ways; and He accom- We are glad to see that the society thus plished by means of one Gospel in a far has the good sense to hold aloof single year results which often are not from an intervention which, as the di- seen after years of patient labor. Let
GENERAl. MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
us trust Him with our failures; the it seems, are to be preferred. These reaping time will come when He sees men (allowing that there are such men) best. "-Awake. have kept Easter for years, and yet have -" In a scathing address, delivered to not found out that Christ is risen! an immense congregation in the Bal- They are not content to say: "My main Central Methodist Mission Hall Lord delayeth His coming," but must on Sunday night, on the subject of a say: "My Lord is dead; and therefore 'crisis'in political morality, the Rev. I may fearlessly smite my fellow·ser- P. J. Stephen said he candidly con- vanta, and eat and drink with the fessed that he had never had a kind drunken." Surely, if these things are thought for Sir George Dibbs sincc he said, it is time for the many .godly first came to the colony, because in near- bishops and priests of the Church of ly the first parliamentary debate he had England at the Antipodes to suspend read Sir George had designated Jesus other work until they have either con- Christ as 'that wretch who was put to verted or cast out these horrible blas- death nineteen hundred years ago.' The phemers among their own colleagues.
man who thus spoke, he said, was the Can this thing, however, have been premier of the colony, who went on really said? Must it not have been Sunday fishing excursions to prepare meant that the mere letter of the words his bills. What could be expected from of Christ would be the words of a dead a regime led by such a man? Would Christ, unless He speaks still by His in- Christian people rest and stand the pres- terpreting Spirit in His advancing ent state of things longer, or move Church? Until convinced of the con- themselves and wipe out the stain on trary. we must assume that this was the the country's honor? It was utter meaning. Let us know the truth.
selfishness for Christian people to be -" Charles Simeon, of Cambridge. satisfied with their present condition once said that Christians passed through and not to be caring about the toiling three stages. ]'irst, they thought of millions around them. It was the duty themselves, their privileges, their progof every man in the State to give to the rcsl't in the Divine life, their happiness State this moral support he possessed here and hereafter. Next. they thought and take his stand upon the law of God of others and the use they could be in and righteousness and common de- winning souls and building them up. cency."-Australian Christian World. Thirdly, they tlwught of the great plam – I t is hardly pharisaical, we think, of God. "-Periodical Accounts.
to boast that we are not as New South -" A missionary contributes to the Wales. Bob Ingersoll is kept by his Tra'IJancore Diocesan Record some recolblasphemies out of conspicuous office, lections of his work as a deputation in but we have never heard anything of England. He was particularly struck his so vile as this blasphemy of the with the self-deuial practised by many wretch Dibbs. A community which workers and givers: • In one place, a suffers such things to be said in its par- few days before a missionary meeting, liament and rewards the blasphemer 'by a poor woman came with fifty-two halfmaking him its prime minister is on the pennies. She had during the whole high road to suppress Christianity by year systematically put by a half-penny law, as Charles Bradlaugh advised. a week. During the same year, and in -At the Anglican Church Congress the same parish, a blind girl died, hold- in Tasmania, says the correspondent ing in her hand all the money she had of the World, warnings were thrown -viz" half a crown, her dying request out against atta~hing too much impor- being that when she was dead the tance to the words of " a dead Christ." – money should be given to C. M. S.'
A set of living sacerdotal blasphemers, Here We have the true spiritual kins- t,
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLA'rIONS
folk of the poor widow who received predo·Baptists, with the Dunkers, the our Lord's commendation, together with most rigorous of Baptists.
the statement that she had given more -" Jesus Cl.rist, the same yesterday, than all."-Awake (C. M. S.). and to-day, andfO'l'ever. This should be -The Revue des Missions Contempo. our watchword. JESUS CHRIST-in the 'I'aines for April quotes with approba- mutation of the times, in the coming tion from Dr. Pierson's article in Re- and going of the generations, in the view of the Parliament of Religions. fluctuating contests of intellect, He is -The Independent cites in proof of the one fixed point on which we rest, the excellent fruits of the Parliament of the never-setting sun which with His Religions the fraternal interview of the beams uninterruptedly illumines and Archbishop of Zante with the Methodist cheers our hearts, and the surest and Episcopal Conference in Calcutta. But most blessed goal, that gives to our surely that would have come to pass all whole thinking, acting. and aiming the the more certainly from a parliament of right direction. Happy all who build Christians. themselves up upon this ever-during , spiritual rock, that follows with them.'
.F'or he that hath the Son hath life."- -In the Endependent of A.pril 19th Evangeliach-Lutlwrisches Mis8ionsblatt. R. H. Stoddard has a droll passage, which we quote: ., Among the camp -" The proud title of 'The National followers, the congregation of Governor Church of India' is borne hy a little so- Penn, whose desoendants still flourish ciety in Madras, founded by the native at Stoke Pogis, I fancy th.at I discern physician, Dr. PALNI AHNDI. who is the mystic disciples of Count Zinzen- known to the present writer as an ear- dorf, who founded, if I am not greatly nest and sincerely pious man. His mistaken, one of their churches here- avowed intent is little by little to unite about. Was it the Old Swedes' Church? under its banner all Christians-at least And were they Dunkers ; and do their all Protestant Christians – of India.
bones moulder there now or in the lone- What moved him to this step? Chris- ly graveyard at Bethlehem?" It might tianity, he seems to have said, as brought be worth Mr. Stoddard's while to give by the missionaries. comes to us in the a little attention to Count Zinzendorf's multiform divisions of the English and life, and then he wouldn't weave to- American sects. We cannot understand gether such a comical conglomeration the distinctions between these sects, and of blunders, perfectly harmless and still less can we desire that this motley friendly, it is true. In the first place. variety should be grafted upon Indian Count Zinzendorf did not visit America Christendom. Therefore we will found for SOllle two generations after William a communion independent of all these Penn. Secondly. the Old Swedes' distinctions, one which seeks to set forth Church was probably formed, and per- a simple. confessionless Christianity.
haps the present house built, from one " We can easily understand how an io two generations before William Penn. earnest Hindu Christian is scandalized Thirdly, the Swedes' Church was Swed- by the divided condition of the Chris· ish, and Zinzendorf was a German. tian Church, especially as visible in the Fourthly, the church was not Moravian, English and American sects. These but simply Lutheran. Fifthly, how divisions seem orten petty enough, turn- could the bones of Penn's followers ing on mere questions of polity or cere- rest in Bethlehem, which was not mony. But the remedy appears suffi- founded till almost or quite all of them ciently unreasonable, being nothing were in their graves? But the drollest more than the establishment without blunder of all is the confusion of the any vocation, without any great fund Moravians, the most unflinehing of of thought and truth, of a new, color·
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V less community, which in reality only We need the flood-tide of blessin~. .AJt, signifies the addition of a new sect to one of the speakers said: "One some- the old. A religious movement can times sees the barges stranded on the never be evoked by mere negation, mud. They lie high and dry; but let showing only that men know what the flood-tide come along, and they will they do not want, not what they do_ float on the waters. So the churches Such It communion without a confes- are stranded and sticking in the mUd: sion is like a tree without a tap-root. If let the flood of God's fulness sweep such a National Church" (as appears to along, lind they wlll rise above the be the case) .. merely emphasizes her deadness, formality, coldness, and in- opposition to the existing missions, then difference which hinder the blessing."
it will be joined o.nly by such membe:s The Soutl~ MO'J'ocoo Mis8ion.-This of other c~mmun~o~~ a~ may "?ave thIS mission, which is sustained by friends or that pomt to crItICIse m theIr mother in Scotland, contemplates itinerating Church, often from. very person~ motives. Hh°lw long WIIlI?~?Ch ~~qUlelt.elhe- work on a more extended scale this ments 0 d toget ler – .J!Jv,J,nge ~sc – year. At present Mr. and Mrs. Wilson Lutherische8 MissWnsblatt. and Miss Rue of Mazagan are on a Mr.' journey in the interior. Nairn and Mr. Lennox hope soon to take an ex- English Notes. tended tour, visiting the chief towns and villages to the south and east of BY JAMES DOUGLAS, LONDON. Marakesh, healing the sick, preaching The Great Assembly Hall Thanksgiv- the Gospel, and preparing the way for ing lrfeetinga, April 11th, 1894.-It is future operations. Mr. D. Muir recentbefitting that we should note the large ly made a missionary journey from gathering of Christians of all sections Magador to Agidir, encountering Moin the East End of London to praise hammedans and Jews, and on the whole God for the wonderful revival in 1859, had a fairly friendly reception; but beand the salvation of myriads as the di- yond the opportunity for testimony no rect fruit of it in subsequent years. We more tangible result accrued. Miss Rue have attended no meetings of precisely speaks of reany access into the homes the like character before, in which of Mazagan, but of the absence of heartreminiscence played so strong a part, interest in the object for which they are and where the memory of other years entered. Thus far the South MoroCco overflowed so as to fill the channels of Mission is a record of patient continupresent desire. Converted in 1860, and ance in well-doing in hope of a reaping knowing no words in which to express that will come in due season.
the exalted sense of God's goodness The Madras Oity 2emple.-In connec- seen and experienced in that time of tion with the work of the Rev. Maurice revival, it was with profound emotions Phillips in l'ladras, there seems to be a we formed a unit in that great assem- distinct forward mO'Vement. Organized blage. Through that gracious revival opposition in the form of the" Hindu which swept from America to these our Tract Society" and" Hindu Preaching shores, it is impossible to tabulate the Society" has broken down. The room world-wide results which have accrued. taken for services is crowded, and the How many pulpits have been supplied, front space also occupied, so that alto- evangelists raised up, and laborers gether an audience of from one hundred thrust forth into the harvest – field I and fifty to two hundred is obtained The influence has spread out in ever- every evening. It is purposed now to . widening circles even to those who build a suitable preaching hall capable dwell in darkness. But we need a re- of accommodating five hundred per- turn of the Spirit of God in like power. sons, and to carryon in it all-day meet-
ENGLISH NOTES
ings, every day in the week, by relays after meeting. The' outward resultll of of preachers. To this bUilding, which the ten days' mission at the Old Church, is modelled after the plan of a Hindu Calcutta, were as follows : temple, the name of " the Madras City 1. Profeseed to have received a de1lnite bleSB' Temple" is to be given. Besides the large hall, the building will contain a ing ……………………………. 191 2. Wish to b~ baptized…… .•••••. ……•• 8 small reading-room, where the people 3. Wish to be con1lrmed. ••••• ..••• •. .•••.. 12 clIn sit down and read the Bible and 4. Wish to join a Bible OlaBB…. •••••••…. 84 Ohristian books, and a consulting room, 5. Wish to join Scripture Union… ..•. …. 66 where inquirers can meet the missiona· 6. Wi.h to engage ill de1lnite work for God. 34 7. Will Join Missionary Gleaners' Union…. 52 ries. The estimate of cost is £1000. 8. Will take Parish Magazine. .• . . . . . ••••.•. 30 9. Gave at Prai.e Meeting….••••.•.•• R•. 774.4 Pro8pecta in Uganda.-How bright these are was recently set forth in an A miSSionary writes concerning this inspiring address by Bishop Tucker in mission : ,. How can I say how richly Exeter Hall. The review leads one to blessed the work here in Calcutta has exclaim, ,. What hath Gpd wrought !" been? I have learned nowhere else The hunger for the Word of God in such lessons of the keeping power of that region has been met by the dis- Jesus, and of the fulness of the Holy tribution during the past year of some Ghost."
26,000 Gospels, 5000 Gospels and Acts The Oongo-Balow Misaion.-This mis· bound together, and 1500 New Testa- sion has been recently strengthened by ments. So intense is that hunger that the addition of two men and two wom- the Roman Catholic bishop has had to en. The farewell meeting was one of succumb and make the required conces- peculiar pathos and solemnity. It was sions. His words are: "After much impossible to doubt that these brethren hesitation I have concluded that it is and sisters had been definitely called of necessary for us also to distribute the God to the work, with such marked New Testament which the Protestants power of the Spirit was their testimony are spreading everywhere. • .• The given. Their names are Mr. E. A. Rus- chief reason is that we cannot prevent kin, lIr. D. Hayes, Miss Elliott and Miss our people from reading it." Thank Cook. Tidings have come of the de- God they cannot. In view of the facts, parture of the latest Congo martyr, the the progress made, the eagerness for the consecrated Gustav Haupt, who has Bread of Life. the foundations of a na- been called away when he seemed ripest tive Christian ministry laid, and the for service. In the course of a brief number of Protestant readers in Ugan- address, Dr. Harry Guiness stated that da something like 20,000, the fields are the Congo-Balolo Mission, which is now . indeed white unto harvest; and we but five years old, has now four sta- must feel, as Bishop Tucker observed, tions, one being a thousand miles from .. that with the blessing of God upon the coast. Last sear more than a hun- our work, and with the Holy Spirit dred natives confessed Christ in bap- poured out upon us from on high, we tism. It is interesting to learn that are within measurable distance of see· Gustav Haupt completed, just belore ing Uganda a Christian country." his death, a translation of the Gospel of Special Mission to India. -Great bless- John.
ing has rested on the special mission of Unoccupied Field8 in India.-South- the Rev. E. N. Thwaites to India and east of Calcutta there are over two his colleague, the Rev. Martin J. Hall. dozen tribes, comprising in all between The re.cord is that of a succession of six: and seven millions, who are totally Gospel triumphs. At Agra the power unevangelized. Our informant is Bish- of the Holy Ghost was realized, and op Thoburn, of the American Methodist after a long meeting, 160 stayed to an Episcopal Church. No doubt like facts
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTEI,LIGENCE
apply to the majority of the foreign lands: "Only the actual sight of misfields that are roughly assumed to be sions can gi ve one the least idea of the occupied. 'Darieties of missionary work, all valu- able and effectual in their way. But The TMbetan Pioneer Mission.-Miss when one has seen them, how one la- Taylor and her band of helpers have ar- ments the short-sightedness, of some rived, we are glad to know, at their critics at home who are always exalting destination for the present, namely, ono kind of agency and depreciating Darjeeling. In the voyage out prog- another! Let me quote for the hunress was made in the study of the lan- dredth time that favorite text of mine: guage, and there were also helpful 'Diversities of gifts, but the same times of definite Bible study. The pas- spirit;' , differenceR of administrations, sengers were much interested in Miss but tho same Lord,' 'diversities of Taylor's story of travel in Thibet, and operations, but the same God which those who know her will not need to be worketh all in all.' .. informed that she would make good spiritual use of the opportunity. -According to this statement from Rev. A. Baldwin, of Trans-Zambesi, THE KINGDOM. South Africa, not only depravity, but also defect in intellect, seriously hin- -" The outpopulating power of the ders the introduction of the Gospel: Christian stock" is already beginning "I only conduct one service, since it to work its wonders upon heathen soil. would be well-nigh impossible to get For, as one illustration, Rev. Samuel the people to assemble twice on the Sab- Howland, a missionary of the American bath; and again I think in their raw Board, writes in the Independent that a condition, one sermon is quite as much woman who recently died near Jaffna, food as they are able to digest in one Ceylon, though not a Christian herself, day; for it is largely true what one of was the mother of nearly 200 Chris- my boys said the other evening on my tians, including the fifth generation. asking him to tell me all he remembered Her husband was employed by the fa- about the morning's sermon; his reply ther of lIr. Howland, and through that was, 'We ha'De no memories, missionary, connection became a Christian. His 4 for we never think.' " sons and 3 daughters became Christians. Of the woman's descendants, 128 are -A man applied to Mr. Spurgeon for living, 10 of whom are in government work, saying: "I have not much learnemploy, and 10 in missionary employ, ing or brains, but the finest pair of legs including 4 pastors, 4 preachers, and 2 ever put on any man, and if the Lord teachers. can use them for any purpose, I conse- crate them to His service." He was -Dr. Judson Smith says: "What is sent to the outskirts of London, and acneeded in our foreign mission work is complished wonderful things. leaders; not the rank and file which the native agency will furnish to their -Anyone sent on God's errands is a own' great gain, but captains and gen- missionary. Whether the service be erals, and these must be trained men. great or small, in the home, in tlie lt is impossible for the missionary to be church, or in the uttermost parts of the too learned, too cultured, too eloquent, eanj;h, if it is work for God it is a mistoo versatile, too much of a scholar; a sion, and whoever performs it is a misphilosopher, a preacher, a statesman, sionary. We solemnly set apart those or a gentleman for the needs of his field going out to a foreign field. We may and work." be just as truly set apart to our work here. A successful missionary society -What Eugene Stock says of India must have missionaries at both ends of is equally true of all unevangelized the line.-M. P. E., in Missiona1'11 Link. -MissioMry Tidings gives the follow- ically urged, the design being to con- ing definition of the dift'erep.ce between nect Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, the heathen at home and the heathen and Hawaii with America. Add to thia abroad: "The former are, in a very importi:mt project the great Trans-Sibe- large measure, heathen from choice, rian railroad, to extend from the Baltic while the latter are heathen from neces- and the Black Sea 5000 miles to Yladi- sity. " vostock, a port north of Japan, and -All the incomes of all the missionary what important help may follow to the societies together, says the Archbishop spread of the kingdom of God !
of Canterbury, amount to about one hal! -The Missionary Herald thus annihi- the cost of the London School Board. lates the sapient critic: ,. A prominent -In China a certain Christian baker newspaper has recently reproached has written on the baskets in which his Anglo.Saxon missionaries with having customers' bread is carried these words: had little success among inferior races, "Jesus Christ appeared in the world • because they will not, as the Moham- 1894 years ago." This writing makes medan missionaries do, live among the people question him, and he has an op- heathen as the heathen live.' Moslem portunity of preaching the Gospel. missionaries, as ll. rule, do live as the heathen live. They make no call for -The Japanese number among their moral reformation in their converts_ numerous divinities the great bright These converts may have as many god of self-restraint, and him they wor- wives as they can buy or capture as ship with appropriate ceremonies upon slaves. They may lie and cheat, and their New Year. A strong iron box retain all their old mode of life without every New Year is given a conspicuous rebuke. One or two ceremonies may place in the home. In this each mem- be required, but these over, the converts ber of the family deposits during the to Mohammedanism may remain just as year the amount saved by an act of self- much heathen as they were before, and restraint or economy in a financial their mi~sionaries Ii ve just as they do.
transaction. If a gown, usually requir- What is wanted is missionaries who will ing nine yards, is cut from eight yards, not live as the heathen live, but will the price of the one yard saved is dropped lift them up out of their heathenism, into the self-restraint box. Or if a com- first of all morally and spiritually, and mon article is chosen when a superior then, as fast as possible, out of kraals one is desired, the price saved belongs and mud shanties and dirt, into a clean- to the same god. And, truly, would er and better life. It is absurd to ex· not a Christianized" self-restraint box" pect that missionaries who worY: for well patronized be an exceedingly valu- such resultA will win converts as fast as able addition to the furnishing of every do those who make no protest ag'linst Christian home? the vices and corrupting customs of paganism. " -It will evidently not be long until the whole world is brought into imme- -Again has Dean VahI, President of diatecommunication by telegraph. New the Danish :Missionary Society, per- oceanic lines are projected, and their formed a most valuable service to completion is simply a question of time Christendom by publishing his statisti- and money, which latter for a purpose cal review of missions to the heathen, of this kind will be easily obtainable. in a pamphlet of thirty pages, and giv.
A line from Eastern Siberia connecting ing more completely than can anywhere with this continent has been under con· else be found the figures for 1891 aDd sideration for some time. For several 1892. He names 331 .. missionary soci- , years the laying of a cable on the bed eties and agencies," of which 94 belong , of the Pacific Ocea!l has been energet- to Great Britain, 59 to the United States, 41 to Asia (for the most part Holyoke. In all 113 boarding pupils mere local organizations), 27 to Austra- have been in attendance, While several lia, 20 to Africa, 19 to Germany, 17 hundred have been connected with the to the Netherlands, 16 to Canada, etc. various departments; 30 Spanish girls He finds the total income of 1892 to be have graduated, most of whom have £2,695,188 ($13,475,940); missionar!es, taught in the evangelical schools of 5502 (wives not included); unmarried Spain and France, and 7 have married women, 2771; native ministers, 4285; preachers or teachers. native helpers, 39,782; communicants, 1,079,398, or an increase of 72,582 -One after another the theological over 1891. seminaries of this country are opening the1r doors for the admission of women, WOMAN'S WORK. and especially for such as would fit themselves for labor in the mission -To make missions a reality, let the field. The Cumberland Presbyterian women teach the children to know the Seminary at Lebanon, Tenn., is one of mission fields, the missionaries, and the the last to fall into line in this great results of missiollS.-J. A. Broadu8, matter. I).D. -The Mary J. Drexel Home and -Mrs. Wellington White recontly Mother-house of Deaconesses. in Philagave touching incidents of the incre- delphia, was erected in 1888 bv John dulity with which the poor, down-trod- D. Lankenau in memory of his wife. den women of China hear the good The home has a frontage of 250 feet, news of a God who saves women. and wings 200 feet in length extend from the ends of the building_ About -The missionary teacher's task takes 40 sisters are kept busy in works of on queer phases sometimes. Thus in mercy in the German hospital, the chil- China one of the older pupils had been dren's hospital, the home for old peotaken out of school to be married, and ple, the school for girls, the evening a year or two later was found by her 'school for boys, the kindergarten, etc_ brother, "half starved and abused by In addition, such outside institutions her husband, and he at once brought are cared for as a day nursery and chilher back. Poor little girl! Only six- dren's home in Germantown, a hospital teen, and such a worn, pitiful look. in Easton, and a home for old people in The girl begged her mother, who is the Allegheny. The sisters are consecrated matron of the school, not to let people to life service after a four years' probaspeak of her as a wife; she wants it all tion. forgotten. Her little one died when it waf! only three weeks old. After a wbile -At the recent anniversary of the the husband came to claim her; said (Dutch) Reformed Woman's Board of he didn't want her in the school eating Foreign Missions, Dr. Scudder said: oatmeal while he was down in the vil- .. Born with the Woman's Union Mislage eating chaff. He is trying to sell sionary Society of the United States, his wife to another man, and the teach- founded by !llrs. Thomas Doremus in er has had two encounters with him to 1861, the woman's movement now comkeep him from making his way into prises 75 societies, 50 of which are in the girls' court." our land, willi 20,000 auxiliaries and 5000 bands. The Woman's Missionary -Mrs. Alice A. Gulick has been for Society, unheard of forty years ago, is ten years at the head of a boarding- now a valued accessory of every deschool for tbe higher education of girls nominational board." in San Sebastian, Spain. She is now assisted by an able corps of four teach- -Th"! Woman's Missionary Society ers, graduates of WcUesley and Mt. of the Methodist Church, South, has 2058 auxiliaries, with 39,141 members, and 1185 young people's and juvenile partment for eight months: Calls made societies, with 28,996 members, a total on the sick and needy, 290; days spent of 68,297 ; and 11,033 subscribers to the in sewing and caring for sick and needy.
Woman'8 MiBBionary Advocate. 17; garments made for the needy, 34; -The annual meeting of the Canada bouq uets made for the sick, 72 ; amount Presbyterian Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, Western Division, was spent for groceries, etc., $40; paid held in Ottawa. The delegates in at· tendance numbered 217. The report taxes for a widow; employment found showed a total of 25 presbyterials, 569 auxiliaries, with 12,574 members, and for 4. A large amount of provisions 228 mission bands, with 5881 members. The total receipts for the year were and clothing have been distributed. $41,822. School books have been supplied a number of children. Three Bibles were given away. Flowers were sent to the Deaconess Home, Chicago, and to Sher- man Hospital, Elgin. .
-The Harlem Avenue, 'Baltimore, OUR YOUNG PEOPLE. Christian Society has raised $40 for the -The Young Men's.Era (Y. M. C. A.) China mission fund by the Fulton plan. for May 3d, the jubilee number, was Since last July it has given $27 to the extended to forty-four pages, and was Salt Lake City Church; $10 for disan issue which displayed remarka~le trict mission work, and $5 for home enterprise. Scores of faces and cuts of missions. Literature has also been disbuildings added SUbstantial value to tributed in the city jail.
the rich variety of articles, setting forth -Four missionary shit: have been the history of the Association and the built for service in the Micronesian Isl- various phases of its world-wide wl)rk. ands known as the Morning Btar, each A table of statistics gives 4614 as the serving for a term of years, and then number of local organizations, with being replaced by a stronger craft.
467,515 members. Of these 1192, with The first was built by the Sunday- 247,707 members, are in the United school children of the United States, States; 597, with 87.464 members, in and launched in 1856. It served until Great Britain; 957, with 58,797 in Ger- 1866, when it was succeeded by Morn- many; 744, with 16,222, in Holland; ing BtarNo. 2. This ship was wrecked, 78, with 15,909, in Canada, etc. The and in 1871 a new Star took its place.
number of countries represented is 40. In November, 1884, the present Morn- -The Newburyport, Mass., Y. lVJ:. ing Btar sailed from Boston, and is now C. A. held its second annual converts' doing a good work in Micronesia. She reunion March 13th, over 100 men usually sails from Honolulu in June, being present who have accepted Christ and is gone about nine months.
in the Association since 1891. Last -During a recent" self·denial week"
year 30 men joined the local churches, one little boy, who wished to do his and during the present season alone 100 share in saving money for missions, de- men have accepted Christ. cided that he might have something to -The Clarendon Street, Boston, Bap- give by going without part of his lunchtist Endeavor Society has been support- eon at school. In the basement of ing a missionary in Africa for three the school building there was always years, and recently completed its third spread forth a tempting repast, from annual gift of $600 for foreign missions. which the boys might buy what they pleased. This special boy was very -The following Items from some re- fond of finishing his own lunch with a ports recently made by the Epworth cake of sweetened chocolate, but this League, of Elgin, Ill., First Church, are delicacy he steadfastly denied himself of special interest. Mercy and help de- during the week. At the end of the time he said confidentially to his mother, much to aid in the elevation of the " It was pretty hard work sometimes. freedmen. The Congregationalists head The chocolate did look awfully good, the list with $12,000,000 ; the Methodists but I went ro'und behind the furnace come second with $6,000,000 ; the Bapwhere I couldn't see it and ate my lunch, tists rank third with $3,000,000; the and 'so I managed to get along, and Presbyterians appear next with $1,250,- now here's the money." 000 ; and the Friends are not far behind with $1,000.000. Besides, there is the -By the Sunday-school of the Sec- Slater Fund of $1,000,000, and some of ond Reformed Church of New Bruns- the Peabody Fund of $2,000,000 goes to wick, N. J., the thirteenth Sunday in the same object. each quarter is hereafter to be devoted to the practical study of missions in -The sad tidings have come that the the classes and by the school unitedly. American Board schooner Robert W. The four quarters are to be given to Logan is missing, and it is feared she is India, China, the United States, and lost. This vessel has not been heard Japan. A large map is procured, and from since last summer, when she sailed the teachers are notified by a missionary for Ruk from Yokohama, whither she committee as to where subject-matter had gone for repairs. There is now can be found for study. little hope that she will be heard from, as it is supposed that she must have UNITED STATES. been wrecked in one of the fierce ty· phoons. There were no missionaries on -Mr. Moody's Chicago Bible Insti- board. tute must be set down among the great forces which make for the world's evan- -By this statement from the Internagelization. These few figures will en- tional Missionary Alliance it will apable us in some measure to perceive how pear that this society is expecting great this versatile and indefatigable evan- things from God, and attempting great gelist is carrying the Gospel to the ends things for God in the immediate future: of the earth: Of 257 who have shared " We hope to be able to send a party of the benefits of that institution, 128 are from 30 to 40 to India, and about half evangelists, city missionaries, Y. M. C.A. as many to Central and Southern secretaries, etc., 69 are missionaries in China. We are also making arrange- 16 foreign countries, and 60 are pas- ments for the sending out of a third party tors of churches in 8 different denomi- of Swedes to Northern China, and a nations. new party of mi~sionaries to Brazil is almost prepared to leave for their field -Cyrus Hamlin has been called" the of labor. Mr. Howell, with 3 missionman with sixteen professions," nor do aries from this country, and 1 from these include the one of which he says England, will sail about June 10th. he is proudest-that of washerwoman. Altogether, the outgoing parties for India, China, and t:louth America likely -The First Congregational Church of Toledo, 0., claims an undivided inter- to leave within the next six months will est in no less than 5 missionaries in the number between 50 and 80 missionaries, home and foreign fields, and which by and the amount necessary for their outits liberal gifts are supported. Among fit and transportation will not be less them is Rev. J. L. Barton, President of than $25,000, in addition to the ordi-'
Harpoot College, Turkey. nary funds."
-It is estimated that since 1865 the -At the recent fo~ty-ninth annual Southern States have expended upon session of the Southern Baptist Conven . colored schools some $50,000,000, While tion these facts were reported: Unde r various churches and individuals in the ,the Board are 211 stations, 80 missio!}- North have added more than half as aries; ordained_natives, 25; unordained natives, 66; organized churches, 84; as certain .that the Church of England members, 3328; baptisms, 629; in- woulu. do its duty equally in respect to crease for the yoar, 718; loss, 226 ; net evangelization. The Eastern Soudan gain, 482. The receipts for the year had been closed since Khartoum fell were $106,332, including a balance at and Gordon perished; and if ever the the beginning of the year of $13,387. Soudan was to be reopened to Chris- The theological seminary of this relig- tian enterprise and the resources of civious body, located in Louisville, Ky., ilization, it would not be by way of devotes one entire day in each month Suakim or Egypt on the north, but to a missionary meeting. by the Soudan from the south.
-At the seventy-fifth anniversary of -This is the jubilee year of the South the Methodist Missionary Society, held American Missionary Society, original- 8 few weeks since, an item from an old ly founded as the Patagonian Missionreport read by the treasurer showed that ary Society in 1844. Its real founder the original idea of the society was to was Captain Allen Gardiner, with whose evangelize the American Indians rather pathetic death in 1851 it seemed as if than undertake work in foreign lands; the heroic efforts to obtain a missionary yet the latter has grown until the foothold in South America were finally church is now represented in every part wrecked, though in reality they reof the world. The receipts have in- ceived a new and sacred inspi'ration. creased from $823 in 1820 to $1,231,669 It is now proposed to observe July 4th in 1893. as a day of special thanksgiving and prayer, and to raise a jubilee fund to -In 1862 the General Assembly gave place every part of the work on a perthe Dakota Indians a Presbytery to manent basis, and to inaugurate a new themselves, without bounds. This mission to the Araucanian Indians of Presbytery is now composed of 17 min- Chili. isters, of whom 13 are Indians, and 18 churches, with 1222 members. -The Universities' Mission to Cen- tral Africa (Zanzibar and Lake Nyassa) -Of the 12,000 Canadian Indians on is able to make an encouraging report the Pacific Coast, 8000 have been bap- for last year. The number of Eurotized or attend Christian worship. The pean mIssIonaries, men and women, is Gospels have been printed for them in 4 85; of Africans, 109; total, 194; of languages. communicants, 1116; of adherents, 3551 ; of boys and girls in school, 2106. -Chief Sheuksh, of Kitkatla, North But a grievous loss has befallen the Pacific, was baptized not long since, mission in the death of Bishop Smythand received no less a name than Will- ies, of fever on board a steamer bound iam Ewart Gladstone I for Aden. He had started on a trip for the benefit of his health. He was ap- EUROPE. pointed Bishop of Zanzibar in 1883, and was a man of much zeal and executive Great Britain.-The income of the ability. British and Foreign Bible Society for 1893 was la1·g6·r than the year preceding -The British Syrian Mission received by $55,000, and reached the goodly sum an income of $25,000 last year, has 250 of $1,171,000, while the issues of Bibles, children under instruction in Beirut, Testaments, and portions aggregated Baalbec, and Damascus; and one half 3,664,456, making a total of 139,559,008 of the 18 women working in Syria revolumes since 1803. ceive no salary from its funds.
-Speaking of the determination of -While on a visit to Liverpool, Dr. the Government to maintain possession Paton, the New Hebrides missionary, of Uganda, Bishop Tucker has lately r~caV8d, among Qther substantial donasaid that" he only wished he could feel tions, £1000 from an anonymous friend. estantism, and seeking instruction in This is to be applied to the mainte- the new faith and practice. nance of the new mission ship. -The Protestant churches of Ger- The Continent. – In the May num- many expend the bulk of their missionber of The 0 lturclt at Home and Abroad ary energy upon South Africa, India, Rev. Alexander Robertson, of Venice, and the Dutch East Indies. Professor has a remarkable account of an Italian George H. Schodde, of Columbus, 0., village, Papigno, in the province of has kindly prepared the following sta- Umbria, with a popUlation of about tistical table, which will set forth the 800, openly rejecting the domination of work of all the German societies exceptthe Church of Rome, embracing Prot- ing two or three of the smallest.
., . .. ~ .~ ..~,~" ~ ;i .~ i ",- I .. .":l.."9;'E'" ~ Q)~ s~ '0 .g a;i !" l ~ 0 '$ ·~ll 0 <1l 0" .<:l .. 0 <: ,"0 "W. ~ '" – – – – – – – —- – – — — 0 Marks. Moravian .•..•…..••…… 493,7% 167 1'i~ 22,1 29 Ba.e1. …•••••••..•.•••••… 942,531 139 24 91,844 81,653 247 12,432 Berlin…………………. 329,285 72 34 26,435 13,157 319 4, 583 4 5W 24,687 11,979 140 Rh..ni.h ……………….. 487,909 93 16 North German ………….. 110,100 11 630 47,484 14,295 190 8,871 1 42 618 1,082 18 501 Gossner's ….. _………… 159,880 25 17 409 88,187 11,472 50 1,551) Leipsic ……………….. 347,166 37 1….7 526 14,520 6,916 178 5, 832 Herman!l"bltlr……… , ….. 194,391 61 21,566 10,837 66 ~,79 7 Scble.wlg-Ho stem……… 65,067 11 311 22 153 60 5 11 5 N ellkirchener ………….. 45,215 9 81 619 356 8 11 9 Evangelical Protestant…. 300 …… 6 German East Africa …….. 62,246 3 ..2.. 6 300 …… 2 2230o NeudettelslLu…………… 45,860 7 …… …… 3 21,3118 8 …. 50 Teachers. …… ………… S . … Morgenllind. Frallenv…… 1 90 12,947 '2 15 …… 165 's Women'. for China …….. 19,392 3 3 – – – – – – – – – – – – – Jerusalem's Verein…….. 55,060 1 1 – -8 – "'300 — Totals ………………. 3,392,68'~ 658 113 4,717 265,881 101,607 1,246 59,307 $843,170 ASIA. . mosques and their clean, inviting places India.-It is sometimes affirmed that of prayer, always facing Mecca. Ought the English go to India simply to make not the Christians too to have clean, money and carry it back to England. comfortable places of worship?
But, per contra, Mr. Robert Laidlaw -In the Bassein Karen Mission in has just given $75,000 to build a school- Burma each of the 91 churches is self- house in Calcutta, and Mr. Walter supporting. The missionary who laid Thompson has by will left $50,000 to the foundations urged the development promote public education in the prov- of lay workers in the church, and ince of Behar; and a native paper sug- brought about the unique custom of gests that their Maharajahs and Rajahs church discipline for covetousness.
can take a lesson from this public -Bishop Thoburn is authority for spirit. the statement that for the last three -The people of India are exceeding- years the Methodist missions in India ly religious, writes a missionary in the . have been receiving converts at the av- Baptist Missionary Magazine. The Hin- erage rate of 50 every day.
dus always first build a temple, and -The Methodist Woman's Foreign around this their houses cluster; the Missionary Society publishes a vernac· Mohammedans have their beautiful ular paper in Illdia fo).' the women of the zenanas, for which an endowment which are attended by 6873 pupils, and of $25,000 has been secured. This is in which 323 teachers are employed.
now published in 5 dialects. -The mission of t.he London Society -The Baptist Telugu Mission has in the Neyoor DistrIct, South Travan- received within four years an increase core, dates from 1805, and reports 12 of 57 missionaries, so that now there is European missionaries, 22 native minis- 8 force numbering 85. Of natives there ters, and 284 other native helpers, not are 66 ordained and 175 unordained including 521 teachers (a total native preachers, 17 colporteurs, 111 Bible force of 805). In the schools are 17,552 women and 161 other helpers; a total pupils; in the churches are 6730 mem- of 530. There are 1979 villages con- bers (of whom 385 were received in taining native Christians, and 210 of 1893). and the number of adherents them have stated congregations, with a is 53,147. The native contributions bnilding to meet in and a person in reached $4857 last year. The number charge. 'rhe 65 churches report 1509 of patients treated in the hospitals and additions by baptism. The present dispensaries was 33,225. .
membership is 48,829. In 17 boarding- China. — The Viceroy, Li Hung schools 551 male and 398 female pupils Chang, has invited Dr. Mackay, a are taught by a force of 60 teachers; physician of the London Missionary and in 12 caste girls' schools there are Society, to attend him personally when 42 teachers, with 659 pupils. The sick. village schools number 556, with 569 teachers, 4729 male and 2535 female -A missionary writes thus feelingly pupils. The total number of heathen of a national trait: "But oh, the noise scholars in all the schools is 1432, and of the moment I I seem to hear it yet.
of Christians, 7566.-The Worker. Roaring on board, and roaring on shore -The mission of the English Church -the din was deafening. Nothing can Society in Ceylon has 2797 Singhalese be accomplished in China without noise. and Tamil communicants, and 8005 It is a part, and not a small part, of the adherents. The number of baptisms genius and temperament of the people. was 158 last year. • If you give me permission to shout,' said a sufferer from toothache to a Eu- -The history of the Madura mis· ropean dentist, • you may extract them sion exemplifies several stages of mis- • all I' Prevent a Chinese boatman or sion progress. Native pastors of the coolie from shouting, and you thereby oldest period bear the names of prom- rob him of half his physical vigor."
inent American divines; those of the -There is a royal caste of beggars in middle period for the most part have Nanking. It was founded by Hung Bible names; and now the nationalfeel- Wu, the first monarch of the Ming dying is asserting itself, and most of the nasty. He did this because, having young'men have Tamil names.-Ind- once been in the mendicant line himian Witness. self, he wished to ohlige an old beggar -The mission of the American Board friend. " I don't want anything from named above, which covers 7000 square your majesty," said the latter, " except miles, embraces a population of over to have plenty to eat and wear, and 2,000,000 souls, and contains 12 sta- have nothing to do." The beggar had tions, 14 ordained missionaries, 18 wom- his wish. The caste of which he was en missionaries (married and single), the first chief live in certain large caves 14,810 adherents and communicants, in Nanking's walls. The police ap- the latter numbering 4109. The addi- points the head of the beggars. They tions by profession last year were 325. are well off, and their apartments are There are 189 schools of ali grades lofty and airy. -Rev. J. Hudson Taylor has lately diers and under·officers to aecompany us. About 1500 people followed us to made the statement that, of the whole the yamen, and the natives think about Thibetan race, only one third live in 10,000 followed us back. Mrs. Carlin that interior Thibet which is as yet shut was taken in and given tea with the up, while one third dwell in LadaJr, officia.l's first wife, while I was made to and other territoriel! subject to British sit upon the bench of judgment with control, on the northern frontier of him and sip hot tea. He asked me of India, and the remaining one third are my business in China, and whether I to be found on the Chinese side of the were scnt by my king, which I made Thibetan border. The significance of convenient to construe into an invita- this statement lies in the fact that While tion to tell of our doctrine." ThilJet may be closed as yet to the Gos· pel, two thirds of the Thibetan race are -What novel and perplexing prob- even now accessible to Christian mis· lems are thrust upon the heralds of the sionaries. cross in foreign lands! Bishop Corfe tells of a new departure among the Ko- -Rev. Hunter Corbett, of Chefoo. reans. Their hospitals are built in na- writes of baptizing a man whose age tive style, with the wards, like other was seventy·three, a widow of seventy- Korean rooms, without furniture. How nine, and another candidate of eighty- to nurse and how to perform operations eight years. At one station "a man upon patients who lie on the ground brought his father, aged seventy-five. were questions puzzling to the doctor. on a wheelbarrow a distance of five There has now been added to the hos- miles, to apply for baptism. When the pital at Nak Tong a" European wing," old man came before the session he said consisting of a ward for six beds. Two in substance, ' My memory has so failed, of the nursing sisters have been detailed and I am so stupid and ignorant that I for this wing. "The experiment," says cannot answer any questions; all I Bishop Corfe, "will give us great know is that I am a helpless sinner and anxiety. The adoption of European that I love Jesus and trust Him for sal- bedsteads and the heating of the ward vation.' The son promised to daily read with a stove are not matters of great and explaiu the Bible and do all he moment, though it will be long before could to help his father live near to the patients will rest contentedly off the Jesus." hot mud floor which they love so well. But the introduction of the nurses among -Sometimes the missionary is not male patients is another affair. Until without honor, even in the Celestial Em· now, Koreans have never had any wom- pire. Thus Rev. J. W. Carlin, of Ung en to nurse them, except their wives. Kung, South China, writes about open- Their horror at this breach of propriety ing a chapel with a service attended by on our part will give us much anxious 1000 persons: "In our house in the thought." afternoon was the highest military offi- cial of the city and his attaches, together -Not long ago a fire broke out in a with the highest civil official's children Formosan village, and two houses were and nephews, all on a visit to us for soon wrapped in flames. One of them about three hours, and we had op- was saved, the house of a heathen portunity for about one hour to tell Chinaman; the owner of the other " them of the origin, the way, and the house is a Christian, who happened to end of life. The official told me three be away from home. and as nobody several times he was glad I came here tried to save his" house, it was burned to live. and that he was happy to visit down. There was great laughter among me. This is his third visit. The high- the villagers at the Christian's misfor- est civil official yesterday invited our tunes. "That is the worth of your whole family to his yamen, sending solreligion." they said to him. A day or higher power to influence life than either two after, a company of men were seen the coldness of his skin or the empticoming across the fields, and when they ness of his stomach, to give the native got near it was seen that they were laden a motive to exertion, a craving for with wood, tools, and articles of furni· something higher than his present alture. The village was astir. What most animal existence-this is the aim was it? Who were the men? They of the missionary. It is the Church's were the members of the church to task to explain life to the African, to which their Christian neighbor be- show him how its ills may be avoided, longed, and had come from their homes, and its diseases cured by natural means some miles away, to rebuild his house, and human skill, and to bring him to which they did, while the villagers feel a higlwr power than witchcraft or gaped in wonder. Nothing like it had the' evil eye' ruling over all."-Rev. ever been seen. A. Hetherwick.
Japan.-The Episcopalian missiona- -The Wesleyan mISSIOnS on the ries feel the impulse toward a "recon- West Coast are divided into 4 sections struction" of Christianity upon Japan- -Sierra Leone, the Gambia, Lagos, and eselines. Rev. T. S. Tyng writes in The the Gold Coast. l<'orty·eight missiona- Ohurchman: "This Japanese Church ries, of whom only 7 are European, has its own constitution and canons, its have charge of Christian congregations, own synods, local and general, its own numbering nearly 60,000 souls.
Prayer-Book, substantially like those of -Some idea of the extent of the Britthe English and American churches, but ish possessions in South Africa may be differing in detail from both. Its whole gathered from the fact that the distance spirit and temper are thoroughly J apan- between Cape Town and Fort Salisbury, ese. No foreign bishop or clergyman in Mashonaland, is 1690 miles. A railcan take any part in its deliberations road extends north from the Cape to unless he signs a promise to conform to Vryburg, 774 miles, leaving 916 miles its constitution and canons, and no one to be traversed by post cart or ox can expect to do any successful work in wagon. Arrangements have lately been it unless he understands to some degree made for building another great extenthe Japanese spirit, and is willing to sion of the track. conform to Japanese methods." And he has good things not a few to say of -Basutoland is a country strictly the Japanese Christians. kept by the government for the occu- -From the statistical tables of mis- pation of its own native inhabitants, sionary work in Japan for 1893, lately settlement by colonists being prohibitpublished by Rev. H. Loomis, it ap- ed. It therefore offers a field for its pears that 643 missionaries are toiling in missionaries almost unique in South that field, of whom 228 are men and 216 Africa.
are unmarried women. There are also -Rev. James Hughes, of Kimberley, 206 native ministers, 665 preachers, president of the Baptist Union, has evangelists, etc.. and 367 theological procured 3 farms of 3000 acres each in students. The 377 churches have a Mashonaland and Matabeleland for mismembership of 37,398. The increase sion work among the natives; and 6 during last year was 1864, and the con- sites-3 for mission churches and 3 for tributions amounted to $32,000. parsonages. The Baptists of South Africa are making rapid progress.
AFRICA. -The London Missionary Society has -" To rouse the African out of his 16 meu and their wives at work in Cape sleep, to UUlke him feel that there is a Colony, Kaffirla;d, Bechuanaland, and Matabeleland. In spite of gravest hin- ars. The Roman Catholics report 130,- drances from wars, the elcit~ment of 000 adherents, 17,338 scholars, 641 nagold mining and vices brought in by tive teachers, and 114 European agents. Europeans, there are 2835 church-members and 7483 native Christians. -What a record for the churches of Niue, an island in the South Seas called -Two missions have recently been Savage Island by Captain Cook, because opened in the Dark Continent. One, of the character of its inhabitants I It after long months of search for a suita- has now a population of about 5000, ble location, has been fixed by agents of but there are 11 native pastors and 1646 the American Board at Mount Selinda, church-members. In the year 1892 Gazaland, in the territory of the South these churches sent from their own mem- African Company, and just across the bership 4 missionaries with their wil"es line from the Portuguese domains. to New Guinea. Besides supporting The other has been founded in the Bar- their own pastors, these Christians conotsi kingdom to the north of the Zam· tributed within the last y.ear $1500 to besi by the English Primitive Metho- the funds of the London Missionary Sodists, and only after a diligent and ciety for the carrying forward of mis~ painful quest of two or three years. sionary work.
-The Rev. W. P. Johnson, writing -Samoa has been desolated recently from Likoma, says: "When will peo- by the measles and other diseases conple understand that the natives do not joined. It is estimated that not less feel drawn to the white man qua white than 1000 persons have died. man, do not admire him, and if roused beyond an indifference, propped by -Rev. W. Brown writes from Duke love of what he brings, and fear of his of York Island, New Britain, as folsudden acts, hate him as unreasonably lows: "Our present edition of the hymnas the Irish do the Sassenach? book is almost done, and in my next letter I intend to ask for a new edi- ISLANDS OF THE SEA. tion. . .. Our people buy all their books now, and also slates, pencils, etc. -About one half of the 40,000 Ma- This year we received over £2 in that oris remaining in New Zealand belong way, and a new edition of hymn. books to the Church of England. One fourth would sell. Our missionary meeting are either Wesleyans or Roman Catho- subscriptions were fully £30 higher this lics, while the remaining one fourth year. Our total is now £130 for this represent the semi-heathen section that circuit." And this fact should be addeither fell away after the wars or never ed: "When the missionaries landed were brought in. in 1875 not a white man was resi- dent there. The language had not bQen -Four missionary societies are co- reduced to a writkn form, the people operating for the evangelization of were wild, naked savages; not a p(lund Madagascar, with its 3,500,000 inhabi- of copra had been made ; there was not tants-the London lIns~ionary Society, a sixpence on the island ; and, with the the Society for the Propagation of the exception of a little barter carried on Gospel, the English Friends, and the occasionally by a passing vcssel, there Norwegian :M:issbnary Society. Their was no trade carried on in the group. combined work includes 2096 stations, Now there are several large trading 88 missionaries, 75 'wives, and 16unmar- and planting firms in the islands; a ried women; 934 native ministers, with large proportion of the people near the 5836 evangelists. teachers, etc.; 113,910 mission stations attend Divine services communicants and 437,907 native Chris- regularly, schools are conducted, a littians; 1750 schools a~d 135,067 schol- erature is being slowly found, many of the people are truly converted to God."
The Missionary Review of the World — June 1894
REPRODUCTION OF THE GRASS HUT AT ILALA WHERE LIVINGSTONE
BnLT BY SUSI AND CHUMA. MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XVII. No. 6.-0ld Serie8.–JUNE.–VOL. VII. No. 6.-New &riea.
MIRACLES OF MISSIONS-NO. XXII.
SUSI AND CHUMA, LIVINGSTONE'S" BODy-GUARD."
A MODERN EPIC.
BY THE EDITOR-IN' CHIEF.
The work of David Livingstone in Africa was so far that of a missionary explorer and general, that the field of his labor is too broad to permit us to trace individual harvests. No one man can thickly scatter seed over so wide an area. But there is one marvellous story connected with his death and burial, the like of which has never been written on the scroll of human history. All the ages may safely be challenged to furnish its parallel. It is absolutely unique in its solitary sublimity.
On the night of his death, Livingstone called for Susi, his faithful serva~t, and, after some tender ministries had been rendered to the dying man, he said, "All right; you may go out now;" and reluctantly Susi left him alone. At four o'clock next morning, May 1st, Susi and Chuma, with four other devoted attendants, anxiously entered that grass hut at Ilala. The -candle was still burning, but the greater light had gone out. Their great master, as they called him, was on his knees, his body stretched forward, his head buried in his hands upon the pillow. With silent awe they stood apart and watched him, lest they should invade the privacy of prayer; but he did not stir, there was not even the motion of breathing, but a suspicious rigidity of inaction. Then one of them, Matthew, softly came near and gently laid his hands upon his cheeks. It was enough j the chill of death was there. The great Father of Africa's dark children was dead, and they felt that they were orphans.
The most refined and cultured Englishmen would have been perplexed as to what course now to take. They were surrounded by superstitious and unsympathetic savages, to whom the unburied remains of the dead man would be an object of dread. His native land was six thousand miles
MffiACLES OF MISSIONS
away, and even the coast was fifteen hundred.. A grave responsibility rested upon these simple-minded sons of the Dark Continent, to which few of the wisest would have been equal. Those remains, with his valuable journals, instrumenlls, and personal effects, must be carried to Zanzibar. But the body must first be preserved from decay, and they had neither skill nor facilities for embalming j and, if preserved, there were no means of transportation-no roads or carts j no beasts of burden available-the body must be borne on the shoulders of human beings, and, as no strangers could be trusted, they must themselves undertake the journey and the sacred charge. These humble children of the forest were grandly eqnal to the occasion, and they resolved among themselves to carry that body to the sea-shore, and not give it into any other llands until they could sur- ' render it to those of his countrymen j and, to insure safety to the remains and security to the bearers, all must be done with secrecy. They would gladly have kept secret even their master's death, but the fact could not be concealed. God, however, disposed Chitambo and his subjects to permit these servants of the great missionary to prepare his emaciated body for its last journey, in a hut built for the purpose on the outskirts of the village.
Now watch these black men, as they rudely embalm the body of him who had been to them a savior. They tenderly open the chest and take out the heart and viscera j these, with a poetic and pathetic sense of fitness, they reserve for his beloved Africa. The heart that for thirty-three years had beat for her welfare must be buried in her bosom, j and so one of the Nassik boys, Jacob Wainwright, read the simple service of burial, and under the moula-tree at IIala that heart was deposited, and the tree, carved with a simple inscription, became his monument. Then the body was prepared for its long journey j the cavity was filled with salt, brandy poured into the mouth, and the corpse laid out in the sun for fourteen days, to be dried, and so reduced to the condition of a mummy. Then it was thrust into a hollow cylinder of bark, over which was sewn a covering of canvas, the whole package was securely lashed to a pole, and so was, at last, ready to be borne between two men, upon their shoulders.
As yet the enterprise was scarcely begun, and the worst of their task was all before them. The sea was far away, and the path lay through a territory where nearly every fifty miles would bring them to a new tribe, to face new difficulties. Nevertheless Susi and Chuma took up their precious burden, and looking to Livingstone's God for help, began the most remarkable funeral march on record. They followed the track which their master had marked with his footsteps when he penetrated to Lake Bangweolo, passing to the south of Lake Liembe, which is a continuation of'Tanganyika, and then crossing to Unyanyembe. Where it was found out that they were bearing a dead body, shelter was hard to get, or even food j and at Kasekera they could get nothing they asked, except on condition that they would bury the remains which they were carrying. And now their love and generalship were put to a new test; but again they were equal to the emergency. They made up another package like the precious burden, only that it contained branches instead of human bones, and this with mock solemnity they bore on their shoulders to a safe distance, scattered the contents far and wide in the brushwood, and camc back without the bundle. Meanwhile others of their party had repacked the remains, doubling them up into the semblance of a bale of cotton cloth, and so they once more managed to get what they needed and start anew with their charge.
The true story of that nine months' march has never yet been written, and it never will be, for the full data cannot be supplied. But here is material, waiting for some coming English Homer or Milton to crystallize into one of the world's noblest epics; and it both deserves and demands the master hand of a great poet-artist to do it justice.
See these black men, whom some of our modern scientific philosophers would place at but one remove from the gorilla, run all manner of risks by day and night for forty weeks, now going round by a circuitous route to insure safe passage; now compelled to resort to stratagem to get their precious burden through the country; sometimes forced to fight their foes in order to carry out their holy mission. Follow them as they ford the rivers and traverse trackless deserts, daring perils from wild beasts and relentless wild men; exposing themselves to the fatal fever, and actually burying several of their little band on the way; yet on they went, patient and persevering, never fainting or halting, until love and gratitude had done all that could be dOlle, and they laid down at the feet of the British Consul, on March 12th, 1874, all that was left of Scotland's great hero save that buried heart at IIala.
When, a little more than a month later, the coffin of Livingstone was landed in England, April 1;;th, it was felt that no less a shrine than Britain's greatest burial-place could fitly hold such precious dust. But so improbable and incredible did it seem that a few rude Africans could actually have done this splendid deed, at such a cost of time and such personal risk, that, not until the fractured bones of the arm which the lion crushed at Mabotsa, thirty years before, identified the remains, was it certain that it was Livingstone's body. And then, on April 18th, 1874, such a funeral cortege entered the great abbey of Britain's illustrious dead, as few warriors or heroes or princes ever drew to that mausoleum ; and the faithful hody servants, who had religiously brought home every relic of the person or property of the great missionary explorer, were accorded places of honor. And well they might be! No triumphal procession of earth's mightiest conqueror ever equalled, for sublimity, that lonely journey through Africa's forests. An example of tenderness, gratitude, devotion, heroism equal to this the world has never before seen. The exquisite inventiveness of a love that lavished tears as water on the feet of Jesus, and made of tresses of hair a towel, and broke the alabaster flask for His anointing; the feminine tenderness that lifted His mangled body from the cross and
THE UNOCCUPIED MISSION FIELDS OF THE WORLD
wrapped it in new linen with costly spices,and laid it in a virgin tomball this has at length been surpassed by the ingenious devotion of a few black men who belong to a race which white men have been accustomed to treat as heirs of an eternal curse. The grandeur and pathos of that burial scene, amid the stately columns and arches of England's famous abbey, loses in lustre when contrasted with that simpler scene near Ilala, when, in God's greater cathedral of nature, whose columns and arches arc the trees, whose surpliced choir are the singing birds, whose organ is the moaning wind, the grassy carpet was lifted and dark hauds laid Livingstone's heart to rest r In that great procession that moved up the nave, what truer noble- man was found than that black man, Susi, who in illness had nursed the Blantyre hero, had laid his heart in Africa's bosom, and whose hand was now upon his pall 1 Let those who doubt and deride Christian missions to the degraded children of Ham, who tell us that it is not worth while to sacrifice precious lives for the sake of these doubly lost millions of the Dark Continent-let such tell us whether the effort is not worth any cost, which seeks out and saves men of whom such Christian heroism is possible!
Burn on, thou humble candle, burn, within thy hut of grass, Though few may be the pilgrim feet that through Ilala pass. God's hand hath lit thee long to shine, and shed thy holy light, Till the new day dawn pours its beams o'er Afric's long midnight. Sleep on, dear heart, that beat for those whom cruel bonds enslaved, And yearned, with such a Ohristlike love, that black men might be saved. Thy grave shall draw heroic souls to seek the moula-tree, That God's own image may be carved on Afric's ebony!
THE UNOCCUPIED MISSION FIELDS OF THE WORLD.-I.
BY REV. JAMES DOUGLAS, M.A., BRIXTON, LONDON, S. W.
By the unoccupied mission fields of the world we mean those lands or peoples which, speaking roughly, are as yet unreached by any direct Gospel agency. Large as this theme is, it is far from measuring the actual dearth of Gospel knowledge throughont the earth. Many of the foreign fields now regarded as occupied are only touched at a few points by Christian teaching, the masses of the popUlation being sunk in their ancient idolatries and superstitions. It if! doubtful, indeed, whether the fields unoccupied in the sense given above represent even a tithe of the land that yet remains to be possessed; for, notwithstanding the marvellous progress of missions in the present century, it is computed that still two thirds of the world's inhabitants have not even heard of Jesus' name.
Though comparatively few in number, the unoccupied fields are important on various grounds. The area represented is enormous; and while the question of population remains hazy-statistics as to numbers resting on flimsy inferences and guesses shrewd and otherwise-there can be little doubt that in the aggregate the figure is large. Then, in addition to the magnitude of the need bespoken, the unoccupied fields have an interest and importance and-may we not add, claim ?-peculiarly their own on the score of difficulty of access. These fields are the enemy's citadels, the high places of his dominion, flaunting defiance in the face of. a militant church. They are the Gibraltars of Satan's power, perched, in some instances, in what might be compared to eagles' fastnesses, and in others set, like islands, amid an ocean of unnavigable sand. Are they never to be stormed ~ Is the reproach that their unoccupied character brings upon Zion never to be rolled away? 'Ve are glad that at the present hour this question is receiving more than a verbal answer. Even as we write the army of siege, in more directions than one, is on the way.
As the missionary car moves onward it becomes more and more manifest that the secret of the power to conquer for the Lord lies in the resolution of will to obey Him. Faith is adventurous. Faith waits not the opening of the Red Sea passage, but advancing to the Divine charge, " Forward!" counts on the sea's cleavage by Him" whose biddings," as Rutherford has said, "are enablings." Fichte, a distinguished German metaphysician, defines faith as "the resolution of the will to admit the validity of knowledge." A good missionary definition of it would be to term it " the resolution· of the will to admit the reality and all-sufficiency of Christ's lead." What though the way be not macadamized to sense, the course is yet open-open to faith-for has He not said" Forward" ~ What though doors are still closed, and to sense doubly locked and barred, is there not to faith a talisman in the Master's imperative" Go ye," which sets all doors open? Faith lives only as vital in works; it is an inspiring breath which can lead no ghostly life, but must find habitation aud name in a body of obedience to the will of the risen Lord. And faith so constituted is charged with apostolic powers; for it if; faith indeed, small as the grain of mustard-seed, yet with energy so vast that mountains are overturned, sycamores plucked up by their roots, gates of brass burst open, and the prey of the mighty and terrible ones.delivered.
Without further preamble we proceed to the enumeration and succinct treatment of the unoccupied mission fields of the world, taking them as they may be naturally grouped by the associated laws of place and circumstance.
1. THIBET.-Foremost in the Asiatic Continent stands Thibet. Indeed, enlarging the circle, it would be no exaggeration to say that Thibet holds the leading place among the unoccupied mission fields of the world. For one thing, there is an unique fascination in the theosophic mystery that for the moment enshrouds that land. The civilized and most occupied lands-to their shame be it said-are drinking of the cup which the Mahatmas, through their Russian interpreter, are said to have mixed. Nor is that all. Thibet, from one cause and anot.hcr, is about as inaccessible as the North Pole; and about as self-centred and exclusive as the gods of Epicurus. Besides being the metropolis of Buddhism in the form of Lamaism, it is a position of peculiar strategic importance, the fate of which must tell on the fortunes of the Buddhist system throughout all China beyond theWall. Taking all this into account, many think to-day of Thibet as of a land marked off from the rest of creation, lifted by geographical position and Mahatmic prestige to a higher plane, looking down from her proud eminence, as from a home in the skies, on the dwellers that grovel on the earth beneath.
It is with no small shock that one finds these rose tints vanish before the sober prose of authenticated travel. Distance lends enchantment to the view, and the fairy bubble bursts at the first puncture of realistic description. Intellectually Thibet, instead of being another Olympus, is pretty much fallow ground. Childishness rules, combined with animal impulsiveness and the play of emotions that lie on the merest surface of being. "The Thibetans," says Bonvalot, "shift from the most abject submission to the most audacious insolence; one moment with their foreheads on the ground, the next they are standing erect sword in hand. It would seem as though fear were at the bottom of all their emotions. One alarm sets them in one direction, then another cause of fear sets them off in another, and so their feeble will vacillates, shifting like a needle between two poles. They prefer, before everything else, relaxation and sleep; and whether in order to be left quiet, or because they are put out by those who disturb them, they have outbursts of passion, like the man who killed' the wolf by day because it frightened him by night. "
The Thibetans are much more what they are in virtue of climatic than religious conditions. Lamaism is a tinkling cymbal, a corpse of ceremony, a thoughtless void.. Its aim, as set forth in the beginning, is to empty consciousness of contents, to resolve personality into abstraction. Hence there is no foothold for thought in the system, and the round of religious activity has no more significance as regards progress than the marking of time by soldiers who have been gathered for review. But if the religion of the land does nothing to stir the stagnant pool of the national intellect, climatic conditions are pronounced enough to yield both physical and intellectual imprint, and to constitute a training school of their own, often rigorous and uuceremonious to the last degree. In this school,- as in our own land under the inflexible dominies of a past age, the scholar is often marred in the making. Over-rigor has stunted the type, and the law of adaptation asserted her authority at the cost of losing much to gain a little. This applies especially to the colder, loftier, and more unproductive regions; for" in proportion as the land is more generous, the inhabitants take more care of themselves and have stronger frames" (Bonvalot's "Across Thibet," vo!' ii., p. 114). The race somewhat varies in type, but probably climatic conditions have to do with the greater part of the variations. Throughout by far the larger portion of Thibet life is a stern struggle, under arctic conditions, in the face of physical difficulties, oppressive alike to man and beast. It says much for the adap- tiveness of the vital principle and the hardiness of the Thibetan constitu- tion that the inhabitants of such a clime manage, if not to amass wealth, yet to wrest a precarious livelihood from a region so little adapted for human sustenance.
Thibet, Dr. Henry Lansdell describes as "a highly elevated region of Central Asia, bounded on the north by Chinese Turkestan and Mongolia, on the south by India, on the east by China proper, and on the west by Kashmir." The length exceeds 1600 miles, while the breadth varies from 200 miles toward the, east, to 150 miles toward the west, and 500 miles in the centre. The estimated area is 700,000 square miles, more than Austria, France, and Spain put together. Thibet is the most mountainous country in the world. "The Himalayas form its southern scarp;" west· ward are the Pamir tablelands, and on the east the Yung Ling Mountains of China. Some of the mountain passes stand at an elevation of 25,000 feet and upward, while the average plateau is 13,500 feet in the northern zone and 10,000 feet in the southern.
The country is sparsely populated. Mr. William Woodville Rockhill thinks the current estimate (6,000,000) too large, and computes the number at 4,500,000, basing his estimate on the quantity of tea imported; but it is a risky calculation to infer from the quantity of food that should be eaten, the number of mouths that actually do eat it. Since the last census -over one hundred and fifty years ago-was taken, when the population was a million and a half, many causes have been at work to make the rate of increase one of the smallest. Thibet is thinly and unevenly timbered; food of every kind is scarce; mining is forbidden, the only gold procured being what the surface washings yield. Then polyandrous marriages aet as a serious check to the normal growth of population-a hateful custom attaching to life's struggle in the more upland regions, where, for domestic economy's sake, brothers have a wife in common, or a man clubs with his fellow for the possession, the strain being otherwise too great for his means. All these things, coupled with the increase of a celibate priesthood and the prevalence of epidemics, particularly the small-pox, must have tended greatly to stunt, if not altogether to kill the increase of the people; Owing to the jealous guard against the intrusion of the foreigner, particularly of the European, very few, indeed, from Europe or America have explored the land, and still fewer found an entrance into Lassa, the capital. Time and again, however, the gauntlet has been successfully run. Mr.' Thomas Manning, in 1812, succeeded in reaching Lassa, where he resided twelve months. Peres Hue and Gabet, in 1844, also made the journey, only to be eonducted out of the country at the end of a month. Pandit A– K–. repeatedly traversed the entire region for the purposes of geographical survey-a brilliant achievement worthy of a better than laurel crown. Among other explorers who have rendered great service may be mentioned the names of Mr. William Woodville Rockhill, an American, to whose work on " The Land of the Lamas" we are greatly indebted, the Frenchman Bonvalot, and the Russian Prejevalski. The most recent attempt to penetrate these preserves was that made by Miss Annie R. Taylor, September, 1892, to February, 1893, who after nearly reaching La~sa, and encountering much peril and privation, was forced to return, but with courage unabated and with purpose of renewed assault set firm.
Speaking comparatively, the Thibetans have a marked religious sense. Prayer is a national institution among them, ranking both as a custom and an art. All men pray. Like the Roman Catholics, they have their rosaries, their mystic sentences, their endless repetitions; and like them, too, their priesthood, who not only have religious authority, but bear rule also after the law of a carnal commandment. In addition to the aids and forms of prayer enumerated, the Thibetans make large use of praying wheels, some of which are driven by hand, others by the wind, and others again by water. There are also to be met with everywhere throughout Mongolia and Thibet stone heaps, known by the name of Obo, a Mongolized Thibetan word, a contraction, as Mr. Rockhill tells us, of do bong (" pile of stones"), or do bum (" ten myriad stones"). These have a drm religious significance, and mark afar off the thought to which Jacob gave embodiment at Bethel on awaking from his dream. Nothing of this kind is to be found in China, but among the Peruvians the traveller was wont on reaching the summit of a pass to throw a stone on the heap by the roadside as a thank-offering to God, exclaiming, "Apachieta muchani" (" I worship, or give thanks, at this heap").
In speaking of Buddhist devotions, it must be remembered that similarity of term does not mean identity of thing. The Christian conception of prayer is utterly foreign to the Buddhist mind. Prayer in the Thibetan tongue means" an asseveration," " a wish;" and the object of it is the acquisition of merit. Hence the magic formula which is everywhere in use, engraven on walls, written on stones, and offered by beggars seeking alms, the burden, too, which the praying-wheels carry, " OM MANI P ADME Hii.M."* This formula, as Mr. Rockhill in his admirable dissertation points out, p. 327, "is an invocation to Avalokiteshwara, the Merciful One, whose one great self-imposed mission is the salvation of all living creatureR from the miseries incident to sentient existence, in the hope that it may lead them on in the way of salvation, and that he will, hearing it, ever keep the world in mind. " To simplify as well as clarify the thought, • This magic formula strictly means, "O.thoupearllu thellower of the Lotus." It i8 pronounced by the Thlbetans "Om manl pome hllm." The prayer-wheel, or "Mani K'orlo," is the mechan- ical way of repeating this {ormuh~. Care must be taken to turn the wheel from lett to right, the order in which the words are arranged to appear. To turn the wheelln the opposite direction is deemed impiety. . prayer is the means of exit, by a process long, elaborate, and involved, ont of a conscious, sentient, and personal existence,. which is conceived of as only evil, into the impersonal state of Nirvana, where all individuality is merged and snnk in infinite abstraction. The thonght of prayer as a commerce of soul with a personal God does not enter into the calculation. Hence the mechanical character which the whole transaction assumes, which, albeit it trenches on the ground of corrupted Christian systems, has nothing in common with spiritual Christianity.
Another feature, strongly marked in the Thibetans, is their insatiable desire to read the future. The forms of divination among them are many, and the belief in these general. One of the leading forms of foretelling the future is by means of a sheep'S shoulder-hlade, which the diviner, after reciting a prayer, puts in the embers to burn. When thoroughly charred it is carefully removed j the cracks in the bone are closely examined, the longitudinal cracks being taken to represent the journey and the transversal ones the events that are to befall. In addition to this a hazy form of divination is practised by prayer-beads, but this is only resorted to for light on minor matters, such as the recovery of a strayed horse or similar trifle. There are also fortune-telling books which adepts use, having a string attached to each leaf. These strings the performer twists together, and then asks his client to select one. The leaf is then read by the diviner, who, thus fortified, makes oracular reply. To get a daily peep into the future is almost as needful to the Thibetan as his necessary food.
The whole land of Thibet swarms with priests. According to the Chinese estimate, for every family in Thibet there are three lamas-an estimate which Mr. Rockhill accepts as approximately correct, for in a journey of 600 miles he passed" forty lamaseries, in the smallest of which there were 100 monks, and in five of them from 2000 to 4000." The wealth as well as the management of the country is largely in the hands of the lamas. These priests have a keen eye to business, discharge supreme legal functions, and are virtual rulers in the land j for though they do not bear direct rule in every province outside the kingdom of Lassa, yet in all part~ they are de facto masters. " Their landed property is enormous, and their serfs (mi-ser) and bondsmen (ts'e'-yo) swarm."
Lassa, the capital of Thibet, is the acknowledged centre and headquarters of the priestly system. This applies to Mongolia and Manchuria also, a~ well as to the Kalmuks in Chinese Central Asia. Officially Thibet has no king, the office having been abolished by the Chinese in 1751 and a council of ministers appointed, over which a lama presides. who is popularly known as King of Thibet, and whose actual rule is quite up to the level of the appellation. This office is elective, and the incumbent is chosen in turn from one of the three great lamaseries-Drebung, Gadan, or Sera. There are four Lamaist sects-the yellow, red, black, and white. The yellow bears the palm in number and influence, and the red serves as a good second. In ritual and dogma these sects differ little from one another, and the people seem to employ their services indifferently. In Eastern Thibet, however, a creed known as Bon exists, and in Southeastern Thibet has a considerable following. The BanDa or Bonpo system, as it is called, closely resembles the Lamaist in teaching, dress, lamaseries, etc., but this resemblance has no conciliating effect on the Lamas, who regard the Bonbos with feelings akin to what the Jews entertained toward the Samaritans. The people, however, do not partake of this prejudice, and scruple not to requisition their services" in beating the drum," the more so that their charges are low.
What the Bonbo religion is, and whether it is to be regarded as an integral part of Buddhism or not, is hard to say. To an ordinary Thibetan it is very much a case of six of one and half a dozen of the other. He notices that the Bonbo in going round a sacred bUilding or monum~nt keeps it on his left hand, whereas a Lama ever keeps it on his right; and this he will tell you is the sum of the difference. The probability is that the Bon religion, while it has become overlaid by Lamaism, yet points to a period anterior to its existence, and is in Thibet what Taoism is in China, a relic of a more primitive faith. One fact in particular would incline us to this view-namely, the significant fact of sacrifice; for" the Bopbo sacrifice living animals, especially fowls, to their gods, and this is an abomiuation in the eyes of Lamas."
The women of Thibet, by the place of authority which they occupy and the menial functions which they discharge, furnish a problem which thus far has baffled the reflective powers of the foreigner, be he Chinese or European. The Chinese, the more they see of the phenomenon, the wider they open their eyes in wonder; and the European traveller is equally at his wits' end for an explanation. The Thibetan woman is a coin of a double stamp-on one side she is a drudge, on the other a queen. Tasks far fitter for masculine than feminine shoulders are hers, which the ignoble males would deem it a degradation to perform, such as the carrying of water from rivers up to homes built on giddy heights; and yet, while the women of Thibet fill the place of drudge, they also sit on the throne of power. No good boy was ever more systematically subject to his mother, or dependent at every turn on her leave, than is the Thibetan husband on his wife. He cannot buy, and certainly he will not sell, save as his wife directs or permits. If the wife is from· home, the husband will mention it, to anyone wishing to deal with him, as the reason why necessarily all business in his case is at a standstill. How the women of Thibet have acquired such an ascendancy over the men, who otherwise are rough and intractable and by no means always pliant even to their chiefs, is one of the mysteries of the East which, like the esoteric teachings of Madame Blavatsky, lies beyond the range of the human faculty. .Perhaps some day the women of Thibet may themselves furnish the clew. Till then the words of Horace concerning the hidden gold- .. Aurum irrepertum et sic melius situm Quum terra eelat, spernere fortior"- may be adapted to the more precious metal of woman's rule: "Better the mystery remain in its secret bed than be unearthed to man's confusion."
The trade of Thibet is mainly with the Chinese, on whom they are dependent for their national beverage, tea. This is imported in the form of bricks, of which there are six descriptions, according to quality. These bricks furnish a convenient standard of value, of wage, and of exchange; the more so that. the Thibetans have been largely imposed upon by debased and inferior coinage. In addition to tea, tobacco, drugs, chinaware, sugar, gun-barrels, cottons, silks, hardware, etc., are imported; while the leading exports are gold, precious stones, yak-hides and skins of various sorts, musk, rugs, and a variety of coarse, unbleached cotton.
Though up to the present time Thibet has remained an unoccupied field, the vanguard of the missionary host has been long at work on its borders. The Moravians, while baffled in their wished-for ingress, have carried the Holy War to the gates, and rendered invaluable linguistic service by the preparation of a Thibetan dictionary and grammar, and also by a translation of the Holy Scriptures into the Thibetan tongue. The Moravian leaders have fallen-Pagell and the veteran Jaeschke (to whom we owe the dictionary and Bible), Marx and Redolob-but their works remain and the lamps they have lit go on to shine. The Moravians have three stations in Kashmir and Little Thibet-to wit, Poo, in Kunawur, now held by the Rev. J. D. L. Schreve and Mrs. Schreve ; Kydang, in Lahoul, where the Revs. Heyde and Ribbach with their wives labor; and Leh, in Ladak, where the Rev. C. W. J. Weber and Mrs. Weber serve in the Gospel of our Lord. Besides, the London Missionary Society is working on the borders of Thibet at Almora. Further, the Americans have two missions, both in Sikkim, one in connection with the International Missionary Alliance, of which Dr. Simpson is Secretary, and the other in connection with the Scandinavian Missionary Alliance, which rather more than a year ago placed nine men in that border-land. In addition, the Chinese Inland Mission all but touch Thibet at two of their stations-Si· ning, in the province of Kansuh, and Sung-p'an, in the great province of Si-chuen. Atthe frontier town of Si-ning, Mr. and Mrs. C. Polhill-Turner sought for years to fulfil the ministry to the Thibetans to which they felt God had called them, but were terribly hampered by the suspicions of the people, who gave them permission to dwell in a village close to the border on condition that they should not go beyond it. Subsequently Mr. and Mrs. Turner removed to Sung-p'an, where they had a hopeful beginning, the town being a very suitable centre for work among the Thibetans, owing to the constant despatch of caravans far into the interior; but on July 29th of last year the storm-cloud burst. Accused of being the cause of a drought then prevailing, Mr. and Mrs. C. Polhill Turner were assaulted by the mob, cruelly beaten, and dragged out of the city. Two days later the Turners left Sung~p'an under a military escort, and are now in England; but they look for a speedy return to their beloved work, for of this
CHRISTENDOM'S RUM-TRADE WITH AFRICA
people they can say, in the words of St. Paul, "Ye are in our hearts to live and to die with you."
At the present time a mission of great promise has been constituted in England, called The Thibetan Pioneer Mission, which is due, under God, to the heroic enterprise of Miss Annie Royal Taylor, who, having adventured into the mouth of the lion in spying out the land of Thibet, and having brought back the good report which faith, as distinguished from sight, finds, has, like another Deborah, summoned the princes of Israel and laid on them the solemn charge, "Forward in the L01'd's name /" It would appear that the Lord has so laid the burden of Thibet on the heart of Miss Taylor, that whoever else stays out, she and her Thibetan attendant, Pontso, must enter in. But she goes not without the full contingent she had asked from the Lord. A band of thirteen, exclusive of the Thibetan attendant and convert, accompanies her, and will have reached their initial destination (D. V.) before this article appears. Scotland is largely represented in this contingent, but Norway, Denmark, and England have each their representation. 'Without exaggeration we may describe this pioneer movement as the most heroic enterprise of modern times. These devoted servants go forth in naked faith, not counting their lives dear unto themselves, relying on the invisible God for all supplies and on the Master's presence for grace to do and to suffer; and while seeking no sign from heaven (faith serving in lieu of eyes), yet counting on the Divine lead, as clearly defined as in Israel's exodus from Egypt. Was it to be wondered at, then, that the following telegram should have seemed like a voice from heaven in answer to faith?
" Oalcutta, February 8th.-The Sikkim-Thibet Convention has fixed the trade mart where the Indian and Thibetan traders can meet at Yatung, on the Thibetan side of the frontier. From May 1st British subjects will be free to reside at this place. Trade will be unrestricted, all goods except arms, salt, and liquors being exempt from duty for five years."
Verily, "the Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom ruleth over all. "
(To be continued.) CHRISTENDOM'S RUM-TRADE WITH AFRICA: A MODERN * DEVIL'S-MISSION.
BY FREDERIC PERRY NOBLE, SECRETARY OF THE CHICAGO CONGRESS ON AFRICA.
In 1863 Burton, the discoverer of Tanganika, said: "Rnm and spirits, arms and ammunition, are a serious injury to the West Coast, and present a sad contrast between the commerce of Christian merchants and * This article is the complement of one on the slave-trade, written by the same author, and publlshed'in THE MISSIONARY RIlIVIEW of June, 1891. that of the eastern shores which MusIi'ms and Hindu Banyans supply. When innocent trade in cottons, salt and minor luxuries would be equally profitable, I cannot cease to protest against the sale of rum, guns and ,powder." Twenty years later he added: "If slave-trade were revived with all its horrors, and Africa could get rid of the white man with his gunpowder and rum, she would gain in happiness."
That is the testimony, not of missionaries but of a hard-headed ex- plorer and English consul, and it has been a hundred times repeated by men of the world. Yet it would be unwise to quote even one-tenth of the horrible facts at hand, for such a massing of the truth would seem to be a lie, and would be almost incredible. We, therefore, notice only four cardinal points: I. The American and European liquor-traffic with ~frica is the most cruel curse ever inflicted upon th(' lost and hopeless continent; II. It is making it impossible to convert Africans to Christianity ; III. It is ruining commerce, checking the development of African resources, and rendering civilization a chimera; IV. Remedies must be applied instantly, and laws enforced.
I. The Injury Inflicted upon Africa by the Drink-Traffic.-North, south, east and west Africa is girdled by a Phlegethou of rum. Since England entered Egypt, drinking and the liquor-traffic have terribly increased, till the natives eveh one thousand miles up the Nile are demoralized. Iu Tunis most shameless drunkenness rules among the Muslims. In Algiers and Morocco matters are little better. Senegambia suffers scverely. Sierra Leone has had to plead for the prohibition of the import of low-grade trade-spirits. Along the vVest Coast thc negro has for generations seen the ocean cast powder-keg, rum-cask and demijohns along his strand. From Boston, Liverpool, Hamburg and Holland flow these streams of liquid damnation. Since 1882 one hundred million gallons of spirits have poured inlo Africa. For hundreds of miles into the interior the square-shouldered bottles are as well known as the usual currency of beads and wire.
In wandering through native villages on the Kru coast, Joseph Thomson felt himself in hell, whose brutalized inhabitants are possessed by neverending thirst for drink. Gin! gin! always gin was the cry that followed him on every side. The gauge of wealth is the amount of liquor the village can afford to drink. Lagos, an English colony of 75,000 inhabitants, imported 1,231,000 gallons of rotten rum in 1886, and the crown licensed fifty shops for the sale of it. In the delta of the Niger a few small places annually drink 3,000,000 gallons, or twenty one-thousand-ton ships loaded with liquor. The result is that James Johnson, 'a member of the Lagos legislature, says: "The death of the negro race is only a question of a few years. I would rather my countrymen were in slavery and hard worked, but drink kept away." In 1885 Thomson went one thousand miles up the Niger, to the Muhammadan States of Gaudo and Sokoto. He said: "For every African influenced for good by Christianity, onE) thQu, sand are driven into deeper degradation by the gin-trade. Along the greater part of the West Coast four centuries of contact with Europeans have only raised a taste for gin, rum, gunpowder and gnns. There is no shirking the naked reality that European influence for evil enormously counterbalances any little good we have produced j but among the Muhammadan tribes of Central Sudan no beer or spirits found place in their markets. Muhammadan missionaries in Sierra Leone and Lagos declare war upon our chief contributIOn-the gin-trade."
In the Cameroons, Germany acquired a fine colony by gifts of unlimited rum. In tlie Congo basin, "though regretting that gin is currency and not liking to have it introduced into the Upper Congo," Stanley found in 1880 that traders had so supplied the people with rum, that without it trade was impossible on the Lower Congo. Thus the foundations of the Congo State rest on rum, though Stanley wrote: "If it depended on me, I would have no more to do with rum than with poison." Until the railroad around Livingstone Falls joins the Lower to the Upper Congo, the natives of the inner Congo basin are comparatively safe from our liquortraffic, for the enormous cost of portage is a prohibitory tariff against the import. But in the Congo coast-country the rum-trade has ruined the natives, and the ingress of European spirits to the rich heart of Africa would rot it out. In the Congo State the battle will be between the Bible and the bottle.
In Angola and Mozambique the success of the Portuguese as wealthwinners is said to be based solely upon aguardiente, the vilest distillation known to the liquor-trade. Portuguese traders have destroyed whole tribes by enslaving them to the appetite for liquor, and so weakening them that Arab slavers met with feeble resistance.
In South Africa Sir Charles Wan-en, its late commissioner, says: "We take Bible and brandy-bottle to the natives. Unfortunately we send the Bible last. The blood of t.housands was crying to heaven against the British, and yet from expediency we refused in 1886 to take action." A missionary maintains that England in South Africa has been a greater curse than blessing. Dutch and English governments have caused the extirpation of entire tribes-e.g., the Hottentots-through brandy. Time and again English colonists have annexed regions which banned and barred out the liquor-traffic by native laws j but these men of English blood nullified the law of the land, introduced saloons despite the piteous pleas of chiefs and peoples, and ruined Basuto, Griqua and Zulu. A colonial legislator said: ~'Licensed victuallers' vested rights are not to be trampled under foot for the sake of blackamoors." The results of such a policy are, it is said, the Zulu war of 1879 and the increasing poverty of Cape Colony.
In Gazaland, bounded by the Zambesi and Limpopo rivers, King Gungunyana found that the English and Portuguese liquor-traffic was destroying entire tribes on the Urruwmanzi river, and in 1891 sent envoys to England to beg the government to help him in preventing the import of spirits. In Madagascar England bound the government hand and foot to the liquor-power by the commercial treaty of 1883. When Mauritius, an English colony, became a sugar producer, the planters made rum from the refuse of th3 sugar-mills, and shipped it to Madagascar. Iu a single year crime leaped to a height too fearful to record. The Hova government tried to stop the import. Mauritius complained. English officials fnterfered.· For blood-money the pearl of the Indian ocean is still deluged with rum. One of its kings died a murderous maniac. In 1879 the deadly effects of spirits upon the Malagasy became so visible that consuls and other influential residents begged Queen Ranavalona to prevent the importation. She replied that in 1876 she hac} framed prohibitory laws, but that they were made useless by her powerlessness to prevent the introduction of spirits. Though the government had formerly taxed the importers 33 per cent, the English (1) consul compelled the reduction of duty to 10 per cent! A rum for which no market could be found has by Eng_ lish subjects been thrust down the throats of helpless people.
In Mozambique the Portuguese on the Zambesi import enormous quantities of spirits, and at their opium factory pay the employes with them. At Zanzibar and in German East Africa large quantities of intoxicants were imported in 1890. The Muhammadans not only trade spirits, but have taught the natives to distil. The liquor is retailed by every Hindu merchant in all East Coast towns, to the destruction of the Swahili, so susceptible to civilization. Wherever Mackay weut, he found men, women and even suckling children reeling in drunkenness. In 1863, however, Arab traders would have incurred eternal infamy had they sold ardent spirits to the people. The change is due to the failure of the efforts of the late Muhammadan ruler, Barghash. He threw every obstacle in the path of liquor, and forbade his subjects from making or selling it; but he could not prevent foreigners from doing so, for European powers had him sign treAties which gave them perfect freedom of trade.
This, then, was the continental condition in 1890 ; and there is too much reason to fear that the Brussels enactments have not yet materially mended matters. Wherever European traders have gone, they have inflicted immense injury upon Africans. Lord W olseley claims that" it is useless to appeal to their humanity or feelings. The average trader does not care whether his vile alcohol claims more victims than war and pestilence, or his arms, bartered for oil and ivory, cause long districts to be wasted by slaves. African questions should be settled by European powers, without regard to traders' opinions." Moreover, this "Christian" rumtraffic not only ruins black men, but is leading Muhammadan merchants into breaking that precept of the Koran which prohibits drinking or making wine. The only African territories which Enropeaus do not injure with their liquor-trade are those which they can scarcely break into. Those territories fall between the Sahara and the Zambesi, with Abyssinia and the great lakes as their general eastern limit, while the western one is formed by the Niger and the back-country behind the coast of Lower Guinea.
Now that we have seen where these waters-of-death flow, we need to note their moral and physical effects upon the natives. While the African has always liked to get (in)glorionsly drunk, and brewed his own drinks ages before white men appeared, yet his beers and wines are milk-and- water beside European spirits. When an African drinks, he intends to get dead-drunk j and unexplainable peculiarities of the Oriental constitution or temperament make it exceptionally susceptible to the effects of alcohol. The African has neither the stamina nor the will to withstand brandy, gin and rum. If he drinks them once, an appetite forms itself which he is as powerless to kill as the prince who permitted Satan to kiss him on the shoulders was to tear away the serpents that grew out of his body where the fiend's lips touched human flesh. The poison of distilled spirits, with the deadliness of the climate and the vices of heathenism, destroys body and soul. Nature-peoples must be sober or die j and unless saved from drunkenness, European liquors make moral Frankensteins for whom and with whom nothing can be done. The natural cruelty and bloodthirstiness of Africans are kindled by " crazy waters" into the madness of demons. On the Gold Coast drunkenness is so common that it is customary not to visit native officials after dinner. No street-preaching is allowed in the evening, for no man dare face the intoxicated multitude. Funerals are horrible with rum and powder, $500 heing sometimes drunk and burned. At times a whole village is intoxicated. Many sleep with bottles as pillows, and drink during the night. In the Congo language the nearest word that missionaries could find to translate" sober" means " a man who cannot get drunk, whatever the amount he may drink." At the diamond mines of Kimberley the native workers have to be locked into their compounds after work~hours, to prevent them from obtaining drink. From as far north as the Zambesi natives flock to the minirtg industries. They come comparatively decent folk. There are 50,000 working in that city of diamonds. They return hopelessly polluted. In Madagascar many of the Hova aristocracy consider it the height of manliness and social standing to driuk and smoke. At Zanzibar the porters from the interior waste their year's wage in a week's orgy. Almost everywhere the negro's former faith in the Englishman's word is shattered by a conviction that his governmental pledges are waste-paper. Through the ages there has been no peace in Africa, but this modern merchandise has made its unhappy peoples twofold more the children of hell. In one village the Christian church was once seated with gin-boxes! In another town Christians subscribed to build a mosque, because Muhammadans would bring no drink, but increase in the ranks of " Christians" meant increased imports of liquor.
JI. The Impossibility 0/ Christianizing Af1'ica in the Face of this Traffic, -If Islam and Arab influence advance with the sword in one hand and the Koran in the other, Christianity and European influence go to Ethiopia, as she stretches out her hands to God, with Bible in one hand and rifle or rum-bottle in the other. We see ourselves in our proclamations, but Africans see us in our acts. We think of Islam as inseparable from slavetrade; the open-eyed and quick-witted Africans think Christianity the slave of commerce and the rum-trade. vVe decry and try to stamp out their slave-trade; we fail to choke our liquor traffic. Yet this is more blood-guilty than that. So the native says: Christians are hypocrites. Missionaries are but brothers of traders. I prefer to remain uncivilized. Tall hats and new rum have attractions, but it is better to stay black and bare-headed and pagan and even sober than to wear" stove-pipes," and get drunk, and be " done brown" by Bible-reading pale-faces.
The religious battle for the pos8ession of Africa's peoples will be between Christianity and Islam. Though the cross cannot fail to conquer the crescent, the issue of the contest has been made a thousand-fold more difficult, because the Church of Christ goes to African pagans with a soulsaving Gospel preached by her missionaries and a soul-damning business practised by her merchants. Were it not for this import of spirits, native church-members, now reckoned as only 150,000, would number a million and more. Such is the unanimous testimony of missionaries. It is useless for European legislators to make laws, however Christian and rational their spirit, when trader, bushranger and backwoodsman are ahead of them in Africa, poisoning the savage with spirits, inoculating him with loathsome diseases, brutaliziug his mind, and for blood-money exciting his passions. To the missionary this commerce in spirits consigns, not nature's child with his natural capacities and instincts, but a beast and demon with its remaining faculties engrossed in the endcavor to satisfy a never-sated, ravening appetite.
III. The Effect of the Rum-Trade upon the Commerce, Development and Civilization of Africa.-The African liquor-traffic is the upas-tree of commerce. Within its poison-area no other industry or trade can grow. The profits are 80 enormous-often 700 per cent-that at first glance there is nothing like spirits to raise a paying trade rapidly. It takes hold like wild-fire, spreads like wild-fire, and will have its way. In any African community drink finds speedy sale, even when first introduced. The trade in which gin is the medium of barter must grow one hundred times faster than that where cotton is currency; but a commerce beginning with gin must end with gin, for every bottle of spirits drives out a bale of goods. The native sells his all in order to buy drink. Industry cannot thrive, and in its absence there can be no development of natural resources. Mr. Betts, of Sierra Leone, confp-ssed: "I am myself a large dealer in liquors. I have thousands of gallons of rum and several thou,;ands of demijohns of gin' on th~ road. I am by no means insensible of the evil this traffic, whose ravages are those of pestilence, works to those countries and to commerce. Suppose you take a shipload of goods into any di!'!- trict ; .the first business question is, ' How much rum have you brought 1 ' If you say, ' Neither rum nor gin,' it would be said, 'You have nothing, you don't care to trade.' It goes the round that you have nothing for thtlm to buy, are unable to trade. So demoralized have the people become everywhere, such sla,es to rum and gin! The traffic has so debased them that they neglect comfort. There is no thought of providing regularly and systematically for themselves and dependents; of cultivating palmtrees or collecting and shelling palm-nuts for market; of proper systems of agriculture ; no desire of acquiring wealth ; no home and no care of domestic business. Work that might be done by one family in a month consumes a year. If the liquor-traffic did not oppress business and hinder its growth, merchants would always get ten times as much produce as they buy now. It will be a great gain to commerce if the liquor-traffic be eradicated. "
The last and worst economic effect of this illegitimate commerce is that it is depopulating Africa. Through the wounds inflicted by these twin demons of Muslim slaving and Christian rum-selling she is bleeding out her life-blood at every pore. In his walk across Africa in 1873 Cameron found vast areas relapsing from loss of inhabitants into jungles impenetrable to merchant and missionary. Slavery and slave-trade cost Africa 1,000,000 lives each year. To calculate the numbers murdered by drink is perhaps impossible, but Bishop Flickinger, of West Africa, claims that to reckon this as twice the loss caused by the traffic in black ivory is to state the .case weakly. It 'is, however, safer to use the rhetoric of understatement, and simply to say that slavery and drink rob the pariah of continents of one million of her children annually. Since the population is only 135,000,000-far too scanty for a world of 12,000,000 square miles, especially when five-sixths of that area is between the tropics; since the natural increase is but 10 per cent each decade,- since the loss in population exceeds the gain ; since Africans alone can develop Africa, colonization by American negroes, Chinese coolies, Hindus and South Europeans being almost an infinitesimal factor in the solution of the continental problem; and since the coast is a hotbed of cancer-roots growing swiftly inward and threatening to change all Africa into an ulcer rivalling in magnitude and surpassing in malignity that other and world-old soretherefore humanity and civilization must ask: Where shall we obtain the brawn, the thews, the sturdy sinews to fulfil the behests of our head and heart, anq to win the precious spoils of Mrican field and forest and mart and mine ~ The interior of Africa, teeming in population and rich in resources, can only be reached by the help of natives living near the coast. While missionaries look more and more for native churches near the sea to Christianize their brethren inland, the merchant who would trade with the interior is still more dependent on the strength, morality and prosperity of the midway tribes. But the African is naturally neither thrifty nor ener- getic. He must be taught the gospel of labor. He needs every such spur that civilization can bestow. A child with a man's passions, he must be treated as own flesh and blood, with firmness and kindness. To civilize him we must Christianize him, thus inspiring new wants and desires. To gratify these furnishes a motive for regular exertion of body and mind. Fair and genuine trade inspires such wants and motive-powers. The ~ Unyamwezi returned, according to Thomson, after his journey as a porter or to sell ivory, laden with cottons or other goods, with new stories about the wonders among Arabs or white men. He spread a taste for more decent clothing, and increased more varied wants, introducing the first civilizing germs which were bound to leaven all. Thus legitimate trade in any useful article increases the demand, elevates taste, and introduces other products. Inner Africa seemed to offer endless markets for the sale of cotton and other articles of clothing. As taste improved, the demand for other European goods would have increased, slowly but surely. Finally, since the native is producer as well as consumer, not only buying but seIling; and since European goods are paid for in ivory, oil and other natural products brought by natives from the far interior, it is essential that he should be sound and strong, thrifty in life and energetic enough to take the toilsome journey inland.
But our commercial policy in Africa has been a robber-economy, killing the goose that lays the golden egg. Instead of making com- merce the herald and handmaid of Christianity for Africa's salvation, as Livingstone wished and taught, we are killing our customers, maiming our markets, and cutting the nerve of commerce in Africa. J osepq Thomson led three expeditions into eastern Central Africa. but saw nothing to give hopes of a higher civilization being in store for the natives; nor did Euro- pean trade convert him in West Africa. "I had," he confessed, "trav- elled and suffered, inspired by the idea that I was doing good in opening new lands to commerce and civilization; but all satisfaction was blighted as I felt that what little I had done were better undone, and Africa better remain the dark continent, if such must be the end of it all. Underneath the cry for gin I seemed to hear the reproach, ' You see what Christians have made of us. You talk of peace and good-will, yet put devils into us. ' As things stand in many places, I translate this cry of opening Africa to civilization as really opening it to European vices, old clothes, gin, rum, powder and guns."
IV. Remedies and Laws.-Is there no light of hope on this pall of death-shades overhanging Africa? There is. Though clouds and darkness are round His throne, God still lives and reigns, and sets His bow in the cloud. One pillar rests on Africa, the other in England. One source of redemption from drink rises from the pleas and prayers of ruined Africans; the other is the rooted resolve of Livingstone's and Lincoln's countrymen that the accursed traffic shall perish from the earth. In 1885 this bitter cry of outcast Africa pierced the ear of Christen- dom. The New York Tj·ibune confessed that what was being done on the Congo in the name of commerce is a world-crime, of an immorality so deep and flhameless that were it the type of nineteenth-century civiliza- tion, that civilization would be a horrible sham and conspicuous failure. At the Berlin congress of 1885 America, England, France and Italy en- deavored to dam drink out from the new world of Central Africa. Leopold of Belgium joined with their representatives-Kasson, Malet, Courcyand Launay-in desiring prohibition; but the liquor-dealers of Germany, Hol- land and Portugal iusisted on free rum in the Congo basin, because it is consecrated to free trade. So the vultures settled down again-this time more boldly-upon the body of Africa, and tore at her vitals even more ravenously, but now with the Pharisaic phraseology and sanctimonious demeanor of Christian philanthropists. Professor Cust maintains that " in dealing with the natives the principles of common Christianity and respect for national fecling entirely disappeared from the vision of statesmen. They looked only to selfish interests from the narrowest point of view. The only hope of amelioration of the unhappy people lies with tIle Christian missionary."
Nevertheless, much had been gained. The uselessness of anything but common agreement had been painfully perceived. It was no use to drive the trade from England's African colonies, for an appetite had been created, and if she would not satisfy it, other countries would. So the children of light learned a lesson from the children of this world. They accepted the rebuke of an African liquor trader: "It is no good talking about our selling drink; you must go to the fountain. Europeans send it ; let them bear the burden." They took Thomson's advice: "Most important of all, get up a missionary agency for Christian Europe which preaches the doctrine of no gin-trade, no gunpowder and no guns for Africans."
In 1887 eleven missionary societies, twenty-five temperance societies, twenty-four bishops and fifty members of Parliament organized at London a union-committee for the suppression of the liquor-traffic with native races. It has branches in many nations, but in England it created and guided popular sentiment with such effectiveness that in 1889 a world. congress came together at Brussels, explicitly to suppress the African slave-trade and to choke the liquor-traffic. For the first time in human story Muhammadan governments took counsel with Christian powers as to the wrongs wreaked on Africa by each.
Trade-interests rallied again to the protection of the African liquortraffic. Though the powers made a genuine effort to grapple with the crying evils, they condoned the traffic in spirits. Not strong enough to suppress it totally, they condemned it in principle, but adopted measures only nominally restricting it. 'When the cheapeiit spirit can be sold in Africa at 5 cents a pint, netting a profit of 700 per cent, it is useless to impose an import duty of 3 cents a quart, Fortj:!Jles will continf/e to Q(;l
THE CHURCH AT HOME
made, the traffic to thrive, and bodies and souls to be destroyed, until the tax is almost prohibitory. 7 Humane, self·sacrificing and statesman-like provisions can be enforced only by the most advanced and active Christian sentiment backing each government j but public opinion in Europe is far below that of England.
No power would put a highe1· duty on the import of spirits in its colonies than did the neighboring colonies of another power, for that would divert trade. So it can cause no surprise that, according to the author of " The Development of Africa," "the Brussels programme* is already out of date. " Its only valuable results in practice so far, though its principles are a sleeping giant, are that the Congo State has been enabled to take several long steps toward ending slavery, and that the British chartered companies in South Africa, at the lakes, in East Africa and on the Niger have been compelled to embody prohibition in their charters, and are pushing it through their immense areas with a strong, swift hand. In fact, the African Lakes Company has from the start set its face like a flint against liquor-selling to nat.ives, while the Niger Company has already cut down the import of spirits to one-fourth of what it was.
Only two things can end Christendom's rum-trade with Africa-the revival of the Puritan conscience and the application of the Golden Rule.
But since America's interests in Africa are purely missionary and philan- thropic, it might be possible for us to enforce the enactments of a Brussels act. Being free from colonial entanglements, having next to no commer- cial connections with Africa, and yet participating in the international congress at Brussels, the United States could by common consent assume the duty of aiding in the enforcement of humanity's decree, and would be far better able to fulfil the law than would any European power. For forty years before emancipation our flag was truly the flag of freedom in Africa, as our ships shared in blockading the maritime slave-trade. Why should it not again be the ensign of emancipation for Africa from her thraldom under the devil's mission?
THE CHURCH AT HOME.
AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT TORONTO, ONTARIO, FEBRUARY 15, 1894, BY DR. G. L. MACKAY, OF TAMSUI, FORMOSA.
The Church at home should be more in prayer. When I told the natives there was a telegraph system here, and we could send messages so rapidly, some of the people started and walked away. These were the literati; when I told them messages could be sent under the sea, they began to reason, "How could paper go under the sea?" The literati said that it was below their sublime wisdom, and wouldn't listen to it. Some • By Articles YIII. and XO. of tbis General Act, the importation of fire-arms, gunpowder, and of spirituous Uquors (in districts where they are not distilled) is prohibited within the 20° north latitude and 22° south latitude. years after a telegraph line was established in Formosa, and I brought the people in crowds to see it. They said, "Now, after this we will believe all that you say to us." Then I told them, " All the island will bow to Jesus. Now you said you would believe what I said-believe that." I taught my students in the day and preached Jesus at night. There was a Chinaman who had trumped up all sorts of falsehoods about us and circulated them through the country. We prayed and prayed that God would convert him. One day he invited me and my students to his house, where he had prepared a splendid feast on tables out in the open air, for it was a lovely day. He called us in and said, " I believe God is true, I know He is, and I have been a servant of the devil all the time. "
Talk about God not being able to answer prayer! Do not tell that to me. Tell it to some one else if you must tell it. Do not tell it to me. We had prayed for this wicked man, and he was converted. It is possible that the animals around us can see things that we cannot see; it is possible they may feel and hear things we cannot. It is all within the range of possibility. But it is not "it may be" with God, but "it must be." There are laws of our heavenly Father which our finite minds can't understand, yet we would dare to lift our puny arm, and dare to circumscribe the power of God. The Church at home needs more prayer. There is a beautiful psalm which reads, " God be merciful unto us and bless us, and cause Thy face to shine upon us." You think that is the minister's business to pray that, and the elder's business, and you stand outside. Well, then, if that is all, go outside if you like, and call yourself a Mohammedan or a heathen if you like. Pray that prayer for yourself, "God be merciful to me, a sinner."
We have great need of God's mercy. Send up that prayer from Quebec, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. There is no distinction between flags. "God bless me." Oh, there are many sweet meanings in that! If you are not a Christian, you don't know of them. 0 God in heaven, help! You are young, and do not think you need God's help. You have not gone through the fiery furnace yet, but you will have to some day. God help us in our business-in preaching Jesus, God help us that we may preach Jesus and not philosophy. Here in Canada, God help the Church at home. There is another sweet thought, " God cause His face to shine." Oh, that is sweet! If you're not a Christian you don't understand what I mean. The sun is shining. You have the idea of light, cheerfulness. I am in need of it; you need it. If not, I know not what your circumstances are. When there was no human instrumentality to cheer me, but everything to make me sink, then I asked God to cheer me, and He did. He did it every time. You are sad and have business troubles, and have shed tears since last Sunday. You need it. You need it in your heart. Ask Him to cheer the whole Church. The Church at home should be more like the Apostolic Church.
Twenty-three years ago I went through Canada, and that was the ice
G. L. MACKAY, D.D., HIS CHINESE WIFE, AND
THE CHURCa: AT HOME
age. I found it cold and indifferent. They told me I was just an enthusiast, and that I was going to drag the Church into debt. . Four thousand dollars was all that the Presbyterian Church raised then. Many lectures I got, that I was just a young man and excited. I do not believe there is a greater geologist on the face of the earth than Dawson. That scientist grasped my hand on the streets of Montreal, and said, "God. bless you on your mission to the heathen." There were noble exceptions. I found the Church cold, but nobody told me it was cold.
I went through Canada thirteen years ago, and it was something like the water age. The ice had melted some. Then, too, I was told the Church was about right. It was the age of picnics, fairs, and bazaars, the age when a man was supposed to be a perfect fool. I was told there was nothing wrong in these. The Church was right in its own eyes.
Now I am going through for the third time and perhaps for the last time. This I consider the age of steam. Oh, what activity there is ! but I am bewildered, nevertheless. I do not see that the Church of twenty-three years ago, I do not see that the Church of thirteen years ago, or the Church of to-day is like the Apostolic Church. I cannot remember the names of all the organizations and societies and machinery. There.is machinery; for God's sake, let there be activity. For God's sake, we want vitality. In China they have tread-wells to irrigate the rice fields. The men walk and walk all day. There is activity, but there is no advance. At night they are in the same place as in the morning. There must be less of this everlasting machinery. Oh, I feel the change out there in Formosa! I would not give Formosa for all of it. Beware of this increasing of machinery, lest it become one great big dead machine, without any power behind it. Be careful lest the family is not broken up. If you are not careful, after awhile your father will have to introduce the brother to the sister-" John, this is Mary." It's only here and there that I find a family together. These organizations arc breaking up the family. The family is before the church organizations. Family prayer! 0 God, for more" Cotter's Saturday Nights" !
" With joy unfeign'd brothers and sisters meet, An' each for other's weelfare kindly spiers,"
******* " From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs."
These scenes, the family circle and the altar, in myoid native country. God save my native land and the Church at home, here in Canada!
The Church should remove obstacles. I don't see why people should attack me. I am not travelling for any political party. I am ashamed for that poll tax. The missionary's wife was charged $50 ; for each one of his three children he had to pay $50, and for his student, before entering his native land. Of course the money was refunded.
The Church should remove that obstacle. They asked me to go to Detroit to the convention there. I could not. Volunteer students will be
THE CAPE GENERAL MISSION, SOUTH AFRICA. [.Tune
in that convention. There are nineteen China~en in Detroit in prisonnineteen heathen Chinamen down in dark cells, kept by the people. No way to get back to their country. Nineteen missionaries being trained in the prisons. There will be five hundred Student Volunteers, but these nineteen prisoners will go among their brethren and they will defeat our object, humanly speaking. They will go back to tell about their treatment. The Church should not talk, but act–just rise up, depending upon the eternal strength of our Father. Do something for the kingdom of Christ. I do not like the words home and foreign, when they are opposed to each other. I like to think of the Lord's work in Canada, in Greenland, in Africa, in Indil, in China. Of course there must be men in Toronto, in Boston, in London. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." "For God is the King of all the earth." "His name shall endure forever :" "All nations shall call Him blessed." It's anti-scriptural to hold that you can prosper at home and forget the heathen. "I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles." " There," said John, " is the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world." "Ye are the. light of the world." You want to send the light to the world. Then that sweet and imperative command, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." When the Church came forth in her brightness after the revolution, if she had only obeyed the command! but when she broke the arm of Rome, she settled down and folded her arms, and then the "isms," and "schisms," and " ics," and "ologies" grew up. If the Church at home doesn't obey God's command, He will send His judgment upon you just as upon the Jews. It is anti-scriptural and anti-historical and anti-spiritual to attend to home and not to the field abroad. Let us carry the standard to the earth's remotest bounds, " Stand up for Jesus, Christian, stand; Firm as a rock forever stand."
THE CAPE GENERAL MISSION, SOUTH AFRICA.
A STORY OF ANSWERED PRAYER.
BY w. SPENCER WALTON, DIRECTOR.
Let us glance at three or four scenes in different parts of the world which form golden links, forged in various places, but all brought together into one chain of answered prayer.
Over fifty years ago, in the Highlands of Scotland, a solitary shepherd was tending his flock alone' to the outward eye, but on that lonely moor he knew the sweet companionship of his Lord. The sun was setting, and the air was filled with the fragrance of the sweet heather. The stillness 2 3 3 4 4 6 5 6 6 7 7 o 8 8 0 0 9 i 9 i ~ ? SOUTH AFRICA 10 10 SCALE OF MILES -10 2U so 40 lJIl88ionul'Y statians a1:e ahown by atjolid dot( ~ ).
11 1'"
Railr'oads. _ _ _ Suomar.ine Cables ._ _ __ A B c D E F G H .J K L eMlectronic file created by cafis.org was unbroken except by the bleating of the shcep or call of sOille cock grouse. On his knees, his head buried in his plaid, the shepherd was pleading with his God. It was no unusual experience with that old Highlanuer. Many a time the hush had been broken by the strong cries and prayers of that servant of God. He was not pleading for his dear ones, or for God's blessing on his flocks and herds, but for Africa's unevangelized millions ; he was crying to his God for their souls. Little did he know of that Dark Continent, but in that dark mine of sin he .realized that there were precious gems to be found for the Master's crown.
One day the moor missed the old saint, the bleating sheep had lost their master, and the faithful collie his friend. He had entered into the joy of His Lord. Those prayers were registered, and they were to be answered.
It was the month of July, and the usual Convention for the Promotion of Scriptural Holiness was being held at Keswick, England. Hundreds were flocking to this little Cumberland town to hear from God~s servants rich truths concerning holy living, and to catch fresh glimpses of their Master's beauty. Between the meetings the hymns of faith and consecration came floating across the lake, or on the pretty islands which dot its surface voices were heard pleading with God. It is, indeed, a hallowed spot. The morning prayer-meeting was over, and we were at the breakfast-table of the saintly Harford Battersby. It was the last year he was with his beloved friends, and the last year he presided at the convention. He seemed ripe for heaven, his tender words were the outpourings of a heart full of perfect love, and his face shone with a Divine glory. It was a lovely morning, and the feathered songsters filled the vicarage garden with their music. Next to us sat the Rev. Andrew Murray, of South Africa, and his wife. He was paying a visit to England on account of his health, and the Lord having graciously healed him, he had made his way to this centre of blessing, to sit and listen to the Master's voice through His servants. Never will we forget that meeting and the beginning of a friendship which was renewed at Polmont and ripened in South Africa. It was here we received a hearty invitation to South Africa, and prayer commenced by this saint of God for Him to send us there in His own time and vlay. The prayer was truly answered.
In a little home on the southern shores of Africa many prayers were ascending to HiIIl who hears and answers. Mrs. Osborn, the widow of a general in Her Majesty's service, blessed through Mr. Moody in England, was seeking as God gave her strength and opportunity to care for the dark and dying around her. Through her energy a Young Women's Ohristian Association had been founded in Cape Town, a Christian union formed, and work among soldiers, sailors, and railway employes started and much blessed of God. But it was for the regions beyond that her heart yearned, and for the thousands of dark heathen yet unreached. Overwork necessitated a trip to England in 1887. We were then holding a mission and conference at Leamington, which God was very wonderfully owning. Reginald Radcliffe was there, and also Mrs. Osborn, invited at his request. It was from his lips we received the call for the foreign field.
The large hall was crowded as we pushed our way toward the platform. Right at our feet a letter lay on the ground. We picked it up, and found it was addressed to us. "If you find this letter, will you take it as a call from God to come over and take up work in Africa ?" was the gist of it all. Surely this was the call of God !
Nine months after we stood on the deck of a large mail steamer. Rer voyage was just over. Table Mountain and Cape Town were in sight, and soon she glided into the lovely bay and moored in the docks.
As we landed the Rev. Andrew Murray and Mrs. Osborn stood on the jetty. "'Ve welcome you in the name of the Lord," exclaimed the former, as we grasped each other's hands; " I have not ceased to pray for you since we parted some years ago, and thank God He has answered our prayers in sending you out." Mission services were organized throughout the colony, beginning in Cape Town, where soon a great revival broke out, scores being unable to gain an entrance into the large exhibition building, where over two thousand were already gathered. The same blessing followed at nearly all the places visited. On our return to Cape Town Mrs. Osborn offered to hand over to us her work in that town, as a small basis upon which to start an unsectarian mission. During our visit the Lord had been laying upon our heart the great need of an interdenominational mission, which could reach the classes untouched by the churches, as well as press into the" regions beyo~d. " We consulted with the Rev. Andrew Murray, who heartily sympathized with us and ultimately consented to become our president. On the voyage home, as we sat with the map of Africa before us, our eyes fell upon Swazieland, some hundred miles north of Natal and Zululand, with its tens of thousands of heathen Swazies. Putting our finger on the spot we could not help exclaiming, " Bwazieland for Christ!" little knowing that before long we were to have two stations in this neglected country.
On arriving in England we consulted with some old friends, well known Christian merchants in London, and on March 12th, 1889, the Cape General Mission was founded, with these good friends as our council. We then began deputation work in the large centres of England, among them the town of Sunderland, which has since furnished us with five missionaries. We visited one of God's saints, living in humble circumstances, who was most anxious to see some one from Africa, as her daughter and sonin-law were both in the Transvaal. Although engaged in business, they were spending all their spare time in working for Christ among the surrounding heathen. Their diary was read to us, and we learned how their hearts were yearning for freedom from business ties, that they might give their lives to mission work. Living in a town two days' ride north of Swazieland, their hearts seemed especially drawn to that dark country. John Baillie wrote how, every Sunday, he spent an hour on the Barberton Hills, looking toward Swazieland and crying to God for the Swazies. Already he had been blessed to not a few heathen in his night school for natives, but the 50,000 Swazies, with only one m'ission station in their whole country, oppressed him. We little thought, when on the steamer we claimed Swazieland for Christ, that this was the way God was to answer our prayers. John Baillie and his wife became our pioneer missionaries in Swazieland, and thus God answered the prayers of His saintly grandfather, the old Highland shepherd, who on the lonely moor had day by day pleaded with his God for the dying millions of Africa!
We visited Keswick again that year (1889), and shortly afterward we held farewell meetings in Exeter Hall and the Metropolitan Tabernacle, where the late C. H. Spurgeon gave us a loving reception. On August 15th our little band of six stood on the deck of the outgoing Cape steamer, with an unknown future before us, but with the joyful knowledge that God had brought us into fellowship with Himself concerning this work. Four years and a half have passed since that date. Two of our number, Mrs. Spencer Walton and Wilfred Malcomson, have been promoted to His presence, but God has blessed His servants' work, and now there are fifty missionaries and workers in the mission, and several more leaving for South Africa this year. The work in Cape Town has steadily spread. Niue mission stations to the heathen have been opened, and three more are about to be occupied.
On arriving at Cape Town a loft was placed at our disposal, rent free. This was converted into an office. It was reached through the back yard of the Young Women's Christian Association, and up a very shaky ladder. Our packing cases were turned into desks, and we began work in a very primitive fashion. Much prayer was made for more suitable premises, and for a hall in which to hold services. Again our dear Lord heard and answered prayer. A wealthy Christian, weIl known to us, caIled and said some land was to be sold and he would buy it and put up the requisite buildings, only charging us a smaIl percentage. Never can we forget the day when our new hall was opened and solemnly dedicated to God by our beloved president. This has, indeed, become a centre of prayer and real spiritual activity, and from it the mission has been worked. Two stores under the hall have prov&d very useful: one as an office, and the other as a depot for the sale of Bibles, Testaments, and religious literature. The monthly organ of the mission, The South African Pioneer, has a circulation of over six thousand copies monthly. The work formerly carried on by Mrs. Osborn in Cape' Town, among soldiers and sailors, was reorganized and extended, and through the energy of Miss Edith .Walton a home for trained Christian nurses was founded. The Lord soon sent us some lady workers to take up the European work there; but our hearts were yearning over the perishing heathen in the regions beyond. Step by step God led us, sending missionaries and money in direct answer to the many prayers offered at home and in Africa.
Kimberley was our first thought. V,Then we visited this town in 1888 drunkenness abounded, with all its accompanying vices. Murders were frequent, and the thousands of heathen, who flocked into the town to labor in the diamond mines, came into the very centre of abounding sin, and while they earned good wages, the canteen owners reaped a good harvest. Diamond stealing was rife, and it was then estimated that over £20,000 worth of diamonds were stolen annually. The drunkenness also proved a great hindrance to this industry. At this time the various mines were formed into one large company, called the" De Beers Consolidated." Around each mine a high wall was erected with one outlet. Inside this enclosure everything was done to make the African laborers comfortable. Let us now visit the large De Beers compound. Against the high walls sheds are erected in which the various natives live. A large store is immediately on our right as we enter. Liquor is strictly prohibited. Clothes, boots, blankets, tobacco, groceries, meat, etc., can be pJ:ocured. These stores are well patronized, and the comp-any charge fair and reasonable prices for all wares. On the left, in the corner of this large four to six-acre compound, is a large, well-arranged hospital in charge, of efficient physicians. In the centre are washing tanks and a large, much-appreciated swimming-bath, a pile of wood, and a wired enclosure with chickens and ducks for those who indulge in these luxnries. Sometimes as many as two thousand natives are to be found in this compound, while from eight to ten thousand are located in the other compounds. These heathen represent every tribe in South Africa, some even from the north of the Zambesi. One day we were told that in the De Beers alone twenty-seven tribes were represented. Raw heathendom may be seen in all its darkness, and the missionary has grand material to work upon. It is estimated that twenty thousand heathen pass through Kimberley annually. Our missionary here is kept hard at work with day and night schools, teaching many ready scholars to read their Bibles, and instructing them in Bible knowledge, while the Bread of Life is offered freely to many who have never been under the influenee of the Gospel. Thus, when a heathen is converted, as soon as his tcrm is up, he returns to his tribe and carries the good news to his own kraal. One who went back to his people a saved man was the means in God's hands of leading over seventy to Christ in a few months. ·When a native applies for work in the mines he is bound by contract to remain a willing prisoner for six, twelve, or eighteen months, receiving good wages and 10 per cent on the value of all large diamonds he may find. This wise action on the part of the De Beers has almost entirely done away with the awful drunken brawls and fights which formerly filled the streets every pay· day. The last letter from our missionary there reports eight hopeful conversions, a~d the return of some to their tribes, carrying the glad tidings with them. When we went with the Rev. Andrew Murray to hold a month's mission in Johannesburg, a town with about 50,000 inhabitants, situated in the centre of the thirty miles of gold-bearing reef, we saw the need of starting a branch of work among Europeans, ultimately to be extended to the heat.hen employed in the mines. We have some workers now in this district, who have begun work among the 70,000 inhabitants. At Pretoria we were met by Mr. W. A. Baker, an earnest Christian lawyer. He very liberally handed over to the mission on a lease property valued at £2000 at a rent of five shillings per year! He erected a church and a missionary's house upon the property, trans- formed some stables into a school, fitted up some cottages and built a Bible and book depot, thus establiRhing a centre in the centre of the Transvaal. Again prayer had been answered, exceeding abundantly.
Previous to this our assistant director, Mr. Dudley Kidd, had travelled wUh Mr. Baillie into Swazieland, and, amid many adventureR and difficulties, had planted our first mission station, "Bethany," among the 50,000 Swazies, in an area of about 9000 square miles. We visited this station at the close of 1891, and found onr missionaries living in two very small rooms; one built of corrugated iron, and heated like an oven under the burning tropical sun; the other built of mud and wattle. 'We paid a most interesting visit to the queen in her kraal; she is the widow of the late king, Umswarui. She received us graciously, and gave us permission to speak occasionally to the people of her kraal, numbering about 1200. The Swazies are a very fine nation, like the Matabele, a branch of the great Zulu tribe. They are of nobler character and finer physique than the majority of the South African tribes. It was our privilege to see an impi of about 1000, in their war dress of blue monkey and leopard skins, fully armed with assegais, knob.kerries, shields, and in some cases battleaxes. We find a hearing ear among the natives, and although up to the present we have not been able to build a church, which would also be used as a school, yet they flock into our mission quarters, eager to hear the Gospel, and learning to sing and read. We have now not only been able to train five missionaries at Pretoria, where they learned the Zulu language, but four of them have been passed on to this dark, dark heathen country, two opening a new station and two others going to Bethany. We purpose forming a chain of mission stations through Swazieland, and hope soon to have a much·needed medical missionary there. While the Swazies are not as cruel as the Pondos, still a great deal of cruelty is ,V practised which is never known. itchcraft is ingrained in the minds of the people. The late king made the people think he was the most powerfulof all rain and witch doctors. Now, however, the power of the witch doctor is becoming somewhat undermined. As we left the queen's kraal we were met b1 one of these men, adorned with his feathers and charms. His fierce, devilish looks betrayed his relationship to the evil one. Stopping us, he demanded our business, and then turned away with a curse. The queen's f~ot had swelled, and he was seeking to find out who had. been the cause of it.
One redeeming point in Swazieland is the prohibition of liquor, which is simply decimating the adjoining country, Amatongaland. During our tour south we heard of a very needy spot on the banks of the Pongola, where some thousands of Zulus have never yet heard the Gospel. Here we have been enabled to place Titus, a Zulu evangelist who with his wife is now preaching the Gospel and winning souls for Christ. Two more are soon to be placed there.
Some years ago a hunting party traveIling north had reached the feverinfected banks of the Zambesi. During the expedition one of their number, a Christian, was stricken down with the fever. He was ministered to by a young Zulu, aud before he passed away had the joy of pointing this lad to Christ. He is now our first native missiouary in the Transvaal, being the only missionary in a dark spot abounding in witch doctors. Our other native evangelists are working in the Highlands of Basutoland, a district which the Paris Missionary Society was unable to reach, owing to lack of funds. At the request of M. Mabille, the superintendent of that mission, we came to their aid. Through the efforts of Mr. Dudley Kidd during a visit to England enough money was raised to build three stations, and now another is being opened. The late chief, Letsie, would not consent to evangelists being placed here, but on his death his successor, the present chief, Lerotholi, gave his consent. The Rev. Job Moteam and two evangelists are now settled in this district. Thore are still openings for at least five more. At present the work is principally evangelistic, the laborers going from village to village carrying the glad tidings of salvation. Already precious souls have been saved. These evangelists are superin. tended by our good fellow-laborers of the French Protestant mission. The cost of maintaining a native evangelist is only about £12 per annum.
We have recently sent four missionaries-one a medical missionary-into poor, dark, devil·ridden Pondoland, with its 200,000 heathen. The Wesleyans have been working in this vast district for many years, and while they have done a splendid work, there are still districts and not a few entirely unoccupied. Lack of funds has prevented them extending their work, and at their invitation our missionaries have been sent, who are at present learning the language and customs of the people in the western station, and will soon be placed in these unoccupied districts. It is a remar}rable fact that these coast tribes are invariably more degraded than those who occupy inland countries, except the Zulus. Amatongaland, for instance, which divides Swazieland from the seaboard, is being slowly depopulated by liquor and diseases, the o.utcome of immorality, both imported by the white man.
The power of the witch doctors in Pondoland is almost paramount. During a recent pioneering tour, in which we travelled 800 miles in the saddle, we visited this country. As we crossed the Umtata, a report reached us of an act of gross cruelty, the outcome of a witch doctor's visit. He had been sent for to find out who had been the cause of a child's sickness. An innocent man, who happened to possess a few more cattle than his neighbor, was" smelt out" by this agent of the devil, and accused of bewitching the child. Fortunately his sons were able to drive his cattle into a friend's kraal, but he was seized and tortured to exact from him a c.onfession. However, in the midst of it, while his would-be murderers were sleeping off thc effects of eating half-cooked pork, he escaped j crawling on his hanus and knees for three miles, he found an asylum in a friend's hut. Here we found him, and what a picture! Four festering wounds from assegai stabs, ope penet.rating his right lung, his scalp cut through in threc places, and his stomach bearing marks of burning from hot cinders thrown on him when bound by his tormentors. Alas! this is by no means an isolated case j and while the missionary's effortl' have proved in a measme successful, the chiefs wink at these acts, which invariably result in death, and are of common occurrence in this dark spot. A Christian farmer who was with me related cases he had seen too brutal ,and too awful to write down.
We must close this already too long article by a brief allusion to two unique missionaries we have laboring in the Transkeian district. Here the Cape Mounted Rifles are scattered to prevent cattle stealing, and any native rebellion. So many are located in spots where any religious privilege is unknown. To meet this need, and visit as well the many mission stations, we have two missionaries who virtually live in the saddle. Homes and home comforts are but little known by these two devoted men. Hundreds of miles are thus traversed yearly, depOts and outposts visited, missions conducted in the small townships, and evangelistic work gladly welcomed by the various missionaries. God has richly owned this work, and it has resulted in much reaping after patient sowing. Their visits, too, havc greatly cheered on those who are shut off from Christian fellowship and shut in with the dark power of heathendom.
And so the work goes on, and as workers together with God, His own chosen ones are being gathered out and gathered in, thus hastening the day when the Lord will come for His bride, chosen from every kindred and every tribe, gems from the dark mines of sin to sparkle in the glory of Emmanuel's land.
Since writing tho above the Southeast African Mission, under the able superintendence of Mr. and Mrs. Osborn Howe, have amalgamated with us, thus bringing over an increased band of missionaries as well as new mission stations in Natal and Zululand, with fresh openings to fill in unoccupied districts, including Amatongaland. On the banks of St. Lucia Bay, Zululand, they have established a mission station. In Durban, where some thousands of Zulus come to seek labor, a flourishing church
THE MISSIONARY EDUCATIONAL QUESTION
exists. Recently they had the joy of baptizing over thi.rty. As we have now considerably passed the Cape Colony limits, the mission in future will be known as SOUTH AFRICA GENERAL MISSION.
THE MISSIONARY EDUCATIONAL QUESTION.
BY J. N. CUSHING, BAPTIST COLLEGE, RANGOON, BURMA.
Tn writing upon this most important question there is need of a just discrimination between the establishment of schools growing out of the real needs of a Christian community and the establishment of schools which do not grow out of such needs, but are intended to take the place of the direct evangelistic agency of the living preacher. In the one case the aim is to meet an imperative need of a body of Christians brought into existence by the successful evangelistic efforts of missionaries. The other supersedes the Christ-ordained plan of first discipling and then teaching those who are discipled. It is very easy and proper to write strong articles against missionary educational work which takes the place of preaching the Gospel as a method for the conversion of the heathen. But unless an impartial discrimination between missionary education as a direct evangelistic agency to the heathen, and missionary education as a means of enlightenment and elevation of mind and soul, sought for and required by a large and increal"ing Christian community already feeling strongly the movement of new mental and moral forces which the reception of Christianity has started into life and irresistible action, there is great danger that there may be an indiscriminate and unjust condemnation of a form of missionary education demanded by a Christian community and legitimately to be given to it. Ignorance never has been and never will be a help in the development of the Christian Church in any heathen land. This must be accepted as an axiomatic stat,ement. The writer has no word in defence of any form or system of missionary education which anticipates or usurps the place of Christ's divine method of bringing Christian communities into existence. But he has strong convictions that it is the duty of the Christian Church at home to help the native Church, so far as is necessary, to e~tablish and dev~lop the educational agencies which it requires for its own advantage.
1. All development in the line of primary education must grow out of the needs of the native Christians themselves; must be adapted to their special wants, and be thoroughly religious in its spirit. In New England the early settlers fully appreciated the fact that mental ignorance was not a help to Christianity. The schoolhouse, therefore, was built beside the Church. The wisdom of this policy has never been questioned to this day. The blessing which American Christianity has reaped from it has been vast in its results.
This is precisely the policy which has been pursued in Burma among the Karens and other races. The Gospel was first preached, converts were won, and, as Christian communities arose and it became possible, primary schools were established in different villages, while the missionary taught a school at the station during the rains in order to train preachers and tel¥lhers in some degree for the many places that required their service.
The aim has been to secure a Christian school as well as church for every Christian village. That has been realized to such a degree that it is a cause for devout gratitude to God. ' Meanwhile there has been a gradual rise of intelligence which has compelled the station schools to advance in their grades of study as a result of the needs and demands of the Chris- tians themselves. The decades since Christianity really got a stronghold III this country have witnessed a steady rise in the requirements of the Christians themselves in regard to education.
At the same time, there has been a wonderful growth of effort to furnish financial aid to the schools established. To such an extent has this effort been successful that in most missions the lower grade schools do not receive any help from mission funds. "
It should be remembered that there is no common-school system in Burma" like that of America. The Government has two schools only in the province which are directly under its charge-the Government College in Rangoon and the Government Normal School at Maulmain. The chief cities and a few of the towns have municipal schools supported by local taxation. These schools are generally under influences which are un- favorable to Christianity. With the exception of these schools, all the primary education in the province is given in missionary schools or in Buddhist, monastic, or lay schools. Missionary schools have been a necessity from every point of view, so far as the native Christian com- munity is concerned j and the labor and time consumed in developing and supervising them have been of immense assistance to the native Church, and in fullest agreement with the Spirit of the New Testament.
2. All higher education also must grow out of the needs of the native Christians themselves, and be designed principally for their benefit. The need of higher educational work can arise only in old and large fields, where a well-diffused system of schools has created a higher degree of in- telligence and knowledge than existed in the earlier periods of the mission, and has awakened in many young Christian minds the desire and de- termination to acquire a better preparation for usefulness in life than the lower-grade schools can give. By so much as these Christian youth are able to carry out titeir purpose, by so much do they become more intelli- gent preachers and teachers, and by so much, with the help of the Holy Spirit, do they perform better service in the Church of Christ. The desire for higher education has arisen strongly among many of the Burman and Karen youth of our thirty thousand church-members and the fifty thousand more additional adherents who help make up our Christian families.
Other mission fields in other countries mayor may not have the same conditions as exist here, and so mayor may not have any such need of furnishing the means of higher education as we do. But the time has come when there is a widespread conviction that the native Church in Burma must be helped in the line of higher education to meet the present emergency. From all parts of the mission fields young Christian men have been coming forward and entering schools whose influences are aggressively hostile to evangelical religion because we have not given them the opportunities which they need in a Christian institution.
3. If our Christian young men demand and will have a higher education, we must help them to it until, in the lapse of years, the Christian community becomes strong enough intellectually and financially to maintain a college without foreign help. Their charact~rs have not the moral strength and poise which come from the training of an English or American Christian home in childhood. They are more susceptible by far to the moulding influence of their environment, whatever it may be, than a home youth would naturally be, whose principles are more settled before he leaves his father's house. ,Ve Deed to throw around them the healthful atmosphere of a thoroughly Christian school until the impressions of youth have crystallized into the fixed opinions of manhood.
Others are ready and exceedingly anxious to supply the higher education which our Christian youth are bound to have. Already it is a sad and solemn fact that under godless, anti-evangelical influences at the Government College, quite a number of young Karen men who were professed Christians on entering that institution, left it with the scornful declaration that evangelical Christianity was believed in by missionaries and old women only. Others have passed into the ranks of the Anglican ritualists through the proselyting influences exerted in the college of that body. The same principle that led to the establishment of Brown University and other early New England colleges applies to this country. The Christian Church must look after the education of her youth, whatever the grade required. In Burma poverty and lack of qualification for leadership handicap the native Church. It would only be a fulfilment of the second great commandment if the mother Church helps her daughter Church temporarily, in the days of her inability to fully help herself. The few missionaries required for this service would be doing a work in developing an intelligent native ministry and laity under the preserving and stimulating religious influences which will tell mightily under God's blessing on the future prosperity of the native Church. Consecration and devotion being the same, what would be the power and efficiency of such men as Dr. A. J. Gordon, without anything but the rudimentary education of a primary school,-compared with their present efficiency after the thorough courses of instruction in such institutions as Brown and Newton, and the prepara- tion for broader study and attainments which those collegiate and theo- logical courses give ~ Such would doubtless have accomplished much in the helpful, environment of New England life without any special educa- tion ; but would they have been the towers of strength in the Church that they are to-day ~ Would they have exerted such a vast influence for good in so many directions and on so many people ~ I trow not. Education of itself will not make an effective Christian or preacher. But education is a mighty weapon in the possession of a heart warmed and inspired by the Holy Spirit. The history of the Church backs up this statement. It therefore becomes our important duty not to expose our young Christian men who ate starting out for a higher education to the deadening if not destroying influences of godless Government, proselyting Roman Catholic and ritualistic Anglican colleges. Our native Church has reached that critical condition of intelligence which makes our training of. its future ministers and teachers in a higher grade of education an absolute necessity for its future stability and prosperity. There has been a development of religious and general knowledge which makes a large s~ction of the present generation of Christians restive under the poor preaching of the older pastors. We need not only evangelists, but we need pastors who can feed the people. These must come largely from the young men who have' made up their minds to take a more or less higher course of education. We cannot afford to allow all the educated native minds to belong to those hostile to Christianity. There can be no plainer indication of the pl'ovidence of God in reference to our duty than the fact that such a class of young men with such a purpose has come to the front, and that others hostile to the ohjects of our mission are urgently offering to these young men the training which they demand. Would the Master have the missionary body refuse them the training which they rightly are resolved to have, and thereby cause a terrible loss of working force and consequent loss of growth in the future of the Church 1 No j He would have us keep these young men and give them the chance for development which will make them effective workers for the Master.
. 4. While we need this element of Christian men in our Christian COIllmunity, who will keep pace with the rising intelligence of the general community, we must remember: (a) That there is no native staff of teachers as yet capable of taking charge of and conducting higher education. It is astonishing what advance there has been in the number of native Christian teachers who have qualified themselves during the last two decades for conducting successfully schools from the first to the seventh grade. This number is rapidly increasing. At the same time, others have already passed some of the higher examinations of the Calcutta University, and are the earnest of a class of Christian men who in time will be able to a considerable extent to meet the demand for a teaching staff in the higher branches of education.
SOME FEATURES OF WORK AMONG THE FREEDMEN
To bring about the development of such a class of native Christian educa- tors demands the effort and care of only a small portion of the missionary body, who thereby render an inestimable service to the native Church.
(b) For awhile the poverty of the greater part of the native Church prevents it from giving any adequate support to a school for higher educa- tion. There is a gradual rise in the property, intelligence, consecration, and liberal giving of the Christian community of Burma. The Karen . Christians, who are numerically by far the largest and strongest section of the native Church, already entirely support their primary schools. With the exception of the salaries of the missionary superintendent and the mis- sionary ladies, the entire cost of many of the station schools, like that of Bassein, is entirely borne by the native Christians.
We furry believe in the statement of Rev. Maurice Phillips, that edu- cation, whether lower or higher in grade, should grow out of the needs of the Christian community. The present demands for both lower and higher grades of education in Burma come from real and imperative needs of the large body of Christians itself-a body which already includes Christians of the third and fourth generations, who have felt the upraising influences of the past decades of missionary educational work which has supplemented and given a channel for the development of the inevitable desire for mental improvement and knowledge that Christianity creates in those who embrace it. By our evangelistic efforts, a community with this desire intensely developed has been bronght into existence. It is a critical period. The character of its future depends on the policy of the present. There should be no entrusting of the higher education of Christian youth to hostile agencies at a time when the mind and heart take their final form. That education should be under the decidedly Christian influence of mis- sionary teachers who will inculcate consecration to Christ as the highest form of life and the absolute requirement of the Master.
SOME FEATURES OF WORK AMONG THE FREEDMEN.
BY MISS ELLA BEARDSLEY, BOYDTON, VA.
The question repeatedly arises whether, after thirty years of emancipation, the negro is fulfilling the expectations of philanthropists and religious instructors concerning his race-what progTess is he making ~ what discouragements block the pathway 1 and what methods are most .successful in elevating his moral and spiritual character 1 It is now generally acknowledged that the education of the negro in America is not a matter of race, but of circumstances, and that we must consider him as we would consider a man of any other color, whose ancestors had been reduced to barbarism in Africa and to slavery in America. How to reach, to educate, and spirituali:l;e a people so entirely destitute of intellectual and moral training has been and is a problem to be solved by careful study and by experiment. There seems to be no condition common to the South as a whole, for the intelligence and ability of the colored population in various localities have differed from the first. ThIs is probably due to the treatment and occupation of their forefathers, as well as to the class of white people with whom they were brought in con- tact. Certainly the negroes who worked in the rice swamps or fields of sugar-cane, and seldom saw the interior of any other buildings than their own rude cabins, were far inferior in civilization to the slaves, who as ser- vants became acquainted with the habits and manners of a gentleman's household.
We will only speak of the missionary work in Virginia and North Caro- lina. * This was a slave-raising district, from which passed out, year after year, the chain-gangs driven to the cotton and rice-fields farther south, and where the slave-block was a conspicuous feature. It was the custom to retain the best physical development, the" smartest" of the slaves, on the home plantations, sending away the men of duller intellect and feebler frame. As a result we find a higher type of the race here than elsewhere. We will not consider the large percentage of white blood, the" half-caste" population, sufficiently large to form a society by themselves, but will confine ourselves to those who are recognized as ex-slaves, without regard to shades of color.
The devotional character of the negro is both an encouragement and a hindrance to the missionary. Rather, a devotional character, divorced from the moral, forms a peculiarly emotional temperament, which flatters the Christian teacher with hope one day and touches with despair the next. The ease with which these people are brought to their knees forms sometimes a sad contrast to the long and painful processes by which they are taught the finer ethics of morality. Through the three great channels of progress-the school, the Church; and the Sunday-school-ignorance and superstition are rapidly yielding to intelligence and reason j but the methods of teaching in all these departments are numerous, and meet with 'varied success. In the institutes provided for older pupils this is specially true, for the age and previous circumstances among them makes their minds less plastic and demands far more individual work.
There is probably no greater obstacle to both secular and religious teaching than the imperfect knowledge of the English language among the pupils. The inability of the teacher to make herself understood by the use of good English, and the necessity of adapting her language to the hearers, requires considerable experience as well as an acquaintance with th,e vocabulary and popular pronunciation of the negro dialect. t Words .. A recent serial, by Jnlia P. Livermore, published in the Worthington Magazine, and entitled "Ole Virginie Fifty Years Ago," has attracted the attention of the public to Mecklenburg Connty, on the northern borders of North Carolina, from which point we take our present outlook.
t We do not refer to the employment of such language, but the ability to explain our own term. of similar sound, but differing widely in meaning, are frequently con. founded. Prefixes and suffixes are lost upon the average listener, and discrimination in thought often depends more upon intuition than upon any real conception of the meaning of the words used.
The personal influence of moral and spiritual teachers, and the necessity of securing them, cannot be too strongly urged. For mission schools and for adult pupils these must be secured from the North. The spiritualityof such teachers, imparted to their students, is disseminated in home, school, and church, as salt which has not lost its savor. A large proportion of mission work is being done by the negro for his oWll race. Notwithstanding some political favor and party partiality, they are carrying on an excellent work among the children in the day schools. With the exception of language lessons, the country schools of the South among the blacks are in advance of the New England district schools of forty years ago. In the Sunday-schools irregular attendance and tardiness, owing to the indifference of older people, are serious hindrances to good, intelligent results. The children are, however, fast becoming teachers to their parents. The Sunday-school convention of certain colored churches last year compared favorably with a New England State Convention, which we attended two years previously, and for practical plans proposed, those of the little local Virginian meeting were as judicious and comprehensive as those of the larger and more polished assembly, if the ideas were not expressed in as select language.
Pastoral work in this vicinity is more unsatisfactory than any other department of purely religious labor. The pastor, free from the extrava. gances and illiteracy of twenty-five years ago, and awake to a realization of his duties outside the pulpit, is an exception. Too frequently, if possessed of a fair education, he preaches stereotyped sermons, and makes no attempt to adapt himself to his congregation, often allowing indolence and egotism to govern his ministrations rather than Christian zeal and power with God. There are notable exceptions, but great blindness to . pastoral duties prevails.
Religious literature has been of little use in a locality where so many of the inhabitants were unable to read, and for this reason there has been but small demand for it. This objection is, however, fast disappearing, for the child is becoming a medium for evangelization in the household by reading aloud to the unlettered parent. The Sunday-school has been most successfully chosen as a centre for the distribution of religious papers and tracts, which are carried home by the scholars to be read for the benefit of the older members of the family. Thus the good seed is sown effectually here by means of the printed page. Although the proportion of adults who can read still falls far short of that in the Northern States, there is greater willingness to listen.
The veneration for learning which existed among the slaves, as something attainable only to the free, is still noticeable among the uneducated, and prevents the apathy which marks so many non-Christian dwellers in the North. The negroes are particularly pleased with illustrated papers, and study them with childish delight and keen interest. Even a cheap and inartistic picture attracts, and will convey thoughts to them which words fail to teach. A few illustrated temperance and religious papers are yearly distributed by evangelists, in addition to the work of the Sunday- school in that direction, but there is need of greater effort in this line. The barrels of cast-off clothing which yearly journey southward might well be supplemented with more Christian literature, for the people are grow- . ing beyond "ole clothes" into the sphere of intellectual and spiritual wants.
But needs, discouragements, and hindrances, or even methods are not the only themes of interest among this long down-trodden people. There is a song of praise to Him who giveth us the victory. There are white souls among these dusky teachers and preachers whose consecrated lives lend a lustre to their work, and about whose heads there is a halo of holi- ness. Through such men and women the education, spiritualization, and transformation of their race must be effected. There are those in whose lives intemperance, indolence, and indifference are unknown vices. These men are undertaking heroic labors among the cowardly souls surrounding them, and great will be the results. They become teachers in the pulpit, substituting Bible lessons for formal sermons, diversifying and illustrating as did the Great Teacher, who first went about preaching the Gospel of the kingdom. Instead of the weird, pathetic slave-songs, they introduce intelligent singing, more appropriate for true worship. Sweet and thrill- ing as were the old melodies, they belong to another condition of the people, and must vanish as things of the past-flowers and weeds turning into dust together. As long as a few such stars rise above the horizon there is promise of a noble future for these people j and the watchman may well cry to the eager questioner below, " 'The morning cometh' to the South!" With rose-winged hopes and brightening prospects the day breaketh and the shadows flee away.
[To this paper we also add some extracts from an article by Miss Hatch, of Boydton, Va., which touches on some interesting particulars of .the work.-En.] There is a great difference between the intelligence of the negro educated in one of the Southern institutions of learning and that of his colored brother brought up on a country plantation. So much has been done in the cities of the South, that we are apt to forget that there are yet thousands of miles where masses of the people live in the rankest ignorance and superstition. Newspaper correspondents come down to look over the field, stop at some hotel in a city or town, talk with the colored people, draw their conclusions, and write very incorrect accounts of their condition as a whole. One needs to 'live among them in both city and country to grasp the problem in its entirety. There are still many places in the South where the Bible is wholly discarded as the" white man's book," and where the Saturday night prayer-meeting is the· principal religious service. In these meetings the preacher takes his text from some current saying, wise or otherwise, and preaches from the light of a Bible which, the people say, God wrote in their hearts-a book to read which needs neither education nor lamp-light. The preacher makes up in volume of voice what he lacks in value of material. After one brother has exhorted for an hour or so another follows in the same strain, and so the meetings continue until about morning. In the mean time, the people become wrought up into great excitement; they rock to and fro, making a moaning sound, and call out occasi~nally, "Preach on, brother!" Soon one or more of the sisters b~in to jump up and down, clap their hands and shout, and continue until they fall unconscious to the floor. Toward morning the meeting breaks up, and they go home to spend half of the following Sunday in sleep. This is probably the lowest type of worship among the '1egroes. A little more advanced is the work of the regular negro preacher, who can read a little and has the care of three or four churches of some orthodox denomination. Once a month he gathers in turn each of his little congregations together. He blunders through a text, giving his own interpretation of it, preaches his church-members into heaven and the sinners into hell, without once alluding to their· manner of life or the true way of salvation. A member who has once been a " mourner," has sought the Lord for the pardon of his sing, and has felt happy in some time of religious excitement, may be assured of crowns, robes, and palms for his future inheritance, but for the" sinner" there is only everlasting fire. No wonder that, with the negro's natural religious sentiment, we find many more sinners in the church than out of it. Such are the negro preachers in districts where there is no direct railroad communication.
The American Missionary Association and other societies have done grand work, but this has been chiefly in the larger towns and cities. To educate seven millions of people means a vast amount of work. One great difficulty lies in the fact that so few of the graduates of institutions go back to their homes to work. They settle, instead, in the large towns, because salaries are larger and difficulties less. Only here. and there do we find one, moved by love to God and his race, who is making a brave fight on a plantation.
Boydton Institute, at Boydton, Va., is in some respects a unique institution. Its motto, "Seek first the kingdom of God," indicates the plan upon which it,is conducted. Bible study occupies the first period of each day, and the conversion and establishment in the faith the first thing sought for each student. While it is not meant that the secular education shall be at all inferior to that of other institutions, the first place is given to the spiritual man. The students are divided into prayer bands of ten to fifteen each, and have meetings once a week. These are led by the
THE CENTRAL SOUDAN HAUSALAND ASSOClATION
white teachers, who carefully watch the progress of each soul. Then the students have a strong foreign missionary society, which, with the assist- ance of one of the teachers, is supporting a missionary in the China Inland Mission. For the home field there is an " evangelistic association," whose members, both teachers and students, each pledge a certain sum monthly for the support of their six or seven evangelists. These men go from place to place in the back country districts, preaching in the churches, and visiting from house to house, teaching plain Gospel truths that bear on the daily life. They also hold temperance meetings, stir up the people to educate their children and to practise habits of economy. For,the past three or four years over a thousand conversions have been reported each year in addition to the still greater work done in the churches.
The Tuskegee Institution in Alabama has some six hundred pupils and a large industrial department. Mr. Washington has done much to solve the perplexing negro problem, by advising .the people to withdraw from politics and to devote themselves to buying homes, improving lands, and engaging in different mechanical trades. He is trying to improve the home life of the negro. The great hindrance is the little one-roomed cabin, in w.hich father, mother, and all the children, sometimes ten or twelve, are huddled together. Occasionally a large family has a little loft over the one room; but who could expect morality and self-respect to exist in such surroundings ~ The late confcrence of farmers held at Tuskegee, where over six hundred negro planters came together to discuss crops, was one of Mr. Washington's best ideas. At this conference there were also the superintendents of some of the largest educational institutions of the South. A workers' meeting was called to discuss methods of work, and as a result Mr. Washington and his work have the hearty sympathy of the best white people of Alabama.
There have been some smaller schools opened on plantations in this " black belt." In one of them there are over two hundred pupils, with a good school and an industrial department. The colored people of that vicinity have raised within five years $1500 for this school property, and have helped pay the running expenses. Their teachers are for the most part graduates of Tuskegee. Nowhere in the South have we seen such self-sacrifice and energy as here. They are raiding money for their school, even in the hard times and after short crops.
THE CENTRAL SOUDAN HAUSALAND ASSOCIATION.
BY REV. JAMES JOHNSTON.
In memory' of the Rev. J. A. Robinson, a man' of heroic qualities, who, in 1891, died at his post under the auspices of the English Church Missionary Society at Lokoja, in the Niger territories, this society has been founded. Its object is to provide for 1 scholarly and serviceable study of the Rausa language and for the enlightenment and Christianiza- tion of a very remarkable people.
Hausa is the lingua franca of the Central Soudan, an interesting country stretching from the Sahara to the pagan tribes near the Gulf of Guinea, and from the Egyptian Soudan to the French colony of Senegal. Between Tunis and Tripoli on the north and the Gulf of Guinea on the south, the region includes a large area, with a population of not less than fifteen millions.
It has been determined by the Association to invite a brother of Mr. Robinson's, the Rev. Charles H. Robinson, M.A., a- graduate of academic honors, varied experience, and tried capacity in Oriental travel, to be the first" student" of the newly established Association. Mr. Robinson has already spent three months in North Africa in a preliminary .study of Rausa and Arabic, and he is now making arrangements to pro- ceed with as little delay as possible to Kano and to various important towns in the Central Soudan, where the Rausa language may be studied most effectively. Kano, which has a reputed population of 100,000, will be reached from the junction of the Niger and Binue, by travelling overland past Katsena, with a population of 60,000 people, and other places to collect specimens of literature and study the different dialects. It is the ultimate aim of Mr. Robinson to attempt the journey across the Sahara to Tripoli. The entire expedition may occupy something less than two years, and will involve an outlay of £1600, toward which nearly £800 has been received. The project has the cordial sympathy of the Church Missionary Society and kindred organizations, also of the Royal Geographical Society, the Anthropological Institute, and the Anti-Slavery Society.
There does not appear to exist any distinct agency in Great Britain or Al)lerica for the study of the Hausa tongue, which is spoken by nearly one-hundredth of the whole human race. The subject is practically unbeaten ground. Some years ago the late Dr. Schon, a German student, succeeded in compiling a dictionary and issuing a grammar of the Hausa language, and subsequently a French author issued a grammar and vocabulary. A decisive impetus will soon be given to this worthy aim in consequence of a more intimate acquaintance with the Rausa race and their speech. With a British protectorate over the country it was especially incumbent upon the Anglo-Saxon nations to develop friendly and commercial relations through the network of caravan routes, and to guide the Hausa kingdom into OhristianizE!d civilization. Such an obligation gathered accentuated force from the rule which the "white man" exercised over vast domains in the occupation of these dark-skinned races.
The creation of a medium of communication with Hausaland was the preparatory step to an efficient leadership of millions, attended by the blessed triumphs of humane and spiritual emancipations. It was there- fore primarily the work of the Hausa Association to bridge the gulf of ignorance of each other's speech, which at present separates the Hansas from the rest of the world. The natives speaking lIausa radiated in every direction across African soil, even to the shores of the Mediterranean. They were met in the cou~tries bordering on the Atlantic, and were numerous on the Gold Coast and at Lagos, skirting the Gulf of Guinea. Every year their caravans penetrated farther southeastward into the heart of Africa, while pilgrimages were annually made to Mecca across the Dark Continent. Sir George Taubman-Goldie relates an interesting experience of travelling for several days in the company of one of these pilgrim caravans on a journey from Khartoum to Suakim. Some eight hundred persons belonged to it, who remained short periods at each of the principal centres and made fresh negotiations for trade. With this stamp of population shooting forth arms of contact, like a huge tropical creeping plant, it was recognized that, should the Hausas heartily adopt the Christian faith, they would become gracious agencies for the evangelizationof at least the half of Africa itself; This wide North African area, over twice the size of Europe, covered 500,000 square miles, and was popularly known as" Niger Territory," the home of the Hausas. Throughout the different States the dominant language, especially of the advanced portions of the tribes, was Hausa, for whose religious amelioration the undeniable responsibility was being laid at the door of Christendom.
In all probability Mr. Robinson will pursue his investigations for a time in the Rausa States west of Lake Tchad and north of the confluence of the rivers Niger and Binue. Supplementary to the study of the Hausa dialects and customs and the collection of native literature, he will make search for any remains which bear on the ancient traditions of the people and country. The Hausa race may rightly claim to be called the most literary of the native African races, on account of their extreme carefulness to preserve everything that has been written in their own tongue. Whatever light may be cast on the interesting philological inquiry of a possible connection of this language with the Semitic group, it has a peculiar claim on scholars and pioneers of the Gospel, because of its use by an immense number of Africa's children.
While the Hausas were followers of Islam, Wilmot-Brooke and other heralds of Christ noticed that they knew very little of their religion, and consequently the fanaticism which was so formidable in the Eastern Soudan was almost unknown there. An early anticipated harvest of the expedition is the translation of the New Testament into Hausa, which the lamented strenuous missionary, Mr. J. A. Robinson, inaugurated, by translating parts of the Scriptures, notably the first chapters of Matthew's Gospel. If this" ark of light" could be reproduced in the Hausa style of binding, it would most probably, through the passage of caravans, have a wide circulation, and the millions of the Soudan would learn something of the promised" way in the wilderness and rivocs in the desert."
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY NEV. J. T. GBACEY. D.D.
A Glanoe a.t the Situa.tion in Turkey. unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
BYRRV. C. C. TRACY, MARSOVAN, TURKEY The number in attendance at Anatolia IN ASIA. College is somewhat smaller than before The past year or year and a quarter the troubles began, but the spirit is imhas, in human view, been full of calam· proved and the seriousness of the stuity. As if there were not woe enough, dents increased. an attempt at revolution by secret organizations has made everything in· Some schools and congregations in finitely worse. stirred up the powers- the field are in a dilapidated state in that-be to the use of severe and stringent consequence of all that has occurred; measures, and brought suffering upon but we trust they will return to a genuall classes of people. The nine months ine spiritual life and growth. spent here since our return to our field have contained the anxieties and sub- God has sent His angels to protect us jected us to the wear of more than nine during these trying months. We trust of the previous years. The most dis- we shall be brought safely through tressing thing about it all has been the these trials and that the work may be all but universal distrust engendered, purer and better after the furnace heat that is testing it.
March 20th, 1894.
whereby people have been led to look The Shantung Mission, China. with suspicion upon their nearest friends and the members of their own house- Rev. C. R. Mills, D.D., of the Shan- holds. The consequences of these at- tung Mission, Tung Chow, near Che- tempts, fostered by former subjects of foo, China, says of the educational, this government, now in other countries, evangelistic, and philanthropic agen- and carried on here by those who, in- cies: "The educational institution at capable of judging wisely, rush with Tung Chow, founded by Dr. Mateer, wild enthusiasm into things the result,; and now ably managed by Rev. W. M.
of which they would shrink from with Hayes, is a college where, in addition to horror had they the foresight belonging a good Chinese education, a thorough to larger information and experience, training is given in all the Western sci· are already deplorable; God grant they ences. The institution is unendowed.
may not become yet more so. These The people whose sons come to the col- things have sadly blocked the progress lege are nearly all very poor. Their of the loving and peaceful Gospel, in- board and tuition has to be given them.
terfered with school work, with preach- The mission limits the number of stud- ing- and labor of other kinds, and kept ents to one hundred. The Bible and us in constant peril. Nevertheless, there Christian text-books are carefully stud- are not wanting signs that the evangel. ied, and the influences of the college ical work is recovering toue, and is are intensely Christian. Tbe young likely to take firmer hold in the soil, in men, most of them, remain in college consequence of the rude blast that has eight or ten years. Few of them go been passing over it. Rather to our through without becoming Ohristian.
surprise, we find in this place an un- The graduates are sought by agents of usual readiness to listen to the word of all the missionary societies in North life. The bitter taste of mere human and Central China. Some of them are remedies for human sorrows may have ordained ministers of high character, prepared the way for the reception of and others are engaged in other impor- the Saviour's loving invitation, "Come tant work. " The evangelizing work is carried on by thousands. The Buddhists and mostly by toure through the country in Taoists did nothing for them. These the spring and fall. There is an e:trort Christians, not of our own nationality, made to carry the Gospel by this means contribute the means, and the missionto the remote villages of the country. aries at great personal risk come and Much good has been done by this work, distribute food and save thousands of and it is rightly regarded as the princi lives. This religion is surely from pal work of the mission. heaven.' The result has been a large in- gathering. There are now 30 churches, " The philanthropic work is twofold- 3800 members, and 1700 scholars in the constant and the occasional. The schools of all grades." constant is the medical. This is immensely important. There are stations Among the Hill Tribes of Oentral India. at Chefoo, Tung Chow, Wei Hien, Che Nan-foo, Ichow, and Chi Nang BY REV. A. MULLER, ELLICHPUR, INDIA. Chow. There are dispensaries and hospitals at all these places. The most dis- [Berar Is a province in Central India. Nomtinguished success is at Wei Hien, where inally it is a part of the Nizam's dominions, but there is a hospital for men, under Dr. is really controlled by the British Government William Ferris, and one for women, un- on account of military debt. A few brethren of der Miss Mary Brown. M.D.• and Mrs. what are known as a "Faith" mission are Madge Dickson Mateer. Wei Hien is a about all the Christian agents there. Mr. MtlIlarge and wealthy city, with a very in- ler, the anthor of this communication, ia one fluential class of literary people-former of these missionaries.-J. T. G.] mandarins and literary gentry. 'I'hese people were formerly very hostile. On Christmas Day, December 25th, Some two years since Miss Dr. Brown with great joy we received the Christwas called to perform an operation of a mas home mail, and among many predifficult and delicate nature on a married cious letters one from a dear friend and lady in one of these high families. It brother in Christ, unknown to us after was a great success, and was regarded the flesh, but one with us in his love for by the Chinese as simply marvellous. the Hill people· in India, who said he Since that time these high families are had advised his bankers to pay to our on terms of the closest intimacy with mission 10,000 rupees, part of some the lady physicians and the missionary money which he gave to the Lord for families, and the whole city has become India six years before, but which had friendly. hitherto been tied up. I wish you all might have been present in our little "'I'he occasional philanthropy' has Hallelujah Meeting after I had opened been in connection with the former one that letter! I think we all have been and the flood three years since. At these truly humbled and greatly strengthened times large sums of money were col- through this Christmas gift. The Lord lected, mostly in Britain and America, has wished to honor our joyful yet tremand distributed by the missionaries with bling faith in which we resolved last the best results. On the last occasion a autumn to build the Chikalda BangIa, very thorough examination was made which may seem a small thing to others, of all the families in the flooded district. but was not such a one to us. And we This was done by the missionaries, and mean to " go forward" in the same faith the funds were distributed by them. " seeing Him and His treasuries (by mis- Thousands of lives were saved. Such take I had already written treasurers) a splendid object-lesson was presented who is invisible." We do not think it to the Chinese in the outlying districts would be " faith" to tie up these 10,000 beyond the flooded region as they had rupees (£620) again, but have proposed never before seen. 'Here,' they re- a forward movement of our whole little flected, • our countrymen were starving mission to the committee in London, urging specially three points: 1. The like to see converted. But who will necessity of solid although simple houses choose on whom the Lord sl10uld have in our unhealthy, dangerous hills. 2. mercy? Are not the first to become The accepting of native helpers to work last? (Rom. 9 : 15, 16, and the whole with our young men. 3. The call to chapter.) Yet I love these Bairam open parts of our mission field which people. I had thought this Mela would hitherto have remained quite untouched bear some heathenish resemblance to in the Melghat and in the Hoshangabad our drunken fairs in England. Germany, and Betul dIstricts north of the Tapti. and America. I thought of the wild This will be a sort of hard pioneer work lust displayed at the Holy Festival of in the very lonely hills there; but our the Hindus, and of fiendish fanaticism young men are ready to go "for His breaking forth in the nights of the glory and His kingdom," for whom the Mussulman Mohurram. Yet I could generous donor of the money prays that only compare this gathering to certain we may " lay it out." big mission meetings in Germany, to big camp-meetings in America, with the .A Letter from Yuhanna Papaya. exception of some devilish-looking fa- kirs and the wild music makers, whose "Since I have become a Christian I noise nightly filled our hours of rest have seen many troubles in the world, with dismay and sleeplessness. Think of but I don't think they were real troubles; 30,000 or 50,000, and altogether perhaps but the Father who gave His only begot- more people, camping together for days, ten Son to save our poor, sinful souls attracting a large number of shop-keeplikes also to teach His children the best ers of all kinds, also a few (very few) -way to love Him. Last week I went to showmen'sentertainments, without any visit my parents in A.–, and I was provision for cleanliness, worshipping very glad to see them ; and they also and feasting with satisfaction at nightwere glad, yet they showed me a house time, and you would wonder to see so next to theirs to live in, since they can- little of drunkenness or of real indecency not allow me to live in their house be· if you do away with merely Western nocause I have broken my caste through tions and habits; and but for that hidegiving my heart to Christ. My mother ous rock and place of Sacrifices you used to bring me food every meal-time, would scarcely fancy being at an idolaincluding a fowl for dinner, which was trous festival, with its terrible counterfar too much for me to eat; but my feit of Golgotha. The fact is, the father wanted me to come back to his Bairam worshippers are mostly farmers caste again, and wanted to pay a lot of from the Berars and Betul, quiet and money to the caste people to take me in respectable, pious heathen, seeking to again. It was very hard for me not to serve God, they and their whole houses. be received in my parents' house; but the Saviour speaks in my heart that 'You think so much of things which will be destroyed, but you don't think .A Tirath on the Tapti River. of the house in which you will live with the Lord forever. Don't you feel hap- Brother E. Charles writes: .. Arrivpy?' I was happy; I cannot say how ing db. the bank of the Tapti, I found happy. But I want you to pray for me the people already gathered – those that I may not get troubled about such from the south side of the river and things, but feel happy in the Lord for- those from the north-where are their ever." objects of worship. One is a large fig- ure with one pujari (a priest), one go- The Bairam Mela-The Worshippe1"$ at sain (a saint), and one Brahman, who Bairam. seem to be the three who play on the people. Then there are about six: The Bairam idolaters are just (besides smaller figures, the whole being cut out our Kurkus) the people whom I should flat on the rock. The ceremony is opened in the morning by the people The young people are also with us to taking a dip in the water; then they go be prepared for baptism. Mahadeo is to take their offerings to the Dev–chiefty just about to start with me and Yuhan· cocoanuts, and rarely a goat, which is na Papaya on a three or four weeks'
slaughtered a little away. They sprinkle jungle touring; when we return we some water on the large figure, break may receive these little ones, together their cocoanuts against it, prostrate with a young man, into the Church of themselves before it, paint it with a cer- Christ.
tain red stuff, then fall at the feet of the pujari, give him a piece or some such The Peasant Women of Bulgaria. money-offering, and then they pass on to the Brahman, whom they serve in a simi- BY MRS. ZOE A. M. LOCKE, BULGARIA.
lar manner. After this they pass on to Life in the larger cities of Bulgaria is the little idols, throw a little water on very different from that in the Villages.
each, and apply that red stuff [sendur, The women are better educated and red lead], etc. They then return to more refined and live more as Western their place of encampment to partake Europeans live; but it is from village of food and afterward return home. life that the Bulgarian nation of to.day These are the doings of the better has sprung, greatly modified, however, people, just as in Bairam. On the by education and political and religious evening I got into the Tirath, I sang by freedom. I wish to lift the curtain and the light of their fires, around which let my readers see how Bulgarian they were sitting, and spoke to them, women live in their village.
to which they assented; but these The question is frequently asked me, people's assenting means nothing. The "Of what color are the Bulgarians ?"
next moment they go their old way. They belong to the Caucasian race, The following morning I also went out, and so are white, though they are gen· but they were not very attentive. When erally not so fair as those living in more I returned home I could praise God for northerly parts of Europe. They have His power unto salvation to U8. He dark hair and eyes. Exercise in the breaks the power of Satan. Glory to open air and exposure to the winds and Him !" sun make their complexions a few &me who 866k llipti8m. shades darker than they otherwise would be. Our Bulgarian sister has a wealth It was a very solemn moment for me of hair which might make some Ameri· when, several weeks ago, I'found myself can women envious, and she knows sitting at the foot·end of the bed of a just how to color it to give it that rich slowly dying brother, having his auburn tint which is so much admired.
nephew and niece squatted on my right She has a good-not high-forehead, and left to receive their first instruction large black eyes, rather high cheek· for baptism. How in that humble vil· bones, broad nose-good for service, but lage hut the tiny native lamp shone not celebrated for its beauty, a large upon my Bible; how bright the girl, mouth, beautiful white teeth, a rounded Anandit (" the joyful one"), looked, and chin, face, as a whole, broad, short what bright answers the boy, Maha- neck, high shoulders, large, strong arms deo(the" great god"), gave. Meanwhile, and hands. She is never guilty of com· the suffering "Lazarus" has died, pressing her waist into two thirds its whose special hymn was this, "God proper size. She has no need of mutton- loved the world of sinners lost ;" and for leg sleeves to broaden the beauty of her urgent reasons we have taken his boy shoulders. Her muscl~s are strong and of twel ve years into our house; and well developed, made so by labor in the these young people's father has ll-nex· fields. Her foot is a very serviceable pectedly died even before the other. one, not confined by too close·fitting shoes, and not often troubled with or weave, or take care ot her young corns. She decks herself in garments children and enjoy the fresh air. The her own hands have made, in fashion living-room is quite large, not very not so very unlike those advocated by well lighted ; and she sometimes makes Mrs. Jenness Miller, but rather an im- its walls neat with whitewash and the provement on hers, being loose and still hard earth :Boor smooth with a mud more simple. She has a way of cover- wash which, when dried, is quite sering her beautiful hair with gay-colored viceable, and has this advantage, that head-uandkerchiefs or other larger cov- it is easily swept, does not show dust, erings which are more beautiful than and does not furnish hiding-places for neat. Her daughters are fond of the numerous :Beas. A large chimney " bangs," but curling irons are un- at one side of the room is a good ventiknown; and if their own hair is not lator, as it allows the smoke and heat to just right, black silk fringe makes a good escape, and the cold air, the rain and snbstitute for their bangs. They are the snow to come in. At the close of fond of wearing their hair in a dozen or the day the kitchen hearth is the most two fine braids, to which, if not long attractive spot in the room. Its bright enough to suit their taste, they do not fire and pot of boiling soup give good hesitate to add something coarser. cheer to the tired ones sitting about them. Setting the table for the evening The Bulgarian woman's garments are meal is not a very laborious process and sometimes sombre and sometimes gay. does not take much time. The soup She is very fond of bright colors, and forms the. central dish upon a low, embroiders her garments with gay-col- round table. Each member of the ored woollen or cotton yarns. She has family sits around the table on the :Boor gay hose 10f her feet, which latter she or on cushions, and is provided with a does not. always keep the whitest or spoon and a generous slice or two of neatest. She has a pair of wooden clogs bread. Supper is soon dispatched, and for muddy times, but she leaves them very little washing of dishes afterward always outside her door. If she be a is one of the pleasant results of this woman of ordinary means, she decorates primitive style of eating. Around the herself with strings of bright-colored room are disposed various household beads, gold or silver coins, or their imi- utensils-the bread·trough, in which the tation. She likes a good supply of ear weekly batch of bread is mixed; the and finger.rings, of bracelets and washing trough, made to do duty somebrooches, though they may not be of times as a cradle ; the :Bour-chest, the the finest gold. She is not completely bread-box, copper kettles and pails, "etc. dressed at home or abroad unless she The one large, gayly painted trunk behas on a woollen apron-and every vil- longs to the housewife, and contains her lage has its own style; some being wardrobe at the time of her marriage bright orange, some red, and others of and continues in that capacity still. A various colors. pile of home·made rugs, blankets, and cushions occupy one side of the room, Let us look at her home. She has a which is high or low according to the frame house plastered with mud with- means of the family. Chairs and bedout and within and not generally white- steads are unnecessary for this housewashed. Its roof may be of thatch or keeper, as she sits on her cushions and tiles. Tiles are more frequently used sleeps on her rugs spread on the earth now than formerly. It may contain :Boor, and there dreams her sweetest one, two, or three rooms-usually two dreams. One article more must be -one of which is the larger and is the added to this list of household furnish- Iiviug, reception, and sleeping.room, and ings, and that is a small, cupboard-like the other a store·room. The covered IIrr!lugement, always Oll the east side of entrance furnishes a convenient place where the housewife may ~it and spin, the room, in which is placed a picture drive her ox-team to market, sell her of the Madonna or the picture of some wood at a good bargain, and with the saint, as the case may be, and before money provide what she needs for her which swings a little lamp. This lamp household. She makes most, if not all, is kept burning on the days kept for the of the cloth-woollen, cotton, or linen- Virgin and other saints. used in the family. She is not quick Now let us see how she employs her with her needle, takes rather long time. She rises from her hard bed be- stitches, but compensates for that by fore light in winter and by light in sum- using very coarse thread. A tailor is mer. In springtime you might see her employed to cut and make some of the wending her way to the fields, one, heavier garments. In spinning she uses two, or three miles away, before the sun the hand spindle and distaff or a small is up. In one hand she carries her spinning-wheel. She spins and weaves heavy hoe, with which she can do won- rugs, blankets, and towels for herself derfully good service in the vineyards and others. Her daughters are taught and cornfields. Frequently you may from their early years to assist her in all see the mother carrying her youngest on the household duties. I have often seen her back, slung in a kind of woollen girls five or six years old sitting at the bag, as she trudges along to her work. street gate spinning or knitting. . These While the mother works baby has a mothers have the rare faculty of spin- happy time lying under a tree, or bush, ning stocking yarn and street" yarn" at or an awning improvised for the occa- the same time. They begin to knit their sion with the aid of the mother's apron. stockings at the toe, using hooked If, after a time, this gets to be rather needles, and knit on the stocking far- monotonous for baby, his only resort is thest from them. This Bulgarian mother his mother's back, and he must take his begins to prepare her daughter's trous- joltings and chances there, and does seau soon after hllr daughter's birth, actually fall asleep sometimes while his that it may be ready when the oppor- mother continues at her work. She tunity for marriage comes. She knows t8.kes her lunch·bag with her; and if you how to make sauerkraut, sour bread, and should take a peep inside you would see sour milk. She knows how to dress a some very black bread and probably lamb, stuff it with rice, raisins, nuts, some garlic or onions, or maybe a piece salt and pepper enough to keep you in of cheese or a head of lettucl3, or some remembrance of it the rest of the day.
cucumbers, or only a little salt and pep- As a special delicacy for her guests, she per. She leaves off work in season to flavors her boiled chicken with garlic.
reach home by sunset. Then she pre- She makes a variety of mince pies, pares the evening meal, finishes the which she bakes in a large fiat dish a housework, puts her children to bed, foot or two in diameter. The P1ince is and soon joins them in long, refreshing crumbled cheese, pounded walnut meat, slumber. She works regularly with her or chopped beet leaves and leeks, with husband in the fields through planting, sometimes the addition of grape syrup hoeing. and harvesting. She helps in or honey, or sweet or sour milk to the tile gathering of the grapes, in making taste.
wine and grape syrup, and in threshing Something of her characteristics.-She tile grain. So much out·door work is very hospitable to friends and strano must be very burdensome, and yet she gers. She is industrious and generally would not wish to be deprived of the patient, and submits to kismet (fate) privilege. She can take care of the with better grace than some of her cows, make butter and cheese, walk transatlantic sisters. She is very patri- several miles "to the city market, While otic; not only is she ready to send away her husband accompanies her on his her husband and sons to fight for her donkey. She can cut wood, load it, country, but in several instances during the late Servian War she actually went the old Slavic Janguage, but she thinks, nevertheless, that she has received a herself. She is very emotional, easily blessing, and departs from the church affected by joy or sorrow. She is very to spend the remainder of the day in susceptible to ridicule. She is some- visiting and recreation and sometimes times quarrelsome, gossiping, and jeal- in working. She is much under the inous, which shows that she belongs to the fluence of the pl'iests. and does not wish same race that we do. She is fond of to do anything to incur their displeasamusement, and enjoys the village dance ure. She vigorously persecutes any out on the green or the dance in the who dare to differ in opinion from the street after a wedding, even though it teaching of the Established Church. be in winter with snow underfoot. If Saints' days she observes more strictly she has not learned submission from her than she does the Sabbath, saying that mother, her husband does not fail to "they come only once a year, while teach her by a more effectual method Sunday comes once a week." To be than moral suasion. If she thinks best called a Protestant is the worst thing to retaliate she may take the opportunity that could possibly happen to her; and to visit her mother and let her husband she has been heard to say that she would have a quiet time for reflection, which rather her husband should become a generally has the effect of bringing him drunkard and her son die than that they round in a few days, when the broken should become Protestants. links will be repaired, and she will return to her home. Married life is not How does the Gospel enter these Bulall smooth, thollgh I do not think that garian homes, and what has it done for divorces are more frequent there than in them? Booksellers or colporteurs visit America in proportion to the population. these villagers and carry them the Bible Matrimonial relations are often entered and good books and tracts, and by their into without the mutual love which is conversation often prepare the way for so necessary to a happy life. The pa- the evangelist, either male or female. rents make the arrangement and the As soon as it can be brought about, a young couple acquiesce_ Bible-woman is located in the village, and she visits from house to house and Professedly only the biblical reasons reads to them from the Bible. She stimfor divorce are allowed, but practically ulates in them a desire to learn to read, a " backsheesh" by either party will be and she teaches them to do that with sufficient to bring it about. Women are the Bible, or a portion of it, as a textsubject to temptations to lead impure book. Little by little their prejudices lives; and I am sorry to say that there die away, and the true light breaks in are in Bulgaria some fallen ones. upon their souls.
The Bulgarian woman is very re- The Gospel has the same wonderful ligious. She fasts twice a week, and transforming influence upon the women six weeks before Christmas and Easter, of Bulgaria that it has on the women of and several days at other times during other countries. Wherever it enters it the year. She keeps her little oil lamp renovates the hearts and homes. It burning before the pictures of the saints, puts a new light into the eye, a new to whom she specially prays on their song into the mouth, and a perpetual days, and also when there is sickness in joy into the heart. They love to tell the family. She confesses her sins to "the story of Jesus and His love" to the priest, and iJ' he so requires, she their neighbors; they love to attend the must pay penance for her wrong-doing. prayer-meetings, and are not ashamed Usually she attends church on Sabbath nor afraid to let their voices be heard in morning, and religiously holds her wax prayer. They vote with their husbands taper during as much of the service as and brothers on church matters, and she wishes to hear. She does not un- some of our Bulgarian sisters have been derstand the service, as it is intoned in on the examining committee for church- pantheistic idea is other than .this.
membership. They are benevolent, and Revelation, conscience, reason and will give more in proportion to their means are all annihilated. At every moment than many of our American women do. of existeace there is nothing but abso- One poor old lady, who had no money lute power, bare power, on the one hand, to give, gave the silver buckle which and absolute passivIty and negativity, on belonged to her wedding belt-a pre- the other. The murid is not a man in cious thing to her-to help support the any true sense of the term, but mere preaching of the Gospel in her city. If material, a mere receptacle which is they have used wine or tobacco before constantly being created and then taken conversion, they become total abstainers to pieces or filled and then emptied.
afterward. They labor in the temper- What he is has nothing to do with the ance cause; they have benevolent soci- nature of the communications or com· eties, they have mothers' meetings, and mands which are made to him or laid are thankful for all the help they can upon him. Judged by ordinary stand- have to assist them in training their chil- ards, they may be reasonable or unrea- dren aright. Twenty-five years ago sonable, wise or unwise, holy or un- only here and there one had learned the holy, but with all this he has nothing to way to heaven by the cross of Christ; do. Is he commanded to tell the truth, now hundreds of women know of this he tells the truth. Is he commanded to way and are walking in it. lie, he lies. Are counsels of wisdom give to him, he carries them out. Are The Babia of Persia. the wildest vagaries of a madman en- joined upon him, this duty of obedience BY REV. P. z. EAs'rON, D.D., NEW YORK is exactly the same. Let me say: CITY. First. The system is an essentially Having been acquainted with Babis vicious one, based as it is on the degra- for the last twenty years, and having dation of the murid, who is robbed of studied the system on which the sect is all that makes him a man and reduced founded for the last eighteen years, I to a mere automaton. The honor and should like to write a few words on the glory of the murshid is built up on the article "The Babis of Persia," page ruin of the murid. A more perfect 362 of the May. number of THE MIs- contrast to Christianity it is impossible SIONARY REVIEW. to conceive. "Because I live," says The origin of Babism is to be sought the Saviour, "ye shall live also" (John in Persian pantheism-a system which 14 : 19). "And the glory which thou goes back more than a thousand years, gavest Me I have given them; that they during which time it has produced many may be one, even as we are one: I in sects, of which Babism is one of the them, and Thou in Me. that they may be latest. All these sects hold one funda- made perfect in one ; and that the world mental doctrine-viz., that the murid, or may know that Thou hast sent Me, and disciple, is to give himself up absolute- hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me"
ly, body and soul, to the murshid, or (John 17 : 22, 23).
guide. To say that the murshid is, to Second. It cannot be reformed, see- all intents and purposes, in place of ing that the first step in the way of re- God to the murid is to understand the form is to destroy the system root and matter. When God speaks to us He branch.
speake to us as men, honoring the facul- Third. Every attempt to carry out ties of reason, conscience, and will with the principles of this system has been which He has endowed us. Does any- fraught with the most terrible evils.
thing claim to be a new revelation? It The career of Mokanna in the eighth must meet the demands of the old reve- century, of which we have a true and lation, and stand or fall thereby. The faithful description in Moore's" Lalla Rookh;" that of Babek in the ninth, and whose pure lives shall serve to mask of Karmath in the tenth, both of whom their own corruption. In the case of turned the Oriental world into an Acel- the Assassins the character of the sect dema, or field of blood, more than all was not fully exposed to public view that of Wassan Sabah and his followers, until more than seventy years after it the Assassins, who for one hundred and was founded. seventy years, from 1090 on, inaugurated iii reign of terror compared with which There is no need of wasting any symthat of the French Revolution was pathy on the sufferings of the Babis. child's play, these and other instances That they have suffered terribly is true. which might be given both in ancient That they have endured suffering with and modern times amply prove our as- marvellou~ fortitude and constancy is sertion. also true. So, however, it has always been in the case of these sects. When We are now asked to believe that the infamous Babels, whose rule was Babism is an exception to the rule; that to cause the wives and daughters of his this devilish, this satanic system-and captives to be violated before their no other words can describe it-has eyes, had his hands and feet struck off, been transformed; that the serpent has " he laughed, and smilingly sealed with lost his fangs, and that the wolf has his blood the criminal gayety of his become the true protector of the sheep. tenets" (Von Wammer's "History of Where, we ask, is the evidence for this the Assassins," p. 27). As teachers and amazing claim? Is it to be found in practisers of assassination the Babis the blasphemous declarations of Beha, richly deserve all they have been called that he was not only Christ, but God the upon to sulier. Father? Is it to be found in his life, stained with the basest of crimes? Is It is idle to talk about their not interthe man who attempted to poison his fering with governments, when, in the own brother. whom he had invited to eat eyes of a Babi, there is no government with him, the inaugurator of a new dis- but that of his leader. So long as that pensation of peace on earth? And leader is in a state of semi.captivity, what, forsooth, have we on the other the exercise of his authority over rulers side? Naught but honeyed words_ and countries may well slumber, lest he The wolf is arrayed in sheep's clothing bring down vengeance on his own head. -ergo, he is not It wolf. What makes Let him, however, once become an inthe matter still worse is that no excuse dependent sovereign, and we may then can be pleaded for this mall. He was a expect the return of that time when cold-blooded villain, not iii madman, like there was no security for sovereign or the founder of the Druses, or a deluded people, save as they became the slaves enthusiast, such as we may suppose the of the most awful despotism which ever original Bab to have been. Good men showed itself on earth. there are among the Babis, men who have been drawn toward the system, More freedom for women. Yes, but hoping to find in it truth which they from the days of Mazdak these sects had vainly sought in Mohammedanism; have taught the community of women. good not because of the system, but in The millennium to be inaugurated is spite of it. Xavier was a holy man, but one of absolute license (Von Wammer, Jesuitism is anything but holy. We p. 105, etc.). are to remember, moreover, that in all these pantheistic systems it is only a After reading this and milch other few who at first are fully initiated into such stuff, which finds its way into the "the depths of Satan," that it is the puolic prints, one wonders how it is policy of the leaders to keep the multi- that Christian men and women can be tude in ignorance, and to have some so deceived.
Nevertheless, it is true that there I is a terrible fascination about these pan- theistic schemes, which does seem for a time at least to rob men of sight, hear- ter from Dr. C. B. H. Martin, Danville, ing, and understanding. Unquestion- Ky., is coming hOlnenext year to spend ably, too, they contain grand views of the evening of life among his friends. truth, but the pity of it, the horror of it is that the truth, which should be so He is saddened by the great loss of his presented as to be uplifting and inspir- noble wife, who was translated last 'ing, is but the baIt upon the hook to drag down the soul to hell. April. He has been in China forty-five A Baptist missionary from the Upper years, is president of the Imperial Uni- Congo, writing us on another subject, versityof Peking, and is thought to be the best Chinese scholar living. He is in the neighborhood of seventy years of age, and is entitled to a little rest from the most arduous labors of a long and well-spent life."
incidentally says: "The injustice and cruelty to which the natives are exposed Since the opening of the Theologiby the Belgium State is a cause of much cal Seminary of the Methodist Episcoanxiety. On December 28d last, four pal Church at Bareilly, India, two huncanoes went to a town by night, the soldiers surrounded the place and fired; dred native missionaries have passed out rushed men, women, and children, their only aim in life just then to escape through the regular course of three from their terrible foe. Everyone was ruthlessly murdered and the right hand years; sixty have taken a partial of each cut off to carry to the white man as proof that all had been slain. Their course; one hundred and seventy-eight only offence was that they had neglected women, the wives of the students, have been trained to assist in the work, sixty- one Christian teachers have received certificates from the Normal Depart- ment; thus four hundred and ninety.
nine workers have passed out from the school.
to carry kwangee (their staple food) to the State-and it is understood that Bishop Gobat says of Palestine: they had neglected this but one day. " There exists no family life based upon The river last season had risen to an the ennobling principles of self-denying unusual height, and many of their gar- love, truth, and justice, either among dens had been under water, hence a nominal Christians or Mohammedans.
small famine in their midst; but no Neither the Greek Christians nor the account was taken of this. What won· Mohammedans have schools with a der that the people mock at Christianity higher object than the mechanical prac- when, on the one hand the Bible is tice of spelling and reading; no moral oftered them, and on the other examples or religious training is attempted by so directly opposed to its teachings are the masters, who are generally taken before them." from the lowest classes, and choose this vocation because, from some physical The Bombay Guardian learns that defect, they are incapable of a more ac- tive life. The ,whole training consists Li Hung ·Chang, tbe Chinese Viceroy simply in the exercise of the memory. and Grand Secretary, has memorialized The Greeks begin with the Psalms, and the Emperor for permission to retire, afterward read the Gospel, while Mo- hammedans commit parts of the Koran on account of advanced age, from the to memory. Not the least attempt is made to develop the intellect or to dionerous position wbich he has so long. rect the heart to spiritual truths. Where is, therefore, the salt Wherewith this so loyally, and so honorably held. The stagnant people is to be salted? Where G1tardian says: "Li Hung Chang may the principles of justioe, righteousness, truthfully be called one of the greatest statesmen of this century. He has piloted China through many troubles, and has exhibited a standard of morality which might well put not a few leading European statesmen to shame."
The Western Ol!ristianAdvocate says: and truth are so utterly ignored, it is "Rev. W. A. p, Martin, D.D., LL.D., very difficult to stir up the sense of the Peking, China, as we learn from a let- need of a Saviour."
rmLD OF' MONTHLY SURVEY
III.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
Africa, * The Freedmen. t CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. Zulus number nearly half a million. Among the natives there are 27 princi- BY REV. JOSIAH TYLER. pal mission stations and 35 branch sta- tions; members in full communion, Protestant missions in South Africa about 5000; native preachers, 106 ; day are developing a degree of life cheering schools, 65 ; ordained native ministers, to every Christian observer. A few 11. The Bible is translated into the years ago it was predicted by some that Zulu dialect, also a variety of element- the influx of Anglo-Saxons into that ary books. There are now in the field barbarous territory would be followed American missionaries, European be- by bloodshed, the spread of intemper- longing to the Church of England, , ance, and other vices; but God in His Scotch Free Church, German (Berlin providence has utilized white settlers and Hanoverian), Norwegian. and (gOld miners chiefly) in opening wide Swedes. Pains are taken by the Ameri- tracts of country for the spread of His can missionaries to train a native min- Word. The history of the Queen's istry, and not without success. Besides Chartered Company, from the time its these there are Trappists, Catholics of members left Cape Town till they the Benedictine Order, who have indus- reached Mashonaland, is very interest- trial schools in various parts of the col- ing, and the manner in which they ony. treated the aborigines in Matabeleland and the Bechuana district is creditable Zululand, separated from Natal loy a to them. The good they accomplished small river. has a native population of in checking intertribal wars, stopping 120,000. Norwegians, Germans (Lu- the cruel customs of superstition, pro- therans). and the Church of England tecting the lives of missionaries, and occupy that part of the field, and their providing facilities for evangelistic reports since the Zulu war of 1879-80 work is incalculable. have been highly encouraging.
In previous numbers of this REVIEW In Matabeleland the native popula- attention has been directed to Northern tion is estimated at 300,000. They are and Eastern Africa. What is being ac- Zulus. having originally come from Zu- complished and what are the prospects luland, and are war-loving. The father in the southern part of the continent? of Lo Bengula, the late chief, was a friend of Rev. Robert Moffatt, the Glance first at Natal, the" Garden noted missionary of Bechuanaland, and Colony" of !:louth Africa. of which the promised that he would protect the English are .justly proud, on" account lives of those who settled in his coun- of its healthy climate, picturesque sce- try for the purpose of evangelizing his nery, and commercial prosperity. It be- people. Lo Bengula, his SUGcessor, came a dependence of Great Britain in kept that promise. so far as security 1845, but ten years previously the of life is concerned, but refused to A. B. C. F. M. sent to it a party of allow a single man or woman of his brave missionaries, who clung to the tribe to embrace Christianity. Now field during a long period of discour- that Great Britain has assumed the pro- agement and trial. Its European popu- tectorate of that region, the lives of na- lation at present is 47,000, while the tive converts are safe. and the few breth. ren of the London Missionary Society * See also pp. 285 (April). S.~8 (May), and 401. located there are much encouraged." So far as the chief is concerned, we believe 411.424. 441 (present iSRue). t See p. 486_(present issne). he desired to live on friendly terms with vassal of the Portuguese, who have a the English. Like Cetywayo, Chief of few missionaries (Roman Catholic) in Zululand, he may not have been able to his dominion, but he prefers the proteccontrol his soldiers. An attack on the tion of the English throughout his coun- Mashonas, lately made, was repulsed by try. Friends of missions will look with white men, and complications arose interest for news in regard to the hiswhich resulted in a collision and the tory of the first Protestant mission in complete subjection of that tribe to the that distant region. British crown. This was the case when this article was written, but great In the Transvaal (Dutch republic). changes have taken place. Mr. Mof- with an area of 116,000 square miles fatt is now at Palapyre, the capital of and a population estimated at from the Bamangwato. As the papers show, 360,000 to 800,000, more mission work 1t1atabeleland is now open for commerce is now being accomplished than ever and Christianity. before, and the prospects are highly en- couraging. For many years the Dutch In Mashonaland, destined probably farmers were indifferent to the moral to become the Eldorado of Africa, mis- necessities of multitudes of their own sionaries are early on the ground, nota- people as well as the heathen. but a bly Wesleyan Methodists and the change has taken place. Very few of Church of England. Both societies the Boers are now without instruction, have received liberal grants from the and the Zulus, from whose forefathers British South African Company, and are they suffered so much in the time of laying broad foundations for usefulness Dingaan (a treacherous chief), are now among whites as well as natives. For in some cases meeting with kind treatthe latter a brick church holding 250 ment at their hands. A missionary has lately been opened and without spirit has sprung up, and efforts to debt. Eight native volunteer evange- evangelize the natives, similar to those lists have gone from the Transvaal to in the "Dutch farm missions," in the teach those people. The country is northern part of Natal are not uncOln' about the size of Scotland, with not at mono This is true also of the Orange present a large native population, but Free State, in which Wesleyan Methas it is healthy on the high tablelands, odists and German missionaries are laand rich in agricultural, pastoral, and boring successfully. The growth in mineral resources, it will doubtless be the Transvaal from 1884-92, according soon filled with Zulus as well as Euro- to Rev. Owen Watkins, a missionary peans, £7000 have been granted for who has been on the ground for several mission work in Mashonaland by the years, is remarkable. Within those Society for the Propagation of the Gos- eight years the native agents have inpel in Heathen Lands. creased irom 97 to 538; the member- ship from 774 to 3539; the attendance To the Manica district, the northern on public worship being from 11,254 to part of Gazaland, a portion of which is 25,308. elevated and healthy, the American Board has just sent a party of four or- In Ton~aland, a malarial district dained missionaries with their wives dominated by the British, are a few and some Zulu assistants. They ac- mission stations, mostly under the quired the language in Natal, some of charge of Christian natives sent by the whom had previously explored Manica- Wesleyan Methodists. land. Gungunyana, the chief, principally through a kind message sent to In Swazieland, with an area of 2500 him by Sir Cecil Rhodes, has given to square miles and a native population of the missionaries land on which to build, 80,000, probably soon to be ruled by and has promised to protect them. The the Dutch, the Methodists have for chief, like his predecessor, has been a many years been at work, and not with- out encouragement. In Basutuland, the" Switzerland of Cape Colony is estimated at 200,000•. Ac- South Africa," embracing an area of cording to the census of 1891, there were 10,000 square miles and a native popu- 50,388 Hottentots in the Cape Colony.
lation of 175,000, mission work is vig- In Ka.ifirland, with a native popUla- orously prosecuted, chiefly by French tion of 500,000, mission work has been Protestants. Nowhere in South Africa prosecuted since 1736, when the Mora.
has there been such a degree of success. vian Brethren entered that field. It has The Basutus are regarded as the most now representatives of the Free Church intelligent, industrious, and progressive of Scotland, the Rhenish, Berlin, Her- of the Kaillr clans. That the native mansburg, Dutch Reformed, primitive Christians in that field might evangel- Mcthodist, and Roman Catholics.
ize an ignorant, superstitious, and war- Namakwaland and Demararaland loving tribe, speaking their own tongue were made a German dependency in (the Barotsi, living far distant on the 1884. They cover about 360,000 miles, northern bend of the Zambesi River), and have a population of 236,000. Hot- they sent up a few years ago a mission- tentots occupy about three quarters of ary party conducted by the Rev. Mr. the country, and constitute one fifth of Coillard, a man of heroic faith, whose the population. The Finnish (Lutheran career will make a deeply interesting Society), Rhenish, and English Meth- chapter in the history of pioneer mis- odists labor among them.
sionaries in Africa; and now, after years The report of the South African Con- of toil in that field, God is crowning ference sent to the British Conference their lahors with success. The politi- at the close of 1892 shows clearly that cal affairs of Basutoland are under the our Methodist brethren have reason to charge of the Cape Colony. No ardent thank God and go forward with zeal.
spirits are allowed within its borders. Their field includes the districts of the British Bechuanaland has an area of Cape of Good Hope, Graham's Town, 1,190,000 square miles, is a good agri- Queen's Town, Kimberly, and Natal.
cultural and pastoral region, having a Missionary work is not confined exclu- native population of 475,000. The most sively to the natives, but the report says interesting tribe in that country is the that the growth of our colonial and na- BamangwatQ, whose chief is Khama, tive church is larger than in any other the "most enIlghtened and Christian previous year. The number of native ruler in Africa," a man who exerts him- church·members is 36,367, being an in- self nobly to keep intoxicating liquors crease dur~ng the year of 2844. There from being sold in his country, and who are 14,265 native members on trial, with furthers every good cause. The latest 76,412 in junior society classes.
intelligence from Bamangwato Chris- tians is, that they are sending mission- Statistical Notes, aries to Lake Ngami, encouraged and aided by their worthy chief. The Dark Continent contains the The Cape Colony has an area of 333,- most prodigious mass of savage human- 000 square miles, with a population of ity, of degradation bordering on the 1,252,347, of which whites form one bestial, to be found upon the face of the third. Within this area are the Transki, earth. Senegambbn, Kaffir, Bushman, East Griqualand and Tembuland. For Hottentot, are ::ynonymou8 with Fijian the whites, the Dutch Reformed and and New Zealander before they were Episcopalians (S. P. S.) are laboring, transformed by the Gospel, and with but the natives are not neglected. cannibal of 2.~·ew Hebrides or New Among the Malays in the vicinity of Guinea, Patagonians and Australian ab- the Cape and those of the Moslem faith origines of to-day, But while the island- the Methodists have mission stations.. erc number :It the most only a few hun- The number of native Christians in the dred thousand, Africa contains scores of
A B c o E F G H J K
20 10 1 . " ..•………….•….•.•• 3 ~ 4 ,.'f:':'.:.:.;.:.-…..••..•.••.. . aOCOTR A II "'- '". "':~ 6 G uL oF E:QUATOR …. THO…… I 7 ?~ GUIN.l!JA ~ o 8 r.q "V 10 9 .5T.HELENA I.
10 20 ~———-~——————~——————–~–~~~ – – · ·Z ………._……………'!.~.qr.t~…… qf……..R~.~.~.lg..O.R••N 11 AFRICA 30 12 SCAn: OF MILES 200 400 600 800 1000 13 Longitude 10 Longitude 10 20 .from 30 Greenwich JO A B c o E F G H J K
FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY
millions, a host nearly three times as Mohammedanism entered Africa more great as the population. of the United than twelve hundred years ago with the conquering Arabs, and the invasion States, and four times as great as that of has continued both from the north and the British Isles; and yet its 12,000,000 east ever since. The sword, commerce, square miles are only one thirteenth as and direct missionary effort have densely settled as India and one tenth as wrought together to extend this faith from the coast through the vast desert densely as China. It is true, there is a toward the interior, until the Congo great difference in Africans intellectual- and the Zambesi have been reacheii, ly, socially, and politically. Not a few and its influence is felt as far south as rise to an estate approaching to civiliza- Natal and the Cape. tion; the great majority are, however, The Abyssinian Ohurch was founded in the earliest centuries, but,like all the exceedingly low in the scale of human- ecclesiastical bodies of the time. soon ity. departed from the purity of New Testa- Authorities differ widely as to statis- ment faith and practice. and under the combined influence of Islam, Judaism, tics, and only estimates are possible. and heathen surroundings, has become Those given here represent a mean be- the most corrupt and apostate of all or- tween the two extremes. ganizations which bear the name of Population of Africa…. ………… 160,000,000 Christ. The Ooptic Oh.U1·ch, the only North ……..••……………….. 20,000,000 surviving remnant of the old Church Western Eqnatorial …………… 00,000,000 of Egypt, is wholly confined to the Nile Eastern Equatorial. ……………. 35,000,000 Valley, where also are located a few South………………………… 15,000,000 thousand Syrians, Greeks, Armenians, Religionl : etc. About 500,000 Roman Oatholics, main- Mohammedans ……………….. 77,000,000 Pagans.. •.• . …………………. 75,000,000 ly French, Spanish, and Italian, dwell Christians…………………….. 7,500,000 in Algeria; some 250,000 arc connected Abyssinian Christians. . . . . . . . . . . . .. 5,000,000 with the numerous and widely scat- Protestant….. ……………….. 1,100,000 tered missions, and the remainder be- Roman Catholic…… ………….. 800,000 long to the various colonies founded by Coptic, etc.. ………………. ….. 600,000 papal powers. About 20,000 are set- tled in Cape C010ny_ Jesuits, Capu- North Africa includes the region lying chins, the Brothers of the Sahara, and other monastic orders, 17 in all, with between the Mediterranean and 15° 370 priests, are busy night and day north latitude, and contains an area of changing pagans into papists.
about '4,500,000 square miles. Equa- More than one half the Protestant toriaZ Africa stretches from this line to OMistians, or about 700,000, are Euro- 15° south of the equator, and is divided pean colonists, chiefly English and Dutch, and are largely confined to into two sections on the meridian of South Africa. The remaining 400,000 25° east longitude. Thus Western have been rescued from paganism by Equatorial Africa embraces the West the bearels of glad tidings from Ger- many, Britain, and America. Not less Coast from Senegal to Angola, the than 60 missionary societies are united Niger Basin, Western Soudan, and the in the herculean task of conquering bulk of the Congo Basin, an area of Africa for Christ. Of these 24 are about 2,500,000 square miles. The east- British, 16 American, 10 German, and 7 ern portion contains the great lakes and are Scandinavian, etc. About one third of the number have entered recently, the region of the Upper Nile, and ex· consequently their harvest does not yet tends over about 2,000,000 square miles. appear.
South Africa comprises the remainder In South Africa the Gospel was first of the continent, an area of less than proclaimed in modern times, and here it has won its largest victories. It is 3.000,000 square miles. gratifying to know that Cape Colony There are four principal and very dis· can fairly claim the right to be called tinct races: the Semitic, the negro Christian. Of its popUlation of 1,500,- proper, the Bantu, and the aboriginals 000, the Dutch Reformed Church reck- ons 306,000 adherents; the Church of -e.g., Bushmen, Hottentots, etc. Ac· England, 140,000; Wesleyans, 112,000; cording to Dr. R. N. Cust, the number Independents, 70,000; and Presbyte. of languages is 111. . rians, 37,000. The region farther inland also i$ well covered with flourIsh- In Ea8tern EqnatoriaZ Africa we find other missions still in the primitive ing mission stations. There is a Wesleyan Conference which has upward of stage, though one or two societies en- 31,000 natives in its churches. Three tered the coast reglon more than a gen- German societies-the Berlin, Rhenish, eration ago. It was Livingstone who and Hermannsburg-have each more persuaded British societies to first es- than 20,000 native Christians; and with tablish missions in the interior. The the Moravian and Basle societies have Church Society is on the coast and in an aggregate of 40,773 communicants. Uganda; the Universitie;' Mission is The American Board has wrought no- in Zanzibar and upon Lake Nyassa; bly among the Zulusifor fifty years, the Free ,Church on the southern and and the Scottish Free Church is a light- western shores, and the Scottish Estab- house at Lovedale. The total number lished church at Blantyre; the London of societies in South Africa is 18. It Society has taken possession of several points about Lake Tanganyika; to the was here that Schmidt and Vander- west of this are the Paris Society and kemp, Moffat and Barnabas Shaw, and the Primitive Methodists; and to the others laid deep and broad foundations. All through South Africa the soil is fer- north are the Moravians and the Berlin tile, the climate is favorable for Euro- Society. The Garenganze field of Arpeans, stable governments have been not lies to the west. Eight societies set up, and rich mines of gold and dia· occnpy this district. The dreary wastes monds are certain to attract settlers. of Sahara cover the bulk of N()l'tlt Afri- ca, and the population is practically all Western Equatorial Africa, by a mys- Mohammedan. Berbers, Moors, and terious providence, contains the densest Turks are everywhere the ruling force, mass of paganism-more than half tlle and a low grade of civilization exists. entire population of the continent- Up and down the Nile from Alexandria crowded within the most pestiferous to the Cataracts the American United and death-laden area in the world. The West Coast in particular has been Presbyterians are engaged in work indeed the" white man's graveyard." among the Copts. In all the Barbary Can it be that this is to be linked with States the North Africa Society, largely the fact that for four hundred years with medical missions and schools, is witnessing for Christ. The South Morocthis was the horrible theatre of the co Society also sustains a small force. slave trade, whereby some 40,000,000 of Africans were seized and forced into u, ..§ bondage? Sierra Leone has been oc- .§ ] "':; .~ cupied by missionaries for a full cen- Soci eties at W ork ."~'.'~' ..0",:0;j0 ~ in Africa. ~ .'g0 tury, with the Church Society and the >.~ "E.~ 0 .~ rn Wesleyans in the lead. There are now O~ 0 41,000 Christians there, a portion of ~ them organized into an independent ec- ——- ——— clesiastical body. Seven societies are British: 9,847 25,500 8.200 at work in Liberia with results nearly ChurchM. S….. 42 18,493 81,300 9,287 Wesleyan …….. 25 3,490 12,000 2,750 as large. The Gold Coast is cared for Un. Presb. (Scot.) 19 13,000 Free Ch. (Scot.)_. 16 4,675 1,500 8,500 by the Wesleyans and two German so- Church of ScoL .. 3 150 3,185 cieties, the Basle and Nord Deutch, Univerl~jties' Miss. 23 7,485 800 London M. S ."_' 29 1,701 7,000 1,006 and the Slave Coast by the Wesleyans, Unit. Free Meth.. 5 2,815 2,2'10 3,032 the Church Missionary Society, and the 800 Southern Baptist Convention. The American: Niger Basin is mainly in the hands of American Board.. 23 1,560 5,000 2,504 the English Church, with the Scotch Methodist …….. 20 2,800 8,000 1,500 United Presbyterians at Old Calabar. t~~~atp~~sb: : : : : 1,929 7,500 The Cameroons are German, and under 12 3,891 10,000 575 14 2,500 7,313 political pressure the English Baptists Episcopal. •….. _. 8 650 12,000 1,250 United Brethren.. 18 1,600 have retired and made way for a so- 6,000 ciety from the Fatherland. The Gaboon Continmtal: 13,900 2.812 is now French, and the Presbyterians Moravlan ••…• _•. 33 3.498 23.950 4.283 Berlin ….. __ .•••. 58 11.720 25,000 6,000 have been similarly interfered with. Hermannsburg … 50 13,000 4,025 Rhenish ………. 32 7,300 20,350 Eight societies are leagued together to BaseL ……… _. 50 5,275 11,936 4,712 redeem the Congo Basin, but little 15,000 7,870 more than pioneering and preparation 1_ Paris ………. _.. 18 7,900 1,200 can yet be recorded. It was Stanley 10,000 Other Societies… 125 3,800 who stirred the Christian world to en- Total .. _…….. 6231 113,526 316,106 80,217 ter this great field. Both below and above the Cataracts a number of steam- ,ers are doing service for the King.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMEN'l
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
Mission Work in India. stole his liquor," and so on. I have The editor has a private letter from a taken the trouble to go into the matter with some care, and can give it, as the very intimate personal friend, a civil- result of my experience, that the native service magistrate in the No-:rthwest Christian convert as a rule is infinitely Provinces of India, which is so inter- allove his heathen brother in morality, honesty, and truthfulness, though he esting that he ventures to lay it before has not (and cannot be expected to have), the readers of the REVIEW : as a mle, attained to the level of West- I dare say you would like to have a ern practice in these points. It is posidescription, from an official point of tively unjust to compare a poor fellow, view, of Indian society more or less whose ancestors for hundreds of generawith regard to missions. I do not think tions have lived in immorality, dishonthat you or any of the people at home esty, and untruthfulness, and who has cau nave any idea of the difficulties and only just learned to trust Christ for his disadvantages under which missionaries Saviour, with men whose ancestors have labor through the action of their fellow- had religious training and opportunities countrymen in India. A. missionary, as for centuries; and yet this is what is such, is outside the pale of European often done. As a matter of fact, I besociety in India (society being spelled lieve that the dislike to native Chriswith a capit.al S). The result is that he tians is really this. They are able, as has, as a rule, to make up his mind to heathens never can, to compare a Domibe looked down upon by the majority of nal Christian's life as it is with his life Europeans he meets. This is curious as it should be, and the (nominal) Chrisand may seem unlikely, but it isa fact; tian, knowing this, dislikes him because and the thing of all others which I ad- of the pricks of conscience that (nomimire about missionaries is the way in nal) Christian feels in doing things he which they accept that fact, and give up knows to be wrong in presence of the literally all things for the sake of the native Christian. I should Dot like to Gospel of Jesus Christ. The longing lay this charge in general. but it is my after European societv must sometimes belief, and the reason I forward it is be terrible-placed as I am, I can realize this: I have invariably associated with that; and to have so many Europeans and employed native Christians, and I round about who will not associate find that it is necessary to be extremely with, and have absolutely no sympathy careful not to do anything which might for, missionaries must be to the mission- .. cause them to stumble." In fact, I ary a very severe trial. This is looking find that I have to give up a good many at it from the point of the missionary as things in which I see no harm for fear it affects himself. Looked at from the they might. Now, no man who is not point of his work, it is even more dis- himself a converted man could live in tressing. How can we expect the na- front of these native Christians without tives to respect and admire missionaries knowing that they see and know when when they see them treated thus by the he does wrong, and he must necessarily Europeans in office? They naturally dislike them accordingly. This is the argue that the missionary is a low-caste only reason I can think of for the genman who is disregarded by his fellow- eral dislike of nati-ve Christians. There countrymen, and whom therefore they is one special reason among the class of I,l.re also at liberty to treat as they like; people (who, thank God, are rapidly de- and missionaries have, I know, to un- creasing, and mainly consist of young dergo treatment from natives which the and ignorant fellows) who are given to natives would never dare to use to any kicking" niggers. " That is, that they of us officials. Another thing that mili- dare not treat native Christians in the tates against their work is the common- way they do heathens, because the native ly accepted but utterly false idea that Christian would be man enough to reevery native Christian is a blackguard, sent it. This, however, would only apa thief and a liar. This view is accept- ply to a very small portion of t.he Angloed unquestioned by ninety-nine per cent Indian communit.y. of Anglo-Indians. I have often been sur- Another great stumbling-block in the prised at this, and when I hear it ex- way of missions, which I see as an outpressed I invariably ask how it was sider, is the action of Government. formed. The answer equally invaria- Government sets up to be impartialbly is, "Oh, So-and-So had a native not to favor any religion. The result Christian bearer, a regular thief, who of this is that it actually handicaps Christianity terribly in its combat with one to point some poor wretch lost in heathenism. The natives argue, and worship of devils-which Hinduism very naturally too, that if our religion mainly is-to the true Saviour. wele the true one, Government would teach the Bible in schools and aid mis- Yours in the bonds of love for Christ sions-in bct, one native asked me why and His work, it was, if England really believed in Christianity, the Government did not J. HOPE SIMPSON. send out missionaries. The native, therefore, argues that English people A Corean Itinerant Mission has been do not believe in Christianity; and I must say that the action of many of the lately organized, and the following is English in India lends itself to strength- en that view. I do not at present see how its declaration of principles. Motto, Government could now introduce Bible teaching into its schools; but it could " Occupy till I come." : have done so immediately after the Mu- tiny, when Herbert Edwardes proposed In Cnrea millions of human souls are it. It could, however, lend very much in pressing need of the Gospel, and thus more aid to missions if it chose than it far the vast majority of the people have been wholly unreached by any herald now does. of the cross. For all these centuries I must tell you one thing, in view of generation after generation has pelished without the knowledge of Christ. what our Hindu friend said at the Parlia- ment (Bedlam ?) of Religions at Chicago, The present missionary methods and in re slaughter of cows. There actually agencies employed are so plainly inade- is a case on record of a holy Hindu jagir quate to supply this need that, unless eating the dead bodies of human beings some new or additional measures are which floated down the Ganges (I can adopted, it is a hopeless task to attempt give you, if you wish it, full facts, with to overtake this appalling destitution. names and dates. I saw the place my- self. The man was prosecuted, I be- Without any interference with the lieve, in 1887, and the occurrence hap- work of other societies and missionaries pened on an island in the Ganges in the now on the field, there is both an open jurisdiction of the magistrate of Bu- door and ample room for some supple- daon); and Hinduism is a religion mentary effort especially directed tow· which allows reverence to a man like that ard the immediate preachinl!' of the Gos- and whom you Americans allowed to pel throughout Corea. This is the great stand and preach unanswered falsehood object of the Corean Itinerant Mission. at the World's Fair I It was altogether It is to be interdenominational in char- a monstrous arrangement, and I agree acter, evangelistic in spirit, and aggres- with. you in thinking that it was capa- sive in method, not building on any ble of incalculable harm. other man's foundation, but pressing into the regions beyond and aiming to However, we can all rest on one grand preach the Gospel to every creature. truth, a fact that we can never doubt- namely, that God Ieigns, that Jesus God seems in our day to be leading Christ died for the world and is bound His Church greatly to multiply both to win it to Himself. What a grand gifts and workers. In answer to united thing it is to know that we are bound to prayer to the Lord of the harvest that win I No matter what mistakes may be He would thrust forth laborers into His made by His feeble followers here, He is harvest, hundreds of men and women directing all, and'knows exactly the best are being made ready to undertake the time and the best methods. It is only work of evangelizatIOn where as yet a qucstion for us now whether we are Christ is not named. Many of them going to share the glory ourselves or let cannot conform to any fixed and uni- others reap it. The missionary un- form educational standard, and will be doubtedly has a hard time. lIe is like shut out from the mission field if they his Master, .. despised and rejected of are required to prepare by the usual full men" and "acquainted with grief." course of study. And yet they give He is despised and rejected by both evidence that by the Holy Spirit's teach- white and brown, and he has to bear ing they have been qualified to sow the solitude and disappointment and the seed of the kingdom. terrible fall from the ideal to the real. He gives up friends, home, country, Another of the signs of the times is everything for Christ; but he will have found in the signal blessing which God _his reward. I do not suppose there is has granted to Gospel witness and work a single feeling more pleasurable on done in the name of Jesus, in simple earth than to know that God has used faith, in supreme dependence upon the Holy Spirit, and in confidence that, in answer to believing prayer, all needful support will be furnished by the volun- tary offerings of God's people without the necessity of direct appeal for money, of incurring debt, or of assuming obli- Director: MALCOLM C. FENWICK, gation for any fixed amount of sal- W onsan, Corea, Asia. ary. These simple facts and principles Honorable Secretary and Treasurer, JOSEPH R. DOUGLAS, Box 342, Toronto. serve to indicate the basis upon which Canada. . the Corean Itinerant Mission is formed and is to be carried on. Its doctrinal We wish this mission heartily great standards are not those of anyone body success. Friends who believe in such of disciples exclusively, but rather those attempts to push the lines of evangelizagreat fundamental truths embraced alike tion will be glad to bestow of their by the Reformed Church in all its goods to feed God's poor. branches, and forming the basis of the so-called Evangelical Alliance. Professor George E. Day, D.D., of Yale University, New Haven, Conn., is As the prime purpose of this mission making a most laudable and painstakis to penetrate into the regions beyond, ing effort' to gather a complete library the territory as yet unoccupied for of missionary literature at Yale. He Christ is to be recognized as its special has succeeded in collecting thousands field. All conflict and collision with of volumes, some very rare. He will existing missionary organizations, or be glad of help from all who are willing with missionaries now employed, should to aid in such a grand project. be carefully avoided, and brotherly love should be cherished and activeco-opera- He wishes especially a complete file tion promoted. If only Christ be of the MISSIONARY REVIEW, Jiltrst Series. preached, by whomsoever it be, let us from 1878-87. Part of these numbers he has, but part are missing, It is not rejoice. at all improbable that some of our read- This mission gladly welcomes as its ers may be able to supply the missing links; or, better still, some one may be workers those who are highly educat- willing to donate an entire set of the ed. N,) contempt is cast upon learning ten volumes, from 1878-88. This would and culture in seeking to make room for be helping to complete one of the most those not so highly qualified. But the carefully c0mpiled missionary libraries supreme qualification sought in all can· in the world, and be a source of enrichdidates, and for lack of which no other ment to future generations. If anyone can compensate, is the evidence that has numbers o~ these earlier volumes, they have been truly born again and and will supply them, the editor or Dr. have been fitted by the training of the Day would be glad to hear from such. Holy Spirit to witness to Christ and to Any other rare books on missions Dr. win souls. Every precauiion will be Day would gladly add to his great coltaken, therefore, to insure at least a lection. high type of spiritual character in accepted candidates; and it is thought Rev. Matteo Prochet, D.D., Presibest that those who have had no pre- dent of the Waldensian 'Board of Evanvious experience in mission work be gelization, has again made a tour of the fully accepted missionaries after two United States in behalf of the missionyears of trial upon the field. ary work of the Vaudois Church in Italy and among Italians in other parts. Some one missionary will be asked to He had a warm reception from the act as director on the field; but in the Waldensian colony in Burke County, prosecution of the work important steps N. C., every member of which turned are to be taken only after conference out to meet him; and one hundred little and united prayer among the missiona- children, drawn up in ranks at the ries have brought them into unanimous boundary of the Waldensian lands, sang accord. Any tarrying to wait upon a hymn of welcome. The Waldensians God until His mind is made known will seem very happy in their North Carobe richly repaid by the confident persuasion that He is guiding in every new step. Should conflict arise through variance of opinion, the council of referees at home should be consulted.
Believing that God, rather than man, has led the way in the forming of this new mission for Corea, we commend it to the love. sympathy, and prayers of all those who hold to the inspired Word of God, who believe in the one name whereby there is salvation, wbo depend upon the Holy Spirit for all power in service, and who love Christ's appearing and kingdom. lina home, and will probably soon be Church and the Church at large. It is joined by more of their countrymen. manifest that many an individual con- gregation would unwanantably waste The co Darkest England" scheme of money and energy in a work done with- General Booth has this year cost $765,- in its own borders exclusively which 000, toward which sum no less than could be done in common with others.
$695,000 has been returned in labor or A Young Men's Christian Association money by those benefited. The" Res- needs, for example, certain machinery cue Homes" have received 1670 wom· that is too cumbrous for one church to en, 800 of whom have gone into honor· manage. But why it should be regard- able service, and 320 have become rec- ed as outside of the Church because it onciled to their friends. ~![eals to the is outside of any partiCUlar local organ- number of 127,000 have been supplied, ization is hard to understand. A mis- 79,500 children fed, and 361 ex con- sionary board which represents a whole victs have been helped and employed. denomination is certainly the organ of These facts cannot but awaken grati- the local churches, and owes its support tude, whatever may be our opinion of to them.
the methods of the Salvation Army.
Another overture looking toward Ohristianity and the Ohuroh. .. Christian union" appears-this time From one of our exchanges we clip from the Congregationalists of America.
the following, with the sentiments of The finding of the Council is as follows: which the editor thoroughly accords: In brief, we propose to the various " There is a way of lauding Christian- Protestant churches of the United States ity and at the same time finding fault with the Church, that does not seem to a union or alliance based on : be quite fair. " In a recent sermon by 1. Tlte acceptance of tlte Scriptures of II distinguished man, fault was found with the Church because" such philan- tlte Old and New Testamenta, inspired by thropic and evangelistic enterprises as the Young Men's Christian Association, tlte Holy Spirit, as containing aU tltings the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and the Salvation Army had necessary to salvation, and as being tlte arisen outside of church organizations. George Miiller's remark that these good 'l'Ule and ultimate standard of Ohristian agencies were' monuments to a dead Church' was quoted with approval, faith. with the exception that the preacher substituted •sleeping Church' for 2. Disciplesltip of Jesus Oltri8t, the Di- • dead Church.' These outside agencies were regarded as laudable mani- 'Line Sa;oiour and Teacher of the world. festations of Christianity, but not having arisen within church limits, not 3. Tlte Olturch of Ohrist, ordained by being controlled by Church authority, Him to peaclt His Gospel to tlte world. having in some instances to wait long 4. Liberty of conscience in the interpebefore receiving ecclesiastical sanction, they were regarded as having risen tation of the Scriptures and in tlte adminin spite of, or at least independently of, the existence and activity of the Church. istration of the Ohurclb. And then the pOllitive position was taken that the mission of the Church Such an alliance of these churches requires that these and similar works should be undertaken and carried on by should have regular meetings of their the Church in its organized capacity." representatives, and should have for its Against such gross misrepresentations objects. among others: 1. Mutual acquaintance and fellowwe also desire to enter our protest. Every ship. one of these agencies,so far as there is any 2. Co-operation in fOIeign and do- good in them, owes it to the very genius mestic missions. 3, The prevention of rivalries beof Christianity and the Christian Churcb. tween competing churches in the same We must-discriminate between the local field. 4. The ultimate organic union of the whole visible body of Christ.
Voted, That this paper be communi- cated to other State associations and conferences, and to the National Coun- 1 cil, for their consideration and action.
AMORY H. BRADFORD, WILLIAM HAYES WARD, STEPHEN M. NEWMAN, Oom.oftlu I FRITZ W. BALDWIN, }- General CORNELIUS H. PATTON, A88ociation.
DANmL A. WATERS, J THEODORE F. SEWARD. We incline to think that if less were in never beforl! saw such a sight. 'Budmade of outward and organic unity, and more emphasis laid upon hearty co- dhist priests come in, sit quietly and operation in aU mi8sion work at home listen, seem confused, and then quietly and abroad, a nearer approach would be withdraw. Prayers follow in rapid sucmade to our Lord's ideal of all being cession. Denominational lines disapone than can be reached in any mere pear, and all work for the one end. external organization. The tendency of freedom coupled with intelligence is Lady Henry Somerset and Miss Wilto individualism, as a tree that grows lard, as representatives of the World's ramifies. But the tree is yet one, Women's Christian Temperance Union, notwithstanding its branches. And will go round the world to present to unity is found in diversity so long as all the governments of the world a polythe harmony of action and unity of glot petition, with over two million sigsources of life and growth are main- natures, on the question of alcohol, tained. The brethren who put barriers opium, and legalized vice. The delegaabout the Lord's table to keep out all tion will in all consist of one hundred unimmersed believers, or about the pul- members, and will probably leave Engpit to keep out all wIlO are not ordained land at the beginning of next Novemin their fashion, are no dount conscien- ber. tious, but they can hardly expect external unity unless the lamb and lion lie ]The first number of Northfwld Echoes, down together, the" lamb being inside an illustrated magazine published of the lion." The only union with such monthly during the summer at East bodies is by absorption into them. But Northfield, Mass., is to appear about practical and hearty co-operation in the June 1st. The initiatory number will work of God is practicable without sur- contain articles on the" History of the render of conviction, or the immoral tone Northfield Conventions," a sketch of of mind which insists "you must be the Boys', Girls', and Bible Training like us." Of denominationalism we are Schools, and" Picturesque Northfield," not afraid. but of intolerance and big- accompanied by illustrations of Northotry we are, and of uncharity, which field and the vicinity. It will also give makes all true co-operation impossible. full announcements as to the summer programme. The three subsequent is- A communication in the Northern sues will contain full and accurate re- Ohristian Advocate states that the week ports of the Young Women's, Young of prayer this year was observed with Men's, and Christian Workers' confermore than usual interest by both Japan- ences. This magazine will answer 8 ese and foreign Christians in Nagoya, need long felt by friends of Northfield Japan. A meeting in English was held for an attractive and interesting magain the afternoon of each day, and a ser- zine of present and permanent value.* vice in Japanese in the evening. An unusual interest attended these meetings D.L.P. from the first, and before the week had closed the interest had so deepened that The present number of Stuiknt Volit was decided that the six churches- unteers, of whom the Executive Comthe Presbyterian, the Congregational, mittee have accurate record, is 3200. the Episcopal, the Methodist Protestant, By the addition of a cypher this was inand the two Methodist Episcopal- advertently multiplied by ten in the should continue the meetings. The May number of the REVIEW, p. 355. second week has closed, and the interes is on the increase. Many who come * The price per copy will be 30 cents; $1 per volume (four issues). Address If(ort!iflela J!Jclwes, East Northfleld, Mass.
MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY REV. D. L. LEONARD.
Extracts and Translations from Foreign dove, cross, and glory on four of the Periodicals. faces. The base and cluster of pillars are of Csen stone. BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS. ., The crowds of Angoni have nat· urally brought help to mission work as AFRICA. they have to work in other departments of the country's industry. The midday -We are happy to receive frequent meetings for workers have been a source numbers of Life and Work from Blan- of great interest. Very few make more tyre. Tbis little magazine, coming right attentive listeners than the Angoni, and out of the heart of the Dark Continent, interest is not a quality one can comdoes not simply treat of missions, but mand unless the message and spirit of is itself an incarnation of them. Hand- the communication be such that the lisling it, we find ourselves rising dis· tener can understand and one in which tinctly in the scale of missionary dig- he feels part. nity. Its editors are too deeply immersed in their work to find much time " The Angoni are great favorites with for preparing paragraphs that can be the planters and others. They do not quoted with much effectiveness when steal, they are constitutionally polite, detached from it, but they bring those and go together like an army."-Life who have a vaguer function an influ- and Work (Blantyre). ence and illumination which will be felt in due time. -Bishop Buchner, of the Unitas Fra· trum, who has been visiting the Mora- Like the good Las Casas and his vian stations in South Africa, gives, in Dominican brethren, they begin at once Periodical .Accounts, a most interesting to lift up their voice against the spe- description of that country: "The cious hypocrisy of certain neighboring scenery was so wonderful that I can Europeans who talk of conversion, but scarcely describe it in a few words. A mean subjugation and exploitation. sublimely wild beauty characterizes the God give them much success against passes. The high, entirely bare mounthese wolves in sheep's clothing! Every- tains, chiefly of graywacke, here and where missionaries have been the dam there betray breaks of other formations. between their people and the devil in They are peaked, steep, and rent with the form of an inrushing worldliness of ravines. Lit up by the sunlight, their a higher race. colors change from the most delicate violet to the darkest blue. Single caps -" We have been fifteen years in oc· and abysses appear from time to time, cupying two stations, Blantyre and and stand out so clearly that one can- Domasi. No one can say we have gone not sate himself with looking. As soon too fast. We rejoice that the Free as one chain of mountains has been Church is doing work in Angoniland crossed or passed another arises. On and west of the Lake. The only de- the heights appears a wilderness of so· sideratum is that tbat work have Church called Rhenoster, a heather·like species impress and connection with the Church of growth. Catholic. "But what lends this landscape a " A font for the church has now come wonderful charm, just by reason of the up from the river, and stands at the lack of forest trees, is the splendor north side of the chancel arch. It is a of the wild flowers that luxuriate in gift from St. Leonard's Church, St. An- the midst of these solitudes. Agaves, drews, and is very handsome. The top aloes, lilies, and countless other species, is of marble, octagonal, with monogram,
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
rank on rank, afford the most beautiful appealed to me and deepened the cor· prospect. It was a hardship to me to dial feeling aroused by the previous have to take in all this beauty only in public reception. In the evening there haste as we swept by. ~Ioreover, the was a social gathering of the missionary animal world is abundantly represent- brethren and sisters.
ed. The numerous birds particularly, "To·day (Sunday, October 16th) yellow, green, black, and red finches, en- Brother Hettasch preached in Dutch in tirely harmonized with the gloriously the morning at ten. I understood colored blossoms. At one spot about almost everything, As I sat opposite thirty vultures sat on a fallen horse, and to the brown and black countenances a did not allow themselves to be in the great feeling of great joy came over me, least disturbed by us. Just before we to be able to see in these colored people, reached Genadendal there greeted us wont to be so despised in this land, my one of the most dignified of birds, a brethren and sisters in Christ. Many • secretary,' which here takes the place faces bore a marked expression of spirit- of the stork." uality. At the close of the sermon I -Genadendal (Gracevale) is the greeted the congregation in a few Dutch mother-station of the Moravians in words, whereupon the chief native South Africa. Last year it celebrated assistant replied in an address of conits centenary. Its ruinous church, siderable length. 'I'o-morrow the dethe oldest Protestant church in Africa, liberations with the missionaries are to has lately given way to a successor. commence. Bishop Buchner says: "We halted a short distance from the station, and " This afternoon we took a very pleaswaited till the missionaries came to meet ant walk in the ldoof(a narrow, ravineus on horseback or in vehicles. Then like valley created by the precipiceswe all passed into the village in a long some of them about five hundred feet in procession, the people standing before height-of the mountain, at the foot of their houses· and welcoming us. They which the mission station Genadendal had erected a number of arches of lies). I gathered a large bunch of splenhonor. As we passed all fen into place did and wonderful plants. The view in the procession and followed us to was grand; and Genadendal, with its the so·called werft, the mission quarter. gardens and woods in the midst of this Here the trombonists rendered their sublimity of nature, is a veritable paraservices, hymns were sung, and I ad- dise. George Schmidt's famous peardressed some words to the assembly, tree, as well as the remains of his hut, which Brother Hettasch translated. The carefully treasured, awaken in one revchildren of the schools sang an aria erential feelings. very beautifully and correctly. The people here seem to be very musical. "The Genadendal mountain on the At the close of the proceedings I was east and the Donnersberg on the south, overwhelmed by their determination, each some five thousand feet in height, each and everyone, to get a handshake. frame in this scene of sublimity, luxu- riant beauty, hallowed memories, and present energy of Christian life. "
Then I was led by the missionaries to -" The German Protestant missions my room in the mission house. They in Africa deserve to be more widely had decorated it exquisitely in kindly known than they often are. There are remembrance of my jubilee. Inscrip- no other missions, save the British, tions, the texts of the day when I was which can at all compare with them in born, and of my fiftieth birthday, re- extent and in educational and religious cently spent at sea, were adorned with results. If Evangelical Christianity is splendid flowers ; two large palm fans to win the day in Africa, it will owe w,ere there, and on a table lay many much to their faithful labors. These photographs. This delicate attention missions have been mainly hitherto in
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
the south, with the exception of the the Moravian Church. Including its 11 Basle Mission, which is doing EO great daughter-stations, there are 9347. Rhi- a work on the Gold Coast; but, with loh and its 6 daughter-stations (4000 the late impulse to colonization, the souls) have been detached.
German missions are gradually extend- -In Uganda, King Mwanga, whose ing in Central Africa under experienced pernicious vice of hemp.smoking was leadels. The German missions have 157 actively resisted by the Roman Catholie stations and 224 out·stations ; there are chiefs while he adhered to their party, 272 European mission laborers and 592 and of course is equally abhorred by the native laborers, of whom 22 are or- Protestants now that for policy he has dained. The baptized number 81,371 ; come over to them, has been obliged to the communicants, 33,052; scholars, yield the supervision of the education 17,553. The moneys raised by the of his heirs to the British authorities. mission churches (Gemeinden) are, ap- They are to be brought up as Christians, proximately, '£20,383 108. We state and, it is to be hoped, will make amends the last with some reserve, as we have for the vices and tyrannies of Mwanga not all the facts."-Ohurch Mi88ionary and Mtesa. Intelligencer. -There are at present 47 missionaries -Of Gnadenthal it is said, in the of both sexes working among the 6,000,- Moravian Missions-Blatt .. " Gnadimthal, 000 of Morocco, more than half, how- in its days, was, in the eyes of many, the ever being new recruits yet unac- first proof for the possibility of a heathen quainted with the language.
mission, the first palpable fruit of the -The French-Swiss missionaries at ble88ing of heathen missions, the first re- Lourenco-Marques (Southeast Africa) minder of the duty of heathen missions. say, in the Bulletin Missionaire .. "We This in the course of time has changed. have had a brief visit from a numerous To-day ask even many a warm friend of party of American missionaries, who missions if he knows Gnadenthal at all, are about to found a new mission to the what this place signifies to him, and he north of Gaza, near the former residence will answer: 'A mission station, one of Goungounyane and of the late Moamong many hundred others.' Should zila, his father. They were Mr. Bates, this surprise us? should it affect the Miss Jones, Mr. and Mrs. Bunker, Dr. friends of our Brethren's missions pain- and Mrs. Thompson, Mr. and Mrs. Wilfully, or even appear an affront? The der and their two children. word of the Baptist: 'He must increase, but I must decrease' includes a "They were passing in the German holy vital law, applicable not merely to packet on their way from Natal to Beva. individuals, but also to whole corpora- We had them two hours with us. It tions and communities, which serve the does one good to be with these Amerikingdom of God. Even though, on the cans, whose Christianity is so simple and missionary firmament, the constellation so broad. They have put at our disof Gnadenthal may no longer draw so posal (for all our missionaries) the sanifixed an attention to itself, may now, in tarium which they have just established appearance, no longer gleam so brightly for themselves near Maritzburg in as once, because meanwhile a whole Natal. This charming attention was host of stars has come into view, we wholly unexpected, and has touched us will therefore joyfully conclude that He deeply." 11M inc1·ea,sed, that His kingdom has spread abroad and is advancing irresisti- – The heroic Coillard, in his declining bly to the ends of the earth." days, bereaved of his admirable wife, seems appointed to undergo the reality without the name of martyrdom at the -Gnadentbal has now 3000 inhabi- hands of an African despot as odious as tants, all communicants or adherents of Mwanga, though not quite so blood-
ENGLISH NOTES
thirsty. Liiwanika insists on forcing Moses was a great man, but was,sent on the missionaries all sorts of exorbi- for the Jews only; but Christ was far tant bargains, and "woe to him who greater, and He was sent for all nations.
does not buy." The refusal is sure to He has the highest seat in paradise.' "
bring a shower of insults upon us all, -Jewish Intelligencer.
above all on me, as being the eldest and -The orthodox Bishop of Wilba, the nearest. "What are you good for, centre of Russian Judaism, has, as then? What benefits do you bring us ? mentioned some time ago by us, opened What have I to do," exclaims he in his a mission to the Jews. He only permits fits of rage, "with a Gospel that gives the common truths of the Gospel to be me neither guns, nor powder, nor coffee, preached to them, and is glad to accept nor tea, nor sugar, nor artisans to work aid from Protestants. The meetings for me, nor any of the advantages that are conducted in a free way, like Paul's I looked for?" And thereupon, after discursions in the synagogues or in the having run us down in his little circle school of Tyrannus, the fullest opporof courtiers, he proclaims a blockade tunity being allowed for objections, against us. Threats are thrown out to which are often quite eager and tumulstrangle those who serve us or who ven- tuous. The regular addresses are In ture to sell us so much as a dish of mil- Russian, but the discussions in Jargon. let or a porringer of flour." -" The Rev. C. Adler, of Amster· THE JEWS. dam, visited Zutphen, Zwolle, and -" Never since that glorious day of Groningen, in December, 1892, where Pentecost, nearly nineteen hundred he preached and lectured to crowded years ago, in the far-off holy city of congregations of Jews and Christians. Jerusalem, when three thousand Jews 'In the last-named town.' he says, acknowledged Christ and were baptized 'the church was 'filled to overflowing, in one day, have the opportunities of and the Jews not only formed the mapreaching the Gospel of glad tidings to jority of the congregation, but also lisour Jewish brethren been so bright and tened with rapt attention.'" – Jewish promising as in the present year of JJlissiona;ry Intelligence'/'.
our Lord. The almost universal sym- pathy that has been evoked in our Eng- English Notes. lish-speaking lands for the sufferers of the Russian persecutions has awakened BY JAMES DOUGLAS.
a responsive echo of love in the hearts A New Jewish Mission.-That separaof God's ancient people for English- tion for service seems to be a feature of speaking Christians, rendering our po- the times receives a fresh illustration in sition an exceptionally favorable one the new movement in behalf (If Israel when we approach them and relate the which has just been inaugurated by sweet story of the life of Jesus and His the Rev. David Baron in London. Mr. surpassing love for humanity. God Baron is esteemed by his friends genforbid that we should be so blind to the erally, "an Israelite indeed in whom is signs of the times as to let these grand no guile." Formerly associated with opportunities pass neglected by !"- the Mildmay Mission, be el«;!cts to stand MARK LEVY, in Jewish Herald. on independent ground, and, in conjunc- -A Jewish missionary in North Eng- tion with his friend, the Rev. C. A.
land says: "We had offered a tract to Shonberger, brother·in-Iaw of the lal) a young J ewess in the presence of her Dr. Saphir, and Mr. Henry Barnett, hi ~ parents. She hesitated, unable to make companion in missionary journey I up her mind whether to accept or reject abroad, to initiate a new work, one (J [ it. 'Take it,' said her father; • you the objects of which is to reach th l may learn from it much that is useful. wealthier and more educated Jews of
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
the city and West End who lie out- men of the border tribes, is practically side the scope of the East End mis- a work among the Afghans. The im- sions. At the same time the needs portance of the place is further enhanced of the whole Jewish field will be kept by the fact that under the new treaty.
in view; the provinces will be visited, just concluded with the Ameer, the as opportunity 'occurs, in quest of the Warjris are placed under British protec~ lost sheep of the House of Israel ; and torate. Altogether Bunnu seems likely missionary journeys abroad undertaken. to prove the Gospel door to Afghan- In consideration of the greatness of the istan ; and there is hope of reaching the field in the East End, a hall has been Hill tribes, who, indeed, are wishing opened in Whitechapel, where Mr. for Dr. Pennell to dwell in their midst.
Henry Barnett bears Gospel testimony. The McAll M'issio1!8 in Jilranu.-J. P. The entire enterprise is launched in faith, W. Deacon, Esq., of Tonbridge, has and proceeds on undenominational lines. recently contributed to the pages of The From time to time a statement shall be Okribtian some remarkable cases of conissued, scrupulously faithful as before version in connection with these misthe God of truth, everything in the na- sions. In Calais a notorious character, ture of vague and exaggerated reports who used to call himself" the greatest being a voided. The honorable treasurer anarchist in the world, ., has been conof the council is Mr. A. Boake, South- verted. So dangerous was he that the wood Lawn, Highgate, London, N. W., police took away his children from him. while Mr. Baron's address is 23 Grove Now, recognizing the change brought Road, Highgate Road, London, N. W. in the home, they have restored the chil- Tunis.-The Tunis Medical Mission dren to the father. Another anarchist, are much rejoiced by the conversion of who was under strict police surveillance, Sidi A–, a Mohammedan of mark. and had formerly suffered expUlsion He has taken a firm stand, and is ap- from the country for three years, is now parently daily growing in grace. Re- "in his right mind," a most devoted cently addressing a friend whom he had Christian and a member of a Baptist brought to the mission, and whose con- church. He is now exempted from po- version he earnestly sought, he said : lice surveillance, and has given his ., I was a more rigid Moslem than your- testimony before his old comrades in the self; and when I heard these words for notorious Salle Favie, undismayed by the first time I put them from me, but their hootings and insults. At the Salle they haunted me, and I determined to Rivoli blessing has come to a whole see if they were true, and I am con- family that were deeply sunk in the . vinced-doubly convinced, they are. mire. The conversion, too, of an old man-a determined free-thinker-is also Nothing can turn me from them now." recorded, who died in peace. There are 34 halls in connection with this mission .AjghanM'edicdlMission.-TheChurch in and around Paris, and nearly one Missionary Society still keeps at the hundred more in the provinces. doors of Afghanistan. For forty years the agents of this society ha ve main- tained their stand there and are in the Outlookin Japan.-Bishop Evington, same mind 'ltill. Dr. T. L. Pennell, of of Kinshin, Japan, now on a visit to the Church Missionary Society, who England, takes a hopeful view of the conducts a medical mission at Bunnu, prospects there. A.t a recent Exeter North India, is sanguine that the time Hall meeting he said: "In the nineteen is near for the opening of the long fast· years I have spent in Japan I have seen closed door. Meanwhile, the frontier practically the evolution of the whole stations are of great value, especially' the work of the Christians in that land.
medical mission at Bunnu, which, tieing True, Archdeacon Warren and several regularly visited by merchants and Hill others were there before me; but when I arrived they were only preparing for block the path and defer the loudly- active work, and I heard the arch- called-for deed of reparation.
deacon's first sermon in Japanese in South Tra'Vancore.-In this district of Osaka. Then the whole land was with- South India the London Missionary Soout the Gospel; now it is steadily ciety has a large Christian community, spreading in all parts. God has which numbers, including children, wrought marvellous things in these fair 10,580. Of these, 1310 are church-memlands of the East.~' According to this bers, who are supposed to be converted bishop, the grand need is native work- men and women. In addition to the ers; and the main difficulty concerns number baptized (5248) there are 3842 the patriotic spirit, which renders even adherents who have left demon worship Christians somewhat jealous of outside and placed themselves under Christian interference. Still God seems to have instruction. Among this entire coma great fnture in store for the Church munity 60 churches have been estabin Japan. lished, 18 of which have been formed Outlook on tluJ Niger. -There is every into three pastorates, which have been reason to believe that the recent sad self.supporting for many years. The losses on the Niger will prove the means other churches are worked in circles, an of fresh invigoration, an illnstration of evangelist and four or five catechists the great truth that .. except a corn of being appointed to each. Of late years, wheat fall into the ground and dill it scope for zenana work has much in- abideth above; but if it die it bringeth creased. The chief defect is the lack forth much fruit." .. Six months ago," of the diffusive spirit which aims at as Bishop Tugwell, of Western Equa- fresh acquisitions and an ever-enlarging torial Africa, has just observed, ' the sphere of usefulness. The self-support- Yoruba mission was hardly known; ing pastorates manage to hold their now the needs of that mission are on the own, but fail to make much relative lips of thousands, through the life and headway.
devotion of Bishop Hill." It is hoped Work Among tluJ Talebs of North that the many fresh helpers needed will Africa.-l1iss Colville and Miss Granbe forthcoming. Of the 16 men who ger, who have been at work in Constanwent out four years ago, only 4 remain tine for seven years, are recei ving .some -Messrs. Dobinson, Watney, Melville gleams of encouragement. M., a Taleb, Jones, and Wilson-while the important is much interested in the Bible, specially post of Principal of the Lagos Training in the Book of Acts, where Paul, as he' Institution is also vacant. expresses it, "changed masters." An- TluJ Opium Traffic in Ohina.-The other Taleb. a wealthy and well-edu- Rev. Yung·King Yen, M.A., who is a cated Arab, shows a sincere desire to presbyter of the American Protestant know more about the Christian's re- Episcopal Church Mission in China, is ligion, saying again and again, " I do now in England. and has raised his want to believe. if you will only show powerful testimony on the subject of me how." Sanguine hopes are enter- the opium curse. Speaking as he did tained of this case. H., another Taleb.
from intimate knowledge, and in the is belie"ed to be holding secretly the spirit of love, with no trace of acrimony. faith of Jesus Christ; his private testi- his address In Exeter Hall was most im- mouy being, "I do beli6lfe that Jesus pressive. A great change has taken place Christ is the Son of God, and that He in the public opinion of this country has saved me : but I dare not confess it, during the last thirty years on this ques- for my people would kill me." Steady tion, and the time is ripe for the voicing work is maintained among the children of it in legislature; but financial con- and women by these women, and several siderations and temporizing legislators cases of blessing received are recorded. Blessing at Agra.-The Rev. J. G. Don't make it appear that thl! only Potter, Baptist missionary, has been reason your church has for doing mis- much cheered by a gracious reaping sionary work is that it would be a time at Agra. Several converts have shame to have the other churches do been baptized, and there are other can- more. Don't fail to teach that our andidates for baptism. "We rejoice," cestors were heathen, saved by foreign he says, "in the privilege of being sow- mISSIOnaries. Don't always mention ers, still more when the Lord of the the heathen as "dying" and "sufferharvest gives us also the joy of reap- ing," until the children come to assoing. " ciate a missionary meeting with long faces and funeral tones.-MO'l'ning THE KINGDOM. Guirk.
-Dr. George Smith writes thus in -The ninth edition of " Die Bevolthe introduction to his" The Conversion kerung der Erde" contains a list of 270 ofIndia :" " We stand to-day at a point cities containing a population of more in the history of the human family than 100,000. Of these the principal almost as many years after the incarna- are: tion of Jesus Christ as His first and greatest forerunner lived before that London …….•……………•..•.•..•.4,415,958 central event_ The nineteen Abrahamic Parill . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . • . • . . • . . . • . . 2,712,598 centuries were the period of decentrali- New York-Brooklyn …………….. 2,352,150 zation, of scattering, of despair, but of Berlin . . • • • . . . . . • . . . • • . . . . . . . • . • • . . . . . . . 1,763,1>43 silent preparation. The nineteen Chris- Canton ………………………….. 1,600,000 tian centuries have been the time of uni- Vienna ……..•…•••..•• , ..•……… 1,364,548 fication, of elevation, of hope. Then Wnchang-Han-Yang·Han·Kau…•••… 1,200,000 the warring races and jarring civili?,a. Tokyo …….. , …………………… 1,155,290 tions, preying upon each other, groped Philadelphia….•…….••..•…•..•… 1,105,277 about the Old World, around the Per· Chicago •.•…..••……………• _•… 1,099,850 sian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea, Liangtan. . •.••………..••……….1,000,000 knowing little of their home or of phys- Si·ngan·fu .••…………………..•.•. 1,000,000 ical law. Now, and especially in the last century, men have been taught by There are 23 cities numbering be- Christ the unity of their destiny in Him, tween 500,000 and 1,000,000.-Bulletin and their consequent responsibility to of the American Geographical Society. each other." -The Mohammedan paradise is a -The statemimt is that while at home fairyland. To enter it the believer the Presbyterian churches received each must cross 7 bridges, at each of which on an average 8 persons to membership he must answer questions relating to on confession during 1893. The average his past life. Having crossed the in the Synod of China was 12 ; in the bridges, he is at the entrance. There are 13 doors. The first act is to take a Synod ot India, 14, and in the missions bath, which gives to the body great brilliancy. This abode of delight is on the Corisco coast, Africa, 23. In the built of bricks of gold and of silver, missions of the Presbyterian Church, held together by a mortar of musk. South, 522 were addel last year, or at Four oceans soothe the senses-one of the average l'l!te of over 10 to each or- water, one of milk, one of honey, one dained missionary. of wine. Waves of perfume envelop them, so powerful as to be noticeable -Some .. dont's" for the missionary 500 days' march away. Lastly come meeting: Don't sing" Greenland's icy the castles of the houris-70 castles with mountains" every time. Don't talk 70 rooms, containing 70 state beds and about a "penny collection" or a "col- 70 tables ready set, and in this castle lection" of any sort; call it" offering… 1,680,700,000 houris. This to each of the Don't speak of "begging money." elect. He himself has 70 robes of green brocade embroidered with rubies and topazes. Great prophet I let us all be -What can be the matter with the Turks !-Halifatl) C1'itie. Clarendon Street Baptist Church, of Boston, of which Dr. A. J. Gordon is -A missionary in Swatow deems it pastor, and which gave last year to strange that young men from our theo- foreign missions $20,000, while its own logical seminaries can be content to expenses were between $9l>oO and $10,- share a village of 3000 people with half 000, and this includes $1300 to its poor? a dozen pastors of other denominations, And what with another body of bewhen they might go to China and take lievers if this item tells the truth? the oversight of a field containing 200 .. The Seventh·Day Adventists have or 300 villages. a church at Battle Creek, Mich., com- posed of 1450 working people. Their -The curious fact is noted by Sir average income is $262. Yet their con- Samuel Baker that a negro has never tribuHons to benevolent causes last year been known to tame an elephant or any amounted to $38,000. And recently, wild animal. on the Day of Missions, no sermon was preached nor was there any pleading of -It is not exactly carrying the war any kind, yet the offering amounted to Into Africa, but is an eminently proper $21,000 !" thing to do, when the Methodist preachers of Chicago respectfully petition the -The pastor of the Pilgrim Church Pope to use to the utmost his all-power- at the Santee Agency, Rev. Artemas ful infiuence to put a stop to the perse- Ehnamani, when he was informed of cution of Protestants in certain States the needs of the American Missionary of South America. Archbishop Ireland Association, spoke up in the utmost of and Mgr. Satolli are asked to forward sympathy, and said: " Why, I must go the same with their endorsement. And right out and speak to our people and if anyone of the three fails to perform the 1;eachers, and have something done… his part in the matter, let the world And something was done. The last mark the fact and recall the same when three year-books report for this church fine words are spoken by Catholic lips an average of $319 for benevolences. about our glorious American freedom of conscience. And when the freedmen were asked to help the same society, which was -Iu a recent article, happily entitled doing so much for them, one congrega- " The Problem of the Unemployed in tion walked in rain and mud from 5 to our Churches," Rev. F. E. Clark 16 miles in order to attend the special dwells, among other things, upon the service. A widow with 7 children came unused powers of good citizenship, of without shoes and poorly clad, but she fellowship, and of beneficence, and gave 15 cents-all she had! then expresses the hope that Christian Endeavor may do somewhat to utilize – When the news reached England of the mighty forces which now run to the sudden death of Bishop Hill, the waste. mother of another missionary who gave his life for Africa wrote to the Church -Dr. A. S. Hobart, in The Examiner, Missionary Society: .. You must know, waxes almost jubilant over the thought even I know, what Africa means. It is that perhaps in a day not distant some literally the lile laid down. At this man of wealth may be inspired from moment I have two other sons in mission above to do for Christian missions what work in Africa, and I would not have Johns Hopkins and Peabody did for ed- them elsewhere. Those words of ucation. But, blessed as such a con- Francis Xavier express most happily secration of millions might be, even bet- what seems to justify the loss of preter results would ensue if millions cious lives. You may remember he should be persuaded to lay upon the says, ' While I can do anything to prove altar such comparatively small sums as are within the compass of their ability. the contrary, it shall never be said that -Mrs. E. S. Williams inquires in The the love of Christ is less constraining Pacific: .. Wouldn't it be delightful if, than the love of gold.' " somewhere within easy reach, we could -" Ye lacked opportunity." So said be sure of finding help and information Paul when, under the guidance of the when planning a meeting, preparing a Holy Spirit, he wrote his gracious letter paper or a talk, or seeking instruction to the Philippians. God counts up what for our own individual aid and comfort. we would do if we had the opportunity and where this work, now so often an as well as what we do. •• It was in uncertain. blind, indefinite, tiresome thine heart, " He said to the disappointed search, could be turned into a pleas- David, who might not build the Tem- ure?" And then she goes on to suggest ple. He knows all the beautiful tem- how easily, at what slight cost. the womples within that never take shape with- en of every community could have an out. He is satisfied with the heart. excellent misllionary library.
How much good would the widow with -The Woman's Foreign Missionary two mites have done had she possessed Society, of Westminster Church, Min- a fortune! He knows." neapolis, has contributed $1000 during the P6st year, helping to support mis- WOMAN'S WORK. sionary workers in Africa, China, and -Dr. Pauline Root writes this in Life Persia. and Light with regard to the calling of young women as medical missionaries: -Soon after the organization of the .. Cheerfully they enter the crowded zenanas; they sit down beside the young Methodist Woman's Foreign Missionary wife in her too early motherhood, showing her, not by any strained effort, Society was formed Miss Isabella Thobut by the love of Christ which constrains them, that they love them and burn's name was presented as a candidate sympathize with them, and that they are strong to help. They go to dying for work. Her brother was already in women and gather them, poor, forlorn, dirty, forsaken, into their arms, and as the field, and so strong were her conthey comfort them they point them to the only Physician who can help them. victions of duty that she had resolved, Beside the leper they tell of a land where there will be no more sickness if not sent by this body, to go as the and no outcasts; tenderly dressing the sore, aching body of the little child dying representative of a sister society. Not with small·pox, they win the love of the patient, sad-eyed mother. They 20 ladies were present at the meeting, carry healing to the outcast, despised widow, and they hesitate not to lay and they had less than $300 in the treassoothing hands on those so diseased that they are thrust out of their homes; ury-no more than enough for an outfit. for to whom else can these sin-burdened souls turn? The young woman doctor At last Mrs. E. F. Porter, with thrilling earnestness, spoke of the needs of the heathen and of the peculiar fitness of the one who had offered to go. "Shall we lose her," she asked, ., because we have not the needed money in our hands?
No, rather let us walk the streets of Boston in our calico robes, and save the expense of more costly apparel. Mrs.
President, I move the appointment of Miss Thoburn as our missionary to India." Every heart responded • Amen I' and with united· voice they said: .. We will send ber I" .
is the confidant and adviser, the friend -One woman made a gift of $50,000 and comforter of all classes-European, toward the crection of the Episcopal Eurasian, Hindu, Mohammedan, Chi- Church Missions Home; one woman nese, and whomsoever she works for; furnished the board room, another the and in them she finds some heart, some library, another the offices; the joint trace of .. the angel in the marble. " offerings of women in many branches of the auxiliary will furnish the auxili- musketry of the battlefield. "But I ary rooms and the chapel; from one gripped my Bible, shut my teeth, and branch comes a cassock and surplice and went, for mother's sake."-Zion's HfJ1"- stoles, while individual gifts of women ald.
in different branches are providing the -There are 686 Student Volunteers altar vessels and linen, the cross and now in the foreign field, and they are vases, the service book and markers, distributed as follows: North, South, the book rest, the credence and prayer and East Central Africa, 45; West desk, and the organ. Central Africa, 33 ; Arabia, 5 ; Armenia, -The American Friends have a 5; Austria, 5; Brazil, 32; Bulgaria, woman's organization which sustains 8 ; Burmah, 24; Central America, 3 ; upward of '70 representatives in the Ceylon, 4; China, 135; Corea, 38 j field, of whom over half have gone from India, 129; Japan, 8S; Laos, 11 ; Ma- this country, and are found in China, laysia, 3; Mexico, 1'7 ; Micronesia, 12 j Japan, India, :Mexico, Alaska, etc. Palestine, 3; Russia, 32; Siam, 15; -The Woman's Board of the Meth- Syria, 13; Turkey, 19; United States odist Episcopal Church, South, opened of Colombia, '7.
work in Mexico in 1881, and now has 13 -L. D. Wishard, of the Intercollegimissionaries, 5 boarding-schools and 4 ate Y. M. C. A., thinks that the great day-schools, with 121'7 pupils and 11 need of the time in non-Christian lands native helpers. Work is done at La- is " an army of native allies to reinforce redo on the border, at Saltillo, San Luis the missionaries, and the colleges of Potosi, Chihuahua and Durango. The Asia furnish the material for this force property owned in this Mexican work is in the 500,000 students who have been valued at '105,000. deheathenized, but not Christianized.
-In the United Presbyterian Church Higher education only rolls away the the "Juniur Missionary Society" is a stone of heathenism, and, unless Chrisgeneral t1tle for all the different organi- tianity is ready to take possession,leaves zations of young people and children, the students a prey to materialism… such as Young Women's Missionary so- alcoholism, opiumism, and all the other cieties, King's Daughters, King's Sons, evils of infidelity. The time is now Boys' Brigades, Mission Bands, and all ripe, however, for projecting the colothers of similar purpose, who are aux- lege life of America into that of Asia. "
iliary to the Women's Missionary So- -The seventh International Conferciety. Its object, as set forth in the ence of the Railroad Department of the constitution, is to arouse and develop an Y. M. C. A. was recently held in New interest in the cause of missions among York. Railroad officials and employ~ the children and young people of the from all parts of the country as far church, of our own and other lands, to west as Denver were present, more form the habit of systematic giving, than 250 delegates representing 98 railand aid in the work: of the Women's road associations, with a membership Missionary Society. of 23,000, including 113 railroad secre- OUR YOUNG PEOPLE. taries and assistants. Railroad officials of all the trunk lines of the country at.
-General O. O. Howard, describing tended the meetings, among whom were his life at West Point, tells how he Cornelius Vanderbllt and Chauncey M. braved the ridicule of the cadets by going Depew.
to religious services and doing work in -A recent issue of Woman's Work/or the Sunday-schOOl. He said it cost him Woman tells of the origin and workings more to take his stand and run the of a native branch of the Y. W. C. A.
gauntlet of their scoffs and sneers than at Ambala, India, which sustains a Bible it did later to face the cannon and woman, who teaches in the neighboring villages, and also by its good works Gospel are now adults, and the truth has stirred up an English branch to send power over their hearts and consciences.
out a second Bible woman. -Seventy years ago the American -On the first Sunday evening in Sunday-School Union was organized_ April, under an impulse from the St. At the sixth anniversary, the famous Louis Christian Endeavor Union, 50 "Mississippi Valley Resolution," with missionary meetings were held in as great enthusiasm, was unanimously many churches in that city. Over 100 adopted. In many respects it is the short addresses were made, and for 35 most important resolution ever adopted of the services the Union provided the in America. It read as follows: "The speakers. Union, in reliance upon Divine aid, will, within two years, establish a Sun- -The Presbyterian Endeavorers sup- day-school in every place where it is port 20 home missionaries : 4 in Alaska, practicable throughout the valley of the 5 among the Indians, 4 among the Mor- Mississippi." This action aroused the mons, and 2 among the Mexicans. DUl- nation. The society has organized, on ing January of this year these societies an average, four new Sunday-schools sent three times as much to the Home every day in the year for seventy years, Mission Board as they did during Jan- the total number being 92,500. It has uary of last year. In February their brought 4,430,000 scholars and teachers gifts were four times as large as in the into the Sunday-school, which is an preceding February. The Sabbath- average of 63,285 each year. It has schools made a threefold increase in J an- created and circulated nearly $9,000.- uary, and did nearly as well in Febru- 000 worth of religious literature. Durary. ing 1893 were established 778 Sunday- -In Madagascar there are a number schools in destitute communities in the of SoCieties of Christian Endeavor. Northwest, with 3853 teachers and 21,- .
Two or three months ago a native min- 425 scholars.
ister, Andrianaivoravelona, went out -" The strongest church in the into the country one Sunday to speak United States is probably at Old Chief's at a meeting of these societies. He Village, Red Lake," says the Minnesota took as his text the words, " Come thou Missionary, "where the Rev. Mr. Wilwith ns, and we will do thee good," and lis, assisted by the Rev. Mark Hart (3 urged those present to bring others to native clergyman), is laboring. There Christ. They agreed to do this, and almost the entire adult population are eagerly set to work, and as the result of communicants. Before 1878 there was their effort 223 people have been bap- not one, nor, with the exception of the tized, and 38 have already become full Old Chief and his brother, one who had members of the Church. ever seen a Christian church. All in the place were utter heathen, and they came AMERICA. over in a body. Has there been a sim- United States.-Probably never be- ilar instance in our country 1" fore has so much good news of such a kind come from Utah as during the .-The Spirit of Mis8ions for April, last few months. Revivals are really from which the last item is taken, is quite common which are genuine, especially characterized by articles overthorough, and continue for weeks to- flowing with the genuine spirit of misgether. And in the main this is but the sions, containing matters of fact and joyous harvest which follows from Christian sentiment of great value to fifteen or twenty years of seed-sowing in Episcopalians not only, but to all who love the kingdom of our Lord.
the schools. Those who were children -The seventy-fifth Annual Report of when first brought into contact with the the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church for 1893 has just been – One of the largest home mission issued, and shows an increase in the fields in the world is that under the care foreign missions of 10,749 members and of the Canadian Presbyterian Church. 17,748 probationers. The conversions Western Canada has an area as great as were 10,690, with no reports from that of Europe without Russia, while the Africa, North China, Northwest India, habitable part of it is as large as Central Bulgaria, and Korea. The Sabbath- Europe. The Canadian Pacific Railschool scholars have increased by 20,564. way opened up this vast region, and immigrants are now pouring in at the -Our brethren of the Presbyterian rate of 30,000 a year. About one third Church, South, are to be congratulated of the settlers are Presbyterians. Durupon having in their missionary force ing the past nine years this church has in Africa one of such gifts and graces planted 712 preaching stations, built 212 as are possessed by Rev. W_ H. Shep- churches, and gathered futo them 15,000 herd, a colored man, for some months in communicants. Now the work is growthis country, where he spoke often over ing too great for her own resources, and a wide area both South and North, an appeal has been sent to the Presbyalways with the greatest acceptance to terians across the ocean for help. all, and recently returned to the Upper Congo. Could some hundreds or thou- Sonth America.-Rev. James Millar, sands of his spiritual and intellectual formerly of British Guiana, states that stamp be found among the freedmen, that country has a population of about the problem of African missions would 300,000, of whom 38 per cent are coolies soon be solved. imported from East India; about 52 per cent are" blacks, Africans, and col- Canada.-In his last annual letter ored people ;" the remaining 10 per cent Bishop Bompas, late of Athabasca and being made up of Portuguese, Chinese, Mackenzie River, but now of the still Europeans other than Portuguese, and remoter diocese of Selkirk, threatens to native Indians. The black people speak report the Church Missionary Society English, and are as professedly Christo the Society for the Prevention of tian as any white community. The Cruelty to Children on a charge of heathen element is made up of the coolies " starving and neglecting their own off- from Calcutta and other parts of the spring, the Northwest America Mission, Indian Empire, about 110,000 in numand leaving it out in the cold /" ber, and employed on almost every sugar estate in the colony ; and the aborigines .-Well may Rev. Dr. Langtry, of estimated at 10,000. The churches that Toronto, speak in Harper'8 Weekly, with are at work in the colony are, in ordOl loving reverence of various leaders of numbers, Church of England, Church of the Anglican Church in Canada, of Scotland, Methodist, Congregational, among them "Bishop Horden, living and Roman Catholic. for forty years on the ice-bound shores of Hudson's Bay," and" Bishop Bom- -The Episcopal Church reports for pas, who nineteen years ago passed into its mission in Brazil 4 presbyters, 4 the regions to the north of the Arctic catechists, 4 candidates for orders, 90 Circle, and has never once been outside communicants, 205 in the Sundayof it since ; with no companions bnt Ind- schools, 65 in the parochial schools, and ians and Eskimo, living as they live, contributions amounting to 2224 milreis. often almost starving for lack of food of any kind." And he concludes, .. If -Brazil is to have a sort of Robert the Anglican Church is true to her op- College through the late John I. Macportunities and worthy of the heritage kenzie, of New York, who gave $50,000 of heroism which her past history sup- tor the erection of a building at San plies, a glorious future is in store for Paulo, to be known as Mackenzie Colher." lege, in which" God and His Word should be forever honored," to be under sent almost 250,000 redeemed from idolthe control of the Protestant college at atry. that place. The Protestant college was chartered by the Board of Regents of -The Church Missionary Society is the University of the State of New York able to write concerning the annual letin 1890, and is now in the third year of ters from the missionaries: "We do its rel!'ular college work. It is not under not remember any year in which they the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Mis- have been so full of tokens of the work· sions, though intimately connected with ing of God the Holy Spirit in our mis· its work. sions."
EUROPE. -Since the death of Mr. Horniman, a merchant famous throughout the Great Britain.-According to recent world for his tea, it has transpired that, statistics, at least a little cheering light having an intense interest in foreign begins to beam forth in places hitherto missions, he conceived the idea of foundvery dark. It appears that during the ing a "Missionary Home," in which decade 1881-90 the migration from the candidates for the foreign field with no country to the cities of England has means of their own should be boarded fallen off at a rate really wonderful; to and lodged free of charge. With this London, for example, from 302,121 dur- idea in view, he made over a sum of ing the ten years preceding, to 158,023. £20,000 to certain trustees belonging to And further, that throughout the Unit. the Society of Friends, of which sum ed Kingdom, and with all the growth £3000 was to be spent in providing and of population, the number of arrests furnishing a building, and £17,000 was and convictions for various indictable to form an endowment. A house in the offences is much less than twenty or north of London has been taken and thirty years ago. furnished, a good library has been pro- vided, and one room with single desk -Another famed African explorer, tables is set apart all a study. Commander Cameron, follows Sir Samuel Baker to the unseen world. Be- -The United Presbyterians of Scottween 1872 and 1876, while in charge of land stand among the happy lew whose the Royal Geographical Society's East missionary receipts do not show a fall- Coast Livingstone expedition, he crossed ing off. The figures are £84,138, as the continent from ocean to ocean, mak· against £82.856 for 1892. ing a journey of nearly 5000 miles through the terrible unknown. The Continent.-The American Sea- men's Friend Society publishes an arti- -Christian missions are likely to find cle by Rev. J. N. Lenker upon Danish in Lord Rosebery a valuable sympa· missions for seamen. On a Bethel ship thizer and helper. He has recently in Copenhagen Harbor services have given $5000 to Glasgow to improve the been held since 1870, amounting to 130 condition of the POOl', is a firm friend of in 1891 in Danish, 55 in English, 11 in General Booth's endeavors, and no doubt Swedish, 10 in Germau, and 4 in Fin·' in every possible way will help on the nish, together with 172 visits made to fulfilment of his own prediction that the hospitals. The central society has .. the politics of the future will be the 5 principal stations in foreign partspolitics of the poor." London, Hull, Grimsby, Newcastle, Hartlepool. New York, and Sydney, -The Baptist Missionary Society pub- Australia. lishes these encouraging figures setting forth the steady growth of its income: -The inveterate intolerance of" Pope 1792, £13; 1812, £4857 ;'1832, £13,208; and Pagan" dies hard, especially of the 1852, £19,117 ; 1872, £31.835; 1892, £72,- former. Rev. W. H. Gulick writes from. 729. The communicants in the mission Spain that, though after strenuous en- ~i fields now aggregate 61,682, and repredeavor and long waiting, permi8Bion was the missionaries have not been seriously received from the powers that be to molested, and the sales of Bibles have open and dedicate the Protestant Ch urch been surprisingly large.
in Madrid; since then, and without any India. – When the census of 1881 was reason given, the chief of police, acting taken the Brahmins numbered 13,730,- under orders, has closed the main door. 000. This exalted caste is divided, ac- -The Papal Society for the Propaga- cording to Sherring, into no less than tion of the Faith, whose constituency is 1886 classes or tribes.
the Papal Church in all lands, in mak- -In addition to British India proper, ing report for 1892, gives the total of there are native States to the number of missionary collections as only $1,329,- 693 great and small. Under certain reo 543. Of this sum only about $45,000 strictions all these are ruled by Hindu came from the pockets of Catholics in or Mohammedan princes. the United States. Missions in Africa received $273,917 ; in Oceanica, $126,- -The Oanadian Baptist has a letter 448; in North and South America, from L. D. Morse, of Bimlipatam, en- $90,621 ; in Asia, $66,940, etc. titled "Sights and Sounds In India," and describing the thronging of thou- ASIA. sands of Hindus at certain sacred sea- sons to the Bay of Bengal. in that vicin- Islam.-Speaking of the value of ity, to plunge into the brine, that their hospitals in the Turkish Empire, a mis- many sins may be washed away. A sionary writes, in Life and Light: •• The Brahmin with a brass bowl is a necesp,atients are from all parts of the coun- sary palt of the proceeding, and after try around. and of every nationality- water has been poured by him on the. Turk. Armenian, Kurd, Jew, Arab, and head of the" penitent," with the jug- Greek ; some are from the better classes, glery of magic words to exorcise the but as a rule they are working people demon uf transgression and guilt, it is and often very poor. Many come from needful to deposit in his hands certain distant villages in the north or east, and coins, the larger the more effectual the from large cities also ; the poor people washing.
will .sell everything they have, some- -The American Baptists believe in times, in order to make the journey and adding instruction to evangelization, be treated. One excellent thing in the and so have founded various institu- hospital is this: that men of different tions for higher education in the foreign nationalities and religions are received field. 'l'hus Insein, Burmah, has its on exactly the same footing; all are theological seminary. and Rangoon its treated alike, and, rich or poor, all have college. There is another college at to obey the same regulations. Turks Ongole, India, where we may be certain become accustomed to eating and sleep- the Gospel will not be kept in the backing with Christians and Jews, and all ground, and a theological seminary at learn to help one another and to sym- Ramapatam. In the institution first pathize with one another in a very named Karens and Burmans are taught friendly way. There is no democracy together, while four natives have posilike that of trouble and suffering." tions in the faculty.
-8. M. Zwemer, of the Arabian Mis- -A letter from Rev. E. S. Oakley, of sion, whose seat is at Bahrein, on the the Mission to Lepers at Almora, tells of lower Euphrates, writes in January of the baptism of 16 of these unfortunates, a twelve days' tour to Hassa and Kateef, 12 of whom were men, and 1 at the age lying to the west, and of the outlook at of eighty-three. In former years he had ,Muscat, which to a considerable extent been a devoted Hindu, and had made '{s under British inlluence. Thus far pilgrimages to many sacred places. -The Lutheran Missionary Journal 90 converts, mostly from neighboring (General Synod) publishes a parochial villages, have been received by baptism. report from Nelaturn Samuel, a catechist, whose salary is 10 rupees monthly China. -Why are not the Celestials ($36 per annum), and whose field coveIS wiser than we when they place the sur- 14 villages, with 8 prayer houses, 656 name first and the personal name after Christians, 183 communicants, 150 can- it? Precedence is thus given to what didates for baptism, 173 boys and girls has gone befole, to the trunk of the tree in school, etc. Besides this, for elghf, -the individual is treated as an attachmonths he has wrought in another field ment to the family, the latest branch of about as large. One of his sons is a the tree. sub-catechist, while a second is a teacher. – " Some of the government officials in -According to these figures, the Meth- China are becoming' westernized. ' An odist Episcopal missions in India, repre- illustration is given by a missionary in sented by 5 conferences, and the growth the following extract from his report: of less than forty years, cannot be 'Both the civil and military magisdeemed a " failure" : trates regularly read the Fuhkien Ohri8- tian Advocate. ' At a recent literary ex' Foreign male missionaries …••. 95 amination the subject for thesis wds, Wives of missionaries…..•…. 82 • History of Christianity in China ; Will Missionaries, W. F. M. S…… . 55 it be an Impediment to Her in the Fu- Native ordained preachers….. . 150 ture?' Two Christians sent in theses Native unordained preachers .. . 567 which so pleased the magistrate that he Members ……………….•. 18,931 required their publication in the paper." Probationers ..••…•………. 36,345 Adults baptized. in 1893.•• _… . 12,133 -Dr. DuBose writes: "The South- Children baptized in 1893….. . 6,950 ern Methodists have 12 men, the South- Day scholars…………….. . 27,960 ern Baptist COllvention 13 men, and the Sunday·school scholars…….. . 68,011 Southern Presbyterians 23 men in the field in China, and others under ap- -Rev. E. G. Phillips, American Bap- pointment. " tist; writes from Garo Hills, Assam: "We have just spent a Sabbath with a -The Ohri8tian Intelligenoer supplies village which I first visited eighteen its readers with a very acceptable photoyears ago-and what a contrast! Then graph and historical statement of " the the people were wholly given to demon oldest Protestant church building in worship and drunkenness, while the China, erected at Amoy, 1848." It was village itself was full of the filth of the fruit of the toil of Rev. W. J. Pohlheathenism. But now what a miracle man, who secured in America the $3000 of a change has been wrought I Yes- required. The material is brick. Mr. terday 117 assembled in Sunday-school, Pohlman perished at sea in a terrible and together earnestly studied the Bible gale. The dedicatory service was also for an hour. At midday 357 old and his funeral. young assembled to listen to the preaching of the Gospel, and never did I address ]apan.-" One of the pleasures of a more intently interested company. being a Christian," said a Japanese, " is' The church, numbering about 320, sup- the freedom of Christian fellowship and port their own pastor, and, with the the full confidence in the brethren. We help of what may justly be called their Japanese are naturally suspicious, and share of school funds placed in our cautious of how we speak out our real hands by Government, 5 village school- thoughts. But now when I meet a man teachers. The church is alive for re- with a Bible in his hand, we are acligious work; and this year more than quainted at once, and are soon talking like old friends and exchanging thll most secret experiences of our hearts.• -The Chief Justice of the Supreme tism. A pleading letter from ~karia Court of Japan is a Christian, and en- Kizito, chief of Bulemezi, had been re- gages actively in Christian work in ceived, urging that Mr. Gordon on his Tokyo, where he lives. He is president arrivalshould go and reside at his place, of the Tokyo Y. M. C. A., and attends where he had erected a church to which all the meetings. At a meeting of the some 300 people gathered daily for in- Kumiai churches last spring he enter- struction.
tained all the delegates at a social in his -There were 15 baptisms at Blantyre own home. during December; of these 13 were -Stated preaching services are held adults.
in connection with the mission of the -Writing on December 18th from German Reformed Church in 35 cities, Nyassaland, Dr. Hine says: .. You will towns, and villages in Japan, in 24 of be glad to hear that we have managed which this is the only Protestant de- to finish our house before the rains. It nomination at work. With 6 in the has thundered fearfully for some days, city of Sendai, the whole number of but as yet no rain has fallen. And preaching places is 41, and 7 new places now for the cost of house-building at were opened last year. Unangu. I find the cost of this house AFRICA. has been about 536 fathoms of cloth, or 1144 spoonfuls of beads, or 215 bars of -Islam can scarcely match Christian- soap (that is to say, about 72 yards I), or ity as a substitute for gross paganism. 1172 mugs of salt; or, in lawful Eng- For a missionary writes: "Just now lish money, £26 16s." Such is the curevery heathen man and woman is carry- rency of interior Africa. ing either a stick of a certain kind of wood, or a necklace of black hair or -Not everybody knows that Frere thread, for fear of illness, which is rife Town, hard by Mombasa Harbor. East in the conntry. It appears that a cer- Africa, was named for Sir Bartle Frere, tain Mohammedan teacher to the north the hater of slavery, and because he has lost two devils, and does not know suggested that the English Church Sowhere to find them. They patrol the ciety establish here a station, where country, greeting people, and if you slaves rescued from the Arabs should have not the orthodox stick or necklace, be cared for. And the contrast is amazon return to the village you will change ing between the unutterable degradayour sex. No instance has occurred tion and woe witnessed during the first yet, however, that I can hear of." years from 1874 onward, and the lives now sober, pure, and even devotedly -Letters from Uganda up to Septem- Christian. ber 7th have been received, and report "all quiet, and work going on well." -The Missionary Echo of the Meth- From the time Bishop Tucker left, 110 odist Free Church reports that the Rev.
had been baptized, of whom all but 1 T. M. Carthew recekred into the mem- were adults. This gives a total baptized bership of the mission at Jomvu, near since Christmas, 1892, of 316. There Mombasa, by baptism, 84 adults and were 335 names (81 of them women) on 38 children-the first-fruits of the Gos- the list of those under instruction for pel there-on October 4th, 1893, thus baptism. In a postscript Mr. Leakey gathering up the results of his six years'
says: •• The king seems to be coming work. At the neighboring station of out as a great reader and seeker after Ribe the candidates for baptism number the truth." over 250.
-On November 19th, 37 adults were -The Propagation Society has underbaptized at Mengo, in Uganda, and some taken work on a comprehensive scale in 40 others were waiting for their final Mashonaland, having an "almost uninstruction and examination before bap- broken chain of places visited among the chiefs for 260 miles to the north resigned his commission, went home, through Fort Salisbury; and to the spent some time in practical work in south of Umtali ror 70 miles, and round London, then returned to the Straits to UmtaU one is being rapidly made. work as a missionary, and has recently Indeed, round Umtali and to the south- been ordained a minister of the Methwest there is scarcely a chief who has odist Episcopal Church. not a definite understanding with us, and receives us ; and our most eastern -The Presbyterians carry great remiSsion hut is right on the Portuguese sponsibilities in Australasia, for their border. As to the good which the mis- numbers are large, being almo!t 500,000 sions are doing. it is the day of small in 1891. Of these 166,911 are in Victhings, when we go deeper than friendly toria, 141,477 in New Zealand, 109,383 intercourse. We have not one convert, in New South Wales, 45,639 in Queensand one boy only who is fit to be a land, 18,206 in South Australia, 9756 in catechumen; nor can I say that the Tasmania, etc. effect of Christianity among them seems to be great. Certainly at Maconi's town -The Malagasy people are very fond I have seen 70 walk some distance to of money. They love it, and long to the service, and at Umtali I have had possess as much of it as possible. But 39 Mashona and camp-servants in the love of Christ proves stronger than church; but when you realize that the love of money sometimes; and Mr. when twins are born we have not yet Huckett tells us in a letter from Fianaanywhere stopped their putting them rantsoa, in the south of Madagascar, into a pot and pouring hot ashes over that during a week of special meetings them, or throwing them into a river, the native Christians of that town raised you will not expect too much. " $627, or £125, for mission work. This sum means for them about what five ISLANDS OF THE SEA. times the amount does for British or American Christians. -On the large island of Malekula hard hearts are now beginning to break. -The Briti8h Weekly gives the fol- Six years ago, when 2 missionaries from lowing as showing the missionary activ- Victoria arrived among these 12,000 ity of the Madagascar Christians: (1) savages, no WOInan could be persuaded The Congregational Union, which repreto enter a school-house. The men pro- sents the churches, 800 or 900 in number, hibited them from doing such a thing, in the central province of Imerina, and as quite beyond a woman's province; is the Malagasy missionary society for they were downtrodden to the last de- sending native evangelists to the distant gree, and their masters meant to keep heathen tribes of this great island; (2) them down. The tide has now begun a society for supplying preachers to the to turn, and at the meetings for church dark and ignorant villages of the cenand school as many women and girls tral province, and for preaching in mar- Inay be seen sitting on one side of the kets. etc. ; (3) an association of medical frame building as there are men and students, and those who have taken boys on the other. In the case of the their diplomas, for providing native few who have taken a decided stand medical missionaries for needy districts for Christ, the wild eye has become sub- of the country; (4) an orphanage, havdued, and the countenance is changed. ing homes in the capital for boys and One Inan is now helping his missionary girls; (5) a woman's temperance so· as an evangelist. ciety, in connection with the American. women's temperance organization; (6) -Some years ago an English captain an auxiliary Bible society, for supplyof the Royal Engineers stationed at ing the Scriptures gratuitously, and at Singapore became so interested in mis- cheap rates, where desirable; (7) the sionary work among the Malays that he most recently formed, a tract society, for printing and circulating tracts.
The Missionary Review of the World — February 1894
CHINESE "ANCESTRAL WORBlIlP."
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XVII. No. 2.-0ld8eries.-FEBRUARY.-VoL. VII. No. 2.-New &riu.
CHINESE" ANCESTRAL WORSHIP."
BY REV. P. W. PITCHER, AMOY, CHI!fA.
Among the interesting legendary tales with which Chinese literature abounds, none is more beautiful than "The Legend of the Tablet." It runs somewhat on this wise : _ Years ago a poor old widow, with her children, was struggling with poverty to maintain her family in food and clothing. She was a kind and loving mother, sparing neither time nor patience, and ever enduring suffering if thereby she could only provide some pleasure for' the loved ones. Such devotion and love won the affection and reciprocal love from all her children save one. This one son neither kindness nor love could touch, labor she never so hard to please him. He found fault with everything. His dinner was either too hot or too cold, too early or too Jate ; his clothes too thick or too thin; and every demonstration on his mother's part met with snarls and growls on his. The lad was a shepherd by occupation, and one day he failed to put in an appearance at dinner-time. The mother, notwithstanding all the abuse she had received at his hand, was exceedingly anxious about his non-appearance. She delayed the meal, and waited and waited until she found there was no need of waiting longer, when she took a little basket, filling it full of the choicest things, and set out to find her absent boy. She found him-not starving, but desperately sullen. The kind and thoughtful deed of his mother, instead of awakening affection, aroused his anger to frenzy. Becoming violently enraged, he began to abuse her, when, in an uncontrollable fit of passion, he struck her a blow that lent her staggering on the brink of a precipice near which they were standing, and before she could recover herself, she went over and down into the abyss below. Frantic with grief now, the shepherd boy rushed madly down the mountain-side in search of his mother; but, look where he would, not a sign of her could he discover. The only thing he could see was a tiny "wooden tablet," into which, he was led to believe, the spirit of hi!! mother had entered. Taking it up tenderly, he carried it to his desolate home, and ever after made it his shrine. But the foundations of ancestral worship are not laid on any shadowy, visionary soil of myths and legends, but on substantial, solid, historical ground. Ancestral worship has its origin both in the family and nation, and is both a family and a national custom. It is as old as the empire itself, having been instituted in the days of Emperor Shun, the last sovereign of the second dynasty, B.C. 2255-2205. Contemporary with the birth of the nation, it has become so interwoven in the warp and woof of its history, that to attempt to disengage the strands would be to destroy the whole fabric. And, moreover, it is considered to be of more than historical significance-viz., the keystone by which this empire is cemented together, yea, the very stronghold of its life. No other one thing in its entire history has tended more to bind this people together or to perpetuate the nation than this universal respect (whether sincere or a sham) for the living and devotion for the dead; and no other one thing has so bound them to the dead past or so diverted their attention from the living future. And 80 it has been said, " Had it not been for this system of ' filial piety' (filial piety is the comprehensive term, and includes' ancestral worship ') and' ancestral worship' there would be no China now, only a medley of contending tribes and opposing nations." Another writer adds, "It was supposed to be the glory of the early statesmen and sages to have correctly apprehended the natural feeling of filial duty, so as to make it an engine for perfect government of the family, the State, and the empire."
Whatever good some may perchance be led to affirm of such a system, that, perhaps, has heen the cementing power of preserving the nation through all these centuries, the evil it has wrought offsets all the good-if there be good. 1. It has fixed the attention on the past so that it has ever prevented any aspirations or progress for the future ; hence for the past eighteen centuries all advancement has been prevented. Once originators and inventors, the Chinese have long years ago buried all their genius in the dead past. Such a system has created an intense thirst for male offspring (and a hatred of female offspring) to perform the rites due to them, as parent!:!, after death; hence the custom of child marriage and polygamy. 2. It tends to localization and overcrowding of population; hence, the family of Confucius has continued through sixty generations to the present day in the same locality.
Confucius, who claimed for himself nothing more than to be a transmitter, was only giving expression to the traditions of fifteen generations when he said, "Of all actions of men, there is none greater than filial piety, and in filial piety there is nothing greater than reverential awe of one's father." Again he says, " ThJ worship of parents is part of the duty of filial piety." Vhen the sage says that it is a " part of the duty," we do not understand him to mean a fractional part, but that the essential, if not the all-important part, is ancestral worship in filial piety.
For while the duty of filial piety may demand the strengthening of "the bonds of family union" and the stimulating "to active charity," and while it may " cherish self-respect and impose moral restraint" from the living (more of it in books, however, than in real practice), yet its larger and irrevocable demands are witnessed in the time and money expended and the adoration and worship bestowed upon the dead.
Every son of China, upon the decease of his father, erects to his memory a little wooden tablet, consisting of two thin pieces of wood, closely fitting-some gilded and others ungilded-about twelve inches high, three inches wide, and altogether three quarters of an inch thick, and set in a wooden base three inches square. This practice of erecting tablets was probably introduced in the early years of the third dynasty, B.C. 2205- 1766, and has remained in vogue ever since with but one single exception. The kings of Chau made an innovation. During the period of the fifth dynasty-i.e., the Chau dynasty-living personages were substituted for these wooden tablets, who took the place of them in every respect. This practice, however, passed away with the dynasty in which it prevailed. On the outside piece an inscription of this order is written, "The son (or sons) of So-and-So erect this tablet to his memory, and come to worship." On the inside piece is written the name of the father in full-viz., his given name at birth and his name at the time of his death-for a Chinaman may have, and does have, new names as one has new clothes. In fact, he seems to be constantly changing-a name for his childhood, youth, manhood, aud old age, etc. Also there is written on this inside strip the names of the reigning emperors and the year of the reign, and the day and month on which the ancestor was born, and a similar inscription in regard to his death. Before these shrines" incense is burned morning and evening for forty-nine days after the decease of the father, and upon stated times thereafter during the lifetime of the survivors." "When a scholar obtains a degree, when an officer is advanced in rank, upon anniversaries of births and deaths" worship must be performed before these tablets. A family is mentioned in Canton having twenty-two hundred tablets in their rooms, arranged from above downward, the oldest being at the top. Not only every house is a shrine, on whose altars these tablets ever stand, but each clan has its own particular" ancestral hall," where the tablets of ancient ancestors are deposited, and where, on stated occasions, members of the clan congregate to worship them.
Besides this, there are numerous feasts, occurring semi-occasionally, or more frequently observed in honor of the illustrious dead. One of these of particular importance is deserving of more than a passing notice, called the" Feast of the Tombs," celebrated at the spring and autumn solstice, when special rites and ceremonies are performed at the graves in family and public cemeteries. This feast day is made a veritable gala day, a sort of a family excursion in the country affair, or, as Professor Leggs puts it, " Grand family reunions, where the dead and the living meet, eating and drinking together, where the living worship the dead and the dead bless the living." Dressed in gorgeous robes-i.e., Chinese gorgeousness, with banners flying, gongs beating, an indispensable melody (j) in Chinese parades, and horns tooting-the procession moves forward, a happy company. Upon reaching the cemetery" they cover the tombs with layers of fresh earth," as we would plant our flowers, and afterward present their offerings of fowl, rice, fish, fruit, and wines that have been provided in extravagance. After the spirits have feasted, the real fun begins. It is not strange to us that spirits do not have ravenous appetites, and that the bulk of the stuff remains. Upon these remnants the old men and women, the young men and maidens, the boys and girls feast themselves to the full, making merry, carousing and wrangling until the" wee sma' hours of the morning." Thus far we have spoken of ancestral worship at its best, and we perhaps have seen much in it that has commanded our approving sympathy.
Ancestral worship is not thoroughly bad by any means. Verily there is much in it that is excellent. It has some features about it that are embodied in the precepts of the fifth commandment of the Decalogue j and there is also a great deal in it similar to our ideas embodied in our State and national demonstrations in honor of our illustrious statesmen and soldier heroes, or as witnessed on our Decoration Day and other anniversaries of like nature.
But there is another side 'which, if left undiscovered, would be to leave us in ignorance of the real intents and purposes of the system. If the people would confine themselves to the mere honoring of the dead as we honor our dead-if there were less of formality and more of sinccritythen it might command our full approval and sympathy. But in that act of worship it is made abominable, because they make the dead ancestor " the correlate of Heaven" (God), and so violate and destroy any good there may be in it. In addition to the first quotation from Confucius, in the same paragraph we have this remarkable utterance: "In reverential awe shown to one's father, there is nothing greater than making him the correlate of Heaven."
In every one of these tablets the survivors believe there reside the spirits of the ancestors, who are dependent upon them for food, raiment, every necessity and pleasure of life, as they were when they dwelt among them in visible presence. Still more fatal is the belief that every spirit is a sort of " tutelary spirit," a protector or destroyer, a benefactor or an avenger, one who blesses or curses, according to the generosity or neglect of the devotee. On account of this very element, so interwoven in the practice and the theory of the rite, it is impo!l!ible for a real Christianity to sanction or approve of it j to do so would be dangerous, to say the least, and probably disastrous to the cause of Christ.
If there is any idolatry in Chil'l&, it is found in ancestral worship j and the Conference of Shanghai (1890) did no wiser thing than when it passed a resolution certifying that " idolatry is an essential constituent of ancestral worship." Some would say, Modify it. How modify it? Eradicate its bad features and retain only the good ~ Stripped of its idolatrous fea- tures, there would be nothing left to hold it together as a custom; for without this idea of a living;hearing, ever-present, ever-active spirit the whole structure would collapse, because there would be nothing left but sentiment. There would be no more in it to a native of China than there is in a game of baseball.
Reward-long life, prosperity, and happiness-is the passion that lies .at tke bottom of all his outward reverence and devotion-not native pride, not native glory. He makes a sort of insurance policy out of his belief, from which he expects both reward and protection, with a high-tariff plank against the introduction, into his little circle of exhitence, of sickness, and trouble, and adversity. Remove this feature and y·ou remove the bottom out of the whole concern. The Rev. Y. K. Yen, a noted Chinese preacher, says, "All Chinese worship is for selfishness. If these people did not think the gods could affect men's bodies, the temples would be deserted, and ancestral worship decline." But it is a difficult matter to remove this one feature, much more than to abolish the whole system.
First. It is a system that is upheld and has been upheld by the government from time immcmorial; has been endorsed by sacred edicts, enjoined by provincial manifestoes until it reads almost like a statute of the civil codes. It may be called the national religion, "for it is the only system of reJ.igion that the government takes the trouble to propagate" among its subjects. It is estimated that it costs the people one half the time of the female population to prepare articles for sacrifices and offeriJ;lgs that it demands, and the expenditure of one hundred and fifty millions in cold " cash" per annum to sustain it.
Second. Of all forms of idolatry, this is considered to be the most serious impediment in the conversion of the Chinese. It is the greatest obstacle that the missionary meets in his effort to set up the standards of the cross in China or to establish the Church of Christ in that benighted land. . The Rev. John Ross tells of a Corean prince who was taken into China as a prisoner, and while in banishment came in contact with Christianity, and upon his return to his native land he gave this testimony: " If Protestant Christians could adopt ancestral worship, he saw no reason why Corea should not be a Christian country in three years." It is true of China as well. It sometimes seems as though this were the very last link that binds them to Satan's rule. It is a subtle influence he holds over their minds, containing so much good mixed up with so much more evil. " Go," he says, "if you must go, but take this custom with you if you go ; then I will still reign." If they could only take this with them, how easy it would be to be Christian! But Christianity demands unconditional surrender; and so it comes that this is the last heathen custom that Chinese converts will yield. He would willingly let all else go, willingly cut loose from every other idol (so would the arch-enemy), if he could only cling to this one! To break away from this seems like breaking away
TlIE 'WORSHlP OF HEAYEN BY THE CHINESE EMPEROR
from his nation and becoming an exile forever from all that he ever held dear and sacred. And, in truth, so it is. If such be his own condemnation, how much severer must that be of his countrymen! It is 'a frowning world he must always afterward face when once this step is taken. Companions, relatives, and kindred will look upon him" as an ingrate wretch who, following the leading of outside barbarians, has turned his back on his country, his clan, and his own family, on the father who begot him, on the mother who bore him, and therefore deserves to forfeit all share in the paternal estate, and to be an outcast on the face of the earth."
Thus one may realize what it costs to become a Christian in China; what unconditional surrender means j what a glorious victory the cross has won in every such concession. When a Chinaman has severed this link that has bound him enslaved to idolatry aiId heathen superstition and the dead past, it is clearly through the work of the Holy Ghost wrought in his soul j that the divine work is complete, and that his life forever after is linked' with Christ and the glorious future, even eternal life by the Son of God.
THE WORSHIP OF HEAVEN BY THE CHINESE EMPEROR.
BY A. P. HAPPER, M.D., 'D.D.
On December 21st there is annually celebrated in Peking one of the most remarkable religious services of the world. On the morning of that day the Emperor of China, as the vicegerent of heaven for the Government of China, and as the high-priest of the Chinese nation, worships the Heaven god in the presence of some two thousand of his grandees and officers at the altar to Heaven. An entrance to the park in which this altar is located is no longer permitted. Tourists visiting Peking cannot obtain access to it, and hence no description of these grounds or of this worship is sent to the papers. Perhaps some account of these ceremonies, compiled from notes made during a visit to Peking in 1878, would be interesting to the readers of the REVIEW.
Heaven, regarded as a divinity, is the patron god of the Chinese Empire. Heaven appoints the ruler. The distinctive title of the emperor is " Heaven's son." Only the emperor can worship at the imperial altar to Heaven. The time and place of this worship, the ceremonies and offerings and the prayers and the music connected with it are all prescribed in the imperial statutes, and may not be in the least modified. The time is at the winter solstice. The place is at the altar in the southeastern part of the park. The park is in the southeastern part of the city of Peking. It comprises some five hundred acres, and it is four-square. It is surrounded by a high brick wall. It is divided into three parts by walls running north and south. The western division is planted with cypress trees in rows. The entrance to the park is on the west side, by an imposing gateway. There are roads traversing the grounds in various direetions, which are payed with dressed stone. There are gates on the roads in all the division walls. The grounds are sown with grass, inter~ spersed with flower-beds. The eastern division is intersected by a transverse wall running east and west. There is an altar to Heayen in each of these subdivisions, and they are distinguished as the southern and northern altars. The two altars are the same in structure. But on the top of the northern altar there is erected an imposing three-storied building, with three domes to represent the canopy of heaven. This can be seen from many places about the city, and it is commonly called the Temple of Heaven.
The altar to Heaven is built of white marble~ and is of mammoth size. It is circular in shape, and it is built with successive terraces, one above the other. The lowest one is 210 feet in diameter; the second is 150 feet, and the topmost terrace is 90 feet in diameter and 27 feet above the ground, as the first one is nine feet above the ground, and each successive terrace is nine feet above the one below it. The outer circumference of each terrace has a balustrade of carved marble. The ascent to each successive terrace is made by four marble stairways, one from each point of the compass. The highest terrace has a circular space of 90 feet in diameter, and the lower terraces have each a circular };lalcony of 30 feet in width. The top surface and the balconies have arrangements for the erection of the required tents. There are holes in the marble flooring for the tent poles, and there are heavy blocks of marble with holes to which the tent ropes are- fastened. There are marble stands on which the incenseholders and offerings are placed. A table before which the emperor stands when reading the annual prayer and making the offerings is placed near the south side of the terrace. There are large openwork iron urns placed in different parts of the grounds around the altar, in which the silk and other offerings and the written prayer are burned; and to the southeast of the altar is a large furnace, in which a whole bullock is consumed as a burnt-offering.
On the day before the worship nine tents, covered with sky-blue silk cloth, are· erected on the northern side of the highest terrace for the tablet to Heaven and for the tablets of eight of the imperial ancestors, who are worshipped conjointly with Heaven. On the middle balcony tents are erected for the tablets of sun and stars on the east side, and for the tablets of the moon and rain, clouds, thunder, and wind on the west side. On this same balcony, near the top of the southern stairway, a tent covered with yellow silk is erected to be used as the imperial robing tent.
On the north of the altar is a round building enclosed with a high wall. It is called the temple of the Imperial Expanse. In it there are nine handsomely gilded and carved cases, where the tablets to Heaven and to the eight imperial ancestors are safely deposited. I was so fortunate as to "ptain an entrance to this depository, and to get a sight of these tablets. They are made of precious wood, about 2! feet in height and 8 inches in width. They are finely carved near the top and bottom, with a smooth surface for the lettering, on which is written in Chinese and Manchu the name of the being to which each one is dedicated. On the tablet to Heaven there are four words, " Imperial Heaven, Ruier above." In other buildings in the same enclosing walls the tablets to the sun, moon, stars, etc., are deposited.
In different parts of the grounds are buildings for storing all the different utensils, vessels, musical instruments, etc., which are used at the time of worship or in preparation for it. There are slaughter-houses, and the instruments and the utensils for slaughtering the animals and preparing them for the time of the offering of them. On other parts of the grounds are buildings in which the high officers who attend the emperor and the musicians are lodged. There is a special building, styled the Palace for Fasting, prepared for the emperor.
On December 20th the emperor comes forth in great state from the palace, and proceeds-part of the way in a sedan-chair carried by sixteen men and part of the way in a chariot drawn by an elephant-to the park by one of the broad streets of Peking. He is attended by a large retinue composed of members of the royal family, some of the nobility, civil and military officers of high rank, to the number of nearly two thousand. The emperor proceeds to a place to the south of the altar, where he descends from the chair and' goes to the building where the tablets are in deposit. He burns incense before them, and worships the tablets of Heaven and of the ancestors. He then inspects all the preparation which has been made for the worship of the next morning, to see that they have all been properly prepared, according to the statutes. The retinue have retired to their respective places, and the emperor repairs to the Palace for Fasting, and spends the night in meditation. The service commences at three o'clock in the morning. The emperor is informed of the hour by the official messenger, and proceeds in an imperial chair to the south gate of the outer wall which encloses the altar. From there he proceeds on foot, and ascends by the flight of steps from the south to the robing. tent. The retinue in official robes take their respective places. The memberS of the royal family are on the south side of the highest terrace, the higher officers on the south side of the middle terrace, and others on the lowest terrace, and others still on the ground on the south side of the altar. The grounds are all lighted by lanterns suspended from poles and the marble gateways.
When everything is ready and all are in their places, the services are commenced with music. The tablets are brought out with reverential ceremonies and placed in their respective tents. The fire is lighted in the furnace where the burnt-offering is consumed. The rolls of silk and all the various offerings of meats, grains, wines, fruits are placed before the several tablets. All the exercises are performed at the call of the master
1894·1 THE GOVERNMEN'I'S OF 'l'HE
of ceremonies, which is made in a loud, ceremonious voice. The emperor' bows first 1"Iefore the tablet to Heaven with three kneelings and nine knockings of the heaa on the floor; then all the retinue goes through the same to the tablet of Heaven; and so successively the emperor and the whole retinue of officers and grandees worship each one of the eight ancestors. Then follows the formal presentation of the offerings that are before the respective tablets. The appointed music is intersperlied between the different ceremonies. Then comes the reading of the prayer to Heaven by the emperor. When these ceremonies are completed, the offerings of silk and meats are carried away by the attendants and burned in the iron urns; then the tablets are reverentially conveyed back with music to their respective shrines in the depository. The emperor retires to his robing tent and then proceeds to his chair and returns to the palace, accompanied by his retinue.
When anyone considers the various parts of the scene presented on the morning of Deeember 21st, he cannot but be impressed with its grandeur. The emperor of these four hundred millions, as the high-priest of the nation, offers a great sacrifice to Heaven and his ancestors. The great retinue of high officers and a vast multitude of attendants are grouped around in the attitude of profound reverence and adoration. As the dim light is shed abroad upon this vast crowd from the suspended lanterns, and the lurid glare from the sacrificial furnace ascends in the distance, and the fragrance of incense and the peals of music fill the air under the open vault of the sky in the early morning, the scene has all the elements of an imposing ceremony. It is a most depressing consideration that this impressive worship is an idolatrous service. All Christian hearts will join in the prayer that the time may soon come when the ruler of this numerous people shall come to know the great God who made heaven and earth, and worship the Creator as the Lord of all.
THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE WORLD.-II.
BY JAMES DOUGLAS, M.A., BRIXTON, LONDON.
Modern ideas of government find their common meeting-ground in constitutional monarchy and in republics. Both may be said to be the outgrowth of the critical spirit, and to be based on the recognized principle that the people themselves should be adequately represented in the councils of the nation. The freest and, as it is generally believed, the most stable form of constitutional monarchy, is that attaching to the British crown. This is not, however, owing so much to anything in the constitution itself as to the staying power of religion in the land and to the comparative disinclination of the people for sweeping change. The moderating influence of the House of Lords is also to be recognized here ; for though the House of Lords has sometimes fretted the nation by an undue retention of the drag, that House has more than once rendered timely service by the check applied to headlong legislation. At present the House of Lords has firmly put down the foot in the matter of the Irish Question, and saved, as many think, the public credit in so doing. ·Without pronouncing ourselves on this burning topic, we are glad to note that the action of the Lords has by no means convulsed the country, and will not, at this stage of the controversy at all events, effect the overthrow of the Upper Chamber. Festina lente (" hasten slowly") is a good motto for the politician as it is for those contemplating matrimony.
Despite the Lords, the will of the people of Great Britain and Ireland, as expressed in their chosen representatives, is virtually regal j for though the power of veto is vested in the sovereign, the right is rather abstract than concrete, so that the ruler stands apart from and above the storms of party conflict. Practically the ,ex!lcutive government is vested in a committee of ministers caned the Cabinet, whose retention of office depends on their ability to secure a majority in the House of Commons and to obtain a fresh lease of power by an appeal to the country at the close of the parliamentary term of seven years. The total number of members in the House of Commons, as determined by the Redistribution Act of 1870, is 6'70 j but the three countries are unequally represented-Scotland being fully entitled to all the representatives she has, while Ireland has more than her rights, and England less.
England's colonies are governed on a similar basis to her own. Thus in Canada it is provided by the British North America Act of 1867 that the Constitution of the Dominion shall be " similar in principle to that of the United Kingdom." There are, therefore, in Canada two Chambersthe Senate and the House of Commons-by whom legislative power is exercised j while the executive authority, vested in the sovereign of Great Britain and Ireland, is carried on in her name by a Governor-General and Privy Council. The present number of members in the Canadian House of Commons is 215, and the ratio of members to the population is 1 in 20,276. Newfoundland is not yet part of the Dominion of Canada, but elects to remain a British crown colony, the government being representative.
Like the mother country and Canada, New South Wales, the oldest of the Australian colonies, has a parliament of two Houses-the first called the Legislative Council, whose members are appointed by the crown for life, and the second the Legislative Assembly, the members of which are elected by the constituencies for three years. 11. governor represents the Imperial Government, and is, in virtue of his office, commander-in-chief of all the troops in the colony.
New Zealand has a similar constitution, which includes in its lower chamber or House of Representatives four Maoris.
Queensland calls for no distinctive remark; but South Australia has certain minor features of difference, the principal one being that both chambers are elected by the people. Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia are all modelled on the same general plan, and may be regarded as exten- sions of constitntional monarchy. In all these dominions the British Queen reigns, but not so much over as along with her subjects. The like applies to Cape Colony and Natal.
The German Constitution is less plastic than the English, and the monarch's power more regal. He can declare war, if defensive, and make peace. He represents interna~ionally the empire j may enter into treaties with other nations, and appoints and receives ambassadors. But there are important limitations which he must respect. He has no veto on laws passed by the Federal Councilor Bundesrath and the Reichstag or Diet of the Realm j nor can he declare war, if offensive, save with the consent of the former body. At the present time, however, the emperor's will is a large factor, and counts for much in all matters of grave legislative pro- cedure. Besides, his military powers are large. The whole of the land forces is under his immediate orders; and he can erect fortresses in any part of the empire; or, in case of disturbance, put any district in a state of siege.
As the German Empire comprises many kingdoms and States having governments of their own, the BUlidesrath or Federal Council exists to weld all these State governments into one for imperial purposes j and the 58 members constituting this Council receive their appointment from the governments to which they respectively belong. The Reichstag is representative directly of the German nation, and is elected by ballot, on the basis of universal suffrage, for the term of three years. It numbers 397 members-about one for every 118,000 of the inhabitants.
The Government of Austria is dual in character-Austro-Hungarianunited politically under the same dynasty, which is a limited monarchy. The monarch, who must be a member of the Roman Catholic Church, exercises legislative authority only with the co-operation and consent of the three representative bodies-the Reichsrath, Reichstag, and Landtage. The Landtage embraces the separate parliaments of the sixteen provinces into which Austria proper is divided. The Reichsrath is also a purely Austrian assembly, legislating for all the Austrian provinces. It is divided into an Upper and a Lower House, answering to the English Houses of Lords and Commons, and has cognizance of all public matters, such as military duty, trade laws, income and expenditure, public loans and conversio~ of funds -the consent of both chambers, as well as the emperor's sanction, being required to give validity to all bills. Like Austria, Hungary has a separate parliament called the Reichstag, which includes the House of Magnates and the House of Representatives j and affairs common to the two great HouSf.ls of this dual empire are settled by delegations from the Upper and Lower Chambers of the Reichsrath and Reichstag respectively, the members of which are appointed for one year and meet alternately at Vienna and Budapest. Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark are all constitutioll.al monarchies of the most pronounced type. The will of the people is supreme, and, as in England, the person of the monarch is sacred, since upon his ministers devolves the On?~8 of the acts of government. The Upper Chamber in Belgium, no less than the Lower Chamber, is elected by the people. This applies to the Netherlands also, where eligibility depends on the weight of assessment j and to Denmark likewise, though in this case the election is indirect in all cases save twelve, who are the nominees of the crown. It remains to add that, in the Netherlands, the Upper House has no power to introduce new bills, and while it may approve or reject those passed by the Lower House, it may not insert amendments.
Spain and Portugal are both limited monarchies of pronounced type. Spain has a Senate and Congress. The Senate is half composed of senators who are either senators in their own right or by crown appointment ; and the other half are elected by corporations of State and the larger ratepayers. A feature in the election to the Congress is the care that is taken of the rights of minorities in various large districts, with a view to the more just and uniform representation of the sentiments of the people. Portugal has a House of Peers resembling the Senate of Spain, and a House of Commons which is chosen in direct election by all heads of families and by all citizens who, being twenty-one years of age, can read and write, and who possess an income of 100 milreis (a little over $100).
In Italy the constitution of the Upper Chamber is in the king's own right j but the Lower House is elected by ballot on lines similar to those which obtain in Portugal.
The kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, while under the same constitu_ tional'monarchy, are not governed on a representative basis in which they mutually share. Theyare each self-governed and stand apart, Sweden having monarchical and Norway democratic leanings. In Sweden there are the usual two Houses of Parliament j but in Norway the Great Court or Storthing answers all purposes. The election to this assembly is made through deputies who have been elected for that purpose by the people j and though the king has the right of veto over its laws, yet that right exists only for a limited period, and may not be exercised more than twice. In fine, the Government of Norway, if monarchical in name, is republican in spirit. The weakness of the monarchy here is due to the absence of tie between the kingdoms concerned. Home rule may please the local mind, but it can never command a true statesman's respect, or tend either to the ruler's peace or the solidification of empire. It is singularly unfortunate that the King of Sweden, who in certain respects has larger powers than appertain to most European kingships, should have two kingdoms to rule that meet on no common ground of representation j and which, if not exactly a house divided aga.inst itself, are at a great remove from being a city closely built together.
Roumania and Servia call for no special remark j but Montenegro and Greece have each a setting of their own. The former, although a limited monarchy in name, borders upon the absolute in fact. Of the eight members forming the State Council, four are appointed by the prince and the remaining four are elected by the inhabitants who have borne, or are bearing, arms. Practically the influence of the prince· in State Councils is supreme. The peculiarity in the limited monarchy of Greece lies in the fact that here the entire legislative power is vested in a single Chamber of Representatives, called the Boule, which must meet for not less than three months and not more than six. An absolute majority of members is required before any bill can becomll law; and a discussion of each bill, article by article, must take place thrice, on three distinct days, ere it can be adopted. Another safeguard against premature legislation is provided for in the enactment that no sitting is valid unless at least one half of the I members are present. In the East, Western ideas of government are gaining ground. Japan is a case in point. This empire, which up to 1871 was feudal in its system of rule, is now remodelled on a European basis'; and, while still absolute in certain features, bears the clear imprint of constitutionalism. There are two houses, the House of Peers and the House of Representatives ; and either House may initiate projects of laws as well as make representations to the Government and present addresses to the emperor. Those elected to the House of Representatives must be not less than twenty-five years of age, must have had an actual residence in a " fu" or " ken"-the two names for districts-for not less than a year, and must contribute to the taxes a small specified amount. Every law requires the consent of the Imperial Diet, which comprehends both Houses. The Cabinet ministers are all appointed by the emperor, who can declare war, make peace, and conclude treaties.
III. Turning now to the republics of the world, the foremost are confessedly those of the United States of America and France. It is the former, however, that is seasoned by time and that has the unique advantage of having shown, through the course of successive generations, a rare power of assimilating peoples from many lands, and of gaining strength and consistency despite the undoubted presence of elements heterogeneous and forces divisive. What Britain is among the monarchies, that, in as marked a degree, is the United States among the republics. Arthur Helps, in his "Thoughts upon Government," has observed, "I do not think it too boastful to .say that the British people, and our near relations in America and the colonies, are the most governable people on the face of the earth." The statement defies criticism. To the Lord be the glory! It is the religious heart of the people which, through grace, has beat true in the dark and cloudy day, and which has yielded the statesmanship that so far has borne the State bark onward.
As it is like bringing coals to Newcastle to describe the Government of the United States in these pages, we need only touch the subject with a light hand, and, being a Britisher, with becoming diffidence. The govern.. ment is by a confederation of sovereign States in federal bond for imperial purposes, each State being sovereign in its own domain to the extent both of making and administering local laws. At the head of the confederation. is the President, in whom the executive is vested, and whose period of office is for four years. He, together with the Vice-President, is chosen by electors appointed by each State to the number of the representation which each has in Congress. The President is commander-in-chief of the national forces. The Senate has large ruling powers. It ratifies or rejects treaties made by the President with foreign powers, a two-thirds majority being required for ratification. It has also the power of confirming or rejecting all presidential appointments to office, and in case of removal from office or disqualification, it constitutes a high court of impeachment. The Vice-President is, ex officio, head of the Senate. All senators must have reached the age of thirty, and be residents in the States from which they are chosen.
The House of Representatives, numbering 358 members, is elected every second year by the vote of citizens who, according to the laws of their respective States, are qualified to vote. These, in general, are all male citizens over twenty-one years of age. Representatives must be not less than twenty-five years of age. All bills pass through both Houses, and, before becoming law, are presented to the President. If a bill be not approved by him he may return it, with his objections, to the House in which it originated; but if, upon fresh consideration, the bill be passed by a two-thirds majority in both Houses, it becomes a law. The judicial power is confided to a Supreme Court appointed for life, with power to decide all the disputes between States and to interpret the Constitution. There is no religious test for any office of State, and education is free and practically universal.
France is governed by a President, Senate, and Chamber of Deputies. The President is elected by the Senate and Chamber of Deputies for seven years. lIe concludes treaties with foreign powers, but requires the assent of both Chambers to declare war. The Chamber of Deputies now consists of 584 members, who have beeu elected from as many m·rondissements on the basis of universal suffrage. All hills are first canvassed in committee before being introduced into either Honse, and may be introduced either by the ministry, or by the President through the ministry, or by private members. The Senate is composed of 300 members, elected for ni,!e years by an electoral body composed of municipal councils, deputies, counciIIorsgeneral, and district councillors. The Senate has the right, as well as the Chamber of Deputies, of initiating and framing laws; but all laws relating to finance must first be presented to and voted by the Chamber of Deputies. The Senate acts as a Court of High Treason, before which even the President and ministers may be arraigned. The ministry is appointed by the President, and forms a council of ten ministers who hold the varied portfolios of office. In addition there is a Conseil d'Etat, introduced by Napoleon 1., and still existing, whose functions are consultative only.
The republic of Mexico comprises the richest and most varied zone in the world. The area is about half the size of European Russia, and the population about half that of England. It is divid-ed into 27 States, two territories, and the federalty of Mexico-in all 30 political provinces. The Government has the usual threefold basis-President, elected for eight years, a Senate of 60 members, and a House of Representatives, elected by universal suffrage. Each State elects two members to the Senate, and, as in the United States, has autonomous local government. All sects are tolerated in Mexico, and none is aided by the republic or allowed to acquire land. Primary education is provided, and is compulsory j there are 10,000 schools.
Since 1859 the long, irregular isthmus connecting North and South America, and formerly constituting the Spanish colony or kingdom of Guatemala, has been divided into five independent republics, of which three -Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Salvador-are governed in the normal manner, by a President, an Upper House and Lower House j while the other two States, Guatemala and Honduras, present the anomalous regirM of a President and Congress only.
The republic of Colombia, formerly known as the United States of New Granada, is chiefly noteworthy as being intersected by the ill-fated Panama Canal, the dearest ditch ever delved. The governing body consists of three orders-a President, elected for six years, a Senate of 27 members, and a House of Representatives of 66 members.
Venezuela has a similar constitution j but Ecuador can hardly be said to be governed, as civil wars and revolutions are almost always in progress. Even its area is uncertain, as there are chronic boundary disputes between Ecuador and Peru j but the size is about equal to that of the United Kingdom of England and Scotland. It contains the highest peaks in the Andes chain and the sources of the Amazon.
Brazil.-Nearly four years ago the bloodless revolution which drove the gentle, learned, and invertebrate Emperor Dom Pedro II. from his throne removed the last crowned monarch from the Americas, which now, with the exception of Canada and certain West India islands owning a certain measure of suzerainty to European powers, are under republican sway. Under the new regime Brazil is divided into immense provinces with few common interests, and separated by undeveloped regions. These provinces are each governed by a provincial assembly, and the several assemblies unite to elect a Chamber of Deputies, or Constituent Assembly, which has at its head a President elected for four years.
Ever since the old emperor was dethroned, Brazil has been in a seething state of disaffection and incipient revolt, due generally to the desire of the southern provinces to establish their independence. Just now this has will culminated in the throes of revolution, and probably lead to the dis- ruption of Brazil into several mutually antagonistic States. While the present outbreak is in progress no more detailed information transpires than that life, property, and funds are alike insecure, and that it would be unwise to choose Brazil as a field for emigration. The State has shaken off the established religion, which was Roman Catholic; education has been secularized; and only civil marriages are recognized. Brazil has the ~mormous area of 3,250,000 square miles-as large as a.ll Europe, Russia excluded-and a population less than half that of England.
Peru has a constitution modelled on that of the United States j but religious liberty is not permitted, only the Roman Catholics being allowed to hold their services publicly. Since the disastrous war with Chili the great encomiums formerly lavished upon its capabilities, mines, and climate have been discounted. The population is about the same as that of Scotland, but the area is equal to that of the United Kingdom, France, and the Spanish peninsula combined.
Chili is a long, narrow strip of land bet~een the Andes and t.he South Pacific, divided into 21 provinces and three territories. These elect a Lower Chamber of Deputies of 109 members triennially, the electors being confined to men with a property qualification j and an Upper House or Senate of 37 members, elected directly by the provinces every six years. The executive power is in the hands of a President, elected for five years. The Roman Catholic religion is the State religion, but all others are tolerated. Education is free, compulsory, and universal.
Bolivia, a sparsely peopled inland State, shut in by the Andes and the Cordilleras, in Central South America, is ruled by a President, with two legislative chambers, elected by universal suffrage. The bitter experience of the financial ruin and loss of territory which have followed wars with other States keeps Bolivia peaceful j and the widely scattered popnlace seem satisfied with their powers and President. Consequently it is one of the few South American countries free from debt and possessing financial credit. Bolivia contains the silver mines of Potosi j and though the population is smaller than that of Scotland, it covers an exceedingly fertile area of sixteen times the extent of that kingdom.
Paraguay, an inland territory, for which is claimed the title of " Garden of South America," has au area of one fifth of that of Great Britain, and a population smaller than Manchester. It is governed on the usual threefold plan. The State religion is Roman Catholic, but all others are tolerated. A metal currency has been introduced, and now that government is settled and territorial wars have ceased, the prospects are bright.
Uruguay is a small republic on the east coast of the La Plata River, with an area a little larger than that of England and Wales and a population equal to that of Glasgow. The government is of the normal order, modelled largely after the United States. Education is general and the State religion Roman Catholic, but all others are tolerated. The Argentine Republic is a vast cave of AduIlam, whither every one that is in debt and everyone that is discontented have gathered themselves. It is a bankrupt republic, with which the British Government will not even exchange money orders, and which refuses to extradite fugitive thieves so long as their money is not all spent. At the present time of writing, this republic, having President, Senate, and House of Deputies, is in its chronic state of rebeIlion against its President, who was, according to government statements, crushing out the last embers of disaffection; but, if we may believe the insurgents' statements, was deserted by all, and had abandoned the reins of power to his adversaries. Argentina has a population of 4,000,000, sprinkled over an area nine times as large as Great Britain. .
, The island of Hayti, the largest but one of those forming the West Indies, is divided into two republics-the Spanish mulatto one of San Domingo, and the negro one of Hayti. This island, which was the first European settlement in America, is the most fertile and the worst governed spot in the Caribbean Sea. San Domingo, the larger republic, is governed by a President and national Congress; but in the smaller republic of Hayti, the government being military, the President has large sway. He is assisted by a Senate and House of Representatives. The debt is heavy and more or less repudiated. The currency is chiefly paper. Numerous revolutions have occurred, and the political barometer is set at stormy. Switzerland.-The far-famed and historic republic of Switzerland has a parliament of two Chambers, the State Council and National Council, in which are vested the supreme legislative and executive authority. The first is composed of 44 members, chosen by the 22 cantons of the confederation, two for each canton. The second consists of 147 representatives, chosen in direct election, at the rate of one deputy for every 20,000 souls. A general election takes place every three years; any voter, if not a clergyman, may be a deputy; and every citizen has a vote who has attained the age of twenty years. The two chambers constitute the Federal Assembly, which elects a Federal Council of seven members, the President and the Vice-President of which are the first magistrates of the republic. In no country is the will of the people so directly felt and so emphatically law as in Switzerland. Frequently the first step to legislation is taken by the popular initiative; and besides, the principle of what is called referendum is often acted upon, whereby on a petition from 50,000 citizens, or eight cantons, the measure passed at headquarters must be submitted to the direct vote of the nation.
The Orange l"'re~ State republic, in South Africa, has a President elected for five years, a small Executive Council, and a popular Assembly of 57 members. The right to vote is strictly fenced round, and is framed in the old patrician spirit. ' , Voters must be white burghers and owners of property of not less than £150, or lessees of real property of an annual rental of £36, or have a yearly income of not less than £200, or be owners of personal property of the value of £300, and have been in the State for not less than three years."
The miniature republic of .Andorra, in the Pyrenees, the entire population of which might be seated in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, is governed by a Council of 24, chosen by the inhabitants, a judge, and two priests. This republic is subject to France and Spain.
IV. Protectorates and Dependencies.-This paper has already run to such a length that we can only indicate in the briefest possible way what calls for special remark under our fourth head. Already we have noted to what an extraordinary extent, particularly in Africa, the absolute governments of to-day have come under the protection of foreign Powers. Some of these protectorates are lost in the haze of things as yet undeveloped, representing lines of influence of which the peoples concerned are as little conscious as they are of the plane of the ecliptic. Others concern fields whitening unto harvest. In certain cases, as in the connection of France with Madagascar, they wear a sinister aspect. Frequently the protectorates leave the existing administration unchanged, as, for instance, in Madagascar, notwithstanding the sinister aspect to which we have alluded, and in the French protectorate of Annam, the Italian protectorate of Abyssinia, etc. In other cases it means either the reduction of the country to the condition of a conquered province, as appears ill the French occupation of Tunis, or the political elevation of the country to that of an integral part of the ruling power. Thus, Algeria is now viewed as simply a detached part of France, and, in a political relation, is treated accordingly. The British Government exercises protectorate sway for the most part in a broad and generous spirit, conceding where possible a basis of representation. Thus Cyprus and Malta, British Guiana and the Honduras, as well as Jamaica, have all a certain measure of representative government, as have the crown colonies generally; and where the protectorate means, as more or less it must mean, the subordination of the native to the foreign will, it does not follow that the course is not justified, or that the outcome is not beneficent. Egypt has unquestionably been largely advantaged by the British occupation ; and that eye must be prejudiced indeed which refuses to admit the benefits accruing. On the whole, the protectorates established by the superior nations may be regarded as steps in the path of progress, a means of developing the commerce of the world, federating the nations, upraising the sunken, stopping internecine strife, and preparing a highway for the messepgers of the cross.
We close this review of the governments of the world by a reference to the British East Indian Empire. Nowhere has the genius of the English race for organization been so conspicuous as in the government of their vast Indian dependency. The present-day testimony of a noted American missionary, Bishop Thoburn, may be quoted here: "They"-i.e., the English-" never tried to conquer India, but they found warring nations
CA.STE WOMEN OF INDIA
and tribes, discordant elements of every kind, all India tossing like a troubled and stormy sea, and they proceeded to lay the hand of authority on one hostile power after another, until now at last all India rests in peace, and many millions of her middle-aged people have never seen a regiment of troops, or perhaps even a single soldier. " And again, " When we take into account all the circumstances which surrounded the actors, whether foreigners ()r Indians, the marvel is that so little injustice has marked the growth and progress of this great Eastern empire."
The government of the Indian Empire has as its head a Viceroy, appointed by the Queen, who is assisted by a Council of six members. These members of Council are placed over the six departments of finance, public works, etc., and have each a secretary, who prepares all the, business of the department for his chief, and who, though he may write an opinion, has himself no authority. The members of the Viceroy's Council are appointed by the crown for five years. Three of the six must have served in India at least ten years, and one of these must be a military officer.
In addition to this Executive Council there is what is called the Legislative Council of India, which includes the Executive Council, and not less than six or more than twelve additional members, nominated by the Viceroy. Of these, some are always natives of India. Practically the government of India proceeds on absolnte principles, as in Ceylon, Hong Kong, the Straits settlements, and other Eastern dependencies; it is the rule of the strong hand, guided, amid human infirmity, by a clement heart, ready to welcome light, but not disposed to cede a jot of independent power.
CASTE WOMEN OF INDIA.
BY MRS. H. M. N. ARMSTRONG, BURMA.
We hear much of a Hindu woman's degradation and seclusion and ignorance ; of her sufferings, her helplessness and hopelessness, and the half of it all is neither told nor known. Shut in from all the world, without books, without music, or even the knowledge of a song to sing; without needlework or fancy work of any kind, or any occupation or amusement whatever save what the naked little children make, how can she escape an almost vacant mind, if not hopeless imbecility ~ If she is a wife she may arrange her cloth and her jewels becomingly and contrive dainty dishes for her husband, of which she will partake when he is satisfied; but if the one to whom, probably, as a baby she was betrothed, happens to die, even these poor pleasures are denied her. She is a reproach, an outcast, accursed; in all God's heaven no star casts a ray of hope to her. What influence can such a one exert or what power can she wield 1 A whole race of women have lived for generations under these conditions, a.nd remain intelligent and lovable, with a native refinement :ma.rvellous to see, and no women in the world exercise greater power. Perhaps you will be startled if I say that they hold the destiny of their country more completely in their hands than the women of any other land; that they are the ruling power in India, although this power is exercised so quietly and out of sight. Repressed power is always the most dangerous. Women in Christian lands can participate in almost every amusement and every privilege open to the other sex, can have their women's aid societies in every philanthropic measure of the day ; and perhaps this very widening of her influence diverts time and thought from father and brother, husband and child. Certainly it gives us community of thought and action. Women are as much elevated by the mental and moral culture of the day as men are.
In India it is not so; all the influx of civilization and religious light from the New World has fallen on the men alone. It has had no means of reaching the hidden retreats where the women dwell. The only rays of light that have penetrated there have been carried by the missionary women, sadly few in number, who have been able to reach their sisters in their seclusion, and tell from house to house the story of the cross. I believe this, above every other reason, is the cause of the slight hold Christianity <has taken of the caste people of India. A caste woman has not even h,er father or brother to care for; she was separated from them in early childhood. Her whole life has but one vent, one direction in which to grow, and that is out through her husband and her sons to the world beyond. To keep her husband and her sons loyal to her is her one ambition, and there is nothing too hard nor too high for her in her endeavor after it. Thousands fail and yet many succeed; and when one fails it is generally because another woman has usurped the place. There is something very suggestive in the fact that the most beautiful and renowned building in India (the Taj Mahal) was built as the tribute of a devoted husband to his queen.
Again, every Hindu woman is bound to keep her husband and sons in the good old paths after the strictest sect of Hinduism. She generally cares far more for religion than her husband does-she is, if you please, more superstitious. Woe to the man who is recreant to her faith! Ris wife may not say much, but his mother will ; there is neither peace nor rest for him henceforward.
When you urge a Hindu to give his reason for not accepting the Christ of whose claims he is intellectually convinced, he will be slow to give it ; but it is almost invariably one of three reasons: "I cannot break my poor old mother's heart." "I am afraid of my mt>ther's curse." "I cannot give up my wife and children." It is a woman's influence that holds him back.
Many of these men love their wives and children-more, perhaps, love the tasty breakfasts and savory dinners that no one else will take the trouble to cook for them. For one reason or another, all find it incon-
iS94.j
venient, at least, to have no home, especially as hotel life and restaurants are incompatible with caste. Now, to have a home one must please the women who dwell there. If a man wishes to be a Christian, he has not merely his wife or wives to. contend with; his mother and grandmother, his brothers' wives, and all the women of the establishment (usually not a few) club together to bring him to his senses; they will coax him first, . but they have no end of devices for bringing him back to their faith if coaxing fails. Men know this, and the terror that hangs over the head of everyone of them is, that if he persists in what the women of his house- hold call evil courses, something will be mixed in the food which they cook which will conquer all his stubbornness and end his days.
The only thing a man can do, and what every caste man who has be- – come a Christian has been obliged to do, is simply to leave them all- literally, to run away and leave with them his property, his house, his chil- dren, and evcrything he owns in the world. Bunyan's description of the pil- grim starting on his pilgrimage has been literally fulfilled in many a Hindu.
I remember a case in point-a wealthy and influential high-caste man, who, I have no doubt, is a converted man, and who was baptized by my husband some years ago. This man was remarkable for breadth and strength of character, a man of sterling worth and great independence. He was practically king in the district where he lived, and he thought he was able to be a Christian and make his household either submit or leave. – He was wealthy, had two wives and a large" following."
When he came to the house of the native preacher to ask for baptism and to offer himself to the Church, a crowd of retainers came with him, among whom were his two wives, weeping and tearing their hair. One of these-one to whom he was strongly attached-beat her head against the wall of the house until they had to hold her to keep her from killing herself, while she declared she would kill herself rather than see her husband a Christian.
But none of these things moved him. He deferred his baptism for a while in consequence, 9ut avowed constantly his faith in Christ, and his purpose to confeRs His name publicly in baptism. And he did so. He came and was baptized, but he held to his property and one wife. He had no children.
His friends found that they could do nothing with him, for he was too far above them to fear them. However, they were determined not to lose him. Finding that he had actually left them, they all rallied round him again. His wife said "he was wise and good, and she would cook his rice and be a Christian too." The rest of his household said that if he, in his wisdom, thought it best to be a Christian, they could not gainsay it ; he was greater than they; they would be what he was. So they cooked his food, and ate with him as before, and treated him as well as they knew how. It was not in human nature not to feel1lattered with all this deference to his opinion. Fa!' about a year his conduct was exemplary; but soon the heathen influence by which he was surrounded began to tell upon him. His wife and relatives made trouble when other Christians came to eat with him, and defiled the dishes. It was only a matter of eating and drinking, and he thought it hard not to conform a little to their wishes when they had borne so much for him. He was strongly attached to the wife who had remained with him, and her influence induced him to withdraw more and more from intercourse with other Christians. He said that he knew it was wrong, but he was really worried to death. After awhile his other wife came back to the house unbidden. Again and again he promised to break away from them all. He believed in Christ j he worshipped Him only, and wanted to follow Him j but he said he saw there was nothing for him to do but to build a small house for himself and live there alone-that he could not be a Christian and live in his heathen home. This man's case is a remarkable one, because he had sufficient authority, for a time at least, to compel his household to submit to him j but they conquered in driving him out at last.
These women are standing right across the path of Christianity in Hindustan. The work of converting them, humanly considered, is restricted to the labors of Christian women among them. Sisters, here is a work peculiarly yours that no one else can do. How will you do it ~ With lukewarm zeal, spasmodic efforts, and indifferent success ~ Or, with all your hearts unflinchingly, till it is accomplished ~ THE ANNOTATED GOSPEL OF MARK IN CHINESE. * Born in the midst of Western civiIlzation, with the rich inheritance in the knowledge of Jewish history and literature, it may be difficult for Christians in Europe and America to realize the difficulties which beset an Oriental mind in an attempt to understand the Scriptures. Both by nature and education the Chinese habits of thought are very different from ours, and this oft,en makes it difficult for them to comprehend what would be to a Western mind almost self-evident. Besides this, as the late Dr. Williamson says, "there are hundreds of words in the original Scriptures which have no equivalent in the Chinese lauguage, only approximation more or less akin, but often most insufficient j • • • our most sacred terms are the least satisfactorily represented j so that without notes we come far short of conveying revealed truth, and sometimes teach error." Take, for example, the first chapter of the Gospel which many prefer for its simplicity -the Gospel of Mark-and, as the President of the Shanghai Conference once pointed out, it is to the heathen reader siniply a conglomeration of difficulties j it reads thus: "God's Son, Je-su Ki-tuh, happy sound beginning j" as Dr. Nevius went on to show, "every word is an enigma to the • Baaed on an article by S. Frank Whitehouse, Ching Klang, Ohina.-D. L. P.
THE ANNOTATED GOSPEL OF MARK IN cHiNmSE
Chinaman j and the whole sentence, if it is understood at all, suggests many perplexing questions, which the most intelligent Chinese scholar has no means of unravelling."
For this reason the missionaries Of China have for many years urged the Bible societies· in China to print the Scriptures in Chinese with short explanatory notes. At the Shanghai Conference of 1877 the following resolution was passed : " Since in the opinion of the General Conference it is highly desirable that the Scriptures designed for circulatiou in China should be accompanied with a short preface, captions, and brief unsectarian notes, therefore we do most earnestly request the various Bible societies in Europe and America to secure, if possible, a change in their rules and· .constitution so as to permit these to be added to their future editions, subject to the supervision of their respective committees in China."
The General Conference of 1890 made a similar request. There are three Bible societies at work in China-the American, the British and Foreign, and the Scotch. Each of these has a clause in its constitution to the effect that Scriptures are to be circulated "without note or comment." This clause each society disregards systematically at home in its marginal notes, the only justification being usage. In reply to the 1877 conference appeal, the societies either answered with silence or thought the change" inadmissible" or "inexpedient. " The Scotch society did, however, as some one expressed it, " after a great deal of consideration, come to the conclusion that there might be maps, chapter headings, and tables of weights and measures, so that the Chinese might know the length of a cubit and the value of a shekel." It may be well to touch briefly on the pros and cons of the question. Against the use of notes it has been urged that the Scriptures without notes can be brought home to the heart and conscience of the reader. In Christian lands, where the desired information is already well diffused, the, opinion may hold good. Surely it is a different thing in a land like China. Rev. J. Hudson Taylor declares that" of all Christian effort, the putting of a whole Bible or Testament into the hands of an unconverted, uninstructed heathen, without note or comment, is the most unsuccessful and, so far as my experience goes, sometimes even hurtfuL" It is said that cases have been found where the Gospel without note or comment has been the means of the conversion of a Chinaman. This may be true; but, so far as statistics go, the occurrence is very rare, both because of the almost incredible difficulties, and because such cases are unknown until after the persons have been brought into contact with Christians. Curiosity may be aroused and a desire for further knowledge awakened, but it is only after much light and help that these result in a change of heart. We doubt if the missionaries of China would yield to anyone in their faith in the power and sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures. The truth is that the missionaries only wish the means to .convey the mind of the Spirit in all its purity, and finding that they cannot convey a meaning of a large portion of the Gospels without short explanatory notes, they therefore desire them. Why not print, with the Gospels sold, notes which shall be at once more accurate, more helpful, and more abiding than those which a travelling preacher can probably give to a hundredth part of his purchasers.
After the appeal of the Conference of 1877 nothing was done for years in the way of supplying the desired notes. It looked as though the end had been reached when, in 1890, one of the Bible societies" so far burst the bands of a too rigid conservatism" as to print an annotated Gospel of Mark. This was only temporary, however, for, owing to doctrinal elements having crept iHto some of the notes, and other notes being too voluminous, the venture was vetoed by the home board. Later the Central China Tract Society printed an annotated copy of the same Gospel with a map. Finally, in November, 1892, after an abridgment of the notes and the appointment of two committees of investigation, the directors of the National Bible Society of Scotland unanimously adopted the following report of the joint committee : 1. The committee feel deeply the importance of the constitutional principle that the Bible must be issued by the society " without note or comment."
2. This has long been understood to permit the issue of marginal readings and marginal references in English Bibles, the object of which has been not comment, but explanation of the meaning of the words used.
3. The marginal readings and references demanded as indispensable by the missionaries in China can be issued by the society, only provided that they be confined to such explanations.
4. Without infringing the constitutional principle above referred to, such explanations may be somewhat fuller than those in the English Bible.
5. Such explanations must be prepared in China by those who shall fairly represent the mind of the mis!!ionaries on the subject, the society reserving its right to judge of such proposed issue, in translation, before committing itself to it.
Ultimately it was agreed, in view of the urgency of the case, that the society should immediately publish a tentative edition of St. Mark's Gospel with the annotations which had been already submitted to them, giving the Shanghai Conference Committee on Notes an opportunity of offering any suggestions they may think desirable in view of future editions. Consequently an annotated Gospel of Mark is now published (and sold at one half cent each) by this society, with an introduction, chapter headings, sufficient explanatory notes to aid the heathen mind, and with a tri-colored map of Palestine. The annotations are made with great caution and skill. They are placed in smaller characters in the body of the text, a method which is both Chinese and wise-Chinese, as the classics are thus annotated ; wise, for, if printed at the head of the page, the unaccustomed reader might puzzle himself considerably, as some have been known to do, by reading all the notes together and afterward the text. 'Ve append a translation of the notes on the first chapter of Mark's Gospel as accepted by the National Bible Society of Scotland. This chapter will serve to illustrate the character of the information needed by the Chinese reader in order that he may to some extent understand what he reads. We omit the headings to the sections.
MARK'S GOSPEL.-Mark: the name of the writer of this book.
The book is called Gospel (lit. " happiness-sound") because it contains the story of the.life of the Saviour.
Chapter 1 : l.-Shanti (God) : the great Spirit, who is Creator and Preserver of heaven and earth, of all men and all things. Son of God means the Lord Jesus. Jesus: the name of the Saviour of the world.
Christ: a foreign word meaning " anointed to bear offiee. " Gospel: the books about Jesus are called Gospels because they tell of the heavenly love of God made known in Christ Jesus.
2. Prophet: men of old to whom God made known His will that they might proclaim it to others. Isaiah: the name of an ancient prophet.
" ]" (will send)-i.e., God. "Thy" (face)-i.e., of Jesus. Messenger means John (see verse 4).
3. Lord-i.e., Jesus.
4. John: name of a prophet sent by God to announce the coming of Jesus. Baptize means to perform the rite of baptism-a holy rite in which water is used. , 5. Judea: name of a province (see map). Jordan: name of a river (see map). Jerusalem: name of the capital city of Judea (see map).
S. Holy Ghost: this Holy Spirit is also called God (see verse 1).
9. Galilee: name of a province (see map). Naza1'eth: name of a town in Galilee where Jesus was brought up as a child (see map).
13. Satan: name of the great evil spirit who tempts men to sin• .Angel,: good spirits in the service of God.
14. Was put in prison: John, a righteous man, rebuked the sin of the wicked King Herod, and was first put in prison and afterward be- headed by Herod (see chapter 6 : 17-29). The Kingdom of God: con- cerning this kingdom the Lord Jesus said: "My kingdom is not of this world" (see John IS : 36).
16. Sea of Galilee is a lake which the Jews called a sea because of its size (see map). Simon: a man's name; Andrew: name of his brother -both fishers.
19. Zebedee: name of a man. James and John: names of two men, sons of Zebedee; they and their father were fishers. This John is not the same as John the Baptist.
21. Ca:pernaum: a city of Galilee (see map). Sabbath: by command of God the Jews rested from labor one day in seven, and this day was called the Sabbath. Synagogue: a hall where the Jews met to read the Scriptures and to worship God.
22. Scribes: religious teachers among the Jews, who read and ex- plained the Scriptures.
23. Unclean spirit: not the spirit of a dead man, but a wicked spirit which had taken possession of a living man and tormented him.
35. Prayed-i.e., prayed to God in heaven.
3S. Preach the Word: The " Word" is the true Word of God, not the so-called " word" of the Taoists.
! 44. Priest: in ancient times men worshipped God by offering sacri- fices. Those who were appointed to make these offerings for the people
KHAMA. THE ENLIGH'l'ENED AFRICAN CHIEF
were called priests. Moses: a holy man of old who proclaimed God's law to the Jews. He lived about 1500 B.C. Things commanded (lit. " cere- monial things")-i.e., things offered to God as a thank-offering by those who were cleansed. .
KHAMA, THE ENLIGHTENED AFRICAN CHIEF.
BY REV. JOSIAH TYLER, NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA.
While the career of African chiefs has generally been stained with vainglory, rapacity, and blood, it gives us pleasure to be able to point to one who is worthy of admiration for what he is as a man and for what he is doing for his people. I refer to Khama, ruler of the Bamangwato, in British Bechuanaland. His birthplace is a matter of uncertainty, but from incidents connj!cted with his early history, I judge that it was somewhere near Kuruman, the mission station of the noted Robert Moffatt. He is about sixty years old, tall and thin, dresses in European fashion, and has a countenance expressive of great refinement and intelligence.
Shoshong, for many years the Jargest native town in South Africa, was his capital until lately. When young, he accompanied Gordon Cumming, the famous African Nimrod, on one of his lion hunts, and still retains a fondness for that sp~rt. A Christian native first acquainted him with the great salvation. He was afterward tanght by a Moravian missionary, baptized, and received to Church fellowship. But he is chiefly indebted to Revs. McKenzie and Hepburn, of the London Missionary Society, for thorough instruction and faithful watchfulness. It is the emphatic testimony of those brethren that Khama leads a consistent Christian life and is always ready to co-operate with them in their work. lIe loves Christ's servants without regard to denominational differences, especially those who make sacrifices for the good of his race.
When F. S. Arnot, the brave young Scotchman, reached Shoshong, en route to the Barotsi kingdom, he was nearly destitute of means, but he found a true friend in Khama, who placed at his service a wagon, guides, and carriers. Arnot gratefully alludes to this in his published journals.
The father of Khama lived and died a heathen. He wished his son to become like himself. Purchasing for him a second wife, he said: "Take that woman." The son replied: "I refuse, on account of the Vord of God. Lay the hardest task upon me with reference to hunting elephants for ivory, or any service you can think of as atoken of my obedience, but I cannot take the daughter of Pelutana to wife." How unlike other African chiefs! Amid a political storm that occurred in which a succession to the chieftainship was involved, the father sought to slay his son; hut Khama behaved wisely and humanely. At one time it would have been as easr for him to put out of the way his paternal adversary as it was for David to kill Saul in the cave of En Gedi.
On the death of his father he was joyfully welcomed to the chieftainship, and then commenced that legislation which has given him the name of "wise and brave Christian ruler." Trading and travelling on the Lord's Day were stopped. Natives were not obliged to attend divine ser- vice, but the chief showed by his example that he wished them to do so.
Education was attended to, schools were established throughout the country, and native teachers who were Christians were expected to con- duct religious services in the schoolhouses.
But that which has distinguished Khama above all other rulers in South Africa is his prohibitory law. No ardent spirits are allowed within his juris- diction. Unprincipled traders from without made one or two attempts to smuggle in rum, gin, and brandy, but were unsuccessful. Spies are stationed on the borders of the Bamangwato district, with orders to report at head- quarters every attempt to evade the law. Here is "prohibition that prohibits. " Would that all rulers in Christian as well as heathen lands were disposed to imitate this noble chief, and thus prevent the spread of intemperance! Khama has gone even farther. He has put a stop to the manufacture of native beer. He assembled his people, and said to them: " You take the corn that God has given to us in answer to prayer and make stuff with it that causes mischief among you. Make beer no longer." This command excited considerable opposition at first, for beer is the national beverage j but, so far as I can learn, it is enforced.
The seat of government has lately been moved from Shoshong to Palapwe, in the northern part of Bechuanaland, a place rich in agricultural resources, well watered, and in all respects better adapted to the natives. One of the acts of the Bamangwato on reaching their new place was to build a sanctuary that will seat five thousand, at an expense of more than $13,000, all contributed by themselves. This town bids fair to become a model African city, as its chief is a model chief.
British officials, especially Sir Sidney Shippard, Her Majesty's High Commissioner in Bechuanaland, have found Khama exceedingly helpful in their efforts to develop British South Africa, extend telegraphic wires, railroads, etc.
" Wise ruler," " perfect gentleman," "Christian and a hero," are expressions continually on the lips of trad€rs, travellers, miners, and others who have formed Khama's acquaintance. The religious enthusiasm manifested at the new capital has called forth the following from a missionary yisitor: "Here are hearts beating with divine life under black skins. The Bamangwato are in dead earnest. The attention at service, the absence of anything like cant, the four hours' prayer-meetings, and the general demeanor of chief and people assure one of this. " What a beautiful illustration of the power of the Gospel to elevate and bless we have in the life of Khama! That he may continue" immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord," is our earnest prayer.
Tidings have lately reached us that his wife, who aided him many years in Christian and philanthropic work, has died. I am sure that deep and genuine sympathy will be felt for him in this bereavement.
CHRISTIAN WORK IN
CHRISTIAN WORK IN POLYNESIA.* BY THE LA.TE REV. ROBERT STEEL, D.D., SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES.
Maritime discovery and terrestrial exploration have had a great induenee on Christian work. During the past century Captain Cook's " Voyages" and Dr. Livingstone's" Travels" have done most to draw forth the energies of Christian people to extend the Gospel. Livingstone knew that his discov- eries would do this. His expression has become a proverb : "The end of the geographical exploration is the beginning of the missionary enterprise." It was otherwise with Captain Cook. His first voyages to Polynesia, though not actually the first, awakened a great interest. After the pub- lication of the account of his visit to Tahiti, the Viceroy of Peru instituted a mission under two Roman Catholic priests. A house was erected for them in Vaitapeha Bay, but they only remained ten months, and returned in the ships that took them. Captain Cook, when on his third voyage, in 1777, saw the house that had been erected for them, with a wooden cross standing before it, on which he read this inscription: "Christus vincit, et Carolus III. imperot. 1776." While referring to this effort to introduce Christianity in the islands, Captain Cook wrote in his journal: "It is very unlikely that any measure of this kind should ever be seriously thought of, as it can neither serve the purpose of public ambition nor private avarice; and without such inducements I may pronounce that it will never be undertaken." How much he was mistaken! How greatly had he miscalculated! There was a stronger motive than either" public ambition" or" private avarice" to induce Christian people to send the Gospel to the heathen. The love of Christ inspires missionary enterprise for fulfilling the Divine command, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. " But it was Cook's" Voyages" that awakened the interest and drew forth the new age of missions. WILLIAM CAREY read the" Voyages," and was fired with zeal to selld the Gospel to the South Sea Islands. In his first pamphlet he specially refers to Cook, and he remarks that " Men can now ,sail with as much certainty through the great South Sea as they can through the Mediterranean or any lesser sea." It was his unanticipated meeting with Mr. Thomas that directed his mind to' India, where he found his most appropriate sphere. The Rev. Dr. Hawies, rector of AldwinkJe, and chaplain to the Countess of Huntingdon, also read Cook's" Voyages," and pressed upon her ladyship the duty of sending missionaries to Tahiti. Though he succeeded with that devout and generous lady he could not get the missionaries to go. But he did not rest till, with like-minded friends, a missionary society was formed in 1795. It was resolved to send missionaries first to Tahiti. The South Sea Mission thus resulted from Cook's " Voyages." Captain Cook had described the natives of the South Seas in a very interesting and truthful way. He showed their savage and can- …. An address at the Melbourne Mis8ionar;y Conference. 1893. nibal propensities in some islands, their low morals and degrading super- stitions in all, while he set forth such pleasing features of life and manner as were disclosed to him. His observations have stood the test of all sub- sequent investigations, and his mode of dealing with the natives prepared the way for others to follow. And when at last he became a victim of their savage fury, the zeal of his Christian countrymen resolved to send to them the Gospel. Even Cook had not sounded all the depths of Poly- nesian degradation. Missionaries had to learn it by painful experience of its evil deeds. Thirty missionaries, most of them artisans, left in the first ship, the J)uff, in 1796, amid the many prayers and great enthusiasm of English ChristIans. The capture of the vessel on her second voyage by a French privateer intensified the trials of the missionaries on Tahiti and Tonga. The thievish and exacting conduct of the natives on Tahiti, the frequent wars among them, the difficulty of getting access to their souls on the part of the missionaries, and the long delay in receiving supplies and letters from England made the first twelve years a period of great disappointment and even of fear. Eleven of the missionaries left Tahiti in March, 1798. Some died, some fell into evil courses, and though a re-enforcement came in 1801, events occurred which led six, with their wives and children, to leave for Huahine, and all of them except two to sail for Australia in 1809.* Mr. Nott alone remained on Tahiti. The mission was nearly broken up.
At length several returned. Teaching and preaching were resumed. In 1813 a Tahitian native was heard praying to the True God. Tears of joy filled the eyes of the brethren, and after sixteen years of toil, anxiety, and fear, they were rewarded-God had granted unto these benighted people" repentance unto life." The idols were burned in 1815. Pomare triumphed over his enemies, destroyed their idols, and became a Christian inquirer. In 1817 the Rev. W. Ellis arrived with a printing-press, which did eminent service to the cause of the Christian religion at that critical time. The people became eager to learn to read and to get books. In 1819 Pomare and many others were baptized. A great change had been begun. The people, whose revolting depravity, thievish habits, savage warfare, degrading superstitions, and brutal licentiousness seemed so impervious to missionary endeavors, became new creatures in Christ Jesus. They passed through conviction of sin; they believed in the love of God as revealed in Christ, and started on a new life of moral propriety. New laws regulated the native kingdom, new arts were practised by the people. A marked devotion to God and an exemplary obedience to His will characterized the islanders. The churches were filled with reverent worshippers, the schools with diligent scholars, and in every native hut there was * "Australia," says a writer, "is a very large island, mnch bigger than England, and so near Tahiti that it can be reached In less than two months. It is inhabited by savages, bnt along the coasts the English have bullt many towns, in which people may safely reside. The captain proposed to take the missionaries to one of these towns, called Port Jackson, and which Is very near Botany Bay" (" The Nlj:ht of Toil," by the anthor of "The Peep of Day," third edition, 184Sl). a family altar. Captains of trading ships and of ships-of-war, both of England and America-notably Captain Fitzroy. of H. M. S. Beagle-noticed the remarkable change in the manners and customs of the natives, and recorded this with admiring wonder in their journals.
Edncation made progress, and native teachers were trained to extend its influence, and also to preach the Gospel. The Scriptures at length were printed in the Tahitian language. In that year (1836) there were two thousand communicants, two thirds of the people could read, many could also write, and the Society Islands were added to the Church of Christ.
The advent of such men as WILLIAM ELLIS and JOHN WILLIAMS, not to speak of their colleagues and successors-all admirable missionarieswas an era in these missions to the South Seas. Mr. Ellis gave an immense impetus to inquiry and the missionary cause by the printing-press which he brought and used. He also aided the work in the Hawaiian Islands, whose language he mastered in two months. Though early removed from the South Seas, he became an important factor in missionary enterprise by the publication of his " Polynesian Researches," by his foreign secretaryship to the London Missionary Society, and by his visits to Madagascar. Mr. Williams became the apostle of Polynesia, conducted enterprises, discovered islands, reaped conquests for Christianity, and extended the work of missions. His visit to England, his eloquent appeals, the pUblication of his "Missionary Enterprises," which, as the Archbishop of Canterbury said, read like a " new chapter of the Acts of the Apostles," excited immense interest in missions. His return to the islands and his martyrdom in the cause, in 1839, awakened marvellous sympathy and evoked new zeal for extending the Gospel.
The SAMOAN mission was founded by John Williams in his memorable vessel, The j}feslJenger of Peace, built by himself in 1830. The people there showed superior intelligence, along with shocking moral degradation, but they received the Gospel with great interest. Deep convictions, even physical convulsions, marked their strong emotions, and they became genuine converts. They were good learners at school, and rewarded the labors of their early teachers and evangelists. They also developed a zeal for usefulness, and from the noble institution established at Malva fifty years ago by Messrs. Hardie and Turner, a succession of native pastors and teachers have been trained, more than one thousand in all. These even became faithful pastors of native congregations and heroic pioneers of the Gospel to heathen islands. At the present time twenty more are ready for work in New Guinea. The result has been that in Samoa the whole people were taught the Scriptures, and other books have been rendered into Samoan, and the islands were opened to commerce. There is now a Christian community of 30,000 people, of whom 7300 are communicants, with 169 .native pastors, 216 preachers, 230 Sunday-schools, with 10,000 scholars. Besides supporting native pastors, they gave last year over £1000 to the London Missionary Society. The Malva institution is self-supporting except the salaries of the tutors. Over a hundred students are resident. There are high schools both for boys and girls. The native population, though agitated by political troubles, have developed an excellent character, and are a noble testimony to the power of the Gospel of Christ. Many editions of the Scriptures in Samoan have been printed and sold.
The HERVEY group of islands presented similar scenes for Christian enterprise, drew forth similar energy, and illustrated similar success. When Mr. Williams found Raratonga in 1823, he said: " They were ignorant of the nature of Christian worship; and when I left them, in 1836, I am not aware that there was a house in the island where family prayer was not observed night and morning." Eleven islands are embraced in the Christian Church, and the character of the converts has been adorned by the beauty of spiritual graces. The population, now much reduced, as elsewhere in Polynesia, shows" a higher degree of industry and a more ready adaptability to European manners and clothing than those of any of the group" visited by the Auckland commissioners of the Chamber of Commerce. Hundreds of native teachers have been trained, and many have gone to other islands.
Among the GILBER'r Islands, the TOKELAN, and other groups, native evangelists spread the Gospel. Solitary islands like Niue, the savage island of Captain Cook, have yielded remarkable fruits, and the Loyalty Islands were won to the Gospel of Christ. Native teachers from Samoa and the Loyalty group pioneered the mission to New Guinea in 1870, and there are already 500 baptized, and 3000 are attending the schools. Over two hundred native pioneers have been engaged in the work, of whom more than a half died or were invalided. The Rev. Messrs. Murray and Macfarlane superintended the mission for a time; but not to mention others, Mr. G, W. Lawes has gathered a church, and has for the most part translated the New Testament in the Motu language; and the Rev. James Chalmers has won a renown second to that of Livingstone as a missionary explorer, and a pioneer who gained the confidence of the native tribes. Already 30 natives of New Guinea are Christian teachers, and in five other languages portions of Scripture have been translated. There are over eighty stations in New Guinea and the islands of Torres Straits.
The mission in TONGA started amid appalling difficulties in 1796, and a long and gloomy period of peril and disappointment followed before hope dawned. The most horrible cruelties were perpetrated, and the king, who lately died, after a Christian reign of more than half a century, led an attack on a French whaler in 1806, in which the crew were mercilessly massacred. After the Wesleyan Methodists took up this mission God blessed their labors with a remarkable religious awakening. King George became a convert in 1831, gave up his idols, liberated his slaves, built churches, and even preached the Gospel. Eager crowds gathered to hear the Word of God, the people were taught to read, and a printing-press !'lllpplied portions of Scriptures and other books. Christianity triumphed in a signal manner. A self-supporting and a missionary church arose, with a college for native pastors, a translated Bible, and an increasing commerce. The Tongan pioneers were a great factor in evangelizing Fiji.
The FIJI group of islands was a hot-bed of savage cannibalism, of incessant internecine warfare, and of all the vices of a barbarous people. The early missionaries, Messrs. Cargill and Cross, went at the hazard of their lives, and had a painful struggle amid a people with such reckless disregard for human life and its tenderest ties, and with an appetite for human flesh never excelled even among the Maoris. The Gospel at length gained influence, natives were converted, and women were saved from strangling on the death of their husbands. In 1857 Makamborn, the great cannibal chief and conqueror, was baptized before a congregation many of whose wives he had dishonored, widows whose husbands he had eaten, women whose brothers he had murdered. He learned to read, he learned to rule, he protected the missionaries, he aided the advancing cause of Christianity, and when white settlers were pressing into the islands, he voluntarily offered them, with full consent of all the chiefs, to the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. The Scriptures were translated partially at first in fifteen dialects, al1d finally in one, now known and read by all Fijians. Mr. Calyert, who went to Fiji in 1838, three years after the mission began, lived to see the glorious result in the jubilee of the Fijian Church in 1838. The Rev. John Watsford, his colleague, still alive in a green old age of faith and holiness, witnessed alike the horrors of heathenism, the strangling of widows, and the marvellous triumph of the Gospel of Christ in Fiji. In 1835 there was no Christian native there, and in 1885 there was not an avowed heathen Fijian in 80 inhabited islands. There are only 10 white missionaries, but there are 65 native ordained ministers, 41 catechists, 1016 head teachers and preachers, 1889 local preachers, 28,147 accredited communicants and 4112 on trial, 3206 class leaders, 1824 schools, with 40,000 pupils, and 106,000 people attending public worship. There is a college at Navuloa with 100 students in the higher departments of education. Governors, naval officers, travellers, and colonists have all testified to the thorough work of transformation wrought by means of the Wesleyan Methodist mission. Miss Gordon Cumming, after two years in Fiji, says: "You may pass from isle to isle, certain everywhere to find the same cordial reception by kindly men and women. Every village in the 80 inhabited islands has built for itself a tidy church and a good house for its teacher 'or native minister, for whom the village also provides food and clothing. Can you realize," she asks, "that there are 900" (she might have said 1100) "Wesleyan churches in Fiji, at everyone of which the frequent services are crowded by devout congregations; that the schools are well attended; that the first sound which greets your ear at dawn and the last at night is that of hymn-singing and the most fervent worship rising from each dwelling at the hour of family prayer ~" Well may we ask, "'What hath God wrought 1" The Scriptures in Fijian have been largely circulated-10,000 of the whole Bible and 50,000 of the New Testament. The" Pilgrim's Progress," Christian theology, catechisms, and hypms have been printed for the peo- ple. Many have been the triumphs of the Wesleyan Methodist missions, but Fiji is the gem of their crown. The sphere of missions has been extended thence to New Britain and New Guinea. To the former the Rev. 'George Brown, now D.D., led a band of self-denying native teachers among desperate cannibals. 'l'he wife of one of these teachers, when warned of the perils, said: "The outrigger must go with the canoe ; I go with my husband!" In the face of difficulties, bloodshed and trials, the missionaries persevered, and now there are in New Britain 3 European missionaries, 2 native ministers, 45 local preachers, 900 communicants, 1300 Sabbath scholars, and 6000 people worshipping in 41 churches they have built. In New Guinea, more recently commenced, there are 4 ordained missionaries, 1 lay and 1 lady missionary, 26 teachers, 44 communicants, 8 schools, 240 scholars, and 5790 attendants at public worship in 8 churches.
The NEW HEBRIDES group of islands had many scenes of cruelty and blood in the sandal-wood trade, in which, it is computed, that 300 white men lost their lives. This led John Williams to attempt to introduce the Gospel to Erromanga. He perished in the attempt in 1839. Other men at the hazard of their lives took up the fallen colors. Messrs. Nisbet and Turner had to escape from Tanna in 1842 ; the two brothers Gordon and the wife of one of them were killed on Erromanga in 1861 and 1872. Amid hardships and perils John Geddie persevered on Aneityum from 1848-72, and,assisted by John Inglis from 1852-77, won the whole island to Christ. John G. Paton, after great exposure on Tanna and final flight in 1861, returned to the group in 1866, and won the little island of Oniwa to the Gospel. Native teachers pioneered the way on other islands. There are now 18 missionaries on the group with 200 native teachers. On each of the 30 islands there are stations; 12 islands are Christian. The whole Bible is printed in Aneityumese, the New Testament in Tannese and Efalese, the Gospels, Acts, and Genesis in Erromangan, and portions in eight other languages of these polyglot islanders. Through the life of Geddie and writings of Inglis and the autobiography of Paton this mission has sprung into fame as a witness for Christ.
The MELANESIAN MISSION was commenced in 1848 by the first Bishop of New Zealand, Dr. George Augustus Selwyn, a man of an apostolic spirit. He pioneered the work amid islands that had never seen a missionary or smoked tobacco! He endeavored with rare tact to ingratiate himself with the islanders and got .boys to go to Aucklano. to be educated and returned to their native islands. He induced the Rev. John Coleridge Patteson, M.A., to assist him, and afterward to become Bishop of Mel&nesia. Work was carried on in the Northern New Hebrides, the Banks, Torres, Solomon. and Santa Cruz groups. Many youths were taught at Norfolk Island, which was made the headquarters, and Ii band of European missionaries was secured. One of these, Dr. Codrington, acquired some knowledge of about forty languages. Bishop Patteson could make some use of twenty. He fell a martyr to his zeal at Nukapu in 1872. Bishop John Selwyn suceeeded, but lately had to retire on account of his health. The Rev. C. Bice, who has labored twenty-five years in this mission, says there are only 6 white missionaries, 9 native clergymen (" the white corks float' the black nets," said Bishop Selwyn), 9000 Melanesian Christians, and between 4000 and 5000 pupils under teachers. A steam vessel serves the mission amid the islands. Tn New Guinea also an Anglican mission has been inaugurated and a vessel attached to the work.
The MAORIS of New Zealand, first made known by Captain Cook, early elicited the Christian philanthropy of thc ReI'. Samuel Marsden, chaplain at Parramatta, Australia, who had some living on his grounds. He persuaded the Church Missionary Society in 1807 to undertake missionary work among that cannibal people, and went himself several times to New Zealand. He inaugurated the work on a spot where once a horrible massacre had been perpetrated. Missionaries entered on this difficult sphere. There was no conversion for eleven years, but then a change began. Many were brought into the Christian fold. Troubles afterward arose and superstitions revived for a time, bnt there have been 48 Maori clergymen ordained. There are now 15 snch at work. There are 38 stations in three dioceses with 300 lay helpers and 18,000 in fellowship with the Church.
The Wesleyan Methodist mission among the Maoris began in 1822. Progress was slow from wars and other difficulties, but converts were won, native preachers educated, and thousands brought to Christ. There are now 33 stations with 46 local preachers, 300 communicants and 3000 native attendants at worship. The whole Bible and the Book of Common Prayer and other books have been printed in Maori. This fine race is rapidly disappearing; they were estimated at 2,000,000, but are now reduced to 40,000, and scattered over a large area. Most are now under Christian instructio)l.
The Aborigines of Australia have been the most difficult of all tribes to evangelize. They are entirely nomadic, which makes it impossible for a missionary to be with them in their own way of living. The only means of reaching them has been by inducing some of them to settle on certain reserves. Again and again a forlorn hope has been cherished in all the colonies, and though not without some faint encouragements, has been on the whole very disappointing. Contact with Europeans has not been favorable. Even settled life has not been so. But in the more favorable settlements both education and religion have had occasional success in each of the colonies. The Rev. Y. A. Nagenauer, who has devoted thirty-five years to Christian work among them in Victoria, does not despair of missionary success. The most promising efforts at present are those in Northern Australia, far away from white settlements j and it is to these that the prayers and liberal gifts of all the Evangelical churches should be given, in the hope that even yet a proportion of the blacks of Australia may be gathered into the Christian Church before the race finally disappears. Self-denying missionaries have labored among them and have won converts to Christ. Small portions of the Gospels have been translated into differ- ent languages. The Lutherans have a mission in the east, and the Pres- byterians on the Batavia River, in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Large reserves have been secured, and the government aids the secular part. The churches support the missionaries.
The Gospel in the Pacific embraces the Hawaiian Islands, where Christianity obtained a wonderful success under the American missionaries. '1'he work was begun in 1820 by a few devoted laborers. Christian influences at length told, and the rulers were baptized. The young were taught, the Word of God was translated. Some remarkable awakenings occurred. In 1836-38 a 110table accession to the Church took place. Immense assemblies gathered to hear the Gospel. Dr. Titus Coan alone baptized in one year 5000, and 1700 of them in one day! In all his career he baptized 13,000. A Christian nation arose with complete arrangements for education and for progress. A literature was created. The language had only twelve sounds, but as many more had to be added for the translation of the Scriptures. There, as among all nations, the translation of the ,Vord of God into the language of the people enriched and purified thought and speech. Noble bands of able and self-denying missionaries succeeded each other in Hawaii, till at the jubilee of the mission in 1870 there remained only 16 Americau missionaries, all of whom had been resident from twenty-six to forty-seven years. No re-enforcement had been sent for twenty years. There were 39 native pastors and 5 licentiates. There were schools everywhere, and all the people could read and write. The Scriptures and 150 other books had been printed. There were newspapers in the native language. The people supported their own pastors. The islands had also been opened to trade and to foreign settlers. Yet the mission had only cost $1,250,000 or £250,000. Honolulu has all the appearance of a civilized capital, with places of business, banks, and shipping, and is an important port in the great routes to Japan, China, Australia, and New Zealand.
The GILBERT Islands are for the most part under the American Board of Missions. In 1857 the Rev. Hiram Bingham, son of a missionary in Hawaii, went among them. He reduced their language to writing. In 1859 he began the translation of the Gospels, and in 1873 finished the New Testament. lIe did not begin the Old Testament till 1883, on account of the state of his health, but in 1893 he completed the printing in New York. Mr. Bingham and his faithful helpmeet, his wife, have many times gone over together every letter, every word, every point, in writing, transcribing, proof-reading, and it was a joyous occasion, on April 11th, 1893, to add the finishing touch to their labors. It is not often that one man has done all in translating the Scriptures j but in Mr. Bingham's case it has been accomplished. The chief evangelists in all Micronesia have been native missionaries from Hawaii. Nine ordained and seven licentiates labor from Hawaii to the Marquesas Islands, and the American and British missionaries meet each other.
One very pleasing feature has characterized missions in Polynesia. They have, with few exceptions, been free from sectarian strife. Very rarely have missionary societies overlapped each other in the Pacific Ocean. Roman Catholic missions have occasionally entered upon spheres where the natives had already become Christians j but Protestant missions have each been left to the groups where they began the good work. Though Anglican bishops have taken a part in the work, they have, as a rule, not only refrained from interfering with others, but they have even retired farther on, as in the New Hebrides, as the settler missionaries of the Presbyterian Church advanced. The Hawaii Islands were Christianized by the American Missionaries; the Society, Samoan, Hervey, and Loyalty groups by the London Missionary Society j the Fiji and Tonga groups by Wesleyans, and the New Hebrides by Presbyterians.
Great hindrances to missionary work in the South Seas have arisen not merely from the degradation and vicious habits of a barbarous people, but also from these other causes: 1. The presence of vicious white men, some of them runaway convicts, some sailors, and others, a class called" beach combers," who had ingratiated themselves with the natives, and frequently plotted against the missionariel'f.
2. The unprincipled and immoral conduct of the crews of some ships. 3. The distribution of intoxicating liquors among the natives. 4. The immoral relations of some traders with the native women, and the opposition to the missionaries by these men. 5. The worldly influences introduced along with civilized life and commerce. 6. The exportation of natives to plantations in the colonies or on other islands. There are not fewer than 350 islands of Polynesia more or less fully evangelized in this century. A fleet of five missionary vessels with auxiliary small craft have been occupied in this work till steamships in the trade have caused some to cease. The Word of God has been rendered into 50 languages in whole or in part. Half a million of converts have been gathered into the Church. Many faithful native pastors and teachers have been trained, and have illustrated the graces of Christian character and the works of faith and love. Some have, amid many dangers, pioneered the Gospel to savage islands, and have led the natives to Christ without European or American missionary aid. The whole expense has been about $10,- 000,000, or £2,000,000 sterling money! Has this not been a wonderfnlIy economical enterprise to have produced such grand and permanent results?
&lOTS AND OBPIitA.N…aEIl IN OllIN
RIOTS AND ORPHANAGES IN CHINA.
BY REV. JOHN ROS8, MOUKDEN, OHINA.
The Tientsin massacre, the most serious of this century in China, had its ostensible cause in the belief that the nuns who were conducting a large school were iu the habit, either themselves or by means of others, of gouging out the eyes of their pupils to make expensive medicine. Not to mention other subsequent troubles, the widespread attack ou foreigners in the Yangtze valley moved its unwieldy length along under the same stimulus. The belief that missionaries use the hearts and eyes of the young for medicine found its way all over China. Even throughout Manchuria it was published and. believed that I was paying a shoe of silver for every child brought me. Now, if such an extraordinary belief, originating such disaster in the past and potential for further trouble in the future, exists so generally, and lives so persistently in the Chinese mind, it is the duty of every wise missionary to ascertain what he can do to destroy this dangerous and productive source of trouble. Especially is this duty borne in upon us when it is patent to every observer that the obstacle presented by this belief to the progress of Christianity is far more serious than by the known evils of opium.
How so practical a people as the Chinese came to regard this belief as a truism it is difficult to conceive. But that it is somehow connected with schools and especially with orphanages there can be little doubt. The inmates of orphanages are usually children who have been rescued from the most pitiless poverty, sometimes from famine, and whose constitutions are therefore greal.ly degenerated. They are more liable than ordinary children to disease, and the mortality is disproportionately larger. To the Chinese ignorant of the causes of this disease and mortality, the large number of deaths is suspicious.
The orphanages connected with Protestant missions are not, I suppose, very numerous. The Roman Catholics cultivate them assiduously as the principal recruiting ground of their Church. They receive as many orphans as can be brought to them ; and are said to demand, with each, a deed from the nearest kin renouncing all claim to the orphan for the future. Not only so, but it is believed among the Chinese that they " buy" such children j which means that they give a small sum of money in return for which they receive a deed renouncing all claim on the child for the future. These children belong absolutely to the "Church." How much truth there is in these statements I neither know nor am concerned to know. S"ufficient to me that whatever the worth or worthlessness of any theory to account for this wild and general belief, the belief itself exists and is associated mainly with orphanages.
To us the only problem worthy of serious consideration is how to eradicate this belief. It cannot be done by gunboats. The degradation of any number of offioials, however muoh merited, is worthless to this end. No amount of money paid in oompensation for troubles arising out of this belief will have any other effeot than that of increasing the hatred against the" money-loving" foreigner, who, because he is all-powerful in China, oan make everything the occasion of what seems to the Chinese " extortion. ' , None of these methods, nor appeals to any other" oarnal weapon" will be effectual in undoing evil. It seems to me that only one method exists for destroying this ever-dangerous belief and that is the non-existence of orphanages. This course I strongly advocate. For whatever be the benefits bestowed by or derived from orphanages, they are far more than outweighed by the evil results in the serious barrier which this belief has raised against the missionary in China.
What of orphanages already established? The rooent famine in Manchuria left a number of utterly destitute boys and girls on the hands of the missionaries. Orphanages were established as the only way of meeting the difficulty. Within a couple of years many relatives claimed some, otE.ers were apprenticed to trades, and most, if not all, the girls are betrothed ; and the orphanages are now virtually closed.
Is the mission, because dreading the evil rumors which arise from the existence of orphanages, bound to turn a deaf ear to the cry of the orphan, and to leave the destitute ohildren to die on the street? By no means. Christians with no family of their own adopt some, and others are boarded out in Christian families, where their education and interests can be attended to. I consider it in any circumstances an nnwise policy to refuse to hand over one of these orphans to any near relative who has the right aocording to Chinese law and custom to the person of that orphan. Such refusal can only lead to injurious remarks by the general public.
To the large number of missionaries who are anxious to gain the goodwill and remove the prejudices of the Chinese, I commend some such mode of dealing with this subject. Recent history, however, shows that there are some missionaries who are bent on always appealing to " treaty rights," as Shylock to his bond. Whether or not their action is calculated to appease or to arouse the Chinese is of less importance to such men than the question as to whether or not the action is in itself right or wrong. Probably orphanages may come within this sphere of action. Would such men allow me, though assured of the utter unwisdom of their policy, to suggest one way of modifying the evils arising from orphanages? If they sent a oourteous request to the Hsien of their location to visit and examine the orphanage at any time of any day and as often as he chose. it would prove to the magistrate and to the public that there was no underhand con· duct connected with the school which dreaded the light. Rightly or wrongly Chinese will insist on believing that what is kept secret is what dare not see the light. While, therefore, orphanages exist and are not visited by the magistrate or a proper representative, the Chinese will consider them kept designedly secret; and if secret it is because of evil deeds
DtStNTEGRATION OI1' MISSIONARY SOCIET:pl:S
connected with them. To prevent such impressions no amount of caution should be deemed superfluous, nor any amount of self-denial too great a price to pay.-North China News.
[There would seem to be some way of reaching the evils to which Mr. Ross calls attention besides the entire abandonment of the orphanage system. :Might not somc well-known Chinese women be put into practical control of such institutions as matrons, thus securing public confidence? Are there no converted women who retain the public esteem and who can be induced to identify themselves with such institutions? The creation of a native ministry has removed many of the objections raised against the intrusion of a foreign preacher. May not the putting of native Christian women at the head of the orphanages both inspire confidence and correct false misrepresentations ?-EDI'l'OR.] DISINTEGRATION OF MISSIONARY SOCIETIES.
BY REV. E. SNODGRASS, TOKYO, JAPAN.
In the REVIEW for March Dr. A. J. Gordon discusses a subject of more than passing importance, and of special interest to many missionaries. It is not my purpose to join issue with Dr. Gordon on any of the points he has touched upon in his admirable article on " The Overflow of Missions." I wish to notice, along the same line of thought, some things which have for a long time been kept in mind, waiting an opportune time for speaking of them.
Though the least 'of all that are to be called missionaries, I trust the Lord may, to the end of my days on earth, give me a place among His servants in the foreign fields. I love the Master's cause in these distant lands. Therefore what I say is said in the interest of His kingdom.
What Dr. Gordon styles" the overflow of missions" is nothing more than a protest against, and the disintegration of, the missionary society.
The Church in Jerusalem was dwelling in the midst of spiritual and intellectual luxury, so to speak; was settling down to contemplated stay-athome. It was a hard experience through which the Church passed j but we now inherit the rich blessing flowing from the persecution.
The society has become rich, tyrannical, never was very spiritual, and was always unscriptural. The tendency it is vigorously illustrating is toward an ecclesiasticism within an ecclesiasticism, and toward aristocracy -to spend the largest reasonable amount of the Chufch's gifts on the smallest reasonable amount of service done. The persecution which will no doubt arise about this thing will scatter abroad the society brethren, who will go everywhere preaching the Word. May the persecution come speedily!
Some years ago, in making an apology fOf "the scandal of a divided Christendom, "a writer in the REVIEW said that without denominations who would expect to find twenty-five societies at work in Africa, and even more at work in China. 'VeIl, that is logic. The same writer has, no doubt, time and again said before puhlic audiences that" in 'union there is strength," that" united we stand, but divided we fall." It was ten times more difficult to do mission work in apostolic days than now. With becoming respect for those noble pioneers of modern days, how few are they who would now, or do now, go out as Paul went! We expect what is neither ,best nor right-a fast pledge for our support. There are brethren good and true to the cause of the Master, able and competent as any society missionary, who would by no meallS be acceptable to the society folk. Why g Simply because the society has a standard different from that of the Church. It has certain test questions which, if not directly put to the missionary, is answered by some inquisitor to the satisfaction of the society. Qualification in heart and head has little force here if one of the questions is not answered favorably. The society, therefore, is sectarian.
If that writer had said, "Do you think there would have been seven hundred or eight hundred missionaries in China if there had not been denominations and their societies g" there would have been some ground for consideration. That organization in these days which has most nearly approached the apostolic pattern gives the contradiction emphatically. Weare learning the lesson of faith in the Lord's promises, but we are learn· ing it slowly.
'When Dr. Gordon says, "There are scores of agencies now in use for propagating the Gospel alliong the heathen, when there would have been but one if the condition of solid ecclesiastical unity had obtained," he cannot mean that the number of missionaries would have been less; for there are few who do not believe that if the Church had maintained the unity it anciently had there would have been more missionaries in foreign lands today. There is no such thing in the New Testament as a " solid ecclesiastical unity," if by that an organization other than the local congregation is meant. Where one congregation is not able alone to send out an evangelist (which is a missionary), a number of congregations can send their gifts to the same missionary. This is thoroughly apostolic, and more economical than any society's records have as yet shown. It takes not less than 7 or 8 per cent of the society receipts to manage the concern. Every church, or a number, which should engage in direct mission work would not consume the third of that amount. And besides, there is that touch of hand and heart in the work which cannot come through a society. My plea is for the congregation. Give it back the divinely appointed work which rightly belongs to it.
In addition to the fact that the societies are representing the various denominations among the unchristian nations, which is a great hindrance to the Gospel, the society in itself is an obstacle in the way of the spread of the kingdom. The native helpers and workers become dependent upon the various societies. They look to the societies for money; and the growth to self-support is made slow indeed. If the missionary came to the people unsalaried, and representing nothing but the cross of Christ, he could with more power and grace exhort the native believers to labor for themselves that they may be a burden to no man. And even if he had once in awhile to labor with his own hands for his own support, the time thus spent would teach a lesson never to be forgotten. Very few mis- sionaries nowadays can explain with a clear countenance the passage in Paul's life where he says he worked with his own hands that he might not be a burden to his brethren. Don't be alarmed and endeavor to frighten the missionary by telling him he wonld starve to death if he attempted to go out as Panl! A missionary who wonld listen to such imaginings then and there proves himself unfit for the mission field, be he sent by a wealthy society or by a congregation. The society is a positive hindrance to self- snpport among the native churches.
I admire the declaration of the Baptist Interior Mission, upon which Dr. Gorrlon comments. I shonld make some few changes in it. I would not call it "Baptist." But the tendency is back toward the good old apostolic days. The society, by reason of its very existence, occasions faction, strife, and many kindred evils, which would never arise among workers, either at home or abroad, if the society did not in its own peculiar way bring un- congenial natures· into society bounds. Some one may say that disagree- ment would arise among missionaries even without a society. They might arise, but they would neither be so many nor would they be so difficult to settle. Imagine Paul and Barnabas as society missionaries! What a hub-· bub in the society thcir disagreement would have produced! But the mat- ter was speedily settled, and neither of them lost to the work. But this is not usnally the resnlt of disagreements among society missionaries to-day. One is usually lost to the work, though often he is as capable as the other..
The society stands in the way of the united efforts of the missionaries on the field, even missionaries having membership in the same chnrch or denomination, but some working under the society and others supported by congregations. To explain : The society and non-society workers cannot unite even to build and run a chapel. They can have no conferences .for the purpose of marking ont the territory and locating the workers. Why ~ Simply because the society's principle prohibits its workers from acting without orders from headquarters; and a conference of society and non- society workers on the field which would in any way direct a society worker would be held as destructive of the rights and authority of the society. I know it to be a truth that society and non-society workers are not encour- aged to join in any such co-operation. 'Vere it not for the society in the foreign field the workers would soon come together and plan for the com- . mon good.
The religious press is full of what the society has done. The churches have done nothing. ~Which gets the honor and glory, the Church or the society 1 In the name of which ought the work to be done? I rejoice to see the churches coming to the front. It is their mission to give the Word of life to the perishing millions. This is the Church's glory, her crown.
I do not forget to make the distinction between the society and the society brethren. I can easily conceive how good brethren might be led away by the society, and by virtue of the relation they sustain to it fall into error and injustice to which they would not condescend, acting as in- dividual brethren. This of itself exposes a danger not to be passed over lii'htly.
THE DtFFICULTtES OF A CHINESE CONVERT. [Febr'!-Ilry
. Some one may say that the Church itself cannot save us from the dangers pointed out. But the Church is divine; the society is human. There is not a work done by the society which cannot be done by the Church as well, and without the society. Then where is the excuse for additional and human complications ~ Then let the disintegration go on. ,Vhen the society disintegration shall have become complete, we shall have the congregation, the church. When the denomination disintegr;tion shall have become complete, we shall again have the congregation,the church. ·When each individual congregation shall have become an independent denomination in the Scripture sense, then shall we have Christian union.
THE DIFFICULTIES OF A CHINESE CONVERT.
The London Missionary Society'S missionary at Amoy was the means of bringing home the truth to a Chinaman belonging to a well.to-do middleclass family. He gave up every form of idolatry, became a constant follower of Jesus, made application for baptism, and would have been unanimously received by the Church hut for one serious impediment-he possessed a slave woman who held the position of second wife in the family. He was told that before they could accept him to memhership he must set her free, and arrange for her marriage with some respectable man. He at once agreed to do so, but when the question was proposed to the woman, she flatly refused to agree to it.
Matters thus came to a deadlock, for the Church refused to admit the man till this question was settled. Legally he had the power to make any arrangement for her that he liked without asking her consent, but, being a Christian, he felt himself bound by a higher law to treat her with great gentleness and forbearance: he could now only appeal to her reason and judgment in the matter. He pointed out to her all the advantages her new position would give her. She would no longer be a slave, and liable, should anything happen to him, to be sold to another. She would be married and mistress of her own home, and instead of the degrading title slave, she would then have the honorable one of wife.
The missionary's wife was requested to visit the woman and use her influence to get her to become a Christian. The woman was defiant. She would sit down, but continued on in the work in which she was engaged, making such a noise and clatter that she could not hear what was said.
After several weeks had passed by a difference began to appear in her. She caught herself listening, and would resume her work only again by and by to find herself engrossed in the story the missionary's wife was telling. The fact was, as she afterward confessed, she was deeply moved by the patience of the missionary's wife. She could not understand what was the secret that made her bear, without one word of reproach, the rudeness she had been subjected to for so long. Her heart had been reached. Patience and prayer at length prevailed.
The story of the woman of Samaria completely melted the woman's heart, and from that time she became a follower of Him who had shown compassion to a woman.
Thus ended what was about as dramatic and as terrible a struggle as any man may be called upon to pass through.
INTE:RNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
1I.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
IIDlTED AND OONDUOTED BY BEY. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
Some Missionary Trea.ty Rights. quite independent of what missionary meekness might dictate. It is not !UI [J. T. G.] missionary or merchant that any gov- The fact that the cable just now ernment protects its citizens. It does brings the news that Mr. Bock, Consul- not discriminate for or against classes.
General of Sweden and Norway at It dare not discriminate. else it imperils Peking, has secured an indemnity from the whole. Missionaries must be pro- China of $40,000 to the relatives of tbe t;3cted or merchants cannot be. No Swedish missionaries, Wikholm and foreign people would apprehend the Johanssen, murdered at Sung·pu, July, distinction. Howbver a missionary 1893, recalls the homily this dignitary might be disposed to take Mr. Bock's read to missionaries of his nationality gratnitous advice about non·resistance not long since, telling them they must to injury of person or property, his make no "demand" for the vindica- home government cannot admit that he tion of real or supposed rights, or ap· shall snffer in either without investiga.
peal to consuls or to Chinese officials to tion. The flag is the flag, and the citi- procure the punishment of offenders zen is the citizen. If we are not to against them or their interests. He said give up governments altogether, we they might "ask" for protection in must recognize that they exist for this cases of emergency, but not demand it. sort of thing.
The whole document was impertinent But all this leads us to say that there and incongruous, in so far as mission- is much popular misapprehension as to aries have any "rights" at all, as dis- what is secured to missionaries in the tinct from "privileges. " Whether several countries by the treaties. and Mr. Bock's home government made that missionary home authorities ought him aware that missionaries had to instruct their foreign agents in these " rights." or the other ambassadors at items. Take China as an illustration.
Peking gave him to understand that he The treaties secure 1. The right to propa- alone could not interpret the .. rights," gate Christianity throughout the em- which they all had in common under pire ; 2. The protection of the foreign treaties, or whether it became manifest traveller everywhere; 3. That his life to Mr. Bock himself that such an inter- and property shall not be at the mercy pretation and pious homily as his, en- of a lawless mob. Different interpre- dangered every missionary in China, tations are put on other clauses of the we know not; but we remark that the treaties, but Rev, Timothy Richard, of cable attributes to "Mr. Bock" the China, who was of the committee of credit of obtaining this indemnity I the Shanghai Conference on the rela- There are some things that all con- tion of missions to the Chinese Govern- suls in China might as well know, ment, and who has given large attention among which are: 1. That whatever to this subject, has set forth that, what- rights the treaties secure to mission- ever the treaties mayor may not be aries were not placed there at the in- interpreted to secure to the missionary, stance of missionaries. Originally it the Viceroy of the Emperor of China was the astute statecraft of HOD. Will- distinctly sets forth in his .. Regula- iam B. Reed, Plenipotentiary of the tions" : 1. That no land in the interior United States, that put missionary is to be sold to foreigners a8 such on any rights into the treaties of all foreign condition whatever; 2. That land can nations with China; 2. Governments be sold for the use of the "Chinese have duties toward their citizens abroad Christian Church," but it inust be distfnctly 80 entered in the deed; 3. That saved the people from decimation jf even this can be done only with the not destruction from the pestilence of local magistrate's permission, the peo· the small-pox, and built up a Christian.
pie of the place not objecting; any community at a cost to American Chris· party selling or renting in violation of tians of $400,000, that the nations cared these conditions and restrictions is to to inquire who had any political juris- be seized and punished. The right of diction over these sea-islanders. These any foreign missionary, therefore, to re- American churches had not only spent side in the interior of China depends on money, but had raised up a Christian the good·will of the mandarins and community with 20 native pastors, 84 people, and not on the treaties. other preachers, 43 nat1'e teachers, 84 In Japan, missionaries nor any other places of stated preaching, 2547 Sun- foreigners have any right of residence day-school pupils, 54 churches, 5000 in the interior secured in any way, nor members, 3 theological schools with 46 any right of travel but on special lim- students, 3 girls' boarding-schools with ited permit. Missionaries temporarily 74 pupils, 58 common schools with away from ~ome have found it greatly 2326 pupils_ embarrassing to get back within the It was only after all this was accom- limits of a permit by reason of sickness pIlshed, that the German Government or storm. The Japanese are exhibiting in 1885 sent a war ship to Ponape and just now increased sensitiveness over hoisted the imperial standard. Sud- the" mixed residence" question, and a denly Spain assumed to have jurisdic- .. Great Japan Union," whose member- tion over these islands, and as they ship is distributed over every part of were still not worth "fighting about, the the empire, is studiously advancing the Pope was called in as referee to decide anti-foreign feeling. between the respective claims of these The reference in the last message two powers to this part of the world, transmitted to Congress by President and he gave decision in favor of Spain.
Cleveland to Caroline Islands' affairs, The officious officials of Spain, instireminds us of what Dr. Georg~ Smith gated by Jesuitical diplomacy, soon said when lecturing at Princeton, to found occasion to harass and injure the effect that the foreign politics of the this Protestant community and its United States are foreign missions. patrons, the American missionaries, and This is an international affair between to damage their property and destroy two Christian nations, and there should their work. The story is well enough be no need of delay in solving it. We known. Our Government has been de- hope Congress will accentuate the manding indemnity of Spain for the in- President's suggestion that Spain shall juries done, but the President is quite 80 adjust matters as to allow of the right in pressing also the right of these American missionaries -speedily return- missionaries to return under proper pro- ing to their work in these islands. It tection to their work in these islands.
should be borne in mind that till the .Turkey and the Hawaiian Islands American missionaries went there in also just now illustrate that our .. for- 1852, not only had no attempt been eign politics are foreign missions ;" but made to civilize or Christianize these we have no space left now to present savages, but neither the people nor the the items. In the Hawaiian missionary land were of enough worth to make any complication" missionaries' sons" have nation under the sun go to the trouble been fulminated against as the " parties to.make any outward manifestation of of the second part" in the overthrow of sovereignty or claim of any kind to the queen. But American Christians, them. It was only when American through these missionaries and "mis- missionaries had reduced the native sionaries' sons," have spent a million language to writing, introduced schools, and a half dollars in educating and Christianizing Hawaiian people; they Whatever is simply more than the con· organized the schools of the country, stitution mayor may not be right. It and have been a chief factor in the de- is immaterial, it is a foreign matter, not velopment of every interest of those warranted by this constitution, not a islands. The press of the Congrega- part of this commission. If it be a mat· tional Church has had support from ter warranted by any other command of other leading religious journals in de- equal authority, well and good; but it fending the character of the" missiona- still remains a foreign matter, however ries' sons" who have taken part in the good and however important it may be.
establishment of the Provisional Gov- The great commission being our mis· ernment, and there is but one testimony sionary constitution, the question of the from those who know best as to the moment is: Does any kind of educa· dissolute character of the deposed tional work come under our constitu· queen and the rottenness of her govern- tion? If not, why not? If any educa- ment. The Hawaiian Evangelical So- tional work: does come under the ciety finds the present situation trying. constitution, what kind is it, and what .. Political issues have bred partisan are its limitations?
measures. To pray or not to pray for We look in vain to find in our consti- the restoration of the deposed queen has tution for any reference to culture per proved a test question in many a lI).eet- 88, to civilization, to the elevation of ing of many a church. " In some cases the masses, to a host of kindly human effort has been made to eject the pastor. actions which are covered by a mantle But the danger to the Hawaiian churches as broad as that of charity-that of they think is past. A new future is, philanthropy. If educational work -is they say, before the Church in these fair nol the end p8r 88 in our commission, islands of the North Pacific. can it be that it comes in anywhere as a means to a greater end? The commis- Eduoation in Missions. sion. prescribes only a specific duty or end to be accomplished, but places no BY F. D. PHINNEY, BURMA. limitations as to the means to be used.
When we speak of "missions, " I The duty is to .. make disciples." take it for granted that we mean mill- How? No way being prescribed, evi- Mona" that we do not mean broad and dently any way in harmony with truth indiscriminate philanthropy, but that and righteousness must be a right way; specific form of philanthropy com· and that way, whatever it is, that makes manded in the great commission (Matt. the most in number and most obedient 28 : 19, 20), which, as found in the Re- disciples must be the be8t way. vised Version, we tabulate as follows: What ways, then,_ are good ways in "Go YE THEREFORE, which to make disciples from heathen nations? (1) Bible translation and pub.
and r 1. Baptizlngthem Into the name lishing ; (2) tract writing and distribut· of the Fatherand of the Son ing; (3) preaching from house to house, I and of the Holy Ghost: to the women in their zenanas, to crowds on the streets, in fairs and festivals, to MplMakl oef adlil8thCei'1 2. Teaching them to observe all those hardened in unbelief; (4) educanaSions, things whatsoever I com- tional work in institutions, teaching l manded yon: secular studies only; (5) secular and re- ligious education combined – which and lo, I am with you alway, e",en unto the end of the world."
This is the missionary's charter, his shall it be? How shall we decide?
royal warrant, his constitution. Whu.t- Can we lay down any rules to govern ever ill in harmony with the constitu- all? Is there only one way, or are tion must be right. Whatever is con- there more ways than one? Taking up trary to the constitution must be wrong. the different ways just mentioned, we see very quickly that (1) Bible work has 1. Do Bible work and Bible circulation Scripture sanction; (2) the writing of tcach obedience? Evidently so, if tracts is but (3) preaching in another there be sufficient knowledge on the form; and we will accept these, with all part of the convert to read and profit other ways of preaching, whether to thereby. 2. Does tract distribution children or men or women, to indi- teach obedience? Partly it may, and viduals or to masses, I haveunquestion- by so much it will obey this part of the able warrant_ But what shall deter- command. 3. Does the man who mine the style and amount of tract preaches salvation from sin through work and the especial method of preach- Christ to motley crowds of Hindus, ing and itinerant work? Evidently the Mohammedans, Buddhists, and demon- social and religious status and habits of worshippers obey this part of the com- the people will determine the best man- mand? Hardly so, for he has not got ner of work, and each workman will so far along in his work. There is an apply his common sense and select immense deal of false knowledge, false methods which in his hands produce fear, false honor, the power of which the best results_ Fruit is wanted, not must be broken beforc obedience can theories. be taught to those who have been made 1. Is education, pure and simple, a disciples. 4. Does secular education good means of making disciples? Look- alone predispose the student to obey ing back over at least a half century of Christ? Does it make him a better non-religious educational work on the Christian if already one, or when later part of the Government of India, we he may turn to Christ? These ques- fail to find a percentage of converts so tions admit of various answers; but gained sufficient to save Sodom_ We while they may be somewhat favor- turn to the so-called Christian colleges able, we think that we must admit that of Madras and Calcutta, in which, if we the fruits are not such as to warrant are rightly informed, the Bible for a the putting of mi8sion funds into such decade has not been made a subject of work. If among any people in any daily study, and the fruits are sadly country these questions can be answered meagre; conversions are so few that with a strong affirmative, there will we fail to justify their existence as a such work be justified as mission work.
means for making disciples. Their j us- 5. Do mission schools of high or low tification must be sought on other degree, in which the Bible is made the grounds. subject of daily study under consecrat- 2. Will any combination of secular ed teachers in connection with secular and religious education show better studies, aid in teaching obedience to fruit for the Master and vindicate its Christ's commands? Do they tend to right to stand with Bible work and make better Christians, more faithful, preaching as a means to an end-that intelligent, obedient Christians, able of making disciples? Are all alleged and willing to obey even this last com- "mission" schools really missionary 1 mand?
Do any or all help in any way in mak- Let us sum up the question of educa- ing disciples of Christ? This is the tional work as a part of mission work question in a nutshell so far as the first in this wise: Does the combination of part of the missionary constitution is secular and religious education carried concerned. . on by missionaries to heathen people, We turn our attention to the second and supported by " missionary contribu- part of the constitution: "Teaching tions," lead (1) to the conversion of the them to observe all things whatsoever heathen from their heathenism to Chris· I commandedsou." We believe that tianity, and (2) assist in building up 8 this part is just as imperative as the strong, faithful, intelligent, obedient other part. How shall it be obeyed? body of Christians among such peoples ? If so, what proportion of the whole seven days in a week from these same possible effort is warrantably spent in persons. and step by step unfold the such educational work f These ques- good news until their minds and hearts tions are easier asked than answered, have taken it in? But with men this since we must observe results for at is seldom possible. Yet with multi- least two generations before a definite tudes of children it is possible if they and final reply may be expected, and are gathered into schools teaching secu- indeed we find that this final reply is lar studies, for day-school children can only now being demanded after three be gathered into the school on Sunday generations of mission effort. in the great majority of cases, and so a.
The argument from antecedent prob- full week of Christ can be rounded out, ability is in favor of work for the chil- with greatly diminished opportunity dren. It is to be expected that better for heathen instructors to crowd out the results will follow wisely directed ef- truth. Can this opportunity for con- fort, if expended upon a child 'before t.inued teaching and for the exercise of his mind and heart have become filled personal influence be obtained in any and hardened with the abominations of other way? Can we get this oppor- heathenism, than will be the case if the tunity or get its results in any cheaper child is allowed to mature in heathen- way? It need not be expected that ism and ripen in sin. heathen parents will send their children If we give up mission schools, shall to the missionary on week days to learn we give up all our denominational high nothing but the Bible, or that they will schools and colleges in Americ.'t? If send them on Sunday only for the same mission schools are of no use in the purpose, or that the missionary can Master's service. of what possible use teach more of Christ on one day in a can they be in Northfield? Do they not short session than the children will all stand or fall together? learn of heathenism dUl'ing the week.
Is it to be expected that either heath- Let it be remembered that the heathen en children or heathen grown people RChool that does not teach heathenism will in any considerable numbers ac- is a curiosity. Years of experience cept Christ on first presentation? If it have proved that heathen children can- takes much work, much knowledge of not be got hold of by any means six the way_ and much personal influence days hi the week, except by means of and many prayers and entreaties to lead schools, and that these must be as good souls to Christ here in America, will and as cheap as any in the neighbor- the time needed to impart a knowledge hood; and that they cannot be got in of Christ to the heathen, and for per- any large numbers on Sundays if not sonal influence, work, prayers, and en- on the week days; and that such teach- treaties on the part of the missionary, ing only one day in the week is of little be a matter of no consideration in heath- avail against the influences of the six en lands? The missionary Who preaches days that intervene. It seems to be a Christ to a constantly changing crowd reasonable expectation and a fact, that of busy men at a heathen fair or festi- happy results-a full harvest-must val seldom welcomes a satisfactory con- follow if heathen peoples are taken vert who never before heard and under- While young and easily influenced, and stood thc message of Christ's salvation. gathered into schools where consecrated At such a time the missionary cannot teachers teach the Bible as much as any- expect to reap, he is only scattering thing else flve or six days in the week the seed; and how much of it falls on and again alone on Sunday.
anything but good soil let such preach· Now let us turn to observed results ers tell. How much would such a for further answer to our question, and preacher gain if he could have the same see if school work and Bible instruction attention an hour a day, five, six, or ,combined have proved their miSiion di· vine by their fruits. Have they shown conversions are hoped for, work~d for, sufficient conversions to warrant their and prayed for, expected and granted, existence? Have they so aided the in· and where the daily influence exerted struction of converts that they have over all the pupils is constantly toward been better able to obey Christ's com· a high standard of Christian living. mands than they would have been with· The students here do not hinder street out this school life? Let us not be preaching, but are taken out as assisthasty. We do not condemn Dr. Jud- ants by their missionary instructor. son and many others who have waited Follow such pupils as they become seven years for the firstfruits of the heads of families, as the boys become "foolishness of preaching." And in men and take their places 'as preachers, observing schools we may wait till our teachers, and as Christian layman in pupils have grown up and become the various positions open ,to them, and heads of families before we can com- the comparison of the life and work of pare them with those converted late in Auch men as a body with that of those life ; and then we may further observe converted late in life ,is all in the favor the effects on following generations. of the former. And then the second But as to conversions due directly to generation starts right, which is not school life, the writer recalls that within the case generally when heads of famthree years past a certain pastor of an ilies are converted late in life; and we English·speaking church in the Indian recall a family of young men whose Empire in a single year baptized more grandfather was a convert from Budpupils of a single boys' school, who dhiSUl. All have been educated more were converted under the influence of or less in mission schools. Two are the lady missionary in charge, than he now in responsible positions as missiondid of those converted under his min- school teachers, and both are or have istry by all other influences. And as been Sunday-school superintendents, we have been made to sorrow by the while a third is a business man in good lack of fruit for the Master in ,those position and an efficient Sunday-school schools which may be called Christian, teacher; the younger ones are still to but in which the Bible is never taught, be heard from. These older ones are so, on the other hand, do we rejoice at now heads of families with their little the fruits in another kind of mission ones growing up about them, who will college. We know of one in which be no more touched by heathenism than the Bible has been the subject of one will ,the children of the missionaries recitation a day from every pupil for themselves. the past twenty·one years, and in which, although with comparatively small But we may look at the effects of numbers, and many Christian boys in Christian education on masses of de· the school, twelve were baptized in one graded heathen, and of no such educaterm a year ago; and where, with in- tion, or of very little such education, creased numbers, twenty rose from on other masses no more degraded and prayers lately in one evening in a of equal mental endowments. From "Christian Endeavor" meeting, desir- many examples, let us take two mising to become Christians, and where sions of the same society in which there baptisms are even now taking place. have been large ingatherings, but The history of this school has been the handled in somewhat different ways. same in varying degree since it was The Karens of Burma, when discovered started, and it is the history of many by the American Baptist missionaries, other schools in the same region man- were about as abject specimens of huaged in the same way, where secular manityas could well be found, driven studies are taught to meet government back to the hills and kept in cowed standards and the Bible as well; where subjection by the domineering Bur- mans, being only a little better off than a natiDn Df slaves. They had no, writ- ness. The Telugus have an DId litera· ten language, and hence neither a liter- ture, and so have been able to, read the ature nDr SChDDls. They began to, ac- Bible-as many Df them as cDuld read cept the GDspel, and then an alphabet at, all. There has been no, such demand was demanded, and the Bible and Dn their part fDr SChODls as Dn the part SChDDls fDr all, DId and YDung, and the Df the Karens, and the missiDnaries have missiDn work fDr the Karens has been had tDD much Dther wDrk to, prDvide bDth Christian SChDDI wDrk and evan- them, unasked, to equal the Karen gelistic work hand in hand ever since. schools, and so, little has been dDne fDr The Christian Karens to·day fDrm a them in this way until very recently; body of whDm American Christians and while there is a marked elevatiDn may be proud. They have their HDme of the Christian cDmmunities, it is nDt Mission Societies, and their FDreign at all cDmparable with that Df the Ka- MissiDn SDciety, and district assDcia- rens. DefectiDns frDm Christianity to, tiDns, and what cDrrespDnds sDmewhat heathenism are far mDre frequent than to DUr State cDnventiDns is in Burma amDng the Karens. This is the verdict very largely Dperated by the Karens, Df every Telugu missiDnary who' visits sharing this wDrk with the Burmans. Burma and sees the independent church They have their WDmen's MissiDn Cir· life Df the Karens, aud they return to, cles, and their YDung PeDple's SDciety their Dwn cDuntry and field expressing of Christian Endeavor DrganizatiDns, the wish, if it were pDssible, to see the and the latest mDvement is to, emplDy same grade Df Christian life develDped Karen preachers as evangelists for the among the low-caste Telugu Christians, heathen Burmans, once their masters. fDr we all grant equal mental endDw· A great amDunt of American money ments in each peDple, and believe that has frDm first to last gDne into Karen equal DppDrtunities will prDduce equal SChDDls, but they have nDW made many results. of their SChDOls entirely self-suppDrting, and of the larger and higher institn- The cDmparisDn of results obtained tions, they assnme the entire suppDrt by bDdies Df missiDnaries using true even Df the bDarding departments, the missiDn-schDDl methDds in cDnnectiDn salaries Df the lady missiDnary teachers with evangelistic methDds, with thDse alDne being paid frDm America. Dbtained by Dther bDdies using Dnly the recDgnized evangelistic methDds, The statement cannot be gainsaid, might be carried to, an indefinite extent, that if the pDlicy of the American mis- but we believe that the result Df the sionaries had been one hDstile to, scbool comparisDn will in the end be fDund to, wDrk, and if little or no American favor those who' use bDth methods, and mDney had been spent Dn Karen against thDse who' do' nDt use true mis- SChODls from the start, the Karens tD- sion-schoDI methDds. If all that is de· day would be still a feeble Christian sired is the enrDlment Df cDnverts, with. bDdy, still held dDwn by their old su- Dut reference to, their spiritual charllcperstitiDns, and in mDrtal dread of the ter, to, what else they may believe. to, mDre self-reliant and dDmineering hDW they live and what becomes of Burmans. them and of their families, why, then, the DId Jesuit methDd is 11 gDDd pattern The great bDdy of the Telugus of to, folhw-corral the herd and sprinkle SDuthern India are lDw-caste peDple, the CDnverts and let them run. But, degraded, kept dDwn by thDse Df higher Dn the Dther hanll, if the great commi8caste, fDllDwers of the debasing Hindu sion means nDt only the saving Df men's religiDn. They have since the famine sDuls, but their develDpment into' the Df 1877 accepted Christ in such large image Df Christ, then the missiona.ry's numbers that the missiDnaries have nDt duty is nDt dDne till he has dDne all in been able to, IDDk after all their CDn· his pDwer, bDth before and after CDnverts with any approach to thorDugh. version, to aid both child and adult furlough in Australia, by the steamer whom he may bring under his influence a week before the schooner sailed. to lay aside or escape in some degree Mrs. Robertson and family arrived the weights and sins. that so fearfully from Eromanga for their health. beset the converts from heathenism, that they may indeed run the race set A very interesting book has been before all followers of Christ, and so published by the Rev. Oscar Michelsen, live that an "entrance may be minis· of Tongoo, in the same group. He tered unto them abundantly into the went to this island in the end of 1878, everlasting kingdom of our Lord and a solitary white man, a Christian mis- Saviour Jesus Christ." sionary among eleven hundred heathen cannibals. He had severe trials, many The proportion of effort to be ex· dangers even of his life, but God blesspended in school work must be deter· ed his labors, and when he left on fur· mined for each field upon principles lough to visit his nati ve country of Nor· which we cannot enter upon here. way, in 1891, the whole island was Chris- tian I There were 32 villages with a To sum up; we believe that missions population of 2070, most of whom could are founded in the second command· read and many could write. About two ment, and are specifically commanded hundred were communicants. There in the great commission; and, with are Christian teachers in the villages. reference to the subject in hand, we There is in every family the worship believe that in mission fields the work of God, where hymns are sung and in schools in which the Bible is made prayers offered. The Word of God, the subject of daily study aids economi- the New Testament as now printed, is cally and efficiently in (1) making dis- read every day in the schools. Churches ciples, and (2) in the most satisfactory aud schools have been erected. Roads way prepares converts, by the mental have been made across the whole isltraining and education afforded and by and. Several have gone to otber islthe shutting out of a vast mass of false ands, taking their lives in their hands, ideas which would otherwise have great to make known Christ as the Saviour influence over them, to appreciate the of men. great truths of God and so the better to " observe all things whatsoever I com· Mr. Michelsen's narrative, if not so manded you." thrilling in accounts of personal peril as that of Dr. Paton's, excels it in the Missions in the South Pacific. record of success. It has been pub- lished, under the title" Cannibals Won BY REV. ROBERT STEEL, D.D., SYDNEY.* for Christ," by :lIessrs. Morgan and Scott, of London. 1. THE NEW HEBRIDES (Presbyte· rian). -A very severe hurricane having Mr. Michelsen's wife died in London occurred in one part of the northern in the end of December, 1892. He reisles of this group, whereby the mis· turns to his work in the islands. In sion premises of the Rev. Dr. Lamb, the year 1880, when I published my at Amboyna, as well as the native food work on "The New Hebrides and were destroyed, relief has been sent per Christian Missions," there were no con· the schooner Lark, which sailed from verts in this small group, called by Sydney on May 2d. The Rev. Messrs. Captain Cook the Shepherd Isles. Mr. Aunand, Gillan, Fraser, and Macdon- Michelsen had just beeu settled. The ald returned to their spheres, after a hope was then expressed in the lines of one of the late Dr. H. Bonar's hymns: • A pathetic Interest attaches to these notes, "Good Shepherd, hasten Thou that glorious day as the author, since writing them, has gone to "Btand on the sea of glass" which 18 "before When they shall all in one fold abide with Thee for aye." thetbrone."-J. 'r. G. How abundantly has this been fulfill- quarters of the mission, there were 145 ed I males and 41 females in the schools 2. SAMOA (London Misaionary &ci- from 21 islands. In the Banks group ety).-The Rev. J. G. Newell, after his there are 41 schools, 1038 scholars.
busy furlough in England, has returned During the year 65 adults and 115 in- to his post as one of the tuton in the fants were baptized, 128 confirmed, and Institution for Training Native Pastors 18 Christian couples married. In the at Molua. He carried several school Torres Islands 18 adult natives were books through the press in London. baptized, the firstfruits of the group.
He had a very intelligent Christian stu- The people here built a substantial dent with him named Saanga, who church.
made a good impression everywhere by In Florida there are 25 schools, 76 his consistent piety, modesty, and de- teachers, 125S scholars, and there were meanor. There are over one hundred 306 baptisms. In Guadalcanar little students in the institution, which has improvement has taken place, but in sent forth one thousand since it was San Cristoval there are 5 schools with commenced fifty years ago. The Rev. 110 scholars. In Ysabel there is much A. E. Claxton, who had been appointed progress. The baptisms at Bugoto Natives' Advocate before the Samoan have been for the year lS6 adults and Land Commission, arrived in Sydney in 29 infants, making a popUlation of 686 April, 1893, en route for England. baptized persons and 31 confirmed.
Captain Turpie, of the missionary bark There are 14 teachers there. In the Joh:" Williama, has also gone to Eng- Santa Cruz group, where Bishop Patte- land on the invitation of the directors' son was killed in 1871 and other trage· of the London Missionary Society, to dies have taken place, there are 4 consult with them regarding the steam- schools with 207 scholars; 15 adults er they are getting for the mission at a were baptized and 3 confirmed. There cost of £16,000. This new departure are 18 scholars from these islands at is wanted, as the mission stations ex- Norfolk Island. The expenditure of tend so far throughout the South Pa- the mission for 1892 was £6266. The cific. It will require £6000 a year for income was short of the expenditure, maintenance. and there remained a balance of £593 S. THE MELANESIAN MISSION (Epis- due to the treasurer. There are more copal).-The annual report states that black clergy than white in this mission.
the bishopric is still vacant. Bishop As Bishop Selwyn said long ago, " The Selwyn, who had to resign on account white corks support the black nets."
of his health, has been laboring in Eng- The Bishop of Tasmania's report of land on behalf of the mission. The his island voyage is appended. He Rev. R. H. Codrington, D.D., who for writes in approbation of the system pur- twenty years wrought in the mission, sued, but he advocates the addition of and has now retired, paid a visit to four or five more white missionaries.
Norfolk Island in 1892. He published, He also suggests that the Anglican mis- a few years ago, a very able work on sion in New Guinea should be joined to the Melanesian languages, giving some that of Melanesia, and be alike under vocabularies and grammars of nearly the new bishop and visited by the mis- forty of them. He has lately added sion steamer. He urges Australia and another on their "Folk Lore." He is New Zealand to do more for this inter· now in a college living in England. esting mission among so many isles of The Bishop of Tasmania paid an offi- the sea. There are only six European cial visit to the islands where the mis- clergymen in the mission, and there sion operates, in 1892, and confirmed are nine ordained natives. One of the 216 Melanesians and ordained one na- clergy is a qualified medical practition- tive. At Norfolk Island, the ,head- er. The Ven. Archdee.QOn Williams again gave £500 and Bishop Selwyn just at hand, speaks of "our beloved £200 as special aid to the funds, whic.1:l need more regular support. leader, Dr. Nevius, the nearest ap- From the .. Education Society's proach to the 'model missionary' I Steam Press, Bombay," we have received the two bound volumes which have ever known. Other men there make the" Report of the Third Decennial Missionary Conference, held at are in abundance-his ;place will never Bombay, 1892·93," 854 pp. They are as satisfactory as such reports can well be filled." be, but we confess to great disappointment that the statistical returns col- The Second International Convention lected in connection with this gathering, of the Student Volunteer Movement in or in anticipation of it, should not have Detroit, Mich., appointed for February found place in these covers. This is a 28th to March 4th, 1894, will have conrepetition of the same unaccountable vened before a large part of our readers omission of the Report of 1882. Why will receive this number of the REthese good editors could not hav3 given VIEW, and yet we write necessarily by tables similar to those of the Allahabad anticipation about it. Over five hun- Conference is unknown, and perhaps dred student delegates from about two .. unknowable" to us. But we value hundred colleges, theological seminawhat we have, and wish every student ries, and medical schools from all parts of missions and every theological and of the United States and Canada are alcollege library in the country could be ready appointed. Nearly all of the possessed of these books for t:eference. regular missionary societies of these They are among the abiding things of two countries have been invited to send missionary literature. secretaries, and every invitation was ac- cepted to the time of our advices. More societies will be represented, it is thought, than at any previous gather- ing in America. Missionaries of emi- nence have also been invited who are likely to stamp themselves and their experiences most helpfully on the vol- unteers. The afternoons will be devot- ed to section meetings on (1) Plans of Missionary Work; (2) Fields; (3) De- nominations, etc.
DR. NEVIUS. – Although editorial The Bible &ciety'a Record is always mention of the death of Dr. Nevius full of good things. A very suggestive will be made elsewhere, we cannot for. item in it from one of its agents in bear saying how much the Internation· Japan (Rev. Mr. Loomis), who has been al Missionary Union held him in regard, a contributor to our pages as well, is as and what a high estimate they placed upon his attendance on two of its ses- follows: sions while he was at, home the last " The anti-mixed-residence agitation time. The Ohin686 Recorder comes to our desk just now with a pathetic ac· is growing rapidly. A society has just count of how, after making a note of been formed in 'l'ol,yo called the' Great what he needed for a six days' journey, Japan Union,' with a membership cxhe expected to begin the next day: tending over the whole country, and " After a very little conversation Dr. with the sole object of securing the ex- Nevius put his hand on his desk, which clusion of foreigners from the country. was co-vered with books used in his Bi· At a meeting held in Tokyo on the 2d ble translations, smiled, and was about instant there was an audience 01 8:bout to speak when his head fell forward, two thousand persolls. Among the and his next words were spoken to his leaders in this movement are several Saviour, for his heart stopped suddenly, members of the diet. The former presicausing instant death." Rev. Arthur dent of the Imperial University is iden- H. Smith, of the American Board Mis- tified with it. Another advocate of exsion of North China, in a private note clusion is Professor Inouye, of the same institution, who bas recently published an article in which he claims that the Japanese are an inferior race, and there- fore unable to compete with foreigners. He is [1,180 using his pen and influence in opposition to Christianity in writings which have large circulation."
FIELD OF MOl'tTJlLY SURVEY
III.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
Ohina, * Thibet, t Oonfuoianism,:t: Eto.
CHINA AND THE CHINESE.
BY THE EDITOR-IN·CHIEF.
Peking is the head of the nation and French "concessions, " with half a a great city, though uot the largest in million Chinese and 5000 foreigners- China. It is really four cities in one, Shanghai within and without the wall.
with populous suburbs and a wall Here are the largest Sunday-schools in twenty miles long. It embraces the China, and the largest mission press of Chinese city, the Manchu or Tartar city, the world. In the latter are seven the Imperial city, more secluded and ex- hand-presses and two machine presses.
clusive, and within this still the actual The demand for type made a type – city of the Emperor. and to which only foundry necessary. There are fonts officials have access. In Peking are for English, Greek, Koreen, Japanese; the Lama Temple, Confucian Temple, the literary, Mandarin, and Mongolian and Temple of Heaven, Protestant mis- dialects, and five local dialects. Elec- sions, and four Romish cathedrals in trotyping and stereotyping are done, the Manchu quarter. The Temple of and over 35,000,000 pages are issued Heaven has an altar of white marble, annually, nearly three times the issue and represents the highest form of wor- of the mission press of Beirut. In 1880 ship known in China, and some think there was a net gain of £800, or nearly the closest approximation to the primi- $4000, from this Chinese mission press.
. ti ve Christian faith. The Lama Tem- Ningpo is another of the" five ports"
ple has an image of the coming Bud- opened in 1842, and as Shanghai is fa- – dha 70 feet high. The leading Con- mous for its foreign bustle, Ningpo is fucian shrine has about it tablets of all known for its native activity, populous literary graduates of the third degree and prosperous before" foreign devils"
for five hnndred years past, and me- found their way there. It has about morials of a history five times as long. 300,000 population, with a wall about Beside this capital city are the pro· six miles around, 15 feet broad by 25 vincial capitals, circuit cities, prefec- high. Thick walls also divide the city tural cities, and district cities. Be- into sections.
tween Peking and the great wall is a Here are famous Buddhist and Con- large monument in honor of a Lama fucian temples. At the doorway of the priest, carved with scenes from his life. Buddhist fane are ten monolithic pil- Farther on a huge bell, five hundred lars, each about 15 feet high, elabo- years old, 14 feet high and 34 around, rately carved with dragons, ete. Hun- graven within and without with selec- dreds of lanterns are swung from the tions from Chinese classics. Not far ceiling, and incense altars and hideous off the tombs and worship halls of thir- idols fill the interior. Hundreds come teen emperors of the Ming Dynasty, here to knock their heads on the ground one hall being 250 feet long, with pillars in adoration, hoping to propitiate the of wood 12 feet around. deity.
China's chief port is Shanghai, con- • The Confucian Temple, which ~n sisting of the Chinese city proper, with sists of several structures covering acres about 400,000, and the English and of territory, is walled in; the central .. Compare Dr. James S. Dennis's" Peeps building has large wooden pillars, and into China" and Doolittle's" Social Life ot the the wood is frescoed. The only wor- shippers here are the officials and liter- Chinese." Bee also pp. ro, 78 (January) ; 102, ati. The Confucian shrine at the birth- place of the great teacher in Shantung 117, 148 (present luue). t Bee p. 85 (January).
+See pp. IIt,.86 (present i8sue). eclipses this in beauty, but few others wonders of the world. It was built over do. In this temple there are no images, two thousand years ago, is fifteen hun- but tablets only; and over the main dred miles long, 15 feet wide, from 18 shrine a golden motto, "Heaven and to 30 ft. high, with towers from 15 to 40 earth are harmonized by his virtue." feet high, and took ten years to con- Four characters are here represented: struct. Out of the material here used a Faith, Fidelity, Friendship, and Filial wall 2 feet in thickness and 6 feet high Piety. could be built twice around the earth at the equator! It far surpasses the At Ningpo are the mission premises Pyramids as a work of colossal magni- of the American Presbyterians, and tude. the Church of England has a growing college with a theological department Marriage. – Missionaries have girls and some forty students. The Meth- under charge, and a part of their duty odists and Baptists have also flourish- is to see that they get good husbands. ing missions here. The bride and groom kneel and knock their heads on the floor. After the Chefoo has some 30,000 to 40,000, ceremony they are borne in sedan chairs and is growing constantly. Ttlng- to a bridal chamber, where the bride chow, fifty miles off, was chosen by takes her seat on the kong or brick- treaty as one of the open ports, and made bed. No word is spoken, but the Chefoo owes its increase to its prox- pair eat together; and after being left imity and to the fact that it is a health alone the first word is spoken between resort-China's sanatorium. Here Dr. the'm. The marriage feast comes a day Nevius lived and Dr. Corbett. also of the later, men and women eating in differ- American Presbyterian Church, resides, ent rooms. as also Dr_ Alexander Williamson and colleagues of the Scotch {jnited Pres- Ohinese OhaJracteristics. – Wonderful byterian Mission. Here are Church of memory! Pupils in mission schools England and China Inland Mission can often recite chapter after chapter, premises. and some of them most of the New Testament. Politeness consists in the GO'I!ernment. -The three latest dynas- imitation of others. Exclusivism is ties of the twenty-five are those of the stamped on all China. "Foreign dev- last six hundred years, the Y1ten, Ming, il" has for the last twenty-five years and Olting, .or Mongolian, native, and been a common name for outsiders, Manchu dynasties. To the first belong though Rev. Gilbert Reid thinks it may less than one hundred years, to the mean no more than a foreign 8pirit second nearly three hundred, and to (kuei means either). A foreigner was the last, two hundred and fifty. The addressed on one occasion as "Your plaited queue was a mark of subjection honor, the foreign devil." forced upon the people by the Manchu conquerors, who also attempted to Chinese New Year's Day comes gen- abolish the custom of binding the feet. erally in our month of February, and 'l'he sixty-one years' reign of K'ang-tsi great preparations are made. The fes- wcre very prosperous, encouraging in- tival holds for a week or two. It is a . tellectual and ethical culture, and up- time of recreation and rest, a national lifting his people. He encouraged Ro- holiday, like our" Fourth of July," man Catholicism, until collision with when firecrackers are in order, to keep the Pope brought a sudden close to away evil spirits. It is a day of wor- Rome's apparent triumphs. ship as well as rest, like our Sunday. In the open court worship is per- China has one of the three leading formed to heaven and earth, and to the statesmen of the world, for Li Hung family gods and deceased ancestors, Chang stands alongside of such as Glad- with presentation of gifts ;_then in the stone and Bismarck. temple, where incense is burned and The GREA'!' WALL is one of the idols are adored, amid the sound of In a few years all the ports and capitals bell and gong and drum and song of will be united with Peking by the mys· chanting priests. New Year's Day is tic wire, which is to the Chinese such a also pay day, when old debts must be marvel. The railway is an innova· settled or creditors may exact payment. tion more difficult to introduce, because It is a kind of birt4day, for a child it is considered a menace to the pros- born even shortly before New Year perity of the empire in its violation of opens is reckoned as two years of age, the sacredness of cemeteries, and so of having seen a portion of both years. ancestral worship; but to prevent its It is spent in meditation over family introduction is as hopeless as to sweep bereavements as a day of memorial. back ocean waves. Li Hung Chang It is also a wash·day, when everybody has memorialized the throne for lines bathes, once a year at least, and puts of railway to link the great cities to· on the best clothes that one can buy or gether. borrow, and goes forth to call. It is a day of general hilarity and amusement. Religions. – First, Taoism, founded Gambling, drinking, and smoking are upon teachings of Lao·tse, a reformer in order, and street theatricals are com- of the seventh century before Christ. mon. His teachings have been corrupted, like Buddhism, with magic, astrology, and The Feast of Lanterns is universally various superstitions ·and divinities-a kept. Large and small lanterns are to " motley chaps. " be seen of every shape and grade of elegance, made of paper or silk, plain Next, Confucianism, a system of ethics or painted, more or less elaborately, with and political science, traced to Conpatriotic, serious, or ludicrous images fucius in the sixth century before and scenes. The riches of a shop- Christ. He visited Lao-tse, and sought keeper is to be gauged by his lanterns. to combine all that he could learn from Unusual freedom is allowed to women, those before him with the best results who are to be found in throngs in the of his own study. This moral system streets, with painted faces and elaborate has likewise received many additions dresses, merry as a marriage bell. from other religions.
P1·ogress.-1887 marks a year of ad- Judaism, some hundred or more years vance in the direction of Western civili- before Christ, found its way into China, zation, and introduction of various im- and lodged in the province of Honan. provements designed to put China at These Jews, hostile to foreigners and the head of the nations. Since then ignorant of Messiah's advent and the the Imperial College began under lead destruction of .Terusalem, destroyed of Dr. W. P. Martin; but there is still their synagogue to supply other wants; great jealousy of foreign influence. and ignorant of sacred books and rites, China wants simply to keep what she and without scribe or priest, have beimagines she has always had-the pre- come assimilated to the Chinese and eminence. These last sixteen years are Moslem elements about them. the era of the steamship company, under the supervision of Li Hung Chang; Buddhism came in from India a little of the telegraph company (1880), with before the siege of Jerusalem under only Chinese shareholders. The late Titus. However pure it was at the Mandarin, General Tso, in 1883 was led outset, it has become awfully corrupt, to try the telegraph for his business, and has now so far lost all distinctiveand having an answer from the distant ness or exclusiveness that the same wornorth within thirty-six hours, he was shipper may bow before the tablets of so shaken out of his conservatism that Confucius and the Taoist altars, as well he ~ctually built a short line from Nan- as the Buddhist shrines. king to Soochow at his own. expense ! Nestorianism dates back to the sixth century of the Christian era. Its mis· sionaries were successful during the Middle Ages, as shown by a tablet dis- about 200,000,000. About 40 societies covered in 1625. are represented, with 500 male mission- Mohammedanism came in the eighth aries, over 200 unmarried women mis- or ninth centuries, and to·day has over sionaries, and nearly as many native 30,000,000 adherents, especially in the ministers, with many more native help- Western provinces. This is a modified ers.
form of Moslem faith, largely accom- But what are these among so many?
modated to the surroundings, and has Outside of the nineteen provinciS of little infiuence on the idolatry or moral- China proper, with 386,000,000, are ity of the nation. Manchuria, with 18,000,000 ; Mongolia, Romanism found entrance in the thir- with 2,000,000 ; Thibet, with 6,000,000 ; teenth century; had success for a hun- IIi, with 2,000;000, and the islands of dred years, then fell into decline for Formosa and Hainan. Manchuria has two centuries, reviving in the latter three mission stations belonging to the part of the seventeenth, under Father Scotch United Presbyterians and Irish Ricci. From the middle of the last Presbyterians. Mongolia has had only century until the epoch of modern one missionary, the lamented Gilmour, treaties it had to work in secret. whose life reads like an apostle's.
Protestantism began with Morrison Thibet and IIi are both shut against in the first decade of this century. He missionaries, scarce one Christian man gave the Bible to the Chinese, and since or woman ever having been there ex- his day converts, schools, churches, na- cept in disguise. Formosa has a won- tive preachers have multiplied. A no- derful missionary history, to which a table era was that when the China In- separate treatment needs to be given.
land Mission began its work, specifically Of the nineteen provinces of China aiming to reach the inland parts with proper, only Hunan and Kwang-se have the Gospel. It has now over three hun- permanent mission stations I And yet dred and fifty missionaries, and occu- Hunan has 20,000,000 and Kwang-se pies eleven of the hitherto destitute more than one third as many. Travel- provinces. The English Baptists are ling missionaries may go where resident doing noble work likewise in the in- missionariess cannot stay, and in this is terior, and their missionaries, like the found perhaps a providential sign that China Inland, wear the native dress. the work of itinerant evangelism is the T'ai·shan, "the great mountain," is work for this day.
one of five, deemed sacred, and associ- Itineration is a favorite and fruitful ated with imperial worship. Four method of mission work in China. Mis- thousand years ago, and antedating the sionaries go on tours of from a week to worship at Sinai, Shuin, a predecessor nine months, preaching from place to of Confucius, came here and sacrificed. place, gathering converts into churches, On the summit, 4000 feet high, is the and sending them out to tell the Gospel leading temple, with an image repre- story to their neighbors. As they so· senting the spirit of the mountain, be- journ in the towns and villages for a fore which the worshippers fling their season they meet the Christians for money in expectation of every blessing. worship, administer sacranlents, teach For the first four months of each year classes, hold conferences with workers hosts of pilgrims come to this shrine; and conversations with inquirers, and and here beggars are found infesting then go on, leaving the little church to the holes in the rocks, and emerging bear its witness and extend the Gospel with cries of .. cash." message. Humble witnesses for Christ Less than fifty years since there were are found willing for a bare support, but 6 native converts; now there are which costs perhaps $5 a month, and nearly 60,000 ; and if increase goes on in , sometimes without even tltat help, to like ratio, fifty years more would give us go about as simple evangelists. Dr. Corbett and Dr. Nevius were wont thus generations were represented. After to go on tours, and gathered on an average about one new convert a day for a the ceremony the patriarch of the fam- period of perhaps ten years. No meth- od of work could be more primitive and ily, his grandfather, rushed upon him, apostolic. and seizing him by the queue, bound Famine has been God's evangelist in China. When relief has been rendered his hands, slapped his face, fastened by the foreign devils, while even home iriends were apathetic, the effect has him to a beam, and taunted him with been very marked, and periods of general revival and large ingathering have baing a deserter of his family faith, an always followed famine relief. apostate, an innovator. He was bound Dr. Dennis describes a representative Chinese village of some nine families thus for eight hours. and then, being among the mountains, not walled in as loosed, ran to Dr. Nevius for a refuge. usual, but scattered like a western ham- He was compelled to leave his own let, and needing no defence because too home forever, his name being struek poor to offer a prize to robbers. Three off from the list of the family, and his families were Christian, each family property forfeited. including all its living descendants. Twenty-three communicants and sev- Gospel work in the citie8 is "greatly eral bright children gathered on a week- needed. The rural class, representing day morning to be taught by the pas- the working class, has been mostly the tor. One boy had memorized all of object of labor. '1'he upper and liter- Matthew and started on the Acts. ary classes ha ve been almost totally neg- Even the old woman of seventy had lected, and thAse can be reached only her word of witness, her verse to recite, by the evangelization of the cities. We and her prayer to repeat. In the after- must have the best and foremost men noon all came together to keep the and women that Christian lands can af- Lord's Supper. It was very primitive ford to command the respect and au· and apostolic. dience of the cultured classes, and when these are reached they command the Out of every hundred converts in empire. China, ninety, perhaps, are countryfolk, and of these sixty belong to the agri- The "Statesman's Year Book for cultural class. Instead of depending on foreign help, these humble people are 1893" gives the following statistics for trained to give, and the poorest are not exempt from this duty. China: Some idea of the difficulty besetting Ar.a. Papulation. a convert may be seen in the story of China Proper.•… 1,336,841 sq. m. 386,000,000 Sen, one of Dr. Nevius's converts. Manchuria…. … 362,310 ~~ H He belonged to a family of wealth and 7,500 000 standing, and was well educated. But Mongolia. . …. … 1,288,000 H " for his conversion he might have be- 2,000,000 longed to the literati, and risen to dis- Thibet. .. ……. 651,500" " tinction. His examination of the New Jungaria …… .. 147,950" " 6,000,000 Testament begat fears and disquiet, and at last he resolved to be baptized and E. Turkestan.. . . . 431,800 H '" 600,000 face the persecution he knew was in- 580,000 evitable. At his own request he was baptized at home, that he might bear 4,218,401 sq. m. 402,680,000 witness among his kindred where three China proper is divided into nineteen provinces.
Most Chinese are Buddhists and Con- fucianists at the same time; many of them are also Taoists. There are about 30,000,000 Mohammedans in China, chiefly found in the northeast and southwest. Roman Catholics number about 1,000,000. 1rlost of the aborie;i- nal hill tribes are still nature-worshIp- pers. Protestant adherents number 60,- 000. Accordine; to Vahl's estimates, there are 66 sOCIeties at work in China. There are 12 tract and educational so- cieties, and 6 ladies' societies support workers. Of the other 48 societies, 18 are British, 13 are continental, and 17 – American. These societies support about 1500 mIssIonaries, including wives. There are over 100 medical missionaries and 105 hospitals and dis- pensaries. Native helpers number over 20,000, and native churches 525. There were over half a million copies of the Bible, in whole orin part, distributed in 1893.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
Three deaths have lately occurred, in corded him, and he led the way in prowidely separated districts, which have moting world-wide missions as well as an important bearing on the work of home evangelization. A great gap is Christ at home and abroad. left by his death, and the whole work of God feels his loss. Rev. Charles F. Deems, pastor of the "Church of the Strangers," in New And now comes a startling news that York, died universally lamented. As Rev. John L. Nevius, D.D., of Chefoo, a preacher, an author, a man of affairs, China, another of our editorial corre· he will be missed not only in that city, spondents, also passed away about Ocbut wherever honest, earnest work for tober 26th, after nearly forty years of God is done. He was a many-sided consecrated service. He landed in man, evangelical in spirit, wise in coun· China in 1854, and six months more sel, charitable and magnanimous in would have completed his forty years. sympathy. His dying words were, With his wife, he began work at Ning- " My faith holds out." po, and after aCfluiring some knowl- edge of the language, went to Hang. Rev. Dr. Robert Steel, of Sydney, chow, the capital of the province, some one of our editorial correspondents, died hundred miles off, and there began a October 9th, having for eight weeks new station, lodging in the houses of suffered from an affection of the liver, the natives and preaching to people though not in pain. He was buried who then for the first time heard of October 11th at the Necropolis, in Syd. Jesus. The disturbance of peaceful reney, a vast concourse of all classes of lations between China and England people evincing their sorrow and re- drove him back to Ningpo ; and when, spect; and largely attended memorial in 1860, new treaties opened new ports services were held October 15th. In and furnished new facilities, he was the October issue of this REVIEW Dr. among the first to remove to Chefoo, Gracey made mention of Dr. Steel and in the Shantung Province spent the (p. 768), little knowing that in the same rest of his useful life. month his career was to close. Dr. Steel's influence was felt throughout He ventured upon a novel method of the Southeastern Pacific as the inde- procedure. Having no native helpers fatigable worker for the spread of as yet, he made itinerating tours, preach- Christian missions, and his works will ing and talking with the people as he long follow him. For thirty years he went, and often travelling in a wheelhad been the foremost representative of barrow drawn by a horse or donkey; the Presbyterian Church in " the Aus- afterward adapting the native vehicle tralian world," in the pastorate of St. to carry his bed, books for distribution, Stephen's Church, and he held to the and supplies. His tours were repeated, last his position as leader. Instructive going over the same ground, and thus as a preacher, faithful as a pastor, at- following up previous impressions, tractive as a man, aggressive as a work- gathering converts into churches, and er, he made his church a rallying point sending them out as native evangelists and a radiating point. But he was much to spread good tidings. When famine more than a Presbyterian. His catholic threatened the people with starvation, spirit overflowed in work for the king- he devised with statesman"like wisdom dom of God at large. As PresiUent of means of relief, and himself went with the Faculty of St. Andrew's College, wheel-barrow loads of "cash" to disfor twenty·eight years he taught the tribute it in person. Thus by Christian theological students. Every honor the love he won the hearts of the starving Church could give was gratefully ac- people, and turned famine itself into an evangelist. He proved himself a sort black, rich or poor, were presented and of missionary general and statesman, compared. Those who could not go and, like Dr. Corbett, raised up an will have opportunity to read a full rearmy of converted natives who" went port soon to be published. We have everywhere preaching the Word." watched this young organization from its birth, and rejoiced in its constant His visits to America have been an and healthy growth. It is seeking to inspiration and an impulse to the solve the problem of " Applied Chrischurches, colleges, and theological semi- tianity," and we believe the time is apnaries he visited. From his last visit proaching when it will become an inin 1890-91 he had recently returned to ternational convention, meeting occa- China, to give his matured powers to sionally beyond the sea and promoting aid in the revision of the Bible transla- fellowship between all true Christian tions into Chinese. But his heart was workers. enfeebled by long labor and much exposure, and he suddenly passed away, Side by side with this notice we may leaving a memory that will stand like place a record of the twenty-first annia monument beside that of Morrison versaryof the founding of the "Jerry and others in the noble apostolic suc- McAuley Mission," 316 Water Street, cession. in New York, celebrated lately. Mr. Cutting presided. and Dr. Burrell made Books desired to be examined and re- the main address at the afternoon sesviewed should be sent to the editor di- sion, and President Huyler was in the 7'ect, at 2320 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, chair in the evening, and Colonel Ketchor to such of the editorial staff as the um and ex-Governor Lounsbury were author wishes to receive them personal- speakers. More than forty witnesses ly. In the immense mass of exchanges spoke of their own conversion before a and similar matter going to the pub- crowd that thronged the mission rooms; lishers, a book is always liable to be lost in fact, half the audience was made up sight of, or unwrapped before its real of the outcast classes, whose special destination is noted, or transferred to the rescue the McAuley work aims to seeditors of THE HOMILETIC REVIEW as cure. During the last year Colonel meant for them. If authors and pub- Hadley, Superintendent, has had 40,000 lishers who publish works bearing upon men at these meetings, and about $6000 missions and who wish the REVIEW to have been raised. It is no depreciation notice their issues, would send to the of any other agencies for benevolent editor-in-chief personally, he would work to say that no ten churches in the either review them himself, or assign city, combined, have effected as much such task to other competent hands. for the reclamation of drunkards, thieves, criminals, and outcasts as this The eighth convention of " Christian wonderful mission; and no one can Workers" assembled, November 9th- understand it without both reading 15th, in Atlanta, Ga., and in interest Jerry McAuley's life and going in perseems to have reached another stage of son to see how Colonel Ha<l.ley, his fit . advance. President Torrey and Secre- successor, carries on the work. Such tary Collins proved as usual equal to a reading and such a seeing will conthe occasion. Stebbins and Lamh vert the most apathetic soul. helped in song, and the lengthy programme was successfully managed. The Church Missionary Society has Every phase of holy work was pre- had a communication from one of the sented, and the various forms of effort clergy of the Established Church, to in behalf of the rescue of the lost, the effect that twenty-seven of his own whether among young or old, white or parish-all of them of the working class save one, a Cambridge studenthad" lIimultaneously and spontaneously work of Dr. George Smith, the Memoir offered themselves for the foreign of Henry Martyn, heretofore referred field I" That shows what one mission- to in these pages as the latest and maary-spirited man can do ! turest product of that accomplished au- thor and missionary biographer. This Judge Terrell, the United States Min- work on Martyn is the fullest and comister at the Sublime Porte, has induced pletest we have ever seen. It leaves the Turkish authorities to per-mit women nothing more to be added, and is indisto practise medicine within the Sultan's pensable to every complete missionary territory; and to Dr. Mary P. Eddy. library. It is graphic, vivid, pictorfal. daughter of that forty years' mission- It is not a description, it is a portrait. ary of the Presbyterian Board, Rev. Dr. Smith has spared no pains, and the Dr. W. W. Eddy, the honor belongs of intelligent reader will accord him the achieving this victory and overcoming laurels his labor demands. the long-built barriers to woman's medical mission work. Miss Eddy, recently Of all books on missions which we graduated from the Woman's Medical have read of late, none deserves warmer College, New York, was bent on mak- tribute than another, likewise -pubing a final test as to whether a woman, lished by F. H. Revell Company, viz., armed with II medical diploma, could "The Holy Spirit in Missicns," the penetrate this wall of exclusion; and course of lectures delivered in April, she has done it. A new era thus opens 1892, on the Graves' Foundation, at for Turkey and for woman. New Brunswick, before the Theologi- cal Seminary of the Reformed Church, Among the bOQks which deserve no- by our esteemed co·editor, Rev. A. J. tice we must mention the Memoir of Gordon, D.D. The volume treats of Adolph Saphir, that marvellous exam- the subject under six heads: The Holy ple of a converted Jew, and" Ws great Spirit's Programme, Preparation and book on the" Divine Unity of Scrip- Administration and Fruits in Missions; ture," which is, perhaps, without any and then the Spirit's Prophecies as to superior as an unfolding of the riches Missions and Help in Missions. of the Word of God. Dr. Saphir was a Throughout the Spirit of God ishonseer. He had an insight into the Scrip- ored and exalted, and if this book does tures that was Johannian for SUbtlety not call attention to the one sovereign and Pauline for clearness. Thsse are remedy for all failures. both in our not distinctively missionary books, but methods and motives, our work and they form a grand contribution to mis- our spirit, we know not where such sionary literature, for at every point remedy is to be found. Every reader they touch the work of the kingdom; ought to read and study this grand and especially do they lend a mighty series of lectures. impulse to the work of witness among the Jews. The Ufeof Saphir shows the Dr. MoAil's Suooessor Ooming to possibilities wrapped up in one Hebrew America. convert. The work on the Scripture, wWch was his last and best, reveals the Friends of the McAll Mission will be thread of God's purpose concerning pleased to learn of the visit to America His people running through both Testa- of Mr. Greig, since Dr. McAll's death ments, and binding prophecy and history the executive head of the mission in together. France. He is expected to remain until February 24th. He comes that he may These books are both published by be brought into closer relations with Fleming H. Revell Company, 112 Fifth his A.merican constituency, and give to Avenue, New York, as also is that great it the benefit of his personal knowledge, and to stimulate the American MeAD Association in its efforts to further the careful and economical administration cause which lies so close to the hearts of missionary funds; and, while satis- of aU who desire the coming of God's fied that in no part of church affairs is kingdom in France. so great economy shown as in the col- Mr. Greig is a man of intense person- lection and distribution of funds for ality and great e~ecutive ability. He foreign missionary work, it would em- has an unaffected but telling way of phasize the importance of still further stating facts, and believes profoundly effort being made to perfect and sim- in the power of those facts. plify the financial business of these The Board will try to arrange his boards. To this end it adopts the fol· route so as to give as many as possible lowing resolution: of the auxiliaries and the friends of That the Conference urge upon the the mission in the towns and cities boards of foreign missions the careful where the auxiliaries are found, an op- consideration of plans for analyzing ap- portunity to meet him and to hear him propriations and expenditures. with 8 speak. N. B. PARKHURST, view to securing, if possible, some uni- Preaident of the American NcAlZ A8soci- formity in this respect which will make ation. the study of different forms of work more practical.
Missionary Oonferenoe. 4. The Conference deeply feels the importance of developing spiritual pow- At a gathering of the secretaries of er and stimulating missionary effort in fifteen foreign missionary societies in the native churches, and desires to ex- New York in May last, the. following press its unanimous and emphatic conresolutions were unanimously adopted: viction that this interest rightly takes 1. The importance of the examples the first place in the thought, both of and deeds of the apostles. who were missionary boards at home and of mis- divinely commissioned to plant the sionary laborers in the field. It would Christian Church in so many parts of call the especial attention of missionary the Roman Empire, is to be lleartily laborers to the importance of this part recognized, and, so far as a change of of their work, and would urge, as an circumstances will admit, the methods indispensable condition to success in of evangelistic work in New Testament this effort, a deepened tone of personal days are to be taken as instruction and Christian life.
guide to the missionary work of to day. 5. The Conference is agreed that the 2. The Conference, recognizing the direct preaching of the Gospel should desire of some of the more able and have precedence in all missionary effort.
promising native converts in many Other forms of work-educational, lit- fields to visit America and enjoy the erary, and medical-are important, but advantages of the schools a::td Christian they should be subsidiary to the prime life of this country, is at the same time matter of giving the Gospel for the sal- agreed in the conviction, warranted by vation and edification of the people.
the expressed judgment of the mission. 6. In awakening the churches on the aries on the field and the experience of subject of the world's cvangelization, past years, that native converts should the main instrumentality is a faithful be discouraged from coming to Europe ministry giving regular instruction on and America for education; that the the essential obligation of giving the Conference is unanimously of the opin- Gospel to mankind and the progress of ion that Buch natives educated in Ameri- mission work. The success of all other ca should not be commissioned on the agencies will largely depend on the en- ordinary missionary basis. thusiasm of pastors in preaching the 3. The Conference desires to express Gospel of missions.
its conviction of the importance of a 7. The Conference heartily rejoices in the growing interest of the young Dr. James 1. Good calls attention to people of our churches in this great a misstatement on p. 860 of the Novemwork of evangelizing the world, and ber, 1893, REvmw, where the statement recognizes in these youth the promise is made, "Two hundred and eightyand strength of the church of the fu- one years followed, during which no ture. It earnestly recommends that in voice was uplifted for Jesus." He says every possible way this interest be so the Dutch Reformed Church had misrecognized and guided as to secure both sionaries in Brazil in the seventeenth an increasing number of volunteers for century. the foreign field and enlarged gifts to our mission treasuries, and the enthusi- The interest in foreign missions has astic devotion of our youth to this su- been much increased by two rallie8for preme movement of the age. foreign missions in the Presbytery of New Brunswick, N. J. One series of The Way Germany Looks at Us.-Dr. meetings was held among the churches, Stil.ckenberg, of Berlin, writes: in which G. W. Knox, D.D., of Japan, and others spoke, and another rally "The religious life of the United among the young people's societies, at States is continually denounced in Eu- which Rev. Gilbert Reid, of China, rope as superficial, hypocritical, purl- Rev. F. G. Coan, of Persia, and others tanical–a mere Sunday formality or described the needs and work in the luxury. Its real power is estimated by fields which they represent. Both the corruption in official life; by the series of meetings were held under the fearful record of crime and laxity of direction of the Presbyterial Commitjustice; by the management of large tee of New Brunswick. It would withcities, as reported by our own papers; out doubt be most helpful if this exby the character of a large part of the ample were widely followed in other press admitted into families, with all the sections of the country. disgusting and polluting details of crime; by the prevailing worldliness, A Classified .Digest of the Records of which has even crept into churches; by the Society fOl' tlte Propagation of the appalling statistics of intemperance; by Gospel in Foreign Parts (1701-1892) has Mormonism, spiritualism, and similar been publisbed at the Society's office in excrescences. These are regarded as London, and is a voluminous work of particularly American, and as striking nearly 1000 pages. It is edited by Mr. evidence of our real godlessness in spite Pascoe, and does credit to his industry, of all our professions." for it occupied all his leisure for five years. It presents the vast field of the Miss Annie R. Taylor, of whose jour- Society's work in over eighty fields, ney into Thibet we spoke in our Jan- extending over ninety years, with unuary issue, has collected a party of five usually comprehensive indices of conwho will accompany her back to Thibet tents. making it a sort of encyc1opredia, early this year. They go forth relying of the S. P. G. It may be of interest on God for funds and for the opening of to note the fact that the English bishop closed doors. Some contributions have (Exeter) is giving the North American already been made to the work, but portion of the book as the subject-mat- .£600 or £700 ($3000-$3500) are needed ter upon which his examinations will further. Contributions may be sent to be conducted next Trinity. William Sharp, 13 Walbrook, London, E. C. The prayers of God's people are A. T. P. especially desired for this work,
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY BEV. D. L. LEONAlID.
Extracts a.nd Transla.tions from Foreign the debates, and an earnest desire was Periodicals. shown to make the Church a pure Church, free from reproach, sound in BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, doctrine, and vigorous in life." MASS.
CHINA. – " It is a great satisfaction to the -Manchuria, it is known, is the north- committee [of the Church Missionary ern province of the Mantchu Tartars, Society] that Bishop Moule, to whom to which the present reigning family the offer of a home sphere was recently belongs. The United Presbyterian made, has elected to continue for the .iUissionary Record remarks: "There is, present his onerous labors as a mission- so far as I know, no mission in China ary bishop in China. The anti-foreign which has gained so many converts prejudices of many of the literary and during its earlier years as the United official classes in that land show little Presbyterian Mission in Manchuria. It signs of abatement. At the interior is only seventeen years since the first stations in the northwest of Fuh-Kien missionary entered Mookden, and the attacks were made of a peculiarly vio- number of members on the roll, includ- lent and offensive kind on Dr. Rigg ing Tieling, Kaiyuen, Maimaigai, and and the Rev. S. H. Phillips in May and other places worked from that centre October last. but through God's great is above 1100. In other cities there goodness neither of them was perma- are over 450 members. The Irish Pres- nently injured, and both hope to be byterian membership is nearly 500. permitted to continue their labors in Thus the total number of converts gath- that district. Persecution has also been ered into the Presbyterian Church of rife in some localities against the native Manchuria within twenty years is up- Christians for non-compliance with ward of 2000. To this have to be add- idolatrous customs. That opposition ed those who have been baptized, but to Christianity is not general, however, who have since died or have left the among the people, is proved by the province. The Scottish and Irish mis- large increase in the number of adhe- sions work together. Last year a united rents. In Fuh Kien there are more by presbytery was formed, the aim of the 840 than in 1891, and in the T'ai Chow missionaries and the Boards being to district of Cheh-Kiang 98 were bap- build up a strong, united native church,- tized during the year. Dr. Duncan who shall know nothing of the differ- Main says: 'The doors open to the ences which separate the various sec- medical missionary are legion. The tions of the Church at home. The an- difficulty is not to find them, but to nual meetings of the presbytery were find time to enter them. Weare the held when we "-delegates from home centre of gravity, and they gravitate to -" were in Newchwang. Mr. Carson, us without difficulty.' It is manifest of the Irish Mission, was chosen Mod- that a wide door is open for itinerant erator, but it was understood that next missionaries almost throughout China.
year a native elder would be appointed The provinces of K wang Si and of to that office. At the meetings of com- Kiang: Si were visited during the year mittees and conferences between the by Dr. Colbourne and Mr. Phillips re- missionaries English was spoken, but spectively; and the far more distant the proceedings of the presbytery were province of Sz·Chllen has been safely conducted in Chinese. The native reached by Mr. and Mrs. Horsburgh elders took the most prominent part in and thuir party of nine, and he believtlll
GENERAL MISBIONAltY INTELLIGENCE
their lives are as safe there as in Eng- force it. Still it is possible for us land. The society is greatly indebted largely to quote from the ordinary conto the China Inland Mission for con- fession of one and all that the good are stant help and counsel to this party, few and the bad are many. Their both at the COUl't and in Sz-Chuen." moral teachings, their common prov- erbs, the general conversation and prac- -Professor EICHLER, reported in tice of the people. the records of histhe Ohronicle, remarks, in speaking of tory, and the sentiments of their curthe fondness of the Chinese for tracts: rent literature may well be taken in .' It is a remarkable fact that the ma- evidence of the depravity of human jority of the authors of these tracts, nature, that however originally formed even the Confucianists, seek to give fnr good it has grievously degenerated weight and importance to their moral and turned to evil. But more than teaching by the authority of the gods, this, we are led to the plain and posirepresenting them as Divine revelations tive teaching of the Bible on the suband inspirations. Of some of those ject, and in confirmation of it we have tracts not only the contents but the the Ten Commandments on which to whole book are said to be inspired; it insist in thought and feeling, in word is pretended that cover and everything and deed, as possessed of Divine auelse have been received from a god or thority, and having the' sanction of genius. This is, for instance, the case every man's conscience, which in the with t.he 'Divine Panorama,' and ap- Chinese view is equivalent to the depears from one of its pictures. This crees of heaven. They are ail-powershows that religion is in China, as every- ful in this respect. Only a Jew.ghts where, the backbone of morals. Con- ago I was urging their claims and residered from a broad Christian point of quirements on a large audience of some view. these tracts contain many good three hundred Chinese, and at the close words, even some deep truths. But one rose up and in a most excited manby the side of these we notice sayings ner declared in the presence of the and exhortations which sound to our whole assembly that he had broken ear most ridiculous and childish, and everyone of these commandments, and doctrines that are obviously false and felt himself to be a grievous sinner. erroneous. Frequently detailed de- He is now a candidate for baptism. scriptions of vices are given, which re- What is wanted is to deepen the conmind one of the sermons preached by viction of inward and total depravity, the capuchins in medireval times, or of and this, we believe, can most effecour modern sensational novels and tually be done by enforcing the claims newspaper accounts of criminal cases. of the Divine law. It has been given It is questionable if men are made bet- for the purpose, and the more clearly ter by any of these." it is understood and felt, so much bet- ter are we prepared for apprehending -It would be interesting to know, and appreciating the rich provisions of from competent observers, how far the the Gospel of grace."-Rev. W. Mumcrime of female infanticide is reduced HEAD, in Ohine8e Obse1"1Je'l". by the zealons and noble warfare which we understand that Buddhism wages -" I came not to call the righteous, against it. but sinners, to repentance." The Na- tional Bible Society of Scotland has – " Natu1·al ilepravity. How may published in Chinese" The Gospel of this be brought forward as a funda- lIark, with Explanations." Both the mental point in our Christian teaching? plan and the execution are highly com- There is a general acknowledgment of mended by Dr. Griffith John, of the it in China, though not, of course, to London Missionary Society; Dr. W. S. the same extent as we are called to entheir lives are as safe there as in Eng- force it. Still it is possible for us land. The society is greatly indebted largely to quote from the ordinary conto the China Inland Mission for con- fession of one and all that the good are stant help and counsel to this party, few and the bad are many. Their both at the court and in Sz-Chuen." moral teachings, their common prov- erbs, the general conversation and prac- -Professor EICHLER, reported in tice of the people, the records of histhe OMonicle, remarks, in speaking of tory, and the sentiments of their curthe fondness of the Chinese for tracts: rent literature may well be taken in .' It is a remarkable fact that the ma- evidence of the depravity of human jority of the authors of these tracts, nature, that however originally formed even the Confucianists, seek to give fl)r good it has grievously degenerated weight and importance to their moral and turned to evil. But more than teaching by the authority of the gods, this, we are led to the plain and posirepresenting them as Divine revelations tive teaching of the Bible on the sub· and inspirations. Of some of those ject, and in confirmation of it we have tracts not only the contents but the the Ten Commandments on which to whole book are said to be inspired; it insist in thought and feeling, in word is pretended that cover and everything and deed, as possessed of Divine auelse have been received from a god or thority, and having the sanction of genius. This is, for instance, the case every man's conscience, which in the with the' Divine Panorama,' and ap- Chinese view is equivalent to the depears from one of its pictures. This crees of heaven. They are ail-powershows that religion is in China, as every- ful in this respect. Only a .few nights where, the backbone of morals. Con- ago I was urging their claims and residered from a broad Christian point of quirements on a large audience of some view. these tracts contain many goou three hundred Chinese, and at the close words, even some deep truths. But one rose up and in a most excited manby the side of these we notice sayings ner declared in the presence of the and exhortations which sound to our whole assembly that he had broken ear most ridiculous and childish, and everyone of these commandments, and doctrines that are obviously false and felt himself to be a grievous sinner. erroneous. Frequently detailed de- He i3 now a candidate for baptism. scriptions of vices are given, which re- What is wanted is to deepen the conmind one of the sermons preached by viction of inward and total depravity, the capuchins in mec1ireval times, or of and this, we believe, can most elIec-, our modern sensational novels and tually be done by enforcing the claims newspaper accounts of criminal cases. of the Divine law. It has been given It is questionable if men are made bet- for the purpose, and the more clearly ter by any of these." it is understood and felt, so much bet- ter are we prepared for apprehending -It would be interesting to know, and appreciating the rich provisions of from competent observers, how far the the Gospel of grace. "-Rev. W. Mumcrime of female infanticide is reduced HEAD, in Ohinese ObseJ·ve1·. by the zealous and noble warfare which we understand that Buddhism wages -" I came not to call the righteous, against it. hut sinners, to repentance." The N a- tional Bible Society of Scotland has _" Natu1'al depravity. How may publisherl in Chinese" The Gospel of this be brought forward as a funda- :abrk, with Explanations." Both the mental point in our Christian teaching? plan and the execution are highly com- There is a general acknowlerlgment of mended by Dr. Griffith John, of the it in China, though not, of course, to London Missionary Society; Dr. W. S. the same extent as we are called to en-
EXTRACTS AND TRANBLATIOl'!"B
Swanson, Presbyterian Church of Eng- deed; yet what avail aIll'egrets I"-Dr.
land; Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, China FABER, quoffed in Indian Witnes8.
Inland l£ission; Rev. J. W. Stevenson, -Dr. Ashmore, in the Ohine8e Re- General &ieretary Shanghai Missionary corder, is of opinion that as devotion to Conference; Rev. William Muirhead, a vagabond is a poor exhibition of fidel- London Missionary Society ; Archdea- ity, especially in a wife who forsakes con Wolfe, and others. her husband for the vagabond's sake, -" AB .false coin does not cease to so reverence for a monkey or a snake be false coin because it has a few grains is a poor exhibition of faith in those of silver in it, 80 neither does false re- who are bound to worship the Most ligion cease to be false religion because High God. As Dr. Arnold remarks, it has some grains of truth in it. Joe kindness, even to an animal, is always Smith's Mormonism has some grains of praiseworthy (provided, of course, it is truth in it, and some passages stolen out proportional), but veneration is honorof the Bible; so also has Mohammedan- able only when shown to that which is ism. Do they, on that account, cease venerable. Then it elevates; otherwise to be false religions? It is a wonder it degrades.
how sane and sensible men, who would -" In the town of Tshin-shiu a Chiscrutinize a ten-cent piece if they sus- nese banker lately applied to Missionpected it to be short of silver, will pass ary Grant with the request that he such monstrous counterfeits when it would recommend to him ten or more comes to the subject of religion."- native Christianfi, to be employed in Ohine86 Rec01·der. his business. He remarked that he had -Under the impulse proceeding from found that the Christians were the only William Burns, there are now little people in the place that could be trustgroups of Mantchu ChriRtians from the ed. A similar request had been preborders of Mongolia on the west to be- viously addressed to the same missionyond the borders of Corea on the east, ary by another business man…- Monat8and on the boundaries of Eastern Sibe- bliiti(fl' (Calw.).
ria. Ea.ch convert i~ an humble but -This does not agree very well with effective apostle, as Professor KrUger re- the accusation that Chinese converts marks. The hard·headed Scotch, it is have lost Confucian virtues, without remarked, insist on a thoroughly found- having gained Christian virtues. There ed rather than on a rapidly spreading is no spiritual shock in turning from work. Both seem to be vouchsafed to Confucianism to the Gospel, for Conthem. fucianism is little more than a system -" We have three camps in the Prot- of external ethics, mostly good as far elltant missions in China-camps not as it goes, and deepened rather tha.n separated because of religious cere- contradicted by Christ.
monies and practices, but because of -June 9th. 1892, a young married thrt(J dijf(fl'ent names for the 8ame God. woman died in Jlishan, Kiangsi, the It ill almost incredible, but the facts only Christian in the place. As the not only speak, they cry out with em- fruit of her triumphant death·bed phasis. Even the harmony which pre- twenty-four were bapt,ized on the 2d of vails elsewhere among the different the following August. This was by churches (with all their other differ- no means the only influence, but seems ences) concerning the Word of God in to have been the crowning one. the Bible and derotiona,lliterature, tracts and hymn.books, has been torn asunder -A Christian baker in Shangshan in China.. Each of the three camps has has inscribed on his bread-baskets: its own Bible, etc. This is sad, in- "Jesus Christ appeared in the world
GENERAL MISSIONAlI.T INTEI,LIGENCE
1"892 years ago." This often, on in- apparent. The Mings did but little to quiry made, serves him as a text for a recover the glory of the empire or reo testiI)J.ony. store it to its wonted vigor. The Man- -" China needs knowledge. What chus have produced two illustrious a parody on the name of education is rulers, who did much for their country the system now in vogue in China I A in their long and prosperous reigns. I young man, having spent fifteen or refer, of course, to the reigns of K'angtwenty years in hard study, reaches the hsi and K'ien-Iung ; but they did not goal of his ambition and becomes a Siu succeed in checking the downward ten· Ts'ai, or it may be a Kli. Jen, and what dency of the country, or restore the is the net result of his attainments in courage, the buoyancy, the vigor that knowledge and mental training? He characterized the glorious period of the has simply learned how to read and Sung. write; he bas obtained a knowledge of some of the ancient history of his own " The country does not contain within country ; and he has learned those pre- itself the elements for its own recuper· cepts about personal conduct, family ation. New life is needed from some government, and political economy external source, and we cannot doubt which make up the sum of the moral that in the providence of God this great teachings of the Four Books and Five country is now being brought into vital Classics. He has learned nothing of contact with the Christian civilization nature or of nature's God; no geog- of the West, in order to start again on the path of progress."-Ibid.
raphy of his own or other countries, no history of other nations, no science, English Notes. no mathematics, no astronomy, etc.
He knows nothing, in short, of those BY JAMES DOUGLAS, LONDON.
most common facts concerning the The llIi8sionary Penny.-A Missionworld about him that a ten-year-old ary Pence Association is now associated boy in Christian lands has long since with the Aldersgate Street branch of learned at his mother's knee. the Young Men's Christian Association, London. During the past year all the " The Chinese need improved educa- leading societies as well as many smaller tional methods. Their system, while missions have received tangible help, on it develops the memory in a wonderful the principle that "mony a mickle manner, and indeed leaves nothing to maks a muckle." Every penny subbe desired in the mere power of retain- scribed goes to the society named oy ing words, yet it dwarfs the other pow· the donor, without any deduction for ers of the mind, ruins the reasoning working expenses. Hitherto the penny faculty, destroys the imagination, pre- has been weekly, but a section is now vents independence of thought, checks added for those disposed to join the original investigation, and is altogether penny-per-day class. vicious and totally inadequate to develop the God-given powers of the hu- Oentral Soudan Mis8ion.-This is a man mind."-Rev. A. P. PARKER, new scheme originated, under God, by Methodist Episcopal (South) Mission, Mr. Hermann Harris, who during the Soochow. in Chinese Reco1'der. past four months has been at work in -" My study of the past history and England stirring up interest in the Sou- present condition of the Chinese leads dan. Nine fresh workers have been me to believe that they reached their secured, some of whom are on their highest stage of civilization in the Sung way to their destination, and the others Dynasty, and that the Mongolian inva- are speedily to follow. The intention sion wAs the turning-point, the period is ultimately to oecupy the Central of that arrest of progress which is so Soudan and the countries lying round
ENGLISH NOTES
Lake Chad. How this region is to be a modest and unobtrusive way. "The occupied is not a matter of sight. The story of this work has only to be sim- scheme is launched in faith. Some ply told in order to awaken the sym- knowledge of the needs, however, is pathies of such as break the silence of possessed, and a translation of the each new-born day with the prayer, Hausa Scriptures, the common lan- 'Thy kingdom come.' " We hope guage of the region, is in course. The next month to supply some details re- methods to be employed are the same specting a society of which next to as those already in use in their North nothing has been known, but which African work in Tripoli, which combines seems to have been no mean auxiliary medical mission work with active evan- of "the kingdom of God, which com- gelization and the distribution of Scrip- eth not with observation."
ture portions. A council of six mem- bers has been constituted, of which for Spiritual Destitution of the Soudan.- the present Mr. R. Caldwell, of St. Bishop Hall, who leaves shortly for Martin's House, Gresham Street, Lon- the Niger, is also, like Mr. Hermann don, E. C., is the secretary and treas- Harris. to whom I have referred, seek- urer. ing to awaken missionary interest in behalf of the Soudan, and is being sup- Dr. J. G. Paton.-This renowned ported in his appeals by Bishop Olumissionary from the New Hebrides has wole, a native of Abeokuta, whose parthe ear at present, as far as the inevitable limitations of time and space admit. ents were heathen. Bishop Hall, howof our great metropolis. Exeter Hall ever, would only have those to come was much too small for the eager crowds forth as helpers who have placed them- selves unreservedly under the control that sought admis3ion. No reception could have been more cordial and en- of God the Holy Ghost. In his view Africa is a demonized land, where thusiastic ; and what seldom happens, even the suburban meetings now in temptations "strong and deep" assail course show the like popular eagerness the laborers, and where the' men, givand interest. Dr. Paton tells an un- ing themselves up to demons, become varnished tale, with much simplicity of demons. The bishop's words recall to spirit and practical address, pointing us the darkest chapter in John Newthe moral as he proceeds, and ever and ton's biography, and the significant anon pleading out of a full heart that phrase, then frequently used in those parts of Africa, ., that such a white his Master may receive His own. We have seldom seen the sunshiny charac- man is grown black;" the reference -being not a change in complexion, but ter of Christian service better embodied and expressed. It was better than any disposition, arising from the positive amount of optimism, for it was the real- power exercised by demoniac inlluism of Christ's own felt presence, and ences. At present there are 60,000,000 of the faith that can tread the- stormy in the Soudan without a missionary. sea. Bishop Oluwole spoke of work done, Dr. Paton appeals for five more mis- and also of the special difficulties that sionaries and the means to support beset their labors. The church at them, and believes that the missionary Lagos was pervaded, he said, by a staff thus reinforced would be adequate missionary spirit. They had trained to the conquest of all the islands in the workers and eleven mission stations in Hebrides' group. touch with the church at Lagos, which, though not all self-supporting, had ElMngeliool Oontinental Society. – The nearly reached that point. The main Ohri8tian has recently drawn attention difficulty was the question of polygamy, to this society, which has, during the which was one of the hardest customs past fifty years, done excellent work in to break down i and another stumbling-
GENERAL lIIISSIONARY I.NTELLI~CE
block was the importation of ardent missionary sense, and cents.-Oumberspirits of the worst description. To land PreIJbytfJl'ian. these were to be added the low tone of European traders. -Professor Everett, of Harvard Uni- versity, is credited with saying that Olteering Tidinga from Uganda.-Mr. •• not until rich men come to under- stand that they do not own their wealth, Arthur B. Fisher, a member of the but owe it, will the curse be taken off riches. " Church Missionary Society Mission in -A recent writer, who to all appear- Ugands, forwards interesting particu- ance knows whereof he speaks, makes bold to affirm that neither Hinduil nor lars of the work there. At Mingo a Mohammedans minister to the poor from sympathy, or from any spirit of 'large church, holding some 5000 people philanthropy, but out of pure selfish- ness, to gain merit for themselves, to haR been built by the natives, and is offset their sin and guilt.
filled on Sundays, while there are daily -A Mohammedan in Malacca urged this objectiou against the Bible: .. It is clllsses and morning worship attended too holy; if we took it up we could not cheat, nor lie, nor get on in busiby 600 people. The Baruma tribe, of ness."
which Stanley has written much, has -After listening to his accusers for some years, it is no more than fair to become interested in the Word of God, allow him to speak for himself. Sir Edwin Arnold is reporteel to have said: and Buganda Christians have gone to .. I have been criticised for an implied comparison between Buddhism and their islands to teach them to read. Christianity in regard to doctrines de- rived from them Itnd principles con- Copies of Holy Scripture are eagerly tained in them relilpectively. No such object was in my mind. Forme, Chrisbought throughout the whole region. tianity, rightly viewed, is the crowned queen of religion, immensely superior In Singo 2000 books were sold, and to every other; and, though I am so great an admirer of much that is great in five days a church and house for the in Hindu philosophy and religion, I would not give one verse of the Sermon missionaries were built. The church on the Mount away for twenty epic poems like the Mahabharata, nor exholds 600 people, and on the first Sun- change the Golden Rule for twenty new Upanashads. " – Canadian Ohurch Magday 400 were present. This number a~ine. has gone on to increase. Mr. Fisher -Said the dying Pestalomi: .. I fiays, " God has planted in the hearts of have lived like a beggar that beggars might learn to live like men." t bis people a longing after Himself." -" I don't want anyone to pity me. After telling of the driving out of the I am going to the tip-top field of the world," said Rev. Daniel Lindley, of Mohammedans, who made a wild rush the early Zulu mission, at a meeting (l)f the American Board, when a natural upon the Protestants to their own con- fmuissisoino~aarnyd who have robbed every from time to time, Mr.
Fisher adds: "Before Bishop Tucker left us he ordained six natives, all good, tried and true men, full of love for soul:. These, together with numbers of other Christians, will branch out into the country, and, we trust, gather in preciou!! souls who are waiting to hear the tl~uth. The work here is de- lightful. Who would not spend and be spent here among this loving and grate- ful people? Ob, that hundreds of our young men would lift up their eyes and look on this field-not as those inter- ested, but as those responsible for the gathering in of the precious sheaves !"
THE KINGDOM. -Missionarv sentiment is valuable ttnly when it i~ properly combined with strain of sadness had characterized the clared that India did not want a Chris- farewell messages of missionaries about tianity which tolerated such atrocities.
to return to their stations. Yes, yes, yes, alas! But then, per -A farmer in Dakota was asked how contra, "While the Hindu is shocked they came to feel that they could afford at the killing of a cow for food, and the to build a church so soon after a crop Buddhist carefully avoids killing any failure, and he replied: "When we animal, neither finds special occasion lack a plough or a reaper we say we for concern in the death of a man. must have one, and go to town and buy India in the past has been one vast it. We had no suitable plaoe for meet- slaughter-house of humanity, under the ing, and felt that we must MOO one. It sanctions of Hinduism. Men have been was a necessity. And 80 we built it." flayed alive, mangled under the wheels Would that all felt the imperative of idol cars, drowned in the Ganges, necessity of preaching the Gospel to 'the sacred river.' Women have been every creature ! cursed, crushed, burned on funeral piles, and subjected to every form of -He may have the number some· shame. Even to-day harlots form a what too large, but in his "Foreign part of the sacred service of the Hindu Missions after a Century" Dr. J. S. temples." As an indignant sister ex- Dennis suggests: " We are fully justi- claims: " And the representative of fied in estimating that there were slight- this horrible, obscene, and filthy religion lyover 100,000 conversions in the for- is invited to Christian America to leceign mission fields of all evangelical ture us on the lJ1Yil8 ofcanned meat! Why churches during the year 1892. This could he not find time to answer Mrs. you will notice is an average of fully Palmer'S question on what Hinduism 2000 per week. Think of it, my had done for women ?" friends! As you gathered together in the house of God from Sabbath to 8ab- -The Maan has the following acbath during the past year, to render count of a "feeling after" God in the your thanks to your Heavenly Father case of a Kaffir woman: "Even when for His blessings and His bounties and I was a young girl, and before ever the His benefits to you and yours, you Gospel had been brought into this land, might have added another note of I felt a trouble of heart. On a certain thanksgiving for more than 2000 souls- day, while working in the field, I was a number that would pack our largest all at once drawn to thinking about the churches to their very doors, gathering great God. I looked up to heaven, together, every Sabbath of the year, fell upon my knees, but could say nothliterally out of every tribe, and tongue, ing, for I only felt how bad my heart and people, and nation, to sit down to- was. I went home and related what gether for the first time to partake of had befallen me to my parents, who asthe communion of the Lord's Supper." sured me that the bird which makes the thunder had caused that feeling In -The belief in the efficacy of human me; I must fetch and burn a bunch of flesh for medicinal purposes, still preva.- long grass and thorns, and rub the ashes lent in China, lingers also in Japan, vigorously into my skin, and then I where a man who killed his wife in might expect to feel better. Of course order to serve up her liver to his aged I did so, but it was of no use. I remother was sentenced quite recently to mained wretched until a missionary nine years' hard labor.-R. S. GUNDRY, came here. People told me about him. in Fortnightly Re'Die'llJ.
-The slaughter-houses of Chicago I lost no time in going with my hus- called out a tlerce denunciation from a band to see and hear him, and we re- representative of the Hindu religion at solved to settle in the dwelling-place of the Parliament of Religions. He de- the Christians… WOMAN'S WORK. -Who can measure the benefit to the -Say not that the days of miracles world of Pastor Fliedner's Kaiserswerth are'over, for in this, the last decade of institution for the training of deacon· the nineteenth century, it has come to esses, from which nearly 3000 have pass that, after repeated efforts, backed gone out, and to all parts of the world, by abundant political pressure from without taking vows, with nothing of foreign ambassadors, and after long the medilllval or sepulchral in their look waiting and wriggling, the Sultan has or demeanor; in the Master's name actually given authorization to Miss and in His spirit to go gladly wherever Mary P. Eddy, M.D., an American called, to live or to die, if only they can girl, to practise her profession within minister as angels of mercy and peace.
the bounds of his dominions ! -The College Women's Settlements, -Nineteen years ago two graduates to be found in New York, Philadel· of Mt. Holyoke founded the Huguenot phia, Boston, etc., are among the new Seminary in Wellington, Cape Colony, things which, when in fit hands, are also after receiving most urgent appeals to among the good things for use in the establish an institution which would degraded portions of our great cities.
give the daughters of South Africa -The sphere of woman is a narrow some of the educational and religious one in all heathen lands. In India she advantages of their more favored "can grind, spin cotton, sometimes American sisters. The faculty now pull punkahs, and carry mortar, and no numbers 20, and more than 1000 young other way of supporting' herself is women, descendants of the Dutch, open." To be a washer-woman, a French, and English settlers, have been cook, a housemaid, a dressmaker, or students. The standard of edueation anything else of that kind, is out of the has been gradually raised, until now the question. Such is public sentiment, pupils compete successfully at the gov- and because there are no teachers. ernment and university examinations Zenana missionaries are endeavoring to at Cape Town. The school is self-sup- work a revolution at this point, and to porting, and also supports some mis- open up various honorable ways for sionaries at the front whom it has their sex to earn a livelihood. Industrained. trial schools are likely to multiply in the near future. -Of the various enterprises main- tained by American missionaries, prob- -The National Woman's Christian ably none is more conspicuous for prac- Temperance Union reports 7864 unions, tical value in the field of benevolence with a membership of 154,213; Y. than the Training School for Nurses in Unions, 757, with a membership of Kyoto, Japan. The seventh annual 15,363; Loyal Legions, 2887; memo report has appeared. The school is in bership, 159,299; coffee-houses, 283; charge of the venerable medical mis- Schools of Methods, 142; money raised sionary and student of Buddhism, John by local unions, $336,744; money raised C. Berry; the practical training of the bYl State unions, $123,879; total re- Japanese women is conducted by Miss cerpts of the National Union from Eliza Talcott, under whose direction States, $22,243; for Temple Fund, instruction is given in hygiene, practi. $23,509; expenses, $26,731; number cal nursing in the home, temperance, of pages printed, 135,000,000. etc. Up to the present time the school has graduated 36, of whom some have -The Congregational women raised married, some died, and 26 are still ac- for missions last year (the Eastern tive nurses, unable to supply the demand Board reporting only for ten months) for their services. Twenty more are $175,190, quite a falling off from the now in the classes. sum secured the year preceding; but the task is taken up with vigor to make -Presbyterian Endeavor societies up the deficiency, and to move on to a are asked by the Home Missionary So· larger figure. ciety to give $2000 to the Asheville Farm School for boys, among the moun- -The receipts of the society through tain whites of the South; $2000 more which the Methodist women of Canada to 8alt Lake City Collegiate Institute; carryon their work for 1893 reported an $1200 more for mission work in Alaska, income of $37,974, an increase of $2184. which h<ts already been assumed by Work is done in China and Japan, and New York Endeavorers; $2800 for the in behalf of the French and the Chinese training school among the Pima and at home. Papago Indians at Tucson, and $2000 for a school at Las Vegas-$lO,OOO in OUR YOUNG PEOPLE. all.
-Here is the longest name for a so· -The Endeavorers of the German ciety, and so the longest set of initials Reformed churches are to support an to be found outside of Great Britain- additional missionary in Japan. D. L. W. R. R. Y. M. C. A., and the nine letters stand for the Young Men's -And Japan is giving back in kind, Christian Association of the Delaware, for the Christian Endeavor Society in Lackawanna, and Western Railroad. Mr. Ishii's orphanage at Okayama has Nor is the name a mixing of things sent a contribution to the Hampton In· secular and sacred, for this is a corpo· stitute in Virginia. ration, if not with a soul, at least with a conscience, since it starts no trains be· -The Malua institute, in the Samoan tween sun and sun on the Lord's day. Islands, will soon send out 10 couples A conductor of twenty-eight years' to serve as missionaries in New Guinea. !ltanding has never had to work on the And all of them either have been or are Sabbath, and besides the company sup· now Christian Endeavorers.
plies buildings for the Young Men's -The Baptist Missionary Union has Christian Associations at Elmira, Great entered into an arrangement with the Bend, Scranton, and Hoboken. At El· Woman's Auxiliary, by which the conmira it has built an edifice expressly for tributions of the Young People's Soci· the uses of the association, and in the eties as such are to be made directly other places has repaired or constructed to the Union. Check·books, outline of rooms. In some of those places it pays studies and tracts have already been the entire salary of the secretary, and sent to the societies in several States. the other expenses. At Hoboken it pays the larger part of the salary. -The Christmas number of the Ep- -The Christian Endeavor Missionary worth Herald bore a quasi.missionary Institute represents a new departure in character in a pleasant way by giving missionary work in the West, and from letters from Rome, Norway, Mexico, the success already crowning its efforts Uruguay, Singapore, Foochow, Pe· in many directions is destined to be a per· king, Japan, and Korea, telling how manentand valuablcinstitution. Work· Christmas is kept in those regions, ing in conjunction with the mission some of them far to the south of the boards of the different denominations, equator, where at that season midsumit secures for its Missionary Extension mer reigns.
Course of six lectures the ablest speak· -An Epworth League in one month ers on the missionary platform. This paid a widow's rent, provided her with course has been inaugurated in college provisions, employed a nurse for a sick towns and at other strategic points woman, and fitted up a room in the throughout the West. deaconess' home. THE UNITED STATES. years 99,768 children have been re- -The first call to prayer by the moved to the country and provided Muezzin of the Ilrst society of the Mo- with good homes.
hammedans sounded out from the win- -The Illinois Humane Society re- dow of Union Square Hall, in New ports work done since its organization York, December 10th. Emin L. Vabo- as follows: Complaints investigated, kotf, wearing a fez, leaned far out of 25,534; children rescued, 14,413 ; chil- the second story window, which suf- dren placed in charitable mstitutions, ficed for a minaret, and placing his 3866; horses rescued by reprimand of thumbs behind the lobes of his ears, drivers, 9076; horses laid up from with the palms of his hands turned for- work, 1678; horses removed by am- ward, he called out the formal sum- bulance, 1216; disabled aniIlllltls shot, mons to prayer. The words were in 2218 ; prosecutions for cruelty to ani- Arabic. On the sidewalk below were mals, 1185; prosecutions for cruelty to ranged a few of the faithful, being children, 387.
Mussulmans from the World's Fair. -The Ramabai Association, estab- They drew themselves up in a straight lished in Boston and designed to aid line, elbow touching elbow, facing tow- in the rescue of child-widows in India ard Mecca. from the unspeakable wretchedness and -Waldenses to the number of 64 misery to which they are doomed, reo families-about 300 persons-have im- ports an income of $61,784.
migrated to Western North Carolina -The American Tract Society was recently, where for their use, and for awarded a gold medal by the Columothers to follow, 20,000 acres of land bian Exposition for ., religious books have been purchased. and tracts" exhibited. Or, more specifi- -A recent issue of TluJ Pacific con- cally, for excellence in the adaptation tained a long narrative by Jee Gam, the of its publications for giving the doc- best known of Christian Chinamen in trines of the Bible, as held iu common this country, entitled" How God has by the evangelical churches, to all Led Me these Thirty Years," and tell- classes; its finely bound Bibles, helps ing of the strange providence which to Bible study, devotional. books, Sun- led him to leave his native land, and day-school libraries, books at low prices how he was induced to cast away his for the homes of the needy, wall rolls idols and choose Christ. The story for hospitals and the sick·room, and should be printed in the form of a leaflet, tracts and cards for everybody.
and be widely scattered. -The Sailor8' Magazine and Seamen'8 -A Methodist church in Montclair, JJlriend for December contains letters N. J., supports a missionary among the from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Ar- Navajo Indians, educates a boy and a gentine Republic, Brazil. Madeira, girl in China, and has assumed the sup- New York, Virgiuia, Georgia, Alaba- port of Rev. G. J. Schilling and wife, ma, Louisiana, and Washington, arid who have just sailed for Rangoon. making mention of quite a general re- -The Children's Aid Society is one ligious interest among the min of the of the very best of all our charitable sea, with conversions not a few.
organizations, and whether as to its -The Freedmen's Aid and Southern special object or the wisdom of its 'ad- Education Society of the Methodist ministration. During the last year Episcopal Church, North, expended in 12,516 boys and girls were registered the South during 1892 the sum of $363,- in the various schools, the six lodging- 763. Among the Freedmen were sus- houses sheltered 6277, or a nightly aver- tained 23 schools with 229 teache1'2 and age of 464, while during the last forty 5808 pupils, and among the._whites 23 schools with 116 teachers and 3227 city of York have done so much for pupils; or a total of 46 schools with missions, has made a stirring appeal to 345 teachers and 9065 students. The young Wesleyan ministers in Great school property is valued at $1,808,000. Britain to volunteer to go to China for a term of six years as unmarried men -Twenty-five turkeys, 85 chickens, for pioneer work, and toward their exhalf-a-dozen hams, 6 barrels of flour, a penses he generously offers to be per- barrel of molasses, apples, hickory sonally responsible for $250 annually nuts, walnuts, oranges, and $800 in for each man going out. cash-this is only a partial list of the good things showered upon the children -Mr. J. Cowasjee Jehanghir, of in the Baptist Orphan's Home in Louis- Malabar Hill, Bombay, has presented ville, during Thanksgiving. Besides 200,000 rupees-about $65,000-to the these were the annual contributions of Imperial Institute in London, on condivarious congregations in the city. tion that the sum shall be applied to the special benefit of India. The gov- -Through the Baptist Missionary erning body of the Institlite has accept- Union work is done in 19 countries, the ed the gift, and proposes to devote it to Gospel is preached in more than 30 the construction of an Indian conferlanguages, and at an average cost of cnce·room, and the building of a great $60,000 a month, or $2000 a day. hall in which lectures will be delivered on Indian and colonial mercantile sub- -The Prudential Committee of the jects. American Board has voted to recommend to Secretary Gresham that he ac- -The will of the late Sir William cept the sum which I:!pain offers in set- Mackinnon assigns $50,000 to missions tlement of the action of the Spanish in India, and $100,000 for annuities troops in destroying the mission prop- for aged or invalid missionaries of the erty of the Board at Ponape. Caroline Free Church of Scotland. Islands. four years ago. This sum covers amply the actual value of the -It is said that the Countess of Aberproperty destroyed. but nothing more. deen will have $100,000 to use for her benevolent work in promoting Irish -About 500 Lutheran (General Syn- domestic industry, as a result of estabod) Sunday·schools celebrated Luther lishing the Irish Village at the Chicago Day, and brought in about $10,000 as Fair. an offering to the Lord for home missions. -Canon Scott Robertson's twenty. second annual summary of British con- -The Methodist Missionary Commit- tributions for the propagation of the tee appropriates for 1894 to Africa, Gospel in foreign parts shows that for $5700; to South America, $51,671 ; to the financial year 1892 the total sum China, $118,711; to India, $117,537; voluntarily contributed to the numer- Malaysia, $8889; Bulgaria, $18,250; ous missionary societies in the British Italy. $42,500; Mexico, $53.378; Japan, Isles was £1,363,153. The channels $54,408. and Korea, $15,967. In ad- selected by the donora are thus classidition, $45.373 was set apart for Scandi- fied: Church of England societies, navia. $27,707 for Germany, and $7900 £584,615; joint societies of Churchmen for Switzerland. In 1893 the receipts and Nonconformists, £204,655; Nonfor missions, home and foreign, were conformist societies in England and $1,679,345. Wales, £354,396; Presbyterian socie- ties in Scotland and Ireland, £207,327 ; EUROPE. Roman Catholic societies, £12,160.
Great Britain.-The veteran Wes- -The scope of the Aged Pilgrims' leyan missionary in China, Rev. David Friend Society is co·extensive with the Hill, whose family in the old cathedral [THESE statistics are designed to include only Missions among either non·Christian or noned. Accuracy bas been ~ough't, but also completeness. and hence conservative estimlltes have been space aftorded by two pages of this Magazine, a large number of the smaller and special organlza· NAMES OJ!' SOCIETmso … … 1 B.ptist …………………… .. ~ 1792 $567,500 $40,900 139 .. 0 120 60 51> 2 Strict Baptist……………….. 1861 4,405 259 4 .. . 4 4 3 London (Lo M. So)…. …. …. …….. …. 1795 699,555 100,445 18? .. . 150 61 1734 4 Church (C. M. S.)…. ……………….. 1799 1,414,025 71,782 331 69 250 134 303 5 Propagation (S. P. G.).. 0…………… .. 1701 635,745 ………. 225 30 197 12 170 6 Universities' Mission……….. …….. lSGO 107,810 ………. 28 35 29 5 7 The Friends'. ……………………… 1867 60,135 …… …. 21.. . 14 16 8 Wesleyan Methodist…………………. 1816 4i35,395 19,460 137 35 108 41 175 9 Methodist New Connection … , 1859 28,510 ……… 8 … 7 Primitive Methodist.. 10 0 • .. .. • . . . . .. 0 •• 0 • 0 1869 18,890 490 8 … 6 8 11 United Methodist Free Churches…•… o' 1831 5.3,765 8,790 65… 60 5 12 Welsh Calvinistic………………… ., 1841 29,520 17,110 18 2 7 5 3 13 Presbyterian Church of England……. 0 • 1847 121,655 2,745 20 12 25 16 10 14 Presbyterlau Church of Ireland…. ….. 1840 84,930 9,000 15 8 12 10 8 15 China Inland…………….. ……….. 1865 167,864 48,3CO 77 130 155 190 14 16 Church of Scotland…… ……………. 1829 172,495 55,030 24 13 24 3 4 17 Free Church…………. ……………. 1843 540,025 181,145 57 25 60 44 12 18 United Presbyterian… …………….. 1847 179,250 46,975 63 19 75 28 20 19 Reformed Presbyterian ……………… 1842 4,005 1 …
20 Twenty-five other British Societies….. . 1,340,405 ………. 141.. • 98 548 30 21 Paris Society……………………… 1822 69,142 10,239 35 4 26 7 21 22 Basle Society.. .. . .. ……… .. .. .. .. .. .. . 1815 266,742 32,500 139. 0 • 97 4 34 28 Berlin Society… " . 1824 65,847 36,504 64 10 61 6 4 24 Breklum Society………………….. .. 1877 13,013 ………. 11 .. , 7 25 Gossner's Society……….. , …. 0 ……. 1836 24,886 1,847 25… 28 16 26 Hermannsburg…… ……………….. 1849 56,608 6,250 58 3 55 27 Leipsic Society. .. .. .. …. .. … .. .. … .. 1836 64,586 1,418 29 2 20 2 17 28 Moravian Church…. ……………….. 1734 124,345 238,690 157 10 141 19 24 29 North German SOciety………………. 1836 22,124 600 15 3 6 7 80 Rhenish Society.••.. 0 ••• , • • •• • • • • • • •• • • • • 1829 97,582 14,322 65 3 81 5 16 31 Eight other German Societies .0 ••••• 0 •• 0 •••••• 50,450 23… .18 88 1 32 Twelve Netherlands' SocletieB. .. . •.• •.. 0 156,548 ………. 48 … 40 31 33 Fifteen Scandinavian Societies………. . 213,282 …. .. …. 86 … 75 37 27 34 Varlons Societies in Asia, Africa, etc… .. 538,236 … …… 567.. . 430 51 315 Totals for Europe, Asia, etc …. o. 0" $8.624,225 $939,8012,906 408 2,448 1.426 8,062 Total. for United States and Canada. – – – – – – . _ – – – . – $6,089,402 $544,734 1.448 4711,1931,050 1,156 Totals for Christendom………………. $14,713,627 $1,484,5354,354 879 3,6412,576 4,218 Protestant peeples, and hence the figures of certain societies doing colonial work have been reduc· made concerning certain item" omitted from 80me reports. Jllainly ill order to keep within the tions have been grouped together.] S' . ",,,, I … ..;1; ai J. 0 " I .. I .~.~ ""ol ~ ..; ~ '0 Countries in which ill!! t:I3.S Mi.sions lire Snstained. ~ 'B .S ""-".<""",o::."~S4, E~ . 0 .d :Iil~ §3 C,) 0 § (1)O~ 'fl a-1"1 .~en en " … -<lg p ea t~~ en o· .'dd ..I..>..'..~.
0 ~ 8 ill Q – – – – – – – – – – – – – —- 7SS 1,159 601 51,682 3,401 135,000 850 82,187 India, China, Palestine, Africa, 1 Welt Indies. 532 ….. 737 India (Madras, Ceylon). 38 51 24 1,300 24 2 6,446 8,578 1,940 96,118 5,657 417,916 1,971 123,003 China. India, Africa, Madagascar, 3 4,934 6,021 402 52,898 3,316 Polynesia. 1,650 2,296 475 47,000 2,966 1,274 …… 189,815 1,971 81,238 Persia., Chins, Japan, India, 4 99 196 27 Africa, North America, etc.
117,500 850 40,600 Tndm. China, Ja~an, Malaysia, 5 Africa, West In les, etc.
3,501 36 2,106 Africa (Zanzibar, Lake Nyal.a). 6 4.70 5~1 150 3,198 212 14,532 1:;160 11,660 India, China, Madagascar. 7 !295 2,791 2,050 87,466 4,606 90,000 820 49,000 India, China, Africa, West Indies. 8 64 80 SS 1,450 190 8,000 22 328 China (Shantnng, Tien-tsin). 9 89 56 21 829 69 2,100 9 245 Africa (Fernando Po, Zambesi). 1o 420 545 64 7,350 226 17,000 127 6,280 China, Africa, Australia. 11 404 434 226 2,199 277 10,500 143 4,7'29 N. E. Iudia, France (Brittany). I2'
110 193 138 3,944 157 9,800 57 2,608 India, China, Malaysia (Singa-I8 127 175 24 690 25 1,500 pore). 52 3,704 China, India (Kathiawar). 14 322 838 207 3,706 673 10,000 33 433 Chiua (Fourteen Provinces). 15 213 281 261 1,472 825 5,663 107 8,300 India, China, East Africa. 16 615 813 230 7,097 1,002 18,272 355 21,957 India. South aud East Africa, 17 Turkey, New Hebride•. 269 17,690 India, China, Japan, Africa, West 18 642 SSl 271 17,414 885 42,000 Indies.
7 10 8 45 7 150 3 164 Syria (Antioch, etc.). 19 2,505 8,837 …. 6,005 . ….. ………. 775 32,000 2o 241 834 275 9,861 627 15,000 120 9,019 Africa (l'!. aud Senegal), Tahiti. 21 668 942 224 13,157 856 26,435 320 12,432 South India, China, West Africa.
150 295 166 11,979 2.193 24,754 105 4,483 East and South Africa, China. 28 18 36 6 86 41 153 7 115 India (Telugus). 24 398 462 15 11,472 1,208 34,578 80 1,700 India (Chota Nagpore). 25 250 363 59 10,837 1,712 21,500 55 3,440 India, South Africa, New Zea- 26 556 636 179 6,916 167 land. 14,509 288 4,817 South India, Burmah. 27 1,778 2,129 149 31,653 1,625 91,844 247 22,129 South Africa, Australiail: South 28 36 68 22 618 185 1,082 'w~merica, West Indies, ekimo. 18 501 est Africa, New Zealand. 29 200 390 196 14,295 680 47,430 130 4,016 Africa. East Indies, New Guinea, 30 75 2011 30 China. 667 …… 1,500 23 700 81 104 223 125 49,073 …… 147,162 200 7,000 32 1,301 1,526 427 25,802 …… 64,000 395 31,750 33 5,511 6,874 1577 275,946 1,984 34 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 83,471 43,759 10,853 804,681 83,772 – – — — —– – – — – – 1 – – – – – – – – – – 9,793 14,389 5,749 277,027123,78.3 – – 525,000 3,215 101,743 642,802 2,099,5021 13,832 146,652 645,452 4,867 43,264 58,148 16.602 1,081,708 57,655 2,744,954 18,699 789.454 United Kingdom, 663 pensioners living with their studies, and hoping ere long in the metropolis and 625 in other parts to enter the mission field as fully qualiof England, Scotland, Ireland, and fied medical men. Wales. In 1807, its birth year, the Society had three pensioners; the roll has -The Gassner missionaries in India steadily increased, and now numbers baptized 1403 heathens last year. The 5760, of whom 1288 are still living. total number of their converts amounts Upward o~ £230,000 have been expend- to 34,578. The Bremen Society emed in pensions alone. The annual sum ploys 93 missionaries, who have 47,436 expended in pensions is upward of converts in charge; 3000 converts on £8000. In four homes 180 are cared the island of Sumatra were baptized for, but the bulk of the aid is given to last year. The Hermannsburg Society assist in paying rent, procuring food, operates in South Africa, India, Ausclothing, etc. tralia, and New Zealand, with 61 mis- sionaries at 57 stations, and 21,500 con- -Miss Annie R. Taylor has o:Qgan- verts. ized the Thibetan Pioneer Mission, after the pattern of the China Inland Mis- -The Rauhe Haus at Horn, near sion, and the plan is to send at once 12 Hamburg, founded by Wichern, has men or more to Darjeeling, in the celebrated its sixtieth anniversary. It Himalayas, and near the borders of the has educated more than 2000 children forbidden land, first to learn the lan- and trained more than 700 Christian lay guage, and then persistently to seek an workers, many of whom are to-day entr.ance. And who will not give them laboring among the masses in the cities of Germany. a hearty God-speed r -Nearly 100 missionaries were sent The Continent. -Statistics of Protes- to China last year by the Lutheran tant churches in France have recently Church in Sweden. been gathered!"from which it appears that there are Protestant houses of wor- ASIA. ship in 781 localities, 887 Reformed pastors in charge of congregations, and Islam.-There are 6 American col- 12 Reformed chaplains in the army. leges in the Turkish Empire, with 1200 The Lutheran clergy number only 90, students, and 70 students are in trainthe Free Evangelical Church has 47, ing for the ministry. The mission and the other Protestant denominations presses in the empire print about 40,- have 72. Then there are 5 Bible soci- 000,000 pages annually, and over one eties, 19 Protestant societies for home half of these are pages of God's Word. missions, 6 for foreign missions, 44 orphans' homes, 47 refugee houses, 60 -At an out-station in the Western hospitals, and 118 periodicals. Turkey Mission has recently been built a new church edifice, which reflects -Medical missions are securing a much credit upon the little Greek comhigher place than hitherto in the conti- munity of Zinzir Derre. More than a nental societies. Especially is this true year ago an application was made to of the Basel Society. Besides Dr. the government for an official permit Fisch, of the Gold Coast, and Dr. Lie- to build, and to the surprise of every bendoefer, of Calicut, in India, a new one it was granted with no pecuniary appointment has just been made in the cost, and now the pretty stone building person of Dr. Wittenberg, who is about has been dedicated, a throng of people to join the Hak-ka Mission in South being present at the exercises. An ad- China, and to settle, jf possible, in the joining residence has been purchased important centre of Kia-ying-chiu. for a parsonage. The chief architect, There are also 5 students going forward who received five Turkish pounds for his services, gave six in aid of the building. Other Greek friends have shown versa! use, sesquipedalian names of a like generosity, and a contribution men or things will be too expensive for taken up at the dedication exercises every-day use.-Indian Witness.
cancels nearly the whole remaining -Another severe trial has befallen debt. the Moravian Himalaya Mission. Mr.
-At length the Dead Sea is to be L. Bourquin, on his way to Leh, was navigated, and two sailing boats, one taken so seriously ill, that he was com- rather large and heavy, for freight, pelled to discontinue his journey, and and the other smaller and neater, for to go to the hospital at Alexandria.
passenl!,'ers, have just been conveyed He had been suffering for some days from Jaffa to Jerusalem by rail, and from pain in the head, and then was thence onward by road. The boats be- suddenly seized with violent convul- long to the Sultan, as does also the sions, which were twice repeated on Dead Sea, which forms part of the the following day. Upon the recom- crown property, and it is his intention mendation of two physicians he was to turn to good account the salt, bitu- ordered to return to Germany. Miss men, and sulphur which abound in its Kant was left to continue the jour- waters and upon the shores. ney alone, her travelling companions -September 26th a large company consisting of a party of Jesuits and"a of missionaries, teachers, students, and nun, who immediately began to seek friends gathered for the ceremony of her" conversion."
laying the cornerstone of the new build- -A missionary writes: .. The town ing for the Marsovan Girls' Boarding of Pooree, in Orissa, where the great School, probably the first exercise of Tempie of Jaganath stands, contains a the kind ever witnessed by most who large number of monasteries, presided were present. This building succeeds over by monks devoted to the worship the one that was burnt by incendiaries, of this god. These monks, or pundas, when in an unfurnished condition, last send out from Pooree annually 7000 February, an indemnity of 500 Turkish missionaries throughout the length and pounds having been paid by the Otto- breadth of India to proclaim the name 1p.an Government. The present build- and glory of Jaganath. I stood this ing is to be larger and more commodi- year by the great cars of Jaganath, ous than the other would have been. Bolaram, and Shubhadri (Jaganath's It can accommodat~ nearly or quite 100 brother and sister), surrounded by at 'boarders, about double the capacity of least 100,000 pilgrims, who had come the old building. = from all parts of India to see the "lord -September 14th the Broussa Or- of the world" (jagat = world, nath phanage commenced its nineteenth year with 109 persons, boarders, day-schol- lord). I was profoundly impressed ars, and teachers. Over 60 must be with the spectacle. This, I thought, is fed daily, of whom 50 are orphans, the result of the self,denying enthusi- asm of these missionaries. "
who have to be cared for entirely. The -A well-to-do Burmese Christian other scholars pay nothing, or only a woman, named Mah Hnin Aye, gave a trifle, and therefore need help. few years ago Rs. 3000 to the Judson India.-In this utilitarian age the chapel in Mandalay, and Rs. 500 each Roman alphabet is bound to prevail in to the Burmese and Karen work in India. The involved compounds of Tavoy, the interest only to be used. some Inuian languages, that are called She now offers to give Rs. 5000 more letters but are really words, must dis- to be invested, and the interest used appear along with the village blast fur- for Burmese work in Tavoy.
nace, the loom, and the palanquin. -The Misses Mary and Margaret With telegraphs and telephones in uni- Leitch write: "We have the oversight of a district called Chavakachcheri, in found more ready than women to turn North Ceylon, whieh contains 100 away from false gods, but it is much square miles and a population of 40,000 more out of all analogy that so many people, amon'g whom we are the only aged persons embrace the Gospel. The resident missionaries. We have about China Inland Mission finds that "a 20 native helpers as catechists, preach- large proportion of the' converts are ers, and Bible-women There are 38 over 60, not a few are over 70, and a teachers and 1137 children in village good many are past 80."
schools. Jaffna College. 18 miles dis- -Rev. John Ross, the veteran mistant, has an able staff of professors and sionary of Manchuria, has reached this teachers, and is now in a very flourish- conviction: "China will never be won ing condition, having between 300 and to the Gospel by our appeals to the 400 students in the high school, and secular power to intervene in every 143 in the college proper. This col- little trouble we may experience. This lege is now affiliated with the Calcutta appeal to ' Cresar' or the' British gun- University up to B.A., and at the last boat' simply deepens in the mind of examination, of the 28 presented for the patriotic Chinese the belief that the entrance examination, 26 passed. Rev. missionary is a political agent-a belief T. B. Scott, }tD., and Mrs. Scott, that hinders Christianity more than lI.D., who came out with us to take every other cause combined." charge of the general medical mission for men at Manippay are now hard at -The Chinese land-telegraph system work. They have on Tuesdays and has been joined to the Russian system, Fridays as many as 125 present at the and messages can now be sent to any dispensary.' , part of the world from any station in China, at the rate of $2 per word, the -Upon whom, and upon what. can cost of transmission across the ocean the Boston Watchman have its eye being added. The only Chinese prov- when it says: "The increase of the ince which cannot be reached by tele- Christian population of British India, graph is Hunan, which still remains op- during the twenty years from 1872 to posed to all foreign innovations.
1891, exceeded 66 per cent and 45 per -At a recent conference at Hung-. cent for all India. But it is a singular t'ung, where 66 were baptized, as ancircumstance that the native Christians other part of the service offerings were have not received any substantial meas· presented, partly in money and partly ure of local self-government from the in kind, and they amounted altogether European or American religious bodies to the value of about $151. The money to which they belong. The British contributions were 81,970 cash; besides Government has moved in advance of which pastor Hsi contributed 35 taels the Christian churches in granting a de- of silver, elder Shih gave 5500 cash gree of political enfranchisement and a worth of wheat, and pastor Hsi 1100 measure of local self·government to the cash worth of wheat. As compared Indian people as a whole." with the value of money in China, China.-The case of women is suffi- these gifts were equivalent to at least ciently forlorn in the Celestial Empire the contribution of £150 in Englandat the best, but notwithstanding is bet- that is, of $750 in America.
ter there than in most Oriental lands; -The Presbyterian Church, South, and even in Christendom there is no has 50 missionaries in the land of Sinim, phrase to match the elegant Chinese ex- a threefold increase in five years.
pression for daughter, which signifies -In Shanghai, a city of 400,000, not " thousands of gold." less than 1000 Chinese are found in the -It is strange that here, as in Japan churches of the 12 missions, .. but ,a and some other countries, men are far larger number, converted here, have returned to distant homes to be each according to the chances and sports one a centre of light. " which the day offers to its patient and japan.-Says Mrs. Sakurai, an edu- loving victim.-A. S. ASHMEAD, M.D., cated Japanese woman now in this in&ienee. country: "We have 26,000 public schools taught by 36,000 men and 3000 -According to this bit of missionary women. Those who take charge of experience, the Sunrise Kingdom must them are Buddhists. I think they do be inhabited by a people possessed of not believe the Buddhist doctrines infinite leisure, as well as of patience heartily, but they were brought up and powers of endurance. Arriving in with such teaching, and dislike Chris- a small village, " he is told of a preachtianity without knowing what it is. If ing service arranged for the evening. a teacher begins to be interested in Half-past seven comes, eight, half-past Christianity and attends church every eight, and still there is no move toward Sunday, he is dismissed,. some other the preaching-place. Finally about reason being given. So, though some nine o'clock the pastor, with some refteachers want to hear of Christ, they erence to the fact that the people are do not come to church openly, because slow in coming together in such hot they are afraid of losing their posi- weather, leads the way to the meeting. tions." But few people are gathered; but our presence is the signal for the coming of a good number, and by a quarter past -The Japan Weekly.Mail (non-nilig- nine, when the meeting really begins, ious) sets forth as follows: "Some time the house is fairly well filled with peo- ago there was much talk of Japanese ple squatting on their heels on the philosophers who proposed to recon- straw mats, and an equal number at struct Christianity, to make a Chris- least standing outside in front of the tianity for Japan. Happily we hear open house. A young physician of nothing now of that quaint misconcep- the village presides and maker. an open- tion. A church they may build after ing addres!! of half an hour, the evan- their own models and according to their gelist follows with a somewhat longer own fancy; but the materials, the speech, and he in turn is followed by Christian creed, as the Occident has the pastor in a stirring address of nearly cherished it for two thousand years, is an hour! It is therefore considerably immutable. It is the creed that 'ele- after eleven before the missionary be- vates the individual by its doctrine of gins to speak. "
the fatherhood of God and the common AFRICA. brotherhood of man; that raises childhood; that protects and elevates wom- -The Congo Railway was opened an; that sanctifies marriage; that res- to the public in November to Maya cues the unfortunate; that emancipates Mankenga, a point 30 miles beyond the slave; that limits the horrors of Matadi. The distributing point for war.' There may be something better goods for the upper country will now in another planet, but not in the genius be at Maya Mankenga instead of Maof Japan, we opine." tadi. These first 30 miles are past the most difficult part of the transport –.Japan is, for obvious reasons, fur- route to Stanley Pool, so that the car- nitureless. It does not even know the riage of goods will become much easier.
cradle. As Diogenes made a cup of For the same reason the construction his hollowed hand, so the Japanese of the railroad will be less difficult in mother makes a cradle of the back of thli future, as the hills and raTines of !I.Ilother child-an ambulating. delight- the river valley have been overcome, ful cradle, where it stays from morning and the remainder of the route is over to night, and is unrhythmically rocked the high land. -Bishop Taylor is the apostle of self. thorized. The Bible Society now sup- supporting missions. He told a friend plies more than 60 version! of the Scrip- recently of the remarkable provision tures, in whole or part, for Africa made for such work in Central Africa. alone.
Each tribe has a portion of fertile land -King Khama, chief of the Bamang. set apart for the stranger. It is sowed wato tribes, is pronounced by the Reby the wives and eared by the queen's view of Review8 to be •• the most dismaids. The product is stored in a hut tinguished trophy of Christian missions held sacred to the well-behaved new- in Africa." What white man could comer. The king welcomes him. The improve his setting forth of the evils queen cooks and serves his food three flowing from strong drink when he times a day. That explains how it was wrote, in 1888: .. Lobengula never that Livingstone could go anywhere in gives me a sleepless night, but to fight Africa without armies, while Stanley against drink is to fight against demons, must mow his way with lead. not against men. I dread the white -The West Africa Mission of the man's drink more than all the assegais American Board is opening a third sta- of the Matabele, which kill men's bodies tion still farther inland from Benguella ; and it is quickly over; but drink puts a few miles farther to the east is found devils into men, and destroys both the first of Mr. Arnot's stations, which bodies and souls forever. Its wounds is succeeded by others all the way to never heal. " The London Society has Garenganze; and this is not so very far a mission among his· people, who have from the Paris Society's Mission among built and paid for a brick church with the Basuto and in the Barotse country, a roof of corrugated iron, which cost which is also neighbor to several in $15,000.
Matabelaland and Mashonaland; with -Bishop Hornby, of the Universities'
yet another upon the coast of the Ind- Mission on Lake Nyassa, on a recent ian Ocean at Inhambane, in the hands tour confirmed 130 natives.
of the English Primitive Methodists; -Well may the MiBBionarll Herald and so a chain of missions extends from say: ., A remarkable piece of news side to side of the Dark Continent. has arrived from Uganda. Bishop -For thirty.t,hree years missionaries Hirth. of the Roman Catholic mission, have labored among the Matabele, and writes as follows: • After much hesi- can point to only 5 converts. The peo- tation I have concluded that it is neces- ple are described as a race of splendid sary for us also to print the New Testa- animals, atheists, false to the core, and ment, which the Protestants are spread- wholly given up to self-conceit. ing everywhere. The chief reason is -The Matabele, like many other that we cannot prevent our people from African tribes, have their place in the reading it-everybody wishes to know version list of the British and Foreign how to read for baptism-except wom- Bible Society. More than sixty years en and old men. We are therefore preago Dr. 1rloffat began his Sechuana paring an edition, with notes drawn Bible, and this book, which is intended from the Holy Fathers.' "
for the use of the Bechuana and the -The Wesleyan South African Con- Matabele people, has been subjected ference was formed of native and colo- since then to frequent and most careful nial churches ten years ago, and now revision. So lately as 1892 an edition contains 5099 English and 31,268 Afri- of the New Testament, in pocket size, can members, 72 native ministers, and was carried through the press, and an 103 native evangelists, while last year edition of the complete Bible, to be re- . the native contributions amounted to produced by the photo process, was au- £3051 ($15,255).
The Missionary Review of the World — June 1893
THIJ! DIVINE PATTERN OF MISSIONS
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL-XVI. No.6.-0ld&rie8. JUNE. —VOL. VI. No. 6.-New &ri&.
THE DIVINE PATTERN OF MISSIONS.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
" Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy name." Herein is God's pattern for all true work for Him.
Human life and the history of the race is a problem without a solution until we find the key to its mystery in the Word of God. Bengel's motto is the law of all success in service: "A pply thyself wholly to the Scriptures, and apply the Scriptures wholly to thyself;" and Arthur Hallam gives in one sentence an epitome of Christian experience: "I believe the Bible to be God's book because it is man's book, fitting every turn and curve of man's heart." The more it is stlldied the more its worth is seen and its charm felt. Michael Angelo's devotion to the famous Torso of Belvidere Hercules in the Vatican, sketching it from every point of view, and in the blindness of old age seeking to enjoy, through his touch, the delight no longer possible through his sight, but feebly expresses the joy of the believer in his contact with the blessed Word, in which he sees and feels the marks of a Divine Artist. Even to Ollr Lord, His Father's "Vord was in temptation His sword, in trial His solace, in teaching His guide; His credential as Messiah, His directory as Servant; it was the balm in Gethsemane's anguish, His legacy in death, His theme from His resurrection to His ascension.
No problem presents greater perplexity than that of world-wide missions; and in the attempt to solve that problem well may we reverently approach this Word, perslladed that here again we shall find written, as over the pillars of Hercules on the old Spanish dollar, " Ne pIllS ultra."
A kind of " introductory chapter" to all missionary history is found in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, which is the Gospel of Christ, as set forth by the evangelists, applied actually and historically by the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Luke, in the gospel which he wrote, told what" Jesus began," and in the Acts tells what He " continued, both to do and teach," by the Spirit, through disciples, in building up the kingdom of God. The door of faith is here opened successively to Hebrew, Roman, and Greek believers as in the order of the Gospel narratives. Pentecost links Old Testament prophecy to New Testament history. This book is the book of witness, first of man to God and secondly of God to man. It is the sequel to the Gospels, the basis of the Epistles j the Acts, not so much of the apostles as of the Holy Spirit and of the risen Redeemer in the person of the promised Paraclete. The Holy Spirit first applies the truth and the blood to penitent believers, then anoints those believers for service, and sends them forth as messengers and witnesses to preach the kingdom, to make disciples and organize disciples into churches. And the fact is full of meaning that the period of time covered by this book is about thirty-four years, about the length of our Lord's human life, or the average lifetime of one generation j as though to teach us what can be done and ought to be done in every successive generation until the end of the age. This fact, often referred to in these pages, we once more emphasize by repetition, as it deserves to be written in letters of .gold on the very banners of all true missionary enterprise.
The introduction to this book refers to that forty days of communion between the Risen Lord and His disciples whose object and result was fourfold: 1. To put beyond doubt the fact of His resurrection. 2. To give them instruction as to the kingdom of God. 3. To prepare them for His unseen guidance in their work. 4. To inspire them with the true spirit of missions.
Then follow the outlines of early church history: 1. The witnessing Church in Jerusalem (1 : I3-vii.), including the ten days of prayer, Pentecost, and the enduement for service, persecution by Pharisees and Sadducees, and the dispersion of disciples, voluntary community of goods, division of labor and the institution of the diaconate, and the first marty~dom. All missions must begin at home, as a stream at its spring; but, like the stream, is not to stay at the source and fountain, but flow forth. 2. The witnessing Church in Judea and Samaria (viii.-ix.). A new PentecoRt in Samaria under Philip the Evangelist, the sin of simony, the conversion of the eunuch, representing Ethiopia, and of Saul of Tarsus, the chosen apostle to the Gentiles. 3. The witnessing Church moving toward the Regions Beyond (x.- xxviii.). A new Pentecost among Roman Gentiles at Cresarea and among Greeks all well at Antioch, the first centre of the Gentile Church, and the starting-point of foreign missions; and Paul's three missionary tours, the book closing with Paul at Rome, the third great centre of Christianity. In the latter part of the Acts Paul is more conspicuous than Peter,because Peter went to the dispersion or scattered tribes of Israel, and the main object of the book is to trace the beginnings of missions to the Gentiles (compare Gal. 2 : 9). The Acts of the Apostles thus constitutes the one great inspired book of missions, God's own commentary and encyclopredia for all the ages as to every question pertaining to a world's evangelization. In the main it is the account of the apostolic ministry of Peter and Paul. To the former it was given to hold the mystic key which unlocked, first to Jews and then to Gentiles, the door of faith. That door being opened, Peter naturally disappears from the record, while Paul, as the specially commissioned and typical missionary to the nations, comes to the front. This is no displace- ment of Peter, whose life mission was to Jews, not Gentiles.
We must bear in mind that Luke, the declared author both of the gos- pel bearing his name and of this book, treats the two books as parts of one continuous and complete narrative. What the author thus links together we must consider as a unit. The purpose of the inspired writer is to give, in these two brief sketches, a complete outline of Gospel history from its infancy in its humble Judean cradle to its mature development as a worldwide power, tracing the seed of the kingdom from its sowing in Syrian soil to its wider scattering beside all waters, borne by the various streams of civilization to the heart of the heathen world.
From first to last the combined narrative is the story of missions. In the Gospel according to Luke we have our Lord offering the good news to the Jews, and foreseeing their continued rejection of Him, commanding and commissioning His disciples to bear the message to all nations and to every creature. Then in the Acts we trace the actual carrying out of this commission, the preaching of the Gospel to the Jews by both Peter and Paul, and its repeated rejection by them, with its subsequent and consequent proclamation to mankind at large at great centres of popUlation.
The Gospel opens with the incarnation and closes with the resurrection and ascension, linking on to the after-narrative by the promise of the en· duement of power from on high" not many days hence." Just at this point the Acts of the Apostles forges its new links, and connects with the Gospel its chain of events, beginning with the birth of the Church of Christ on the natal day of Pentecost, and abruptly closing with Paul's unfinished career as a prisoner at Rome.
We have said Cl03inrl rather than ending, for the story is plainly inconiplete, reaching no proper conclusion. The two narratives, reckoning from Christ's entrance upon His public ministry to the very close of the Acts, cover only about the average history of a generation-and no generation ever reaches completeness; it is linked on to the next-nay, interwoven with the next by many threads; and its history passes gradually and insensibly into that of its successor, as to-day into to-morrow. And so above all is it the true work of missions. It is one work, and no man can tell where the mission of one witness for God ends and that of his successor begins. Paul's preaching and teaching has not yet ceased, nor will it while the ages continue.
But in a sublimer sense the Acts of the Apostles reaches no conclusion.
THE GOSPEL IN NORTH AFRICA
When the late Bishop of Ripon had read the story of that" Apostle of the South Seas," he said, "That is the twenty-ninth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles." He was partly right and partly wrong. To that oft-quoted and striking remark History herself suggests one criticism and correction. That was not the ftr8t new chapter added in post-apostolic days, for before the time of John Williams and his apostolic mission many such additions had been made to that unfinished book, and of not a few of those new chapters there is no human memorial. They are written only by God's recording angel in Ilis own Book of Remembrance, to be opened and read in the flaming splendor of the great white throne. But it was sublimely and divinely true that the triumphant advance of that Tottenham lad, who became the great witness to Christ in the Pacific Polynesia, added another new and glorious chapter to the annals of apostolic missions.
To this leading thought we shall from time to time return in these pages, and give it further amplification. Suffice it for the present to repeat that an inspired book which supplies the key to all the intricate, complicated problems of missions should be carefully, constantly, prayerfully studied by those who would find the secrets of success. And in such study, which has occupied the writer for some two years past, he has already discovered principles so fundamental that they furnish a solid basis for the prosecution of world·wide missions. More than this, the devout student of the Acts will find here not only the history of primitive and initial missionary work, but the philosophy of missions outlined as in a text-book, and the indirect prophecy of the progress of missionary triumphs until the consummation of the age. With earnest emphasis would we commend such study to all who love the coming of Christ's kingdom.
THE GOSPEL IN NORTH AFRICA.
BY REV. JOHN RUTHERFURD, B.D., ROTHE SAY, SCOTLAND.
North Africa is mentioned in several· places in the New Testament. Christian hearts can never forget that it was Simon,· a man of Cyrene, a well-known city in North Mrica, who was honored to assist the Lord Jesus Christ when His strength was so exhausted that He could not carry the cross to Calvary; "him they compelled to bear His cross."
In the Acts of the Apostles we read that Philip, the deacon and evangelist, was the instrument of guiding to the knowledge of the truth " a man of Ethiopia, a man of great authority under Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians. " This African nobleman had come from a kingdom situated near to the modern Khartoum, where the gallant, Bible-loving General Gordon only a few years ago fell at the post of duty.
That preacher in the apostolic Church who is described as an eloquent man, mighty in the Scriptures, was a North African, Apollos of Alexandria. North Africa is mentioned again more than once in connection with st.
Paul's voyage to Rome. Such are some of the New Testament references to the Dark Continent.
The first translations of the New Testament were the Syriac and early Latin; both of them date from the second century. The early Latin version was made, not in Italy, as we would have expected, but by the Latinspeaking Christians in North Africa. Latin was their native tongue j and, taught by the Spirit, they instinctively felt that they must have the New Testament in their own lauguage. They felt as John Wycliffe did when he said that the ploughboy following the plough should have the Word of God in his own tongue. In these modern days of Bible societies and Bible distribution let it not be forgotten that the early Christians of North Africa took so noble a place among those who love and who read the Word of God.
North Africa is rich in names of great historical prominence in the early Christian Church. There is Origen, the famous preacher and writer of Alexandria j Tel'tullian, the Christian apologist and defender of the faith j Athanasius, whose life and work will be had in everlasting remembrance for the magnificent stand he was enabled to make against Arianism and in behalf of the glorious truth on which human salvation depends, of the true and eternal deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Athanasius, it is believed, was a Copt, a native of Egypt. Cyprian, who died a martyr, was Bishop of Carthage. And there is Augustine, Bishop of Hippo-now the town of Bone, in Algeria-the defender of the doctrines of grace against Pelagianism.
The early Christian Church in North Africa furnished many a name to the roll-call of the noble army of martyrs. Take as an example the wellknown story of the two female martyrs of Carthage, Perpetua and Felicitas. These martyrs were put to death in the year 202 A.D., during a violent persecution under the Emperor Septimius Severus. Perpetua was only two-andtwenty years old. Her aged father was a heathen, and he tenderly entreated her to renounce Christianity in order to save her life. When she was about to be tried before the magistrate her father hurried to the prison and said, "Dear daughter, have pity on my gray hairs. • .• Look at thy brothers, thy mother, and thy aunt j thy son, too"-an infant at the breast, whom to nourish in prison was her greatest solace-" who when thou diest cannot long survive. Lay aside that high spirit, and do not plunge us all in ruin." With these word$ the old man threw himself weeping at his daughter's feet. When she was brought before the judge, suddenly her father entered, carrying the infant in his arms, and looking at her imploringly, said, "Have pity on the child." The' judge, too, urged her in a similar manner, but in vain. Perpetua and her companions -three youths and Felicitas-were condemned to be thrown to the wild beaRts. Shortly before the public spectacle her father came again and made a last appeal to his daughter, threw himself on the ground and uttered " words which must move any creature. " Deeply affected and filled with pain, she nevertheless remained true to Christ. The sentence was accordingly carried out, and the martyrs were thrown to the wild beasts. When Perpetua had been wounded she called to her brother and to a Christian catechumen and said to them, "Stand fast in the faith, and love one another, and indulge in no feelings of animosity on account of our sufferings." Such i~ a sample of Christian martyrdom in North Africa.
In the time of the Valerian persecution there were again martyrs in Numidia. During a severe imprisonment, in which they endured much suffering from hunger and thirst, they wrote as follows: "The dark prison soon shone with the illumination of the Holy Spirit j we ascend to the place of punishment as if we were ascending to heaven. We cannot describe what days and nights we have spent there. Weare not afraid to describe the horrors of that place, for the greater the trial, much greater must be He who has overcome it in us. And, indeed, it is not our conflict, for by the help of the Lord we have gained the victory j for to be put to death is easy for the servants of God, and death is nothing, because the Lord has taken away its sting and power. He triumphed over it on the cross. " Such is the heroism of the North African Christians in those early days.
How, then, did it come about that North Africa, a series of countries in which the Gospel light shone so long and so brightly, presents now the spectacle that it does ~ How was Christianity banished from those shores on which it had taken so firm a hold ~ Two causes brought it about: (1) The love of the churches waxed cold j (2) God punished those churches by removing their candlestick out of its place by means of the Mohammedan invasions in the seventh century.
The churches forgot their early devotion to Christ, as well as the mutual love and good feeling which they had once so signally shown. Their attention became occupied with questions of ritual and of rivalry, and of the rights of episcopal ordination. And to such a length did this spirit of divi. sion and hatred proceed that there were actually to be seen Christians opposing one another on the field of battle-Christians with carnal weapons adjusting their theological differences at the point of the sword. When churches sink so low as this, we need not wonder that God sends judgment.
Divine retribution came-came in the shape of the scourge of Mohammedanism. In the year 622 A.D. there took place Mohammed's He~ira or flight from Mecca, the era from which Mohammedans date their years as the Christian era runs from the birth of Christ. Almost immediately after the death of Mohammed the conquering armies led by his successors ex· tended their conquests from Arabia through Egypt along the entire coast of the African continent as far as the modern kingdom of Morocco. Rome, republican and Imperial, had scarcely effected the conquest of those king. doms in some centuries j but Sidi Okba, the famous Mohammedan con· queror, in 679 A.D. and a few years following overthrew all the Christian kingdoms lying between Egypt and Tangiers. Arrived at the Atlantic Ocean, he spurred his horse into the sea, and declared that it was only the barrier of the ocean that prevented him from compelling every nation be- yond it that knew not God to worship Him or die. The Berber tribesfrom whom these North African countries afterward received the common designation of the Barbary States-made some brave but ineffectual at. tempts to resist the Mohammedan invaders; they were forced to submit, and their enfeebled Christianity was not proof against the stern compulsion with which the Arab warriors forced all whom they defeated to adopt the Mohammedan religion.
It is a most interesting fact, and one which forms a very loud eall to the Church of Christ to send the Gospel onee more to North Africa, that there exist to the present day among those Berber or Kabyle tribes various customs which have come down to them through twelve long centuries of Mohammedanism, and which speak of the time when they were a Christian people. For exam pIe, the Kabyle women refuse to wear the veil over. the face, a custom which is universal among the Arab women. It is also said that certain of these Kabyle tribes, although they are Mohammedans, never· theless observe their weekly Sabbath not on the Mohammedan Sabbath, on Friday, but on the Christian Sunday or Lord's Day. The mark of a cross is tattooed on the forehead of many of the boys and men at Biskra, as well as in other places. One such Mohammedan in the town of Setif, who spoke a little English, being asked what was the meaning of the cross on his forehead, answered in the one word" Jesus." Miss Seguin, in her most interesting book, " Walks in Algiers," asserts that the Kabyle women are in the habit of tattooing the form of the Christian cross on their fore. head. Sir Lambert Playfair, consul in Algiers for England, writes regarding the Kabyles of the Aures Mountains, which lie immediately to the n.orth of the Sahara : "Their language is full of Latin words, and in their daily life they retain customs undoubtedly derived from their Christian ancestors. They observe December 25th as a feast under the name of Moolid (the birth), and keep three days festival both at springtime and harvest. They use the solar instpad of the Mohammedan lunar year, and the names of the months are the same as our own."
These customs are relics of a time when the Christian religion permeated the life of the North African peoples. Surely a brighter day has at length begun to dawn, when the croSEl of Christ will not be written in ritualistic fashion on their foreheads, but shall become the inspiration of their hearts. How great will be the change from the miseries of Mohammedanism to the freedom and joy of Christ's salvation!
The history of the centuries which lie between the era of the Mohammedan conquest and the present time is one of stagnation so far as any advancement is concerned, and of continual cruelty and oppression exercised by the Turks upon all the unhappy people over whom they domineered. While the countries of Europe, on the northern shores of the Meditermnean, were advancing in liberty, in civilization, in education, in the knowl~ edge of science, and in the application of Christianity to life in all its phases, so that the Christian religion has virtually created our modern Protestant kingdoms with their world-wide influence during all those twelve hundred years from the seventh century to the present time, the countries lying to the south of the Mediterranean, though more favored by nature than the others, began and continued that downward and retrograde course which Islam invariably brings. Those who have seen the social working of Mohammedanism are compelled to testify that everywhere it has degraded woman and blighted the home. The testimony of Stanley Lane Poole, who often writes favorably of Mohammedanism, is: "As a social system Islam is a complete failure. By degrading woman it has degraded each successive generation of their children down an increasing scale of infamy and corruption, until it seems almost impossible to reach a lower level of vice." When this indictment can be brought and proved against any system, the sooner that system is swept out of existence the better for the world.
The state of religion in Algeria is quite unique. There are no fewer than four established or State-paid forms of worship-namely, the Roman Catholic, the Protestant, the Jewish, and the Mohammedan. Surely such a state of things stands self-condemned. The Gospel is not advanced by such methods-non tali auxilio, nee defensoribus isti8. The religion of the Lord Jesus Christ needs no such props. Its own inherent strength is the strength of God; and in that divine strength it pulls down all the strongholds of sin and ignorance, of wicked social customs and vice. It is mighty in itself, and needs no such State alliance as is found in Algiers.
In the museum in Algiers there is the plaster cast of an Arab named Geronimo, and his history is a very interesting one. In the year 1569 Geronimo, who had become a professing Christian, was taken prisoner along with some Spaniards; the whole party were carried to Algiers. Strong efforts were made to induce Geronimo to return to Mohammedanism, but in vain. He was accordingly condemned to death, and sentenced to be thrown alive into a mould in which a block of concrete was about to be made. After they had tied his feet and hands with cords they laid him, face downward, into the concrete, and covered up the living man with more of that material. The block was built into the wall of a fort then in course of erection. After the French took possession of Algiers, in 1830, many of the houses were pulled down, and among other buildings this fort was demolished. In course of the process of demolition the skeleton of Geronimo was found in one of the blocks of concrete. The bones were carefully removed and re-interred. Liquid plaster of Paris was run into the mould left by his body. In this way a perfect model of it was obtained, showing not only the general shape of the ,body, but even his features. His hands are seen tied behind his back; the cord which binds the hands is there too, and even the texture of his clothing may be made out. Popery in Algiers may be seen in many of its peculiar forms. For example, over a doorway in one of the public streets there is a sign-board with the following inscription in French: "0 Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee." One of the churches is called N6tre Dame d' Afrique. It is situated on one of the spurs of the hill of Bourzarea, overlooking the sea. Above the altar is a statue of the Virgin Mary represented as a black woman, and there is this inscription, also in French: "Our Lady of Africa, pray for us and for the Mussulmans." At Biskra, in the Sahara Desert, there is a large new establishment erected by Cardinal Lavigerie for his soldier monks, lea freres du delert. On the whitewashed walls there is the inscription that the building has been erected in honor of the immaculate Virgin. But it is not by these Romish pretensions that the weary and heavy-laden tribes of Africa will be won for Christ.
How strange is the way in which North Africa has been overlooked by the churches! So recently as 1880 there were only three missionaries at work between Egypt and the Atlantic. Why is it that North Africa has been thus overlooked by the churches of Britain and North America ~ No satisfactory reason can be given. Steamships carrying the commerce of the world sail in sight of those African shores en route for India and China and Australia. Missionaries going to and returning from their spheres of labor have passed along that coast for half a century, yet almost nothing was done, almost nothing was even attempted until some twelve years ago. There is not even the excuse that can be alleged in regard to Central Africa, that we did not know of the existence either of the country or of its inhabitants, for we possessed very accurate knowledge indeed regarding the Barbary States. The different countries of Europe and even the United States of America had made political treaties with the Deys of Algiers long before the coming of the French. In 1816 the British fleet under Lord Exmouth bombarded Algiers, and the Dey was forced to sign a treaty by which Christian slavery-i.e., the enslaving of the subjects of Christian countrieswas brought to an end. Even the thirty-two gun frigate George Washington, of the United States of America, was requisitioned by the Dey to carry his tribute to the Sultan at Constantinople! It was not because nothing was known of North Africa that it has been so strangely overlooked.
Even for many years after .the coming of the French in 1830 no attempt was made to bring the Gospel to the Arabs j but those times of great and culpable neglect are passing away. A beginning of gospel missions has been made. The providence of God has given a wide door of entrance. The country is everywhere open. Communication is cheap and easy. There are railways running both east and west from Algiers, as far west as the large city of Oran, in which there is no missionary to the natives, or as far east as Constantine and Tunis, and reaching even the Sahara Desert on the south. The railway system is being still further extended. The Atlas Mountains are being pierced with tunnels for the locomotive. A railway in the Sahara makes one think of Isaiah's words, and or a fulfilment of them that the prophet little thought of: "Make straight in the desert a highway for our God"-a highway along which no slave traffic shall be carried, a highway to bring salvation ana joy to the unhappy homes of the Moslems.
There is far more openness and readiness among the Arabs and Kabyles to receive the Gospel than is commonly supposed. There is not that hermetical sealing of the mind which may have existed once. The homes of the Arab women are freely opened to the visits of their English-speaking sisters; and the loving touch of a Christian woman and the kindly presentation of the Gospel are made welcome. Though the ignorance is great and the adversaries are many, yet God has set before us an open door, and not all the power of the adversaries of the truth is able to shut it. It is the duty and the privilege of Christians to enter in and to win Africa for Christ.
Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, Tripoli, and the great unexplored Sahara, stretching from Egypt to the Atlantic, from the Mediterranean to the Niger and the Congo-these countries, with their many millions now under the sway of the false prophet, are gasping for the Gospel, and the promise of God is sure; for it is written, " All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee" (Isa. 60 : 7). The Scripture cannot be broken, and those wandering tribes, the descendants of Ishmael, shall certainly yield themselves unto Christ. Well may Christian hearts use Abraham's prayer as we cry to God for the salvation of the Arabs, " Oh, that Ishmael might live before Thee!" Prayer an'd effort wiII win the day. The sore need of the sons and daughters of the Dark Continent, neglected as they have been for the last twelve hundred years and more, makes us think of the famous sermon by William Carey, with its two divisions: "Expect grcat things from God; Attempt great things for God."
Protestant mission work in Algiers is carried on by various agencies, and with them all it is still the day of small things, but not to be spoken of lightly. The British and Foreign Bible Society have had a depot in Algiers for eleven years, and in that period have sold over fifty thousand copies of the Bible in whole or in portions. The North Africa Mission has a receiving home at No. 72 Rue Rovigo, presided over by a devoted Christian lady, Mrs. Lambert, who acts a mother's part to the young ladies of the mission, who live with her during the one or two years of their residence in Algiers. They occupy their time chiefly in learning French and Arabic, and when they attain some proficiency in speaking these languages they are drafted off to the towns in the interior in which they are to be located.
Much good is heing done by the Algerian branch of the McAll Mission in its various departments. During the winter of 1891-92 a new salle was opened in which to conduct meetings for the French soldiers; it is situated in the Place de la PrMecture. The soldiers come willingly to the meetings, which are very enthusiastic. There are four Sunday-schools held in connection with the McAIl mission, and in these schools some two hundred Algerian children are under biblical instruction. Some of the Sunday-schools are held not on Sunday, but on Thursday, the afternoon on which the children attending the ordinary week-daJT schools have a half holiday. These Sunday-schools are held, one in the Rue Tanger, attended by Jewish children; one in Rue Michelet, attended by Protestants and Roman Catholics; one in the Bab-el.oued, attended by Spaniards and Jews; and the fourth in the Place de la Prefecture, in which the children are a strange medley-Arabs, Spaniards, Maltese, and Jews.
M. Gonzalez carries on mission work among the Spaniards, of whom there is quite a considerable number in Algiers. This work among the Algerian Spaniards is entirely supported by a lady in England, an example worthy to be imitated surely. Dr. Nystrom is a devotQd missionary from Sweden, and works among the Arabs and Kabyles in Algiers. Miss Trotter and the missionary ladies who live in her house carryon much interesting work among the Arab women, whom they visit in their own homes, thus doing work which can be accomplished in no other way, for no man is allowed to enter the houses of the Arab women.
It is said that not even one Arab woman in Algiers is able to read. Hence the Gospel must be spoken to them. Books and even Bibles are of no use at all. But the doors of those Arab houses are wide open for the entrance of Christian ladies, who thus find an unlimited field of usefulness. The leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations, and there~ fore for the healing of the sad lives of the Arab women.
In June of last year, 1892, an attempt was made by the French Government to expel the missionaries of the North African mission from Algeria. M. Waddington's letter to Lord Salisbury ends in these terms: "We hope that the English missionary societies will themselves take the initiative in recalling their missionaries, and save us from the painful necessity in which we should otherwise be placed of having to order them to take their departure from our territory." It is believed that this was intended as a set-off or counter-movement to the position which the French Roman Catholic missionaries were then occupying in Uganda. The political troubles in which those missionaries had involved themselves in that part of Central Africa, and the opposition which they had uniformly shown to the work of Mackay and the other missionaries of the Church Missionary Society at Uganda, had so discredited them in England that the French Government seemed to think that, as the champions of the Roman Catholic mission, they would institute a policy of expelling all Protestant missionaries from French territory in North Africa. The absurd charges of supplying the natives with guns and ammunition and of teaching them to be disloyal to the French were fabricated against the missionaries of the Norlh Africa Mission, most of whom are ladies. There was not a word of trnth in these charges; but any stick is good enough to thrash a dog, and any charge, however untrue, would do to raise odium against those brave men and women who are doing Christ's work among the Arabs. The secretary of that mission wrote, in the end of June, " We do not yet know how things will go, but the outlook is dark. Still God is above all, and kings and governments are subservient to His mighty will." And the cloud passed away; after a month or two the French Government decided that it would permit the missionaries to remain if they would submit to the French laws, which of course they had always done.
During all that summer of perplexity the missionaries were greatly upheld and cheered by the manifest signs and tokens of God's presence and approval of their work-conversions and baptisms taking place just at the time when it was not known if they would be allowed to remain in Algeria for another day.
North Africa is not far from England. Morocco is only four or five days distant by sea. The journey from London through France occupies less than three days.
Many parts of North Africa are very beautiful. Much of the mountain scenery is exceedingly grand. Across the Bay of Algiers, but at the distance of some fifty miles, there rises the Djurdjura range of the Atlas. While Algiers is basking in the sunshine, and while orange and lemon trees are loaded with their ripe golden fruit, and the almond tree is strewing the paths with its pure white blo;;som, the peaks of Djurdjura, 7500 feet above the sea level, are gleaming white with the deep snow. Grand Kabylia lies around those rugged mountains.
Algeria, including the slopes of the "Atlas, has a fertile soil. It produces freely abundance of corn, while the vine, the orange, the fig, the olive, and the date palm flourish and afford a constant supply of wholesome food.
Morocco is still an independent State under a sultan of its own. The population is estimated at five to eight millions.
Algeria and Tunis belong to France. There are very good roads-the French really excel in road-making. The railways have already been mentioned. The population is perhaps six millions.
Tripoli is a province of the Turkish Empire. The people number, it is thought, about a million and a quarter.
The vast Sahara is practically unexplored; no herald of the cross has yet penetrated its recesses to tell the children of Ishmael, those wandering dwellers in tents, of God's great love to the world.
" Arabia's desert ranger To Him shall bow the knee ; The Ethiopian stranger His glory come to see."
Even so is it written in the Scriptures of truth. We can therefore come to the Throne of Grace in prayer for the Arabs; we can give the needful money-support to those who have entered on this most difficult work among the Mohammedans; we can pray the Lord of the harvest that He will thrust forth more laborers into His harvest.
RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE NEGRO IN THE UNITED STATES
THE PRESENT RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE NEGRO IN THE UNITED STATES.
BY REV. A. F. BEARD, D.D., CORRESPONDING SECRETARY OF THE AMERICA}T MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.
The present condition of the negro people is a part of their past nis· tory. To-day is the child of yesterday. The heirs of two hundred years of slavery, following uncounted centuries of African heathenism, were four millions in number twenty-seven years ago.
At the close of a desolating civil war they were suddenly freed from bondage. Unable to read, they were ignorant of the world in which they lived. As a class they had no intelligent knowledge of the Scriptures.. A few of the more highly favored in Christian families had by t.heir contact come into the possession of certain truths of Christianity, which nevertheless they held in darkened minds. For the most part, the truths which had been told them, ·and which in some degree they had received, were mingled with the grossest superstitions and held without regard to the verities of the Ten Commandments. The overwhelming majority' of the negro population, however, had no such privileges as these, They were in the rural districts as now. The few negroes who lived in cities and who could hope to get some worthy ideas of Christian truth were too few to be counted in the general condition.
The negro preachers-so called-were parrots. They repeated after a fashion what they thought they had heard as they had remembered it. Integrity and purity were not considered. Stealing, lying, and licentiousness were no hindrances to good and regular standing in their religious fellowship. Of chastity they did not know the meaning.
There was not enough of true Christianity to expel the African heathenism which those who were stolen from the jungle had brought with them. Transplanting did not change the tree, nor the mere succession of years its bitter fruit. Their whole life was pervaded by the belief in, and embittered by the terror of, sorcery. Voodooism and fetichism were common. Their intellectual faculties were obtuse and circumscribed beyond a few local associations ; their childish ideas werp rich soil for every variety of superstition.
Among the negroes it is true in towns and cities, and especially among house servants, there were exceptions, and of the more highly favored many were earnest and sincere, as well as fervent Christians. At the same time, speaking of the many and not of the few, practical heathenism was" on every plantation, in every hamlet, among the sands of the Atlantic coast, in the forests of the Carolinas; all through the black belt of Alabama and Mississippi, in swamps of Louisiana, and the bottoms of Arkansas and Tennessee." Slavery gave the African heathen a nominal Christianity, but it did not expel paganism. It did not add to faith, virtue, and to virtue, knowledge.
In the providence of God, twenty-seven years ago this lawful degradation of man came to an end. This is a short time in the history of a race. I have known people under most advantageous conditions to live twentyseven years without having accomplished much in life. Twenty-seven years are both swift and short for a people to emerge from the bogs of servitude, in low-down life, in absolute poverty of estate of body, mind,. and soul, to acquire true ideas of what Christianity really is, to get away from the inheritances of heathenism, to overcome habits of thought and conduct which had entrenched themselves so as to be ingrained and a part of their natures.
The four millions of people have now become more than seven millions. What has been accomplished?
It may be right first of all to observe what has not been accomplished. There is a great residuum of the race which has accomplished nothing. Millions still remain in darkness, whose common lot is poverty, whose intellectual and moral condition is but little if any better than it was in slavery. When left to himseI£ and his old-time surroundings the negro is not improving. The degradation and misery among those as yet unsaved are appalling. 'I'his is so evident that the superficial observer who forgets that the present is deeply rooted in history, and who speaks from a present impression made by seeing the multitudes of ragged, shiftless, thriftless, ' idJe negroes who crowd into towns and cities, will not hesitate to say that the former times were better than these, and that the negro of to-day has in many ways degenerated from the negro of slavery. In some part it is true that his progress is retrogression, and that his last state is worse than his first. In towns and cities saloons prosper through negro patronage. The evil is incalculable. In slavery days there was a law and a lash for black drinkers. Now a thousand dollars are spent by them in drinking and drunkenness where one was before emancipation. In the rural communities, also, in many places the degradation could scarcely have been worse in slavery days, and idleness, which was not then possible, is now so common as to become destructive to the negro and a public peril. Slavery never taught self-care nor promoted forethought, and a more thoughtless and improvident creature than the negro who has been left to himself lives nowhere short of absolute heathenism. The blacks who cannot read to-day are in excess of the original four millions when they were set free. Their churches-so called-which existed before the war can be but little better than they then were. The old-time negro religion, which one could hold without virtue or morality, has not ceased to be. That which so easily fitted in with the generations of slave life continues with the untaught generations. There are millions to-day in density of ignorance, in depths of superstition, poor, thoughtless, mentally and morally weak. It was immediately realized by those who felt called to tnis missionary work, that a Christian faith could make no real gain among this people by merely proclaiming to them that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world, and that now God commanded them to repent. It is not possible to save a vacuum. People with vacant minds cannot honor Christ. Curses brood in the darkness. In ignorance virtue withers. Righteousness needs knowledge. Hence, first of all, missionary schools were established by Northern Christian churches of different communions. From these have gone teachers into elementary schools, until now two and a quarter millions of ignorant people have already learned to read and to write. Many thousands have taken a generous education. A few have risen, and are leaders to higher and larger life. There are now one hundred and fifty schools for the training of colored teachers. Sixteen thousand negro teachers are uplifting their people. Twenty-five thousand five hundred and thirty schools are to-day teaching a million and a quarter of pupils, and a large proportion of these are Christian schools. They are Christianizing agencies.
It has been missionary work from the beginning until now, and as necessarily educational in its forms as if it were in Africa. One illustra. tion may stand for many. A church was organized and a school by the side of it in Georgia, in an isolated rural community composed almost wholly of black people. The old-time negroes, untaught and untrained, were ready to accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour, and in large numbers were received into the church. In the course of time the church was left for some months pastorless. During this period a wandering and crazed man, who imagined himself to be the Messiah in His second coming, came that way. Ready with the Scriptures and fluent in speech, his earnestness and assertion soon won to himself great numbers of these professing Christians among the negroes, whose emotions became inflamed and whose imaginations ran away with what sense they had. The most frantic performances took the plaee of their former worship. They acknowledged this crazy wanderer to be their Lord, and rendered him the most absolute worship and servile obedience. Their fields went to weeds and they to starvation until the county authorities arrested this state of things by arresting their supposed Messiah. None of those who had been in the schools fell into this great folly. It was again an evidence that those who will hear the Gospel truly must be able to think and understand.
Most of what has been accomplished has been chiefly organized and sustained by the Christianity of the North. The black churches number at the present time not less than fifteen thousand. The Baptist and Methodist communicants together are two and a third millions. Perhaps there are a thousand ministers who by training and character may be fitted for these fifteen thousand churches. What shall we say to the fourteen thousand churches which remain? A friend testifies, " I have witnessed scenes in the black churches of Baltimore that ought to have been possible only in the heart of Africa." Those who arc acquainted with the South know that this experience is rather the rule than the exception.
At the same time the influence of these Christian schools upon the religious condition of the negro people is immeasurable. The children are being taught what Christianity is. Purer churches are organized. Old. time churches are being leavened. Intelligent preachers are displacing the ignorant and boisterous and superstitious caricatures of ministers. The Gospel is being increasingly proclaimed by ministers whose minds have been somewhat enlarged by the discipline of the schools, expanded by a knowledge of the world's life and thought, and made capable of an intelli- gent apprehension of the significance of the ministry of Christ. Theologi- cal seminaries and Bible schools for the negro have been planted. The churches which refuse to tolerate a preaching that insiRts on purity and integrity as vital tests of piety are gradually but surely growing less in number. The churches which demand morality and will not accommodate themselves either to pagan practices or pagan superstitions are increasing yearly both in numbers and in strength. Their religious papers and maga- zines are worthy of great respect. Christian teachers and preachers are filling positi~ns of great responsibility.
It has been a hard battle in unsympathetic surroundings with long entrenched ignorance and evil inheritances j but after we have taken account of the forces of sin we may magnify our hopes.
The race as a race, above its heredity and hindrances, has been and is growing in self-hood, and there is a steady and an appreciable gain that is full of encouragement.
Twenty-seven years ago, for example, this people had no homes. There is all the difference in the world between a negro cabin in which the slaves herded without legal marriage, without any family name or family permanence, and a true Christian home.' Christianity has not many surer evidences of its divinity nor many better products of its power than the refined Christian home, with its saving and ennobling Christian influences.
The progress of a true Christian faith among the negroes may be seen in the wonderful evolution of worthy and refined Christian homes. They are not abodes of wealth, though some are j but it is simply wonderful to see what new homes with new meanings have been made in a quarter of a century by those who have been brought into the light.
In this consideration one thing is to be remembered. This degradation. and evil is not a question of race. Blindness and sin are not peculiar to the negro. All peoples who remain in darkness do the deeds of darkness. Under the shadows of the cathedrals of ancient Italy there cluster thousands of miserable people without hope in the world. Brilliant Paris has its city of low-down people within its city, and Paris was founded two thousand years ago. England has her " bitter cry" of tens of thousands who cannot read, and who live in degradation equal to that of the negro in the United States. The foremost peoples of the earth have with them great multitudes in pitiable life. The great residuum of negro ignorance, sin, and misery is but another illustration that unsaved souls everywhere need to be saved, and that only the Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation. The religious progress of the negro in twenty-seven years shows what can be done. The religious condition of millions shows what ought to be done.
THE RELATION OF MISSIONARIES TO THEtR GOVERNMENTS
THE RELATION OF MISSIONARIES, TEACHERS, AND COL- LEGE PROFESSORS IN FOREIGN LANDS TO THEIR GOV- ERNMENTS.
BY REV. CYRUS HAMLIN, D.D., LEXINGTON, MASS.
It has been a principle of action rather than of statute that the foreign missionary must take his chance, and must expect little aid when in diffi- cultyand danger from his government. This, however, is peculiarly an American view. No one of the great governments of Europe, Catholic or Protestant, ever asserts it or acts upon it.
It is an unsafe principle, and should be made un-American. Mis- sionaries are scattered all over the heathen and Mohammedan world, and whatever treatment from our Government is accorded to them will be reo garded as the measure of its protection to others. If the house of a mis- sionary is assaulted, his windows broken, or if he is personally assaulted, and no penalty.follows and no reparation is made, the safety and honor of other Americans, whether merchants or travellers, will not be promoted by it. The peoples of half-civilized lands are very quick to make inferences, ' and one act of injustice unrebuked will lead to many more of increasing gravity. , The writoc would urge the following reasons why government should protect missionaries and teachers against all violence, injustice, and abuse, as it would other citizens.
as All other civilized nations do it. France protects her Catholic mis- sionaries with jealous care throughout the world. Italy does the same, does Austria. Germany is more indifferent, but her missionaries, whether Catholic or Protestant, have never appealed to her in vain. Russia has sent out but few missionaries. Those in Japan and 'in Palestine enjoy all the power of her diplomacy and navy for their protection. Her jealousy in this regard was one of the causes that led on to the Crimean War.
But the course of England is more worthy of our approbation. Her principle is to protect every man who is an Englishman, high or low, rich or poor, Jew or Gentile. She has no special regard for Jews, but singu- larly enough, two cases, the most distinguished in the half century in which England has been concerned, have been Jews.
The first, Don Pacifico, was a Jew, but an English subject residing and having business in Athens. The Greek Government took possession of his little store and plot of ground and offered him so small a compensa- tion that ho3 appealed tv the English ambassador, who took up his case with Eome spirit, and demanded a very much larger compensation.
The Greek minister treated the claim with so little respect that the ambassador appealed to his Government at home. In consequence, a part of the Mediterranean squadron took possession of the Pirreus until the Greek Government paid Don Pacifico about five times his original demand and made an apology to the English ambassador. The English demand may have been excessive and unjust, but the object was not to reward Pacifico, but to let the world know that St. Paul's appeal, " I am a Roman citizen," put forth in the form" I am a British subject, " shall secure safety and respect in any part of the world.
The more remarkablc case is that of Rev. Mr. Stein, for some years an English missionary to the Jews in Constantinople. He went to Abyssinia while the Emperor Theodore was already at loggerheads with the British Government. He was seized, thrown into prison, tried, and condemned to death, but not executed. His two servants, or n~tive associates, were so cruelly beaten that they died. The Christian public of Great Britain were intensely excited about him and other prisoners. Theodore scouted all the measures of the English Government for their release, and at length an army of ten or twelve thousand men was sent from Bombay to secure their release. The army accomplished this, and also killed Theodore and destroyed his capit~l, Magdala.
Let it be remembered, this was not done to save Mr. Stein as a missionary. The British Government cared precious little for that; but £9,000,000, equal to '$45,000,000, were expended to protect the Englishman, whoever and wherever he might be.
England has another principle of action that is wise. When an indemnity has been decided upon, it has to be paid without delay. Governments of a cer-tain class are ready enough to promise compensations which they never intend to pay. Spain and Turkey have done this repeatedly to our Government, because they have learned they can do it with impunity. A promise is readily and cheerfully made, and is announced as a satisfactory settlement. The offending power is even complimented and praised, and is thus encouraged to gre~ter boldness in future outrages.
Treaties secure to missionaries rights which in many cases our Government will not enforce. All Roman Catholic nations, as well as England, protect their missionaries with jealous care. Our treaties secure to us all the privileges of the most favored nation. Nations have a certain solidarity of interests in half-civilized and anti-Christian nations. They are morally bound to support each other when Christianity is assailed. When the English ambassador, after the execution of two so-called "apostates," demanded of the Sultan the formal renunciation of the inhuman law, all the other embassies except Russia supported him in it. This principle should be acted upon in every case. No. government so unwise as to disregard legitim'ate claims for redress will persevere in it agaiitst a positive and deter!.llined pressure which will secure the approval, and, it may be, the co-operation, of other powers. Any power that refuses to acknowledge treaty obligations puts itself outside of the protection of international law.
But there is a higher principle of action. Christian nations are responsiblto f6r the Christian influence which they may exert upon the non- Christian nations. Christi::lllity lies at the foundation of their greatness and pre-eminence. They can confer no benefit upon the pagan and Mos- lem nations like that which has made them great. They cannot allow it to be treated with gross and cruel insults without loss of character and without the most serious injury to both parties. There is no occasion for the exercise of warlike force.' It is enough if the preparation for enforc- ing a just claim is made visible. Recently the Sultan sent in great haste to our minister to come directly to the palace. His majesty would settle satisfactorily the Marsovan affair, and there was no need to telegraph for war steamers. Our minister, with great simplicity, denied all intentions of that nature, and refused to go. He might at least have gone and ap- pealed to the Sultan's honor and sense of justice; but the poor man was new in his place, and afraid to move either to the right or left.
A great nation cannot afford to place itself or be placed in such positions. If the mere report of an ironclad can agitate the palace, the presence of one in Turkish waters would be a powerful protection. Such cases demana no v4>lence, but a preparation to enforce respect and secure justice is absolutely necessary in the present condition of the world. If the magistrate bears the sword in vain, or if he have no sword to bear, the rude, the barbarous, and the lawless will be without restraint. American missionaries have a right to expect in every land the protection and the immunities accorded to the missionaries from other lands. The Catholic missionaries from France and Italy are always treated with respect. No indignities are offered to them. Their schools are never interfered with. They are never mobbed or imprisoned. Their books are never destroyed or interdicted or absurdly defaced by the censor. So long as this treatment is accorded to other nations, we have a right to expect the same. Our treaties secure to us the treatment accorded to the most favored nations, and if our Government will not enfor~e its treaties it becomes a proper object of contempt. Its prestige, if it has any, departs, and its subjects will often be subjected to the caprice of bigots. American missionaries have never asked for special favors. They know their rights as citizens of the United States. All they claim is that protection which is secured by treaty and which belongs to them as Americans. It is a violation of all the principles upon which treaties are based that any power should confer special favors upon citizens of one nation and treat with manife'lt disfavor the citizens of another, when common treaty relations bind them all. The Christian public of the United States hopes and expects to see its government take those measures that will place its citizens in foreign lands on an equality with the citizens of any other nation of whatever race or religion. At present throughout the Turkish Empire American missionaries are insulted, mobbed, imprisoned, their dwellings and schools burned, their property seized, confiscated, and no reparation is made with the exception of Mr. Bartlett's house, and that was caused by the mere report that a steamer would be sent to protect American citizens,
CATHERIl"IE PENNEFATHER
CATHERINE PENNEFATHER.
BY JAMES E. MATHIESON, ESQ., LONDON, ENGLAND.
Three links have recently been severed which connected this generation with some remarkable movements of the present century. With the expiring year there passed away, in Glasgow (on December 30th, 1892), the venerable Andrew A. Bonar, in his eighty-third year, best known ontside of Scotland by his memoir of the saintly Murray MacCheyne, a new edition of which has just come from the press. One of three noble brothers, all of whom ha:d attained to fourscore years-John Bonar, minister of Greenock j Horatius Bonar, the Scottish psalmist. Andrew was the last survivor, and of his four hundred and fifty contemporaries who left the Established Church of Scotland in 1843, no one now remains so original as a thinker, so devout in life, or so universally beloved as he. I have before me a letter, written in clearest handwriting and in charming style, dated December 6th, concerning our Lord's premillennial return, which he closes thus: "Keep prayiug, and believe me your ' brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.'" .We look back pensively to that revival time in Scotland fifty years ago, when quickened spiritual life in the Church led the Bonars and so many more to give up their manses and stipends for the truth's sake and for the honor of Christ, the one Head of the Church j and we look around us to-day and we hear of two clergymen of the Church of England only who have resigned their positions because in faithfulness to our Lord they cannot remain in a communion where, by the recent Lincoln judgment, the fuJlblown symbolism of Roman ceremonies opens wide the door to Mariolatry and other abominations which were rejected at the Reformation.
On January 10th there was buricd at Beckenham, in Kent, a sweet old saint, Mrs. Soltau, aged eighty, who has given her three sons to the mission field -one in Tasmania, one in the Neilgherry Hills, in India, one in the McCall Mission, in Paris, and a daughter who ably superintends and trains the female candidates for the China Inland Mission. A happy mother was she with such children, walking in the truth. Her husband, whose books, "The Tabernacle and its Teachings" and" The Soul and its Difficulties," are much valued, was one of the band of devoted and intelligent men-chiefly gentlemen of Devonshire and the "Vcst of England-who originated that quest for more spiritual worship, more scriptural following of Christ, and greater recognition of all the varied gifts in. the Church, popularly known as the Plymouth Brethren, though they themselves disclaimed that appellation. Holding firmly as two of their tenets believers' baptism and the hope of Christ's premillennial appearing. they introduced an era of Bible reading among English-speaking people which probably has kept the Church from a more rapid corruption than that which has actnally sct in, and has 1,y its love of Scripture imparted to a multitude of Christians (many of them unconsciously influenced) a habit of habitual and reverent examination of the truth of God, and this in people throughout all the denominations. No true lover of his Bible will undervalue, and none ought to ignore, the blessing which has come to the Church in these days through the ofttimes despised and misunderstood Plymouth Brethren.
On January 12th, at Mildmay, in the north of. London, there entered into rest, in her seventy-fifth year, the beloved lady whose name I have placed at the head of this notice. 'Tis twenty years since her revered and honored and saint~y husband, William Pennefather, went in to see the King after a life of singular beauty and devotion unreservedly given to Christ, to His Church below, and to the poor and needy of this earth. His father was one of Her Majesty's judges in Ireland, and in that coun· try he commenced his ministry as a clergyman of the Established Church, but transferred his labors to three other spheres on English soil. What stands out prominently in his life as an originator was his conception, when at Barnet, in 1855, to gather together in a conference for worship and mutual edification brethren and sisters from various branches of the Church of Christ. With us to-day, when the idea has long been a fait accompli, it is difficult to conceive of the dissuasions and alarm with which the proposal was 'first entertained even among godly and earnest men. But the invited guests came j "the'number of names together were about one hundred and twenty" (as at the commencement of the Church, Acts 1 : 15) j a sweet Christian harmony pervaded all the meetings, and their repetition was eagerly hailed. Since then, first at Barnet and subsequently in the iron room transferred to London, and since 1870 in the noble Mildmay Conference Hall there have been held meetings full of interest, oftentimes full of power, wherein believers have been edified and multiplied, new' methods of Christian enterprise have been planned, many wearied workers and foreign missionaries have been refreshed and sent forth again to labor more assiduously among Jews and Gentiles.
Fit companion and true helper in all this labor of love was Catherine Pennefather, one of the noble women of our time, who sought no earthly fame or prominence, but could not be hid. On her mother's side she was granddaughter of a former archbishop of Dublin (Cleaver) j her father was the Hon. James King, son of the Earl of Kingston. He was an admiral in the English Navy and an intimate of William IV., who also was an English admiral j they were used to address each other familiarly as " King." The monarch sometimes gave it as his opinion that his successor, the Princess Victoria, would be the last sovereign of England. It was he too who, driving through the streets of London about the year 1830, and noticing placards headed "Reform Bill !" (probably the announcement of a public meeting), soliloquized thus: "Reform Bill, reform Bill; ah ! that means me, I suppose." Mrs. Pennefather was gifted with J. noble presence and with a clear and penetrating mind. A London specialist, called in by her usual medical attendant for consultation the week preceding her death, remarked on coming out of the sick-room, "What a head! Why, it's the head of a judge!" And so it was. Calmness and accuracy of judgment were probably her distinguishing characteristics j but there was none of that usual accompaniment of calmness, there was no coldness, there was deep warmth of love to her Saviour and to all who belonged to Him, and a very special love to those who came nearest to Him in holy living and blessed service ; and the attachment to her person which marked all those who were in any way associated with the varied labors of love in which she was an acknowledged leader and a trusted counsellor was probably unique. As President of the Association of Female Workers, numbering 1700 ladies in all parts of the world engaged in various forms of Christian work, I think I may say she stood pre-eminent, not only in their esteem but in their affections; and to one and all how readily and gladly she gave counsel and help and comfort as often as her ministrations were sought for in these directions! To the immediate circle of Mildmay workers-120 Protestant deaconesses and nearly 100 Christian nurses-she was felt to be a " mother in Israel" in her bestowal of sweet spiritual counsel, but to many of them she was as a mother indeed in her affectionate oversight and thoughtfulness for their needs. The love which radiated from the home of Mr. and Mrs. Pennefather was the love which " beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." An early incident illustrated this trend of mind and heart even in Mrs. Pennefather's childhood. A bee had stung her badly j she ran to her mother and exclaimed, "The bee has kissed me too hard!" She never thought of the bee as angry and hurtful j and this feeling pervaded her conceptions of men and women acting or speaking injuriously, while at the same time she maintained clear and decided views of truth and deplored error. Though hers was a maste'r mind, she sought not mastery, and had no sympathy with that headship of woman which not a few are seeking after in the preselilt day; and when busily occupied in devising and directing work for the redressing of the wrongs of woman by putting their happier sisters upon right lines of ministry on their behalf, she meddled not with any political nostrum for enforcing woman's rights. In truth, she seemed always to be guided into the more excellent way when a choice of paths was presented for selection, and this because she waited upon God and rested not in her own wisdom, For many of her later years her eyesight had failed, and she enjoyed, without the distraction which hinders many others, ample opportunity for frequent secret, silent prayer, and the great day alone'shall declare how much her intercessions, ascending to and through the Great Intercessor, have availed in ealling down more abundant blessings upon the Mildmay Deacones~ Missions, the medical missions and hospitals, the Jewish mission, the Gospel services, the conferences, as well as upon the individual workers in squalid London districts; upon the nurses watching by sick-beds, that
A VOICE FROM SOUTH AFRICA
they might use the precious opportunity of speaking a wonl in season for the Master j upon scattered workers on far distant mission fields j such intercessory help constituting the uniting bond of the whole association of female workers who are now bereaved of their honored and trusted president, whose place it seems so hard and impossible to fill. vVe way claim, without presumption and without disparagement of others, that Mrs. Pennefather was the choicest embodiment of high-toned spiritual life in combination with that culture which distinguishes delicately nurtured English women, while the woman's work under her guidance and fostering care, in an age remarkable for its development of woman's work in so many directions, has given to thc Church many examples of " daughters as corner-stones fashioned after the similitude of a palace," who had been st.imulated and sustained by the copy which her life set before them. Let a sympathetic cry ascend, dear reader, from your inmost soul that God would comfort with His own strong consolations the many weeping ones who are now realizing a great personal bereavement, and that He in tender mercy will raise up some one to fill the vacant place and maintain in the unity of the Spirit all represented in the Mildmay institutions-that is, reflecting Christ's image. Its motto is, " Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity j" and when we sec around us such falling away from gospel simplicity, those who ha'e loved and labored for Him in connection with Mildmay do very truly beseech Him to keep this centre as a stronghold for evangelical teaching, seeing He has permitted it to display for so many years past a banner for the trnth.
Amid many tokens of reverence and love Mrs. Pennefather's remains were borne away after the funeral service in St. Jude's, Mildmay Park, on Monday, January 16th, to their earthly resting-place, twelve miles off, at Ridge, a quiet resting-place indeed, in a typical English churchyard, where rests the dust of her like-minded husband until the glad day when the trump of God shall sound, "and the dead in Christ shall rise first, . . . and so shall we ever be with the Lord." "Even so, come, Lord Jesus !"
And we " comfort one another with these words."
* A VOICE FROM SOUTH AFRICA.
. BY MISS ABBY P. FERGUSON, WELLINGTON, SOUTH AFRICA.
In the June number of the MISSIONARY REVIEW for 1891, under" The Miracles of Missions," was given the story of the Huguenot Seminary at • For the appeal in behalf of the Lord's work in the diamond fields of South Africa, and for the response of Christian friends to that appeal, we retllrn thanks. The aid has come in our time of need, 8IIIl bas been most precious. Miss Anna E. Bliss. who came with me to Africa nineteen years ago, will be in America until November. Her ..ddre.s is West New Bri~hton,8tatenI"18nd. N.Y. Mi.s Bliss has had an important part in the work of the Huguenot !'emioary from it. beginning, and I. prepared to advance its interests in any way that she can riuring tbe y~..r thllt .be is in America. either by corre8pondence, by receiving contributions or by "peaking in its behalf.-A. P. F. Wellington. I will add somewhat as to what the Lord h,.s done for us since that article was written.
The branch seminary at the Paarl haf> grown, until now there are seventy boarders and over one hundred day scholars. Toward the close of 1891 there came requests for two more branch Reminaries : one at Bethlehem, in the Orange Free State, and one at Greytown, Natal. About the last of"
December it was decided to go forward, and our prayer was that the little seminary born at Bethlehem at Christmas time might indeed be the child of the Most High, and that the one at Greytown might also be owned of Him. The Bethlehem Reminary was opened February, 1892, under the care of Miss Catherine Murray, the daughter of Rev. Andrew Murray. The branch at Greytown was opened in July, 1892, under Miss Gates, one of our American teachers. Miss Gates writes of a precious work of grace among her girls, and that she has had the joy of seeing all but one con- verted. Thus God has set His seal upon the precious work. .J Our own work at the mother Huguenot Seminary at Wellington is growing, and we are feeling with the increased opportunities that it assumes new importance. Most of the teachers at our branch seminaries are our own graduates. We have sent out over, four hundred teachers during the nineteen years since our seminary was established. And now lihat Africa is opening so wonderfully, we cry unto God that we may be ready to enter every open door in the name of the Lord, and that these dear daughters of ours may be fully equipped in body, soul, and spirit for the service of the Lord. We number on our own staff of teachers gradu- ates of Mount Holyoke, of 'Wellesley, of Oberlin, besides other vahable teachers from America, Holland, and Germany. The number of our pupils has increased, and for these we are needing increased acco~modation.
With the help of the colonial Government we have been able to purchase a valuable property adjoining ours, and now we are anxious to put up a large building, giving us more room for pupils, and also a library and class- rooms. ,Ye are very anxious also to have a fund to help many girls who are eager for an education and would make good use of it, but have not the means to meet the expense. Our four Huguenot seminaries are for the white girls of South Africa, daughters of European settlers; and closely connected with this work of Christian education, a great mission work is opening. You have an account of the work at the diamond fields in the MISSIONARY RE'IIEW for July, 1892. The work here is not only for the thousands of heathen who come to work in the mines from all parts of South Africa, but a helping hand is stretched out also to the Cape natives, who are civilized in part, and the interest of our workers has been deeply stirred for the whole population gathered here from all parts of the world seeking wealth, and yet so many finding only sin and sorrow. There are eight lady workers here. Two mission houses have been bought; both are nearly paid for; but we are anxious to put up a small hall in connection with one of them for meetings and evening classes. This work is under the Woman s Missionary Union of South Africa. Most of the workers have been at the Huguenot Seminary, ·Wellington, where there is a special class for those desiring training for mission work.
Our Woman's Missionary Society has lady missionaries among the heathen in the Transvaal, and at one station in Bechuanaland. And now the call has come for us to enter new fields. At Johannesburg, the great centre of the gold-mining industries, tliey are asking us to open a work similar to that at the diamond fields, and the need is much the same. There are the thousands of whites who have gone down through poverty, drink, and sin; there are many Cape colored people, and there are tens of thousands of heathen from all parts of Sonth Africa, coming to work in the mines a few months and then returning to their own people. And for these we are confronted by the same question, Shall these men carry back to their tribes the vices of civilization or the Gospel of Christ ~ Another door that is open for us to enter is at Mvera, thirty miles to the southeast of Lake Nyassa, a station under the care of a nephew of Rev. Andrew Murray, and bearing the same name. We are asked to send two ladies to this station to begin work among the heathen women and children, and we are asking the Lord, who has opened this door, to show us whom He has called and prepared to enter upon this important service.
It has been for years my prayer that the Lord would make our work all that it is possible for it to become to His glory, and the advancement of His cause. He is answering wonderfully in ways beyond what we had asked or thought. lIe is showing us more and more that He has planted' us here to do a work for Him that shall be far-reaching in this great dark Africa, with its millions of precious souls waiting to. be told of the great redemption. The work is not ours, it is the Lord's, and it is in His name we lay it before you in all its departments.
I. We need your prayers and Christian sympathy. II. We need Christian teachers having a good collegiate education, who will be able to prepare our girls for the positions of responsibility waiting ":or them. For these we can offer passage-money and a fair salary. III. We should be glad of workers who could be wholly or partly selfsupporting for the various departments of mission work. IV. vVe need help in putting up suitable buildings for our Christian educational work. The Government of Cape Colony has given us to understand that it would help us to the extent of £5000 if we could raise the same amount from other sources. V. We need aid for our buildings at the different mission stations or centres of work. VI. We need help in the education of girls without means who are anxions to enter upon and would be useful in Christian work, and would be glad to receive the training necessary. YII. 'Ye need help in the support of our mission work. Our Woman's Missionary Union is accomplishing much, but without aid from other lands we cannot enter upon the work opening before us.
SAMUEL METHABATHE
SAMUEL METHABATHE, AN AFRICAN EVANGELIST.
BY REV. JOSIAH 'fYLER, NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA.
Sixty years ago a society of Wesleyan Methodists sent Rev. James Alli- son and his wife as pioneer missionaries to the Amaswazi tribe, living on the southeastern coast of Africa, about eighty miles from Delagoa Bay. Not disheartened by hundreds of miles of rough travel in ox wagons, they settled among the wild heathen, and soon a large number came to them for instruction. Then an intertribal war disturbed' their labors. The Zulus, ancestral enemies of the Amaswazi, came and killed many of their people, and threatened them also. They were driven to Natal, accompanied by hundreds of the poor, homeless natives, and the station "Edendale" was founded, which 'is now the largest mission station in that part of Africa, numbering nearly one thousand members and adlterents.
Mr. and Mrs. Allison, unfitted by their age to superintend so large a station, went to Pietermaritzburg, the capital of Natal, to end their days in rest and quiet. But such true missionaries, seeing the Zulu servants loitering about the streets, especially on the Sabbath, invited them to their house for religious instruction, and established an evening school. Having thus won the natives by kind words and loving desire for their good, they soon had another large station to care for. Christian friends among the English colonists aided them, and a commodious chapel was erected which was well filled each Sabbath.
In 1869, while visiting Mr. Allison, I addressed his congregation, and was much attracted by a young man in the congregation who was smaller than the average Zulu, but had an earnest, expressive face and manner. I learned that his name was Methabathe, and he had come seven hundred miles, from the region of the Limpopo River, to earn money to buy a gun and ammunition, but, having found the Saviour, was soon to return to his people to preach Jesus Christ. "Will he hold out, so far away from Christian teachers and religious training~" I inquired of Mr. Allison. " He is a thorough Christian, inflamed with a passion to save souls," replied he. "I have known him for six years. After parting with him I sh~l probably never see him or hear from him again, but am sure he will prove a blessing to his countrymen."
A few months later Mr. Allison set apart this native Christian, and with tears prayed that God would go with him, keeping him humble, prayerful, and steadfast in the faith. Both Mr. Allison and his wife were called to their reward without hearing further of the man whom they had brought to Christ.
Nine years later Rev. Owen 'Watkins, Superintendent of the Wesleyan Methodist missions in the Transvaal, hearing of Samuel Mcthabathe, sent for him to come and tell his story. With three of his converts the evangelist travelled four hundred miles, and in his simple, g-raphic way gave his testimony. He had labored" unknown, unpaid, unvisited, unrecognized by any church, yet remaining steadfast and patiently witnessing for Christ in the midst of persecution and distress as bravely as any of the early Christians."
After leaving Mr. Allison, he had gone back to his country, reported himself to his chief, and asked permission to preach Jesus Christ to his people. This the chief would not allow, fearing that his subjects would rebel against him if told of the great" King of kings," and he threatened Samuel with death or banishment should he be found holding meetings to teach the new doctrine.
In sadness of heart Samuel left the chief, but after much thought and prayer resoh'ed to do what he could. For four years he went about from hut to hut, telling his relatives and friends about the great salvation, praying with them and urging them to believe in Christ. A chapel was built in which the people gathered on the Sabbath for worship, but the chief ordered it to be burned. After his death his wife assumed the reins of government, and proved more tolerant than he had been. Another church was huilt, a school established, and many natives professed Christianity.
As the work grew, educated men· were needed to take charge of the work upon the out-stations. The church selected two men to go to a training school kept by the French missionaries in Basutoland. After two years' study they returned, and the work of the Lord was greatly prospered.
The trial of their faith was not yet ended, however. Aroused by enemies of the Christian religion, this female chief caused the church to be burned, and ordered all Christians to leave the country with their families. With Samuel at their head, two hundred went into exile for Christ's sake. A portion of them settled on a farm which has since been bought by the Methodist Society for them, and which is named" Good Hope."
Soon after hearing Samuel's story, Mr. Watkins visited the tribe and. wrote as follows : " When I got to the foot of the hill on the top of which Samuel's village is now built, some of the people saw me, and at once set up a cry, 'It is ! it is ! the missionary ! our own missionary ! come at last!' There was a great commotion. Then a lot of guns were fired off by way of salute, and then the people rushed down the hill-side to greet me. I stood still at the spot where the first party met me, and waited until all the rest came down. Samuel was away in the bush cutting wood for a schoolhouse, but they sent runners to tell him the glad tidings and bid him hasten.
"I had to shake hands with every man, woman and child until my arms ached again. After that came words of welcome. Tears rolled down many faces as the teacher, Johannes (one who had beel! to Basutuland), told me how for a long time their prayers and cries had gone up to heaven for my eoming, and he concluded, ' Now at last, that we see your face, all the days of our mourning are ended.' I spoke to them very
4'&1 FINAL FACTS RESPECTING UGANDA
gently, for I knew their sorrows for Christ's sake had been very great, and told them God's people in England of the Wesleyan Church would not for- sake them. .
" The teacher thereupon in an ecstasy of joy raised the hymn' Jesus sought me when a stranger,' and we moved forward. In a little while Samnel arrived, and as it was an occasion to be spoken of in coming gen- .erations, he was saluted with three gnns. To see that man's face beami~g with joy as he saw me in the midst of his people, and to feel the grip of his hand in welcome, amply repaid me for all the hardships passed in com- ing to visit him. I cannot tell of the long meeting we held and the many matters we talked of, bnt it was a t.ime never to be forgotten. "
Thus through Divine blessing on the labors of Samuel Methabathe an African wilderness has become a fruitful garden. I still seem to see his intelligent countenance as I first saw him in the native chapel in Pieter- maritzburg, and recall with admiration the faith of the devoted missiona- ries who consecrated him so tenderly to the Lord's service. Eternity alone will reveal the good done in heathen lands of which Christian missionaries have been the unconscious instruments.
FINAL FACTS RESPECTING UGANDA BY REV. CHARLES C. STARBUCK.
The Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift for January has an article touching these, on the basis of which it appears worth while to make some statements. We do not reproduce the paper or even condense it, but note some things which may now be accepted as certain.
1. The Protestant missionaries were in Uganda maay months before the Roman Catholic, so that if there has been any intrusion, it has n,ot been on the Protestant side.
2. The Anglican missionaries, though Evangelicals, have been of no malevolent or calumnious schools, but have steadily referred to the Catholics in terms of respect and friendliness. Exceptions to this rule are so slight as to be microscopic.
3. The thorough ventilation of all the facts of the late catastrophe shows Bishop Tucker and the other English missionaries to have had, neither proximately nor remotely, the slightest share in bringing it on. The passionate and exceedingly unhamlsome imputations of Bishop Hirth have dissolved into absolute emptiness.
4. There are more chiefs in the kingdom than places of honor. The religious differences have simply served as a bond of cohesion to the latent, parties. The chiefs on both side!? have fused intense personal ambition with a fiery religious zeal. The masses on both sides, a small percentage apart, have been moved simply bv a spirit of blinu feudal loyalty. The Protestant missionaries have brought this out into full light ; the French priests have thrown a religious halo over the whole of their side, although, being so much the more numerous, it is probably, if there is any difference, even less moved by religion than the other.
5. Bishop Hirth's report, written in the first heat of the collision, is passionate and exaggerated almost to insanity. For instance, he declarea that 50,000 Catholics have been sold as slaves. As the later Catholic accounts do not even allow that there are 25,000 Catholics in all, and as there are many thousands left, the bishop's arithmetic is somewhat delirious.
6. Bishop Hirth and his party-the royal party, moreover-were so far from being straitened or oppressed that the bishop, just before the outbreak of the conflict, expresses the belief that Uganda is about to become " Ii Catholic kingdom." The immediate prelude to the collision was that after the two parties had marched out jointly against the Mohammedans, the Catholics returned without cause. The spark that set the fire was the murder of a Protestant by Catholics, and the refusal of the king to deliver the murderers up.
7. The French missionaries have listened credulously and passionately to accusations of Protestant cruelty which are partly altogether false, partly enormously exaggerated. They have, moreover, thrown imputations of complicity in the actual cruelties on Protestantism because the English missionaries, no more than themselves, have been able to restrain a mass of heathen fighters, most of whom knew little more of Christianity than the name, from showing themselves the barbarians that they were. The Protestants patiently 'awaited Captain Lugard's orders before firing, and he withheld these until the Catholic assault became general. He distributed about one hundred and fifty muskets and rifles on that very morn: ing, but not earlier. He gave no Maxim gun to the Baganda. He urged the priests, as well as the clergymen, to come into the fort, and when there showed them all possible attention.
8. For the fierceness of a civil war, induced, moreover, by their own adherents, the losses of the White Fathers-not, as is often blunderingly written, the Jesuits-have been practically nothing. Most of their goods were in the fort or had been sent south. Most of the buildings had lost only their grass roofs. The" cathedral" was merely of reeds and grass. Had they remained and placed themselves under Captain Lugard's protection, he declares that they would have bcen spared even their partial losses.
Our Roman Catholic friends complain-and some of them optima fide -that the portion of land finally assigned them is out of all proportion smaller than their numbers require. Not knowing how large it is, I cannot undertake to deny that there may be some ground for the complaint. The wortliless Mwanga, having been altcrnately, after some sort of fashion, a heathen, a Catholic, a heathen Ilgain, a Mohammedan, a heathen
PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN nURMA
yet again, a Catholic once more, and for the present a Protestant, would not be his pdious self if he could not contrive to impart some element of injustice into any compact which he favored. Yet when a religious party or a political party under the name of religion stirs up a revolt against a superior authority under religious pretenses, and is defeated, it should not think it unreasonable that it suffers some inconvenient consequences from the attempt. The French priests know very well that England, as Dr. Warneck well says, is the most tolerant nation under the sun. Whether they were moved by national or by ecclesiastical dislike, or more probably by a curious mixture of the two, they must not think it strange if the new order of things sets them somewhat in the background. They are in no manner of danger of being persecuted if they do not foment another commotion; but it would not be strange if, in the distribution of honors and territories, they were a little "discouraged." When a Protestant missionary in French territory expresses dislike of France and regret that England could not have the country-and we know only one such case-we assume, as of course, that he expects his French denizenship to be brief, and is making ready to hand over his work to French Protestants. If our French friends cannot be contented under the English flag, doubtless Cardinal Vaughan or Archbishop Walsh could find them a relief.
PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN BURMA.
BY REV. L. W. CRONKHITE, BASSEIN, BURMA..
These were opened by the Baptists of America, who have been actively engaged in them for the past eighty years. Though they were preceded by a son of William Carey, who after a brief period of labor had retired from the country, permanent work began with the arrival of Rev. Adoniram Judson and wife at Rangoon in July, 1813. They had been led to this field by a series of providences as marked as were the sacrifices by which they subsequently sealed the country for Christ. In 1819 their hearts were gladdened by the baptism of the first convert, Moung Naw. This, however, was speedily followed by persecution. It is noteworthy that a part.icularly bitter persecution followed almost immediately upon the arrival of a reinforcement of fifteen missionaries in 1834. From the first all progress in the work for the BurmanlJ has been in the face of the most serious obstacles; but the determined hostility of the Burmese authorities to the Gospel has been met in the Divine plan by the transfer to the English, first of Southern Burma in 1826, then of Middle Burma in 1852, and of the remainder of the country in 1885. Judson's great translation of the Bible was finished in 1834. To this he subsequently added a dictionary and a grammar, which have never been superseded. The Burmese theological school begun by Rev. E. A. Stevens in 18~8 is Rtill continued at Hangoon, under the care of Rev. A. T. Rose, and important changes are proposed with a view to its enlarged usefulness. In so brief an outline as this one can only note the names of such heroes of the Burman mission as Hough, Comstock, Wade, Kincaid, Hennett, and Haswell, the latter of whom gave some attention also to the Talign race. Cephas Bennett and wifs were connected respectively fifty-six and sixty-one years with the mission. Though Buddhism and the native rulers have done so much to make the Burmese a people peculiarly hard to reach, some real progress has been made. Inplace of the single convert in 1819, there were, in 1847, 200; in 1869, 1000 ; in 1884, 1600 j while to-day the net number,of living Burman Christians is about 2100. The outlook is good for greatly accelerated progress in the near future.
Far more accessible than the Burmese have been the various Karen tribes of Burma, the society's work among whom forms one of the noblest chapters of missionary history. For this the way was prepared by their simpler forms of worship, and by the striking likeness between some of their traditions and the early chapters of Genesis. They had it, moreover, on ancient tradition, that some day their younger brother, a white man, would come by water from the West, bringing with him the lost word of their God. The work for the Karens was begun by George Dana Boardman, and the year 1828 saw the first Karen convert, Ko-tha-byu, afterward famous as the Karen apostle. The Ko-thabyu Memorial Hall at Bassein, given wholly 'by Karens, and the finest building in the Karen mission, was dedicated upon the fiftieth anniversary of his baptism. Francis Mason and others travelled widely through the Tenasserim provinces, and in 1833 Jonathan Wade reduced the Sgau Karen dialect to written form. The Pwo and other Karen dialects followed later. In 1836 the elder Vinton opened work in Rangoon, and was eagerly received everywhere, as was also Mr. Abbott a little later at Bassein. There, among others, a young chief of fine character received the Gospel. Prospective war with England compelled the missionaries to retire from Burmese territory, whereupon Mr. Abbott removed, in 1840, to Arracan. Thither such numbers of the Karens followed him, running the gauntlet of the Burmese, that the latter were compelled to promulgate an order permitting the Karens the worship of" their God." In five years more than three thousand were baptized in the Bassein district by Mr. Abbott and his Karen co-workers. It was in 1848 that the Sgau Karen pastors of the Bassein district decided at their annual meeting to undertake henceforth the entire support of the work in their own field, a promise which they have grandly fulfilled. Their ninety churches now number over nine thousand members. In addition to thcir central school, with its four hundred pupils, nearly one hundred lesser schools are scattered among their villages. During the past three years the contributions of the Bassein Pwo Karen Christians have equalled annually one tenth their incomes for the entire membership. The Rangoon Karen field passed from the hands of the elder Vinton to those of his son, Brainerd, and when both had gone to their reward a son-in-~aw and daughter of the latter were found ready to assist his widow in ministering to the people for whom the family had already done so much. The field is now prospering in their care, with about eighty churches and four thousand members, supporting fifty schools.
The close of the second Burmese war with England in 1853 witnessed the opening of several new stations among the Karens, among which were those at Henthada, Toungoo, and Shwegyin. At Shwegyin 577 were baptized in the first year, while in the first two years of the Toungoo mission 2000 converts were baptized by the earnest evangelist Sau Quala. Through much peril and schism in the native churches, the work at the latter sta.: tion has now extended to several Karen tribes, notably to the Bghais, the Pakus, and the Red Karens, the churches having a total membership of over 5000. Newer Karen stations are those at Maubin (Pwo), at Tharrawaddy (Sgau), and at Thatone, where also work is done among the Toungthoos. The total church-membership of the Baptist mission to the Karens was, in 1833, 292 ; in 1847, 6093 ; in 1869, 20,007 ; and in 1892, about 28,000. These have now the entire Bible in Sgau-since 1853-and in Pwo-siace 1883-together with portions in some other dialects. Dictionaries and grammars have been prepared in the Sgau, in which dialect also are published three papers. At Rangoon is located the Karen Baptist college. The flourishing theological seminary ~t Insein numbers over 100 students.
Work among the Shan tribes was opened at Toungoo by Rev. M. H. Bixby ill. 1860. The Shans are a trading people, industrious and intelligent. In religion they are bigoted Buddhists, and as l?uch have thus far proved largely inaccessible to the Gospel. It has, moreover, been necessary until recently to confine the society's work to the immigrant Shans in Burma proper, with stations at Toungoo, Rangoon, Moulmein, and Bhamo. Much pioneer work in the exploration of the Shan States had, however, been done by Rev. J. N. Cushing and others prior to the recent war between the Burmese and English; and when by this war thc Shan States were opened to foreign influence, the society at once took steps to enter. Rev. M. B. Kirkpatrick, M.D., began labor in the remote city of Thibau in· 1888, and is being greatly prospered in his work. The Saubwa, or native chief, has been strongly attracted by the Gospel, proving his sincerity both by his treatment of enemies and by his large contributions to the work among his people. A station has also been established at Mone, the head of another division of the Shan States. Mr. Cushing has translated the entire Bible into Shan, and has also prepared a Shan and English dictionary and a grammar.
The Ka Ohins occupy the mountains to the north and northeast of Burma, and are supposed to number 5,000,000 souls, grouped into numerous tribes and dialects. They are wicked and lawless in the extreme, while yet possessing a basis for noble and sturdy character when wrought upon by grace. Work was begun at Bhamo in 1877, and has been carried on largely by Sgau evangelists sent out and supported by the Bassein Karens of that tribe. In 1882 the writer had the privilege of witnessing the first Ka Chin baptism, and of assisting in the celebration of the Lord's Supper which followed. The work has been greatly hindered by sickness arnona!' the missionaries and by war, but the present outlook is excellent.
Among the Ohins regular work has been in progress for the past seven years. These people inhabit the western Yomas, being most numerous in Upper Burma. They are nominally Buddhists, but cling strongly to the practices of their ancient demon-worship. Some four hundred have already been baptized, chiefly in Arracan, and the future seems very full of promise.
At Rangoon, Moulmein, and Bassein work is being done among Eurasians and among the Chinese, Tamils, and Telugus, who are flocking to Burma in large numbers. Karen evangelists from Burma are laboring among the Karens of Northern Siam. Meantime, the mission presses at Rangoon, Bassein, and Toungoo are doing much to supply the peoples of Burma with a Christian literature.
To sum up, the American Baptist Mission has in Burma, by its last report, .22 central stations, to which will soon be added Mo-gaung in the extreme north. The work is committed to 139 missionaries and 610 native preachers. The 550 churches, nearly all of which are self-supporting, have a total membership of 30,000, while into the 500 schools are gathered 11,000 boys and girls, bright and teachable.
In 1859 the Society for the Propagation of the. Gospel (Church of England) sent out to Moulmein Rev. Augustus Shears to open missionary operations in Burma. One year later he was joined by J. E. Marks, who has since accomplished so much for the education of Burmese youth, and who has for many years been at the head of St. John's College in Rangoon. In 1869 he established work at Mandalay, then the capital of what was left of the kingdom of Burma. Two sons of the king were among his pupils. The troubles which followed the death of the king rendering the . continuance of the mission impossible, work at Mandalay was dropped in 1879, but was again taken up in 1886, upon the fall of King Thibau and the acquisition of Upper Burma by the English. In 1877 the Rt. Rev. John H. Titcomb was consecrated the first bishop of the Church of England in Burma. Including Port Blair, in the Andaman Islands, the society has now nine stations, chief among which are Rangoon and Toungoo. A schism in the Karen Baptist churches at the latter station resulted in the accession of many to the English society. At several stations work is being done among the Telugu and Tamil immigrants, notably at Rangoon, where 291 communicants of these races are reported. The latest returns of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel for Burma give 12 European missionaries, 8 native pastors, and 83 readers and teachers. Of the 2214 communicants, about 1500 are Karens. The various schools afford instrnction to 2900 pupils, of whom 479 are girls.
AMONG THE LEPERS
American Methodists have recently established a mlSSlon in Burma under the supervision of Bishop Thoburn, with an excellent school for girls and an orphanage at Rangoon. The latest report gives 5 missionaries with 2 assistant missionaries, and in addition to the work among the English, 40 native church-members and 169 pupils in the schools. A Wesleyan mission has lately been opened in Mandalay, one feature of which is a home for lepers.
In con(llusion, there is every reason for an energetic forward movement for the evangelization of Burma. Lying as it does on the great highway between India and China, the country is destined to be of commanding importance as a commercial centre. Already railway projects, connecting it with both empires, are in the air. The country itself is rapidly being knitted together by a system of railways, telegraphs, and river steamers. As an example, it may be mentioned that whereas ten years ago Toungoo was reached from Rangoon by a boat journey consuming from two to three weeks, twelve hours by rail are now sufficient, the trains running both day and night. Even remote Thibau has just been connected with the world by telegraph. Preparatory work in the way of missionary exploration, translations of the Scriptures, and the making of dictionaries, grammars and school-books lies largely behind us. A great plant has been acquired in land and buildings scattered widely over the country. And lastly the complete overthrow of the Burmese civil power, accomplished by the recent war with England, while assuring to the entire country a quiet, enlightened, and humane rule, has also opened to the labors of Christians not only the multitudes of the Burmese, but also fields new and vast among the Ka Chins, Shans, Chins, and several lesser races.
WORK AMONG THE LEPERS.
THE LEPER HOME .AT JERUSALEM.
The woeful appearance of a leper touches every heart. Leprosy embitters the life of its victim j it incapacitates him for business and excludes him from the society of his nearest friends, and indeed of all persons, except lepers like himself. With all the triumphs of human science, leprosy is admittedly as incurable as it was in Old Testament times and in the days of our Lord's ministry upon earth.
At the end of the year 1892 there were 24 patients in the Home- 11 men and 13 women. In general the lepers are contented, cheerful, and affectionate, notwithstanding their sufferings and trials. Their attention is frequently engaged with simple games, and they have entered into these with childlike zest and grateful appreciation. With most, however, the dreadful disease has spread considerably, and at present the majority are suffering severely with open sores. Two have almost lost their eyesight, and a third has for a long time been lying very ill. One of the greatest trials of these poor creatures is their banishment from home. 'Who can know the dreary lot of a father who has been deprived of all connection with his family, or the grief and anxiety of a poor mother at the thought that she is estranged from her beloved ones, never to clasp them in her arms again? Yet these are some of the trials which our poor lepers experience every day. Budrus, one of the patients, says, "Were it not for the comfort that we derive from God's Holy Word, we should have died in despair long ago."
God's abundant blessing has rested on the efforts to minister these comforts to the afHicted inmates of our Home. They have daily practical proofs of the love of Jesus. They are constantly fed, cared for, and made as happy as possible in their physical condition. But there is a further and a higher aim. "Our grand object," says the evangelist, ,. is to win them to the Saviour, to bring them the strong comfort of the Gospel of Divine grace, and to give them in all their misery the message of present peace and an assured future of bliss and glory. In this respect the success has been very marked. Our patients have been wonderfully ready to hail and heed the message of mercy, and the Gospel of Christ has won its way and shed its radiancy into their hearts. Almost all the lepers profess Christ as their Saviour and lead godly and consistent fives. The Word of God is loved and respected by both Moslems and Christians."
Daily worship is conducted at the Home. The Arabic language is very full and rich, and the Arabic Bible uses many terms unknown to the ignorant and untaught Moslems, who are the majority of our patients. The Arab catechist comes on Sundays and Vednesdays to conduct worship in the little chapel of the Home, amI to visit the bedridden in their dormitories. The services in the chapel have been the means of soothing the suffering of the lepers, and of turning their sighs and sorrows into joy and gladness. After the service the lepers are allowed to ask or say anything, and their questions and remarks are sometimes touching and instructive. What hope haye these poor sufferers in this life? Ah! they know that they are the yictims of the most terrible disease incident to humanity, that they are outcasts and have lost everything, that they are dragging on through agony and distress to a weary and inevitable end. But they are fully assured that there can be none too miserable, too degraded, too repulsive for the Master. They will tell you that notwithstanding their terrible disease, they have found their all in Jesus. Some of them even praise God for their misery; they say it has led them to the Fountain open for all sin and uncleanness. "Leprosy is nothing to me," says Hussein, "as long as the Lord is on my side." "Surely," says Smikna, "it is better to be a leper, and have fellowship with Christ, than to be in good health and far away from God."
Three of the best inmates have been called away to their eternal rest during the past year. Their dying testimonies were all to the fulness of joy which they experienced. As one of them, Salieh, was dying, he was asked if there was peace. " Yes," he whispered, "there is peace, there is light, there is joy." Another, a young Greek priest, on whom were dependent for support a widowed mother and her children, said, as his spirit was leaving his wasted body, "Whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's."
There is a Bible woman whose special duty it is to work among the poor lepers outside the asylum, and invite them to share its privileges. Strange to say, neither this invitation nor the Gospel itself has found much acceptance with these outcasts. Beggin~ by the roadside has become a second nature to them, and they cannot give it up, even for daily food or nursing and care. Lepers who are unable to walk any more will be carried out to the roadside on a donkey and lie there displaying their sores to attract the ,pitying gifts of passers-by. In summer they often remain ontof-doors all night with the ground for a bed, a stone for a pillow, and a cloak for a covering. Recently an old man met with a singular accident. He had lain down under a wall to sleep, and put his food on the wall. During the night a dog jumped up to get it and knocked down a large stone on the old man's head. He was terribly injnred, nevertheless he would not consent to be removed to our asylum.
Poor sufferers who are past begging are found in the government house for lepers at Siloam. These accept medicine and food, and permit their visitors to bind up their wounds. They also listen to the tidings of Jesus, the Good Physician. Sometimes those who have been absent begging, come in. Some of these are willing to have their wounds dressed, while others ask for the bandages, etc., saying that they will do it for themselves. But they would probably sell what was given them, and that is certainly not the purpose of those who visit them. Spiritual fruit of this good endeavor has not yet been apparent, but these true friends of the outcast lepers persevere in it, and ask for the support of intercession on their behalf.-Report/or 1892.
THE LEPERS OF JAPAN.
The Committee of the Mission to Lepers has just had an application from two ladies of the Church Missionary Society, at Kumamoto, Japan, asking them to aid in establishing a hospital there for the lepers. The following are a few extracts from the letter of one of these ladies : " I venture to entreat your aid for Japan. It is computed that there are over 200,000 known cases of leprosy. Among respectable people it is regarded as such a disgrace that the person affected is at once shut up in a little room which they never leave until death. Leprosy is more prevalent in this prefecture than in any other in Japan; but the principal garrison doctor here (who has offered his services gratuitously as a consulting physician if we can establish a hospital or aid of any kind) says that from 60 to 70 per cent could be relieved if they bad good medical advice at first. About two and a half miles from this city is a Buddhist temple, to which lepers from all parts of the country come when they have. spent their all, and there they drag out their miserable lives, existing Oil promiscuous charity of the most meagre kind, having no shelter at night, and scarcely any food by day. This island of Kiushiu is semi-tropical, but the winters are severe j a few mornings ago the thermometer registered 28° out-of-doors, and two days ago 26°. The sufferings of these heat-loving creatures must be intense, for in summer we have from 90° to 98° of heat. Very little pity is bestowed upon them, because the Japanese say they-the leperscannot be human beings ; that no human creature could have. such a mysterious and incurable disease-it is not a human ailment, etc. The name for them is Hinin, which means outside of humanity.
"My friend and I wrote home to our society-the Church Missionary Society-offering ourselves as workers among the lepers. Our letter has been very favorably considered, and meets with the heartiest approbation of our bishop here. Our idea is, if possible, to build a hospital by special subscription. Several hundreds would be necessary to build and furnish it. The few Japanese who know of our desire are full of approbation. One of our Christians said to me, ' It will do more for Christianity in Japan than anything that has been done; my people can argue as cleverly as your people about religion, but they know nothing of such love as this. ' The garrison doctor of whom I spoke, said, ' Only Christians would think of such a thing.' He showed us over one of the city hospitals and asked the surgeon-general of the garrison to meet us ; we afterward met others of the doctors j they all offer every encouragement."
RANGOON LEPERS.
Henry Charles Moore (late of Rangoon) writes as follows of the need in Burma: " Forty years of beneficent English rule have changed Rangoon from a collection of bamboo and mat huts, built over a malarial swamp, into a large and wealthy city. Pilgrims, as of yore, flock from all parts of the country, to kneel on the platform of the golden pagoda, and repeat the Pali sentences which they committed to memory while children in the Buddhist schools. They gaze in admiration at the wonders of the famous building-the tall gilded and jewelled spire glittering in the fierce sun with a brilliancy that is perfectly dazzling; the huge images of Gautaina Buddha ; the hideous dragons ; the horrible frescoes, and enormous bells. Truly the place is magnificent in its barbaric splendor; but there is one sight which fills. every visitor, be he pilgrim, tourist, or European exile, with pity. On the steps of the main staircase which leads to the pagoda platform sit, from morning till night, a number of poo( Burmese lepers, who hold up their maimed hands and beg with husky voices from the passers-by. The condition of the lepers there and in other parts of Rangoon is something terrible. Most of them have their faces disfigured by the fearful disease, many are blind, and some that I saw were so muti· lated about the hands and feet that they were compelled to crawl about on their elbows and knees. Unfortunately the number of lepers in Rangoon increases yearly and will continue to do so, for as the railways open up the country, the lepers will quit their native villages, where they are burdens to their friends, and go down to Rangoon to beg at the golden pagoda. The pilgrims as they hurry by respond generously to their affiicted country_ men's appeals; but, nevertheless, leprosy is a subject which a Burman will not readily discuss with anyone, for he dislikes the very mention of it, preferring to forget, if possible, that the fearful disease exists. If by chance he should talk about it, he declares that lepers are being punished for their sins in a previous existence, and that if they lead meritorious lives they will be born again and live free from the terrible taiut. It is quite certain, therefore, that while the Burmese remain Buddhists there is little probability of their ever establishing leper homes j but cannot we at home do something for the poor Rangoon lepers ~ The Mission to Lepers in India would gladly start a home in Rangoon j but their rapidly extending work and the increasing demands made upon them render it impossible for them to do so, unlesR they receive the· necessary funds. If they do open a home, it will do incalculable good, and once started, it wiII receive liberal support from the wealthy merchants, European and Asiatic, who reside in Rangoon. A proof of this has been already received, an English resident hearing of the proposed home having generously offered to give twenty acres of ground as a site for it. This offer, coming from a gentleman who resides in Rangoon, proves unmistakably that the great need which exists for such an institution is recognized in that city, and it will be a great pity if through want of funds no advantage can be taken of it. The home would be conducted on the same lines as the one which the Mission to Lepers in India support in Mandalay. That home was started by Rev. W. R. Winston, of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, who collected funds, and had the place built previous to his departure from the country on furlough. Upon his successor fell the duty of gathering in the first inmates, and this he did by going himself to their haunts and persuading them to enter the home. Now, knowing and thoroughly appreciating its advantages, they come in willingly, and at present there are over fifty inmates. A home at Rangoon would undoubtedly be as successful as the one at Mandalay. "
(Contributions for the above objects may be sent to Wellesley C. Bailey, Secretary and Superintendent of the Mission to Lepers in India, 17 Glengyle Terrace, Edinburgh, who will gladly give any information in his power.)
ANSWERED PRAYERS
ANSWERED PRAYERS.
BY MRS. MARIA J. BULLEN.
Rev. George Dana Boardman, who a year later became the first mission· ary to the Karens, in 1827 established himself among the Burmans of Moulmein, which had just previously come under English control. The Martaban River separated it from the province of Martaban, which was still Burman territory, and the resort of thieves and cnt-throats, from the opportunity it afforded of plying their infamous occupations. Armed companies of twenty or thirty would frequently go over to Moulmein and commit the most daring depredations, and even taking life when resisted, and destroying entire villages when found defenceless and unarmed. They had but to recross the river to be out of reach of the English.
Moulmein had been made the capital of British Burma, and Mr. and Mrs. Boardman were invited to make their home at headquarters, but they declined from a desire to have the freest intercourse with the Burmans. Mr. Boardman therefore built a frail dwelling on a spot which, however lovely, was very lonely, and to Jehovah he committed .himself and family for safe.keeping. In about a month they were visited at night by the dreaded robbers; but the Lord kept watch, and husband, wi£e ahd infant child were held in profound slumber. Not a hair of their head was touched, and no alarm of danger disturbed them, and so the danger passed.
George Dana Boardman, Jr., son of the missionary, at the age of six years was in a native rowboat on his way to the ship which was to bear him to the United States. He was in care of the missionaries Jones and Dcan; but the little company was attacked by brutal pirates bent on securing a box of letters stan.ding in the middle of the boat, which they supposed to contain treasures such as they were seeking. One of the boy's protectors was thrown overboard and the other, not so easily disposed of, received wounds with spear and cutlass. The poor child, hidden from sight behind a-bench, saw Mr. Dean reeling and bleeding on the bottom of the boat. Another blow from a fishing spear with barbed points penetrated the wrist, from which the heavy wooden handle was left hanging! A pale face appeared at the side of the boat, and Jones is dragged in, saved from the waves, but saved for what?
Was it a mother's prayers that made these fierce men stop their attack and by gestures explain their desires ~ The box was gladly given up to them, and the pirates left as suddenly as they came.
Great was the peril of Dr. Jacob Chamberlain, of the Arcot Mission, ,India, in a walled town in Hyderabad. The natives, in a rage at his telling of a different God from theirs, bade him leave at once. He replied that he had a message which he must first give; but they declared that if he should say another word he would be instantly killed. He saw them standing with a'rms filled with paving stones, and heard them say one to another, "You throw the first stone, and I will throw the next j" but he lifted his heart to Him who can subdue man's angry passions, and asked leave to "tell them a story," with the understanding that then, if they pleased, they might stone him.
It was the" old, old story" that he told them, beginning with the birth of Jesus. When he spoke of the cross, and explamed that the agony there suffered was for each one of them, they listened with wonder. Surely God was speaking through the words of the missionary. Their anger ceased j their hearts were touched j they threw down their paving stones. After telling of Jesus Christ's cry, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me~" of His resurrection and ascension to heaven, and of the glorious offer of ialvation for all, Dr. Chamberlain said he was done-now they might stone him. ~~ut he had nothing to fear, for those men, lately so infuriated, were weeping. They gathered around to buy his books, that they might read for themselves of these wonderful things.
Eugenio Kincaid, while descending the Irrawaddy, after an exploring tour in the northern part of Burma, found himself beset with dangers. Civil war prevailed, and bands of banditti were prowling about, robbing, burning villages, taking prisoners, and committing the most appalling deeds of violence. Kincaid, accompanied by four Burman boys who had been under h~s instruction, was in an open boat. At a certain village near the river he was told that his course would take him through a deep ravine where many robbers had their headquarters. He soon s~w a boat of armed men approaching, but the displaying of a musket which he carried, according to the order of the governor, sent the robbers back toward the ehore, and a second boatful was similarly repulsed. Soon, however, the ruffians returned, largely re-enforced j five or six boats came toward him at full speed, their armed occupants looking like fiends and uttering terrible yells. Mr. Kincaid's little crew was in abject terror, and surrender seemed his only course. When his assailants were within hailing distance, he spread out his hands, saying in Burmese, " Come and take all we have." "Sit down! sit down !" was shouted back, and thirty muskets were pointed at him. He answered that" he was a foreigner, and if they harmed him they would suffer for it, for he had been promised protection by the governor." His. words had no effect, and a shower of bullets fell about him. In a few moments these desperate fellows surrounded his boat. He was completely surrounded by steel points, and could not move without feeling the points of their spears. "But," he says, " God was with me. .• In these trying circumstances I lifted up my heart for protection."
Afterward his captors held a council to decide whether they would release him or take his life. At the close of the conference the youngest of the Burman boys came to him and told him the decision, that he was to be beheaded at sundown. As the hour approached the men fell into a dispute, and by their loud, excited talk Mr. Kincaid saw that they were not agreed as to his fate, to which he had resigned himself as the will of God. He took courage, however, and implored protection. The' robbers were on the point of fighting one another in their passion, but quieted down, and all of them, even to a man, departed to make a depredation on a neighboring village, and under the friendly cover of the night their prisoners, though weak and worn, escaped.
During Dr. Eugenio Kincaid's passage down the Irrawaddy he was again captured, and from the very outset treated in a brutal manner. He barely escaped being choked to death. His clothing was torn from him j but when his assailants began to tie his arms as he had seen Burman criminals tied, his brave spirit asserted itself, and he declared he would never be tied j he would resist it till death. The wretches grinned fiendishly, but let his arms remain free. Dragged to a certain spot upon the shore, he was told, if he valued his life, not to step outside a line which they drew around him in the sand. There for six days and nights he was left with no shelter from the hot sun or the night chill. One of his boys divided with him his waist-cloth, and occasionally Burman women passing to and from the river gave him a little food. His boatmen and three of his Burman boys contrived to escape, and the fourth was taken as a servant to a certain chief. Dr. Kincaid's distresses were heightened by the sight of the agonies borne by unoffending Burman women brought from plundered villages. During the sixth day he resolved to attempt an escape to the mountains, although the risk was very great, and discovery would bring instant death. He prevailed on one of the more humane robbers to restore to him his pair of breeches. Night came. His tormentors, after the excitement of the day, slept soundly. Their leader lay but twelve feet from him. Scarcely daring to breathe, Kincaid crept cautiously beyond the guards, and then made his way as fast as his enfeebled state would allow to the entrance of the jungle, and by noon had reached the mountains. He was two hundred miles from Ava. Stiff and weak, often burning with thirst and suffering the pangs of hunger, he was tempted to cease his efforts j but with a prayer to the Lord, he urged himself onward. On the fifth day he came across a man whom he had met before, and induced him to take him in his boat to Ava, where within a few weeks his Burman boys joined him, all feeling that their preservation was almost miraculous.
Bishop Culeridge Patteson was delivered many times from the h!mds of those who sought to take his life before he finally received his martyrcrown. For example, while on a tour, he landed on an island, and inquiring where the chief lived, the natives offered to conduct him thither. From their excited words, some of which he caught, and especially from their expressive gestures, he became convinced that they meant to take his life. He could do nothing in defence. God alone could protect him. Wishing to escape for a little from the burning sun, he entered a small hut. There, on bended knees, he pleaded for his life, adding, " Thy will be done." Knowing that his own soul was safe, he besought the Lord for the souls of these darkened ones. Then, rising, he calmly told the natives that he was ready.
God heard his prayer, granting him such peace and serenity of counte- nance as disarmed his foes. He heard them say, "He does not look like a murderer; he cannot have been a party tt') our brother's death, therefore we will not hurt him." And he received only kindness at their hands.
Nowhere has the offering of human sacrifices and the practice of can- nibalism been carried to such an extent as in Fiji, and consequently the attempt to evangelize its miserable natives was at great risk of life.
In 1839 Messrs. Hunt and Lyth, with their families, stationed them- selves on the island of Somosomo, one of the darkest spots in Fiji. It is hardly conceivable that a refined person could endure the horrid sights and sounds to which they were subjected. They soon passed through a terri- ble experience. During a time of great excitement, when many victims were slaughtered and prepared for their cannibal feasts in near proximity to t.heir abode, they were told that their turn would come. The savages became more and more insulting and defiant, and there seemed to be little reason to hope for escape from this dreadful fate. On a certain night it was felt that the end was near. How helpless they were unless the Al- mighty should interpose !
Mosquito curtains were hung around the room to hide the little band from brutal eyes that might peep through the reed walls, and they gave themselves up to prayer, determined that their enemies should find them on their knees. In continuous audible prayer hour after hour was passed, until wild cries from outside were heard, and " each voice was hushed and each head bowed lower. " But their prayers had been heard. These cries were a call to the savage women to join a dance. God's children again were spared by the interposition of Him who holds the hearts of all men in His hand.
In laboring among the Bechuanas of South Africa, Hobert Moffat at one time had nearly been the victim of their gross superstition. A terri- ble drought had continued so long that many cattle died, and human beings were forced to live on roots and reptiles. A renowned rain-maker was sent for, but his remedies had no effect. Then all, sorcerer and peo- ple alike, charged their troubles upon Moffat and his associate, Hamilton.
They said of these servants of God: "They bowed down their heads and talked to something bad in the ground. The clouds were afraid of their chapel bell, and when they did show themselves the missionaries looked at them and frightened them back."
At last a native council was held, and a chief and twelve of his men were sent to them. He met Moffat with his spear in his right hand, and declared that the missionaries should be tolerated no longer. "They might leave if they would, but if not, they should be put to death." .
Moffat, looking into the eyes of the savage, calmly said, " We are re- solved to abide by our post. . .. You may shed our blood or burn us out. . . . Then shall they who sent us know that we are persecuted in- deed." Mrs. Moffat stood by with her babe in her arms. Moffat threw open his waistcoat, and said, " Now, then, if you will, drive your spears to my heart." The Lord again heard prayer. The chief was confound- ed. He shook his head significantly, and said to his followers, "These men must have ten lives when they are so fearless of death. There must be something in immortality."
How many similar proofs of a Divine interposition might be gathered from the experiences of missionaries! Many and amazing as are the .re- corded answers to prayer, the unwritten history is far more wonderful.
IN'I'EItNA'I'IONAL DEPAR'I'MEN'I'
1I.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The Status of our Anti-Ohinese Legis- commission to arrange II new treaty. . lation. This the United States did not agree to. The only existing treaty, it would seem, [J. T. G.] then, was that of 1880, shutting out the Chinese till 1890, as no other treaty had We have lived long enough to hear been made. No other was ever made, openly challenged the declaration that hence it would appear that in 1890 we "all men are born free and equal." relapsed to the conditions of the Bur- The Burlingame Treaty with China lingame Treaty. recognizes the "inherent and inalienable rights of man to change his home But further, the treaty of 1880 proand allegiance, and also the mutual ad. vided that the Chinese then resident in vantage of free migration and emigra- the United States should" be allowed tion/of their (the United States and to go and come of their own free will China) citizens and subj ects respecti ve- and accord." In the face of this then ly from one country to the other for the existing treaty Congress passed the purpose of curiosity, of trade, or as per- well-known Scott Bill, excluding all manent residents." Charles Sumner, Chinese who were at that hour tem- William H. Seward, Edward Everett, porarily out of this country, thus wrong- Caleb Cushing, and other great states- fully and cruelly without any warning men of the times accepted, that as the cutting off from their business, propfundamental principle of reciprocity be- erty, or other rights, 20,000 Chinesecititween these two countries. That, too, zens under the treaty. we have seen relegated to the limbo of impracticable politics. In 1892 the infamous Geary Bill was passed, imposing humiliating condi- In 1880 a new treaty was made to the tions on such Chinese as ha.d right of effect that while Americans might come residence after all previous crooked and go ad libitum, no Chinese could legislation. They must after May 5th, eome here for ten years thereafter. 1892, be tagged, ticketed, branded. This treaty was honorably enough se- Fifty thousand, or three times that cured, albeit, as we formulated the number, as the case may be, must com- "eternal fitness" of the first treaty, it ply with what must often prove imposmust have amused the older statesmen sible conditions or be imprisoned and of China to observe that the" inalien- deported. able rights" rule would work both ways only for thirteen years. In 1882 an- It appears that, so far as the internal other restriction bill was passed, shut- regulations of our country go, a law is ting the gates of the country against all of equal authority with a treaty, and Chinese laborers who were unable to whichever bears the later date must be prove a residence in this land dating recognized as controlling; the later prior to the passage of that act. In abrogates the earlier the same as if they 1888 Secretary Bayard and the Chinese were of the same kind. But the law is Minister then at Washington agreed on not unconditional. The Supreme Court another treaty by which the immigra- has decided that the law, in order to tion of Chinese to this country was to abrogate a treaty, must not be arbitrary be prohibited for twenty years there- and unjust. " Arbitrary power, enforcafter. That agreement between the two ing its edicts to the injury of the perministers, the Chinese authorities re- sons and property of its subjects, is not fused to ratify, but instead asked for a law, whether manifested as the decree of a personal monarch or an imperial multitude," is the language of our high. ing with the Chinese, nor even the mis..
est tribunal. The law that substitutes sionary interests involved that concerns a treaty must be within limits set for the usjustatthis moment. It is rather that law-making power; it must not contra- the eternal principles of equity mayob- vene the supreme law of the land; it tain, and specially at an hour when we must be " constitutional." have the nations as our guests. For This is just the quality of our Chinese this let all good men pray.
legislation which is now called in ques- tion. It is said that the" six Chinese companies" have subscribed a large sum The Ohinese Question and International of money to test this-that is, to let this country say for itself what its law is Law.* which they are expected to obey. They say, "Our attention has not been called RY REV. GILBERT REID, CHINAN-FU, CRINA. to. any law which makes it a crime for us to advise our fellow-subjects that The three treatises on international they have a right to disregard a law law by Wheaton, Woolsey, and Sliintwhich is in violation of the constitu- schle have all been translated into Chitions and treaties. " And yet, stl'angely nese for the Chinese Government by a enough, there are people who talk of learned American (Dr. W. A. P. Martin), this action as rebellious because the who is the President of the Imperial Uni- Chinese do not first comply with the- versity in Peking and Professor of Interlaw, the authority of which they wish national Law. The Burlingame Treaty to test. That must look to a Chinese is also especially conspicuous for its laundryman like" flat irony." clear enunciation of the foundation principles of true international rela- But the situation is too grave for tionship. Our modern legislation, at satire. The time for registration of least on the Chinese question, falls far Chinese laborers under the act is May short of what we have taught in other 5th~ Very few have complied with it days. Let us specify a few points. at the time of this writing. The reqoirement that each should be photo- 1. Woolsey, in his "International graphed has been waived by Secretary Law," says, ,. No nation through its Carlisle as necessary before registry. public documents or. by its official per- By request of the State Department, Bons can with right reflect on the instithe Department of Justice will, on May tutions or social characteristics of an- 5th, cause a Chinaman to be arrested other, or make invidious comparison to under the provision of the law and taken its disadvantage, orset forth in any way before the Federal Court. The case will an opinion of its inferiority." This be advanced to the Supreme Court with- principle, it seems to me, has been glarout delay, and a decision is expected ingly violated by this Bill of Chinese before the summer recess. No less a Exclusion and Registration, making cerlawyer than Joseph H. Choate, of New tain uncomplimentary regulations for York, will argue the case for the Chi- certain foreigners, (1) because they are nese Government. The principllilegal Chinese, and (2) because they are labor. ers. That venerable and distinguished statesman of Massachusetts, Senator contention, it is said, will be over the aHernati ve of registry or deportation. • For a fuller presentation of this subject, in The denial of habeas corpus to Chinese its legal, commerCial, national, and missionary bearings, we refer to a pamphlet about to be isattempting to land in this country, and sued by Rev. Gilbert Reid (Warsaw, N. Y.). Mr. the penalty of imprisonment at hard R has been ten years resident in China. He is labor for unlawfully remaining here, the anthor of 8 small volume, "Peeps into will also be challenged. China," which contains fresh and desirable in- formation and sprightly diBcussion concerning It is not 80 much the injury to oor things in that country. Fleming H. Revell Comcommercial interests and national stand- pany, New York, will furni8h It.-J. T. G. Hoar, has said: " These measures not sence of international law and the mak.
only violate our treaty engagement with ing of treaties. Hence it is that China a friendly nation, but they violate the was induced during the Burlingame era principles upon which the American reo of friendliness to begin the policy of public rests, striking not at crime, not sending ministers and consuls to for· even at pauperism, but striking at hu· eign governments, as well as receive man beings because of their race nnd at those from other countries. Hence it laboring men because they 'are labor. was that earlier in its history, but by ers." The Act as passed again and advice of foreigners, China formed a I again refers to " any Chinese person or new office to deal with and consult about persons of Chinese descent," making no foreign affairs. The right of conference distinction between those Chinese who on matters pertaining to more than one are Chinese subjects and those who by country is too axiomatic to meet any de· birth are the subjects of some other fence. And yet in 1888, when the For.
country, as of Great Britain on the eign Office at Peking asked for further island of Hong Kong, or even those discussion of the treaty made that year who by birth are now the citizens of the between the two countries, but not yet United States. That. man is a marked ratified, President Cleveland deemed it man who hilS Chinese blood in his best to refuse that request, but signed veins, no matter to what government he the Act of Congress which placed greater may now be subject. As an English restrictions on the Chinese than even journalist in China bas said: "It is ob. the new treaty under discussion had de..
vious that no European country would fined. It was independent action rather learn with equanimity of the passage of than the conference of two contracting a law singling out its nationals for penal parties. As to the Act of 1892, Wool· legislation. " sey's words may apply: "No State can 2. Sir Robert Fillimore has deduced exclude the properly documented sub- from the principle of equality the right jects of another friendly State, or send of a government to protect its subjects them away after they have been once ad· resident in o~her countries, and it may mitted without definite reasons, which be laid down that a State has cause of must be submitted to the foreign govern- complaint if its subjects in foreign ment concerned."
countries are denied ordinary justice. 5. It is a principle of international The large portion of the Chinese in the law that treaties are a part of the su- United States are still the subjects of preme law of the land, subject only to China, and China, therefore, has a right the provisions of the constitution, and to complain at the partiality of treat. that they are binding on the contracting ment meted out to her people. parties from the day of their date.
3. International comity is another Woolsey. in his "International Law,"
duty of nations. "It embraces," says says : " National contracts are even more Woolsey," not only that kindness which solemn and sacred than private ones, emanates from friendly feeling, but also on account of the great interests in· those tokens of respect which are due volved, of the deliberateness with which between nations on the ground of right. .. the obligations are assumed, of the per- This principle of comity has been in. manence and generality of the obliga- fringed by the insult not only to the tions, and of each nation's calling, Chinese laborers, but the greater inter. under God, to be a teacher of right to national question of insult to the Chi. aU within and without its borders."
nese Government, passing a law against The opinion of a former attorney.gen.
certain subjects of China without regard eral is cited by the State Department as to the national feelings of China. follows: "Not to observe a treaty is to 4. International intercourse by means violate a deliberate and express engage· of international conference is the es· ment, and afford good cause of war. When Congress takes upon itself to dis- things should be notAd if a subsequent regard the provisions of any foreign act of Congress is to prevail over a prior treaty, it of course infringes the same in treaty, and what I here say is also based the exercise of sovereign right, and vol- on the Supreme Court: First, according untarily accepts the causus belli_" Such to another decision of the Supreme is the state, then, in which we find our- Court, if Congress may nullify a treaty selves placed as a nation by Congress, with a foreign power, the nullification in the exercise of its sovereign right, must be express, and not by implication. passing the two bills of 1888 and 1892_ But thus far neither Congress nor the Our treaties with China are broken, and executive has either expressly or impliedthereby one principle at least of inter- 1y abrogated the treaty with China. national law is trampled UpOll_ And hence the treaty is still in force, and not the suhsequent act of Congress. In my younger days of studying in. Secondly, an act of Congress cannot ternational law I learned all this, but pass as law and abrogate a prior treaty, only of late and as a result of studying if it is arbitrary and unjust, as the Suthis Chinese question have I learned of preme Court has also adjudged. 'Thirda modifying principle. Though it makes ly, as according to the Constitution, law rather too complex for an unpro- Article YI., Clause 2, all treaties, as fessional mind, it is still our duty to well as the constitution and laws of the state it as it is. The Supreme Court, United States, are the supreme law of in rendering its decision in 1889 on the the land, so any law which may be Scott Bill of 1888, said: "Although it proved unconstitutional cannot prevail must be conceded that the Act is in over a prior treaty. As the clause encontravention of express stipulationE of joins, the laws must he " in pursuance" the Treaty of 1868 and of the Supple- of the constitution to ,. be the supreme mentary Treaty of 1880, it is not on that law of the land." And this is what the account invalid or to be restricted in its Chinese, under advice of competent atenforcement. By the Constitution, la"s torneys, are wishing to test-viz., made in pursuance thereof and treaties whether the Act of 1892 is constitumade under the authority of the United tional and binding or not. For this States are both declared to be the su- reason the mass of the Chinese in the preme law of the land, and no para. United States are ignoring the regulamount authority is given to one over tions of that act. the other. In either case the last ex· pression of the sovereign will must con- Bnt whatever the outcome, this much trot" So Attorney-General Crittenden, is clear, that it is a lamentable caricain an opinion on certain legislation con- ture on our American civilization that flicting with the Treaty of 1819 with our national government shall even de- Spain, held that" An Act of Congress sire, to pass a law which may break the is as much a supreme law of the land as treaties and the principles of internaa treaty. They are placed on the same tional intercourse. Would it not be betfooting, and no superiority is to be ter, would it not be a sounder and more given to the one over the other. The honorable policy to seek the path of last expression of the law-giving power harmony, either by changing the law or must prevail; and a subsequent act revising the treaty, so that the law shall must prevail and have effect, though be in harmony with the treaty in accord inconsistent with a prior act ; so must with international law, and in pursuan act of Congress have effect, though ance of the constitution? inconsistent with a prior treaty.." What is the bearing of all this on It is not for one like me to argue the missionary work in China? The nummeaning of the law. I merely take it her of American citizens in China are for granted as the right and supreme de- second on the list, those from Great cision. But it seems to me that three Britain being the first- The numher, however, is a small one, being a little ing and estrangement, lind the suspicion over one thousand, both men and worn· of our bad intentions rather than a be· en. Of this number nearly one half are lief that we Americans are all 80 good.
mISSIonaries. Small though the num· Furthermore, there may well be a ber may be, it should not be forgotten ground of shame, to think that it reo that they are all representative men and quired a band of plain Chinese laborers women, delegated to their work by com· and laundrymen to bring our law·mak· petent religious bodies at home. The ers to terms, and that the Chine,se in work they are doing is also a represent. New York should have to raise $30,000 ative work, representing not only the to engage competent attorneys, and five hundred or more who are in China, prove· before the national Supreme but representing the Christian senti· Court that the bill passed by both ment of the people in America. This Houses of Congress and signed by the work thus organized likewise occupied, President is null and void.
as we have mentioned above, places of Suppose, however, that the law will influence, and in some cases strategic be carried into effect next May by or- points of China. Of the twenty.two ders of the Executive, and we shall be capitsls in China, and everyone a very called upon to witness a scene similar centre of influence, half of them are to the expUlsion of the Jews from Rus.
showing to.day the beneficent work of sia or their ancestors from Egypt, or our American missionaries. Already suppose, in a. milder way, the law will obstacles, persecution and riots, all only gradually be applied for the next much as anyone should desire, beset six months, all through the world·wide the work of the American missionaries, Exposition at Chicago, on till the Suo as well as those from other lands, and preme Court shall meet in October- need no additional impetus from the reo what then? We will find ourselves in action in China of our legislation at this position: the United States Con· home. gress can pas!! a bill abrogating a treaty; Whether th'l bill of Chinese Exclusion the Chinese Government will then de· will impair the lives and work of our cide that her treaties with the United missionaries in China, I regard only as States are invalid, and that she, too, a minor matter. The main question is has a right to make la.ws and issue or· one of justice and right. Still the ques. ders contrary to the treaties.
tion of security or peril is interesting Already something of this kind has to those here, as well as slightly so to occurred. According tl! the American our fellow.countrymen in China, I will Treaty of 1880, the same tonnage dues not attempt to prophesy wars, blood. or duties shall be granted to goods car· shed, or martyrdom, but content my. ried by American vessels as by the Chi.
self with plain facts. nese. Well, last autumn the Chinese Let us first suppose that the Chinese began to ship grain to Peking on the laborers, the Six Companies and their China merchants' steamers free of duty.
American attorneys, succeed in carrying under special permits from the Chinese a case to the Supreme Court in the authorities, while duty was still charged United States, and obtain the decision to the grain carried on English steam.
that the bill of May, 1892, is unconsti. ers. By the" favored nation" clause, tutional. This, it seems to me, will be the same favors accrue to England a.s to the probable result, if there can only be America or any other country. Lord the chance to have the case tried. Un. Rosebery, therefore, made a complaint der such circumstances the effect in to Peking on basis of our treaty of 1880.
China. will be nothing da.ngerous or The Chinese Government replied that startling, but none the less there will ex· for the present that treaty was broken ist in ma.nya Chinaman's breast ill·feel· and the right had lapsed. The Oritioisms on the Deoennial Oonfer- A small minority asked the privilege to withdraw the resolution for harmony, ence. lIS it WIIS not unanimously adopted. By We saw it alleged in an India paper a very narrow majority the Conference- some years since, that the India army many members not voting-finally al- was so decimated by disellSe superin- lowed the committee to withdraw it.
duced by vice that it was a serious ques- This action has subjected the Confer- tion whether it could be mobilized to ence to a great deal of grave criticism meet a great emergency. The remedy for lack of moral courage, and even as was sought in a legalized patronage and sympathizing with legalization of vice.
supervision of this vice in military can- By others it is blamed for vacillation, tonments. A great protest of the Chris- and by still others for merely stupidly tian sentiment in India and Great Brit- blundering in procedure. It has been ain resulted in an Act of Parliament asserted that it shows a decadence in dissolving this official connection with ancient missionary enthusiasm under sin. The India authorities have very the domination of "Brahmanized edu.
tardily, if to any important extent, car- cationalists who have ceased to be mis- ried out this decree of the nation. The sionaries." One British editor, who missionaries have in sections where the writes with warmth or does not write at military were quartered protested that aH, says the apology given for the with- great hindrance came to their work by drawal of the resolutions in the light of the presence of this legalization of vice. the Word of God" shrivels into some- All have felt the disgrace of a great thing worse than insignificance."
Christian government sustaining such The criticisms have been so sharp relation to impurity. and so widespread that the missionaries The Government of India carries on have lost no time in making clear their officially the culture of opium for ex- position in relation to the State regula- port, largely to China; and it is claimed tion of impurity. The first meeting of that the revenue from this opium cul- the Calcutta Missionary Conference, the ture is absolutely necessary to balance largest body of missionaries in the world the financial budget of the empire. The meeting regularly at short intervals, India Government has also a license passed a resolution setting forth that system of intoxicants which has many they bad always unanimously con- peculiarly obnoxious features. It fos- demned all State regulation of vice as ters instead of restrains ; forces instead carried on under the now abolished of represses their sale. Contagious Disease Acts, and protest- Itwas anticipated by many. that when ed against any continuance of the sys- the Decennial Conference convened it tem under the Cantonment Act, and re- would express its condemnation of these affirmed their view that the resolution offensive public acts of the Govern- of the British Parliament abolishing it, ment. But the Conference appears to in India ought to be carried out. The have decided not to pass any resolutions two conferences of the American Meth- on any subject Whatever, as it had no odists meeting in Bombay the week pre- power lIS a deliberative body. This vious had declared most positively caused great dissatisfaction, and an- against all three of these vices, and that other adjustment was had that all reso- is quoted as showing the missionary lutions be sent to the business commit- sentiment.
tee, who should present such as com- A great meeting outside the Decen.
mended themselves to their judgment. nial Conference to protest against A very strong resolution was presented opium culture, and traffic is pleaded to against State regulation of vice, which show the real sentiment of the mission- was passed amid loud applause-many aries personally on that subject. It is witnesses say by a vote of " silC to one." shown, too, that a great portion of the agitation against the three forms of vice largest, and in many respects, the fore.
in question has been fostered and led most missionary force of Protestant his.
by missionaries. It is said as an excuse tory.
for non·action by the Conference that It will be more profitable that we de.
the licensed impurity is confined to the vote our attention to their great thoughts military stations, and many missionaries, and ac'tion on the overwhelming oppor· as a consequence, know nothing of it as tunities and responsibilities of the hour an obstruction to their local work; the in India, where there is a condition of practice of opium.smoking is confined things which will not last. It is only within certain areas, too, and its evil is now that the chance of directing Whole not known to many missionary fields. masses and great movements is ours.
These and numerous other statements The lower classes in India will slough and apologies are found filtering through off from Hinduism whether we reach the Anglo.Indian and British press to them or not. They will go to Islam or offset the criticisms. It has even been something else, if not to Christianity.
also said that there was no consistency The upper and educated claflses cannot in the Conference condemning the Gov. remain Brahmans. What will they be ?
ernment while missions continued to reo That is of vital consequence. There is ceive money from the same in support of no reason to believe that the missionary their schools and colleges; the missions force on the field is incapable nor dere.
might better first quit themselves of the lict to duty. They are the best men we charge of being partic,eps criminis. can find. They must be criticised, if We have thus tried to state briefly needs be, but they must l;e trusted. '
lIome of the main features of this case, They deserve our confidence, and will because it is likely to be a subject of honor it. J. T. G.
controversy for SODle while to come, whether and to what extent the Confer- ence shirked its responsibility or mere· The Afro-Mala.gasy Sla.ve TrafBo.
ly blundered for lack of competent lead· BY J. BlIITISH BESIDENT IN MJ.DJ.G.llIC~.
ership under the pressure of its closing hours. There can surely be no neces· Lord Rosebery, at the request of the sity to defend missionaries from suspi. French Government, has issued instruc.
cions of lagging behind the moral sen· tions to the officers of the British navy timent of the age in the matter of social and the British consular agents in this impurity; we will not brook so much as country to in no way concern themselves the suggestion. But the missionaries with exercising a police control over the of India will realize afresh that they dhows of the various nationalities in the have to reckon with a public opinion waters of Madagascar ; in fact, notwith.
among their constituency at home. standing the right of search and seizure That the Conference ought either to of all vessels suspected of slaving in the have stuck to its original decision to waters of this eountry being specifically adopt no resolutions at all-which we stipulated for by Articles 16 and 17 of do not concede to be wise-or having the Anglo-Malagasy Treaty of 1865, his grappled with any form of evil should lordship, according to telegram to hand have gone straight to its mark, will, we here, .. has directed English ships and have no doubt, be the opinion of the the consuls not to search vessels of any Christian world. As it is difficult to flag in Madagascar waters. "
judge of motives and some personal This, in many ways, political as well prejudices at this distance, the proba· as philanthropio, is a very grievoUll bilities are that no more serious damage abandonment of those rights and privi.
will result than grief that an altogether leges the British Government were at regrettable affair marred the harmony pains, in the Anglo.French Convention of so important and noble a body, the of 1890 regarding Zanzibar and Mada· guoar, to reserve to England in their flying flags of different nations, and no entirety; and to avert the censure vessel would be allowed to fly the flag which, I haTe reason to know, is in cer- of any of the great powers without reg- tain qnarterll contemplated being pub- istration and a proper license. They lioly pronounced, at no distant date, on might thank the Government of France England's abandonment of her interest for having conceded what, for some in the suppression of the Afro.Malagasy time, appeared to a certain extent against slave·traffic, the attention of the Gov- their will-the right of search to all other ernment should be called to the spirit nations."
in which the Zanzibar.Madagascar Con- This being the spirit in which Eng- vention was ooncluded. land and France came to an agreement When placing the Anglo.French Con- upon Zanzibar and Madagascar, and this vention before the House of Lords, Lord being the spirit in which both Houses Salisbury stated: "We have taken the of the British Parliament regarded that opportunity on both sides not only to agreement, Lord Rosebery should recon- reserve all rights and privileges which sider his instructions for Her British all subjects of either country (England Majesty's representatives not to take and France) might have in either coun- part in the reduction of the slave traffic try (Zanzibar and Madagascar), but also in Madagascar waters. Under the lax to give the most explicit guarantee to surveillance of France the slave trade missionaries and missions, "nd of free· will assuredly increase with great rapid- dom of religious practice and religious ity, and then attention will be influen- teaching." And Sir J. Fergusson, then tially drawn to the matter, and when it Under-Secretary of State for Foreign is generally known that the increase is Affairs, said during the discussion Mr. due to England having for no purpose S. Smith raised on the convention in abandoned her treaty rights, Lord Rose.
the House of Commons, he thought that bery will be censured for not pursuing all might rejoice with them in what he that "continuity of Great Britain's considered to be the greatest step taken moral policy" which he has recently laid in the last half century toward the ex- such emphasis upon.
tinetion of that accu1"sed traffic (the slave·traffic). Following up the Act of Brussels, a blow had been struck at the The Opium Habit. slave trade in its developments and in its sources. BY BEV. "WILLIAM M. UPCRAFT, SUI-n, CHINA. The statement of Lord Salisbury makes olear that it was not his lord- The opium trade has been called Eng- ship's intention to abandon any British land's sin and China's curse. Both sin right or privilege. And the utterance and eurse it may prove itself to be to of Sir J. Fergusson makes evident that both nations yet, ere their hands are the facility which Anglo.French co- free from it.
operation would give for the extinction The present extent of the curse in of the slave traffic was one of the main China is alarming. but still increasing.
reasons Lord Salisbury had in signing The western province:! produce enough the convention regarding Zanzibar and for home consumption, enormous as Madagascar. Indeed, so strongly did that is, and yet leave a margin for ex· the anti-slavery reasons influence the port to other provinces.
House of Commons that, among other The vice has fastened itself upon all speakers expressing similar approval, classes and all ages. Recently the Mr. S. Buxton said, in the course of the writer was gnest with a responsible same discussion : "It was satisfactory mandarin, and through him was brought to find that careful supervision was into friendly acquaintance with several going to be uudertaken with regard to other officials and students, all of whom smoked the drug. and most of them The Rev. D. C. Gilmore, writing from quite heavily. the Baptist College a.t Rangoon, Burma, The earliest memories of many chilo says: dren, both at home among friends and "The Rnmw for September, 1892, at school, are of opium in its moat sedllc. under the caption' Prayer 1I6rBIU Pray- tive forms. er,' called our attention to the appoint- One of the moat alarming features ment by the Hindus of October 30th as now is the loss of conscience on the sub. a day of special prayer' to the Supreme ject. It is no longer a shame to smoke; Power, that the Hindu religion may be indeed, it is considered a ah·ame not to saved from its present degenerate posi.
smoke when all others are doing so, tion.'
much the same as it used to be consid· " In this connection the REVIEW sug· ered a want of tone in anyone who gested that' It would be a very fitting could not drink his share with the rest thing for the Christian churches of all when drinking was more common in the world . . . to set apart October Westem lands than is now happily the 30th as a day of special prayer for these case. Not to smoke is to be strange. religionists, that God would, in a way In the city of Sui·fu there are said to be they little intend or suspect, hear their over two thousand opium dens, and in cry and answer them.'
the smaller city of Luchow, thirteen "The Burma Bo.ptist Convention as· hundred such places are reported. sembled at Rangoon in October, 1892, To the question, "Do you smoke endorsed this suggestion, and the day opium?" one often gets the reply, .. Who was-to what extent I cannot say-ob- doesn't smok(l1" 0. counter.question tho.t served by the Christians of Burma. It is both reply and comment. was very fervently observed by the Why do they smoke? may be asked Christian students of the Rangoon Bap- o.nd may be answered in 0. sentence-the tist College. It was a beautiful sight to moral deterioration of the people com- see Karen, Burman, and Shan disciples bined with the seductive cho.racter of the (some of whom were themselves converts habit. It begins in play, it ends in grim from heathenism) uniting in prayer on earnest. There is a growing fascina- behalf of the heathen on the other side tion in the way it is taken-this subtle of the !lay of Bengal.
drug. The smoker lies down to it- " But what I particularly want to say bliss in itself to an Oriental. Such a is that one of our heathen young men, position o.ffords an opportunity for the the subject of much prayer, who is now gossip the Oriental lo,es. The opium applying for baptism, says that he was becomes 0. pet to him, he fondles it with led to seek the Lord by the exercises of his fingers, heats it over the tiny lamp, that day of prayer for the Hindus. Our its fumes enwrap him, and finally send prayer for the Hindus of India has been him off to slumber and dreams. answered by the conversion of a Bud.
And who shall measure thll damage dhist in Burma. The hoy ascribes his wrought by this facile agent for suicide change mainly to the long.continued in.
-they can commit suicide and yet die fiuence of Christian schools, but says decently and po.inlessly ! that that day of prayer was the tuming To the lack of adequate medical at· point,"
tendance and accurate medical skill may be traced the large use of opium. Opium THE GAlIOS IN ASILUI.-The Bev.
also is a panacea to a people whose E. G. Phillips writes a note, saying: medical faculty is in the barbarous con· " The state of spiritual life in the na- dition of that of Europe in the dark tive Church in our field is very encour.
ages. The destruction by opium is an aging. The first two of the Garo tribe added plea for the quick evangelization were converted thirty years ago. They of Chiua. begall work among their people, !!oud four years later 40 converts were bap- schools, 240 scholars. The heathen at· tized and a missionary located among tendanta on public worship number them. Since then the growth has been 5790.
steady, until now there. are about 2500 "The Rev. J. W. Mackenzie and wife, communicants, and there have been of the New Hebrides Mission, &fter a probably 4000 baptisms on profession sojourn of several months in New South of personal faith. The work is moving Wales, left in improved health on Feb- on with increasing momentum, and ruary 15th for their work in the illiands.
promises in the near future to bring in They have been for 20 years among the the whole tribe. More than 700 were natives of Ef&te, and have a Christian baptized during the past year. The people around them. Mr. Mackenzie great part of the churches are self.sup- has carried a new school primer and portiJlg in the matter of finances, church hymn.book through the press in Syd.
discipline. and to an encouraging de. ney. There are 80 hymns in the collec- gree in aggressive church work. The tion. He has also reprinted a first cate.
standard of church life is maintained at chism, after the one prepared by the a higher point than in many parts of Rev. John Geddie. There is a cate· Christian lands. chism on geography also in the volume.
.. The Garos are demon.wcrshippers- "The Rev. Joseph Annand, M.A., and one of the many animistic races in wife have been in Tasmania for their Northeast India. Their universal and health before returning to the New constant practice of animal sacrifice Hebrides."
makes them, I believe, specially sus.
ceptible to the teaching of the Atone- Our editorial correspondent, Rev. Al. ment." bert L. Long, D.D., of Robert College, has received from Prince Ferdinand of NEW GUINEA..-Rev. Dr. Steel writes Bulgaria the cross of Commander in the from Sydney: Bulgarian National Order of Civil Merit. An exchange says: " The Rev. James Chalmers has got a steam launch for the Fly River Mission. " It is a much·coveted mark of distinc. It haa cost £1220, raised in Australia. tion. This is the second Bulgarian The Rev. W. G. Lawes, of the London decoration he has received. In both Missionary Society, is soon to return to cases they were conferred without no· New Guinea with the printed New Tes· tice. The first waa from Prince Alexan. tament .in the Motu language. There der, the cross of a commander in the are now 5 European stations of this so· Order of Saint Alexander, an order in. ciety under 6 missionaries. There are stituted by him as a mark of apprecia- tion of special services rendered the national cause. The second is the new order instituted by Prince Ferdinand."
80 other stations. The native teachers from Christian Islands of Polynesia are The Free Churoh of Scotland Monthly 50, and no less than 30 native Christians says: "Dr. Pierson haa been delivering of New Guinea are now teachers. There to large audiences in Edinburgh and are 500 church.members-baptized on Glasgow the Duff Missionary Lectures. profession of faith in Christ. There are The subjects chosen were those with 3000 in attendance at the various which the lecturer had already a special schools. Besides the New Testament acquaintance, and his handling of them printed in the Motu language, gospels was eloquent in a high degree. They or portions of Scripture have been print. will read well, and his book when it is published will certainly prove to be the most popular of the series. ", ed in five other dialects.
"The Wesleyan Mission in New Unoccupied mission territory: to the Guinea has 4 ordained missionaries, 1 extent of 4,000,000 square miles still ex· lay missionary 2 lady missionaries, 26 ists in Central Africll-an area larger teachers, and 1 local preacher. There life ~ Cbllrches, 44 cqmmqnicants, 8 than the whole of Europe. So says Rev. George Grenfell, of the Baptist Congo Mislljon,
DEPARTMENT OF CHRISTIAN El!IDKAVOl. 453
III.-DEPARTMENT OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR.
CONDUCTED BY PBOFES80R AKOS R. wmJ.B.
The "First Young People's Memorial ahout six weeks. The course is to be Churoh," whioh Lutheran young peo- obtained, free, and without collections ple are endeavoring to build at San at the meetings, on condition that all Diego, Cal., has obtained from them churches with Christian Endeavor soci- nearly half of the $5000 desired. Only eties in the town petition for the oourse ; 166 Lutheran young people's sooieties, that local missionary societies co-oper- however, have yet oontributed, and 140 ate ; that the Sunday when the address of these are Chril!tian Endeavor soci- is given be made a misaionary field. day, eties. As there are about four hundred pastors preaching missionary sermons Christian Endeavor sooieties in the in the morning, miBBionary workers General Synod branoh of the Lutheran holding a conference and prsyer semee Churoh, it would seem that the SU0088S in the afternoon, and 8 union m……. of the undertaking is essily assured. meeting being held to listen to the ad- The Presbyterian Board of Foreign dress in the evening; that full preBB Missions sends out a ~onthly state- notices be given before and after; and ment. For Maroh this statement that travelling expenses and entertain- showed oontributions from Presbyterian ment be furnished the speakers. This Christian Endeavor societies to the seems to be one of the most praotical amount of $3582.67. For Maroh, 1892, and valuable of the many devioes fOr the Bum received from the BaID.e souroe the popularization of missionary.intelwas $1639.22. This is a gain of $2043.- ligenoe that the Christian Endeavor 45, or 132 per oent! From May 1st, movement has brought into use. 1891, to Maroh 31st, 1892, Christian Dr. Clark fell in with forty Christian Endeavor oontributions to this board Endeavor ~ooieties in India, only about were$6628.25; during the same months ten of which had ever been-reported to of 1892-93 they were $12,710.06 ; a gain the Boston seoretary. This is certainly of $6081.81, or 91 per oent. The board indicative of a general condition of made gains in receipts from Sunday- affairs, and there are undoubtedly schools, legacies, ohurches, and wom- many more Endeavor societies in the en's boards, bnt no gain was anything world than ever appear in the annual like the gain shown by these figures. report of Secretary Baer.
The nlinois State Christian Endeavor The Methodist Christian Endeavor Union, through the efforts of that ar· Society at Allahabad, India, is quite dent missionary worker, Mr. S. L. Mer- suooessful in enlisting in its ranks the shon, of Evanston, has set on foot a British redcoats. Of course this soldier plan which will be adopted, we hope, element is a fluctuating quantity, 8JI the by every Christian Endeavor union in troops are moved he.re and there, but it the world. It is a" missionary exten. is a noble work that this society is thus sion course," and has been prepared in doing. Every aotive member in this connection with the various denomina- sooiety may be depended upon to offer tional boards. Eight or nine promi- public prayer. nent and entertaining speakers have The Christian Endeavor society in been secured. Mr. Torrey is among Bombay, India, is so large that it is dithem. Their subjects will all be mis- vided into four divisions, each of which sionary. Twenty·five places will be is really a separate sooiety. carefully chosen as strategetioal points The Christian Endeavor society of throughout the State, and these leo- the Blockley Baptist Church of Phil,,- tures will be given there at intervals of delphia has established what is called a "propagation committee," which is The president of the New South Wales planning to hold evangelistic services Union writes as follows about the prog.
Sunday afternoons during the sum- ress of the Christian Endeavor move- mer. ment in Australia: "There has been The pastOr of the Christian Church steady progress-more especially among of Lawrence, Ran., was absent for a the Wesleyan denomination-from a month leading a missionary revival in dozen to twenty new .societies being re- another town. During this month his ported each month. The spirit of en- pulpit was occupied Sunday evenings thusiasm is ever on the increase, and by young men from his Endeavor so- devotion to ollr movement becomes ac· ciety, and their ministrations met with centuated every day."
much suooess. Here is an idea.that many a Christian The extensive arrangements for the Endeavor society might carry out for International Christian Endeavor Con- the benefit of some missionary worker vention, to be held in Montreal, July and the cause in general. Rev. E. P.
5th-8th, are well under way. Among Holten, of the Madura Mission in the speakers already secured are Dr. southern India, has a camera, which Cuyler, Dr. Chapman, the Canadian was given him by an Endeavor society Minister of Finance, Dr. Henson, Dr. in Hanover, Mass. This camera he Hoyt, Dr. Burrell, Bishop Arnett, Hon. uses in making pictures of natives and W. C. P. Breckinridge, and many an· of Indian scenery, which he sends back other famous Christian preacher and to the home churches to arouse interest scholar. Two great meetings will be in missions.
held simultaneously, in a hall that will . The Endeavor society in the girls'
seat nine thousand and a great tent boarding school of Madura petitioned that will seat eight thousand. their teacher to allow them to go with.
An excellent Christian Endeavor so- out cocoanut meat in their curry, in or· ciety exists in the Methodist Church in der that they might have something to the historic city of Lucknow. India. give to missions. When it is remem- Two strong Christian Endeavor soci- bered that the girls live on rice and eties are also found in the great Dhur- curry, and that cocoanut is the most amtallah Street Methodist Church of delicious and highly prized ingredient Caloutta. of their curry, the extent of their self- Christian Endeavorers everywhere denial can be understood.
have met a severe loss in the death of a The weekly reports of the workers noble and beautiful man, Rev. A. C. and committes of the Endeavor society Hathaway. Mr. Hathaway was the of Madanapalle, India, are very inter.
ohief promoter of the Christian En- esting. At a recent meeting that Dr.
deavor movement among the Friends, Clark attended, John Yesuratnam re- and was the president of the Friends' ported that, with four others, he had Christian Endeavor Union. preached the Gospel, within two weeks, A Christian Endeavor society has to six huudred people in seventy differ· been formed in the American Church ent villages. Lazarus Marian had start- of Paris, France, whose pastor is Rev. ed a Sunday-school with one hundred Edward G. Thurber, D.D. and twenty members. J. P. Timothy Here is one good result of the Chris- and others had preached the Gospel on tian Endeavor self·denial week of this the railway trains, going from one com- year. The president of a certain Dli- partment to another, as the trains nois society was a confirmed user of stopped at different stations. The cars tobacco. For that week, as hili self- on the Indian railways are built on the denial, he neither smoked nor chewed English compartment plan, and the the weed, and as a result has deter. Hindoos ride. for the most part, in the mined never again to touch it. third·class cars, which are usually crowded. Twenty.five workers from 'Glad are we to Bee you, the society, on the previous Sunday Glad are we to sea you, evening, with a magic lantern, musical Glad are we to see you, instruments, singing, etc., had proclaimed the Gospel to three hundred Glad are we.' people in Madanapalle. The total for the week showed that eleven hundred In front of them was another whitepeople had been reached by about forty robed procession from the girls' school ; members of the society. and they, too, took up the strain- Rev. W. I. Chamberlain, of the Arcot 'Glad are we to see you, (Dutch Reformed) Mission in India, Glad are we to see you,' etc. told Dr. Clark that on one occasion, being asked to show his magic-lantern Thus all the way to the bungalow pictures, he threw them on the white marched these singing youths and wall of a new Hindoo temple which was maidens. Was ever a welcome more being dedicated. So interested were cordial or more unique? Our full the auditors that the dedication services hearts responded, though we conld not were deserted, the· interior of the tem. sing it so well as they, ' Glad ar& we to pIe was emptied, and the priests them- lIee you, dear Endeavorers of Madana. selves, with a throng of hundreds of palle.' For this was the famous sooiety Hindoos, stood for an hour, with won- of the Arcot Mission, a pioneer of Chrisder and interest, while he explained tian Endeavor in India." the story of the crOBS. Perhaps many missionaries in India and other lands, At the decennial missionary confer. if provided with so attractive a sermon ence held in Bombay, India, last De. adjunct, could be as much helped there- cember, the Christian Endeavor Society by. Here is a hint to our societies at received many Warm commendations home. from the speakers, who had tried it, and found it admirably adapted to the Here is Dr. Clark's account of the needs of the young converts. way the native Christian Endeavorers of Madanapalle; India, received him, In four denominations Christian Enas his party approached the mission deavorers are now engaged in raising about nine o'clock in the evening: money to build "Christian Endeavor "When we were within a quarter of a mission churches" under the direction mile of the gate three white figures sud· of their denominational boards. The denly started up from the roadside, fifth denomination to set its Christian peered eagerly into the carriage, and Endeavorers to doing this work is the then started off at a 2.40 pace for the Congregation·al. They wish to raise, mission compound. A little further, from the Congregational Christian En. three other little ghosts suddenly ap- deavor societies of the country, $7000 peared, gazed into the carriage, and for the Philips Church, in Salt Lake were off like the wind. ' They are City. This was the first church (now looking to see whether we have all existing) founded by the New West come,' says our missionary friend, 'so Education Commission. as to give the signal.' Another two minutes, and we hear the mission bell Here is the Sunday programme of one ring out, and when the bullocks turn Christian Endeavor society in France: in at the gate of the mission compound, Church in the morning ; an afternoon a few minutes later, two score of white- service; Sunday-school; Chrstian robed figures, Telugu boys from the Endeavor meeting; then in the even. school. are arranged on each side, sing- ing half of the society holds a service ing melodiously, in good English and in the McAIl Mission braneh, while the with all their hearts and lungs- other half, under the leadership of a young lady, a converted Catholic, con_ ducts the evening service in the church.
The Christian Endeavor society in Monastir, Macedonia, gave its seU-de- nial week collection tQ a struggling church in Bulgaria.
EDITORUL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The following letter is one out of many whom the Lord has blessed both many which cause the editors no little perplexity. From the outset we have with the means and with the heart to been seeking to furnish the REVIEW at a give who will gladly joi,n in this goOd nominal rate, or entirely free, to all stu- work. A. T. P. dent volunteers for mission fields who were unable to payfor it, and for a time Death of Dr. Mitohell. our friends have helped us by donations given for this special purpose. For The death of Dr. Arthur Mitchell, t!le every dollar sent us we have, at one.half able and honored Secretary of the Presprice, sent the REVIEW to such students. byterian Board of Foreign Missions, The demand, however, has been so great which occurred in Saratoga, N. Y., on and the fund for this purpose so ex- April 24th, is felt as a great personal bausted that we can no longer cope with loss to the editors of the REVIEW. In the claims of these young men. One of Dr. Mitchell the cause of missions 108.,s the editors has paid for a large number a warm friend and able advocate. The of the REVIEWS thus sent to students. news of his death will be the occasion But unless some benevolent friends of great sorrow. shall give help, this important part of the missionary sernce of the REVIEW Ths Finding of Bishop Hannington's cannot be maintained. And it is our Remains. persuasion that the fact needs only to be known that such applications from Important letters were received from students far outrun all the means at our disposal to elicit both sympathy and Bishop Tucker up to December 18th aid. Any contributions, large or small, sent for this purpose to the editors or last. The most interesting part of them publillhers will be acknowledged on the cover of the REVIEW. refers to the discovery of Bishop Han.
The letter referred to reads as fol- nington's remains: lows: Mumiya's, December 9th,1892.-To. .. DEAR DB. PmBsoN : There are 110 day we came on to a still larger and more populous town, Mumiya's. Our student volunteers who are scattered arrival was expected, and so there were great crowds of people with heavy bur· over the English and Scotch universi- dens of food standing ready to greet ns. I went at once to Bee the chief Mumiya ties, and who are willing to take the -a young man of great intelligence. After talking some time with him, it MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD at struck me that he must know something about Bishop Hannington. Accordingfour shillings (one dollar) and postage ly, I introduced the subject. He knew in a moment to whom I referred, and extra. The names were sent to Messrs. spoke of his· having lost a thumb. He told me that he begged the bishop not Funk & Wagnalls, but they reply that to go through Busoga, but that he said it would be all right, and he would the fund for this purpose is entirely ex- reach Uganda safely. I asked if he knew where the bishop'S remains were hausted, and the REVIEW' cannot be fur- buried. He told me in reply that he knew nothing about it; that Mr. Jack. nished at that price without positive son had brought them, but that they had been carried on to the coast. Of loss to tbe publishers. May I ask your course I knew that this was not so, and being convinced .that I was somewhere ~dvice? near the spot, I pressed my question further, but without avail. While.I was [Signed] "L. B." talking to the chief. a young man came np who had been with the bishop on his The editor replied, assuming ihe re- fatal journey through Busoga. This sponsibility for whatever is lacking in man said the chief was with him when the price, that these 110 young men might have the REVIEW. But, as already intimated, he feels confident there are he was killed. I then entered into con- was at s considerable angle. The lid also had been broken. The people had versation with him, and tried to get evidently suspected that something had been buried under the 1l00rof the house, some information out of him. with refer- and my idea is that, believing it to be ence to the place of burial. The re- ivory, they had made an attempt to get mains, Mr. Jackson told me, had been at it. There was no doubt whatever as to identification. We sent for a ooverplaced by himself in an iron box. The ing from the camp, in which the box containing the remains was wrapped. young man told me very much the same Dr. Baxter and I then quietly and rev- erently carried it between us. We took 8S the ohief. Now comes the strange it to my tent, and there left it for a time, closing up the tent so as to stop.my part of the story. I had bidden the idle ouriosity. Mr. Fisher kindly gave me a long tin.lined box, as it was quite chief good-by and had nearly reaohed impossible to remove the remains in the old one. Dr. Baxter assisted me in the oamp when this young man of whom the solemn duty, and then. with a lin. ing of some sweetly scented grass that I have spoken came up to me very quiet- reminded us of the dear home land, we two alone in my tent laid all that WilS ly, and wh·ispered that he knew where left of the dear bishop in the new case.
the remains were-that they were actu. Sunday, December 11th. -We had a very solemn service of oommunion this mornally in Mumiya's village, having been ing, and in prayer for the Church mili- tant specially thanked and praised God buried by Mr. Jackson under a lloor of for His servant, Bishop Hannington, whose earthly remains were with us in a house. He declined, however, to show camp. All in the party were deeply touched, and, I feel sure, have been me the house himself, but said, "There drawn nearer to God by the affecting events of the last day or two. I hope is a man here who was with Mr. Jack- to carry the bishop's remains to Mengo, and with the Churoh's service to bury son, and he will show you the place." them there-the fittest place, it seems to me, for them to await the resurrec- On reaching my tent, I sent for this man tion morning.
at once, and he told me quite freely that Our sympathies are extended to the he knew the spot, and would take me to American Baptist Missionary Union in it. I set off immediately with him, in its losses by the late fire which oon- company of Dr. Baxter, and he took sumed Tremont Temple. We under- us without hesitation to the place. stand that the Missionary Union's .. Here " said he "abisouttheeigshptoe~tn" point- Museum, collected through forty years, ing to'; little bush inches was totally destroyed. That is an irrep. high. I looked around and could see arable loss. Another museum may be traces of the house, which had fallen oolleoted, but there were articles in that, into ruins, and had been taken away. such as Felix Carey's First Burmese It was a solemn moment to us, standing Grammar, a perfect copy. Although as we were by the grave of Hanning- the permanent records were preserved ton, murdered seven years ago. There by the fire-proof vault, yet the loss of is no doubt that in a very little while all the temporarily exposed correspondall trace of the actual spot would have imoe and doouments is more than an been lost, as the people had begun to inconvenience. The offices are at 2 A cultivate the ground about it. As you Beacon Street. Boston.-J. T. G. know, this was not the place of the Pocussing Our Missions, bishop's death, for he fell in Busoga, A suggestiou has been made by Mr. seventy or eighty miles away. The most Hunter, of Liverpool, for awakening appropriate spot for the resting.place of greater interest in the foreign mission the remains seems to be either in Buso- ga, where he died, or in Uganda, which he longed and tried so bravely to reach.
I think the difficulty of laying them in BUioga will be very great. Even if they were buried there, it would be scarcely possible to raise any permanent monu- ment to mark the spot. After consider- ing the whole matter most carefully, I think the proper resting-place will be in Ugimda. At 6.30 this morning, with six men, I commenced the search. The men dug very industriously for an hour and a half, but the deeper they dog the harder the ground seemed to get. We then de- termined to try a few feet further away.
Soon it became quite clear that there had recently been a disturbance of the earth, and we became very hopeful. In half an hour more our efforts were suc- eessful. and the top of the box was dis- covered. But it had evidently been disturbed since it was plaoed there hy Mr. Jackson. Instead. of lying list, it field, and one which, if not original, Mission Board sees fit to do this, in has at least the merit of going into de· order to aid the movement, and, I hope, tails. Recognizing the fact that the gen. give an impulse to others, I propose to erality of people think in the concrete bear the cost of the salary of an addi- tional evangelistic missionary. While rathet: than in the abstract, it is pointed I do not bind myself formally, it is my out that there is very little to take hold intention, if the Board accepts my offer, to continue this contribution yearly of them in the vague expression, "our during my lifetime.
missions in China." It would be other- I also venture to suggest whether the wise, however, if they were personally Board should not either directly, or through the Synod, make an appeal to acquainted in some fashion with one or' our congregations and to our wealthier other of the missionaries out there. As members to become responsible for the we have about fifty missionaries and salaries of missionaries in any of our about three hundred churches here, the fields they choose to select, so that the number of our staff may be greatly inproposal is that each missionary should creased. be allocated to the care of a group of six I am, yours very truly, churches. By a diary and correspond- DUNCAN MoLAREN.
ence from time to time he could keep the home churches posted up in his Rev. Dr. Townsend, of Birmingham, work, and they, on the other hand, would England, in his article on .. Comity and be more likely to take a personal interest Co-operati~n in Missions," in the May in the man and his labors than they do number of the REVIEW, says that" one now. crying want of our mission enterprise ill an organ somewhat resembling the MIS- The suggestion is one which has long SIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD, issued been in practical operation in Scotland, in New York, or on the plan of the Rewhere Church or Sunday-schools have view of Reviews, which shall be pan-mis. taken some little dusky child for their sionary in its scope, catholic in its protege – even at times to the nam- spirit, wherein news of all missions can ing of it. A scheme of this kind can al- be reported, plans of extension disways rely on finding a good basis in cussed, candid criticism indulged in, human nature; let us imbibe or stand and fresh enthusiasm kindled in the for what principle we may, the personal heart of the Church. It should become element will always command the great- the most popular magazine of the day ; est interest.
An Exa.mple to be Followed. certainly none would be able to com- pete with it for freshness, romance, or We publish a letter from one who has inspiring power." himself visited many of the mission fields of the East, and knows from ex· Just what our brother here recomperience that foreign missions are not mends the editors have sought to ac- "a failure." We earnestly wish that complish in the REvrEW. We design it his noble example might be far more to be pan-missionary in scope, catholic widely followed. in spirit, and a magazine wherein news of all missions may be reported, plans ST. OSWALD'S, EDINBUllGH, February 27, 1893. of extension discussed, and problems considered. Dr. Townsend could not Secretary of U. P. Mission Board: DEAB MB. BUCHANAN: .The cheering have better outlined our plan from the tidings received from Manchuria as to beginning, and all we need is hearty cothe large number of persons who have applied for baptism, showing the mar· _operation to make this magazine supply vellous progress of the Gospel in that the very place which this programme land;must convince all that the number proposes. We shall welcome any con- of converts is limited only by the num- triblltions under any of'the departments ber of missionaries in the field. It seems to me, therefore, the hounden he mentions, and any requests or sugduty of our Church to increase the staff gestions we will give attention to as far of our agents year by year, and if the ali lieil ill. our power. A. T. P. The Afrioa·Malagasy Slave Traffic. motion of alarm. .' The Malagasy Church," he says, .. has passed through L. M. S. COLLEGE, ANTANANARIVO, two seasons of great trial; out of both of these it has come both stronger and MADAGASCAR, January 17, 189a. better. I do not desire further troubles for it-very far from this; but if they To the J!)Jitor of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW: come again I do not fear them; if only the Malagasy Christians remain firm in SIB : May I, as II. Madagascar mission. their faith in Christ, then all will be well. I believe, not as part of a lifeless aaryl~tctaelrl*thoef attention of your readers to creed. but as the expression of a living a British resident in this truth in the words: ' Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the country, which appears in yo~r pres.ent Lord of Hosts.''' Mr. Clarke writes like one who knows his God and knowllHim oisfsuthe~ referring to the certam reVival too well to fear diplomatic intrigue or slave trade from Africa into this the menacing power of the oppressor. Faith's stillness, or, as some may call island if the extraordinary instructions it, weakness, is greater strength than the might of kings, or, as we should of Lord Rosebery on this subject are al. here say, repUblics.
lowed to go unchallenged by I'arliament "An AmeDican missionary, writing from Arcot, in India, says that the and the country. Church has two missionaries, of which it takes little account namely, the bicy· Is it really the fact that a Liberal Gov. cle and the magic lantern. The former, 'over the admirable roads so largely ernment is going, not only to give up found in India, makes short tonrs, and even long ones, rapid and easy, and is all British interests in this island to the much used by the younger missionaries. Of the other agency, large use is made tender mercies of a French protectorate, in many places.' " -Pree Church Monthly.
but also to abandon the long.continued The Church of England London Mis. sion is now under an eclipse, being at honor England has had of protecting present without a single representative. The" Appeal for Men," issued in April the Rlave? last, has not met with a response. Since then Dr. Battersby has been I am, yours faithfully, obliged to relinquish the work for the third time and has no hope of being JA)'IES SIBBEE, able to return; and Mr. Eric Lewis, amid general regret, has felt obliged to Missionary of the L. M. 8. sever his connection with the society.- British Notes. The Church Intelligencer for February contains several interesting items from BY REV. JAMES DOUGLAS. Archdeacon Wolfo's journal. Tho ex· tracts relate to visits made in connection 'From copies of the Madagascar News with the Fuh-Kien Mission. The follow. which have come to hand. we find ing case of conversion, one of many cit· that the missionaries are being raked ed, we give iIi condensed form. A shop. by two fires. Mr. Henry E. Clarke, missionary in Antananarivo, in a let. ter thml de~cribes the case: "The Par. is papers blame us for not being neu· tral. The Madagascar News, on the other hand, has for months been writ· ing at us for being neutral and for reo fusing to leave our neutrality. Poormis· sionaries I How hard to please every. body-nay, we please neither side I"
In reply the Madagascar News says, in effect: " What the missionaries now feel we foresaw and forewarned them of. We knew that their Christian·like resig. nation to what the future has in store will not save the Protestant Church of Madagascar if France enforces her pre. tensions on the Malagasy."
A strong case may apparently be made out for both sides of this question. Faith's power is often more seen in quiescence than in agitation or in what may even look like heroic measures. Mr. Clarke evidently believes in the repose of faith and in stilling the storm by believingly stifling the first • Page 449. keeper of the age of fifty who had made As noted in the columns of the Daily some money and retired was robbed Telegraph, reports have reached London one night of nearly all that he had. It from Mr. Hill, the archbishop'S com- was then, in the providence of God, he missary to the Niger missions, and heard for the first time of the riches 'bishop.designate of that district in suc- that never fail, and he was led by God's cession to Dr. Samuel Crowther, stating infinite mercy and grace to fix his heart that the native Church demands a sec- on these treasures, and at once became ond negro bishop, but will compromise a regular attendant at the church. upon a division of the see with one Eu- Wondering at the fact, now to him ropean and one African prelate. The strange, that he had not heard of these archbishop'S decision is not yet given, things hefore, seeing that Christian and the equally vexing problem con- teachers had been at work in those cerning the bishoprics of Maritzburg parts for many years, he began to go and Natal is still unsolved.
ahout among his neighbors and seek out the ears that were willing to hear the Mr. Eugene Stock, in the Church Mis- precious news of the unsearchable. sianary Gleaner for February, in a paper riches. As a result, several families, entitled" A Month in New Zealand,"
both inside and outside the city, have gives the following summary concerning been won over and are now in attend· the natives of that island: .. Less than ance on the means of grace, their faces forty thousand Maoris remain in New set Zionward. Zealana. Of these the great majority are quiet, professing Christians. About Archdeacon Wolfe, commenting on half belong to the Church of England, St. James's description of the little memo and about llalf the rest are Wesleyans ber, says: "No one who has not lived or Roman Catholics. The remaining in a heathen, country and mixed freely fourth represent the semi-heathen sec- with heatht"n and understanding what tion that either fell away or had never this tongue utters, can have any concep. been brought in."
tion of the vile, filthy, and atrociously abominable language which this little, The Rev. T. Harding, a Church of vile member can give expression to, es- England missionary, has supplied a pecially when brought into play by most interesting account of a preaching heathen women; and it is one of the tour in the Yoruba country, Western surest signs of conversion when the Africa, a stronghold of th'e most degrad- tongue has been' tamed' and its vile ed heathenism. He has evidently taken habits cleansed and purified. It is up the work of missiolllzing these peo- often the case," he observes, "that ples with. both hands and an ellrnest Christians suffer great losses because heart, and has done something, as it they cannot give license to the tongue; seems to us, considerable in breaking and the heathen knowing this, take ad- up the fallow ground. He has utilized vantage of it to harass and defraud them the magic lantern with great effect and of their property." A case is instanced taught gospel truth by eye and ear to of a man who justified his heathenism large multitudes. He says, "Without on this ground. All the members of exaggeration, I have taught thousands the family were Christians but himself ; of people to pray, •Jesus, Son of God but he frankly told the missionary it and Saviour of the world, save me ; for- would never do for no one in the family give me my sins, and show me TI1y to be able to swear and use bad Ian. way.' Who can tell how many of these guage; and aF! Christians could not do will find entrance into the eternal home? this vile business, he remained a hea- Jesus knows, and we can often com- then in self·defence and to protect the mend them to Him in prayer, and His general interests of the household. Holy Spirit can teach them… The Rev. C. W. A. Clarke, M.A., small, I beliQve there is not such a sad principal of the Robert Noble College, sight throughout the eighteen provinces Masnlipatam, contends that the educa. of China as that of which I write.
tional missions of India are fully justi. Here are Whole tribes, whole peoples, fied by the results. Giant trees have without even a chance of knowing about been cut down, the names of some of the Saviour's love. "
the largest heing Caste, Idolatry, Lying, Lust. "From the Noble College," he says, A mail from Uganda was received on "God has brought out men who have December 23d bringing news up to Sepdone great things for Him. One convert tember 26th. The eagerness of the was a district missionary in charge of the Waganda to purchase Scripture portions Masulipatam district; another an evan· was marked. So tremendous was the gelist to the Telugu people, mighty in crush to obtain copies that Mr. Basker. deed and in word; some have taught in ville was obliged to barricade his house our college and our high school in the and sell from the window. In ten min. Telugu country; some are preaohers, utes all the copies of St. Matthew's gos· some laymen, influential and highly re· pel were sold. Mr. Baskerville says, spected by their non·Christian brethren, "We could sell fifty loads, when we striving to bring home the power of only have three to sell." Christ to those who know Him not, by their life and conversation in that sta- tion in life to which God has oalled Miss Holme gives a graphic account them. In everyone of these cases the in Ohina's Millions of the assault on the convert has had to pass through the fiery home of Mr. and Mrs. Huntley, she furnace of persecution and atRiction be· being at the time their guest. Her tesfore he could openly serve Christ or be· timony is eminently God-honoring. .. I come a witness for Him before his caste praise God for giving me the honor of brethren." Mr. Clarke is satisfied with suffering for righteousness' sake. I the theory and the principles and is shall never fear what man can do unto also enamored with the machinery. me ; nor the evil day ; for I know grace " The one thing we, like all other work. will be given, as it has been in this ers for Christ, really do want is more of case. I know the Lord is a very present the power of the Holy Spirit to give life help in time of trouble. Oh, how much and effect to our efforts." I would like to tell you how the Lord showed His goodness! I do praise Him An appeal is made by Mr. John A. for allowing me to prove His sustain. Anderson, in G'hina's Millions, in behalf ing grace."
of the unevangelized aboriginal tribes.
Three are mentioned-the Ming kia, the The tidings to hand in China's Nul- Mo'soh, and the Lo·los. In the Ta·Ii ions from Rih-chan, Shansi, and Hiao·I, valley there are three hundred Ming-kia Shansi, are of more than ordinary in- villages, numbering many tens of thou. terest. 'Many conversions and baptisms sands of souls. Mr. Anderson says, are recorded; and also one or two in· .. So far as I know, nothing has been stances of much heroism under suffer.
done to give them the Gospel in their ing. Mr. Lutley tells of a convert own tongue. They are very aocessible. named Roh who, because he would not Both men and women come freely to pray to the idols, was accused of being me for medicine, although often unable the cause of a drought then prevailing.
to talk Chinese…. Although my " They first beat and kicked him, and knowledge of the oomparative needs of then tied his hands together, and carried other provinces is necessarily very him to a village three Ii distant, where he became insensible, and they had to mation, as to what has been actually acdrench him with water to relltore him; complished, than they can get either but it was not until evening that, bruised from missionaries or from their wouldand stiff, they let him go free. They be critics. So the English Baptist Misalso made him pay a thousand cash to sionary Society sent out two clergymen give a feast to the men who had beaten to visit the Baptist stations in North and carried him. It was good," con· China. Mr. Morris records his imprestinues Mr. Lutley, "to hear the poor sions of what he saw and heard, vividly I fellow relating how, when they were and clearly, showing himself to be a carrying him, he remembered that Ste. careful and shrewd observer, giving us phen, while being stoned, prayed for valuable information as to the country his enemies ; and he began to pray for and the people. He discusses the rehis, asking the Lord to forgive them," ligions of China and the various phases a proceeding on his part which but in- of missionary work, and says that, for creased their rage and brought upon extent, character and work, missions in him worse blows. China far exceed hi~ largest expecta- tions. It is a valuable addition to our Another notable case of sovereign knowledge of the country and the pracchange is that of Mrs. Kia, who was for- tical value and actual accomplishment merly possessed by an evil spirit. ., She of missionary effort. was," says Mr. George McConnell, "a terror to all, even to us. We feared to -Madagascar, its .Missionaries and its see her come into our yard ; but now Martyrs, by W. J. Townsend, D.D. she is so changed, fully saved, out and (F. H. Revell Co., New York and Chiout for Jesus." cago). Dr. Townsend gives the marvel- lous story of Christianity in the island The Moravian Quarterly is marked by of Madagascar in a most vivid and intones of mingled gladness, Aadness, and teresting way. It is a story with which determination. The pioneers in North all Christians, young and old, should Queensland have acquired speedily a be familiar, for it is unique in the hispowerful influence over the natives. tory of missionary enterpriRe. More at- Confidence is won in the highest degree, tention is given at present to the newer some acquaintance with the language and larger mission fields, but the story has been made, and since the natives of the planting and training of the understand a few English words, the Christian Church in Madagascar is one pioneers are able to testify to them ., of which will never los(l its interest and God who is love and of the redemption power. for sin through the blood of His Son. "
Difficulties impede progress in Nica· -Lives and Work of Rev. and Mrs. ragua, ., but the earnest appeal of the Cephas Bennett, by Ruth Ranney (Silver, poor Indians for missionaries will Burdett & Co., New York, Boston, and quicken sympathy and prayer, before Chioago). Sixty years of missionary life which all obstacles must vanish." in Burma are here described graphically and tersely. Miss Ranney has succeed_ Publioations Noticea, ed in narrating the lives of her grand- parents in such a manner as to transfer . -A Winter in North China, by Rev. to the reader the interest which she T. M. Morris (Revell Co., New York and herself feels in their work. Dr. Bunker Chicago, $1.50). It is natural that the says in his introduction: .. The aroma people at home who contribute gener. of these lives will pass upon others; ously for missions shOUld desire occa- and no one can study them without sionally some more unprejudiced infor- being better." The proceeds from the book will be devoted to mission work in Bul'IP!.
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
V.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
Africa,* Madagascar,t The Freedmen,* AFRICA. § Bechuanaland and Mashonaland along the way of the lakes to Uganda and BY J. T. GRACEY, D.D. down the valley of the Nile to AIexan- dria. Only 35 years have elapsed since Africa has been described as .. one the mighty prize of the source of the universal den of desolation, misery, and Nile was wrested from oblivion j and crime." It is a vast country to come more has been done, so far as any susunder such characterization. It is 1500 picions of history reveal, to reclaim the miles long and 4600 miles wide. The .. Lost Continent" within 30 years than equator cuts it, and both tropics cross in the previous 3300 years. it. Lay its western edge at San Fran. cisco, and it would cover land and sea The population of the continent is to the coast of Ireland. Its rivers are roughly estimated at 200,000,000, or its most marked geographical feature. nearly one-seventh part of the people of The Nile sweeps through 37° of lati- the globe. The beat authorities haTe tude; the Kongo has greater volume agreed that the ethnological classificaand basin. Of its great inland seas, tion must, for the present at least, follow Victoria Nyanza and Albert Nyahza be- language lines. The general conclusion long to the Nile, Tanganyika to the is that the cradle of the genuine negro Kongo, Nyassa to the Zambesi. Possi- race is Africa; that of the Bantu. Asia j blythe entire continent was circumnavi- the one living for ages without the tropio gated in B.C. 600; but in the Middle of the East, the other pushing on to its Aries it had already become the" Dark sunny home in the great peninsula. Continent," its coast line being un· There is known to be a wide difference known beyond Morocco. By the close between the negro and the Bantu races. of the fifteenth century the Portuguese The Bushmen and Hottentot are relathad got far round the Cape of Good ed linguistically with Egypt, and have Hope_ For the next century Africa been sundered from the northern eleseems destined to be the wonder of the ment by some great dividing wedge. world. The rapid opening up of its They differ in appearance, manners, and enormous stretches and the marvellous customs from the Bantu. They were way in which Christianity and civiliza- wont to worship the moon, following tion are bringing light and hope and the sidereal worship of North Africa, liberty to the races of the interior are and their gods are beneath, never above. adding fascinating chapters to the his- The Bantu are lighter colored than the tory of the world. Already the whole negro, nor is their hair so woolly. The country is known from Cape Town to indications are that the Bantus originat- Cairo, and soon the telegraphic com- ed in Western Asia, perhaps in Armemunication will be continuous from nia, possibly in the Euphrates. Their mutual relation is traced in language- * See also pp. 48, 64 (Jan.), 136 (Feb.), 196, 226 structure and roots, as close as those of the Aryan family. The Zulu is spoken (Mar.), 370{May), 404, 423, 426,428 (present issne). in Zululand and by half a" million in t Sec also pp. 66 (Jan.), 4t9, 459 (present Issne). Natal. Dr. Bleek makes 13 classes of t See p. 413 (present issne). Zulu dialects. Sigwamba is spoken ~ We draw largely on the following sonrces aa from Zululand to the Sofala, inland 300 miles j the Yao in the region east and lIumorities in this study: "Report of Commer- south of Lake Nyassa ; the Nyamwezi cial Agent Chatelain on the Province of Angola," east of Tanganyika ; the Swahali by half with original map, .. Reports of the Consuls of a million of people in Eastern Africa; the United States, No. 147, December, 1892;" the Umbundu in Bihe and Bailunda; "The Church Missionary Atlas: Part 1,Africa ;" " Africa Rediviva," by Robert N. Cust, LL.D.; "The IaiZlllu," by Lewis Grout; ~~ Missionary L8ndscap~ in the Dark Continent," by Rev. James Johnston, A. T" S.; "Forty Years among the Zulus," by Josiah Tyler. the Kimbundu, Xongo, and Umbundu Marshman's" History of Roman Catho- in Angola; the Xongo in Xongo region ; lic Missions" layll large claim to success the Mpongwe on the Gaboon River; under the Portuguese in Xongo and the the Dikele by 100,000 at the sources of Zambesi. It is scarcely too IItrong to the Gabun (see Grout's Grammar). The say these utterly relapsed into heathen_ .. Atlas" recognizes six groups for the ism. .. Quick baptisms" by wholesale continent: Hamitic, Nuba-Fulah, Semit- brought their natural result. ic, Negro, Bantu, Hottentot-Bushmen. MODEBN PROTESTANT MISSIONS date The religiO'll8 are (1) African pagan, from Moravian beginnings in West with witchcraft. human sacrifices, ahd Africa in 1736, and in South Africa in fetichism; and (2) Muhammadanism. 1792. The Church of England began Chatelain lIByS, and all experienced work in Egypt in 1826. The United witnesses agree with him, that the Presbyterians of America have had the pagans all believe in one God, who made m08t marked 8ucce88 of modem times and maintains all things, inTisible yet in Egypt proper for a dilltance of 400 eTer seeing the thoughts of man, the miles up the Nile. They have 90 staauthor of all the good and much of the tions with schools, or congregations and suffering, who is angry with men and in- schools united, taught by native pasdifferent to the details of their liTes. tors and teachers; 1000 Mos11!m bOYII They do not worship him nor represent and girls are in these schools. The him by image, nor do they believe that North African Mission ill in Tunis, he is contained in any fetich. What Tripoli, Algeria, and Morocco. So are tranllera generally call gods are inferior some others in localities, and numerous spirits, to whom God has intrusted the organizations of Roman Catholics are in administration of the natural forces. all this region and in the Sahara. They fear these and the shades of de- In 1875 Nyassa, "the Lake of the parted spirits. The images are simply Stars," was circumnavigated, and the amulets and talismans. Dying, one goes Scotch Free Church, Established to hades; dying in hades, he goes to an Scotoh, the United and the Reformed utterly unknown region. Muhamma- Presbyterians soon thereafter began danism swept with fire and sword OTer work in this part of Africa. North Africa in the seventh century, In November, 1&75, Mr. Stanley'. and in the lallt two centurills has spread challenge to Christendom to enter over the Soudan, West Africa proper, Uganda appeared in a London paper. and on the eastern coast. It has Beven months later the first mission brought some externals of civilization; party arrived at Zanzibar. The first but the tribes are in little but name Mos- converts, five in number, were baptized lem ; thllY have changed the fetich from March, 1882. Uganda lies northwest of .ticks and stones to Arabic texts from Victoria Nyanza, and is one of the most the Quran. The whole of the vast inland powerful kingdoms in East Central slave trade is in the hands of these Mos- Africa. It is a four months' journey lems. Mr. Cust says that Islam is " in from the coast. To carry 250 tons, possession of the majority of the popu- $250,000 must be paid to 1000 slaTes lation of Africa, with a tendency to in- hired Ollt by slave owners. But by the crease by its own momentum and adapta- prooeeds of the hire of the British East bility to the environment of the pagan Africa Company, 4000 slaves have effect- African." (3) Christianity came to Africa ed their freedom. The railway system through Hellenist Jews. In the fifth cen- of 600 miles building from the coast tury there were 560 bishoprics in North will cover a coast line of 400 miles and Africa. The North African Church was 1000 miles inland, levering the IIlaveswept out of existence by Islam; the caravan-routes. The reverses of the Coptic- and Abyssinian churches have Church of England Mission have been been Christian in little more than name. connected with the political situation ; lItesa's professed aoceptance of Chrill- besi, a strip. of 800 milesin length. The tiatiity; his return to heathenism, his mis!lion history. thougll I!.ot ita wOl;k, death, the succession of Mwanga, his dates from 1877 ; the la~ter begins with hostility and overthrow, his reinstate- 1885. The mission is international, mentunder the influence of the Roman- though under the di:tection of the Paris ist missionaries, his unprincipled con- Evangeliclll Missionary 8ooiet1. The duct-all combined to make a fiery fur- Primitive Methodis~s have recently en. nae,s for the martyr church of Uganda. tered this :tegion. The sacrifice of missionary life has already been enormous. The saintly The missions of Kajaria bave bef'n 80 band of graduat.,s from the English Uni- long familiar to the Christian churches versities who founded a unique mission that we make no further mention of with four bases, on the eastern side of them than, that of 650,000 Kafirs in Cape Lake Nyassa cover a radius of 25,000 Colony, about one fourth have bl'len bapsquare miles in their estimated reach of tized ; and in Zululand. of 50,000 up_ influ~nce. Thirty-six of these young ward of 2000 are Christians; and in men and maidens, the Hower of English Pondoland, of 150,000, 3000 are Chris-, birth, culture, and piety, have found rest tianized. in African graves. The mission h~s nevertheless made marked progress. In Katanga Arnot began work in 1881 by journeying from Natal to Shoehong, Lake Tanganyika was discoverlld less and on to Benguela on the West Coast, than 40 years ago. Until lately thE! and then peaceably forced his way into route thither was 830 miles from Zanzi- the Garanganze country to initiate bar, and took 100 days. Now it is up Christian civilization. The book by the Shire, thence by the missionary Mr. Arnot," Go.renganze: Seven Years' . highway, .. the Stephenson road," unit. Pioneer Mission Work," published by ing the north end of Nyassa and the the Revell Company, belongs, as Dr. A. southern point of Tanganyika. The T. Pierson says, "in the department, London Missionary Society began work not of Apologetics, but of Energetics." here in 1874, inspired by the telegram to London: "Livingstone is really The &uthern missionary region-De.- dead, and his body is coming home in maraland, Namaqualand,. Good Hope one of the queen's ships." Living. Colony, Natal, Orange Free State, etc.- stone's trumpet call, ., Go forward, and needs not detailed reference here. with the Divine blessing you will suc· These missions do not cling to the ceed. Do you carry on the work which coast, but occupy interior positiona. I have begun. I leave it with you," The climate is suited for Europeans, roused England as well as Scotland. A and large colonies have been settled. noble, heroic work, with increasingly en- Islam has never been in the ascendant. couraging result, has been done by Our reference to Mr. Cust's" Redivive." .. running the gauntlet of fiery ordeals, must in nowise be accepted as comenduring the hardship of perilous travel, mendatory of the idiosyncrasies in his surmounting obstacles of transit and opinions and criticisms. They must malarious climates, pelletrating regions stand on their merits. and some of them untrodden by Europeans," but with an have decided merits; others wear an ez ever-widening confidence amollg the cathedra air, as on page 38, aboutmiBsionmotley population of this territory. arr interference with public morals as impertinence, which it mayor may The Upper Zambesi missions in the not be ; but any allusion to their" ex- Barotsi kingdom were inaugurated by pulsion" on this account is ludicrous. M. Coillard. This kingdom stretches If anybody has gone to South Africa to from the Rafu River to 20° east long., stay, it is the missionary_ and from the Quando and Zambesi to the watersheds of the Rongo and Zam- Angolaland is 80 interestingly treated in Mr. Chatelain's" Report," that we would like to transfer it to these columnl!!. It can probably be had on ap- the English Wesleyan!! Penetrated to plieation to the proper authoritie.IJ. The Quarra, a branch of the Niger. The history of Roman Catholic missions Soudan, stretching from 8° of lat. to under the Portuguese is of use for the the borders of the Sahara, and 3500 warnings of their mistakes and the re- miles from east to west, has a popula- sults. They are now stimulated by the tion nearly equal to that df North Amer- presence of the "Bishop Taylor" 80- ica ; but missionary pioneering has be- styled " Self – supporting missions,' , gun. The name of Crowther, "the which extend to many interior stations only colored non-European bishop con- and have cost lives and money. secrated in England since apostolic Kongoland, with its good waterway days," will ever stand connected with throngh all its great basin, is so promi- the Niger region and missions; and nently in the eye of the Christian pub- Wilmot Brooke's memory will be per- lio tliat, vastly important as it is, we petuated in the Soudan Mission.
need bestow only a paragraph on it in The Gold Ooast from St. Paul to Cape this skeleton reference. At Boma are Palmas has much independent territory, 800 more or less resident Europeans, where the English Wesleyan, the Basle 80 of whom are missionaries. The Eng- and Bremen have done noble work at lish Baptists entered the Kongo valley large cost of life and yet with gratify- in 1878. Through 15 years of struggle, ing results. Liberia is patronized only, soldiers and heroines of faith have !l0 far as foreign subsidy of men and sened, suffered, and perished, till " no money goes, from the United States.
Christian church has supplied a nobler Mr. Cust is too emphatic in saying that contingent to the army of martyrs"- Liberia, as well as Sierra Leone, has the Combers alone would make this failed to make any impression on the record resplendent. Various societies surrounding colored men of the same or are at work-the American Baptists, the cognate African race. It is a marked slip Bishop Taylor, the Kongo-balolo; and in ethnological reference, for the Afro- the French Evangelical of Paris pro- Americans represent trihes in most cases poses, if it has not already begun. to from which they are remotely separated, enter French territory. Through 12,000 and to our personal knowledge they miles of coast or river.line villages and have done something, and under their towns are approachable by the mission- oonditions a good deal, to "impress"
ary. the native races adjoining them. Bishop On the Gabun, the coast island of Taylor's line of self·supporting work in Corisco and the Ogowe, the Ani.ericun the Cavallo. River country has been Presbyterians, after years of successful vigorously pushed, and though ham- work, are hampered by the French Co- pered, deserves great commendation.
lonial policy requiring the use of the Bie-.-ra Leone has an English Episcopal French language in educational work. Ohurch, self-supporting. The English In the Kameruns the English Baptists Wesleyans, the United Brethren (at had a good work, but were substituted Mendi), an American mission from Kan- by a German mission solely because it sas behind Freetown, as 1 base for a had be00me a German colony-a narrow Soudan mission, represent the work of policy out of joint with the times, and Protestants. In the Gpmbia region, at :' a I!hameful breach of the recognized Bathurstand other places, the Wesley- law of missions. " ans and English Episcopals have long The Niger basin presents a population sustained work.
•' untainted" by the evil of contact of We have made a very incomplete and European commerce. The Church of not a balanced sketch of the missions England Missionary Society has impor- of the continent of Africa. They are tant station!! in the Delta, conducted till too vast already for an outline of even very r~cently by African missionaries; a dozen pages. We have been obliged to suppress even the names of the Roman to·morrow if there were funds and men Oatholic societies and orders, many of to do it. The Tembu people have whom have shown illustrious heroism pleaded for a long time that a mission.
in self·denial and endurance worthy of ary be sent to them. The headman has high admiration. All of them will be given ground for the missionary to live found named in Mr. Oust's" Rediviva," upon. At a time when rood was soorce which if not complete is the nearest and the people nearly starving because complete reference volume that we can of what befell their harvest last year, he name, and which is invaluable except has supported in his own hut a native where the author makes excursions to evangelist who was sent there during express his notions instead of judgment; the last six months. . . .
but even these are spicy and suggestive, " People at home should know these and of vaJue. facts. In Western Pondoland there are MADAGASOAl AND ZANZmAl belong to probably not fewer than 40,000 people the African system, and should be con· with no one to tell them the Gospel.
sidered in this group of missions, They are a fine stalwart race of men, though the Malagassy belong ethnologi- but they are living in the grollsellt heacaJly rather with Malaysia. Madagas- thenism. Such a fact should surely apcar is the Great Britain of Africa, but peal to those who may know little of three times her size. Ellis's" Martyr the details of foreign mission work, and Ohurch" of Madagascar well-nigh ranks may in consequence have but a languid as 110 Christian classic. The London Mis- interest in its needs. sionary Society, the Society for the Prop. agation of the Gospel, and the Friends, ,. The TembuB have been aSKing tbat as well as the Norwegians, have operated in Madagascar, the pre-eminence a missionary should be sent to them for belonging to the first-named. All of the ten years. In the thanksgivings of this islanders are not yet evangelized. jubilee year the Tembus and Pondos will surely not be forgotten." (The A late number of the London Chronicle money is now provided, and a missionsays: "We have received a printed table ary will be sent to Tembuland. The Glasgow Oollege students are to pro- vide the mission hOllse, and Stockbridge congregation have given the communion plate.)-Rev. John Lennoz.
of statistics, showing that in our Mad- agascar Mission (not including, however, In a recent letter from Uganda, the the Betsileo district) there are 980 Rev. G. K. Baskerville, of the Ohurch schools; that of the 46.501 scholars Missionary Society, gives a striking inpresenting themselves for examination, stance of the eagerness of the Waganda 21,721 brought slates, 19,480 brought to purchase Scripture portions. Some Bibles or Testaments; and that 16,206 boxes of books arrived, and, during the passed in reading, 12,739 in writing, sale, so tremendolls was the cmsh of and 9,334 in arithmetic." those anxiolls to purchase that Mr. Baskerville was obliged to barricade his " There is a chain of missions stretch- house and sell from the window. All ing like a great strong backbone through the copies of St. Matthew's Gospel the country from Lovedale to Somer- were sold in ten minutes. Prayerville, a distance of two hundred and books, reading-books, etc., were aJl dis- posed of, and more than a thousand people were waiting about, "mad to buy a book."
fifty miles. There are two places at which this backbone just now needs The Derlhi Missionary Society is en strengthening badly. It is at that big gaged in six sections in South and Eaflt gap of ninety miles. On the left-hand Mrica, and at the various stations.has side of the direct line there is a large gathered 11,456 communicants. A misunworked part of Tembu1and. On the sionary stationed at Konigsberg writes: right hand there is the vaRt Pondo na- •• Twenty-five years ago the number of tion in wild untouched heathenism. baptized heathen in Natal was 2000 and Both of these places could be occupied now it is 8000. And the Boers, who formerly looked coldly on, now regard the mission with favor."
GENERA!. lIlSSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
VI.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
, ED~ BY lU!lV. D. L. LBONAllD.
Extraots .iid TiaD8~tion8 from Foreign to an 'African boy to sit still. It is no trouble' to an Afriean to show an ap. Periodioals.
pearanoe of reverence. Africanboys BY 'UT. C. 0. S'UlIllucx. ,ANPOVEB, ;MASS. have not ,the fidgets like English boys AnroA. have, and they have not so strong a -" Our Lessouto field is whitening will to be oontrolled, What we want is to tne harvest. There are 7689 pupils to teach them a religion which will lead in our sohools, ,and 12,460 Christians them· to disoipline their li"es. Somein,our ohurohes. While, formerly, the times when I have heard warmth of ex- Bassuto Christians doubled their num- pression on the part of those natives bers in fourteen years, it has of late who have been brought up differently; I only. taken six years for the aggregate have felt a little sad, as if there was to double itself again. During the past something wanting among us; but my ten years, tbe scholars have quadrupled, oommon sense and my experience have and 'the Christians tripled. Our Zam- alwsys .brought me baok· to this-that besi mission occupies in the missionary we must teaoh them a religion whioh army working for the oonquest of Cen- will lead them to .disoipline themselves tral A~icaa position of inoaloulable in the midst of 'this vast mass of imimportance; what surprise, then, that purity-in the midst of this terrible at- the.prince of this world should defend mosphere of evil in whioh their battle with special fury the poiD.t menaced by lies. Yes, I do not suppose that anyonr work? God has, moreover, per- body here in this protected country mitted that this mission should be a knows what a battle it is to anyone powerful means of edification for onr there in Africa to live a really holy and churohes, stimulating the faith and noble life. We hear of the virtues of courage of many." -Journal des Mis- the 'Doble savage.' Let anybody who sions, quoted in The Ohristian. talks about the virtues of the noble sav- age come and stay in oup country, and -" In the Soudan, stretching from I think then that he will have to correct the Atlantic to the Red Sea, between those theoretical impressions of his. I theeigMh and sixteenth parallels of think that he would soon have to Benorth 'latitude, there is a population of knowledge that for anyone to lead a 60;000,000 to 80,000,000, mostly Mos- really Christian life in t~t oountry lem, and almost untouched bv oission- means a much greater battle than most illY effort."-The Reaper. people have to fight amid that Chris- -" I, am oertain that the people of tianized social opinion and those sur- Africa need not so muoh to be taught roundings of protected life which most an emotionnl as a di~ciplining religion. of us have here. Therefore we ha?eto It is not difficult to work uppn the emo- koep people a long time waiting.before tions of the inhabitants of a tropical we admit tht>m to Christianity. It has oountry~ We may produce, I dare say, generally been supposed that Roman a ..great.appearanoe of outward devo- Catholics are verY easy in baptizing tion., I think that some people in Eng- people, but a Frenoh miBllionBIY told land would be surprised if they came me the other day that Cardinal Lavi- to our, large school at Zanzibar and saw gene, the great head of African mis- the devotion of the boys at the time of sions, had sont out a message that no sei'vioe; but the fact is that it does native was to be baptized under two not D1ean nearly, so much, as it would years' preparation as a catechumen.'
mean in this country. It is no trouble Well, I have tried something of that kind, and I acknowledge that it is too pa.rily in order to guard the yet weak long; but still there must be·a long Ch:ristian.·from the temptations ofe·the preparation first to test their· earnest. great city. In the course. of the year ness and sincerity, and then there must twenty houses were thus ftlledwith be the deepest dealing with individual Christian families, so that now Christ sculs. Call it conf6B8ion or what y{)U Church has a Christian· cOllgregation of like-we must deal'with each individ. about one hundred souls belongiDg,to ualsoul. The spiritual pastMmUstput it. These are partly derived from; the his arm around each individualAfrica.n, Univeraities' Mission itself, partly from and he must fight side. byside with him the stations of the Church Missionary the battle of life. Society in Mombasa and Freretown.
" The Church must not be depressed With these twenty modest Christian to a lower level to meet half.way the abodes the Mkunazini property of the heathenism of .Africa. The Church Universities' Mission forms a gennine must embrace the African, and raise Christian colony in the midst of the him up by her sacraments and means Mohammedan capital. Around the of grace, and spread a network around former slave market are situated, to the him and raise him up to her high lev. north, Christ Church; to the sOuth, the el, not abating one jot in morality or mission house with the missionaries'
spirituality of what she' requires of her dwellings; to the east the Apprentices'
children here at home. Only so, I be· Bome ; to the west the hospital, and lieve, will there be a truly healthy, liv. around these stately buildings the com· ing Church in Africa. Only then will pact array of the Christian homes.
she dare, as we are daring, to try to The whole is a worthy representation, form a native ministry, and to,put be- a mighty sermon in stone, setting forth fore each boy who has intellectual ca· English Christianity in the face of Mos· paeity, and is leading a high moral life, lem bigotry and moral corruption."- that that is the life he is to look for· Pastor RICHTlI:B, in Allgemeine M"tasions· ward to out of gratitude to God; that Zeitschrift.
as our Lord Jesus Christ has chosen him out of the millions of heathen who -The blessing of God, remarks Dr.
are still in darkness to be Bisson" and WABlflI:cX, continues to rest on the little has poured down so many blessings mission of· the Free Church of Canton upon him, so it should be the highest Vaud, at Delagoa Bay. It has three ambition of his life to take the message stations: Lorenzo-Marques, Rikatla, of the boly Gospel to his. brethren, and and Antioka. In six year!!, for the to spend his life in sharing those great three, about nine hundred· convBl'ts blessings which he has received with have been gather.ed. At Lorenzo~Mar· hiB brethren, who will remain in heathen ques a missionary physician has Hen darkness if he dQes not go to teach stationed, with very. happy results of. his them. That is what many of our young activity. To the north of Rikatla, ·in men have in their hearts ; and one day the territory of the ehief'Mahazule, a I am quite sure that ,we shall Bee an en· little Christian community has consti· thusiastic and able ministry extend· tuted itself &sa result of the courageous ing the w{)rk of· the Church far and wide testimony of a converted woman; who in Africa. " -BIBK{)p SKYTEIES, in Central has won anuruber of other women to Africa. the Gospel. .In North Transvaal" where there are also three stations-Valdelia, -In Zanzibar "it was an original Elim, and Shiluwane-there is much to idea of Bishop Steere to gather around -l'etard the work; the gold fever, the the beautiful edifice· of Christ Church ,law forbidding. more than fi'Ve'oolored all the native Christian elements, partly families to reside on one estate' (and the in {)rder to form a parish for the church, estates are large), and. continuous·.warlike commotions. Discontent, insub- delivered Himself up for us and has left ordination, and looseness of living are us His example. A missionary without sadly fostered by these conditions, and enthusiasm would be a oontradiction ; occasion the missionaries much solici- but the solid and consoientious prepara_ tude. tion of a missionary, the clear-sighted and firm direction of his work, may The Berlin Mission also suffers great- multiply tenfold the activity of a man ly from the same causes, especially from who reckons above all things on God, the oppressive Plakkerswet, the restric- and who, before submitting himself to tive law mentioned above. This mis- the direction of men, and before hum. sion, whose field of labor is very exten- bly preparing himself for his sacred mise sive, divides it into six synods, or super- sion, has surrendered himself BOul and intendencies : North Transvaal, hence- body to his God and knows that he is forth divided into ten Dioceses ; South but a torch-bearer of the eternal light. " Transvaal; Orange Free State; Natal; –Professor F. H. KRUGER, in Journal Caffraria; Cape Colony. These six dis- des Missions. tricts comprise 23,841 baptized peraons ; 1489 cateohumens; 11,456 oommuni- THE WORLD AT LARGE. cants ; 4179 scholars_ -The Zeitschrift states that the Eng- " I am only one, but 1 am one; lish oensus of Basutoland shows the I cannot do everything, bnt I can do somepopulation to be 218,324. The number of Christians of the Paris Society was thing; 9662. Adding children and adherents, What I can do, I onght to do ; these form about 11t per cent of the And what I onght to do, by the grace of God I popnlation. Scholars: 1887. 3754; 1891, 7031 ; 1892, 7869. The mission- will do." aries testify to a decided growth among the Basuto Christians of their spiritual -How little we appreciate the might life, their sense of duty. and their spirit of mites when suffiCiently multiplied. of self-denial. For example, if a church of 30 members were to contribute regularly each one – " Mr. Arnot finds himself obliged at cent a day, with an extra cent each as last to do what all missionary societies a birthday gift, and then half a cent do. He has an agency iJl. Europe to each at the end as a thank offering, look after the transport of baggage; he the amount for a year would be the has an agent on the ooast to receive handsome sum of $110, or enough to them in transit. He has seen himself keep 11 girls or boys in a boarding-school obliged to found two intermediate sta- in India. A club of 3 would thus edutions between the coast and Bunkeya. cate 1 heathen child. What a chance This mission, lately ext~lled as repro- for Sunday-school classes! duoing the apostolic type, in contrast with organized societies, assume., more -The Boston Saturday Evening Gazette and more, the habits of these. It oould recently bestowed upon its readers this not be otherwise. Every personal effort eminently sensible and Christian counwhich prolongs itself must needs organ- sel: .. If you are getting lazy, v.-atch ize itself or disappear; but a regular James. If your faith is below par, read and faithful organization does not ex- Paul. If you are impatient, sit down clude the apostolic spirit, self-denial, quietly and have a talk with Job. If self-renunciation, the sacrifice of life, your are just a little strong-headed, go if needful, the ardent love of souls, the and see Moses. If you are getting holy desire of glorifying, by an obscure weak-kneed, take a look at Elijah. If and hidden work of perhaps all the there is no song in your heart, listen to days of our life, our Saviour, who has David. If you are getting sordid, spend a while with Isaiah. If you feel chilly, get the beloved disciple to put his arms around you. If you are losing sight of the future, climb up to Revelation and split in two for me, let me get under get a glimpse of the promised land." one corner.) 't Yes, and also let us add, if you do not -Somebody defines Buddhism to be believe much in missions, and so do not a system which teaches men to pray to give much, sit down for an hour now nobody to be made nothing of. and then and commune with the Son of God and the apostle to the Gentiles, -A glance at some missionary statis- to read, mark, and inwardly digest tics carefully prepared and published their teachings on the subject. in tbe American Q;u,arterly Register for -The first appropriation to send a 1830 is very suggestive, and clearly indi- Methodist missionary to India was made cates what marvels of progress have in 1852. The amount was $7500. The come to the kingdom during a few bishops were requested to select a decades. For the Sandwich Islands proper man for superintendent. Four only 90 communicants are reported, and years passed, however, before anyone for the Wesleyans in the South Seas, with the proper qualifications could be Fiji included, 60 communicants and 165 found willing to assume the task of in the schools. In New Zealand and founding a great mission in India. New Holland (for as yet there was no Bishop Thoburn says that it would sur- Australia) are 7 missionaries and 199 in prise people at the present day if the the schools. Africa has 91 missionaries, whol.! truth were told about the search representing 9 societies, 10 native asfor a superintendent, and expresses the sistants, and 2603 communicants. In opinion that" no other prominent post Ceylon, Hindustan, and India beyond in all the history of the Methodist the Ganges 10 societies are at work, Church was ever declined by so many with 135 missionaries, 424 native assist. nominees." At last, in 1856, Rev. ants, 2864 communicants, and 39,219 in William Butler accepted the post. the schools. Dr. Morrison had been in China since 1807 ; 2 others had just ar· -A missionary to New Zealand who rived from America; Messrs. Bridgman was in the habit of dispensing blankets and Abeel, two natives, have been bapamong the Maoris who attended his tized, and one of them, Leangafa, is meetings, noticed that one native came zealously engaged in spreading the too frequently for these comfortable ar- Christian truth in the interior. At the ticles. He mentioned the fact. "No close 30 benevolent societies in the more blankets ?" responded the Maori. United States are named, including all "Well, then, no more hallelujah 1" And the missionary societies, both home and he departed. foreign, also all the Bible, tract, educa.
-Evidently the Occidental mind and tion, temperance, colonization, sea- the Oriental were not cast in the same men's, peace, and prison societies, and mould; and therefore it behooves trans- asylums for the deaf and dumb; and lators in particular to be careful in their the total receipts for the year preceding choice of language. Dr. Chamberlain is given as $584.084.02. Those days of tells this story in illustration. He one exceedingly small things are not so ve~ day SUbmitted a somewhat close Telugu far distant, either.
translation of the hymn, "Rock of Coming down 30 years nearer to the Ages," to an able Telugu pundit, and present, in the New Englander of Au- asked him to say frankly what meaning gust, 1860, Leonard Bacon said : "There it conveyed to him. After long ponder- are at least 40 societies with an expendi.
ing and much hesitation, he replied: ture of $3,000,000, with 5000 native "Every religion has its mysteries, and helpers, and 200,000 communicants."
this, I suppose, is one of yours. I can- Glancing backward, he added: "In not understand it at all, but this is what 1820, at the end of the first decade of it seems to say, 'Oh very old stone, the American Board, there were not more than 50 oonverts," though he could Boldier who (in Lawrence's last words) not find half so many-oould discover died 'trying to do his duty' has d~ but 1 in Bombay, a Mohammedan, 2 in served better of his country and of man- Ceylon, and 20 Indians and negroes kind than have these brave ~en and among the Chootaws and Chickasaws of women of the Madura Mission, who Georgia. And in 1825 there were but 5 face daily the fever of the jungle and native helpers, 4 in Ceylon, and the cholera, whioh is always present in fifth among the Cherokees. ., Now they India, and are, with heroio self·sacri. are grown to 497, of whom 243 are pas- fice, wearing out their lives silently for tors." the good of others."
-The Ohristian Observer (Presbyte- -In Thibet almost every crime is rian, Louisville, Ky.) heads an editorsl punished by the imposition of a fine, relating to the acceptance of three men and murder is by no means an expen- as miBSionaries " More Foreign Mission sive luxury. The fine varies according Appointments, .. and says: "The secu- to the social standing of the victim-120 lar papers are full of the names of men bricks of tea (worth about 35 cents a appointed to represent the United brick) for one of the "upper c1aBS," 80 States in foreign lands, and we have bricks for a person of the middle class, felt that these men are honored in being 40 bricks for a woman, and so on down appointed ambassadors of this Govern- to 2 or' 3 for a pauper or a wandering ment. .. And then, after naming the foreigner. Almost every grown-up man young oandidates and the countries to in the country has a murder or two to which they are to be sent, asks: ,. Shall his credit. we not feel that they have an honor greater than that of any earthly ambas- -In Afrioa a Masai woman has a sador ?" market ,value equal to 5 large glass beads, while a oow is worth 10 of the -The Kingdom (Baptist Missionary same. Union) declares that since there are thirty times as many heathen as there "It was a girl, you know," was the are evangelioal Christians, it follows reallon given by a man and his wife on that eaoh Christian is responsible for Epi, one of the New Hebrides, who had thirty heathen, and they are his share. unblushingly confessed to having buried one of their children alive. -Charles S. Smith, a New York merchant of eminent standing in the busi- Dr. William Ashmore, of Swatow, on ness world, has been visiting India, and visiting a neighboring village, asked the writing to the Tribune, speaks in the population, and was told, .. about three highest terms of the missionaries he or four thousand." "Does this inolude met, and espeoially of those in the Ma- women?" he asked. .. Oh, no," was dura field, whose work he carefully in. the reply; "we follow the Chinese cusvestigated. Thil!l is the closing passage tom and do not count the women." of his letter: "I have since visited the stirring scenes of the Indian Mutiny at -The Spirit of Missions has been told Lucmo,.., Cawnpore, and Delhi. I have " that when that marvel of business enstood reverently and with uncovered terprise, the Standard Oil Company, head beside the graves of Havelock and would find a market for its products it Lawrence. I have read the tablet of is not content merely to wait on the or- Lord Napier, upon which he inscribed dinary demand, but it proceeds to create the name. of the gallant men who car- a market. Its agents went into Menco, ried the Kashmit gate by storm, and but found the people so averse to ohange gave their lives to save the honor and that they would still hold on to their the empire of the English raoe in India. tallow dips in spite of all that was told I solemnly believe, however, that no them of the excellence of kerosene. What then? Did the company give that up as II hopeless market? Not at all. Their agents went about to con· 'Was no ordinary calamity to us as Bapquer the prejuuice and to overcome the tists, for it was, as' has been said, • the stolid indifference, and they did it at a home of Baptist traditions and treaprodigious outlay. They took into sures,' as well as a c&ntre of our misevery house a lamp, all trimmed and sionary operations, home and foreign. filled with oil, and gave it to the people, Every day brings some fresh experience and immediately the market was made." of loss and hindrance oonsequent uPOn it to the workers of the Woman's Society -An interesting illustration of t,he of the East. " indebtedness of science to Christianity is given in 8 little book descriptive of " We can never recall this calamity " Work for the Blind in China." From without thankfulness that no lives were this it appears that a system of Isised imperilled, that it has called forth such characters representing the Chinese lan- kind expressions of sympathy, ihat guage has recently been perfected, a strength equal to the day has beengiven language which has no alphabet proper, to those whose work was so seriCHlSly but 4000 symbols representing syllables, interrupted. The experienoe has taaght and which takes a lifetime to learn. us new confidence in God asa very The system employed is by an ingenious present help in trouble." reduction of the sounds-as distinct from the syllables-to 408. The inventor is -The women of the Lutheran Church, a self-taught genius, Rev. W. H. Mur- General Synod, have four representa. ray, BOn of a Scotch mechanic, who was tives in the foreign field, all at Guntur, prevented from following his father's India, and one of them is a physician. trade by an accident in which he lost They publish mission studies for each an arm. Becoming an agent of the month, and' the General Literature Bible society, he was sent to carry Committee keeps on hand a varied supon its work ill China. Here the mis- ply of tracts, photographs, etc., to dif.' erable condition of the blind, of fuse information and excite interest. whom there is an unusual number in the empire, attracted his attention, and -The women of the Scottish Free led him to devote himself to the discov- Church publish the Helpmeet and the ery of a method by which they might be ahildren's Record. enabled to read. -The English Baptists have their WOMAN'S WORK. Ladies' Association for the Sllpport of zenana work and Bible women in India -The Woman's Missionary Society and China, and a monthly paper, the of the Methodist Church, Canada, has Zenana Missionary Herald. 501 auxiliaries with 11,557 members, and 221 circles and bands with 6590 -The London Sooiety sends out 60 members. The income last year was women, 31 to India, 20 to China, 5. to $35,790. The number of missionaries Madagascar, and 4 to the South Seas. is 26, of whom 16 are in Japan, and 8 in Mrs. Robert Whyte edits the Quarterly British Columbia at work for the In- News of Woman's Work, and the Juvedians and Chinese, with 2 in China. nile also is published, a neat mouthly full of good things. The April number -Helping Ha:niJ. for May has an im- contains an amusing illustrated poem pressive page, which gives in parallel entitled "The Lament of a Missionary columns first the ., shade" and then Box," whioh had seen better days, but the ., light" of the current missionary is now empty and forgotten, an excelsituation. The first item in each col- lent piece for· recitation. umn will serve as a specimen : -In the 'Home JC'lSsiooary for April "The burning of Tremont Temple Ellen W. Curtis tells of what she calls .. a novel climb in Miehigan," but which is equally good for any State, or territory, or kingdom on earth, and no mat- Bible women of our own country and ter how level the surface may be. After England must number approximately premising that" too many of us are sur- 2000..- Oongregationalist.
rounded by the Mountains of Ignorance UNITED STATES. (ignorance of the missionary work); and closing down. overthese mountains, -Christians in Great Britain or upon and shutting us in from the busy out· the Continent have little conception of side world, is the leaden sky of indif- the peculiar and very heavy burdens ference, and we do not know that Le- borne by their American brethren. For, yond these mountains lies a vast field in addition to the calls to aid in the re- ready to be cultivated by us ;" she goes demption of the heathen world is the on to allege that "in flOnt of every imperative and almost appalling de- church in our land stands a mountain, mand for home mission work in almost which we will call the' Mount of Priv- every community between the Atlantic ilege: and we may all climb it if we aitd the Pacific, in the new,settlements, will." And the sentence which follows and among the Indians, and the Freed· will give an insight into the meaning men, and the Chinese, and the foreign.
of the parable: "First let me ask your ers from every clime. Take a single forbearance if I should not go straight denomination as a fair specimen, which, up the old beaten path that leads to the aftlJr an annual expenditure of $6,790,.
home missionary work, for you know 000 for ordinary church work, gives in on mountain trips Bome of the most addition some $2,500,000 for home mis.
beautiful mosses and ferns are often sions on the frontier, etc., and after found in the little side paths; and if I that $840,000 for foreign missions.
take you into these paths, it will only -It is announced in the Roman be that I may show you some of the Catholic journals that the Rev. WaIter peculiar blessings with which our Elliot is to try" an interesting experi· Heavenly Father has endowed thill ment." He is to give himself to the State. " work of converting AmericaIl "non.
-In the early days of missions the Catholics" into good subjects of the Bible woman was not. She is the prod. Papacy. He is to do this by public ad. uct of years of patient toil. It was dresses, by lectures, by sermons, by necessary first to win her from allegi- wayside talks, by the distribution of ance to heathen gods, then to teach her leaflets, etc. He is of Irish-Catholic to read the Bible, to understand its descent, and is described as " American in all his ideas and aspirations;" an truths, to imbibe its spirit and to shape " eloquent speaker;" and that we may know the Paulist father more perfectly, her life by its laws. Then came years he is further described as a "most enof spiritual growth and of increase in gaging personality, a six-footer, broadnumbers, until now the Bible woman is shouldered, manly, and with a voice recognized an an important factor in deep and resonant, in the prime of life, missionary work. A Japanese pastor about fifty, with a full, reddish.brown said of them, .' I would rather have one beard, slightly flecked with gray." of these Bible readers for a helper than With this Mr. Elliot on the one hand, a man if I could have but one. " Count· and Mr. Webb essaying to win us to ing those supported by Christians in Islam on the other, great will be our foreign lands, the Congregationalists opportunities. have over 200 Bible women, the English Zenana Society has 171, the Baptist Foreign Missionary Society of the Unit. -A church in New York, Methodist ed States over 150, the Methodist For· Episcopal, has among its members the eign Missionary Society in the United following nationalities: English, Irish, States 300, It is safe to state that the Scotch, Welsh, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, French, German, Spanish, beyond Behring Straits, and where the Italian, Greek, Roumanian, Chinese, Presbyterians have a mission, and stu- African, and Hebrew. And these, all dent life must be peculiar: .. The winborn of the same Spirit, having experi- ter term is one long night. The conence of the same pardoning grace, and stant need of lamps in the school·room rejoicing in the same blessed hope, may is a matter of course. But II greater sing together, "All hail the power of difficulty is experienced in the confu- Jesus' name." No other name can I!IO sion of time which arises from the abunite. sence of the sun to mark day and night. Without a marked difference in the light -A Dakota paper gives an interview between noon and midnight, all knowlwith an Indian whose son is in the school edge of time among a barbal'ous people at Carlisle, Pa. In broken English he becomes lost. They know no difference said : "It makes him good boy ; he read between nine o'clock A.M. and nine Bible; he help me chop wood; he cure o'clock P.M. Consequently, when the my leg; he build fence; he make scbool bell rings out into the Arctic house; he make coat; he mend shoes." darkness at nine o'clock A.M., some of This is quite a list of accomplishments, the pupils have just gone to bed, and !tnd shows the young man had not been are in their first sound sleep. Roused among the white people in vain. Fur- up and brought to the school-room, they ther on he said: "He no dance any fall asleep in their seats. Many of the more; he say that foolish." pupils have come to school without their breakfasts; with sleepy bodies -Probably there are from 10,50(l to and empty stomachs, they are not in 11,000 Indian adherents of the Protes- the best condition to make progress in tant Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Con- their studies. " gregational churches in the Dakotas. Last year three large assemblages were -The American Colonization Society held of the Christian Sioux. On July was organized seventy.six years ago, be- 4th a Catholic congress gathered at gan to send colonists to Liberia four Standing Rock Agency, with 2 bishops years later, aided 50 to emigrate thither in attendance, 8 missionaries, and 800 last year, and from the beginning 22,- Indians. Of these 224 were confirmed. 135. Just now one important part of Then the last of August the Episcopal its work is found in agitating for more Convention met on the Rosebud Reser- direct, IDore frequent, and cheaper vation, attended by more than 2000 communication, in order that the Freed- Sioux, all in citizen's dress. They men may more easily exchange the formed their tepees, 470 in number, in United States for Africa. a circle half a mile in diameter, with wagons in the rear, and 2000 to 3000 -These few figures are most eloquent horses feeding on the plains beyond. About $1000 were brought in-offerings in setting forth the marvellous developby the women. The Presbyterian Indians and their missionaries held what ment of the Young Men's Christian Asthe Indians call the Paya Owohdakeunited talk-at Yankton Agency, South sociation: Dakota, September 17th to 20th. As many as 1000 were gathered at one 1866. 1892. time. During the year this Indian board of missions received $1386 from Associations reporting…. . 68 1,372 the Indian churches and kept 4 Indian missionaries in the field. Total membership …….. . 15,498 217,090 -Rev. Sheldon Jackson has this to Secretaries and other emtell of Point Barrow, Alaska, lying far ployed officera… . . . . . . . . 12 1,192 BuildiD~s …… ……….. 1 268 Value of buildings……… $10,000 $11,002,520 Total value pro)crty.. …. 90,000 12,878,595 Annual expenses of local work ………………. 50,000 1,992,328 Associations in college. . .. 1 400 Railroad secretaries em- ployed ……………. .. o 111. These figures, however, tell but part -The Board of Managers of the For. of the story. "Instead of being scat- eign Missionary Society of the Protestered bands, the associations are all or- tant Episcopal Church has sent an inganized into a great army and are work. vitation to Bishop Ferguson, of Liberia, ing together as no other religious or- at Cape Palmas, to visit the United ganization except the Roman Catholic States during the coming summer. Church, and even that is eclipsed in Bishop Ferguson is the only negro many ways." member of the American House of Bishops. He was born in Charleston, -The International Medical Mission. S. C., a little more than forty years ary Society has a charter in sight, under ago, but went to Liberia with his parwhich it can open in New York City a ents when he was five years old. He medical missionary training school, if has been educated wholly in the schools, only its friends will rally and raise $50,- college, and theological seminary which 000, to put with a like sum already the Episcopal Church maintains in that pledged, for a building and endowment. country. A preliminary circular has been sent out to all who may desire to enter such -The African Methodist Episcopal an institution. Church has a. mission in Sierra Leone with several stations, 355 church-mem. -The dedication on April 6th of the bers, 325 in Sunday-school, and lIome great granite Mormon temple in Salt 700 adherents. The mission was opened Lake has received abundant notice in in 1886. the public press; but the statement that this structurc cost $5,000,000 is to -Who says that science is not the be taken cum grano magno. One third handmaid of religion? Read this : of that sum is probably nearer the amount of money actually expended, .. The health of Rev. F. C. Klein, the since the bulk of the work was donated Methodist Protestant missionary at by· the saints. As far back as 1853 Nagoya, Japan, and president of the Brigham Young began to send pitiful Anglo-American College at that place, appeals to the faithful in Great Britain baving become impaired to such an exto contribute liberally for the purchase tent as to threaten his recall, it occurred of .. glass and shingles." Thill is the to one of his friends that his labors might eighth temple built, or founded, by the be lightened and his strength and eye- Mormons for the practice of their secret sight (which was also failing) husbanded rites-one in Ohio, two in Missouri, by the use of an Edison phonograph. one in Illinois, and four in Utah; and An appeal was made through one of the their amazing scheme contemplates the church papers for an offering for that erection of something like two dozen purpose. The next week a check came more-that is, one for each ., stake of from the president of one of the Chris- Zion." tian Endeavor societies for $150, and the instrument has been forwarded." -Our Baptist brethren of the Missionary Union sorrow, and also greatly -The Mennonite Mission Board has rejoice, for when Tremont Temple, charge of an Indian contract school at Boston, was burned March 19th the so- Halstead, Kan., with upward of 30 puciety suffered serious embarrassment pils, is doing work among the Cheyennes and loss; but then, as an offset, though and Arapahoes of Oklahoma, and bethe centennial million was not obtained, sides has in contemplation a mission yet when the books were closed the among the Moquis of Arizona. The sum total of gifts and pledges had amount expended last year was $9901, reached $851,375, with good hope of of which $3913 was received from the large additions later. government.
-In a recent issue of the Central Pres- byterian (Richmond, Va.) a mission arti· cle sets out with a Te Deum and closes ulation oi the district are now nomiwith a Miserere, and because : nally Christian. It is believed that he had just completed the revision of his ,. Never in the history of our church translation of the whole Bible into has the call to put forth every effort in Cree, into which language he had also our foreign mission work been so loud. translated the Prayer Book and> a hymnso inspiring as at this time. The op- book. portunities set before us are unparalleled in our experience, The tokens -The London Society has ordered a of God's favor have never been so steamer, to cost $80,000, for use in the rich. Twenty-seven missionaries are South Seas, and calls upon the young before our E:Kecutive Committee to be people to undertake the serious task of sent out as a new force-the largest providing the funds required. number ever offered in one year. Among them are 4 accomplished medi- -The Propagation Society (S. P. G.) cal men-l for the Congo, 1 for Korea, reports a total income for last year of 2 for China," $635,745.
And the inviting openings are named -The United Presbyterians report in and described through a half column; a single month 95 baptisms in their but over against all this is the report of mission fields: in Manchuria 63, in a " heavy falling off in contributions." Kaffraria 18, and in Old Calabar 14; and a most earnest call has been issued -The United Brethren are passing for 11 additional missionaries, 6 men through a time of sore trial, for not and 5 women, to strengthen and enlarge only has their African mission been the work. sadly weakened again and again by death, but also, on March 9th, Rev. ASIA. B. F. Booth, D.D., the faithful and efficient secretary of the Missionary So- Turkey.-The Hebrews who during ciety, was called from earth. recent years have returned to the Prom- ised Land have not found it flowing EUROPE. with milk and honey, but, on the con- trary, rags and pinching hunger are the -The English Baptists set out to raise lot of thousands, so that their benevoa $500,000 centennial thank-offering. lent brethren elsewhere are compelled which March 20th had reached $555,- to raise large sums for their relief. 000, and later intelligence is to the effect that $625,000 have been pledged. -It is pleasant to know that, after Verily, the zeal and good works of Carey long delay, our Government has taken have not been forgotten. the Sultan sternly to task for the out- rages and destruction of property in -The China Inland Mission sent out Marsovan, and that the costly seminary 57 missionaries between August, 1892, is likely to be rebuilt erelong with and February of this year. Of these Turkish gold. 25 are from Great Britain, 6 from America, and 5 from Australia. For -Rev. H. N. Barnum, of the Amerithree months 113 baptisms are re- can Board, writes to the New York Obported. server of the crushing calamity which has befallen Malatia in Eastern Asia -The Church Missionary Society has Minor. Three years ago the city, of received intelligence of the death of 50,000, was desolated by fire, a year the Rev. John Horden, D.D., Bishop of later a second time, and now an earth- MoosonGe. Dr. Horden went out to quake has killed or wounded some 600 Moose Fort on Hudson's Bay in 1851, and left the bulk of the population desand was consecrated in 1872. Through titute of homes, while the church, the his efforts the whole of the Indian pop- parsonage, and the 4, school buildings are in ruins. The people are heroic, 1890. Taking all the societies together, but desperately poor, and large help is the foreign and Eurasian missionaries required. increased from 479 to 711 ; the native helpers from 1643 to 3278; pupils in India.-It appears that evangelistic schools from 40,897 to 62,414 ; and pu. work, after the American pattern, is to pils in zenanas from 9132 to 32,659. be pursued in heatheI!- lands. The Rev. Dennis Osborne, who became well -A sign of the reviving activity of known in this country while in attend- the Buddhist religion is seen in the ance some years ago in the Methodist work of the Buddha Gaya Maha Bodhi General Conference, "has been ap- Society, the objects of which are the es· pointed by Bishop Thoburn general tablishment of a Buddhist monastery evangelist for all India. During the and a Buddhist college, the publication past year he has given much of his time of Buddhist literature in Indian verto Hindustani evangelistic work, for naculars, and the support of Buddhist which he is well prepared. " missionaries at Buddha Gay a, or Bud Gya, in Behar, India, the spot where –At a meeting of the North India Gautama, sitting under the great ban- Conference of the Methodist Episcopal yan tree, B.C. 588, is said to have re- Church, held at Bareli, 48 men were or- ceived his call. From this place it is dained to the office of the Christian intended to start a gigantic mission for ministry. All save 3 of these were na- the propagation of the faith throughout tives of India. This is in the district the world. It is intended to unite the where, in 1892, 18,000 baptisms were Buddhist countries-China, Japan, Siam, made. These men have been: in train- Cambodia, Nepaul, Burmah, Ceylon, ing for many years, and are believed to Chlttagong, Thibet. and Asakan-in this be thoroughly fitted for ordination. movement; and tho secretary of the so· ciety represents that it has been cor· -The Lodiana Mission of the Ameri- dially welcomed hy the educated Hindus can Presbyterian Church reports a total of India. Our Colonel Olcott is director of 266 additions on confession of faith and chief adviser, and Sir Edwin Ar. during the last year, making the roll of nold is said to have expressed sympacommunicants 948. The per cent of thy with it. increase is far beyond anything hitherto reported. Many of the additions were China.-Dr. Morrison died in 1834, in the districts connected with the sev- after 27 yeari! of incessant toil, and dureral stations. ing all that time had not heen allowed to hold a public service; but yet every -In this vast peninsula only 1 man Sunday, behind locked doors, with a in 10 can read and write, and 1 woman few natives, he had read and expounded in 190, while among the Christians the gospels. With that fact in mind one third of the men cau read and scan these figures, relating to the inwrite and one seventh of the women crease of church-members: and girls. Of the Hindoos 1 man in 10 is possessed of scholarship to this ex- In 1842 there were …………. 6 tent and 1 woman in 267 ; of the Mo- .. , ……… 350 hammedans 1 in 15 of the men and 1 in '. " 1852 … ……… 320 of the women. 1865 ~ 2,000 ……. ~ …… 13,035 -An industrial school for Moham- " 1876 " " ………….. 28,000 medan women, the only one of the " 1886 " kind in Southern India, has been estab- " ……… … 37,287 lished by the American Lutheran Mis- " 1889 sion. " 1892 …………. 50,000 -Woman's work in India had a wonderful development between 1881 and -A gentleman once saw in an out-of.
the.way place about 20 Chinese babies tied to stakes on a patch of green grass.
The length of each rope was about ten feet, and the stakes were far enough it. Latterly the German Government apart so that the babies wouldn't get has been reduuing Arab slave dealers to all tangled up. They seemed very subjection within its sphere of influence happy, and while he stood watching in Southwest Africa, anrl have succeeded them he did not hear one of them cry. in limiting their operations to the The mothers were at work in a rice-field country lying between Stanley Falls and a little way off. Lake Tanganyika. The only outlet left for the IIIave drivers is eastward. Henry -Dr. Legge, the eminent Chinese M. Stanley says in a late Harper that a scholar, now connected with Oxford railway from Victoria Lake to the Ind. Uni,ersity in England, says: " I have ian Ocean would extinguish the traffic, been reading Chinese books for more and would command an area of 150,000 than forty years, and any general re- square miles.of British territory. If he quirement to love God, or the mention can belt the Dark Continent from east of anyone as loving Him, has yet to to west and Cecil Rhodes project a line come for the first time under my eye." north and south, it will ensure its ulti. mate civilization. -The Ohinese Recorde:r hears with deep solicitude that the International -The Protestants in Uganda have Missionary Alliance is to send 200 two thirds of the oountry allotted to Swedish missionaries to China, at the them, the other third being divided berate of 20 each month, and with only tween the Roman Catholics and the $250 a year for salary and expenses. Mohammedans, as they are less numer. ous. The mission work is going on -One of the ablest. native preachers most prosperously, the greatest danger in the Foochow conference, though beiug that the political supremacy of offered $50 a month to enter the con- the Protestants will lead many to prosular service refused, preferring to con. fess themselves Christians from oorrupt tinue preaching with but $3 a month. motives. Within a period of about eighteen months, ending in September, -Thibet continues to be inaccessible. 1892, the Bible Society delivered to the No missionary is allowed to cross its Church MissionAry Society about 25,000 frontier. But its needs are not lost copies of Scriptures for use in Uganda. sight of. In our last, mention was This shows in a striking way the inter. made of a Roman Catholic who had est of the people in the Bible, but is hung about its borders for years, and very far from indicating its full extent. had prepared a dictionary and a trans· lation of St. John. The Methodists -In the report of Lovedale for 1892, have long had a mission immediately it is stated that the church, which was outside the country, and a flank move- organized in 1886, has now a member. ment from the northeast is now being ship of 150. During the year 40 new undertaken by the agents of the China communicants were received, 33 young Inland Society. The Moravians, too, men and 7 young women. Besides have been long watching and waiting, these, 19 Gallas were admitted by bapbusy meantime with a translation of tism, 14 boys and 5 girls, on profession the Scriptures. Those barred gates will of their faith. erelong be seen standing wide open.
AFRICA. -The East African Mission of the American Board is to be moved from -In 1885 the leading powers of the the malarious and unsympathetic neighworld gave their recognition to the borhood of the Portuguese coast town Congo Free State, one of its duties Inhambane to the healthier interior of being the suppression of the slave trade. Gazaland. In its new location it will Zanzibar has done something in this be under English protection, and will direction. Morocco and Tripoli foster start with a grant of a traot of land as earth and straw giving plaoe to edifioes large as an ordinary farm. of stone and briok. One of the first -The Hermannsbnrg missionaries substantial buildings was intended to among the Zulus, after holding a con- hold the fine library of the Universities ferenoe, decided to abolish the prevail- Missions. But before the building was ing oustom- among the natives of ex- oompleted a fire destroyed the 1500 vol· ohanging girls and women for oattle I umes which the missionaries had aoou· Strange to say, the Christian oonverts mulated. Now they are hungry for oy- .are not willing to submit to this inno- olopmdias, works of soienoe, grammars vation, and have dllmanded of the mis- and dictionaries of vario1!" foreign lansionaries to prove to them from the guages, books of travel, poetry, history, Scriptures that it would be unlawful and standard fiotion.
for them to sell their daughters for oat- -Miinzenberger in his" Abyssinien" tle. If the above statement is true, it holds that the regeneration of Abyssinia looks as though some second conver· is the first step toward gaining Afrioa sions were in order. for modem civilization and the Gospel; that in these old seats and oentres of -The promoters of the Zambesi In. Christian culture, literature and learn. dustrial Missions have a plan for mak. ing, the best base of operations can be iDg missions self-supporting after the found, from which the work oould exfirst outlay in establishing them. It is tend in all direotions. proposed to raise $7500 to purchase land-which can be bought in some dis- tricts at the rate of 1000 acres for $250 -In a letter written by Dr. Living- -and by native labor to raise crops, stone in 1870, just brought to light in which when realized would pay the oost England, the explorer oonfesses that if of missionary wO'rk in the district. It he had known all the hunger, toil, and is believed that by means of the project hardship in his exploration, he " might there would be planted in the heart of have preferred a straight waistooat, the Africa; a self-supporting, colonizing and head shaved and a blister on it to under- Christianizing element which would be taking Sir Roderiok's task. My ohilof great value to the people, and which dren, however, will Bee that I have been would help to develop the vast re- a stout-hearted servant of Him who en· sources of the continent. dowed me with the wisdom, taot and -'Siokening accounts oome of deso- pluck of an explorer, as He did the lating slave·raiding in the region lying workmen of the Mosaio tabernaole and to the north of Lake Nyassa. Arabs others in all ages."
are the acoursed aotors, and their plan -A letter received in London from is to surround a village by night, place Sierre Leone says that the vigilant sup. a warrior at each door, order the in- pression of the slave trade along the mates out, spear the men and boys and coast, and the consequent inability of oapture the women. Of the latter 300 the warlike races to dillpose of their oapwere thus taken in a single village. tives at a profit, has oaused a revival in -A pathetio appeal for books comes the most terrible form of the scenes of from Central Africa. In Lake Nyassa slaughter and bloodshed which formerly is Lukoma Island, oontaining only made every chief town of the interior & twelve square mUes, but more densely Golgotha.
populated than many places in Europe. It is universally admitted in the settle.
Missionaries have lived there for years, ments that the approaching extinotion and many of the natives arB able to read of the slave trade in Western Afrioa is and write. The island has recently making warfare more meroiless than it .b~n comple.t.el'y transformed, huts of used to be.
The Missionary Review of the World — February 1893
OUR WORLD
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XVI. No. 2.-0ld &riu.–FEBRUARY. –VOL. VI. No. 2.-New Series.
OUR WORLD.-II.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIE;F.
As the true warrior counts the cost of the war and the true builder reckons the resources for his structure, so God's soldiers and servants look at both sides of their work; they study what is to be done and to be undone, to be accomplished and to be antagonized ; and then calmly survey the whole range of resources and encouragements, helps and hindrances. Having looked already at the world field and the giant foes, it behooves us now to look with equal care and candor at our available sources of success and the imperial claims of duty.
1. OUR' HELPs.-What are they ~ First of all, our help is in God. Any and every work don!' for Him is work done with Him. It is His work rather than ours, or ours only because it is first His. This is not a distinction without a difference. If we are doing a work of our own and ask Him to come to our help, then the primary responsibility is OUTS, and we may, well be anxious for the issue. If He is doing His eternal work, and summons us to His help as co-workers with Him, then the original, primary, ultimate responsibility is His, and all anxiety and worry become an impertinence, as thol'gh God were not able to take care of His own work! As though His ark were mounted on one of man's carts and needed to be stayed by our venturesome hands !
The work of world-wide missions is THE WORK of our Master throughout this whole dispensation; and we are called to be His servants. He does this work not in person but through us, and hence, while the privilege is ours of working for and with Him, the responsibility is His from first to last, and we are therefore to be" careful for nothing" save to be in league with Him.
He has given us the great weapon of our warfare, "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God ;" this supplies also the great implement of our work-both sword and trowel at the Bame time-as good for building as for battling. And about His Word He has said what He never said of any word of man, however wise or eloquent: " My Word, that goeth forth out of My mouth, shall not return unto Me void" (Isa. 55 : 11). So far as we rp.ally make use of that Word, omnipotence is with us, pledged to our success. As surely as the rain and snow that fall from heaven return not in vapor to the skies until they have watered the earth and made it to bring forth and bud, yielding seed for sower and bread for eater, so surely shall God's Word, heavenly in origin, not return to Him without results. All we have to do is to insure contact between that Word and the souls of men, and we may leave the issue with Him. We may no more trace that vVord in its mysterious mission than we can follow every drop of rain or flake of snow as it falls to the earth, percolates through the soil, comes up in springs, flows in rills and rivers to the sea, and is evapo· rated beneath the sun and returus to cloudland; but every word of God will fulfil its mission. All we have to do is to help to send it on its mission.
Would that all men would learn this great truth! The world and the Church are full of human resorts and resources, all of which are impotent to do the work to which the Word is appointed in God's eternal councils. When the Word of God seems to be accomplishing but little, men venture to substitute something else. Poetic essays, political harangues, literary dissertations, ethical lectures-something more popular is put in place of God's pure WOl'd in hope to draw the people and fan the dying embers on the altars of neglected worship. But it is all stupendous folly, akin to blasphemy. The only help for lost souls, the one almighty weapon, the one sufficient working-tool for fighting foes and building up the Church is the WORD of God. Give men the Gospel pure, simple, persistently preached, lovingly and graciously exemplified, and there is not one form of error in doctrine or practice that will not ultimately give way. And, if God's Word is powerless, where Omnipotence fails man's impotence must prove doubly and disastrously inadequate. The first help of all is a revival of apostolic preaching if we are to have a new era of apostolic missions.
Our next hope and help is the Spirit of God, who alone can help us to use the Word effectively. If the Word is the sword, the Spirit is the force that wields it. The sword is to be held by a human hand, but the grip that holds it and the power that hews and smites and thrusts with it is a Divine power. Paul's dependence was not on the logic of argument or demonstration by logical processes, but on the " demonstration of the Holy Spirit, " the Rhort logic that brings instantaneous conviction by rending asunder the veil and suddenly disclosing facts and truths. The Spirit demonstrates by lightning flashes. So Saul was convinced, convicted, converted ; and so have multitudes who had opposed and blasphemed been brought to instant surrender to the truth and immediate obedience to a new Master. How much do we depend on the Holy Spirit ~ How fervently do we seek His anointing, enduring, imbuing power g The one " lost art" seems to be that of commanding spiritual energy. So important is this that we should absolutely tarry until so endu~d. No amount of time is wasted in such prayerful, expectant waiting. Ten days of prayer, forty days of delay are nothing if the one pentecostal day but comes that marks the outpouring from on high.
Closely linked with the Word and the Spirit is that prayer in Jesus' name and for the glory of God which makes possible the power of both the Word and Spirit as a reality. To lay hold upon God, to make Him our dependence and confidence, and actually get His power, that is the secret of a mighty use of the Gospel message and a true obtaining of Divine enduement-nay, is not that itself the enduement ~ Such prayer in Jesus' name is the prayer, not of the human suppliant, but of the great Intercessor in whose name he pleads ; just as any request presented by authority and in the name of another is in effect the petition of another, only through a third party. Such prayer makes the weakest man strong, because Almighty Strength is behind his weakness. And in order to all this there must be a higher standard ofpiety, a holiness which makes possible new knowledge of God, access to God, and conformity to His image.
When we have thus learned the help there is in God we shall not be slow both to learn and use all the resources and facilities found in ourselves or at our disposal. The proper employment of all that God has given us by nature or culture is made sure only when we are in close bonds with Him. This gives the clear vision to see and the wise mind and ready heart to use every faculty and opportunity. Sanctified enterprise and energy, impelled by holy enthusiasm for God and passion for the truth and for the souls of men, become natural and necessary. The Church under such baptism of power would be a giant working miracles among men. We should have sanctified homes, and children not only trained for God, but conceived and begotten, born and bred as the offspring of prayer. Parental piety would reach back to the very sources of pre-natal life, and parental character would salt the springs whence flow family habits.
We must learn to lay proper stress on a sanctified individualism. There is an unsanctified individualism, but it tends to the undue assertion of individual opinion and rights, leads to " free thinking" and" free love" and rebellion against the supreme will of God and even the social order. But there is a right and righteous individualism that teaches every believer to grow to his full stature in knowledge, capacity, and activity, and trains him to service; and that shows us the meaning of that pregnant word " salvation," which includes far more than forgiveness and justificationnamely, the confession of Christ, the sanctification of character, co-operation with all other believers, aud individual service to God and to souls.
2. OUR DUTY.-This can be understood only as both our work and our resources are clearly apprehended, for these constitute the basis of responsibility, determine what is due.
The one great duty which we here seek to emphasize is to " go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." A world-wide evangelization is first and foremost, holding absolutely the front rank. In a sense it stands alone as the one and only command ever given to the Church of Christ by the Master Himself, whICh covers active duty. He did indeed give two other commands: "This do in remembrance of Me," and" Love one another." But obviously both of these belong to a ,different category. One refers to the great memorial ordinance and sacrament which keeps His atoning death in perpetual remembrance; the other has to do with an abiding principle of heart life. But there is one and a solitary injunction, having to do with aggressive wor1{ for His kingdom. No other command stands beside it. It is itself the whole Decalogue of the new life. But though alone it is all-inclusive. If this be fulfilled, every other law and duty of a serviceable life is embraced and performed.
Evangelization, then-carrying the good news from land to land until every human soul is reached-is the one all-inclusive work of the Church. This is no small work, nor one to be easily done. After nineteen centuries, it has never yet been actually done, so that no one generation has fully heard even once the message of the Gospel, and no doubt there are larger masses of mankind absolutely unreached by the good tidings to-day than ever before.
It is so much the more imperative that this work should be immediately undertaken and with all possible promptness accomplished, because even when done, it is but the beginning, not the end of evangelism. Had every human being to-day heard the Gospel, with every pendulum stroke one dies and another is born; and so, within thirty years a new generation must be taught, or we have again earth peopled by the unevangelized ; so that, unless the Church of Christ keeps up her holy activity and reaches one new soul every second this work will not remain done, though once accomplished. Moreover, evangelization is not convel'Eion, but only the first step in preparation for it. And so God means that, like the poor, the unsaved shall be always with us that their condition may be a perpetual appeal and incentive to. evangelistic activity. For the Church to have no more need to preach the Gospel to lost sinners would be such a calamity and curse that, at any point this side of perfection, it would imply rapid decline and awful decay. Scarcely less for our sake than for the sake of unpardoned sinners do we need to act as God's messengers; for a stream that stagnates becomes putrid, and where growth ~tops death begins.
We must, therefore, undertake in God's name as never before to get the Gospel into contact with every living soul. Our work in thus witnessing to all lays the basis for the fuller and more permanent work of repeating and confirming this witness by establishing the Christian home, and chmch, and school, and college, the sanctified press, and all those educational, philanthropic, and benevolent institutions which are God's trees of life on either side of the banks of the river of life. Such evangelization would be followed by the gathering of converts into churches, which is organization; then the fuller training in knowledge, piety, and service, which is education and edification ; and so all true blessings attendant upon the highest and truest Christian civilization would follow, and prepare for that universal enduement of the Spirit which marks the last great epoch and era of human history.
Our limited space forbids, within these pages, to expand this great theme as it ought to be; but we venture to indicate two grand lines upon which onr cords must be lengthened and our stakes strengthened.
First there mnst be a more equal, adequate, proportionate distribution of laborers. The field is the world, and it is not even nominally occupied as yet. Its full occupation is the first condition of evangelization. This disproportionate distribution of missionary laborers throughout the world furnishes some of the most suggestive and instructive facts which we have been able to gather and classify; and these facts are vocal with both remonstrance and appeal.
From the latest and best available reports-reports at best sadly defective and incomplete-the following approximate tables have been carefully compiled. In 1889 there were reported 6589 foreign laborers, ordained and lay, including women; and 34,345 native evangelists, teachers, and helpers; a total of 40,934. More recently the Free Church of Scotland Monthly and the Baptist .ilfi88ionary Herald of Britain undertook to compile missionary statistics; and though carefully made, even these estimates differ. But the number of missionary societies is reckoned by the former authority at 280 ; of stations and out-stations at 11,388 ; of missionaries of all grades from foreign lands at 7700; of native workers at 36,000 (4250 of whom are ordained) ; and the number of communicants at 800,000, with 2,200,000 adherents.
The Herald computes missionaries at 7921 (of whom 4693 are males, 3228 females) ; native workers at 40,083 ; communicants at 726,883.
Dean Vahl, President of the Danish Missionary Society, an admitted authority in statistics, estimates for 1890-91 : Missionary organizations, 264; .contributions, £2,229,759, or about $11,150,000; 6557 missionaries, with native force of 46,244 (of whom 3374 are native ministers) ; 885,116 communicants, representing a total of 3,540,464 native members of Christian communities.
Now, in all the tables there are figures not supplied and blanks unfilled; nor are any reports yet at hand which embrace the year 1892. It will be entirely safe to take from each of these three reports the highest estimates given, and even then we shall be rather below than above the mark. Thus combining, we get the following round numbers as very safe guides: Missionary organizations, 280; stations and out-stations, 11,400; foreign laborers, 8000 (about two fifths of whom are women) ; native workers, 47,000 (of whom nearly one tenth are ordained) ; making a total working force of 55,000, with about 900,000 communicants and four times as many adherents; and a total contribution to missions of about $12,000,000. The most careful investigation satisfies the writer that these figures are as near as may be ascertained to the actual facts, and furnish a proper working basis. These laborers are dIstributed very nearly as follows: Foreign. Native. Total., India and Ceylon ••••.•……………. 2,360 21,500 23,860 14,030 Africa, Madagascar, etc……………. 1,530 12,500 3,930 China, etc.,-Mongolia …………….• 1,430 2,500 1,235 North America and Greenland .. __ ….. .. 635 600 480 1,170 Jews-scattered .. __ .. _…. _…. _. . . . . . 440 40 3,470 2,340 Japan ……….••••…. _. . .. . … :.. 420 750 1,040 Australia, Polynesia, etc.. . . . . . . . . . • . . . . 270 3,200 930 575 South America, West Indies, etc . . . . . . . , . 240 . 2,100 900 365 Burmah, etc…. . • . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . 140 900 440 80 Turkey, Greece, etc… ……………. 130 800 70 15 Palestine, Syria, etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . •. . . 75 500 70 Continent of Europe ….•….••. ' ….. " 70 830 Persia, etc .•…•.• , …. ' • . . . •• . • . . . . • . 65 300 Assam, etc………… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 400 Siam and Laos.. . . .••• . . . . .. .. . . .• .•. . 35 45 Egypt, Arabia, etc, . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . • • . . 35 35 Thibet…………………………. 15 Scattered-various parts Papal Europe, etc. 70 8,000 47,000 55,000 Of course these estimates are only an approach to the truth, and we shall welcome any corrections or additions that we may as far as possible ascertain, and record exact facts.
But, looking at these tables, with every possible allowance for incompleteness and inaccuracy, it is very obvious that there is no realdistribution at all, even of the actual available working force. While no field is oversupplied, in most fields there is an appalling undersupply. The policy of concentration rather than of diffusion has thus far been the practical policy of missions, and this is directly contrary to the express command of our Lord. India leads the way with more than one fourth of the foreign laborers among a population of 280,000,000. This would give about one missionary worker to every 110,000. Africa comes next, which, including Egypt and Madagascar, has about one to 140,000. China comes next, with about one to 270,000. Siam has about the same average supply; Japan one to about 100,000.
One very marked encouragem(;lnt is suggested by these tables. The Church of Christ sends out less than 8000 workers; but on heathen soil have been raised up, mostly in our own generation, a total force nearly six times as large, so that to-day six sevenths of the entire evangelizing force in the foreign field is the self-sown crop of missions. Christ's laborers have scattered the seed of the kingdom; and within this century behold the results! At this rate of multiplication, in another century these lands will be able to care for their own evangelization; and foreign missions may everywhere give place to home missions.
Our already extended paper allows but a word about the other grave matter which demands attention-viz., sanctified liberality. For a body of over 40,000,000 Protestant believers, with a total wealth of not less than $20,000,000,000, to give of that vast sum less than $12,000,000 annually for foreign missions, or less than one sixteen hundredth part, or one sixteenth of one per cent! is parsimony and penuriousness for which there can be no apology or extenuation.Ve shall never have an adequate supply of laborers, nor shall we· ever adequately support the laborers if they were on the field, until our giving is reconstructed from the very base. Of this we are fully persuaded, yet we also know that nothing but the new pentecost can break down the present selfish policy of hoarding and,spend- ing.
Among our duties, the proper, scriptural standard of giving comes into front rank, and its corner-stone is found in a conception of our divine stewardship. Our possessions are in trust for God, and to be used as trustees. We have giving, but not of a godly sort. There are at least ten ways of contributing to benevolent purposes, some of which are 11 reproach and a shame : 1. The h.eedless way; giving something to any object presented, without inquiry into its claims or merits or needs, or proportionate demands as to other causes.
2. The impulsive way; giving as the caprice of the moment leads, as often c.r as much or little as feeling may prompt.
3. The lazy way; shirking all self denial, and resorting to fairs, festivals, and various panderings to the carnal nature to raise money " for the Lord's cause."
4. The calculating way; giving with reference to some expected returns i~ pecuniary prosperity or indirect self-emolument.
5. The selfish way; giving from desire and expectation of the reward of human praise and glory, or personal prominence al'ld reputation as a giver.
6. The systematic way; laying aside as an offering to God a definite proportion of income-one tenth or one fifth or more, as conscience indicates. This is adapted to both rich and poor, and insures large aggregates.
7. The intelligent way; giving to each object after a personal investigation into its comparative merits and claims, and without dependence on the happy appeal of its representative or agent.
8. The self-denying way; saving what luxurious taste or careless outlay would squander, and sacredly applying it to purposes of piety and charity.
9. The equal way; giving to the Lord's needy ones as mueh as is spent on self, balancing personal expenditures and benevolent outlay as a corrective to all extravagance.
10. The heroic way; limiting outlay to a certain sum, and giving away the entire remainder. This is stewardship in exercise. It was John Wesley'S way, who never exceeded his fixed sum of personal outlay. It
OUR MISSIONARY HEROINES-" BY FAITH."
is Hudson Taylor's w~y. It makes a habitual, conscientious, proportionate, prayerful, liberal, unselfish, consecrated giver. Adopted as a rule, it would turn God's people into a body of givers whose unceasing contributions would be a river of water of life to a dying world. Such giving, would insure praying, and be the handmaid of holy living. With such giving of money, giving of self would inevitably follow, if it did not precede; and with a rapidity now incredible a world's evangelization would move toward its consummation and the coronation of the coming King I OUR MISSIONARY HEROINES-" BY FAITH."
BY J. T. GRACEY, D.D., ROCHESTER, N. Y.
The human race is composed of about an equal number of mal€; and female persop.s. Loosely speaking, there are, therefore, on the earth seven hundred millions of women and girl-children, and within each century some two thousand millions of these fill up each a lifetime and pass away. The thought is a stupendous one.
The world has grown familiar with the sad story of the degradation, the wrongs, and the sufferings of this portion of the human race over large portions of the world. The illustrations of their misery are multitudinous and monotonous. The relation of marriage, which under the ennobling influences of Christianity has been exalted well.nigh to a sacrament, presents throughout the history of non-Christian peoples a lamentable record of violence and sin. The old Maroons of Jamaica and the present Thibetans of Asia, furnish examples of peoples without a substitute for marriage in the one case, or any judicial sanction of it in the other. The Hassaniyeh Arab recognizes a "three-quarter" marriage-of legal obligation only three days out of four-while in Mocha all marriages are temporary. In Thibet wives are pawned, and in parts of China hired to other men. The communal marriage, wherein all the men are married to all the women, as recommended in the Platonic Republic, is by no means unknown to history, though it shocks every sense of decency and graduates men as beasts in an agricultural pen. "Wife-capture," whereby women have been clubbed, speared, or otherwise half killed in the process, has been and still is, too widespread to enumerate the nations that have practised it. Polygamy and polyandry, whether in Thibet, Ceylon, New Zealand, the Aleutian Islands, among the Cossacks or the Orinocos, afford little relief to these wretched chapters of human life. Girl life among half the population of the globe seems the cheapest thing in the dust-bin of human possessions. We close our eyes to a record of debasement and oppression, which compels us to pity where we cannot relieve.
When Jesus Christ came into this world, He came, the truest friend of woman, and formulated principles which, like leaven, must exert its influ. ence through all measures of meal to give her a social resurrection. Born of a woman, He blessed the woman that bore Him. He showed favor to classes which had for ages been shut out from recognition. One woman, " a sinner," is told to " sin no more," and the charity of all centuries is summoned to condone her shame till a sinless one is found among men. Another woman breaks perfume over His person, and the fragrance floats in fulfilment of His prophecy through all ages in the kindliest expressions of pity and the gentlest ministries of love.
The benefit that comes to society from the patronage which Christianity has extended in so unexampled a degree to this half of the race, is not far to seek. It were to write a volume so much as to enumerate the intellectual development of women under the benign influences born of the Gospel. Barbara Uttman rescued Saxony by the invention of pillow lace; Betsy Metcalf originated the straw industry of the United States by her manufacture of straw bonnets, from which Massachusetts alone reaps millions every year ; the cotton-gin, which leads the list of the sixteen remarkable inventions adopted by the world, was the invention of Mrs. General Green; the" Burden" horse-shoe machine, which turns out a horseshoe etery three seconds and saves millions to the land, was the invention of a woman; when Mr. Roebling, engineer of the great Brooklyn bridge, was stricken down with overwork, his wife assumed his duties as chief-engineer, and sat down with manufacturers to teach them to make patterns which no mill was then making; Miss Maria Mitchell, astronomer of Vassar College, received a gold medal from the King of Den?lark for discovering a comet in 1847, besides which she discovered seven others, and was the honored guest of famous astronomers in Europe. Woman, under the inspiration and freedom which the religion of Christ has created, has been set loose as at a bound, for lofty achievement in the department of charity and social reform-witness the noble and the gifted Elizabeth Fry and Florence Nightingale, or our American, Clara Barton, or Dorothea L. D"ix, " who," as her biographer well says, "in a less practical age would have been canonized, and her halo-crowned figure placed on the altar-pieces of churches to shine like those of Catherine of Siena or Santa Barbara."
But it is of the expression of this genius of charity and endurance in noble achievement, as found on the foreign mission field in our own times, that we write. Even in t.his we are bewildered with the richness of the illustrations that thrust themselves on our view. The tact, talent, and industry of missionary women, their rich resources in expediency, their loftiness of soul-power, combined with the abandon of their faith, suggest an addendum to the eleventh chapter of Paul's letter to the Hebrews. Shall we venture to be the scribe 1 Then here is what might be added as samples of others of which" time would faii" us to tell.
" By FAITH."
" By faith" Miss Whately, daughter of an archbishop, went to Cairo, Egypt, and for more than thirty years spent her strength in helping Mos-
0 outt )ll~~IONARY HEUOINES—" ny ~'AI'1'll.·· [l<'ebruary
icm WOltlcn and girls, and finally was presBcd to develop a boy~' school, which is one of the prominent educational factors of that land to-day.
" By faith" Mrs. Osborn fonnded the Soldiers' Home in South Africa and the Railway Mission of Cape Colony and Natal, and travelled over the country thirteen hundred miles, sometimes with icicles hanging from her carriage, and at other times under a broiling African sun. A Jew, seeing her devotion, said: "I do not believe in their Christ; but if He enables them to endure this, I will never mock His name again."
" By faith" Sarah Boardman for three years after her husband's death contInued his work, pointing the way of life to the Karen inquirers who came in from the jungle, conducting schools with such tact and ability that when afterward she obtained a large grant from the English Government for schools throughout the province, it was specially stipulated that they should be " conducted on the plan of Mrs. Boardman's schools." "By faith" she made long mission tours in the Karen jungles, climbed mountains, traversed marshes, forded streams, and threaded forests. In conversation, prayer, and writing in the Burmese language she acquired an uncommon degree of fluency and power. She conducted prayer-meetings with the women every week, and a meeting for a study of the Scriptures ; translated into model Burmese the "Pilgrim's Progress," edited the chapel hymn-book, composing twenty of its best hymns; published four volumes of Scripture questions-since in constant use in the Sundayschools; acquired a knowledge of Pequan, and superintended the translation of the New Testament into that tongue, and frequently met the exigency of lack of ministerial force by conducting the worship herself in the Karen assemblies.
" By faith" Miss Fay, of Albany, went in the early days of mission work to Shanghai, and commenced work among boys because she could get no girls, and by patient toil developed that school into a theological seminary from which have gone out hundreds of native pastors, and then in failing health handed the work over to her own Protestant Episcopal board and came home to die.
" By faith" the spiritually minded Miss Fidelia Fiske, the first nnmarried missionary to Persia, established a female seminary, the educational and spiritual influence of which has possibly done as much as any other, if not of all others, to reach and revolutionize the homes of Persia.
" By faith" Miss Matilda Rankin, the first Protestant missionary to enter Mexico and establish work there, suffered all things for twenty years that she might make known the Gospel to the Mexicans. She came home at last broken in health, and handed her work over to the American Board.
" By faith" Eliza Agnew, studying geography at school at eight years of age, resolved that when she" grew up" she would be a missionary, and at thirty years of age went to Ceylon, took charge of a boarding-school, and for forty-three years, during which she never visited her native land,
OUIt MISSION.UV llEROINES-"BY FAITH,"
exerted her influence on the women of that country, and had under her training more than II thousand girls, teaching the children and grandchildren of her first pupils, not one pupil taking the entire course coming out of the school without being a Christian. When she died they called her the " mother of a thousand daughters. "
" By faith" Mrs. Dr. Hill taught three generations of Greek women, and the institution at Athens has a daily attendance of fifteen hundred pupils.
" By faith" Miss Isabel Nassau, of West Africa, took charge of a theological seminary for African young men, has translated books, printing them with her own hands on her own little printing-press, and sailed up and down African rivers in her own little boat, the Evangeline, to visit the stations under her care.
" By faith" some fifteen years ago a New England woman went to Burma with her husband. Soon after arrival on the field he died, and was buried while on a Gospel tour in the Shan States. The brave woman toiled on alone till failing health compelled her to return to the United States. Later, she took a course of medical study and a course in theology, and then returned to labor far in the interior among the Shan people, worked for nine years without vacation, gathered a native church about her, trained her own preachers, built her own bungalow, schoolhouse and chapel, and works still with that love which will bring the world to Christ.
" By faith" Miss Mary Graybill went to India, representing the church known as the" Christians" or the" Disciples of Christ," the Sunday-schools of which raised $4000, and then sent it to her for the purpose of erecting a church for her mission. " By faith" she served as architect, master builder, and general" boss mechanic." First she bought four yoke of buffalos to do the teaming, then a few big trees, and employed nearly a hundred natives to quarry the stone, which had to be hauled several miles, and to makIJ brick, first tramping the clay, fashioning it into bricks and burning them, using the spare portions of the trees for fuel. The trunks of the trees were laboriously sawed by hand into boards for the floors and roof. A stone foundation was laid three feet below the ground and as much above to keep out the white ants. Evidently she made a good job of it, for an English visitor, asking who had engineered the building, was amazed to find she had filled that position herself.
" By faith" Miss Clara Cushman bought a property for a school with fine buildings in North China, arranged with the carpenter to finish the buildings for a school· room, but finding the men putting in one window three inches lower than the other, and laying the bricks wrong side up, stood over them directing the work till it was done correctly.
" By faith" a young missionary woman at Tetela, Mexico, conducted mission work for one year entirely alone, so far as any English-speaking companionship went, the work being entirely among the native Indian population. She had to ride on horseback and ford several rivers in reaching her stations, and the testimony of the superintendent was that " no more self-denying and heroic missionary work" was done anywhere than by this woman.
" By faith" Miss Phrebe Rowe, an Eurasian lady, sent to a central station in North India, took entire charge of the work for a year till a pastor could be appointed.
" By faith" many of these noble Christian women have wrought greatly in the department of literature in the vernaculars of the field where their fortunes were cast. Mrs. Mix, of the Baptist Mission, in Burma, acquired such proficiency in the Shan language that she became an able coadjutor of Dr. Cushing in the preparation of the Shan 'Bible, carefully reading his manuscript, and at times taking charge of the printing in his absence, and taking large parts of it through the press. Miss Oclad translated a hymn-book for Chinese; Mrs. Humphrey did the same for the Methodists in North India, and Mrs. J. E. Scott issued a book of harmonized native music, in wide use in that mission; Miss Holbrook published a work on the education of Japanese girls; Miss Spencer, of Tokyo, translated the life of Susanna Wesley into Japanese; Miss Bodly, of Lucknow, wrote in Hindustani a life of Queen Victoria, which has had a large circulation; Miss Hall, of Rome, has established a Sunday-school paper, and issues it in connection with the International Sunday-school leaflets in the Italian language. "A. L. O. E." has for years, at her own charges, worked in a native viIIage in North India, translating and writing and superintending schools, and now, past seventy years of age, is respected and loved by the whole community.
" By faith," when cholera broke out in one of the mountain stations in the interior of the Himalayas, Miss Annie Budden faced and fought it alone, so far as human help went, for two months. She was obliged to remove her girls and women to a hill eight thousand feet high and twelve miles away, and to go, Jeaving her farm and cattle and store-room, the grain ('ut and ungathered, and facing the problem how she should feed all these people. The children had to be carried on the shoulders of men, because too young to walk the distance. It was no small matter to thus move eighty-five women and girls to occupy tents. The doctor left with his family; he was not well, and could not stand the strain. Miss Budden was alone; every servant vanished. The native Christians had wives and children, and were terror-stricken. "One day," she says, "I was called to see one of my women some distance away. I could not get a coolie, for everyone had gone, so I got a pony and rode on a man's saddle, spent hours in working over the sick, then got another horse for my homeward journey; but I had no saddle-only a cloth; the horse became restive and unmanageable and threw me off, and I walked twelve miles in an Indian sun on a hot July day. Several of my women and girls died, and the question came how to get them buried, for no one would come near me, and there was no one to dig a grave. All had left me but a few native Christian women. I called one of them and asked her if she would go with me to dig the grave. She said, ' Yes,' and brought others with her; and six of us went with spades and hoes, a sad procession. 'Ve tied up the body in blankets, carried it ourselves, dug the grave and buried it, and I offered a short prayer. That was six o'clock in the morning; at six in the evening we did the same thing for another. During this time my wheat was lying on the floor unthreshed, my cattle were suffering because there was no one to give them water. It was a time of agony and of dependence on God."
One must cease these selections somewhere. The portfolio we have overhauled and appropriated at our pleasure, sometimes even to the phraseology which we found, is full of similar incidents. We cannot forbear adding one or two other references.
" By faith" Miss Reed, of the Methodist Mission in India, toiled on till obliged to return to America in ill health, and after spending some time here, consulted a physician, and then a series of physicians, only to learn the startling information that beyond doubt she had in some way contracted leprosy. The brave girl kept her knowledge to herself, told not even her mother, but prepared to return to India, that "by faith" she might live with and work for lepers! She is near Miss Budden, banished to the social relations of that disease-stricken community, but cheerful and triumphant, a living martyr to the salvation of the people of India. She is engaged in literary work at present, and will doubtless do a grand work for God. Heaven help the heroine !
What is the secret of all this endurance with delight, this triumph in trial, this quickened genius, this developed scholarship, this doubling of capacity, moral, physical, and spiritual? We have purposely left all reference to Miss Field until now, that she may tell the secret of power and peace in isolation and toil and danger and disaster_ " By faith" Miss Adele Field went to China, and has accomplished work which has made her name known in many lands. She has travelled among the country villages, trained numerous Bible women, translated books, indexed Williams's" Dictionary of the Chinese Language," and, among other doings, has made a " Dictionary of the Swatow Dialect."
But it was not for all this that we reserved reference to her to this point in our article. It was the rather that we might let her tell " in her own way and well" the secret of power, the hidings of God, the" unknown quantity" without which no solution of the heroism of these devoted women can be got. Four years after Miss Field had opened her evangelistic work at Swatow she wrote a letter to a friend from a distant Chinese village where she was laboring, in which, after describing the " floorless, windowless, and comfortless houses" of the natives, she said of her life: " It is a solitary sort of one; but while I am obeying Chnst's behest. , Go and teach,' He fulfils to me most wondrously His promise, ' Lo, I am with you always.' In no other occupation could I be so sure of such good company. The promise is explicit. It is not limited to the fitness of him who goes, nor to the success of his teaching. Just as I am I go, just as I am I teach, and in all His glory, all His sweetness, all His power to bless and comfort He is with me. There if: nothing in me to make Jesus wish to stay with me j the filth and horror of the place must be far greater in His sight than in mine j but the mission insures His presence with the ambassador. I have the Royal Guest who calls me 'no more servant,' but' friend,' and whose tender love will not leave me one moment lonely. His greatness never seems so great as when He reduces it to the need of my littleness. He never seemed so much a King to me as since I see how regally He can· dwell in this small drear house, and what a palace He makes it to me. He makes me realize that a Saviour is for the commonest and most practical needs as well as the most spiritual. I know of no human friend whom I should be willing to bring with me to such an uncheery place. But Jesus of Nazareth gives me no anxious thoughts for His entertainment. I can sit on Mary's footstool unreproached by any Martha; and my social joy is greater than if I had the company of visible angels without Him."
We have no space for the other part of this divine philosophy of content and toil-that of witnessing the development of souls who have never had the light, when they receive its divine rays. In some cases the eagerness to learn of the truth is an inspiration.
" One holds my hands and another my feet," says one of these workers, "as I begin to tell them of Jesus." An old woman was standing on the outskirts of a crowd at a bathing place on the banks of the Ganges River near Cawnpore, where Nana Sahib massacred four hundred Christians. A foreign lady-evangelist was talking to two hundred heathen women and singing to them of Christ. " Your singing is drawing my heart this way," said the little old woman on the outer edge of the company. "I have been standing here a long time and cannot go away. Every night as I go to sleep I hear you singing, " Yisu Masih mero prana bachaiya," (Jesus Christ has saved my soul), and I sing it too all day long in my heart as I do my work." " We are still birds in a cage," said another, "but you have taught us to sing."
One old Brahman woman, hearing for the first time the blessed words in St. John's Gospel, 3 : 16, said, with much earnestness, "Put my finger on that and read it again, and read it slowly." Then added, " Oh, bring me a book like that, and teach me how to read it! 'God so loved! ' Oh, I will say it all the time till you come again." Others say, "Why haven't we been told of Jesus before? you must tell us more about Him before we can worship Him." A dying Hindn girl in a zenana, where no ordained minister could enter, gave up her habe, asked for water, and when it was brought crowned herself, laying her open Bible across her head, baptized herself-and died. Multitudes uncounted and often unknown are thus longing for light. The secret of the apostle is the secret of these heroines, who" count all things loss" that they may make known this Gospel to these.
Doing often the work appointed for the stronger arm and rougher nature of man; reading ritual at the grave's mouth or in the church, because no minister is present or procurable for months or years; "expected to know how to treat a sick horse, to decide the accurate amount of grain bullocks ought to eat in a month, to judge the length of time and number of men required to whitewash a given number of rooms, or to check the almost fabulous amount of salt which the khansaman strives to make one believe is neces- sary for the food of the girls"-these women are doing all without disturb- ing our sense of the delicacy of woman, lessening the aroma of the loving names by which we address her, or dissolving the spell of her personal charms. '
The results are beyond computation. They are lifting the heathen world off its hinges, by lifting the world's girlhood and womanhood and, wifehood, its motherhood and widowhood up to the realization of God's ideal woman, clothed with the sunlight of sanctity, pure with the utmost approach to purity, sweet with unselfish attributes, and strong for the quickstep of an onward progress which must sometimes recognize weariness, but is certain to know neither permanent arrest nor decline.
These women are threading intricate lanes in Oriental cities, wandering by the banks of the Yangtse and the silver La Platte, sitting under the sunny skies of Italy and on the fertile plains of Mexico, scaling the Bal- kans, sailing the seas of the Mikado's empire, and entering the gates of " the hermit nation," fulfilling the prophecy that" the women that pub- lish the tidings are a great host."
These women have gone from homes of culture, halls of learning, amI the enchantments of Christian society-gone to isolation and to the dreari- ness and monotony of heathen misery; gone into public melas, private hovels, and lofty mansions in India and China; camped among wild Koords, crept on hands and kaees amid smoke and vermin in a Zulu's kraal, sung Christian hymns to cannibal crowds, slept quietly on the Infinite Arm in the habitations.of cruelty and the abodes of lust, " scribbled" the seas with the" centric and eccentric" of their journeyings, risked health in ways named and unknown, bound up offensive wounds, sympathized with the fallen, trained children, given to mothers a loftier ideal of mother- hood, addressed themselves to national reforms in the interests of their sex, and been" living epistles" of the everlasting Gospel. And all this have they done, not under the impulse of mere temporary sentiment, but with patience that could plod, with ingenuity that could create, and with a practical wisdom that could conserve. They have prosecuted their work in a way and with results which may challenge comparison with that of
CONFUCIANISM
their sisters, or even of their brethren, of any century, of any country, and of any clime.
Into the magnificent .compamonship of these heroines we are sending other women who will not always be equal to these, nor always equal to themselves, perhaps, for all find times of exhaustion and disenchantment. The dew will be on Hermon and the enveloping cloud on Tabor, while they go to Carmel or to Calvary. But to. all who shall enter these lists of the enduring ones, we have to say, You shall be girt with the same grace, guided by the same pillar, and your work may glow with the oriole of the same saintliness. "By faith" the eleventh chapter of Hebrews will be an amending book to the end of time.
CONFUCIANISM.
BY REV. A. P. HAPPER, D.D., GLENSHAW, PA.
Confucianism is a very extensive subject. It will be impossible to treat it fully in a short paper. All that I can do will be to present an outline of the important points. Confucianism comprehends three separate and distinct subjects. They are designated by the name of China's great sage, not because he originated the doctrines and worship pertaining to these systems, but because he edited the books in which they are transmItted-systematized them and taught them to his disciples, who accepted and disseminated his teachings.
The three separate systems comprehended uuder the term Confucianism are these: 1. A political system which is embodied in the form of government that has existed so long in China. 2. A system of ethics which explains and enforces the nature and duties of the five human relationships, and teaches the nature and obligation of the five cardinal virtues. The third system presents the native religion of China, which is established by statute, and is the State religion of the empire. These several parts of what is comprised under the term Confucianism have existed since the earliest existence of the Chinese nation. I will give a succinct statement of each system separately.
The Chinese system of government assumes that the government in China is established by an overruling power, designated Heaven. Whatever may have been referred to by the term Heaven in the early ages of the people, ever since the time of Confucius it has referred to the material heavens regarded as a god. Heaven establishes the government, appoints the rulers, confers blessings upon rulers and people, sends judgments upon transgressors, displaces unworthy kings, and gives the throne to a sue·· cessor. The government is a paternal monarchy. Government was established for the happiness and protection of the people, and not for the honor or aggrandizement of the rulers. If the rulers oppress the people, ,md will not heed the remonstrance of men or the warnings of Heaven, it is the right of the people to remove such rulers by revolution and install others in their place. The success of a rebellion which has been excited by injustice and oppression is the proof that Heaven, the patron god of the empire, has appointed the insurgent leader to be the ruler, and the people submit to him as the Heaven-appointed emperor. When an insurgent chief obtains the power and makes proclamation to the people of his ascending the throne, he also makes a public declaration to Heaven of the reasons for the insurrection, and states that, as he has now obtained the decree of Heaven in his favor, he enters upon the duties of the Heavengiven appointment with a deep sense of his own unworthiness, and announces his purpose to administer the government according to the principles of justice and for the happiness of the people.
The principles of the government, as presented in their classics and established by statute, are just and good; they are moderately well carried out in the administration of the government, and afford in a good degree protection to life and property and the pursuit of happiness. In the time of general calamity, as when drouth or widespread floods or famine occurs, it is usual for the emperor, after a period of fasting, to repair to the altar of Heaven and, with the outward appearance of humiliation and distress, to confess his sins and errors of administration, and entreat compassionate Heaven not to send calamities upon the people for his sins, but to show favor and remove the distress.
The emperor, as the Vicegerent of Heaven, is the source of all honor and appointment to office. He appoints all the officers, supervises their administration, promotes the efficient, and removes or degrades the useless. The emperor rules according to accepted and well-known principles of government. There are six boards of administration. The emperor has two councils and special ministers of State. One council consists of a few of the highest officers. The other is much larger, and all the high officers of the empire are members of it. To this large council all important questions of national policy are referred for consideration and advice. In 1839 the question of the legalization of the opium trade was referred to it; and in 1884 the terms of peace which were proposed by France were referred to it. There is nothing in the government to which the missionaries have occasion to object. except to cases of local and incidental administration. They should rejoice that there is a stable government, securing peace and • good order in the country. They should pray for the rulers, and should inculcate reverence for them and obedience to the laws.
The Confucian system of ethics comprises the five human relationships and the five cardinal virtues. The relationships are these-viz., prince and minister, parent and child, husband and wife, elder and younger brother, friend and friend. The duties inculcated as growing out of these relationships are mainly in accord with the teachings of the sacred Scriptures on the same matters. There is, however, an exaggeration of the power belonging to the parent and of the obedience required of the child… There is also some exaltation of the power of the superior party in all the relationships, and a correspondent debasement of the subordinates. Each relationship includes a class of them, of which the specified one is the type. The prince comprises all who are in authority; and minister comprehends all classes of subordinates in society. The teachings of Confucius contain clear and explicit statements of the duties pertaining to the several parties in these relationships. The missionary can very properly give the sanction of the sacred Scriptures to the teachings of the Chinese sages on these relationships except when they inculcate the form and acts of worship to ancestors, and in regard to the other points referred to above. In all ordi- nary times, when presenting and enforcing the parental.and filial duties, the missionary can present the scriptural view of these duties without antagonizing the Chinese exaggeration, and show how, in the nature of things and according to reason, there is a proper limitation to them in such a way as to convince the judgment of Chinese hearers of the right.
The parental relationship, as acknowledged by the Chinese, affords a very excellent basis on which the relationship of God to men, as the Supreme Father of all, may be explained. The presentation of the character and relations of God as the Creator and Supreme Ruler enables the missionary to present God's claim to the obedience of men to Him and His law in such a way as to set aside, without giving offence, the claim of parents to the absolute obedience of children. Parents and children alike owe obedience to a common Father and Ruler.
The teachings of Confucius in regard to the eonjllgal relation afford accepted principles for the inculcation of purity in all the relations of life. In the other relations these same teachings furnish the ground for the inculcation of honesty, integrity, and truthfulness between man and man in all things. The Chinese conscience is prepared to respond to all the teachings of the divine law in reference to human dllties, including love to all, flowing from the universal brotherhood of men and the form of the golden 'rule in its negative form-of not doing to others what we do not wish to be done to us. The positive form of the golden rule, as given by our Divine Saviour, is very easily enforced, after the negative form is recognized as higher and better. The universal brotherhood of men is supported by this sentence from the classics: " All within the four seas are brethren."
The five cardi.nal virtues of the Chinese sage are benevolence, righteousness, filial pity, ceremony, and faithfulness. While this is not a complete list of the virtues, the list comprises the most essential virtues of human society. The meaning of the Chinese words translated by these English words is more full and comprehensive than the English equivalent. Benevolence comprehlmds all the kind and friendly feelings and acts due from man to man in all the relations of life. Filial piety is not restricted to the duties pertaining to parents, but extends to the respect and obedience due to all superiors in age, station, and position. Righteousness comprises everything in human life and conduct which is requislte to consti· tute a perfect man. Ceremony includes the observance of all the kind and gentle acts and ceremonies which manifest the proper deportment of dignity, complaisance, and conciliation, suited to and proper to all the relations of life. Faithfulness is equally as extensive as the other terms in its signification, and teaches the observance of good faith in our intercourse with men in all things. The Confucian teachings in regard to the duties of the five relationships and the nature and obligatiou of the five cardinal virtues have formed a moral nature and conscience in the Chinese to which the missionary may address himself on all human duties and obligations from the very first commencement of his intercourse with them. There is an acknowledgeq standard of human obligation to which he can always appeal with assurance that its requirements will be admitted as obligatory.
These virtues, though in the Chinese system limited to duties belonging to human society, can very easily be so explained and extended as to include the duties owed to the Creator and Ruler of all men. As his own conscience shows to the Chinese that in his intercourse with his fellow-men he comes far short of his accepted standard of duty, there is easily brought home to him a sense of sin and shortcomings; with the ,proper extension of human duties to God and our relations to Him, we have a wonderful preparation for preaching a gospel of righteousness, benevolence, and doing good to others, and a provision for forgiveness of sins as taught by Him who taught as man never taught.
The native religion of the Chinese people is the third system which is comprised in the term Confucianism. It is commonly stated in books on China that there are three religious systcms among the Chinese, and they are designated Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Buddhism was brought into China from India in the first century of the Christian era. It has many adherents in China, having found entrance by accepting many of the idolatries of the native worship into the system of Buddha. Taoism is the modification of the native idolatries which was introduced by the Chinese sage, Laou-tsze, who lived at the same time as Confucius. Confucianism, as a religion, comprises the early native idolatries as they have come down from the earliest period of the nation, and as they were received and transmitted by Confucius. It is established by imperial statute as the State religion of China, with a liturgy and an official enrolment of all the objects and things and persons that must be worshipped. It is the recognized worship of the government, and the other two are spoken of and regarded as heretical. Heaven, Earth, and Man are spoken of as the three original divinities. All the objects of worship are classified as belohging to one or these three powers. Heaven, earth, sun., moon, stars, wind, clouds, lightning, rain, seas, mountains, rivers, hills, etc., are enrolled in the list of gods. Of men, the persons to whom worship is to be paid, as directed in the imperial statlttes, are the imperial ancestors, the emperors of former dynasties, the great teacher Confucius, the patron of agriculture, the patron of the manufactare of silk, the first physician, deceased philallthropists, statesmen, scholars, martyrs, etc. There are three grades of worship-the highest, the middle, and the lower" In the imperial ntual the highest worship is to be paid to Heaven, Earth, the Imperial Ancestors, and the gods of the land and of the grains. The several parts of heaven and earth, Confucius, and the patrons of agriculture, silk manufacture, and the healing art, all receive the medium worship, and all other persons and things receive the lesser worship. The emperor himself is the high-priest of the people, and he only can perform the annual worship at the imperial altars to Heaven, Earth, Imperial Ancestors, and the gods of the land and the grains. It thus appears that the native worship of China is a worship of created objects-of the creature and not the Creator. The material universe as a whole and in detail is worshipped.
Each family has its own household gods. The special Confucian household gods are these: Heaven, Rnler, Parent and Teacher. But that part of this idolatry which has the strongest hold upon the Chinese is the worship of ancestors. The tablets of deceased parents are in every family. Incense is burned to them every morning and evening, and more formally upon the first and fifteenth of every month and on all feast days. Every family connection has an ancestral temple, in which the tablets of the suc· cessive generation of ancestors, from the foundation of the family, are preserved. Some families have tablets of successive generations, the oldest dating for one thousand years before the year A. D. The ancestral temple serves as a school-room for the children of the connection. It is the place for family reunions on feast days, marriages, and rejoicings, when any one of the connection has obtained a degree.
The tablet of Confucius is in every school-room, academy, and college. Every pupil bows before it every morning when he comes into the room. The god of the office is in every officer's residence. The first duty of every official on entering upon any appointment is to worship the office god. Idolatrons worship is required of every officer in every department of the government. The emperor, attended by a large retinue of high officers, all dressed in State robes, worship at the altar of Heaven on December 21st of each year, and at the altar to Earth on June 21st. Thus it is seen that idolatrous worship, according to Confucian rites, forms part of the daily life of all classes of people, whether in private or official stations. The Confucian religion is, therefore, the greatest hindrance to the progress of Christianity. There is special antagonism to Christianity in all classes. But the literati of China are special opposers of Christ. The title of Confucius is " the Teacher of all Ages." Devotion to the sage is the bond of union between all the scholars and officers of the empire. They consider that the prevalence of Christianity necessarily displaces their sage, and changes their most sacrcd and universal usage, the worship of ancestors.
These considerations will explain to c'ery one the opposition to Christianity in China which has bccn so OpCII and manifest the last two years.
FORERUNNERS OF CAREY
It may be expected that this opposition will increase more and more as Christianity extends in the country. It is in this matter that missionaries need" the wisdom which comes from above, and which is profitable in all things to direct." In the obvious and necessary clashing there is between Christianity and Confucianism, the missionary should avoid discussion in public as far as possible. State the nature and purpose of the Gospel as a provision for lost sinners, the blessings for this life and the life to come, and urge its acceptance without reference to the points in which it clashes with other views and doctrines. If the truth is accepted in the love of it, and the blessings of salvation are experienced, the opposition will soon be forgotten in each renewed heart. And when the death struggle between the two systems comes, as come it must, the followers of Jesus must be willing to suffer, and, if need be, to die for the truth as it is in Jesus.
The great majority of the people of China are Confucianists j hence of religions in the world, the Confucianists are next in number to Christians. They have no professional priests. The head of the family is the priest of his own household. They have n9 temples other than the ancestral templcs of the several families. Buddhists and Taoists have professional priests, and temples, in which all may worship the idols. Confucianists worship in the temples of the other religions freely, as they are all tolerant of each other. But the worship of idols is no such hindrance to Christianity as is the worship of ancestors. But to the name of Jesus every knee shall bow to the glory of God the Father. May the Lord hasten it in His time!
FORERUNNERS OF CAREY.-Ill.
BY REV. A. J. GORDON, D.D.
It is a significant Chinese proverb : "Towers are measured by their shadows, and great men by the envy of their fellows." It amazes us to see how true this is even in the history of the Church, how often Christian leaders of the purest motives and the most heroic consecration have been overwhelmed by an opprobrium which it has taken generations to lift from their memory. Carey's apostolic zeal for giving the Gospel to the heathen was ridiculed as "miserable enthusiasm," and he himself pilloried with the epithet of " consecrated cobbler." His predecessors in missionary effort suffered the same fatc at the hand of the highest dignitaries in the Church.
" .An invitation for a society of Jesus to promote Ohristianity and the conversion of heathendom.' , Such an appeal as this, issued at a time when the Church of God had forgotten the great commission and allowed the work of preaching the Gospel to the heathen to fall into utter neglect, ought to have been received with gratitude j but instead, it was met with the most unsparing ridicule. Baron Justinian Ernst Von Welz was the author of this manifesto, it being onc of two which he issued about 16Ad. in Germany, and addressed to German Protestant Christians. The other bore this title: "A (Jhristian and true-hearted exhm·tation to all rigltt.be- lieving Ohristians of the Augsburg Oonfession respecting a special associa- tion by means of which, with God's help, our evangelical religion might be extended." This last appeal contained, among other things, such search- ing questions as these: 1. "Is it right that we evangelical Christians hold the Gospel for ourselves alone, and do not seek to spread it?" 2." Is it right that in all places we have so many studioS08 theologiw, and do not induce them to labor elsewhere in the vineyard of the Lord?" 3." Is it right that we evangelical Christians expend so much on all sorts of dress, delicacies in eating and drinking, etc., but have hitherto thought of no means for the spread of the Gospel g"
Here was a genuine missionary voice crying in the wilderness: "Prepare ye the way of the Lord," the like of which had never been heard before in the Reformed Church. It met with no favor, however, but with the most unsparing opposition ; and so its author soon sent forth another manifesto, in which he used more searching language. It was addressed " to the high and very reverend court preachers, the very honorable superintendents, and very learned professors." It calls on them to institute a collegium de propaganda fide for teaching Eastern languages, for instructing students in these branches: (1) In Oriental lauguages; (2) in all sorts of means and ways whereby unbelieving nations may be converted; (3) in geography, history, and the lives of the early missionaries.
"At the same time," adds the author, "it would be creditable if evangelical magistrates, princes, lords, and people of rank would maintain some stndents and enable them to learn foreign languages whereby they might be made useful in every case." Surely here was a Carey before Carey; one not a whit behind his illustrious successor in missionary statesmauship, in heroic determination, in irrepressible zeal. But instead of rousing a slumbering church to action, his appeal provoked the bitterest hostility. The famous Doctor of Ratisbon, John Heinrich Ursinus, denounced Von Welz as a dreamer; characterized his appeal as " blasphemy against Moses and Aaron," and rebuked its" self-willed piety, its hypocrisy, and its Anabaptist spirit." As for his proposed missionary college, " Protect us from it, good Lord 1" was his only answer to the suggestion. "With respect to the heathen,:' adds Ursinus, "they brought their fall upon themselves; the holy things of God's Word must not be cast before such swine ; any conversion that was ever meant for them was accomplished long ago in the days of the apostles."
One Christian gentleman of conSIderable note, Gichtel of Ratisbon, did fall in with Von Welz's views, and gave him his ear. But his adherence only added scandal to scandal, for when the two put their heads together they formulated this plan of procedure: "If men trained in the universities could not ~e enlisted, then let us send out artisans and laymen to tell the Gospel to the heathen." If tIlt' proposal to employ this grade of laborers hrought down severe criticism upon Pastor Gassner and Pastor Harms in our own day, what must it not have provoked in those anti.mission times of which we are speaking?
The outcome of the whole agitation was that Von Welz turned sadly away from his own country and countrymen with an " Oh, that thou had known in this thy day the things which belong to thy peace" in his heart, and went to Holland, where he found a despised pietist who was willing to lay hands on him and ordain him as " an apostle to the Gentiles." He then formally abandoned his baronial title, laid his wealth on the altar for carrying on the work so dear to his heart, and sailed as a missionary to Dutch Guiana, where he soon found a lonely grave. .
Noble pioneer of modern missions, but one" born out of due time" !
Wonderful fervor and overmasteryof missionary love in his heart; but his enthusiasm and his pity alike unheeded by his generation! "I have piped unto you and ye have not danced; I have mourned unto you and ye have not lamented!" If Carey's famous" Inquiry into the obligations of Ohris- tians to use means for the conversion of the heathen" has been deemed worthy of republication and redistribntion in this last decade of the nine- teenth century, surely we may lay before our readers this noble appeal of Von Welz, addressed to the clergy of Germany, and issued nearly a hun- dred and fifty years earlier. Let it search our hearts as we read it : "I sist you before the judgment-seat of Jesus Christ, that righteous judge who cares not whether you are called high and very reverend court preachers, most venerable superintendents, very learned professors. Before that awful tribunal you must answer me the following questions of conscience: I ask you, who has given you the power to give a false explanation of the command of Christ in Matt. 28? I ask you, is it right that you would abolish the apostolic office, which Christ instituted, and without which the body of Christ is incomplete (1 Cor. 12 ; Eph. 4)? I ask you, from Matt. 5, why you do not shew yourselves as lights of the world, and do not let your light so shine that Turks and heathens may see your good works, and do not even endeavor that young students may shine as lights of the world? I ask you, from 1 Pet. 2 : ] 2, whether you are following Peter's injunction, and exhorting young people to follow it, that they maintain a good conversation among the heathen, whereby they shall see your good works and praise God? I ask you, from 1 Thess. 1 : 8, whether you have taken steps to cause the word of the Lord to be sounded more widely than in Germany, Sweden, and Denmark, which Paul commended so strongly in his Thessalonians, that their faith in God was spoken of in all places? I ask you, dare you answer for it that you have neither consulted nor will consult with your princes and churches how the Gospel shall be preached to the unbelievers, as the primitive Church did, and set you so fair an example? I ask you, clergy, whether you are not acting against your consciences, inasmuch as you pray in the public worship that God's holy name may be more and more extended and become known to other peoples, while yet you make no effort to this end ~ Tell me, ye learned men, whether the papists do you any wrong when they charge you with doing no work of Christian love, while you do not seek to convert the heathen ~ Say before the impartial judgment of God, ye learned men who suffer yourselves to be called clerics, is it right never to have in any wise attempted a matter, and yet to say that it is not practical? ·Why do you persuade the princes and lords that the conversion of the heathen is impractical at this time, which you have never tried in any land, nor even allow to be tried? Tell me, ye hypocrites, where do you tind the word impracticable in the Bible? Did the disciples and apostles, when Christ sent them forth, answer Him thus: 'Master, this work is at this time impracticable' ? Were not the disciples required to preach even to those who would not receive them? Oh, the perverted world! Oh, woe to you, clergy, who are acting in opposition to God's word and to your own conscience! Oh, woe to you, and more indeed, that you will not give your help for the spread of God's kingdom in the world! I will not indeed condemn you; but I hereby exhort you earnestly to do more in the future in the work of the conversion of the unbelieving nations than you have done hitherto. . .. If now you clergy, through courtliness, or conceit of great wisdom, or disregard of all well-intended exhortations, will shew no compassion to the heathen, then, I tell you, though for the sake of your voluptuous life you will not think of enlarging the kingdom of Christ and repenting, there shall come upon you and your children, and your children's children, all the curse set forth in Ps. 109."
Did Von W elz speak as a prophet in citing this imprecatory psalm?
We need not say, only we may be reminded of the danger of resisting the Holy Ghost, when through some chosen agent lie speaks to the Church of Goll and calls it to its neglected duty. Who can say that if the Lutheran Church had heard the voice of God in the appeal of Von Welz, the era of modern missions might not have been ushered in a hundred years earlier than it was j and that the high honor of being the missionary army of the world which belongs so largely to the English-speaking people, might not have been won by the countrymen of Luther and Melanchthon? More than this, might not an age of fervent evangelicalism have intervened in Germany instead of the era of dreary rationalism which followed the rejected appeal of Von Welz? Some German writers of our day, realizing the colossal blunder which the opponents of Von Welz made, have proposed as a qualified apology that, though his appeal was a worthy one, he himself was " a missionary fanatic. " We are glad that the most eminent living Ger- man historian of missions, Dr. Warneck, repels this charge, and pays to Von Welz this noble tribute: " The indisputable purity of hi.~ motives, the noble inspiration of his heart j the sacrifice of station, of property, and of life for the hitherto misconceived mission task of the Ohurch, secure for him a permanent place of honor in the history of missions."
Protestant missions in Tinnevelly date back more than one hundred years. The first trace of them is found in the Somnali· of Schwartz in 1771. The first convert was a Brahman widow, who erected, in Palamcotta, a little church, the remains of which are still extant. From that time the work grew till, at the beginning of the present century, the number of native Protestants had reached the total of four thousand. But it is from 1820 that we must date a larger development of missionary operations. The number of adherents was in 1851, 36,000 j 1871, 50,000; 1881, 82,000, and ill 1889, 96,000.
THE TRAINING m' NATIVE AGENTS
TIlE TRAINING OF NATIVE AGENTS.
BY REV. EDWARD STORROW, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND.
Few questions relating to missionary economics are so important as this one. The world being open, as it has never been before, to the preaching of the Gospel, and a large amount of preparatory work having been accomplished in the translation of the Scriptures, the preparation of Christian literature, the awakening of interest in Christian opinion and life, and the formation of a multitude of small Christian societies, the question presses, How can these splendid openings and fine opportunities be turned to most advantage? Principally by obtaining an adequate supply of well-equipped -spiritually, morally, and intellectually-native ministers and evangelists; for, essential as foreign missionaries are to begin missions, and for a time at least to direct them, native agents, through their number, gift of vernacular speech, knowledge of native opinion and character, power to live and labor in their own country and at a comparatively small cost, have great advantages over the foreign missionary, and may indefinitely augment his power.
There is remarkable diversity in the number aud efficiency of the native agents found in various mission spheres, and the consideration of this diversity and its causes will assist us to understand where they may be looked for in the future, and to suggest how best they may be trained.
Madagascar, India, and Polynesia now produce by far the largest num. ber of native evangelists and ministers; China, Africa, and the West Indies the fewest.
The causes of this diversity are various, some of them being natural, others accidental.
Mental power and force ; a genius for intellectual and spiritual pursuits; zeal for the overthrow of superstition and the spread of Christian truth; the gift of ready utterance and pleasure in its exercise, distinguish some races far more than others. The two last of these characteristics, combined with the great want of European missionaries during the dark years of persecution in Madagascar and immediately after, when thousands were pressing into the Christian fold, explain how the number of native auxiliaries there have come to be so great; while zeal, a willingness to serve under trusted leaders, and ability for subordinate duty explains how many islands in Polynesia can be left with fewer missionaries than formerly, and the extended New Guinea Mission of the London Missionary Society be conducted by no more than seven Europeans, while the native preachers number sixty.eight. Then, the number and the rank of native auxiliaries depends much on missionaries.
The readiness or the reluctance of ministers at home to encourage young men to enter the ministry reappears in the foreign field, and is perceptible in various countries, mission stations, and even the grades of service which native agents are eucouraged to enter. Much that is instructive and amusing might be written on t.his subject. It is enough here to state that the early missionaries in every great sphere paid little attention to the training of native agents; that tl]eir successors have come but slowly to realize its importance; that more systematic attention re'quires to be paid to their training in almost every sphere of missions; and that in their training it should be assumed that some of them may be qualified to rise above subordinate positions, to stand on an equality with adequately trained ministers at home and the ablest missionaries abroad; nay, that there may be expected to arise among them great thinkers and leaders of religious movements, who may be principal agents in the overthrow of heathenism throughout a province or a kingdom, and win triumphs for the cause of Christ in conversions, territory, and influence great as those of Columba, St. Patrick, Columbanus, Boniface, Winfrid, Raymond Lull, and other great missionaries of the past. * How to obtain and then how to train suitable men for mission service are the two questions now to be considered.
The first method to suggest itself is one in which the humblest Christian at home may share equally with the most eminent missionary. All can pray, as our Saviour bids us, t~ the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into his harvest, and that they may be endued with power from on high, the power of the Spirit of God.
And should we not be justified in praying specifically for certain kinds of men ~-for great leaders, for instance, and great preachers, and men who have marvelous power in influencing other men. God can create such. He has again and again in great crises of the Church's history raised up such, and the times are ripening for them in every kingdom and empire throughout Asia.
Usually the overtures for service proceed from the native convert; but it is advisable that the initiative should often be taken by the missionary. The most suitable men are not always the readiest to offer themselves at home or abroad. A high ideal and diffidence will restrain not a few of the most gifted and qualified from offering their services. Such should be sought out and advised, care being taken not only to state faithfully the duty, responsibility and honor of all forms of Christian work, and the selfdenying, disinterested spirit in which it should be discharged, but to guard against making promises and offering inducements which may in the future cause embarrassment on the one side and disappointment on the other.
* "There is a kind of Christian perfection possible to the East which is not possible to the West, and there is, therefore, a kin:) of Divine knowledge accessible to the East which the West will never discover for itself. The ear of the East is sensitive to Divine voices that have been speaking through Christ for eighteen centnries, but which our ellr has not recognized. And when our missions begin to achieve their great triumphs, the saints and theologians of India and of China will tell us truths concerning the revelation of God in Christ which we hove never learned. To them, whole provinces of wonder and glory will be revealed, of which the churches of the West know nothing. Christ revealed God; we are in fellowship with Christ, and through the success of Christian missions the revelation itself will become richer and more wonde.rful" (" Fellowship with Christ," p.16, by the Rev. Dr. R. W, Dale, BirIninlI;hIun). But III seeking out and receiving nativc students a missionary should consult the judgment of others. Native character is difficult to understand; the most experienced and sagacious missionaries are often mistaken, and an indolent, weak, designing native agent of whatever position is not only worthless, but may do irreparable mischief; therefore it is advisable not only to seek for information relative to a candidate's antecedents, character, and habits from other missionaries when it can be obtained, but from native sources. They have often a marvelous insight into character, and know their fellow-countrymen far better than the most sagacious foreigners. The acceptance even of a native as a student should be treated as a solemn and important event. It should be associated with prayer and instruction in the presence of other missionaries, of students, of native catechists and ministers, and the converts generally, when practicable. Such formal service is beneficial to all concerned, and especially to thc student himself.
Certain qualifications should be required of all candidates for mission service. Among these should be placed the natural gifts of good health, good sense, energy, courage, power of speech, and thoughtfulness.
The desirable spiritual gifts are evidence of conversion, holiness and goodness of life, zeal for God and truth, self-sacrifice, and a desire for service not as a livelihood or profession; but a sphere of usefulness. All this is obvious, but in too many instances, where native agents are found, the ideal is far from being realized.
Obviously the material out of which our native helpers must be drawn is the population of which they are members. Hindus for Hindus; though it is a fine and promising feature that the first and most successful evangelist to the Karens was a Burman, and that scores of Polynesian converts have aided the missionaries in the conversion of islands far from their own. There are three native Christian sources from whence agents are drawn-the newly converted; the sons of native Christians living in their houses; the mixed classes brought up in boarding-schools. The former class may be expected to produce the most promising agents, the latter the least promising. Their past is disappointing; and unless the system is so modified as to develop more independence, self-reliance, and manhood, the agents it yields will seldom rise above mediocrity.
Training should have relation to the country and the people to which students belong, and therefore it should vary considerably, adaptation being a principle ever to be kept in mind.
Oolleges or training institutions such as exist at Malua in the Samoan Islands, in Burmah, and Antananarivo are advisable wherever an adequate number of students can be depended on ; for then the advantages may be secured of suitable dwellings, the most efficient missionary tutors, wellprepared class books, and the discipline and stimulus of student life.
The training should aim at making the students useful and successful rather than learned. To such students high education is very difficult of attainment, not of great use, and with it comes-and surprisingly soon-conceit, ambition, and inefficiency. Therefore the curriculum should not be a copy of English and American college life. Latin, Greek and Hebrew are best left alone. Even English in many instances is a doubtful advantage. Some knowledge of geography, history, and elemental science are important j but mental discipline, the training of the heart and life in holiness and goodness, much knowledge of the Bible, the great outlines of theology, the art of preaching and teaching, how to win souls, to guide Christians, to build up a Christian society, to deal with the disputatious, the inquiring and the indifferent, to be faithful servants of God and good ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ are of the first importance.
Study in all instances should be associated with Christian work, and in some with manual labor. The study cannot be continuous, even with Hindus and Chinese, and if it could, would not be wise j while with other races less intellectually trained, the preservation of the health and efficienc· in Christian service demand change and variety of labor.
Students who wholly or partially support themselves by manual labor will have better health, and learn the much-needed lessons that the mission should only be required to do for them what they cannot do for themselves j and in all cases some Christian work should be required· of every student. To teach two or three hours daily in a school j to take a subordinate part in bazaar preaching j and to conduct one or more services each Sabbath is not a distraction or a hindrance, but a help to a student as well as to the mission.
But in most instances the students are too few in number to justify the establishment of a college, and then a method of ·training may be adopted less pretentious, more free, and not without its special advantages.
Let the missionary resolve to train from one to half a dozen of the best and most promising converts, and if he cannot give them what he regards as an ideal training, let him give the best he can, for if he does his b-ost it is sure to prove better than he anticipated. The fact that we can do only that which is imperfect is no reason for making no attempt. Let the missionary resolve to give the best instruction he can: 1. In the Bible. 2. The leading doctrines of the Christian faith. 3. Practical work in preaching, teaching, and the administration of affairs j or, if he has colleagues, let each take his share of such work. But this should be associated with much personal and direct contact. From the commencement of the student's life let the missionary see him daily; make him a frequent companicn and general assistant j advise him what to read j take him when he examines schools, when he preftches to Christian or heathen, when he itinerates j hear him preach and speak every week, imd hesitate not to point out his defects, and to praise his best efforts. Especially is it important to assist him in the training and discipline of his own nature in the best manner of dealing with various classes and conditions of men, and the fitting spirit of one who is an ambassador of Christ and a spiritual teacher of others. All this would not occupy a great amount of time; but if it did, it would be time well spent, for its results would be great and various. The missionary himself would be benefited by the example he was constrained to set. In such a relation he would find a happy incentive to diligence, zeal, and elevation of character and work. He would accomplish not less, but far more. The student would learn much which neither books nor lectures teach. He might be expected to excel in affection, fidelity, and respect to his leader ; to attain to his utmost capacity to do good work ; to learn how best to preach, to teach, to bear himself toward others, to rise toward the ideal of character found in the Lord Jesus Christ., and the ideal of Christian service found in the Apostle Paul. This is not mere theory. It is on the lines of the schools of the prophets, established in Israel in the times of its judges and kings; on the method of our Saviour in the training of the twelve, and of Paul with Timothy and Titus; and not a few of the most efficient and successful of the native preachers of modern times, especially in Polynesia and India, have thus been trained.
A question of considerable difficulty and importance remains to be consider,ed.
Seeing that the rank and status of native agents varies greatly, should they be .trained separately and specifically as Scripture readers, evangelists, pastors or ministers? The time has not come for the introduction of these distinctions into student life. The best training for general usefulness should be given, and the sphere and status of each one should depend partly on the qualities of the student, but yet more on subsequent service and character. Certai~ly ordination and ministerial rank should not follow student life as a matter of course, nor should they in any case follow it immediately. They should be reserved as honors for good service, high character, and superior attainments.
Native agents usually are trained so that they may work in subordination to the missionary. Usually this is their proper position; but. such training is attended with the disadvantage that it hinders and discourages freedom, represses the energies, and fails to develop and strengthen the character.
The time has come when we should expect to find some men of the highest capabilities, and they should be aided, not hindered, in their development. Happy is'that missionary who has an open eye to discern such, and the grace and nobleness to aid them to realize their high calling in Christ Jesus !
There is another kind of training, the highest of all, we cannot give, but toward which we can and should direct-the training which comes from close fellowship and sympathy with Christ, and from the working of the glorious power of the Divine Spirit in the hearts and lives of those who yield themselves to Christ for service. We cannot give this training or the state of soul which is the true preparation for it, but we should pray that He who alonc can give the necessary qualifications would be pleased thus to bless His work.
A NEW "JESUS HALL" IN MID-CIUNA
A NEW "JESUS HALL" IN MID-CHINA.
BY S. FRANK WHITEHOUSE, CHINKIANG, CHINA.
Chinkiang is a large and important port about a day's steam up the great river Yang-tsze. The native city is a Fu-i.e., a prefectural city, and one of no little commercial and strategetical value, as its history and present importance prove. The population is estimated at about 135,000.
Missionary work has been carried on here for many years by various mISSIOns. Members of the Presbyterian Mission (South) have been here for nine years. Until recently they have had no suitable hall inside the city, but now we are thankful to be able to report the opening of a chapel inside the walled city.
It is no easy thing to buy land or to build in China. Some four years ago money was set apart by the board of the S. P. M. for a chapel here, and those concerned have been talking three years and a half over this piece of land. The Chinaman is a very slow-thinking individual, and, even when spurred on by an energetic American, he won't go faster than a certain-or very uncertain-rate. The land was obtained in this way: a purchasable piece of ground was found; the Presbyterian missionaries went and sold tracts near, and, without exciting any suspicion, had a peep or two at the site. Deeming it suitable, they engaged a Chinaman who had had a little experience with foreigners to purchase it, which he did in his own name. The deeds were drawn up and then resold to the Presbyterian Mission. The original owner would not have dared to sell, neither would the Mandarin have admitted that the deeds were good, in all probability, had the transaction been made direct. Of course a double set of wearisome details had to be gone through in connection with the Y(lmen (i.e., magistrate's office), and their commission (say ten per cent), with the various" squeezes" of runners, etc., had to be submitted to. When you can't do what you would, it is perhaps best to do what you can.
Various vexatious but unavoidable delays, chiefly in official hands, hindered the commencement of building operations some three years or more; but the" Jesus Hall" was finished two or three weeks ago. We are most grateful that there was no interruption or trouble whatever from the time we started to build. The total cost of the land, covering some 20 feet X 100 feet, and of the chapel, is somewhere about $1200 (gold). The hall is well and substantially built, and will seat over one hundred people; there is a fair-sized court-yard at the back, with five small semiforeign rooms. Over the entrance to the chapel are the three characters "IE-SU T'ANG," chiselled into a stone slab. "T'ang" means a hall, while" Ie-su" will of course be recognized as The Name. Near the rear of the hall is a wall almost as high as the top of the upstair windows. " What is that for ?" you ask. Why, to prevent the members of the gentler (Chinese) sex imagining that we spend half our time admiring their painted beauty! When the chapel was opened the missionary in charge, Rev. James E.
Bear, gave a feast. This was quite according to Chinese custom, and was a very wise move. Nearly a score of the immediate neighbors were invit- ed in, and all who were invited came. You send around a red piece of paper asking for the light of their countenance at an unworthy little enter- tainment, and then give them a spread such as they won't forget for a long time.
I was at that feast. . I remember my surprise, as an Englishman, when in the United States, particularly out West, at the very large num- ber of different dishes supplied at a meal, especially of vegetables and fruits. But the Chinese far outdo anything I have ever seen in America.
We had some eight courses, with between twenty and thirty different dishes, all of them very palatable. The natives eat dogs in Chinkiang- we didn't have any dog. They eat rats and cats and lots of other deli- cacies down south, -but we didn't have any rat or cat. There is a great deal of misunderstanding about Chinese food. I know one young man, now out in the west of China, who was very nearly frightened from coming t~ China by the term used at his college-" rice and grease"-for the description of Chinese food in general. I recollect a lady-shall I call her g-at one of the up-river ports asking me, with an ill-concealed look of disgust, "You don't mean to say you eat the nasty, filthy cabbages sold by those dirty wretches I" It is very unjust to speak thus, for a Chinaman is, proportionately speaking, quite particular as to the cleanliness of his food. Then as to the mode of eating. How many hund~eds of intelligent friends have I met in different quarters of the globe who always imagined that what we (somewhat vulgarly) called the "chopsticks" were taken one in each hand, and the rice, etc., conveyed to the lips as well as could be under the circumstances; whereas both the sticks are taken in one hand, the basin in the other, and an elegant and dexterous single move- ment contrives to land the mouthful at its destination.
Well, these neighbors all came, and a big fuss we had to get them seated. There is a highest seat and a lowest seat at an Eastern feast (vide Scripture), and the trouble is to get the Chinaman to "go up higher," each apparently desiring to yield in preference to another, though everyone probably knows his proper seat; nobody is supposed to sit down until the host, who occupies the lowest place, is first seated. After un- limited bowing, declining, gentle pushing, and urgent requisitioning, with a small library of euphemistic nothings, we finally were seated.
Then came a new thing-the asking a blessing. This the Chinese could not make out. However, they were fairly quiet, while a somewhat long-winded native brother, who has" the grace of continuance," as Spur- geon terms it, discharged this duty. Then we all set to. It is customary at a feast to wait f.or one another in eating, and it is quite proper to help one another to the various items. The formalities may be made almost endless ; but we facilitated matters by requesting thc guests to " Sui pien ch''ih''-follow their own comenience in eating. After a good solid hour and a half's exertions we finished, and the meeting broke up, each member doubtless having a kind of inward satisfaction, a feeling of " Something accomplished, something done, To earn a night's repose . . ."
Needless to say, the usual wine, distilled from rice, was substituted by tea. Several opportunities for preaching the Gospel occurred, and were used.
The main object, how~ver, was to promote harmony with the neighbors, and this was effected. A pleasing feature was the repeated assurance that the guests were most happy to have us for neighbors; and a still more pleas.. ing feature is the presentation since of a pair of scrolls, written thus : " Your beautiful and spacious hall is well founded on a rock. Great is the holy doctrine, satisfying the wants of all men. . . . Congratulations on the completion of the preaching hall by Mr. Bear, from all the neighbors."
These scrolls, hung up in the chapel, will be very valuable as tending to inspire confidence in visitors generally. One needs to be here to appreciate the local and peculiar difficulties of mission work in an open port, where the people are certainly none of the quietest. There was a very serious and disastrous riot here some three years ago, and it is not so many years since the English had to teach the natives of Chinkiang a severe lesson. The presence of a number of Tartars is a disagreeable feature, and it is scarcely safe to walk through a certain part of the city; so that we are specially grateful that so much friendliness has been evoked and evinced.
Mr. Bear being ill, I preached in the new chapel on the second Sabbath after opening. The hall, which is on the busy main street, was filled at once. The people were moderately quiet, but of course unused to our services. There is much going in and out, and it is sometimes necessary to inform visitors that this is not the piace for vending eatables. Perhaps one of the strangest things to a Chinaman is our closing our eyes and praying. By the bye, I always take care that anything of a valuable and portable nature shall be in a fairly safe place before venturing to close my eyes-in fact, one is rather wondering whether a compromise could not be effe,'ted by wholly closiug one eye and half closing the other; for though the Chinese have substitutes for the Decalogue, their memory is so unreliahle that things that are worth taking are very apt to " walk. " However, if the Chinese wcre perfect we shouldn't be sent out here to evangelize them.
Some will want to know what results wc have to show for the work done in Chinkiang. Very few-very few-to show. Four have been baptized in this city, and one received by transference in connection with the S. P. M. We show on paper about four times the result of faithful Adoniram Judson's work after double the timc spent in Burmah. And,
'THE SEVENTH CONVENTION OF CHRISTIAN WORKERS
like him, we show, on a register more durable than paper, a record of faithful Rervice done, and of much Gospel leavening of the whole district. And with us, as with him, the prospects are as bright as the promiRes of God, and that is all !
How would it be for some of you good friends who are" specially called to stay at home," a~d are always longing for" cheering results"- numerous baptisms, schools filled, hospitals packed, and the like-to make it your business to pray defiuitely jor results? Would this not be a good way of holding up Moses' arms q My dear brother, Mr. Bear, for instance, isn't a particularly strong Moses, especially in a sweltering Chinese summer. Of course, many of " the Lord's remembrancers" do this, we gratefully acknowledge; and the spirit of prayer is growing as the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of missions is more heard and obeyed. But I am persuaded that with more earuest, faithful remembrance at home -men and women really wrestling with God till their importunity prevails -we out here would do a vast deal more than we can effect now. Here is a little matter for special mention-our new " Jesus Hall." Brethren, do pray for us !
THE SEVENTH CONVENTION OF CHRISTIAN WORKERS, HELD AT TREMONT TEMPLE, BOSTON, NOVEMBER 10-16, 1892.
BY REV. c. M. SOUTHGATE, WORCESTER, MASS.
Bnng together a missionary conference, a Gospel meeting in the slums, a revival service and experience meeting, and the gathering in the upper chamber on the day of Pentecost; assemble believers by the thousand from many lands, thronging the great temple with frequent overflow meetings ; sustain the interest and intensify the power for three sessions daily through a fnll week, and you have the externals of a convention of Christian Workers. Tremont Temple is glowing with colors, the American ensign being most conspicuous, the British often interwoven, flags of other nations in groups, and rainbows of bunting festooning the double balconies. Central upon the front of the great organ is enwreathed the motto, " Christ alone cau save the world, but Christ can't save the world alone." Scripture texts preach from gallery fronts: "Him that cometh unto Me I will in nowise cast out," logically followed by " For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world;" then, "Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity," " Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord," the series fitly closing with the text, " And there was great joy in that city." The chairman in the centre of the platform is Rev. R. A. Torrey, substantial in body, " not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;" the head of that remarkable group of agencies Mr. Moody has yoked under the name of the Chicago Evangelization Society. By him is the secretary, Rev. John C. Collins, of New Haven, the unresting marshal of forces. These, with ex-Mayor Howland, of Toronto, a sunshine saint, and a few others, form the executive committee of the association and guide its work through the year. Close by is the cabinet organ, blazoned in front with " Loyalty to Christ" in purple and gold, surrounded by a group of anointed singers, Mr. Sankey in the centre.
This great gathering is an evolution from the first convention, when a few score Christians engaged in aggressive work met in Chicago to compare methods and stir up each other's hearts. Simplicity still rules. No business is transacted except" business with God;" no committees are appointed or report save as one and another tell what God has done for them or through them; no " wings" except those of the Dove of Peace and the angel flying abroad with the everlasting Gospel. The so-called discussions are merely keen questions and clear answers as to methods of work, or glowing testimonies to its efficiency. The convention is unique in the massing of Christian workers and in the closeness with which they kept to the plain work in hand. With more than threescore topics announced and a hundred and fifty speaking, of course not even a summary of addresses can be given here. The whole can be had in the verbatim report, a mine of information and inspiration, to be obtained for a dollar fro~ the Bureau of Supplies, Blair Building, New Haven, Conn. This article can only group the forms of work and present principles suggested, to supply in part to the reader the impressions of an eye-witness.
The organized Ohu1'ch is set at the front. One might look for the opposite where so many forms of independent work are gathered and denominational lines wholly ignored. But the fact is made clear that all these are not supplementary to the Church; they are the Church in various activities. The Outline Statement of Christian Work in Boston, by Rev. A. P. Foster, D.D., almost surprised those at home there by the disclosures of its completeness. Laying down the principle that a church fulfils its mission which reaches the vicinage without shutting out the poor, he dwelt especially upon four kinds-the Family Church, the People's Church, the Institutional Chu1'ch, the Evangelistic Church. Tremont Temple itself shelters a People's Church, a down-town" Strangers' Home," with an afternoon song service in which thirty-five hundred crowd the auditorium. Berkeley Temple, with its classes for instruction, reading and debating societies, clubs of working girls, entertainment courses, and ever·ready pastoral attention, stands for the Institutional Church. The Evangelistic Church needs no better example than the Clarendon Street Baptist, with its thousand members, most of them engaged in active work, its choir of Christians-not paid, but giving $450 a year for its own missionary; the Chinese school, with its three missionaries in China ; the missionary training school sending its graduates to the ends of the earth. Clustering about these churches, Dr. Foster named almost every known form of mission, rescue, and philanthropic endeavor. Of course we heard from remarkable churches elsewhere. Most impressive is the account given by Dr. Conwell, of Grace Temple, Philadelphia. Its multiform lines of work have all been assumed naturally as one need after another disclosed itself. Here are five reading rooms, seven Christian Endeavor societies, a missionary training department, a day college and a night college, both self.supporting and each with over three thousand students, hospital, benevolent associations with sick and death benefits, and, most wonderful of all, a church fair in which more souls are converted than in a protracted meeting. This last miracle is accomplished by using the fair as a means to get in strangers, sending two hundred trained workers among the crowds, and not suffering one to go away without receiving some direct word for Christ. Or, we hear the story of a little 'country church which determined to reach its outside desolations, and bought a gospel wagon. "There will not be many new bonnets in that congregation this winter, and men will wear their old overcoats, but they have got their wagon." Or it is a little church in the" Black Hole" of Chicago, sixty members and each a missionary, with the outcasts thronging to their doors. Rev. A. C. Hodges, of Buckland, tells how a church in one of the back hill towns of Massachusetts has made itself the social, literary, and spiritual centre of its whole region. Special methods of work are studied, great emphasis being laid upon making the musical service of God's house itself spiritual and in the hands of Christians. Two boys' brigades are brought, one from New Haven, the other from Clinton, Mass., to display by their fascinating drill and religious exercises how the spirit of Christian chivalry can be used to hold the lads for Christ and the Church. A scholarly paper vindicates the use of the stereopticon in church services and outside on the streets, as is done for advertisements. Through the whole the organized Church is set in honor, and its works and ways studied and advanced.
Individual workers contribute much. Father Bone tells quaintly of his gracious and useful work among the sailors on the WeIland Canal and such churchless haunts. Elder Rufus Smith, fiery soul and witty tongue, describes labor among the 19nely camps of miners and lumbermen, going about at his own charges to " beat the devil on his own ground." Rev. J. H. Hector, a white man with very black skin, stirs us at will to roa1'8 of laughter or tears of sympathy or enthusiasm of zeal. Mr. George McLeish brings the solemn and tender story of twenty years itinerating in faith among established churches to call believers to a richer spiritual life. Striking testimonies are presented of the good done by tracts, and wise words instruct how to use them. His lordship the Bishop of Hnron makes an evening memorable through the convention sermon on the" Meaning of the Word Christian." Cultured young women thrill us with accounts of visiting among factory girls, of nursing among the poor and miserable homes of cities, of great institutions of help which have grown from small beginnings of personal labor. Jail chaplains show how Christ is still visiting those in prison, and the Prison Correspondence Soci~ty reinforces its work by telling how convicts whom it has helped, learning of a Western penitentiary where there is no chaplain, write letters of Christian help from their own cells. Lovely accounts come to our ears and illustrations to our eyes of evangelistic work among children as most easily and most permanently won to Christ in early years, and one evangelist goes out to suburban cities and holds meetings in which scores of little ones come to Jesus, and other scores testify of faithful Christian life begun years ago in such meetings. It seems as if all po~sible needs were reached; for when one enthusiastic woman begins by charging that workers have told of good done among cabmen, street·car men, policemen, omnibus drivers, everybody el!'e, no one has said a thing about the firemen, she herself g()es on with the story of the welcome given her in engine. houses by these heroes who wait in momentary expectation of being called to lay down even life for our service.
Organized and united effort is conspicuous. So great is the harvest, and so eager the response to the invitations of the Gospel, that the individual is soon drawn to seek companionship, and work which was done in the leisure after a day's toil comes to fill the time. We see how the mustard seed grows to a great tree, and the single worker becomes the centre of a devoted company. Here may be classed the tent work in the large cities, which has transformed districts infested by anarchists and criminals. We ~ot only hear accounts of Gospel wagon work, but have separate illus· trations in the Gospel wagon, a stately vehicle rigged with platform and pulpit, carrying thirty, and drawn by four horses to different parts of the city. Then the Gospel carriage, a sort of Pullman car, in which several men have room to cook and live and sleep while going about the country as Gospel gypsies. Brother J. C. Davis gives account of such a trip, starting from New Haven in summer and bringing up at Boston for the convention, with multitudes reached by song and word in lonely villages and city squares, the journey being full of profit to all, even to the four-footed faithful yoke-fellows, Paul and Silas, who draw it. Here, too, is the Gospel push-cart, a sort of pocket edition of these others, small enough to thread back alleys, to be drawn by a single horse or by a man. Incandescent lights supplied by storage batteries add to its effectiveness. All of these are on the spot and put to use daily in the city, not merely for illustrating the method, but actually doing the blessed work of saving souls on Boston Common. And at one of the railroad stations is the palatial car of the Anti-gambling Association, in which John P. Quinn, a converted gambler, with the looks of a doctor of divinity, shows all by actual implements of the gambler how completely the player is at the mercy of the professional, but refusing to disclose the methods by which the tricks are played, for he is not giving lessons in vice. These are only the more unique forms of union work. The Lay College at Revere, the School for Christian Workers, the Medical Missionary Society, which sends its graduates to Africa and China to heal and preach the Gospel, Toynbee Hall, University Settlements, the striking Pleasant Sunday Afternoon Association of Liverpool, with many another, new or old, recall that the principle of co-operation in service is from the Master Himself.
Rescue missions deserve a title by themselves, so prominent is their work made. Established in the vilest regions of many a great city, their benches see on every night of the year degraded and lost creatures on their knees praying for mercy. If you ask whether these professed conversions prove genuine, the hour on Friday evening in which a group of men from the Jerry McAuley Mission tell of their own salvation and the results that have followed their service of years is enough to make the most sceptical confess that the Gospel which cast out demons of old has the same power to-day for the drunkard, and libertine and criminal. Several of the missions reporting are children of the convention, having been established by its members going out at night, after the sessions of the day, and starting work in desperate localities. Wherever this gathering goes, it illustrates its own doctrines and leaves some fruitful token of its presence. These men are not here for show; their title, "workers," is not complimentary, but descriptive. Here in Boston different rescue missions in the city are manned by them at night, and many a visitor gets his first glimpse of how simple Gospel song and appeal draw in hundreds of the ragged and sinful.
Sweeping the thought over the sessions as a whole, one of the most impressive lessons is their breadth and balance. Not only do we have all forms of work, from great organizations that belt the globe to the single humble visitor in tenements or remote camps, but yet more striking is the variety and seeming antagonism of their methods. As there is nowhere in the world another such gathering as this, so nowhere is there such an illustration of the twelfth chapter of 1 Corinthians: ' , Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are diversities of ministrations, and the same Lord. And there are diversities of workings, but the same God, who worketh all things in all." vVe learn of ,missions supported by the wealthy churches of New York; of others maintained by a single individual, as the Pacific Garden work of Colonel Clarke of blessed memory, so missed from this gathering; others still depending wholly on freewill offerings. And these last vary. 'When we heal' Mrs. W'hittemore tell how the Lord has given her first Himself, then the souls of hundreds of lost girls of New York, we do not wonder to .hear also that He has sent thousands of dollars to open her " Door of Hope" without her ever telling anybody Lut Himself what she needs. So too has the Burnham Farm saved its boys by drafts honored by the Lord's treasury. But here again is the Goodwill Farm, with its new cottage 01' shop dedicated each year, never a dollar asked, but every means used to tell the world of its work and its needs. And yet other forms of labor as apostolic in spirit and fruits are maintained by the most careful business management and pledged support. It is impossible to doubt that the King smiles upon all alike, the Spirit dividing to every man severally as He wiII. Is there danger of having the attention settled upon home work? Then we see the saved girls in the" Door of Hope" sewing certain hours each week to support a missionary abroad, or Miss Helen Richardson draws back just a corner of the veil that hides the shames of India. Accounts of wonderful cures in an- swer to prayer do not lessen our faith in the value of the free dispensaries in which Dr. Dowkonnt preaches Christ while he heals, or of the necessity of the elaborate medical training he gives to medical missionaries. The cultured and illiterate sit side by side in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Most true is the remark of Secretary Collins, that while efforts to bring about Christian union through uniformity in doctrine or ritual often seem to do little but emphasize differences, practical work for Christ brings unconstrained and blessed unity.
The commanding truths and forces fit Ohristian service are disclosed.
Foremost, a living God and Father, a present Redeemer, as vividly known and loved as before the ascension, the Spirit of grace as mighty as with the apostles. The Holy Scriptures are honored as giving the very truth of God, the food, the lamp, the sword of the believer. The prayer of a righteous man availeth as much in its working as in the days of Elijah. " Probably there ne"er was a convention so dependent as this upon prayer for its success," said the moderator. Every session is a prayer-meeting, full of intercessions for those speaking and hearing, and for each work and worker. Sacred song by consecrated singers is Gospel power. Some have testified that the richest blessing of the convention came to them in this way, through the blind singers Mr. and Mrs. Baker, Rev. F. M. Lamb, the male quartette from the Chicago training school, and Mr. Sankey, as always, with the mighty chorus of the great congregation. Appalling pictures of sin, with living proofs that graee can conquer hardest hearts, made impressions at once realistic and optimistic. Redemption is master of the situation, equals the needs of a lost world. An aggressive Christianity will never be an apologetic Christiauity. The Church has in it latent power enough to shake the world. Individual usefulness for Christ must be rooted in deep personal experience; start not so much with meetings and committees as by some one doing a work close at hand; advance from small heginnings, often against severe discouragements, with marked divine leadings, perhaps against the wish and will of the worker; and though blessed with fruit seen, always remain a work of faith. Genius, education, wealth, " personal magnetism"–all count, but the vital force is the Spirit of God in a consecrated heart.
The meetings naturally culminated in the closing address of the president on " The Baptism of the Holy Spirit for Service." Not till long past midnight did the final consecration meeting in the vestry of ParI, Street Church break up. A supplementary convention of two days was held at Worcester. The next convention goes to Atlanta, in spite of an invitation from the Mayor and City Council of Toronto, which came through the reading of the report of a previous year. It must not be supposed that mistakes are never made and no signs of human frailty appear, but wher- ('vel' the convention goes the word comes true, " And there was great joy i:! that city."
ROBERT M01ffilSON, PIONEER IN CHINA
ROBERT MORRISON, PIONEER IN CHINA.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF; If any man deserves to be known as the pioneer in China, it is the last· maker of Morpeth, who reminds us constantly of William Carey, who was twenty-one years before him. As Carey wrought on boots, Robert Morri· son wrought on boot-trees. Like Carey, he had but an elementary educa- tion, and, like. him, was so eager to acquire knowledge that he had his book open before him as he wrought at his trade, and filled his spare hours and even his night hours with study. At fifteen he joined the Scotch Church, and at nineteen, again like Carey twenty years before him, was deep in the study of Latin, Hebrew, and theology. He decided on foreign missions while yet studying at Hoxton, and in 1804 was accepted by the L. M. S. and designated for China. He gave two years to special preparation, studying the Chinese under a native teacher and copy- ing Chinese manuscript in the British Museum. In 1807, at the age of twenty-five, he sailed for China as an ordained missionary, but on account of Chinese hostility to the British had to go via New York, receiving from our Secretary of State, James Madison, a letter to our consul at Canton.
He reached that city in September, lodged in the humblest quarters, and for a time adopted native habits of dress and diet. Being forbidden to preach, Morrison set himself to work on renewed study of the difficult tongue, and in 1810, three years after he landed, printed the first Chinese Scriptures ever issued by a Protestant missionary j and in four years more the whole New Testament was completed; four years more sufficed with Mr. Milne's aid to supply the entire Word of God, which in 1821 was published entire.
The herculean nature of this task we find it hard to appreciate. During these eleven years Morrison had also published a Chinese grammar of 300 pages, quarto, and a " View of China for Philological Purposes," and as pioaeer had confronted and surmounted enormous obstacles. His version, as a first attempt, and with no adequate linguistic aids, was an undertaking which would have dismayed any man but Morrison or Carey. The Old Testament alone formed 21 vols., 12mo; but even this labor was eclipsed by the preparation of his famous Chinese dictionary, published in the same year with the full Bible-1821-and which cost the East India Company $15,000..
Morrison died in 1834, at Canton, after twenty-seven years of devotion to Chinese evangelization. He was a missionary teacher, translator, and distributer of Christian literature. He baptized the first Chinese convert to Protestant Christianity, Tsai-A-Ko, in the same year as the New Testament was printed, who for four years and until his death continued to adorn the doctrine. He founded the Anglo-Chinese College at Malacca, in 1818 j afterward removed to Hong-Kong, and himself gave in all £2200 toward its buildings and support. To his intellectual worth the University of Glasgow paid him the tribute or a D.D., when as yet but -:'hirty-five
TlIE STORY OF BLIND CHIN MOOIE
years old, and eight years later he was made an F.R.S. George IV. qranted him a special audience, when he presented the king with the Word of God in the Chinese tongue.
THE STORY OF BLIND CHIN MOOIE.
BY MRS. CHARLOTTE O. VAN CLEVE, MINNEAPOLIS, MINN'.
I am constrained to tell the story of a dear blind Christian Chinese child, whom I first saw in the Mission House, San Francisco, just before the happy Christmastide of 1878.
My husband and I were then in San Francisco on our way to the Hawaiian Islands, and visited the Mission House with a view to selecting a " special object" for the Woman's Foreign Missionary Auxiliary of the Andrew Presbyterian Church, Minneapolis. On naming our errand to Miss Culbertson, the faithful missionary in charge of the work there, she was much affected, and said: "This is what we have been praying for j last night the police brought to us a poor little five-year-old girl, who had been cruelly beaten by a wicked woman who had obtained possession of her, and we took her in, bathed her poor little body, bound up her wounds, and soothed her to sleep. But, realizing our limited means, and knowing well the bitter feeling of this community against the Chinese, we did not see our way clear to assume her support, and we asked God to raise up some friend or friends who should help us in our need, and 10 ! you are here in answer." The little one, at our request, was brous-ht in, and I then and there took her into my very heart. She was a sweet-looking child, and the older Chinese girls were so drawn to her by her very help- lessness and suffering that they named her" Chun Fah" (Spring Flower).
Through an interpreter I told her that she was to be our little girl, and that we should pray to God to make her one of the lambs in the fold of the tender Shepherd, who loved little children and took them up in His arms and blessed them j and with a motherly kiss I gave her to the nurse, and at Miss Culbertson's invitation we went over the house to see the girls at their studies and at work.
We were especially interested in a little blind girl, apparently eight or nine years old, who was studying her spelling lesson with her fingers, and repeating the letters and combinations audibly. – She was perfectly blind ; her pretty brown eyes were in constant mo- tion, but the light had gone out of them; yet she seemed happy and bright, and was pleased to have us notice her and speak tenderly to her. She had been kept by a wicked, vile woman in the Chinese quarter, who sent her on to the streets to beg. On one occasion she came back empty-handed, which so excited the rage of the heartless virago that, after beating her severely, she shut her in a dark place under a heavily weighted box so small that she could not move, and kept her there without food for twenty- four hours. When at last she removed her from her prison she was found to he perfectly blind-the optic nerve was paralyzed, and no ray of light could enter her poor eyes. Being thus rendered entirely useless to her inhuman keeper, she was turned into the streets, a little helpless blind child; and as she cried and groped about, not knowing where to go or what to do, hungry and forlorn, a policeman found her and brought her to the Home on Sacramento Street, where she found love and tenderness, which she had never known or heard of before. As soon as she heard the sweet story of Jesus and His love she became a most loving, trusting fol. lower of Him who can" heal the sick and lead the blind," and her joy in her newly found Saviour was so great and deep that she could not keep it to herself, but talked of it and sang of it from morn till night.
Her voice is very musical, and on being asked one time, " Chin Mooie, why do you sing so much?" she raised her sightless eyes and said, with a joyous smile, " I don't know; but I think it is because I love everybody so." She has made herself very useful in caring for the younger chilo dren, and took especial pleasure in talking to them of Jesus when she prepared them for bed, and in teaching them their prayers. Her faith and trust in Christ are perfect; and there are few if any happier, more loving Christians to be found anywhere than dear, blind Chin Mooie.
It may be that in her new " Home for the Adult Blind" in Oakland she will be prepared for wider usefulness, and in time become a Bible reader for the blind in China.
After six months spent most happily in beautiful Honolulu, we reo turned to San Francisco, and calling to see our little girl, Chun Fah, were astonished at )ler improved appearance and her rapid progress in learning. She proved very bright, and could already read well in easy lessons; she seemed delighted to see us, and when Miss Culbertson said to her in English, " Chun Fah, can you repeat some text to ' Mamma Van Cleve q , " she came forward, and folding her little taper fingers together, said, most rever~ntly: "When my favver and my muvver forsake me, then the Lord will take me up."
She united with the Church as soon as she was old enough, and has been ever since a consistent Christian. She and Chin Mooie are much attached to each other, and it has been a real pleasure to write to them and receive from her loving answers for both during the past years. Her handwriting is beautiful, and her letters are very precious to me. She has grown now to be a young woman, is an earnest, Joving Christian, and has been very helpful at the Home. A short time ago she was set apart for the work of interpreter and helper to the missionaries, in which capacity she proves very efficient.
The story of these two dear girls needs no comment. Taken from a degradation whose depth we cannot fathom, where they were to be brought up for the worst purposes, they were led by loving hearts and hands to Christ, who had compassion on them and healed them, and who now accepts their willing service. Only in eternity shall we learn the full results of the work of the consecrated women who are laboring in that Home on our Western coast in the name and for the sake of Christ .Tesus onr Lord.
1,22 INTERNA.TIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
Bulgaria and the Bnlgarians. But so Bulgaria fell into the hands of two powerful enemies, the Greeks BY CYRUS lLUILIN, D.D., LEXINGTON, MASS. and Turks. By the united plans of the two she was gradually deprived of My object is to give chiefly my per. her language and priesthood, the Greek sonal knowledge of the Bulgarians, and liturgy was forced upon the churches, I shall therefore enter into no extended and G.-eek bishops and priests fleeced notice of their history. the flocks. The people lost entirely their warlike spirit. Resistance was Their name is derived from the river vain. Tbey became industrious, and Volga, Volgarians, becoming easily to a certain extent comfortable, as com_ Bulgarians. But while the name is pared with other subject races. plain enough, the race has long been a matter of dispute. The Encyclopcedia But I will pass to personal observa- Britannica declares them to be of Fin- tions. My first Eaater holidays in Connish origin. The Bulgarians declare stantinople were in April, 1839. Walkthemselves to be Slavs. They have a ing one day with my associate, Dr. purer Slavonic dialect than any other Goodell, we met a very strange-looking of the many tribes into which the great set of men who excited my curiosity Slavonic race was divided. The occa- beyond anything I had seen. sional high cheek·bones has led some to pronounce them of Tartar origin, They were :roughly dressed in sheeplike the Turks, which, however, is met skin jackets and caps. One of them by the often pure, light complexion of was playing on a shrill bagpipe, and Bulgarian women. the rest were singing an Easter song, in their own language, with immense en- It is considered probable that a race, ergy. At its close they dashed their now unknown, crossed the Danube and caps upon the ground, and snatching conqnered the Slavic inhabitants, but them up presented them for backsheesh. melted into them and lost their Ian· In that polyethnic city I was jnst beguage and their race. ginning to study races and national physiognomies. They interested me At all events, the Bulgarians sifted intensely. I was told they were Bulinto Europe as agriculturists. They garian hostlers from the stables of came without observation into lands Pashas or rich men. Everybody who along the Danube, made desolate by had fine horses had Bulgarian hostlers, wars and famines and pestilences, as and they were all allowed time at the early as the third or fourth century. Easter festival to gather money in this way for a great feast. They weI'e home_ In the sixth they had become so nu- less, honest men, it was said, but promerous, and as time advanced so war- foundly ignorant. When spoken to like and ambitious, that they were tbere was a kindliness of expression in sometimes a terror to the empe:rors at the countenance indicative of a thor- Constantinople. and were sometimes oughly good nature. Why should they allied with them to repel the Saracens. be regarded as heathen ./ After a brave and warlike history they I often inquired about these Bulwere subdued by Murad I. (Amucath) garians. 1 had made the acqnaintance in 1389, more than sixty years before of a Greek friend whom I highly es- Constantinople fell. teemed, and he told me all about them from his point of view. After that event and the organil!ation of the conquered Greek Church under These men we:re of the lowest and a Patriarch at Constantinople, the Bul- most hopeless ch~ss, not worth count· garians were governed as a branch of that Church, but with its own language and its own Slavic clergy. jng. The Bulgarians as a people had homes. It was only the southernmost ceased to be of any value. All the best fringe of the people gradually pushing of them were Hellenized-that is, had southward. I went west and north become Greeks. Count Cima of Austria, three days from Thessalonica. They who had given a million of francs to seemed to me a very quiet, laborious found a girls' school in Athens, was by people under great oppression, yet Sill'· birth a Bulgarian, but was known ~nly rounding themselves with an abundance as a Greek; and two Greek merchants of the rude comforts of life. They of Odessa had likewise given magnifi. complained of nothing but taxation.
cent donations for Greek education. The Turks took nearly everything, and They were by race Bulgarians. We the bishop took what the Turks left.
count t.hem all as Greeks, and when we They seemed absolutely stupid.
regain Constantinople there will be no They wanted no schools and no books.
Bulgarians, but all Greeks. Their lan- What I saw seemed to justify the asser· guage, their schools, their liturgy, their tion that all progressive Bulgarians had clergy are all Greek. become Greeks, and the rest were These were potent facts capable of hopeless.
another interpretation. The spirit of But I saw one thing that pleased me : race may slumber; it never dies. a vast wheatfield was being harvested.
Some time after I was- in the garden On one part a dozen or more of strong of a wealthy Turk on the Bosphorus. Eulgarians were doing effective work I had seen in America (1836) " Pratt's with the cradle.
Garden" in Philadelphia, then consid· Near by a much larger force of Turk.
ered the finest garden which American ish, or at least Moslem men and women, home travellers could find, but, with doing not one half the effective work the exception of the statuary, which the with sickles. Stopped and asked them Turks abhor; it could not enter into why they did not do their work with comparison with this Moslem garden. cradles, like the Bulgarians. "That is It might well be called" the garden their way. This is ours," was all the of delight. " I inquired of the proprie. answer I could get.
tor if he had an Italian or French gar. I ought to say, however, that I only dener. He replied that he had six Bul. saw the outer range or detached colony garians, and added the surprising reo of this people. So far as it went they mark that whoever wanted a good gar. were in hopeless darkness and torpidity.
den must employ Bulgarians. r Six years later, in 1853, the Crimean I asked if six men did all the work of War aroused the Bulgarians as nothing that garden. Oh, no, but when more before had done for centuries. They hands are needed, they call in their own regarded Russia as their friend over countrymen and then things go well. against the Turks. They also regarded I liked the kind, rich old Turk; but England as their friend, Whichever here was another fact about the Bulga. party should prevail, Russia or Eng.
rians: if they could be the best hostlers land, they would be free. No more and the best gardeners, and if, when taxes, DO more forced and unpaid labor.
Hellenized, they could be the most gen. Every man will own his land and enjoy erous patrons of learning, there must the fruits of his labor. A great deal of be something in the race. the wild and the impossible was mingled Our work among the Armenians so with the hopes of the common people, occupied our time and strength that knowing as they did nothing of letters nothing could be. done for them-the and having no reliable sources of infor.
Bulgarians. mation ; but there was new life in it, In 1847 I had an opportunity, though there was expectation,. and there was travelling for another object, to see the readiness to throw off the old and ac- Bulgarians of Macedonia in their own cept the new. The Crimean War came to a sudden sent and was likewise imprisoned. and somewhat disgraceful: end at the Then the people rose as one man and fall of Sebastopol. Just when the Eng- declared they would all go to the capi- lish were ready to advance and drive tal, and the government would not find Russia out of the Crimea and ensure prisons enough to hold them. the future peace of Europe, Louis Napo- leon refused to move. It is now known Then the government (Grand Vizier) that he had betrayed his ally-England replied that a great commission would -by a secret bargain with Russia, an be sent to examine and arrange all things act so base that one sees retributive jus- according to the imperial will. This tice in his miserable end. plainly meant that nothing would be done. In Turkey the way to stifle a In the Peace of Paris the celebrated thing is to appoint a commission to see paper called the Hatti Humayun was to it. issued by the Sultan, pledging to all the signatory powers the new principles It so happened that I 'ras sent on a that were to govern his administration. tour of inquiry among the southern This very able paper was really one of Bulgarians at the time this commission the grandest efforts of Lord Stratford was there. The people were intensely De Redcliffe, and his plan was to have excited. There was a firm determina. the Powers 'guarantee its execution by tion everywhere to obtain what the sovleaving a portion of the allied army to ereign had granted. There was, persee to it; but through combined French haps, an equal determination on the and Russian craft that grand charter of part of the Moslem landowners that freedom was made nearly inoperative there should be no change. by the article enacting that the signatory powers shall not interfere, either When I went to the Pasha's konak at collectively or singly, in the execution Philippopolis to have my travelling per· of the reform. mit vised the commission was there.
Of course, "left to herself Turkey Qnite a number were smoking and would make no reforms, and the Cri- talking in the anteroom. I saw one mean War was made a miserable and gentleman who was unmistakably a disgraceful failure. Greek, and I addressed him as such. H. replied, " I am a Greek by race, but The fifteenth article of the charter a Mussulman." "What is to be the honestly carried out would abolish all result of this commission?" I asked. the serfdom of European Turkey, but He replied by strange and significant the Sultan issued a special firman de- contortions of face which I cannot imicla':ing its abolition. It was generally tate. understood, it was taken for granted, that this was obtained through the per- " Do you mean to intimate that this sonal influence of the great ambassador is all a farce? The people are all deterwith the Sultan. He did not appear in mined to a man that there' shall be no any way; but that the movement WIIS more unpaid servitude." After a mofrom him and was sharply followed up ment's silence he added in Turkish, by him, there can be no doubt. .. Belki, azajik, azajik" (" Perhaps lit- tle by little.)" But the firman did not execute itself. The Bulgars hailed it with great joy, The Bulgarian serfs wE!re told the and after waiting awhile sent a delega- Sultan had made them free, and the tion to the capital to thank the Sultan, great English Elchi would see to it. and to tell him the lords of the land had There is no historic evidence that De paid no attention to his royal command. Redcliffe had anything to do with it, The delegatio,n was thrown into prison but at the time no one doubted that he and had no chance to deliver the mes- was the power behind the throne; and aage. Another larger delegation was it should be one of the greatest glories that surround his name.
When a Bulgarian has made up his mind to a thing you may imprison or Islamized to save their lands and social bastinado him, but you will gain noth- position. I was surprised to find many ing. He doesn't feel it. What became of the so-called Turks unable to use the of that commission I know not, but Turkish language with vernaculal· readi- serfdom absolutely ceased, not" little ness, speaking Bulgarian instead. They by little," and my Greco-Moslem com- have less of Mohammedan bigotry than panion had to screw his mouth up the the Turks; they yielded more readily other way. to the new order of freedom.
What may have contributed consider- This freeing of the serfs, which oc- ably to the quick solution of serfdom curred in 1857-58, was the visible start- was the position of Bosnia. This bold, ing·point of the regeneration of Bul- fierce, mountainous state treated the garia. It is one of the immortal results firman with the utmost coolness, and of the Crimean War. Politicians, diplo- declared that Bosnia would allow of no mats, statesmen may have met defeat in interference with her ancient rights. their plans, the great contest may be The tone was too insolent to be par- pronounced a failure, or even a curse, doned. The Sultan ordered his great but Bulgaria was born and Constanti- general, Orner Pasha, who, unaided by nople was saved from the clutches of the allies, drove the Russian invading the Czar! These two results cannot be army back across the Danube, to take questioned.
all the force he wanted and secure obe- The new life of Bulgaria took the dience to the firman. form immediately of the universal de- When the Bosnians found he was sire of education. At Adrianople, at coming with only ten thousand, they Philippopolis, and at Haskeni, a large boasted that three times that number intermediate village of 8000 to 10,000 in.
would be eaten up by their mountains; habitants, was the same desire for Bul- but Orner did !lot act as they thought he garian books, Bulgarian schools, and would. and he quickly made them cry the restoration of the Slavic language for mercy; and serfdom disappeared to the churches with Bulgarian bishops from European Turkey full five years and priests. The Turkish Government before it was abolished in Russia. It had lent itself to the policy of the Greek was a milder and more limited serfdom, patriarchate to Hellenize the Bulgarian and attracted little or no attention in Church and people. It had been reo Europe, although great events and in- sisted by inertia simply. The people :fiuences have resulted from it. had never accepted it heartily. They One element in this interesting his- were driven into it by ecclesiastical tory has never been noticed by the tyranny supported ':ly the Turks; but European press. now (1857) the determination to throw The so-called Turks in European off the Hellenic yoke was strong and Turkey were in general not Turks at all. general. It led to fierce contests in the They were Moslems, but not Turks by churches and in the schools. I arrived race. They are of the original inhabit- Saturday evening in the above-men- ants of the soil, who became Moslems tioned village of Haskeni. On the Sab. at the tim~ of the Moslem conquest in bath I was invited to the church by the order to save their lands and property. Ephoroi, chief men, and after church If the whole Moslem population of to their school, which they had j~st es- European Turkey be taken at 3,000,000 tablished. They wanted Bulgarian at that time, we venture the assertion books and teachers. Their Slavonic that outside of the army and officials books from Bussia were enormously there were not 70,000 Turks in the dear. I found why It was that the Bul- whole country, and not 20,000 in all garian New Testament, edited by Dr.
Bulgaria. The Moslems are descend- Riggs, had met with such a rapid and ants of the original inhabitants who __1!n~xampled sale as had surprised the mission. The language was pure Bul. among the Bulgarians, but would avoid garian. Thousands purchased it who an open rupture with the Greek Patri· did not know how to read, hoping their arch. She did not succeed. The Patrichildren would learn. arch issued his bull of excommunica- tion against the Bulgarian Exarch and This tour led directly to the forma. his church and the Bulgarians likfid tion of the two missions in Bulgaria. it all and laughed. Every year the Bul- On my return I made a full verbal reo garians gained something of freedom port from my notes to the annual meet· from the Greek Church. The ZO'l'nitsa ing of the mission at Constantinople, did much to moderate and guide the and the subject was fully discussed. patriots in their course, but it is to be Dr. Sohauiller, who was one of the confessed that the constant political ex. warmest advocates of cpening mission. citement and discussion, while it has ary work immediately, and who had been a great eduoation of the people in made an eloquent argument at the meet· all the true principles of freedom, has ing, was appointed with me to draw up been unfavorable to the spiritual work a written report for the American Board which, however, has by no means been and the Turkish Missionary Aid Soci· in vain. ety. We met and agreed to write each of us a full report, as though nothing The fierce opposition of the Greeks more need be said, and then compare was entirely political. They had aland consolidate. We were both sur· ways numbered the Bulgarians as poprised to find that each had valuable litioally Greeks by virtues of the Church. portions which the other had not, and Twelve millions of Greeks will one day also portions which seemed amazingly repossess Constantinople, restore the alike. I think Dr. Schauiller took upon Greek liturgy to St. Sophia; but if this himself the work of consolidation, for spirit of race is to disintegrate the his chirography was clear and convinc- Church that golden political dream must ing and mine obscure and confusing. vanish; and it has vanished. Every year the Bulgarians gained something. Eng. The Earl of Shaftesbnry, President lish influence was on their side, their of the Turkish Missions Aid Society, be. opponents often were divided in coun. stowed unbounded praise upon the reo cil ; France aided them, hoping to estabports, and promised all his influence in lish the Roman Catholic Church among aid of the mission. Eventually two them, in which she notoriously failed. missions were formed, one by the Meth. odist Episcopal Church and one by the The Abbe Bore gained over about American Board. For the part I had thirty thousand by his false promises of in persuading the Methodist Episcopal freedom and of French protection, but Church I was made a life director, and so soon as they found out how he had am consequently half Methodist and deceived them they went back like a half Board. flock of sheep over a stone wall with dogs behind them. The proud abbe From 1858-77 there followed nineteen suffered no end of ridicule from his years of the most persevering conflict thirty thousand converts. for the freedom of the Bulgarian Church and education from what they called The missions in Bulgaria and Robert Greek oppression. It was a weary, College at Constantinople, and the Bulmixed,' unending contest. Foreign garian newspaper, the ZO'l'nitsa, edited diplomacy entered warmly into it-the for a time by Dr. Long, and afterward Abbe Bore, chief of the Jesuit mission in by Dr. Byington, and other missionaries, one direction, Russian influence in an. were all guiding lights to the Bulgarians other, and English influence against in their tempestuous voyage. They them both. mfl,nifested more prudence, firmness, and sense than could have been hoped Russia was in a very tight place. She for under the circumstances. wished to cultivate the panslavic spirit Every issue from the missionary press try would be governed by these Ameri. in Bulgaria, whether school· book, can principles. The expression of any tract, or Scriptures, was eagerly bought such hope would have been scouted as and introduced into their schools. They absurd. were greatly embarrassed by the want of well.trained teachers-a want which The lives of the Bulgarian graduates the mission schools and Robert College of the college were largely devoted to began soon to supply. teaching. It was their most useful em. ployment. They communicated their In 1864 the first Bulgarian student own enthusiasm to thousands until the entered Robert College. We did not watchword, "Every Bulgarian boy and then look in that direction for aspirants girl must know how to read and write," after a college education. The awaken. became general amongthe people. Some ing of Bulgaria had been too recent. of the college graduates went into com. Her state had been one of the deepest merce, somestudied medicine, and a few illiteracy. Her people had been reo have distinguished themselves in law. garded by other nationalities as con· tented "rayahs," subjects of their Thus before the events of 1877 the Turkish masters, and a sudden strike college and the missions of the Ameri. for the higher education was not ex. can Board and of the Methodist Episco. pected ; but from this beginning there pal Society had diffused a widespread was a constant increase in the numher influence for education, for freedom, of Bulgarian students, so that in a few for right and truth. years they equalled the number of the Armenian students and surpassed the The war between Russia and Turkey, Greeks. in 1877, was ostensibly for freeing the Christians,already enjoying greater free. They were intensely patriotic. Bul. dom than the peasants of Russia. The garia for the Bulgarians was the feeling real object was to obtain possession of of everyone, but there was no sympa· Constantinople, and the dream of Rusthy with Socialism or Nihilism or with sia for the last four centuries would be any revolutionary measures. In that realized. respect Russia did not find them plastic material at all. They eschewed her Her object was near its accomplish. despotism. ment. She had 300,000 of her best troops in Bulgaria, and the way to As students they were earnest, indus· Stamboul was open, when Europe trious, and exceedingly clannish in a stepped in and spoiled the game. very good sense. If one of their num. ber became careless, indolent, or irregu. The 300,000 troops were marched lar, the great majority would take him back to Russia by order of the great in hand and tell him emphatically that Berlin Conference, and Bulgaria was he must reform or they would cease to erected into a principality. acknowledge him. This discipline was wonderfully effective. Europe was determined to give the principality a chance at self.govern- As I now look back .upon their favor. ment as the best and safest way to ex· ite stUdies, there seems to be lIome. clude Russian domination. This was thing akin to a prophetic spirit that giving to Bulgaria just what Russia governed them. American history, proclaimed to the world was the sole the Constitution of the United States object of the war. of America, and international law were subjects of living interest to them. Delegates to form a constitution were They went into them as though their chosen according to the plan of the future as Bulgarians depended upon congress. Among these delegates were them. They doubtless cherished an twelve graduates of Robert College. inward hope that some day their coun. They knew at once why they had stud. ied American history and the United States Constitution with such profound interest. They became the leading spirits of dom can lay and execute counterplots the convention. Russia still had her with equal skill and greater secrecy. A party claiming that she had been the graduate of Robert College, who in col. deliverer of Bulgaria, at vast cost, and lege was considered a sort of madcap, her wishes should be paramount in all laid and executed with consummate things relating to the constitution of secrecy, skill, daring, and energy a the government. scheme for revolutionizing Eastern Rou.' melia, the department lying south of On every important point in the con- the Balkans, and of joining it to the stitution she was defeated. The Rus. principality. sian party wanted a censorship of the press, but the press was made free. So At midnight a powerful party of amawas religion against the Russian prin- zons, led by modem Bulgaria in mythociple of a national church. logical costume, surprised the govern- ing Pasha, awoke him from profound Universal manhood suffrage was also sleep, made him dress in haste, placed established against elections by certain him in a carriage, and conducted him classes. beyond the confines, and advised him to continue his jonrney to Constantino- The constitution displeased the Czar ple. In the morning Eastern Roumelia as much as it pleased the Bulgarians. was declared united to the principality. Its character was openly attributed to Robert College. The Prince Alexander, If it was a grand surprise, it was a a young and inexperienced German of greater joy. The whole people north a thorough military education, seemed and south sanctioned it with universal at first quite out of place, but he grad_ acclaim. Prince Alexander could do ually apprehended the condition of nothing bnt accept it. He had the wis. things. was delighted to find such young dom and adroitness to send an envoy men to help him, and he soon bEcame to the Sultan, to show him that the deservedly popular. He caught the change was as much for Turkish as Bul- Bulgarian enthusiasm. garian interests against the power of Russia. Turkey only growled and thun- Then Russia struck an astounding dered. Russia, in her rage and chagrin, and most exasperating blow in ordering threatened immediate intervention. Prince Alexander to set aside the con- European diplomacy advised her that if stitution and substitute a council, which Russian soldiers should enter Bulgaria, meant Russian principles of govern. Europe would have forces there to meet ment. His fear of Russia and his knowl- them. edge of her overwhelming power were such that he became party to the So the brave and rash principality change. It demanded all his skill to was again delivered, and Russia was restrain the people from a revolution. defeated.
At length he arranged for a personal But she would accomplish her object interview with Alexander II. He plead in another way. She stirred up Servia so earnestly the cause of Bulgaria as to to claim Sophia, her ancient capital. detain the Czar half an hour from din- Besides, Bulgaria was becoming too ner, in which time the dining hall was powerful fo' the safety of Servia; and dynamited and all in it killed. Prince King Milan boldly annonnced to the Alexander had saved the Czar's life. world that he would march upon So- This natu<"ally softened his anger, and phia, take possession, and celebrate his the prince obtained some modifications, birthday there. although not enough to satisfy the people. He put his army in motion in three columns, and in jovial humor, not be- In the mean time Russia was busy lieving the unwarlike Bulgars would do with her gold and her plots in all the more than to llJake some distant shlJlD of affairs of the principality, but she was resistance destined to learn that the party of free- Russia, in order to paralyze Bulgaria entered Bulgaria there was not a Ser- and lay her helpless and bleeding at the vian foot upon Bulgarian soil, unless it feet of Senia, so that she-Russia-might were the foot of a prisoner of war (No- come in and settle matters on her own vember 14th to 22d, 1885). King Milan terms, had suddenly withdrawn all the forgot all about his birthday in Sophia, Russian officers from the young Bul- and was glad to celebrate it anywhere, garian army, where they held all the and indeed to have a birthday to cele- important posts. It worked the other brate. Alexander crossed the boundary way. Young Bulgarian soldiers filled and took Pirot, and was marching tri- the vacant places with boundless en- umphantly upon Nisch when the Em.
thusiasm. peror of Austria interfered and threat- Prince Alexander issued II noble pro- ened intervention. Europe, and espe.
test against the war as unprovoked, un- cially Ruesia, was overwhelmed with just, and fratricidal, but called upon amazement. The military genius 6f young Bulgaria to rise and repel the in- A).exander was easily recognized, but vader. Everyone who could obtain a that Bulgarian peasants should charge gun and a bayonet would be enrolled with the bayonet, and that the old pea- as fully armed, and he would lead them sants should pour out freewill offerings in person to meet the foe. that made a commissariat needless, was The furor that seized the people was incredible.
unexampled. In cold weather, many Ruesia had prepared the whole affair.
without arms, without suitable clothes, The Czar had not only withdrawn all without a commissariat, rushed to the Russian officers teaching the Bulgarians front. Twenty students of Robert Col- the art of war, he had also sent to King lege ran away to the war. Six hundred Milan able officers who were in the volunteers died of cold, hunger, and ex- Servian army when the Bulgarian cy- posure. clone struck it, and they were glad to The prince formed his" minute men" flee with the rest.
as well as he could, and told them to The loud applause of Europe was in- rely wholly upon the bayonet. If the tolerable to Russia. Another humiliat- Servian fire should decimate their ranks, ing fact was notorious. The young and they must close up and move right on. able-bodied Turks rushed to the prince's They were heavier men than the Ser- standard, and the Turkish farmers sent vians, and could sweep them off the in their offerings for the army by every field. He would lead them; he only possible mode of transportation – by asked that they would follow. Never donkeys and pack-horses and by mules did Napoleon more grandly inspire his and ox and buffalo-wagons. This re- troops than did the Prince Alexander buked the stories about the unmitigated his raw recruits. hate of the races and the universal flight All the friends of Bulgaria held their of the Moslems.
breath. They feared an awful disaster On every point Russia was humili- and a terrible slaughter of the Bul. ated, the patriotism and spirit of free- garian patriots. Nobody supposed they dom in Bulgaria raised to the whitest could meet and repel the disciplined heat; but Russian policy never changes.
and warlike Servians. When she fails in one scheme she tries The public sentiment of Europe and another. There followed in 1886 a the East was strongly convulsed at the most remarkable year of attempts to result. Some were wild with exulta- control Bulgaria by Russian consuls tion, others were filled with rage and and envoys. A Russian Colonel Caul- disappointment. bars made himself notorious and well Young Bulgaria did what the prince hated by the Bulgarians. A small, well· proposed-swept the Stlrvian columns paid revolutionary party was formed, before them. In eight days after Milan the prince was seized and carried off in the night, a provisional government In this experience Prince Ferdinand was announced, and everything· was has gained in character and general changed. A forced abdication by the reputation.
prince was announced and a call for .In the four or five years of his admin- another election; but the people rose istration France and Russia have em- as one man against it. The provisional barrassed the Bulgarian Government in government fled. Many of them found different ways. The French by a con- the horse not a vain thing for safety. stant flood of misrepresentations and The whole affair became a farce for the misstatements, until finally a French neighbors to laugh at. correspondent was seized by govern- Russia suddenly found the prince an ment order and sent out of the country.
elephant upon her hands. She was in France immediately made demands of danger of serious diplomatic complica. reparation and threats of vengeance so tions, and she set him at liberty. He excessive that Stambouloff felt quite went back to Sophia with the intention secure and stood his ground firmly on of packing up and going home. the admitted principles of international The people received him with su~h law. The affair was settled by a com- enthusiasm and universal joy that he promise, and French influence suffered had to resume the reins of government from the event.
again. Russia has labored unremittingly, and This was the culminating point of his still is laboring to raise a powerful Rus- history. He lacked the element of sian party that shall finally overthrow faith, and he weakened just when he the government. Her emissaries have should have been strong. He wrote a sometimes been detected in treasonable very weak letter to the Czar, offering to plots, and have been tried, condemned, resign if he insisted upon it, and thus and executed. This has made the plot- to the great grief of Bulgaria he stepped ters more wary. They like Russian down from this high position into a gold, but the vision of Bulgarian hemp vain and aimless life. with a traitor dangling at the end is In 1887 the present Prince Ferdinand horrible and disheartening.
was chosen with fierce opposition from The Russian course has been thus far Russia. His choice has never been a disappointing one. It has gained no duly ratified, and yet he remains, and firm footing among the people. It has the Bulgarians don't care a fig whether accomplished none of Russia's designs.
any power ratifies it or not. He will Her only satisfaction can be in this not be disturbed in his place unless he that the constant political contest, the should marry undiplomatically. He unending conflict with foreign plots, has little force of character, but he has done much to retard education and yields to the stronger mind and will of the industrial development or the coun- Stambouloff, the premier of the little try.
kingdom. The latest Russian 'atrocity is the as- He has been the subject of immense sassination of Dr. Vulcomtin, the Bul- ridicule by the Russian and French par- garian agent at the Sublime Porte. He ties, but. the Bulgarians have had the counteracted so successfully all the good sense to know that any change Russian plans for getting up bad blood would be for the worse and would give between Bulgaria and the Porte that his a dangerous chance to Russia. They presence became intolerable. He was have stood faithfully by him, have sup- a warm friend of Robert College and a ported him, have controlled him, and welcome and frequent visitor there.
have manifested the wisdom, firmness, Two of the assassins fled to Russia, who prudence and foresight that usually be- refuses to give them up, but Turkey has long to old and experienced govern· given up one of the accused. The place mentsonly. of the murdered man is filled by a ~raquate of Robert College, knowing that yourselves together to the supper of the the faithful performance of his duties great God, that ye may eat the flesh will entitle him also to a Russian dag- of kings and the ftesh of captains and g·er. the flesh of mighty men and the flesh The government has not been slow to of horses and the flesh of them that sit – acknowledge its debt to Robert College. on them and the flesh of all men, both A decoration was given to President free and bond, both small and great."
Washburn and another to Dr. Long, But He that sitteth in the heavens who is everywhere known as a wise, shall laugh, the Lord shall have them prudent, and faithful friend of Bulgaria. in derision. Not the purposes of the We must leave little Bulgaria right Czar, not the purposes of France or here in hot water. There is nothing in Germany or England will be accom- modern history to compare with her. plished, but the purposes of Him to A few years ago unknown to the whom all power is given in heaven and world, or despised by a statesman like in earth. His kingdom, however fee- Bismarck as unworthy of the least con- ble to human view, is established in Bul- sideration-a little state of three or four garia, and the gates of hell shall not millions just emerging from a long and prevail against it ; for He hath chosen disastrous night of darkness and op- the weak things of this world to con- pression, without the resources that found the mighty, and base things of constitute national importance, she still this world and things that are despised calmly faces her great enemy of one hath God chosen; yea, and things that hundred and ten millions with an army are not, to bring to naught things that and navy that can pound Bulgaria to are, that no flesh should glory in His dust. She is neither moved by her presence. Amen.
threats nor won by her gold. She re- gards her promised friendship as the fatal hug of the polar bear. Book Mention.
She understands well that she holds (BY J. T. G.) Russia's path to her glittering prize- Constantinople-and that Europe will -The Story of Uganda, by Sarah Gernot allow her to march over it without aldina Stock (fifteen illustrations, same the bloodiest contest this modern world publishers as The Ainu), is a clearly has knolVIl. If Russia has a million put, succinct history of Uganda and its bayonets gathering on her western bor. missionary operations from the days of ders, Europe has a million ready to meet Krapf to the most recent date. There them. is no end to the interest attaching to this part of the Dark Continent and its All the navies of the world will hover young martyr.church. round the contest and add their thun- ders. -Missionary Maps of China and Japan ButBulgaria stands between, calm and with Korea (cloth, 36 x 49 inches, price firm, entrenched within the sacred lines $1.25), showing the stations of all mis- of acknowledged international law, sionary societies in those countries, trusting in right, in God, in humanity, with a great amount of statistical and and resolved to be true to the interest historical information printed in large of freedom. The mere human pros- letters on the margin, have been pre- pect is dark. The long-gathering clouds pared by Miss M. Burt, Springfield, O.
must burst and deluge Europe and the Every missionary from China or Japan Orient. who has seen either of these maps is We can almost see the angel standing enthusiastic in admiration of their ac- in the sun and crying with a loud voice curacy and adaptability for missionary saying to all the fowls that fly in the purposes. In these days one " needs lit mids~ of heaven! "Come and gather map to pray by,"
DEPARTMENT OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR
III.-DEPAPTMENT OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR.
CONDUCTED BY PROFESSOR AMOS R. WELLS.
Here is Dr. Clark's account of an church. There were, at the start, two Australian consecration meeting. It active members and two associate, and reads like a description of one of our these conducted also the Wednesday great conventions: "I have attended evening meeting. Then a minister was many consecration services in my life, drawn into the meetings. Then came but very few that have exceeded in genu- regular preaching. Then a chapel was ine spiritual power this meeting in the built. Then a young men's meeting Centenary Wesleyan Church. The great was started, and the Endeavor society audience.room, with its two galleries, grew to have thirty-one members. AI.
was crowded; the singing was magnifi- together there is the promising founda- cent. With one or two exceptions, every tion of a strong church, and all because society in the whole colony was repre- that earnest woman made that little sented ; sometimes, in the case of the beginning.
more distant, by only two or three mem- Quite in line with this story is that bers ; often by a large company. As of a little church lately organized in the roll of societies was called, each re- Ohio. It had twenty-eight members, sponded by a passage of Scripture or a and an Endeavor society of twenty- verse of a hymn, and the consecration seven. These twenty.seven Endeavor- was so genuine and spontaneous, the ers at once subscribed enough money expression so hearty and vigorous, that to pay the pastor's salary and provide I am sure the meeting will not soon be for all the weekly expenses of the forgotten in the religious circles of Syd. church.
ney. Even after the Mizpah benedic- Several churches have lately formed , tion had been pronounced, the young Senior Societies of Christian Endeavor, people could not refrain from singing; made up of the older people and the but all the way home through the dark graduates from the young people's so- streets, at the railway station, and at ciety. The idea is also spreading in every suburban place, where the train Australia.
left its contingent of Christian Endeav- Endeavorers of the German Evangeli- orers, the Endeavor songs were heard." cal Synod met at Detroit this year. All A Baltimore Endeavor society has a the exercises were in German. It was capital idea. It has organized a " Sur- an enthusiastic gathering, and many a prise Committee," whose duty it is to pastor was won to zealous admiration play what might be termed Christian for the Christian Endeavor movement.
practical jokes. They do the little The general conference of the things that nobody would think of, but Friends, which met this year at Indian- that please and astonish everybody apolis, formally gave its approval to the when they are done. They make pleas- Christian Endeavor work, and urged ant surprise calls on old ladies, they their young people to participate in it.
unexpectedly get out an edition of their This action of the highest authority pastor's last sermon, they astonish the among the Friends makes it certain church prayer-meeting with a sudden that no sectarian society will rise among flood of young faces. Surely an agree· them to weaken the interdenomination- able and ingenious committee. al fellowship of their young people.
A genuine missionary enterprise was A worker who has had much experi- that of a woman in Maine who found- ence declares that the Christian En.
ed, not long ago, a Christian Endeavor deavor society is precisely the right I?Qciety in a place whero there WitS no &gent fOf worl; amollg the Mormolls. A church organization, no matter of Church seem to have entered upon a what name, cannot find entrance into church-building era. The, first church many a Mormon town; but a Christian constructed with their money is at Ed· Endeavor society is welcomed unsus· gerton, Minn.; but it will by no means piciously. The first and second soci· be the last. eties organized in Utah were largely recruited from Mormon families, and Rev_ A. A. Fulton, of China, whose grew till they united to form a regular "two.cents.a.week" pledge plan has church, of the Congregational denomi. resulted in the addition to the treas· nation. From one of these societies a uries of the missionary boards of tens converted Mormon girl has come East, of thousands of dollars-one hundred to get training for missionary work thousand a year, he thinks-points out among the Mormons. that Presbyterian Endeavorers alone, each giving only two cents a week, could In addition to the French Christian support the entire mission and educa. tional work of Presbyterians in China, Endeavor societies already known, news and have $75,000 a year remaining for has recently come of nine more, in Paris the extension of missionary opera· and its vicinity. The Christian En. tions_ deavor movement is of slow growth in France, on account of the numerical in· The Presbyterian churches in Indiana feriol·ity of the Protestants,. because think so highly of the possibilities of these families are scattered, because the Christian Endeavor work in the line of workshops close so late, alld because missions, that they have appointed a young people are seldom permitted to Christian Endeavor missionary secre· go out at night by themselves. tary for that State.
Canada has a gritty little Endeavor The large Metropolitan Church of society, that, failing to find suitable Toronto has an Epworth League of quarters for its meetings, has built a Christian Endeavor that has been ex· neat little Christian Endeavor hall, for ceedingly successful in holding cottage its own use, for church socials, etc. prayer.meetings. These are held free Many a society could in this way greatly quently in the homes of drunkards and benefit both itself and its church, espe· non-churchgoers, and with very grati. cially if the church building is without fying results. Besides, these zealous modern improvements, for Sunday. young people are vigorous in invitation. school, prayer.meetings, and socials. work among the hotels, and scour the strelts every Sunday afternoon for mao The pastor of a Disciples church in terial for the mission schools. Washington was much surprised reo cently to find, on questioning his Junior Mr. and Mrs. Chain, of Denver, who Endeavorers without warning, that they were making the tour of the world partly could give almost the entire outline of in the interests of missions, were sadly his morning's sermon. We believe, lost on the ill.fated steamer Bokhara too, that many Junior societies could last October. Now the Endeavorers of siinilarly surprise many pastors. Denver have formed a stock company, 'The Chain Missionary Boat Com. An Australian speaker said that pany," and are selling ten thousand "C. E." stands for" Christian Endeav. shares of stock at ten cents a share. It or" as well as for" Church of England," is their design soon to send a mission. and with his young people it stands for ary boat to the West Coast of Africa. both. The Church of England in Aus· tralia is friendly to the new movement Every month largely increases the among the young. number of Endeavor societies that are assuming each the support of a mis· Iowa Endeavorers gave last year $3500 sionary. Many societies support more to missions, and to their home churches than one. an equal sum. In response to a long.felt need and The Endeavorers of the Reformed after careful planning, a "Travellers' Protestant 485, the Methodist of Canada Christian Endeavor Union" has been 150, the Methodist Episcopal Soath 120. formed, whose president is Mr. F. D. the African Methodist Episcopal 74, the Wing, of New Jersey, and secretary, Primitive Methodist 41. The Chris- Mr. J. Howard Breed, of Pennsylvania. tians and Disciples of Christ have 1858 The purpose of this new movement is societies, or only one society less than to bring into Christian Endeavor work the Methodist Episcopal. The Lutherall who heretofore have been parted ans have 366 societies, and the Evanfrom it on account of absence from gelical Lutherans 314. There are 561 home and frequent changes of abode, societies belonging to the Reformed such as commercial travellers, nurses, Church in America and the Reformed attendants of schools, and many others. Church in the United States, 366 among The travellers' pledge is like the ordi- the Friends, 201 among the United nary Christian Endeavor pledge, save Brethren, 49 in the Church of God. that it calls for attendance on some En- The Moravians have 44, the Reformed deavor society of the town where the Episcopalians 38, the Protestant Epismember is temporarily staying, prefer- copalians 33, the Mennonites 9. There ence being always shown for the de- are 2098 union societies in small places, nomination to which the member be- 339 whose denominations are unknown, longs, and for weekly reports to the 59 in public institutions and schools, home society, or, in default of that, to 3 in the United States Army, and 3 in the secretary of the union. The thou- the Navy. Besides, there are many sosands of young men and young women cieties that have united the Christian whom it is thus proposed to bring into Endeavor name and fundamental prin_ organized Christian work are among ciples to the name of some denominathe most vigorous, intelligent, and re- tional society, and so are genuine Chrisspected young people of the world, and tian Endeavor societies. There are 285 this new movement is absolutely the Epworth Leagues of Christian Endeav. first definite and comprehensive at- or, 20 Keystone Leagues of Christian tempt ever made to care for their re- Endeavor, 2 Westminster Leagues of ligious interests. A zealous Christian Christian Endeavor, 6 Advocates of commercial traveller has unique and Fidelity in Christian Endeavor, and 8 manifold opportunities for religious Baptist Unions of Christian Endeavor. work, and he is just the man to do it. Altogether there are 23,163 societies en- Christian nurses. organized with a defi- rolled, 845 of these being in foreign nite missionary purpose, have invalua- lands, 1546 in Canada. There are 2859 ble chances for Christian service. What Junior societies. Undoubtedly many a noble opening is here for Christian En- more societies exist, but these are those deavor! on record in Boston, those actually re- ported, after deducting all that may The semi-annual footing np of En- have disbanded or become purely dedeavor statistics gives some interesting nominational, dropping the interdefigures. The Presbyterians still lead. nominational fellowship. Surely this with 5363 societies, while the Cumber- is a marvellous growth, to come from land Presbyterians have 549, the United so small a seed, in so short a time; Presbyterians 276, the Reformed, Pres- and, best of all, it seems to be a thorbyterians 43, and the Scotch Presbyte- oughly permanent and healthy growth. rians 24. Next come the Congregation- Everything seems to indicate that the alists. with 4368 societies. The Bap- Christia.n Endeavor Society has taken tists follow, with 2945 societies, to which its well-earned and well-merited place must be added Free Baptists, 155, and as a permanent factor in modern relig- Seventh-Day Baptists, 49. Next follow ious life, and in all evangelical denomithe Methodists, the Methodist Episco- nations. pal having 1859 societies, the Methodist
181)3.] ll:D1TOR1At. DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The British and Foreign Bible Society The Bishop of Exeter has proposed have issued a circular proposing an in- that every subscriber shall increase the crease in their annual income by £25,- annual subscription by hdf as much 000, or $125,000. The excess of expen- again. Certainly this Society, which diture over income during the previous constitutes ODe of the great cathedral four years has amounted to a total of structures of Britain, should be assisted no less than £67,000, and during the in the work, which for grandeur and last year alone it was nearly £24,000. effectiveness is exceeded by no other This has come from the great extension whatever.
of the Society's operations, to meet The Railway and Its Mission, fresh openings and growing demands for the circulation of the Scriptures in The very interesting and instructive almost all parts of the world. account of the Trans-Caspian Railway, made by Dr. O. Heyfeldir, Councillor, During the ten years past fifty-three St. Petersburg, shows that, apart from new translations have been made, and the military aDd strategical reasons the Scriptures are now available, at which led to its conception and conleast in part, in three hundred lan- guages and dialects. For years past the struction, the line has in its onward Society's average circulation has been progress to completion singularly fulabout four million copies per year. filled the prophetic forecast of Prince There is a popular misapprehension Gortschakoff contained in his circular that large profits accrue to the Society dispatch of December, 1864. The con- by the sale of these vast issues of the struction of the line has been the means Word of God, but the f!lOt is that the of protecting millions from the raids small profit arising from the sale of the and annoyances of their savage or semi- limited number of the more expensive barbarous neighbors; of showering the copies is much more than absorbed by blessings of peace and prosperity on the large loss on the much greater pro- the tribes under the Russian sway; of portion sold below cost to make them raising villages in wild wastes; of form- available to poorer purchasers. The ing provinces of places under perpetual great increase of missionary labor and rivalry of arms as to their limits, and missionflry laborers augments the de- of giving security to person ana: prop- mands upon the Society's resources, but erty.
the contributions do not keep pace with the d~mands; and either a great addi- Errors of Romanism, tion must be made to the income of the Our impressions of Romanism, both Society or its work must be seriously in Great Britain and on the Continent, restricted and curtailed. Three hun- have not been improved by recent trav- dred and sixty-four Bible women now el. On one Roman Catholic church in having access to their heathen sisters Dublin we read the bold Latin inscrip- in the Orient ask for grants for Bibles. tion, " Marice pecca/orum Refugio" (" To Mohammedan lands are now ready to Mary the refuge of sinners"). In Flor- receive them; and in India the native ence we saw the picture of the Virgin mind is opening to the Scriptures as Mary, and the seed of the woman brnis- never before. ing the head of the serpent. The devil Wide fields in Central· Asia, Persia, was represented as a gigantic monster Chin&, Milesia., not to say the vast con- with the head and·shoulders of a giant: tinent of Africa, demand the Word of but the hind parts of a serpent. It was God. significant that the infant Saviour was held in the arms of the Virgin, and that ceased Cardinal Lavigerie. The notice her foot was on the prostrate head and ends thus: form of Satan, and the foot of the Child rested upon her foot; and the thought "It is a grand· figure that has just occurred to me, in looking at this mag- passed away. Cardinal Lavigerie exnificent picture, that Romanism puts erted himself incessantly with the the Virgin between Christ and the soul, double object of extending at the same between Christ and the Church, be- time both the Christian influence and tween Christ and God, as here between the French influence in Africa; and for Christ and Satan, and virtually makes this posterity will hold him in grateful Mary, and not Christ, mediator. remembrance.' , There is a vast amount of ignorance It is sad to think of this mixture of and superstition in Catholic countries, motives in Cardinal Lavigerie, and especially conspicuous in Ireland, equally sad that a highly respeotable Spain, and Italy. Whatever truth Ro- paper should commend him for so serimanism conserves is sadly buried ous a fault. beneath an immense mass of rubbish and mediooval sacerdotalism. The French Mission in Basutoland. leaven of rationalism and ritualism has sadly perverted the churches of Great A drawing-room meeting was held at Britain. The leaven of the Pharisee, the house of our beloved friend and which is formalism and hypocrisy; the contributor, James E. Mathieson, Esq., leaven of the Sadducees, which is scepti- of London, on Monday P.M" December cism and rationalism; the leaven of 5th last, to welcome and hear Rev. F_ Herod, which is secularism and worldli- H. Kruger from Paris, formerly in the. ness, are to be found througbout Chris- Basutoland Mission, who gave a most tendom. interesting account of French mission work in British Basutoland. We were greatly charmed, in visiting the Vaudois valleys, to read the inscrip- The Paris Missionary Society was tion in the Synod Hall, "Mallei terun- founded in 1822 by the most prominent tur remanet inc'lls" (" The hammers are men of the French Protestant churches, broken, but the anvil remains"). And among whom were: Admiral Count we were equally charmed to see the Ver-Huell, a member of the House of self-denying life which these Walden- Peers. M. Jean Monod, his son, M. sian pastors lead among their flocks. Frederic Monod, M. Stapfer, M. Deles- Their little churches are scattered over sert, M. d'Ounous, M. Lutteroth, the the mountains and valleys, but still Baron de Stael.Holstein, the Rev. Mark maintain the integrity and vitality of Wilks. The evangelical churches of their witness of Christ. France, so recently delivered from perse- cution and from the revolutionary tem- Rome has been to these Vaudois an pest, thus asserted their determination Olympus for its gods, a Sinai for its to obey, in spite of their weakp.ess, the thunders, and a Calvary for its blood. Master's oommand, and to take a part Long may the witness of these simple in the conquest of the world by the gospeople to the Lord and His faith be pel of J eSUl! Christ. God blessed their continued. Any of the Lord's people act of faith and obedience, so that the who are disposed to make a donation mission undertaken by the Society in to missions could scarcely do more South Africa among the Basutos prowisely than to send it to Pastor J. P. gressed rapidly; it has not ceased to ad- Pons, at Torre Pellice, Italy_ vance, and numbers at the present date 17 stations, 128 out-stations, 5 superior A French paper has just come in schools, about 129 primary schools, 243 which speaks at some length of the de- native workers, 7900 members of the church, 4543 candidates for member- ship. These figures give a very inadequate Society has also taken charge, at the reo idea of the importance of the mission quellt of the London Missionary Soci· and of the influence it exerts over the ety, of Mare, one of the Loyalty Islands; Basuto nation; the warmest testi· and has also agreed to replace that So· monies to that effect have come from ciety in the Society Islands and other the Government of the Cape Colony. islands. from which we quote only the following sentence of a letter from Sir Marshall In spite of the increasing efforts it Clark, the Resident Commissioner of has been obliged to make on behalf of Basutoland : the French colonies, the Paris Society has no thought of withdrawing from its " I can assure you of my continued most ancient field of labor, Basutoland, . interest in the work which is being nor of handing over to others the Zam. done by the missionaries of your Soci- bezi Mission. It is proposed to conety, to whose example and -precept is tinue those enterprises, although no undoubtedly due to a great extent the national tie connects with them; the advance made by the Basuto tribe dur- cause of the kingdom of Christ is that ing the last fifty years-example land of all mankind, and. is limited by no precept which, as you indicate, carry political frontier. In order to fulfil all the more weight from being inde· these enlarged duties, the French pendent of politics or gain. ~ , churches have increased in a large measure their support. In the last The mission has in the last years year they contributed not less than brought forth the mission undertaken £19,080, a large sum when compared upon the higher Zambezi by Rev. F. to their small number. Coillard and his fellow·workers. The Zambezi Mission is yet in its. infancy, Nevertheless the resources of French but we trust that it will walk in the Protestantism are not sufficient to ac· footsteps of the Basutoland Mission. complish the whole of the 'Work. It is It has already 4 married missionaries, needful, therefore, to ask for the co- 1 unmarried, 1 single lady, 1 European operation of British and American helper, and 3 stations. Christians, particularly on behalf of Basutoland, and to obtain regular co· During the last years the mission had operation in view of the evangelization very heavy difficulties to overcome. of the land by native catechists and The wife of the venerated founder of pastors. the mission died in October, 1891; but, before closing her eyes, she was Mr. KrUger states that there is a able to witness the first ripe ears of the population in Basutoland of about harvest. 218,000, and they have about 11,000 : For many years the work in Southern adult converts. If the adult males only Africa was enough to fill the hands of be counted, they have about one in ten the Society; but toward 1860 the com- of all adult males in churches. mittee was led to take the place of the London Missionary Society at Tahiti. Books Notioed. Nearly at the same time a mission was began in Senegambia. These fields of [J. T. G.] labor were, so to speak, forced upon the Society by the fact that none but -An American:Mlssionary in'Japan, by French Protestants could freely spread Rev. M. L. Gordon, M.D. (Houghton, the Gospel in those countries. More Mifflin & Co., Boston and New York), recently, for the Bame reasons, the So· is very valuable for its reliable history, ciety has extended its action to Kabylia, its discussions of live topics, and the and to the French part of the Congo, experience detailed. where three married missionaries are now at work on the Ogowe River. The -The Ainu of Japan, by Rev. John Batchelor (eighty illustrations, Flem·
J.'ebrUMY
ing H. Revell Co., Chicago and New we can hereafter find room for a criti· York), is an important contribution to cal examination of it in these pages we our very meagre knowledge of the reo cannot now say. ligion, superstitions, and general history of the hairy aborigines of Japan. -The .Divine Art of Preach.ing, by Ar. Ethnologists as well as the general thur T. Pierson, D.D. (Baker & Taylor reader will find herein a great deal of Co., New York), is not a 'missionary information. The author had admira- book surely, but it is difficult to see ble opportunity by long residence how any missionary would not profit among them to gather the material for by it. The last chapter on preaching this volume. as •• communing with the Spirit" is worth much more than the small price -The Child of the Ganges, by Rev. (75 cents) of the volume. Robert N. Barrett, is a new putting of the experiences of Dr. Judson and —c others in the marvel of missions by the American Baptists in Burma. The British Notes. story-form keeps close to the history, and is attractive. [Rev. James Douglas, of London, has been asked to assist the Editor.in·chief -Everybody interested in mISSIOns as British correspondent for the REVIEW, of course wants The American Board and his notes will appear in the Editori. Almanac for 1893 (10 cents). It is full al Department, signed. with the initials to the brim with reliable statements of missionary facts admirably edited. J. D.J -India and Malaysia, by Bishop Uganda must be retained. So speak, James M. Thoburn, D.D., of Calcutta, with unanimous voice, the Church of who has been a third of a century en- England papers and bishops. There gaged in missionary work in Southern is not the ssme accent of conviction or Asia, is too important a contribution consensus of feeling on the part of Eng. to missionary literature to be dismissed lish nonconformity. The Presbyterians with mere mention, but our space will of Scotland, however, are at one WIth permit nothing more just now. Cran- the Episcopal Church in voting the ston & Curts, Cincinnati, and Hunt & matter urgent. Eaton, New York, will furnish it at $2, or subscription copy, more handsomely The battle for the suppression of the bound, for $2.50. It seems difficult to opium trade must go on. Lord Kim. decide whether the author is most litter· berley, ignoring the resolution passed ateur, missionary or statesman. toward the close of the Conservative regime, declares ., that the export of – The Genesis and Growth of Religion, Indian opium to China must continue." by Rev. S. H. Kellogg, D.D. (Macmillan There are two "musts" in the case: & Co., New York and London), is the the "must" of Indian finance, seen body of the Stone lectures for 1892 at through the lens of expediency, and Princeton Seminary.' Dr. Kellogg is a the" must" of the British conscience, genius as well as a great scholar. The tardily but surely awaking to the sense evolution of religion has rarely had of responsibility. May the time Boon more candid and scholarly handling at come when "England's greate~t nathe hands of an expert. Dr. Kellogg tional sin" may be brought home to the is now in India, engaged with other heart of the nation! Sanskritists in the revision of the Hindi translation of the Old Testament. This In the Church M'lSsionary Intelligencer is a work for review, not for notice. It (December, 1892) there is an elaborately is clearly within our line, but 'whether defensive article on the subject of "Missions and Misconceptions," in which Sir Edwin Arnold's shoring up
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
of Buddhism at the expense of Chris- enty-two persons have beell baptized, tiallity is hotly combatted. Why waste and on Kan River three new stations powder and shell on the utterances of a have been opened. dreamer? or seriously essay the task of refuting fallacies that can no more hide In the province of Cheh-Kiang the the light than gossamer? The cry, pulse of progress has also been quick- "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" ened. Mr. Meadows, the superintend. needs no cOlmter·shout from the fol- ent, says, " The Lord is indeed bless- lower of the Nazarene. ing Cheh-Kiang, the work" is more en- couraging than in any previous year, "Personal Consecration and Almsgiv- and the outlook is most cheering." In in~" is the theme of an effective paper, other southern provinces there is a rec- ,by Mr. J. McCormick, in this month's ord of patient sowing in the face of Church MissiOnrlry Intelligencer (Decem- much discouragement, save in Hu-nan ber, 1892). Among other things the and Kwang-si, provinces for which ex- importance is urged upon all the Lord's perienced workers are urgently re- brethren of giving some portion of their quired. time to a medit"tion upon the condi- tion of the heathen, in order that the Mr. Cecil Polhill Turner, together absolute necessity of aiding them to with his wife and family, has had to the very best of their ability might be suffer much of late for the Gospel's burnt into their very soul, and that sake through the superstitions of the their deepest sympathies might be Chinese, who hold the Christians ac· drawn out toward them. countable for the drought; but, like the apostles, they have accounted it all joy Dr. Oameron's decease is a grievous " to fall into diverse afliictions." " We loss, not only to the China Inland Mis- are full of praise to the Lord," writes sion, but China itself. He explored Mr. Turner; "first, for giving us the the land in a series of remarkable honor of some little fellowship in His journeyings, his object being twofold, own blessed sufferings; and, secondly, to scatter far and wide the Word of for gracious deliverance in time of God, and to get such information as need." would serve as the basis of future evan- gelization. Though he knew from time Thomas Macoun, a devoted helper in to time what it was to be straitened, he connection with the China Inland Miswas never forsaken. 'r Not one thing," sion, is with the Lord. One brief word, he could say, "hath failed of all the flashed from the far East, has brought good things whic11- the Lord your God the tidings home to many that mourn. spake concerning you." Mr. Cameron In the autumn of 1891 this brother rewas "a pioneer in the truest sense of ceived a marked accession of power the term, " and" the greatest European through the visit of some fellow-mis· traveller in China of modern times." sionaries. Soon after his soul was Seized with Asiatic cholera, in the stirred with concern for those on board midst of his toils, he fell asleep on Au- H. M. S. Caroline, then lying near in gust 14th, 1892. His promotion leaves the river. A wonderful ingathering of a gap. Who will seek to :fill the vacant souls was the consequence of his loving post? zeal, and· some of the most ungodly of that ship's company were impresiled, Despite present-year disturbances, awakened, and brought in. How unencouraging progress is reported in expectedly the Bun of Time sets with Ohina's Millions from Kiang.si. Sev. many! Dr. Johnson had the words or 1'v; yap lpxerat" (" For the night cometh") engraven on the dial-plate of his watch. May the Holy Spirit im- press them on the sensitive plate of every blood-cleansed conscience. We understand that the Centenary gatherings, including 'daily mid-day services in two city churches and daily Thanksgiving Fund, in connection with mid-day prayer-meetings at the Church Missionary House. The plan, too, has the Baptist Missionary Society, is not in view a series of addresses for specific classes, such as students, nurses, Scripto close when the sum, now nearly ture readers, etc. The campaign will be opened by an address to the metroreached, of £100,000 is obtained. It is politan clergy by the Bishop of Lon- don. proposed to keep this fund open till The sixth anniversary of the Glean- March 31st, 1893, in order to meet, if ers' Union of the C. M. S., recently held in London, seems to have been a possible, the deficiencies of the last two live occasion. Many burning words were spoken. Mr. Grubb's address on financial years which amount in the ag- "The Fire of the Lord" was white·heat in its intensity. His plea for union in gregate to over £15,000. The aim is to the love of the Spirit was about as strong as soul and language could well devote the entire £100,000 to the ex- make it. Ecclesiastical stand-offishness must have had a bad quarter of an hour tension of the Society's operations in listep.ing to this oration. .. Now," he said, "the Holy Ghost ill so dealing throughout the world. J. D. with the hearts of God's own children in all denominations, that a Church of It is gratifying to find that, as the re- England brother can shake hands with a Baptist brother, or even with a Plymsult of the earnest labors of Baptist outh brother; and the ecclesiastical walls that have been 80 high, people missionaries in bygone years, the Lord's are beginning to 8ay to them, 'By the help of my God I will leap over that work in the Cameroons continues to wall.' And I trust that all of you will go in for spiritual athletics like thatprosper. "We spent," says the Rev. to leap over those ecclesiastical:walls that have been built up so high by the George Cameron, of Wathen Station, ingenuity of man. God never built them, and the sooner they tumble down "the Lord's day in Cameroons. We the better for them and for us. 0 God, teach us how to manifest such love went to the Baptist chapel and found toward one another that the world may believe that the Father sent the Son." an audience of seven or eight hundred. Statistics.-The Times of (Jeylon gives Mr. Dibundu, native pastor, preached. some interesting figures from the cen. sus for 1891. In Colombo there is a . . . The impression left on my mind larger number of Christians than of people of any other religion. The figby what I saw and heard is that the ures are: Ghristians, 43,174; Bud- dhists, 31,518; Hindus, 12,490; Momission church will go on increasing by hammedans, 29,503; others, 150. Ro- man Catholics, however, are the greatest the efforts of the native members them- numerical factor in the enumeration.
selves." J. D.
The Indian Decennial Missionary Conference was held at Bombay. at the close of last year and the beginning of this. Ten yeari! ago it was held at Calcutta, and twenty years ago at Allahabad. Worked on a large scale by a representative committee, it brought together missionaries representing the whole field of missions, and furnished a broad platform for the discussion of missionary problems from various points of view. At the Calcutta Conference 475 missionaries, male and female, were present. The spiritual as· pect of missionary work occupied the foreground.
London.-Arrangements for a missionary campaign in the metropolis early:in February, 1893, by the C. M. S. are nearly completed. The vast area is being worked in different districts, the intention being to hold simultaneous meetings. There will also be central
THE MONTHLY CONCERT Ol!' MISSIONS
V.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
CHINA, THIBET, CONFUCIANISM.
BY BEV. S. L. BALDWIN, D.D.
Ohina..* every principle and precept of the Chris· tian religion. This great heathen empire still reo mains the largest and most populous of Yet, notwithstanding all these drawthe lands to be conquered for our Re. backs, and many more which might be deemer. No Christian, remembering named, the indications for the speedy the" great commission," can look with- progress of the Gospel are better to-day out profound emotion upon an empire than ever before. The attitude of the containing over five million square people is increasingly favorable. Th& miles, one half larger than our own riots in the valley of the Yang-tse durcountry, unequalled by any other na- ing the past year, and lesser demon· tion with the single exception of Rus- strations in other portions of the emsia. pire, are ebullitions of a comparatively small portion of the people, led by de- Its great resources, which are only signing persons who are enemies of the just beginning to be developed; its vast government, and wish to embroil it with agricultural productions; its immense foreign nations, so that they may the popUlation, constituting over one fourth more readily carry out their purpose of of the human race; its unparalleled ex- overthrowing it. The missions located istence as a nation; its wonderful litera- at the very centre of these disturbances ture ; the skill and ingenuity of its peo- testify that the people in general are ple in many useful arts; their inde- more friendly than at any previous time, pendent and enterprising character-aU and report more converts than have combine to make China an attractive been reported in any former year. and promising field for missionary en· terprise. In many places where missionaries were hooted at and pelted with missiles While every country where there are twenty years ago, there is now the most people to be saved is an important field, marked good-will on the part of the peo- China stands out pre-eminently as a ple. field of the highest possible importance on account of the great masses of its The great advance made in woman's people, and the mighty influence they work is one of the most hopeful signs are destined to exert upon the future of of the times. Both boarding and day the world. schools are crowded with pupils, who not only commit to memory whole gos- It is not by any means to be taken pels, but in many cases show by their for granted that the Gospel work is to lives that their hearts have been touched be speedily and without difficulty ac- by the Spirit of Christ. Thousands of complished in such a land as this. Its women have been visited by either forhoary systems of idolatry, stupid as they eign or native Bible women at their may seem to us, are not easily to be homes; and the good seed thus sown is overthrown from the position they have already yielding a harvest-partly in held through more than forty centuries actual conversions, and more largely in in one shape or another. Nor is it easy increased friendliness among the peoto overcome the prejudices excited by ple, and opening doors of usefulthe presence of many ungodly persons ness. from Christian countries, who live before the heathen in utter defiance of The medical work is also doing its share toward removing prejudices and * See also pages 5, 63, 76 (January) aud 110, helping the evangelistic efforts of the missionaries. The hospitals have al- 119, 145, 158 (February.) ready acquired an enviable reputation The man who took the Rev. Dr. F. J.
among the people, and the good·will Masters aside in San Francisco and gave shown toward the doctors extends to all him $100 that he had sll.ved to build a the members of the missions. chapel in his native village in China While all this is true, it is also to be shames many an American Christian by noted that the government is unusually his consecration of money to his Mas· favorable in its attitude. Take the fol. ter's service.
lowing items in corroboration of this The genuine character of the Chris.
statement: tianityof Chinese converts in California 1. The proclamation of the emperor is shown in contributions for benevo- favorable to Christianity and its pro· lences averaging $30 a year from each fessors issued at the time of the riots. convert.
2. The desire expressed by the gov. Weare also encouraged by the knowl.
ernment for a medical missionary for edge that there are nearly or quite fifty the neV{ port of Chungking, in West thousand communicants, where thirty China, with the promise to pay his years ago there were scarcely one thou- salary in return for his attendance on sand; and that these converts have an the staff of the custom house. earnest, aggressive spirit to go on and 3. The request to the Methodist Epis. possess the whole land for Christ.
copal Mission at Peking for graduates from its college to take positions in the WHAT IS NEEDED. new railway service, coupled with the promise that their work should be so 1. We need more laborers.
arranged as to require no labor from All the missionaries are overworked.
them on the Sabbath. There is hardly a man in any mission 4. The request sent to the same mis. that is not undertaking to do the work sion for a primer for the use of His 1m· of at least two; and there are many who perial Majesty in commencing the study are trying to carry what would properly of the English language. occupy the time and demand the Many other items might be named strength of three or four. This is showing that there never was a time true also of the godly women who are when the attitude of the government carrying burdens far too heavy for was more friendly toward Christian mis. them. Earnest prayer ought to be sions than just now. offered that the right .sort of men and There is also great encouragement to women may be led to offer themselves be derived from the character of. the in large numbers for this great field.
Christian converts. The readers of the There are many regions" white already REVIEW will remember the account of to the harvest." It is the worst sort of Ling Ching Ting, the converted opium policy to allow valuable men and worn· smoker, published in these columns en to be stricken down in the field,· be.
some months ago. The Baptist rice cause we do not send them adequate merchant at Shanghai, who resolutely help.
kept his store closed on Sunday, al. There is every reason to believe, at though assured that his business would the same time, that there are most ex· be ruined by so doing, is another in· cellent candidates ready to go to the stance of strong Christian principle. field. It is not everyone who offers to The young man who wheeled his aged go under the impulse of the Student mother two hundred miles on a wheel. Volunteer Movement who is really a barrow to Peking, that she might hear well-qualified candidate, nor is it to be the Gospel, manifested a devotion not expected that everyone without excep- often equalled in Christian lands ; and tion will be found ready te go when the we do not wonder that he has become a time c~mes. NevertheleslI, it remains faithful and efficient preacher of the true tbat large numbers of earnest, con· (,tosfet ~ecrated, educated ~oung people of both sexes are ready to go, and are waiting to government certificate of their right to be sent. be here, may be repealed. The Chris- tian sentiment of the nation ought to CONSECRATED MONEY NEEDED. make itself felt on this subject ; and it would not be without effect if the effort It follows, then, that the next great were general and persistent. need is the more general consecration of money to the Lord's service. His Let this wide-extended empire be in people have the means in abundance to the thoughts and upon the hearts of our supply the great empire of China with people. Who can estimate the result of all the missionaries needed. The earnest prayer and earnest labor by all Monthly Concert ought to resound who gather in the monthly concerts of with earnest prayers that the money prayer and send up their petitions to of Christians may be laid upon the the Lord of the harvest? altar; and these monthly concerts ought to be the scenes of noble exam- THIBET_* ples in this respect. What a wonderful stimulus it would be to the faith and I have Dot at hand the necessary hope of Christians if offerings of money sources of information to enable me to for the conversion of the Chinese should write intelligently in regard to this field. be made at the monthly concerts, rang- I will not, therefore, attempt to give any ing from one dollar to a thousand, ac statistics, but will simply call attention cording to the ability of those who make to the fact that here is still a large and the offering! Why may it not be so ? important country which has scarcely been touched a8 yet by the Gospel. Its AMERICAN LEGISLATION. people are idolaters, and bound down by many superstitions. No promise of There ought also to be earnest prayer protection is gi ven to any Chrisian misand earnest action that the unjustly op- sionary who enters the land, yet there pressive legislation of this country have not been lacking those who were against the Chinese, which is increas- willing to undertake it; and some are ingly an obstacle to Christian missions now laboring quietly there in the in that empire, may be repealed. midst of many dangers. There should be earnest prayer that this long-shut If ever our national Congress made land may be opened to the influences of void the law of God by its enactments, the Gospel. it has done so in this matter. In contemptuous violation of solemn treaties t CONFUCIANISM. made at our own instance, without II shadow of just reason, we have put The Confucian classics are the Chiupon our statute book legislation of the nese Scriptures. Their ethics are almost intolerant and oppressive char- most as lofty as those of the Christian acter. The Psalmist cried: " It is time Scriptures. "They have all the coldfor Thee, Lord, to work ; for they have ness of Proverbs, but none of the glories made void Thy law." So ought all of Isaiah." Consequently, there is Christians to cry mightily to God; aDd nothing in them to inspire or move the there is no better time or place than in heart. When shall the Hebrew Scripthe monthly concert of prayer, when tures, animated with the breath of the China is the topic. Then, that fitting living God, he substituted for the beauworks may follow earnest prayers, let tiful but immobile Confucian classics? petitions be numerously signed aDd for- When, as a Church, we understand the warded to Congress, praying that the meaning of the Saviour's words: most unjust features of the last enact- " Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, ment, requiring the Chinese to be regis- that will I do."-Spurgeon. ~ered and carry about with tMm the * See pages 385 (May) and 640 (August) 18J',1, t See page 96 of this issue,
GENERA], MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
VI.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY BEV. D. L. LEONARD.
Extracts a.nd Translations from Foreign women's auxiliaries much of the inter. est in the work is confessedly due. Periodicals. Simple as this organization is, its suc.
BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS. cess is most marked, better evidence of NORWAY. which could not be desired than that furnished by the presence and character -" From Saturday, July 9th, 1892, to of the' deputies' assembled at the jubi.
Wednesday, July 13th, the picturesque lee. They came from all parts of Nor.
Norwegian port of Stavanger was en way, and they belonged to all sections jete. Flags werll flying, the streets were of the community. About two hundred crowded with strangers, and there :was of them were ministers. They were general stir and excitement. The Nor. university professors, shipowners, mer· wegian Missionary Society, or, to give chants, and representatives of the com.
the Society its proper name, Det Norske mercial classes; but the great majority Mlssionsselskab, a voluntary organiza- were farmers, crofters, fishermen, and tion nurtured and developed in a Lu- plain country folk.
theran State Church, was celebrating its "Stavanger was the Society's birth.
fiftieth birthday, and, in honor of the place, and is still its headquarters.
event, had invited 'deputies '-nine Prior to its formation numerous mis.
hundred in number-from all parts of sionary associations had sprung into ex· Norway, and special visitors from Fin- istence in Norway as the result of are· land, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Eng- ligious awakening, brought about by the land, and the United States of America. earnest ministry of a famous lay preach.
From beginning to end the jubilee was er, Hans Nilsen Hauge by name. But a great success, thanks partly to the these associations had no missionary of beautiful weather, thanks yet more to their own; they contented themselves the admirable arrangements made by with sending contributions to Lutheran the secretary (the Rev. L. Dahle) and societies in Germany. In 1842, at a the Central Committee, but thanks most meeting held in Stavanger, the repre.
of all to a widespread interest in the sentatives of sixty.five of these 10cala8- Society's work. sociations determined to join hands, "For missionary purposes Norway and as a distinct organization begin to has been divided into eight' circles,' train, equip, and send out mission.
each containing many associations. aries.
Each circle elects its own board of man- "The new Society commenced opera.
agement and treasurer, and is responsi. tions in Zululand, to which, in 1843, ble both for the collection of funds and it despatched a young man of great for the maintenance and development strength and energy of character, after.
of interest in the Society's missions. ward known as Bishop Schreuder. Zu.
Once a year there is a united gathering luiand proved a hard and trying field, of all the associations affiliated with the but by patient, plodding toil a few hun· , circle,' and once in three years a gen. dred converts have been gathered to.
eral assembly of the eight circles com· gether. The Society still maintains bined. This latter is, as it were, the eleven missionaries in Natal; but in Missionary Parliament, to which ques· 1866 it entered upon a much more fruit· tions of policy and constitution and all ful field. After first securing the con· matters other than routine have to be currence of the London Missionary So.
submitted. In connection with most ciety, it began work in Madagascar, and of the local associations there is, in ad. it is in that large island that most of dition, a women's auxilia;ry, and to the its missionaries are stationed. They
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
already number thirty, and will shortly are to be found. Two of their number be reinforced by eight or ten others. are already in the field as missionaries They are scattered over an extensive of the Norwegian Society, and are to be area in twenty-three chief stations, and reinforced direct from Minnesota, where have thirty-two thousand church-mem- Norwegian emigrants to the great re- bers under their care, besides many public mostly settle.
thousand adherents and a correspond. "Personal acquaintance with Norwe- ing number of children under Christian gian missionaries familiar with their instruction in schools. The Society's Madagascar work, and the additional income for 1891 was £25,295, and duro insight into the Society's methods which ing the fifty years of its history it has attending the jubiJee afforded, alike raised £341,477, which, when we reflect constrain one to bid the Society God- that the popUlation of Norway is less speed, and to express the fervent hope than two millions, and that most of its that the se~ond fifty years of its career people find the struggle for existence may furnish as worthy a record as the severe and constant, seems to be a very first fifty have done."-Rev. GECRGE creditable amount. COUSINS, in The Chronicle.
"The share which the Norwegian So- ciety takes in the evangelization and CWNA.
Christianization of Madagascar is al- -" During the many years which ready large. and promises to be yet have passed since the world of fresh larger. Its first field of labor was in ideas and fresh facts, secular and sathe district called North Betsileo, which, cred, human and divine, began to enter starting from about fifty miles to the China from the West, the officials as a south of Antananarivo, stretches away class have not only signally failed to southward. To this were subsequently act the part of moderators between the added South Betsileo (in which our own old and the new, but they have obsti- Society also has missions), the Sakalava natelY,sulkily, and blindly acted in ways Coast, the North Bara country, and, that have tended to excite the anti·forsubsequently, the extreme southeast eign suspicions of the people. But and southwest coasts of the island. In what more can one expect? With rulers the South Betsileo country there has of men and Ieaders of thought destitute, been an unfortunate overlapping of as a rule, of high cnltuxe, broad views, work as the result of a former misun- and public spirit, the votaries of a rigid, derstanding ; but in all the other fields narrow, ancient learning, the slaves of referred to the Norwegians are alone. an illiberal propriety and etiquette, it Great credit is due to the earnestness is not much wonder that so many of with which they have taken up the China's points of contact with Christenwork. As regards the southern part of dom are points of irritation and bitter Madagascar, indeed, we are much in- conflict."-Rev. W. BRERETON, Mis8ion debted to the Rev. Nilsen Lund for our Field. knowledge. His journeys have taken him over ground almost unknown to -" The world is coming to see that the civilized world, and have issued in missionaries are in earnest and are mak- a project for stationing missionaries ing progress; that their work is genuine among the wild, lawless tribes which and a real benefit to the heathen. In people the southern end of the island. the writer's own knowledge the tone of By an amicable arrangement made with the leading English paper in Shanghai the American delegates present at the has changed completely in the last jubilee celebration, ihis region is to be eight years from sneering incredulity placed under the care of the American and disparagement to generous, em- Norwegians, among whom some of the phatic commendation."-The Missionarv warmest friends of the parent Society (S. Pres.),
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
-The Missionary Recm'd, speaking of of many friends who have witnessed Mr. Michie's book on missions in China, the fidelity of these converts. During says: "Through nine tenths of the some of the late riots the leaders of the book the argument is conducted as if secret sects said to the Christians, the animosity of the Chinese were purely 'Sacrifice to the spirit of Confucius, anti-Christian; and only in a somewhat and you shall go.' But they would not oblique foot·note toward the end does sacrifice, though painful and violent the truth emerge, that the animosity is deaths awaited them. Many who have really anti.foreign, although mission. been sceptical hitherto as to the chararies, as pioneers, have to bear the acter of the converts in China, confess brunt of it. We have a similar misrep- that they have not understood the resentation in the formal charge that strength of their convictions and the 'the propaganda has, over the whole genuineness of their faith. "-Missionary country, aroused the hatred of the peo- Herald. pie.' So far as Protestant missionaries are concerned, the evidence places it -" In all their heathenism the Chibeyond a doubt that, as a rule, instead nese never deify vice and lust. Dwell of arousing hatred they have disarmed on that fact. The Greeks and the Rodistrust and won the confidence of the mans and the Hindus have deified lust, people. It is only where their influ- and placed courtesans and debauched ence has been exerted that the anti-for- females in their pantheon of gods. The eign antipathy has been transformed Chinese have never done that. They into relations of friendship; and while have debauched plays in their theatres, Mr. Michie is evidently aware that Hu- but they never introduce women on nan is the focus and head-centre of the the stage, nor have Nautch girls as a anti.foreign distl1rbances from which part of their troupe. They have no . missionaries have sl1ffered so severely, caste among them. They profess a reche keeps out of view the fact that it is ognition of merit and moral worth only the one province in China where the as the standard of the true man. missionary is unknown. "-Missionary Granted that they fall immeasurably Record (U. P.). short in practice, but though they have not lived up to the standard, they have -"Looking at some mlsslonary pic- not changed the standard; The same tures lately with a friend who knew high and lofty rule of procedure which Chinese ways, we were puzzled by the obtained before the days of Confucius quick remark, 'Those are Christians.' is the only one recognized as valid to- We looked closely at the grol1p. There day. They do not say, 'Evil, be thou was a Chinese father with a quaint my good.' They lie, but they denounce Chinese baby in his arms, and a"Chinese lying. They smoke opium, but they woman sitting beside him. 'How do reprobate opium-smoking. They gamyou know?' we asked, failing to see any- ble, but they censure gambling. They thing in the picture to guide us as to have not tried to sear their own mo:ral the religion of the family. 'Don't you sense, and their moral sense is not see the father has the baby in his arms? seared. They are guilty of immorality, No heathen Chinaman would think of but public opinion does not allow them that!' was the reply. Yes, Christianity to glory in it. They are not shameless. is at the bottom of the sacred joys of Some regard for fair dealing, some sense home."-Awake (C. M. S.). of honor, some manliness, some faith between man and man, some sense of -" The steadfastness of many of the gratitude, some sense of Inutual obliga- Christian converts in China during the tion, some recognition of the equality recent persecutions has called forth the of human brotherhood-some of these IIdmiration, no~ only- of th e natives, but things and other things of lofty mould
EXTRACTS ill) TRANSLATIONS
are there still. They have sunken to forty millions of people, is the real low levels, but they are not stalilped heart of Central Asia. Humanly speakout. Indeed, they claim far more than ing, as goes Szchuan, so will go Ran Su, we usually give them credit for, and on the north, and Yunnan, on the south, they have a deal to present in support and Tibet, on the west; and as they go, of the claim. so along with them will go scores of outlying clans and trihes and kindreds. "Now, salvation is not built on mo- We hesitate not to say it-the key to rality, but morality of a new, lofty, and great Central Asia is Szchuan, and intensified kind is one of the fruits of Szchuan only. The key is not to be salvation. It is a vast deal, though, to sought for through the medium of any find here so many correct ideas, so much one, or any dozen, or any dozen dozen conscience already developed under the of petty tribes and families and clans law of nature, so much recognition of around the border and up and down the the second table of the law, so many re- hills. It is therefore of inestimable immains of the p~imitive knowledge of portance that Christian missions should one Supreme God, so much in the moral hold Szchuan in force, and should do it consciousness of the people which sup- speedily. The battle for religious asports our assertions, so much basis on cendency in Central Asia will not be which to build an appeal,to their sense fought and won among any of the hills of ill-desert, so much that bears wit- and spurs of the Himalayas, but in rich ness to the Scripture doctrine that the and fertile Szchuan; not among wild wrath of God is revealed from heaven and wandering tribes, disintegrated and against all ungodlinefIB and unright. disconnected, but among that well-oreousness of men who hold the truth in ganized and well·governed forty millunrighteousness."-Rev. WILLIAM ASH- ions, of one civilization and one speech, MORE, D.D., in Baptist Missionary Maga- who are established in the valleys of zine. Szchuan, up toward the headwaters and along the tributaries of the upper Yang- -Whether China is the "land of tse." Sinim," as Dr. Ashmore seems to suppose, we leave to the authorities to de- -" It is hardly by accident that Shancide. We are inclined to think it is; tung, being one of the provinces most but we take decided exception to Dr. free from the opium vice, should also Ashmore's statement, that "Persia is be one of the most receptive of Gospel dead." Persia, which showed kindness testimony, and Shansi, being one of to the people of God, and which is so the worst for that vice, should be one favorably regarded in the Scriptures, of the least receptive." – Missionary has never lost its national continuity Herald (Eng, Baptist). for a day, even when temporarily overlaid by Macedonian, Parthian, and Arab -" It is not the view, which in our ilomination. It has emerged from un- day is spreading in the Christian Church der all, the same people, with the same like a veritable epidemic, and which bent of character, and the same remem- divests the death of Christ of its exbrances, though decidedly below the piatory value, nor yet Unitarianism and original level of Zoroastrianism. Even rellted tendencies which are being imits language, though profoundly modi. ported into Japan, and which do not fied by Arab admixtures, still rests on rise essentially above the monotheistic the old Iranian foundations. Professor teaching of Confucianism-it is not Whitney says that the conquests of either, from which the Chinese can Alexander hardly touched more than find help. If we are successfully to the fringe of the national life. dispute precedence with Buddhism, if we are meaning to offer to the Chinese Dr. Ashmore says also: "The great province of Szchuan, with its thirty or
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENOE
what they have sought of it and have "3. Any concealment of the fact that not found, we must bring to them just our express object is to make Chris- that thing which Buddhism has not tianity the religion of the nation, and been able to offer to them, and that is so put an end to the old faiths, and the Christian doctrine of atonement. place the name of Christ' above every 'Christ, the crucified, to the Jews a name that is named.'
stumbling-block and to the Greeks fool- "But it does imply: ishness,' it is this, and naught else, " (a) That we shall freely recognize which Paul determined to know among the common instinct of worship, the the Corinthians. 'Be ye reconciled to consciousness of spiritual realities, and God,' this is his compendium of apos- the dependence on the invisible, which tolic preaching ; and this his message have given birth to the false religions, of atonement was based by the Apostle as sacred things to be reverenced, not of the Gentiles on the saving fact that to be condemned.
'God was in Christ, reconciling the " (b) That the great ethieal value of world unto Himself, not imputing their these systems shall be justly allowed, trespasses unto them.' "-CIIAlILES PI- and a moral maxim be held as worthy, TON, in Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrijt. the maxim itself being identical, when it is in their classICS, as when in our -" Our right attitude toward Chinese Bible.
heathenism is one of vigilant concilia- " (c) That the virtuous lives of their tion. I use the phrase in distinct and founders shall be duly honored, and intentional opposition to any possible their religions be fully admitted to have idea of compromise, which is, in real- had their origin in the upward strivings ity, an absurdity; but I hold that, of the human mind, and not from its while sacrificing to expediency no ves- debasing tendencies.
tige of our Christian faith, we are yet " (d) The true catholicity that tells the loyally and fearlessly to admit' the soul heathen that all the good, the truth, all of good in things evil,' which does un- that is worthy and pure in his system, questionably exist. There is no ques- will be included in and conserved by tion, as lance heard a man express it, Christianity. Christianity put away of mixing up Christianity with Bud- Judaism, and yet the spirit in whioh dhism, but of recognizing the common onr Divine Master introduced it was, gronnd that lies between them, so far 'I came not to destroy, but to fulfil.'
as there is any. A writer in 'China's Millions' tells us "This does not imply: that he had much ado to prevail upon "1. Any restraint in preaching against a convert to 'give up Confucius.' I idolatry. Where sincere, idol worship should think so, indeed; but why must is mistaken zeal; where insincere, it is Confucius be 'given up'? The Jew sin against light; in both cases, en- did not give up Moses when he beoame slaving. a Christian. Jesus is a Saviour, the "2. Any emasculation of our Chris- only Saviour. This is a blessed truth.
tian faith, or modifying of any peculiar- Confucius never made the slightest pre- ities of doctrine, which may be sup- tension to be such, but is he therefore posed to be distasteful to the heatllen. not a sage ?"-Rev. G. T. CANDLIN, in Christianity should be presented to Chinese Recorder.
them as a new religion; sin, salvation, pardon, the working of the Holy Spirit, -Confucius, of course, may lawfully conversion and regeneration, with the continue to be to an Eastern Christian hope of everlasting life-as new truths, what Plato or Aristotle often is to a which their own religions neither affirm Western Christian, an instructor in nor deny, because they have no inkling wisdom, but not a Redeemer. Mr.
of them. Candlin's distinction seems very just. THE WORLD AT LARGE. his indignation was stirred to the depths over the enormities committed by the -Facts from the great mission field Arab slave·stealers. It was to end their which are fresh, pungently put in a few most horrible doings that he formed the lines. and of general interest. are eager- Armed Brothers of the Sahara, and was ly desired and diligently sought for use so active in organizing the Brussels in this department of the REVIEW. Anti.Slavery Conference. Besides, for Sometimes the suggestion comes that general missionary work he founded the some denomination, society, or mission Order of tho White Fathers. Livinghas not received its fair share of notice; stone and Lavigerie are names which in but the editorial person is not omni- history may well be linked together. present, neither (alas) is the editorial eye omniscient, and the editorial pen -It is proof of good results already can only give forth what has first been achieved, as well as prophecy of far received. So, forward the items, and larger achievements in days to come, thus confer a favor upon all concerned. that we can read of a Christian Hindoo, John Williams by name, going as an -It was the saying of Voltaire that evangelist to distant Fiji to minister to Christianity would not survive the nine. some hundreds of the poorest, lowest, teenth century. But what has the nine. and most degraded of his own country. teenth century not done for Christian- men, and others to be found there in a ity ? It has sent the Gospel anew into condition of semi·slavery. all the world. It has gathered in the islands of the South and shaken the -It is possible for a negro to play mighty pagan faiths of India, China, the hero; for to Tuskegee Normal and' and Japan! It has stirred up its mis- Industrial Institute came recently one sionaries from the far West to preach (what's in a name?) Julius Cresar Alexthe old faith in Egypt and in Palestine ander, having walked 175 miles to get and where the disciples first received there. The people along the way gave the Christian name! It has devoted its him free board and lodging. He is very noblest children to face death for Christ black, twenty-three years of age, has in depths of Africa which Voltaire never taught school for seven years, and comes heard of, and has even employed the to the Institute to graduate, because press in Ferney that printed his own " the people wants better teachers." He works-and it may be this very proph. will work his way through. ecy .against the Gospel-to publish in new tongues the true oracles of God.- -It is an English missionary who Dr. Cairns. suggests, "If there were more abiding in Christ, there would be less abiding -When the telegraph carried far and in Great Britain." wide the message that November 26th the great French Cardinal Lavigerie -The puzzling question, why so died in Algiers, deep sorrow was felt many Christians have so little interest far beyond the bounds of the Roman in missions, never received a better an. Catholic Church. He was Archbishop swer than this: because they have never of Carthage, Metropolitan of Algeria, invested any principal in them. and Primate of North Africa; but, much more, ·he was one of the foremost of -Preaching and prayer are not the missionaries in the Dark Continent. only means for diffusing abroad the For five.and-twenty years no heart in gospel of salvation. All the appliances Christendom has been more aflame than of civilization, great and small, may be his with zeal to mitigate the measure- made t.o bear a part. Even such a less woes of the millions dwelling in the purely material matter as good roads Soudan, the Congo Basin, and the re- are to be classed among missionary in. gion of the Great Lakes. In particular strumentalities, -Culture alonc will not Christianize. sugar-planters, while others are take,n Selfishness-that is, sin-may coexist to New Caledonia or made to work in with any degree of enlightenment; and the pearl shell fisheries in Torres Straits.
yet it is probably true, as Professor -This item is commended to the con- Samuel Harris says, that" idolatry can- sideration of those who are sceptical as not live by the side of steam-engines to the value of missions, and whether and telegraphs." they be in or out of the Church. It i!l -The close relation existing between true beyond a peradventure that there cleanliness and godliness appears afresh are more heathen in India to-day by up in Alaska, where in the schools several millions than there would have "pencils, paper, pictures, hard-bread, been if civilization and Christianity had combs and soap have been given as prizes never touched that vast peninsula!!!
for punctuality and diligence." This strange result, however, comes to -It is said that one out of every 100 pass only because of good government, heathen converts becomes a missionary, absence of war, relief in times of famine, but only one out of every 5000 Chris- hospitals,' and, in general, better methtians born and reared in Christian ods of living.
lands, except in the Moravian Church, -In forecasting the future of Islam, which has one missionary to every 65 and asking what chance there is for the members at home. redemption of the hosts held fast in its -In some things th~ children of this fetters of iron, we are not to think of world are wiser in their generation than them as all dwelling under the mercithe children of light, to the shame of less tyranny of Mohammedan civil rule, the latter, and yet not in all ; for be- so that to abjure their faith would be hold the prodigious armaments of Eu- at the cost of life., On the contrary, rope. Some 16,000,000 kept under con- more than two thirds, or 100,000,000, tinual drill in preparation for possible live in lands ruled by Christian Powwar. During the last twenty years Ger- ers. In India are 54,000,000, in the many has 'expended $3,000,000,000 upon Dutch East Indies 25,000,000, while the her army, and France a larger sum. rest are subject to Russia, France, etc..
Such is the wisdom of this world. The AMERICA. Emperor may be a stanch Protestant, but were he a hetter Christian he would United States.-Foreign missions in have more faith in gospel forces. this land almost had a beginning as far back as 1774. For in that year Drs.
-Opium forced upon China. Yes, Ezra Stiles and Samuel Hopkins, New by Britain. Africa desolated by Slavery, England Congregationalists, laid before and later deluged with rum, Yes, all the Presbyterian Synod of New York a Christendom being united in the sin proposition to send two natives of Afri.
and shame, but America easily first; ca, who had been converted and were aud now Dr. John G. Paton must needs now in the College of New Jersey, "on cross the sea and visit Washington to .a mission to propagate Christianity in petition the Christian powers that be their native country," and requesting to help stop the Kanaka labor traffic approval and assistance; and the Synod between Polynesi,a and Queensland. replied, "We are ready to concur and The New Hebrides, according to Dr. do all that is proper, since many cir- Paton, form at the present time the cumstances intimate it is the will of great slave mart of the world. Natives God." The Presbyterians of Scotland exchange their boys and girls for fire- were similarly appealed to; but this arms or liquor offered by the traders, promising undertaking to carry Gospel who carry away tha children and dis- light to the IDark Continent, in which pose of many of them to QueenRland three divisions of the Christian Church were about to unite, was prevented by with that sum 15,267 children were sent the breaking out of the American Revo- to the country for two weeks, and 25,. lution. 560 men, women, and children were carried on day.excursions-a grand to· -It is said that His Serene Highness tal of 40,827 beneficiaries. Abdul Hamid, Sultan of Turkey, has himself subscribed the funds necessary -It was not long since that Rev. Elias for the erection of a mosque upon the Riggs passed' the sixtieth anniversary grounds of the Columbus Exposition, of his ordination as a missionary to and in order that all good Mohamme· Constantinople, and is now about the dans while there may have a place of oldest, if not the oldest missionary worship; that plans are now completed, from America. The most of these and the building will stand on the Mid- sixty years has been spent aiding in way Plaisance in connection with the translating the Scriptures into three Turkish exhibit, under the management different languages, thus giving the of Samuel Levy. of Constantinople. Bible to many millions to read in their own tongue. He is still able to labor -Chicago has upward of 70 distinct on, chiefly in correcting the proof. charitable organizations. sheets of a Christian literature for the Bulgarian Christians. -In Chicago alone 26 papers are published in the various Scandinavian -John Duby, a Zulu, and a son of tongues, and in Minneapolis 16 more. one of the first native preachers among that people, aIter studying some time -The Massachusetts Home Mission- in Oberlin, has returned to Zululand to ary Society is supplying the Gospel to labor as an independent missionary in the representatives of 8 nationalities, behalf of his countrymen. French Canadians, Russian Jews, Armenians, Germans, Swedes, Norwe. -The annual report of the Foreign gians, Finns, and Italians. Of the lat- Sunday-School Association makes apter the Bay State contains 40,000. propriate mention of its honored found- er, the late Albert Woodruff, who for 80 -A report of Captain' R. H. Pratt, many years gave so lavishly of his time, Superintendent of the United States his strength, and his means as well_ Indian School at Carlisle, Pa., shows Its work consists in aiding Sundaythat the pupils number 779. Their total schools in foreign lands, and in disearnings in 1891 outside the school were tributing literature. In particular its $21,869. The dormitories have bf'en quickening influence has been felt in enlarged and improved, so that there France, Belgium, Germany, Bohemia, are now accommodations for 1000 stu. Austria, Italy, Russia, and Turkey; and dents. its annual income amounts to but $5000 ! -The twentieth annual report of the Jerry McAuley Mission saysthat the at- -The Lutheran Church General tendance on the meetings during the Council reports $14,474 received for past year has been 34,957, larger than foreign missions during the year ending ever before. Of this number 2475 have September 30th, 1892. The India Mis, knelt and asked for prayers. Five sion embraces 4 principal stations and thousand lodgings have been given at 149 out-stationR, with 4 male Rnd 6 15 cents a night, 10,000 meals have female missionaries, 2 native pastors been provided, and 500 men have ob- and 91 teachers, evangelists, etc. The tained employment from the mission. number of communicants is 1205, and of adherents 3388. During six months -The Fresh-Air Fund raised and ex- of last year 97 adults and 118 children pended each year by the New York were baptized, and 29 were confirmed. 1ribune is a noble philanthropy_ Last summer $32,415 were contributed, and In the 840 schools, 1!l65 pupils are receiv· published a neat little pamphlet full of ing instruction. facts and appeals in behalf of this ob- ject. Last year the receipts were $931 -The Free Methodist Mission Board from the South and $1720 from the reports that last year the contributions North, or $2985 in all. The Southern amounted to more than 30 cents per Christian Institute, with almost 100 stu· member. In foreign fields 18 mission- dents, is sustained at Mount Beulah, aries are laboring, of whom 2 are in Miss., and a Bible school has been India and 12 in Africa. opened in Louisville, Ky.
-This from the great and enthusias· -The families of four bishops of the tic Methodist Episcopal Church is stim- Methodist Episcopal Church, South, are ulating reading. Both home and for- represented in the mission field, by eign missions are included: Laura Haygood in China, Augusta Wil- son in Mexico, Ella Tucker and Marcus The cash receipts of the Missionary Marvin in Brazil. Society for the year ending October 31st, 1892, amounted to $1,257,373 -It is often a ground for wonder that the Liberals are so much less liberal The total receipts last year (with their cash, e.g.) than the illiberal were. . . .. . . . .•. . • • . . .. 1,228,888 orthodox. The Unitarians are asked to raise the modest sum of $2800 to build Increase for the year, $28,4085 a theological hall for the Unitarian mis- sionaries and students in Japan, and the The amount came from the following money is not forthcoming. Whereupon sources: the Christian Register, Unitarian, re- marks: "When the orthodox minis- Conference collections…. $1,119,896 ters in Japan say they must have a col.· lege for the teaching of science one man Increase…………. 41,355 subscribes $100,000. When the Union Theological S~minary of New York gets Legacies…….. …•…• 122,678 into trouble four men step forward with a gift of $175,000, made without con- Increase. . .. .••. . . . . 5,163 ditions." And he is sore perplexed to find a sufficient reason for the back- Lapsed annuities…….. 1,500 wardness of his brethren.
Sundry receipts………. 13,298 Canada.-The Presbyterian popula. tion has increased since the century be- In addition to the above figures the gan from 20,000, with 22 ministers, to treasurer has received, as authorized by over 750,000, with more than 1000 min. the General Committee at its last ses· isters in active service, and supporting sion, for" contingent appropriations," not only active operations in the terri- $3855.68, and" special gifts," $8254.44 ; tories of the Dominion, but also misin all $12,110.12. sions in the New Hebrides, Trinidad, Demerara, Central India, China, and Scanning these large figures, the among the Jews. This same Church Congregationalist moralizes: " $1,257,373 sent out last year 11 new missionaries. is a large sum,. but not quite as large as Four young women, two of whom are the sum which the United States reo M.D.'s, went to India; two others left ceived for internal revenue from cigar- for Honan and Formosa, and this ettes during 1891. However, it repre- Church's first missionary to Palestine sents the voluntary offerings of the set forth for Jerusalem. Upward of Methodist Episcopal Church for mis- $8000 was on hand to commence operaliIions during the last fiscal year. Well tions among the Jews in the Holy Land. may the denomination be proud, and sister churches emulate its zeal and generosity."
-The second Sunday in January was set apart by the General Christian (Disciple) Missionary Convention for a contribution to the Board of Negro Education and Evangelization. The corresponding secretary, C. C. Smith, has -Bishop Bompas, of the Church trea, certainly the future never before Missionary Society, has a vast diocese, has looked so bright. Among the most of which a large portion lies within the cheering signs of the times we may note Arctic Circle. At Rampart House he the recent dedication of a church in has his headquarters. From there he Chihuahua, of which Rev. James D. takes long journeys by canoe in sum· Eaton, missionary of the American mer and by dog·sledge or on snow· Board, writes to the Independent. It shoes in winter, visiting the scattered is the largest Protestant house of wor· tribes in the most northerly diocese in ship in Northern Mexico, being 75 by the world. At Rampart House, in the 55 feet, with a massive octagonal tower middle of April it is still as cold as in at the corner. The printed invitations our January, and the snow will not dis· to the dedication exercises were signed appear till June, when for about three by citizens of Mexico. the United States, months the earth will be clothed in her England, and Germany. A great crOWd, mantle of green. Last summer he had composed mainly of Catholics, was crossed the Rocky Mountains for the present, together with 7 Protestant min. twelfth time. Writing then, he said isters, and among the speakers were 2 that letters had just reached him for prominent Mexican gentlemen. All the first time in ten months, but no which, at the end of ten years of great newspapers. trial and endurance, with services held in small rooms in private houses, con- -The Toronto Evangelical (Jhurchman stituted an event full of significance for publishes the following summary of the Christianity in that RepUblic. results of mission work in Moosonee, Canada: .. Out of the population of EUROPE. 10,000 about 6000 are baptized members of the Church, while one in every six Great Britain.-Who says that the nominal Christians is a communicant. old days were the best days, and that There are 6 posts occupied on the Hud· there has been no advance in knowlson Bay and 2 inland posts. Eight mis· edge of Divine things and practice of sionaries are working under the bishop; the Gospel? In the Bodleian Library of these !l are white men, 2 are half: in Oxford is a manuscript record kept breeds, and 2 are pure.blooded Indians. by John Fox, containing these most There are the bishop's church at Moose suggestive entries, yellow and faded and 11 others. Last year 386 were con· with age: firmed. At every mission there is a school, and Sunday.schools exist at all s. d. the stations. Bishop Horden has trans· Four loads of furze fagots to lated into the Cree language all the Old 'Testament lessons of the Church, the burn Ridley and Latimer…. 12 0 Prayer.Book and hymnal, 'Pilgrim's Carriages of these loads. . • … .. 2 0 Progress,' a short catechism, and a Two chains, two staples, four Bible and Gospel history. He has just finished what he regards as the crown- laborers. . • … ….. .. . .. .. .. 5 10 ing work of his life-the complete trans· lation of the whole Bible into the lan- 19 10 guage of the Crees." -A great and increasing enterprise Mexico.-Better days for this long. is being carried on by the English Misbenighted land of the Aztecs seem to sion to Deep.sea Fishermen. It is esti. be about to dawn. With a government mated that about 20,000 men and boys unprecedentedly stable, as well as pro- are regularly engaged in the North Sea gressive, and with a purer Gospel mak· fishing fleets, and many thousands also ing steady progress from scores of cen· in other seas frequented by British fish. ing bO,ats. On the 11 mission ships last year 8130 medical and surgical patients were received and treated. The social and religious work carried on is highly [THEBE tables are meant to include only Missions in cOUlltrieB either heal hen or Roman Catholic. most probable estimates obtainable bave been given. Mainly in order that tbese two page. m1gbt hold od .; c:i ~ .~ '.5", g .; f'"o .~ SOCIETIES IN GREAT BRITAIN AND ,; :'S" ..~, S z~" UPON T1l1il CONTINENT. … S ::ii S 0 0 "."'", J: ~ S'" ''0."i.l. 0… Q "..0<.>. . .S=".. .. "."§'" '''.'S"" os 0 .'.'~".". ~" ~" S '0 21 ):rl p" <5 A"
————– —————— Church Missionary Society………………. 1799 $1,346,885 $60,000 316 71 242 107 297 Sooiety for Propagation of Gospel .. '" ….. , 1701 582,600 ……… . 510 30 430 85 162 Baptist Society……….•••.••.•. " .,. . . . . . . . 1792 345,625 38,000 128 …… 108 …… 53 London Society. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. …… 1795 748,125 76,250 169 …… 140 46 1261 Wesleyan Methodist….. ….•.. ………… 1816 625,645 21,615 137 35 108 ,… .. 195 Australasian Methodist…………………. 1856 79,330 to,610 20 …. .. 17 …. .. 79 Metbodist New Connection………… ….. 1859 21,800 …….. .. 18 ….. . 12 …. .. 3l United MethOdist Free Churches.. … 18:37 58,765 8790 76 801 68 ….. . 8 Welsb Calvinistic …………………… , 1841 32,345 2000 11 3 6 6 4 Primitive Methodist………. …. ………… 1869 18,350 540 7 …… 5 2 Presbyterian Chnrch of England. ………. 1847 92,930 2745 20 13 22 17 10 Universities Mission to Central Africa…… 1860 93,910 21 27 1 22 3 Strict Baptist. . . . .. .. . .. ……………….. 1861 4000 259 4 …… 4 …… 4 China Inland Mission. … ………………. 186~ 182,920 38,500 60 142 92 130 17 20 15 13 The Friends……… ' ………………….. 1867 52,005 1020 Presbyterian Church of Ireland………….. 1840 83,155 10,335 12 8 11 10 2 Church of Scotland……………………. " 1829 230,620 45,907 22 13 18 …… 4 Free Church……… ' ………………….. 1843 392,900 100,405 54 51 36 48 13 United Presbyterian…………………….. 1847 194,865 ~6,OOO 69 20 53 29 20 Reformed Presbyterian … ' ….. -. ……… 1842 3665 .. 1 1 Twenty-five other British Societies ……… . 840,725 ………….. .. 143 85 843 18 Moravian Church….. …………………. 1732 109,865 120,000 151 10 132 14 23 Basle Society …………………….. , …. , 1815 249,200 34,600 132 4! 120 5 30 Berlin Society. ………………………… 1824 87,500 37,500 64 GossDer's Society……………………… 1836 39,915 7 60 2 4 HermanDsbnrg Society.. ……………….. 1849 69,442 1847 23 Leipsic SOClety…………………. …….. 1836 6250 59 2/) 18 17 North German Society……. ,. _.. .. .. .. .. …. 1836 28,8111 1418 29 Rhenish Society……………………….. ' 1828 105,645 4 50 … 22 5 16,600 84 2 :to 2 17 II 3 4 1 " 78 .4 16 Breklmn Society……………. ,….. ….. 1877 17,770 .. _ 11 …. .. 6 ……
Ten Other German SoCieties……………. . 00,900 …….. 35 ….. . 25 83 2 Paris Society….. … ………………. …. 1822 95,428 13,846 ~7 5 28 8 ~o Thirteen NetherIar•.ds Societies….. '" ….. . 132,062 …….. .. 88 …… 72 …… 47 Fifteen Scandinavian Societies………… ., 226,159 …….. .. 114 42 89 50 26 :rotal, 91 Societies in Europe….. ………… $7,214,885 $680,113 2477 990 2175 1030 2386 1tI6 1216 Total, 42 Societies in United States………. , …… $5.006,283 $469,419 1239 222 775 Total for Europe aud America……….. , – – 12,221:168. $i:'1~' 271612i2 328i 1805 300i Accuracy has been aimed at, and also completeness. Where the official figures were not at hand, the Statistics, a large number of Societies have been grouped together.] -i .~" , …,,; -i .;:: oJ ."S "0 ~ ~ .~ ..: .Q ~""'" 0 'i? .I ~"'" 0 Ii< ii; ."~ ~ .~ 2 ".~ . Countries in which t' 0 >-1 Mi.sions lire Sustained. z"..'. § ::: 0; :;; ."'~" ""o"S I;" ~"'" ~ ''0" '0 '0"" "'" .0g i'i"i j'"" S ;a 00 .Q ::: rt2 S rt2 ]..""'Q.". ."q" ."".<Q..i '"rt2 '"S 0 0 .".q" Eo< "0 0 —— ———— …… 4207 5240 327 50,197 3000 200,665 1793 70,645 Turkey, China, Japan, India, 2300 2972 475 …… 40,000 …… 250,000 850 New Zealand,N. W. Am""ica. 40,600 India, China, Japan, Africa, S.
America, WestIndies.
281 570 795 …… 27,067 2754 135,000 850 13,650 India, China, Syria, Africa, 5134 6650 Ig29 …… 73,454 5857 301,438 2016 West Indies. 110,292 China, India, Africa, Madagas- car. Polynesia.
2090 2565 2054 1661 36,235 1~00 108,000 828 48,164 India, China, Africa, West In- dies. ….. 3697 :'3813 1481 …… 32,860 …… ….1.1.4.,.8.0.7 2074 40,767 Fiji, Samoa, New Britain. 58 114 2247 ………. 8 220 China (Tien Tsin). 93 56 …… 283 736 10,485 …… ………. China, Australia, Africa. 130 160 62 145 37 52 2199 277 9939 143 4729 N. E. India, Brittany. 110 192 198 85 84 158 59 760 150 ………. 8 210 South Africa. Fernando Po. 37 49 272 806 138 44 3770 87, ………. 30 800 India, China. 419 467 20 12 1071 30 3000 Zanzibar and Lake Nya!sa. 124 162 ….. . …… 24 737 India (Madras, Ceylon), 213 260 24 ….. ~32 660 868 193 99 …… . …… 492 673 180 145 3158 417 ………. 28 307 China (ten Provinces). 24 18 261 33 3196 212 20,000 158 12,088 India, China, Madagascar. 242 42 590 25 ……… 52 8533 China, India (Kathiawar). 96 …… 985 125 6000 105 7393 India, China, Africa.
7232 153 20,000 318 30,658 India, Melanesia, Syria, Africa, 11,494 730 25,000 122 11,983 India, China, Japan, Africa, West Indies.
8 11 ……3 1 40 …… … …… 3 210 Syria (Antioch, etc.). 1212 1801 21,170 …… 2231 .., ………… 845 20,481 Asia, Africa, Anstralia, North 1072 1402 139 139 31,380 524 90,544 243 and South America.
621 950 352 …… 12,301 1224 ~4,662 290 10,984 India, China, West Africa. 469 606 145 …… 12,000 2012 U,537 55 4179 China, South Africa. 11,472 1208 85,008 80 1700 India (Chota Nagpoor). 235 293 18 …… 10,837 1712 18,284 55 8440 Africa, India, Australia. 13,841 380 14,192 186 4819 South India, Burmah. 220 333 59 …… 459 Africa, New Zealand. 398 467 179 147 482 40 800 12 7006 Africa, China, Sumatra, New 11,907 351 39,442 150 Guinea. 31 46 14 … …
626 812 65 118 12 29 6 1 3 … .. 96 3 108 India (Telugus).
52 197 30 …… 540 ….. 1!22 20 646 11,694 116 8806 Africa (S. and Senegal), Tahiti. 210 308 275 19 8947 390 6901 …… 136,000 171 860 567 117 103 3500 427 …… 21,419 …… 64,000 391 31.75( — 518,984 — – – – – – – – – – – 1213 1532 27 ,562 35,859 10,426 287.7 451,323 22,928i1:651,325 11,638 9822 "14,524 5346 2525256.649 30,600'~~ 5882 182.205 36,384 50,383 15,762 5402 707.972 53,528'1~= 17,520 -wi.189 appreciated by the fishermen, lighten- The Continent.-The number of ing, as it does most effectually, the Protestant pastors of all denominations dreary isolation of their six or eight in France is thus given by Pastor Deweeks' fishing cruise. Whenever the coppet in his preliminary sketch of a ships are sighted on their ocean pil- project for the Federation of French grimages they are greeted with cheers. Pro t est ant C h u r c h e s : Reformed Churches (established Presbyterian), -Rev. James Spurrell, recently de- 900 ; Lutheran, 100 ; Free (Presbytericeased, left a lAgacy of £50,000 to the an), 60; Methodist, 40; Baptist, 15; Church Missionary Society; and a strict- scattering, independent, and evangely anonymous donation of $1000 was lists of the Evangelical societies of Gensent a few weeks ago by a missionary of eva and France, 45. The grana total is another society, who had seen something 1160. of Church Missionary Society work in the foreign field, and had long wished -For twenty years Dr. McAlI has carto further it. ried on with wonderful fervor, energy, skill, and success the work of evangeli- -Among the outgoing missionaries zation in France, and at length finds of last year from England were three the management of its details too exsisters designated for the same field in hausting for his strength, and so feels East Africa, a widowed mother's gift to constrained to transfer a part of the God, and two sisters from an Irish rec· burden to other shoulders, and from tory, whose love and zeal will be be- henceforth will pass th,. greater portion stowed upon China. of his time in comparative rest in Lon- don. But, of course, while he lives, -The Baptists with good reason are and to the utmost of his ability, brain, heartily rejoicing and giving thanks heart, and hand will be busied seeking over their success in raising the large the best things for France. Centennial Fund. December 1st, £105,- 625 were in hand or pledged, and, full -The Swedish Missionary Society is of courage and enthusiasm, the propo- actively at work among the Laplanders. sition now is to continue the" forward An orphanage is sustained at Ange and movement" until £125,000 are secured; 6 schools in other portions of the counand further, the appeal goes out for more try, at which 173 children receive inmissionaries, in order that within two struction. The king made a grant of years at least 100 men may be added to 2000 crowns last year, but the expenses the force in the field. exceeded the income by 1500 crowns.
-Two years ago the children of the -The police of Vienna are attempt- Free Church of Scotland were asked to ing to suppress Methodism in that city. send from Aden to Lovedale 64 Galla When the English Methodists appealed girls and boys, rescued from slave ships to the courts, it was held that their by the Queen's men-of-war. It was an meeting!! were too large to be tolerated expensive and difficult work to transfer under the laws regulating private worso many from South Arabia to Zanzi- ship in Austria. Then they appealed bar, then to Mauritius Island, then to to the Minister of Education and Wor- ])ast London port, and then to the ship, who answered that their sect was Kafirland of Southeast Africa. But the too small for imperial protection. And work was done, and the Scottish Sun- the Wesleyan Society says: "Although day-schools did it. Most of these 22 we have not yet received the official girls and 42 boys have been" adopted" answer to our application for State recby Sunday-schools, classes, or generous ognition and right of public worship, friends, who pay on the average about we have been informally made aware half the cost of maintaining them, which that our application has been refused. amounts to $50 a year for each one. In other words, it is in Vienna'a punish. able offence for the little flock of Meth- of 500,000 square miles, and comprises odists-loyal, God-fearing people, good three ancient kingdoms-Babylonia, subjects and citizens-to meet ~gether Edom, and Persia, the whole of the for the wortlhip of God and the preach- Persian Gulf, and the northern half of ing of the Gospel. The Middle Ages Arabia. are not so distant after all-only thirty. six hours from London! -The revised Syriac Bible, long in process of preparation, is now going ASIA. through the press under the superin- tendence of Dr. Labaree, at the expense Turkey.-This is heaping coals of of the- American Bible Society in New fire on the head of the foe. Mr. Bart- York. It is said to be the most labori. lett, whose house in Bourdour was ous and difficult job which the Society burned last summer by those who were has ever undertaken. But no expense hostile to his work, and to whom the is spared to make it liS perfect as possi. Turkish Government paid an indem- ble. The book is eagerly waited for by nity, while the work of rebuilding goes Syriac readers in Persia, Turkey, and on is in Afiou Kara Hissa, about 70 miles Russia. north, bestowing aid and comfort upon a little body of Protestants suffering India.-On an average in this vast severe persecutions; and soon after ar- peninsula there is one Christian (nonriving the hou~e was stoned in which heathen) to every 126 persons, and in Mr. Bartlett and his daughter were certain districts of the Madras Presistaying. But, far from being discour- dency as many as one to every 5 ; and yet aged, however, he is planning to use there are multitudes, millions, to whom most of the money paid him personally the Gospel has never been preached. by the Turkish Government to help purchase a site and build a place of -The Church Missionary In1elligencer worship. He has good hopes of so es- contains a report of the conversion of tablishing the work that the persecutors the number of Mohammedans who some will become disheartened. months since were baptized at Poona. Among them was a Maulvi, who was -The Presbyterian mission at Beyrut said not to have his equal in Poona. reports a steady and serious loss of He has lived in Arabia eighteen years, strength through emigration to America made sixteen pilgrimages to Mecca, and and Australia; and in large part it is was for a time interpreter for the Engthe best-educated young men and wom- lish Consul at Jedda. He has been a en who take their departure, seeking great student of the Koran, knows Arabetter opportunities for themselves, the bic well, and is an eloquent speaker. most useful church-members, teachers He has come to abhor Islam, and reof the native schools, prospective pas- joices in the light of the Gospel. He tors, etc. has about him in Poona 200 or 300 dis- ciples whom he is seeking to bring to -Mr. and Mrs. Lethaby, says the Christ. Scottish Leader, carryon their educative operations in that out-of-the-way land -The proud Brahmans are not what which lies between Palestine and Arabia they used to be, and instead of receiventirely at their own risk. And the ing honor and worship, are often com- : risk is no small matter, for, on several pelled to work for their living like other, occasions, they have been waylaid and people, and to perform offices in busirobbed and placed in peril of their lives ness establishments or under governby the lawless Arabs. ment with salaries ranging from $6 to $25 a month. Persia.-The field which the missionaries of the Persian Mission are at- -In Southern India these six socitempting to evangelize embraces an area eties have been especially successful in their work: The American Board, Basle, When I was thrown down a second and Church Missionary Society, Leipsic, a third time, I was dragged to a large London, and the Propagation Society; filthy pit, and they tried to pitch me and this table will present to the eye a in. After being thrown down once or portion of their remarkable achieve- twice more, I got free and ran along the ment. road away from these horrible pits."
Commu- Adhe- Scbol- -How little we know of economy! A Chinese farm-laborer may be hired nicants. rents. arB. by the year for from about $8 to $20, with food, clothing, head-shaving, and American Board 3,7U7 13,067 4,820 tobacco. Those who work by the day Basle_. __ … . . . 5,493 10,365 6,453 receive from 6 to 8 cents, with a noon- Church M. S… 22,627 94,716 22,459 day meal. At the planting and harvest- Leipsic. . . •. . . . 6,898 14,504 4,819 ing of rice, wages are from 8 to 15 cents London … _…. 7,977 61,449 22,347 a day, with five meals, or 25 cents a S. P. G … _…. 15.979 49,150 17,120 day without food. Food averages little more than $1 a month for each member Total. ….. 62,68l 243,247 78;oTIl of a farmer's family. One who buys, cooks, and eats hi!! meals alone spends 1 from 12 to 25 cents a month upon the raw material and fuel. Two pounds of -Among the 17,000,000 of Telugus rice, costing 3 cents, with relishes of 14 societies are at work, with a force of salt fish, pickled cabbage, cheap vegenearly 100 male missionaries ahd about table and fruits, costing one cent and a 750 native assistants. After 90 years half, is the ordinary allowance to each from the beginning of effort there are laborer for each day. some 53,000 communicants, of whom 40,000 are found in Baptist churches, -In Canton there are missions of the The American Lutherans (General Syn- Scandinavians, .Berlin Missionary Sood) have gathered upward of 6000, ciety. Wesleyans, American Board, Lon. The Propagation Society has 10,632 ad. don Missionary Society, Southern Bap. herents and 3805 communicants. tist Convention, and Presbyterian Church, North. These report 3503 -Says Mr. Holt S. Hallett, in Black•. communicants, and the baptism of.356 wood: "The great want of Burma, the during 1891. Shan States and Siam is popUlation. The frequent wars of the last century Korea.-A medical missionary, tellnearly exterminated the people, and ing of a tour which brought fine opporlarge fertile tracts, formerly cultivated, tunities for preaching the Gospel, adds: are left without an inhabitant. . . . "We were able to live nearly entirely The Chinese are beyond question the upon native food. It consists of rice, finest popUlation in Asia. They are himche highly seasoned with cayenne akin to Burmese and Shana in religion pepper; fish, often spoil~d; soup, and tastes, and amalgamate happily beans, and sometimes pork and beef. with them, improving the qualities of If we did not see them preparing our each race. A Burmese woman prefers meals or know what we were getting an industrious Chinaman to a happy- they would be much more palatable. go-lucky Burman as a husband. He is At one hotel we saw nine dog-skins more thrifty, and will keep her in greater spread on the straw roof. We asked afHuence. " what they did with the dogs; the reply was, 'We make soup of them.' I had China.-Medical missionaries in Chi- quite enjoyed the soup previollsto this, nahave their share of trouble. Dr. Rigg, but left it untouched the rest of the in hill pioneering work in the Fuh.kien journey. I also gave up the meat, as province, has just escaped death: "I was I did not know whether I wag getting closely followed and pressed upon, struck, and my clothes torn off me, my watch and chain were torn away, my hat went and everything in my pockets taken, and r was thrown on the ground. beef or dog. My bill of fare had now Portal, who has been appointed British narrowed down to rice and himche Commissioner to Uganda, disclose the (made from a vegetable almost like to thoroughness of the plans of the govour cabbage and raw turnip, prepared ernment for the occupation of that ter. somewhat similar to sauerkraut) three ritory. Beside taking a strong contino times a day, 'With, occasionally, fish, gent of Ghoorkas, drawn from the army chicken, or eggs." of India, Mr. Portal has been authorized to engage for the Queen's service Nu- Japan.-There are now 92 Christian bian soldiers in the service of the Brit· churches in the city of Tokio. ish East Africa Company. English offi- cers, commissioned and non-commis- -The Methodist Episcopal Church, sioned, will lead. His guard, consist- South, has a prosperous mission in and ing of 400 well·armed natives, were to about Kobe. Six years ago it was start for Mombasa on December 16th. opened by three men who went from China. Now there is a membership of -From that same region, toward 505, with 87 names on probation; a which so many anxious eyes haTe been conference of 12 missionaries and 5 no.· turning, Bishop Tucker writes: "Ex· tive preachers; 5 church buildings, aggeration about the eagerness of the worth $5200 ; 2 institutions of learning people here to be taught there has been owning property valued at $40,000, be· none. No words can describe the emo· sides numerous day schools. There are tion which filled my heart as on Sunday also 38 Sabbath schools, with 1535 scholars and 71 teachers. J stood up to speak to fully 1000 men AFRICA. and women who crowded the church of Uganda. It was a wonderful sight! -How vast are the spaces contained There, close beside me, was Katikiro, within the boundaries of this colossal the second man in the kingdom. There continent, and spiritually how deso. on every hand were chiefs of various late! All Europe could be put into an degrees, all Christian men and all in area in Central Africa that has not a their demeanor devout and earnest. single missionary! A thousand men scattered over those 12,000,000 square -The Bishop of Mashonaland names miles are equal to about 18 men for the three portions of South Africa where whole of France, 10 for Great Britain, prohibition actually prohibits. They 4 for England, about the same number are, first, Bechuanaland, under Khama, each for New York and Ohio, and 1 only a noble Christian native chief; second, for Massachusetts and Connecticut to· Basutoland, where Sir Marshall Clarke gether! ! holds jurisdiction; and, third, the Orange Free State. -Africa is now the centre of the world'..s enterprise. The report with -A cable dispatch from the Congo reference to Johannesburg, a town in announces that the railroad has been the Transvaal, seems incredible for completed from Matadi to Palaballa, ten Africa. It has grown up entirely with· miles. After the track layers reached in the last ten years, is called the Gold. that point, a mile and a half of the road en City, and stands on a gold reef upon was completed in ten days, though which 50 companies are now working, nearly two years were taken to build employing 3370 white men and over the first ten miles. The road has been 32,000 natives. The city has a popula- carried beyond obstacles that long made tion of over 40,000, and has all the mod- rapid progress impossible; and now ern appliances of light, cars, etc. the great enterprise will be easily pushed forward until the upper river, -According to a telegram from Lon· at Stanley Pool, is connected with navi· don, the preparations that are being gation on the Lower Congo. made for the expedition of Mr. Gerald -In Liberia are American missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Meth- solicitude relate to the spiritual crude- odist Episcopal Church, Presbyterian ness of many of the genuine converts; Church, American Baptist Missionary the persistent efforts of Romish priests Union, Evangelical Lutheran Synod, to beguile the people, though thus far and the African Methodist Episcopal without much success; and, above all, Church. the decline of the population, the deaths ISLANDS OF THE SEA. continually outnumbering the births.
-Rev_ A. W. Murray, of Samoa, died -The future of Hawaii is far from some months since. For years he was bright, either upon the financial, the the honored father of Presbyterian political, or the religious side. The missions. He was the trusted friend sugar industry is paralyzed, there is of Geddie. He was eighty-one years trouble between rulers and peoJlle, old. Of Scottish birth, he was ordained while the old-time heathenism, and in 1835, and reached Samoa in 1836, other forces which make for unrightwhere he prosecuted t.he glorious enter- eousness, are unpleasantly active. It prise begun by John Williams. For is said that in a population of 90,000 forty years he labored in the isles of the there are 55,000 foreigners.
Pacific. -The wife of the Rev. J. G. Paton, -The Australasian Methodist Confer- the missionary to the New Hebrides, ence has charge of the Fiji, Tonga, Sa- once wrote homEl that the wonderful moa, New Britain, and New Guinea mis- transfiguration of a New Hebridean sions. It is a striking fact that the savage, even in the expression of his number of church-members in Fiji, 30,- face, after he has become a Christian, 264, is about thrice as many as the num- is worth laboring a lifetime to witness.
ber connected with the same body in -The Presbyterian missionaries in New South Wales and Queensland. The the New Hebrides have dedded to for- Fiji Christians have not only paid the ward a protest to Lord Knutsford, Colostipends of 300 village teachers, but nial Secretary in London, against the have given more than $5000 during the proposed renewal of the importation of year to the cause of foreign missions. Kanaka labor into Queensland. Three teachers from Rewa in Fiji have volunteered to become missionaries to -Concerning the recent miss~on of New Guinea_ Dr. Paton to Washington, to endeavor -Let us look at the figures for Fiji to induce our Government to help in more in detail, for there is nothing to suppressing the traffic in fire-arms, in- match them in the entire range of mis- toxicating liquors, and opium in the sionary history; and the high honor New Hebrides and other Pacific islands, was conferred upon the English Wes- good Dr. Cuyler overflows in righteous loyans of transforming these vilest and wrath in the New York Evangelist in moat brutal of all savages upon the face this fashion: "Just think 0f it! A lot of the earth. On those islands are of converted cannibals begging a 'Jhris- found 969 churches (buildings) and 354 tian government not to sond them .my other preaching-plaoes, 11 English mis- more muskets and rum! Verily, the sionaries,71 native ministers,197510cal Christianity of our own land does need preachers, 3315 class-leaders, 30,264 Christianizing at the very core. Ships full members, and 5351 on trial; 1724 sail from American ports with mission- Sunday-schools, with 2724 teachers und aries as passengers to Africa, and with 38,918 scholars, 1976 day schools with thousands of gallons of rum in their 39,364 pupils, and attendants upon cargo ; heaven goes in the cabin, and hell public worship 102,451, which number goes in the ship's hold! How long will includes almost the entire population of it take us to con vert the heathen in this the islands! The chief grounds for style ?"
The Missionary Review of the World — November 1892
METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE AS A MISSIONARY CENTRE
MiSSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XV. No.n.-Old series.–NOVEMBER.–voL. V. No. n.-New Series.
THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE AS A MISSIONARY CENTRE.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-OHIEF.
On the southeast side of the Thames, in London, stands a great church building, for more than thirty years linked with the name of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. The church organization which finds there a home is not only foremost among Baptists, but is, in a certain sense, "mater et caput omnium ecclesiarum, urbis et orbis." .
" See," said God to Moses, " that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed thee in the mount." This principle has been at the basis of the construction and conduct of this noble enterprise. The providence of God, having brought me into intimate personal contact with the Metropolitan Tabernacle during a period of eight months, rare opportunity has been given for the study of the interior workings of this colossal organiz!rt.ion j and it is both duty and privilege to give to the Christian public, some- what more completely than has ever yet appeared in print, an outline of its autonomy and autocracy, its theoretical and practical administration, its spiritual machinery and world-wide usefulness. .
Comprehensively speaking, this brotherhood of disciples, over which C. H. Spurgeon so long presided, is not so much a church as a radiating centre for all city evangelization, public philanthropy, and home and foreign mlSSlOns. The methods here pursued are so silliple yet so complete, so concentrated and yet so comprehensive, so uniform and yet so multiform, so convergent and yet so far-reaching, that they provide and present in some sort a pattern or model for the organization and administration of church life in other parts of the world, and especially in great cities. The basis of the success here attained is laid in principles so scriptural and spiritual, that it challenges instead of defying imitation, and suggests pos- sible reasons for the failure, elsewhere so common.
The church-membership now embraces nearly six thousand, a fact which is the more remarkable, since the drift of the better classes of population has for years been away from the vicinily of the Tabernacle toward the more delightful and healthful residential suburbs. The most conspicuous feature of this great church is not, however, its numerical force, bllt the promi- nence here given for forty years to the preaching of the pllre Gospel of Christ, and to the advocacy and illustration of a simple and apostolic form of worship and Christian life. There is noticeable also an absence of all attempt at worldly art. There is no magnifying of the resthetic acce&- sories; the only beauty cultivated is the beauty of holiness.
The building is almost excessively, though not repulsively, plain; there has certainly been no constructing of ornament, and but little ornamenting of construction. The main objects in view have evidently been commodiousness, convenience, and comfort. The building has been so planned that everyone in the vast audience may both see and hear the preacher, and probably no other building in the world combines such large accommodations with such freedom from acoustic defects. When all available sittings are occupied, in the aisles as well as pews, five thousand persons may be seated; and on a few occasions it is said that more than seven thousand have been crowded into the house.
The area or ground floor furnishes the main seating capacity, but two galleries run entirely around, elliptical in effect, and very convenient and capacious. A portion of the lower gallery, extending forward, provides the platform for the preacher. The actual point where the speaker stands is near to one of the foci of the ellipse formed by the gallery front, and is therefore the best point from which to be well heard. Immediately below this is the baptistery platform, elevated about four feet, and extending still further toward the centre of the area; and here on ordinary occasions are seated children from the orphanage and elderly women from the almshouses, those whose hearing is imperfect, etc.
Mr. Spurgeon's great law in preaching was to combine simplicity with evangelicity. He believed thoroughly in the inexhaustible beauty and power of the old Gospel, when its native Divine attractiveness and effectiveness are unhindered by the vain trimmings and trappings of this world; and he honestly and persistently sought to make every sermon not only a means of edification to saints, but of conversion to sinners. Lest anything should divert attention from Christ as the centre of the message, and God as the centre of worship, he gave no encouragement to organ or choir, and the vast aS3emblage has always been led by a precentor. The service opens with prayer and song; the Scripture reading and exposition are followed by another hymn and prayer, and the benediction immediately succeeds the sermon. So great was Mr. Spurgeon's dependence on the power of the simple Word, accompanied by the Holy Spirit, that he was Dot wont to hold" after meetings," except for prayer; nor did he use the methods so common with modern evangelists of "bringing hearers to an immediate dt'cision." Yet, to the honor ·of God be it noted that the average accession of members for the last thirty-eight years has been three hundred and ninetv per year, and in 1874 and 1875 exceeded five hundred. No presentation of the Metropolitan Tabernacle and its work could be complete without indicating both the departments of activity and the apparatus by which it is carried on. The building itself is very large, embracing twenty or more rooms, large and small, the main space being occupied by the great aS5embly hall. Back of this are some twelve rooms: four of these are in the uppermost story, and mainly used for storage; on the middle floor is the pastor's study or vestry, with rooms for the deacons' and elders' courts, which together constitute a communicating suite, available for pastor's receptions, etc. From the hall leading from the elder's room to the deacon's room a door opens to the pulpit platform. Below this story and on the level of the baptistery are the secretaries' offices, robing rooms for candidates for baptism, etc., and the ladies' room; and in the ,basement, which extends beneath the entire building, are found the large Sunday-school room, the lecture-room, with capacity for about eight hundred persons, and other apartments for all the numerous and various purposes made necessary by such a Christian household.
There is scarce a room among all these that is not sanctified by multiplied forms of service. In the elders' room meets a Bible class of young women ; in the secretaries' 'office are kept church records, lists of members, pewholders, etc.; and here communion tickets and pew tickets are distributed. In the ladies' room meet the Ladies' Benevolent Society, Loan Tract Society, orphanage, working, colportage, clothing, and Dorcas societies, and here adult Bible class and prayer services are conducted. In another room assemble a men's Bible class and Mother's Working Meeting. In the lecture-room a Sabbath afternoon preaching service and a Thursday evening prayer-meeting are held. Near by, the Tract Society has its repository, whence to three hundred homes every week go forth visitors with loan tracts, to be collected and redistributed when the week expires. This building is also a centre for other forms of Christian service-the Flower Mission, Evangelistic Association, Bands of Hope, Total Abstinence Society, Benevolent Society, etc.
Immediately back of the Tabernacle is the college building, with large library, conference hall for five hundred, lecture-rooms, president's offices, etc. Here are the "common room," where the body of the departed pastor was first laid after its arrival from Mentone, the colporteurs' room and bookstore, whence eighty distributers go forth to disseminate Christian literature. etc.
As to the college itself, the aim is to train up a generation of preachers and pastors who hold and teach the precious old truths of the blessed Word; and the main support of this institution, with its seventy or more students, is found in the voluntary offerings, for the gathering of which some sixty boxes are placed in and about the church building. These offerings average from forty to sixty pounds sterling each Lord's day.
Much care is taken as to the choice of students. Applicants are divided into three classes: First, the accepted; secondly, the rejected; and thirdly, the doubtful, whose cases are to be considered and decided more carefully. Each applicant sends his photograph, recommendations from pastor and others, with evidence that he has already been successfully engaged in work for souls j and, if there be further question about him, he is invited to a personal interview, his travelling expenses and entertainment being provided, so that the college authorities may make his acquaintance. If found worthy and needy, his food, clothing, text-books, and lodging in some home round about, will be furnished, so far and so long as he requires; and the homes of students are visited each quarter by an elder, who thus keeps track of the student's peIsonallife. The average time spent in the college is three years, but the students are set at work for Christ meanwhile, and many of them act as pastors in mission halls and chapels, while others go out to preach as occasion and opportunity offer. Having often had occasion to address theological stndents in American seminaries, I have never found among an equal number so many intelligent, earnest, and consecrated men. At least four evangelists are employed and paid by the Pastor's College, and above eight hundred students have been trained here.
The Sunday-schools of the Tal:iernacle entoll about twelve hundred members, and the classes meet both in the Tabernacle !milding and college building, but all under one superintendent. Linked on to the Tabernacle are not a few chapels and missions, such as the Richmond Street Mission j Haddon Hall, with its full complement of Sabbath preaching, Sundayschool and week-night services j Surrey Grove Chapel, Surrey Garden's Memorial Hall, Almshouse meetings, and the Sunday-school, and evangelistic service!! and like meetings at the Orphanage. Converts gathered at these halls join the Tabernacle.
Some forty officers·-elders and deacons-with the pastors, have constituted the governing and directing force of this Metropolitan Tabernacle, the elders having charge of the spiritual interests, and the deacons mostly of the temporalities, but both working unitedly to secure efficiency in all things. The method of election has been very. simple j the pastor has been wont to nominate to each body additional members j and if there were no dissent, these names were reported for the confirmatory vote of the church at large. Then the right hand of fellowship was extended by the pastor, and prayer offered, without laying on of hands, to which Mr. Spurgeon was opposed. Superintendents of the Sunday-school were likewise commonly nominated by Mr. Spurgeon, who thus became the real and proper head of the entire administration. Three elders are set apart to special spiritual oversight, and are so employed by the church, as also are two most competent secretaries, who give up their time to the management of its clerical and business affairs. Two families act as caretakers, one of them living in the college, the other in the Jubilee House adjoining the Tabernacle, and built in Mr. Spurgeon's jubilee year, 1884, from offerings given in commemoration of his fiftieth birthday. Rev. James A. Spurgeon, although himself having a large and influential chapel in West Croydon, has long been associate. pastor with his now deceased brother, and remains the actual and capable head of this great church and its various institutions. He is a man of marked ability and singular fitness for his great administrative trust; and Colgate University has just honored him with the degree of Doctor of Divinity, as also Olivet College has voted him the first Doctorate of Laws ever given in its history. What the Tabernacle, the Pastor's College, and the Orphanage would have done without Doctor James Spurgeon at this crisis it is difficult to say. We may all bless God that so strong a hand was on the helm in such troublous times.
The brief statement here given suffices to show that the Tabernacle is a great missionary centre. First there is the constant and faithful preaching of the Gospel to vast audiences on the Lord's day and during the week. The prayer-meeting on Monday nights is often attended by upward of two thousand people; the Thursday night's preaching service by as many more; and these, with the Lord's day, make the aggregate audience weekly not far from seven or eight thousand different people, of whom one seventh are strangers from every quarter, who from this great centre carry to their distant homes the report of what they hear. In this great house of worship is thus repeated every week some such influence as that exerted by Pentecost, through those who, temporarily dwelling at Jerusalem, went back to every nation under heaven to bear the good tidings. This vast outreach of the Gospel there preached constitutes the Tabernacle a great centre of missions. Moreover, the continued publication of Mr. Spurgeon's sermons, week by week, at a penny each, their translation into twenty-five living tongues, and their perusal by hundreds of thousands constitutes a second distinct branch of missionary influence.
Then there is the dispersion of the members in every direction for the evangelization of the city,for in this church perhaps a larger proportion of Christian workers may be fonnd than in any other church in Christendom ; and here is a third form of mission work. The college, including the present body of students, is training or has sent forth nearly a thousand young men, to engage in either home or foreign missionary work, and they are scattered throughout the world, and this constitutes a fourth branch of missionary influence traceable to this central stock. The Evangelistic Association, which supplies temporary or permanent evangelistic labor to churches and communities in need of such help; the Colportage Association, sending out Bibles and religious books in every direction; the Tract Loan Society, visiting families every week and leaving tracts; the Sunday-schools of the Tabernacle and its connected missions, with their thousands of youth; the various other societies for aiding mothers, poor ministers, orphans; the Total Abstinence Society, and Band of Hope and Flower Mission-these are but a part of this many-branching tree of life. The Stockwell Orphanage has now over four hundred inmates, and has sent out more than one thousand children, and is a missionary centre in itself. Beside these, there are private forms and methods of benefaction, in visiting and relieving the poor, the sick, and the outcast, good works whose history bas never yet been written, because the data have never been supplied ; and all these must be included before a true conception is formed of the multitudinous ramifications which proceed from this one centre of spiritual f<;>rce and impulse.
Mr. Spurgeon was not known peculiarly as an advocate of foreign missions j but the Gospel he preached was so full of the spirit of missions that it kindled zeal in many hearts which impelled them to take up work among the heathen j and Hudson Taylor's recruits always love to come to the Monday evening prayer service to say their farewells and get, as from a mother, a parting blessing before leaving for China's inland regions.
No reference has yet been made to that famous "Book Fund," whose special manager-shall we not say mother ?-was and is the beloved wife of the departed pastor, and of which we need to write a separate paper, if justice is to be done to this noble work. In 1890 £836 sterling (upward of $4000) were spent in books and sermons donated to various parties in home and foreign lands. No one but God knows how many private contributions of money, love, sympathy, and prayer go forth from this congregation every day ; and the gap that would be made not only in the metropolis of the world, but in the world itself, if this church should cease to be, only God can measure. The fact is, the members of this great church and Pastor's College, like the Moravian Brethren, are trained to expect work for God as a necessary part of Christian life j and when the pastor lays his hand on a man or woman, and appoints such to a certain post of responsibility, he feels sure the appointment will be accepted and the workers will do their best.
It will be seen that Charles H. Spurgeon occupied a throne and wielded a sceptre the like of which the world furnishes nowhere else. Yet he was a leader rather than an autocrat. He was so highly esteemed and dearly loved, and such was the confidence reposed in his piety and judgment, that there was conceded to him almost unlimited and undisputed control j but he was a fine example, how safe it is to be guided by a single will, when that will is itself guided by knowledge and love. An archbishop of the Anglican Church is credited with saying that Spurgeon was " the most influential ecclesiastic in the world;" but if he was an absolute monarch inside of his church realm, it is safe to say that he never abused the sceptre held by his hands. He said jocosely to me, that if you want a thing done you must do it yourself, and that the best possible committee is a committee of three, two of whose members are sick or out of town!
~othing impressed me during months of labor here more than the atmosphere of prayer pervading the entire institution. Not only all day Sunday, but all through the week, there is scarce half a day not more or less occupied with religious services of some sort, and at almost all hours the voice of prayer may be heard; and when, at Florence, an American visitor asked Spurgeon the secret of his success, his quiet, hum ble, reverent, truthful answer was, "r have a people who pray much for me."
Never have I seen a people so willing, generous, considerate, affectionate, nor an activity so widespread and universal; never a church so primitive and apostolic. Beyond baptism by immersion, there is nothing which might not be common to the most devout evangelical believers everywhere. If anything could be suggested as an improvement in the administration of this church-any change which would make it seem nearer the apostolic pattern, it would be to throw all pews absolutely open to all comers and trust to voluntary offerings for the support of the minister and the supply of current expenses. This matter has been considered, but many fear that" free pews" would be appropriated by so many now attending other places of worship that non-churchgoer~ would be practically excluded, and such think that a moderate rental secures a more miscellaneous attendance. Upon this I prefer not to retreat from opinions long held, that the only right and best way is God's way, and that there is no foundation in the Acts of the Apostles for any pew-sale or pew-rental. Yet fairness compels me to concede and to confess that strangers have always a cordial welcome and do feel at home, and that the" atmosphere" of the Tabernacle repels no one and makes no worshipper conscious of restraint or constraint.
At the time of Mr. Spurgeon's decease, in January last, it was prophesied by many that the whole church, like a sheaf whose bond is removed, would fall apart; but up to this time the audiences continue as large as ever, and there is no decline of interest apparent; while the contributions for current expenses and the offcrings for benevolent work have rather increased than diminished-a practical proof that when the Gospel is faithfully preached and the Christian life is sedulously cultivated, there is created an esprit du corps that rtlmains as a permanent bond of union and is the abiding secret of vitality and activity, even when so great a preacber and pastor is forever withdrawn.
To conclude, if it be asked what is the secret of the success attained in this church, which makes it pre-eminent perhaps above all others, it seems to me that this secret lies mainly in two things: First, that there has never been anything countenanced here but the simple preaching of the Gospel, unheralded by sensational announcements and advertisements, and nnmixed with worldly leaven; and, secondly, that from the first there has been set up and held up here the simplest, purest type of apostolic worship. Hindrances either to the Gospel's power or the Spirit's working have been practically reduced to a minimum. No needless rites or ceremonies have here surrounded the administration of ordinances and sacraments. Beyond the decency and decorum of the service of worship, art has no place, and there is nothing to interfere with the exaltation of the Lord alone in the eyes of all men, in His house.
Why may not all that is essential in this church life be repeated in any
SAMOAN MISSION OF THE LONDON MISSlONARY SOCIETY
part of the world ~ The same uplifting of Christ, the same magnifying of the Spirit, the same zeal for simplicity of worship and fervency in prayer, the same adherence to a biblical pattern of church order and conduct, with the same renunciation of mere worldly art and attractions, might in any of the centres of Christendom give us other churches which, like the Metropolitan Tabernacle, should be at once witnesses to the power of the truth and centres of all missionary operations at home and abroad.
Charles H. Spurgeon being dead yet speaketh. A monument more lasting than brass and more precious than gold stands to his memory iI} the heart of the world's metropolis, and lifts high the flaming light of a testimony that flashes its beams over the entire civilized globe. May many other churches find in the Metropolitan Tabernacle the suggestion and the impulse of a nobler career of service, and, like it, send forth into dark and desert regions beyond both living rays of truth and living streams of grace!
THE SAMOAN MISSION OF THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
BY REV. J. E. NEWELL, D.D., MANCHESTER, ENG.
The Samoan Mission is the link of connection between the two great divisions of the South Pacific-Eastern and 'Western Polynesia. It was the first link of a chain which now embraces all the principal islands and groups of Western Polynesia, and connects them with the vast island of N"w Guinea.
The man who first carried the Gospel to the ,Samoan Islands lost his life while engaged in the work of introducing Christian teachers to the New Hebrides. As the Tahitian teachers taken by Williams and BarlI carried the torch of life to Samoa, so the Samoans in turn went forth to Western Polynesia-to the New Hebrides, the Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia, and the Isle of Pines. And how Christian teachers from both Eastern and Western Polynesia are united in one grand crusade against the powers of darkness in New Guinea.
Having witnessed the transforming power of the Gospel in his own group, and seen it take root in the Hervey Islands-the principal island of which (Rarotonga) John Williams himself discovered-that man of daring and heroic enterprises conceived the idea of taking the good news of God's love to the Samoans living in islands lying from fourteen to eighteen hundred miles distant. How his ship, the Messenger of Peace, was built and launched; how those bold pioneers-Williams and BarlI-crossed that trackess waste of ocean, and how in August, 1830, they landed in Samoa and located those first eight Tahitian teachers, John 'Williams himself has told us.
The jubilee of that event was celebrated by the Samoans during the year in which the writer of this sketch began his work among that interest- ing and lovable people.
With what thrilling interest did one just entering on his work listen to native reminiscences of that event!
Standing on the spot where John Williams first landed, an old man- one of the first Samoan Christians-recalled the portly presence of the missionary; the grateful and courteous way in which he had received the food which the kindly, hospitable Samoans had taken to the strangers; above all, that first giving of thanks to the Father of all mercies as " Uiliamu" took the food presented to them.
Again, an ever-memorable speech was that made at another of those jubilee meetings by one who had been a priest of that olden time. A priest, and therefore according to the very remarkable belief of the Samoans an incarnation, or at least a representative of the unseen God to men. Said he : "I was supposed to possess supernatural power, and men were ever afraid of me ; and yet I was in my own personal relation to the God even as others. I could provoke the wrath of the deity, and I must pro- pitiate him even as others must. I had a beloved sister who was sick unto death. When naught availed for her recovery, and hope was well- nigh gone, I determined to make a propitiatory sacrifice." And so he had taken the bamboo knife and severed the third finger at the joint from his left hand; and when that did not avail he took off the next, the little finger. Then the sister recovered !
With what a sympathetic thrill one witnessed that old man tottering on the verge of the grave, as he raised his left hand in confirmation of that beautiful story of self· sacrificing love.
Appropriately enough most of the speeches given during that interesting series of meeti~gs were from native missionaries, who had gone forth in the fervor of their self.consecration to preach God's glad news to perishing men in other islands; for Samoa was ever a missionary church. Natives from Samoa were employed in introducing the Gospel into Savage Island, and into the Tokelan, the Ellice, ,and Gilbert Islands (those south of the Equator), and some of these natives were there to tell how the Gospel was· the power of God unto salvation, not only to the Samoans, but also to peoples whom Samoans considered to be much more degraded than themselves. Some, too, who had labored in the islands in Western Polynesia, already mentioned, were present to tell of sorrows and privations endured for the Gospel's sake in the West.
Before John Williams went that last fatal voyage to the New Hebrides he had the joy of seeing the establishment of the Samoan Mission. In 1836 six British missionaries arrived in Samoa. One of the six, the Rev. A. W. Murray-in many ways the most successful and remarkable of the six-has recently passed away. He was the historian of the Samoan Mission, ana has well told the story of the forty years subsequent to his arrival in Samoa. Two or three features of the wOlk of the mission during that period are all that can be touched upon: 1. The education of a native ministry. 2. Bible translation. 3. The extension of the mission by native agency.
1. An event of deep importance to the mission was the establishment of the Malua Institution for the training of native pastors and teachers. This institution was established in September, 1844, by the late Revs. Charles Hardie and the late Dr. George Turner. Mr. Hardie's place was subsequently filled by the late Rev. Henry Nisbet, LL.D. While recog- nizing the extraordinary talents of the latter, especially as the author of valuable commentaries in Samoan on several books of the Bible, and as seen in the multifarious work of the institution, there can be no doubt that the honor of having created one of the most efficient of mission institutions is mainly due to Dr. Turner.
To have laid the foundation of such a trllining institution so securely and so wisely, that for all essentials there should be nothing hereafter to undo or to modify ; to have solved the problem of how to educate the native Christian without robbing him of the faith of his heart; of how to Christianize without Anglicizing the native, was largely the work of Dr. Turner. Under him it was proved that a South Sea college could be reared on the lines ef the communal life of a Polynesian village. The Malua Institution is, in fact, such a village consisting of some twenty· six " families." The heads of each household are the married student and his wife, whose position in the institution entitle them to the dignity. With these young unmarried men are placed, and each family receives a member of the Boys' Boarders' Class.
There are at present in the institution 108 students, of whom 56 are married, and boy boarders to the number of 26, Reckoning all three classes as students for whom the institution has provided education since the college was established, exclusive of those who are still under training. there ha'e been 940 students for the native ministry, 589 women (wives of students), and 307 boy boarders, making an aggregate of 1836 who have passed through the institution.
The students cultivate-the food necessary for their own support and that of those dependent upon them. As this can be done in such a country without much labor, it allows ample time for the strictly educational part of a student's training.
Certainly the training needed by a native pastor or missionary is unique. Every pastor in Samoa must be also village schoolmaster, and for that normal training is needed. To meet that need a normal school has been established. The villages in Samoa are small, and there is very little of the wealth we reckon by money to pay for skilled labor in the erection of village churches, and the pastor who can direct such work is greatly valued; hence an important part of his training as a student must be industrial.
And what a pastor needs, that a missionary in an isolated out8tation in the Ellice or Gilbert group needs still more. The fact that pur village churches and our outstations are locally independent of outside help is proof of the training of the pastor. The native village church may be rude and simple in construction, but at least it was built by the people themselves, and mission funds have in no case been used in erecting it.
With regard to that singular feature of the college-the Boys' Boarders'
Class-it is noticeable that our most successful pastors in Samoa and the most efficient missionaries in the outstations and in New Guinea are those who first entered the institution as boys, and who afterward returned for a further four years' course as theological students.
And with reference to the association in families of peoples as dis- .
similar as Samoans and Gilbert Islanders, it may be safely affirmed that nothing but Christianity could have made such a thing not only possible, but entirely satisfactory in experience.
2. The Samoans possess an excellent version of the Bible. The present edition is the result of more than thirty years' study of the Samoan lan- guage, and is as faithful to the original as it is idiomatic and pure in the vernacular. Both as to knowledge of the original and for Samoan scholar- ship the Rev. George Pratt (now of Sydney, N. S. W.) has been facile princeps; but the work is the result of the combined knowledge of the whole of the mission staff. '
The New Testament was first printed in 1847, and at the close of 1855 the Old Telltament was completed. Ten thousand copies of the Bible were sold at cost price to the Samoans in six years, and each edition of the great Book has been successively paid for by the people.
3. By means of native Samoan missionaries alone sixteen islands to the northwest of Samoa have been evangelized. These islands are in the Tokelau and Ellice groups, together with five islands in the Gilbert group.
The first step in this extension of the Samoan Mission was taken in 1865, when native missionaries were located in the Ellice group. The way in which the missioll was led to take the Word of God to those islands forms, perhaps, the most romantic story of modern missions; the result, however, is all that can now be referred to.
So far as statistics can give that result, we have the fact that 11,000 adherents have been added to the mission; and of these 1916 are profess- ing Christians. The children in Sunday and day schools number 2268.
The people of each island support their own pastor, and for this purpose contribute an average of over $2000. In addition to this, they have built their own churches and pastors' houses, and sent to the foreign missionary fund the sum of something like £300 sterling annually. Si~ce 1883 the Samoans have joined the rest of their Polynesian brethren in the work of evangelizing New Guinea. There are thirteen Samoan native missionaries with their wives in New Guinea, all of them are in heathen districts, and are making full proof of their ministry.
The London Missionary Society keeps up a staff of seven English missionaries in Samoa, and two lady missionaries have been recently added to the number for the work of female education.
The statistics for 1890 show that there are in the whole of the Samoan Mission (Samoa and outstations) 204 native ordained pastors, 173 native preachers; the adherents of the London Missionary Society number 36,459 (out of a population of 46,000) ; church-members, 7943 ; Sunday and day scholars, 11,827. The average annual contributions for the past ten years have been £2010 sterling, of which a little more than half was given for the support of the native pastors, and the rest was contributed to the funds of the London Missionary Society.
Apart from stati8tics, the present condition of the Samoan Church is causing grave anxiety. While numerically as strong as ever, there is only too much reason to fear that there is more formalism and less life than at any previous period of the church. There is a manifest tendency to escape the dominion of the motives which operated even ten years ago to quicken conscience and arouse to spiritual activity. It is. probable that a large proportion of professing Christians have passed from the dominion of spiritual impulse to the formal and lethargic condition which was so disastrous to the Post-Apostolic Church; and yet there is a core of earnest Christian life in the church. Some of the older pastors and many of the Christians in the church are manifestly alive to the dangers and perils of this age of transition. Especially in this connection it is right to mention the Christian heroism of a truly noble band of men and women who have gone forth from the institution to service for Christ in the high places of the field.
Never in the history of the mission have there been better and more efficient native missionaries than those who in recent years have gone to New Guinea; and it seems as if yet again it would be seen that the missionary zeal of the native church, while it can only come as the expression of the loyalty and love of living Christians to their Divine Master, may also be the salvation of the church at large.
As John vVilliams himself felt, Samoa is only the first link of a chain; and the chain is not yet complete. The islands of the South Pacific have been connected with New Guinea as John Williams prayed they might be; but in the South Seas itself, the largest and most populous of all the South Sea Islands is still entirely heathen. The great Solomon group is stilI almost untouched by the Gospel. Can it be that Papua itself is to be the chief agent in the evangelization of that portion of the race to be found in the Solomon Islands ~ However that may be, we ought not in our missionary forward movements to forget our older missions, but" hold fast that which we have t.hat no man take our crown." As it was when the Messenger of Peace first landed native teachers in Samoa, so is it still. God has owned these natives as pioneers of the Gospel, but the vessels that take them and the men that train them and lead them will still for some time to come be European.
1892·1 NATIVE INSTRUMENTALITY IN FOREIGN MISSIONS
NATIVE INS,TRUMENTALITY IN FOREIGN MISSIONS.
BY REV. A. BUNKER, D.D., TOUNGOO, BURMA.
Modern missions have now largely passed their formative stage, and are calling for new or modified methods. As Paul was the model missionary, we do well to study his methods for our own guidance. In this study we find that there were two stages in his work-the formative stage and the orgamzmg stage. In his early missionary life he wrought alone or with some chosen companion, preaching from place to place when able to travel. When converts had been gathered he changed his method. and went about organizing and confirming the churches and appointing pastors. He called into the work native helpers who had been instructed by him, and ordained them in the churches. He also commissioned them, as in the case of Timothy, to do the same work he had done. He thus laid upon the converts he had gathered the work he had formerly carded.
In this example set us by Paul we find a guide in our missionary enterprise. With us the first stage has been passed in many missions. Countries, nations, and tribes have been explored; written languages learned; the unwritten, in many cases, learned and reduced to writing; the Bible translated into many tongues; other useful books prepared; mission plant gathered, and a vast amount of preliminary work completed.
The Gospel message has been proclaimed far and wide, and native converts gathered in many missious by the hundreds and thousands. The calls for men and money are pressing and incessant, and missionary societies are having increased difficulty to find how to meet these calls.
The development of a native instrumentality on the mission fields is one way of meeting these demands, and asks for our consideration.
It is manifest ·that on many mission fields work has reached that stage where it must be done by native agency or not at all. It then becomes all important to know how best to develop that instrumentality.
It will be readily seen that such a development will not decrease the necessity of sending missionaries from Christian to heathen lands. In fact, this demand has been, and is likely to be always in excess of the supply. The necessity of prayer for laborers in the harvest is not likely to pass away. When home churches have done what they can for foreign work, there will still remain a vast deal of work uncompleted, which must be done by native workers, if done at all.
In this stage of mission progress there is an increasing caIJ for peculiar gifts in missionaries. In preliminary and pioneer work among the heathen, men of the highest ability have been required. They were men knowing no fear save the fear of God-men of resources, indefatigable, invincible in Christ.
In the second stage of missionary progress men of no less distinguished ability, though perhaps of a different kind are demanded. The work needs men of large execntive and organizing ability, who can multiply themselves in the native workers whom they find gathered to their hand j men apt to teach, and full of zeal, faith, and the Holy Ghost, like the heroes of the past.
The saying that men of small talent are good enough for the heathen, while those of large endowments are too valuable to be sent abroad, the future is likely to reverse. The mighty works of the Lord are yet to be wrought largely among the Gentiles who know not God, and who are as the sand of the sea-shore for number j and if so, there is to be scope for the activity of the great men of God in the future.
One reason why great importance should be given to the formation of a native ministry, is that the character of foreign mission work is better fitted to native than foreign talent. It requires long experience and much humility for a missionary to learn all he can from the natives in order to enable him to get down to the every-day life and thought of the beathen, and it is only in that low place that he can do his best work and reach the common people. It is often said that few churches in Christian lands really reach the masses. The reason of this does not come within the scope of this paper, but the missionary knows well that he can reach the heathen only as he comes into close touch with them. He cannot deal with them at arm's length. Moreover, he finds himself hedged about, as with a wall, by his ignorance of the language, manners, and customs of the people, and especially of their modes of thought. Through this wall he must work his way, requiring time and much patient labor. His own habits of life, thought, and sometimes even dress must be changed to accomplish his object. The native workers, however, have inherited this knowledge from their birth, and are at once in that place where they can best reach their countrymen after they themselves have found the truth. Best of all, they are in full and intelligent sympathy with their needs. Again, these workers can be more easily lifted into higher thought and life, and equipped for missionary work, than the foreign missionary can learn to adapt himself to these new conditions in which he finds himself. He clln reach his native helper much more easily than he can the masses about him, and thus instead of one, if he has the talent and .grace, he becomes many, multiplying himself in the native converts under his instruction.
This will go a long way in solving the question of how to meet these calls for help from mission fields. This brings us directly to the question before us-namely, how best to train np a native instrumentality on mission fields.
Doubtless one of the most important means at our disposal for this purpose is the training school. This raises the question of mi.ssion schools, much discussed in our day. It is a wide question, and must be settled largely by individual missions on local grounds. In general, however, ,mh'siQn schools have their use as well as abuse. In countries where the government is willing to aid schools, passing prescribed standards in examination, and where mission funds are small and the people poor, there is great temptation to secularize the school in order to retain the pupils under mission influence on the one hand, and to secure the government aid on the other. This is a very insidious temptation, and without doubt has led astray some missionaries and societies even. This temptation should be resisted most strenuously. It should be the aim to leave to the secular powers as much as possible all secular instruction. The preaching of the Gospel is pre-eminently the work of the missionary; but he sometimes finds the necessity of schools laid upon him, and it must not be forgotten that there are many ways of proclaiming the Gospel message. Even Paul had a school in his own hired house for two years.
It may be necessary, in training a body of native helpers, to establish even high schools and colleges, as well as theological seminaries, but such calls should be most carefully studied before being acceded to. We say it may be necessary, but only so, as such schools can be used in training a native instrumentality for mission work. If it is not possible to bend all school work in this direction, be it in primary or higher schools, then the sooner one drops secular instruction and reverts to direct missionary work, the better it will be for the cause of Christ.
Schools, then, which can be controlled in the direction of raising up trained native workers, are a powerful means to the end in view. Here the pupils are constantly under the eye and influence of the missionary, and having been brought to believe in Christ with a saving faith, are in the very best conditions to be prepared for the work before them.
In such school work there is the largest scope for the missionary talent. It has been said that" the method is the man." It is emphatically true that native converts will take very readily the stamp of their much-loved teachers, too readily copying their faults. How often can they be picked out as belonging to this or that known missionary by their mannerisms even, which they have copied from their teachers; but all-important will be the missionary's ability to impart zeal and enthusiasm to his pupils. He needs not only great faith, but Divine enthusiasm for souls, like Jesus and His servant Paul.
A second important method of instruction is by example. If there is any place where an example of Christian living is required, it is in that of the missionary teacher. As an evangeli~t he indeed needs to live the Christ-life daily, or his teachings are lifeless; but as a teacher who must impress his own character and individuality on the' learner, he, above all others, needs to live the Christ-life. It has been said that the heathen need not so much men and money as the Christ.life lived before them as an example. " The heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes." Experienced missionaries know very well how sharp·eyed the native converts are, when they have learned to compare Christian living with God's Word. Not only in daily living will example be powerful, but in work also. The missionary must not only teach his pupils to work, but show them how by his own example. He must lead them in teaching from house to house, and from town to town, and in exploring and opening new fields. He must show them what patient endurance means. We have a beautiful type of this kind of teaching in our Lord's training of His disciples, as He travelled and taught and wrought His mighty works before them. Often the missionary is called in like manner to lead a band of native workers, which frequently involves the mission of healing as well, as with Christ. Here is an almost unlimited field for practical training.
A third means for the development of a native ministry, and not the least, is found, first, in impressing upon the converts the fact that the duty of evangelizing the heathen about them is theirs, and not the work of the missionary alone j and, secondly, in laying upon them the responsibility of that duty. The missionary will be often pained to find that the converts are inclined to put him in the place of Christ j that they are ~eek ing how they may please him rather than their Redeemer. They seem to regard the building up of the kingdom of Christ as belonging to their missionary, while they are at most only helpers. This is a great mistake in instruction, if allowed to continue. The missionary 8hould impress upon his people, at all times, that this work is theirs, and that he is their helper only. They must realize, if possible, that the Divine commission comes to them directly, and not through man. In order to this end, all possible responsibility must be thrown upon them as they are able to bear it. It has been said justly that a wise missionary will never do what a native can do. It will often be easier for him to perform the work himself than to teach tho native worker how to do it, yet for the sake of the end in view this rule is safe to follow. It is true that he may need to " keep his hands on the lines," but he can do so "out of sight." He may, if he has tact, lead and not seem to lead. These are the best leaders of men, and the missionary cannot cultivate this talent too highly.
There has been too little of this putting of responsibility on the native Christians, and too much interference with the churches among them in past time. One can easily see how this comes about. After much labor and anxiety some are led to Christ. How dear these first converts become to the weary worker, and how solicitous he is for their spiritual welfare! He is too apt to judge them from his own standard and try to raise them to it; but it is better to imitate Paul, and leave the native converts largely to work out their own salvation. To try is to learn. Fail? Yes, they will make mistakes, but leave them to the guidance of the Holy Spirit to learn by their failures, as the children of God have done in all ages, but always with wise care and help when needed.
Just here comes in the question of self-help. It has been the custom of most missionaries to pay a stipulated stipend to native preachers and others. This plan, unless carefully guarded, is likely to work weakness in, instead of being a help to the native worker. One may leach him never so diligently that he is responsible to Christ alone, but 80 long as he feels that he is dependent on the will of his teacher for his monthly wages, he will with difficnlty learn the lesson of dependence on Christ. He is a child, and, like a child, feels obligation to him from w.hom his support visibly comes. There are many ways of helping native workers and not leading them under obligation to the helper. The practice of standing in the place of helper, instead of principal has, in the hands of tlie writer, wrought wonders in developing a self-reliant native ministry.
What is said here of individuals is also true of churches. These singly or associated, however, form a wider field for instruction, as they have special duties assigned them by the Head of the Church. One of the first lessons to be taught them is the power of organized effort. Heathenism disorganizes. Christianity reorganizes. Hence the missionary will be obliged to teach the new body of converts everything in church work. He will meet prejudices which it may take years of patient effort to overthrow. He cannot lay his plans to be consummated in a day or year even. Faithful, persistent, patient teaching, while throwing all possible responsibility upon the native churches, to enable them 10 work out and digest his instruction, will accomplish wonders in time.
Finally, there remains the dignity of the calling of the worker with Christ, and the glorious mission of the Church, to be impressed upon the native mind. 'Without a due sense of these, no corps of workers is duly equipped for their calling. Here is a call for the highest talent God has bestowed on man. Only Divine wisdom can meet the case. Here the missionary may well pause and tremble, for he is entering the Holy of Holies in his mission as a messenger of God to earth. It is here as nowhere else that the native converts take the stamp of their teacher.
When the native worker has come to realize that the work of the ministry of Christ is the best, the most honorable, and the best paid service on earth, and that the Church is engaged in a warfare with evil and darkness, which will, beyond doubt, result in a most glorious victory; when he can, by faith, rejoice in the midst of trials, as those who have already won the crown, a fire has been kindled on heathen soil which, by the grace of God, all the powers of darkness cannot put out. 'That but Divine wisdom can lead the native churches to such faith! Who but the Holy Spirit can enthuse them with the glory of their mission on earth and reward in heaven, and thus incite them to holy endeavor! The missionary, however, is the ordained channel of this grace, and only as he has fellowship with Christ, can he do the work laid upon him. Only as the workers in the kingdom of Christ in any land realize their high calling can they do their best work. This is the work for the missionary of the future. Using all means for the development of a corps of native workers in mission fields, by the blessing of the Holy Spirit, we shall see the Gospel proclaimed in all lands, and the kingdom prepared for the enthronement of our Lord.
IN OUR MISSIONARY MEETING!!
HOW SHALL THE INTEREST IN OUR MISSIONARY MEETINGS BE INCREASED 1 * BY MRS. ETHAN CURTIS, SYRACUSE, N. Y.
In our larger cities are literary clubs, meeting weekly or semi-monthly, for which papers are most carefully prepared; attendance at them is regular, and many now outside are waiting and wishing to become members. Y,et our missionary societies, in spite of the large number of women in our church-membership, have discouragingly few at their monthly meetings.
Why this difference 1 Is America, Italy, or England preferable to the kingdom of heaven? Is the inspiration of Browning superior to that of St. John, or Shakespeare loftier in thought than Moses, Job, Isaiah, or David 1 Great as are all these, God's direct word to man is greater. Dear is our own country, the land of freedom j precious is Italy, the mother of art; grand is old England, the realm of thought; but the kingdom of heaven, the home of the soul, is better than all other regions.
These literary clubs are fashionable. If we may not make our mis. sionary meetings fashionable, let us at least make them attractive, even if wc borrow from our literary friends some of their methods.
First, let us, like them, make our appointments months beforehand, so that work be carefully prepared. Is not the story of our heroic and selfsacrificing missionary ministry worthy of as much study as poetry, literature, and art?
Let the main feature of the meeting be a strong, vigorous, well-prepared paper, or still better, talk. The subject may be the life of some missionary-biography is always interesting and inspiring. The deeds of the heroes of history make us long to be heroic. There was Carey, educated at the shoemaker's bench, yet becoming the finest lingui8t of India; Judson, a careless, reckless boy, rising to noblest manhood in Christ j Hannington, always human, but always heroic j Paton, working and waiting on the Lord; John Coleridge Patterson, gifted by nature and by race, offering himself to the rudest and roughest people with a supreme joy, because such was the Christ-life ; that other martyr of the South Seas, John Williams, brave in death as in life, giving himself always to forsaken souls; the Moffats in South Africa living there a half century for the Lord. One cannot name or number the biographies that will interest an audience if properly prepared. Then there are romances of missions: our own Oregon story; the Jesuit heroism in North America j the Madagascar mission; the New Zealand transformations; such tales make our best magazine stories pale in comparison. Even the degradation of these human brothers of ours and the dire needs of our fellow-men help us to lose self in longings to help others.
Some such paper should be the central point of the meeting, and there *MN. Cnrtis ill the Vice-President of the N. Y. Woman's Home Missionary Union. is no reason why a missionary paper should not have as much gl"ace of language and vigor of thought as the papers in the literary clubs. Never lose unity or "central radiance," as the old artists called it. The old st.ory is told of Leonardo da Vinci, that while painting the Last Supper, he thought how much" the cup" meant to man, and so lavished his love of detail upon that. When the picture was exhibited many called out, " How beautiful is the cup /" Next day he painted it over, and replaced it by the plainest piece of pottery, saying, " If in a single beholder's mind the cup distracts attention from the face of the Christ, it should have no place in my picture." Such a principle of art we do well to make our creed in missionary meetings.
Singing brightens and belongs to mission work, but be sure that the songs relate to the subject. One sings with peculiar tenderness, "I am coming to the cross" or "Jesus, lover of my soul," after a paper on Hannington. " My country, 'tis of thee" comes with an accompaniment of heart throbs when the story is Whitman's ride.
Instead of always taking Scripture by chapters, it is well to select passages having special application to the subject. A few words at the opening, with responsive sentences, given to individuals to be recited at appropriate intervals, are often very effective. A few phrases learned are better than many chapters read; better to have each member bring home an especial meaning from these Bible words than to have them suggest many and diverting thoughts.
A sacred feature of the meeting is prayer, a knowledge of the needs of the hour expressed with truth and with tendernes~, a right attitude of soul helping to right words and thoughts toward God. "Who can make us comprehend the grandeur, the majesty, the might of prayer~" It is the highest worship earth can show ; it includes the entire relation between man and God; it contains in itself all the longings of humanity fo'r heaven; it changes aspiration to inspiration; it completes all truth, all sentiment, all knowledge. Let our souls be prayerful, our minds earnest our hearts ardent with good wishes, and prayer, like the mist of the morning, will mount heavenward, because that is its natural pathway. Let us think and feel and long earnestly for this meeting, and prayer will be tho simplest, the sweetest, the most sacred portion of the programme. " We do not say prayer; prayer forms within us." Let our souls be wholly absorbed in God's cause, then the prayers of the hour will be a blessing and a benediction.
A map is almost essential to every missionary meeting. A simple outline map may be obtained from the missionary rooms. One can mark with pencil' the route needful to be traced, and pin small pieces of red paper on for missionary stations. If some one says that it looks as if " geography had a sudden attack of the measles," we must not be afraid of such criticisms; we are sending forth messengers of healing, and there may be appropriateness in such appearance. Mention the bound!lories of the chosen country; it is well to know the neighbors of any selected portion of the earth. Let Bome one else give population, that we may know how many hungry, helpless human beings call for us in their awful despair, or are settling into despondency that is worse than despair. Another may give the present material resources of the country, that we may know their outlook for an earthly future, and be stimulated to hasten our slowmoving missionary labors. Shall we allow Japan to grow and gain in everything but the Gospel? or our own West to unearth gold and silver while the heavens overhead are lead and brass? Shall we allow the mountain highlander to grow rich in mines and mills while body and soul are starving? Our missionary countries are not necessarily pauper lands. Some are natural Edens, fragrant with fruit and flower, but morally poisoned by sin. Shall we not seize these riches for the Lord?
What is the intellectual calibre of heathen peoples? Look at the litt;rature of the Orient, where man was first made and where the sun first dawns; some of these are reverent rhapsodies, when man was groping for God with his benighted brain. A sentence may show what they have done and thought, what they are capable of doing. Ages ago were the Vedas written, but still there are sharp wits and sentimental souls in the Orient, and these demand our best and brightest minds to teach them. The Indians of America have spoken many stirring words, well worth recalling. In our Congressional reports is a plea for the Bible from the lips of an Indian as thrilling and as pathetic as Lincoln's funeral oration, and as deserving to be held in memory.
Decorate the meeting-room with the handiwork of these people. Japan has taught pottery to the world. India and Persia and Turkey have almost translated beauty into a beatitude. Religion has been wrought, even by these heathens, in color and harmony exquisite to behold, and rich in suggestions of thought. Can they not also see the beauty of the true faith? If we are studying Africa, a bit of ivory may mean very much when it is known that the first missionaries in Africa lived upon a pittance, built their church and school without aid from the home society, the tusks of ivory larglly paying their expenses; or when we remember that the dead elephants did more than the living men and women of England toward opening the Dark Continent to the Gospel. Dolls dressed after the fashion of these pagan peoples may help us to know more about them and may teach us something of grace and comfort. An artistic lady once said, " I wish the heathen would send us some missionaries and teach us how to dress."
If we are studying home lands, some of the products of the soil, specimens of the ores, grains, special workmanship of the people, picture. of the scenery, may help. Photography may aid much, as the telescope does with the planets in diminishing distances. The nearer we get to these people in space, the closer our hearts will come to theirs.
·Whatever the country, let us have its flag. It is easily made from the dictionary illustrations. Nothing shows the soul of nationality like that country's banner with its device. Many spiritual meanings may be gained from the national emblem. A Japanese flag was used in a missionary con- cert. It was just a red circle sewed on a white ground, and cost only a few cents, and was the work of only a few moments. At the close a Japanesll told us something of the feeling of his nation for that flag. It preceded all processions, was hung before them on all grand occasions, and signified the rising sun. When he expressed a wish that his country should love the Sun of Righteousness as she loved her flag, keep Christ ever before her, the entire audience was stirred to aid Japan in her noble struggle.
Suppose some one writes a letter, imagining herself in some field at work as a missionary. She can give her life, its longings, its joys, its discouragements, and its blessings. This will help her and her audience to be interested in real missionaries; perhaps to do something beyond imagination for those whom she is representing.
Suppose some one brings up the objections to missionary work; a dozen will rise up in answer to them, and they will set Borne one to studying the real value of missions. Hawthorne found a cabin boy on the wharves reading a commentary on the Bible. He asked why he studied t/tat book in that place. The boy looked up with a knowing wink as he replied, "Ther's consid'rable her'sy in our place, and I'm studying up fur 'em." Honest doubts have led to the highest knowledge. Was not Thomas the doubter first of all to cry out, "My Lord and my God"? Strauss published his Life of Christ in 1835, and it looked for a time as if the best of the Bible was to be turned into a myth; but men greater than he set to work to answer him, and an entire literature arose on the one sinless and sacred life that has been given to humanity. After Strauss, the ministry everywhere took up the subject in pulpit and in press. All these have helped to bring the highest humanity into closer and more vital relations with common humanity until the first and the nineteenth centuries have joined hands in fervor and in faith. Thus doubt has become the stepping-stone to surest belief. Thill task of expressing doubts upon missions is good work for the women who neither attend the meetings nor give to the cause. Let a discussion follow. Doubtless even the doubter will be convinced. A sluggish spirit on this great subject is most to be feared. The surging waters are pure; but the stagnant pool gathers poison.
It is good to use the conversational method, even if the questions and answers are all arranged beforehand; but spontaneity is preferable. The greatest power of the leader is not in imposing silence, but in arousing speech.
Appoint watchmen, heralds, messenger girls, telegraph lads, to bring in the latest news from the field. Delivered during the session and in the regular telegraph form, they will awaken special interest and enthusiasm. Children, coming home from school, will be delighted with some such errand, and will not soon forget the message they have brought.
JOHANN LUDWIG KRAPF, A PIONEER OF .A.FRICAN MISSIONS
Vary missionary meetings as much as possible. No garment is so strong as to stand constant wear. No good method is always and everywhere successful. The best thing is for each to expect something new every time. When Joshua Reynolds began portrait painting, he adopted the style of his teacher, and painted all his men with their hats in their hands. It was easier to dispose of hats than of hands. One day he found a subject who had ideas of his own. He wished to wear his hat on the top of his head. The portrait was finished, the original came to claim it, when he found himself possessed of two hats, one on his head, the other in his hand. This cured Sir Joshua forever of fixed and forced attitudes. Repetition may be ridiculous elsewhere than in hats. It is well to find something new each time not only in subject, but in method and manner and in means. Children always call for new things, and we "children of a larger growth" must keep fresh and fervent all the longings of our lives, all the ways of working for the Master, if we would pass the bread of life from soul to soul. Fixed and forced forms are forever fatal to life. Growth is everywhere the law of greatness and of goodness.
These are only hints and suggestions. The use of the inventive powers will add much that will be of vital interest. The attendance in these monthly gatherings might be brought up to the hundreds, instead of standing below the score; and with a greater interest in the missionary meetings the contributions to missionary work would greatly increase.
JOHANN LUDWIG KRAPF, A PIONEER OF AFRICAN MISSIONS.* BY REV. F. WILKINSON, LIVERPOOL, ENG.
Johann Ludwig Krapf was born in 1810, near Tubingen. He would have followed farming, the occupation of his father, had not circumstances induced his parents to give him a superior education. During his school course the future explorer revealed himself in a special inclination to geography ; and at fourteen yearf he expressed a decided wish to be a captain and visit foreign countries. His father was desirous to carry out the boy's wish, if pOSSIble, but the cost was found to be beyond the resources of the family, and the idea was relinquished. A novel incident turned young Krapf's thoughts to the work of the mISSIOnary. The principal of the school one day read before his scholars a pamphlet on missionary work and the spread of Christianity among the heathen, desiring them afterward to embody the substance of the pamphlet in an essay. Ludwig had never before heard anything of missions, but what he now heard was enough, and he asked himself the question, "Shall I be a missionary, and go to the heathen~" This thought never left him, and at the age of seventeen he travelled to Basle to offer himself as a mis- • The pre.ent article is based npon the life of Dr. Krapf by W. Claus (in German). sionary student. The principal of the institution advised him, on account of his youth, to return home for a time, to continue his studies, and to endeavor to grow in the knowledge of Scripture and of his own character, and wait for God's guidance.
The following year found him in the institution at Basle, but the intellectual and spiritual condition of the place did not entirely satisfy .his expectations, while the reading of the mystical writings of Madame Guion and Jacob Bohn so unsettlecl his mind, that he could not with a good conscience remain longer in the institution at the expense of tbe mission. He laid before the committee the grounds of his decision, and left the institution two years after he entered it. Returning home, he continued his studies, passed the university examination, and p.,ished in 1834 the theological course.
His heart had often turned to the mission house at Basle, especially when his cousin-a namesake-entered the institution, but he determined to enter the ministry at home, arguing that thus he could carry on ~ork similar to that which his cousin would prosecute in non-Christian lands. Be accordingly settled at vVolf~nhausen, where the neglected condition of his parish and the work he had to do became the means of bringing more vividly to his mind the needi of the heathen world.
He wrote: "The inducements to mission work appeared to me in a new light. In the needs of my congregation I recognized those of non-Christians in a measure that affected me very deeply; in their sorrow I recognized the wretchedness of the heathen; the cry for help from my own congregation seemed an echo from heathen lands. The grace which I myself enjoyed, and which I commended to my own people. was, I felt, for the heathen as well, but there might be no one to proclaim it to them. Here, everyone may without difficulty find the way of life; in those lands there lliay be no one to show the way. Bere, in almost every house the Holy Scriptures may be found; there, the Scriptures are only scantily distributed. This seems to me a powerful incentive to think seriously of missionary work."
An event soon occurred which left him free to follow his inclinations. Some incautious pulpit utterances gave offence to the ecclesiastical authorities, and he was deprived of the living at Wolfenhausen. A few months afterward he once more offered himself for missionary work, stronger in every respect and better equipped for the work. .Being willing to go wherever his services were needed, and the Abyssinian Mission requiIing another worker, he left for that country in February, 1837, arriving in Alexandria in April, and travelling up the Nile to Cairo, where he had his first glimpse of Africa's greatest curse-the slave trade. In the 1Ihive market he found the poor creatures lying on the bare earth, by day fainting in the burning rays of the sun, at night placed in a stable without any covering except, at the most, a few rags around their loins. There they lay -young and old of either sex-to be examined by buyers, like cattle. This first experience of slavery gave him a new impulse to do his utmost for the sprEad of the Gospel in Afriea, as the most effectual remedy for the miseries of its people. From Suez and Massowa he travelled, with difficulty and danger, to the highlands of Abyssinia, and joined Isenberg and Blumhardt at Adoa, in the hope that their united labora would bring such life into the Abyssinian Church as would make it a missionary church; but soon after priestly jealousy so worked upon the fears of the ruling prince as to induce him to issue a peremptory order to the missionaries to leave his territory and go to their own land. Repulsed in Northern Abyssinia, Krapf resolved to find his way to Shoa in the south. A sudden illness, however, compelled him to return to Cairo. After a time he made a second attempt to reach Shoa, arriving there in June, 1839, in company with Isenberg, who in a few months returned to Egypt, and left Krapf alone. Notwithstanding the geod-will of the king, the work in Shoa was slow and discouraging, and Krapf regarded the neighboring heathen tribe (the Gallas) as offering more hope of successful work than the nominal Christians of Abyssinia.
In 1842 he left Shoa for a short while, partly to meet his flture wife in Egypt, and partly to help on their way two new brethren-Mllhleisen and MUller-who, he was told, had arrived on the Abyssinian coast. Setting out on foot, after considerable difficulty and suffering from robbery, hunger, and the fatigues of travel, he arrived at his destination only to learn that the missionaries he expected to meet had returned to Egypt. It was thus necessary, apart from his private concerns, to visit Egypt to bring back the two brethren who had fled from the difficulties of their position.
While in Egypt he married Rosine Dietrich, that loving, faithful, and steady helpmeet in the difficulties and dangers of his career. With his wife, Isenberg, and Miihleisen Krapf set out to return to Shoa; but on arriving at Tajurrah he receiTed the astounding intelligence that the king forbade him to enter his dominions, an act which, like the expulsion from Adoa, was due to priestly interference.
Isenberg and Miihleisen travelled back to Massowa, in order to reach Gondar, while Krapf betook him8elf, with his wife, to Aden, desirous to gct into Gallaland by the south; but finding this impracticable, he determined to follow his two fellow-laborers, taking with him a number of Ethiopic and Amharic Scriptures, so that he might at least, by the circulation of the Scriptures, do what he could for the spiritual welfare of Abyssinia.
He landed at Massowa, and began the journey to the interior in company with a trading caravan. While passing through the Shoho desert, his wife, who in spite of her state of health had accompanied him, prematurely gave birth to a daughter, having no medical aid, or even the assistance of one of her own sex. The child lived but an hour, yet long enough to be baptized, receiving from its parents the name of Gneba (tears). In the evening they buried the little one at the foot of a tree, the father conducting a funeral service in Amharic. It was only by great e1Iort that Krapf succeeded in obtaining three days rest for the young mother, at the end of which she was obliged to set out again with the caravan.
On reaching the boundary of Tigre, Isenberg and Miihleisen met them with the distressing intelligence that the Prince of Tigre would not allow them to enter his territory. Thus every attempt to establish themselves in Abyssinia was frustrated. The door was closed at Adoa in the north, and at Ankober and Shoa in the south, and Gondar, in the centre of the country, they could not reach. Even then Krapf did not lose heart j his faith rose above present discouragement, as is evident from what he says when writing home: " Abyssinia will not soon again enjoy the time of grace she has so shamefully slighted. Meanwhile we will not cease to pray fof that unfortunate land, especially commending to the Lord the many copies of His precious Word, that He would bless them and make them witnesses of His truth. It is a consolation to us and to dear friends of the mission to know that over eight thousand copies of the Scriptures have found their way into Abyssinia. These will not all be lost or remain without a blessing.
Faith speaks thus: Though every mission should disappear in a single day and leave not a trace behind, I would still cleave to mission work with my prayers, my labors, my gifts, with my body and soul j for there is the command of the Lord .Tesus Christ, and where that is there is also His promise and His final victory."
Krapf determined to atte~pt to gain a footing on the East Coast of Africa, in order from there to reach the Gallas, whose language he already understood. With this object in view, he sailed, with his wife, in an Arab vessel from Aden in November, 1843. Strong headwinds and a heavy sea compelled them to return to Aden. In spite of their exertions, the water gained upon them in their leaky boat, and on reaching the entrance to the harbor of Aden the land wind drove back the vessel toward the open ocean. There was indeed a ship's boat, but it could not carry twenty-five persons in a rough sea. Just then a bumboat coming within hearing, Krapf asked its captain to take them on board. This he at first declined to do, and only by promises and threats Krapf at last succeeded in inducing him to take them off the sinking vessel, which in half an hour after they left it sank. Eight days later Krapf sailed again. and after four or five weeks' journey arrived at Takaungu, north of the island of Mombas. He then went on to Zanzibar, and after a favorable reception from the Sultan sailed northward again to fix upon a favorable position for a mission station. As the result of his inquiries and observation he decided upon Mombas.
Scarcely, however, had he begun work at Mombas when he was called to pass through another sorrow, in the loss of his wife. She was attacked with fever, which was the more serious a<; she was daily expecting to become a mother. A daughter was born, and a renewed attack of fever brought her very low. In prospect of death, she felt for a time disquieted regard- ing her spiritual state; but her husband's words about the grace of God and the completeness of Christ's work had such a consoling effect upon her that she said: "I have obtained grace and mercy from the Lord; He has looked upon me ; I feel His presence as I have never felt it before." She then prayed for relatives, for the mission, and for East Africa, and for the Sultan, that God would incline his heart to promote the eternal welfare of his subjects. The next day she appeared much better, but the day follow- ing much worse, while her husband himself was so weakened by fever as to be obliged to leave the care of her almost entirely to servants. The next day she breathed her last, and on the following morning-Sundaythey buried her, according to her wish, on the mainland in the territory of the Wanika. During the night the little daughter also passed away, and was laid by the mother's side. Krapf, even amid all these trials, writes, in a letter to the secretary of the missionary society : "Tell the committee that in East Africa there is the lonely grave of one member of the mission connected with your society. This is an indication that you have begun the conflict in this part of the world; and since the conquests of the Church are won over the graves of many of its members, you may be all the more assured that the time has come when you are called to work for the conversion of Africa. Think not of the victims who in this glorious warfare may suffer or fall ; only press forward until East and West Africa are united in Christ."
Recovering strength, he continued his work, occasionally making short journeys from Mombas to the mainland among the Wanika, anxious to establish a mission station among this people, especially to open the way into the interior of Africa-al ways a prominent idea with him.
In 1846 he had thc joy of welcoming as a fellow-laborer Rebmann, who was jn one respect the very opposite of Krapf. The latter, restless and energetic, entertained far-reaching plans, and even saw in imagination a chain of mission stations stretching from Mombas to the Niger, and thus connecting East and West Africa; Rebmann, on the contrary, had determined to settle in one place and work there. In spite of this dissimilarity, they were at once drawn to each other, and Krapf, after two years of loneliness, could well appreciate the presence and help of a fellow-laborer. They decided on Rabbai Mpia, a Wanika village not far from the seacoast, as the mission site. In October of the same year they finished a house so far as to aIIow of their living in it, and Krapf remarks, " Every true friend of Christ's kingdom must rejoice over this mission, for it is the first step in the way to the heart of Africa. We have secured a position whence the unexplored regions of the interior can be reached and the ancient bulwarks of Satan assailed by the messengers of Christ."
The people, though keenly alive to the material advantage of having Europeans among them, were perfectly indifferent to the truths they taught. They showed themselves inveterate beggars; the mission house looked like a shop with a crowd of customers, who, however, had no intention to pay. The missionaries naturally felt a difficulty in dealing with the requests of the people. To give them everything they asked for would increase their avarice, and seem like bribing them to become Christians, while to refuse every request would lead the heathen to conclude that, though the white teachers spoke much of love and self-denial, they did not practise these virtues. Krapf was inclined to be liberal in his gifts, arguing that though the missionary cannot heal the sick and raise the dead, he can at least perform the miracles of love, humility, patience, and self-sacrifice, leading the heathen to say among themselves, ""How is it that the missionary submits to so much on our account, and does us so much kindness ~"
Like many other missionaries, in the early period of his work he thought it incumbent upon him to spend much time in attacking the beliefs and practices of the people, in .:onsequence of which the simple presentation of Christian truth fell somewhat into the background. Upon this point he says: "I have a conviction that for some time past I have argued too much against the heathen customs and practices of the Wanika, for their abominations excited my indignation; but I ought to preach to them more of the love of Jesus to the lost erring slaves of Satan. I must pity them more, and speak to them more pitifully and sympathizingly." Still some encouraging signs did appear, for one convert was made, who gave evidence that Christian truth was a power in his life; this man, too, was the means of bringing to the missionaries another, who eventually became a true Christian worker among his countrymen.
Krapf was not tho man to rest long contented with work at one station. His fixed idea was a chain of stations stretching across Africa, and he attempted several times to penetrate farther into the interior, visiting Usambara, to the southwest, in 1848, and the land of the Wakamba in the following year. In both places he received a friendly welcome from chiefs and people, and" everything seemed favorable for the extension of the mission.
Twelve years of unremitting labor in Africa had now passed away, and Krapf thought the time was come to visit Europe for rest and change, and to arouse a greater interest in African missions. During his stay in Europe he secured the promise of three missionaries and three artisans to strengthen the African mission. With the former he hoped to place two stations farther in the interior, and by the aid of the latter to carry out a plan long in contemplation-the establishment of a Christian colony. On his departure from Europe the outlook for the East African Mission was at its brightest. With him were two missionaries, Pfefferle and Dihlmann, and three mechanics. On reaching Aden, Dihlmann, who had scruples about connecting himself with the English Church, remained at Aden. Further, on arriving at Rabbai, Rebmann and Erhardt, who previously had fully agreed to his plans, were found to be opposed to farther extension, without first laying a firm base of operations on the coast. In theory they were perhaps right, but Krapf thought that a disinclination to encounter hard- ships had not a little to do with their opposition to his forward movement.
There grew up also an unbrotherly estrangement between Rebmann and Erhardt, on the one side, and the three mechanics, on the other, resulting in much trouble to Krapf, who had a difficult task in dealing with both parties. Again, the three artisans and Pfefferle were stricken with fever, of which the latter died after a few weeks' illness; thus trouble after trouble seemed to fall upon Krapf. Yet he wrote to Dr. Barth in June, 1851, the following noble, even prophetic words: "And now let me look backward and forward. In the past what do I see ~ Scarcely IU6re than the ren:.nant of a defeated army. You know I had the task of strengthen- ing the East African Mission with three missionaries and three handicrafts- men ; but where are the missionaries ~ One remained in London, as he did not consider himself appointed to East Africa; the second remained at Aden, in doubt about the English Church; the third, Pfefferle, died on May lOth of nervous fever, into which the country fever had developed.
As to the three mechanics, they are ill of fever, lying between life and death, and instead of being a help to me and to Brothers Rebmann and Erhardt, look to us for help and attention; and yet I stand by my asser- tion that Africa must be conquered by missionaries; ther9 must be a chain of mission stations between the east and west, though thousands of the combatants fall upon the left hand and ten thousand on the right.
From the sanctuary of God a voice says to me, , Fear not; life comel!
through death, resurrection through decay, the establishment of Christ's kingdom through the discomfiture of human undertakings Instead of allowing yourself to be discouraged at the defeat of your force, go to work yourself. Do not rely on human help, but on the living God, to whom it is all the same to save by little or much. Do what you can in the strength of God, and leave the result in His hands. Believe, love, fight, be not weary for His name's sake, and you will see the glory of God.'
" Now when I heard this voice I could accompany my departed brother to the grave in the conviction that in spite of this the Lord's work in Africa must and will advance. It does not matter if I fail entirely; the Lord is King, and will carry out His purpose in His own time."
Soon after his coadjutor's death Krapf made a journey to Ukambani, about one hundred miles from Rabbai, to establish a station; but the journey ended disastrously. While travelling in company with a friendly chief, a superior force attacked the chief's party, the chief himself was slain, his followers scattered, and the missionary abandoned by friend and foe. There was nothing left but to retrace his steps, and after much suffer- ing from hunger and thirst, he at last reached one of the villages of the vVakamba completely exhausted. Suspicious that the villagers had designs upon his life, he stole away at night to travel to Yata, but the difficulties of the way-in which he advanced only six miles in three nights-determined him to return to the Wakamba village and surrender at discretion. •, Kill me if you will," he said, "but you must take the consequences." On the other hand, if they allowed bim to leave in peace, he promised them a portion of the property he had left behind at Yata. To this they agreed, and after reaching Yata and fulfilling his promise, he returned to the coast with some Wanika, arriving at Rabbai after nine days' travelling, to the joy of his fellow. laborers, who had heard reports of his death, The following year he. paid another visit to U sambara ; but war having broken out, he was compelled to return without accomplishing anything toward the settlement of a mission.
And now his health making another visit to Europe necessary, he left in 1853 for his native land, in the following year setting out again for East Africa, taking Abyssinia on his way, to endeavor, by an interview with the king, to revive the mission in that country. On leaving Abyssinia, instead of returning to Egypt via the Red Sea, he chose the route by the Nile Valley; but the journey so told upon his weak health that, on arrival in Egypt, he had to embark for Europe-a return to East Africa was not to be thought of, Passing over his life in Europe, we now come to his last visit to his old field of labor. Wishing to open up a mission in East Africa, the Methodist Free Churches requested Krapf to accompany their missionaries-W oolner and Wakefield-to Africa, and to assist them in commencing a mission. He consented, and after seeing Wakefield settled at Ribe, the new station (illness had already driven Woolner back to Europe). he returned home, his health not allowing a prolonged stay. Of the new station he remarked: "The station Ribe will in due time celebrate the triumph of the mission in the conversion of the Wanika, though I may be in the grave. The Lord does not allow His Word to return to Him void, although often our own desponding hearts and the unbelieving opponents of missions will say, You are laboring in vain."
With these hopeful words his life as an African missionary came to an end; he only entered the Dark Continent once more, and that was as interpreter to the British expedition to Abyssinia in 1867, though even then ill-health compelled him to leave the army before the expedition had reached its destination.
From tbis time onward he passed a quietly active life in taking his Oriental manuscripts through the press, and in unostentatious efforts for the spiritual good of others. Africa was still dear to him ; he had the joy of hearing from time to time of the progress of missions in that continent, and especially that the work he began in East Africa had not proved unfruitful.
The closing scene came on November 26th, 1881. In the afternoon of that day Krapf said to a friend: "I am so penetrated by the feeling of the nearness of 'the Lord's coming that I cannot describe it. He is indeed near; oh ! we ought to redeem the time, and hold ourselves in
PRAYER AND MISSIONARY WORK
readiness, that we may be able to say with a good conscience, • Yea, come, Lord Jesus.' It will be glorious when our Saviour appears as a conqueror and His enemies have become His footstool. Then shall we both be permitted to see that our work for the Lord has not been in vain." He spent the evening until 9 o'clock in correcting proofs, and then, after family prayer, visited his sick wife, leaving her with the words, "Good-night, dear mamma; the dear Saviour be thy pillow, thy canopy, and thy nightwatch." Then with a loving "good-night" to his daughter, he retired to his room and, as was his custom, locked the door. Not appearing at his usual hour in the morning, his daughter called him, but receiving no answer, the fears of the household were aroused, and on making their way into the room they found he had " gone home" while kneeling at the bedside.
PRAYER AND MISSIONARY WORK.
BY W. D. mIDLAND, TAl-CHOW, CHINA.
The China Inland Mission was begun and is carried on by prayer. Ea~h member, on being received, is told that he is to look to the Lord to' supply his need, and not to the mission. Mr. Hudson Taylor said to me, when accepted for China, " The mission might become bankrupt, but the Lord never could; difficulties might occur which would hinder funds being sent inland, but the Lord would be inland."
These remarks came with double force to me. I had been lIome months in London, and my stock of savings was exhausted. I was to pay a farewell visit to my mother, some two hundred miles distant, but I had not a penny to buy. a stamp for a letter saying I was coming, and of course I had no money for my railway fare. I had only to mention my need, and friends would have supplied it at once; but we were to look to the Lord in China, and if I could not look to Him now, at home with friends around me, what would I do perhaps alone in a heathen land! I went alone and pleaded with God as perhaps never before. Two days passed; I expected money by letter, but none came. It was Saturday, and I was at the usual prayer-meeting. After the meeting Mr. Taylor asked me to carry his bag to the station, as he was to spend Sunday in the West End. I gladly did so ; and just as the train was starting he said to me that, perhaps, I might need money for travelling expenses, and put a sovereign in my hand. This 80 took me by surprise that I nearly dropped it. How I inwardly praised the Lord for a direct answer to prayer just when I was not expecting it ! My letter was already written and shortly was in the post. The battle was fought, the victory won, and my faith strengthened for service in China.
The next day I was introduced to a gentleman, who on shaking hands lI.nd wishing me Godspeed left a half sovereign in it. Two days later another gave me two pounds, and so, time after time, the Lord supplied all my need until we left for China. Only the Lord knew my need, and it was years before I told anyone of it but my godly mother.
I remember, too, Mr. Taylor telling us that we must join him in prayer for the fundd needed for outfit and passages, if we were to leave in May, as proposed. We had daily united prayer for this object, and the results are told by Mr. Taylor himself in the" Occasional Paper," No.2. "On this day [March 12th] I again examined my mission cash book, and the comparison of the results of the two similar periods of one month and six days eachone before and one after special prayer for £1500 to £2000-was very striking: Receipts from December 30th to February 6th, £170 8s. 3d.
" "February 6th to March 12th, 1774 58. lld. Funds advised since received 200 0 0 Total receipts since February 6th, £1974 58. lld.
This was previous to the circulation of the' Occasional Paper,' and conse- quently could not be the result of it. It was the response of a faithful God to the united prayers of those whom He had called to serve Him in the Gospel of His dear Son. We can now compare with these two periods a third of the same extent. From March 12th to April 18th the receipts were £529, showing that when God had supplied the special need, the special supply had also ceased. Truly there is a LIVING GOD, and He is the hearer and answerer of prayer."
Such direct answers to prayer and supply of all need furnished great encouragement to young workers just beginning their life work to go forward, believing that He who had thus shown His faithfulness would supply all further need when in a heathen land. He had already shown us that we had only to ask and receive.
Twenty-six years have passed, and the Lord has continued to provide in many ways, showing that He is not limited to anyone line of action.
In one case our need was supplied by a heathen prefect. In China all foreigners are supposed to know something about medicine, especially missionaries j so I was sent for to visit the private secretary of the prefect of the city, who was very ill, aud whom the native doctors could not cure. This was rather a trying ordeal, as I was quite ignorant of medicine j but this they would not believe, so that I could hardly refuse to go. After prayer for guidance, I went, taking a native helper with me. We found the patient suffering from fever and ague, while his knee joints were both set fast. After leaving him, I sent a quinine mixture such as I had taken myself for ague and some camphorated oil to rub on his knee joints. Two days after I went again to see him, and found he could move one leg and that the fever was less. He soon got well, and came to thank me mr for kindness. Nearly two months after this, when our funds were so exhausted that we had only 3 cash in the house (less than a farthing), we had a little rice, and were making that go as far as we could. Just after a very frugal dinner there came a sharp rap at the door, two men came in with half a goat, a piece of beef, a large fish, and some sweetmeats. According to the usual custom, I was going to take a part and return the rest, but the men said that they were under strict orders not to take anything back; that the prefect was sorry he could not get a better present to send j but there was still a difficulty. It is the custom to give something to those who bring a present j but the Lord knew we had nothing to give, and had provided for that, too, for they themselves were told not to accept any- thing on any account. This is the first and last time I have had such a present, or 8Qnt without the bearer expecting to be well paid. It being cold weather, the food kept and lasted us till supplies came to hand.
Again our need was supplied for enlarging the house. The native house we were living in-the only one to be had at the time -was very small, and the matting ceiling so low that one could touch it with the hand. This with the thermometer from 96 0 to 1000 in the house in the summer was not conducive to health or calculated to fit one for work. Knowing that mission fnnds were low, we set apart a day for fasting and prayer, that the Lord would enable us to add one or two larger and more airy rooms before another summer. Other difficulties besides lack of money were to be overcome. The house was a rented one, and to add to it without some new agreement was to have our rent raised, nor could we remove the addition if leaving for a more suitable house. We also needed a small piece of ground joining the house, which belonged to anothAr man. We made a note of the date of our prayer, and waited for the Lord to work. Shortly after the landlord came to terms, the needed agreement was drawn up, and the piece of ground was bought. These difficulties being removed, we had not long to wait for funds, as a check came from a friend in England, outside the mission, who knew nothing about our need, which nearly covered the expense of the addition. After thanking God for it I looked at my note-book, and found that the check was drawn on the day we had spent in fasting and prayer-a fnlfilment of the promise, "Before. they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear." A prisoner was released in answer to prayer. Our native Christians often go to God in their simple, childlike faith, and ask for things which at times to us seem strange. Some eighteen years ago an aged woman came to one of our chapels in a newly opened station, and asked if this was a Roman Catholic place of worship, but was told that our worship was very different from that. The Gospel was put plainly before her, and sounded very strange to her. She was a devout Buddhist, had visited all the noted shrines and temples year by year, in order to obtain merit. She had already gone to the Roman Catholics, and thought that their religion was a little better than. her own j but now shew as told that her merit was useless j that she niU8t come to Jesus as a poor, helpless, lost sinner j that she could have eternal life as a free gift by putting her trust in the Lord J e~ms Christ. She left, promising to come again erelong.
She came again, but this time bowed down with sorrow. Her husband was constable of the village, and consequently responsible for the conduct of the people. A murder had been committed in the village, and news of it had reached the ears of the magistrate. The murderer had escaped, the magistrate was very angry, and said he would punish the constable instead of the murderer, as is often done in some parts of China j but he was an old man, so the magistrate took his son instead, and everybody said that unless the murderer could be found he would lose his head. So she had come with her heart almost breaking to know if Ah-kying, the native helper, could assist her. lIe told her that to go and plead with the magistrate for her son would be useless j but he could pray to God for her j that God would hear and answer prayer, and help her if they prayed to Him. The mother said she would gladly pray to God if she knew how. So they knelt down together. Ah-kying told the Lord all her trouble, asked God to deliver her son, and also that both mother and son might be saved from eternal death.
She returned to her home, told her husband and neighbors how this Christian had prayed to God, and how confident he was of his prayer being speedily answered. Day after day passed, and still no news of the poor prisoner j but one afternoon, just as hope was beginning to die away, she saw coming toward the house her son, alive, set f~ee from prison. He could not understand it himself, for he had not the least _ expectation of being released. That morning the magistrate had sent for him, had him beaten, then set him at liberty. Great was the joy at his return.
The mother told him about Ah-kying's prayer, and for weeks they walked about eight miles to the chapel to worship the God who had answered prayer, and saved the son from death.
Some weeks after, she, her son, and a neighbor came to see me, and told me the whole .tory. They begged me to send some one to their village with them, as many of their neighbors wished to hear more of this prayerhearing God j but I had no one to send, and when I went that way again no trace of them could be found. I heard afterward that they left the place, and did not wish their whereabouts to be known, lest, after all, they should get into trouble.
We have now an outstation within a mile of this village, and a family of native Christians in the village itself. Had we been able to follow up that case at once a whole Christian village might have been the result.
OUR INDEBTEDNESS TO CHRIST FOR TEMPORAL BLESSINUS
OUR INDEBTEDNESS TO CHRIST FOR TEMPORAL BLESS. INGS.-Ill.
BY REV. T. LAURIE, PROVIDENCE, R. I.
We are SO accustomed to the large measure of our freedom that we seldom thiuk how few nations are so favored. Among them all England approaches tbe nearest to onr liberty, but even there the battles for the rights of the people are not all fought yet. It was at a great cost that our fathers purchased our privileges, not only on the battle-fields of the Revolution, but during that first winter at Plymouth; yea, in the dungeons and even on the scaffolds of England under Queen Elizabeth and her successors.
There is hardly a greater contrast to our institutions than that afforded by the theocratic, absolute monarchy of Turkey. Time and again Ratti sherifs (honored edicts) have been issued promising the speedy enactment of laws to secure life and property with a regular mode of collecting taxes, and time and again have things gone on precisely as before. In Turkey the only limit to oppression is the impossibility of carrying extortion further; and however far it is carried, few of the sufferers think of an infringement of their rights; they are only conscious of greater misery, and passively submit to the inevitable.
It may be said that it is not wise to expose oppression so long as our missionaries are in the empire; but the story of Turkish oppression has already gone forth ou the wings of the wind. It is too late to cover it up. Every traveller adds to the list of facts already published; and standard bo~ks of reference embody the results. From a broad induction of facts the Encyclopr:edia Britannica concludes (xxiii., 654, 9th ed.) : "All its officials unite in their own persons the judicial and executive functions, and are, as a rule, thoroughly corrupt, venal in the dispensation of justice, oppressors of the subject, and emblezzlers of the public re'enues, and wholly absorbed in amassing wealth during their generaIly brief and precarious term of office." A note on the same page gives a specimen of the facts as follows: " Mr. G. P. Devey, Consul at Erzrum, reports that in one place in that province the sheep-tax for 1885 was collected three times over. At first the number was underestimated, only 9000 piastres being paid. So the collector came again, and instead of the difference between that and the correct amount, made the villagers pay the entire 14,000 piastres. Then he came a third time, and because he knew they had no receipt-for he had given them none-he collected the 14,000 piastres again." Row many governments are there whose officials would have dared to do that !
Such extracts might be multiplied, but we hasten to add that the Turkish Government has no truer fflends than our missionaries, or any who do more to promote its prosperity. Though they suffer in the suffering of tbeir people, they suffer in silence. Or if they speak, they exhort to submit to the higher powers, "for there is no power but of God" (Rom. 13 : 1), and while they weep with them that weep, they bid them "humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt them in due time" (1 Pet. 5 : 6), " being in subjection with all fear not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward" (1 Pet. 2 : 18).
They also inculcate that patient industry and thrift, also that truthful. ness in daily life which Turkey needs so much to make her truly prosperous. Turkish officials know that however the prison and the bastinado are prominent factors in the collection of the taxes of other communities, they are never needed to collect those of evangelical Christians. The only fear is lest the enormity of their oppressions prove too strong for the teaching of the missionaries, for we have it on good authority that "extortion maketh a wise man foolish" (Eccles. 7: 7), or, as the old version reads~ " oppression maketha wise man mad."
In 1882 the debt of the Turkish Empire was more than $532,000,000. The annual expense of the seraglio is from one to two millions more. The original cost of the steamers and ironclad vessels in the navy with the annual outlay for their maintenance is immense. The army is a still heavier burden, and is distributed over the whole empire. Though the pay of a private is only 90 cents a month, yet some provinces cannot do much more than support their own soldiery. The government then must have money. Whence does it come? Commerce is mostly in the hands of foreigners. Manufactures hardly exist, and what there are cannot compete with imports from abroad, which are much cheaper. Agriculture is carried on in most primitive methods, and the peasant is so ground down by taxation that every year he has Jess money to pay with than he had the year before. Tax-gathering seems to be the one business of the government. If it sought to develop the natural resources of the country, a much larger revenue might be collected with less trouble both to the people and the tax-gatherer, but so far from doing this it pounces on everyone who seeks to better his estate, and demands more additional taxes sometimes than the improvement produces. So while, on the one hand, it represses all enterprise, on the other, it extorts to the very uttermost all that it can lay hands on.
The Pashaliks of the empire are generally sold to the mghesG bidder, and the buyer must hasten to get back his investment before anothAr offers a larger sum and takes his place. Then, if while hurrying ~~ reimburse himself, he does not keep up large remittances to the capital, he is liable at any moment to lose his place. Money thus flows constantly from the circumference to the centre, leaving provinces continually more impoverished to supply the stream. In such a state of things who expects a pasha to seek the good of his people? I knew one who tried to lighten their burdens, and sought nothing for himself; but as his remittances were small, he was set aside for another who would be a better sponge.
It is a necessary part of this process, that so long as the purses move toward Constantinople there shall be no questions asked as to the manner in which they were filled. Every petty official may add to the sum he is expected to collect-whatever in his modesty he thinks will remunerate him for his trouble-so that by the time the demand reaches the tax-payer it has grown to several times its original amount. I was sitting one day in the salaam luk of the commander of a garrison in Kurdistan, shortly after the massacre of the mountain Nestorians, when one of them brought in the tribute of his small hamlet to pay to the Turk. He began to I:ndo the numerous fastenings of a bag that had heen patched so often. it was impossible to tell its original material. Snatching it from him, the Tnrk ripped it open with his dagger, tore out a gold coin that had been wrapped in many coverings and sewed into one corner of the bag, hastily tossed the remaining coins over, and pronounced the 300 Tcherkies only 277, and thus addressed the astonished tribute· bearer: "Either bring the lacking 23 in two days, adding another 50 to pay me for my trouble, or flee, if your people have a place to flee to, for I will come and take what I want at the mouth of my cannon." What could the man do ~ I presume there was hardly a coin left in the village, and many of those he brought had been pierced, as if the women had given up the ornaments of their head-dresses to pay the taxes-ornaments which they never part with save under the direst necessity.
This oppression is not visited on Christians only; Mohammedans also suffer. On our way to Tiyary, in 1843, Dr. Grant and the writer passed several villages in succession empty and desolate. The climate was delightful, the soil fertile, and water abundant, but the houses Were roofless and the fields generally untilled. One of them was Bastawa, the home of the chief of Mezury, whose wife was there with a few attendants securing the rice crop. Totally different from her coarse companions, her appearance at once awakened our interest. The tassels of a fine silk shawl depended gracefully from the lower border of her head-dress. A green silk saltah (jacket), lined with fur, but. evidently well worn, covered a dress of coarse blue cotton, suggestive at once of former wealth and present poverty. Her face, still beautiful, showed a spirit roused rather than crushed by misfortune. Dr. Grant asked if she could furnish us lodgings for the night. At the question the smouldering fire kindled up. Rising to her full height, while one hand threw back her braided hair, she pointed with the other to the roofless houses and the ruined castle. " Look around; you have stripped us of everything and driven us forth to beg, and now do you ask our hospitality 1 Go to those with whom you have still left something, and God be judge between us." She said more, but this was the substance of her address in Kurdish, as translated by our servant. She did not rave. Gesture, look, and tone were faultless. She seemed to scorn to yield to the violence of passion. There was a dignity of sorrow about her that moved us even more than her words, and made thelll understood eveII Pllfore they were translated. We stood ashamed of our Turkish dress, that led her so to mistake US, and though as !loon as she learned who we were she offered to share with us the food she had brought from her pre~ent home, we had to move on, a<I there was absolutely nothing for our horses, thinkiag as we went much more of her than of our own discomforts.
A Kurdish chief, whom Dr. Grant had visited at his home in Akra on his first entrance into Tiyary, claimed descent from the Abasside caliphs of Baghdad, and was lord of many villages along the valleys and on the hill-tops, but he could not satiate the cravings of the Pasha of Mosul, who, without even a trial, imprisoned him three months, and set another over his estates. He then was ordered to remove his family to Mosul. Long after he had done this he told his old friend, the doctor, "I have been here three years, my means are nearly exhausted, and what I am to do I cannot tell." From sources like these we learned how the Turkish taxgatherer, claiming that a field will yield ten times what it does, demands most of the actual product for the pasha, and enforces the demand without mercy. How, then, are the peasants induced to sow their fields 1 The publican of last year is imprisoned till he disgorges what he had retained for himself, and his successor swears by the prophet to deal justly, only to do the same things over again, till the people either rebel or fiee. It is a righteous retribution that sometimes when a pasha is known to have grown rich, he, too, is thrown into prison till he gives up his ill-gotten gains; but that gives no relief to the taxpayer, .for. his successor follows on in the same steps j but take it all in all, it is a fearful round of sorrow and suffering. When Sherif Pasha sent to collect the taxes of SQIlle villages in the plain of Mesopotamia the poor people, who had hoped that a change of rulers would bring relief, implored some alleviation of their burdens, but in vain ; then placing their household goods on the backs of their cattle they set fire to their fields white for the harvest, saying that that was easier than to reap and thresh it for the Turk, and fled to Kurdistan. The only remark at Mosul was that in the days of Mohammed Pasha they could only have fled singly and at night.
But how do pashas dare to go to such extremes? At that time, whatever may be true to-day, they were a law unto themselves. A firman (royal edict) was sent to the Mohammed Pasha just referred to, reserving to the Sultan the right of inflicting capital punishment. He assembled his subordinates to hear it read, and then remarking that if anyone thought Mosul could be governed without cutting off heads, he knew nothing about the matter, made a sign to an attendant, who threw down before the assembly the heads of those then in the prison, and so allowed them to retire, glad to find their own heads still on their shoulders. Before he came several of his predecessors had Leen assassinated soon after their arrival, and the city was a camp of warring factions j but he not only defied his assailants, he also kil!ed them one after another by his secret agents and confiscated their estates, for his rapacity was fully equal to his energy. The Pasha of Diarbekir had long struggled with a rebellion in Mardin, but he quelled it at once. The Kurds who, instead of robbing others, as had been their custom, were themselves being stripped of their plunder rebelled, and their leaders were soon seated each on a sharp stake just outside the gate by which their friends entered the city, while their shrieks, curses, and groans were heard day and night till death ended the torture. The plundering Arabs were put down no less effectually, likewise the Yezidees, who had been robbers for ages, but the poor people soon found the pasha's tax-gatherers worse than all the robbers.
The city suffered no less than the country. To make his powder he wrought a sulphur mine, and though no one wanted it, the SUI plus sulphur had to be bought by the citizens at an extra price. The same was true of taxes that had been paid in kind; whether men needed the article or not, they had to buy and pay more than current rates.
Then he sold the monopoly of such things as everybody wanted. A Moslem patient told Dr. Grant that he paid more for the right to sell coffee than the cash he received. "How, then, can you live 7" "Last year I made money in building rafts. The pasha heard of it, and this is what follows. "
If the reader counts these as exaggerations, let him study the figures which follow. In 1835 the imports of European cloths amounted to 966 bales. In 1841 they had dwindled to 95 bales. Why 1 The explanation may appear in the fact that the pasha collected in 1841, 3,195,500 piastres -i.e., so much was published as collected. I might add that that sum is equal to $138,935, but it gives a more truthful idea of the case to add that the wages of a groom arc 30 piastres a month ($1.20), and of upper servants, 100 piastres ($4). A Nestorian from the mountains once told me with great gusto that besides his food he got one tenth of a Tcherkie a day (2 cents !), and yet where wages were at that rate the taxes were $138,935. In summer, when the drought leaves the plain of Assyria bare and verdureless, it is refreshing to look across to the dark green of the olive groves of Baashaika. Streams of water are led in turn to every tree, so that the foliage is fresh all summer long, but its owners may not pluck one olive from the loaded hranches, and the villagers must cultivate the whole for the pasha.
Looking day after day on such a state of things, is it strange that I longed for the day when Christians at home should appreciate the debt they owe to Christ for temporal as well as spiritual blessings 1 Ever since my return I have been hoping that a suffering people had reached the lowest point of mlsery, and that their next step would be upward out of the depths, but year after year I have looked and longed in vain. Instead of that, the wanton cruelties and terrible extortions of Moussa Bey have called forth thc remonstrances of united Europe, till the Sultan, who had sided with the robber a!.ld murderer, was compelled, from
FORERUNNERS OF CABEY. 8S9
a regard for his own interest, to banish the offender. Even the dark deeds of Moussa Bey do not seem to be the extreme of trouble.
In the Independent for January 29th, 1891, a missionary says: "I regret to be obliged to report that the condition of the people is daily becoming more pitiable, and our hearts constantly bleed at the tales of rapine and plunder that reach us from every side." As I read that I am grateful that the Holy Spirit furnishes the following language of dl'votion: "My spirit made diligent search. Will the Lord cast off forever 1 and will He be favorable no more 1 Is His mercy clean gone forever 1 Hath God forgotten to be gracious 1" (Psalm 77 : 6-9.) Another missionary adds: "The ministerial office in the increasing stress of poverty reqUIres no ordinary self~denial. Salaries are inadequate and irregularly paid. Not only does the number able to contribute diminish, but there is a corresponding increase of those dependent on the charities of the churches. After the wany taxes are all paid, I always wonder where the money is to come from for even this meagre support of churches and schools, in addition to the support of their own families. ,.
I have heard another more familiar with the capital say that there workingmen cannot buy more than one suit of clothes for the year, and that the material of that grows coarser year by year. In food also they have to restrict themselves to one or two articles, and even of these they have to buy what is less nutritious.
So one land at least has not outgrown the comfort provided in the seventy-second Psalm, which says of the Christ that" He shall judge" (i.e., in behalf of) " the poor of the people. He shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor, for He shall deliver the needy when he crieth, and the poor that hath no helper. He shall redeem their soul from oppression and violence, and precious shall their blood be in His sight."
FORERUNNERS OF CAREY.
BY REV. A. J. GORDON, D.D.
As there were reformers before the Reformation-men who sounded out all the essential notes of the coming revival-so there were Careys before Carey-men who foreshadowed all the main principles of the coming age of missions.
What if the Church had not listened to Carey 1 We have often asked ourselves the question. What if the sarcasm of Sidney Smith against the " consecrated cobbler" had suppressed him and put out the candle of his enthusiasm 1 What if Dr. Ryland's peremptory, " Sit down, young man I" had silenced him so that he had ceased to plead with the Church to " expect great things from God and attempt great things for God"? We need not now conjecture " what if r' but rather rejoice that, bavini won a hearing, first by a few, and then by an ever-widening circle of British Christians, it has come to pass that the English-speaking races are now honored to be the missionary army of the world.
William Carey was the pioneer of modern missions indeed; but let us – honor for a moment some of the forerunners of this eminent pioneer.
A writer of high authority on the subject heads a chapter of his book thus: " William Carey, the first Englishman who was a foreign mis- sionary." But our thoughts instantly run from Paulerspury, in Northamp- tonshire, where the great man was born, to another English hamlet, Nasing, in Essex, where, more than a hundred and fifty years before the birth of Carey, John Eliot first saw the light. In missions, as in other enterprises, there is rarely an effect without a cause or a stream without a fountain. .As Pietism has repeatedly proved itself to be the mother of missions, so, in this instance, did Puritanism give birth to a new evangelistic revival. "Godly parents, by whom my first years were seasoned with the fear of God, the Word, and prayer," is Eliot's simple allusion to his Puritan father and mother. .And the eminent Rev. Thomas Hooker says: " When I came to this blessed family I saw, as never before, the power of gOdli- ness in its lively vigor and efficiency." Out of such a home came the first Protestant Englishman who went forth to the heathen as a herald of the cross; and thus a century and a half before Carey became a missionary to the Indians of .Asia did John Eliot become a missionary to the Indians of .America.
From Old England Eliot came to New England in 1631 ; he was settled as pastor in Roxbury, and almost immediately began to be moved with concern for the benighted red men of the neighboring country. With prodigious toil he leamed their language and reduced it to a grammar, closing this difficult work with an inscription which has already passed into a proverb: "Prayer and pains, through faith in Jesus Christ, will do anything. "
As Eliot was the first Englishman to go as a foreign missionary, so he was probably the first to translate the entire Bible into a heathen language. Considering the exceeding difficulty of mastering the Indian tongue and the lack of helps for accomplishing the task, the work is to be regarded as perhaps the greatest achievement, as it was the beginning of efforts in biblical translation. Edward Everett has said, without exaggeration: " The history of the Christian Church does not contain an example of resolute, untiring, and successful labor superior. "
As for Hliot's missionary labors, they were most devoted and unwearying. -By toil an-' hardship, by nunger and peril, by exposure and privation, he proved himself indeed an " apostle." as he is invariably called. He writes concerning his evangelizing tours: "I have not been dry day nor night, although I pull off my boots, wring my stockings, on with them again, and so continue." .And so he did continue until savage chiefs were transformed into childlike disciples, who, gathering their warriurA about their camp-fires at night, rehearsed to them the wondrous story that the white teacher had brought to them; communities of " praying Indians" were established, and Indian preachers were raised up to become missionaries in turn to their neighbors.
It will be interesting for us to take a brief glance at the remarkable life as it has been sketched for us by Cotton Mather. Why did he pour out such prodigious pains and toil npon these miserable Indians? Because he believed them lost, and without Christ destined to eternal perdition. Instead of speculating on their possible chance of salvation while ignorant of the Saviour, he set himself resolutely to make known to them this Saviour. •, It powerfully moved his holy bowels," says Mather, "to hear the thunder-claps of imprecation on the heads of. our naked Indians. 'Pour out Thy fury upon the heathen that know Thee not,' and he thought, ' What shall I do to rescue these heathen from that all-devouring fury 1 ' "
In his daily toil he so sanctified the meanest work, and so " made drudgery divine," that he constantly said, " Were I to go to heaven tomorrow I sh01.tld do what I do to-day. " Working for God and walking with God were wonderfully conjoined in his life; prayer and pains were never unyoked from each other. If the burdens were heavy, and discouragements pressed, then so much the more time did he devote to prayer, "being of the mind," says Mather, " that when he had any great thing to accomplish, the best policy was to work by an Engine which the world saw nothing of." And what a tribute this writer pays to his heavenly mindcdness! Who would not crave such an encomium: " We cannot say that we ever saw him walking any whither, but he was therein walking with God"? His closing days and peaceful end remind one of the departure of venerable Bede or of Colomba of Iona-he was so transfigured by his own work, so glorified by that in whieh he had striven with utmost strength to glorify his Master. Did ever a consecrated career have a more lovely close ~ His body was now bent with the weight of years, his hairs were white as driven snow, yet his zeal was unabated. To his friend and patron, Robert Boyle, he writes: " My understanding leaves me, my strength fails me, but thank God, my charity holds out."
Like most of his Puritan co-religionists in ~arly New England, Eliot was an ardent milIcnnarian, and the hope of the Saviour's glorious appearing seemed wonderfully to cheer and stimulate him in Ilis work; and Dot, as it is often slanderously reported concerning this expectation, to cut the neIVe of missionary zeal.
Cotton Mather says on this point: " While he was thus making his retreat out of this world, his discourses ran from time to time on the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ; it was the theme unto which he still had recourse, and whatever other subject he was upon, we were sure to hear something of this. On this he talked; of this he prayed; for this he longed. . When any bad news arrived, his usual reflection thereon would be: Behold some of the clouds in which we must look for the coming of the Son of Man.' "
Thus he prayed and studied and wrought, declining, though' much urged to do so, to take his hands from the plough, or to look back with self-congratulation on the furrows already turned.
" His last breath," says Mather, " smelled strong of heaven, and was articled unto none but very gracious notes, one of the last whereof was , welcome Joy! ,,, Thus he passed away May 20th, 1690, aged 86.
Eliot preached to a decaying race, and translated the Scriptures into a dying language. His Indian Bible remains as an archreological curiositythere is none to read it now; and his communities of praying Indians have long since disappeared. Therefore we hear the constant lament among the historians of his mission that no permanent result of his work remains. But let us think a moment. Who were the co-laborers and successors of Eliot in this mission to the American Indians ~ There was the noble family of Mayhews-father, son, and grandsons. Governor Thomas Mayhew" devoted his own profits and his son's and grandsons' lives to the conversion of the red Indians." Experience Mayhew, the great-grandson of the governor, was hardly behind Eliot in the devotion and success of his work. Dr. Cotton Mather, in his" Magnalia, " says of him: "A hopeful and worthy young man, Mr. Experience Mayhew, must now have the justice done of him, of this character, that in the evangelical service among the Indians there is no man that exceeds this Mr. Mayhew, if there be any that equals him." Of the fruits of his labor, Mather mentions "more than thirty hundred Christian Indians" and " thirty Indian assemblies."
In this family there was a succession of missionaries to the Indians, extending over a century and a half, the last of the house dying in 1806, at the age of 81. A noble line, who at the appearing and kingdom of our Lord will present such a company of redeemed heathen as to prove that their labor was not in vain in the Lord.
In the same fellowship of New England missionaries to the Indians stands David Brainerd, whom we count one of the very greatest that any age has produced. Wonderful man 1 Who has read his journal without tears and humiliation of heart ~ Those prayers in the depth of the forest so intense that his garments were saturated with the sweat of his intercession ; that insatiable hunger for the souls of these poor savages; those scenes of Gospel triumph where the Indians fell before his preaching like grass before the mower's scythe! What wonder that Murray McCheyne, as he read this life, should have made this entry in his journal: "Most wonderful man: What conflicts, what depressions, desertions, struggles, advancements, victories within thy torn bosom! I cannot express what I think when I think of thee. To-night more set on missionary enterprise than ever." And last and greatest of all in seraphic piety and intellectual power stands..Tonathan Edwards, who joined to his attainments as theolo-
18'2.J FItOM CANNmALISM '1'0
gian, philosopher, lind preacher, the distinction which he counted not the least of laboring as a missionary among the Stockbridge Indians.
Now consider how great were these men as the forerunners and prophets of the coming missionary era! Brainerd was the true successor of Eliot j and Brainerd's" Memoirs," edited and sent forth by Edwards, powerfully influenced William Carey and Henry Martyn to give themselves to missionary service. Not only in the beginning, but continuously was Carey influenced by this wonderful life. In the spiritual covenant into which the Serampore missionaries entered, setting forth the things upon which they thought it right to "fix their serious and abiding attention," this clause occurs: " Let us often look at Brainerd in the woods of America, pouring out his very soul before God for the perishing heathen, without whose salvation nothing could make him happy." Thus did Carey seek to draw perpetual inspiration from this devoted life. Edwards was principally instrumental, as the world knows, in instituting concerted prayer for the outpouring of the Spirit in all lands. His writings and appeals on the subject fell into the hands of Carey, and so a second .fdctor in the making of Carey came from the Indian missionaries of New England.
Thus it is unquestionably true that one of the deepest and most abiding springs of nineteenth century missions is to be found in the Indian missions of America of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
FROM CANNIBALISM TO CHRIST.
Twelve years ago, the Rev. Oscar Michelson landed on the island of Tonga, in the New Hebrides, alone among cannibals. He was broken up with fever. At first he had many perilous adventures, and again and again fled into hiding to save his life. Once a savage, now one of his best teachers, levelled a rifle to kill him, but was stopped by a look. He persevered amid many threatenings and dangers. His house became known as " the Sunday House," and Christian hymns were often heard mingling with heathen !Songs. From heart to heart, home to home, village to village, the Gospel won its way, until now thirty Christian teachers are laboring in as many different villages. Mr. Michelson's field now includes, he writes, four whole islands. The people speak three languages. During the week of prayer he held meetings simultaneously in all the villages. At one meeting 300 rose for prayer. Ten years ago they proposed to eat him. Now he lives in perfect safety. The rifles are rarely used for the purpose for which they were made, but Mr. Michelson often sees them used in pairs over the fire to hold the saucepan. If a coin or some such object is lost on the road, the owner is almost sure to find it stuck up on a post, the next time he passes that way. Peace, love, honesty, prevail in the stead of savagery. Similar transformations were reported by Mr. Richards, of our Congo Mission, and by many another missionary. The Gospel is still the power of God unto salvation.
'844 EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.
BY REY. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
EAST INDIES.
– " The Christian Patriot (Madras), in a highly eulogistic article on Dr. Pentecost's work, says: 'The most enthusiastic interest continues to be evinced by the public of Madras, Christian and non-Christian, in Dr. Pentecost's tlervices. The very first question asked wheu one meets another is, "Have you heard Dr. Pentecost?" Never before has Madras been stirred to such a longing to hear the Gospel of Christ as during the past few weeks. The popularity of this servant of God who has come in our midst at considerable personal sacrifice is evinced by the crowds that flock to hear him evening after evening at the Esplanade. The audience is by no means confined to the religious set alone. It is thoroughly representative of all classes, and during the past few days in particular the meetings have been attended largely by those who do not care ordinarily to have anything to do with religion. "I must go and hear Dr" Pentecost," said a European gentleman who had never set foot in a church for the past five.or six years; "I hear he has something to say worth listening to." What is most encouraging to us is the appreciative audiences of educated Hindus that Dr. Pentecost has at his daily services. To those who know how difficult it is to attract Hindus to purely religious meetings, this is indeed a marvel. "'What is it that you were struck with in Dr. Pentecost's address f' we asked a most cultured Hindu gentleman the other day, and he replied: "It is hIS earnestness more than his eloquence. " There is something convincing in his utterances. As we said last week, he does not appeal to the emotions III the least. He is no doubt eloquent, but there is nothing studIed about his eloquence. 1t is spontaneous, and is the outcome of his earnestness and zeal in the Master's cause.' " – The Reaper.
-" The Hindus are a people wholly given to idolatry, which, with its endless round of rites and ceremonies, possesses a fascination over the human mind which those accustomed to Christian ideas cannot understand. • •. In the case of women, religion is interwoven with eyery minute particular of daily life. In a word, religion is her own peculiar sphere. After the household work is done she has plenty of time hanging heavy on her hands, which she spends in sleeping, gossiping, or in the performance of some one or other of her endless religious ceremonies. A Hindu lady has no visiting or shopping to do as understood by the Europeans; she has no fancy or plain sewing on hand; and anything like reading is out of the question. Almost every second or third day there is some fast, feast, or ceremony to observe; and on such days she must have some light dish or cake, for each feast has its own peculiar dish. She thus finds something to do to kill time, and has become subject to the' ordinances of touGhing, tasting, handling.' She also gives alms to the Brahmans and the poor in a manner somewhat ostentatious; she must have her adviser by her side to tell her which is the propitious hour of the day to buy, sell, etc. Being thus incrusted in her shell of fancied good works, she does not feel the need of a Saviour's cleansing blood. She is clean and made pure by her rites and deeds of charity; and a sense of sin being absent, the message of a Saviour has no meaning for her. . " Among the Hindus, whatever may be the case with most of the men, there is no denying the fact that most of the women are in dead earnest in their superstition ; and we must take advantage of their strong religious instincts and give them a right direction and turn them into a Dew channel, by giving them an education leavened with the Christian leaven. This will create in them a habit of reflection, help them to think rationally on religion, and to read the Bible with profit to their souls under wise and sympathetic guidance. " -The Helpmeet.
-" Stand with me for a moment in a Hindu village. We are in the centre, and have come to the Hindu temple. The priest comes out and says, 'Stay here, sir; don't go further. I will provide mats and seats for you.' We sit down, and there gather near us 150 or 200 Brahmans and educated natives. In the distance we see women in the verandas. Then a Bengali stands up. I shall never forget that scene. Behind is the Hindu temple. Above is a clear, tropical moon; and as the Bengali teacher tells in flowing, fervent Bengali the life of Christ, and as he comes to the part ",here they were driving nails into His hands, and Christ cried out, ' Father, forgive them; they know not what they do ! ' you can feel the thrill going through the audience. And as the preacher goes on to tell of the death and resurrection, you can see the tears running down the faces of the people. When this man closed, another Bengali started a soft, wild Bengali air, telling how man had wandered away from God, and God had sent His Son to bring him back. When he stopped there was dead silence. You see before you the picture of Bengali Christians convincing by their eloquence and zeal their fellow-countrymen. In another village some of our Bengalis ",ere alone, and by their preaching they converted a rich young man. He, won by them, came forth and confessed Christ in baptism, even though it meant to him giving up a fortune of £20,000 and never looking on his mother's face again. In another village, where one of our old students lived, he, by his learning, was able to convince an English-speaking schoolmaster of the divinity of Christ. By hiR love and zeal he won him so that he and hi;; wife and four children were baptized. You can be proud of your native workers. You may thank God for them, for I believe that, as a whole, they are a band of truly converted men. They are men who know Him in whom they beliel'e. They are men of wonderful eloquence; and I make bold to say that 90 per cent of the baptisms are won first by the natives themselves. They'are the feelers, the outposts of the army of European missionaries behind, by which they are guided and controlled, but they are the real workers among their own people."- Rev. W. II. BALL, in Church Missionary Intelligencer.
– " Come with me to Madras, where there is a great university. You will see four or five great colleges, where they are teaching thousands of students for the university examinations. And the best of all these institutions is a missionary college-the Christian College. Come with me to the Mofussil towns, to the provinces, to Masulipatam, Madura, and Tinnevelly, for example, and what do you see ¥ Large colleges and hi/rh schools, some of them conducted by natives, some of them by missionary agencies. You can go lower down still to the large villages, and you will see middle schools, and still lower and you will see sIIlall primary schools started. What is the meaning of all this intellectual activity? It is this: There is a perfect craze among the upper classes in India to have an English education. The first thing you have to seek, from a missionary point of view, is to use this craving for the spread of Christ's kingdom. You know India is I'ltratified by caste. At the bottom of the social scale you have the outcastes, then the Jaw castes, gradually rising to the high castes, and these are the leaders among the 270,000,000 of people among whom the Queen rules in India. They are not the feet, they are the head-the leaders in Indiathe men who are now crymg out aloud from the national Congress for representative government for themselves, and for many things for which they are not fit just yet, and thcrefore cannot have at present. But these men are, after all, the brain of India, and they come from the highest castes and are being educated in these schools and colleges of which I have told you. You remember that the Lord Jesus, when He was upon earth, made use of a great want that He round among the people. They wanted healIng, and thousands and thousands of them came to Him just for nothing else than to get their bodies healed. Do you think the Lord Jesus does not value the mind as much as He values the body ~ Do you think that these Brahmans-these leaders of the people, who become the judges, and the rulers, and the magistrates, and the barristers-do you think these men, who are saying, 'Give us English education; give it us with Jesus Christ if you like, but we must have it in any case! '-do you thmk Jesus Himself would not have pitied them 1 I believe He would have come to us educational missionaries and said, 'Go on, my brethren, go on lU this great work and win the brain of India for God. ' Yes, India is ripe for this work of Christian university education. "-Rev. C. W. A. CLARKE, in Church Missionary lntelligencer.
– " What wonder that we hear out of the mouth of missionaries in India the severest judgments respecting caste! 'It is our greatest enemy.' , This it is, which hinders the Christianization of India.' 'The might of caste is as unintelligible as unbounded, and its fruits are almost pure evil,' writes J. Murray Mitchell. In fact, India will never become Christian without an adequate solution of the caste question. 'I.'he religious declamations of the Hindus, which often, indeed, are not seriously intended, have not a tithe of the resisting power against Christianity w.b.ich inheres in the wordless tenacity of the sense of caste.
" What now if Christianity in India itself became a caste ~ Nothing would be more fatal to our missionary hopes. And yet there is among the Christians of India a tendency, perhaps not sufiiciently noted, to constitute themselves into a caste. Nothing would be more grateful to the heathen; for with this the claim of Christianity on the conversion of all would be broken. Caste is tolerant, because intrinsically exclusive. We should then share the fate of the Syrian Christians (Thomas Christians) in Travancore, who have attained to the rank of a high caste, not eating with the heathen, but, by the very fact of being a caste, having lost all efficacy toward the rectmstitution of the spiritual life of India. "-GEORGE SToseH, in Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift.
– " Under the guidance of a well-known social reformer of Madras, a society has been formed to enjoy and maintain a brotherhood of all persons professing the Hindu religion; to promote the study and knowledge of Vedic and Shastraic literature and religion; to inculcate and practise toleration toward all other religions; to worship God; to be loyal to the sovereign, and to love Bharata Varsha (India).
, " This movement is probably the next stage in India's religious history on the part of the orthodox Hindus, and may be regarded as the last despairing effort to save an ancient and honored institution. Its members are not necessarily opposed to Christianity. Some, no doubt, resent the intrusion of an alien religion, and patriotically defend the ancestral faith; 1>ut others are quite friendly toward Christianity, and admit that it has done much for the country. In many parts of South India there exists a strong feeling, however, that something ought to be done to restore the past. Letters are written to the papers, schemes are elaborated for preaching Hinduism. occasionally a lecture is delivered, but no one loves the past so well as to gIve himself heart and soul to its revival. Spasmodic attempts there doubtless will be here and there, but they are not likely to be either widespread or lasting. We believe there is not sufficient enthusiasm among the Hindus to maintain for any length of time such an organized revival and reeonstrnction of Hinduism. It may be clung to as an historic possession for some time to come, but the national faith cannot satisfy the deflpest spiritual longings of the human heart, and this movement will ultimately lead ou to the reception of Christianity as the fulfiller of all ancient faiths and the satisfier of all human aspuations. "-Rev. HENRY RICE, in Mission Record of the Church of Scotland.
– " Some thoughtful observers believe that the battle of the future will not be so much with Hinduism or with Islam aR with Western scepticism modified by Oriental metaphysics. That such a struggle will take place in the near future is not improbable, but the Hindu nature is far too deeply religious for atheism to take root in the land. The Hindus banished Buddhism because of its atheistic character, and they will never endure a negation of God and faith. When we bear in mind the deep religiousness of the Hindu nation j their instinctive passion for tranRcendental ideas j their spiritual searches after the Divine Essence; and, what is of greater significance, that all modern revivals of Hinduism have tended toward biblical monotheism, we may believe that the present opposition to Christianity proceeds rather from the pride of national inheritance than from any hostility to spiritual truth as such j and that India's best minds will yet surmount their superstitions and prejudices, and turn adoringly to the Light of Life."-Ibid.
– " There is the class of earnest, thoughtful men whom every missionary meets, who are already confessedly Christians at heart. They are far more familiar with the facts of ' Christianity' than they are with their own religion. They admire Christ's characttr and delight in His teaching. Within the visible pille both of Brahmoism and Hinduism there are those who recognize the claims of Christ and His right to their allegiance. There is many Ii Cornelian Hindu who would embrace Christianity at once if an open profession by baptism were not demanded with it_ But so long as the open acceptance of Christ's religion mealls the sharp severance of family ties, social disgrace, and isolation, so long must we 'De thankful for this growing number of secret disciples. The heroic in daring is absent from the Hindu. He dares not' be a Daniel.' Bring him to a crisis and his courage fails. He sees, but stands still. He knows, but will not do. He needs arousal. He stands shivering on the brink, waiting for the leadership of a more venturesome spirit. But may we not claim these timid, silent ones for Christ, and wait patiently ana hopefully for the day when the enormous difficulties created by caste and the power of unenlightened female influence shall have passed away ~ " What is wanted is that a man shall arise among the Hindus themselves, fired with the moral courage and splendid fervor of a Martin Luther, who shall possess the instinct to comprehend the blind outreaching!! of the native mind and the genius to give expression to its common longings. The success of such a leader will be greater than that of any Vishnavite rdormer, because he will appHal to a people waiting for a change, !md because the tolerance of British rule will secure him unrestrained freedom of preaching. The appearance of such a personality is but a question of time j and when he appears, who will deny that his success will be greater than that of Chaitanya, and might equal that of Gautama Buddha himself. " – I b i d .
-Dr. Grundemann decidedly objects to the closed churches of the European style iu India. He found them bad enough in the cooler time, and he does not know how they can be endured at all in the hotter months.
– " With the exception of the United States of America, there is no spot of earth beyond the boundaries of the British Empire where individual liberty and opportunity for personal advancement equals that enjoyed by the people of India. There may be, it is true, greater poverty and ignorance here, and the environment may be unfavorable, but these things are, in the main, beyond the control of governments, and do not vitiate the statement that the native of India has large opportunity for making the roost and the best of the life that is given him."-Indian Witness.
:..-" Dr. Grundemann concludes, in the April number of the Allgemeine Missions Zeit~chrift, his interesting and valuable observations on mission work as he saw it in India. He takes up the questions of architecture, sculpture, painting, and music in their relation to the spread of Christianity. In regard to church building, he regrets that in the large towns and at head stations European styles of architecture are employed. On the score of coolness, so desirable in a hot climate, he doubts the wisdom of putting up Gothic churches, while he thinks it would not be easy to make Hindus enter into the symbolic significance of spires pointing heavenward. As he says. it is exceedingly difficult to arrive at a knowledge of the real thought and feeling of natives with regard to such matters, they are so accustomed to give replies suited, as they hope, to the wishes of foreign questioners. But Dr. Grundemann quotes the words of a Tamil, who expressed that when any of his fellow-countrymen accepted Christianity, they ceased to be regarded as Tamils by the rest. And this may arise in no small degree from the foreign character of the church buildings and church arrangements with which they are henceforth connected. Dr. Grundemann thinks that the attempt should be made to follow, in regard to building and other matters, the Indian ideal of beauty, and so avoid that marked departure from national idiosyncrasies which tends to produce the conviction that native Christians become members of a foreign race. Indian notions of beauty may be distasteful to us, but our ideas are probably equally distasteful to them. On the far more difficult subject of music and singing, Dr. Grundemann throws out some notions worthy of consideration. There is, he says, a Christian Indian national music, and at Ahmednuggur he heard three men, one an aged pastor, sing and play, the subject being prayer-Christian as compared with heathen prayer. He says he could not share the pleasure evidently felt by the crowd in the music and singing j yet the whole scene made a deep impression on his mind. He expresses the wish that, in addition to Christian hymns, harmless and pretty songs could be written, especially for children. In an orphanage he found girls joining in a dance and singing a song on the sufferings of our Lord. Another remark he makes is, and with this we conclude: 'Above all, children should be taught to sing after the manner of their people, and not according to our melodies! "-The Chronicle (L. M. S.).
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BEV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
Afrioa. in a. World's Oongress. formulated could scarcely be better out· lined in part than in Mr. Cust's lan- BY J. T. G. guage : •• (1) To develop the self-gov- erning aptitudes of African nationali- In former years Europeans used to ties either as kingdoms or republics. steal Africans from Africa; now they (~) The European powers should be just are trying to steal Africa from the Afri- and unselfish to the populations, which cans. " This, from Dr. Robert N. Cust. have by violence and by brute force been brought like a flock of helpless " How could we combine to become sheep under their influence. (3) The unprovoked aggressors, to imitate, in resources of the region should be de· Africa, the partition of Poland by the veloped by methods not calculated to conquest of Morocco for France, of Tunis destroy the indigenous popUlation. for Italy, of Egypt for England, and (4) The introduction of legitimate comhow could England and France, who merce, exclusive of spirituous liquors have guaranteed the integrity of the and lethal arms, and the gentler virtues Turkish Empire, turn round and wrest of education and social culture." Egypt from the Sultan?" This, from Lord Palmerston, writing to Napoleon Of courso it will be impossible to lay III. the foundation of a true policy without considering Africa past and present, It is impossible to arrest this political the African at home and abroad, Africa's and commercial drift. The only ques- influence on letters and language, comtion in practical politics is, Can this be merce and politics, and the influence regulated-dominated-bya benevolent of the outer world on Africa. What intent? Who shall attempt it, Ameri- Africans have done and can do as manuca who received the stolen goods, the facturers and tradespeople, as agricul- Africans, or Europe, who is stealing turists, in medicine, mechanics or the Africa? fine arts, we judge, are to find promi· nent place and able presentation in the The splendid diplomacy of holding a proposed African Congress at Chicago, great council on this newly revealed and there are some Africans who can Africa is to be tried in connection with forcibly treat these topics. Rev. James the World's Fair in July, 1893. Would Johnson, a member of the Legislature that it might create sentiment that of Lagos, and Bishop B. T. Tanner, of would thunder as a moral army and America, are well furnished to discuss navy, force crowned contestants to ac- the sociology of Africa and the Africans. cept it as a mighty umpire, or create a concordat, not of text, but of a one- African philology is of much wider inhearted master passion, which should terest than the limits of Africa. Dr. hold the nations in leash from greed of Robert N. Cust has already catalogued might and greed of gain, and oblige a upward of five hundred of these Afriregenerated Europe and America to ac- can languages, and if he should present cept the task and seize the opportunity, a paper on the subject in general, it to concentrate all the accumulated ex- will be the rich result of years of special perience, intelligence, and benevolence study of African philology. Then our of the Christian centuries in one gigan- own American, Lewis Grout, the autic effort, to make the noblest and lofti- thor of a Zulu grammar, a man who has est experiment of the race, the creation devoted strength and time to the whole of another ,. New World." The twenti- subject of the relative place and power e~h century should see this experiment of these several families of Afric::n far toward a successful issue.
Perhaps the policy that ought to be speech, Bantu, Swahali, and all the rest, The AdVisory Council of this, which can ably discourse on the relation of is technically termed " an African Eththese severally to the development of nological Congress," numbers a strong Africa. Others eminently qualified to host of able men in America, Europe, discuss allied themes will surely take and Africa. The administrator of part. Bechuanaland, the commissioner for Basutoland, and a large list of other The history .and geography of Africa, important fu'tlCtionaries in South, West, ancient history as well as modern, the North, and East Africa, at Zanzibar, influence of Madagascar on Southeast Natal, the Gold Coast, Algeria, Tunis, Africa, Egypt and the Soudan, the prog. Zambesia, and every other important ress of the modern unveiling of the con· point, are members. of this Advisory tinent, are fruitful parts of the general Board; De Brazza, Wissman, Schweinsubject, and men specially adapted and furth, Du Chaillu, Carl Peters, Sir Samwilling to treat them can be found. It uel Baker, and other eminent explorers is given out as probable that such offi- of the continent, members of the Royal cials as the Premier of Cape Colony, Geographical Society, Capella and Ivens, James Stevenson, of the African Lakes Ministers of Foreign Affairs Rome, Sul- Company, Dr. Ward of the Independent, tans and military men, with many foreand even H. M. Stanley, are to be in- most ministers of America and of Euvited or have already' consented to dis. rope, have all pledged their patronage to cuss important matters of African civili- this council and become members of it. zation, colonization, and commerce; It ought to arrest attention even amid and' that Hon. John A. Kasson, ex- the whirl of the Columbian Exposition. United States Minister to Germany at The anticipation is that t.he papers will the Berlin Conference, may write of the be published hereafter, in full text, function and power of the Congo Free even should the twenty-five minutes or State in the redemption of Africa. so allotted to their reading be too re- Other great sub.departments of the po- stricted for the entire essay. litical and social sphere will challenge the ablest thought of eminent special- Africa is a vast continent. Lay its ists. western edge on our Pacific Coast and it would cover land and sea to the coast The department of religion in Africa of Ireland. It has perhaps four times is quite extensive enough to have a the population of the United States; week to itself, for the African religions it is the coming continent! Great opare of great varieties and marked by portunities are offered the Christian strong characteristics. The ancient Church for its evangelization. Mis- Egyptian religion with its .. Book of sions, and, as it now seems, missions the Dead ;" the ancient Christianity of only can ameliorate the condition of Egypt, Abyssinia, and Nubia; the Mo- the barbarous races of three fourths of hammedanism of the north half of the this vast continent. The African probcontinent; the work of the modern lem is a perplexing one, but its resolumissions of the Roman Catholic and tion is hopeful and assured. Protestant churches in the Dark Continent, are of foremost ·interest. We are Lay Missionaries for the Foreign Field. given to understand that archbishops, biIlhops, and secretaries are among BY REV. C. A. NICHOLS, BASSEIN, BURMA. those likely to present papers on the great subject of the evangelization of Foreign missions are unmistakably Africa; while ex·governors and sena- passing out of the emotional into the tors, jurists and statesmen will present practical stage. Many of the most devarious phases of Afro-American cul- voted among our pastors and laymen ture, opportunity, responsibility, and are diligently studying the problem progress. how most rapidly and effectively the in the very highest state of efficiency Church may fulfil her mission to the while on the field. After arriving, he naVons. All are agreed that a greatly will have to acquire a language as di- increased force of laborers are needed verse from his vernacular as well can for this purpose, and by Bome it is be, and that, too, under very untoward argued that an adequate force can never circumstances. If he has not already be available until recruits are drawn gained fixed habits of study and con- from all worthy sources, lay as well as centration, in nine cases out of ten he clerical, from our Christian artisans, will fail in gaining such a thorough business men, and farmers, as well as mastery of the language as he must from those liberally educated and or- have in order to gain the respect of the dained to the special work of the min- people to whom he is sent. Moreover istry. if he does not have such habits of con, A little over thirteen years of experi- centration and sustained mental effort, ence and observation in the foreign he will be apt to yield to the temptation field, however, have convinced me that, to magnify trifles and chafe in the har- while Carey and quite a number of ness, to. a far greater extent than he others successful in foreign fields have would had he been subject to the severe been men who did not go out thus mental discipline that should be the trained for the special work of the min- result of any training that is contem- istry, still the same success may be pred- plated in what we commonly under- icated of many evangelists and pastors stand by a "liberal course of study."
in the history of the Church at home; Under the new and trying surrDund- and, notwithstanding that fact, the ings amid which his work must be done, great bulk of the most successful work he will in every respect find his re- in the ministry of the Word has been sources tried t'o the utmost, and thus done by men specially chosen of the will on every hand find a ,need for the Spirit, set apart by the Church for that very best discipline available, and with- special work. and educated for that out which so many have failed who work as liberally as possible. By some might have otherwise achieved success.
it is thought that the foreign work It, will be said that failures have not would not call for so thorough an edu- been wholly among the undisciplined; cation as the home, from the fact that but the same may be said with equal the people to whom the worker will be truth of pastors at home, notwithstand- sent are presumably less intelligent than ing which fact, very few people will be those to whom he would minister if at found to-day who would urge our going home; but there are other factors in back to an uneducated ministry for the the problem that are not always taken home churches.
into account_ There is, then, the need of still more One of the exceptional conditions to care in gaining the highest possible be taken into account is that most of efficiency in those whom the Church our foreign missionary operations are sends abroad, because there is involved necessarily carried on among peoples so great an outlay in sending out and who Jive in climates inimical to Euro- returning those who fail; while their pean races, with the result that not only failure will be sure to work so much must the work be prosecuted there with more disastrous results abroad than much less bodily vigor, but that it will here, where the worker is far less con- necessarily be subject to stilI further spicuous, lost as he is among so great hindrance by absences from the field an army of other workers.
on the part of the worker. in order to Some of the friends of missions are regain health and vigor. Hence it is es- almost overjoyed over the fact that some sential that the missionary should come of our farmers, artisans, and business to the work so disciplined that he will be men have begun to go to the foreilln field, many of whom have gone at their gain money. This would be merely to own charges, hoping to be able to live gain subsistence for himself and family, by the exercise of their secular calling without speaking of the time and and preach the Gospel meanwhile. We strength necessary for evangelistic work could only wish that the whole heathen among the people, or to gain a mastery world might be leavened by such ; and, of their language; a task requiring, of on the face of it, the plan would seem itself, several years even for one who to be the most reasonable and easy of has the maximum of his time and the many experiments yet tried in the strength at his command. In the opin- world's evangelization. Still, there are ion of some who have advocated an ex- many things to be fully considered be- tension of this principle upon which to fore any family determines to sell out conduct our foreign missions, the relaand undertake the actual experiment. tion of such lay workers to the ordained 'God will not interpose to save us from men in the field would be that of "asthe exercise of reasonable forethought sistants" or .. helpers," and so under any more than He did in the days of their direction, while reference is frethe crusades, even though the apirit quently made to the example of some and intention of the effort may be solely of the English and continental socithe furtherance of His glory. Those eties ; but it may be said that this sysof us who have b~en many years on the tem is the outgrowth of the social and field have seen some very disappointed class distinctions which enter so largely people, nor have the home boards been into the European habit of thinking, less disappointed, in many cases where and results do not show their organithey have been called on to pay the zation to be superior to ours. On the round trip expenses of some who have other hand, I have often heard the memstarted out with undoubtedly a sincere bers of their missions express their recimpulse, but nevertheless from an im- ognition of the greater fruitfulness of pulse without forethought. Happily our American missions, employing, as such cases are in the minority. but still most of our societies do, chiefly orthey have been frequent enough to dained ministers of the Gospel. serve as a warning. It may be understood, at the outset, that in most cases One of the chief objections that I a European, with his hereditary habits have to this plan of lay .. assistants" and constitution, will find it a hopeless or " helpers" is, that the most valuable task to provide for the support of him- helpers will always be found in the naself and family in an uncivilized or tive converts, who need the benefit of partially civilized tropical country, in the relation in training for their own competition with the natives of the future work. If foreigners do this work country, who can endure exposure and for them, they will never take the relabor there far better than himself, sponsibility upon themselves, and we and who can live on what to him shall only perpetuate a dependent body would mean the ruin of health or loss of converts. of life, ~his is true of any form of manual labor; while, if he engage in Lay workers of a certain kind, howtrade, the habits of mutual distrust and ever, afe called for on the field in greatunreliability, which obtain among all ly increased numbers. Well-qualified heathen people, stand in the way of medical missionaries and teachers are his success, unless he shall descend to still imperatively demanded, and even habits of trickery that are far too com- these will do far better if educated for mon among European traders in such the ministry and ordained to its work lands; nor will the people ever give him as well. their confidence as a religious teacher "'<.1.1 leader, if they think he is there to As to lay workers going out at their own charges, I may say that the above opinions are not brnught forward as speculations as to what might be the case, but from personal observation of substance, which sacrifice will, accord- cases where the experiment has been ing to the Divine law, certainly not tried, under as favorable conditions as only gain the direct end for which she would fall to the lot, on the average, of labors, but will also bring her in return anyone attempting this method. Some a rich fruitage of blessings at hOlDe.
such have been dependent for months together upon the families of those sen~ out and supported by mission boards, Affairs in Japan. and who all'eady had more demands upon their resources than they could BY REV. H. LOOMIS, YOKOHAMA, JAPAN.
supply; some suffered from actual want Few, if any, more auspicious changes and disappointment, to the limit of have occurred in politics than the re- mental derangement; and numbers cent reorganization of the Cabinet and have afterward gladly gone to work un· the return of well,known and honored der appointment from l'egular mission leaders to power.
boards, doing work in the regions to When Count Inouye and Count Ito which they have gone. resigned their positions and retired to There is always a certain fascination private life, the control of affairs fell about the idea of thus going out, inde. into the hands of new and untried pendent of all controlling boards and men, and it seemed inevitable that agencies, which is very apt to captivate, serious and irreparable loss must b"
not only those contemplating the work the result, and all the bright hopes of for themselves, but others, so that they the past were to be disappointed.
can be assured they will get a hearty But greatly to our surprise and relief, amen and Godspeed from pastors and there has been accomplished a happy churches, already burdened by ever-in- change in affairs, and the outlook for creasing avenues for expenditure on ob. Japan to-day is brighter than ever.
jects nearer home, even though the bulk What is evidently needed at this time of that expenditure may be for more is the presence of the best and ablest luxurious services and imposing edi- men at the head of the government.
fices of worship. Constitutional government is an experi- Hence, while we gladly welcome all ment thus far ; and it is inevitable that those devoted men who have" sold all tor years to come there must be a strong they hRd" and laid it at their Master's and wise administrative power to check feet, and have given not only it bu' what is wrong and enforce the right.
themselves to the work of reclaiming a So we have now most happily in the lost world, believing that their sacrifice new ministry the ablest and most popu- will meet its reward, yet it is to be de- lar statesmen that the country can fur- voutly hoped that those contemplating nish. At the head is Count Ito once going out will "count the cost" before more, and associated with him is Count they begin to build, lest they reap for Inouye as Minister of Home Affairs.
themselves disappointment and cha- To these two men more than to any "grin. Such advice will not injure the others does Japan owe her present posi- work any more than similar solemn in- tion and progress; and with years of junctions on the part of Christ Himself experience in the administration, they to those who would follow Him in His are without question the two men to bf missionary ministrations while He was at the head of the Cabinet and the chief yet in the body. advisers of the Emperor.
On the other hand, the Church at The Minister of Foreign Affairs is home must not expect that she will be Mr. Mutsll, who was for several years relieved of her part, as a whole, in car- the Japanese Minister at Washington, rying on the work ; and that at a sacri- and who has thus the experience that fice of her hest taleIJ.t as well aa of her especially fits him for such a position. It is not too much to expect that under sive revivals are reported from many his administration there will be some quarters, and a most hopeful state of better adjustment of the present ques· things has taken the place of the dead- . tion of extra territoriality and the re- ness and indifference of the past. The lations of foreign residents to the gov- greatness of the difficulties and the in- ernment. The recent attempt to force adequacy of human means are being concessions from the foreign powers, felt everywhere, and so there is a turn- by limiting the privileges of the foreign ing to the true source of success in all residents here, and making the situa- mission work, and that is the help of tion more uncomfortable, has not been God. helpful to Japan, and is making the question of coming under Japanese con- Some think that there are enough trol still more serious and questionable. missionaries in Japan to accomplish all' that is needed to make this a Christian The question that will especially in- nation. Others think differently. But terest the Ohristian people in the United one thing is certain, that it is not by States is the probable attitude of the an increase of numbers alone that these present and new ministry toward- mis- hard hearts are to be subdued and won sionaries aIrd their work. I think that to Christ. God chose only three hun. it is the general opinion that we owe to dred to overthrow the Midianite host; the men now in power the liberty that and with His help we shall have suc- we now enjoy; and more than that, cess, whether the helpers be multiplied they have shown a sincere and intelli- or not. gent sympathy with what has been done, No doubt there is still room for many As proof of this I need only mention more good men, and in some places the liberal donation of 1000 yen (about they seem to be sadly needed, but we .$800) toward the Doshisha at Kyoto by need even more_ than all, such a bap- Oount Inouye. Count Ito signified his tism of the Spirit as will make the truth approval of the work and promised his effective in the convincing men of sin aid. No institution in the country hall and their need of a Saviour. That God been more decidedly Ohristian in its is showing His power and willingness character, to save should call forth the gratitude of all hearts. The erection at Yamaguchi, by Oount Inouye, of a suitable building for the The Rev. 1. H. Corrl'll, of the Methuse of Rev. Dr. Beck in teaching his ~dist Episcopal Mission, reports that he Bible class, and his liberal construction has recently been through a large part of the restrictions contained in the pass- of Kiushiu, and the work is in a very ports, are direct and tangible proofs prosperous condition. The people are that missions will not suffer from any very attentive to preaching and the conaction on the part of those now at the gregations are quite large. He has rehead of the government. cently visited the Loochoo Islands, and brings back a glowing account of the The discussion of theological ques- reception given him. He preached sevtions is becoming less prominent, and eral times. At the first service he had the pastors and other Christian workers about one hundred present, two hunare settling down to more steady and dred at the second, and four hundred effective work for the-salvation of souls. at the third. Everywhere he went he It has become e,:ident to many that was most kindly received, and 1'as. there is no new and better method for urged to commence work on the islands. the conversion of sinful men than the The Baptists have a native worker there old theories of redemption through now. Christ, and the necessity of the work of the Holy Spirit in sanctifying the The school for boys connected with heart. the Southern Methodist church at Kobe is soon to be cnlarged, It has shown a And the happy result is that extenconstant growth since its organization pressed with the direct interposition three years ago. In a recent letter of God in the present progress of mis- from the Rev. Mr. Wainwright, he says sions. From his vantage-ground he that" We have been havfng a very gra· discovers secret growth as well as prog.
cious work of the Holy Spirit in our ress that is more tangible. The mix- school. It has been a glorious season ture of evil with good (to be truthfully with us, and we believe there will be recognized) is no more than is going on much fruit unto the salvation of souls all over the world, and the wonder is as a consequence of this blessing." The that from the overwhelming mass of Southern Presbyterian Mission bas re- evil so much of good is forthcoming.
cently opened work in Takamatsu, on "A Divine purpose is being clearly the island of Shikoku, and are meeting evolved." These things are to him ab- with much success. solute fact.s of experience, and in his The conference of the missionaries of farewell address we found enlarged the American Missionary Union (Bap- consolation fitted to fire the heart with tist) has recently been in session at that confidence in God which is the Yokohama. The report says: "The result of a generation of proofs of His work of the year shows progress. About faithfulness. .
twice the number that were received It may not be sufficiently realized the previous year have been baptized that in this distant Eastern land there into the Church." Rev. J. H. Pettee is reason to look for exceptional devel- writes that the late annual meeting of opments of good. So far there have the representatives of the Congrega- been grinding toil, sapping and mining, tional churches at Osaka was the best seed·sowing. If a touch of life is all-round meeting ever held. Kbout granted from above, what is just now eighteen months ago a native pastor feared politically, of any spark setti~g was first stationed by the mission of this province in a blaze, may take place the Evangelical Association at Togane, in a happier sense.
near Tokyo. The work has steadily in- Multitudes of Chinese Christians are creased, so that the present church- praying for the conversion of the Em- membership is forty-five, and ten more peror. Whatever views may be held in are ready to be baptized. Quite are· the West as to the good or evil of rulers vival spirit has appeared in the schools being mixed up with the spi-ead of the of the Methodist church at Nagasaki. faith of Christ, here it seems to be gen- The two churches at Hachoji have re- erally felt among Chinese Christians cently united in holding special or re- that the will of God cannot be fully ac- vival meetings, which have been at- complished while the leaders of the tended with good results. New inter- country are unaffected by the truth.
est has been awakened, the attendance At present Christianity is not even re- at the churches has gradually been in- garded as a legal system of faith and creasing, and a number of applicants conduct, much less understood. It is for baptism are reported. time for the Lord to work to discounte- nance heathen and immoral proceed- ings, which are often tolerated all round Things Ohinese that are Promising. by the great of this world, if not even BY REV. J. SADLER, AMOY, CHINA. engaged in. Christ was weak as re- Dr. Cobb, whom you may soon see- gards the things of this world, but He back in the States, * is profoundly im- never lacked the p~wer of the Spirit.
It transpires that there may be more • Dr. Cobb, the Secretary of the Missionary of indirect success than is imagined_ Board of the Reformed Church in America, com- Tbe Chinese are now known to be keen pleted his tour around the world and resumed on our newspapers (in Chinese), and his dutie. at his desk early in September.- IlOt a little interested in seeing what ill J.T. G. thought of them. They cannot shut Church in Canada, for in that week themselves up any longer. One paper, three missionaries were ordained and called The Ten Thousand (Jouniries' News- designated for service. Our Trinidatl paper, is, we believe, read in high quar- Mission has now reached an important ters. We know of a Mandarin, not era in its history. Twenty-five years mean in degree, who considers it greatly have passed away since the pioneer to his interest to have honorable men- missionary, Dr. Morton, left Nova Sco- tion in this paper. What suggestions tia and commenced work among the grow out of such a fact as to good coolie population. The general work though silent influence. We need not of the mission has been very much en- expect that the turning of this people larged of late, adding very greatly to to God may come about in just our its cost. The Government of Trinidad methods of church life and discipline. passed a new school ordinance which If, as we know to be the case, con- had to be accepted by our staff of mis- sciences are aroused, a moral sense sionaries. The law, on the whole, is deepened and vivified, vigorous sym- favorable to the mission. A number of pathy. however hidden, be called out new buildings had to be erected, which for many kinds of reform, this all is cost the ChUl'ch $10,000. In conse- good. Individual conversions are ever quence of the government's action a taking place. Prayer is constantly debt of over $7000 now rests on the going up for such wot:k of the H01y Foreign Mission Fund, and steps are Spirit. There is nothing too hard for being taken to wipe it out. A Presby- God in regard to turning the tremen- terian college has also been opened on dous forces of heathenism to His ser- the island, with a staff of three profes- vice; and, in answer to prayer, ever sors and an assistant and forty -six stu- being offered, raising up such effective dents in attendance. Several of our native apostles as may, like Moses and Young People's Societies of Christian Paul, lead multitudes into the kingdom Endeavor have contributed nobly tow- of heaven. ard the support of these students, and I have made a suggestion to Dr. the institution will eventually prove a Cobb, as to whether he could have it feeder to the wide heathen field of arranged for important news from your India.
valuable REVIEW bearing on China, to be Forty-seven years ago mission work translated into the Chinese newspaper in heathen lands was first commenced above referred to, and vice versa. by one branch of the present United Presbyterian Church in Canada, The 'Presbyterian Church in Nova Scotia' in Oanada Notes. 1846, Qomprising scarcely thirty con- gregations, sent forth their first mis- BY REV. W. B. DlCKIE, MILFORD, NOVA sionary. Now there are not less than SCOTIA. eight different fields occupied-viz., The Presbyterian Church in Canada New Hebrides, Trinidad, Honan, India, has sent out this year eleven new mis- Formosa, Jerusalem, Indians North- sionaries. Four young ladies, two of west, and Chinese British Columbia.
whom are M.D. 's, are now under ap- Three presbyteries have also been pointment anel have gone to India. formed – viz., Trinidad, India, and Two others have left for Honan and Honan.
Formosa, and Rev. C. Webster, this Upward of $8000 was on hand to Church's first missionary to Palestine, commence operations among the Jews is now on the way to Jerusalem. The in Palestine, and the young man who last week in July was then a most e~ent has gone forth as the first missionary is ful week in the history of the foreign eminently qualified for the work. Tha mission enterprise in the Presbyterian matter of establishing this mission has been under consideration for some its watch-cry: The evangelization of the years. and has lain very close to the hearts of not a few Canadian Presbyte- world in this generation. rian people. The mission has been inaugurated under most favorable aus- Regarding the observance of the day, pices, and it is probable that in a short time another missionary will follow. we further suggest : A Gall for Prayer. 1. That the volunteers be called to- To the Membe:rs of the Student Volunteer gether at t,he earliest possible date, to Movementfor Foreign Missions: hear the reading of this call, and to de- The Student Volunteer Movement has reached a time of crisis. Its mem- termine definite plans. bers include thousands. It has the confidence of the churches and mis· 2. That early in the day a meeting sionary societies, as never before. The missionaries are looking t'o it anxiously for special prayer be held, limited to and expectantly. Never in the history of missions have the calls for laborers volunteers and all oLhers deeply interbeen clearer, louder, or more imperative than those which ring in our ears to- ested in this object. day ; for it is the unanimous testimony of missionaries at the front, that during 3. That a publie meeting be held later the closing years of this century the issue of the conflict will be determined in the day, when there will be given for generations among a vast majority of the unevangelized inhabitants of the brief, carefully prepared addresses perworld. As far as responsibility rests upon the United States and Canada, if taining to the purpose and significance these calls are responded to at all, humanly speaking, they must be answered of the Student Volunteer Movement, largely by the student volunteers. The movement is now over six years old, the crisis in missions, and the individand a great many of the volunteers have completed their courses of study. It is ual responsibility of Christian students. time, therefore, to look for and con· fidently expect larger numbers to hasten 4. That a thank.offering to God be to the fields. To make this possible one thing is pre-eminently necessary. made at the public meeting, which shall It is that which Jesus Christ explicitly commanded: "Pray ye, therefore, the go toward the extension and develop- Lord of the harvest, that He send forth laborers into His harvest. " ment of the Student Volunteer Move- In view of the crisis on the one hand ment. and this command on the other, we, your Executive Committee, most ear- A vast Hindu conference has recently nestly recommend that the volunteers in each institution set apart Sunday, been held at Benares, India, to take October 30th, as a DAY OF PRAYER for the Stndent Volunteer Movement, and steps toward the saving of Hinduism for that greater object wrapped up in from the encroachments of Christian- ity. Among other things the confer- ence recommended that October 30th be set apart as the special day of prayer for the preservation of the Hindu re- ligion. Should not this mighty faet 'attach peculiar significance to our ob- .servance of this day? Let us recall the experience of Elijah with the proph- 'ets of Baal (1 Kings 18 : 19-39); and before a witnessing world, let the day demonstrate in some new measure that, " The Lord, He is God. "
JOHN R. MOTT, Inter-Collegiate Y. M_ C. A., MISS CORABEL TARR, Inter-Collegiate Y. W_ C.A., D. WILLARD LYON, luter-Seminary Miss_ Alliance, Executive Committee.
Book Mention.
-Serampore Letters, being the unpub- lished correspondence of William Carey and others with .Tohn Williams, 1800- 1816, edited by Leighton and Mornay on" and strong, and the rhetoric is Williams, has been issued by G. P. strong. It is an inspiring pamphlet. Putnam's Sons. There is incidental The Heart of the Gospel (Baker, Taylor & information here, which shows New Co., New York). This is twelve ser- York to have had a large share in the mons, delivered at the Metropolitan initiation of the Baptist Missionary Tabernacle in London, by Dr. Pierson. Union. A Baptist society in New York Many thousands of people will be curiantedated Judson's departure, and ear· ous to know what Dr. Pierson preached lier still they had sent Elkanah Holmes under the circumstances. 'rhes.e are to the Indians. plain, helpful, vigorous Gospel sermons; in many respects not unlike Mr. Spur- -Do not Say (F. H. Revell Co., New geon's own sermons in this great Taber- York) is a book of about 100 pages, nacle. They will be widely read, as containing brief answers to the Church's they ought to be. They treat of themes excuses for neglecting the heathen, by which are the" heart of the Gospel," a missionary of the Church of England for they are clear.cut expositions of ex· in mid·China. Price, 10 cents. The perimental Christianity. same publishers send forth Indian Gems for the Master's Crown, a true narrative, -Bishop Tucker, in writing from intended for native Christians in India, Uganda, uses the following language: but helpful to an insight into the way " How shall I find langnage to describe Christianity spreads in India. It is little the wonderful work of God's grace which wonder that it has been translated into has been going on in this land? Truly, many European languages. The diffi- the half was not told me. Exaggeration culties of the men of the East who de- about the eagerness of the people here sire to become Christians are here made to be taught there has been none. No real to the foreign Christian. words can describe the !lmotion which filled my heart as, on Sunday, Decem- -Our Life Among the Iroquois Indians ber 28th, I stood up to speak to fully (Congregational Publishing Society, 1000 men and women who crowded the Boston), by Mrs. Caswell, is a record of church of Uganda. It was a wonderful fifty years of service among that portion sight! There, close beside me, was the of the well-known Six Nations on the Katikiro-the second man in the king- Cattaraugus Reservation near Buffalo, dom. There. on every hand, were N. Y. It is illustrated. The student chiefs of various degrees, all Christian of the red races and those interested men, and all in their demeanor devout in mission work among them will de- and earnest to a degree. There was a light in this book. second service in the afternoon, at which there must have been fully 800 -A really great work is Bibliography present. The same earnest attention of the Algonquian Languages, by James was apparent, and the same spirit of Constantine Pilling, a Smithsonian In- devotion. I can never be sufficiently stitute volume of the Bureau of Ethnol- thankful to God for the glorious privogy. It is full of missionary intelligenc'e, ilege of being permitted to preach to and ought to be largely drawn on for these dear members of Christ's flock." material on the missionary advance of this country.
– The King's Business, speech by Dr. -In 1888 the great Japnnese version A. T. Pierson, at the annnal meeting of of the Holy Scriptures was completed. the China Inland Mission (Morgan & On this monumental work, forty-six: Scott, London), is in Dr. Pierson's best missionaries, under the leadership of style. The facts are strongly grouped, Dr. Hepburn, were engaged for sixteen the movement of thought is " straight years.
DEPARTMENT ·OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR
III.-DEPARTMENT OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR.
CONDUCTED BY PROFESSOR AMOS B. WELLS.
The cable has announced Dr. Clark's published by The Golden Rule. The safe arrival in Australia. He made stops first follows Dr. Clark across this con- at Hawaii, the Samoan Islands, and at tinent, dealing with such topics as the Auckland, New Zealand. Misappre- Moody work in Chicago, the Utah prob- hension exists in some quarters regard- lem, the money-power of the nation as ing the purposes of Dr. Clark's around- a national peril (this in connection with the-world Christian Endeavor tour. It California), and suggesting books to be is not .intended to start new societies. read and essays to be written. This is Dr. Clark is glad to be able to say that only a sample of the ways in which this he has organized only two societies, and journey of Dr. Clark's will be utilized those in ch urches over which he was for the increase of missionary enthusi- pastor. He believes that societies asm throughout the great army of En- should be organized by no one but the deavorers.
pastors of their churches. He goes Mr. John Willis Baer, the General with two aims-one is to study the Secretary of the United Society, has re- foreign fi elds, and see their peculiar turned from his voyage to Scotland de- needs, that he may be able to judge cidedly improved in health, and able to· what modifications in Christian En- devote himself energetically to his office deavor methods, if any, would better work. He narrowly escaped a twenty- adapt them to changed conditions. He days' quarantine.
will become acquainted with zealous At a recent meeting of the United So- Christian Endeavor workers every- ciety, held in Boston, the By-laws were where. He will give them of his own so amended as to provide for the elec- abounding zeal, and will gain fresh tion of thirty-nine instead of thirty-one courage and good cheer from them. trustees, the present number. The While he will himself organize no new membership of the board of trustees is societies, nor set in motion agencies now quite evenly divided among the for their organization, undoubtedly evangelical denominations, but there many new societies will spring up in are two or three which have zealously all these foreign lands all the result of adopted the Christian Endeavor move- his visit. The second aim is to inspire ment, and yet have had no representa- the societies at home with fresh mis- tion on the board. This body has al- sionary zeal. These societies are watch- ways been a fairly representative one, ing his trip with especial care. By and it is always to remain such. In ac- means of it their interest in missions cordance with this action there have and knowledge of them will be increased been added to the board Rev. J. F.
many fold. Cowan, of the Methodist Protestants, One instance of how this will be done. 'and Rev. William Patterson, of the In many societies it is already proposed Canadian Presbyterians-two denom- to hold regular meetings, keeping pace inations in which Endeavor socie- with Dr. Clark's progress, for the sole ties are now multiplying with great purpose of studying Christian missions rapidity.
in the lands he visits. These are to be Few things done at the New York apart from the regular prayer-meetings. Christian Endeavor Convention have Mr. S. L. Mershon, one of the Christian been productive of more good than Mr.
Endeavorers most prominent and sug- Robert E. Speer's call for a vote show- gestive in tbisline of work, has outlined ing who had read ten representative- a very capital course of study for such books on missions. The eyes of the meetings. The programmes are being thousands of Endeavorers there were opened to their lack, and not in vain. as found in the — Church '-but it From all over the land comes news of a wasn't," Endeavorers are true to their more ardent reading of missionary lit- church, and to Christ wherever He ill erature than ever before. If Mr. Speer found. asks that question at Montreal next year he will get a far better showing. One fruitful work for which Endeavor To aid this increased study, Rev. S. W. societies are especially well fitted is the Pratt gives in the New York Evangelist establishment of Sunday-schools in several lists of the best twenty mission- neglected places. These Sunday-schools ary books, prepared for him by Dr. are sure, if well kept up, to grow into Pierson, Dr. Ellinwood, and Mr. Speer churches. It is pleasing to notice that himself. These authorities recommend here and there, all over the country. the lives of Carey. Burns, Paton, Mills, the young people banded together" For Judson, Williams, Neesima, Brainerd, Christ and the Church" are undel-takini Mackay, Moffat, Livingstone, Hanning_ this gracious task. ton, Duff, Patteson, Martyn, and Morrison. Among the other books they One society in California has pledged recommend are Pierson's "Crisis of itself to labor against the opium traffio Missions" and "Miracles of Missions," and against cigarette-smoking. Of a Strong's" Our Country," Funk & Wag- special train sent to a recent California naH's Encyclopredia of Missions, ., Co- county convention, crowded with Enrea, the Hermit Nation," and" The Mi- deavorers, it was said that it was the kado's Empire," by Griffis, "China and first train ever sent over that road withthe Chinese," by Nevins, and" Mora_ out a smoking-car. The same remark vian Missions," by Thompson. This was made of the train of ten cars that list will make an excellent guide for pulled out of Boston for the New York thousands of young readers. Convention, Probably not one of the thirty thousand Endeavorers at New In many ways Canada is showing a York used tobacco in any form. most vigorous interest in the Endeavor movement, and especially in the organi- A special effort-but only a slight one zation of large and vigorous county -was made among the Congregational unions. The fact that Montreal is to Endeavor societies of the western part have next year's' International Conven- of Connecticut last year, and forty-seven tion is one cause of this access of en- societies contributed to the Woman's thusiasm, and another is the capture of Board of Missions $1800. This sum the two banners' by Ontario and Mani- supported missionaries in India, China, toba-the banners that represent the Turkey, and other heathen lands. greatest aggregate and the greatest pro- Equally good results could doubtless be portionate increase in the number of gained by equally faithful work among societies. the young everywhere. And what rev- enues for missions that would mean! In a large Christian Endeavor Convention held recently in Chicago, Dr. The Methodist Protestants are wisely P. S. Henson said emphatically, .. I adopting a plan of conference unions would not be a Baptist if I could not of the Methodist Protestant Endeavor be a Christian Endeavorer, and I would societies, like the plan of presbyterial not be a Christian Endeavorer if I could unions adopted quite largely b~ the not be a Baptist." Presbyterians. Such unions bind the societies to their denominations, While At the successful convention lately the State and national gatherings give held by the Endeavorers of the maritime them broad outlooks and the blessprovinces of Canada, one speaker sig- ings of interdenominational fellownificantly said, "The motto of the so- ship. ciety, instead of • For Christ and the Church,' might have been, • FOl' Christ The Christian Endeavor pledge has been translated into the Mpongwe lan- guage, of the western coast of Africa. The name of the society literally reo committees obtain and distribute.liter- translated is, .. The Party of Christian ature, get up public meetings to en- Zeal. " force the duty of tithe·giving, and form leagues of those who are willing thus There are Christian Endeavor soci. to share their possessions with the Lord eties in Syria, and some of these carry who gave them. Such committees are on their services in Arabic. very effective.
Sunday.school committees of En· The same young people that gave deavor societies have planned some very Whitelaw Rei-l such a rousing reception shrewd ways of increasing the numbers at the New York Convention have sent and interest of their Sunday.schools. him a petition asking him to stop the Here is one of the best. The commit· publication of a Sunday newspaper. tee gets one class each week to act as a .. recruiting squad" to bring in new Twenty State, Territorial, and Proscholars. The Endeavorers in that class vincial Christian Endeavor Conventions will naturally act as leaders in the occur during the fall and early winter week's campaign. The superintendent months,-Maine, the mother·State of announces publicly the result of the Christian Endeavor, leading the list, as work, and after each class has had its is proper. For these conventions the turn the Endeavor Sunday.school com- greatest preparations are being made. mittee gives a pleasant party in honor Most eloquent and earnest men and of the class that has done the best. women will address them, and many projects for the advancement of the The young people of Lawrence, Kan., kingdom will be set in motion at these have enjoyed, during the summer, the meetings. The splendid fervor of the advantages of the Christian Endeavor New York Convention bids fair to aniinterdenominational fellowship in this mate them all. way. During one week a meeting would be held of the lookout commit- Compared with some denominations tees of all societies belonging to the the Reformed churches have few Chrisunion; during the next week, of the tian Endeavor societies, but here is prayer.meeting committees belonging their record: In 1890 twenty.three soto these diverse societills, and so on. cieties gave to their mission boards The interchange of ideas and the mu- $117; in 1891, twenty. nine societies tual inspiration were very helpful. gave $231; in 1892, eighty-five soci- eties gave $545. Recently a .Christian Endeavor so- ,ciety has been organized among the In Australia, where Dr. Clark is now Chinese in San Francisco by the Con· at work, the first Christian Endeavor gregational Chinese Mission there. society was formed about four years This is probably the first Chinese Chris- ago. In South Australia there are altian Endeavor st>ciety in the country, ready seventy-seven societies, in New if not in the world. South Wales thirty, in Victoria one hundred and thirty, and mauy more in In the Hawaiian Islands, Dr. Clark's other divisions of the continent. first foreign stopping·place in his around-the·world tour, a Christian En- Two significant bits of news come to deavor society was organized early in us from a Christian Endeavor society 1884. Three others have since been among the Sioux Indians. They are formed. All are engaged in aggressive actually running a Sunday.school for Christian work. the benefit of the poor white children who are brought upon the reservation Systematic giving is one of the most by Caucasian settlers, and the other day prominent subjects before the Endeavor they gave $50, as a society, to help plant world, and deservedly so. Committees Sunday.schools among the white chilo on systematic giving are appointed by dren of South Dakota. the societies in some places. These
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
IV.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
The Improvement of the "Review." to omit altogether notice of current events, or else to abandon all such com- Now and then letters are received petition with the daily press. This REcriticising the editing of the REVIEW, or VIEW goes to the heart of Asia and Afrithe nature of the material here gath- ca as well as of Europe. It may be of ered, or both; though it is but candor consequence to make it a compendium to acknowledge that for one letter of of recent intelligence, even though complaint we have a score in com- months have elapsed; otherwise, to mendation. All such criticisms, and some who are out of commullication especially suggestions aiming at im- with the world, the tread of events will provement, will have an honest and not be known. But we aIe seeking by hearty hearing; for no reader can desire every available means to shorten the inthe increa~ed accuracy, value, and ser- terval between events and their report viceableness of these pages more than in these pages, by arranging for advance those who give so much labor to their sheets of great missionary magazines, preparation. We welcome our readers etc. to a share in the untiring endeavor to make the MrssIONABY _REVIEW OF THE We are annoyed at times by discover- WORLD a storehouse of both exact in. ing inaccuracy. We employ trustworthy formation and spiritual inspiration. parties to send us reports of various matters; but it is not always in our At times the same sort of items have power to verify their statements. appeared in the different departments; Whenever any error is found it is recand as it has seemed best to put these tified, and when we find a correspondsubordinate departments under care of ent careless we get the best man we different members of the editorial ~taff, can to take his place. on account of the extent of the world field and the vastness of the matter requiring The obvious improvement of the Au. to be passed upon, it has been found dif- gust "Monthly Bulletin" over that of ficult to avoid such seeming repetitions. July is to be accounted for by the new But arrangements are now making to arrangement, by which all matter emhave all the pages pass under the final braced in the intelligence department is revision of the managing editor, Mr. submitted to Dr. Leonard, and re-edited Delavan L. Pierson, before electrotyp- by him before appearing in type. ing. One criticism made on the material in One of our esteemed correspondents the REVIEW is that while" good, it is not complains that" the editing is not up timely nor the best." Our correspondent to date," and mstances the outbreaks thinks that most articleB would" suit in the Pirreus, which occurred in Feb- one month as well as another," and ruary, but were referred to as " recent" that only" missionaries on the ground on page 622. can furnish accurate statements of mis- This is an electrotyped periodical; and sions and mission work. " the time needful for preparing each In reply we would say that the REnumber, even with utmost speed, makes impracticable all competition with daily, VIEW is adjusted on a principle of divior even weekly, religious papers that are sion oj the world field. Each number is issued at short notice and with such fre- principally given to a certain country or quency. Even' in the weekly religious grouping of countries, as, for instance, journals the news is often stale, having February is mainly assigned to China, had the eyes of the reading public for a and December mainly to Syria. 'fhis ar_ week previous. But our choice is _either rangement makes certain articles pecul- iarly suitable to certain months. But when any paper reaches UB. which should from its nature have imme- so absolutely without a basis, tl act, that diate insertion, we put it in the next it casts a shadow over whatever else the available issue. writer may have to say in condemna- tion or even commendation. It betrays And as to missionaries furnishing a squmt, a defect of clear vision, or a the only trustworthy statements, it is total misunderstanding of the truth he remarkable that the great body of com- assails. plaints have come from those who have criticised the papers furnished by mis- He says: sionaries themselves. Often a man sees .' Dr. Pierson's views on mISSIons little beyond his own field, denomina. are utterly at variance with those of altion, or peculiar work. For example, most all missionaries. More than once the statements of missionaries in China, it has been said to me that there was etc., as to the China Inland Mission; danger lest he do the cause of missions the statements of parties in India as to !Dore harm than good. The reason for the work of Bishop Thoburn and the this is that he is a strong premillena- " S. P. G." ; the strictures of African rian, and believes that the sole duty of missionaries as to Bisbop Taylor and missionaries is to preach, without any his self supporting missions; the severe reference to conversion or the establishanimadversions upon the articles of Mr. ment of churches. He is opposed to Baldwin, of Tangiers, etc., have made missions having anything to do with the editors hesitate to admit some education, the development of literapapers from the missionaries them. ture, etc. This was brought out last selves; while articles furnisbed by week at Northfield, and every foreign such men as Drs. Ellinwood, Mitchell, missionary that spoke attacked his posi- George Sinith, Mabie, etc., have elicited tion most earnestly. In this opinion he almost universal approval. We have has the strong support of Dr. A. J. Gortherefore chosen to give every article a don, his co-editor. That particular view place upon its own merits as the only safe has, as a rule. been kept in the backrule. ground in the REVIEW. but it modifies its whole tone, and is, I suspect, the One correspondent thinks the REVIEW true explanation of the selection of should furnish " a field for the discus- some articles. Dr. Sherwood kept it sion of missionary problems," and that out entirely; but it is scarcely possible in this" it fails absolutely." This seems that it should not control more and to us a strange indictment. If anyone more. I hear it spoken of constantly will take up any bound volume and go with regret and disappointment." over its contents, he will find the relation of education to evangelism, the The editor can speak confidently, position .of native churches, native pas- both for himself and Dr. Gordon, in tors, etc.• and the demands for a ver- saying that no more complete travesty nacular literature discussed by no less of their views could well be put into distinguished men than Drs. Knox, of language. Japan, Gracey and his coadjutors in the " International Department," and Mur- ]. The view we entertain as to the reray Mitchell. If our readers will send lation of the Lord's coming to missions to us or procure for us first-class articles is stated by Mr. W. E. Blackstone to be on these and kindred topics, the editors in accord with those of the majority of the will welcome each on its own merits, most devoted missionaries, as ascerand gladly pay for such as are used the tained byactaal investigation. highest rates in our power. 2. The so-called " premillenarian One criticism which has reacbed the view" does not hold that it is th., .. sole editor is so absolutely unfounded it duty of missionaries to preach," without should have full space and a distinct reference to conversion or the establish. emphatic rejoinder. This criticism iii ment of churches. If any sensible man, who accepts the Scripture teaching that our Lord's coming is an imminent concentrate our forces there until the event, holds such a preposterous theory, nation is converted, is to disobey our we have not yet met that man. What Lord's command and abandon His ob- we do maintain is just what Dr. George vious plan, while it is to set up a false Smith so compactly writes in· his and illusive standard of success. Wher "Short History of Missions." Refer. ever, as Dr. Smith says-whom we have ring to Constantine's so·called "con· supposed to be one of the post-millenaversion," he says (p. 57) that" from a rian brethren-nationalism displaces inpurely missionary point of view, it be· dividualism in conversion, and concengan a system of compromise with error tration on limited fields displaces diffu. -of nationalism instead of individualism sion over the whole world field, we com· in conversion-which in the East made promise with error, and risk the real the Church an easy prey to Mohamme. success of missions. danism, and in the West produced J eauit missions." The editor-in. chief presided at North- field on the Mission Day, and if " every Dr. Gordon and myself firmly believe foreign missionary that spoke attacked that " preaching the Gospel as a witness his position most earnestly," he failed among all nations" means setting up to recognize the opposition. In fact, all churches, sohools, a sanctified press, that he said on Mission Day was to premedical missions, and, in fact, all the sent a fllw of the marvellous results of institutions which are the fruit of Chris- missions in the hundred years; and tianity and constitute part of its witness; whatever was said on the bearing of the but that our Lord's purpose and plan Lord's coming on missions was said the are that we should not wait in anyone day bifore, when only a few of the speakfield for the full results of our sowing ers had yet arrived! to appear in a thoroughly converted community before we press on to re- As to Dr. Sherwood's" keeping out gions beyond, where as yet the name of such matter entirely," he never inter- Christ has not been spoken; and that fered with the province of the editorour duty is to ROW everywhere and as in-chief. who from the first controlled shortly as possible .the simple message by explicit arrangement the character of the kingdom, that it may everywhere of the articles appearing. Dr. Sherwood's be followed up with every other agency department was the arrangement of dethat helps to transform a community. tails and the make-up of the REVIEW; Missions begin in evangelization, but and only in the absence of the other have everything to do with Christian editor did he control the literature of education, and the printing press, and the REVIEW. But from the first no arti· the organization of churches, and the cle has ever been e>ccluded because it pre. training of a native pastorate. Not at sented a view contrary to the private and Northfield, or anywhere else, "last personal views of any of the editorial week," or any other time, has the editor staff. The question has never been asked of this REVIEW affirmed anything else of any contributor, or even of any sub· than what he here boldly reaffirms, that editor, whether he held a premillennial our duty is to go into.all the world and or a postmillennial view of the Lord's within the limitS'of our own generation advent; nor does the editor know, save preach the Gospel to every creature; in the case of Dr. Gordon. Each writer that our first duty is contact. and that is alone responsible for the view he conversion is something we cannot com- takes; and all we ask is that no grea mand, but must leave to God. To give essential truth of the Christian system every man the Gospel, this furnishes a shall be questioned in these pages. basis for all other work which helps to make a true Christian community. But Now that we have given thus much to lay siege to a nation like Japan and space to the subject of the improvement of the REVIEW, it may be well to add that we desire the best available papers, from whatever authorized and compe- human, with a pathetic love note. There tent sources, upon all phases of mis- is so much new mat!'lrial, that, as Dr.
sionary work at home and abroad, and Smith says, his Life has yet to be written, upon all questions pertaining to the outside of his own precious journals; philosophy and economy and history of and -he proposes to put him and Carey missions. For such articles we shall, side by side, both men of the people; whether personally solicited by us or but one a self-educated shoemaker, and not, whenever we can make use of them, the other an academic scholar. This pay the writer whatever the pecuniary hint of the coming feast will serve to resources of the REVIEW make possible. whet the appetite of our readers for Weare specially desirous of accurate re- Dr. Smith's promised book.
ports of recent intelligence from every fieJd.
If any reader knows of a work, II mission, or a field of labor which has po ade- Nothing unfriendly to Dr. Pentecost quate representation in these pages, we was intended in publishing the stricask his help in furnishing or securing tures of Rev. C. M. Wherry, D.D., on such matter as remedies the lack. The his public addresses about India (May, editors desire to have every intelligent 1891, page 387). Dr. Wherry was for reader share in the editorial care of the twenty years a missionary in India, and REVIEW by thus making it a fuller and . one of the founders of the theological more trustworthy magazine of informa. seminary at Lodiana, and author of a tion. Various changes which experi- noted work on Mohammedanism. Such ence seems to dictate will be made with an authority deserved to be heard on the opening of a new- volume in 1893. questions pertaining to the Orient.
Meanwhile, we welcome any friendly suggestions which may help us in a field where we have had none to precede us A Hint to Oontributors of Artioles and pioneer the way. This is, so far a8 The editor finds it absolutely necessary we know, the only REVIEW that has un- to reject or return many articles because dertaken to cover the world-wide field of they are not in shape to be used in missions, and it is not strange if we these pages without toil in editing, to should have found no small obstacles in which the editor is not equal. A care- ollr path. We invoke Divine help in a less letter is sometimes written which most arduous toil.-A. T. P. cannot all be published, and is not in condition for the printer, and perhaps a report or newspaper article accom- A new contribution to mIssIOnary panies it, and the editor is told biography is forthcoming from the that he may make such extracts as he golden pen of George Smith, LL.D., of chooses. This is no way to insure in- Edinburgh, Foreign Secretary of the sertion of matter. If a paper is worth Free Church. It is to be a life of Henry anything for readers, it is worth being Martyn, and will be II valuable addition carefully written before it reaches this to the marvellous biographies of Duff, office, and should be ready to go into Carey, Wilson of Bombay, Summerville, the printer's hands with as little change etc., from the same gifted author. as possible. If writers will themselves Dr. Smith spares no pains to prepare kindly take pains to send us brief, these masterly volumes. He went last pithy, well-written and legible manu- year to Land's End to get up the" lo- scripts, they will seldom be disappoint- cal color" for Henry Martyn's life, amid ed by finding them returned as rejected the surroundings of Truro, in Cornwall, MSS.
where Martyn was born. That story of the Cornish boy who died at Tokat has Madame Hyacinthe Loyson is now in splendid possibilities in it, divine and this country on a mission for the National Society for the Evangelization of "We receive both boys and girls from France. She comes with the strong their earliest days, keep the boys until endorsement of a Committee, among they are between fourteen and fifteen whom we find such conspicuollS names years of age, when they are apprenas those of Pastors Mettetal, Monod, ticed, and the girls till they are about Lalot, Gout, Duchemin, Prunier, Sail- seventeen years old, when both boys lens, etc.; and such men as Reveillaud, and girls are provided with an outfit, Rougement, CourUa! and Passy. Dr. and with suitable situations also. Up McAll adds a warm personal letter of to the time that our orphans are sent sympathy and commendation. We be- away from the institution, they are speak for her and her caU3e a cordial boarded, lodged. clothed, and educated hearing. There is a wide and effectual entirely free of all expense to their reladoor open in France; but there are tives, and have a most comfortable and many adversaries. happy home_ Mrs. E. L. Ryland Jacques, grand- "When I began the orphan work daughter of the late Dr. Ryland, of fifty-seven years ago, there was accom- Northampton, afterward of Broadmead, modation in this country for 3600 or- Bristol, and President of the Baptist phans only; but since that time, through College, has some manuscript outlines of her famous grandsire's sermons. the blessing of God, which has rested They are written with crow·s quill on so abundantly upon my-labors, such an narrow slips of paper convenient for slipping over the leaf of his pocket Bi- impetus has been given to orphan work, ble, and he being very near-sighted that institutions have sprung up in vacould read them, though the writing is rious parts of Great Britain, by means so fine as to be legible only because so of which more than 100,000 orphans exquisitely neat. Mrs. Jacques offers these for sale at $2 each, the proceeds can now be provided for; and for this reason.it is that we have so many va- cancies at the present time, and find it so difficult to fill them up.
., I repeat, therefore, that I shall con- sider it an especial kindness if Christian friends will take the trouble to seek out destitute orphans, and advise the rela- tives of such to apply to me for their admission, as we have good and abun- dant accommodation for them, and a large number of efficient helpers."
to go to missions. There are only a few The editor regrets to add that in the left, and if any of our readers desire fifty-third annual report of these insti- such a curiosity, it would be well to tutions there appears a d~cit of £3663, write to her at once, at Merrickville, or about $18,000, nearly one half of Ontario, Canada.. which is salaries due to teachers, who voluntarily and nobly relinquish pay Mr. George Miiller's Orphanages at until relief comes. We cannot but Bristol. believe the exigency is only one more trial of faith and incentive to prayer. With no little surprise do we find a For nearly sixty years the work of public appeal from this distinguished George Miiller has stood before the advocate of faith work, stating that world as an example and proof of mighty there are now a great number of vacan- works still possible to believing souls. cies for girls in the Bristol orphan Surely some to whom God has given houses, erected to receive 2050 orphans means will be glad to share in such a both whose parents are dead. Mr. Millier work by relieving the present pressure. says: " 1 earnestly request Christian friends The Woman's Foreign Missionary Sokindly to assist me in filling up these ciety of the Presbyterian Church has vacancies, by seeking out suitable cases published in a revised form the" Hisfor admission into our institution, by torical Sketches of Presbyterian Misletting the relatives or friends of orphan sions," 1334 Chestnut Street, Philadelgirls know that they can be received at phia. We haTe often said that this the Ashley Down Orphan Houses, and by advising them to write to me for their admi6!!iQn. little compendium is one of the very has been known as one of the most reo best books on missions that has come under the editor's eyes; ahd will be markable organizers ever conducting found most helpful to all who study missions in the fields here treated- the work of home missions. A more viz., Africa, China, India, Japan, Korea, extended notice will, we hope, appear Mexico, Guatemala, North American soon. A. T. P. Indians, Chinese and Japanese in America, Persia, Siam and Laos, South By some accident the following letter America, and Syria. Each is treated by a specialist on the particular field. failed to appear earlier. We publish it While referring to recent books we now, with apology for delay.-A. T. P. call attention to four new issues of our TREMONT TEMPLE. BOSTON, MAss., enterprising friend, F. H. Revell, 30 June 15, 1892. East Union Square, New York: "Everyday Life in South India," $1; "Chil- Rev. A. T. Pierson, D.D.: dren of India," $1.40; "Gospel Eth- DEAR SIR: On page 464 of June nology; or, the Gospel for the Race," number of the REVIEW, deaths in Africa $1 ; ., On the Congo," 50 cents. These are wrongly stated as being 60 per cen· tum. are a very useful addition to that cheap Careful statistics show the death-rate and comprehensive missionary library in the Congo missions up to April, 1890. which Mr. Revell seems determined to Since that date the death-rate has been furnish to all willing readers at a merely lower than the average, {or owing to our better houses, improved transport nominal cost. We are also glad to see service, our accumulated experience, that the African News is published in etc., some of the old causes of sickness volume form embracing the year just . have been removed. These figures in- clude all the societies then at work on passed. the Congo-six in number. Percentage of deaths in the Baptist Missionary So. I am told that at Springfield and J ack- ciety (English): Arrivals, 66; deaths, sonville, Ill., about thirty miles apart, 25-percentage, say, 38. Percentage are to be found colonies of Portuguese, in all the missions: Total arrivals, 204 ; driven out from Madeira in 1849, and total deaths, 54-percentage, 26-!- The taking refuge in these cities. The death-rate is higher in the English Bapstreets are wholly given up to these set- tist Society than the average rate, but tlers. They have at least four churches the English Society began work in 1878, of their own. In the Sandwich Islands when the country had not been explored, 12,000 are to be found, where amid a and the missionaries of the English total population of perhaps 80,000,20,- Baptist Society and ours of the American 000 are Chinese, and a few thousand Baptist Missionary Union had the hard more Japanese. To such an extent, task and exposure of exploring for themnot only in our own land, but through- selves the country now pierced by their out the world, the peoples are mixing. chain of mission stations, which now stretches fully a thousand miles into Two deaths, such as not often are the interior of Africa. chronicled, have recently occurredone that of Rev. John Van Nest Tal- Six years of this preliminary work mage, D.D., of Amoy, China, who died had been done, and the two missions August 19th, and the other that of named had already established them- Rev. Henry Kendall, D.D., who died selves far beyond Stanley Pool, ere any September 9th. Both were veterans. of the Qther societies entered. Then Dr. Talmage being seventy-three and came the first attempt made by Mr. Dr. Kendall seventy-seven, and both Simpson. of New York, in 1884. Two very remarkable men. We can in these years later Bishop William Taylor's pages, and at present writing, do no mission was started, and the same year more than record this great loss to the the Swedish Missionary Society (two Church, one in the foreign and the members of which had already done other in the home field, both leaders good service in the A. B. M. U. mis. lind generals. Dr. Kendall particularly sion) was organized (1886). Following those came the Congo Balolo Mission.
The old established missions had al- ready bought a good deal of experience, and some lives were laid down in the learning of the lessons; thosA that fol- lowed had an easier task, and a lower death-rate in consequence.
Yours, JOSEPH CLAllX.
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
V:-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY THE EDITOR·IN·OHIEF.
South Amerioa.-Brazil. ties for inland navigation exceeding that of the combined Afrioan rivers; and the This being the four hundredth anni· 'Orinooo, though smaller than either of versary of the discovery of America by the others, has a length of 1800 miles, Christopher Columbus, and South and with its branohes supplies 8000 America having been the actual conti- miles of navigable waters. The oom· nent to whose shores he found his way, bined lengths of these three streams is there is a special reason for giving this 8200 miles; the total of their navigable portion of the globe a conspicuous plaoe waters nearly 80,000 miles, and the in our thought; and there is a provi. areas of' their basins cover 3,700,000 dentiallesson of great signifioanoe whioh square miles! is suggested by the history of its disoov. ery and settlement. It is, however, still more remarkable that these rivers are so iocated as to fur. South Amerioa is a vast triangular nish a natural highway everywhere to peninsula; Hs extreme length, 4550 the heart of the continent. A resident miles, and its greatest breadth, 3200 at the eastern foot of the Andes may miles; of its area of 6,500,000 square transport himself and his property in English miles, three fourths lie between less than seven weeks 2000 miles to the the tropios and the other fourth in the Atlantic by floating with the current; temperate zone. and the eastern breeze whioh blows perennially up stream will convey him This superfioial area may be conven· back almost without effort if he spreads iently divided into five physioal regions: sail; nor is the navigation interrupted the low country skirting the Paoifio; by one cataract or even rapid from the the Orinoco basin, espeoially linked Atlantio to Jaen. A glance at the map with Columbus; the Amazon basin; reveals that the great river system con· the great southern plain of the Plata stitutes a natural roadway, with two and other rivers; and the country of main trunks, making it unnecessary for Brazil. From the extreme south to the the poor people to build roads, and Isthmus of Panama runs the Andes affording facility for an extensive inland range, with an average height of 11,000 communioation and commerce, elsewhere to 12,000 feet, and a breadth of from 20 unrivalled on the globe, save in the com· to 400 miles. The vast plains or steppes panion continent of North America. Is of the Orinoco basin are called llanos, not this God's providential provision for intensely hot, and having little wood· the rapid oocupation of South America land; and the open steppes of the La with the Gospel and its institutions? Plata region are known as pampas, with a prodigious 'growth of grass and weeds, The population of South America furon which great herds feed. nishes a study for the ethnologist. As at the northern extremity of this new The Andes have three transverse world we meet the Esquimaux, four and chains or branches nearly at right angles a half feet high, so at the southern cape to the main range, and forming the natu· we find the six·foot Patagoniano The ral boundaries of the three great ri~er tribes ocoupying territory north of Pata· basins. The river system is among the gonia and east of the Andes, St. Vincent wonders of the world. The Amazon classifies as American, and the Neptuniu.n alone pours a flood into the sea that ex· on the west coast he identifies with the ceeds the united disoharge of the eight inhabitants of the Malay Peninsula and prinoipal rivers of Asia, the Indus, the Indian Archipelago. Humboldt Ganges, Yenesei, Oby, Lena, Amoor, thinks that from Cape Horn to Behring's Hoang ho, and Yang.tse. The Plata Straits and the St. Lawrence baain we probably ofIe~ij wit4 ite brllnches facili· have a people from a common stock, ring that nothing less than a continent notwithstanding diverse tongues. Of could furnish such a stream. Dying, the total population of the globe, South still in ignorance of the extent and im- America has about thirty. five parts out portance of his discovery, the name of one hundred and' fifty, or between " West Indies" crystallizes and fossilizes one fourth and one fifth, about as large the impression that the countries he a proportion as Europe, but of course had made known to Europeans were a much less dense. part of the outskirts of India.
From these physical features, etc., we Before leaving this wonderful history, turn to consider the providential history we must place side by side with it the of this great peninsula. Columbus, equally significant fact that John Cabot, with three small vessels and 120 men to whom, with his sons, Sabastian and sailed from Palos, August 3d, 1492. Santius, God gave the immediate suc. From the Canary Isles he entered upon cession in this career of discovery, was a realm of oceanic mystery, borne on by an Italian by birth. John Cabot was the trade winds toward what he believed not only the contemporary of Columto be the coast of Asia. What trifling bus, but a Venetian merchant, but reevents are the hinges of destiny and his- sided in England, and Sebastian was tory! Pinzon's counsel led the great born in Bristol. The discoveries of the Genoese to steer toward t11e southwest. Genoese navigator fired a like zeal in Had Columbus kept to his original young Sebastian; and as Henry VII.. route, he would have met the warm was ambitious to enter the field of mari- Gulf Stream and have touched at Flori- time discovery, when the Cabots proda, and thence, perhaps, gone up to posed to the king the project of shorten- Cape Hatteras and Virginia; and as he ing the route to India by a western represented a Roman Catholic power, course, the king fell in with their prothe result would have been that the con- posal, and on March 6th, 1496, the first tinent of North America would have patent was granted. From all we can fallen under the awful blight now rest- gather, it appears that before any other, ing on the twin continent of the south the Cabols saw the mainland of America, -a semi·pagan Romanism. A Roman the term Terra primum visa being used Catholic Spanish population would have to distinguish the continent. This was spread over this land of ours instead of seen June 24th, 1497, and was probably a Protestant English people! And as Nova Scotia. A second patent, issued Martin Alonzo Pinzon himself formed to John Cabot, February 3d, 1498, led his opinion as to the direction of the to another voyage, but not until after land by observing a flight oj parroquets the father's death. This issued in the toward the southwest, we m.ay say that discovery of 1800 miles of North Ameri- God used the trackless pathway of birds can seacoast; and so-does anything through the air to determine the equally merely happen 1-a Venetian navigator, trackless pathway of Columbus' ships employed by the British Government, through the sea, and to fix the distribu- appropriated for Protestantism the vast tion of this Western world between the territory of North America. Had the Latin and Germanic races! Cabots been in the employ of Ferdinand the whole of the Americas might have As it was, on October 12th, 1492, Co- been to-day under the rule of a civilizalumbus first touched at Guanahani, or tion little above barbarism, and a re- Watling Island; and after about three ligion little above paganism! months in Cuba, Hispaniola and other isles, he returned to Spain. He made Arnold Guyot" in his book on" The three other voyages; on the second, Earth and Man," treats the contour and coasting along the northwest shore of relief of the continents of the earth, the South America, and from the vast vol- shape of the dry land, etc., as a physiume of the Orinoco at its estuary, infer- cal prophecy of a divine providential !'
purpose in the working out of human a fairer land. . .. And now that Brazil history and destiny. has entered into the sisterhood of reo Rev. G. W. Chamberlain, D.D., of publics, now that education has received Br~zil, finely says that the physical a great stimulus, now that slavery has geography of that great land forecasts been abolished, and religious bigotry the acts in the great drama of its fu- has given place to religious liberty, we ture ; and shows that the land shall be are drawing nearer to the realization (1) one and indivisible; (2) a healthy of the possibilities portrayed by the habitation, and (3) a theatre for congre- great naturalist."
gating tbe families of the earth. Dr. We must content ourselves with this Chamberlain's words are so forceful mere outline, not daring to touch upon that we embody their substance. The the history of missions in South Ameri- topography, hydrography, prefiguration ca, which must be reserved for separate of Brazil leave no chance for a division. treatment. We are content to suggest You cannot divide the country-by the philosophy of history found in the eternal forecast it is to be one. A very strange and marvellous facts here slight depression of the earth's surface brought to notice.
would have left the river systems, whose broad arms embrace Brazil, to have made it a vast island. He whose hands formed the dry land raised Brazil high The story of the mission to the Pata- toward heaven, so that even in the inter- gonians and Fuegians, as connected tropical regions it is among the habit. with the name of Captain Allen F. Gar- able parts of the earth. And as the con, diner, has few rivals even among the tour and configuration of the old hemi- most pathetic tales of missionary hero· sphere forecast the separation and seg- ism. Darwin recorded his verdict that regation of the family of man, the new in this extreme part of South America, hemisphere hints concentration and man existed in a lower state of improve- congregation. In the southern half of ment than in any other part of the this new world, in the United States world. Yet just here Captain Gardi- of Brazil, a theatre for history is pre- ner went. Failure could not disap- pared similar to that. where the United point nor disaster dismay him. When States is working out its historic future. the natives drove him from the shore, Vast area, healthfulness, individuality he said, ., the mission establishment must all point to a vast concourse of human- be for the present afloat." Accordingly ity and a vast development in the near two large decked boats were fitted out, future. In pursuance of the Divine and in December, 1850, they bore the plan, this great fertile territory was mission party to Banner Cove. A year committed to the Portuguese in order from that time the letter of Samuel La.
that for a time it should lie j ealou81y fone brought the sad tidings of the guarded and hermetically sealed even to deat.h of these devoted men. Captain all foreign commerce. And now, as the Gardiner's journal was found at Span- northern civilization begins to overflow iard's Harbor. He appears to have died and demand new outlets and a wider September 6th, of starvation; but over area, Brazil, reserved for such a time as his remains was the rude inscription, this, throws open her doors and reaches " Wait, my soul, upon God; for all my out after the means for developing her expectation is from Him." What won- territorial resources. And as Dr. Cham- der that Mr. Despard published far and berlain adds, " should her moral and wide the resolve: WITH GOD'S HELP THE intellectual endowments grow into har. MISSION SHALL BE MAINTAINED! And it mony with her wonderful natural beauty was maintained, and even Darwin con- and wealth, the world will not have seen fessed its grand success.
GENERAL MII!SIONARY INTELI.IGENCE. 871'
VI.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Organized Missionary Work a.nd Statistios. Edited ,by Rev. D. L. Leonard, Oberlin, O.
-The usual carefully prepared tables "that now it is the most important of statistics, which many readers of the work for Jews in the whole world… MISSIONARY REVIEW have found so valu- able, may be expected, though at the -Though indifference and guilty beginning of next year, instead of at the withholding are so oommon in the end of this. churches, yet many also are the exam- ples of self-denying consecration. As -Of the 139 missionary societies Dr. A. J. Gordon suggests: "On the represented at th" General Conference staff of the China Inland Mission there of Protestant Foreign Missions in Lon- are 60 men and women who are work- don, in 1888, while only 18 represented ing in the foreign field just as they all other races. 121 represented the would work in their churches at home, Anglo-Saxon race. entirely supporting themselves. A Western farmer has recently sold his -Among the most significant signs house and lands, and with his wife and of increased zeal for missions is to be children-all consecrated to the workset the fact that almost all the leading has gone to Africa to constitute 8 self- religious papers. and not a few of the supporting missionary household. A great dailies, gi ve regularly large space lady of wealth, within the last month, to news from the field. In some cases sailed from New York, taking with her once a month whole pages are covered 8 other missionaries, she providing for with letters from missionaries, or col- the perpetual support of all the party. umns are filled with interesting bits of The widow of one of our honored misintelligence; in others something is sure sionaries is carrying on a work in Japan to appear every week, and in a few cases of the same kind, she providing fcr the the secretaries of the societies use the entire support of herself and her copress to reach the Christian public. laborers."
-Rev. A. F. SchaufHer, of the New The same spirit is found in Britain. York City Mission and Tract Society, For James E. Mathieson, Esq., the forhas recently published a special report mer secretary of the MiIdmay Mission, on the Jewish work, which for two years has renounced his banking business enhas been carried on in that city with tirely to engage in religious work. Lord such remarkable results by the convert- Radstock and his family spend their .od Polish Jew, Mr. Hermann Warsza- lives as evangelists in the slums. A wiak. He visits irom house to house wholesale butcher, one of the Taberamong his brethren, and holds frequent nacle congregation, went to his business services, which are attended by 600 to at half-past five in the morning, that 800. Some 16,000 copies of the New he might come to. the Tabernacle at Testament have been distributed, most- half-past nine to see that the visitors ly in Hebrew. It is estimated that to the pastor's conference were properly 50,000 of the 200,000 Jews in New York housed and taken care of. Another man, have attended the services held in the worth $500,000, adjusts all his busi- DeWitt Memorial Church, Rivington ness so as to act as usher at the Taber- Street. Mr. Schaufll.er says: ., The nacle door. Such consecration to largest male audiences that this city God's work is not very rare in Britain. affords are now to be seen listening to Also, when the Mongolian heart is touchhim." and affirms that, .. not for a thou- ed by the Spirit of God, the same divine sand years has God shown such favor to longing to minister begins to stir within. one preaching to Jews;" and further. For Mr. Lum Foon, a member of the Chinese Mission church, of San Francisco, 1890 there were 142,256, a.n increase of has lately given up a prosperous business 272 per cent. The total value of church and gone to China as a self-supporting property in 1850 wBlf $87,446,371, and missionary. He has bought land and in 1890, $631,221,303, an increase of 621 erected a fine chapel and school at his per cent. The five leading denomina- own expense. tions had communicants as follows, -There are 12 memorial kindergar- viz.: The Methodists, 4,255,377 ; Cathotens at work in San Francisco, and 6 of lics, 6,250,045 ; Presbyterian, 1,278,815 ; them were started by Mrs. Leland Stan- Lutheran, 1,199,514; Congregational, ford. To put them on a permauent 512,771. The increase in the value of basis, she has now set aside $100,000 as Catholic church property since 1850 an endowment fund. She had given has been 1178 per cent, and that of the $60,000 for these schools previously. Lutheran, 1098 per cent.
The one opened in 1884 by Mrs. Stan- -A recent census bulletin states that ford was the first memorial kindergar- of the 7,470,000 colored persons in the ten in the world, it is said. United States, 2,371,100 are church- -A Grand Army mission is conducted members. More than one half of them by Colonel H. H. Hadley, under the are Baptists -1,230,516. Different pension agency on Canal Street, New branches of the Methodists claim 722,- York City, where pensioners' checks are 964. There are 110,000 Roman Cathocashed and remittances made to friends lics, and the rest are divided among without cost. Free breakfasts, lunch several sects.
and coffee are furnished to the pension- -The International Missionary Alliers, 10,000 of whom come to the agency ance publishes the names of upward of every three months to receive their 90 men and women who have gone to checks. A Gospel meeting is held every the foreign field under its auspices, and evening. Major-GeneralO. O. Howard, are found laboring in Africa, Turkey, General Wager Swayne, and other men India, China, Japan, the West Indies, of note serve on the committee of man- Alaska, etc. agement. -The Reformed Presbyterian Church -The Cross Bearers' Missionary Read- (Covenanter) numbers only about 10,000, ing Circle is well worthy of notice by but sustains missions in Syria and Asia all who would inform themselves con- Minor, as well as among the freedmen, cerning the growth of the kingdom. Indians and Chinese in the United The idea of the organization is for each States. The contributions for foreign member to read a certain amount on missions from all sources in 1891, not missionary or kindred subjects each day including a bequest of $8500, were $19,- as designated, to pass a yearly exami- 614, or an average of $1.74 per member. nation, and to recei ve a certificate of graduation. Such books will be read -The Evangelical Association has a ae these: biographies of missionaries; mission in Japan which was established books describing the countries, customs, in 1875, and now contains 18 itinerant and peoples; works treating of God's and 5 local preachers, and a number of purpose a.nd the adaptability of the . Bible women and other native helpers.
heathen to that purpose ; and a periodi- The number of communicants is 488.
cal giving the latest missionary informa- There are 6 church edifices, 2 parson- tion. Further particulars may be had ages, and 6 mission homes. At Tokio by addressing Rev. Z. M. Williams, Sec- is a prosperous theological seminary.
retary, St. Joseph, Mo. -The experience is not uncommon -In 1850 there were 38,183 church with secretaries of the societies, but is edifices in the United States, while in it not strange that even in a church so substantial as the (Dutch) Reformed, so offered for service, as against 179 now. inspiring an announcement as the fol. Thirty.four were accepted then, 118 lowing should need to be introduced by now." a phrase so lugubrious: "If we can get money to send them, 5 missionaries -The Universities'Mission includes expect to sail per steamer Ohina from 21 English clergy, 3 African clergy, 27 San Francisco September 27th; the laymen, 23 women, and 84 native teach. Rev. and Mrs. Harris, Miss Brokaw, ar.d ers and readers. There are 1300 adult Miss Couch go to Japan, and Miss Mor· baptized catechumens, 1071 communi. rison to China" ? cants, and 3000 day scholars.
-The United Brethren have a mis· -The Church of Scotland is repre. sion in West Africa known as the Sher. sented in the foreign field by 77 Euro.
bro·Mendi, whose beginning dates from pean missionaries, women included, 1855. Upon it $225,000 have been ex· and 314 native helpers. In 1891 the pended, and $8725 last year. The mis· baptisms numbered 1129, more than sionaries visit some 350 villages and double those of the year before, and the towns, and upward of 7000 natives have total income-was £46,124 ($230,620), the been gathered into the churches. A largest sum ever reported.
theological training school is doing -This is the jubilee year of the Free good work. Church, and in an appeal for special EUROPE. thankofferings these statements are Great Britain.-The twenty.seventh made: "Our Church has never had anniversary of the Salvation Army was such a year of ingathering in our foreign held in Exeter Hall, London, July 25th. mission work. We have seen the fields General Booth stated that they had ri pening to the harvest for many a year, nearly 11,000 officers, 6000 abroad and but in this year we have been bringing 5000 at home; that since August last in the sheaves. In Central Africa, in there had been an increase of nearly South Africa, and in the New Hebrides 1000 societies; that they had 32 weekly our mission work has been blessed and papers and 6 monthly magazines with a owned of God as it never was before; circulation of over 17,000,000 ; the num· While in India we have been able to ber of languages in which there was count our converts by the hundreds, preaching done by the officers was 24. when formerly we rejoiced in the tens. This is surely a cause for devout thank.
-Only recently John Horniman, of fulness. Nor are we alone in this har.
Croydon, made the munificent gift of a vesting. God is blessing the mission convalescent home to Worthing, Sussex, work of the whole Christian Church in England, for the public benefit; and India as it never was blessed before.
now the same generous donor has put The past year has been one of almost $100,000 in the hands of trustees, who universal rejoicing in the mission field." .
are arranging for the building and open· The Continent.-Besides their 12 ing of a Friends' Missionary Training stations in the Moskito Indian Territory, Home, more particularly for the foreign Central America, the Moravians have missionary students and prospective 14 stations among the Esquimaux of workers abroad. Greenland, Labrador, and Alaska•. 6 -Sir J. H. Kennaway, M.P., Presi. among the North American Indians in dent of the Church Missionary Society, Canada and the States, 50 among the said at the annual meeting: •• Onr or· colored population of 9 West Indian dinary income this year is £23,100 in Islands. 26 among the negroes of Brit.
excess of the year 1887, when I first ish and Dutch Guiana, 24 Ilmong the took office. In that year 82 candidates Hottentots and Kaffirs of South Africa, 3 am ong the Aborigines of Australia, and lem is urgent and alarming, but in India 3 among the Tibetans of the Himalayas. the perplexing question relates rather to They have a hospital for lepers close to the agricultural districts, with their 90 Jerusalem, and their latest enterprise is or even 95 per cent of the population.
a mission to the north of Lake Nyassa. ' The masses are found not crowded into At these 139 stations they have 31,380 cities, and not scattered upon farms, communicants and a total membership but collected in almost countless vil- of 90,544. Their home churches in lages.
Germany, the United I:!tates, and Great -An idea of the vast numbers inhab- Britain number about 21,000 communi· iting the whole of this huge peninsula cants and 30,000 members, including may be gained by considering the fact children. that in Bengal alone the census staff ASIA. employed exceeded 309,000, and the population of this single province is Turkey.-No friend of missions can 9,000,000 in excess of those inhabiting read withont deep solicitude "f the fre· the United States at the last census, quent attempts made of late by Turkish for an area oHess than one twenty-third officials to cripple and fetter the work that of the United States! of the Gospel. And so it was pleasant to read that the Secretary of State, on -The widows of India number four the receipt of a telegram from the Unit· times as many as the entire popUlation ed States Charge d'Affaires at Constan· of London. tinople, stating that the house of Dr. Bartlett, an American missionary in -In the single province of Behar there Konich, Asia Minor, had been burned, are 30,000,000 of people untouched by and that the lives of the missionaries missionary effort, and if 40,000 missionawere in danger, cabled instructions to ries were to be sent to India there would still be only one to every 50,000.
the legation to demand of Turkey effec- -An American missionary, speaking tive protection, indemnity, punishment of the unsanitary conditions in which the of the guilty parties, and reprimand of people dwell, resulting from bad water, the authorities found remiss, and also foul air, filthy food, ignorant quacks, that the cruisers Newark and Benning- etc., does not wonder that" there are ton, now on the way to Genoa, would be 500,000 lepers, that cholera carries off ordered to the vicinity of the outrage to 417,000 in a single year, that in the same support this demand. time 125,453 die of small-pox and 3,486,- -A native Albanian, Rev. G. D. 448 of fever," but thinks the marvel is Kyrias, the first man who ever pro_ that all are not smitten by deadly pesticlaimed the Gospel in the Albanian lan- lence. The British Government is guage, is preaching to his people in doing its best to mend matters by 0. Kortcha, Turkey. vast system of hospitals, dispensaries (1641), medical schools (18), etc. There -The Syrian mission of the American are 25 lunatic asylums, and 23 for Presbyterian Church has a force of 16 lepers. Vaccination is compulsory, men and 24 women; and of natives, 4 much to the horror of all devotees of ordained pastors, 41 preachers or evan- caste, and last year 5,709,462 children gelists, 172 teachers, male and female, 5 were vaccinated.
other helpers-a total of 222. Regular -The need of female education in services are held in 88 localities. In In(lia is shown by the fact that while the 89 Sunday-schools are 5433 children, there are about 18,000,000 girls of a while 192 young women are in training school-going age, a recent return made for teachers. From the mission press by the Government shows that not more 65,300 volumes issued in 1891. than 294,457 are attending school.
India.-In this country the city prob- From this it will be seen that there ill only one in ~very 61 receiving education (of whom some 575 are ordained) 58 are of any kind. The rest are simply left Germans. who also have about 1000 of to grow up in ignorance, heathenism, the 17,000 in the schools, and 2500 of and superstition. the 40,000 communicants.
-In the Marathi mission of the -The Basle mission at the end of American Board, retrenchment in some the first decade had 1 station and 2 mis- form became necessary last year, and sionaries ; at the end of the second, 4 the native preachers and teachers gave stations and 5 missionaries ; ten years up two months' salary, leaving their later, 5 stations and 14 missionaries; vork through the week for that time and fifteen years later still, 13 stations and taking whatever employment they and 5 out-stations, 37 missionaries and could find to keep out of debt. Some 90 native helpers. In twenty years the of them went into the harvest fields as Christians have increased from 668 to laborers, in order to supply their neces- 3600.
sities. Japan.-Reports from Japan indicate -In the Sialkot district (punjab) be- that about 400 people are baptized in tween 1881-91 the number of Christians the Protestant churches every month.
rose from 412 to 9711, and mostly by -The Council of Missions of the baptisms. The Scottish and American Church of Christ in Japan, composed of Presbyterians occupy this field. missionaries representing 6 Presbyte- -A. L. O. E .. the well·known writer, rian and Reformed churches-the Re- is a missionary in India, doing Zenana . formed (Dutch), German Reformed, mission work. Although more than Presbyterian. Presbyterian South, Unit..
threescore'years and ten, she goes out ed Presbyterian, and Cumberland Pres- daily to teach India's degraded and pov- byterian, and the Woman's Union Mis- erty.stricken women. sionary Society-in its fifteenth 'annual -Two Brahmans, father and son, report gives statistius which show 54 were recently received into the Baptist missionaries, 49 wives, and 51 other Church at Rangoon by Rev. F. T. women, a total of 154, aud 10,961 Whitman, who writes that Rangoon is a church-members. There are 70 theomost favorable place for work among logical students in the 5 schools for the caste people of India. There are boys and young men, and of the 120 thousands of them there, and the power pupils in the Meiji Gakuin 87 are Chrisof their caste is greatly weakened. Four tians. There are also 26 schools for have been received into the English girls, young women, and children, with Church by Mr. Whitman. J774 pupils, of whom 315 are Christians.
-According to the statistics in the China.-'I'he Rev. H. C. Knox says annual report of the Japanese mission that Chinese converts are governed by (American Board), there are 109 Congre- the law of self-sacrifice. In illustration gational churches in Japan, with a total he refers to a native bookseller, who had membership of 10,760. The number of been taken up and beaten for reading additions by confession last year was Christian books, and who, when he 1096, an increase of 56 over the precedheard that the Rev. H. S. Phillips was ing year. There are 129 preachers and alone and iu danger, walked forty miles 22 Bible women. The contributions for in order to stand by him. He had church purposes were $25,706, a gain of heard this bookseiIer, after a weary nearly $5000 over the year before.
day's labor, pleading with souls for hours until near morning. -In Korea, the" Hermit Kingdom,"
which is one of the newest of fields, -Of the 1300 missionaries in China with its 80,000 square miles and 13,000,- 000 of population, 8 societies are at work a half was represented by five genera· -the Methodist Episcopal, the Presby. tions, and during that time forty.one terian North, and South, and of Aus. congregations had been established in tralia, S. P. G., and 2 Canadian societies England, of which twenty.one-includ. -in all with 59 missionaries, of whom 22 ing the chief town congregations and are ordained, 17 are wives, 11 unmarried the settlements-were begun before women, and 5 are physicians. 1770.
AFRICA. Association for Promoting Female Education in India. – This society, -In the mission churches established which is wholly sustained by ladies, along the Congo by English and Ameri- was started in 1866 in connection witb can missionaries there are already 1500 the Society for the Propagation of the communicants. Gospel, and seeks to provide teachers -Rev. Taylor Smith, of the Church for the instruction of native women and Missionary Society and canon mis. cbildren, as well as to assist female mis· sioner of the diocese of Sierra Leone, sion schools by providing suitable in describing the changes wrought clothing and a maintenance for board. within seventy.five years, says: "There ers. Funds are raised by establishing has risen a flourishing, self.~upporting branch associations throughout the church-a church, moreover, which country and by sales of ladies' work. maintains its own missionary society. The first teacher was sent out to Mada. We have full churches. It is no uncom· gascar in 1867, which is now the centre mon thing to see from 1000 to 1400 peo· of a large and important work. Zenana ple-English.speaking Africans-in the missions have also been opened all over cathedral at Sierra Leone, and in an· India, and schools in South Africa, Ja. other church at Freetown, in which pan, and China. Lack of funds has pre. place there are !l churches. In another vented speoial medical work being at· tempted, but the teacher who has been i have counted 1000 worshippers on a stationed in Madagascar for twenty.
week.day morning; and in holy week last year there were over 1000 worship. three years spent her last holiday of a pers (everyone African) at seven o'clock. year training in a hospital, with the reo in the morning." suIt that many of the natives for miles round the station come to her for ad.
British Foreign Missions. By Rev. James vice and remedies.
Johnston, Bolton, England. Society for the Propagation of the English Moravian Synod.-At the Gospel.-There are now on tbe society's annual synod in August last at Fairfield list 672 ordained missionaries, includ· the Rev. W. Taylor, bishop of the ing 6 bishops ; in Asia, 225 ; in Africa, church and president, stated that as the 153 ; in Australia and the Pacific, 16 ; London congregation, the oldest in the in North America, 211; in the West Eritish I~les, was about to celebrate the Indies, 36; and 31 in Europe. Of third jubilee of the settlement as a con- these 127 are natives laboring in Asia gregation, the present synod might be and 35 in Africa. The various missions considered to have a jubilee character. have about 2300 lay teachers, 2600 stu· They had reason to praise God for His dents in the society's colleges, and goodness to them, especially in view 38,000 children in the mission schools of the fact that they had enjoyed the in Asia and Africa. The funds in. blessing of spiritual life and union, trusted to its stewardship for the main. and that none of their congregations tenance of this vast work amounted in had severed their connection with the the year 1891 to £116,520.
Unitas liratrum-the church of their Niger Bishopric.-It is announced spiritual forefathers, The century and from reliable quarters that the Rev. Joseph Sidney Hill is the bishop desig- and evangelists, increase, 55 per cent; nate of the Niger to succeed the late 2057 local preachers, increase, 57 per Bishop Crowther. Mr. Hill was trained cent; 33,523 church-members, increase, at the Church Missionary College, 611 per cent; on trial, 12,231, increase, Islington, and served as a missionary 36* per cent; 337 day schools, increase, at Lagos from 1876 to 1878; was sta- 29 per cent; 20,845 day scholars, in- tioned at Wairoa, New Zealand, from crease, 42t per cent; 380 Sunday- 1878 to 1883 ; acted as prison chaplain schools, increase, 50 per cent; 24,959 at Auckland from 1883 to 1890, and for Sunday scholars, increase, 42 per cent.
the last two years has been engaged at The adherents number 135,000, and home on the staff of the Church Paro- the missionary income has grown from chial Mission. Mr. Hill had previously £1500 to between £5000 to £6000.
been enrolled by the society for work At the English Wesleyan Conference on the Niger, and will now at .the arch- last July it was resolved that one of bishop's request proceed immediately the secretaries should visit and spend to the Niger as his commissary to make several months in India during the en- inquiry, to the fullest extent, as to the suing autumn and winter, when the attitude of the native pastors, and on Decennial General Conference of Indian the basis of his report an arrangement missionaries of all Protestant Churches will be made which will satisfy, it is will be held, and also the triennial meet- hoped, the aspirations of the native ing of the society's missionaries. The church. To the difficulties which so financial statement showed that the long beset the Niger Mission the arch- total income was £125.129, and the ex- bishop has given great attention, and it cess of expenditure over income, £4068.
is believed that he will be able to effect To the foreign stations the principal a solution. payments for the past year ",ere: Sierra Leone.-According to custom, Europe, £26,848; Ceylon and Contithe bishop (Dr. Ingham) has arrived in nental India, £34,005; China, £6320; England for his six months' furlough, South Africa, £15,681 ; Western Africa, and is seeking opportunities to plead £6529 ; and West Indies, £7462.
for the pressing needs of the Diocesan Uganda.-The latest letters from Fund. The ordinary departments of Uganda, of date January 31st, come from church organization are actively at the Rev. G. K. Baskerville, an intrepid work, and lately a technical school has young missionary who went out to been established with a view of bene- Africa in 1890. He was in the capital fiting the natives of West Africa. The of Uganda all through the recent fighttask is admittedly a hard one, but a ing, and his communications give the good beginning has been made. Re- first detailed accounts of the unhappy cently the bishop's wife has founded a feuds. It seems that Mwanga has escottage hospital, and these two efforts caped from the Catholic party and atwill tax his resources for some time to tached himself to the Protestants. AIcome. If the bishop carries success in , though the fighting has ceased, private the former department of service he sources of information state that there will have done something toward solv- is much anxiety in official circles as to ing one of the trying problems of Afri- the events of the next four months.
can missionary work. Bishop Tucker, who had been in the South African Wesleyan Metho- neighborhood of Chagga, has now Bet dist Church.-Formally organized on out for Uganda in order that he may its separation from the British mis- advise the missionaries and share with sionary society ten years ago, it has to- them the difficulties of the situation.
day 493 churches, an increase of 60 per Very strongly does the bishop deny the cent on the ten years; 274 ministers charges of the German press, which aeouses British missionaries in Kilima necessary result there has been neither Njaro of selling rifles and ammunition uniformity in practice nor in prin.
to the Moshi. The bishop declares ciple.
that no arms have been sent either to London Missionary Society.-At the mission or to the Moshi from the the request of the directors the Rev. British sphere, whereas the sale of am- R. Wardlaw Thompson, foreign seoremunition in German territory, notwith- tary, will shortly sail for Capetown to standing the Government monopoly, is visit the South African churches and praotically unlimited. stations in the oapacity of special com· Nyassaland.-Commissioner John- missioner. Fresh offers of service for ston's di.spatches touching the suppres. foreign work oontinue to be made by sion of slave-raiding in that region re- English Congregational ministers.
late the oircumstanoes attending the Among the latest names are those of death of Captain Maguire, who wall in Horace H. Theobald, of Kirkham, Lan.
command of the Indian contingent of cashire, and W. Thomas, of Waterhead, the British Central African polioe force, Oldham. Both ministers have relin.
and was shot after leading a gallant at- quished successful pastorates. The tack on a number of slave dhows, and Rev. G. W. Watson, of Wollerton, of Dr. Boyoe and Mr. MacEwan, the Salop, who has completed a ten years'
engineer, while negotiating with the ministry, has been accepted by the enemy for the recovery of Captain Ma- directors, and will prooeed to his ap· guire's body. On April 8th Mr. John- pointment as a teacher in the High ston reported that things were very School at Madras.
satisfaotory on Lake Nyassa, and asks Bishop .Tohn Selwyn's See of Mela.
that the German and Portuguese Gov- nesia, which he has vaoated through ernments be requested to take such ill-health after fifteen years' servioe.
ilteps as to prevent the slave·hunters has been offered to the Rev. Alfred from obtaining supplies of ammunition Penny, vicar of Tunstall, Staffordshire.
from German or Portuguese souroes; -Bishop Smythies of the Universities and such steps have been promptly Mission is regaining strength by his taken. furlough to England, and has reoently occupied one of the cathedral pulpits. An African Council.-In British official quarters there are rumors of the establishment of an African Council on Monthly Bulletin.
lines somewhat similar to that of the -The Divinity School of Yale Uniexisting Indian Council. In recent versity has set on foot a scheme to esyears African affairs have assumed tablish a library of modern missions, to growing importance, requiring the Eng- embrace history, biography, annual relish Government to devote more atten. ports and periodicals, as well as books tion to questions respeoting the" Dark prepared by missionaries for the use of Continent." So enormously have ques. the natives. Professor Day has this tions of civilization and rule oome to important matter in hand. the front, it is felt that the time has arrived when the whole question of -The M'!'ssionary Herald oalls on the England's relations with the native children to supply another and much.
raoes and vast areas, especially those needed Morning Star for work in the under her own influence, demands reo Pacific Ocean, to be called the Hiram oonsideration. It is well known that Bingham, after the missionary who is hitherto British policy in Africa has said to be the first man to reduce to been dictated by the exigencies of the writing a language before unknown, moment and the supposed special reo and then to translate into iit the entire 9,uirements of each sphere j and as a Bible. The call is for $5000. -The punishment of iniquity at India.-It is Dr. Pentecost who de- home is helpful to the Gospel in heathen clares : "You can pick out the children lands. So it is fitting to note that the of the Christian native from those of last of the ballot box stuffers in Jersey the heathen while they are playing to- City have been sentenced. Originally gether in the flame village street. The there were sixty-seven persons indicted Christian children are better clothed, for this crime. All but seven have been better fed, brighter in face, and cheerier tried. Two of these are dead, one is in in manner than those of the heathen."
the insane asylum, one fled to foreign -Ah, the curse of caste! A missionparts, and three the district attorney did ary at Lodiana was preaching to a quiet not think should be tried. audience of Hindus, when a fakir came upon the scene, and became noisy and -Max Limon, until lately a rich abusive. Standing close to the misbanker of Kiev, Russia, recently exiled sionary and gesticulating, by an acciby the Czar's edict against Hebrews, is dent he happened to touch the missionworking in the stock-room of a Chicago ary, when he suddenly stopped, spat clothing house for a weekly salary of on the ground, and with a look of the $7. At one time his fortune amounted utmost disgust, as if he had touched to almost $500,000.
-Mr. Joseph Arbely, a native of some loathsome thing, stooped down Syria, and a graduate of tile Syrian and rubbed his finger in the dust. Then Protestant College at Beirut, has started turning to the crowd he said, " These in New York City a weekly paper in people eat pigs and cows, and they are the Arabic language for the thousands not fit to preach." Then he walked of Arabic·speaking people now in the away, most of the audience following, United States. The title of the paper with exclamations of horror at such de- is the Kankob America (or Slar of Ameri- pravity.
ca). -Whose heart is not touched by the story of the blind man who walked all -Mr. Mellin, a Portuguese lay mis- the way from Lhassa, at least 1000 sionary at Madeira, was arrested and miles, in the hope that Dr. Marx could tried for expounding the Scriptures and remove the cataract and give him sight! singing a hymn at a Protestant funeral When he arrived within a day or two in the Portuguese cemetery on All Souls' of Leh, he heard that the medical mis- Day, when it was crowded with Roman sionary was dead. Sorrowfully he Catholics. A clever lawyer succeeded turned and travelled home again, all in obtaining his acquittal on the ground those thousand miles, over mountain that the service was not an act of public passes and plateaux; averaging 15,000 worship, inasmuoh as Mr. Mellin was feet above the sea. not an ordained pastor. Twelve years' banishment from the islands would have -Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji, lately electbeen the punishment. ed to a seat in Parliament, is a native Indian, and was born in Bombay, 'the Palestine.-The number of blind per- son of a Parsee priest, and was edu. sons in the East is large. There are cated at the Elphinstone Institution, mission schools for them at Beirut, later becoming It professor of mathe- Damascus and Tyre. Blind Scripture- matics and natural philosophy. He readers have the entree of Moslem homes, went to England in 1855, and since was a privilege which blindness confers.
-The Presbyterian reports that Jeru- for years prime minister in the native salem has 135 places where liquor is State of Baroda.
sold, and the license fees, which last -The Gaekwar of Baroda, now trav- year amounted to $2,292, are sent to elling in Europe, before leaving his own constantinople, dominions, gave orders to his dewan to open ten boarding-schools for the sons work extends nearly seventy miles of low-caste people in his territory. northward into the province of Chihli, -The Methodist Episcopal Church is and nearly as far west, and the patients reported as preaching and teaching the who are treated in the hospital have Gospel in India and other parts of Asia come from no less than 1031 villages. in thirteen different languages, and as During the past year 5116 persons have having 29,000 native pupils in India. It been treated, and during ten years no has also established missionary publish- less than 38,306.
ing houses, and from its own presses is -Dr. Hunter Corbett writes from sending out missionary pamphlets and Chufoo, China, that ten men of fine periodicals in nine different languages. education and much promise will soon -There are 330 Bible women taking have completed the course of study in the Scriptures into the Zenanas of the normal school. They will go out, India. t~o by two, to preach at markets and from village to village, on salaries of -At a public meeting in Edinburgh about $50 per year each. Thousands in connection with the Zenana Mission, hear the Gospel at the markets and inns it was stated by Miss Hogg, of Old Cala- and by the wayside. Sometimes 8S bar, that one of the difficulties in her many as five or six men preach at the mission was the love of dress on the same large market. part of the converts, and their insubordination to their Christian husbands. -The Rev. Dr. Mackay writes from The women wanted silks, satins, and vel- Formosa of a wholesale turning from vets, and instead of doing as they were idolatry. By unanimous vote the peobid, as they formerly had to do in the ple of Ka-le-oan handed over a heathen harems, they now had their say in temple for Christian service, and nearly everything. 500 cleared their houses of idols, and a great bonfire was made of the rejected Ohina.-At a banquet recently given gods.
by Li Hung Chang, at which many for- -Dr. Griffith John writes from Haneigners were present, the statesman's kow, China, to the Ohristian World, givson, speaking in English for his father, ing the welcome news that Chan Han, praised Western civilization, and espe- the leader of the recent anti-foreign and cially Western medical science, stating anti-Christian movement in Hunan, that a foreign physician had recently has been deposed from his government saved his life. position by an imperial edict, cashiered, -The Norwegian Evangelical Lu- sent to his home and placed under the theran China Missil:m Society was organ- surveillance of local officials.
ized June 11th, 1890, and already has Japan.-The chapel of the Doshisha twelve missionaries in China. It works College of the American Board's Kyoto in association with the China Inland Mission is filled every Sunday morning Mission. Its headquarters are at Han- by from 500 to 700 young men and kow, on the Yangtse River. women, students in the college and -Rev. David Hill, missionary in girls' schools. This college graduated China, though born to wealth, has this year 83 students, the laq;est num- cheerfully supported himself for twenty- ber on record_ eight years. His brother, a magistrate -Rev. C. S. Eby, a Canadian Methin York, has contributed nobly to the odist missionary, recently gave an exwork, and now his son has gone to labor hibition of stereopticon views at the in the same field. palace in Tokyo, and received in ac· -The report of the Williams Hospital, knowledgment therefor a choice silver at Pang-Chuang, for 1890, states that its cup from His Majesty the Emperor.
The Missionary Review of the World — June 1891
HUGUENOT FEMALE SEMINARY. WELLINGTON, CAPE COLONY, SOUTH
MISSIONARY REVIEW. OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XIV. No. 6.-0Zd Serie.~.–JUNE.–VOL. IV. No. 6.-New Series.
THE MIRACLES OF MISSIONS.-XO. XVIII.
J [EDITORIAL, A. T. P.
THE LIGHT AT THE CAPE OF GOOD ·HOPE.
" IF you want most to serve your race," said Mary Lyon, " go where no one else will go, and do what no one else will do."
We propose to draw· in profile the outline of one of the most wonderful and fascinating stories of modern missions-the narrative of the founding of the Huguenot Seminary at Wellington, Cape Colony.
Wellington, about forty miles from Cape Town, is a gem set in a ring ~f mountains-the Drakenstein and Paarl ranges. It is now more' than two centuries since some three hundred Huguenots, who had fled from France to Holland after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, accepted the invitation of the Dutch East India Company, and settled at the Cape. What the Puritans were to America, these devoted refugees became to the Dark Continent.
·By law Dutch was the language of the colony; and so, in a few generations, the French ceased to be their language, and almost the nationality of these refugees was lost. Early in this century the colony passed into the hands of Great Britain, and the Dutch Reformed churches. already established, became largely supplied with Scotch Presbyterian pastors. .
One of these was Rev. Andrew Murray, who was settled over the congregation at GraafI Reinet. He married a Germano-Huguenot lady, and five of their sons now preach in the colony, while four of their daughters are wives of ministers. The second son, also called Andrew, is the pastor of the church at Wellington, and the now famous author of the most pr«>ciolls devotional books which perhaps during the past half century have been issued from the English press.
This man of God, Andrew Murray, nearly twenty years ago, buried two young children at his African home; and, as Mrs. Murray expressed it, " their hands seemed emptied and ready for some work with which the Lord was waiting to fill them." The bereaved husband and wife went in December, 1872, to the seaside to rest, and there they read together the
THE MIRACLES OF MISSIONS
marvellous life of Mary Lyon. So thrilled were they by that story of heroism, that they sought to obtain everything that could further info}m them of the subsequent history of the Holyoke Seminary and its pupils, and eagerly devoured the story of Fidelia Fiske, the Mary J~yon of Persia.
Just at this time the descendants of those Huguenot refugees living at Wellington were proposing to build some monument or memorial.to their ancestors; and Mr. Murray was strangely and strongly impressed that the best memorial they could rear was just such a school for their daughters. The schools scattered through South Africa were neither such as the mind nor morals of the girls needed; few of them were fitted to train immortal souls for service here or glory hereafter. Every indication of human need and Divine Providence seemed to point to this as the time and place for a new Holyoke. And, after much thought, consultation, and prayer, letters were written to the Massachusetts Holyoke, asking for a graduate to found a similar school at the Cape of Good Hope.
These letters awakened unusual interest at the parent seminary, and were put into the hands of Miss Abbie P. Ferguson, a graduate of the class of 1856, who was at that time conducting a very successful work in New Haven, Conn. Her mind was 80 deeply impressed that God was calling her to Africa, that she could not rest until she had laid herself at the Lord's feet, to go wherever He might lead. She breathed a prayer that, if He was indeed calling her to Wellington, another might be found to share the work; and just then Miss Anna E. Bliss, of the class of 1862, offered herself as a companion in labor. Just at this time, across the Atlantic, special prayer was arising that Jehovah Jireh would provide a teacher, and so once more prayer and its answer joined, in a blessed harmony, man's performance and God's purpose. Before the letter~ reached Wellington, telling of the decision of these teachers, Mr. Murray, with characteristic faith, had sent passage-money to America; and when the news of the decision of Miss Ferguson and Miss Bliss reached the colonists, the open letters were bedewed with the tears of thanksgiving. They had asked one teacher, and God had given two.
Mr. Murray rehearsed the whole story of this marked leading of God, commended the proposed work to the Lord in prayer, and pledges were given on the spot to insure the support of the new school. Though not a rich people, in a few weeks $6,000 had been given by the Wellingtonians alone, one widow giving one sixteenth of the whole amount-all her little patrimony.
Miss Ferguson and her companion sailed for Africa in September, 1873, and arriven at Cape Town in about eight weeks. They found that a large building with grounds had been bought for the school, the life of Mary Lyon had been translated into Dutch, and many young people were ready to enter as pupils into the new Huguenot Seminary, or as teachers, to seek higher fitness for their calling. The seminary was formally opened, January 19th, 1874, anq the large assemblage which that day prayerfully committed the work to the – Lord will never be forgotten. During the first term there were forty Rtudents from fifteen to forty years of age; and the Bible and prayer were from the first the characteristic features of the school life, the first hour of each day being given to instruction in the Holy Word, and a half hour in the day beibg reserved for the quiet of personal communion with God.
The devout and earnest purpose of these teachers was to educate Christian character. God honors those who honor Him. One morning the Scrip~ ture lesson was on the new birth, and before that day had gone thirteen had taken their place on the Lord's side. Even those whom candor compelled to confess that they were unsaved, could not rest content without salvation, and when another meeting was called for those who felt that they were Christ's, everyone in the school came. And after all these years have put the confession to the test, nearly everyone has remained faithful, and not a few have been filling positions of singular usefulness.
Our space will not permit more than an outline of a history now covering nearly a score of yearil. But, as might be expected, the saved became saviours. Children were gathered from the street, and 8 Sunday-school was formed ; through the children access was obtained to their parents; cottage meetings-as many as fourteen, in or near the village-were conducted by the young ladies j the navvies and their families were reached by the same consecrated workers, and Wellington Seminary became a fountain of living waters.
The seminary building became too strait for the growth of the institution, and a new building became a necessity j its corner-stone was laid November 19th, 1874, the two buildings together costing $40,000. Two more teachers were sent for, and Miss Wells and Miss Bailey came from America, Noyember, 1874, and soon after, Miss Spijker, from Holland, to teach Dutch and French.
In July, 1875, the new building was ready for use j the pupils increased from forty to ninety, and the school was divided into two departmentsone preparatory. In December, 1875, Miss Landfear came from New Haven to share the growing burden of work, and still later Miss Brewer, of Stockbridge, Mass. j in 1877, Miss Cummings and Miss Knapp were added to the corps of instructors, and the standard of the school kept rising higher and higher both intellectually and spiritually.
During 1878, stimulated by the reports of the Ten Y-ears' Work of the Woman's Board of Missions in America, the Huguenot Missionary Society was organized, and became speedily the parent of many mission circles. Missionary offerings had been the habit at the weekly devotional meetings, and had been sent to Mrs. Schauffier, in Austria, to Dr. Bernardo and Miss Annie Macpherson in London, and to the Basuto, Natal, and East Indian missions. But now the work took organized form, and before the year closed a member of the school offered herself as a missionary, and subsequently went as their representative to the heathen in the Trans~ vaal. That same year-1878-the first graduating class left the Huguenot Seminary. To trace the after-careers of these four graduates may give some hint of the streams which flow from this fountain. One of the four (Miss Malherbe) was next year a teacher in her Alma Mater, and then took the principlllship of Prospect Seminary at Prretoria in the Transvaal ; Mi~s De Leeuw and Miss Mader started a boardiug-school at Bethlehem, in the Orange Free .State,similar to the Wellington Seminary; and during the first year had five more pupils than Wellington at the corresponding period of its history ; Miss Wilson went to teach in the Rockland Seminary at Cradock. In December, 1879, seven more young ladies received diplomas, and all became teachers. Meanwhile God continued to bestow His grace. and again in 1879 nearly all the inmates of the school became disciples of Christ. These nearly twenty years have been marked by a constant growth. In 1882 there was opened a model school, and a normal department was organized. Rooks, and chemical and philosophical apparatus, a Williston observatory and telescope, etc., were furnished by generous friends; and far and wide the" daughters" of Miss Ferguson and her fellow teachers scattered to diffuse new blessings.
In April, 1880, Miss Ferguson left for rest and change, and visited her native land, returning the next year. And in 1882 another building was erected, to accommodate .about forty more pupils-boarders; and during the same year, as already intimated, another building was opened for a model school for the training of the younger children of the village j and the pupils of the normal class have practice in the art of teaching, and can learn the most approved methods-kindergarten, etc.
The pressure of pupils and too little room made it necessary again to enlarge, and a cottage adjoining the school grounds was purchased. In i885 Miss Cummings, of Strafford, Vermont, one of the teachers, came home for a year's visit, and secured from Mr. Goodnow, of Worcester, a building costing some £3,000. The upper story, to be used as a chapel, will seat five hundred, and the lower floor is devoted to art-room and scientific class-rooms.
Last year the applications were so many it was again necessary to provide more room, and while hesitating whether to build or rent rooms near the seminary, the principal of a girls' school at the PaarL a village some eight miles distant, applied to the trustees to purchase' his building, failing health making it necessary that he and his wife should give up the work. Some of the village people were very anxious the school should come under the influence of the Huguenot Seminary, and after much thought and prayer the purchase was made. This school takes the younger pupils, 'making it a preparatory department, and one of the American teachers superintends it. This gives more room at Wellington for advanced pupils. The schools are called Huguenot Seminary, Paarl, and Huguenot Seminary, Wellington. There are now in the two schools over four hundred pupils. They have the same board of trustees, and are under the same principlll, The expense of buildings and grounds has outrun their income, and they have felt keenly the pressure of debt. But the friends of Christian education in the colony have responded nobly to the call for aid, and at different times Parliament has granted them appropriations amounting to £2,000, so that during the last year they had much rejoicing in Wellington over the accom- plishment of the long-desired freedom from debt. There is some indebted· ness on the Paarl school yet; but Dr: Dale, or Sir Langham Dale, the Superintendent of Education for the colony, gives them encouragement to hope that Government will give them help by and by.
In 1888 Mrs. H. B. Allen, of Meriden, Conn., a sister of Miss Ferguson, sent a circular letter to her sister's classmates asking for help to reduce their indebtedness, it being her sister's" jubilee year," and the two hundredth anniversary of the settlement of the Huguenots in South Africa. They were making a special effort ~o " go free" that year. Mrs. Allen secured about $200 in money, but interest and prayer which were, perhaps, worth more. And then faith was rewarded, for early in 1889 the grant from Government came.
The writer does not know just the number of missionaries who have gone out from the school, but there have been hundreds of .teachers.
Miss Ferguson made a famous journey in 1887-8. In October, 1887, she left the seminary for her year's vacation. The first three months of it she spent in visiting the missionary stations in the Midland and Eastern provinces of the colony, where some of the pupils are located as missionaries and teachers. She returned to Wellington in December, and met two of her pupils from Basutoland, who had just graduated, and returned with them to their home. They are the danghters of French missionaries who are in charge of the Protestant mission of Basutoland. They went by train from Wellington to Kimberley (where the diamond mines are), spent several days with school daughters there. A bullock wagon, drawn by fourteen oxen belonging to the missionaries, was sent from Moujah to meet them. Leaving Kimberley on the 28th of December, they reached Morijah on the lOth of January, outspanning in the heat of the day, and travelling often by moonlight. Two Christian natives, who had long been in the mission family, had charge of the party-Eleazer and Nkloroso.
I have before me the plan of. the journey as Miss Ferguson sent it from Morijah. Here are extracts from her journal: " February 5th at Hermon (Basutoland) ;. February 12th at Mofukas for the baptism of a sister of the old chief Mosesh, over eighty years old, and others. February 19th, Leribe, Mr. Colliard's old station. February 27th, Bethlehem, Orange Free State, with Mrs. Theron, one of our Huguenot teachers. March 3d, Heilbron, Orange Free State, where four of my Huguenot daughters liye. March 8th, Freeport. Orange Free State, the minister and wife from Wellington. March 12th, Potchefstroom, Transvaal, where I have several daughters. Here Mrs. Gonin, wife of the missionary at Saul's Poort, meets me with her bullock wagon, and we go on to Rustenberg, where one of my daughters is in the school. Her father is the principal. March 19th to April 20th, Saul's Poort, Mabie's Kraal, ~nd l1ochuli ; in all these places we have girls who ~re missionaries. The last of April I go to Prretoria (Transvaal), where we have girls teaching j then on to Wakkustroom and Utrecht with Mr. Murray's sister. The last of May to Rorke's Drift, where my friend, the Baroness Posse has a little mission work of her own. June and July I expect to spend in Natal with the American missionaries."
Miss Ferguson was detained by rains and full rivers, so that she did not leave Mochuli (which is half-way between the parallel 24° S. and the tropic of Capricorn, and half-way between meridian 26° and 27° E. just north of the Natwane River, almost in the torrid zone. It is not on the map) until May. Pietermaritzberg, the capital of the Transvaal, was the only place where she spent a night at a hotel. She arrived Saturday night, and her letter to friends had not been received; but she was found on the Sabbath and carried away to the home of Christian friends.
Early in August she sailed from Durban to Port Elizabeth, went to King William's Town, and on up to Graat! Reinet; then to Kimberley again in the interest of the mission work so near her heart, which has resulted in the Mission House, cared for by three of the Huguenot daughters; and back to Wellington the last of September.
Every letter speaks of the marvellous kindness everywhere received, and the wonderful openings for work. We have not spoken of the " Chautauqua circles" that have been formed all through South Africa. Miss Landfear, one of the Huguenot teachers, is the secretary for South Africa, and is introducing a class of reading that it! educating and elevating those who have left school. A circle has been formed among the native boys at Morijah.
If any of our readers will, on the map, follow this remarkable journey of Miss Ferguson through Southern Africa, they will see how many hundreds of miles she went; and let it be remembered tbat only one night in all tbat journey was spent at a hotel; in every other case she was the guest of "her daugbters"-the young ladies wbo had graduated from Wellington and gone into all that dark land to become teachers, missionaries, wives of godly men and ministers of the Gospel, an~ who are thus turning many a " Valley of Desolation" and barren waste of paganism into the Lord's garden! Are we not right in calling Wellington's Huguenot Seminary" the Light at the CapeY" To-day Miss Ferguson has under her care four hundred pupils.
We must add a word as to the progress of education in other parts of the land, which is largely due to the influence of Wellington.
In 1874, the year when the Huguenot Seminary began its work, Rev. J.
Neethling, of Stellenbosch, asked for a teacher from America, on behalf of the school committee, and Miss Gilsou came in response to the call in November of tbe same year. Beforethe year 1875 closed a boarding department was opened ; and the large and flourishing seminary now does for the Lord most excellent and efficient work both in training intellects and educating Christian hearts for the service of the Kingdom.
During 1875 a request for two teachers was sent from Worcester by Rev. William Murray, the minister there, to America. And, as at Wellington, the spirit of faith and prayer anticipated the arrival of the teachers in preparing for the school and sending forward the passage-money. The Misses Smith (two sisters), of Sunderland, Mass., responded. In April, 1876, the the seminary building at Worcester was completed. At the opening, Rev. Andrew Murray spoke on the great need of multiplying such Christian schools in Africa, and it was determined to ask for six more teachers from over the seas.
At the same time. Miss Helen Murray began work at Graaff Reinet, taking charge of the Midland Seminary, with twenty-five boarders and as many day scholars, until Miss Thayer and Miss Ayres arrived six months Jater. A reVival during the first term put the significant seal of God's approval on the work at its very inception, and nearly all the pupils rejoiced in Jesus. In 1876 Miss Lester left Woodstock, Conn., for the Bloemhof Seminary at Stellenbosch, and in April, four years after, was transferred to a similar work in Standerton, in the Transvaal.
During 1877 Messrs. Andrew and Charles Murray visited America, and in answer to their appeal for teachers, thirteen more went to Africa that year, one of whom went eventually to Swellendam. And when, in September, 1877, the Messrs. Murray returned, Rev. George R. Ferguson, brother to the founder of the Huguenot Seminary at Wellington, came with them, to take in charge a new school or institute for training of young men as evangelists and missionaries ; and has since been engaged in that work at Wellington.
When this noble band of workers arrived in 1877 to reinforce the educational mission work in Africa, a feast of rejoicing and thanksgiving filled an " eight days" like the feasts of ancient Israel. The windows were illumined, the flowers hung in festoons or bloomed in bouquets as on an Easter morning, and the Lord was magnified in the praises of His own. One day twenty-seven Americans dined together in the building where, four years before, two teachers began their pioneer work. The teachers at Graaf Reinet, too far away to participate in person, flashed greetings over the electric wires.
After a few days the new teachers began to disperse to Worcester, Graaf Reinet, Stellenbosch, Beaufort West, Swellendam, etc. Miss Clary chose Prretoria, because the work there was most difficult and discouraging; and Miss Ruggles undertook with her the journey to this field fifteen hundred miles beyond Cape Town.
We can follow no further this fascinating story. In 1880 eleven schools had already been established in South Africa under the care of these American teachers; eight in Cape Colony, two in the Transvaal, and one in the Orange Free State. Thirty-eight ladies had, previous to 1881, gone out from America to take charge of this work of education ; and the devoted man of God, Rev Andrew Murray, has generally had the privilege of applying for teachers, while Mrs. H. B. Allen, of Meriden, Conn. (sister of Miss Ferguson), has co-operated in the selection of those who should go.
No words can expr/ilss the blessing which has come through this period of almost twenty years to the whole of Africa through these grand Christian schools. They are building light houses, not at the Cape only, but all through the southern half of the Dark Continent. We doubt whether any work ever done for God has had, from the inception, more signal tokens of His approbation and blessing.
. Those who have visited Graaf Reinet have remarked that it stands close by the" Valley of Desolation," so called from its absolute barrenness and the absence of life. In fact, Graaf Reinet is itself simply a section of that barren waste reclaimed by culture and irrigation. How completely the whole aspect of this. part of the valley has been transfigured may be inferred from the fact that in the garden of Rev. Charles Murray eighty different species or varieties of roses may be ·found in bloom. May thiR not be a precious symbol and type of what the Huguenot Seminary and its companion schools are doing for the wild wastes of the Dark Continent, flashing out rays to illumine the midnight, and sending forth streams to irrigate the barrenness, until where darkness and dearth abounded there shall be a radiance as of a morning without clouds, and a fertility as of an earthly Eden !
" The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them ; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom like the garden of the Lord."
[Apropos of the foregoing, we gladly publish a letter from Rev. George S. Malan, of Montagu, Cape Colony, giving additional information about the work in South Africa.-EDIToR.] The Dutch Reformed Church of the Cape Colony counts upward of 100 congregations, with an aggregate membership of about 90,000 ; the number of souls being about 200,00'0. Our ministers are trained at the Theological College * of our church at Stellenbosch. Some four years ago one of the settled ministers of our church (Rev. Helm) was led by the Lord to give up his congregation in the colony and devote himself to mission work. Our church had already at the time five mission stations outside the borders of the colony. These were each under the superintendence of a resident white missionary, assisted by several lady workers as teachers, and by evangelists (native) for the work among the outlying kraals. To one of these stations, situated in the north of the Transvaal, our brother minister went as assistant to our veteran missionary there, who after nearly twenty * It was fouuded in 1859, and has since then supplied the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa with upward of 120 ministers. years of ,unceasing toil in the mission field, had grown weak and aged in the Master's service.
Our people were never adverse to mission work; and as a whole our church contributed well for the cause.
This was, however, a new departure. A minister giving up his congre- gation to go to the heathen was something unknown before. A new im- pulse seemed to be given in that way to the good cause. More liberal con- tributions followed, and greater interest. This was the result also of a visit to the colony, and of addresses given everywhere by our veteran mis- sionary (Mr. Hofmeyer), who was enabled to leave his work for a short time through the assistance afforded him by Brother Helm.
At the same time, or thereabout, a society was started among the theo!
logical students of the theological college, known as the Students' Mis- sionary Society, with the object of getting contributions for the cause, but most of all to create a love for mission work among the future m~isters of the church. '
Not long after the ministers of the church formed among themselves a Ministers' Missionary Society.' This society has since sent out a~d is now supporting two missionaries in Nyassaland, in the vicinity of the sta- tions of the Scotch church. One of these missionaries is a son of one of the ministers of our ,Church, a young Ulan of ability and promise, who passed through his full theological course here, and after that had a few years' training in medicine, etc., at the Edinburgh University. Last year -especiaI1y through the influence of some American teachers from Mt.
Holyoke, engaged as such at the lIuguenot Seminary, Wellington, a large and flourishing educational institute for young ladies-a Woman's Mis- sionary Society was formed, with several branches throughout the colony, for the purpose specially of sending out and supporting lady helpers to the missionaries at our various mi~sion stations.
Toward the end of last year the session of our Synod took place.
Brother Helm from the Transvaal mission field (Zoutpausberg) was present.
lie earnestly advocated the claims of the Banyai. This tribe of Kaffirs in- habit a very healthy and fertile country north ot' the Transvaal and east of Matabeleland. The king of the latter country, a savage despot, con- siders the Banyai as his slaves, and has hitherto, for obvious reasons, re- fused evangelists the right of settling and laboring there. Attempts made by our church in previous years to send evangelists there proved vain, and even fatal to the life of one of them. But what hath the Lord wrought!
The British Soutb African Chartered Company obtains from the imperial Government a ~harter to settle in and develop those 'regions, especially Mashonaland, which lies more or less in between Matabeleland and Banyai- land. This company goes there with an armed police force, several hun- dreds strong, for the protection of its chartered rights, builds forts, etc., in short, colonizes the country, and in this way forms an effectual barrier for the Banyai against the oppressions and despotism of the Matabele. All at once the Lord has opened Banyailand. Brother Helm had just returned from a visit to that country when he appeared in the Synod. And now the Synod has decided, on his urgent appeals, to send, as soon as possible, three or four more ordained missionaries, men fully trained at the theological college, to occupy the open field-some in Banyailand, and others to stay at Zoutpausberg, and so enable the church to establish there a Training Institute for native evangelists, who by the side of the white mis. sionaries can do the great work waiting for us to be done there. Surely the Lord reigneth among the heathen! His blessed Kingdom must and will come also in those dark regions of South Africa. Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly !
MONTAGU, CAPE COLONY, SOUTH AFRICA, January 26, 1891.
Dr. Arthur Mitchell, of New York, says of the rise and progress of woman's work for woman: "Great was the surprise of the entire Presbyterian Church when the first year the women sent to the Board *27,000, their greater snrprise when the next year it was $67,000, the third year, $87,000, the fourth year, $96,000, increasing the amount each year of the fifteen, except in one instance, until it has reached $250,000." Dr. Mitchell told of a good old doctor of divinity who, being on a committee on missions in the General Assembly, told in the report of what the women had done, gracefully Ilnd kindly giving them all due credit, but adding in humorous fashion, " You know the women are good collectors." "Can it be possible," thought Dr. Mitchell, who sat there listening, "that the good doctor does not know more of the sources from whence these women have their strength. I' They have three never-failing fountains from which to draw. The first, Organization. The work has been done systematically, until nearly all our churches have Woman's Foreign Missionary Societies, and even the children have their mission bands. Second, Information. They are far in advance of the men's Board in the number and character of their publications. They have, among other things, given to the world one of the best books on missions ever written, the " Historical Sketches of Missions." Influenced by Woman's Work, the Board improved the Foreign Missionary, until it seemed to have taken on a new life. Third, is the Sympathy existing between the women at home, who are interested in missions, and the missionaries in the field.
Dr. Smith, of Baltimore, says that he has, closely observed, from its be. ginning, this work of woman for woman, and at the close of fifteen years of trial and triumph, rejoiced to say that woman had found her tl'lle sphere in work for the Master, which leads her to the foot of the cross. The cross has always had a strange attraction for woman. Yes, even that plain wooden cross on Calvary drew all the Marys about it. This society has proved its right to a new name, Esther, the morning star, which shines brightly just hefore the dawning, and ushers in the glorious Sun of Rillhteousness.
TIlEl D1VINE AND SUPERNATUltAL IN FOREIGN MISSIONS
THE DIVINE AND SUPERNATURAL IN FOREIGN MISSIONS.
BY REV. EDWARD STORROW, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND.
IF anywhere we might expect to see Divine and providential manifesta- tions rising toward the supernatural, it is in the spbere of foreign missions, because they, in a pre-eminent degree, seek to honor God, express the mind and purposes of Christ, have their spheres of operation amid perils and dangers. encountered only that error and evil may be overthrown and God have the glory, which is His supreme righ~.
The missionary enterprise bears two features distinctly expressive of the Divine presence and blessing. First, these only can explain the origin, his- tory, and progress of the enterprise. Then there occur in its affairs a series of incidents which more than point at personal and supernatural intervention.
1. God must have put it into the hearts of His servants to form these societies. They are not after the manner of men, since they involve out- lay, trouble, responsibility, yet forbid any of the usual incentives of a return in money, honor, or personal aggrandizement.
2. These enterprises were all begun after much prayer. They not only were born and cradled in an atmosphere of prayer, but have lived in such an atmosphere.
3. There are manifold evidences of Divine interposition and guidance in the manner in which obstacles have been removed, openings made for their efforts, and snitable agencies for the most varied spheres provided.
4. In many instances the agents to begin the work and to nurture it into strength, both at home and abroad, have evidently been called of God and prepared for the spheres they have filled. So was it with Count Zinzendorf, the father and founder of the Christian Knowledge Society j the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel j the Baptist and London Societies j the American Board j the first Danish mission, and Mr. Hudson Taylor's. So was it with the pioneers: Hans Engedi, in Greenland j Zeigenbalg, Plutschan, Schultze, and Schwartz, in South India; Carey, ifarchman, Ward, and Duff, in Bengal ; Mor~ison, in China; Judson, in .Burmah j Moffat, in South Africa, and many others.
5. The manner in which, now for some three generations, this work has been sustained, and with steadily growing liberality, has nothing in the history of human effort to compare with it for disinterestedness, persistence, and widespread self-denial. It has come to pass that after years of detraction, some millions of people, unusually thoughtful and considerate of their expenditllre-most.ly belonging to the lower middle class of society -contribute spontaneously for th~ love of Christ, almost all in small sums. an aggregate amount of two and one half millions a year. (2 Chron. 5: 11-14.) 6. A Divine gnidance and control is surely seen in the direction Of tlJese ·societies. Considering that they h:l'1." had to originate policies; to enter on spheres but little known; to discover the best methods of opera- tion; to meet all manner of difficulties; to conduct their operations in countries most diverse, ·among all classes and conditions of non-Christian 'people, and to disburse annually an aggregate sum which has grown from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, one may marvel at the few great mistakes that have been made, the general good sense and practica- bility of their policies, and the honor and integrity with which their affairs have been conducted. No class of commercial, financial, or national under- takings can show a record as free from stain.
7. Equally noteworthy is the integrity of missionaries. Thousands of them have lived for years away from the rJstraints of civilized society, where the inducements to live loosely, to become mercenary, and to misuse power are strong. But how few have made shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience! Contrast the lives and conduct of missionaries in every quarter of the globe with those of adventurers, travellers, traders, where the two classes come into contact with barbarous or semi-barbarous races!
8. The success of missions. Their results prove them to be of Divine origin and to have the Divine blessing. Here it can only be pointed out, (1) that no doubt it always has been a most arduous task to make anyone a true Christian, or to overthrow the superstitions of any race in favor of Christianity. (2) That considering all the conditions of the stupendous problr-m, the marvel is that missions have been as successful as they are proved to be by the Divine change that has passed over the natures and the lives of hundreds of thousands of heathen people; by the change from heathenism to Christianity on the part of at least four million persons, and by many changes tending toward Christianity in the opinions, sentiments, customs, and condition of many races.
The only adequate explanation of all these facts and phenomena is, that connected with Christianity there is a personal God who interposes in human affairs, a Divine King who rules all things, and is guiding the affairs of the Christian Church (Matt. 28: 18-20; Eph. 1 :.15-23; Col. 1 : 9-20), and a Holy Spirit who potentially affects the thoughts, feelings, opinions, lives, and even moral·and spiritual natures of men (John 16 : 7-15 ; Gal. 5: 13-26; 2 Cor. 2 : 14-17.) Second, these great truths, assumed everywhere in Scripture, embodied in their history and the lives of saintly persons they record, find a plMe in the experience of the sen'ants of God now, and especially of those who have strong and simple faith, and choose their fields of action in heathen lands. (Ps. 35; 91; Mark 16 : 15-20; 2 Tim. 3: 10-13; 2 Cor. 11 : 16-33; 12 : 1-13.) 1. They are singularly preserved from the perils of the sea. The Moravian missionary ship, for instance, has sailed to and from Labrador for 120 years without any serious accident, though the voyage is an unusually precarious one. The case is so exceptional that the experienced Lord Gambier declared that he considered the continued preservation of this ship the most remarkable occurrence in maritime history that had corne to hi8 knowledge. * And this is but a small part of the MOr1lvian testimony. During 158 years, 2300 of their missionaries have sailed to foreign lands, hut only eleven times has shipwreck resulted in the loss of life. Of all the children of missionaries sent home to Europe in charge of friends, not one has per- ished at sea. And so it is with missions generally. A careful investiga- tion of the nautical affairs of any society will show how few missionary vessels have been lost, and how few missionaries or missionary families have perished by shipwreck.
2. Missionaries in some parts of Africa, India, and the Indian Archipelago have to live and travel where deadly reptiles and beasts of prey are numerous, but i.~ there an instance of one of them thus dying?
3. Their protection from violent men is very marked. The escape of five Malagasy refugees to England was a series of providential interventions. Three of them were chiefly sustained for six months in a forest by food brought by a friend a distance of fifty miles. One of them would have been apprehended by soldiers in a house where she was hiding had not the noise made by cr()w~ given warning of their approach. On another occasion she only escaped by lying in a bog with her head concealed in rushes. She was recognized by a slave, who told her master, but he would not believe her. A house in which she was hidden was searched, but she was not found. On their flight to the coast they had to travel by night, often lost their way, had to avoid villages, soldiers, and spies, to be ferried across a river swarming with alligators, where the boatmen were on the watch for fugitives. H~w they escaped was a marvel to their enemies, to themselves, and to their friends. t On one occasion Livingstone had to pass through a dense· forest along a narrow path. In one pIneo the path was obstructed, and men stationed to kill him. A large spear hurlcc1. past almost grazed his back. "As," he writes, "they IJ,re expert with the spear, I don't know how it missed, except that he was too sure of his aim, and the good hand of God was upon me." All his party were allowed to pass a certain place when another spear was thrown at him by an unseen assailant, and it missed him by about a foot in front.
Further on he saw a gigantic tree on fire, but felt no alarm until he saw it .come straight toward him and fall a yard behind him. Had the branches not previously been rotted off, he could scarcely have escaped. "Thus, three times in one day," he says, " was I delivered from impending death.
The first missionaries to the Fegeans were exposed to great perils, for not only were they threatened with death, but stood again and again before mfuriated men, who avowed their purpose to kill them, as repeatedly, and.
* "Brief Account of the Moravian Missionary Ships Employed for Labrador."
t "Madagascar: its Missions aud its Martyrs." without compunction they killed and ate their own people. "On one occa- sion they were told that they too would soon be killed. The king's Bon in a fury came for this purpose, and only with great difficulty was restrained. The peoplo seemed bent on mischief and murder. One night they assem- bled near the house of the missionaries, giving unmistakable signs of their intent. The missionaries and their wives resolved to die praying. But &S they prayed a ringing shout outside announced that the murderous purpose of the multitude was abandoned. * The autobiography of J. G. Paton abounds with providential occur- rences. These are some of them: Some of his converts resolved to visit an inland village much opposed to Christianity. They were told, "If you come you will be killed." They went, nevertheless, unarmed. Many spears were thrown at them. Some they evaded, others they caught or turned aside in an incredible ·manner. The heathen, amazed at these men coming unarmed, and instead of throwing back the spears, still pressing on in a calm and cheerful manner, desisted, perfectly overawed. The chief and all his tribe came into the school of Christ, and, Mr. Paton adds: " There is, perhaps, not an island in these Southern seas, among all those won for Christ, where similar acts of heroism on the part of converts can· not be recited by every missionary to the honor of our poor natives and to the glory of Christ."
For months, almost years, he lived through repeated outbreaks of sav- age hostility. Of one of these occasions he writes: "The inhabitants for miles around united in seeking our destruction, but God put it into strange hearts to save us." " My enemies seldom slackened their hateful designs. against my life, however calmed or baffled for the moment. When natives in large numbers were at my house, a man furiously rushed on me with his axe; but a chief snatched a spade, with which I had been working, and dexterously defended me from instant death. Life in such circumstances led me to cling very near to the Lord Jesus. I knew not for one brief hour when or how attack might be made; and yet with my ~rembling hand clasped in the hand once nailed on Calvary, calmness and peace and resigna- tion reigned in my soul" (Col. 1 : 19).
"A wild chief followed me about for four hours with his loaded mus- ket, and though often direCted against me, God restrained his hand.
" One evening I awoke three times to hear a chief and his men trying to force the door of my houso. God restrained them again; and next – m"orning the report went all round the harbor that those who tried to shoot me were smitten weak with fear, and that' shooting would not do. ' A plan was therefore set on foot to fire the premises and club us if we attempted to escape."
"One day, while toiling away at my house, a war chief, his brother, and a large party of armed men surrounded the plot where I was working.
* "Fege and the Fegeans." By Thomas Williams. They watched. me for some time in silence, and then every man levelled a musket straight at my head."
After a strange, terrible journey in the night through an unknown region, dangerous to strangers, and abounding with enemies, the natives who heard of his escape, exclaimed: "Surely any of us would have been killed. Your Jehovah God alone thus protects you and brings you home. "
On his final flight with a few friends, they lIaw, as far as the eye could reach, the shore covered with armed men, and, overwhelmed with fear, his native friends hopelessly exclaimed: "Missa, it's of no use, we shall all be killed and eaten to-day I" Nowar, a friendly chief, said to Paton: " Misse, sit down and pray to our Jehovah God, for if He does not send deliverance now we are all dead men. " Presently he said: " Missa, Jehovah is hearing. They are all standing still." So it was, though there was nothing whatever to oppose their advance; and presently the host turned and marched back in great silence.
Instances like the following have been by no means rare : Kapaio, a native of one of the New Hebrides, confessed, after he became a Christian, that for many months he was on the watch to take Mr. Geddie's life. He was a strong and powerful man, familiar with violence and bloodshed, and one blow from his club would have caused death. One night, as he was on the watch, Mr. Geddie went out of his house alone and passed close by the bush which concealed Kapaio. Now was the opportunity for which he had long waited. He grasped his club, but he was powerless to strike; a strange sensation came over him, and he could not hurt the man who was entirely in his power, whom he hated and came to kill.
4. The manner in which the temporal wants of missionaries are supplied is remarkable. No class of civilized men going among the uncivili2ed are really so dependent, or have as few material resources as missionaries, and yet in a manner which is extraordinary, their daily wants are met. Is there an instance on record of a missionary or his family dying of want excepting through folly or imprudence 1 And in many cases of exigency supplies have come evidently from God.
Dr. Fisher writes from the Garenganze Mission, South-East Africa, December 8th, 1889 : "Yesterday two circumstances occurred which we cannot doubt, were ordered by our blessed Lord. In the morning our meal bag which supplied us for three weeks was empty. We had told the nati,.es for five days that we wanted meal, but none came. In the afternoon meal was brought by five different women, which was all freshly pounded, the whole just filling our bag. Then six carriers came yesterday wanting their pay. I had no cloth with me, and wanted three different varieties in order to pay them. As it happened, three of the six loads which they brought were bales, and to my surprise each a different kind of cloth, so I was able to pay the men off. I took both these circumstances as the manifest and loving care of the Lord for us. "
S~me of the Moravian missions in the North of Europe and America supply a continuous series of such instances, since they are placed where almost all their supplies must be drawn from other countries, and the sup- plies, though often interrupted, hardly ever fail.
So it is with large numbers of missionaries who cast themselves directly on the providence of God. He honors their trust.
5. God answer8 prayer. Here is an instance: Two years ago the lo()al secretary of a branch of the Gleaner's Union obtained some African curi- osities from the C. M. House t,o exhibit at a Mother's Meeting. She was instructed to forward them next day to a clergyman in a distant town. She sent them off j and the same night, being sleepless, it occurred to her to pray that the clergyman, of whom she only knew the name, might use them effeotively, and that his influence might be instrumental in sending forth some young missionary from his parish. This she did, by the space of two hours j and from that day, every month for two year8, she looked in The Gleaner to see if anyone had been accepted from that town. In a recent number she found, to her intense joy, that the clergyman him8elf was going out! The world would call this a striking coincidence j what do we call it ?
So, when some of the friends of the China Inland Mission, moved by the wants of that great empire, united in definite prayer that the Lord would enable them to lIelid 100 more missionaries, the prayer was heard, and the 100 were sent.
The "Lone Star" Mission among the Telugus was saved from extinction and nurtured into extraordinary success by prayer. When it was very low, a missionary; his wife, and three native helpers on the first day of the year ascended a hill overlooking Ongole. They saw the large town and some fifty villages wholly given to idolatry, and, moved by the sight, each one in turn prayed that God would send a missionary to Ongole. The prayer was heard, though it was not answered for twelve years; but in little more than twelve other years the little church of eight souls had become 12,000 tried converts with a yet greater number of general adherents.
When the church numbered 143 members, they made it a special request, during the week of prayer early in 1869, that God would convert and add to the church during the year 500 souls. The number baptized into the Ongole church was 573, as well as 53 into the neighb,oring church at Nellore. And that was but the beginning of blessing.
At a special missioMry service, Dr. Ryland, And!:,ew Fuller, and others, solemnly agreed to pray for the immediate conversion of J abez, the son of Dr. Carey, then in India. Some time after a letter was received from Dr. Carey, giving details of the time and manner of his son's conversion, from which it appeared that he was converted at the precise time they had united in prayer.
The Rev. James Calvert, * acting on the idea that prayer and effort for 1he conversion of selected individuals would be honored by God, thus • The Life of James Calvert. prayed for the conversion of Thakumbau King of Fege. His prayers were heard, ~nd this greatly tended to bring about the man-ellous spiritual revo- lution witnessed in these il!lands.
6. The evidence is ample of Divine interposition and guidance. For instance, the chief of Fallungia, West Africa, prayed for twenty years for a missionary, and one was found in an unexpected manner. * So Barnabas Shaw was thus directed to his important sphere. He was not all~wed to settle near Cape Town, so he relilolved to seek a sphere in the interior. For a month he travelled on, not knowing whither he went; but as be halted, the chief of Little Namagualand, with four attendants, halted beside him. They were on their way to Cape Town in search of a missionary, now greatly desired by their tribe. They and he thought they saw in this unexpected meeting the finger of God; and Shaw's great success in subsequent years proved that they were not mistaken.
Hundreds of missionaries, looking back on their past careers, have been conscious that they were guided to their scenes of labor by God, and have noted numerous events in their history which neither chance, nor coincidence, nor human aid adequately explain.
So, too, of events. Our belief in a personal God and an overruling Providence justifies us in believing that He sent Carey to India to give so many versions of the Scriptures to the people. That He sent that copy of the Pushtoo Bible to the Afghan, who kept it " from fire and from water" for thirty years, so that when it was resolved to reprint this Serampore version, this copy was the only one that could be found in India; who guided that copy of the Japanese New Testament, floating in one of the harbors of that empire, into lands where it was greatly blessed by God; who sent through shipwreck and heavy loss the ruined merchant to Mr. Ross, of Manchuria, when he was at a loss to find anyone competent to assist him to translate the New Testament into Corean. Surely the God of Israel still guides His people, going before them in a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night.
And He avenges and punishes as well as guides. Listen! In January, 1878, the Day-Spring, the mission ship of the New Hebrides, was wrecked on a coral reef. She was bought at an auction sale by a French slaving company, who managed to get her off the reef, and intended to use her in the Kanaka traffic-a euphemism for South Sea slavery. This filled the missionaries and native converts with horror and alarm, for they knew that, deceived by the name, many simple natives would be allowed on board only to find, instead of a mission vessel, that they were entrapped for the most brutal, unjust, and cruel of purposes, and that revenge would perhaps be taken for the wrong done on the missionaries, as in the case of Bishop Patterson. What could be done 1 Nothing but cry to God, which all the friends of the mission did night and day, not without tears. Listen! The French slavers, anchoring their prize in the * "Remarklble Pl'ovidences, " p. 205. By the Rev. J. R. Phillips. bay, and greatly rejoicing, went on shore to celebrate the event. They drank and feasted and revelled. But that night a mighty storm arose. The old Day-Spring dragged her anchor, and at daybreak she was seen again on the reef, this time with her back broken in two, and forever unfit for service either fair or foul !
Speaking of the Europeans who trade in unrighteousness, Mr. Paton says: " Thousands upon thousands of pounds were made in the sandalwood trade, but it was a trade steeped in blood and indescribable vice. Nor could God's blessing rest on them or their ill-gotten gains. I have scarcelyknown one of the traders who did not come to ruin and poverty.
" The money that came in to the ship-owners was a conspicuous curse. Fools made a mock at sin, thinking that no one cared for these poor savages; but their sin did find them out."
So of the enemies and friends of the worship, as it was called on Tanna, Mr. Paton says: "This Miaki and his followers were a scourge and terror to the whole island of Tanna. They intensely hated Nowar because he would not join in their cruelties. Yet he and Manumauaud, Sirawia, and Taimungo continued to live long after war and death had swept all the others away. The first three lived to be very old men, and to the last they made a profession of being Christians." (Ps. 7 : 8-17 j Ps. 58 j Eccles. 8: 11-13 j Rom. 11 : 2-16 j Rev. 18: 4-8.) THE MISSIONARY CALL.
TUNE: "Still There's More to Follow."
Hark, the bugle call of God ! Down the ages sounding, " Go ye, and proclaim abroad News of grace abounding !"
CHORus.-Tell the news! Tell the news! Let the farthest nation Hear the sound, the world around, Tidings of salvation!
Let the sacred heralds go, Through the vales and mountains j Steady streams of trensure flow From the golden fountains! [CHORUS.
Go to woman, now enslaved [CHORUS. In her household prison, Tell her, you whom Jesus saved, He was dead-is risen J Hosts of God, march round the wall !
While the trumpet's pealing j Satan's mighty towers will fall, God's own power revealing! CHORUS.
A.T. P.
THE PENTECOST ON THE CONGO
THE PENTECOST ON THE CONGO.
BY J. R. MILLER, D.D., PHILADELPHIA.
THE Acts of the Apostles closes like an unfinished book. The truth is, it is an unfinished book, and new chapters are continually being added to it. The wonderful stories of modern missions belong really to the samevolume.
Few narratives of missionary experience in all this century surpass in thrilling interest the account of the work of the past twelve years at Banza Manteke, in Africa. In 1879 the Rev. Henry Richards went from Eng. land to Africa as a missionary of the Livingstone Inland Mission. He established a station at Banza Manteke, one hundred and fifty miles from the mouth of the Congo, and ten miles south of that great river. In its earlier years the mission was transferred to the American Baptist Missionary Union, and now there is a large Baptist church there, in the midst of a great heathen population, upon which it is pouring the light of the Gospel.
Mr. Richards came to this country last year to tell the wonderful story of the Lord's work on the Congo. This story is so full of interest that it is here condensed from the missionary's own accounts into a simple narrative.
Stanley travelled from Zanzibar around the lakes and down the Congo for a thousand days, and though many thousands of people passed before him each day, he did not find one that knew the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1879 two missionaries were sent out to penetrate this trackless region. They succeeded in getting some distance into the country to a place called Palabala. Mr. Richards, with some others, was sent to try to get, if possible, to Stanley Pool. But the difficulties were very great–insurmountable for men of any but intrepid courage and indomitable persistence. At length the missionaries reached Banza Manteke, and being unable to go any farther, they decided to stay there and establish a station. There were many villages near by, and the people were inclined to be friendly.
They had only one tent, and they built a hut of the long grass that grew all about them. There, in . September, 1879, Mr. Richards fonnd himself alone among people who were entirely unknown to him. He knew nothing either of their customs or of their language. He at once began to study the people, tut, not knowing a word of their language, found it very difficult. Some things, however, he soon learned. For one, they all seemed to be thieves. They would take everything on which they could lay their hands. He would look into their faces and accuse them of stealing his things, but they would deny it without the slightest hesitation.
Mr. Richards gives a most interesting description of his experience in learning their language. They had no dictionaries, no grammars, no books, no literature of any kind. No white man had ever learned the language. He took a note-book and determined to write down pbonetically everything he could hear, with the meaning that he supposed belonged to the word. In this way he soon had a number of words, phrases, and sentences, and at once began to use them. Although the people would laugh at his pronunciations and at the way he put his words together, he did not mind it, but persisted in his effort.
Some words he found it very hard to get. He noticed that the affection between the mothers and their children was very strong, and he wished to get the word for mother. At last he thought he had succeeded, but afterward he learned that the word which he supposed meant mother really stood for a full-grown man. He was three months in finding out the word for yesterday.
At length he began to try to get hold of the grammar of the language. He began with the nouns, and sought for the way of forming plurals. He expected to discover some modification at the end of the words, but could not detect any such change. After much experimenting he learned that there were sixteen classes of nouns, with as many modes of forming the plural. In like manner he discovered that there were seventeen different classes of verbs, with very many tenses besides the ordinary present, past, and future, each having its specific form. The shades of meaning in these variations are often very delicate and beautiful.
The language is not, as one would suppose, a mere jargon, but is really very beautiful, euphonious and flowing, with numerous inflections. When one has acquired it it is very easy to preach in it and to translate the Scriptures into it. Says Mr. Richards: "I think if some of our best linguists were to try to form a perfect language, they could not do better than to follow the Congo. It seems to be altogether superior to the people; and there must have been a time when they were in a high state of civilization, from which in some way they have degenerated."
After learning in this patient way enough of the language to use it a little, he" began to try to find out the customs, superstitions, and religiou of the people. He found that they believed in a great Creator, who made all things. He asked them why they did not worship this Nzambi, and they said they did not think He was a good God and they did not thank Him. He did not concern Himself about them j He was too far away. They had little images cut out of wood-some like themselves, with birds' heads, beaks, and claws; others like animals. These are their gods. They trust in them for protection from harm, sickness, death, or misfortune, hut never expect to receive any blessings from them. They arc believers in witchcraft, to which they attribute all evils and misfortunes. They have charms to counteract witchcraft. They have witch-doctors, for whom they send if anyone is sick. 'The doctor comes, and with a great many incantations tries to drive the demon out. Sometimes the doctor points out some person as the witch, and this person then has to take the test by poison. If he ejects it, they say he is innocent i but if it kiJll~ him they say he was ~uilty. The missionary at length began to show them that sickness and death, and all misfortunes, were due not to witchcraft, but to sin. He gave them the Bible account of the creation and the fall. Then he began to try to show them th/!-t God is not only a great Creator, all-powerful, but that He is also kind and loving. They would ask many questions, some of which Mr. Richards found it hard to answer to their satisfaction. He continued, however, for four years, teaching them about the creation, the fall, the flood, and the history of the Israelites, thinking it necessary to give them some idea of the Old Testament before beginning with the New. But the people were just as much heathen at the end of this time as when he first went among them. There was no evidence of any change. They did not feel themselves to be sinners.
About this time Mr. Richards was at home for a season of rest, and while there he spoke to one who had had much experience in mission work, saying he did not see how he could preach a Saviour until the people felt themselves to be sinners. He was advised to go back and preach the law -for it is the law that convinces of sin. So, on reaching Banza Manteke again, the first thing he did was to translate the Ten Commandments, and then he began to read and expound them to the people. They said the com- mandments were very good, and claimed that they had kept them. The most plain and personal applications of the law made no impression on them. So two years more passed with no result; the people were no better than when he first went to them. He began to grow hopeless of any good from preaching among them. He had gained their respect, and they were kind to him, but that was all.
At last, in his discouragement, Mr. Richards began to study the Scrip- tures anew for himself, feeling that there was some mistake in his preacb~ ing. In the early days souls were converted; why not now ~ Had the Gospel lost any of its power ~ If heathen then turned from their idols to serve the living God, why should not these people in Banza Manteke do the same? He studied the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, and began to see his mistake. The commission is not, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Law," but" Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel." .
It was the turning-point in the work of this lonely missionary. He determined to preach the Gospel. Five times in four chapters Peter ac.- cuses the people of the crucifixion of Jesus. Another thing that struck him was that the disciples were bidden to wait until they were clothed with power from on high. He felt that he had not this power. He went again to his work, determined to preach the Gospel, and cry to God for the promised power.
Then he had to decide precisely what the Gospel was. If he preached Jesus and Him crucified, the people would want to know who Jesus was.
He decided to take Luke's gospel, as this seemed the most complete and the most suitable for Gentiles. He began tran~lating ten or twelve verses a day, and then read and expounded them, asking God to bless His qwn Word. At once the people were more interested in the Gospel than they had been when he preached the law. As he went on he was greatly encouraged.
When he came to the sixth chapter of Luke, thirtieth verse, a difficulty arose. The people were notorious beggars. They would ask for anything they saw that pleased their eye-his blanket, his knife, his plate ~and whIm he would say he could not give the things to them, they would reply," You can get more." Here now were the words of the Gospel: "Give to every man that asketh of thee." The missionary was greatly perplexed as to what to do with that verse. He let his helper in translation go away, and went to his room to pray over the matter. The time for the daily serviM was drawing near. What should he do 1 Why not pass over that verse? But his conscience told him that would not be honest dealing with the Scripture. Time for service came j but, instead of advancing he went back to the beginning of the Gospel, reviewing the earlier part. Thus he would gain time for fuller consideration of the text. Still he could not find that it meant anything but just what it said. He consulted a commentary, and it said Jesus was giving general principles, and that we must use com::non sense in interpreting His words. But this did not satisfy the missionary. If we are allowed to interpret oue Scripture in this way, why not others? Leaving the meaning to be decided by " common sense" seemed a very unsafe course.
After a fortnight of prayer and consideration he concluded that our Lord meant just what He said j and he went and read it to the people. He told them that this was a very high standard, and it would probably take him a lifetime to live up to it j but he meant to live what he preached to them. After the address the natives began to ask him for things, and he gave them what they wanted. He wondered whereunto this thing would grow i but he told the Lord he could not see any other meaning in His words. However, the people were evidently deeply impressed by his course. One day he overheard one say: " I got this from the white man." Then another said: "I am going to ask him for such a thing. " But a third said: " No i buy it if you want it." The leaven of grace was working in their hearts. After that they rarely ever asked him for anything.
Mr. Richards then went on translating and expounding Luke's gospel, and the interest continually increased. The climax was reached when he came to the account of the crucifixion of Christ. There was a large congregation the day he read this passage. He reminded the people of the kindness and goodness of Jesus and of His works of mercy, and then pointed to Him nailed upon the cross between two thieves, and said: " Jesus never would have died if we had not been sinners j H was because of your sins and mine that He died." The impression was very deep. It seemed that indeed the Holy Ghost had fallcn~upon the people. He continued preaching. One day, as they were returning from a ser- vice, Lutale, the man who had helped him in translating, began to sing one of the Congo hymns. His face shone with joy, and he said: "I do be- lieve those words; I do believe Jesus has taken away my sin~; I do believe He has saved me." After seven years of toil and weary waiting and suffering here was the first convert at Banza Manteke. At once Lutale began testifying what the Lord had done for him. But the people became his enemies and tried to poison him. He had' to leave his town and live with Mr. Richards for safety. For a time there were no more converts. However, the people were stirred. By and by the king's son became a Christian. Shortly after this another man came wit,h his idols, and placing them on a table, said, savagely, that he wanted to become a Christian. He soon began to preach. So the work went on until ten were converted. These all had to leave their own homes, however, as they were threatened with death. The missionary now shut up his house, and taking these men with him, went from town to town preaching the Gospel. The people were greatly moved, and one after another came over to Christ's side. Two daily meetings were held, and inquirers were numerous. The work continued and was blessed, until all the people immediately around Banza Manteke had abandoned their heathenism. More than one thousand names were enrolled in a book of those who gave ~vidence of real conversion.
Four years have now passed, and Mr. Richards has carefully noted the results of the work. Most of the converts are holding on their way. About three hundred have been baptized. The Church is earnest and spiritual. There has been much persecution, but the Christians have not been intimidated by this. Many examples of earnestness are reported. Materials for a chapel (provided through the liberality of Dr.· Gordon's church in Boston) were brought to a point fifty or sixty miles distant, and the people carried them all the way to Banza Manteke, over rough roads. Some of them went four or five times, each trip requiring a week. In all there were about seven hundred loads, of sixty pounds each, and the whole thapel was thus carried, and without charge.
The people, thieves before, became honest. Liars before, they now became truthful. They have also become industrious and cleanly. The women want to dress better. The men are more energetic and industrious. Witchcraft, poison-giving, and all such heathen practices were put away by those who confessed Christ. Many brought their idols, and at the first baptism they had a bonfire of images, destroying thus every vestige of Idolatry.
This sketch of the work at Banza Manteke, given almost in, the words of Mr. Richards, though greatly condensed, is' sufficiently full to indicate the method pursued and the different stages of progress. The story is of intense interest, and is also full of instruction not only for missionaries in heathen lands, but for Christian workers in any field.
AN AFRICAN DEVIL'S BUSINESS AliD ITS ARAB AGENTS
AN AFRICAN DEVIL'S BUSINESS AND ITS ARAB AGENTS; OR, THE SLAVE TRADE OF THE PRESENT DAY: WHO CARRIES IT ON, WHERE ARE THE SLAVES USED, AND WHAT CAN BE DONE TO STOP THE BUSINESS?
BY FREDERIC PERRY NUBLE, NEWBERRY LIBRARY, CHICAGO, ILL.
I.-THE FIELD AND THE HUNTERS.
Draw a line from Cape Verde to Cape Guardafui. Coast southward along Somauliland until you strike the equator. Run inland to Lake Vic- toria. Prolong an eastern boundary from its south-eastern corner to Lake Nyassa, and down the Shire River. Follow up the Zambesi to its source in Lake Dilolo ; then draw a line to Stanley Pool on the Congo, and fol- low the curve of the Gulf of Guinea, but at an average distance from the sea of about one hundred miles, until we come back to our starting.point in Senegambia. Thus, generaJly speaking, the Sahara, the Indian Ocean, the great lakes, the Zambesi, and the coast lands of the Atlantic constitute the boundaries within which the devil's-business of man-hcnting is pur- sued. With the exception of the Guinea coast and the west half of the Congo State, there is scarcely a recess into which the Arab has not pene- • trated. His hunting-grounds comprise, (1) the independent Soudan, (2) the for-mer Egyptian Soudan, (3) the heart of Central Africa, i.e., between the Congo and the lakes, and the Zambesi countries.
1. First and foremost among slave-stealers stand people from the east coast. These consist of shore tribes called Swahili, of half-caste Arabs, of resident Hindus called Banians, and of Portuguese in Mozambique, or up the Zambesi. Their boundaries of action lie between the Aruwimi, Lakes Albert-Edward and Victoria, Lake Nyassa and Shire River, the Zambesi as far as Victoria Falls, thence to Lake Bangweolo, where only yesterday , the Arabs instigated the Awamba negroes to pursue a most destructive sys- tem of slaving among the inhabitants of its northern and western shores; down the Lualaba-Congo to Nyangwe, whence they swing 100 miles west to Lumami River. Not more than 400 Arabs operate here; but they employ armed negroes in such numbers-Tippu Tib alone being reportfld to have 2000 men in his pay-that perhaps] 0,000 bandits wage war upon the blacks in this section. Until now the Free State post at Stanley Falls, even under Tippu Tib's governorship, kept the Arabs east of that point. But now that Tippu Tib is at Zanzibar, impotent with paralysis, his hotblooded kinsfolk are swarming over the barrier, and are fulfilling the prediction that they must yet be battled with. In March, 1891, seeing that the Free State's forces stop their passage across the Aruwimi, the slaveraiders turned north, reached the Welle, and threatened the Free State's port on that stream. The situation is alarming in the extreme, for the Congo State has no adequate revenue for military purposes, and America has robbed it of the means to secure itself. Its principal stations have
R .A
T SLAVE TRADE MAP OF ocEA EQUATORIAL, REPRINTE 0 FROM "T'HE ARABS IN CENTRAL ArRICA AND ATLAlo<E NYASSA IJ BY J,STEVENSON,F:R.S.E ..
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-Tracl<s ofSlaveCaravan.r and S love-Hunter.r.
["//lPJ~rjP~~e~~;::~ ~r;:;;:z~ -1~~~~~~~~~~·~~~~7~At~-~::~–~-·J~~ti.;(~~~~~~~~~~~<r~~~~ tit", Coast or Districts near it.
AN AFRICAN DEVn!S BUSINESS AND ITS ARAB AGENTS
been Zanzibar, Bagamoyo, Kilwa, and Quilimane (all on the coast), U-nyanyembe, U-jiji, and Kazembe's toward the lakes, with Nyangwe and Stanley Falls on the Congo. The main lines of travel were three: (1) Erom Manyuema via Tanganika Lake, U-jiji, and U-nyanyembe to Bagamoyo, Kilwa, and Zanzibar; (2) from Lakes Bangweolo and Moero, with a branch across Lake Nyassa to Mozambique; (3) from Lake Victoria to coast towns.
2. Next in power for evil come the slavers of the Egyptian Soudan, with Khartum as their centre. This territory comprises the Nile basin of 2,000,000 square miles, reaching from the Blue Nile to Lake Victoria 1500 miles south,and to the Welle River in the northeast quarter of the Congo State. There the Mabdist and the Zanzibaris lock hands. When Baker was appointed governor in 1869, he fuund 15,000 Egyptians, or Turks, engaged in slaving; and the number cannot now be less. Emin's former province of Equatoria and West Abyssinia are their .latest victims- Khartum, Fashoda, Sennaar, Gondokoro, and (formerly) Massowah the depots. The export route is the Nile, or overland through Darfur and Kordofan. In 1873 these fellows annually smuggled 50,000 slaves into Egypt, Tripoli, Arabia, Turkey, Persia, and eyen Turkestan. There are reasons for fearing the number to be as large to-day. The power and organization of the Khartum slavers may be inferred from the fact that during the Brussels Anti-slavery Conference, 200 delegates assembled at Khartum to devise measures for suppressiug Europe and America's rum traffic with Africa. They resolved to girdle Africa with dhows, confiscate every vessel containing liquor, and sell the crews into slavery. May the worst men lose !
3. The third principal source of supply is the native Soudan. This is about 2500 miles long by 500 wide, and forms one vast hunting ground, with Arabs from Morocco, Tripoli, or Kabylia as Nimrods. From Wadai these marauders penetrate to a point among the cannibal Nyams and dwarfs as far south as the Congo. Captives are transported to the market of Kuka, on Lake Tc,had, where about 10,000 are annually bought by Barbary dealers, and marched across the Sahara to the Fezzan, an oasis south of Tripoli. There they are sold to the south and east coasts of the Mediterranean. The sufferings en route have been so dreadful that very many succumb; and travellers unacquainted with the road need only follow the bones lying right and left. From the West Soudan, via Sok6to and Timbuktu, slaves are also sent to Morocco, where almost every town has its market. Throughout Africa nearly all Mohammedan towns arc receiving and distributing centres for the" black beasts." Morocco owns 50,000 slaves, and annually imports about 4000.
4. There are also minor sources; these, however, being less only by contrast. (1) In Congo State a domestic slave trade is fiercely pursued by large, powerful tribes between Stanley Pool and Stanley Falls. In this western half, as in general through the central belt extending from Senegambia to Uganda, the possession of many slaves is indispensable to tho dignity and power of head men, both in this life and after death. Their. decease is the signal for human sacrifices on a huge scale. Near the mouth of the Mobangi-Welle the inhabitants sell their war captives to the cannibals of its upper reaches expressly for food, and the latter even wage wars for the one object of capturing" long pig." (2) In Lunda, between Angola and the southwest of Congo State, Portuguese subjects enslave its people than dose around the sources of Zambesi River. Cameron was, in 18'75, informed that slaves (at least a few) were still exported from the Portuguese west coast. On the east coast the Portuguese (African and European) ship" black ivory" from Mozambique and Sofalaland. In 1880 the British Consul at Mozambique City rated the annual export at 3000 louIs; but an increased demand for ivory afterward gave the business fresh impulse, the two trades being hand and glove. In 1888 a Portuguese officer, reporting from his post in the interior, said of its commerce ,: " The lole trade of this district at present consists in slaves." Thus Portuguese authorities demonstrate that under their flag the slave trade has so increased and strengthened that to-day there is a yearly export of 10,000 slaves to Madagascar and the Comoros. (3) At the Gulf of Aden slaving is very active in Somauliland, where the slaves are bought or stolen from the Gallas inland, from Guragwe, and the Shillooks or Denkas. Abyssinia has many markets; and former Mahdists have swept thousands of its native Christians into slavery in Arabia. (4) Across the continent the natives of French Loanga, the German Cameroons, and Ashantee and Dahomey hunt their fellow-men relentlessly. (5) Uganda seems to link the Soudan and Zanzibar trades, since M'wanga formerly stole and sold 80,000 people each year, while one competent authority rated that export at 180,000 slaves. Central Africa contains 41 slave routes, varying from 100 to 1'000 miles in length; 16 slave-producing areas of less or larger extent, and 6 regions (several larger than Ireland) which have been all but depopulated, if not utterly unpeopled.
H.-THE METHODS.
The methods of slaving involve the commission of every crime. Before 18'70 slaving was generally commerce j to-day it is murder and robbery. Invasion of peaceful communities, not seldom prosperous or semi-civilized, firing villages at midnight, massacring terror-stricken men as they start from sleep to fall amid burning huts into sleep that knows no waking; kidnapping women and children, or holding them as hostages for a ransom of ivory from yet surviving fathers and husbands j and gratifying every instinct of lust and cruelty-all constitute its ways and means.
We wish, however, to scan the inner workings of the system, and must, therefore, concentrate attention upon Zanzibar as being fairly enough typical.
Among its commercial classes, none before 1890 exercised so much influence on the trade of East Africa as did the Banian, who number thousands. The Arabs are nearly all in their debt j and if a trader planned to journey to Uganda or Nyangwe or Nyassa for slaves or ivory, gum-copal or orchilla, he would borrow $5000 at fifty, sixty, or even seventy per cent interest, and purchase goods. At his journey's end they would have more than trebled in purchasing power. Leaving Bagamoyo or Kilwa with a caravan numbering 100, 300, or 500 pcople, our half-caste, who is mer- chant or murderer, as circumstances permit, takes several months to reach U -nyanyembe. In the maritime district kidnapping is seldom attempted, for the natives stand ready to avenge the slightest affront with bloody hands, and to use firearms whenever opportunity presents itself. From U-nyanyembe (Tabora) routes diverge to U-jiji and Uganda. Passing to U -jiji, he might either purchase slaves at its market or push into Manyema, 150 miles beyond Tanganika Lake (so Stanley pronounces and writes). At U-jji 5 dotti of cloth worth $7.50 would purchase a slave worth $30 at Zanzibar, while $6 would purchase ordinary males, whose value at U-nyanyembe would equal $25. Leaving $3500 as capital, this secured 464 slaves who, if surviving the march to Bagamoyo, realized $13,920 there-a net profit of $10,420. Nor is there reason to !luppose that their value in 1890 was less at marine marts, whence they could still be exported; and often the traders did better still, almost always returning with an enormous margin of gain.
Manyema, in 1865 an unknown country to these Arabs, has for twenty years been an El Dorado of ivory. When the first slaver returned in 1867 with a wealth of tusks and with tales of fabulous quantities of the precious article, the beaten tracks of Uganda and of Tanganika's coasts to east and south became comparatively deserted. Nevertheless, in the long band of country extending from Lake Victoria to Zambesi's wave the slaver has since ravaged and ruined so ruthlessly, that many populous, fertile districts have been reduced to deserts, and in every village around the great lakes no woman or child wandering ten minutes away has any likelihood of ever seeing home again. In Manyema firearms made even small parties of Arabs invincible. This helplessness and the ridiculously low price of ivory led to the new era in slaving, to the methods of the present day, and the rise of the Tagamoyos Tippu Tibs, and Ugarrowall.
Ivory cost, in copper wire or in beads, from one half to one and one quarter cents a pound in 1870-its value in Zanzibar being from $50 to $60 the 35 pounds. To-day that amount is worth $105, and is bought with bullets and blood. The new-comers, urged on by greed and ferocity, began the practice of wholesale massacre. They would accumulate tusk upon tusk for years, till great piles were buried beneath their huts. Suddenly they would "one day pick a quarrel, seize herds and goods, and shoot the men, sparing only enough to carry ivory. They fired the village, and the march worse than death had begun. Multitudes perish merely as beasts of burden; but ·for every slave-porter escaping or succumbing, a man is stolen or bought from the nearest tribe. This supplies its losses by seizure from Beighbors, and thus the caravan, even on the road, Cfl'ates a constant circu- lation of human cl1rrency in every local centre traversed. The Arab wreaks a ruin even greater than the annihilation of tribes outright. He keeps the region in a perpetual ferment, pits chief against chief to prevent com- bination, and either makes tools of tribes likely to become dominant, or shatters them by instigating rebellion among their dependants.
It is in the Congo forest that the frightful atrocities of the Arab slavers reach the depths of hellishness. Within an area equal to France and the Iberian peninsula, Tagamoyo, Tippu Tib, and Kilonga.Longa have suc- ce8sively harried, kidnapped, and murdered, till exaggeration by the nar- rator is. sheer impossibility. The sailor was right who said, on seeing slavers, " If the devil don't catch those fellows, we might as well have no devil at all."
November 27th, 1883, when founding establishments in the :Congo State, Stanley met with the Arabs of Nyangwe. He discovered that this horde of banditti-for in reality and without disguise they were nothing else-had started in July, 1882, from a village half way from Nyangwe to Stanley Falls. The ban 1 numbered 300 fighting men armed with flint- locks, double-barrelled percussion guns, and a few breech-loaders; their domestic slaves and the women doubled the numbers. For 11 months they had raided the left bank of the Congo for 100 miles, and as far north as Aruwimi-mouth ; then they had spent 5 'months on Congo's east shore in the same cruel work. This territory comprises 34,570 square miles- exactly 2000 more than Ireland-and had possessed nearly 1,000,000 peo- ple. One hundred and eighteen villages, comprising 43 districts, had , been devastated to gain the scant profit of 2300 women and children, and about 2000 tusks. Stanley calculated that if those 118 towns had only 1000 inhabitants each, the Arabs had a profit of merely two per cent, and that after these captives had undergone the voyage to Nyangwe, camp life, and the pests which miseries breed, there would remain only a scant one per cent on the bloody venture.
Horrible as are these facts from slavery's charnel-house of horrors, they do not begin to be the worst. Five expeditions, each as great as the pres- ent one, had already come and gone with their booty, and had completely weeded the region. If each expedition was as successful as Stanley's acquaintances, the slavers got 5000 people safely to Nyangwe j but 5000 out of 1,000,000 is one half of one per cent, or 5 slaves out of 1000 per- sons-the poorest possible profit. The 2300 slaves had cost 2500 souls shot, and 1300 dying by the way j and at this rate the 5000 slaves surviv- ing at Nyangwe (of the 10,000 originally obtained) had cost 33,000 lives. Each of the very smallest infants Stanley graphically estimates to have cost the life of a father, and perhaps his 3 stout brothers and 3 grown-up daughters': "An entire family of 6 souls has Leen done to death to obtain that small, feeblc, helpless, useless child !"
" What," he asks, " was the cause of all this vast sacrifice of human life, this unspeakable misery? Nothing but the indulgence of an DId Arab's wolfish, bloody, starved, and ravenous instinct&. He wished to obtain slaves to barter profitably with other Arabs. Having weapons—guns and powder-enough, he placed them in the hands of 300 slaves, and de- spatched them to commit murder wholesale, as an English nobleman would put guns in the hands of his guests and permit them to slaughter the game on his estate. If we calculate three quarts of blood to each person who fell during the campaign of murder, this one Arab caused to be shed 2850 gallons of blood-sufficient to fill a tank of 460 cubic feet-quite large enough to drown him and all his kin."
Stanley's pen-picture of this camp is as vivid as if taken by instantaneous photography. "It was surrounded with a fence made 'of the hut-walls of the native town, which lay in ruins outside, square plots of raised tamped earth, with a few uprights alone indicating where it had stood. The banana groves had been levelled, and their stalks employed to form the fence. Within the enclosure was a series of low sheds, many lines deep, extending 100 yards inland from the immediate edge of the bank In length the camp was about 300 yards. At the landing-place were 54 canoes, varying in capacity from 10 to 100 people. The camp is much too densely peopled for comfort. There are rows upon rows of dark nakedness, relieved here and there by the white dresses of the captors. There are lines or groups of naked forms upright, moving listlessly, or standing; naked bodies are stretched under the sheds in all positions; naked legs innumerable are seen in the perspective of prostrate sleepers; there are countless naked children, many mere infants, forms of boyhood and girlhood, and occasionally a drove of absolutely naked old women bending under a basket of fuel or cassava tubers or bananas, who are driven through the moving groups by two or three musketeers. Mostly all are fettered; youths with iron rings round their necks, through which is riven a chain like our boat anchor-chains, securing the captives by twenties. The children over ten are secured by three copper rings, each ringed leg brought together by the central ring. The mothers are secured by shorter chains; around are grouped their respective progeny of infants hiding the cruel iron links that fall in loops or festoons over their mothers' breasts. There is not one adult man captive. Beside the shaded ground so thickly strewn with prostrate and upright bodies lie scattered or heaped in profusion everywhere the relics of the many raids. There is scarcely a square foot of ground not littered with something. All these littering the ground, or in stacks and heaps, with piles of banana and cassava peelings, flour of cassava, and sliced tubers drying, make untidy pictures and details, through which prominently gleam .the eyes of the captives in supreme and utter wretchedness. Every second during which I regard them, the clank of fetters and chains strikes my ear. My eyes catch sight of that continual lifting of the hand to ease the neck in the collar, or as it displays, exposed, a manacle through fl mllscle bein~ irritated b, its wei¥,ht or want of fitnilss. 130lllld or riveted by twenties, they wallow in filth. . Only the old women are t"ken to forage; they dig the cassava and search for the banana, while the guard, with ready musket, watches keenly for the coming of the vengeful native. Not much food can be obtained. What is procured is flung in a heap be- fore each gang, to cause at once an unseemly scramble. Many of the poor things have been fettered for months already, and their bones stand out in bold relief on the attenuated skin which hangs down in wrinkles and puckers. Who can withstand the feeling of pity so powerfully pleaded for by those large eyes and sunken cheeks ~"
As we listen to this eye-witness, it appears unthinkable that wicked- ness can go lower. Yet it is Stanley himself, who from Darkest Africa brought tidingS and tales of deeds of darkness befitting depths beneath the lowest depths of hell. He says: "In 1887 a half-caste Arab slaver and his Manyema banditti launched out on one of the most sanguinary and de- structive careerl, to which even Tippu Tib's and Tagamoyo's offer poor comparison. Toward the Lenda and Ihuru rivers they had levelled every settlement into black ashes, had even vented their rage for destruction on the plantain groves, had split every canoe into pi~ces, had searched every , island, and had penetrated into the darkest recesses whither a slight track ( could be traced, with only one dominating passion, which was to kill as many men and capture as many children and women as craft and cruelty would enable them. However far north or east these people had gone .they had done precisely as we had seen, and had reduced the forest to a howling wilderness. Through all the immense area they had left scarcely a hut standing. Assuming that their ravages had extended east, north, and south 105 miles from Ipoto, we have something like 44,000 square miles. Once we know where the slaving centres are, we may, with a pair of compasses, draw great circles round each, and park off areas of 40,000 square miles into which a half dozen resolute men, aided by their hundreds 'of (negro) bandits have divided three-quarters of the Congo forest for the sole purpose of murder, and of becoming heirs to a few hundred tusks of ivory. • •• There were Manyema headmen responsible to the chiefs for followers and operations entrusted to their charge. At alternate periods each sets out for his own special sub-district. The fighters con- sist of Congoans trained by the Manyema as raiders, as in 1876 Arabs and East Coast natives had trained Manyema. This extraordinary increase in the number of raiders on the Upper Congo is the fruit of the policy of kill~ ing the adults, but preserving the children. The girls are distributed among the Arab, Swahili, and Manyema harems, the boys are trained to carry arms, and are drilled. Grown tall and strong; they are rewarded .with wives from the female servants of the harem, and are admitted as partnera in the bloody ventures. So many shares of the profits are due the great proprietor; a less number becomes the due of the headman, and the remainder is the property of the bandits. . . . At other times all ivory over 35 pounds goes to the chief i that between 35 and 20 pounds belongs to the headman, while young ivory, or scraps or pieces, fall to the lucky finders. This intlpires every man to do his best. The caravan is well manned and armed by the great proprietor, who stays in his harem on the Lualaba. The headmen, inspired by greed, grow ferocious. The bandits fling themselves upon a settlement mercilessly to obtain the largest share of loot.- children, flocks, poultry, and ivory. • •• All this would be clearly beyond' their power if they possessed no powder. Not a mile beyond home would the Arab and his followers dare venture. It is more than probable that if gunpowder were prohibited entry into Africa, there would be a general and quick migration of all Arabs from inner Africa to the sea, as the native chiefs would be immeasurably stro~ger than any combination of Arabs armed with spears. Of ivory there is not a single piece nowadays which has been gained lawfully. Every tusk, piece, and scrap in the possession of an Arab has been steeped and dyed in blood. Every pound has cost a life. For every five pounds a hut has been burned ; for every two tusks' a whole village destroyed; every twenty tusks have been obtained at the price of a district with all its people, villages, and plantations. It is simply incredible that because ivory is required for ornaments or billiards, the rich heart of Africa should be laid waste at this late hour of the nineteenth century, signalized as it has been by so many achievements; incredible that populations, tribes, and nations should be utterly destroyed. Whom, after all, does this bloody seizure of ivory enrich' Only a few dozens of half-castes, who, if due justice were dealt them, would sweat out the remainder of their piratical1ives in the severest penal servitude."
IlL-THE RESULTS.
How many slaves are captured; how many lives lost annually! In Nyassaland and Zambesi, according to Cameron's latest (1889) statements, 525,600 each year become slaves. In the equatorial tableland, from the data furnished by Papal missioners, the figures mount even higher. Thill brings the total of Africans who annually lose freedom at the hand of tho Arab hell hounds between the Soudan and the Zambesi up to 1,050,000. Including the Soudan, from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, Ashanti, Dah6- mey, Loanga, the Cameroons, Lunda, the native slaving on the Congo, Somauliland, and Uganda, it appears certain that the grand total equals at least 2,000,000. It is as if a Georgiaj or Iowa, or Michigan were annually enslaved. The worst of it is, that Christendom has a real though ,indirect responsibility for those astounding figures, because the relaxation of the English blockade, the troubles in the Soudan and on the East coast, the connivance of Portugal, and French bulldozing in Madagascar enabled the slave trade since 1885 to increase fourfold.
Yet this host, moving every twelve months into the house of bondage, does not represent one half of man's inhumanity in the land of death shades. The mortality of the caravans varies from one-half to three- quarters, and even nine~tenths. We wonder that one slave in ten ever reaches his destination, when we hear the accounts of Cameron, Baker, Livingstone, Lavigerie, and Stanley. Lavigerie says: "When all that are captured are hurried off, a series of unspeakable miseries commences. The men who appear strongest, and whose escape is to be feared, have hands and feet so tied that moving becomes torture, and on their necks are placed yokes attaching several together. All day they march ; at night a few handfuls of raw sorgho are distributed ; this is all their food. Next morning they must start again; but fatigue, suffering, and privations have weakened very many. The women and the aged are the first to halt; then, to strike terror into the miserable mass, their conductors, armed with a wooden bar-to economile powder-approach those most exhausted, and deal a terrific blow on the nape of the neck. The victims utter a cry, and fall in convulsions of death. The terrified troop immediately resumes its march. Terror has imbued even the weakest with fresh strength. Each time one breaks down the scene is repeated. At night, on arriving at their halting-place, after the first days of such life, a not less frightful scene awaits them. The traffickers in human flesh know how much their victims can endure. A glance shows who will soon sink from weariness j so, to economize food, they pass behind these wretched beings and fell them with a single blow. The corpses, when not suspended on neighboring trees, remain where they fall, and close to them must their companions eat and sleep as well as they can. In this manner the weary march is continued, sometimes for months. Daily the number diminishes. If, goaded by their cruel sufferings, some attempt to escape or rebel, thl! masters cut them down, and leave them as they lie, attached by yokes. "
Baker shall be our next witness, describing a slave-dhow and its cargo. He ordered one searched, and the captain was astonished that search was considered necessary. Besides crew and soldiers, the skipper averred, there was not a soul on board, while the vessel had only com in the hold, and ivory beneath. "But," says Baker, " she appeared suspiciously full of corn"for a boat homeward bound. There was an awkward smell about the closely-boarded forecaStle that resembled that of unwashed negroes. . . . Abd-el-Kader drew a ramrod from a soldier's rifle and sharply probed that corn. A smothered cry from beneath, and a wriggling among the corn were succeeded by a woolly head, as Abd-el-Kader, having thrust in his long arm, dragged a negress forth. At once the planks boarding forecastle and stern were broken, the corn was removed, and there was a mass of humanity exposed-boys, girls, and women close packed like herrings in a barrel, who, under threats, had remained silent. The mainsail appeared full and heavy in its lower part. Upon unpacking, it yielded a young woman thus sewn up. We discovered about 150 slaves stowed away in a most inconceivably small area. The stench was horrible when they began to move. Many were lD Irons. I ordered the agent and the captain to be put in irons."
Yet the captives and human exports are far and away the slightest sectiOl~ of thf;J sufferers. Every slave, on the average, represents 100 victims. T.he populations blighted by the simoom of slaving number 150,000,000as many as the German and Rm!sian Empires together.
IV.-THE REMEDIES.
1. As the Zanzibar slave trade has so long been sustained by the capital of British Hindoos, England has moral respousibility for that traffic. Now she is mistress of Zanzibar and Pemba, and her East Africa Company controls the coast north, and has brought Uganda under English lordship. 'With Zanzibar as the maritime key of the situation, and with Cairo a future . centre of Saxon government over an area greater than India, England can lock this export traffic into the interior. Moreover, Germany is conquering lands between Zanzibar and the lakes, the Reichstag has forbidden marine export.ation of slaves, and domestic sl~very will be abolished from its African possessions as speedily as circumstances permit.
2. Again, it began to look, last February, as if the Great Powers would fulfil their solemn pledges for the welfare of Africa, which they have shamefully failed t<? live up to. In 1884 they declared the Congo State should not be used for the slave trade, and each. bound itself to employ all means at its disposal to end the traffic and punish the slavers. Had they enforced their prohibitions, the slave trade could not have attained its present proportions. They <leclared that " these regions shall not be used as markets or as routes of transit for the slave trade, no matter of what race j each of these powers binds itself to use all the means at its disposal to put an end to this trade, and to punish all engaged in it." In 1889 they met in Anti-Slavery Conference (It Bru!:lsels, and agreed that the following measures are directly and generally practicable: (1) Tribes concerned in raiding shall be held responsible. (2) Any tribe through whose territory slave caravans pass shall be held to account, and such chiefs or organizers of caravans as have been once convicted of slavetrade offences shall render security on starting from the seaboard. (3) Chiefs ou whose coast slave shipments occur shall be dealt with. (4) The police of the sea is to be maintained by joint European effort, maritime transportation being the point where force and united action can be made most effective. Vessels of 500 tons and under, unless slavers of larger tonnage be hereafter discovered, shall, on the high seas, be subject to supervision and detention. (5) Disarmament of the slaver is nigh. From 20° North to 22° South, and from 100 miles out in each ocean" the sale of firearms to Arabs or natives is prohibited. Arms must be deposited in Government warehouses, taken· out only on permission, and not in sale include the most improved weapons. Stanley has said: "for wholesale massacres of African aborigines there is only one remedy -the solemn combination, of England, Germany, France, Portugal, South Africa, East Africa, and the Congo State against the introduction of powder into any part of the continent, except for the use of their agents j and seizing every tusk of ivory." Now Christian sentiment must compel civilization to redeem itself by grappling immediately with the slaver of the Congo, for the Free State offers the most advantageous means of attacking these Manyuemans and Soudanese in the rear, while Stanley Falls is the West Point of the Upper Congo. The United States itself took part in this Conference, and the refusal of our Federal Senate to ratify the decree of humanity is a damning diegrace to America. How the country that shattered the shackles of 4,000,000 bondmen could shirk its duty and fasten fetters on the black man in Africa, passes comprehension. EYen Holland played the man and shames us.
3. Cardinal Lavigerie has awakened even papal peoples to their duty in suppressing slavery, and proposes to stop man-hunting at its source by the sword. The campaign to realize this object may take place, since several thousand young meu have foluTJteered and are preparing. In the Sahara these youth~ and the Peres Blancs are already proving themselves true knights of labor, as diggers of wells and planters of trees.· It is objected that these crusaders would merely destroy a few slavers and divert the trade to other routes. But Lavigerie's real idea is that every European Power should maintain sufficient military forces wherever in its possessions the black is hunted j but, if finances forbade, he would revive the medireval soldiers of the Church, its Knights of Alcantara, Lazarus, or Malta, adapt them to modern methods and needs, put them under the Pope, and at the call of any government remove them from place to place requiring their services. Small, inexpensive squadrons can achieve great results.
Whether or not we agree with Lavigerie on the means of employing force, it is absolutely certain that force is now an indispensable necessity in suppressing slave-stealing. The case admits no alternative to-day, for Africa is bleeding out her life-blood at every pore: the population is far too scanty, and va~t areas are relapsing into uninhabited wilds, impenetrable to missionary or merchant. The Arabs are bitterly hostile to European influences, mean to practice slaving as their right, wage wanton war against missions, and demonstrate that in Central Africa European and Arab cannot live together. Turkey intends to send Mohammedan missionaries into her African possessions.
What, then, are the warlike measures inevitable against the Arab? Simply this: protection of Arric's dusky, helpless children. This comprises the introduction of armed bodies into the interior as shepherds of the people, continental blockades against caravans, and as police patrol. At their head will be Europeans, in the ranks natives, as militia, or Sepoys, picked men and masters of gun-drill. As on the Congo, so on the East Coast, the Zambesi, the Niger, the Nile and the lakes, lines of military posts or commercial depots three days' journey apart, are opening. These will absolutely forbid slaving, abolish local markets, prevent the transporting of slaves, except domestics duly registered, and sweep away customs or duties levied on slave sales. Swift armed launches are to be put on all navigable waters, with a garrison or tWQ on the high, healthr platealls of ~a<?h llik~ and on the main traffic lines. Such a chain of fortified posts we may soon see from Suakim along the Nile and the lakes to Quilimane. This will cut the roots of the cancer, and constitute bulwarks behind which missions may advance-missions, which alone can work lasting good.
4. When the export over-sea, indispensable to the continuance of Mos- lem slavery, is destroyed, serfage cannot long continue. Closure of ship- ping ports must therefore be effected, though a tremendous 3000 miles task. The status of slavery must be denied further recognition by inter- national law, the traffic be banned as piracy, and the maritime routes be made so utterly unsafe that no Arab will dm'e risk his life.
5. Mohammedan slavery keeps Africo.Arab slaving alive. So the Brussels Conference brought public opinion to bear on Persia and Turkey, the sole independent slave powers there, and deprecated the influence of their domestic bondage. They should persuade the heads of all Mohammedan States to discourage the purchase of negro slaves, and hold Moslem rulers accountable for future slaving infamies. Zanzibar's new sultan has prohibited slave selling, and instituted measures that will steadily wipe out the whole institution. The British Anti.Slavery Society has pledged itself to suppress Mohammedan slavery, and very many facts prove that the prospect for slavery dying out from the Moslem East is better than that possibility of mediooval Christendom.
6. Colonization, commerce, and railroads afford Christianity the underhold in this death grapple. The prejudices of the natives against colonization, never very strong, will yield to fair and judicious treatment.' But tropical Africa cannot be colonized. by " Caucasians," and it may well be in the Divine statesmanship that the American freedman and none other is to save the brother in black and teach him to save himself. Liberia and its noteworthy success, despite every disadvantage, prove negro colonization to be no Utopian scheme, and with regard to the Congo State, Stanley assures us that if " American negroes form the majority of its citizenship, it would, with proper encouragement, make remarkable development, and in time become a great nation. If these civilized blacks are developed morally, their contact with the savages would be happy." Signs are not wanting that among the negroes of our New Soutb not a few consider. African evangelization their race duty; and that the wonder-working Providence of American history anoints them as apostles to Ethiopia. The task would require comparatively few of the 7,000,000 black Americans, for if less than ten per cent return, 500,000 chosen people would, within one century, accomplish the regeneration of tbeir mother country. Such colonies will swiftly develop legitimate commerce and native industries among the fairly active and workable populations.
Commerce strangles slaving by making its profits less tban those of lawful trade, though it needs to be protected by physical force before it can produce its effects. On the Congo commerce checks the slave trade, since Boma and Matadi are drawing the ivory trade of Stanley Falls away from Zanzibar. Grenfell avers that if once the railway, now rapidly building between tidewater and Stanley Pool, is completed, the Arab will find his occupation gone. On the East Coast the African Lakes Company was organized as a lay auxiliary of Nyassa Missions, and accomplished this by buying ivory at higher prices than slavers can pay. It also built Murchison Road round the Shire Cataracts, and Stevenson Road between Lakes Nyassa and Tanganika. These mend the breaks in the water route from Quilimane to Ruanda, and are for humanitarian purposes the most im- portant thoroughfares to Central Africa, as this line cuts the principfll routes to the coast, and several garrisons on it could throttle the slavers in transit. As to Uganda and Masailand, Mackay and Emin have affirmed that a safe road to the coast must unquestionably be opened. The British East Afric:m Company is building a railroad from Mombasa to Lake Vic- toria. The English, at Stanley's request, devote their Stanley fund to placing a steamer on that lake, and Germany is doing the same thing. Emin has established a fortified post on its south shore, after whipping Arab slavers in many encounters. U-nyanyemhe is his central station, but he will found four large commercial stations and several smaller ones on the Tanganika and elsewhere. An ivory tribute will, within three years, repay the expenses-$400,000. That does not appear unreasonable when we remember that since 1885 Tippu Tib has exported $500,000 worth of ivory, and that this includes the cnormous stock just brought to market by his 7000 porters. A Swedish expedition intends to plant stations from Lake Victoria to Tanganika for co-opcration in suppressing ~laving. The Germans will, of course, push roads to the latter lake. The British Company bas effected the emancipation of 5000 slaves since 1888, made compacts against slaving with tribes inhabiting 50,000 square miles, compels Arabs themselves to recognize that no native is to be held in servitude, releases slaves in caravans, and enables domestics to buy their freedom. On the Juba 30,000 runaway slaves recently asked to be taken under its protection. In Uganda, Mwanga pledges himself to assist, in the abolition of slaving. Thus the outlook for the speedy suppression of East African sla1Jing, and the march of Christianity even to the Great Forest, is full of promise.
The greatest efficiency of the iron horse in destroying the slave trade will occur on transcontinental lines bisecting the slave-belt~. A railroad from Congo mouth to Zanzibar, Stanley says, can be eatiily constructed, and would pay from the start. Another, 1000 miles long, runs from Cape Town to Kimberley, and the South African Company, which is to govern all lands between the Orange River and the Tanganika will prolong it to the Zambesi. (A railroad from the South already reaches Yryburgh in Bechuanaland.) The Niger Company controls the Low.er Niger, where it bas suppressed human sacrifines and checked slaving j before 1900 it wm control the independent Soudan as far as the Egyptian Soudan. There .it will be met hy English -agents, either by Anglo-Egyptian officials, who will have recovered. the Khartum country, or by the East African Company from Equatoria itself. Since tltat is their ultimate goal, then we shall see the proposed railway from Monrovia to the Red Sea, a French line from Algeria to Lake Tchad, aud the Nile made, by skilful engineering at its modest cataracts, a broad waterway from the Midland Sea to the inland seas. Such roads will accomplish far more than armies; and if Europe will Europe can within a decade shatter the Arab slave trade to atoms. God grant that the negro who talked with Jephson about railways prove a prophet of good, and" that when the railroad is made, Jesus Christ may go up with it."
James H. Richardson, M.D., of Toronto, writes a letter to the editor, expressing emphatic dissent from the article in the January issue on " Livingstone and Stanley." We perhaps owe it to fairness to quote portions of this letter. Dr. Richardson questions the propriety of coupling these two men as we have done, and thinks the aims, characters, and methods of the two are dissimilar and antagonistic. Dr. Richardson thinks Mr. Stanley has given sanction to practices which humanity and Christianity must deplore, and cites the Emin relief expedition as an instance. We give his words: " Think of the very first step-the investing, of that fiend, Tippu Tib, with the authority and pay of an officer of the Congo Free State in the very heart of the country where he had been pursuing his most nefarious deeds of rapine, plunder, and slavery j and in the appointment recognizing his authority for carrying them on above the Stanley Falls. Think of the contract with this miscreant to furnish 600 slave carriers. Mr. Stanley denied, in his lecture at Montreal, that slave labor was employed; hut his book (' In Darkest Africa,' vol. i1., p. 3) records, ' The utter unruliness of this mob of slaves which had maddened tne officers of the rear column.' In vol. i., p. 26], he describes the la~hings on these poor slaves, and says 'awful oaths of vengeance were uttered for all the indignities they suffered j' on pages 212 and 213 we have the record of the hanging of a , slave of Fayilla,' and the condemnation to death of two other slaves-one the slave of a man in Zanzibar, thc other a slave of an artisan in U-nyanyembe, both of whom must have been brought with the expedition all the way from Zanzibar.
" Think of the 357 rifles and the Maxim gun which poured out a deadly stream of 300 bullets a minute! Think of the invariable practice' of driving the poor natives out of their villages and taking occupation. The very first landing at Yambuya was of this character. Read the account (vol. i., pp. 113, 114) after parleying uusucce~s£ully for an hour, ' for leave to reside in their village,' the signal was given, the whistles wl:lre blown" the, boats were moored to the shore, and the horde of about 700, armed to the teeth, rushed up the bank, ' and when the summit was gained not a villager was in sight.' For ten or eleven months these poor villagers were kept out of their homes; no wonder that two days afterward, when Stanley
43i .A. CRITICISM OF STANLEY
started with his advance force, the poor natives drew themselves up at the entrance to their village to prevent it from being taken possession of, and no wonder they never tried the defence again, as they were mowed down by the bullets from the 357 rifles and the deadly Maxim gun. They seem to have vacated village after village in terror, as if the demon of destruction was let loose on them. See also vol. i., p. 152. On July 10th the expedition occupied one of seven large villages at Gwengwere, out of which' all the population had fled ;' on tho 11 tIl, he writes, ' as we were disappearing from view of Gwengwere, the population was seen scurrying back to their homes, which they had temp'orarily vacated for our convenience. It saved trouble of speech, exerted, possibly, in. useless efforts for peace, i.e., if they had not left peaceably they would have been driven out!
" Think of every village being raided for food, and provisions for ten days carried off without remuneration, and this not once. but every day. It may be said that these robberies, this occupation of their homes, this employment of slave labor, this authority conferred on Tippu Tib, were necessary to the success of the expediti.on ; if so, then the expedition was an unholy one. To do evil that good may come is as wrong in this case as in any other. " Dr. Richardson adds that, in his opinion, the sad story of the rear colJlmn " would not have been written if Stanley had done his duty. In 1'0. t, pp. 337, 338, 362, and 364, it is recorded that after a council on Lake Albert, not having found Emin, they concluded to retrace their steps and to ' hurry' on to find Barttelot and the rear column before it was a , wreck' as 'the only sensible course which was left to them,' and how he abandoned this' only sensible course' and left Barttelot to his fate because the headmen and officers wanted to go back to find Emin, and so lost four months and a half before going to Barttelot's relief. As to the abuse heaped on Barttelot because he did not advance without getting the carriers promised by Tippu Tib, one short sentence (vol. ii., p. 13) settles the question: ' Without Tippu Tib, or one of his nephews, such a column' (as the rear column) 'could not be taken through the broad extents of wilderness ahead.' "
The Australian Ballot System is a striking illustration of the benefits which Christian lands may receive from their efforts in carrying civilization and Christianity to heathen countries. Australia was formerly wholly heathen, but has become a Christian land by colonization and missionary effort. The conditions of life there rendered possible the trial of a system of balloting which it would have been very difficult to experiment with in any country of more established institutions. But after having proved successful in Australia it is now adopted in nearly all the United States to the great satisfaction of every intelligent voter. It pays for Christian countries. to send missionaries and colonists to lift heathen lands out of their ignorance and degradation. Every nation so raised to an enlightened religious condition will have some peculiar contribution to the welfare of the whole world which could come from no other people.-Baptist Missionary Magazine.
MUTUAL RELATIONSHIP AND LAWS OF THE BANTU LANGUAGES
THE MUTUAL RELATIONSHIP AND LAWS OF THE BANTU LANGUAGES, AS SEEN IN THE KIMBUNDU AND ISI- ZULU.
BY REV. l"EWIS·GROUT, WEST BRATTLEBORO, VT.
The elementary grammar of the Mbundu language, by Mr. Heli Cha~ lain, is a very valuable and timely contribution to a better knowledge of that great family of Bantu languages, which is now known to extend all through South Africa, or, in general terms, East and West from ocean to ocean, aud from the Orange River to some five degrees North of the equator. The grammar is pnmarily designed for the missionaries, the natives, and the colonists of Angola and neighboring dist.ricts; and, for this reason, is written in Portuguese, which prevails to a large extent in that field. Otherwise it would seem to have been better had it been written in a language more widely known. The author of the grammar was well qualified for the work he has done, and has done it well. A native of Switzerland, having acquired a knowledge of six or eight languages aside from the French and German which were his mother tongues, he went out some seven or eight years ago to Loanda, in the Portuguese colony on the West Coast of Africa, as linguist of Bishop Taylor's self-supporting mission. Studying the Portuguese Oil his voyage out, he was well fitted for his work among tribes that spoke dialects of which comparatively little was known as yet in other lands, though they are spoken of by Dr. Cust as constituting the lingua franca of all Western Africa. Indeed, Livingstone speaks of a resemblance between this language and that spoken at Tete, on the Zambezi in Eastern Africa; and the inhabitants of Angola have always found the Mbundu language of great service to them in their travels far to the East.
Mr. Chatelain, giving himself to the study and development of the Bantu languages, has prepared a primer and a translation of John's gospel for his mission, a short vocabulary of the Mbamba, and another of the Umbangala. He is now completing a work on the legends and fables of Angola, and several new vocabularies of neighboring dialects. A more extended work is that of a dictiona~y of the Mbundu language, now in preparation, to be enriched by a comparative study of the Swahili of East Africa, of the Kongo on the West Coast, and by the fruits of the labors of the American missionaries in the Benguela district, together with the fruits of German missionary labors in the Herero of Damara-land. Dr. Cust, the learned and able author of "Modern Languages of Africa," a work published in 1883, speaks of the Mbundu as one of the most important in all West Africa; and, having given a sketch of what the Portuguese have done during the last two and one half centuries to master and make this language known, concludes by saying: "It must be admitted that a new grammar of it is still required." But now, a year since, writing an " Introduction" to Mr. Chatelain's" Kimbundu Grammar," he expresses himself as much pleased .that the matter had fallen into the hands of a scholar 80 well qualified to undertake it, and commends the work to the favorable consideration of African scholars. It will help to give some idea of both the Zulu and Mbundu languages, their general character, forms, laws; also Fome idea of the relationship, or points of similarity that prevail throughout the ('ntire family of South African or Bantn language~, of which Dr. Cust finds 168, aside from 55 dialects, if we institute a brief comparison between the Kimbundll of Angola, in the northwest of the field, and the Isizulu of Natal and Zululand, in the southeast-a geographical distance which puts the two languages nearly two thousand miles apart.
One of the minuter points of resemblance is, that both languages make open syllables; that is, each word and syllable ends in a vowel; and, at< a general rule, the accent falls on the penult. Each abounds in certain consonantal combinations, such as mb, mv, ml, mp, nd, ng and nz; but clicks and gutturals are found only in the Zulu. The vowel signs used in writing have in each the Italian value, and the abundance of these makes the flow of pronunciation in each easy and musical. In their radical element many of the words are the same, or nearly the same, and quite the same in respect to the principle and use of the incipient elements or prefixes of words, though in the forms of their several prefixes they generally differ. Thus, nouns: ENGLISH. ZUI,U. MBUNDU.
Person. s. umuntu. S. mutu. Mother. P. atu. Snake. P. abantu. S. mama. Death. P. jimama. s. umame. S. nioka. P. jinioka. P.omame. S. kufua. P. makufua. s. inyoka.
P. izinyoka.
s. ukufa.
P. ukufa.
So in verbs: ZULU. MBUNDU.
ENGLISH. uku tunga. ku tunga. uku luma. ku lumata. to sew. uku shinga. ku shinga. uku beta. ku beta. to bite. uku lima. ku rima. to insult. uku sala. ku sha:la. to beat. to till. to remain.
For" three" we find tutu in both languages; for" five" we find Manu in the Zulu and tunu in Mbundu. In the former uleu lamba means" to hunger," in the latter leu lamba means" to cook."
In each language the nouns are divided into classes according to their prefix or preformative, and according to the way in which the plural is generally made from the singular by some change in the prefix. Zulu nouns are divided, in this way, into eight classes, the last two of which are without distinction as to number; and, in the same way, Mbundu nouns are divided into ten classes. In the former, the prefix u, um, or umu, of the first class, is changed to 0 or aba to form the plural; as um/ana, " boy," abafana, "boys." So, again, ili or i is changed to ama; im or in to izim, izin, orama; isi to izi, izim, or izin; and um or umu (impersonal) to imi ; though nouns of the seventh and eighth classes have the same pre- fix, ubu or uku, in both numbers: thus, ubuso may mean either" face" or " faces." Nouns in uku are of a verbal character, being the same as the verb in the infinitive mode. In the Mbundu the prefix mu, of the first class, is changed to a, to form the plural; as, mutu, " person," aiu, "persong;" m'}', of the second class, is changed to mi, as mulundu, " mQlmtain," milundu, ,-' mountains. " So, again, ki is changed to i; ri to ma; u to mau; lu to malu,. tu to matu,. ku to maku,. ka to iu; and other forms to ji.
IIi both languages alike f'ach class of nouns has a fragmentary or genitive pronoun of a preformative character, which corresponds to the noun's ptefix ; one for the singular, and one for the plural, which, with the genitive particle a, denotes possession, or the relation of a subject to an attribute; thus, in Zulu, ilizwi lom/ana (loa-um/ana), " word of the boy," or " boy's word;" ~baniu benkosi (b-a-inkosi) "people of the king," or "king's people. " So in the Mbundu, muiue ua mutu, " head of man," or " man's head;" mitue ia atu, " heads of men."
In both languageR alike the adjective takes a prefix corresponding to the prefix of the noun with which it agrees; thus, in Zulu, um/ana umkulu, "the boy (is) great;" um/ana omkulu (a-umkulu) , "the boy (which is) great," i.e., "great boy;" abantu bakulu, "people (are) great ;" abantu abakulu, "great people." So in Mbundu; thus, muiu uonene, "great person;" kim~ kionene, "great thing;" ima- ionene, "great things ;" r'ital'i l'ionene, "great stone;" mata;'i monene, "great stones. " So, too, in respect to numerals. In the Zulu we have umuntu omunye, "one person;" abantu ababili, " two persons ;" izinkomo ezintatu, "three cows." In the Mbundu we ha-e mutu umoshi, " one person ;" kima kimoshi, " one thing;" ima itatu, "three things ;" matubia matanu, "five fires."
The grammar of the verb is essentially the same in the Mbundu language as in the Zulu. In the latter the infinitive has the sign uku, " to ;" as uku landa, "to love;" uku bona, "to see;" in the former, ku; as ku zola, "to love ;" ku longa, "to teach;" ku banga, "to make, do." In both languages alike the pronominal subject of the verb in the third person corresponds to the prefix of the noun for which the pronoun stands. Thus, in Zulu (um/ana, "boy") u bona, "he see~;" (aba/ana, "boys"), ba bona, "they see;" (inkomo, "cow"), i bona, " it sees;" (izinkomo, " cows"), zi bona, "they see." In the Mbundu we have (mutu, "person"), u banga, "h~ (or she) makes;" (atu, "persons"), a bar.ga, " they make ;" (kima," thing"), ki banga, " it makes ;" ' (ima, "things"), i banga, "they make." 'For the first, second, and third persons, preient tense, we have: IN ENGLISH. IN liIZULU. IN KIMBUNDU.
S. I love. S. Ngi tanda. S. Ngi zola. thou Iovest. u tanda. u zola. he (or she, etc.) lovt's. u (i, or Ii, etc.), tanda. u (or a, etc.), zola.
P. we love. P. si tanda. P. tu zola. ye love. ni tanda. nu zola. they love. ba. (or zi, etc.), tanda. a (or i, etc.), zola.
In the few following forms we have a comparative view of some of the modes in the two lan~ua~es : IN ENGLISH. IN ISIZULU. IN KIMBUNDU. '
Love, or love thou. tanda, or ma u tande. zola. Love yeo I love, or I do love. tandani. zolenu. I may love. I should love. ngi tanda, or ngi y a tanda. ngi zola.
ngi nga tanda. ngi zole.
nga ngi tanda. ngojo zola.
In the following we have a comparative view of a few tenses.
IN ENGLISH. IN ISIZULU. IN KIMBUNDU.
I love. ngi tanda. ngi zola. I loved. nga tanda. nga zolo. I have loved. ngi tandile. nga zolele. I had loved. ngi be ngi tandile. nga. zolele kia. I shall love. ngi y8 ku tanda. ngondo zola, or nganda ku zola.
IB respect to species of verbs, we find much of likeness between the Zulu and the Mbundu, as also between these and the Hebrew, in what is there called " conjugations." In the former from tanda, ,. love," we get the causative, tandisa, .. cause to love j" the relative, tandela, " love for j" the reciprocal, tandana, "love one another j" the reflective, zitanda, " love self j" the subjective, tandeka, " be lovely or lovable j" also other species. In the Mbundu we have from zola, ,. love," zolesa, " cause to love j" zolela, "love for j" rizola, " love self." We sometimes find two or more species combined j as, in Zulu, the causative and relative, tandisela, "cause to love for j" in Mbundu, zolesela, " cause to love for."
The mutual relationship and laws, or kinds of resemblance and difference that prevail in the great family of Bantu languages are seen, to some extent, in the goodly number of words that are found to be substantially the same in many of its members, though such words are often found in greatly differing forms. "Ve take two words, or, rather, one word in its two numbers, umunt!l, " person," abantu, " persons or people," as a good example of the unity in variety in some of the corresponding words in the cognate lauguages of which we speak. This word consIsts of two elements, one radical, the other preformative, which is also called "prefix." In Zulu the ,root is ntu; the prefix, singular, umu, plural, aba. And, of all the numerous forms which this word may take, whether in root or prefix, doubtlelOs the Zulu, as above, i.e., um'l1ntu, abantu, are alike most original and complete., For these Zulu words we find the corresponding words, in the cognate languages, to be, on the South, in the Kafir, umntu, abant'l ; on the West, in the Sesutu, motu, batu,. in the Sethlapi and Sechuana, mothu, bathu. Going northward and eastward, and coming into the Delagoa region, we find, in the Southern Tekeza, munu, banu or vanu,. in Northern Tekeza, amuno, vano,. coming to the Tete and Sena on the Zambe~ii, we find munttu, vanttu,. in the Quilimane, muntu, antu,. in the Maravi, muntu, wanthu. In the Makua, latitude 15° South, we find muttu, attu. In the Yao, on the eastern bank of Lake Nyassa, we have mundu, vandu or wandu; in Kiswahili, latitude from 5° to 6° South, mtu, watu,. then, in the Kinika, mutu, atu,. in the Kikamba, mundu, andu,. and in the Kisambala and Kipokomo, on the Pokomo, Dana or Tana River, near the equator, we have muntu, wantu.
Passing now to the southwest of the Bantu field, and moving northward along the West Coast of the c'ontinent, we find, in the Otyiherero or Damara language, omundu, ovandu j in the Sindonga, the language of the Ovambo, umtu, oantu,. in the Nano of Benguela, omuno, amana j in the Kimbundu or Angola, mutu, atu,. in the Kongo, omuntu, oantu j in the Benga, as spoken on the Corisco Islands, North of the equator, moto, bato,. and in the Dualla and Isubu or Cameroons language, motu, batu.
From what is already known of the many other Bantu languages, we have every reason to believe that the points of agreement and difference which we have. now passed in review are a good specimen of what prevail among the scores that still remain to he reduced to order in the great inland region that stretches through the interior, from four or five degrees North of the equator to the Orange River on the South.
Of how great advantage this relationship must be to the hosts of missioll9.ries, whose great work it shall yet be to reduce the still unwritten multitude of these Bantu languages each to its own grammatically exact order, and translate the Scriptures into them, it is hardly pOl)sible to give any adequate idea. If the writer, while preparing to go abroad, could have, had the means of getting even such a knowledge of these languages as may be gathered from this article, it would have been of more aid and saving of time to him than he can now tell.
We reprint from the African News a brief article on " The Spelling of African Names," by Heli Chatelain, which is appropriate to follow Mr.
Grout's paper: " Every reader of African publications and student of African maps must have been struck with the orthographic chaos which prevails throughout African nomenclature. The same town, country, people, mountain, or river is designated in different maps and b?oks, sometimes in the same periodical, with a variety of names which, to the uninitiated, present but few or no traces of similarity, much less of identity.
" This lamentable fact is due mainly to two causes: (1) to the hetero-
THE SPELLING OF AFRICAN NAMES
geneous spelling of European languages, from which the information is culled; (2) to the prefixes and suffixes of African languages, whose secret is understood by few African linguists, and even then imperfectly.
" ]. The nature of the first difficulty will be understood at a glance, on comparing the following table, giving the principal European ways of rendering the same sounds : English. Frencli. German. Portuguese. Spani87i. u 00 ou u u e e a e,(! tl x, eh nh Ii 8h eh seh eh nj dj ny gn tach, tj ao au dsch, dj ai, ae ai, ay elt teh all j dj ei ow (as in how) aou i a"i Thus the Magadoxo of the Portuguese becomes Magado~ho in English, and MagadoKcho in German, unless the Arabic form Mukhdishu, with its own national transliterations, be preferred by a traveller or map-maker.
" The British Government and the Royal Geographical Society have recently taken an important step toward bringing some order into the hitherto arbitrary nomenclature, by agreeing on a systcm of geographical speIling and transliteration which shall be followed in all official documents, and is sme to be adopted by the public at large. The value of the letters according to the new system is given on page 466 (October, 1890), of the African News j but one important article was omitted.
" In the names of places belonging to the German, French, or Portuguese spheres of influence, and, in the case of a few old names, the German, French, or Portuguese spellings are to be left unchanged. So, the readers will still be supposed to know all those langllage~, if they want to pronounce correctly. It follows, therefore, that the new spelling will be principally applied to the tranBliteration of native names in eOllntries controlled by England. It may be interesting for many to learn that the system recently made official is simply the one used by Krapf and his colaborers in Ea~t Africa, for the transliteration of Ki-swahili and other East Afril)an languages.
" The United States have just been favored with a Board on Geographic Names, whose duty it is to give the standard, to which all official publications will have to, and the unofficial will choose to, conform. It is much to be desired that our Board will, as far as possible, concur with the decisions of their colleagues across the water.
"2. The second cause of pnzzling spellings, the peculiar construction of African tongues, cannot be as snmmarily dealt with as the first. Only as our knowledge of the hundreds of dialects advance~, can the correct names be settled on, and the only rightful judge on the question is the acknowledged master-linguist of each separate language. Many of the names now generally accepted will have to yield to new ones, because they are not the names used by the natives of the 'place, but those given to travellers or missionarie~ by their native guides or carriers belonging to other tribeft, who adapt all the names they hear to their own national taste. Though quite insufficient for the scientist, a few points will be very useful to the general reader.
" Thus, in most Bantu languages, whose area covers the immense triangle between the Cameroons (now Kamerun), the Kilimanjaro and the Cape of Good Hope, the different prefixes, which puzzle so much the stranger, can easily be learned: Mu- mo- m- * mean man, e.g., Mu-ganda signifies a G"nda-man. Ba- wa- a- ma- t mean mtn. e..q., Ba-gar,da signifies Ganda-men. u- Ki- tlki- si- mean language. e.g., Ki-swaltili signifies Swahili language. Bu- mean country, e.g., Bu-ganda, U-gogo signifies Ganda Oountry, Gogo Oountry.
" When, therefore, an African name occurs, the prefix will tell you whether the name indicates a single man, a people, a country, or a lan- guage, and our table will tell you approximately, in case of doubt, which prefix you have to use. Never use Wa- or Ba- for the country, nor Bu- or U- for the people. Tbough less gross, mistakes are even then unavoid- able, alii a comparison of the prefixes used (1) by the Ba-ganda, and (2) the Ba-sutu will show: .
Man. Men. Country. Languap:e.
(1) Mu-ganda Ba-ganda Bu-ganda Lu-ganda (2) Mu-autu Ba-8utut Le-8utu Se-&utu " In Angola two neighboring nations are distinguished solely by prefixes, which were modified to avoid the confusion. Thus, in the language of Angola proper, ki-mbundu means the language of the a-mbundu (people), while ki-mbundu, applied to a person, signifies a native of Bailundo or Bihe j as to the language of the latter it is called u-mbundu, which is also used to express the negro color and natnre.
" Dr. R. N. Cust. in his excellent' Modern Languages of Africa,' cut the Gordian knot of prefixes and suffixes in Alexandrine fashion by ignoring them completely aud using the bare radical to indicate language. Ignoring them, however, docs not remove the difficulties for a long time j the specialists keep on clinging to their distinctive prefixes. The splendid language map, which accompanies Dr. Cust's book, has passed into the hands of many students of Africa, and has led them to use the radicals, which there designate the languages, for either countries or people.
"A treatise on the subject by a speciaJiRt in each of the few great. families of African languages would be timely and helpful to geograp}:lers and the reading public." ——————– The religion of the people of Syria is usually called by the Government Moslem and non-Moslem. The first includes Orthodox and Persian Moham- medans (Moslems and Metawalies), Druzes, Nusaireeyehs and Ismaileyehs and all Bedawee Arabs. Non-Moslems are Jews, nominal Christians (Or- thodox Greek, Papal Greek, Maronite [Papall, Jacobite, Syrian, Armenian and Latin Papists) and Evangelical Christians. The principal accessions to the church have been from the non-Moslem sects. Work among these is important. It aims to give them a pure Gospel and to remove all ground for the well-merited contempt in which nominal Christians are held by Mos- lems. This has been so far successful that, first, the religion of Evangeli- cal Christiant! is looked upon as a new religion and is respected by the non- Christian sects j second, the old sects are beginning decided reforms in their churches j and, third, the leaven of the Gospel is working in a most interesting and marked manner among the Moslems, giving the confident hope that the day is not far distant when a large number of them may be brought to Christ. Earnest prayer is asked that freedom of conscie'lce may be fully granted to all. – Ohurch at Home and Abroad.
• In nicknamee eometime. KOr and t TIl·.
t The French spell BOrBOuto, the English, ~Or8'ttu, the Germano, BOrBOto. The correct woulq be Ba-eOtO. the accented vowels sounded like u inj'ult, but long. THE PEOPLE OF AFRICA lIY W. A. I'lTANTON, EI'lQ., HAMILTON, :N. Y.
Now that 110 much interest centres in the Dark C0I1tinent; we seek for some comprehensive view of the great people wbo inha;bitjt. We hear· much of individual tribes, but very little of general races. 'Ve :rnow something of the Negro and the Congoese, but very little of the African man, in his diverse life and multitudinous types, from the M:editerranean to Cape Colony. Our view is 1>artial and one-sidlld, rather than complete 'and comprehensive. It will be the purpose of this paper to gather up the results of recent investigation, and present, as far ·as possible; a broad general view of the people of Africa. We will accomplish this be·stby considering, first, the ethnology, and second, the gener:;tl condition of the people j or, in other words, by seeking to discover who -the people are, and what they are.
I. Who are the people of Africa! 'Ve must remember at the outset t~at the population· of Africa is composed of two elements; the native and the foreign.. Thl'! foreign element consists of Europeans, Arabs, Moors, Turks, a~d Jews. With these we will not deal, as they are well known both as to race chamcteristics and general manner of living. We must not, however, classify 'the Arabs and Moors in exactly the same rank with the Europeans or. even the Turks. For the Arabs have been in Africa ever since 300 B. c., and· have thus become almost indigenous, in many cases amalgamating with the native races. But it is not this foreign element, however long it may have cxisted in the land, of which we wish to speak, but of the great undefined and unclassified native population. Any true classification of the people is almost an impossibility. The ethnology of Africa is in the utmost confusion. Every new explorer brings to light great and hitherto unknown races, as well as· establishing new facts in regard to old ones. As the case now stands, in the light of Stanley's most recent discoveries, the native population of Africa consists of six great races-B·erber, Coptic, Nilotic, Negro, Bantu, and Goriepine.. Mr. Stanley, in his most recent work, criticises the term " Bautu" as unscientific, on the ground that it simply means "men j" but, as all the best authorities employ it, and as it has become asseciated by constant use with the race to which it is usually applied, we think it best to retain it. All these six races are allied to a greater or less degree. They all spring from the great Indo-African or Indo-Ethiopic family. They are thus a mixture of the pure African type with the Asiatic. and differ in race characteristics according as the one type or the other predominates. Though thus allied, they present strong race distinctions, and hence deserve a separate classification. 1. The Berber. The Berbers are a race of great antiquity. They are descendants of the primitiv~ ~to{:k of the land. They vary in color from a black to a dark bronze or copper. They have hig~ cheek-bone!!, the nose sometimes flat, like that of the Nf>gro, and sometimes aquiline; lips formed like those of Europeans; eye!! expressive, and hair curled, but not woolly. They are without the slightest trace of what is generally recognized as the negro physiognomy. They are an athletic, strong-featured people, accustomed to hardship and fatigue. Though the various tribes differ much, they are all fine men, tall, straight, and handsome. The home of the Berbers is in North Africa. They extend from Morocco to Egypt, and from tho Mediterranean to the Soudan. The Shuluh of the Atlas district, the Kobyles of Tunis, the Tuaneks of Western and Central Sahara, and the Tibbus of Eastern Sahara all belong to the Berber genus, and speak the Berber language.
2. The Coptic. The Copts are descendants of the an~ient Egyptian… They are a mixed race, their ancestors h!1ving intermarried with Greeks, Nubians, and AbYRsinians. Their complexion is similar to that of the Arab-a brownish yellow; foreheads flat, hair soft and woolly, noses flattened like the Negro's, lips thin and straight, cheek-bones high, beards thin, eyes large, and bent upward like the Chinaman's. They represent all that is left of the proud blood of the Pharaohs. Their home is in Northern Egypt.
3. The Nilotic. There are three main divisions of this race-the Nubians, Abyssinians, and Gollos.
The Nubians are of a reddish brown complexion; their color in some cases approximating a black, but not like the ebony hue of the Negro. They are described as a handsome people, with beautiful features, fine expressive eyes, and of slender and elegant forms. They inhabit Nubia.
The Abys~inians are a IItrong and vigorolls race, of a copper hue, more or less dark, with straight noses, eyes clear yet languishing, hair black and crisp, but not woolly. They are a mixed race, and inhabit Abyssinia.
The Gollos are the strongest tribe of the Nilotic race. They are a large, vigorous, almost bulky people. Their color varies between black and brownish, some of the women being remarkably fair. As to type, they stand between the Negro of Guinea and the Arab or Berber. Their countenances are rounder than those of the Arab, their eyes small, deeply set, but lively. They occupy a large district in East Africa directly South of Abyssinia.
4. The Negro. The general physical characteristics of the Negro are too well known to need description. It is a mistake to suppose all Africans are Negroes. The Negroes form but one of the six great races. Their home is in the Soudan, stretching from Senegambia on the West, to the highlands of Abyssinia on the East. The Mandiogoes are one of the most powerful of Negro races. They inhabit Senegambia, are very numerous, and partially civilized.
The W olofs occupy the region between the Senegal and the Gambia. They are the blackest and handsomest of all Negroes, and are a mild and social pe>ple. Central Soudan is occupied by the FOlllahs. They are one of the most remarkable races in Africa, distinguished for their intelligence and friendliness, are fairly industrious and civilized, and speak a rich and harmonious language. Our knowledge of Negro races is confined, in the main, to those of the coast, who are of the lowest type. Of the vast inland tribes of the Soudan ah:~ost nothing is known. The heart of this great country has scarcely been penetrated, and is now the least known of any part of Mrica.
5. The Bantu. The Bantu race is the most marked and characteristic race in Africa. The Bantu is of a far nobler type than the Negro. Though there are many tribes and nations, they all have the same general characteristics, and belong to one great family.' They are thus described by a recent traveller: "The Bantu is a fine, tall, upright man, with delicately small hands and well-shaped feet, a fine face, high, thin nose, beard and mustache.
" The further you go into the interior the finer the type becomes, and two points about them contrast yery favorably with most of the coast racesnamely, their lighter color, generally a warm chocolate, and their freedom from that offensive smell which is supposed wrongly to characterize most of the Africans. Some of them are perfect Greek statues as regards the splendid development and poise of figure. " They occupy a greater extent of cOllntry than any other one race in Africa, stretching from the SO North of the equator to the Tropic of Capricorn; or by countIies, from the 'Soudan nearly to Cape Colony. Thus nearly the whole Southern half of Africa is the home of the Bantu race.
6. The Goriepine. The Goriepine race is composed of Hottentots, Korannas, and Bushmen. A description of the Hottentot will suffice for all. Where they originated is a mystery. The only people to whom they are thought to bear a resemblance are the Chinese or Malays. Like these they have the broad forehead, the high cheek-bones, the oblique eye. the thin beard, and the dull yellow tint of complexion; but there is a difference in regard to their hair, which grows in small tufts, harsh, and lather wiry, and in the formation of the bones of the pelvis. They are a race of dwarfs, rarely exceeding four feet six inches in height. They are lively, cheerful, good-hnmored, and by no means wanting in intellect.
These six races form the native population of Africa. The entire population, both native and foreign, is variously estimated from 200,000,000 to 350,000,0.00. Mr. Guinness estimates it at 350,000,000. Stanley places it at 250,000,000. A conservative estimate would place it between 250,000,000 and 300,000,000.
II. We ask, in the second place, what is the social and moral condition of this great people 1 As to civilization and social status, Africa may be divided into two .great sections. The division is marked by passing a line froni the mouth of the Senegal Rh-er on the West to Cape Guardafui on the East. The Northern half includes aU the States of the Mediterranean, Egypt, Nubia, Abyssinia, and the Sahara. The Southern half embraces the Soudan, and Central and Southern Africa; or, as to races in the North, the Berber, Coptic, and Nilotic, in the South the Negro, Bantu, and Goriepine.
The Northern half has the characteristics of the Arabic civilization. The people are largely pastoral and nomadic. They have all the genius of the Arab, both for war and for trade. The Tuoricks and Tibbus of the Sahara are purely nomadic, living by means of predatory incursions and by tribute exacted from passing caravans. The Kabyles of Algiers and Tunis are the most industrious of Berber tribes. They till the land and work the mines in the mountains. The Copts of Egypt are an extremely bigoted people, of a sullen temper, very avaricious,. great dissemblers, ignorant, and faithless. They form the middle class, working chiefly as tradesmen and mechanics. The Abyssinians are, on the whole, barbarous and addicted to the grossest sensual pleasures. Their priests, among whom marriage is common, are but little better than the mass of the people. They are fierce and warlike, and have little regard for human life. In general, we may say of the Norj:.h African people, they are restless and nomadic for the most part, fierce and warlike, yet in some cases peaceable and industrious, proud; haughty, arrogant, energetic, and aggressive; in trade keen and versatile, with a strong native instinct for acquisition; in morals grossly sensual as the Abyssinians, or markedly abstemious as the Tuoricks of the desert or the Nubians of the Nile. In fine, they are characterized by both the virtues and the vices of the Arabic civilization and the Moslem faith. The stamp of the Arab and of Islamism is impressed on every race from the Mediterranean to the Soudan.
The Southern half of Africa is utterly destitute of any civilization worthy of the name. 'fhe people are for the most part in Ii primitive condition, not strictly savages, yet not civilized. As to social status, the people live mostly in independent groups under the command of a chief or king, whose domain may comprise only a few villages, or it may be a large extent of territory. In the Congo valley every village is independent, while in the South is the great Gorongange kingdom of Msidi, who is a most absolute despot, and rules by means of 2000 fusileers. In general the king or chief is tyrant and the people his slaves.
As to intelligence, there is a vast difference in different tribes. The best representatives, perhaps, of intelligence are the Bololo people, in the bend of the Congo. They clear away the tangled growth of t.he forest in their settlements, and sow the fertile soil with maize and mandroca. They are expert in the working and smelting of brass. They understand division of labor, and have divided themselves into farmers, gardeners, smiths, weavers, cabinet-makers, warriors, and speakers. They are intelligent, industrious, and friendly. The streets of their villages are straight and regular, running at right angles. Their houses are large and commodious. Far in the interior, however, we find a different state of things. Professor Drummond gives this description of the people in the Nyassa district: THE PEOPLE OF AFRICA.
" Hidden away in the endless forests, like birds' nests in a wood, in terror of one another, and of their common foe, the slaver, are small native vil- lages ; and here in his virgin simplicity dwells primeval man, without clothes, without civilization, without learning, without religion, the genuine child of nature-thoughtless, careless, and contented. This man is ap- parently quite happy ; he has practically no wants. One stick pointed makes him a spear j two sticks rubbed together make him a fire; fifty sticks tied together make him a house. The bark he peels from them, makes his clothes; the fruits which hang on them make his food."
There is one common characteristic of the Central African people. They are bom traders, and therein lies the hope of a future civilization for Africa. The commercial instinct is all-powerful.· They have actually created among themselves a true currency, though not a money one. " In the management of a bargain," says Stanley, " I should back the Congoese native against Jew or Christian, Parsee or Bonyan, in all the round world. Unsophisticated is the very last term I should ever apply to an African child or man in connection with the knowledge of how to trade. I have seen a child of eight do more tricks of trade in an hour than the cleverest European trader on the Congo could do in a month. Therefore, when I write of a Congo native, whether he is of the Bakongo, Bayanzi, or Bakete tribes, remember to associate with him an almost unconceivable amount of natural shrewdness and power of indomitable and untiring chaffer." As to morals, the picture is not so fair. The degradation is extreme and well- IJigh universal. Polygamy is everywhere practised. In the empire of Kasongo, 'Vest of Lake Tanganyika, the ruler is regarded as the husband of all his female subjects, except his mother. The idea of chastity seems to have been entirely lost. The value of a human life, especially of a slave, is unknown. Mutilation and death are the only punishments in vogue, even for the slightest offences. The slaughter of men, women, and children that accompanies the death of a chief is so revolting as to be almost incredible, had it not been attested by eye-witnesses. Human sac- rifices are common. The walls which surround. the palace of the King of Dahomy, on the West African Coast, are decorated with the heads of war- captives stuck on stakes. Cannibalism is not universal, but is prevalent among the tribes of the Upper Congo and about the Mobangi River, where the paths are marked by rows of human skulls, and the people wear neck- laces of human teeth. We shudder at the very mention of atrocities which ~ are of every-day occurrence among this people. From the dwarfs of the Great Forest of Upper Congo to the half-human inhabitants of the Kolohori Desert, and from the besotted Negro of Old Calabar to the degenerate Hot- tentot of Momagna land, the same blackness of moral degradation prevails with ever-deepening shades. All are not as atrocious or as degraded, but the few faint and s~attered gleams of light only serve to deepen and in- tensify the dense darkness that covers like a pall this truly benighted land. Africa has been likened, from her geographical form, to a woman with a
CONFUCIUS AND CHRIST COMPARED
huge burden on her back. Need I ask what that burden is! It is the crushing weight of a bondage more cruel and relentless than that of the Arab slaver, more deadly and destructive than that of the white man's rum -the bondage of a thousand years of ever-deepening sin.
CONFUCIUS AND CHRIST COMPARED.
In a recent issue of the American Missionary we find the vast difference between the power of the moral teachings of Confucius to affect the conduct, and that of the teachings of Christ, very clearly put by a converted Chinaman, as the following item will show: Hing Sing is a helper in the Chinese mission at Petaluma, Cal. He • reports in a letter to Dr. Pond, the superintendent, an interview with a pagan friend. Though his English is in dialect form, he makes it express very clearly his idea of the universality of the religion of Jesus, and its superiority to that of Confucius.
In the course of the interview his friend had acknowledged that it. was a wrong way to do to smoke and to gamble, and that it wasted money. " But," he said, to quote Hing Sing's own words, " you should not believe Jesus, for we have our own Confucius doctrine, which also taught us to be good. You should not believe Jesus, and should not imitate foreign doctrine.' , I answer him: " Gold have no limit, no matter from what country or nation, but pure and true, so that we call precious, for everybody can use it. Also the Jesus doctrine have no limit, from whateTer nation, but is the true, for we to imitate and believe.
" We loand Jesus was the Son of God, came down to saTe our soul, if we real trust in His name. I found our Confucius, he was virtue and good man. lIe can teach us to be good and honor, but he cannot save our soul. But we found J csus was the Son of God, for lie can give His Spirit to melt our wicked hearts into righteous and faithful and good man; our Confucius only can tell us between good and bad, but not able to melt our evil heart. How many our Chinese people understand our Confucius doctrine! Why should they not imitate and obedience his teaching? Smoke opium, gamble, swear, and other evil things, they know very well that was unrighteous, for why should they not imitate our Confucius what he has done, the good work, and obey his teaching 1 Ah, for he can only indicate to you the way of good, but he cannot inspire your spirit, but Jesus only can! Nothing impossible. When I was not a Christian I was gamble and I was swear, but since I became a Christian, never smoke opium, never gamble or swearing, and many of my friends was the same.
So it was illustrated, Jesus was the Son of God, can give ot His Spirit to inspire our spirit, to turn away from bad to the good."
A. WONDERFUL LIFE·BOAT
A WONDERFUL LIFE·BOAT.
BY CAPTAIN E. C. HORE, F.R.G.B.
If you turn to the map of Africa you will see, toward its centre, several large pieces of water known as the Central African lakes, and, in a central position among them, a long. shaped one called Tanganyika j its surface is 2700 feet above sea-level, and it is hemmed in nearly all round by high land crowned witb forests. Around the shores of that lake twelve different tribes of Africans have their homes j there may be seen market places where hundreds of natives bring their produce, such as mats, baskets, skins, bark cloth, woven cotton cloth, pottery, iron, both as hoes and axes, weapons and wire j copper, botb in pigs and manufactured into bracelets and otber ornaments, sugar-cane, ground nuts, palm oil, salt, honey, and butter, besides goats, fowls, fisb, and corn and vegetables of 'many kinds. , These are spread out for sale in the early morning in the market-places, which become busy scenes of barter and exchange.
For such busy and industrious people the lake forms a ready means of getting about; and much of the produce to be seen in those markets is brought there in canoes. These are wbat are known to us as dugouts– hewn out of solid trunks of trees from the great forests on the lake shores; they are clumsy-looking craft, following rather the model of the hippo- potamus than that of the swan, but strong and safe for all that j and tbe natives are very clever in managing them. These canoes are also largely used for fishing. I have seen more than 200 little canoes at one time out at nigbt catching whitebait. In each canoe a long faggot of dried reeds, witb one end alight and pushed over the bow of the canoe, served to attract the little fish in immense shoals. The fisherman, standing erect in his tiny-craft, and using a large hand-net, literally shovels them in. Tbe fish are then taken on shore, baked quite dry in the hot sun, and made up into little bolster-shaped loads wrapped round with leaves, and thus form,ing portable packages of preserved provisions, which are sent far and wide over the country. Other large canoes, some of them over forty feet long, are engaged in all kinds of trading enterprises between the different countries round the lake, and, especially, in the slave trade between tribe and tribe. For, although these fine people are so enterprising and industrious, there is everything with them that we think of as heathen and savage, the horrible curse of the slave trade having always kept them down, and no light of Christianity brightened their life into liberty and civilization.
But, a few years ago, there appeared on those waters a boat of most strange appearance and character for that remote region.. The Morning Star was her name, coming, let us hope, as the harbinger of the light and glory of a true daylight. She is a boat built of the best modern materials, and of handsome appearance, like a large sea-going life-boat, with three sails and eight oars, and flying at her masthead the peaceful device of the dove and olive branch-the flag of the London Missionary Society, to whom she belongs, and whose missionaries she conveys from place to place with a message of Jove and light to those natives.
And this is how the Morning Star got to 'l'anganyika : I went home from England to Central Africa in 1881 with a survey of Lake Tanganyika, and a report of the kind of vessel necessary for missionary work on that inland s~a. In due time the Good News, auxiliary steam yacht, was placed in hand for that purpose ; but, as it would be some time before she was ready for service, and a large reinforcement of missionaries were starting for Tanganyika, another smaller vessel was required, both for immediate use, 'and, afterward, to complete the efficiency of the boat service on the lake as tender for the Good News, or independently.
For this purpose I designed the Morning Star, 32 feet long and 8 feet beam. She was built from my design, by Forrestt & Sons, of London, in six complete sections, and ele'en smaller pieces, to be jointed together with bolts and nuts, each section and piece separately galvanized, and t:) form, when put together, a strong, sea-going life-boat. Each end section formed a complete air-tight tank, and two intermediate little cabins formed each of two sections, also being water-tight compartments.
To convey these sections overland six small carts or barrows, consisting of light wooden frames exactly to fit the sections, and wrought iron wheels and fittings, were made, also conveniently taken to pieces. All these sections and pieces and their carts, were conveyed in the ordinary way as cargo in a steamer from London to Zanzibar, where the strange enterprise commenced of conveying them overland to the centre of Africa.
From the East Coast of Africa, opposite Zanzibar to Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, following the windings and zig-zags of the only possible paths, is a distance of 836 miles, without railways, vehicles of any kind, or even beasts of burden. On the heads and shoulders of Africans, or on carts drawn and pushed by them, the Morning Star was conveyed to the lake. Carried over first in small Arab dhows from Zanzibar to the coast (a distance of 25 miles), the sections, and carts, and loads were landed at Saadani, a native settlement or town under the rule of the Sultan of Zanzibar. There the carts were fitted together ,and the sections secured npon them, and, after a great deal of work and preparation (for the boat and its fittings formed part of a large caravan, consisting altogether of over 900 Africans, ten of our missionaries, and all their stores, besides African moneys in the shape of many bale~ of calico and other cloth and barter goods) started on their long journey.
For three and one half months the faithful African porters cut their way through broad belts of jungle, dragged the carts ankle deep through miry swamps, threaded patiently the winding forest tracks, slowly clambered over mountain barriers-often hungry, thirsty, and excessively tired, but never giving in or yielding to others the" honor," as they considered it, of .managing the cart, or carrying the piece of boat which formed their part of the work. In camp. gossiping over the fire at night, they would argue with one another as to how the boat would be put together, and to strangers along the road they would boast that they were ,,'partners" in the enterprise of conveying it to Tanganyika; and this, often, while they were hungry and thirsty by reason of the hard work it had cau~ed them.
At last Ujiji was reached, the carts causing a great sensation there, and great wonderment was expressed at the boat sections. I soon got settled in myoid quarters, and the boat-building was commenced. Day after day she grew in size and beauty as the various parts were joined together, until, all being finished, she was one day launched into the lake, a thing of beauty and strength, and a joy to us for years of work, during which she proved to us safety and comfort and speed.
As the Morning Star was being built, some of myoid boat'll crew (natives of Ujiji), who were. eager to go again with me voyaging on Lake Tanganyika, came, day by day, to look at the new craft; day by day, too, some cloud or doubt seemed to damp their ardor about the coming voyage, until at last, one day, they came along to have a special talk with me, and the difficulty was explained. They had beguu to wonder, and then to doubt as they saw the metal sides of the boat, and had finally determined to tell me that, although they would" go anywhere" and" do anything" for me, they really could not go " to sea in a saucepan." I told them to wait; and while I was preparing to depart from Ujiji and give up our house to its owner, the boat lay quietly afloat at anchor. Several times I took So~lC of these Wajiji sailors off with me to the boat to have a look, and in this way seeing her buoyancy and perfect tightness, they at last became convinced of her seaworthiness.
Our beautiful boat was complete, and her loyal crew ready for work; the new Morning Star shone forth upon the lake, and now, for more than five years (having become well known as the harbinger of peace and goodwill) has been afloat there, welcomed wherever she goes, conveying backward and forward, between our stations, our missionaries and their stores, proving herself to be a stanch and good vessel, and in her life and history fully entitled to the name of " a wonderful life-boat."
There she still remains (together with her larger companion, the steamer Good News, afterward built there) on Lake Tanganyika, 2700 feet above the sea, and 800 miles from the sea-coast, a remarkable evidence of the very practical nature of missionary work in that country, and a means by which our young people may, by contributing to her support, help in giving to Dark Africa the Light of the Gospel.
Any of our readers who wish to study African missions will find, we are sure, great help in Tlte African News, published by T. B. Welch & Son. While this admirable periodical especially reports Bishop William Taylor's work, we have found it full of information, and have taken the liberty to copy a short article in these pages.-EDITOR.
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.
BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVl'i:R, MASS.
-The Calwer Monatsbliitie1·, referring to David's ordinance, that" as his part is that goeth down to the battle, RO shall his part be that remaineth by the stuff, ,., remarks: "This is the word of a king, and is in force even to this dar. The cause is the Lord's. His are the laborers. His is the result. And He apportions the reward as He will. His truth finds application in a thousand ways. The simple Christian, who imagineR himself so far behind the missionary, and the missionary, who is tempted to imagine himself of special dignity in the kingdom of God, will one day find the Judge using another standard than that of either. Those .who look upon home .missions as an inferior work, and they whose sense of their country's need" makefl them jealous of everyone that is penetrated with the thought that ' the field is the world,' will both find at last that the question is not: ' Where have ye wrought l' but, 'How have ye wrought where ye were called to work~' 'If it is only good, then it is good. ' " Or, as the youthful Malcolm says: ., This, and what needful else That :Jalls upon us by the Grace of grace We will perform in measure, time, and place. "
" Inner missions," says the Monatsbliitter, referring to George Miiller's definition of himself, "are a Handlanger of foreign missions." A hand- Zanger is one who hands the materials which the craftsman uses. In Germany the mutual inosculation of the two interests is even more distinctly evident than here. It is no wonder,. then, that George Miiller has brought with him to England in the most eminent degree the instinct that refuses to separate them either in thought or act.
-The different departments of evangelistic work are corning so rapidly into intercommunication that we are as likely as not to find the fullest account of what is going on near us in some publication at the ends of the earth. This is illustrated by the following paragraph from the Bombay Guardian of November 22d, 1890. Even when it states facts already known, they seem to have a new meaning when they reverberate from hoary India: " We have frequently noted with thankfulness the progress of the McAH Mission in Paris. Now we learn that a large missionary boat, in connection with the mission, is to be anchored in the Seine. Daily services will be conducted in the cabin, which will contain nearly two hundred persons. The authorities have given every facility and protection. The Parisian prefect of police testifies to the good work which the mission is doing. He says: ' Every new McAll station means a reduction of po1ic~ force. Sixty persons now give their whole time to the missions, and froIl). 600 to 700 co-operate. There was an aggregate attendance last year of 1,200,000 persons in the 130 salles in all parts of France. In connection with this we may mention that in a paragraph in our last issue, on page 11, entitled' A Noble Giver,' alluding to this Rubject, the name of the writer-Dr. Pierson–was omitted. There is a holy emulation between the McAll Mission, the Salvation Army, aud the Belleville Mission of Mademoiselle de Broen as to which shall have the largest share in the leavening of the slums of Paris with Christian truth. They form an heroic trio. Things arc greatly altered for the better in Paris since the terrible record of 1871, with its petroleuses and communistic horrors." At least an elect remnant is being saved. The insurgents of 1871, as Mr. Hamerton remarks, should be called communards, not communists. The privileges which they claimed for the Commune, or Municipality of Paris, had no connection with any theories of communism.
-The Heidenbode informs us that the province-or as it is called there -the Presidency of Kedol, the newest field of evangelization in Java, now numbers 1000 professed believers, lately Mohammedans. This has been almost wholly the work of Javanese Christians, who show a remarkable zeal and successfulness in diffusing the Gospel which they have received. Everywhere, however, in the Dutch East Indies, Islam is advancing by natural increase, and by a steady reduction of the heathen populations under its sway. The Netherlands Government, which long directly encouraged the spread of Mohammedanism, is now beginning to be afraid of it, and is looking to its meani of suppressi.ng a very possible Moslem outburst of rebellion.
-The first re-marriage of a widow has taken place in the Pokarna callte of Brahmins.
-The (Jhronicle for November, 1890, speaking of the work ofthe London Missionary Society in Hankow, China, refers to the Hanyang Hill a8 being" so situated as to ghoe anyone who ascends it a bird's-eye view of the whole neighborhood. When our former foreign secretary, Dr. Mullens, came here many years ago, Dr. John took him to this spot as to one of the principal sights of the neighborhood, and he declared that in all his travels in India and elsewhere he had not seen any sight that impressed him more. Not that the view here presented to the eye is one remarkable for the beauty or grandeur of its physical ,scenery. A few low hills, a few lakes in the distance, the' great yellow Yang· tsze-here a mile wide-stretching away as far as the eye can reach in a north-easterly and a south-westerly direction, while from the northwest the tributary Han winds in and out till at last it empties itself here at Hankow (i.e., Hanmouth) into the larger river j these are the chief natural objects to be seen here. But it shows us one of the largest centres of human life and activity in the whole of Asia. To men and women who in any part of the world are carrying on the work of Christ, excellence of outward surroundings must always be estimated with reference to the presence or absence of their fellow-men. The first paradise of which we read was indeed a garden, the garden of the Lord, full of exquisite scenery, and of everything in nature that could delight the eye, but almost entirely devoid of living, sentient, thinking human beings. The last paradise is to be a city-the city of God. The difference is most significant. The Son of God rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth, and His delights were with the sons of men j and when once His call has been heard by any of His followers to devote their lives and strength to the one work of saving men, then every large hive of human beings, every city-even if only full of fallen, sinful, heathen human,ity, and not, as the New Jerusalem, full of saints redeemed from the earth-must always have a strong attraction and fascination sl1ch as no solitary region, however grand or picturesque its scenery, can ever have." The population of Hankow, on ship and shore, the Rev. Arnold Foster, who writes this, estimates at a million and a quarter, besides the throngs passing and repassing from other provinces.
-The Missions-Blatt of the Moravian Church, for JailUary, gives a New Year's benediction, which, coming from that centre, extends over all that are concerned for the work of the Lord throughout the world: "Th9 Saviour's rich blessing for the New Year. May Himself, the King of HiA Kingdom, greet thee, beloved Church of missions, with the greeting of His peace! May His grace and His truth 'permeate thy ranks anew, and deeply illumine thy innermost heart. Into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hast thou also been translated through the love of the Father j and thou dost daily experience that He who, born of the line of David after the flesh, has been manifested in power as the Son of God after the Spirit, hallows more and more them that come believil1gly to Him as a people of possession, being now risen from the dead. Be He then in the New Year also, as well the heart of our preaching, as also He for whom we adventure and surrender all that we have-life and limb, goods and blood. For who but He is it that hath redeemed and won us over from all our sins and from the dominion of death, and from whom alone we have received grace and apostleship to establish among all the Gentiles the obedience of faith in His name."
-The Brethren's Church hall decided to take up a new mission in North Queensland, among the aborigines, and another on Lake Nyassa, within the German " sphere of influence. " .
-The Moravian Mission in Greenland consists of 6 stations, in 2 gro~ps, and of 9 missionaries. Under their charge are 1608 persons. The rest of the Greenlanders are cared for by Lutheran brethren of the Church of Denmark.
-The death, by a fall from his horse, of the hereditary High Chief of the Mosquito State-a young man of twenty-live-suggests to the Moravian. brethren that, in the event of the extinction of the reigning family (happily not imminent), this little Protelltant State would be, by treaty with England, absorbed by the Catholic State of Nicaraugua. This, however, is showing itself ftiendly to the brethren, and now allows them to instruct their converts on both sider; of the line.
-The Missionary Record for December, 1880, gives statistics (thoroughly corrected) of the advance of the missionary work of the United Presbyterian Church in Scotland in thirty years. The term" missionary" includes ordained native pastors, Zenana misI'ionaries, and European teachers, but excludes all native evangelists and teachers: Missionaries. Home Contribntions for Foreign Work.
1859…………………….. 30 1840…………………… £3,300 1869….. , ………………. 63 1849…………………….. 12,800 1879…………………… 81 1859…………………….. 16,900 1889 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 1869…………………….. 29,100 1879 ……………………. 32,300 1889……………………… .40,500 No. Native Congregations. Members in Full Communion.
1859 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 1859……………………. 4,552 1869 •……………… ~. " …48 1869 ……………………. 5,740 1.879……….. " ., ……….. 63 1879……………………. 9,187 1889…………………….. 96 1889 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,899 Native Pastors. Native ContributiollS.
1859……… 1 (Rev. Tiyo Boga.) 1859…………………… £2,090 1869……… 7 1869……………………. 3,020 1879 . . . . . . . . . 12 1879……………………. 6,500 1889. . . . . . . . . 23 1889 …………………….10,470 "The missionary sympathy of the Church has been widening and deepening j the liberality of the Church has been expanding j the lands in which our operations are carried on are being more completely taken possession of in the name of the Master; while a native church in each of those lands is rapidly gathering around itself the love and devotion of the native population, and promises to become, in course of time, so vigorous that it will be able to manage its own affairs, and allow our missionaries to enter into new regions where they may still further extend the blessed work."
What is said here about the Jamaican Church, connected with the United Presbyterian Church, ought to be laid to heart universally: "Our Church in Jamaica is looking forward to such independence, and endeavoring to prepare for it. But this independence ought not to be sought in the near future. It is a distinct advantage, to the cause of Christ in Jamaica that our Church there continues to be in dependent union with a church life ~f wider horizon and riper experience. Its own church life gains through this union, possibly a firmer fibre, but certainly a richer tone and a greater influence upon public opinion. To force our Jamaican Church into a position of independence by any mechanical arrangement would be a mischievous policy. It would mean the undoing of results that have been gained, and might require a reconstruction of the agency at work after an inferior pattern."
The present writer, two of whose former charges have been happily incorporated into the Presbyterian Church of Jamaica, can wish nothing better for them than that the United Presbyterian brethren in Scotland may keep an eye on them for a number of years to come.
-The following paragraph from Central Africa, the organ of the Universities' Mission, gives, in a few lines, the whole African heathenismperhaps the darkest form of heathenism, the most utterly dismal and comfortless in the world: "Only gradually does the deadly atmosphere of heathenism dawn upon one. Lust, as strong, perhaps in some ways stronger than with ourselves, has nothing to check it. There broods oppression on a petty scale, with tragic burnings and poisonings, fear of lions, or sudden night attacks, and murders of a mother or ,near relative who has been half the little world of life-things that leave the child an old man in heart, cut off from our comfortable security."
-The Indian Witness of December 6th, 1890, says ~ ., The death of Sir Rivers Thompson, late Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, calls for a notice from the Christian press of the country. Respected even more than he was loved by all who came within the reach of his personal influence, he has left behind him a reputltion which any Indian civilian may envy. What he was in the dawn of his wider influence he was consistently in its meridian and at its close. An open worshipper of the living God, a friend of all agencies that sought to make Him known to dying men-a Christian in his conscienee, an Englishman to the backbone."
-The Mission Field, the organ of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, says: "Both by countenancing heathenism and by ignoring the missions, Christians in India retard the work. They do it doubtless unintentionally. Then they in some cases eomplete the mischief by depreciating the missions when they come home. It is an unfortunate fact that there is injury to the cause of missions, and to the zeal of the Church at home by those who, by having been in India, claim to be able to speak with authority, while as far as any actual knowledge is concerned, they are as ignorant about missions in India as they were before they left England. They take upon themselves the responsibility of repeating indiscriminate slander on the work of God, although they may be living close to strong evidences of God's grace and power." -The late Daniel Adolf Cracau, of Breslau, left, in 1887, a bequest of about £4,0,000 to the Moravian Church. The custodians of the trust are the German Emperor and the King of Saxony. Half the income is to be used for the conversion of the heathen, half for the ransom of slaves.
-The Moravian brethren, in their Periodical Accounts, cordially echo the wish expressed by the Rev. S. D. Fulton, in this REVIEW, that Protestant missions may soon be established in Nicaraugua, which, they truly say, bids fair to be just such a mission centre as the Apostle Paul • would h,.ve delighted in.
– The following reminds one of the suggestions of Gregory the Great to the Abbot Augustine, when sending him on his mission to con- vert our English forefathers. As Gregory was a man of deep practical in ight, his suggestions are always worth heeding. Speaking of the Melas, or religious fairs of India, the Mission Field says: "It is beginning to be generally felt that it would be well to have Christian Melas. The Mela is, in fact, valued by the great mass of the Hindus and Mohammedans merely as a holiday. It is the only holiday there is for the mass of the people.
Where the Hindu cannot attend one of his own he betakes himself to the Mohammedan, and vice versa. So will it be for the ordinary native Chris- tian. If he have none of his own he will be strongly tempted to attend those of his Hindu or Mohammedan neighbors. Accordingly there is a strong feeling that Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide should be treated as times for Christian Melas, and that the largest and nearest Christian station should be the centre to which the surrounding Christians should resort." The writer remarks that such gatherings may easily be kept free from all leaven of heathenism.
-The charges of " unscriptural optimism" and" unscriptural pessim- ism" are freely bandied back and forth in the Church between Christians.
The Bombay Guardian seems to hit the nail on the head in the following: " Every well.established Christian should be intenRely pessimistic and intensely optimistic. He should be intensely pessimistic of what he or any other man can do of himself, and intensely optimistic of what God can do through any child of His who fully surrenders to Him." .
-Henry Augustus J aeschke, late Moravian missionary iq the Himalayr.s, a lineal descendant of the first Moravian emigrants to Herrnhut, besides German was master of Polish, Danish, Swedish, and was acquainted with English, Hungarian, Bohemian, Latin, Greek, and after going to the East, already knowing Sanscrit, Persian, and Arabic (and doubtless Hebrew), he learned Hindustani, and Urdu, and lastly Thibetan. He was likewise an enthusiastic student of mathematics and natural science, especially of botany. But he obeyed. the call of his Church, to go to the dreary Thibetan regions, as unquestioningly as if he had been an unlearned artisan. "While at Ladak he lived at Stok, near Leh, in the most frugal and primitive fashion. His food consisted of oatmeal and porridge, and the woman of the house faithfully kept for him the egg which her one hen laid every day. From his curiously.shaped bedroom he had to climb to his study by a stair composed of five unequal blocks of stone, and his furniture consisted of a tottering table and a still more defective stool." He had no notion of being too valuable in Europe to be hidden away in the inaccessible uplands of Asia. In other words, he was a true Moravian.
-The Periodical Accounts for September says: "THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD holds on its way with growing interest and power. Dr. Pierson continues his graphic and informing missionary letters from abroad, and we join with many in gratefully acknowledging his manifold labors on behalf of' missions by pen and word of mouth." The editors also express a kind senljle of the value of the extracts from foreign magazines.
-The .Macedonier brings the same accusation against the Dutch Govern- ment that English Christians bring against the British, with the further aggravation, that whereas England is ready to ruin a foreign race with opium for the sake of gain, Holland is destroying her own subjects.. In a notice of a Dutch book on the opium question, it says: "It supplies con- , vincing proof that the Netherlands are every day heaping new guilt upon themselves and murdering, body and soul, the Javanese who are under their jurisdiction. Yet it gathers nothing but facts, and for every statement is careful to give its authority."
-Missionary Lazarus, in the ])ansk .Missions-Blad, gives a pleasant instance of how the seeds of truth blow about in India: "Yesterday afternoon we preached before a Telugu village called Karapet, which we had already visited two or three times. Just as we arrived, the people, who are all lapidaries, came out to bid us welcome. They then begged us to sit down, and began to sing a Christian hymn, ' Come quickly, flinner, come to the Saviour.' The hymn was in Telugu, and many of them sang it well. I asked thelll where they had learned it,. and found that they had picked it out of a tract I had left there, and had set it to one of their own melodies. I then addressed them, and taking advantage of their calling, depicted to them Jesus as the Great Lapidary, who deals with our nature as they deal with rough rubiefl, to cause it to gleam forth in the glory of a pure gladness. Thus we find that the leaves of healing are not spread abroad to no purpose."
-We find in the Bombay Guardian of November 8th, 1890, the most particular account we have seen yet of the happy development of missionary activity among the English Friend@. It says: "Any Church which tries to exist without a missionary spirit will inevitably perish. Aggression is the soul of life. About twenty years ago the Society of Friends awoke to this fact, and in England turned its attention to the lapsed masses at its doors. Now nearly all its meeting-houses have a mission attached, seeking to help the poor in soul and body. Mothers' meetings, clothing clubs, adult and juvenile schools, and other similar agencies, are vigorously prosecuted. A marvellous increase of spiritual life in the Church itself has resulted. Its foreign mission work has likewise developed almost entirely during the past twent.y years. Up to 1875 only 1 missionary was in the field in India, now there are 14. Madagascar has 22 j China, 4 j Syria, 10 j Armenian Turkey, 9 j Zululand, 3. American Friends are also carrying on mission work among. the North American Indians, and in Mexico, Jamaica, Japan, China, Alaska,. and Ramallah in Palestine. Thursday of this week was to be observed at the headquarters of the society in London, as a day of united prayer for missions, including a Bible study on the spirit of missions, and then a survey of the needs of both the foreign and home work." Thousands of the children of this venerable society, now found in other denominations, will rejoice at this sudden outburst of life after long apparent decay. May she renew her youth, and while coming to this greater distinctness of evangelical apprehension and activity. long abide as a witness to essential, over against all the overvaluations of ceremonial, righteousness.
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BEY. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The Black Fellows of Australia. colonist said to them: .. The few blacks will ultimately accept the Gospel of a FrnST PAPEB-MOBA.VIAN MISSIONS. crucified Saviour and be blessed there- • by, but the whites will hinder your BY~EV. A. HARTMANN, MOBAVIANTOWN, ONT. work, as they did the mission work of other societies." The first hindrance (Continued from page 217.) arose from the discovery of the gold nelds at Mount Alexander; the gold dig- I. FIRST ATTEMPT AT MISSIO:ti WORK. gers, coming from Adelaide, passing the mission station, damaging them in many Being repeatedly pressed to com- ways., This might have been borne mence mission work among the blacks with, but.the vulgar and disgusting in- of Australia, the Brethren's Church trigues of unprincipled whites greatly (Moravian) sent out two missionaries, hindered the missionaries in their efforts Tl1ger and Spieseke, educated laymen, to attract the natives to the place and to commence the work. In 1850 they to gain their confidence. Then, after arrived at Melbourne. They were very the exhaustion of the gold, many of the kindly received by the Governor, Joseph European immigrants took up land in La Trobe ; and the Bishop of the Angli- the colony, and also about Lake Bogs. can Church, as well as many ministers The missionaries were given to under. of other denominations, met them with stand that if they did not voluntarily true Christian love, and encouraged leave the land (on which they had set- them to do the Lord's work. tled by permission of the Government) steps would be taken to drive them After a long search in the northern away. districts of Victoria for a suitable place, they came at last to Boga Lake, which Meanwhile the missionaries went on had been recommended to them as the in their work, being strengthened by very best place, because it was a favor- another brother (Hansen) sent out in ite resort of the blacks. This Boga January, 1854. They also succeeded in Lake is about 200 miles northwest of gaining the confidence of a number of Melbourne, close to the boundary of the natives: Spieseke wrote: .. We have Victoria and New South Wales, and not not yet enjoyed the happiness of ob- far from the mouth of the Loddon serving the work of grace and of the river, emptying itself into the Murray. Holy Spirit in the hearts of the blaoks. Brethren, have patience with us, and The missionaries went back to Mel- believe with us, for we have reason to bourne, buying all that was necessary to be thankful for what the Lord has done carryon the work, and were permitted for us. When we oonsider how the ene- and authorized by the Government to mies of the Gospel have exerted them- make use of a certain portion of land selves to keep the blacks away from us, facing the lake, to build up a settle- we must confess that it is a wonder we ment. They little thought at the time have so many gathered about us, and that attempts would be made by some notice how they begin to trust us." whites to claim the land they had set- tled on. Much less did they think that We put it down as a fact that the mis- by their attempt to hring the natives sionaries would have succeeded if the under the blessed influence of the Gos. Prince of this world had not been per- pel, they would stir up the hatred and mitted to frighten them away. ill-will of white neighbors. ., There is no space allotted us in your columns to go into detail, and so we Heavy rains, followed by large 1I.00ds, made it impossible for them to arrive at Boga Lake before October 21st, 1851. They commenced their work in fear • and hope, and they experienced what a '< must sum up the diRastrous retreat of the missionaries now bitterly regret the Moravian missionaries very briefly. that they acted upon the impulse of the moment, and thus cut short a work In 1855 a neighboring settler, Imp- which was sure to bear fruit to God's ported by the District Court, claimed to glory, as the sequel will show. have a right to the land granted to the miRsionaries by the Government. Mr. II. Tager, the leader, being in ill health, had no inclination to enter on a legal RENEWAL OF THE MISSION WORK. process, as. he was advised to do. When, therefore, he found that he was For want of space we shall have to not righted after he had lodged his com- make just a mere sketch of the very plaint with the Government, he grew blessed and very successful issue of this impatient, and declared that on July second attempt. The two brethren ap- 1st, 1856, he would dissolve the mis- pointed (Hagenauer and Spieseke) have sion, as the authorities had failed to in every respect justified the confidence support him, and he had no mind to go placed in them by the Church. (Brother to law. A private individual has a right Spieseke was not to blame for leaving to actin this manner, but not a re- .Lake Boga ; he was subordinate, and spor:sible agent of a Mission Cburch did not agree with the move.) On May like the Moravian, for it was a breach 7th, 1858, they landed in Melbourne, of confidence. and were well received by the Gover- nor, Sir Henry Barklay, and numerous We quote the words of the Mission Christian friends. They were directed Board of the Moravian Church as laid to the Wimmera district, as most suitbefore the Christian public: •• It is true able for work aDlong the natives, and, that our mission work in Australia has after much travelling, a site for the for the time come to an end, an occur- establishment of a mission was found rence well calculated to humble us.. on the river Wimmera, not far from the How often, and not without reason, has sheep station Antwerp, belonging to the perseverance of our missionaries Mr. Ellerman, by whom they were reo been lauded when they were laboring ceived with open arms and helped. under various trials and difficulties, Here they obtained a grant of land of and under apparently hopeless pros- three square miles. The place was pects of success. How they kept to called Ebenezer. On January 10th, 1859, their post in a simple faith! Think of after humbly imploring the Lord's blessthe work in Greenland; think of the ing on the undertaking, the two mis- West Indies, where many brethren and sionaries started for the chosen spot, sisters went willingly into the jaws of and commenced clearing. Two natives death, and then think of the work here at first, and more afterward, assisted in in Australia, commenced with much the work, and by this means became aclabor and outlay, and carried on £or a quainted with the brethren. Soon the number of years; think of the giving natives gave the missionaries to underup of this mission, the necessity of stand that a carroboree–a kind of rewhich we are not able to prove. Think ligious dance-would be given in their that the missionaries left their post be- honor, which the missionaries could not fore every hope. was vanished to main- prevent. Mr. Ellerman provided the tain their position ; and then that they workers with food and lodging at his returned home without, and contrary home in Antwerp, twenty.two miles to, the permission of the Board. This distant, till they had built a home for is a painful confession, but we do make themselves. After eight :lays, Hageit before our dear Christian friends, and nauer commenced a school for the bow at the same time before the Lord, young men, and several made pleasing that He may again be gracious unto us progress. The women and girls were and exalt us in due time. We add that not forgotten. Clothing material had benches ; they made bedsteads, and a been provided by friends in Germany, box, etc. The youth Corney joined and Brother Hagenauer, though quite them. When the missionaries gave inexperienced, cut out and directed the them some kitchen utensils they were sewing of the dresses and pants. Later as proud and happy as kings. The rest. some ready-made clothing arrived from of the blacks looked on with astonish- Melbourne, which was a real boon to ment and pleasure, and after a time the missionaries. At the Sunday service sought to follow their example. For a the audience presented a remarkable as- whole year the missionaries had to fight pect. All had washed, and, so to say, against the difficulties which Brose from dressedthemselvegtoo-thatis, one had the heathen rites and dances, and the on a shirt, another a pair of pants, a superstition and degraded habits of the third a coat, and so on. .They had people, with no appearance of life from divided their clothes among themselves, God among them. But at last, in Januso that they might all appear at church. ary, 1860, the light sprung up and chased Amid all the work and anxiety of estab- away th.e darkness in the heart of Peplishing a home in the wilderness, the per (before mentioned), and he became missionaries never lost sight of their a new creature in Christ Jesus, though proper errand. But at first tbe only not without much conflict and many answer to the heavenly message was; slips and falls. One day Brother "Give me something to eat; give me Spieseke showed some Scripture prints; clothes; or, as when old Charley, after among others, one of the flood, and ana long, earnest talk and prayer, which other of our Saviour on His knees in Hagenauer had with him, pointed to agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. A heaven and asked if there were many day or two later Pepper came to him sheep and oxen there. Another time in the evening, saying, .. I want to came Diggy, and asked Spieseke for speak with you about my state. I don't flour. ,. What for?" said Spieseke, .. you know what is the matter with me. I have have done no work." "No," said Diggy, wept over my sins; last night I cried .. but I will go to prayers to-morrow." aloud. Just now I went to the river for The blacks showed a willingness to do water, and I thought, and thought, and all that was required of them. Their thought how our Saviour went that behavior at the meetings surprised night into the garden, and prayed till Spieseke, who knew their restless He sweat drops of blood, and that for habits, and looked upon it as a hopeful me." These words he spoke with much sign for the future. At times the wan- feeling. From that time a great change dering spirit came upon the natives, and was observed in Pepper, and be.came they vanished almQBt to a man. But two evident also to his brethren, for out of of their number (young Bony and Pep- the fulness of his heart he spoke to per) began to understand some of the them of the way of salvation, and of benefits of the coming of the mission- the Saviour whom he had found. His aries, and stayed with them, in spite of joy in God's Word, and his loving and the entreaties of their wandering com- tractable behavior showed that the panions. After the mission house was Spirit of God was at work in his heart. finished and the missionaries took up One Sunday evening, as the missionaries their abode in Ebenezer, these two young were returning from a neighboring stamen expressed a desire to give up their tion, where they had preached, they wandering life and build a house of found Pepper, surrounded by fifty of their own, which they did, with the his people, preaching to them the glad help of the missionaries-building it of tidings of the Gospel. Great was the bark, and finishing it off with I/, brick joy of the missionaries, who begged chimney, as the missionaries had done him to proceed, and afterward thanked their own. Inside were table, stool, or and praised the Lord for His grace thul! bestowed. After a time the request of mony. Even old people and little chil- Pepper to be especially instructed, with dren gave pleasing proofs of their be- a view to baptism, was acceded to, as it lief in and love of the Saviour, and became more and more clear that the many of them are now, we fully believe, work in him was of God. The 12th of rejoicing before the throne of God, .. hav- August, 1860, was the day of his bap. ing washed their robes and made them tism, and also that of the consecration white in the blood of the Lamb." Al- of the small church which had been ready in 1868 the number of converts in erected, and for which a new bell had Ebenezer had reached twenty. But be- been sent from Germany. Rev. Chase fore this time other laborers had arrived took the long journey from Melbourne; -two brides for the .brethren Spieseke from Horsham came friends, and the and Hagenauer, in May, 1861, who found neighboring sheep farmers came to· plenty of work among the women and gether to celebrate the event. That day the sick, besides caring for their own will not soon be forgotten by those who households. In November of the same were present. Pepper received, at his year, Brother Francis came from Engown request, the name Nathaniel. land,and when he left, after two years, Hagenauer says: " We felt that the Brother Hartmann and his wife entered blessing of the Lord was with us on that day." Of Nathaniel's further on the ~or1r, in which they continueCl course we will here say that though a true s!3rvant of Christ, he was Ii very for eight years. weak one; and though at times his light burned brightly, to the joy of his RAMAH-YUCK. teachers, at others he triell their pa· tience and grieved them by inconsisten- In the mean time a new work had been cies, which indeed was scarcely to be commenced in Gippsland by Brother wondered at in one so recently a hea. Ha.genauer at the request of the Presthen. He was the first of a great num- byterian Church of Victoria, who promber of converts who received the Gos- ised to provide the means if the Morapel with joy, and turned with repent- vian Church would send the men. It ance and faith to the Saviour, proving was proposed to name it .. Ramah," to by their lives, and often by their preach- which the natives added" yuck," " our ip.g; theirlove to Christ and the breth- home," thus showing their joy and apren: '~ 'these many names could be preciation. In Ramah-yuck the faithgiven.. Young Bony (baptized Daniel) ful efforts of Brother Hagenauer and was, at his earnest request, accepted as his wife met with success 8.Il in Ebeneassistant to the brethren who went to zer. In 1866 the first convert was bapcommence a mission at Cooper's Creek, tized, and received the name of " James in the interior (of which a hrief men- Matthew," and five months later Tomtion will be made later), but died on the my and Jack. In 1868 the number had ;way thither. Philip and Rebecca were increased to seventeen, and by the end placed in charge of the orphanage at of 1869 had risen to twenty-six. Ebenezer, and were most useful and consistent Christians. Philip also as- But these missions are not remarksisted in preaching, and often accom_ able for numbers, nor for the shining p~nied the missionaries on their evan_ lights among their converts, though, as geliziug tours among the still wander- was said before, some of these put to ing tribes. Dick-a-Dick 'was baptized shame many white Christians by their on what proved his death-bed. His consistency. Moreover, as sad diseases childlike and strong faith rejoiced the -particularly consumption-carried off hearts of the missionaries, and aston- many of their number, and others left ished all who heard his dying testi- the mission station to obtain employ- ment, it is easy to see that the work done was in many cases lost to slght, and, indeed, we shall only know when we see them in glory, how many of thll8e poor lost ones were rescued and saved. mankind, and that some will certainly The schools at both stations reached a be among the multitude surrounding high standard, that in Ramah.yuck the throne of God and the Lamb. having gained the highest marks for fOllr successive years, the only school in All the glory be to His name. Amen. Victoria which could show such results. So much for the general opinion that -The African Times says that a stam. the blacks could not learn. An attempt pede is reported among the" traders on was made to found a mission in the in. the Congo from the right to the left terior, at Cooper's Creek, which was bank of the river, except one Dutch given up on account of cost, and be- house, to escape the impediments and cause Lutheran missionaries had en· taxations of the Free State. The traders tered the same field, probably not know- say that this heavy taxation not only ing that our brethren were already there. applies to liquor, but to land tax, and Spieseke, after faithfully serving in even to canoes and surf-boats, and to the mission at Ebenezer for twenty white and black employes. years, died happily in the midst of his people, and was honored by them in his -Rev. Dr. E. W. BIyden, at a public burial. His place was supplied by dinner tendered him down at Lagos, Brother Kramer and wife, and Brother said, recently, that the Mohammedan Bogish. population of ,Lagos has increased with astounding rapidity during the last The natives are dying out fast, and thirty years. In 1863, Captain Burton the half breeds are not allowed to stay estimated the Moslem population at from on tj:le stations, so there is a fear that 700 to 800. In 1889 Sir Alfred Moloney our work in Victoria will soon be over. put them down at 15,000, and he de- scribes them as " the most orderly, in· But other fields are opening in tellectual, and respectable class of citi. Queensland; the latest news being that zens, composed of all the tribes of three brethren have been appointed by Yoruba. 'l'his is tb e official testimony our Mission Board. The country has borne of this people in all the settlebeen explored by Hagenauer with a view ments. They have spread over the to a speedy commencement of a mission whole of our fatherland north of the to the degraded cannibals of Queens. Equator from the Atlantic to the Red land. If we understand rightly, the Sea, from Lagos to Morocco, and from Presbyterians will supply the funds, Sierra Leone to Egypt." and the Moravian Church the men. Two other missions-one at Lake Con. Release of Mr, Penzot.ti dah, supported by the Church of England. and one at York Peninsula, sup- We have at last the satisfaction of reported by Friends-are carried on by cording the fact, which has already be· Moravian missionaries with much pros- come widely known through the daily perity and success. Lack of time and and weekly newspapers, that the long space forbids our entering into details and wearisome imprisonment of Mr. in regard to the blessed results of this Penzotti in Callao has been terminated mission among the aborigines of Aus- by decree of the Supreme Court of Peru. tralia; but enough has been said to The terms of the decision are not yet show that the Gospel of our Lord Jesus reported; but a telegram, dated Lima, Christ is "the power of God unto sal· April 3d, and addressed to a gentleman vation to everyone that believeth;" to in New York who has taken great inter. show that there is no respect of persons est in the case, announces in a single before Him, but that the Holy Spirit is word that he has been liberated. 1m. " given to all that obey Him;" to show prisoned for more than eight months, that the blacks of Australia are also in- on an accusation presented and urged cluded in the plan of God's salvation of , by a Roman Catholio priest, the Rev. of the terms offered the natives by the Jose M. Castro; charged with the offence Spanish Governor. He says the specifi- of violating the law in holding unauthor- cations of the Governor's trumped-up ized religious services; kept in a dun- charges against him were of three sorts : geon after he had once and again been (1) that I had been harboring the re- adjudged guiltless by the tribunals be- bellious Metalamin chiefs, feasting them fore which his adversary had summoned and buildingthem a house at Kiti. Also, him; denied the privilege of bail; (2) that I had been having meetings shrinking with inexpressible loathing with them and the Kiti king to influ- from the filth and impurity of the cell ence them against the Spanish rule. He in which he spent two hundred and also said, (3) that he had positive proof fifty nights with thirty or forty crim- that I was one of the principal leaders inals ; refusing to listen to the whis- in planning the breastworks at Oua.
pered suggestion that proceedings might And (4) as the mission was responsible be discontinued if he would agree to for the present outbreak of the Metala- leave Peru; constrained to send his min tribe, he did not think that we daughters out of the country, lest with- would be permitted to carryon our out a father's protection they might be_ work much longer.
comlt"victims of a foul consph:acy ; and ever hopeful that his sufferings would -Bishop A. W. Wilson, of the Meth- eventually lead to the promulgation of odist Episcopal Church, South, says religious liberty in Peru-he is now " that the agitation in Japan of the revi- vindicated and set free. Eight months sion treaty has affected foreigners in of imprisonment and the exp~nse of general, and missiona.ries to some ex- defending himself in three courts is tent along with the rest." Missionaries, what the administration of justice in he says, " have to be very careful about Peru awards to an innocent man! One their political positions.
cannot but ask What penalty would "This treaty agitation has raised up an have been in:tlicted upon him if the anti-foreign party, who want the Chris- outer door of the warehouse in which ti:l.n missions conducted only by native he talked to a small company of men Christians. 'I'hey want the natives to about the Gospel of Christ had not been formulate Christian creeds for them- locked, and if admission had been grant- selves. They do not want Christian ed to people without a ticket.-Bible creeds formulated for them by the West- &ciety Record. ern nations. They are fully able "to -Sir Edwin Arnold says, in the Daily understand Christianity and to formu- Telegraph: .. A new Japan is definitely late from the Bible creeds to suit themborn-constitutional, progressive, ener- selves. The idea of a representative getic, resourceful, sure to become great, government, as we have it, is not comand, perhaps, almost again as happy as prehended ; it is not in the mind of the she was of yore. Let the nations of the Japanese people. West receive and welcome as she de· serves this immeasurably ancient em- .. For 2500 years they have taken all pire which thus renews her youth in law from the Mikado, and I doubt not if the fountain cf constitutional liberties the Mikado would to-morrow withdraw and institutions." the Constitution, which gives repre- sentation to the people, the great mass of the people would quietly accept it as -The Daily Pacific Commercial Ad- coming from the source of all law-the vertiser of Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, Mikado. There would probably be a of March 14th, contains along letter from few murders among the student class, Rev. F. E. Rand, written at Ponape, to who would resist it, and there it would friends at Honolulu, giving an account end."
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
III.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
Among other Alliances for Prayers for "Even so, come, Lord Jesus (Rev. Missions, we call attention to the xxii: 20). Prayer Alliance, of whi6h Miss Mabel B. Atwater, 334 Lexington Avenue, New " And this Gospel of the kingdom shall York City, is Secretary. It reads as be preached in all the world for a witfollows: ness unto all nations; and then shall the end come (Matt. xxiv: 14). Walch " In the Year of our Lord 1891. Shall and pray." the generation now upon the face of the earth hear the Gospel? Likewise we call attention to the Prayer Union for Arabia and the Ara- "First. It is our Lord's last command bian Mission. Gen. xvii : 18. (Mark 16 : 15). 'Every creature' cannot possibly mean only those on one Aden, Arabia, January 1, 1890. third of the globe. It is our Saviour's will (1 Tim. 2 : 4, 6). The Arabian Mission, begun in an- "Second. This generation will be lost swer to prayer and sustained by conunless they hear the Gospel (Rom. 1 : 20, 21, 28, and Ps. 9 : 17). stant appeals to the Throne of Grace, " Third. If this generation hear the comes to its friends with a New Year's Gospel, IDe must carry it to them, for to us the work has been committed (2 Cor. request. 5 : 19 ; 1 Tim. 1 : 11). On the threshold of Arabia, face to " Fourth. We cannot serve the next generation. Are we with David serving face with the greatness and difficulties our own generation (Acts xiii: 36)? of the work, and deeply conscious of " In the heathen world there are about 1,000,000,000 souls; 30,000,000 a year our own weakness, we ask you, who go into eternity without God. Our Lord said: ' Go ye into all the world have already shown your sympathy for and preach the Gospel to every creature.' Out of 35,000,000 Protes- the cause of Christ in Arabia, to join tant church-members only about 6000 have obeyed this command, one in us in stated, fervent prayer: every 5800. Evangelized, 116,000,000 ; unevangelized, 1,000,000,000. The field 1. That God's promise in regard to is the world. 'Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.' the children of Ishmael may speedily " And whatsoever ye shall ask in My be fulfilled, and that His blessing may name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son (John xiv :13). rest upon every effort put forth to give " Pray ye therefore the Lord of the them the Gospel. I harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest (Matt. ix : 38). 2. That many may be led to choose PRAYER ALLIANCE. for their field of labor this neglected .. , Depending upon the Holy Ghost to portion of the Lord's vineyard. bring it to my remembrance, I pledge myself to pray daily, IN FAITH, for the 3. For a special blessing upon the evangelization of the whole world during the present century; and the speedy missionaries of the Arabian. Mission: coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.' that they may live very close to the Master; that t.heir lives and words may ever point men to Christ; that God may be pleased to use their efforts in bring- ing many of the children of Ishmael unto Himself.
Will you join us in making these ob- jects a special burden of prayer at your Sabbath morning devotions throughout the year?
"The wilderness and the solitary plllce shall be glad for them, the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose."
" He is faithful who hath promised."
.TAMES CANTINE, S. M. ZWEMER. " Speed on, ye heralds, bringing The latest phase of the Uganda revolu- Life to the desert slain ; tion-the flight of Mwanga, his appeal Till in its mighty winging, to the Church he persecuted, the vic- God's Spirit comes to reign. tory of the Christians. the J:eturn of From death to new·begetting, Mwanga, and his re·establishment in God shall the power give; the kingdom surrounded by chiefs and Shall choose them for crown.setting councillors professing the Christian And Ishmael shall live. faith-is a chapter in praise of meekness and mercy. In Uganda to.day the .. So speaks the promise, bringing , meek inherit the earth' and Iorgive. The age of Jubilee ness is proved to be the noblest re- To every home and tenting, venge." From Tadmor to the sea. The dead to life are risen; Goodness is sometimes better than The glory spreads abroad ; greatness. A missionary in India was The desert answers heaven, so feeble mentally that he could not Hosannas to the Lord !" learn the language. After some years -J.G.L. he asked to be recalled, frankly saying that he had not sufficient intellect for The St, Paul of Uganda. the work. A dozen missionaries, how- ever, petitioned his Board not to grant When Stanley urged Christendom to his request, saying that his goodness send missionaries to Mtesa's kingdom,' gave him a wider influence among the Mackay joined a party of eight to found heathen than any other missionary at an industrial mission to the Victoria the station. A convert when asked, Nyanza. In three years he alone sur- " What is it to be a Christian ?" replied, vived. For fourteen years, in jeopardy "It is to be like Mr. –" naming the every hour, he was yet the soul, the good missionary. He was kept in In- hand, the head of this great and model dia. He never preached a sermon; movement. The London Times called but when he died hundreds of heathen him ".The St. Paul of Uganda" : as well as many Christians mourned him and testified to his holy life and char· " He built, cut type, translated, print- acter. ed, engineered, navigated, diploma- tized; he de~ounced crime, preached It causes sorrow to many to learn that .the Gospel, acted as schoolmaster and Mrs. Phraner, wife of Rev. Stanley K. doctor; he befriended Emin Pasha, Phraner, died at Chang Mi Laos, in Junker and Stanley, and strove, alas Northern Siam, one month after their in vain! to save Hannington from the arrival. Mr. Phraner graduated last results of unconscious but heroic folly; spring at Princeton Theological Semi. he controlled the court so far as it could nary, was ordained by the Presbytery of be controlled; protected the brave Westchester, was married, and imme- Christian boys, and, in a word, through diately set out as a missionary to Siam. baptisms of blood and fire, won a He is a son of Rev. Wilson Phraner, church in the wilderness for the dear D.D., for many years pastor at Sing Lord and Master whom he served with Sing, N. Y. an absolutely single eye. No such story of Christian heroism has ever teen told Dr. Storrs, of Brooklyn, the President in our day. The boys of Uganda who of the American Board, referring to died in horrible tortures rather than whiskey in Africa, is said to have used deny their faith will rank with the this terse but telling sentence recently: noblest martyrs of Christian history. ., Every dollar gained in the Congo rum Every line in our Lord's Sermon on the trade ought to burn in the palm of a Mount finds its illustration and con- firmation in this extraordinary history. man who gains it, as if it were a part Proposed Colony on the Bellamy Plan. of the blazing asphalt that makes the pavement of the infernal regions." A ,despatch from Hutchinson, Kan., says: "John Caplieg, of Buffalo, N. Y., Baptist Missionary Centenary in passed through this city, March 26th, on 1892.-Next year the Baptists will cele- his way home from Beaver City, in No. brate the centenary of the formation of MlLn's-LlLnd, where it is proposed to lotheir Missionary Society. It is the old- cate IL co-operative colony to be organest organization of the kind in existence, ized on the Bellamy plan. He said that excluding, of course, the Society for the he expected the colony would be formed Propagation of the Gospel, founded this spring in time to put in crops, if nearly a century previously. William possible. The colony, he thinks, will Carey, of Leicester, Baptist minister, comprise about 500 people to start with, schoolmaster, and shoemaker, first raised and it is to be strictly co-operative." the question of modern missions in 1786. but not until 1792 was the Society Attempts similar to this have been launched. Historic dates and places made from time to time, but the bottom linked with the So.ciety·s inauguration has dropped out of them all Booner or will determine the time and centres of later. The only perfect state is that the forthcoming services. Carey built on Christianity. kindled the flame by a missionary sermon preached on May 31st at Notting- The revival among the Telugus in ham; on October 2d the Society was the last few months has been the notable formed at Kettering; and, on March event of the year. Four thousand con- 20th following, he was ordained for mis- verts in that mission have put on Christ sionary work at Leicester. At the open- in baptism. Upon one Lord's day 1671 ing meeting of the Society £13 28. 6d. was were baptized in a little over six hours, subscribed, which .seems trifling com- two men only at a time administering pared with the current average annual the ordinance. It must have been a income, between seventy and eighty grand sight to witness on the forenoon thousand pounds. The Society has a of that dllY the thousands of thirsty inbright record of labor in the East and quirers, many of whom had travelled West Indies, and latterly, since 1878, miles, sitting upon the ground in the on the Congo, where it employs over broad commons drinking in with rapt twenty mISSIOnaries. A centenary attention every word that fell from Dr. thanksgiving of £100,000 has been Clough's lips, as he expounded from proposed, and the increase of the Soci- the text, ., Come unto Me, all ye that ety's yearly income to £100,000. The labor and are heavy laden, and I will young folks connected with the Baptist give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, chapels and Sunday-schools are invited and learn of Me ; for I am meek and to raise one fourth of the form€r sum. lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest To the 120 missionaries and 306 evan- unto your souls." The words given of gelists at present in the field it is con- the Spirit to the speaker were indeed templated by the Society to send forth .words of eternal life to the hearers, and a hundred additional men and women. brought rest to many souls whose bodies The Baptist Union of New Zealand has were wearied by the long journey to this resolved to hold simultaneous centenary " Bethel" of their souIs. Thirty of Dr. gatherings. Once more I notice that Clough's co-workers assisted him in the "A Frii'md" has sent £1000 to the examination of the candidates for baptreasurer of the Baptist Missionary So- tism, and none were baptized of whose ciety. a similar amount having been conversion they did not find good evisent by the same person at the begin- dences. ning of several recent years. In this Ongole station the revival has been continuous now since 1877, and it may be doubted whether in all mission- sticks, and objects used in their idola- ary history another such case is to be try, and made a great bonfire of them. found. Mr. Mackay says that over 500 houses were cleansed of idolatry in his pres. The Right Heir, e:nce."
When the excellent Christian Schwartz Mr. and Mrs. Stebbins, it may be re- was about to end his long and devoted membered, were to join Mr. Pentecost missionary life in India, he said, in view and assist him in his evangelistic work of all the Lord's goodness to him, "I in India with their singing. In are. make Christ my heir"- and then by his cent letter to the Hartford ReligiCYU8 will made provision as far as his world- Herald a member of the family writes as ly means would go, for carrying on the follows: work of Christ among the heathen after he would be gone. We can think of but " On the 17th of November we reached one addition to this plan: to make Calcutta. Here we stayed until the 1st Christ first of all the partner of our daily of January, 18111, helping Dr. Pentecost toils and profits. in his meetings, and doing a great deal of singing for the missionaries. We We are so crowded with matter of were entertained by Bishop Thoburn, great importance that we omit this the Methodist Bishop of India, and by month any distinct Department of the pastor of the M. E.church there. Monthly Concert. Our readers will not The Methodists are by far the strongest miss this, inasmuch as the whole num- in India of any of the denominations, ber is maiuly given to Africa, and is and they are ce~tainly doing a great and unusually rich in material from various grand work. About Christmas time Dr. valuable sources upon different phases Pentecost decided to turn his attention of the languages, customs, oppressions, to the educated natives, and as they and needs of the Dark Continent. were not appreciative of Christian song, he·advised us to make a tour of the cities Says the Ewminer: "The Rev. Mr. of India, helping the missionaries as Mackay has been in the Island of For- we go. So we left Calcutta, January mosa for a great many years. About ,a 1st, and next day arrived at Benares, dozen years ago he planned to visit a the seat of Hinduism. We sawall their district containing a number of villages vile worship, and the great ruins of bearing the name of Ka-le-oan. Not Buddha's first preaching places.••• being able to go he sent II native preach- We visited Cawnpore, the scene of the er. Mr. Mackay was enabled a few worst atrocities of the mutiny of 1857. weeks ago to visit the region. He Then up to Noradabad, where was being found the people having a wonderfully held the North India Conference. We clear conception of the Gospel and had some fine meetings, and got a peep wearied with their idol worship. They at the executive missionary body. told him that the Mandarin would not let them throw up idolatry, declaring "We have held a song service and that they would be rebels against Chi- sometimes two or three in every city we nese authority if they did so. Mr. have been in except Delhi, where we Mackay saw that official and gained his were not entertained. We ha"e helped consent to let the people do as they in the conferences and in every place liked. 'fhe people held a council, and have sung to large audiences of Euroat once determined to forsake idolatry. peans." Mr. and Mrs. Stebbins planned A temple recently built was turned over to sail for home on February 28th, and to the missionary, and became a Chris- stop in Egypt, Palestine, Italy, Gertian meeting:house. Parties went about many, and England, reaching home by the villages gathering up idols, incense midsummer.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
BY MRS. 1. T. GRACEY.
Woman's Foreign Missionary 22,156 subscribers, a children's paper, Union of Friends in America. Cor- the King's Messenger, is also published, responding Secretary, Eliza C. Arm- with 20,315 subscribers, Boston, Mass. strong, Centre Valley, Ind. A large amount of miscellaneous litera- ture is issued by the society. The consolidation of the various branches of the woman's societies un- Woman's Baptist Foreign Misder one board has been accomplished, sionary Society of the West.-Orwith a department of missionary litera- ganized 1871. Corresponding Secretary, ture, one of junior and juvenile work, Mrs. A. M. Bacon, 3032 South Park another of systematic Christian giving, Avenue, Chicago, TIl. and another of interest and organization. Home report of this society: Number Number of auxiliary societies 224, of circles 1243, number of guilds and with 3376 members, and 2140 members young people's societies 233, mission of children's bands (number of bands not bands 309. The fields occupied are the given). Amount of money received dur- same as those occupied by the society of ing year, $23,164. the East. The same periodicals also are circulated. The board supports 18 missionaries, 8 native evangelists and Bible readers, Foreign work: Twenty-eight mission- 51 children in homes or boarding- aries are supported, 3 of whom are medschools, 7 day schools with 304 pupils. ical; 79 schools, in whole or in part, with an aggregate of 1759 pupils; and 31 Work is carried on or aided in Mexi- native teachers and 49 Bible women co, Japan, India, Syria, China, Indian have also been supported. Territory, and in Alaska. During the year the Carpenter Memo- Friend's Missionary .Advocate is the rial Hospital, at Bassein, has been official organ. This paper has been opened. Receipts for the year, $34,674. owned by Mrs. Esther Tuttle Pritchard since its establishment, in 1886, until Woman's Baptist Foreign Misthe past year, when a centralorganiza- sionary Society of California.-Corretion was effected, she presented the sponding Secretary, Mrs. L. P. Huntspaper to the union. man, 1264 Eleventh Avenue, East Oak- land, Cal. BAPTIST WOMAN'S BOARDS. This society has been organized 16 Woman's Baptist Foreign Mission- years. Previous to 1889 only one misary Society.-Organi~ed 1871. Cor- sionary was supported, who was staresponding Secretary, Mrs. O. W. Gates, tioned on the Congo. Now they sup- Newton Centre, Mass. port 4 missionaries, 2 to Hakkas, of China, 1 at Seudai, Japan, and 1 at The home work of this society is rep- Swatow, China. resented by 1440 circles, or contributing churches, 702 mission bands, and 15,578 Receipts for past year, $2214. No re" members. Amount of money raised for port of home work.
year ending March, 1890, $99,007. Woman's Baptist Missionary So- The society has work among the Bur- ciety of Oregon. -Corresponding Sec- retary, Mrs. Clinton Latourette, Oregon mese, Karens, Shans, Chins, Kachins, City. Eurasians, Telugus ; missions in China, Assam, Japan; Congo Mission, Africa, This society reports 31 circles, with a and Europe. membership of about 500, 7 children's bands, with 220 members, and 11 young Fifty-one missionaries are supported; people's societies, with 345 members. 9 sent past year; 171 schools with 6119 Amount of money raised from October, pupils, and 67 Bible women. 1889 to October, 1890, $1730.
Official organ, the Helping Rand, with One missionary is supported in Now- its Church Board. It helps to support gong, Assam. and contributions made work in Shanghai, China. Has 2 misto support Bible readers in Burma and sionaries-I a physician-and 3 assist. in, China. ant teachers. Has 1 boarding.school with 12 pupils. Work is also carried on Woman's Missionary Union Aux- in Holland in addition to home work. iliary to Southern Baptist Conven- Receipts for year, $3216. tion.-Organized 1888. Corresponding Secretary, Miss Annie W. Armstrong, 10 Christian Woman's Board of Mis- East Fayette Street, Baltimore, Md. sions.-Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. Lois A. White, No. 160 North Delaware Prior to 1888 the Baptist women of Street, Indianapolis, Ind. the South had been working for missions, but without a general organiza- Twenty·nine States report 882 auxtion. Auxiliary societies 1469. iliary societies connected with this bo.ard-156 organized the past year. The society contributes to the work Present number of members 15,086, of the board in Brazil, Japan, China, young people's circles 49, children's Cuba, Italy, Mexico, Africa, besides bands 380. work at home among the Indians and colored people of the South. Official organ,' Missionary Tidings, with 4459 subscribers. A children's The society has a general depot for paper, Little Builders at Work, has a submissionary literature in the city of Bal- scription of. 2000. Amount of money timore, where can possibly be found the raised for the year, $45,166. largest variety of missionary le!,fiets in the country. Literature has been sent The society has work in India, out to 14 States, and over 100,000 Jamaica West Indies, and in Montana leaflets and pamphlets have been dis- in the home field. An orphanage is tributed during the year. supported at Bilaspur, India, with 19 orphans, and a school with 27 pupils, Amount of money raised, $21,398 for and a hospital has been established in foreign missions, and $10,161 for home India. Number of missionaries or formlSSlons. Official organ, the Baptist eign workers not given in report. Basket, Louisville, Ky. Woman's Auxiliary to the Board Free Baptist Woman's Missionary of Missions of the Protestant Epis- Society. – Corresponding Secretary, copal Church.-Corresponding Secre- Mrs. J. A. Lowell, Danville, New Hamp- tary, Miss Julia. C. Emery, 21 Bible shire. House, New York.
The home work of this society is rep- During the past year a junior auxiliary, resented by about 250 auxiliary societies modelled upon the woman's auxiliary, and 57 children's bands. Amount of has been formed, and a paper called the money raised during year, $7694. Peri- Young Ohristian Soldier started. The odical, the Missionary Helper, with 1250 woman's auxiliary has its workers in 51 subscribers. dioceses and nine missionary jurisdic- tions. Besides their domestic missions, The main work of the society is in the auxiliary aids the work in China, India. The principal stations are Mid- Japan, Africa, Mexico, and Alaska. napore and Balasore, where zenana, Six missionaries have been sent to the school, and medical work are success- :field the past year. fully carried on. Twenty teachers, 5 Bible women, 13 male teachers, in all 49 The aggregates are all given for parish persons, have been supported. An Of- ladies' aid work and other mission work phanage at Balasore has 35 children, and combined. It appears that of an aggre 7 day schools with 270 pupils. gate collection of $542,197, about $36, 838 is spent in foreign work. But the Woman's Board of the Seventh- North American Indian work is includ- Day Baptists.-Corresponding Secre- tary, Miss Mary F. Bailey, Milton. Wis.
This society works in connection with ed in domestio missions. It is impos- eties, 437 auxiliaries, 176 mission bands; sible to follow here the classification members in auxiliaries 10,443, members which is made where the home and in bands 4869; total membership 15,- foreign work are in separated societies. 312. Amount of money raised from April, 1889 to April, 1890, $32,117. 'Woman's Foreign Missionary So- ciety of the Reformed Episcopal This board has work among the Ind- Church.-Organized May, 1889. Corre- ians of the Northwest, missions in sponding Secretary, Mrs. William H. China, Formosa, Central India, Island Allen, Philadelphia, Pa. of Trinidad, the New Hebrides, and British Guiana. Foreign statistics not This society, so recently organized, given in report. Periodical, Monthly raised during the year $4077. One mis- Letter Leaflet, with a circulation of 5500. sionary is supported in Cawnpore, India, and another went to Calcutta under the Woman's Foreign Missionary So- auspices of the Woman's Union Mission- ciety of the Presbyterian Church in ary Society. Money has been sent to Canada (Eastern Section}.-Organized Sierra Leone, Africa, to open a training- 1876. Secretary, Mrs. J. T. Thompson, school, and some aid given to Japan. 111 Spring Garden Road, Halifax, N. S.
Oa.nadia.n Societies. This society is represented by 6 Pres- byterian societies, 112 auxiliaries, 5 Woman's Missionary Society of young people's branches, 46 mission the Methodist Church (Canada).- bands. Work is supported in the same Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. E. S. fields as those of Western Division. Strachan, 163 Hughson Street, North Receipts for year $5340. Hamilton, Canada. Woman's Baptist Foreign Mis- This society, territorially, is divided sionary Society of Ontario.-Corre. into 5 branches, viz., Eastern, Western, sponding Secretary, Miss Buchan, 165 Central, Nova Scotia, and New Bruns- Bloor Street, East Toronto, Canada. wick, and Prince Edward Island branches. Number of contributing circles 173, number of bands 81. Money received Home force: Auxiliaries 358, memo for the year $7471. bers 8020, mission bands 153, members 4462. Amount of money received for ,Work is carried on in India at Akidu, year $25,560-an advance of over $3254 Cocanada, Tuni, and Samulcotta. At over preceding year. Cocanada a flourishing boarding·school is supported, with 26 pupils. The society has a prosperous work in Japan, a boarding.school at Tokyo, and Woman's Baptist Foreign Misseveral day schools. Also a large work sionary Society of Eastern Ontario among the French in Canada, and dur- and Quebec.-Corresponding Secretary, ing the year a French institute has been Miss Greene, 478 St. Urbain Street, established in Montreal with 43 pupils. Montreal, Canada.
Theyhave a work also among the Ind- This society has work the same as the ians and Chinese on the Pacific Coast; society in Western Ontario. It has support 18 missionaries, 12 in Japan about 50 circles. Money raised during and 6 at home. Periodical, Missionary year $1530. Other statistics not given Outlook, Toronto. in report.
Woman's Foreign Missionary So- Woman's Auxiliary to Diocesan, ciety of the Presbyterian Church in Domestic, and Foreign Missions of Canada (Western Division). – Or- the Church of England, Diocese of ganized 1876. Foreign Secretary, Mrs. Toronto.-Secretary, Mrs. W. Cum- L. J. Harvie, 80 Bedford Road, Toronto, mings, 321 Markham Street, Toronto, Canada. Canada.
This society has 25 Presbyterian soci- Number of adult branches 51, number of junior branches 17, members 1407. Periodical department in The Canadian Ohnrch Magazine and M'i,Ssion News. The human family living to-day con- Total amount of money raised for sists of about 1,500,0'00.000 individuals. 1890, including value boxes of clothing In Asia there are now approximately to needy missions, $12,236. about 800,000,000, densely crowded; on an average 120 to the square mile. In General Statistics, Europe there are 350,000,000, averaging 100 to the square mile-not so crowd- BY BEV. D. L. LEONARD. ed, but everywhere dense, and at all points over- populated. In Africa there Missionary Ammunition. – Every are 210,000,000. In America, North and pastor ought to see that every pew is South, there are 110,000,000 relatively supplied with the diagram first pub- thinly scattered. In the islands, large lished by the Church Missionary Society and small, probably 10,000,000. The of London, which pictures to the eye at extremes of the white and black are as a glance, and most effectively, the 5 to 3 ; the remaining 700,000,000 interspiritual condition of humankind by mediate brown and tawny. Of the race, means of a rectangle 4 by 6 inches, 500,000,000 are well clothed, that is, printed in various colors, to distinguish wear garments of some kind to cover the principal religions and divisions of their nakedness; 700,000,000 are semithe Christian Church, and divided into clothed, covering inferior parts of the some 1500 squares, each one represent- body; 250,000,000 are practically naked. ing a million souls. Thus the Jews oc- Of the race, 500,000,000 live in houses cupy but 8 squares, the Greek Church partly furnished with the appointments 84 squares, Protestants 125, Roman of civilization; 800,000,000 in huts or Catholics 190, Mohammedans 170, but caves with no furnishing; 260,000,000 the heathen 856, the latter and most have nothing that can be called a home, palpable fact being properly emphasized are barbarous and savage. The range by so many squares in jet black. And is from the topmost round-the Anglothen, to show what slight impression Saxon civilization, which is the highest has been made, what a tremendous task known-down to naked savagery. The remains to be performed after 19 centu- portion of the race lying below the line ries of Christian history, after 100 years of human condition is at the very least of Protestant modern (playing at) mis- three-fifths of the whole-900,000,000. sions, those awful 856 inky squares contain 2-only 2-near the centre that are -The various Protestant churches of snow white-standing, of course, for the Canada sustain 6 missionary societies, handful of converts made from heathen- and contribute to the foreign work an ism. What Christian heart can gaze aggregate of $165,000 annually (of unmoved upon such a lamentable de- which $100,106 is expended through the lineation? Presbyterian Board), have Ill3 missiona- ries in the fiela: and 380 native laborers, Then add to this another set of fig- and have gathered 8172 members into ures, which portray the physical, intel- their churches. lectual, and social status of mankind, and we have a working basis for an –The indications are unmistakable overwhelming appeal for a general and that the Huguenots in France, after sublime outburst of evangelizing faith centuries of extreme depression, and and zeal. And without doubt never after even lad apostasy from faith and were the facts relating to the condition fervor, are at length awakening to new of the race upon the material side set spiritual life. This fact appears espeforth so adequately in such brief space cially in the aggressive work undertaken as in the statement which follows. It to spread a pure gospel both at home has been before the public for some and abroad. They number some 600,000, years, and may therefore be quite famil- and are gathered into about 650 iar to many; and yet it cannot be reviewed and pondered too often: churches, though 30,000 or more are the seat of the IIiission. The work acsCdttered, and destitute of pastors and complished is made palpable in part oy places of worship. They sustain 3 Bible 125 chapels and prayer· houses, 341 consocieties, 3 book and tract societies, gregations, 6367 communicants, 223 many Young Men's Christian Associa- Sunday-schools, with 8151 scholars, and tions, 2 theological seminaries, 2 schools 194 day-schools, with 236 teachers and for evangelists, 4 societies for carrying 4423 scholars. Of these schools 171 are on evangelistic work, and a host of col- primary, 15 are high caste Hindu girls' porteurs. The annual contributions schools, 3 are Mohammedan, 3 boardfor home missions amount to $100,000, ing, and 1 industrial. In addition a and for foreign missions, $80,000. But college was opened in 1885, which now so limited are their resources and so has a teaching force of 19 and 361 stuheavy their burdens, they have sent one dents, and having as its chief object the of their number-Professor L. J. Ber- training of teachers and gospel workers rand-to America to raise here, if pos- of every kind. Money has also been sible, $20,000. raised ($15,000) for a hospital in Guntur.
Methodist Protestant Church.- -The Moravian Church, the pioneer Secretary, Rev. F. T. Tagg, Easton, missionary body in modern times, I!nte. Md. dating Carey and the Baptist Missionary Society by 60 years, with its" home .. Report for eight months ending De- membership of but 21,360, has in its cember 31st, 1890 : missions 30,591 communicants, and 87,263 in its congregations. Ten coun. RECEIPTS. tries are occupied, with 135 stations; 36 men and women were sent out last yelll, Foreign Fund..•..••.••…………• $3,452.12 making 355 Europeans and native as. Children'S Day…………..•……. 5,718.74 sistants in the field, with 1663 other Album F'und . . . . . . . . .• . . . . . . . . .. .. . 142.71 native helpers. In 113 Sunday-schools SpeciaL ……….•………………• 1,319.06 15,362 scholars are taught, and in 235 day-schools 20,629. The receipts for Balance, May 1 …… _. . ••• .. ….•. . 1,250.03 1889 were $100,115, of which upward of $40,000 came from non – Moravian Total. ……•…••…•••.•…….. $11,882.66 sources. Expenditnre•..•..•••…•..••.•.••… 11,371.15 The lal'gest mission is found in the Balance, Dec. 31…….. ..•. ………. $511.51 British and Danish West Indies, with 49 stations and 39,420 in the congrega. This society has 2 stations in Japan; 2 tions. Next come Surinam and Deme- churches, with 205 members; 15 mission· rara, South America, with 27,534 adaries and teacher/!; 3 Sunday.schools, herents, and South Africa, with 13,084. with 350 scholars; a college with 50 stu· Gnadenthal, the oldest station in South dents; an Anglo.Japanese school, with Africa, is to celebrate its centennial an attendance of 152, and a school for next year by the erection of a new women with 90 pupils, in all 292 under church, to cost £2000, of which the peo. instruction. A kindergarten will soon pIe on the spot hope to raise £1500. be opened, and the first native Japanese preacher has been chosen and will -The Syria mission of the Presbysoon be ordained. terian Board, North-especially with its large and thoroughly furnished printing General SynGd of the Lutheran establishment, and its Bible house at Church.-Secretary, Rev. George Scholl, Beirut-is one of the most important in D.D., Baltimore, Md. the entire foreign field. Besides Beirut, stations are maintained at Sidon, Trip- This society has 1 mission in Africa and 1 in India, and sustains in all 13 representatives from America, and 171 native assistants. The India field is in the Madras Presidency, upon the Bay of Bengal, and among the Telugus, covers about 5000 square miles, and contains 1,000,000 of inhabitants. Guntur is ali, Abeih, and Zahleh. This tahle progress has been for nearly fifteen will show how steady and general the years: STATISTICS OF THE SYRIA MISSION.
1876. 1885. 1886. 1887. 1888. 1889.
– – – – — – – – – – – American Missionaries .. _. .. _… . .. . …….. . 28 38 37 34 35 42 Native Laborers . ….. ' ………………….. . 120 Stations and Out-Stations ……………….. . 65 189 179 171 201 201 95 91 96 94 94 Church-Members ……………………….. . 573 1,301 1,440 1,493 1,534 1,615 Added on Profession…. .. . ……………… . 75 130 153 104 63 98 Average Congregations ………………….. . 2,642 3,891 4,293 4,289 4,522 4,640 Sabbath-Schools ••.•.. . ………•••……… 40 S. S. Scholars …………•……………….. 1,540 73 68 66 81 88 Total Schools. . ………… .. . ………… . 80 3,804 3.746 3,732 4,620 4,966 136 121 125 141 142 Total Pupils …………………………… . 3,509 5,665 5,344 5,391 6,299 6,172 This table of statistics, and the one summary covering eighteen others, which follows, though in a condensed while from four, the Free Methodform, are taken from the very valuable ists, the African Methodists, the Bap- American Board Almanac of Missions. tist Convention of the United States, Facts are set forth in detail concerning and the Friends, no report was reten of the principal societies, with a ceived : 'FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1889-90.
~ .; AMERICAN ~ ~ ci ]"o'" ~. .~'c"~.; LABORERS. '<""3 0 '~" 00 :og.~a SOCIETIES. rn.; ".8 "03 w "~ .:i 0""3,8" .;J .S ""..~- .co $ "03 S ."c 0 ""… ~" ~ 'c:3~ ….:I 'C E,,"~ rn ;:;I I'""< ~ 0 'C … ~" .":: "'C ,,~ 8~ ~ .c p~…. z" -;; 'C 0 Z 0 -<j —— — — —— — —— Meth. Epis.,North 52 :1 159 135 3,018 559 42,632! 5,563 30,049 $282,997 $885,197 Presb. Bd., North. 99 240 336 1,302 320 26,794' 2,753 23,935 Am. Board(Cong ) 96 200 333 2,417 387 36.256 4,554 47,319 lii,494 794,066 762,947 Bapt.. Miss. Union 64 1,382 131 200 1,343 712 81,072 7,099 20,615 54,844 440,788 Meth.Epis., South 4,014 244,176 Ref. Ch. (Dutch).. 18 . i4i 34 "35 97 "in 5,336 552 '4',i56 . fi,D03 117,000 15 26 364 Protestant Epis .. 52 168 74 39 210 38 2,631 264 3,876 5,527 189,183 ~aPt. South. Conv 37 124 33 45 86 62 2.213 409 675 4,681 109,174 resb.Bd.. South. 18 98 37 41 50 31 1,207 360 1,207 4,317 107,627 Unit. Presb Bds. 16 198 26 44 459 391 9,568 1,722 10,687 7,167 100,539 E ili~te:sn ~.t~~~ ~~: 113 151 ~ ~ –.: -.-: ~.495 3,351 –.:,871 ~,187 _278,914 1 Totals . . . . . . . . 580 3,474 1,054 1,296 10,020 2,721 236,187 25,963 174.891 $524,21J $3,977,701 PRINCIPAL FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETIES OF GREAT BRITAIN.
MISSIONARIES. zi ~ "" '" 'C.; " °8 ~.2 – – – – – – Ol SOCIETIES. w~ "03 ~=">= S" ~ "ol~o~~ oJ S Z S 0 03 – "rno );l "I'"< 0 =">-< 0 —– – —— Church Missionary Society. . . . . . . . . .. . …. 315 338 59 4,121 49,016 $1,145,240 Wesleyan Missionary Society. ….. . …. 363 343 6,284 34,086 703,115 Society for Propagation of Gospel ………. 499 2,447 66,593 625,190 London Missionary Society…..••………. 1)33 155 154 5,419 68.805 505,765 Free Church of Scotland…… .. ……… 209 80 35 660 6,620 480,535 Ba{,tist Missionary Society……………… 515 126 986 48.646 , 398,045 Chma Iuland Mission ……. .. ……….. 158 180 180 232 2,839 257,420 United Presbyterian, Scotch …………… 251 491 14,899 202,455 69 25 Established Church, Scotland. .. … … .. 30 17'9 825 156,805 Church of England Zenana MIss. Society .• Gl 113 639 135,000 – – – – Twelve other societies. .. ……………… 348 347 232 3,059 55;752 540,803 — Totals ………….. ……….. …. 3,353 2,167 – – – – —- 798 24,517 '348,081 $5,150,373 The second table of figures on the pre- so heroically founded by the late Mr. ceding page gives certain details con- Mackay before the waves of successive cerning 22 British societies, of which 12 revolutions swept over Uganda. In May are presented only in a summary. But next another mission party depart for the total of receipts is not to be taken as Uganda, under the tried leadership of showing the entire gifts of British Prot- the Rev. R. P. Ashe. 'lile Rev. G. H. estant Christians to foreign missions, for, V. Greaves, and also Dr. G. Wright, have according to Canon Robertson, their con- been appointed to it. "Six or eight more tributions in1889 amounted to $6,056,530. are at least required," says the Church Missionary Society, "in view of the -The Methodist Episcopal Church, wonderful openings for Christian work South, publishes a very complete table of all kinds in Uganda, in Usoga, at the of statistics of its Chinese Mission Con- south of the Victoria Nyanza, not to ference for the year ending September speak of the nearer territories of the 30th, 1890, and showing the results of British East Africa Company." five years' work. Two dist~icts are occupied, and 10 circuits, with 30 mis- Except the Scottish m~ionary camsionaries, male and female, and 6 nati ve paign of the Free Church of Scotland to helpers. Into the churches 345 mem- raise a sum of £20,000 for the fourth bers have been gathered; 22 Sunday- period of five years in the history of the Bchools are sustained, with 742 scholars; glorious Livingstonia Mission, no sim.iand 47 schools of all grades (including lar undertaking can be compared with an Anglo-Chinese college, with 146 stu- the remarkable endeavor of the Church dents), with a total attendance of 100l. Missionary Society to send forth 1000 In the 2 hospitals 2494 patients were missionaries during 1891 into the mis. treated last year. sion field. Partaking of the nature of a missionary revival, it is being achieved Foreign Mission Notes, with almost incomparable enthusi8Rm. Men and means are flowing into the BY REV. JAlIlES JOHNSTON, BOLTON, ENG- treasury of God. LAND. Mr. A. M. Mackay's Father. -The Africa – Bishop Tucker. – Clouds readers of the :MISSIONARY REVIEW in all continue to hang over Uganda. Bishop lands will welcome a glimpse of the Tucker had a rough journey inland, not- father of the late distinguished mission. withstanding the kindness of German ary, which the writer, favored with an officials en route. On reaching the con- intimate friendship, can supply. At fines of his new diocese he was seized the foot of Boniface Downs, east of with fever. By the attacks of this Ventnor, in the Isle of Wight, overlook. dreaded foe two of his ardent fellow ing the wide-stretching blue waters of missionaries were fatally struck down the English Channel, lies the charming at Usambiro. Their loss to the cause is home of this dear old man. It has been greatly regretted. Through the jealousy opened to receive many weary African of the French Roman Catholic mission- traveilers, who have left behind them aries, and the ever-threatening attitude souvenirs of the Dark Continent, or of the Mohammedans on Mwanga's ter· gifts from the gallant Mackay himself. ritory, the bishop finds the situation in From this spot were sent for yearll Uganda exceedingly perplexing. It is newspapers, books, etc., to Alexander not improbable that as soon as an inter- Mackay, who in turn despatched porview has been granted by Mwanga he tions bf them to his friend Emin Pasha, may make a hurried journey to England, in Equatorial Africa, when caravans to take council with the committee as to were.permitted to pass through the inthe future policy. Should the journey tervening hostile countries. The father be made, he will leave a small band of of Mr. Mackay is a native of Thurso, in men in Uganda to re-establish the work Caithness, originally, in all probability, as well as the export of slaves in his of Scandinavian stock, and his mother, territories, to the best of his power. of Banffshire. In his quiet Ventnor The following is the translation of the home, which he occupied on retiring from the Presbyterian ministry in Scot- copy Oll" TREATY: land, he has watched with practical solicitude the course of the missionary " I, Mwanga, King of Buganda, here- enterprise. Though bearing the silvery by declare, in the presence of Dr. Carl locks of age, it is a veritable inspiration Peters and Pere Simeon Lourdel (since to listen to his eloquent utterances on dead), that I prohibit the slave-trade in the redemption of the heathen world Buganda and the territories belonging from the yoke of idolatry. thereto, and that I will do my utmost to prevent the exportation of slaves from As Mr. Stanley promised Dr. Mackay, all countries under my jurisdiction. prior to departing for Africa, in 1887, to bring his son home "safe and "MwANGA, KA13AKA sound," it is not easy to imagine his disappointment when he learned that of Buganda. his long-absent "Alick," declined to leave his post. Greater and irreparable " SIMEON LOURDEL was the blow on the arrival, last year, of the tidings of Mr. Mackay's death. of the AlgerilJn Missions. Of this calamity the doctor has written, under date of February 7th, 1891, to the " CARL PETERS. writer: "The news of my dear son's death at Usambiro gave me a stunning " MENGO, May 16, 1890." blow. It came so unexpectedly that, for a time, I could hardly realize it, es- The arrival of this information, topecially as I half.expected him home gether wUh the adherence of all the some time during the summer. I have, European powers (now that Holland has however, learned to say, 'the will of the consented) to the General Act of the re- Lord be done,' and I have no doubt this cent Brussels Conference, will gi"e a event, like all others, has been wisely strong impetus in every quarter of the ordained by the Divine Disposer." He globe to the anti·slave·trade movement. alludes to the success of his son's memoir written by his sister, of which 8000 More African Missionaries.-Dr. copies have been sold. "Its perusal," George Smith says that he knows noth. he says, ., has led to the self-consecra- ing at all in history which equals the tion of some young men to the Lord, rapidity with which the civilizing, Chrisand to the evangelization of poor be- tianizing organizations had spread over nighted Africa." Mr. Mackay's trans- Africa during these fifty years. Although lation of the Scriptures is being dili- he has spent the greater part of his life in gently completed by three of his most India, where there has been great misintelligent converts and pupils in sionary enterPrise, "still, before Africa, Uganda. India paled. " I understand that the Mo- ravian Mission and the Lutheran Society King Mwanga and Siavery.- in Berlin were in communication with Though one is naturally sceptical of the doctor last January, asking his adany real change in the heathen passion vice and assistance respecting the des· of this African monarch, it is gratifying patch of missionaries to the German to report that Prince Hohenlohe Lan- African territory. It is remarkable to genberg, President of the Deutschen learn that instead of entering their own Kolonial-gesellschaft, writes of Mwan- " sphere of influence" from Bagamoyo, ga's resolve to forbid slave-dealing, they preferred the Scottish route via the Zambesi, the Shire, and Nyassa. Very shortly the Livingstonia Mission pur· pose sending a party of six men, two of whom are medical missionaries, to the north end of Lake Nyassa. The Mora- vians propose to send in their compnny four missionaries for work in Ge.rman territory, and the Lutheran Society will send three, or probably five, by the same that they have a right to cook or sell in missionary expedition. them, and turn them into shambles, or set up open.air theatres on the sideways. A Congo Missionary Heroine.- They cannot endure the institutiou of a Friends of the Congo Missions will re- pound. Dogs, donkeys, and troops of gret to hear that Mrs. Percy Comber, goats from time immemorial wandered who only went out in May last year, and where they pleased. Who was the worse was married to Mr. Comber in the for their liberty? The dogs never went August following, has fallen a victim to mad; they were the auxiliaries of the the malarious climate. Great sympathy hymns in devouring corpses scarcely cov- is expressed for her suddenly bereaved ered with earth. Why trouble about the husband. The name of Comber will be registration of births, deaths, and mar_ always honorably associated with Afri- riages ? Tunis, nevertheless, is making can missions and African exploration. steady headway in the path of progress. Their martyr roll on African soil in- cludes the names of Dr. Sidney Com- In this unevangelized region seven ber, Thomas Comber; Mrs. Hay, her missionaries of the North Africa M'tssion sister, Mrs. Thomas J. Comber, and are laboring. The darkness of the land now, Mrs. Percy Comber. By these, is appalling. Tunis is spiritually dead. truly heroic breath has been offered for Alcohol is the chief foe of the mission Africa's perishing millions on the Con- workers. Mohammedan insobriety is go watershed. notorious. A missionary writes of the Regency: " The longer I live in Tunis, The Niger Troubles.-A long doc- the more I see and hear of its awful ument has been issued by the Commit· wickedness, and the burden of souls is tee of the Church Missionary Society, very real to us. " It is pleasant to learn appointed to inquire into the charges that the Roman Catholic Italians in made by the English secretary on the Tunis are moved with the simplicity of west coast of Africa against the native the Gospel. mIssIOnaries. Briefly summarized, the report practically acquits of guiltiness Uzbek Turki Gospel Translations. the principal native clergy whom the -Thanks to the enterprise of the Brit· Rev. F. N. Eden took upon himself to ish and Foreign Bible Society, a part suspend, yet in two instances his de. of one of the most important biblical cision is confirmed. An English Church translations undertaken of late years, dignitary will possibly embark for the consisting of the four Gospels, is now Niger on a mission of reconciliation. passing through the press. It is esti- To the credit of the society, it should mated that Uzbek is the' language of be known that, promptly and exhaus· nearly 2,250,000 people scattered over tively, it invariably deals with the diffi· Russia ;r;. Asia, Bokhara, Afghanistan, culties whieh arise on its fields of labor. Khokhano, and Khiva, and is spoken by almost all the agricultural population of Tunis.-Of this J!'rench Protectorate these territories. The language is hard in North Africa, with a population of to acquire, as it is spoken in an exceed- 2,000,000 souls, the great majority of ingly rapid, shrill utterance. The transwhom are Mohammedans, a book of lation, reported to be quite worthy of considerable interest has just been pub- the society's repute for scholarly acculished, entitled" La Politique FranQaise racy, was commenced in 1884, by M. en Tunisie," whose author hides his Ostroumoff, a learned Russian gentle. identity under the signature of P. H. X. man who had lived many years in Cen- He speaks of the administrative diffi. tral Asia. His rendering has been most culties of the French resident as being caretully revised and, where advisable, very trying. The Tunisians like their amended by Dr. Radloff, Professor Sale. picturesque, old·world ways, and aro man~, Dr. Sauerwein, and M. Amischanot to be meddled with. Their idea is sisantz. that the streets belong to everyone, and Jewish Colonization in Palestine.- Government circles cause serious mis· "Yeax by year," remaxks Lieutenant· givings regarding the nation's welfare. Colonel Goldsmid, "the state of the Thus fax French influence has not raised Jews all over the world is becoming less the moral standard. The habits of life satisfactory instead of better. As the and non·Christian principles of Frenchresult of the persecutions in Russia and men are unmistakably introducing a Roumania Jewish colonies are being false civilization. In developing the refounded everywhere. They are even in sources of Madagascar, or promoting an initiatory stage in South America, commercial enterprise and colonization, and may likely be commenced in Cen- the French are utterly unfitted. The tral Africa. These schemes, Mr. Gold- export and import trade is nearly all smid thinks, are only deferring the evil done by English and American traders. day. He holds firmly that the Jewish Religiously, the work continues to prosquestion will never be settled until there per. In face of the disappointments is a Jewish state in the Holy Land. with respect to the action of the Govern- " In some countries," he says, " we are ment, the missionaries maintain a pow. persecuted. In others we are barely erful hold on the native communities. tolerated. I am not at all surprised at The London Missionary Society and the this. What other race with 80 glorious Society of Friends sta,nd on almosj; sima history as ours would tamely sit down ilar platforms, and attempt much in comand see the land of their ancestors in mon. It is regretted that the advanced the hands of a foreigner? Italy has re- sacerdotal teachings of the agents of the gained Rome, why should we not regain Society for the Propagation of the Gos. Palestine, instead of being contented to pel prevent co-operation with this body. remain tolerated by the peoples among Despite the energy of Roman Catholic whom we live ?" missionaries and their numbers, they are singularly weak and unable to gather Madagascar.-Political affairs are congregations. taking an erratic course on the island. The determined attitude of the more India-" Age of Consent" Bill.-Naenlightened and patriotic Malagassies tive papers are full of letters and distoward the French Protectorate, to cussions relating to the proposed measwhich I referred in the January issue of ure for raising" marriage consent" from the MISSIONARY REVIEW, is being neu- the age of ten to twelve. The bill is in tralized by the Malagasy Court. Either committee, and should reappear before by adroit negutiations, or intrigue, the the Legislat.ive Council next March, French are already on growingly cordial meanwhile, local goveTnments are colterms with the Government. The Eng- lecting native opinion in all parts of the lish adviser, the Protestant missiona. country. By the Mohammedans exries, and other tried counsellors, are to- pressing themselves favorable and, to day set aside for the French, while the a laxge extent, the Brahmo-Somaj, there queen, the prime minister, and the . is great anticipation of eventual sucladies·in-waiting affect French customs, cess. Orthodox Hindus in Upper· and and eagerly show their regard for the Western India are apparently unconofficials of the French Republic. As a cerned. The National Congress is neucorrespondent says: "The French rep- tral, according to its resolution not to resentative has but to go ahead cau- agitate on social questions. From Bengal tiouslyand circumspectly to obtain for comes the most pronounced opposition, his country all she can possibly wish though it is generally believed the meas· for." What the future will bring re- ure will be carried when it is universally mains to be seen. At present the coun- known that the bill does not interfere try, administratively, is in a lamentable with religious customs, or form a pre-. condition. .The increasing selfishness, Iude to corresponding acts of legislation. despotism, and lax morality noticed in
The Missionary Review of the World — May 1891
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– – ""OTt TtU" 5IM'.&.Aft. FC~Tu RE S BUODI/ISM ROMANISM (tth;m deVlhsh.) (Ubi(S d.efectiye) MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XIV. No. 5.-0ld &ries.–MAY.–VOL. IV. No. 5.-New Series.
LET US EVANGELIZE THE WORLD IN THIS GENERATION.
[EDITORIAL, .A. T. P.] The supreme question of the hour is the immediate preaching of the Gospel to every creature. When Francis Xavier stood before the 'Walled Kingdom and felt the power of its adamantine exclusiveness and proud se1£- sufficiency, he exclaimed, "0 rock! rock! when wilt thou open to my Master r'
Could that heroic Jesuit of Navarre, whose grave was made at Goa in 1552, after these nearly three hundred and forty yellrs, see that" rock" opened to his Master, and the whole world now flinging wide the long-shut doors; and then see the comparative idleness and indifference of the Church, so slow to enter and possess the land, he would turn to the Church itself and cry again, "0 rock! rock! when wilt thou open to my Master ?"
The great question of the hour is, How can the immediate proclamation of the Gospel to every creature be made a fact? Other preliminary questions have been answered by the very movements of God's providence and the developments of human history. We need no longer to ask how we shall get access to the nations, for the barriers are down; nor need we inquire how we are to reach these uttermost parts of the earth, for the steamship and steam-car will bear us to the limits of the globe in less than two months ; nor need we search for the implements and instruments for the work of evangelization, for the printing-press offers to make the eye the handmaid of the ear in the rapid dispersion of the Gospel message, and science offers to be the powerful ally of faith in the conquest of the world for Christ. Nor is it a question of adequate force for the field, for the evangelical churches could furnish four hundred thousand missionaries, or one for every two thousa~d of the unevangelized population, and yet have one hundred at home to support every foreign missionary. It is not even a question of adequate m,eans to support a great army of missionaries, for the aggregate wealth which is at the disposal of disciples is so great that onetenth of it would amply suffice to sustain half a million workmen in the foreign field and supply all the needed adjuncts and accessories for mission work.
LET UI!! EVANGELIZE THE WORLD IN Tms GENERATION
What, then, is the hindrance f We answer unhesitatingly that the Church of God is trifling with human souls and with her own duty. The time has come for plainness of speech. It is no time to put a veil over the face, or a gag into the mouth. Christian missions have never yet been taken up by the Reformed Church as an enterprise to be dared and done for God, like any othel' enterprise, with promptness and resoluteness. Two texts of Scripture should be the motto of the present age : "Where the word of a king is, there is power" (Eccles. 8 : 4), and, " the king's business requireth haste" (1 Sam. 21 : 8). The command of the King of kings is before us; that implies divine authority back of our commission, and hence guarantees divine ability to fulfil.it. And whatever is the King's business it demands implicit and immediate attention. To submit to His authority, to believe in the ability divinely assured, to attempt great things for God, and expect great things from God, would insure an era of missions so far eclipsing all hitherto done or attempted, that the present activity of the Church would be seen to be like the winking of an eye, or the movement of the little finger, in comparison to the energetic action of the whole body in a ra~e for a prize.
The question is asked, How can the eY"angelization of the world in our generation be made a fact?
God has certainly supplied a material basis for this stupendous achievement. Three things amaze and overwhelm the thoughtful observer: First, this is the age of world-wide openings. From Japan, at the sunrise, acrol!lS the whole track of the monarch of day to his sunset pavilion on Pacific shores, he looks down on scarcely one land that still shuts out the Gospel. 8econd, God has given us world-wide facilities. What implements and instruments! The Marquis of Worcester called the sixteenth century the century of inventions, and Dryden named the year 1666 the annus mirabilis. But the nineteenth century might crowd the aehievements of the sixteenth into a decade, and the years 1858 and 1878 were years that were in themselves as wonderful as almost any century previous to the sixteenth. Imagination can scarce paint any means of travel, transportation, communication and contact, which are not now supplied; end another quarter of a century may see the human race navigating the air as they now do the waters, and telegraphing WIthout wires, and driving mail matter through pneumatic tnbes. Again, this is the age of world-w.ide enterprises. Everything moves with a rapid foot, and time and space are annihilated. With a swiftness, credible only when witnessed, men push to the confines of the globe to find treasures, or to bear inventions. The Church of God alone moves slowly! Kerosene lamps and sewing-machines, parlor organs and glass beads are carried ahead of the Bread of Life.
Now, what is the natural basis of a world's evangelization? What, humanly speaking, constitutes man's responsibility in this work? We answer again: Three factors enter into the problem-men, money, and methods. The Gospel needs a voice-a book will not do. Behind the Bible must be a believer, behind the Gospel a gospeller, or herald. God wants witnesses who speak what they know. These the Church must sup- ply. At present the exact number of missionaries is stated as 5994. But for the native laborers, who outnumber ours almost seven times (35,343), our work would almost come to a standstill, with one missionary, on the average, to 166,000 unevangelized. Again, I say, the Church should robe herself in sackcloth at the remembrance of the fact that, in the nineteenth • century, it takes nearly six thousand Protestant church-members to supply one missionary! At the same rate of supply we should have had but a force of 8000 to 10,000 to bring into the field in the late War of the Rebel- lion!
There is the factor of money-for there is a financial basis of evangeliza- tion. The whole church-membership in Protestant churches of America and Europe raise $11,429,588 a year-less than thirty cents a member-less than one-tenth of a cent a day! These are no new facts, but they need to be beaten in by repeated blows.
Our superfluities and luxuries, absolutely unnecessary, save as made so by a luxurious and extravagant taste, reach an aggregate which is believed to be not less than $4.000,000,000. Suppose that only one-tenth of these was sacrificed. We should have $400,000,000 at once for the Lord's work!
Our comforts and conveniences aggregate fully as much more. Suppose we should give one-twentieth of them to the Lord, we should have an aggregate of $200,000,000 more, a total of $600,000,000. Ana yet we have not supposed our self-sacrifice to touch Qur necessities, which might yield no small percentage, in view of the extremities of the poor and the lost.
Consider what a power would accrue to missions if to-day self-sacrifice, without touching out actual needs. should simply begin by a tithe of our luxuries, and a half tithe of our conveniences! Let us have a new " Order of the Iron Cross !"
Then there is the factor of method. We need a careful and systematic method for districting the field and distributing the force. There is so much ground to be covered, and there is so much material of men and money to meet the need. Well, then, let us so map out the world-field and so divide and distribute all available workmen and contributions, that no part of the world shall be unsupplied. If the workmen are scattered, better one than none; and better to supply the whole field inadequately than leave whole districts absolutely destitute.
But I wish to emphasize that supernatural basis of missions, wherein it is my abiding confidence that the solution of this problem really lies. This work is God's work, and we are simply co-operating with the Father. going into all the world as ambassadors; co-operating with the Son, in the cross-bearing of self-sacrifice for souls; co-operating with the Spirit in w~tnessing to His power to save and sanctify. God'il work may demand haste, but never hurry and worry. And because it is His work it can be done if done in His way and in His strength. If I did not believe this I would give up all effort henceforth. The Church will never do this work until, from reliance on men, money, and methods we rise to dependence on the providence of God, prayer in Jesus' name, and the power of the Spirit.
1. The supernatural basis of missions is the divine command. The Word of the Kmg is the assurance of authority and ability: " Whatsoever He saith unto you do it.' , We have not bread enough for so great a multitude j but, He says, " Give ye them to eat," and our means are permitted to be inadequate because He intends to work a Ilew "miracle of the loaves. " We have not men enough to go into all the world j but He says, "Preach the Gospel to every creature," and He allows the supply to be inadequate that in answer to prayer He may "thrust forth laborers into His harvest. " We have but to go and do as He bids us, and we shall find God i'l with us, supplying all lack both of men and money. Our very deficiencies are a challenge to faith.
2. Again the supernatural basis is found in the promised power of Christ. In missions we bear our cross-not crosses-after Christ. We join Him in self-abnegation. We consent to die that others may live-to be buried that others may be garnered, a harvest for the kingdom. Now Christ is both the Captain of the Lord's host on the battlefield, guiding tlle movements of His army, and on the throne, King of kings, administering government. Hence come two grand confidences : First, that the battle is bound to issue in victory, and second, that Omnipotence is on our side. To open shut doors we need only to appeal to Him-to meet all threatening dangers we have only to rest on His power.
3. Once more the supernatural basis is found in the co-witness of the Holy Ghost. In the mouth of this divine, confirming witness, every word shall be established. The conditions of blessing are plainly indicated in the Word of God: (a) ADointed disciples: "Ye shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you." It is " not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord. " Something more than human words and witness brings men to Christ. (b) Scattered vessels. We are the chosen vessels, vehicles of conveyance.
There is here a truth which few seem to have grasped. The Holy Ghost is represented as coming to dwell in and work through disciples, but never as sustaining either of these relations to ungodly souls, who cannot perceive, receive or know the Holy Ghost. It is God's plan that believers shall be everywhere scattered in order to provide avenues of spiritual communication. The Holy Spirit has never yet been known to come down upon and work in a community where there were no believers. In the entire history of missions the intervention of some one or more believing disciples has been the condition of His outpouring. Hence, as water can be conveyed only in vessels or channels, the believer must. become the means of communication, impression, and salvation. Therefore, Christ waits to see
A VOICE lI'ROM THE FmLD
of the travail of his soul, and the Spirit waits to pour out blessing, until the believing Church scatters everywhere the witnesse!! of the cross.
The grand duty of the hour is, to my mind, as plain as an t:nc1ouded Bun at its zenith. Faith in the duty and so the possibility of doing it ; energy of action, courageously and promptly doing the King's business, and prayer for power from above. Give us these, and before the generation passes away the world shall hear the Gospel.
God makes specIal appeal to young men! With many of us life's Bun has passed the zenith and is moving toward its setting, and with not a few the sunset already reddens the sky. You, young men and women, have life before you. Your sun has yet to mount from dawn to zenith. In the age, on ages telling, when into every year is compressed the eventfulness of a century, you are to live. God is marching on ; the signal guns are sounding, the battle grows hot, and the hour is critical and pivotal. Who of you will fall into the ranks and take up the grand march ~ [NOTE.-The above is the substance of an address delivered at Cleveland, 0., before the late Students' Volunteers' Convention, Feb. 27,1891. The following letter, from Dr. McGilvary, will confirm the view here pre- sented.-A. T. P.] A VOICE FROM THE FIELD.
BY REV. n. McGILVARY.
CmENGMAI, N. LAOS MIssION, Oct. 22, 1890.
To The Missionary Review of the World: DEAR EDITOR: You might be interested to hear another voice from the field in response to the standard raised pre-eminently by your REVIEW for a crusade to evangelize the whole world during the present century. The idea is a grand one. Possibly, the faith of but few has reached the standard of Christianizing the whole world during the next decade. We all know it is not beyond the divine power to effect it. It may be doubtful whether it is the revealed will of God that all of any age shall experience the saving power of the Gospel. The number of the saved belongs to the secret things which belong to ,God. There can be no doubt, however, thai it is the revealed wiJI of the great Head of the Church that the Gospel is to be preached to every creature. That command forms the proper foundation of the Church's duty. That it is able, with a tithe of the zeal that nations manifest when their country is in danger, or that the world puts forth in amassing wealth, to carry the Gospel message to every living soul, admits of no doubt. There is latent power in fire and water to move a million-fold the present amount of machinery, but it must be converted into steam. So the great problem is to generate the latent power of the Church into red-hot heat to make i~ effectual. But what trumpet voice is to awaken the slumbering power of the whole Church ~ A pentecostal baptism would do it. That baptism would. surely be given in answer to a universal cry of prayer; but what shall move the Church to prayer ~ What more effectual appeal than the cry of a perishing world open to the Gospel q China's moderate call for five hundred laborers has been echoed by your REVIEW. Japan is a standing appeal and a standing argument to enforce it. Africa has uttered its voice till it is the centre of attraction in Europe. To all of these we heartily respond. Will your readers listen to an appeal for a race that can claim only two or three millions ~ We would appeal esp~cial1y to the Presbyterian Church, some of whom may not see its own excellent organ.
We may assume a general idea of the work in Chiengmai and Lakawn. In these we may regard the Gospel as firmly established. ·When the forces on the way, and those under appointment, reach us, we may hope not to have to draw soon for more foreign laborers for these. With a baptized membership of fifteen hundred, one native ordained minister, a number of valuable assistants and ruling elders, we doubt not that the work would go on were all the foreign laborers removed, while with their aid, which is yet needed, if not absolutely indispensable, we look for great results.
But to perfect the unity and symmetry of our work and design of reaching the whole race, at least two other stations should be occupied, and one of them immediately. In February, March, and April an eV'lngelistic tour of three months was taken by the writer to all the Laos states and cities except Hluang-Prabang, in the extreme northeast. Besides its immediate object, it was designed to take a resurvey of the whole field with 'a view of selecting the next station. Two points called for special attention. One is M-Nan, in one sense the flower of the Laos states. Its territory is as large and populous as Chiengmai, but its rulers are somewhat more conservative. It is open, but not yet so like a ripe apple falling into our hands as afourth one to which I would call the attention of the Church. One hundred miles to the north of Chiengmai is Chieng-Rai, or Kieng-Rai. Fifty miles farther north is Chieng-Saan (or Kieng~Tsan), the northernmost province or state in the kingdom, and to the east is Chieng Kong, both the latter being situated on the great Cambodia River. The rulers in all these are favorable to our work. The Governor of Chieng-Rai was disappointed that we could not occupy a lot previously given this year. There is an organized church of about eighty baptized members mainly the result of God's blessing on native labor. In Chieng-Saan there is another of over forty members. Chieng-Kong is the largest department of the M-Nan state, which closely borders on Chieng-Rai, while to the south is Papaw, with a membership that can soon be organized into a church. With a fair idea of the whole field from previous isolated towns, and an extensive acquaintance and inquiry for twenty years, I was hardly prepared to realize the possibility of reaching the whole Laos race in the next decade by a station to be formed immediately in those three places, with Chieng-Rai as the centre, and a subsequent one in the latter half of the decade in M-Nan. A more promising neld for evangel~stic work could not be chosen for the present than the . former. Providence has opened the door, removed all. obstacles, and planted churches in advance.
Before reaching home a plan was formed of going up to Chieng-Rai in Decem,ber, leaving my family and spending six months, and returning to Chiengmai the latter half of the year. With these bright visions of work, imagine my disappointment on learning that the debt of the Board required retrenchment and not expansion. But still the two stations of Chiengmai and Lakawn have appealed to the Board for its sanction. The last letter from the Board expressed a doubt as to its favorable decision. The only difficulty in the way is the funds. How many churches, how many indi- viduals in the church, could assume the expense of a station for one, three, or five years! Mr. James Lenox gave $3000 the first year to start the Chiengmai Mission. The call seems imperative. Not to adyance is to risk the loss of the best portion of our field. Hluang-Prabang, lower down on the Cambodia, contiguous to French territory, is already occupied by a Catholic mission. If we fail to advance, they probably will. The Govern- ment and the people would greatly prefer our occupying it. It would give a scope to our native workers, and develop as nothing else would the mis- sionary spirit in the native churches. It would furnish a wider field for our literature. There is no obstacle in the way but the want offunds. In nearly every place visited, the complaint was that our stay was too short.
The wife of the Governor of Chieng-Kong could hardly be reconciled, and .begged _for one month to be taught to read our Scriptures by Miss Mc- Gilvary. Three weeks after we had left we were overtaken by three men, who had not heard of our arrival, and who were anxious to study our re- ligion. A head priest in M-Ngow, whom I had formerly met, had read our books, and partially promised to leave the priesthood and come to Chiengmai to ~tudy more. The venerable Viceroy of M-Nan, eighty-four years of age, voiced a common sentiment in regard to Buddhism. When our religion was explained, at our audience, as well as it could be to one so deaf, he replied, "That is all very good. You may preach it to my people; but as for me, it is too late. I have built my temples, fed the priests, made my offerings, and performed my devotions in the only re- ligion I knew. I must rely on my merit for the future." To the sug- gestion that the road to Nirvana is practically endless, he replied: "You say truly. It can only be attained after myriads of transmigrations, but it is too late to enter a new one. You must teach the rising generation."
After myriads of transmigrations. If such appeals from princes, priests, and people touch no chord in the hearts of those who believe that they have themselves been saved by the Gospel, and make no call to prayer, offer no motive to self-denial and effort, what more can be said ~ Only one other voice is stronger, and that comes from the Mount of Olives, from the lips of the ascending Saviour, " Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, and 10, I am with YOIl alway, unto the end of the world.
Amen." Yours fraternally, D. MCGUVARY.
MODERN MISSIONARY MARVELS
MODERN MISSIONARY MARVELS.
THE BASSEIN-ARAKAN MISSION AMONG THE SGAU AND PWO KAREli8.
BY L. P. BROCKETT, M.D., BROOKLYN, N. Y.
Among the forty-two nationalities inhabiting Burmah about twenty be.. long to the Karen family, and are distributed over its entire territory, as well as that of Siam, and are supposed to number nearly 2,500,000 souls. So far as known, none of them are Buddhists or, idolaters; most of them believe in a Supreme Being, who is far away, and takes but little interest in human affairs j they also believe jn Nots, demons, or evil spirits, taking a malicious pleasure in annoying and troubling men, to whom they offer sacrifices of food, to placate them. They have no priests or medicine men. They are brave, honest, and reliable. The northern tribes are great fighters, while the southern tribes are peacllable and quiet. They are generally agriculturists, fishermen, or laborers, and very industrious. Their languages differ greatly, but philologists assert that they have a common root. They differ also greatly in cmtoms, habits, and manners.
Of the .tribes of Southern Burmah the largest are the Sgaus and Pwos, inhabiting the Tenasserim and Pegu provinces, between the eastern and western Yoma ranges of mountains, and extending from the twelfth to the eighteenth degree of north latitude. This includes all the delta branches of the Irawadi and a part of the main river, as well as the lower portion of the Salwen (Sol-ween) and Sitang (See-tong) rivers. In this territory the Tenasserim region was separated from that around the delta branches of the Irawadi by a wide expanse of jungle from one to two hundred miles in breadth.
The Gospel was first offered to the Karens of the Tenasserim provinces- Tavoy, Mergui and, not long after, to those in Amherst, Maulmain (Mohool-mah.een), and Maubee (Mah-oo-bee)-by Rev. George D. Boardman and Rev. Francis Mason, and the faithful assistant (Ko-thah-byu, the Karen apostle and first Karen convert), in 1828, and the following years. Unlike the Burmans, they readily accepted it, and very many were baptized. Many converts were gathered also in Rangoon, and the language was reduced"to writing by Rev. Dr. Wade, then of Maulmain, and some text- Looks and tracts" printed in it in 1831 and 1832. The New Testament was translated into the Sgau Karen dialect, and portions of it printed between 1833 and 1836. But though Ko-thah-byu and some of the other assistants had been very active and successful in carrying the Gospel to their eountrymen in the Tenasserim provinces and the region east of Rangoon, no effort had been made to reach the far more numerous Karens of the Bassein district, the southwestern section of Burmah, occupying the region drained by the delta branches of the Irawadi, and extending for some distance northward between the main river and the western Yoma range of mountains. This district had an area of 7047 square miles (about as large as Massa- chusetts) and, in 1881, a population of 381,419, of whom nearly 100,000 were Sgau and Pwo Karens. The Karen population has largely increased since 1881. The district is fertile, producing rice and fruits in great abundance and large quantities of fish in the rivers. Bassein, its capital, was a port of entry with a large commerce. The Burmans, who were the ruling class, oppressed the Karens most cruelly and had reductld most of them to a condition of peonage.
Light was brought to this people, then sitting in darkness, in a very singular way. In April, 1835, Rev. Thomas Simons, a Baptist missionary to the Burmans in Rangoon, who bad been on a visit to friends in Arakan, then a British province, determined to return to Rangoon overland through Bassein, crossing through a pass in the western Yomas to some of the branches of the Irawadi. His journey by boat and on foot occupied ~everal days. Mr. Simons did not understand the Karen language, but he carried with him many Burmese tracts, some of them written by Dr. Judson. In the villages at which he stopped he distributed these to the Burmans and Karens who came around him, and not knowing that the Burmans had prohibited the Karens from reading or hearing read any foreign books, he told them to ask some of the Burmans to read them to them. Mr. Simons made his way to Rangoon, and the bread which he had cast upon the waters seemed to have been wasted. But it was not.
Two years later Rev. Elisha L. Abbott, designated as a missionary to the Karens in Burmah, after spending a year in Maulmain and Tavoy in acquiring the language, came to Rangoon to commence his labors there. He met with great success and baptized nearly two hundred, mostly in the vicinity of Maubee, thirty miles north of Rangoon. In December, 1837, he left Rangoon to make his first visit to Bassein, in which no missionary had yet preached. He crossed the Irawadi, December 16th, and entered the little village of Sekkau. In the first house he entered he found several Christians, some of whom had visited Rangoon. Very soon an old man came in, and going up to Mr. Abbott said: " Teacher, I want to be bap- tized." On inquiring, Mr. Abbott found that two years before a Burman had come to the old man and offered to sell him two little b(loks in the Burmese language, which proved to be the" Golden Balance" and" The Ship of Grace," which Mr. Simons had given to him. As the old man could read Burmese, he bought them for two large bunches of plantains. He read them over and over again. They told him of an Eternal God and a Divine Redeemer. He was not satisfied, but wanted to know more, and hearing that the Karens in Maubee had received a new religion; he made his way thither through the dense jungle, infested with robbers and wild beasts, a distance of nearly a hundred miles, obtained light and instruction, embraced the Gospel with all his heart, told the story of the cross to his neighbors, some of whom were converted, and for a year had served God . with all his house. Three days later, at a large village on the eastern bank of the Irawadi, he found that a whole village of Karens, nearly a hundred souls, had been leq to embrace Christianity by reading some of these Bur- mese tracts distributed by Mr. Simons, and finding their way to Maubee had learned to read in Karen, and received instruction which enabled them to become very efficient missionaries to their countrymen. These people were not within the technical bounds of the Bassein district. Mr. Abbott ex- amined the~ carefully, baptized thirty-four of them, and organized them into a church, and went his way into Bassein proper. At the large village of Kyootoo, on the west bank of the Irawadi, he preached in Karen, and , among his hearers was a young Karen chief, Shway Weing, a man of re- markable abilities and great influence, but at that time, Mr. Abbott said, " a most ungovernable, wicked, and reckless heathen." Under that ser- mon he was converted, learned to read the Karen language, and began to labor most earnestly for the conversion of his people. Mr. Abbott, as soon as possible' after his return to Rangoon, decided to commence Ii school for young Christian Karens where they might be instructed and trained to be- come assistants in the missionary work. On the 8th of June, Shway Weing sen't him a number of young men to be instructed and baptized, and wrote a most interesting letter pleading that he would come to Bass~in if possible, and bring a great many of the precious books with him. The people of five Karen ~'illages, which he named, he said, "all worship God, every one; but we have no books, oh teacher, that we may fully understand the word of the Eternal God and keep it, and be enabled to distinguish between right and wrong. Weare very anxious that you come again."
On the 10th of June, 1838, Mr. Abbott began his training school with fourteen young men, mostly from Bassein, all Christians, but none of them as yet baptized. On the 20th Shway Weing arrived, with nine other young men, converted under his labors and those of Mau Yay and Moung Shway, two other young converts like-minded with himself. He desired for him- self and his associates that they should be baptized (he could not, he said, return to his village unless he was baptized), and receive a fresh supply of books to instruct those who were coming to him to learn the way of salva- tion. Eight of the young men were received into the school and, after a very careful examination, which convinced Mr. Abbott of the genuineness of his conversion, he was baptized, provided with books, and returned home rejoicing.
Presently there broke upon the missionary, his students, and the new con- verts, both in Rangoon and BaAsein, a storm of the most violent persecu- tion. Personally, Mr. Abbott was safe from violence, but his house was watched, Karens were prohibited from going thither, and any Karen found holding intercourse with him, or having in his possession any of the" white books" was beaten, imprisoned, put in the stocks, tortared, made to work on the pagoda-grounds, loaded with several pairs of heavy iron fetters and, on a repetition of the offence, threatened with death either by beheading or crucifixion. Mau Yay, Htou Byu, and another student, and Shway 1891.] MODEM MtsS10NAll.1' :M:Alt"VEtS. 881 Weing himself, suffered these cruel punishments, but they held firmly to their faith, though as yet none of them, except the young chief, had been baptized. All witnessed a good confession. They were at last released, but only by the decided action of the British Resident. After his release, Shway Weing wished to take more books to his people. "No," said Mr. Abbott, "you have just escaped with your life. If you I,Ire found with books in your possession now, you would certainly lose your head." " Should so much sooner get to heaven," was his reply.
The Burman Government was evidently in earnest to put down Christianity. Burmese Christians were persecuted as well- as Karens, and, as was their nature, the Burman officials gloated in inflicting the most atrocious cruelties. Yet the Karens could not be prevented from coming to the missionaries and pleading for books and instruction in the way of life, and if arrested and imprisoned they boldly avowed their Christianity. The missionaries found it necessary, for the sake of these poor converts, to remove to Maulmain, which was British territory, but their hearts ached for these poor Karens among whom the Gospel was spreading so rapidly through the efforts of these partially instructed assistants. By the first of January,. 1839, it was reported that more than a thousand of them had become obedient to the faith, and the good work was still progressing. Mr. Abbott was greatly distressed at the very small amount of knowledge which the new converts, and even the assistants, whose training had been so scanty, possessed j but he knew that they accepted Christ in simple faith as their Divine Redeemer. Yet, how to reach these humble disciples, to instruct, examine, and baptize them, and organize them into churches, and train up pastors for them, was a very difficult problem. It was out of the question to accomplish this from Maulmain j the journey by water was too long and dangerous, and that by land through the terrible jungle too perilous j and the Burman officials would prevent them from attempting either route, slaughtering them if necessary. The lower Tenasserim region, Tavoy, Mergui, etc., would be eve'll more inaccessible. For a time in the summer of 1839 there was a lull in the persecution, and the Burman Viceroy at Rangoon thought it would be good policy to favor the Americans, and invited Messrs. Kincaid and Abbott to visit Rangoon, return thither, and commence anew their missionary work in that city. They accepted his invitation, remained there forty days, during which they saw many of the Bassein oon- _ verts. They were satisfied of his friendly intentions and went back to Maulmain, intending to remove with their families to Rangoon in October. But the cruel and bloodthirsty royal tyrant, Tharawadi, was determined to crush Christianity out of Burmah, and almost immediately after the missionaries left Rangoon he summoned the viceroy to Ava, stripped him of all his honors, loaded him with chains, and consigned him to the death prison. In his place he appointed one of the most ignorant and brutal of his officers, with instructions to persecute all ChristIans, Burmans, Talaings, and Karens more violently than ever. All the missiunaries were obliged to escape to Maulmain, and the native churches were scattered.
There was now no alternative for Messrs. Abbott and Kincaid. The Bassein disciples could only be reached from Arakan, a narrow sandy strip of land on the eastern shore of the Bay of Bengal, extending to the western slope of the Yoma range of mountains, and having several good seaports. The land was sterile, the climate sickly, but it was British territory. From Sandoway, Ong Khy-oung, Sinmah, and Gwa harbors, on the Arakan coast, it was possible to cross the Yoma Mountains (here from 8000 to 12,- 000 feet in altitude) by three or four rather difficult passes. The mountains, and even the passes, were covered with a dense jungle inhabited by tigers, leopards, hyenas, rhinoceroses, and elephants, and enormous pythons, cobras, and other vcnomous serpents. Many bands of robbers had their haunts here. The plan decided upon was that Mr. Abbott and his family should remove to Sandoway and thence open communication through the mountain passes with the Bassein converts, who could come to Sandoway for baptism, and the most promising yOung men could be received at his house for study and training as native preachers and assistants. Messrs. Abbott and Kincaid and their families, with several Karen assistants, and the venerable Ko-that-byu, sailed for Arakan in February, 1840; Mr. Abbott and his company landed at Sandoway, March 17th, 1840, while the Kincaids went on to Akyab.
In January, 1840, there were in Bassein more than two thousand Christian Sgau Karens, none of whom had yet been baptized (brought to Christ by the zealous labors of Shway Weing, Mau Yay, Myat Keh, and others), who had avowed themselves Christians for the last one or two years, had led exemplary and pure lives, free from any taint" of heathenism or any sinful practices, and who were anxious to be baptized and organized into churches. Behind these were quite as many more who had abandoned all heathen customs and practices, and were disposed, so far as they knew, to become Christians, and accept Jesus as their Saviour and Redeemer. Of these 4000 or more, probably not more than three or four hundred had e'er heard a Gospel sermon, or seen a missionary; all they knew of the way of salvation had been acquired from the books and tracts which had been read to them, and the teachings of the assistants, whose instruction had been very meagre. They were very ignorant, but they had heard of Jesus, and they were willing to trust in Him and, if need be, to die for Him.
Immediately on reaching Sandoway Mr. Abbott despatched his two assistants over the mountains, to invite the young men to come to him for instruction, and other disciples to come for examination and baptism. Within a month 135 Karens had come in, between thirty and forty of them young men who had come to study for assistants. They continued to come in great numbers, though some lost their way and perished in the jungles. Mr. Abbot.t examined all the candidates carefully, and baptized several hundreds, who were organized into churches. Some of them remammg in Arakan, while others, with the best instructed assistants, after organization, returned over the mountains to Bassein, to establish Christian villages there. He was indefatigable in training native preachers, and they generally proved apt 8cholars. There was much sickness, jungle fever, and cholera, both in his own family and among the students, but the teaching work went on. He also interested the British Commissioner, Mr. (afterward Sir) Arthur P. Phayre, in his Karens, and procured grants of land for villages for them, timber for building, and seed rice for planting, the first year. The persecution was so severe in Bassein, the imprisonment so cruel, and the fines and plundering so crushing, that the poor Karens, in sheer despair, were compelled to fly to Arakan. More than a thousand thus emigrated in 1841-42. They had cleared the jungle and built up pleasant villages, with good chapels and comfortable dwellings when, in 1842, a terrible epidemic of cholera swept over both Arakan and Bassein, and more than a thousand of the converts fell victims to it and to the hardships they were called to endure. Many of the colonists in Arakan werl) so terrified by the pestilence, that they attempted to return to Bassein and perished in the jungle. Mr. and Mrs. Abbott were indefatigable in their attendance upon the sick and dying, and they taught the assistants to be active in these ministrations of mercy. The next year the Bassein disciples came over in great numbers, and the villages which had been deserted were made to blossom as the rose. In order to carry out his plan of instructing the preachers and people as rapidly as possible, and retain an oversight of the churches, Mr. Abbott every winter called the pastors (native preachers and assistants) and as many of the deacons and members of the churches as could come, to meet him at one of the frontier towns in Arakan for a conference of three or four weeks, at which he heard reports from each of the churches, advised them in regard to discipline, and instructed them in the doctrines of the Gospel. On these occasions many were baptized. At the conference of 1843, finding that his labors were to,o great for his strength, he decided to ordain two of the native assistants, in whom, from long acquaintance and thorough examination, he had full confidence. These were Myat Kyau and Tway Po. These were the first ordained preachers among the Sgau Karens of Bas~ein. They proved to be most excellent men, and for ten years they served the churches with great fidelity and success. Within about a year after their ordination, Myat Kyau reported 1550 baptisms and Tway Po nearly 600. Both acted as pastors as well as evangelists. Early in 1845 Mrs. Abbott and two of her children died, and Mr. Abbott was attacked with pulmonary consumption and compelled to sail for England and America. He was absent for two yeaIs, and returned with health still seriously impaired. An associate, Rev. J. S. Beecher, was sent to Sandoway by the Missionary Union. The Bassein-Arakan churches had been under the care of the two native evangelists during his absence.
Mr. Abbott and his associate entered upon their work with great zeal, visiting the association, counselling, instructing, and stimulating the churches to higher endeavor, directing their attention to the heathen around them, and in Northern Burmah, and encouraging them to establish the Karen Home Missionary Society, to sustain their own native preachers as missionaries to the heathen tribes. The tyrant Tharawadi was deposed and dead, and as the new king did not like to lose so many of his taxpaying subjects to the English by emigration, orders were given that the persecution should be relaxed. Under this lull in its fury, Messrs. Abbott and Beecher urged upon the churches that they should support their own native pastors i most of them willingly did this, and only about six hundred rupees ($270) was sent from America for that purpose.' An effort was made to establish elementary schools to teach both children and adults to read the Scriptures in the Sgau Karen language. The Pwo Karens, who had bee. neglected because the missiouaries did not understand their language, were now clamoring for books and teachers-a lack which the Roman Catholics were attempting to supply-and a missionary, Rev. H. L. Van Meter and some native preachers were assigned to them. Mr. Abbott made two very strenuous efforts to enter and settle in Bassein, but was thwarted by treacherous Burmese officials in both. His health again failing, he was compelled to remove temporarily to Tavoy and Maulmain, but labored there in the preparation and printing of Karen tracts and text-books. When the long-threatened second Anglo-Burmese war at last commenced, in 1852, he was on the alert (though very ill) to enter Bassein as soon as it was captured, and though unable to be borne on shore for ten days after his arrival, he spent nearly three months in the city of Bassein (August-October, 1852), receiving, counselling, and directing the native pastors and preachers, as well as the members of the churches. At the beginning of the war, January, 1852, there were over five thousand members in the Sgau Karen churches, and nearly four thousand more professed converts not yet baptized j 55 churches and 54 native preachers, of whom five were ordained. When Mr. Abbott was compelled by the pressure of disease to turn his face homeward, in October, 1852, his parting with the Karens was very distressing. They gathered about his couch weeping and anxious to' minister to him, but overwhelmed with grief that they should see his face no more. He arrived in America !Jarly in 1853, and. though unable to labor, except to some extent with his pen, dwelt in the land of Beulah till the day of his release, in December, 1854. Hp. was but forty-five years of age. Thf; Karens had been driven to take up arms against their oppressors, and the Burmese were full of rage against them. For more than a year after the declaration of peace the Burman dacoits, or guerillas, ravaged every Karen Christian village, burning the chapels and dwellings, plundering the inhabitants of all their grain and other property, torturing, outraging and butchering old men, women, and children, crucifying some of the native pastors, till they were captured and slain by the English troops and their Karen allies. Yet the churches reported at the association in February, 1853, 50 congregations, about forty pastors, and 5000 members.
The year 1854 was one of sad visitations of pestilence and famine, three pastors, including the first two ordained-Myat Kyau and Tway Po– had fallen victims to cholera, and 250 of the members had died. About forty had been excluded-mostly those who, in the stress of suffering and starvation, had robbed or maltreated others-but 519 had been baptized, the greater part new converts, and many Burmans had been led by the Christian lives and fortitude of the Karens to become Cbristians. Mr. Beecher had entered upon tbe work the sainted Abbott had laid down, but his health failed from overwork, his wife had died on her way to America, and an unfortunate misunderstanding with the Missionary Board, or rather the deputation it had sent out in 1852-53, rendered it necessary for him to return to America in February, 1855. He returned in 185'7 with a second wife, a noble and excellent woman j but he came back as a missionary of the American Baptist Free Mission Society, and not of the Missionary Union. Messrs. Yan Meter (the missionary to the Pwos) and Douglas (missionary to the Burmans of Bassein) had given their counsel and assistance to the native pastors during his absence, and the mission had not seriously suffered. The Missionary Union had sent other missionaries to take Mr. Beecher's place, but the Karens would only have their old teacher, and from September, 184'7 to 1866, he devoted all his powers to their service. While maintaining discipline and correcting errors and abuses which had sprung up in his absence, and endeavoring to promote a higher spiritual life, Mr. Beecher recognized as the great duty before him the necessity of promoting a higher education and a greater social and industrial progress than the Karens had yet made. They were now free from the Burman yoke, and while in their villages and churches they should be first of all Christians, he deemed it necessary that they should be also intelligent Christians and should make such progress in social life and industries that they might be qualified to hold their own with the Burmans who had hitherto affected to despise them. Mr. and Mrs. Beecher selected a site for their new mission compound near the city and overlooking it; the British commissioner granted them ten acres, and friends sixteen more, and here, besides the necessary dwellings, Mr. Beecher proceeded to erect the " Sgau Karen Normal and Industrial Institute," in which there should be a vernacular high school, an advanced English school, in which native teachers and assistants should be educated, and an industrial department, in which the pupils should spend three or four hours each secular day in the practice of some of the more useful arts and trades. He had previously greatly en" couraged and increased the attendance upon the elementary schools, which now numbered over eleven hundred scholars, had caused the establishment of four academies, advanced, or, as we should say, grammar schools, in the vernacular tongue, and these, as well as his Normal and Industrial Institute, were erected and supported by the Karens themselves. The cost of the buildings was 4000 rupees, and the contribution!> from the Karen churches had risen from 9586 rupees, in 1860, to 20,666 rupees in 1866. In the same time the Sgau Karen membership had increased from 5501 to 6289, the number of churches from 56 to 70, and the preachers to 109, of whom 18 were ordained. There were 22 evangelists or missi(maries in the various fields. Mr. Beecher's labors in the eight and a half years (1847- 66) which followed were herculean. No three men could have performed them aud have lived. He plead most earnestly with the Free Mission Society (as he had done previously with the A. B. M. U.) for an associate in the educational work, but none was sent till the autumn of 1865, when Dr. ·W. M. Scott arrived without knowledge of the language. It was too late. Mr. Beecher had established the elementary schools and furnished teachers for them; had founded several large academies; had built and organized his threefold Normal and Indust~ial Institute, and superintended all the teaching and training; had maintained his school for native pastors; had ordained 14 native evangelists; had impressed his own lofty character for piety and spirituality upon the 70 native churches; he had done all this and more with only the help of his devoteq wife, but the end had come. About April 1st, 1866, he was smitten down with liver disease, and his physicians gave him but a week to prepare for a homeward voyage. His wife, almost an invalid, and his four little children embarked for England, which they reached September 12th and, after lingering about five weeks at Plymouth, England, he was not, for God took him. He had not quite completed his forty-seventh year.
But though the leaders fall the work must go on. Dr. Scott took charge of the Institute and, in a general way, of the schools. The native evangelists and pastors went on with the churches and the native missionary work till February, 1867, when Rev. B. C. Thomas, an excellent missionary from Hentzada, took Mr. Beecher's place; but for him the work proved too great. He was compelled to sail for America in January, 1868, and, in June, three days after arriving at New York, died, having just passed his forty-eighth birthday.
The old difficulty between the Missionary Union and the Free Mission Society was healed, and the property of the society had been purchased by the Union. Mr. Douglas, who had been in charge after Mr. Thomas left, died of bilious fever in July, 1868, at the age of about forty-six and a half years. Mr. Van Meter, the faithful and efficient missionary to the Pwos, after a lingering illness reached America only to die in August, 1870, not having completed his forty-sixth year, and a year later his wife followed him.
The Karens were thus deprived of all their counsellors and teachers in the past, all of them dying in the prime of life, and at a time when they so much needed the helpful influence and superintendence of an able and accomplished missionary. They had known something of Rev. C. H. Carpenter, then a professor in the Karen Theological Seminary, at R.an~oon" who had visited Bassein and was thoroughly conversant with the Karen language, and they had· applied to the Missionary Union to send him, and had also written in September, ] 868, to Mr. Carpenter himself, asking him to come and be their teacher. The Board of Managers, in November, 1868, cabled to Bassein the message (the first they had ever Bent to Burmsh), " Carpenter transferred to Bassein, Smith to Rangoon."
Mr. Carpenter removed immediately to his new field. lIe was about thirty-three years of age, an accomplished scholar, of wonderful tact and executive ability, and the work he accomplished for Bassein in the next twelve years has never been equalled by any missionary in the world. lIe began by visiting nearly everyone of the Karen churches in Bassein and southern Arakan, and ascertaining all the facts respecting their pastors, their spiritual condition, discipline, educational progress, and social attainments. Of course there were many abuses and errors to be corrected; three or four of the pastors (one of them an ordained man) had fallen: others (a few only) were ignorant and inefficient; the discipline was not thorough, the spiritual condition was generally good, though in some instances there ,was a lack of earnestness j a majority of the mem bers of the churches could neither read nor write j only one in thirty had either the Old or New Testament Scriptures, and many of the schools were not well taught. The social condition, though much higher than among the heathen, was stm too low. With the aid of the leading pastors, some of the best men to be found anywhere, Mr. Carpenter set himself to reform these evils, and to bring the churches up to a high standard of holy Christian living; and he was, in the main, successful; but two of the churches clung to their fallen leaders and went to destruction. There was a genuine revival, and many hundreds of new converts were received into the churches. The schools were greatly improved, the academies made great advancement, and the Bassein Institute founded by Mr. Beecher was again crowded with pupils. But the buildings of the Institute, constructed of cheap jungle wood, and covered with thatch, were sadly dilapidated by their eleven years' wear in that climate, and were in imminent danger of destruction from fire. They must be rebuilt and greatly enlarged, and the buildings, to be nearly fire-proof, must be of teak, with iron-wood posts. Mr. Carpenter had already made his plans for an entire reconstruction of the compound, which was to be graded and laid out anew, with the buildings arranged around a park of fruit and flowering trees in the centre, the erection of school buildings, teachers' houses, and dormitories around this park. With this. plan prepared he addressed the pastors whom he had called in consultation and, after stating the need of the school, asked them to pledge their churches to raise the amount needed (about 6000 rupees) in three years. They were evidently taken aback by this proposition. They had raised considerable sums under Mr. Beecher's leadership, but nothing like this j moreover, they were supporting their pastors, their ~chools, and their missionaries. Why could not the American churches help them in this? Mr. Carpenter met all their objections with infinite tact, and at last persuaded them, though with some hesitation, to make the pledges. The. students in the Institute did the grading, laying out and planting of the trees. These pledges were fulfilled and exceeded. Instead of 6000 rupees they had contributed more than eight thousand before the expiration of the three years, and were ready to go on with a new girls' school building. In 1870 Mr. Carpenter urged upon the pastors and teachers the duty of liberal and systematic giving, and a few days later all the pastors and the teachers in the Institute voluntarily signed au agreement to give to the cause of the Lord not less than one-tenth of their income. This pledge has been maintained ever since. More of the pastors were now ordained, till the whole number was twenty-two. But the work was too exhausting and the pace too rapid for Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter, and at the end of three and a half years they were compelled to return to America for rest and the restoration of their health. They sailed in January, 1872, and returned in 1874, after an absence of about two years. Mr. (now Dr.) Jameson had come as a missionary to the Burmans in 1870, and could not be induced to change to the Karens, but he rendered some assistance, and Mr. Hopkinson; sent out as Mr. Carpenter's associate, came to Bassein in January, 1872. Mr. and Mrs. Van Meter were both dead, and Mr. Goodell had just come as' a missionary to t11e Pwos. There were, therefore, three missionaries who could render some assistance during Mr. Carpenter's absence. On his return, in April, 1874, the Board had appointed him President of the Rangoon Baptist College, but his heart was in Bassein and, convinced that he could ~e more useful and accomplish more for the cause of God there than in Rangoon, he resigned, and in March, 1875, returned to his beloved Karens. At his return he embarked with new zeal on his educational plans. Within two weeks after his arrival the association voted unanimously to raise 20,000 rupees in four years for a large and substantial chapel and boys' school building. The girls' school building, which had cost between 6000 and 7000 rupees (about half of the amount being contributed by the Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society), was completed in October j the baptism of the first Karen convert in Burmah (Ko-thah-byu, a native of Bassein) having occurred May 16th, 1828, the Karens resolved to call their new and great building, which was to be devoted to the education and Chtistianization of the Karens, Ko-thah-byu Memorial Hall, and to dedicate it, free from debt, on May 16th, 1878, the fiftieth anniversary of his baptism. It was a great undertaking for a people so lately rescued from heathenism and semi-barbarism, and among whom there was not one rich or even moderately wealthy man, and where the giving implied great sacrifices; but it was accomplished, I.4nd in three years instead of four the 20,000 rupees of the building fund had become 42,342 rupees in May, 1878, and the other charges and expenses had all been met, including the support of the pastors, the missionaries to other tribes, and the schools, and the heavy expense of the support of these boarding schools, and beyond this these Karens had, in 1874, sent 1000 rupees to their famine-stricken brethren in Toungoo j and, in 1877, while threatened with famine themselves, another 1000 rupees to the perishing Telugus across the Bay of Bengal, who, though of another race, were their brethren in Christ.
They had raised in the ten years, 1868-78, for the erection of permanent buildings for their Industrial Institute and its partial endowment, 82,512 rupees, equal to $36,565. The Institute, as completed, had cost about 150,000 rupees, the difference, except the 3300 rupees of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, being made up by friends of the missionaries in Burmah, England, and America. The whole property was made over to the Baptist Missionary Union in trust for the mission.
The whole contributions of the Sgau Karens for mission and educational purposes, from December, 1868, to December,· 1879, eleven years, slightly exceeded 365,000 rupees ($164,250), a sum which, under the circum- stances, was unprecedented in any mission of like extent in the world.
None of the objects they had undertaken to sustain had been suffered to lack j their pastors had been supported, their missionaries among the heathen tribes paid promptly, their chapels rebuilt and kept in good order, the teachers Of the elementary schools, the academies, and the great schools at Bassein, had been supported, and the sustenance for 2.50 boarding schol- ars provided. These schools all received grants-in-aid from the British Government for their excellent teaching, and the blessing of God rested on their faithful work for Him; notwithstanding the defection of two churches, and the dismissal of four others to the Rangoon Association, and the dis- mission of more than five hundrea other members to churches of the same association, the number of churches had increased from 52 to 80 ; of mem- bers from less than 6000 to nearly 8000 (the Pwo churches not being in- cluded as forming an association of their own), and these very largely by conversion and baptism; their preachers and pastors were better educated and were sound in the faith.
To crown their work the Karen pastors proposed to raise an endowment of 50,000 rupees for the Normal and Industrial Institute within seven years, and as usual they exceeded their pledge, raising more than 60,000 rupees in the first three years, and were to make up the amount to 100,000 • rupees by 1890. It can hardly be matter of surp·rise that Mr. and Mrs.
Carpenter were again compelled to leave Bassein, in November, 1880, or that after three or four years of ineffectllal effort to regain their health, he should have gone to a new field in Japan, where, after a year of labor he passed away at the age of about fifty years.
His successor, Rev. C. A. Nichols, is a man like minded with Mr. Car- penter. He has now completed his tenth year of service, and with tho efficient aid of Mrs. Nichols, and four ladies, who are mainly engaged in the ~assein schools, he reports progress along the whole line. Mr. and Mrs. Nichols were compelled to return home on account of ill health, but n in a year and & h1l1f retIJrneq withn~w vigor. hll& been p~ccssar, to enlarge the Ko-thah-byu Memorial Hall and the school-rooms j 400 pupils are in attendance j those who pass the examination for admission have tuition and board free. The village schools have increased to 78, with about 2400 pupils j the churches to 88, with a membership of 8589. (These figures do not include the Pwos, who have 22 churches 'and 1367 members.) There are 79 preachers, of whom 29 are ordained. All the churches, schools, etc., are self-supporting. The contributions of 1889 were *23,000-nearly 60,000 rupees at present rates. The number of baptisms was 404. Of the 100 Sgau Karen villages 83 are Christian villages, with churches and chapels in each. Socially and intellectually, as well as morally, the Sgau Karens are making rapid advances, and are attain· ing to positions of honor and trust. The Government finds them more capable and trustworthy than the Burmans. Such have been some of the results of fifty years of patient and faithful missionary labor. Have we done better here at home Y Canon Scott Robertson has published his annual summary of the funds voluntarily given or bequeathed in the British Isles for the work of Foreign Missions for the year 1889. The calculation shows that the total so given was £1,301,306. Of this sum Canon Scott Robertson estimates that about £670,000, or rather more than one.half, came from members of the Church of England. Although the total for 1889-£1,301,306-is below that for 1888, it is greater than any similar total previous to 1888. The channels of contribution were: Churc!> of England Societies, £523,226 j Joint Societies of Churchmen and Nonconformists, £21'7,963 ; English and Welsh Nonconformist Societies, £364,652 j Scotch and Irish Presbyterian Societies, £185,646 j Roman Catholic SOCleties, £9,819.
The late Henry Thornton, who did not drive from him people who sought subscriptions for mission work as if they were mendicants, as some rich persons are in the habit of doing, in response to an appeal from a visitor, once wrote out a check for £5. Before the ink was dry a telegram was brought to him. He tore open the envelope, read the contents, and turned ' ashy white. He said to his visitor-a clergyman-" I have received some dreadful news. I have lost hundreds of pounds-give me back that check." It was not pleasant to give back the check, and I dare say nine persons out of ten would have cancelled it j but Mr. Thornton, on receiving it back, . altered the" £5" to " £50," saying, " God has just taught me that I may not much longer possess my property, and therefore I must use it well." Did Henry Thornton lose anything by that ~ Did he die a bankrupt 1 No; he continued one of the most prosperous merchants of his day, and consecrated his wealth, his influence, and his time to the Lord Jesm! Christ.- $outh 4mericg,n J(ilflliQnary Ma[lazine. PROTESTANT MISSIONS BEFORE CAREY.
BY REV. DELAVAN L. LEONARD, BELLEVUE, OHIO.
Whatever the reason may have been, certain it is that the great Reformers of the sixteenth century, with all their lofty enthusiasm and holy zeal, were possessed of no pervading and consuming desire to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth. In the multitude of their perfervid thoughts we find no reference to the sublime privilege, the bounden duty, or the possibility even of making Christ and His salvation known to every creature. This was in part on account of the tremendous pressure of such external hindrances as were named in a former article. It came about also in part because of the fact that their zeal was so largely not evangelistic, but polemic instead-anti-catholic, theological, ecclesiastical. Thus, as we have seen, the range of their intellectual and spiritual vision extended only to the boundaries of Christendom. The Mohammedans-" Turks," as the dreadful word was-were thought of only to be feared and hated, while, as for the heathen, they had no dealings with them, or knowledge of them. In addition, it appears to be well established that miC1sionary fervor was smothered by certain eschatological misconceptions. As many earnest souls read the Scriptures and the signs of the times, not only was the world " very evil," but" the times were waxing late." The Gospel had already reached its extreme limit in terrestrial space and the end of all things was at hand. The world was not to be converted, but was soon to be destroyed. And it has even been suggested, though perhaps without sufficient evidence, that in the fact that from 1540 onward, the papacy, through the Jesuits and other similar orders, was propagating itself with such tremendous vigodn all the new-found regions, the Reformers and their successors, in their intense anti-papal prejudice, discovered a sufficient reason why they should undertake nothing of the sort.
The story of wj:J.at was attempted for the salvation of mankind is so brief as to be most painful and humiliating. In 1555, at the request of the great Coligny, Calvin despatched fourteen pious men to Brazil, of whom, however, only two were clergymen; they went out more as settlers than as heralds of good news, and besides the" mission" met with speedy and utter failure. In 1559 Gustavus Vosa (not the Swedish Church or the Swedish Christians) was moved to send the Gospel to the Lapps, and his successors carried on what he had begun. Churches were built, schools were opened, and in later years relIgious books were translated into the vernacular, but only the slightest spiritual results ensued. And the reason becomes evident when 'we are told that all servir.es were held in Swedish, which the people did not understand, and that in the winter months the population was gathered by royal edict to pay tribute and to be indoctrinated into the faith. For those were the days of universal State and Church. And these few lines contain in outline the entire narrative of Protestant missions undertaken during the first century after the Reformation. And it is well-nigh as brief a8 that famous chapter upon" snakes in Iceland."
l':ROTES'1'ANT MISSIONs BEFORE CAdY
And the record of the seventeenth century is not much better, except as in it we discover the promise, the potency, and the preparation for vastly brighter days to come. And what we find of good omens is almost wholly upon the secular side of human atlairs. Tremendous revolutions, both political and commercial, were at hand, destined in due season to open a door for the introduction of a pure Gospel into remotest continents and islands. For a full hundred years after the immortal achie'ements of Columbus and Magellan and De Gama, Spain and Portugal, both wholly devoted to the pope, had enjoyed an absolute monopoly of discovery, colonization, and trade in all the vast and new-found regions. No other nation had been daring or venturesome enough to trespass upon the boundless spaces of the Pacific, or scarcely to land for purpo'les of traffic upon the Eastern shores of the New World. But finally, through the intoleraole tyranny of Philip II., three Protestant nations, aJ.ld almost at the same time, were stirred to rebellion. And the change which resulted is one of the most momentous in the whole range of human history, greater far in its effects than the sending of Solomon's ships to Ophir, or the voyages and settlements of the ancient Phrenicians, a~d in its relation to the spread of the Gospel every way worthy to be compared with Alexander's conquests in remotest Persia and India, and the countless campaigns of the invincible Roman legions. The. first result was in its nature only military, political, commercial. Supreme power simply passed from Catholic to Protestant hands. But the real divine meaning was world-widespread of Protestant ideas, or later and more especially the dominion of God's most highly honored missionary agency, the Anglo-Saxon race.
The Dutch were the first to poach upon the Portuguese preserves in the East Indies. They had maintained their independence against the utmosthat Philip could do, and having united in his own person the sovereignty of the two kingdoms beyond the Pyrenees, and in order'to punish these doughty Netherlanders whom he could not conquer, he forbade their ships to enter the port of Lisbon, then both entrepot and depot for the spices and all other products both of the East and West. The Hollanders had long been ocean carriers for all Europe, and thus were threatened with ruin utter and without remedy. Nor were they long in concluding that if not allowed to purchase what commodities they wanted nearer home, they would procure these in their native clime, and also at first hand. The annihilation of the Spanish Armada in 1588 supplied the golden opportunity. After three unsuccessful attempts to find a northeast passage by way of Nova Zembla, in 1596, the same year in which Van Linschoten, after fifteen years' acquaintance with the Portuguese and their commerce in Lisbon and the far East, had published a book full of information, containing many maps and charts, giving routes, laying down currents, rocks, harbors, etc., the Houtmann brothers doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and a few months later appeared in Sumatra waters. In 1602 the Dutch East India Company was organized under a charter which ,slJe£fied as one object to be sought the caITying of the Reformed faith to the heathen. In 1605 Van der Hagen, while en ronte, made a lodgment on the Malabar coast in the vicinity of Goa, the Portuguese headquarters in India, and then sailed on to Am- boyna, one of the Moluccas, and captured it. And now followed almost a century of conquest. Batavia was founded in 1619. By 1635 Formosa had become subject to the States, Malacca by 1640, while in 1651 fell the last Portuguese stronghold in Ceylon, and in 1664 the entire Malabar coast had passed into Dutch hands. Also in 1650 a colony had been planted at the Cape of Good Hope as a sort of halfway house on the road to the East.
But alas! we search almost in vain for any display of zeal in proclaiming Christ to the heathen. The Company was purely political and commercial in its designs, and its desires were fastened on something other than missionaries and converts, on spices, to wit, and like treasures, which would bring large financial returns. Ministers, not a few, were sent out, especially in the early years, and some of them were godly men in earnest to do good. The Gospel was preached to the heathen resident in the vicinity of the colonies and factories. The Scriptures were translated into Malay, and also into Cingalese, and printed at the expense of the company. Pagan temples were closed, and Catholic churches were turned to Protestant uses, while an end was put to the celebration of both Buddhist and Romish rites. And, let what occurred in Ceylon and Java stand for the dominant methods of Dutch evangelization. It was given out by the highest civil authority that no favors whatever could be expected from the Government by any who did not accept the Helvetic Confession and receive baptism. But then, as an easy preparation for this sacrament, it was only required that the neophyte should master the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer, and undertake to pray morning and evening, and say grace before and after meals! And behold, eager crowds prcssed into the churches. By the year 1700 there were 300,000 " converts" in Ceylon, which number had increased to 425,000 in 1725. In Java 100,000 received baptism under a similar impulse and upon the same terms, while the process and the spiritual'results were similar in Formosa, Celebes, the Moluccas, etc. And the advance was but slight beyond what the Jesuits had done.
But the best outcome was to follow later. The Dutch conquests in the East made vast populations known to the Protestant world, and eventually' made them accessible to the heralds of a pure faith. Nor in India and the Spice Islands alone, but in the New World as well. For the Dutch West India Company was formed in 1607 ; two years later the Netherlanders made their advent into New York Bay and upon Manhattan Island i early in the same century settlements were planted in Surinam, and in 1621 in Brazil. At l~ast in the country last·named some missionary work was done, for in 1636 an earnest request for eight clergymen was sent home.
In the mean time English sailors also had learned the watery road to the far East and, after long trying in vain to discover a northwest passage, they turned southward, following Magellan and De Gama. In 1577-79 Drake made the circuit of the globe via Cape Horn, traversing the East Indian Archipelago and the Indian Ocean; Stephens penetrated the region of the Spice Islands, 1579-82 by way of the Cape of Good Hope, and Cavendish followed in 1586. The British East India Company was formed in 1598- 1603 under a charter given by King William IlL, and at once sent out the first of a long succession of fleets to trade and to fight, as well as to found colonies. Almost a century followed of warfare with the Dutch for a share of the islands and of the traffic in cloves, cinnamon, and pepper. In 1612 a lodgment was made in India at Surat, whose significance for British do- minion and for the spread of the Gospel did not in the least appear until generations had passed. During all these years English Christians did noth- ing whatever for the introduction of the Gospel into Southern Allia, and even though in the charter of their great Company it was expressly re- quirM that a plentiful supply of chaplains be maintained at all the stations, and it was made obligatory upon these to learn the language, and to give religious instruction to at least such of the natives as were in the Company's employ.
And, in truth, the churches were kept busy at home with vital struggles over kingcraft and episcopacy, or in behalf of sacred liberty both civil and religious. And what slight stock of evangelizing fervor they possessed was expended upon the colonies in the New World.
In the history of modern missions Jamestown and Plymouth will always remain words to conjure with, and the dates 1607 and 1620 will rank with the few which mark the beginning of eras, since they stand for the momen- tous founding of this great Christian nation. In all the early voyages to America under the lead of Raleigh and others, the conversion of the abo- rigines received a mention. Upon the seal of the Massachusetts colony was represented an Indian with extended arms, and the motto, " Come over and help us." As early as 1636 Plymouth took legislaiive action look- ing to the salvation of the pagans living near by. In 1644 the General Court at Boston ordered the county courts "to have the resident Indians in- structed in the knowledge and worship of God," and thus became, in the phrase of a competent historian, " the first missionary society of Protestant Christendom." In 1642 the Mayhews began their apostolic labors upon Martha's Vineyard and neighboring islands, and in 1646 Eliot preached his first sermon to the red men in their own tongue, and by 1663 he had pub- lished his Indian Bible. By the end of the century several thousands had be90me Christian in name, and thirty churches had been gathered. It was in order to aid the New England colonists in these labors of love that twelve ministers petitioned Parliament, and as a result, in 1649, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England was chartered, and for years substantial financial succor was bestowed. There were a few Englishmen of eminence, in that generation, of the spirit and deeds of Robert Boyle, . who for thirty years was pre4!ident of this society, and contributed £300 to its funds, nearly £1000 for various translations of the Bible, and at his death left £5400 "for the propagation of Christianity in infidel and unenlightened nations." It was in this period, too, that Cromwell devised his scheme, which though futile, was yet grand, for uniting all Protestant peoples in an effort to evangelize the entire race, parcelling out the heathen and Mohammedan world among. them.
Two or three almost fruitless attempts on the part of individuals will complete the missionary history of this century. In one of the earlier decades, inspired by Grotius, seven young men of Liibeck were moved to endeavor to rekindle the light of New Testament truth in the midst of the corrupt Oriental churches. One set forth for Jerusalem, but lost his faith while on the journey; another pushed his way into Turkey and seems to have met death by violence, while a third, Peter Heyling, after several failures, is heard of in Abyssinia in 1634, and for years lifted up his voice in witnessing for Christ. Then, in 1664, Von Welz, an Austrian baron, of Ratisbon, his heart burning within him, published two impassioned pamphlets in which he called upon Christians to rise and make haste to seek to save the lost, and proposed"to form the Society of the Love of Jesus. But he excited only ridicule and opposition in Germany, and so took his departure for Holland, gave up his title, was ordained, and sailed for Surinam as a missionary, where he soon died.
And thus two hundred years of Protestant history passed with only these attempts, so few, so feeble and sporadic, to carry the glad tidings abroad. The missionary dawn was yet almost a century away, but presently a few cheering tokens of the morning were to appear. Just now, and for forty years to come, Denmark is the centre of missionary activity, and with its King Frederick IV. to lead. Ai seems probable, it was' by his chaplain Liitkens that this monarch was moved to send one message of salvation to various dependencies of the Crown. Searching for fit persons, when none could be found at home, recourse was fortunately had to those godly men Francke, at Halle, and Spener, at Berlin, and at length two young men were found willing to go. Great opposition was met with in Germany on the ground that missions were neither necessary nor proper, and so difficult was it to establish their orthodoxy before a court of Danish theologians, that the candidates were ordained only at the imperative command of the king. But finally, and after a tempestuous voyage of forty w~eks, in July of 1706, these pioneers of the Gospel among the millions of Hindostan, Ziegenbalg and Plutscho, began their arduous labors at Tranquebar. Incredible difficulties awaited them, and not only from the nations, but even more from godless Europeans, and from the local authorities, by whom they were thrown into prison. But in spite of all they held on, mastered the language, preached without ceasing, and translated the Bible into Tamil. King Frederick never failed them, but sent an annual allowance of £300, which later was increased to £450. In 1709 came a reinforcement of three more from Halle, and the London Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge sent a printing-press as well as a liberal donation of money, the first gift of a long series. Before the death of Ziegenbalg, in 1719, Schultz had come to India, another man of God as gifted and devoted, to take up his work, and in 1750 Schwartz made his advent, who possessed not only gifts and graces truly apostolic, but the powers also of an accomplished scholar and statesman. By him and his helpers the work was enlarged upon every side, and it is estimated that by the end of a century not less than 50,000 converts had been made.
In 1714 this same Danish king established a college of mi!!sions. Two years later he opened a mission is Lapland. And it was during these same years that in northern Norway the soul of Hans Egede was pondering a great question night and day. For thirteen years the Macedonian cry had sounded in his ears j he longed to undertake something in behalf of the perishing in Greenland, and sought eagerly for means to betake himself thither. He petitioned Frederick for aid, and in 1717 resigned his pas- torate is Waagen and made his way to Copenhagen. And finally, by sheer persistence having conquered every obstacle, he set forth in 1721 and en- tered upon a fifteen years' course of spiritual and physical suffering, with but slight measures of success attending.
And now the Christian world was to behold yet another notable step forward in the sublime march of missionary progress. And this al~o was closely connected with Denmark, King Frederick, and Francke. The Renewed Moravian Church had been in existence at Herrnhut only ten years, and numbered but some six hundred souls, when Zinzendorf, who had felt profoundly the influence of the pietistic movement which centred in Halle and Berlin, paid a visit to Copenhagen at the coronation of Christian VI. While there he heard that the settlements which had been maintained in Greenland, being financially unprofitable, were to be broken up and the missionaries called home, and. he also saw two Eskimo converts whom Egede had baptized. Moreover, it came to his knowledge that the sister of a negro whom he met was a slave in St. Thomas, and with other wretched beings was famishing for the Bread of Life. This tiny mustardseed had fallen into soil most fruitful, and was destined to bear a plentiful harvest. The story was repeated. in' Herrnhut, and in a few months five heroic messengers of peace were ready and eager to endure all and risk all for Christ, whether at the frozen north or under the tropics, and in the latter case expecting success only at the cost of suffering themselves to be sold into life-long slavery, and ready to die if only able to save a single soul! And such was the inspiring and most remarkable genesis of Moravian missions. Nor has the spirit changed, nor hass halt been called from that day to this. This little church went on in faith and love to start" more missions in twenty years than all the Protestant churches together had in two hundred." Dr. Warneck justly deems Francke and ·Zinzendorf " the fathers of the modern mission to the heathen." And further, he declares of the latter that" He is the first in modern times on whose heart lay day and night the desire that all the ends of the earth might see the salvation of God."
We come now to a great gap extending from Zinzendorf to Carey. For full sixty years not a single new missionary undertaking was set on foot. A few societies were formed in Britain which were evangelistic or semi-evangelistic in their character. Among them is found the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, dating from 1698, and which for a century and more supplied .Ziegenbalg and his successors with the sinews of war. And the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, chartered by King William in 1701, which afterward sent out John Wesley to Georgia. The first year its income was but £1535, and a full century afterward had risen only to £6407! The Scottish Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge followed in 1709, one of whose mission- aries, David Brainerd, in later years became. A few honored names can be mentioned of those who undertook to carry forward the work which Eliot and the Mayhews had begun during the century preceding. Such as Horton, who labored among the Indians upon Long Island. And Sergeant, who, in 1734, gave up a tutorship in Yale College and removed to Stockbridge to gather the scattered Mohegans and preach to them the Gospel, and whose successor Jonathan Edwards became in 1750-56. Brainerd was in labors abundant, 1744-47 in New Jersey and Eastern New York, as well as Kirkland among the Oneidas from 1764 onward. When, in 1766, Whittaker and Occum visited England in behalf of an Indian school at Lebanon, Conn., they easily raised £12,000 among the churches.
A few words will suffice to tell of the territorial growth during the eighteenth century of Great Britain through her colonies and her commerce, and that both in the West and the East. The Seven Years' War was of slight significance to the powers of Europe, but was of import unspeakable to the Christian world. For it ga,'e to PItt the peerless QPportunity to end for- ever, at Quebec, in 1759, the dominion of Catholic France in the New World, and in the East Indies as well by the battle of Plassey and the fall of Pondicperry. The Dutch, too, were largely expelled from their Eastern possessions, finally retiring from Ceylon in 1795. In the mean time, 1769-79, Cook's voyages of discovery had been made, so big with results to Christian missions.
Along with all this much-needed material preparation had gone forward for fifty years the marvellous revival work under the WesJeys and Whitefield, and their coadjutors, by which all Britain had been profoundly stirred and, as well; all countries adjacent. And the overwhelming and most blessed effects of that greatest effusion of the Spirit since Pentecost, scarcely less important to Christendom than the Reformation it~elf, had even crossed the Atlantic, and was renewing the religious life of the colonies from Georgia to Maine. In the momentous campaign about to begin against heathenism in all the world, not German or Scandinavian, but Anglo-Saxon Protestantism was to lead, and in Carey's bones the holy fire Lad already begun to burn.
ONE '1'tlOtJSAND MORE MISSIONAnt'ES Iron clItNA
ONE THOUSAND MORE MISSIONARIES FOR CHINA.
BY REV. A. P. HAPPER, D.D.
The churches should not forget the call sent forth by the General Mis- sionary Conference at Shanghai, in May, 1890, for 1000 missionaries for China within the next five years. For definiteness these five years may be understood to mean the years 1891-95. This implies 200 missionaries for each of these five years. Many of the friends of missions are ready to inquire, Why does the Conference call for so many for China when there are so many other countries needing missionaries ~ In this paper I wish to present some of the reasons for calling for 1000 missionaries for this great empire, and also give some of the reasons for the urgency of the call.
The first and most obvious reason for asking for so many is because the population of China is so numerous. There is no reliable census of the in- dividual population of this empire. The enumeration which is made by the Government is made with reference to taxation, and has reference to the households. When the number of the households is known, then the estimated number of the population will depend upon the number which may be fixed upon as the average of each household. Some compilers of statistics fix upon one number and some upon another. This is one reason that the estimates of the population of China differ so widely. Some esti- mate the population to number 250,000,000, some 300,000,000, some 350,000,000, and some as high as 400,000,000. If we take 334,000,- 000 to be the population of China, then it contains one-third of the non- Christian populations of the world, which is estimated to be 1,000,000,000. It is well known by all the friends of missionary work that not nearly one- third of the number of Christian workers in heathen lands is in China. In round numbers, and for the sake of definite statements at this present time, there is' only one missionary-taking the number of missionaries to be 1295, including men and women-to every 250,000 people. There is only one male missionary to every 283,000 of the male population, and one female missionary to every 239,000 of the female population. 'There is oulyone medical missionary for every 3,340,000 of the population. The . number of missionaries now in China is, therefore, utterly insufficient for the conversion of China to Christ. The number of missionaries now in China is less in proportion to the number of the people than the number of the other non-Christian lands. Hence the cull of the missionaries now in the field to the churches in Clnistian lands for this' reinforcement of Christian workers in this populous field.
A second reason for this call for 1000 missionaries for China is thi~. When the foundations have been laid, and the work in the various departmen1~ of work ha~ been commenced, doubling the number of the work!'r~ in- creases the results in some things threefold, in some things 8CV(,lIfold, alHl in some things seventeen-fold. The Rev. N. G. Clarke, D.D., Secretary of the American Board, in the annual survey of the operations and results of the year 1890, summarizes some of the results of the twenty-five years during which he has acted as secretary. During these twenty.five years the number of missionaries has increased from 223 to 533, which is twofold and thirty-nine hundredths more. But with this increase of missionaries the stations have increased in the same time from 342 to 1058, which is nearly threefold. The native pastors have increased from 60 to 173, or nearly threefold. The number of students in high schools and seminaries has increased from 437 to 7780, which is more than seventeen-fold. The number of these high schools and seminaries has increased from 18 to 122, which is an increase of sevenfold. The number of church-members has increased from 5247 to 36,256, which is nearly sevenfold. And the contributions of church-members have increased from $10,000 to $117,000, which is more than elevenfold. If the churches desire to see results of Christian work on the foreign field multiplied, the most direct way to effect that object is to increase the number of missionaries on the fields when the work is already commenced and the foundations laid.
A third reason for asking this addition to the missionary force is this: In every properly planned and conducted mission the work naturally en- . larges and expands, and requires an additional number of persons to follow it up and utilize these opportunities. If this is not done there is an obvious waste and a failure to improve the facilities of increase and enlargement which the labor already bestowed has secured. Hence, if the churches would properly secure the full results of Jabor already performed, they must increase the number of workers so as to properly improve every facility and opportunity secured by the labor of the laborers already in the field.
But besides the reasons already stated there are some considerations that should be specially regarded as reasons for increasing the missionary force in China. In this land there is a regularly organized government, which affords protection to life, and property, and residence in the midst of this multitudinous people. There are safe and convenient modes of travel to all parts of the country. It is true that the conveyances to the most distant places are not steamboats or railroads. But the native boats are safe and comfortable, though they are slow. The wheelbarrows and carts are not liable to accidents or overturnings. There are also safe and reliable facilities for sending 1ll0ney and other supplies to the most distant stations inland. There are everywhere houses that can be rented and used for residences, school-rooms, opium refuges, and preaching halls. Clothing, when using the native costume, can everywhere readily be obtained. Every yariety of food is abundant and comparatively cheap, and the fuel ,and facilities of cooking it always at hand. The climate is everywherp. comfortable and healthful, so that missionaries everywhere enjoy a fair degree of health and energy, and many live to an advanced age. The protection pf thc :Britjsh, German, /lnd tmericlln GoyeJ1lments is enj'oyed by their I respective citizens when laboring as missionaries in every part of this ex- tended country. The most cursory consideration of these statements show what special facilities are enjoyed for the prosecution of missionary laborers in China, as compared with Africa, the interior of Asia, or the Pacific Islands. These arc providential orderings that the churches should thankfully avail themselves of.
There are still other and yet more important facilities, that indicate that the Lord has prepared a highway for the introduction and spread of the Gospel among this people. This vast multitude read and understand one and the same written and printed language. The Bible, the whole Bible, is translated and published in this language, which is thus read among these 334,000,000 of people. There are also facilities for printing the sacred Scriptures in the Chinese language to any desirable extent. Ten millions of copies can be printed every year if the churches furnish the money to print them and the missionaries to distribute them. But not only is the written language the same all over the country, but the same spoken language is understood throughout two-thirds of the whole land. The missionaries who acquire the knowledge of this spoken language can travel through whole provinces, with 10,000,000 of inhabitants, preach- ing the glad news of the Kingdom. In the other third of the land there are. some ten different dialects; but each of these dialects is spoken by some 10,000,000 of people. The missionary, therefore, who acquires the s knowledge of anyone of them has 10,000,000 of people amon whom he can labor; and he will find ample scope for his most untiring labors, with every needed assistance. The whole Bible has been translated and pub- lished in all these several dialects, as well as in the general language of the whole country. But not only has the whole Bible been thus translated and published in the language of the whole country and of the several dialects, but compends of theology, religious books, commentaries on many of the books of the sacred Scriptures, religious tracts, school-books in geography, arithmetic, and other branches, and scientific, medical, and historical works have been prepared and published. High schools, academies, colleges, dispensaries, hospitals, and theological seminaries have been commenced and buildings erected. Common schools, Sunday-schools, church organizations, ecclesi- astical courts, and native associations for Christian work and co-operation in evangelistic work are in operation. Books for assisting in the study of the language, ~s grammars, phrase.books, dictionaries, conversation-books of great excellence and usefulness have been prepared and published.
Printing and publishing establishments, with all the various requirements for casting matrices, type-cutting, electrotyping, stereotyping, etc., are all provided, suitably housed, and have native workmen trained for all the various kinds of work.
With all these facilities and preparations on hand, the addition of mis- ~ionaries provides for extensiOIl and enlargement in every part of lllis&ionary work; for all these different departments of work admit of easy and indefinite enlargement and expansion, just in proportion to the number of missionaries sent. In the interest, therefore, of a wise economy, healthy growth, and rapid advancement, the Conference have asked for these 1000 missionaries within five years. Two hundred additional workers are very urgently needed each successive year for the work already commenced. And for the portions of China yet unreached and where work has never yet been commenced, yet a greater number is needed in order to hasten the conversion of China to Christ. We Christians pray that China may be converted to Christ. Our actions should correspond to our prayers. We may not expect the Lord to convert China by any miraculous means. We must, therefore, employ means adequate, by the Divine blessing to effect the prayed-for result.
r will only refer to two other considerations in conclusion. The Saviour's command is to " Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." Here are tens of millions of onr fellow men who have never heard the glad news of salvation. The door is wide open, the opportunities and facilities for obeying the command of our Lord are very great. Every consideration of loyalty to our Divine Master, and every incentive of love and ~on&ecration to our gracious and adorable Redeemer, who has redeemed us with His own precious blood, bind us, and should impel us to carry out this last command of our risen and ascended Saviour.
The other consideration is this: Weare responsible for this present generation who are living at the same time with ourselves. They are dying at the rate of 12,000,000 every year, or 33,000 every hour. We cannot, with our most energetic efforts, reach them all. But let us seek to reach as many of them as we possibly can during our lifetime. Let each and everyone do what he can. Let each one" do with his might what his hand findeth to do." Let us make the golden rule our rule of action in this matter, " Whatsoever ye would that others should do to you, do ye even so to them." It is very easy for us to arrive at the matter of duty. If we were in their condition, without the knowledge of the way of salvation through Jesus Christ, what would we wish those to do to us, who have that precious blessing 1 There is only one answer to such a question. vVe would wish them to impart it to us. Let us then strive with all our might to do this to those who have it not.
CANTON, January 6, 189l. It is said, upon the – au-t~ ho~r- it- y~o~ f -h-is– m-a- na-ger, Major Pond, that Mr; Stanley has decided to give the many articles presented to him by European authorities to General Booth, in furtherance of the latter's scheme for the benefit of East London. Should the rumor prove correct, the action of the distinguished explorer will go far to prove the strength and reality of the impressions made upon him vrhen in African wilds beyond human help; and to set an example of the sacrifice of our superfluities, in view of the necessities and extremities of the poor.
STUDENT VOLUNTEERS' CONVENTION
STUDENT VOLUNTEERS' CONVENTION.
BY MAX WOOD MOORHEAD, ESQ.
The first Convention of the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions was held at Cleveland, 0., February 26th to March 1st. It was a unique conference. In the history of missions no such gathering ever assembled in our land or any other land. Its ultimate aim was to promote the cause of foreign missions. Upward of five hundred young men and young women, representing 159 educational institutions in the United States and Canada, were present. Nearly every heathen land where the cross has been uplifted had its advocate in the person of a returned foreign missionary. Secretaries' from various denominational boards and societies gave counsel in private, and participated in discussions in public. "It was to be expected," some one said, " such an occasion would give rise to extravagance in speech and action." But, on the contrary, the occasion was marked by rare moderation, but moderation compatible with zeal and glowing enthusiasm. Mr. John R. Mott presided with great tact and skill at all the meetings.
PERSONNEL.
The following are among those present who made aJdresses or engaged in discussions: Rev. H. N. Cobb, D.D., ReforJIled Church in America: George D. Dowkontt, M.D., International Medical Missionary Society; Rev. F. F. Ellinwood, D.D., Board of Foreign Missions of Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.; Rev. J. T. Gracey, D.D., International Missionary Union; Rev. J. N. Murdock, D.D., American Baptist Missionary Union; R. R. McBurney, Chairman Foreign Missionary Committee of International Committee Y. M. C. A. j Rev. D. C. Rankin, Foreign Mission of Presbyterian Church in United States; Mrs. N. M. Waterbury, Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society; Professor H. H. Harris, Southern Baptist Convention; Rev. Judson Smith, D.D., American Board; Rev. Alexander Sutherland, D.D., Methodist Church in Canada; Rev. George D. Scholl, D.D., Evangelical Lutheran Board; Rev.J. O. Peck, D.D., Missionary Society Methodist Episcopal Church; Mrs. S.B. Capron, Woman's Board of Interior, Congregational; Miss Abbie B. Child, Woman's Board of Missions, Congregational. Turkey, Rev. Frank Gates. Africa, C. J. Laffin, the Congo field. Rev. George A. Wilder, the Zulu field. China, Rev. John L. Nevius, D. D., Rev. and Mrs. F. A. Steven. India, Rev. F. P. Graham, Rev. Henry Forman. Japan, Rev. Kajinosuke Ibuka, Rev. W. R. Lambeth, D.D. South America, Rev. J. M. Allis, Chili; Rev. George W. Chamberlain, D.D., Brazil. Rev. A. T. Pierson, D.D.; S. M. Sayford, Esq.; Mr. R. C. Morse, General Secretary International Committee of Y. M. C. A.
But what; some one asks, is this Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign M.issions 1 What do~&it stand for? Whl-1t did it '~t~rt from 1 ITS ORIGIN.
Come with me to Princeton College back in 1883, and there we find a society the object of which was the cultivation of a missionary spirit among the students of the college, and the informing of its members in all subjects of missionary interest, especially tho leading of men to consecrate themselves to foreign mission work. The pledge, " We the undersigned declare ourselves willing and desirons, God permitting, to go to the unevangelized portions of the world," was embodied in our constitution. Mr. Robelt P. Wilder said at the Convention: "I can remember all if it were but yesterday the fellows sitting in a semi-circle facing the foldingdoors upon which was extended the map of the world. My father would point to his thirty years' experience as a foreign missionary and press home the biblical argument for missions, the need for workers, and the privilege of personally enlisting in the service. After hi~ appeals the old missionary would withdraw and we would kneel in prayer. In an adjoining room, unknown to any but myself, there was another praying; when the service was finished we two would slip off together and talk it all over. God alone knows how much those meetings in our parlor owed their success to the prayers of my sister, now engaged in missionary work in India; and well do I remember her saying just before I started for Mount Hermon, in July, 1886 : 'I will pray for a missionary revival among the college students where you are going.' "
As the days passed at Mount Hermon the conviction grew on Mr. Wilder that God would call, from that large gathering of college men a few, at least, who would consecrate themselves to the foreign mission service.
On the evening 'of July 16th a special mass meeting was held, at which Dr. Arthur T. Pierson gave a thrilling address on missions. He supported by the most convincing arguments the proposition that" all should go, and go to alL' 'This was the keynote which set many men to thinking and praying.
Several days before t}le conference closed a meeting was held which may occupy as significant a place in the history of the Christian Church as the famous Haystack Prayer-meeting, at Williams, so many years ago.
It is known as the " meeting of the ten nations." It was addressed by sons of missionaries in China, India, and Persia, and by seven young men of different nationalities-an Armenian, a Japanese, a Siamese, a German, a Dane, a Norwegian, and an American Indian. The J'lddresses were not more than three minutes in length, and consisted of appeals for more workers. Near the close, each sreaker repeated in the language of his country the words, "God is Love." Then came a season of silent and audible prayer, which will never be forgotten by those present. The burning appeal!! of this meeting came with peculiar force to all.
From that night on, the missionary interest deepened. One by one the men, alone in their rooms, and in the woods with their Bibles and God, fonght out the battle with self and were led to decide to carry the Gospel "unto the uttermost part of the earth." Before the meeting closed, exactly one hundred signified their desire to become foreign missionaries.
The enthusiasm, enkindled at Mount Hermon five years ago, has communicated itself to students all over the United States and Canada j and to-day" the movement numb'ers ~200 men and women on its rolls. Well may ex-President McCosh, of Princeton University, ask: "Has Imy such offering of living young men and women been presented in our age, in our country, in any age 'or in any country since the day of Pentecost r' In days whcn the Church of God is charged, and justly charged, with ignoring or dilltorting the teaching of Jesus about the power of the Holy Ghost for service, it is a noteworthy fact that the theme of Dr. A. J. Gordon's address, "The Holy Spirit in Missions," was the subject emphasized as most important by nearly all present. Said Dr. Gordon: "Here is something given as a direct duty. 'Bc ye filled with the Spirit.' How can I ~ some one asks. The answer is often made, You must empty yourself before you can be filled with the Holy Ghost. But who is sufficicnt to empty himself ~ I believe God's way is the expulsive power of a new affection, throwing off and casting away the old which we cannot rid ourselves of. There are two ways of emptying a tumblerful of water j you can turn it upside down, or you may drop quicksilver into it, drop by drop, until all the water will have gone out." . •. " I believe that just as certain as wind is the power that drives ships, just as certain as water is the power that moves the ponderous wheels of the Merrimac and Connecticut rivers, just as surely as steam is the power that makes the mighty steamship plough the great deep, so explicitly, by Divine appointment, the Holy Ghost is the power that moves the Church." • . • One who studied under Fletcher, of Madeley, says: "Fletcher was an admirable teacher. We had our Greek, and our Hebrew, and our theology. Then he would close his book and say, 'Young men, Hebrew, Greek, theology are very important. We have attended fully to these things for two hours. Now those of you who want to seek the power of the Holy Ghost, follow me.' And he would lead Ol1t that whole class into another room where," says this pupil, " we would often stay for three hours wrestling in prayer for the Holy Ghost, being told that all other learning was powerless without this." Referring to the promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost, he said, in closing, " Let us go back to tho experience of that admirable writer (David Brainerd) whom I quoted in the beginning. He says, 'This promise is for us j it is right that we should claim it. It is proper that we should plead it now. It is right that we should look for the fulfilment of it immediately.' "
From the frank criticism that was invited by the Student Voll1nteer Movement for Foreign Missions-criticism of its methods and agencies employed in the propagation of itR work-it must have been evident to the intelligent observer that the volunteers had not a'lsembled in order to con-' gratulate one another, or with the expectation of hearing laudatory things said by outsiders.
PROBLEMS OF THE MOVEMENT.
On " Volunteer Life in Individual Institutions," Mr. Robert E. Speer, of Princeton Theological Seminary, expressed his opinion that every volun- , tecr should be, above everything else, the best Christian in his or her insti- tution. He or she should be the best personal worker, the bellt Bible stu- dent, so far as possible, the best student in every way that can be found in that place. But apart. from that, that individual life should b~rn also with a zeal" that cannot be quenched, with an intelligent zeal for spreading the Gospel in all the world.
On " Classification of Volunteers," ~Ir. Walter J. Clark, Corresponding Secretary, made the following statement regarding the distribution of volunteers: (1) In institutions of learning, 2600 : Academies, 500 ; normal schools, 175 ; theological seminaries, 500; colleges, 1200; medical colleges, 125; training schools, 100. (2) Out of institutions (owing to state of health, insufficient means, etc.), 700. (3) 'Graduates (post-graduates, special students, etc.), 600. (4) Ready to go, 100. (5) Appointed (not including class of 1891), 20. (6) Hindered, 250~ (7) Unknown (large majority of these lost trace of before the movement ,vas organized), 450. (8) Rejected by boards, 50. (9) Renounced, 450. (10) Deceased, 60. (11) Not students when enrolled, 600. In addition, at least 320 out of the 6000 volunteers have already gone to the foreign fields under the various missionary agencies.
[A noted foreign missionary recently said that not more than two per cent of those who volunteered in a missionary revival ever sailed. But already over five per cent of the members of this movement have sailed; and fully ten per cent of the Canadian contingent.] The importance of " Immediate Sailing" found a warm supporter in the person of Mr. William H. Cossum. He said he believed if these people (referring to the heathen) need help at all they need help immediately. " Don't stay in this country theorizing when a hundred thousand heathens a day are dying without hope because we are not there teaching the Gospel to them." Furthermore he said that the one thing which will secure the immediate sailing of the man who is a volunteer is the heart interest of that volunteer in the ·field to which he is going.
Robert P. Wilder, on the ".Volunteer Pledge," said: " , Man, of all luggage, is the hardest to move.' To ~how a man his sinfulness is comparatively easy; to move him to act is the most difficult part of evangelistic work. The head heeds the admonition ; the heart postpones assent. The princi.ple of decision is operative in successful work among Christians. One speaker impresses upon his audience the importance of Bible study, but presents no plan, and pleads for no decisions ; the other secures pledges and organizes a class. 'When the nail of conviction is driven in, he clinches it with a practical twist.' Should not the same plan be pursued in missionary meetings to secure prayer, money, and men ~ General appeals for prayer do good. But is not more accomplished by organizing prayer groups, whose members are pledged to pray for definite obje'!ts ~ Why not employ the same method in securing men for missionary stationR ~ The pledge of the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions means more than a willingness to go anywhere; it signifies a purpose to enter foreign service. On the other hand, meu, by signing it, do not take their lives into their own control; the signers are still under God's direction; they will not become foreign missionaries unless He permit. The pledge means, We are fully determined to become foreign missionaries unless God block the way."
Mr. Wilder argued for the retention of the pledge as it now reads, on the ground that it adequately meets the requirements of the case, and that any alteration would seriously imperil the unity of " the movement." He demonstrated so ably that the existing pledge is the best possible one, that all his objectors were silenced, and convinced also, we trust. The old pledge was retained.
Stretched along one of the galleries in the auditorium of the Young Men's Christian Association Building, where the meetings were held, was a canvas on which was printed the watch· cry of the movement, " The Evan- gelization of the World in the Present Generation. "
" This does not mean," said Mr. Speer, in his address of Friday even- ing, "the conversion of the world; it does not mean the Christianization of the world. It does mean that every volunteer believes that in this gen- eration the Gosp~1 can be so presented to the world that the responsibility for the salvation of the inhabitants of the world will rest on the inhabitanttl themselves. " Mr. Speer said that the evangelization of the world in this generation is possible, because, 1st, the Church has the agencies; 2d, she has'the means; 3d, she has the men.
" A young doctor, not a Christian, said to me the other day, 'How is it that the Church wastes so much energy on the work abroad, when there is so much to be done in this land of ours r I asked him what he would consider a fair proportion of workers to keep in this land, and a fair pro- portion to send abroad. He said : 'I suppose two-thirds here and onc- third abroad would be treating ourselves fairly.' If we sent one-third of our workl'fs abroad and kept the other two-thirds at home, we would more than . tenfold multiply the ordained missionaries in the heathen fields from all the Christian nations in thc world, and it would be sending 400,000 lay workers out into the foreign world. If we did what an unbelieving doctor . said would be only a fair proportion to do with reference to this work, would it not he possible if 400,000 missionaries went out in the next twenty. five years, each having, out of the thousand million people in this world only 2500 to reach, speaking to only one a day in eight years, to evangelize the world before we die ~" ' Mr. Speer spoke in a way which gained a powerful hold on the minds and the hearts of his auditors. He showed himself to be a man of unusual gifts; but his power is not in close reasoning, nor in exquisite diction, nor in the music of a pleasing voice. He has, as one man said, " an unction from the Holy One."
The appearance of the well-known figure, Rev. Arthur T. Pierson, ' D.D., was the signal for applause from the students. His theme was ., The Evangelization of the World in this Gcneration-How Made a Fact." He gave" Men, Money, and Methods as the three great elements of the natural basis of the evangelization of the world, and the command of God and the presence of Jesus Christ as the two things which enter into the supernatural basis." To illustrate how the world might be evangelized if people would contribute only a small part of the money used for luxuries, the speaker held up a marquise ring set with seven diamonds, which had been brought to him by a young lady after hearing his sermon on the text, " If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not." Why should not we show a spirit of enterpri~e in the Church such as the world shows in all business schemes 1 What is the matter with the Church, that in this nineteenth century she has scarcely one of those great master agencies which men use to carry their inventions to the ends of the earth 1 Why should we not have a great Church exploration society, and go forward and pioneer the way into destitute fields 1 Why should we not have a great transportation society to carry missionaries to other fields without cost g 'What is the reason that you will find the sewing-machine, the parlor organ, the kerosene lamp, and the circlet of glass beads in districts where as yet the Gospel of Jesus Christ has never been carried by its heralds 1 "I solemnly believe, and I say it with the emphasis of a dying man, that if the Church of to-day would resolve that the year 1891 should not go by until she had sent at leaRt one representative of Christ and Ris Gospel into every destitute district on the face of the earth, so that there should be no district a hundred miles square that should not be represented by one witness for Christ, before the year 1891 passed by there would be an outpouring of the Holy Ghost to which even Pentecost was simply the first drops of a coming latter rain."
REQUIREMENTS OF MISSIONARY SOCIETIES.
Rev. J. N. Murdock, of the American Baptist Missionary Union, said that the first thing we must have in a missionary candidate is good health. We want the man of sound nerves, of reasonable muscles, of good stomach. We also want men of good common sense-not simply mental ability, but we want the roundaboutness of common sense. We want the men who are sonnd in faith and possessed of missionary convictions.
Rev. Dr. McLean, Secretary of the Missionary Board of the Church of the Disciples, said that what was wanted was not so many cultivated men, or uncultiYated men. but men of common sense, thoroughly consecrated to the work, and not only that, but men who were adapted to it. Rev. F. A. Steven, Secretary of the China Inland Mission, Toronto, said that he deemed thorough college education of the highest importance next to piety -education always stands first because it carries in its wake confidence and admiration. and a trained mind is always the most capable. Rev. H. N. Cobb, l).D., Secretary of the Reformed Church in America, said: "If anyone had ever felt that he was called by God to the work, no amount of impediment or non-8uccess should in any wise dishearten him." Rev. Dr. Peck, Secretary of the Methodist Missionary Board, on the subject" Mode of Application," said that in order to be successful each applicant should f(>el a clll so urgent that he would be determined to go somewhere, whether he was sent by the board or not. The" Volunteer's Preparation" was presented by Rev. F. F. Ellinwood, D.D. Said he: "A missionary must be thoroughly acquainted with every part of his work. We must study the heathen system, and in studying it do it to find 0.1t just where the weak points are that they may be replaced by the Word of God. We must remember that this is an intellectual age, and many bright minds and pithy questions will have to be met with and answered. ,.
At the opening of one of the evening services Mr. S. M. Sayford announced that $700 had been voluntarily contributed to the expenses of the movement. He stated that all expenses up to the present time have been exclusive of salaries, as no salaries have been paid to officers of the movement. After prayer a collection was taken and it was found that the offering had increased to $1200. Besides pledges, coin, and bills, were passed in a gold watch-chain and a gold ring which the inscription said had been given to some boy by his mother.
" The Work (If the Young Men's Christian Association in Foreign Lands" was the subject of Mr. R. R. McBurney's address. He gave an account of the growth of Young Men's Christian Association work in Tokyo, Japan, where between sixty and seventy thousand students are gathered each year. He stated that the National Committee of the Young Men's Christian Association were empowered to establish such associations and place such secretaries in the foreign mission field as in its judgment may be proper. "We are receiving," said he, "urgent appeals from cities in India to aid in this work, and what we want is money j the men are ready to go."
Mr. Allis, of Santiago, Chili, gave the following advice to young missionaries: "First, cultivate your own piety j second, learn your own denominational methods j third, master the language; fourth, be selfreliant; fifth, go out married; sixth, select a wife who will be suited with her lot j seventh, take care of your health."
SERVICES OF THE CLOSING DAY.
The spirit of devotion deepened _very perceptibly as the sessions of the conference drew to a close. The Sunday morning meeting will be remem- bered for all time as one of great preciousness. Each person prayed for himself or herself, and words of humble confession alternated with utter- ance of joyous praise. The leader spoke of the Christian's ambition 1. To preach the Gospel where Christ is not already named. Romans 15 : 20.
2. Study to be quiet. 1 Thess. 4 : 11. 3. Study to be well pleasing in His sight. 2 Tim. 2 : 15. Mr. Robert P. Wilder, on Sunday evening, spoke on " The Perils and Privileges of the Student Volunteer Movement." Identified as he is with the history of the movement more completely than any other man, and known and loved by so many hundreds of volunte~rs, he was singularly adapted to speak on this difficult subject. "The three perils," Mr. Wild- er said, "were: first, lack of funds; second, opposition from friends; third, selfishness within the volunteer's heart." Concerning opposition from friends he said: "The most serious peril is that presented by homo ties. The windt! of oppo~ition from father and mother have changed tho course of many a man who has weathered the gales of fierce 0ppoilition.
You say, are we not told, ' Children, obey your parents r Yes, but com- plete the verse. It reads, 'Obey your parents in the Lord.' Are we obeying them in the Lord, if they interfere with our doing the Lord'8 work J"
He touched with delicacy and firmness upon the duty of one in regard to missionary service whose fiancee is not missionary-hearted. "Many sad complications would be avoided did volunteers live up to their pledge. One said to me not long since that his fiancee refused to accompany him. With my whole soul do I pity that man, but the fault is largely his own. Had he made it evident to her and to her friends that it was his unflinching purpose to go, he would have avoided this complication. Write such a letter to her as Adoniram Judson wrote to his fiancee. If she is t'horoughly consecrated, it will nerve her to new self-devotion. If she be unwilling to go, find out the fact as soon as possible, leave her, and thank God for your escape from a union which would defeat His purpose in your life." He emphasized the great privilege of securing recruits, and of arousing the home church to a greater interest· in missions. "It is in our power to stir Canada and the States, from Toronto to Texas, and from Nova Scotia to the Pacific. Think what God did through that one man, Wesley. What can he not accomplish through five hundred men and women if we let Him use us! Think of tbe churches and institutions which we represent. The way in which Jerusalem was kept clean was by having each man sweep before his own door. Let each of us sweep ~way from his own church and institution whatever ignorance and indifference there is in this the greatest work of the nineteenth century."
Following Mr. Wilder were a number of five-minute addresses. Mr. J. Campbell Vhite spoke of " Missionary Interests in the Southern States.".
Miss Nettie Dunn had a message for women volunteers. "There nre," she said, " fifty thousand Christian women in our colleges to-day, and only a handful of them going to the great, needy foreign field. Let us plan to multiply ourselves, tach oue of us, a hundred-fold within the next year."
Rev. Kajinosuke lbuka, of Japan, said: "The greatest need of Japan is Christ. We ask for one hundred young men full of the Spirit of Christ. And with those one hundred young nlen, with the force already on the ground, the whole Empire of Japan, with its 40,000,000 people, can easily be evangelized, God helping us, in this genoration."
Mr. Helms, of Kansas, in the very few minutes allotted to him, pictured in a vivid way the needs of " Darkest Africa," and in tones which thrilled one through and through, drew the sympathies of his audit'ors to the one place blacker than any other-to Africa, whose body and soul the social sin had eaten. He told orthe great marches in the world's history-of Xerxes, . of Napoleon, of Sherman, and of a swifter, mightier, more terrible march of millions of Africans, in rags and blth and disease, marching straight to hell. " We have written and sung and talked about Africa long enough j and if the Lord stood here to-night He would say, ' Let somebody go. ' "
Mr. Mott, the Chairman, then called upon men to give, in a single sen- tence, their dominant impression of the conference, or their dominant pur- pose forme,}. The following are typical testimonies: "My chief impres- sion has been my own insignificance." " I know what the power of the Holy Ghost is." "I believe the motto of ' the movement,' the' Evan- gelization of the W orId in this Generation,' can be realized.' , " I want to surrender myself wholly to Christ." " Woe .is me if I preach not the Gospel. "
At ten 0' clock the time approached to separate. Mr. Speer responded to the spirit of the closing scene in words fitting and beautiful: "Fellow students, may we learn among other things this year the language of the Lord's tender love. May it be this coming year that as our hearts form a wish it may be quickly laid at Ilis feet j that as quickly as our hearts gain a motive, it maj be handed over to Him j that as quickly as we see anything that our brother needs, it may be that we pray for him. And perhaps the best thing we can do to-night is just in the silence, and the stillness, and the sweetness of that holy place in our lives where you and I live alone with Jesus Christ, to commend unto God and the '"ord of His grace every volunteer who, with life devoted to Jesus Christ, shall sooner or later have the rare joy of holding up the life, and the death, and the blood of his Lord before the world."
[So important did it seem that this admirable report of this significant convention should be printed at once and undivided, that, at the risk of erowding out valuable matter already in type, the Editor has concluded to give the above report its full space in this number.-A. T. P.]
1891J EXTRACTS .AND TRANSLATtONS PROM FonEtGN PElUODICALS. 3(11
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.
BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
-The important Darjeeling Mission of India has four divisions: (1) Darjeeling, 2 ordained missionaries, 14 preaching stations, 13 schools, 21 teachers, 726 pupils j (2) Kalinpong (Church of Scotland Young Men's Guild Mission), 1 ordained misRionary, 4 preaching stations, 12 schools, 12 teachers, 341 pupils; (3) Sikkim, 1 ordained missionary, 7 schools, 7 teachers, 188 pupils j (4) Darjeeling Zenana Mission, 3 European ladies.
-" The time is gone by," says the Allgemeine Missionszeitscltrift, " in which missions were looked upon, or rather overlooked, as a thing by the way. They have come out of the corner and. become a public matter, even with us in Germany. We here leave unnoticed the question whether this change brings more good or harm.We only emphasize the fact, and the world of science and of economics, the literature of the day, the parlia- ments and the dip].omatic congresses, the statesmen, and above all the colonial politicians are interested in missiuns. "
Dr. Warneck notes two things: First the ignorant self-conceit of the German secular writers who, kuowing as good as nothing about missions, haughtily cut short all attempts of real knowers of missions to set them in the right light j second, the determined purpose to extol all Roman Catholic, and to decry all Protestant, missionary activity. "A Romish wind breathes through the world j it is the fashion to cocker Rome j and the daily press, like a lady that would rather be out of the world than out of the fashion, swings the Romish censer lustily with the rest." "Is it antipathy to cvang-elical faith, innn affinity with Roman secularity, colonial prejudice, lack of independc·nt judgment over against the authority of an imperial commissary, or mt're IHllve ignorance r'
"Like all knowledge, missionary knowledge must be tlte fruit of labor,. he that has nothing can give nothing, and he that labors not has nothing."
-The Zeitscltrift remarks: "There is a mighty quickening in the Brethren's Church, which, besides the youthful mission in Alaska and the Homona Mission in Sonthem California, is also advancing to an extension of the work in the Surinam bushland, as also in Australia, and an entirely new mission in German East Africa (at the north-eastern end of the Nyassa), a fresh and joyfully believing advance, which gives the testimony of fact that the old mission spirit is still awake in this missionary Church par excellence, an example to quicken a wholesome shame in our great state cb urches. "
-The Rhenish Missionary Society in 1890 founded 7 new stations: 5 in Sumatra, 1 on Dampierre Island, near New Guinea, 1 on Nias, near Rumatra, and is expecting to extend its work among the Hereroes in southwest Africa.
-In Holland the Inner Mission hag lately taken an upward movement rather at the cxpcnse of foreign missions. The extreme comminution of Dutch missionary force (eighteen societies for this small conntry) is also disadvantageous.
– The Zeitschrfit, speaking of Emin and Stanley, says that they are too profoundly unlike to understand one another j each has his bright side and. each his dark, and that German depreciation of Stanley and English depre- ciation of Emin are both unjust. Emin, however, it decidedly characterized as warm in heart but (yeak in will.
-The Kaukab i Hind (Star of India), of December 26th, 1890, says: " Word has just come from Calcutta that Dr.- Pentecost's addresses are making a profound impression on the higher classes of the European com- munity, and a great many are being led to devote themselves to God's service. "
-It may have been known, but it has been little heeded, that the Moravians have for nearly seventy years carried on a work among the lepers of the Cape of Good Hope. The following sentence from Bishop La Trobe's account of it pictul'es to us at once the extremity of human misery, and lo'e and faith working triumphantly through all : "Go into the wards of the hospital; on one couch lies a leper whose hands are gone, and before him an open Bible; he has reached the bottom of the page, but cannot turn it over; he looks around, and one who can walk, but is also without hands, takes another who has lost his feet, on his back, and carries him to the fir~t to turn over the leaf."
In 1865 the Baron and Baroness Keffenbrinck-Ascheraden having established a leper home at Jerusalem, the Moravian brethren were placed in charge of it. The first-fruits of honor in this form of the works of love in modern times, therefore, are theirs.
-A littlo blunder, reported in the Woman's Worlc of Shanghai, is one cf a thousand things which show how hard it is to work at first-hand in a foreign country. A Chinese womfm having been addressed by a foreign lady with the inquiry whether, as a sinner, she did not wish to be forgiven, took great offence, and angrily denied that she was a sinner. Of course the foreign lady set this down to the account of self· righteousness until, to her dismay, she found that she had addressed the woman as a " jail bird." Nothing can easily take the place of the native helper. To train them up may well be the great thought of those from abroad. "0 Lord," said a good deacon in Madura, " our missionaries, we doubt not, are at home in Greek and Hebrew, but what work they do make of Tamil I" It is the ultimate praise of vernacular familiarity given to Dr. Van Dyck in Syria, that" he knows even women's Arabic."
-"The English schoolmaster, John Horden, who in 1872 was consecrated first Bishop of Moosonee. comprising the whole coast-line of Hudson's Bay-a diocese of 1200 by 800 miles–is now," says the Ch1lrch Mis- sionary Gleaner, "in his fortieth year of service-a service consisting largely of incessant travelling over his vast sphere of work." The few thousand Indians and whites require five Bibles-English, Bree, Ojibeway, Chipewyan, and Eskimo. There are 4000 baptized Christians and 700 communicants.
-The Hindu, a Madras paper, edited by " a Hin,du of the Hindus, " is quoted in the Church Missionary Intelligencer as follows: "The progress of education among the girls of the native Christian community, and the absence of caste restrictions among them, will eventually give them an ad"antage which no amount of intellectual precocity can compensate the Brahmins for. We recently approved of the statement of a Bombay writer that the social eminence which the Parsees so deservedly enjoy at . the present moment was due to these two causes, namely, their women are well educated, and they are bound by no restrictions of caste. These two advantages slowly make themselves felt among our native Christian brethren, and it is probable they will soon be the Parsees <1f Southern India; they will furnish the most distinguished public servants, barristers, merchants, and citizens among the various classes of the nativec@mmunity."
-The Allgemeine Missionszeitschrijt for January, 1891, remarks that the Protestants of Germany in missionary achievement are as yet decidedly behind both the duties providentially laid upon them and their numerical strength. They are almost a fourth of the Protestant world, yet of 3000 ordained Protestant missionaries they only supply 561-less than onefifth, and of lay missionaries, male and female, less than one-fiftieth. Of 40,000,000 marks raised in Protestant Christendom for foreign missiuns, the Germans (including German Switzerland) contribute 3,000,000. Proportionately it ought to be 10,000,000.
-The Witness quotes approvingly Cardinal Manning, who declares, with Sir Bartle Frere, that England only holds India by "the divine right of good government," and that one of the things implied in this is the deliverance of female India from the curse of child marriages, compulsery betrot}:tals, and enforced widowhood.
-The Journal des Missions Evangeliques for October, 1890, giving an account of the hard conditions of life among the mountain Waldenses. says: "One might easily suppose that under circumstances so toilsome, the struggle against material difficulties must needs absorb all other thoughts. Far from it, however. Blessed with the ministry of devoted pastors who are daunted by no effort, Vaudois piety finds a place in heart and life for the things of the kingdom of heaven. As a result, from these houses, where superfluity is unknown, where even necessity often has to be strictly construed, there has descended a veritable army of evangelists, schoolmasters, professors, some of whom, raised by diligence to the heights of culture, are now the venerated chiefs of the Vaudois Church."
A young M. Pascal, a child of these valleys, has just been ordained at La Tour as a missionary for Lessuto. " May he help to make of the Basutos a people of evangelists for all South Africa as the Waldenses are coming to be for Italy."
-The brethren of the Zambesi are gradually finding their isolation somewhat relieved by more frequent intercourse with the colonial world, and with the world at large. But the same growth of publicity menaces them with the invasion of gain-seekers and all the desolations coming in the train of Mammon. Let us pray for them.
-Of tbe 520 organized Protestant churches of China, 94, remarks the Journal des Missions, provide entirely for their own spiritual and material wants.
Treating of the precariousness of the foreign protection accorded to the Chinese churches, the Journal inquires why they might not come nearer the requirements of Chinese society by organizing themselves; after the model of the Chinese clans, just as the churches of the Roman Empire gained long intervals of toleration by assum'ing the forms of beneficial, religious, and social collegia or guilds.
-The Harvest Field of Madras, for December, 1890, has an interesting articl' e on. the" Portuguese Inquisition lit Goa," in western India, showing ….-.-….. -.- how this hindered the spread of Roman Catholic Christianity. The Church of Rome teaching that it is unlawful to compel anyone to accept baptism, but lawful to punish him for defection after being baptized, the Goa . inquisition allowed Jews, Moslems, and Hindus to live unmolested, but claimed the right to punish them (though not with death) for publicly exercising their religion. Multitudes, therefore, who might otherwise have been won, refnsl'd to be baptized for fear of the ultimate penalties. And as the lesser penalties were severe enough, multitudes of the non-Christians fIe-d into other parts of India, which largely explains the collapse of the Portuguese power.
It must not be Rupposed that the Inquisition was always the protectress of error. Unhappily it was equally cruel when it defended the truth. Thus a Frenchman at. Goa, after months of imprisonment, was condemned to five years in the galleys (remitted, however, by the Crown of Portu- gal), principally fur having declared that no one can possibly be saved without extemal baptism. Here the Inquisition was plainly in the right and the Frenchman in the wrong. What a warning to us all not to excuse a persecuting zeal on the ground that it is zeal for the truth I • -The Harvest Field speaks a good word for the brave and faithful Ger- man brethren of Gossner's Mission among the Kols. It says: "There is no mission in the country more actively alive than Gossner's in Chutia- Nilgpur. The men who are controlling the work take a comprehensive view of their duty, and interest themseh'es in those political and social questions which so seriously affect the well-being of these Kols, who have come under their influence. They have battle on all sides of them. The Jesuits poach unconscionably on the one hand, and the S. P. G. harass them on the other; this in addition to the ignorance, evil habits, distress- ing connections and social disabilities of the Kols themselves. Yet they succeed, not merely encouragingly, but gloriously. Their last twelve months' census shows that 1073 have been baptized, and 2796 besides have broken caste and placed themselves under Christian instruction. A Ilew mission station is being takf'n up, to be called Buchselpur j and there are already 1000 Christians in the neighborhood as a nucleus. Two new churches have been built for native pastors j a native church endowment fund has been started, which promises to grow into importance. There are now 167 churches in the misRion, aggregating 11,552 full members, or a total Christian community of 35, I 03. The leper asylum has been specially fruitful lately in conversions."
-Gleanings in the Harvest Fields, York, England, organ of tbl' Metho- dist New Connection, says: ,. The best missionary periodical is TIn;: MIS- SIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD. edited by Dr. A. T. Pierson. It is fresh, vigorous, varied, and.cheap."
-An article in the Gleanings, from Miss M. J. Waller, refers to an oeinion expressed by Sir John Pope Hennessy. that China is the ffeest country in the world. Miss Waller thinks that he has left the female half of mankind out of account. A wife who has lately fled from the cruelties of her husband's home, is sentenced to a rising scale of beatings, and if still refusing to return, to be officially sold. Miss Waller adds: "The severe discipline to which girls in China are subJected so thoroughly destroys all that is spiritual in their nature that it is humanly impossible to raise them from the state of cunning and deceit to which they hav(, been brought. They are just prepared to become moth!lrs-in-law in their tulU I believe the phlegmatic and crafty characteristics of the Chinese race, of which so many missionaries complain, are greatly owing to this moral death imposed on their women."
-The Jewilh Intelligence describes the Protestant cemetery on Mount Zion. Dr. Alexander, the first Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, it will be remembered, was a Jew. His tomb bears the inscription, in four languages: "Whose Christian love won the good-will of his brethren of Israel. "
-M. W olkenberg, writing in the Jewish Intelligence, declares that some Jewish leaders are now, in desperation, aiming at "a substitution of Hebraic literature for religion, and thE exaltation of the race in the place of its Creed-its only preservative. Sooner will the rivers roll back to thcir source than Jews, once emancipated, will go back to the dead and deadening level of Talmndic trivialities. There is but one alternative-Christianity or total alienation from religious belief. And while many sink intothe latter abyss, we may thank God that the Church is at last visibly and indisputably exerting a potent influence upon many of the lost sheep of the house of Israel. "
-The Ohristian for January 20th, 1891, gives a portrait and biographical sketch of M. Eugene Casal is, the eminent French missionary to the Basutos. It is interesting to know that he is of a Huguenot ancestry which, in the time of persecution, resolutely remained, saying: ".The seed of the true Church of Christ must not depart entirely from the soil of France; it is in the Lord's power to bring us better times."
–North Africa, devoted to the Kabyle and Berber missions, thus describes a citadel of Tangier in Morocco: "The Kasbah is full of strange contrasts. The streets narrow and dirty; the priso)Js in semi-darkness, with an evil odor ever proceeding from them, and filled with prisoners chained, starved, and diseased. Yet the opening of a door in one of the windowless walls and a few steps 'down some winding passages lead into sunlight, beauty, and romance; for a palace of a past age is here, with neglected gardens and a lovely court, in the centre of which a fountain is playing in a marble basin, surrounded by marble Corinthian pillars, and rooms with floor, wall, and ceiling displaying the finest specimens of Moorish art in tessellated work and wood-carving, the latter glittering with gold and soft colors, though the modern Moor delights in brilliant painting. The lace-like delicacy of the designs, both in wood and stucco, is indescribable." Christianity in various forms is once more setting its foot on that North African shore so great in Christian mp.mories. At a farewell meeting in Exeter Hall these quiet beginnings were aptly compared to the handful of marines that have brought one great region after another under the sway of the British crown.
-Says the Indian Witness: "The Rangoon Gazette does a good work in vindicating American missionaries in Burmah from the sneers and charges of Sir Lepel Griffin-that foe of missionaries"-and of Americans. He assert~d that these godly men had surreptitiously helped the Karens to arms and ammunitIon, and in so far, at least, encouraged them in wrong-doing. The Gazette declares the charges utterly " malicious and false," and says, " if the American missionaries often show much business shrewdness in mundane matters, they have also shown that the Christianity they produce in their converts is of a good practical sort, which statesmen should welcome instead of sneering at and maligning." Sir Lepel Griffin declares that the Burmans are the most interesting race in the world, because they count life its own sufficient object and reward. To this precious specimen of the English Antichrist, the moment a people begins to think of eternity, that moment it loses its interesting- ness. He dishonors even the Buddhism which he professes to admire- for that has a deep though hopeless earnestness. It searches through eternity, though it comes back like the wanderer of Jean Paul's dream, exclaiming despairingly: " There is no God !"
-The Missionary Record of the United Presbyterian Church in Scot- land for Jannary, 1891, has iateresting articles on their late eminent mis- sionary in North China, the Rev. Dr. Williamson. The Protestant missionaries of Tientsin, in their resolutions of sympathy, remark: "This long period of service in North China, extending over thirty years, and the many departments of Christian enterprise with which he identified himself, have familiarized and endeared his name to many, not only among his brother missionaries and the native Christians, but also among those who have ordinarily little sympathy with our work. His singleness of aim and earnest desire to promote the material, social, and spiritual welfare of China were apparent to all. By his early itinerations in the cause of Bible distribution, he did not a little to open the large regions to the Gospel message. By the preparation of books upon political, scientific, and theological subjects, he Rtrove to promote the much. needed education 'Of the people. His sympathy with all movements tending to further union and co-operation among the various branches of the Christian Church in China was well known, and his own effOlts in this direction had much to do with the success of the Missionary Conferences of 1877 and 1890."
To say that Dr. Williamson worked for Christian union is little more than another way of saying that he was a United Presbyterian missionary of Scotland. He that cannot work with a United Presbyterian brother cannot work with anybody.
-It is known that Protestant missions are extending from China proper into the northern regions of Mongolia and Manchuria, from which latter country came the prcsent imperial family. Dr. James A. Greig, nnw ,medical missionary of the Irish Presbyterian Church, though, as he says, still "a Scotchman and a United Presbyterian." writes to the Missionary Record concerning hi'S work. Speaking of one patient, suffering under a malignant tumor, he remarks: "I asked, ' Have you ever heard of Jesus ¥' , Never.' 'Have you ever heard of heaven?' 'Never.' • Of hell~' , Never.' Yet here he stood, as thousands in this dark land, on the brink 'Of eternity; the future dark and unknown, the present hopeless. After sim,plyexplaining to him the way of salvation, and urging upon him its acceptance, he left ns, bearing with him John iii. 16 as an epitome of all we had said. He left, but his Never remained. It sounded and reresounded through our ears and in our brain. ,. , -The Free Ohurch of Scotland Monthly remarks that their Budapest mission among the Hungarian JAWS has had an important incidental result in knitting various closer ties of brotherhood 'tfith the Hungarian churches. Scottish liberality has provided bursaries at the New College, Edinburgh, for Bohemian and Hungarian divinity students. A now financially independent German Reformed Church in Budapest has mainly resulted from Scottish labors. The leading Hungarian pastors express a warm sense of this catholic co-operation.
'I,. "The missionary campaign," says the Monthly, " opened enthusiastically in Glasgow, November 24th, with two great meetings of more than 3000 people, and had been continued throughout Scotland among grown people and children. In some of the country places, owing to the stormy weather, the attendance 'Yas small. But even in these cases a deep impression was invariably produced, and it was felt by the missionaries and others how great a mistake it would be to give populous centres a preference over quiet rural districts in the arranging of such meetings. The largest meeting was at Greenock, with 1600 children and 400 adults present. There were also crowded meetings in Ayr, Kilmarnock, and other places." It was felt important to engage interest, especially among children, in 8pecific missionary objects.
-Inasmuch as Muscat, in south-eastern Arabia, is the seat of Arab influence and power in Africa, Bishop French urges the establishment of a mission there to attack the evil in its source.
-The Church Missionary lntell(qencer for January, 1891, contains an article on Henry Martyn's Urdu translation of the New Testament. The Urdu, the basis of which is the fine Hindi language, greatly enriched and modified by Arabic and Persian, has been classed as one of the twelve ot thirteen conquering languages of the world. Martyn's Arabic translation was faulty, and soon abandoned by him. The Persian he cntirely recast. But his Urdu version went into use at onl:e, and for many years suffered no change. The following fine passage describes the inmost quality of the man: "There was in Martyn's rcligion the element of awe. There are depths in his mind. Deep calls unto deep. The deep of reverence calls to the deep of confession; the deep of realized forgiveness calls to the deep of charity. His critical ear detects in an instant a word or expression that sinks below the level at which the message of God ought to be expressed. And this sense of fitness affeCts his whole work. He is minutely careful of small things, but never small himself. Pettiness is not in him, nor pedantry, which is scholastic pettiness. Vulgarity is odious to him. Vulgarity he cannot away with. All his instincts are refined. He breathes freely only when the atmosphere is pure. He' prays over his thoughts as well as over his words. His citizenship is. in heaven, and there is dignity in all that he says. There are depths in his mind, and because there are depths there is elevation too. He humbles himself and is exalted."
-Bishop Westcott, of Durham, of whom we have not yet unlearned to think of as Canon Westcott, says, as reported in the Intelligencer: "The Rajah of Travancore-that state at the south-western extremity of India, one-fifth of whose people are Christians, Syrian, Roman Catholic, or Protestant-answering the missionaries who had thanked him for the protection afforded theU!, said: 'One cannot be sufficiently thankful for the introduction of this civilizing element and its steady development. Your labors have been increasing year after year the number of a loyal, lawabiding, and civilized population-the very foundation of good government. ' Again I ask, is that the language of a man who feels that he has in his ancestral faith a solid basis of an enduring empire ~"
The bishop quotes, with the like inquiry, the recent declaration of a non-Christian lawyer, that mission schools are the quinine for India's fever.
-The Bombav Guardian of November 22d, 1890, remarks; 'One of our correspondents recently started ·the question, 'Is Hinduism declining or advancing in this country~' To hear of the great Hindu religious congress just held at Delhi, attended by Hindu nobles, pandits, and Brahmins from all the sacred cities, orgallized and carried through with enthusiasm, it would appear that it was decidedly advancing; but, on the other hand, we are not without signs that tell a different tale. ""hen spring is on the way the edges of snow-drifts and ice-floes begin to melt, and though it may be long before the increasing warmth of the sun penetrates into the heart of these frozen masses, all who see them rejoice in the prospect of a general break-up."
– We observe in the Mildmay Service for the King the statement that 1 of eyery 60 Moravians becomes a missionary, and that the converts outnumber the parent Church by very nearly 3 to 1. Why are they any more obliged to this than we? And as it is fruitless to ask til< III to lower their stand"ard, there seems to be nothing for it but that we should exalt ours.
-The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Church of England in Canada, according to its organ, the Canadian Church. Magazine and Mission News, has sent out a missionary of her own to J apanthe Rev. J. G. 'Yallt'r.
-In the Chronicle for January, 1891, the Rev. G. H. Macfarlane discusses the work of gathering in the non-castes of the Cuddapah district, in the Madras Presidency, a country larger than Wales, and with a popula· tion of about 1,150,000, nearly all speaking Telugu-the second in importance, we judge, of the four affiliated Dravidian languages of which the Tamil is the principal. Mr. Macfarlane gives his decided judgment that these non-cm.tes, or out-casteR (about 150,000 in the district) owe their abjectness of character to no mental inferiority, but purely to the pressure from above, and to the lack of stimulus to self-development. It requires, he says, two generations of education at most, to bring them to an equality with the Brahmins. This again shows that these nummons conversions from the classes which are only lowest because they have been held down, are preparing a silent revolution which will some day compel the Brahmins to come to terms. Even Hinduism, as Sir William Hunter has shown, is slowly elevating the aboriginal tribes, which it is rapidly incorporating, until some of them have even attained to the !<acred thread of the" twice-born." Christianity. therefore, as he suggests, instead of being: ashamed of these, ought to throw herself first of all upon them, and thus secure these 50,000,000 from being thoroughly absorbed by Hinduism. It is one of Canon Taylor's choicest blunders that he has turned these 50,000,000 into half a million!
As to the motives of accession to Christianity on the part of these noncastes or Malas, as they are called, Mr. Macfarlane says, very discriminatingly, and exactly in a line with Bishop Caldwell in speaking of both these and of the lower castes: ,. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has long been preached to these people, and many have placed themselves under instruction to learn something of its saving truths. It is not to be supposed that deep conviction of sin has led them to such a step. They have not so much spiritual enlightenment as to feel sin to be a burden and to be anxious to get free from it. What impressions these people have are more of the head than of the heart. They see something better in Christianity than in what their ancestors and neighbors believe. Indeed, many h(athen scolf at their own practices while continuing them. They conceive, in a bli.l)< sort of way, that the religion of Jesus is the true path of righteousness and salvation. They are anxious also for social improvement for themselves and education for their children. Many of their relations llave become Christians and are receiving instruction, and they donot wish to be cutoff from them and be unable to intermarry. These and other reasons influence them, and so they would like to put themselves under Christian teaching and get whatever advantages, temporal as well as spiritual, connection with the new religion involves. The purest and highest motives do not move them. But amid what is worldly and selfish some distinct perceptions of the truth and superiority. of the religion of Jesus Christ do weigh with them. And, in truth, they themselves, or their children, do attain to higher perceptions, but the spiritual faculty in them has first to be awakened. Again, although as a community they are not ruled by purdy spiritual motives, individuals of them lire, just as it happens among other classes that only single hearts are touched, 'The wind bloweth where it listeth.' 'One is taken and another left.' But in the case of these people we have the whole community willing to put itself under influences for good, so that the chances are that a large percentage of individuals will be awakened t(l life and godliness. Higher castes are as yet only in rare instances open to influence as communities. Only single converts are being made from them. " Again: "Conversions to Christianity from other castes only occur in individual cases. •A Sudra is not able to persuade family and friends to become Christians. A Brahman, far from inB.uencing them, is disowned and excommunicated by them. His means of support–unless he fills a public post-are cut off. The mission he has joined has to maintain him and find him employment. He is himself a distinct gain to the Christian Church j but Hindu society remains unaffected. It closes on the space he left void. He is only a sapling broken off a tree, which scarcely shows the wound. But the Mala becomes a Christian with his wife, children, and all connections. A great branch is torn away from the tree, and the rent left apparent. An entire layer of Hindu society is gained for Christ. It is, indeed, the lowest j but it can form a foun,dation on which a Christian Church for the whole of India can be built. India is called' the country of villages.' If the Christian Church is to lay hold of them and not leave them pagan to the last, it cannot be accomplished by the conversion of solitary individuals, taking them out of their families and society, and finding them employment within the bounds of the mission. Christianity must establish itself by fonnding its churches in every village, and let.ting converts maintain themselves by their own occupations. There are no evidences at present that this work can be done by large conver- I!ions from caste TIindus, but the way seems open for it through securing and instructing the Mala community."
We would Buggest, under editorial favor, that Mr. Macfarlane would do a great service if he would write for THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD an article explaining whether any large part of these out-castes are also outcasts, the descendants of those that have in various' ages been expelled from their respective castes, and precisely how those lower races that are attached to Hinduism without having been admitted to the rank of a caste, differ, in point of religious and social rights, from the members of the lower castes. Most of us have but a confused idea of this distinction, which we nevertheless see to be so important in India. Indeed, the whole subject of Caste needs a revised elucidation for the benefit of those that are interested in missionar7 work among the Hindus. -The warning given by the editor of the Allgemeine Mislionszeitschrijt against too great a precipitancy on the part of Japanese Christians to set up for them.elves, is re-echoed by the Rev. W. Muirhead, of Shanghai, who writes, in the January Chronicle: "It may be well to mention to you the latest news from Japan from a missionary point of view, that, in general, it is a cause for much anxiety. The Christians there are largely in a very independent frame of mind regarding the forms in which Christianity has been presented to them as not suited to their requirements, and they are resolved to form a system of their own, dispensing with their foreign teachers 8S much as possible, and doing things as they think best." If we 'were to describe as faults of the Japanese character exaggerated self-confidence and exaggerated patriotism, we should be saying too much. Yet they would. hardly deny that their dangers lie on that side rather than on the other. As President Garfield is said to have declared that he was "for protection, with a view to ultimate free-trade," 80, perhaps, our Japanese brethren would not be the worse of taking as their motto: " Frank deference to the elder Christendom, with a steady progress toward spiritual independence for ourselves."
-It appears, from the Chronicle, that the French authorities on the Island of Mare have finally become tired of forcing the people in the matter of religion, and that now, although there is a good deal of petty persecution, the only act of persecution on a grand sca,le that has lately occurred is the impending exile of a pastor, two deacons, and three private members for having mutually given and accepted a call to resume the care of the pastor's old church, without bethinking themselves of first obtaining formal permission.
-We observe the publication, by Bertelsmann, at that metropolis of 'missionary interest, Giitersloh, of a pamphlet, the contents of which were first published in the Allgemeine Missionszeitschrijt, entitled " Wie ist da8 Maluriafieber in den Tropell mit besserem Erlolg als bisher zu behandeln? " " How can malarial fever in the tropics be treated with better success than hitherto 1" The author, Herr Zippel, contends strenuously against the use of quinine and of drugs in general as remedies for this fever, and.in favor of the water cure. We have read his treatise carefully in its original form, and mU9t say that it bristles with a very staggering array of facts in disparagement of quinine and in commendation of water. The pamphlet of forty-six pages seems worthy of being translated. The present writer, who has some experience of pernicious tropical fevers, must own that, so far as this goes, it inclines him to think highly of water and not very highly of drugs.
-We see from China's Millions that our Swedish brethren in this country are sending out helpers to the China Inland Mission. " The first -Mr. Matson-reached Shanghai on October 28th, and Mr. and Mrs.
Wallen have since arrived."
The Emperor has ordered all the distilleries in the flQoded province of China to be closed for a year, in order to save the grain. Good out of evil! .
China's Million8 quotes from The 'Christian part of an address of Dr.
D. McEwen, at Manchester, in which he says: "The special work of the Christian Church Jo-day is the immediate evangelization of the whole world. Conversion, whether of the few or the many, is the work of God Himself; but it is committed to the Church to take the Gospel message to every creature j and the time has come, in the providence of God, when this ought to be done, nDt in a halting, tentative way, but by sweeping measures. Through the march of discovery, the progress of international commerce, and the translation of the Scriptures, the speedy evangelization of the human race has come within the region of practical Christian politics."
An epidemic of influenza, as well as one of fever, appears to have been very rife throughout China, of which the missionaries are having their share.
-The Rhenish Missionary Society ill joyful and thankful at having been able to report for the last year double the number of baptisms from among the heathen that there were four years previously. In 1886 there were 1070; 1887, 1277 ; 1888, 1628 ; 1889, 2289.
-The Church of Scotland Mission Record for January 1st, 1891, says: " As w~ go to press we have received the distressing news, wired from Mozambique on December 13th, 'Cleland died, fever, Blantyre.' This is the second death sustained by our mission staff since Blantyre was founded in 1877, and now we have lost an enthusiastic missionary, who had Africa written upon his heart, who felt her woes most keenly, and who has labored for her in painfulness and weariness and loneliness through nearly four anxious years. "
-The Mission Record laments the loss of Dr. Brown, late editor of the Missionary Record of the United Presbyterian Church: "In the Church of Scotland he had many attached friends, and the General Assembly seldom passed without his genial face being seen within our assembly hall. He was a man whose losll to our Scot~ish Presbyterianism is to be lamented at the present time, when in the growing desire for reunion, the help of generous, broad-minded men, of whatever Church, is greatly in demand." Happy Scotland, that has unity even in her divisions, and not, as some say of a great national church not far removed, division even in her unity.
It will be remembered that Disraeli. in one of his earlier romances, describes the Queen of Great Britain 'retreating before a too-powerful invader, as taking refuge in her fleet and establishing herself in the capital of her Indian Empire, from which, advancing westward, she sweeps Western Asia and all Europe under her sceptre, and reoccupies London. The subsequent achievement of the transplanted Asiatic, in placing the Indian diadem in all form on his mistress's brow, challenges a half-amused, half-serious attention, in these days of unsettled expectancy of nations, even to this fantastically gorgeous dream, and to the fine description of Calcutta quoted by the Mission Record from Sir William Hunter: "Calcutta still goes on growing with the growth of a vigorous maturity. Its unrivalled position at the mouth of the combined river systems of Northern and North-eastern India gives it a great advantage in regard to the older and bulkier staples of Bengal-rice, jute, and oil seeds-although even these have to a very large extent deserted the slower water-routes for the rail ways. The enterprise of its merchants and capitalists has called into existence new industries on a vast scale–'-tea-planting, coal-mining, engineering foundries, and steam factories of many sorts. The new railway to the west will bring to it an increasing share of the wheat trade; and it only awaits the better adaptation of the European smelting processes to the Indian coals and ores to become the financial centre of a great iron industry in Bengal. Meanwhile Calcutta sits calm and strong on its ancient river bank and watches the produce of the richest provinces of the world float down to it by many waters, or pour into it by an ever-extending network of railwa;ys. $edet aJternumq.ue Iwtf/bit," H ije~d,& 9q~ t4lt the two- ed~ed. sword of the Son of God should cut a~under the chains of Brahminical bondage, and India may perhaps spring forth into a magnificence of development passing the imaginations of antiquity concerning her uncounteJ. wealth.
The following passage from the Record is worthy of being pondered by American Christians: "The State may persecute, as the Roman State did, because anti-Christian; but it is hard to see why the people of a State preponderatingly Christian should persecute themselves, since they know that their faith makes not for the overtb.row but for the consolidation of national life. Or the State may try to ignore religion on the false theory of exaggerated individualism, which forgets that national life is the aggregate of the life of families, and that family life is based on the religious conception of marriage. The attempt to ignore the mightiest factor in the formation of national life can never succeed." Says the old Scottish Second Book of Discipline, magistrates "are callit in the Scripture nourishers of the Kirk, for sameikle as be them it is, or at least aucht to be, mantenit, fosterit, uphalden, and defendit against alt that wuld procure the hurt thereof." Whatever may be our theories respeCting the relations of Church and State, it seems as if Christians must allow that a modu8 vivendi between Christ and Antichrist was never in the mind of our Lord Jesus.
-The following, from a discourse of George Muller, delivered in his native tongue, in the Mission House of Basel, and appearing in the Neukirchener Heidenbote, ctlmes with especial authority from the lips of one whose faith God has so often changed to palpable fact. It assuredly belongs to the missionary work at a time when dignitaries of the Church raise the scoffing cry, " What do these feeble Jews r' "If we wish to have faith, we have purely to do with the promise as it is given in God's Word. We have not to question our thoughts and feelings j we have not to wait for special impressions, not to look to probability and outer circumstances, but purely and only to the Word of God, to believe what that says. Faith can act without feelings and probability j faith needs nothing but God's promise. If we wish anything more, this is no longer faith in the Word of God. " Faith is not concerned primarily with this or that fragment, but with all the promises, with the whole revelation of God in His Holy Word, with all the promises that have been made to the people of God. This, it appears to me, suffices for a definition of faith in the Word of God. "
-The Guardian commends to the public, as ft very valuable mine of information respecting India, on all its sides, Mr. S. W. Caine's new book, "Picturesque India." It regrets, however, the last chapter, "the tendency of which will be to strengthen the foolish belief that India is in danger,' near or remote, of a Russian invasion; and by pandering to this folly to condone the extravagant and wasteful military expenditures which absorbs so much of the revenue of India.' , -The Indian Witness, remarking on the lavish subscriptions in India for statues to departing governors, laments that thus far the Bowen Memorial Fund has barely touched 10,000 rupees. "George Bowen did a mightier. work for India, especially for Western India, than any half dozen bestatued governers." As George Bowen's former teacher, Dr. T. E. Skinner, said of him, " his face shone with the light of incipient trans- figuration w4ile he was sttn ~ student in VniOll Seminary-."
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
:EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
Fourteen Years of Earth-Hunger in Thus reads a dooument lately issued by Africa. the new French Committee on African affairs. It is, a long story already and [J. T. G.] not a very amusing one, this of the so- called Partition of Africa; yet it is, the " We are at present assisting at a London Times says, "so far an Rccom· unique spectacle in hi.story-the actual division of a continent scaroely known plislied faot that it is possible to take by the civilized nations of Europe." stook of the share which has fallen to
rn'1'EliN.A!t'10NAL lYliJPAltTMlllNT
the lot of each with some approach to Portuguese limitations, the English accuracy. " sphere•• , now and then," is suggestive. The MlJUvement Geographique, some short while gince, worked out the prob. British Africa, 1876: West Coast Col- lem of the European geographical exten_ ilion in Africa in a series of tables which onies, 15,640 square miles; Atlantic are the clearest presentation of this prog- ress which has fallen under ou.. eye. Islands, 125 ; Cape Colony and depend- It is astounding to note this projection of Europe on Africa within fourteen encies, 241,500 ; Natal, 21,000; Mauriyears, or since 1876, the year of the Brussels Conference, from which the tius and dependencies, 900. Total, scramble may be said to date. 279,165 square miles. So far as area goes, France has got more in this general looting than any British Africa, 1890 : West Coast Colother nation. In 1876 France had African possessions as follows: onies, 45,000 square miles ; Royal Niger French Africa, 1876 : Algeria, 123,000 Company, 400,000; Atlantic Islands, square miles; Senegambia, 154,400; Gaboon, 4830 ; Reunion, 964 ; Mayotte, 125; Walfish Bay, 460; Cape Colony, Nossi-Be, and Ste. Marie, 256. Total, 283,450 square miles. Her present pos- with dependenoies-Basutoland, Zulusessions stand in marked contrast with that, as witness the figures, which are land, Bechuanaland, etc., 500,000; not, of course, precise. Natal, 21,000; British South Africa French Africa, 1890 : Algeria, 184,480 square miles; Tunis, 44,790; Senegal Company and Nyassaland, 500,000; and dependencies, 580,000 ; Sahara and Western Soudan, 965,000 ; Gold Coast, Mauritius and dependencies, 900; 19,300; Gaboon and French Congo, 270,000; Madagascar and neighboring Zanzibar and Femba, 760 ; British East islands, 232,600 ; Reunion, 964 ; Comoro Islands, 798; Obock, 2316. Total, Africa (including sphere of influence), 2,300,248 square miles. 400,000 ; Somali Coast region, 38,000 ; In 1876 Germany had no claim to a mile of territory in Africa. At present Socotra, 3000. Total, 1,909,445 square her empire in the "Dark Continent" is great. miles.
German Africa, 1890 : Togoland, 7720 But Britain has no northern limit to square miles; Cameroons, 193,000; Southwest Africa, 385,000 ; East Africa, its sphere, and the" thin red line" is 450,000. Total, 1,035,720 square miles. at Cairo and Suakim. This may not seem vast compared with some, but the ratio' must be reck- It is doubtful if Portugal had more oned from nothing; and it must be borne in mind that this was all virtually than 80,000 square miles of territory in obtained within a few months, in 1884- 85 ; all else has been mere adjustment Africa in 1876, but the following may of boundaries. be accepted as substantially correct: .. Has Britain finished 1" is the signifi. cant question of the Mouvement Geo- Portuguese Africa, 1876 : Madeira, 314 graphiq'lle, in referring to the British sphere of influence. Taking the Anglo- English square miles; Cape Verd Isl- ands, 1486; Islands of Sao Thome and Principe, 417; Angola, 300,000; Mo- zambique, 300,000. Total, 612,217 Eng.
lish square miles.
Portuguese Africa, 1890: Madeira, 314 square miles; Cape Verd Islands, 1486; Guinea and Bissagos Islands, 2316 ; Sao Thome and Principe, 417 ; Cabinda, 460 ; Angola, 470,000 ; Mozam- bique, 300,000. Total, 774,993 square miles. • For the smaller states we can only give totals. In 1876 f:$pain had not more than 80,000 square miles. If all her claims were now admitted she would have 220,000. In 1876 Italy had nothing, …
officially, in Africa; she now claims, and no power contests it, 360,000 square miles. Turkey's claim to Tripoli is un· disputed ; and if her rule in Egypt is to be counted-though England rules it far more-she has, in a loose way,
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
enough beyond Tripoli to make perhaps Laying Siege to the 'Stronghold of the 1,000,000 square miles. Dalai Lama-The Moravian Mission among the Western Himalayas. SU1lOrLUlY. BY MV. ;T. T. lLUIILTON;, BETlILEHlCM:, l'A. The following is the summary of the above ciphering. Perhaps we would Among the flora of the Himalayas not better state in advance, for the benefit the least inteiesting is the juniperus of sticklers, that this is only an approx- excelsa, the" pencil cedar," a tree held imate putting of the facts: sacred by the Tibetans, who use it for their sacrificial fires. Clinging to the Portugal, in 1876, 612,217; in 1890, merest crevices, thriving on almost pre. 774,993 square miles. Spain, in 1876, cipitouB declivities, it roots itself with 3500; in 1890, 210,000. France, in a firmness that acknowledges alone the 1876,283,450; in 1890,2,300,248. Ger- superior power of the avalanche. Evermany, in 1890, 1,035,720. Congo Free green in life and when felled furnish- State, in 1890, 1,000,000. Italy, in ing most valuable timber, it is of amaz- 1890, 360,000. Great Britain, in 1876, ingly slow growth. A century may 279,165 ; in 1890, 1,909,445. Total, in elapse before a seedling from it deserves 1876, 1,178,332; in 1890, 7,590,406 the name of tree. Yet it can and does square miles. attain noble proportions, its trunk some- times measuring from nine to twelve If to this we add the areas of Egypt yards in circumference. To the juniand the Egyptian Soudan, of Tripoli, per of the Himalayas the mission of the Morocco, the independent Central Sou- Moravian Church among those moundan States, the Transvaal and Orange tains has been compared. Planted in Free States, and patches elsewhere not an almost inaccessible region and in the yet ensphered, it will probably be found face of gravest difficulties, its progress that, of the 11,900,000 square miles of has been slow. Yet faith foresees a day Africa, not more than 2,500,000 remain when the hardy evergreen shall flourish to be scrambled for. like a cedar of Lebanon. Possibly, as by the botanist, the juniperus excelsa·is We have left ourselves no room to regarded with peculiar interest, so also moralize on all this, as to its inherent for the friend of Protestant missions justice, its inspiration, its probable fu- the story of this undertaking, which inture, its bearing on the evangelization volves a residence for Europeans at an of the peoples; or on-what tempts our elevation a couple of thousand feet pen just now more than other points- higher than the famous St. Bernard the overstrained claim for benevolence Pass, and journeys through mountain in seeking the good of Africa. It is, at defiles far above the level of the sumleast, quite noticeable that this mag- mit of Mount Blanc, may in like mannanimous regard for the betterment and ner possess attractions. civilization of these, ofthe .. submerged tenth"-not of England, but of the Invited, in 1850, by the well-known whole human family-should date con· apostle to the Chinese, K. F. A. Gutztemporaneously with the fever for co- laff, to send missionaries to the western lonial expansion. Whether the govern· portion of that great empire, the Mis_ ments know it or not, the people are not sion Board of the Moravian Church deceived by this pious cant. It may called for two volunteers. Thirty reseem to serve their purpose, just because sponded. Two of these, Edward Pagell back of all this reckless rush for gain and A. W. Heyde, both laymen, having there really is a great percentage of earn- been selected and sent to Berlin for a est philanthropy which, while it is not course in medicine, in the summer of humbugged by this political hypocrisy 1853 proceeded to India. The original of motive, has the good sense to avail plan had been to seek Mongolia via Rus· itself of the opportunity thus afforded; but it would do this just as well without this rubbish of asserted magnanimity of motive. sia, but the Czar's fidelity to the tradi- about a hundred miles northeast of tions of the Orthodox Greek Church negatived a request for permission to Simla, and therefore on the very con· take this most direct route. At Kolghur, a statiol1, of the Anglican Church, on the fines of Tibet. Yet endeavors to in- Sutlej, north of Simla, the reside,nt missionary rendered them every assist- vade the land from this point also failed, ance in his power, and a beginning was made in the study of Hindustani and even though the people were willing Tibetan. When somewhat familiar with the latter an attempt was made to enter enough to send for the missionary to in- Tibet. But the boycott was most effectually employed to defeat this. Hardly oculate multitudes against the smallwas Pagell a few days' journey within the Province of Tsotso when he realized pox in a time of distress from that that starvation faced him. Not even could parched barley-meal be bought. scourge. The very lamas and nuns Water was to be obtained only on condition of a withdrawal from the coun- anxiously availed themselves of vaccinatry, and even after a promise to this effect had been given not more than tion, and honors were shown to the misone day's allowance of barley-meal could be procured by the missionary's attend- sionary such as only men of high rank ants. receive; but the work of vaccination Lama-ridden Tibet being thus barred shut, the best that could be done was to over, he was significantly reminded that seek Mongolia by way of Ladak, a former Tibetan province, now tributary to he belonged the other side of the bor~ Kashmir. Here also jealousy of Europeans drew forth a peremptory order to der. Nay, at a later time, so recently return across the border. as 1888, when another trial waa made, Satisfied that for the present an advance was impoRsible, the missionaries friendly officials gave assurance that it then found a permanent home in Kyelang, a village of Lahoul, within the lim- would cost them their heads if they perits of .British sovereignty. Here, a hundred and fifty miles from Simla, and mitted a European to pass. the same distaDce ,from Leh, the capital of Ladak, .at.a height of 10,000 feet Nevertheless, one barrier has since above 1Ie6,level,. in tb,e midst of a population prevailingly Tibetan and Buddh- thenl?roken down. The jealous suspiillt, they began their labors in 1856. cions of the Maharajah of· Kashmir have Before long. they were joined by the Re,.., H,. A. Jaschke. a.scholar pre-emi- yielded. In 1885 Leh became a third nent' in Jingu}J,tic abilities, who had resigned' his ~o-directorship of the classi· station of the mission, and is now ascal· college of the Moravian Church in Germany . that. he might share their suming the characteristics of its headlabors .. . In 1865, still keeping in view their quarters, as is natural, since it is an imultimattl purpo.se ofearryi1g the Gospel into Chinese territOlfY. they founded portant city, an entrepot of trade from a Bacond 4itation ·at.l'oo,.onihe .Sutlej, Lhassa, Yarkand, Bokara, Cabul, the Punjab, and Srinagar. Moreover, even though it lies at an elevation of 11,500 feet, it affords an excellent starting- point for evangelistic tours among Ti_ betan-speaking Buddhist populations.
Hindustani is the language of its bazar, and Islam is predominant. Here the hospital established by the British Gov- ernment has been made over to the mis- sionaries, and here, especially, they have an important school, a school the farther-reaching in its influence because the sub-ruler of the Province of Ladak last year promulgated a decree" that from every .family in Leh and the neigh- bo.rhood, where there ill more than one child, at least one child must be Bent to the mission school." True, the attend- anco at the portion of the curriculum which touches on ~eIigion is left .oP- tional, but at last accounts. there were about sixty present daily.
sioWnairtihe'sit(smatlh~reaensdtatfieounias!,.eel}e.avnsdll mis- Olll, about fifty native communicants, the ing my tent, I was obliged to take refugo growth of this mission has been juniper- under a large block of stone which promlike in its slowness. Yet the intricate ised some protection from the weather. network of rootlets thrown out in the It snowed heavily in the night and I evangelistic tours and in the scattering longed for the morning.' , of printed portions of God's Word and religious tracts in the Tibetan, may be Again, the missionaries here confront believed to have fastened it so firmly in a powerful and well organized system its unfavorable situation that, please of false faith. The lamas, clothed in God, it will defy the storms and endure their red robes and yellow peaked caps, evergreen for generations to come, at claim and receive divine honors. The length reachil{g a glorious symmetry and sense of sin has been deadened by the majestic size, " its leaves for the healing doctrine of the transmigration of souls. of the nations." Of repentance the people appear to have no innate conception. Gross supersti- Peculiar obstacles have been in the tions have debased even their Buddh. way of the progress of this mission. It ism. With complacent indifference has been found no child's play to lay they let the lamas do the thinking for siege to the stronghold of the Dalai them. With a liberalism that would Lama. First of all, the physical features delight the most thoroughgoing agnosof the field are unique. From April to tic, they meet the approaches of those October the two earlier stations, Kye· who would point out the way of salvalang and Poo, are absolutely isolated tion by affirming that" doubtless there from the rest of the world by the vast are many roads which reach one final masses of snow that block every pass. goal. " The prayer-mill mechanically The very battle for existence is severe, grinus out their devoticns. Pol'yandry there being so little arable land, and corrupts their morals. Holiness is supfalls of snow being unknown in no posed to be acquired by paying a lama month of the year. What is entailed in to read pages of the sacred books in an travelling may be learned from the unknown tongue. Lucky and unlucky following extracts from missionaries' days and divination, playas important a letters: "Passing through rivers, or part in their daily Iives as in those of over them, on swaying bridges made of the ancient Egyptian. Deception and boughs, crossing glaciers with danger- fraud are considered' far less culpable ous ice hanging from steep, rocky preci- than the killing of some noxious insect. pices, where one truly carried one's life Idolatry is so universal that when a in one's hands; traversing partly Tibetan has received a religious book snowed-up passes 14,000, 16,000, 17,- from the missionary he has been known 000 and 18,000 feet in height-there to keep a lamp burning and offer sacri. were so many gracious preservations fices before it in his house. from danger that the recollections of this journey are truly a page of memory Again, to profess the Christian rewhich my wife would not on any account ligion involves for the convert the being be deprived of. …" "Next morning completely disowned by his people. He we set off very early and soon hau noth- is boycotted. There have been ining but ice beneath and around us. stances when his life was endangered, Twice my horse fell with me through a or when he has died under suspicious thin coat of snow into deep fissures, but circumstances pointing to foul play. both times I was mercifnlly preserved. The jealousy of native chiefs and the "I spent a trying night in deep hatred of the more influential the vicinity of the monastery ; not being lamas have been manifested in the bringable to find shelter in the miserable huts ing of vexatious lawsuits against the erpcted by the side of the wall of rock, ' missionaries on various pretexts. ~tm Jess to discover a fit spot for pitch- And in addition to all this the barrier of language has often been great. Evenafter the Tibetan proper has been mas- ormation, a catechism, and a summary tered, it has appeared t-o be a dead of Christian doctrine, besides tracts and language to the mass of the people of a school-books in Tibetan, mustal.so be district, and especially to the women. numbered among the literary labors of Some peculiar dialect, like the Bunan the missionaries. Highly important, or the Trinan, has been all that they un- too, are Jlischke's Thibetan-English nerstood. Grammar (Kyelang, 1865; LondoD, 1883), and Thibetan-English Dictionary Under these circumstances it is not (London, 1881), which have called forth surprising that the missionary efforts high commendation from Professor Max have not as yet shown large measures of MUller. visible results. The Gospel, in these regions especially, must be addressed to .. All things come to him who waits," individuals as such, but they have so says a well-tried proverb. Its truth is little personal independence and force especially applicable in the case of him of character, that it is almost impossible who waits on the Lord. Full success for them to face public opinion and risk must attend the work among the all for Christ's sake. Yet the leaven of Himalayas sooner or later, and a breach the Gospel is working slowly and sure- be made in the wall that surrounds the ly. The lamas are indicating their can. stronghold of the Dalai-Lama. Mean· victioD that a contlict is UpOD them whil~, the missionaries are asking that fraught for them with the most serious the siege guns of prayer bombard the issues. Thus, for example, they have bastions of Lamaism. "Could you not, recently imported from Chinese Thibet in missionary circles at home, form a a famous Buddhist work in a hundred union which should make it a duty, not volumes, a load for twelve horses, at a occasionally, but regularly, to remember cost of $500, for the defence of their re- prayerfully the Himalayan mission?" ligion. They feel that the ground is was the request that came last spring beginning to slip from beneath their from the missionary at Poo. It has feet. Among the converts is to be reck- been ·answered by a number, who agree oned a learned lama, Sodpa. Gjalzan, whose father was an official at Lhassa, 1. To pray definitely at least one day the home of the. Dalai-Lama, the in the week for this mission, and for an Buddhist pope. . outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon its missionaries. Direct preaching, evangelistic tours, schools, and the work of medical mis. 2. To read regularly what is published siona.ries have been among the methods about this field, as material for suppliof attack employed here as elsewhere. cation and thanksgiving, and But particularly important has been the printing and distribution of the Scrip- 3. To plead for the opening of the tures and tracts. Many a Christian vol. door into Chinese Tibet, the great ume in Tlbetan has t.hus found its way stronghold of Buddhism, and one of the to Lhassa itself. Ever since the fall of few countries still closed to the Gospel. 18580. lithographic press has been busily employed, and the entire New Testa- The intercessions of the readers of ment, translated by Jlischke and Red. this magazine are likewise requested. slob and the converted lama, was printed at Berlin in 1883 and 1884 at the ex. " Working and Waiting for Tibet" is pense of the British and Foreign Bible the title of a book just issued by Mor. Society. The greater part of the gan &, Scott, London, containing a time· Pentateuch, Joshua, the Psalms, and ly and admirable description of this isaiah have also been issued from the mission work in the Western Himalayas, lithographic press at Kyelang. A his- the country and people, with chapters tory of the Christian Church to the Ref- on Duddhism and the Lamas. It is based on a German work by Hermann Gustav Schneider. It is illustrated, and if! to be sold at a low price. J. T. G.
1891·1
Editorial Notes. missionary lands. Besides, as there is ;T. T. G. nothing a Chinaman dreads more than singularity, this review will have the We cannot forbear adding a personal effect of inspiring a new and more agtestimony to the noble work of the Unity gressive interest in the work which is Brethren. in the Western Himalayas, enlisting the activity and labors of about which Secretary Hamilton writes. Christian communities in all lands. In 18137 the writer received from them Both the periodicals are issued under at his own request a dozen copies of the the auspices of a local society for the Gospels in Tibetan, then just issued "diffusion of Christian and general from their press, and found a way to knowledge," which is thereby solving send them by messenger through the the problem of enlisting in the cause of Nepal Passes into Tibet. It is with missions the interest and co-operation interest that after all these years the following letter is at hand: J. T. G.
KYELANG, Nov. 6, li67. of a large and influential lay element res- Rev. J. T. Gracey: ident in China. This society is com- posed of leading men of all nationali- DEAn BROTHER: Your letter, dated ties, consuls, Chinese customs officers, October 5th, reached me only the day merchants, bankers, and lawyers who, before yesterday. I am glad to learn with some of the older and more experithat you find no difficulties in dis- enoed missionaries, have' in this way tributing the Tibetan Gospels, and united to give the Chinese the benefits of our higher civilization and enlight- I am very happy to send you by thill enment.. Thus, the cause of missions post another supply of them. We are is being mightily sustained and promotall here very thankful that you assist ed by a' large and influential class of uur work in this way, and we shall be foreigners resident in China who, but always happy to hear that they find the for such an opportnnity-one whioh way into Tibet. they heartily approve of and believe in -would be almost entirely lost to mis- Allow me to send you also by book- sionary enterprise. post our Tibetan grammar and our dictionary. Please accept this as a broth- A correspondent from China, writerly gift. I take also the liberty to send, ing about the great Shanghai Conference together with the books, a few copies last May, calls it a .. glorious success," of grammars and dictionaries, in case and says the spirit of it still abides that there would be gentlemen who would like to buy them. 'rhe price of adictionary is rupees 2, and the gram. mar, 12 annas.
The Lord be with you in your wor~. In Him I salute you as your Brother, TH. RECHLER.
among the churches. .. Over one hun.
We have pleasure in acknowledging dred new missionaries," he says, .. have the receipt of the first number of a new arrived since our call for the 1000 was missionary literary venture, Ohung si issued !" The executive committees Kiao HwuiPao (The Missionary Review), appointed' by the Conference to provide edited by Rev. Dr. Y. J. Allen, also the . for the revision of the Bible have nearly Wan Krooh Kung Pao (The Review of the completed their labors by the election Times), under the same editorial care. of competent translators. There are to The latter is designed to reach the offi- be three versions, one in High Wen-Ii, cials and literary classell, who chiefly one in Easy Wen-Ii, and one in Man- , patronize it, while the former is devoted darin, and it is hoped that the entire to the native churches. The Chinese work will be done by the Dext General are given to imitation, and it is thought Conference, say ten years hence.
that this new periodical may avail itself of this peculiarity by laying be- Rev. Dr. Happer was compelled to fore them the history, objects, and meth- resign his muoh loved work in the col- ods of missions, as condncted in all lege at Canton, China, owing to the state fields, or, at least, in all foreign and of his health, which his physicians said
INTE:RNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
forbade all work involving either severe ton Springs, N. Y., June 10th to 17th. mental or physical strain, especially that May God bless and restore our dear which causes anxiety; and the college Brother Belden ! had reached a stage which required great care and responsibility as well as hard "A suggestive symptom," says the work. In a letter written to us, January Asiatic Quarterly Review, about China, 12th, he says he hopes to get away early "is the decree just issued that, on ill April. He hopes to resume his their next New Year's day the ambassastudies in this oountry, and is bringing dors of the Western nations," such as all his books for this purpose. His ob- ministers of Great Britain, France, Russervations and experiences on the field sia, the United States, and Holland, are during forty-seven years will enable to receive an audience of the Emperor, him to present most valuable addresses followed by a banquet, and this cereon foreign missions before the churches mont is to be continued every year. and young men in the colleges and sem- The question of audience has been uninaries. He hopes to be at the next der discussion for centuries. So far meeting of the International Missionary back as 1816 Lord Amherst flatly reo Union, at Clifton Springs, N. Y., June fused to kowtow-that is, to knock his 10th to 17th. head against the ground in presence of the Emperor. Thus, the British sailor It is with the deepest sorrow that paved the way for the American miniswe are obliged to say to the members of ter to dispense with the whole of this the Internation!11 Missionary Union that ceremony in order to ' protect those dutheir most faithful and efficient secre- ties which every Western nation owes tary, Rev. William H. Belden, of Bris- to its own dignity,' and to introduce, tol, Conn., has been stricken from the through the present Emperor, the brothlist of nctive workers, at least for" time. erhood of monarchies even among the On February 28th, at his own home and Celestials. " in the midst of his family, he was stricken with paralysis in a severe form, and The resignation of Rev. Dr. Lowrie, lay unconscious for some days. At as Secretary of the Presbyterian Mission. this writing, which is necessarily weeks ary Board, follows hard on that of Dr. away from the reading of it, his life Murdock, of the Baptist Union. "Ad. still hangs in the balance, but is not de- vancing years and providential circum. spaired of. This is not the time nor stances" compel these changes. The. plaee to say what Mr. Belden was and, Presbyterian Board requests Dr. Lowrie we hope, is to be again to the Union, to to accept the position of Emeritus Sechis large parish, and to other prominent retary, with a salary as heretofore, and enterprises. We cllnnot bring our- express their appreciation of his ability, selves to do more now than to ask the fidelity, and diligence in his general prayers of the members of the Union in superintendence through so many years. particular in his behalf, and to announce that his heroic lind devoted wife, even Miss M. Burt, of Springfield, 0., has in the midst of her troubles, elects to just issued a pan-denominational map take up his duties as Secretary of the I. of China, with the mission stations of M. U., as she is familiar with the con- all boards clearly and accurately loca~. dition of the work; and at this hour ed. The map is 34 by 45 inches. It is the work could scarcely be handed over offered at the very low figure of one dolto any other. The Union will feel un- lar. Around the margin of the map is der great obligation to her for this ser- an amount of interesting and instrucvice, and will render all the aid possi- tive matter such as is of general useful. ble in reaching all missionaries with no- ness. tice of the eighth annual meeting, at Clif.
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
III.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
Bound up with this number is 0. chart, Sarah Rhea, Melinda Rankin, and hosts prepared by 0. very intelligent student of women besides. of Buddhism and Romanism, by which he seeks to present to the eye the strik- There are at present some four mething similarity between the two systems. ods of conducting these lectureships, It has often been remarked by mis· and where one plan is not feasible sionaries in Buddhistic communities, another may be. that Romanism finds it difficult to make much headway because the Buddhists 1. The Occasional Lectureship, or claim that already they have in their such as may be provided for from time faith and worship so many anticipations to time, for 0. single season or term of of the new" Western religion" urged years. It is sometimes practicable for on their acceptance. The comparisons an institution to secure from individuals suggested in this chart confirm the fact, 0. donation for this purpose, or to apalready hinted by Church historians, propriate from current funds 0. suffithat many of the prominent features of cient sum to provide for an occasional Romanism are borrowed from paganism, course. as many of the statues of saints at Rome are really the gods and heroes of pagan 2. The Professional, Lectureship, Rome christened with new names. where, in the erection and endowment of a professor's chair, lectures on mis- Missionary Leotureships, sions are embraced as a part of the func- tion of the teacher. A chair of " Chris- These are deservedly growing in favor, tian Evidences and Missions" has thus for they secure careful and competent been provided for of late at that very preparation of matter on the part of progressive McOormick Seminary, at specialists in the department of mis- Chicago, as similar chairs have been sions, and they bring the great facts and established in other institutions. appeals of the world-wide field into contact with young men at the most im- 3. The Annual Leotureship. Suoh is pressible period of life, when the con- usually provided for by a fund whose victions and resolves are taking perma- interest is applied to this purpose. A nent shape and the sphere of life work generous donation or legacy is given or is being determined. We sincerely bequeathed to an institution, and by hope that this practicable and desirable the provisions of the gifL is restricted method of reaching students in life's to this use. The famous Bampton transition period will come to be uni- FoundatioIl' in Great Britain, and the versal in our colleges and theological Ely Foundation in this country, may schools, and particularly do we urge the furnish examples. The former is now establishment and delivery of such lec- in its second century, and has furnished ture courses where hitherto, we regret to the world some of the ablest oourses to add, they have been very strangely of lectures ever delivered. neglected-in our young ladies' colleges and seminaries. It must be remem- At Rutgers Theological Seminary, bered that some of the noblest pioneers New Brunswick, N. J., the editor-inin mission work, and some of the most chief has just concluded (February 23d) remarkable examples of apostolic con- 0. course of seven leotures on" Chrissecration, have been found among wom- tian Missions as a Divine Enterprise." en, like tbe wives of Adoniram Judson, Mrs. Dr. Grant, Fidelia Fiske, Mr. N. F. Graves, of Syracuse, has Harriet Newell. Rosine Krapf, Eliza put 0. certain sum year by year at the Asnew, Mfa, Sarah B, Capron, Mrs, disposal of the Seminary for such pur- pose. The first year six lectures were delivered by as many different men; last year, Rev. Dr. John Hall gave the en- tire oourse. Here, without any perma- Ill)p.t fund, the le<lt1:Il'eship is aunual, and we understand that Rev. Dr. A. J. and pllices as the trustees may deter· Gordon, of Boston, ill already appointed mine, between January and April of the Graves Lecturer for 1892. We congrat. second year of the lecturer's term. ulato the seminary on this appointment, 4. That the lecturer shall publish not • and sincerely hope that this generous less than one hundred copies of his lec· Syracusan may be led to provide for tures within one year following their the permanence of this Rutgers course. delivery, to be distributed according to 4. The Qu'ldrennial Lectureship. Of a list furnished by the trustees; and this the famous" Duff Foundation," in beyond these the published lectures be· Scotland, is perhaps the only example. come his own property. There are some features about it that Me unique and very desirable. We'give 5. Out of the income of this trust somewhat extended reference to it, as fund the trustees first defray all neces- it commends itself for imitation in cer· sary costs not falling to the lecturer to tain advantages in which it stands alone, defray; then, on delivery of the course, not to say unrivalled. the net proceeds of two yeMs go to This" Duff Lectureship" was founded the lecturer; and upon the publication in 1879 by William Pirie Duff, Esq" in of the lectures he is entitled to the in- pursuance of the will of his father, Rev. come of the remaining two years. Alexander Duff, D.D., " for the estab· lishment and endowment of a quadren- All other matters connected with the nial course of lectures on some depart. lectureship are left at discretion of this ment of foreign missions or cognate sub· Board of Trustees, who become final judges in every matter pertaini ng thereto r jects. A Board of Trustees was created, under these provisions. Rev. Thomas Smith, D.D., Dr. Duff's colleague in Cal. consisting of eight leading men, viz., cutta, became the first lecturer, Rev. Baron Polwarth, Rev. William Lindsay William Fleming Stevenson, D.D., the Alexander, Principal of the Theological second, Sir Monier Monier Williams, the Hall of the Oongregational Union of third, and the editor·in·chief of this Scotland; 'William Pirie Duff, Esq., REVIEW, the fourth. Hev. Robert Gordon,. of the Free Ohurch ; Rev. J. Marshall Lang, D.D., The special features of this lecture. of the Established Ohurch of Scotland; ship, which seem to us to be unique in Hugh M. Matheson, Esq., Duncan Mac· their desirableness, are these: . Neill, Esq., Rev. Andrew Thomson, D.D., United Presbyterian, and their 1. It is practically impossible that successors, as provided for. Here it this trust fund should ever be perverted, will be seen that some of the foremost abused, or wasted. men of the leading evangelical bodies are put in charge of this fund, with Mrs. 2. Though undenominational and Rebecca J. Duff Watson as consulting catholic in character, the evangelical member. standing and teaching of the lecturers is assured. It is further provided, 1. That the lecturer shall be a minis· 3. Ample time is secured for the ter, professor, or godly layman of any preparation and delivery of the course. evangelical church, and shall hold the The lecturer has at least two years from said lectureship for four years. the date of his appointment to get his 2. That the lecturer shall choose his course ready, and one year more to com· own theme, subject to the approval of plete its issue in printed form. this Board of Trustees, one year before time of delivery. 4. Ample provision is made for the 3; That the lectures, at least six in expense incidental to such preparation number, shall be delivered in Edinburgh and publication. But one series of lee· tures is called fur, but the lecturer holds PIld Glasgow, and Ilt 11llCP other tixulls his incumbency for a four years' term, during which the net income from the investment inures to his benefit. He is ~bus eD!ltbled to purchRRe any books, or bear any other needful expense of time are Roman Catholics, should read that, and st~ength incidental to preparation. out of a popUlation of about 2,000,000 5. The repeated deli very in the great centres of population insures a large and there are that number of Roman Catho- representative hearing, and brings the course before both the educated uni· lics." Until about thirty years ago, versity students and the popular assem- blies. only Lutheranism was tolerated in Nor- 6. The infrequency' of the course way. allows an opportunity to the trustees to act with deliberation. It would not In justice to Dr. McAlI and his work- always be easy to secure for each cur· rent year a lecturer who had made the ers, the REVIEW gives place to the fol- subject of missions a specific study, nor would it be always practicable even for lowing statement by the Rev. Dr. Mc- such persons to prepare a special course at short notice. All, approved by the Committee of Di- If any other lectureship of missions rection of the McAll Mission, at their has been established whose provisions are equally sagacious, and foresighted. meeting held on January 20th, 1891, re- and generous, the writer knows not of such; and the details of this Scottish specting certain re!lections recently plan are presented somewhat fully, in hope that the essential features may be made upon the position and constitu- largely and extensively copied in other parts of the Christian world. tion of the mission: That little paper which Chaplain Mc- The Committee of Direction of the Cabe is now distributing among the ,. Mission Populaire Evang~lique de host of the Methodists is a wide-awake France" would gladly pass over in silence and trumpet-tongued messenger of the an article in the American Baptist Mis- Gospel of Peace. It is well called World- sionary Magazine for January, 1891, and wide Missions, and we should gladly wel- briefer ones in L'Echo de la Verite (organ come it to a world-wide circulation. He of the French Baptists), and Evangelical hopes for a million and a quarter read- Christendom (organ of the British Evan- ers this year-and a million and a quar- gelical Alliance), in which our relations ter dollars for missions. Here is an with the French chur,ches are more or illustrated monthly, with nine pages of less pointedly referred to. Since, how- reading matter exclusive of advertise- ever, those statements convey the im- ments, and all for twenty-five cents a pression that the mission" is allying it- year in advance! It is published at 150 self more and more with churches per- Fifth Avenue, New York, and 144 Mon- meated with rationalism and formal- roe Street, Chicago. Chaplain McCabe ism." it becomes necessary to make has proven himself an efficient leader public an outline of facts bearing on the '. among the Lord's hosts as well as in the case. For it is obvious that, if such a , armies of his country• We bid him God- compromise existed, the work must for- speed! feit its claim to the confidence and sup- port of all faithful evangelical Chris- Dr. J. H. W. Stuckenberg writes from tians. We venture to affirm that the Berlin, March 3d. 1891: "The state- original basis of the mission, which is ment made in a recent number of the precisely that of the Evangelical Alli- REVIEW that, out of a population of ance, has been in no degree departed 6,000,000 ill Norway only about 100Q from. Our invariable rule of action is to accept only association with those who, so far as known to us, are strictly evangelical,' but without making any distinction respecting the denomination to which they belong.
It is quite true that we have come gradually into closer relations with the various French evangelical pastors and congregations. But this is surely occa- sion for rejoicing. It is not that the mission has changed, in any degree, its principles or attitude, but simply that these esteemed brethren have felt more and more drawn to ioin with us in the effort to spread the Gospel in their coun- try, and this increasing intimacy of as- sociation has been with those belonging to the Eglise Libre (Union of Free Churches), and with the Baptists" and Wesleyans, q,uite as markedly as witll those of the Reformed and Lutheran originated and sustained by a voluntary Churches. committee of faithful pastors and mem- bers in that congregation, with the Into the question of relations to the avowed aim of combating the tenden- State or form of Church organization cies referred to by the pure teachings we are precluded from entering, by our of the Gospel. Evangelical Alliance basis. That basis forbids us to make ecclesiastical ques- To comprehend accurately our positions a ground of separation. To do so tion, it is necessary to take into account would, in fact, involve a breach of faith the fact that these two contrasted tenwith all those who have contributed, dencies in the Reformed Lutheran whether by pecuniary gifts or personal churches form a strongly-defined line of service, to form and sustain the mission, demarcation, so that the more closely we the undenominational platform having associate ourselves with L:.~Ee faithful been from the beginning avowed and French brethren whom we honor and maintained. love (who constitute the evangelical sec- tion, and happily the large majority of The point at issue is this. "Ought these two communities), the more emthe mission henceforward to refuse co- phatic in effect is our protest against operation with the purely evangelical formalism and worldliness, and all that elements (and happily they are a large is unevangelical or indefinite in doc_ majol'ity) in those churches, because pastors and congregations exist within trine. the pale of those communities marked While thus affirming our resolve to by rationalistic or formalist tenden- co-operate with the faithful portions of cies ?" these two denominations, we are, and have evidenced ourselves equally ready M. Saillens, the writer of the article to join hands with the other faithful communities-Eglise Libre, Baptist and in the American Baptist Missionary Mag- Wesleyan. We have gladly set ourazine, has himself, for a series of years, selves to work with and aid them wherreturned and acted with us on the an- ever possible, and are still prepared to swer, " We ought to associate with those do so. esteemed brethren, and seek to strengthen their hands against the opposed ten- The Committee of the Mission is, natdency." Now he has changed his esti- urally, composed of members holding mate, but we have not changed, and can- each one his own views on church ornot change, ours. In fact, our entire ganization and government. We take co-working has been, and is an earnest our places on that committee, not as reppretest against the rationalIstic and resenting this or that denomination, formalist elements, because we have, on but simply as associated workers in the principle, refused co-operation with the representatives of those elements in common cause of evangelization. To every instance in which we have been accept co-working with our brethren, aware of their existence. This course whether holding our own views of of action has, on several occasions, re- church polity and organization or not, quired no little determination, and cost is obviously the sole principle on which us no little pain in withdrawing from a non-denominational (or as it has been those otherwise entitled to much esteem, justly defined, aU-denominational) miswhen the fact of their non-adhesion to sion can go forward. To depart from strictly evangelical ideas has become it would be to quit the ground of the known to us. Strong pressure has even Evangelical Alliance. We have studied been put upon us, repeatedly, to relax most carefully to adhere to that ground, this rule of action; but it has been rig- and shall do so still. idly adhered to in all cases. It has been stated that we have sought The fact of our having granted the use to favor the two larger churches more of the station of Boulevard Bonne Nou- than the others. Is it so? Take-e.g., velle, Paris, for worship instituted by a the Baptist denomination, which, as committee connected with the central yet, h~s only a few congregations in (Oratoire) parish of the Reformed France. We ha~e never yet refused, Church at an hour when our evangelis- when in our power, to aid any evangelistic meetings were not held, has been tic work connected with that communcited more than once, as if involving a ity. And in Paris we have incurred a compromise of the above principle, be- large outlay in order to enable M. Sailcause in that great parish, Unitarian or lens to have an open Baptist place of rationalistic elements exist. On the worship in the large Mission Hall of contrary, this was a fine opportunity for publicly evidencing our resolve to do Rue St. Denis. We joined with him our utmost to strengthen the evangeli- and the American Baptist Association in hiring that hall for the double purcal party, becaul!e the movement Wall pose of QUr evangelistic meetings and the formation of that church, and gladiy would indicate no favoritism whatever saw the most promising of our converts shown to the larger communities. Our from various stations gathered there. Wesleyan friends have their own evan- That this, Olle of the first·planted of our gelistic mission on the model of ours ; mission churches, should, by the seces- hence the small number of our stations sion of its pastor from ollr ranks and in which they have undertaken to work from united working with the churches, along with us. o.ur Baptist brethren take a separatist character, is, to us, the have received as cordial a welcome from cause of great regret. It is a step fitted us as those of any other body, and we to retard the movement for bringing our have held and still hold ourselves ready COilverts into fellowship, by presenting for enlarged co-working with them, as the aspect of liability to cause them to with all the congregations faithful to drift into sectarianism and separation. the foundation. truth of the Gospel, so long as that co-operation involves no It is true that, shortly before his lIud- elements inconsistent with the fraterna: den retirement from the mission, M. basis of the Evangelical Alliance as re- Saillens m"de overtures to our commit- gards Evangelical Christians in other tee respecting the opening of additional Christian communities. halls in Paris, which would be, like that of Rue St. Denis, centres of Baptist R. W. McALL, Hon. President. working. We did not then consider that the right moment had come, and, A friend writes us : indeed, our financial position abso· "On page 237 of the March number, I lut.ely forbade the added outlay. At find statistics of the American Mission the same time, we testified to M. Sail- in Egypt. They make a good showing. lead our readiness to aid him when the It would be as well to speak of the time seemed ripe for such extension and American Mission in China, or India, or our means enabled us to carry it out. Persia, or Syria; but the denomination doing the work gets credit for it by It is obvious, however, that an evan- being named. Why not name the gelistic work which welcomes co·opera- United Presbyterian Church of America, tion without denominational distinc- when speaking of her work done, as weH tions, and is prepared to open its sta- as naming other churches? This has tions in every district to the representa. been done not once only, but several tives of whatever faithful Christian timell during the past two years. body may be prepared to undertake the " We are not ashamed of our work effort, in order that the converts may be either in Egypt or in India, and it seems grouped in Christian fellowship, is that fair treatment would be to speak of likely, without the least favoritism, to our church in connection with her mishave a larger or smaller number of its sion work, as well as to mention others mission.halls linked with the several de- in connection with theirs. nominations, somewhat in proportion to the larger or smaller number of M. M. GILCRRIST. churches existing in connection with IRETON, JAVA.. each. Thus, taking the congregations of the Reformed Church (Eglise Re- Ohina Inland Mission, Shanghai. formee) throughout France as 700 or 750; after deducting a percentage for February 13th, 1891. the minority which are not professedly To the Ei,itor of The ,Missionary Review: evangelical, a figure of 500 or more remains. The Lutheran congregations in DEAR SIR: My attention has been France number about 100; a similar drawn to an article, which has appeared deduction must be made from their in more than one religious periodical in total. (These deductions, however, America, headed, "Chinese Dresll in happily do not apply to Paris, all the the Shanghai Conference. " pastors in charge in Paris in both of them being adherents of the Evangelical In that article the esteemed writer Alliance, with the exception of the di· gives publicity to reports which appear vided elements in the parish of the Ora- to refer to the China Inland Mission. toire, already referred to.) The Eglise namely: (1) "That one-half of thORO Libre (Union of Free Churches) counts, who enter China under its auspicell, rt)- say, 50 or 55 ; the Wesleyans, between 30 and 40, besides out-stations; the Baptists about 12 or 14. Comparing these figures with the extent to which our mission stations have become allied with these communities rellpectively.
we venture to affirm that the result turn within two years, either to their lies before them a much longer period of work. For, as I need scarcely indihomeland on e(2a)rth"T•ohr atto the home c~te, this low average of seven years' above;" and the average service is the inevitable result of the rapid increase of our numbers during reterm of service for the whole body is cent years. Taking the older members of the Mission only, the first 50 have only three and a half years." I am sure already completed an average of over seventeen years, and 16 of them have both the writer and your readers will be averaged twenty.four and three-quarter years. glad to hear that these rumors are en- On the whole, we are led to conclude tirely unwarranted. that our mission is, by God's blessing, one of the healthiest in China. 1. Looking into our statistics, I find Yours truly, that 539 personlil have been connected J. HUDSON TAYLOB.
with the China Inland Mission-either Mr. Frederick J. Stanley writes from Blauvelt, N. Y.: "Make your own misin Burmah or in China-during the last sionary maps and charts." The REVIEW, Volume II., page 129, contained a plan twenty-six years. If the above state- by Mr. Larken for constructing such. The objection is that his plan is too inment were correct, 270 should have left tricate and painstaking for a busy pas- tor or layman. China during the first two years of ser- Dr. Barrows, of Chicago, says: " Misvice. The actual number, however, sions make such rapid and marvellous changes, such advances, that no one who did so is lelia than one-llixth of can keep fully abreast with the knowl- edge of progress though he devoted his this; in point of fact only 44, of whom whole time to it." For that reason alone our maps and charts must be made 2 retain their connection with the mis- for present use only. This month's map will not do next month on any given sion, and may return to China. country or place of work, much less this year's map for next year. Hence make Of this number 21 were removed by them as cheaply and quickly as possi- ble, never sacrificing accuracy. My plan death, 5 were invalided home, including for years has been as follows : the 2 still in connection with the mis- .. Take some common thickmanilB (buff colored) paper. Fasten sheets together sion. ' Of the remaining 18, 4 resigned, 5 by mucilage or otherwise, till desired width and length are obtained. Then, were requested to withdraw, and 9 left with a match, or larger stick sharpened, draw tl1e map and letter it distinctly, the mission on account of marriage or using common fnk or writing fluid. Place on the map only the names of family claims. rivers and places necessary to give the audience the ideas and facts of the work These facts refer to our missionaries of God in that conntry. Make a chart of statistics on another paper to hang by during their first two years of service, the side of the map. A blackboard is a good substitute for the chart; but I find for which period they are considered probationers. There are now 122 pro- bationers in the mission, who have come out during lS89 and 1890.
2. We have had from the commence· ment 373 full members; 22 of them have died after an average service of more than eight and one half years ; 12 have been invalided home after an average service of six years and a half ; 4 have been transferred to the home de- partment of the work, while 21 have reo tired, 9 have been requested to resign, ..nd 18 have had to leave us on account of marriage or family claimll. Taking these 86 as a whole, the average period of service was six years and one month, not three and a half years.
There still remain 287 full members of the mission to be accounted for. In a few weeks these will have completed an average service of seven years. If the Master tarry, we may reasonably expect from past experience that there need for the board in addition to the his labors as Bishop Taylor and Dr. ohart, for there are so many facts to bring Summerville We1e in the same field. before the eye. Further on Dr. Pentecost said: " From month to month in my pas- "From them we will proceed to evan_ torates I have used these inexpensive gelize the English.speaking Hindus. and easily made helps-frequently pre· After them, we will evangelize the halfpared by some of the congregation-and breeds." The "half-breeds" regard found them inestimably valua.ble. En- themselves as Europeans, and will be in gage the young men and women in this attendance at church along with" the work." English." Many native Christians will be there also. These classes will be reached While publishing Mr. Stanley's letter, first of all, and should prove the ohief the editor .is not wholly in accord with helpers of the work of the evangelist. the idea thBt it does not pay to make a Further on he said: .. We have ohosen map for permanent use. Geographical the high castes, because no work of evanfeatures do not change. All other gelization has ever been done among changes may be marked by additional them." The missionaries to Calcutta labor, as new stations, etc., require only will be amused to see this statement. additions to a map already made. We Ever since the days of Dr. Duff the high make all our maps for permanent use, oastes have been the special subjects of and add new features as new develop- evangelization. For them schools and ments demand. colleges have been established, lectures delivered, special services held, books Mr. E. M. Wherry writes from Chi- written, and papers and magazines edoago, Ill., correcting certain inaccurate ited. The hope of Dr. Pentecost's laremarks of Rev. Dr. G. F. Pentecost, bors resulting in conversions rests upon and as we seek exactness of statement we the extensive sowing and watering of give Mr. Wherry's friendly strictures for the past half century on this high caste what they are worth. soil. We hope the evangelist will find himself,pleasantly surprised to find how He says: " Dr. Pentecost remarked, in much has been done in the line of his his address at Dr. Meredith's church, own plans. Brooklyn, " We need to be careful not to exag- 1. "There are 5,000,000 Hindus, younll gerate, to guard against a misapprehenmen, who speak English." sion of facts, and to present more and mare the work already accomplished by There may be 3,000,000 natives of In- the men in the field. It is bad policy, dia who understand something of the as well as bad morality, to minify the English language, but of th.ese Dr. Pen- results of missionary work in order to tecost will not find over 200,000 who can magnify the plans and methods of some appreciate an English sermon. The doc. new evangelistic project. Dr. Pentecost tor then goes on to say : has before him a grand work. His suc- cess, however, will mainly rest for its 2. ., We will go 11rst to Calcutta, result, upon the faithful labors of scores where we will open an evangelistic mis- of devoted missionaries and teMhers sion and begin on the English them- toiling for the same end and in the same selves. " field. "
On arrival Dr. Pentecost will have Rev. William H. Hannum, of Kplhafounp. about sixty missionaries, besides pur, S. M. C., India, writes under date many chaplains, many of whom have of January 15th, 1891 : been faithfully proclaiming the Gospel to these English people. He will find .. The annual meeting of the Kolhapur as many devout and godly men among Mission (Presbyterian) closed last week. them as he would find in any city possessing an equal number of people. There is, however, need of revival work" and we trust he may be as successful in It was held on the breezy hilltop of the consecration of the home Ohurch Panhala, and opened on Sunday, De- might rise high enough t.o bring us all cember 29th. Fourteen missionaries these! Mr. Irwin and I are the only were present, and their reports showed ordained missionaries that have come encouraging progress. More evangelis- within the last ten years. We must retic touring had been done than in any ~ember, too, that the Kolhapur Mission preceding year. Most of that work is only one of hundreds. How great is h,ad been done by the Indian Chris- the harvest, and how few are the labortians, and the native churches were be- ers! Volunteers, come! ginning to pay the travelling expenses of their preachers. This is promising, "At Panhala I saw a man 1::aptized because it shows that these Christians who had been kept waiting a long time are beginning to realize their duty to against his wishes. A candidate's give the Gospel to their countrymen. knowledge and sincerity must first be Besides this, the work of the high school, tested for awhile. An aged Brahman of the two boarding-schools, and of the widow has lately asked to be received, dozen day and Sabbath-schools, the and is now negotiating the sale of her zenana visiting, and the regular preach- land to free herself from heathen ening in the churches and bazars have tanglements. That will be a good test been prosperously maintained. The of her earnestness. A week ago I witmeeting took a recess of four days for nessed a marriage of two Christians. It the Christian Convention, or • Merla,' showed that Christians do better than which is held annually for the discus- the heathen in waiting till mature age sion of religious subjects, and for the to marry. meeting of the Presbytery of Kolhapur. This coincidence of the meetings gave " The Marathi language is, of course, us newly arrived missionaries the best new and strange to me yet, but I fed possible opportunity to learn the meth- safe in saying that though it will require ods and plans of the workers, and to hard and persevering labor, any student make the acquaintance of the Indian of average ability can certainly acquire brethren. The excellence of the native a good working knowledge of it. Mrs. preachers, in spite of their poor educa- Hannum, Miss Sherman and I have been tional advantages, impressed me with designated to Ratnagiri Station, which the correctness and importance of the has been unoccupied for some years policy already established in the mis- and which offers opportunities as well as sion, that through the coming years the difficulties. We are to settle there mission must decrease, and the Indian about February 1st." Church must increase, in relative importance. A great part of the work of As to Missions Among the Karens. ordained missionaries must be the training of the ministry and the guiding of Rev. H. Morrow writes from Tavoy, the infant Church. Burmah (December 16th, 1890), calling attention to certain inaccurate state- "Ihavenowhere else seen such prom- ments in regard to the Karens of Burinent, showy, and clamorous idolatry as mah. He says: "A marvellous change at Panhala, but this is only the expres- has been wrought in little more than sion of the general feelings of the Hin- h~lf a century-a short time in the hisdus. This only emphasizes the dire tory of a people-transforming a wild, need of this field. The mission voted barbarous race to one that is on the way to ask this year for seven ordained mis- to civilization, at least. sionaries, one missionary to teach the high school, one to teach an industrial "Dr. Brockett, in the November numschool, three lady teachers, and one ber of the REVIEW, on "education lady physician. Oh, that our faith and and evangelization in mission fields," appears to attribute the comparatively small Buccess among the Burmans to a lack of direct preaching and too much dependence on schools. The very op- anything these people may do. Our posite, however, is true. Burmese mis- friends at home would feel the same if sionaries have done but little school permitted to visit them in their native work, except calling together at certain jungle, living in huts in the dense forest, seasons a class of native helpers for in- often far separated from each other, struction in the Bible. If ever direct neither hearing nor lIeeing anything to preaching, from day to day and year to awaken thought or reflection. From year, by missionaries and native assist- year to year they live on in that condiants, has had a fair trial, it has been tion, growing old without seeing a sunamong the Blumans. At the same time, set. The wonder is that enough manwell prepared tracts have been sold or hood remains to make an impression on. given away by thousands-enough, it has been said, to whiten the ground. " But as to the methods pursued by And yet, although God has not left His Karen missionaries, we rely very largeservants without encouragement, no lyon what may be called education- Pentecostal season has cheered these al work. How do we obtain a footworkers. No doubt the number of mis- ing in a heathen viIlage? We get persionaries has Ilways been inadequate, mission to begin a school to teach their but many consecrated lives have been children to read, or a request may come given to this service. In this matter from some one or more of the people there is an inaccuracy in the letter re- to send them a teacher. If a suitable ferred to. At present there are twelve young man is available, one is sent, who male missionaries in the Burman de- teaches the children during the week, partment, and to the best of the writer's and on the Sabbath talks to all whom knowledge and belief this is the largest he can call together for a little time number there ever has been. During about God, and sin, and salvation. his term of fourteen years in the coun- After having learned to read, some amtry he has known the number to be as bitious boys and girls find their way to low as three. There are also ten wives the town schools, referred to by the of missionaries and eighteen widows writer as " academies," I presume, but and young ladies. by no means of so high a grade as schools so designated at home, These •• The honor of bringing the first Karen are schools where most missionaries and convert to Christ was not given to Jud- their wiYes, assisted in some cases by son, but to Boardman, by whom he was one or more young ladies, do their hardbaptized, May 16th, 1828, here in Tavoy, est and most important work. Here and within a few rods of the writer's boys and girls having learned to read residence. This Karen, Ko-thah-Byu, and write their own langnage, and in and others who very soon afterward em- some cases a little more, come to conbraced the new faith, went everywhere tinue their studies. Among these the preaching the Word, and large numbers Scriptures and Christian civilization were baptized. We who now labor with form an important part. In these this people have much reason to doubt schools such heathen children as above the genuineness of that so-called revival. referred to come in contact with the The Karens hailed the English offi- missionaries and the religious influence cials as their deliverers from Burman of the school, and are led to Christ. oppression, and American missionaries They return during vacation to tell their as those who could represent their parents and friends the wonderful grievances. The work at that time, as things they have been taught, and these it is indeed to.day, was largely in the children prepare the way at least for the hands of native preachers, whose weak- preacher's message. ness and inexperience led them to enroll converts too rapidly. Nor do we " In reference to the amount of benevwonder at this, nor, indeed, at almost olence and of Christian living found among these people, we are thankful that so much has been done, but we some fifty pages, and was at that time constantly have 'occasion to admonish remarkably complete. To that we must them and entreat that they abound more refer all inquirers. At the same time and more. The teachers in the village we have from time to time mentioned schools are now, almost wahout excep. here leading books on missions as they tion, paid by Government, their allow. appear. And we specially commend ances graded according to the certifi· certain cheap books recently issued, cates they have been able to gain. The' such as the" Lives" of James Calvert, pastors get their meagre support from John Williams, Robert Morrison, David the churches, as a rule, so meagre in Livingstone, Robert Moffat, William many cases that too much of their time Carey, Thomas J. Comber, Griffith John, is given to hunting, or fishing, or some James Chalmers, Samuel Crowther, petty trading, to feed and clothe their Bishops Patterson and Hannington, families. We are laboring to teach John G. Paton, John Hunt, etc.
th(lm a more excellent way. From year to year better educated men are enter- ing the ministry, but the number of A Word to Those Who Invite Speakers.
men who would be called educated at The editor-in.chief, in his own behalf, home is small indeed. So far it has not and that of many of his brethren, begs been the writer's privilege to know or to say to all who invite addresses upon hear of & Karen preacher that can be missions and other topics : compared to our ministers at home, 1. Busy men cannot afford time and even those not blessed with the best strength to go any considerable distance gifts. Many know the way to Christ, to deliver a single address, except on and can lead others therein, and for rare occasions.
this we are exceedingly grateful. 2. It is unfair ever to ask such men to II There have never been so many go and speak at their own charges, or workers in the Karen department as even for the payment of their empenses.
'to.day, and they are a8 follows: seven· Some one must be found to do their teen men, two of whom teach, in the work when they leave it. There are theological seminary; sixteen wives, many costs besides those of travel and of whom five are now in America, and hotels. And besides, the sacrifice is twelve widows of missionaries and unequal, where the whole outlay falls young ladies." on the speaker and none on the audi- ence.
Dr. John Pagan, of Bothwell, Scot· 3. Give a speaker plenty of tim" to land, who has just kept the quarter cen· make an impression. Begin a meeting tury anniversary of his settlement there, promptly, shorten preliminaries, and is illustrating by lantern slides the for- while the audhmce is fresh introduce eign mission work of the Church of Scot- the speaker. The writer recently went land. He has sent a list of 176 such 500 miles to deliver an address to which slides. Why would not snoh methods an hour should have been given. By be available here, in inciting to new and sheer mismanagement, he had barely a more intelligent mission work? half hour in which to speak and start for his return trip. Be gave ihree days The editor is frequently asked to send for one half·hour speech, and received to correspondents lists of good books on the costs of travel in return. It is very missions, and to publish such lists in plain that life is too short to throwaway . this REVIEW. This we cannot under- time and strength in such fashion.
take to do. In the report of the great If correspondents will heed these world's conference on missions in Lon. hints, it will make unnecessary much don, in 1888, the editor has added a letter·writing, and save much valuable bibliography of the subject. It covers I:, life-forc~ ,"" I:
TRE MONTHLY CoNCERT OF MISSIONS
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY BEV. J. ~. GBA-OBY, D.D.
BUBMAH. The Society for the Propagation of the Within thepast&eventy.five years the Gospel entered Burmah in 1859, and political map of south·eastern Asia has Independent Burmah in 1868. The See materially changed. In 1820 the Emper. of Rangoon has had the honor of main.
or of Burmah claimed dominion over all taining all the missions of the Church the tribes of Burmah proper, 8S well 8S of England in Burmah from the first.
over Chittagong, Arakan, and the Tenas· What is known as tb,e Mission to Lepers Ilerim provinces, including a large part has aided the" Church" Missionary So.
of the Malayan Peninsula. On Novem· ciety, in its specific line in Burmah.
ber 30th, 1885, Theebaw, the last Em· The Leipzig Evangelical Lutheran Mis.
peror of Burmah, was a prisoner in the sionary Society include Burmahin their hands of the English army. He was India mission. A Lutheran mission sent to England, and a few weeks later was begun to the Karens of Burmah in the Empire of Burmah was annexed to 1884 by two friends, Hans Poulsen and British India, and the Burmese rule H. J. Jensen, who opened a station at ceased. At present, and for missionary Yaddu, near Taung-ngu; but wishing purposes, Burmah may be considered as to get to a people not yet evangelized, composed of Upper and Lower Burmah, they sought access to the Red Karens, comprising the late kingdom or empire and began their work at Pobja, the resi.
of Burmah, and Lower Burmah, all that denoe of the chief. We know of but portion of the country below the twenti· one unmarried lady who represents eth degree of latitude, as well as the them at present on the field. The Ameri· Tenasserim provinces and the present can Baptists have been 'the chief repre.
missioll stations in Arakan, and Shan- sentative of the Christian world in this land, in the east. land, and their success has been the oc· Burmah is about equal in area to New casion of great rejoicing far beyond England, the Middle States, Ohio, In. their own ranks. Bishop Cotton de.
diana, and illinois combined. Its pop· clared that there were three great mis- ulation is variously estimated at from sionary successes in India: 1. The 8,000,000 to 15,000,000. Except in what work of the" Church" in Tinnevelly; was until lately known as British Bur. 2. The work of the Lutherans in the mah, no census has ever been taken. "peasant Church" of Chutia Nagpur ; The population of British Burmah has 3. The work of the American Baptista been so largely increased of late years in Burmah. They now register 113 by immigration, that some estimates now missionaries in this country, with place the population all high as 10. 28,009 members in 528 churohes, in 000,000 for Burmah proper. There are the service of which are 540 native said to be forty·two different races in preachers; the pupils in schools num.
Burmah, divisible into four genelal ber 11,146. During the past year the classes-the Burmans, the Taligus or Karen Mission has been extending, el· Peguans, the Shans, and the Karens. pecially in the direction of Karenni.
The Peguans were once the lords of the The interests of the Gospel among the country; the Shans are a nomadic race Burmans has made 0. marked advance.
found ineastern Burmah, northern Siam, The first station in the Shan states has and south.western China. These first been established, and is now occupied three races are Buddhista. Of the Ka· by Rev. M. B. Kirkpatrick, M.D. The rens there are more than thirty tribes. Chin Mission in the western part of – The Sgau and Pwo tribes have been Burmah has made encouraging progress.
I largely converted to Christianity, and of,Tile work among the natiTe! of Indio., whom there are now more than half have formed many Christian Villages. a million in Burmah, is attracting in- millions or more. Siam means a brown creasing attention, and the rapid de- race. It is often called .. The Land of velopment of the country, now that it the White Elephant." The fiag of the has come ';holly under British rule, is country is a red ground with a white offering manifold opportunities and elephant upon it. The white elephant enlarged facilities for extending the when found is escorted to the city by missionary work to every part of the the king and his court, given a title of province. nobility, and if sick is attended by the court physician. The Methodist Episcc:>}lnl Mission was begun in Rangoon in 1872, and is now Until 1885 Siam had two kings, but conducted among the English, the in that year the office of one of them Tamil immigrants from India, and, in a was abolished. The present king is small way, among the Burmans. It thirty-seven years old, and is the first numbers 200 communicants in all. sovereign of Siam who ever went abroad. He is intelligent and progressive, as will WITHIN THIRTY YEABS-Two PIC- be seen from statements to follow re- TUBEs.-liirst Picture: King Theebaw garding the advance movements of was inaugurated as King of Upper Bur- Siam. In 1873 the custom of prostramah, at Mandalay, about thirty years tion on elbows and knees in the presago. He was an incarnation of cruelty. ence of his majesty was abolished. In Several hundreds of the nobility and of 1883 he showed his public spiritedhis own family were massacred to cel- ness in giving $4800 to aid the sufferers ebrate the event. To undertake mis- from earthquake in Java, while the sionary work in Upper Burmah meant queen gave half as much more to the death or captivity to the individual at- same object. Trade with foreign parts tempting it. When the city of Mandalay increases, and their fancy for European was built, the eight gates surrounding hats and caps resulted in the importathe city were supposed to have been tion in one year into Bangkok, the capmade secure against all invaders by the ital, of $18,000 worth of hats and caps. sacrifice of fifty-six young girls! In 1883 Siam first erected telegraph lines to connect it with the world· wide &cond Picture: In October, 1890, the lines of the cable companies. The Baptist Missionary Conference was held royal palace is lighted by electricity, in thifl same city of Mandalay. The horse-cars are on the streets of the cap- Judson Memorial Church was dedicated ital, and steam ferryboats are seen on during the Conference. Eight thousand the rivers. King's College is 8 noble rupees of the money needed were given edifice, with 250 students learning the by Christians in Burmah; the Karen English language and literature and choir furnished excellent music, and on Western science. It is equipped with the evening of the closing day there was philosophical and chemical apparatus held a. communion service 'at which there ordered from the United States. Prizes, were present Tamils, Telug11s, Burmans the highest in value £100, were disand Karens, Shans and Tounghus, Eng. tributed by the young Crown Prince at lish and Eurasians, Chinese and Amer- the last examination. The college has icans, representing 500 churches and recently been transferred to the spa- 30,000 members in Burmah, all .. one cious and beautiful edifice erected by in Christ Jesus," about the table of the the king in memory of his late queen, Lord. who was drowned. This is in striking contrast with the conduct of his prode- SIAM. ceRBor who, on the death of his wife, built a Buddhist temple and monastery. Siam is in ·Farther India, between Another illustration of the new order of Burmah on the west and Anam or things is the Home for Orphans, with Cochin China on the east. It is four times as large as the State of New York, with about the same population-six thirty. five orphans, erected in memory her rival's hands as Cambodia did. of a young prince deceased. Under Nor will France let England acquire former reigns the wats, or monasteries, more of Farther India than she now pos- were the only places where boys were sesses; and Siam is too shrewd, too taught their mother·tongue ; now na· wide-awake to give either of her powerti ve schools have been opened, and also ful neighbors any pretext to get a persc1l.o01s for the study of English and manentfoothold within her boundaries, the higher branches, one at least be- or to have any excuse for interfering in sides the King's College already alluded her policy. So, though pressingly beto. The progressive Government of set by English capitalists to let them invest in a grand system of railways they Siam are now planning to put np a had planned and surveyed, for travers- ing the whole length of the Menam medical college near the largest hospi- valley to connect with a line of their tal. The King's intention has been an· own from Rangoon to the west frontier nounced of sending six chosen Siamese of China, Siam has r(lsolutely refused boys to this country to receive a to allow them to build her railroads and thorough American education. They has decided at last to build them herare to come in the charge of a returning self. missionary. That also is a significant fact. The Government has known the Thus f(lr she has kept free from a navalue of missionaries to the land and tional debt, and is not likely to put herrecognized it in various ways. Rev. self, as Egypt and Turkey have, at the Dr. S. G. McFarland has for many years mercy of English creditors. In the New been the Principal of King's College. York Engineering New.~ for December, Dr. Hays has been appointed by the 1890, is an official advertisement by the lOng Director-General of all the Gov- Minister of Public Works in Sialll inernment hospitals, and that without viting tenders from American contracany restriction upon his teaching the tors for the construction of a Royal religion he professes to those under his Siamese State Railway from Bangkok, care. the capital, to Korat, an important town one hundred and sixty.six miles to the Politically Siam is likely to retain a northeast, over the mountains, on the position of prominent interest in the watershed of the great Cambodia River. world. She bids fair to maintain her Korat is the capital of the district from position as an independent kingdom. which the raw silk of Siam is derived. This is greatly to her credit in these Rice is very abundant there. Dr. days when the great powers are over- House, writing to us about that district, shadowing and absorbing the weaker says that when he was there in 1854, the ones, without so much as saying" by first time it was ever visited by a white your leave." Siam is still a kingdom. man, he found rice selling at half a cent A friend writes in this connection say- a pound, there being no market for it, ing : .. In these days, in consequende of and no transportation save in packs on annexations, protectorates, absorptions, the backs of bullocks several days' and turning into republics, it really travel through a dense and dangerous looks as if the Seventh Angel would jungle. have few' kingdoms' anywhere left to announce as having become • our .Missions: Foreign missionary work Lord's.' .. was begun in Siam by the American Baptists, under Rev. William Dean, But England and France both need D.D., as early as 1833. The American Siam to act as a buffer between their pos- Board followed in 1834. The Baptists sessions in the East, to prevent colli- now confine their work to the Chinese. sion, though each nation doubtless looks with a covetous eye on that fertile The Presbyterians commenced work land. in Siam in 1840. Rev. William P. Buell England will not let Siam slip into and wife began the work, but were there kok alone there are ten thousand priests three and a half years only. They who are dependent on the people for were followed in 1847 by Rev. Stephen daily food. Nowhere are the living Mattoon and wife, and S. R. House, force and the deadening influence of M.D. Both of these honored brethren Buddhism more felt than in Siam.
are still among the churches, Dr. Mat· We have little disposition and less toon,being now in Siam, and Dr. House, space to attempt a presentation of with his excellent and devoted mission· Buddhism as a system of belief; but as ary wife, is now in America. In the it is the latest" fad" among a class of first eighteen months of Dr. Rouse's' persons who dislike Christianity, be.
labor as a missionary physician he pre. cause of its rigorous demands upon scribed for 3117 patients. These first them, to prate about" beautiful Buddh· m,issionaries labored for twelve years ism," we beg to remind our readers of before seeing their first convert. All its practical output. It may have the work is now in a prosperous condi· tamed barbarians and helped to main.
tion, the mission schools are doing es· tain order and discipline among some pecially well, the Christian high school peoples, but it has not supported is a great success. The wholo country any people in their efforts to recupe· is open to evangelical work, and numer· rate after disaster nor in their en· ous converts are yearly added to the deavors after progress. The mission of churches. . . Buddhism is not to root out what it The principal stations are one in holds to be deadly errors, nor to pro- Bangkok, and one in Petchaburee, and claim truths, nor to build up a righteous one in Ratburee. Siam has 13 mission· kingdom. It seeks not to convert but aries, 10 married, and 5 single, ladies. to rescue from delusion and desire ; the LAOS. moral life is not the end but a means; morality is sheer mechanisID ; the end, The Laos are a hardy and industrious the aim is not to be good for the sake of race who inhabit five or six small king. goodness, nor righteous for the sake of doms north of Siam. They number be· righteousness. It aims at no ideal excel.
tween one and two millions. Mission lence for the sake of the excellence. .The work was begun among them in "1867, realization of the moral idea is a blank at Chiengmai, 500 miles from Bangkok. which Buddhism cannot fill. Its con· This and Lakawn are the principal sta· ception of the kingdom of God is radio tions; there are twelve out·stations. cally other than holiness, or ultimately The Laos Mission has 852 communi. holiness itself. Buddhism knows no cants, fOllr schools, with 229 pupils, 10 sin, hence it can know no punishment missionaries, with 8 married, and 4 sin. of sin and, of course, it can know no gle, ladies. pardon; nor can it know any prayer, The Bible has not yet been translated nor sacrifice, nor thanksgiving. It has into the Laos language, but one of the no parable of the prodigal son, or story missionaries was in this country last of " the dying .thief," because it has no year having a complete font of type God, no soul, no Saviour. .
made, at a cost of about $1000, and it is Sir Edward Arnold, author of "The anticipated that the Gospel will soon be Light of Asia," who has been esteemed given the Laos in their own tongue. a foremost champion of the beauties of BUDDHISM. the Buddhist legends, and as exalting Buddhism at the expense of Christian.
Buddhism is not the religion of any ity, in a conversation with Rev. Dr.
independent power on the earth at this Ashmore, on the Belgic, between San hour except Siam, but it is prevalent Francisco and Yokohama, said: in all the countries whiclt have come "I have been criticised for an im. under review in this study., In Bang. ~lied ;comparison between Buddhism and Christianity in regard to doctrines nothing ever disturbs the repose of derived from them and principles con- Buddha, or turns his heart with quick tained in them respectively. No such throbs of love and pity. He cannot object was in mind. For me Christian- stretch out his hand to save Question ity, rightly viewed, is the crowned a Buddhist as to his future state, and queen of religion, immensely superior he says, •It is all dark !' • I have stu- to every other, and though I am so great died many religions,' said one to a mis· an admirer of much til-at is great in siona»y, • and I have found no god that Hindu philosophy and religion, I loves as your God loves.' Buddhism would not give one verse of the Sermon will fade in the presence ~f a purer and on the Mount away for twenty epic holier faith."
poems like the • Mahabharata,' nor ex- change the Golden Rule for twenty· The •• Baptist Missionary Hand·Book"
• Upanishads.' " ' says: .. Rangoon, the capital of Lower It i8 needless to make reference at Burma, is on the Rangoon River, the this time to the moral result of Buddh- eastern delta.branch of the Irrawaddy, ism over Asia in general, but the testi- twenty miles from the sea. It is acces- mony of those who have had large ex- sible to large ships, and has a large and perience of it, and great opportunities of rapidly in~reasing foreign trade, and an observation in the Jands which we are important traffic by river. The city is now studying, is fairly in place. well built, and has a population of 134,- Bishop Titcomb, who had large ex- 176, an increase of a5 per cent since perience in Burmah, says of it, .. That 1872.
while the same old reverence exists for " Maulmain, the chief town of the Ten.
Buddhist law and religion which ~x asserim province, is situated at the junc- isted in its best days, yet dead worldli- tion of the Salwen, Attaran, and Gyne ness almost universally pervades daily rivers. It has a. good port, and a large life. Religious rites are observed, but trade in teak, rice, and ivory. The they are mostly of a formal character. scenery about the city is strikingly Large numbers of worthless and most beautiful, and its location healthful.
ignorant men are admitted into the Population, 93,187, an increase of 14 monasteries. Not one householder in a per cent since 1872.
thousand makes any serious effort to " Mandalay, the most important place obtain what is called the Path which of Upper Burma, and now the oapital leads to Nirvana; popular religion is a of the whole country, is a large city on life of easy·going conformity to outward the east side of the Irrawaddy River. It observances, accompanied by practical is connected with Toungoo and Rangoon self.indulgence. Idolatrous practices by a railroad.
are followed which in the law of primi. .. Prome is on the east bank of the Irra.
ti ve Buddhism were unknown. Images waddy River, eighty.five miles west of of Buddha are enshrined everywhere Toungoo, and one hundred and sixty- with a hideous prodigality, in stone, and six miles northwest from Rangoon, with wood, and metal." He says : .. The ap- which it is connected by a railway. It plication of any strong corrective prin. is the seat of a la.rge trade and manu- ciple has been lost." factures. PopUlation, 28,813, a loss of A missionary in Siam says: "The 7 per cent since 1872. "Bhamo (Bah.mau)is on the Irrawad· further we penet.rate in this system for . dy River, one hundred and eighty miles good fruits, for. justice, mercy, love, and above Mandalay, and only forty miles , purity of h~art and life, the more are from the Chinese province of Yunnan.
I we convinced of the utter rottenness It was formerly capital of a Shan prin- and deadness of the whole strncture. cipality, and has 8 considerable trade There is no living intercessor. Suffer. with China by means of caravans. By the rj ver it isabout eight hundred miles ing humanity may cry for help, but • from' Rangoon. "
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
BY MBS. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The Woman's Union Missionary and Madanapalle. in India; Cairo, in Society of America for Heathen Egypt; McCall Mission, Paris. Lands.-Organized 1860. Corresponding Secretary, Miss S. D. Doremus, Amount of money raised in 1889, office, 41 Bible House, New York.• $43,267.34. Report for 1890 not out.
This was the p'ioneer society (Ameri- The Missionary Link is the organ of can) in zenana work in Ir.dia. this society. During the past year it has been changed from a bi-monthly to The society has work in three large a monthly issue. and important stations in India, viz., Calcutta, Cawnpore, and Allahabad. Woman's Foreign Missionary So- ciety or the Presbyterian Church.- In Calcutta there aro 16 missionaries, Organized 1870. Mrs. C. N. Thorpe, 55 native- teachers, and in the city and Foreign Corresponding Secretary, 1334 suburbs 64 schools with 1000 zenana Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. pupils. A girls' orphanage with 140 children, also an institution for the This society has work in Africa, higher (lducation of native Christian China, among the Chinese in California, girls. Medical work has been reopened, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, North a medical training class organized, and American Indians, Persia, Siam and a dispensary opened during the year. Laos, Syria, and South America. This is known as the Doremus Mission. The home work is represented by 48 Presbyterian societies, more than 1100 Allahabad.-Hf'lre there are 16 mis· each of auxiliaries and bands. Amount sionaries, 6 native assistants, 47 day of money raised from April 20th, 1889, schools with 1000 pupils, and 320 to April 20th, 1890, $144,617. zenanas with 398 pupils, in all 1398 persons under instruction. The Woman's Work for Woman, the organ of the Presbyterian Church, has Cawnpore.-In this city there are 13 16,300 subscribers. Children's Work missionaries, 5 native assistants, 968 far Children has a large circulation; figpupils, 37 day schools with 623 pupils, ures not given in report. This society 184 zenanas with 345 pupils. sends out quantities of missionary lea11ets. In Shanghai, China, 2 lady physicians are in charge of the Margaret William- The foreign work is represented by son Hospital, with 2 assistants and 5 139 missionaries, 16 of whom are at hospital helpers. A home for medical home and 10 of whom were sent out the workers has been donated during the past year, 5 of them self-supporting; year. A boarding-school with 40 girls, 10 missionary teachers and visitors, 84 and 4 native schools with a large Sunday- native helpers and Bible wo~en, 33 school, represents the work. boarding-schools, 153 day schools.
In Yokohama, Japan, a girls' boarding- Woman's Board of Foreign Mis. school has 140 pupils. Evangelistic sions of the Presbyterian Church.- and medical work are efficiently carried (Formerly Ladies' Board of Missions.) on. Six native teachers are employed, Headquarters, 53 Fifth Avenue, New 6 native medical assistants, 21 Bible York. women, 3 of whom are self-supporting, and 200 Sunday-school scholars. This board is composed of 25 Presby. terian societies in the New England To mission work in denominational States, New York, lind Kentucky. stations aid has been given by the society in the following places: Bassein, Its home work is represented by 504 in Bnrmah ; Dehra, Kohlapur, Bellore, auxiliary societies, 121 young people's and il58 children's bands and Sunday- schools. The amount of money raised from April, 1889 to April, 1890, $58,305. This board supports 23 missionaries, It has a Bureau of Exchange for the sup- 9 of whom are foreign and 14 home. ply of missionary letters and literature. Two have been sent the past year. It Periodicals, Woman's Work for Woman oontributes to work in Persia, Japan, and Ohildren's Workfor Ohildren. India, Siam, China, and South America. Amount of money raised during year, It contributes to the support of work $15,000. in India, Siam, Africa, Japan, Persia, South America, Syria, China, Mexico, Woman's OccidentaJ Board of Guatemala, and NorthAmerican Indians. Foreign Missions of the Presbyte- It has under its care 61 missionaries, rian Church of the Pacific Coast.- 11 of whom are at home. Summary of Offioe, 933 Sacramento Street, San Fran- foreign work not given in reports. oisco, Cal.
Woman's Presbyterian Board of This board supports 8 missions on Missions of the Northwest.-Head- the foreign field and has work in Japan, quarters, Room 48, McCormick Block, China, Siam and 'Laos, a medioal mis- Chicago, Ill. . sionary in India, also work in Persia and Syria abroad, and work for Chinese This society is represented by 10 women in San Francisco, Sacramento, Synodical societies, 66 Presbyterian so- San Jose, Los Angeles, and San Diego. cieties, and 1661 auxiliaries. Included Total receipts for year, $10,600. in this are Sunday-school sooieties and young people's societies and bands. Woman's North Pacific Presbyte- rian Board of Missions.-Organized Amount of money raised during the 1889. .Headquarters, Portland, Ore. year, $80,678. Periodioals, same as other Presbyterian boards. This society, so recently indepen- dently organized, has 2 Presbyterian Work is carried on among the North societies, Oregon and East Oregon. It Amerioan Indians, Mexico, Guatemala, reports 20 children's bands with 360 South Amerioa, Africa, Syria, Persia, menibers. Number of auxiliaries not India, Siam and Laos, China, Japan, given. Amount of money raised in and Korea. 1889, $5908.
Number of mIssionaries supported, Woman's Board of Foreign Mis- 70, of whom 7 are. medioal; Bible sions of the Cumberland Presbytewomen, 26; native teachers and pas- rian Church.-Organized 1880. Cortors' wives, 30; boarding-schools, responding Secretary, Mrs. J. C. Mcwholly supported, 7; pupils in other Clurkin, Evansville, Ind. boarding-schools, 211 ; day schools, 92. This society is represented by 46 Woman's Foreign Missionary So- Presbyterian societies; auxiliary sociciety, Northern New York.-Corre- eties 793, with a membership of 7900 ; sponding Secretary, Mrs. Archibald Mo- young ladies' societies, 8, with a mem- Clure, 232 State Street, Albany, N. Y. bership of 130; children's bands, 138, with 1741 members. Amountof money This sooiety oontributes to the work raised in 1889, $10,614. in Africa, China, Guatemala, India, Japan, Korea, Mexioo, Persia, Siam, Organ of the society, Missionary Syria, and to home work in Idaho and Record, with 3000 subscribers. A chil- Dakota. Home society is represented dren's paper is also published called the by 96 auxiliary societies and 100 bands. Missionary Banner.
It supports 4 missionaries, 5 native Eight stations in Japan are occupied pastors, 12 Bible readers, and 51 schools by the society, and in the Indian Terand scholarships. Amount of money ritory 1 missionary is supported by raised during past year, $9692. them. Appropriations have beon made for work in Mexico. Woman's Presbyterian Board of Missions of the 50uthwest.-Oflice, Woman's General Missionary So- 1107 Olive Street, St. Louis, Mo. For- ciety of the United Presbyterian eign Secretary, Mrs. L. D. Hopkins. Church. – Corresponding Secretary, Corresponding Secretary, Miss M. H. Mrs. W. J. Reid, 38 Federal Street, Morris, 406 North Greene Street, Balti- Pittsburg, Pa. more, Md.
This society is represented by 46 Pres- This society prints a report only once byterian societies, 764 auxiliaries, and in two years, after their Biennial Con- 18,819 members, and raised for foreign vention. The statistics given below are missions, in 1889, $13,024. Over$21,000 the latest. Number of Synodical soci- was raised by the Woman's Society, but eties corresponding to the district Syn- the remainder was appropriated to vari- ods in the General Synod, 20 ; number ous church and home enterprises_ of auxiliaries, including young people's societies and children's bands, 566; Work is carried on in Egypt and In- number of members, active, honorary, dia. Of the 23 missionaries supported and life, 14,472. Amount of money 9 are in Egypt and 14 in India. A me- contributed for the year filnding March morial hospital was opened at Sialkot. 31st, 1890, $22,752. Besides work in India, during the year. some of the Western States, the society has foreign work in India and Africa. The Woman's .Missionary Magazine, of In India zenana, educational, and medthe United Presbyterian Church, is the ical work is carried on. There are 12 organ. It has 3800 subscribers. schools, with 24'teachers and 719 pupils, located in Guntur and neighboring Woman's Board of Foreign Mis- towns. A very succelisful industrial sions or the Reformed Church in school has been established for Mo- America.-Organized 1875. Corre- hammedan girls and women, and a sponding Secretary, Miss Mary 0_ Dur- boarding-school with 35 pupils. The yee, 30 Washington Place, Newark, N. J. medical work is prosperous, and a tract of land has been secured upon which a The home force of this society is rep- hospital will be built. The women have resented by 267 auxiliary societies. a department in the Missionary Journal, Amount of money raised during year. which is published by the General So- $28,517. The society has work in ciety. China, Japan, and India. In Amoy a girls' boarding school with 48 pupils, a CongregationaISocieties.-Auxiliary day school, a Bible school, and a chil- to the American Board of Foreign Misdren's home are supported. In Japan sions and independent of each other are 103 pupils are in the Ferris Seminary, 3 organizations which are the channels at Yokohama. of woman's foreign missionary work in the Congregational churches of the At Nagasaki the Jonathan Sturges United States, viz. : Seminary has 22 pupils. In India 3 important stations are occupied, viz., Woman's Board of Missions, Woman's Vellore, Madanapalle, and Tindivanum, Board of Missions of the Interior, ,with surrounding towns. Woman's Board of Missions for the Pacific. In the Hindu Girls' School, at Vellore, are 111 pupils, 61 at Madanapalle, Woman's Board of Missions.-Orand 49 at Tindivanum. Beside this, ganized 1868. Corresponding Secretary, work is done a!Dong the native women Miss Abbie B. Child, 1 Congregational in the zenanas. Eight high-caste girls' Bouse, Boston, Mass. schools have 585 pupils. The board, with headquarters at Bos- The Missionary Gleaner, organ of the ton, has work among the Zulus of South society, has 1485 subscribers. Africa, also in East and West Central Africa, European and Asiatic Turkey, In 1881 the :Woman's Board assumed India, Ceylon, China, Japan, Microne. the entire cast of all the work carried sia, Mexico, Spain, and Austria. on by the board in the various missions for women and girls. The home force of the society is rep- Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Society of the Evangelical Lutheran Church General Synod.- resented by 1182 auxiliaries, of which The foreign work of the society is III are young ladies' societies, with a represented by the support of 4 mis- membership of 34,300; mission circles, sionaries, 3 schools, and aid toward 1 549, with 15,500 members. ship. The schools aided are in Tur- key, India, and Spain. Five thousand The board has under its care 111 mis· two hundred and ninety-five dollars sionaries, 32 boarding-schools, 228 day were given by the Congregational schools, 143 Bible readers, 1 hospital, 2 churches of California for foreign mis- dispensaries, and 1 training-school for sions in 1889. Of this $4319 were given nurses. by the women of this board, leaving $949 as given by the churches in gen- During the year 22 missionaries have eral, or by the 11,223 members of been sent out, 11 going out for the first the churches. Home statistics not time and 11 returning, and 8 have sev- given. ered their connection with the board. Organ of the society, Life and Light, Life and Light has 373 subscribers, published in Boston, with a circulation and has a column in The Pacifio to repof 15,500. The society also publishes resent its work. a periodical for children, the Mission Day-Spring, with a circulation of 18,730. Woman's Board of Missions for the Pacific Islands.-Organized 1871. Amount of money raised in 1889, President, Mrs. Hiram Bingham, Hon- $115,000. olull1, Sandwich Islands.
Woman's Board of Missions of This board is Congregational and inthe Interior.-Organized 1868. Presi- dependent. It has work in Honolulu dent, Mrs. Moses Smith, 59 Dearborn among the. Hawaiians, Chinese, and Street, Chicago, Ill. Japanese. Six Bible women are em- ployed in Honolulu. Auxiliary soci. Thirteen interior States represent the eties are prganized in the adjoining home field of this board. The work is islands of Hilo, Maui, Kauai. represented by 1000 auxiliary societies and 365 junior bands. Receipts from June, 1889 to June, 1890, $1548. The society has work in Africa, European and Asiatic Turkey, India, Cey- Woman's Foreign Missionary Solon, China, 'Japan, Micronesia, Mexico, ciety, Methodist Episcopal Church. and Spain. -Organized 1869.
It supports 85 missionaries, 15 having This society includes ten associated been sent out last year. Amount of branches. Each branch has its territomoney raised for 1889-90, $56,041.89. rial limits, with Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer. These corresponding It has under its care over 30 Bible secretaries constitute a Committee of readers and 13 boarding-schools; other Reference, of which Mrs. H. B. Skidforeign statistics not given. more, No. 230 West Fifty.ninth Street, New York, is Chairman. Life and Light is the organ of this board; M"l.Ssion Studies is also pub- The work of the society in the home lished by the board, and over a 1,000,- field is represented by the following fig- 000 pages of missionary leaflets have ures : Auxiliary societies, 4308 ; young been issued. ladies' societies, 501 ; children's bands, 748; total organizations, 5557. Mem- Woman's Board of Missions for bers of auxiliaries, 112,834; of young the Pacific.-Organized 1873. Home ladies' societies, 10,119; children's. Secretary, Mrs. J. H. Warren, 1316 bandll, 15,997 ; total membership, 138,- Mason Street, San Francisco, Cal. 950.
The territory of this board covers all The society has work among the Gerportions of the country west of the mans in the United States, also 25 aux- Rocky Mountains. This board has 3 iliaries in Germany, and 13 in Switzerbranches, the Oregon, the Young Ladies' Branch, and the newly organized Southern Branch. land. Amount of money raised from Oc- ers is established at Kansas City, tober, 1889, to October, 1890, $220,329- through the munificent gift of Rev. $10,000 of this by bequest. Over $14,- Nathan Scarritt of property valued at 000 was raised beyond this for a $25,000 and cash $25,000. woman's college in Lucknow. Woman's Foreign Missionary So· The society has work in Japan, ciety of the Methodist Protestant Korea, China, India, Burmah, Singa- Church. – Organized 1879. Corre- pore, Bulgaria, Italy,. South America, sponding Secretary, Mrs. M. A. Miller, and Mexico. Box 1065, Pittsburg, Pa.
Of the 96 missionaries abroad, 34 are Since the organization of this society ih India, 23 in Japan, 20 in China, 4 in 5 missionariel> have been sent out to Korea, 7 in Mexico, 4 in South America, Japan, to Yokohamaand Nagoya, where 2 in Bulgaria, 1 in Italy, and 1 in Sin- prosperous schools are conducted. gapore. Included in these are 11 regularly graduated medical mission- The summary of work is comprised in aries. the following statistics, as nearly as can be approximated: Branches 14, with 7 The foreign work is represented by 25 others partially organized-an increase boarding-schools with 1671 pupils, 306 over the previous year of 1. Auxiliaries day schools with 9225 scholars, 300 Bible 355, an increase of 31 ; mission bands women, 8 hospitals and dispensaries. EO, an increase of 20 ; members 3700, The Heathen Woman's Friend is pub- an increase of 500; life·members 142, lished monthly by the society, with 19,- an increase of 9; honorary man· 236 subscribers, also a paper in German, agers 6, nn increase of 1; memorial with 2176, and a children's paper, with members 3. 5128, and a paper for women in India, in three dialects. Amount of money for the year, $4166. Organ of the society, Woman's Mis· Woman's Missionary Society of sionary Record. the Methodist Episcopal Church, Woman's Missionary Association South.-Organized 1878. Correspond- of the United Brethren in Christ.- ing Secretary, Mrs. D. H. McGavock, Organized 1875. Corresponding Secre- Nashville, Tenn. tary, Mrs. L. R. Keister, Dayton, O. This society has work in Africa, Ger- The work of this Church throughout many, among the Chinese in Portland, the Southern Methodist Church is rep- Ore., and during the past year they have 'resented by 1986 auxiliary societies and opened a mission in Canton, China, and 41,235 members. Young people's and sent 2 ladies to take charge of the work. children's societies, 995 ; members, 31,- They now Rupport 10 American mission. 132 ; total societies, 2991. Total mem- aries, 18 native helpers, a membership bership, 72,367. Amount of money of 1484, with property valued at $28,500. raised for 1889-90, $75,486. Amount of money raised for 1889-90, $4,567. The society has work in China, Mexi. Woman'sEvangel is the organ of the can border, Brazil, Indian Territory, society. and has 2,300 subscribers. and Mexico. It is represented in Woman's Missionary Society or. foreign fields by 31 missionaries, 20 ns· the Evangelical Association of North sistants, 37 native teachers, 10 board. America. – Headquarters, Napierville, ing.schools, 31 day schools, 1248 pupils, Ind. Has department in Missionary 1 hospital, 1 medical missionary, 1 Messenger published in Cleveland, O. foreign assistant, and 9 native hospital This society has work in Germany assistants. Value of property owned and Japan, and raises between two and by this board in foreign fields is $181, three thousand dollars annuall~, ~~ 000. Organ of the society, Woman's Mts. report of work has reached us., sionary Advocate, Nashville, Tenn'., with a circulation of 13,000. (To be continued.) A training.school for Christian work.
The Missionary Review of the World — June 1890
MISSION TOUR OF BRITAIN
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XIII. m. 6.-0td Series.—JUNE.-voL. IlL No.6.-New Series.
I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS.
THE MISSION TOUR OF BRITAIN-No. IV. BY ARTHUR T. PIERSON, D.D. Edinburgh, Scotland, March, 1890.
DEAR DOCTOR SHERWooD-ApeHes' familial' maxim has been constantly before me in this mission tour of Britain: "Nulla dies sine linea." By the time this letter falls under the eyes of our readers, this six months of daily labor will have closed, and on May 31 it is. our expectation to sail for America. The aim has been to let no day pass without a new" line" of definite effort for the cause; Being now nearly at the end of the work, as mapped out for the British Isles, it may be well to record some impressions made by the-. experiences of four months in England and Scotland. Everywhere, the welcome has been most cordial and the co-operation most generous' and complete, recalling what Paul said of the Galatians, that they received him" as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus." Everywhere the assemblies have been large, attentive, responsiv~, sympathetic. Invitations pour in upon the committee from every quarter, which it is impossible to provide for, and which indicate abundance of opportunity were time only at my disposal.
1. It is quite noticeable, first of all, that here, as in America, evangelical belief and evangelistic zeal are inseparably wedded. In proportion to the spread of doubt as to the realities and verities of the Christian religion, is the reign of indifference as to missionary enterprise,or at least, of practical apathy. A firm faith in the Word of God and the person of Christ; clear views of sin and salvation, of law and penalty, and of atoning love and grace, seem to be vitally connected with earnestness and enterprise in world-wide exangelism. Nothing has impressed me more than this, that wherever I have found any man or woman absorbed and engrossed in missions, invariably further acquaintance has revealed that there was also hearty acceptance, without question, of the grand truths of Christianity; so that 1 have come, almost unconsciously, to accept intelligent missionary enthusiasm as a safe gauge of soundness in the faith. It is to be fcared that the so-called" higher criticism" is making havoc of missions, so far as it prevails, not only because it insinuates doubt., if not misbelief, but because it diverts attention from what is practical to what is speculative. Dr. Gardiner well says that" Geological strata, studied from a mineralogical point, are very perplexing; but no one mistakes the significance of a boulder/ that is, at least, an unmistakable FACT, driven about for ages and rounded off by friction. The boulder has a history, and to that as a fact geology must accommodate its tale. The gospels are full of boulders: the sermon on the mount is one; the parables of the good Samaritan and the prodigal son are others. We must admit the boulder; and then we may ask how it came."
As to this new critical school, Delitzsch sagaciously says: "Willful contempt of external testimony and frivolity in the treatment of historical data have, from the very first, been the fundamental evils apparent in the manner in which modern critics have handled certain questions. Those two coryphcei of the modern critical school (Hitzig and Ewald) find themselves hemmed in between two foregone conclusions: 'There is no true prophecy,' and' There is no trne miracle.' They call their criticism' free,' but when examined more closely it is in a vise. In this vise it has two magical formularie~ with which it fortifies itself againt any impression from historical testimony. It either t.{rns the prophecies into merely retrospective glances, as it does the account of miracles into sazas or myths; or it places the events predicted so close to the prophet's own time that there was no need of inspiration, but only of combination, to make the foresight possible. That school of criticism which will not rest until all the miracles and propltecies which cannot be set aside exegetically, shall have been eliminated critically, must be regarded by the Church as self-condemned. "
Connected with this destructive "higher criticism" is almost always a speculative tendency as to the questions of eschatology, especially the future state of the heathen. Doubts creep in as to the doctrine of eternal punishment, and all the related teaching of Romans, Chapters T. and II., and kindred passages, as to the condemnation and exposure of those who have lived and died without the gospel. And the consequence is that, instead of promptly bearing to the heathen the saving gospel and leaving the hereafter to settle speculations, the energies of disciples are expended on speculations about the" eternal hope" and" future probation," while with each second of time a human being passes heyond the reach of Christian labor! Some questions never can be settled in this world; there are secrets that exegesis, criticism, research, archreology, philology, philosophy, are powerless to unlock. Let us leave them to Him who holds the keys of David, while we enter at once those open doors which He has set before us, and to every soul thus divinely made accessible let us carry the tidings of that name which is the only name whereby we must be saved.
2. The use of a good missionary map has been abundantly demonstrated. I have had with me the grand map of Prevailing Religions, generously lent me by William E. Blackstone, Esq., of Oak Park, Illinois, which is the most complete and accurate I have seen. It is prepared, not to show the various countries or nations, but solely the religious dominant syetems, and these are represented by various colors. 'l'his map, being about fifteen feet by ten, can be seen in any church where there is a space to hang it. It illustrates at a glance much that cannot be "seen by the ear," as an Irishman might say. I use it to make manifest four things: first, the vastness of the world-field, with its vast yet unoccupied spaces; secondly, the great plan of God's campaign, in which it is the map of his battleneld; thirdly, the grand successes of missions, in which case it represents a harvest-field; and fourthly, to show the possibility and the practicability of the church's actual possession of this world for Christ. I do not see how any man can speak very effectively for missions who does not learn how to use a first-class map, and how to address the eye as well as ear. Wherever this map has been hung and used it has been the most eloquent of orators, as Webster said of the silent shaft at Bunker Hill. Best of all is it, when the man who WJes it makes his own map, so that he has been over it in :all its details, and so knows just what it means and why everything is as it is represented. Together with this map, I have used two charts: one representing the comparative extent of the false and the true faiths numerically, and the other representing the comparative expenditure for frivolities ($100,000,000), for tobacco ($600,000,000), and for liquors ($900,000,000), annually; with another column showing the comparative expense, during ninety years, for missions and 1iquors, the latter reaching the enormous sum of $80,000,000,000 in ninety years, while the former would not reach over one two-thousandth part of that sum. 'l'hese estimates are for the United States alone, but they are about equally true for Great Britain.
The farther I go the more I feel that the great need everywhere is information. The bulk of the people do not know the facts about missions, and if those facts could be widely disseminated and presented in an attractive manner, no one can tell the result in quickening and intensifying interest throughout the Church. It is melancholy to see how little even intelligent people know of the real destitution which exists, the wide areas yet unsupplied with missionaries, and the great facts of missionary history and biography; and therefore it is that faith in missions is easily shaken with some. I heard Miss Child say, at Edinburgh, that at the gates of the Golden Horn the black gulls are seen flying, and, being never seen to rest or alight, are called" l08t souls." Even Moslem and Pagan peoples have a con,cep- tion of the soul as restless without God; and, to wander without such rest in Him, is the synonymn of all forfeited bliss. The same lady also remarked' that one hundred thousand people, representing every variety of national type and religious faith, p:}ss over the Gallica Bridge; but the proverb is, "Not one idea goes over," so little intel- lectuallife and vitalizing power does Turkey seem to provide for its subjects, and so little mental activity is there to be found in the Greek church, likewise.
But again, Miss Child said, that in Constantinople, when they build, a cross is set up in the corner of the scaffold, and it means a constant prayer to the patron saint of the builders at the Bosphorus until the work is completed. What a suggestion to those who are seeking to build up, whether at h~me or abroad, a true missionary work! Whether as pastors we seek to arouse our own people and the communities where we live, to a new intelligence and interest in God's world-wide work; or whether, as missionaries abroad, we are building up for God a church among the heathen, the cross should stand on the corner of the scaffold, and our eyes should be upon it. 'fhe work can only go on as the prayer of faith goes up. He who praY8 is he who build8. Here, above all, orare e8t laborare-work is worship.
Curious are the synchronisms and correspondences of history. 'fhe first slaving voyage from England was made in 1562 by Sir John Hawkins. Queen Elizabeth, on his return, called him to account, and expressed her disapproval of carrying off Aft-icans without their own consent, declaring such an act detestable, and invoking vengeance on the perpetrators of such deeds. Whatever assurance Captain Hawkins may have given that he would act within the limits of her majesty's instructions, and however he may have glossed over the iniquity of Bis doings, greed proved too powerful a temptation for his veracity and integrity. Captives on the African coast were very cheap, and the profits in St. Domingo were very ample, and the slave traffic went on.
In 1564, he sailed with four vessels, one of which was named the Jesur (Jesl1s?), and he made str;tight for Cape de Verde and Sierra Leone. At the Island of Sambala, Hawkins and his crew stayed for days, going on shore daily, burning and spoiling towns and taking the inhabitants for a prey. This voyage proving profitable, another was undertaken in 1567 in the Jesur, and some 400 or 500 captives secured. The voyage, however, proved disastrous, calamity after calamity befell them, and few of all the crew ever found their way to England. Yet Sir John went on with his work of trading in the bodies and souls of men, and records his sufferings as though he we~e writing" the lives aud deaths of martyrs," as, on previous prosperous voyages, he had entered on his log book, how God had not "suffered his elect to come to harm."
Curiously enougp, it was just 300 years from that time (1861-1865) that in America a civil war was raging, the natural fruit of that very slavery which such. traffic had planted on these shores; and in 1865, Abraham Lincoln struck the fetters from four millions of African slaves!
In 1622 Japan was driving out Catholics and Jesuits who brought to the empire of the Rising Sun a nominal Christianity but no Bible; and at the same time, at Plymouth, Pilgrims were landing from the Mayflower, and planting the Bible as the very corner stone of liberty and religion; and from their descendants, says D-r. A. J. Gordon, came Commodore Perry, who, in 1853 and 1854, more than two cen- turies later, 'was peacefully negotiating a treaty by which the faith of those Pilgrim fathers was to find its way into the island empire. How remarkable, too, was that year, 1858, for the opening of wide doors to Christian missions! That was the year when Japan, by treaties, made successively with the United States, Britain, France, Russia and Holland, became generally accessible to those nations; in that same year, China, which, by the treaty of Nankin, in 1842, opened five ports, Canton, Amoy, Foochou, Ningpo, Shanghai; further, by the treaty of Tien-Tsin, opened other ports and conceded t9 British subjects the right to travel under passports in the interior. That same year, 1858, India became part of the British Empire, and David Liv- 'It: ingstone a second time sailed to Africa to pioneer the way for mis- sionaries into the unexplored interior of that Dark Continent. Thus in one year the doors were mysteriously opened to mOl"e than half the population of the globe. Probably no such a series of providen- tial interpositions ever occurred in history before. The year 1858 ranks as the Annus Mirabilis.
Not only is God in missionary history by his providential inter- positions, but by his gracious transformations.
Whc;m Barnabas and Saul were separated, qualified, called of God and sent forth by the church at Antioch, to go to the Gentiles, they completed their mission tour by returning to Antioch and gathering the church together to rehearse all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith to the gentiles. Afterward, when they went up to Jerusalem, being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phamicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles, and caused great joy unto all the brethren. When they were come to Jerusalem they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders,and they declared all things that God had done with them, and what miracles and wonders He had wrought among the Gentiles by their agency.
It is most noticeable throughout these three chapters of the Acts (xiii., xiv., xv.), how constantly and emphatically God is recognized in the whole inception, progress and success of this first missionary campaign. Christ had accompanied the first great commission by a grand declaration, ".All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth;" and by an equally grand promise, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." .And now the .Acts of the .Apostles records the fulfilment of that promise. Such was the success of that campaign that it could be accounted for only on the ground of divine interposition. From first to last He is gratefully acknowledged and glorified. He selected the laborers and thrust them forth into his harvest fields; He set them apart, appointed them and annointed them for this very work, and as the church sent them forth, so also the Holy Ghost sent them forth and went with them. He who thus thrust forth the laborers, opened the doors, wide and effectually before them. Their entrance in unto the Gentiles was plainly of God. He gave. them access to foreign and hostile peoples and secured them an audience, and turned even their persecutions to a testimony, and their rejection into a welcome. Then he granted conversion unto the gentiles, and sanctification, purifying their hearts by faith. Then he wrought various miracles, signs and wonders by the hands of his apostles. So that throughout the whole course of their campaign GOD'S PRESENCE and POWER were conspicuous.
It is our deep conviction that no candid man can read the history of the last century of missions without being impressed that it is the twenty-ninth chapter of the .Acts of the .Apostles; and that through. out this whole historic chapter, as throughout the rest of that book, God's providence and grace are conspicuous. So far from missions being a failure, their success demands a supernatural force and factor as their only adequate explanation. From the time when William Carey began to revolve in his humble shoe shop at Hackleton the plan for a world's evangelization, all along through the periods of organization, .occupancy of the fields, and realization of results, the mighty hand of God is marvellously manifest. We believe that the study of missions is the effectual cure of all skepticism. If there be any modern Nathaniel who doubts whether any good thing has come out of Nazareth, let him" come and see." Let him read and study Robert Morrison, Charles Gutzlaff, Peter Parker, and their work in China; let him follow the footsteps of .Adonaram Judson and his devoted wives in Burmah and among the Karens; let him sail with John Williams through the South Seas, until he falls beneath the savage club at Eromanga; let him watch the work of Charles Wheeler on the Euphrates, and Dr. Barnum at Harpoot; let him go to Zululand and hear the native preachers now. telling the gospel story to their yet benighted countrymen; let him visit the crowded salles of Mc.All in Paris and the French provinces, and go for fo.ur months every night into a new station among these mercurial Frenchmen; let him go to the Eternal City and see thirty Protestant chapels within the walls where thirty years ago no Protestan t could bring a Bible; let the candid investigator go. into the Madras Presi- dencyand visit Tinnevelly, where in six months 16,000 were bap- tized, and the Telugu country, where 10,000 were baptized in a twelve- month; let him trace the footsteps of Fidelia Fiske in the Land of Esther, and sit down with her at the Lord's table with seventy young ladies brought to the Lord by her influence; let him visit the sun- rise Kingdom, and realize that the changes of ten years, as Kawmura says, have" left nothing as it was before except the natural scenery;" let him go to Formosa, where, on the twelfth anniversary of his arrival, McKay sat down at the Lord's table with 1,200 converts; let him who is willing to be convinced go to William Duncan's Metlakahtla and see a model Christian state among the Indians, whom some even now think good only to kill; let him go to old Calabar and see the heathenism of a thousand years yielding its long established customs and superstitions before the gospel; let him compare the India of to-day with scores of its cruel tortures and outrageous oppressions either abolished or abated; let him read t,he story of Madagascar and the twenty-five years of persecutions that not even with scalding water and martyr-fires, with hurling from precipices and drowning in the sea, could intimidate Malagasy disciples; let him go to Aniwa and see John J. Paton's memorial, a savage cannibal population turned intoa Christian community, with churches, schools, hospitals, hallowed homes and civil order suoh as becomes a Christian state; let him look on the thousand churches of the Fiji group, many of them built on the site of cannibal ovens; let the doubter who is willing to be convinced that God is in missionary history, follow the steps of the mission band from William Carey's sermon in Kettering in 1792 to the latest triumph of men of faith and of prayer who still " attempt great things for God," and" expect great things from God;" and he will find himself following the pillar of cloud and fire, and. dazzled by the glory of the Shekinah !
We have written and spoken for twenty-five years upon missions. And to-day, conscious that we stand a quarter of a century nearer the bound of life, where burdens of duty are laid down for the nnresting but unwearying service of a higher life, we calmly and confidently say that, for closeness of fellowship with God, and for the vivid vision of His almighty power, and for the effectual removal of all honest doubt as to a supernatural presence in human history, and especially the work of world-wide evangelization, we know of nothing equal to a participation in preaching the gospel to the lost.
After about three months of missionary campaigning in Scotland, my tour closed there on the twenty-thircl instant, with meetings at Campbeltown, Cantire, and;as was becoming, a closing meeting in that border city, Berwick-on-Tweed, which is on the Scotch side of the 'l'weed, but within ,English jurisdiction. From first to last there has been but one experience of welcome from all disciples, and gen- erous cordiality and hospitality.
At Alloa, in connection with one of the grandest meetings held north of the border, I saw a man that reminded me of what Bayard Taylor said to Baron von Humboldt: " You have seen a great many ruins, :Mr. Taylor," said the Baron, "and now you behold another." " No, not a ruin, but a pyramid," responded the accomplished author of " Views Afoot." So I felt when I saw in my audience that venerable man of ninety, who is one of the noblest givers of his generation-David Paton, Esq. In the course of his life he has contributed to missions his whole fortune of some million dollars, and is now living on a small annuity. Yet when in course of my address he heard me refer to the present straits of the McAll missions and the threatened danger of being compelled to close thirteen of the Salles for lack of funds, out of the little left to him, David Paton managed to contribute another two hundred andfifty pounds sterling (nearly $1,250), as a letter from Dr. :McAll jnst informs me. It was worth going to Alloa to look upon such a " pyramid."
That meeting at Alloa was an example of energy in working up plans for a public assembly. The week days are, of course, the difficult times in which to secure large gatherings for such purposes. Almost all the local committees beg for a Sabbath, and the Central Committee regret that Sunday comes but once in seven days. But although Alloa is one of the smaller towns and the only day that could be given was a Wendesday, the great Town Hall was crowded and not a few had to go away without getting even standing room. And, writing of meetings, it is very, noticeable how much the success of a meeting depends on the spirit of the local committee of arrangements, and even on the way in which what the Scotchman calls the "intimations" are given. I happened to be present in Barony' Church, Glasgow, when the genial and gifted Dr. Marshall Lang was announcing the meeting to be held at St. Andrews' great hall on the Monday evening following. He said: "We are to hold a great meeting to-morrow night. If you want to get a seat you must go early; and that you may not fail if you go early, I have had enough tickets brought to the church to supply such as wish to go; and if you find you cannot go, you must surrender your ticket to some one else who will." Of course St. Andrews' great hall was filled. " According to your faith be it unto you," is true in more spheres than one. The very next Sunday I happened to be where a brother minister, who felt great misgivings about the week-night meetings being a success, besought his people to go, as many as possibly could, all though he wished to save it from disastrous failure. Both enthusiasm and des- pondency are contagious, as this campaign furnishes abundant proof.
After having held 150 meetings in England and Scotland, from Bristol to Aberdeen, and from London to Glasgow, there are now more applications unfilled than brought me over the sea last autumn, showing that there is abundant opening for work of this sort. As yet Wales and Ireland are untouched. England has been approached only at some principal points like London, Birmingham, Bristol, Liv- erpool, Leeds, Leicester, Oxford, etc. Even Scotland, where three months have been spent, has not been overtaken. Inverness, Elgin, Forres, and all the country north of that line we have been unable to -embrace in the tour, not to speak of many other places as large as Kirkcaldy, which in the more southern portion have been necessarily omitted. One of the most delightful visits I have yet made was to St. Andrews, the venerable university town, sacred to the martyrs of Christ, and consecrated by the graves of such men as Halyburton, Rutherfurd, Adam Ferguson, and the like. I was a guest of Dr. A. K. H. Boyd, the Moderator-elect of the Established Church As- 'sembly, whose pen has made his name a household word far beyond the limits of his voice. Under his genial guidance I went to see the famous" bottle dungeon," where Wishart and other martyrs were con- -fined, and saw the spot where he and Hamilton were burned, and the window from which Beaton was hung, just opposite, in the castle; we walked through the Abbey grounds and among the University build- ings, only regretting that the time was so short.
Scotland is full of accomplished men, and from many a humble llOme has gone martyr or missionary. From one lowly cottage in 'Strathaven, went the Martin brothers, William, Gavin and James, two of them to India, the other to Jamaica. Then a son of James followed, then the surviving sister, allfive to the foreign field. And when I spoke at Edinburgh to the students on Friday evening, March 14th, two more sons of those Martin brothers came up to me and -shook my hand and told me they were in training for the same work! Seven from one house-we might almost say from one cradle! What a land of missionaries would this be if the cradle-s were consecrated! From how many other humble homes whose kingdom cometh not with observation might there go forth bands of missionaries to spread the good tidings!
In all my addresses here I have sought to impress the vital connection of prayer with missions. Nothing is more important-notlling is so important. The work is essentially divine in conception and ,execution. This supernatUl:al gospel can accomplish that supernatural 'work of conversion only through a supernatural power, the Holy Ghost. Prayer is the only hold we have upon the Spirit of God, and Ithel;efore prayer is the single secret of all blessing upon our work.
PASTOR HARMS AND HIS MISSION WORK. [June-
Prayer means every other form of blessing. It means plenty of workmen, it means open doors of access, it brings plenty of money and means, it brings unction upon the workmen, it brings success of the highest sort on the field, large harvests and frequent harvests-the rain on mown grass making the grass to grow again for another crop.
Those who cannot go, who have no child to give, and but little' money to give, can pray)' and it is noticeable that of all the gifts we can offer, this of fervent supplication is the most emphasized in the· New Testament!
Our beloved friends in Scotland have, with characteristic generosity, crowned all their former loving kindness with one last act, of which I can hardly write without indelicacy and yet scarcely forbear to write without ingratitude. Just as my three months' campaign, closes, a letter reaches me from the beloved and venerable Rev. Dr. Andrew Thomson, of Edinburgh, announcing that the" Duff Trustees. have appointed me as their next lecturer on missions." Dr. Thomson. gracefully adds that" nothing could be more cordial than the appointment, as well as more gratifying to himself, and that he hopes no obstacle may be found to stand in the way of my acceptance." This lectureship, founded in memory of Dr. Alexander Duff, has already been filled by such men as Dr. William Fleming Stevenson and Sir Monier' Williams, etc. It deserves mention in these letters, for, as it seems to· the new appointee, this election is not so much a tribute to the capacity and ability of the lecturer-elect, as it is a beautiful and graceful expres!'lion of appreciation for the work that he has sought to do in, Scotland. If the way shall appear open for acceptance, it will give· opportunity also for the gathering up of the loose threads of a some– what scattered and imperfect impression, and weaving them into a more substantial and permanent form. This last act of our Scottish friends we cannot but esteem an undeserved honor, but it is the most fragrant laurel wreath that has ever been placed upon the writer's head; and it is specially grateful as the last of a long series of generow; and appreciative acts, crowning this short mission tour of the churches with a diadem that shows rather the princely nature of my hosts than the princely title of their American guest. One hesitates, to follow where such men have led. But if the providence of God shall permit, we shall feel constrained to say, like Franklin of his. illustrious predecessors at the Court of Versailles, "I come to follow,. not to succeed them !"
PASTOR HARMS AND HIS MISSION WORK.
BY REV. LEWIS GROUT, WEST BRATTLEBORO, VT.
LOllis Harms, the son of a Lutheran minister, was born in 1809,. at Hermannsburg in Hanover, and educated at Gottingen. From his youth he gave promise of being, as he proved to be, a man of manystrong parts-thoughtful, sympathetic, self-reliant-a man of great energy, industry and perseverance, together with a kindness of feeling and a high sense of honor, truth and purity, that could not fail to win the confidence and esteem of all who should know him. ,His good judgment, good memory, and great activity made him a good man- ager of great enterprises; while the great simplicity of his trust in God, his strong faith, and rare devotion, made him bold and strong to attempt great enterprises. Such a man was needed in just the times and place in which he lived. Many of the two millions of people around him were given to infidelity, many to formalism and worldli- ness. Few of them cared at all for either the house or the word of God. For a man of traits like those of Harms: the l,ord had a great work, both in Hanover and among the heathen beyond the sea. But for this work the man must have more than natural talent-must be himself first roused to a new spiritual life. To this he was moved and converted by reading the tender, loving words of Christ in his intercessory prayer. Being himself divinely imbued with the spirit of his new Master, he entered at once upon his labors of love for others, and soon became assistant pastor in his native village; and at the age 'of forty, on the death of his father, refusing many temptiftg calls to other places, he became pastor of the parish in which he was born and reared, and set himself to the joyful work of developing in it the best type of a useful church and ministry.
Nor was it long ere his earnest efforts began to yield a rich return. " The attendance in church increased; reverence for the Bible grew; there was more conversation on sacred things, more order and neatness in the village, and the 'Hermannsburghers' became a proverbial people. The noon bell was sounded, and every head was bared in prayer. No- where else in Hanover was a parish to be found where apostolic piety seemed revived as here, in the consciousness of a present Christ and a present Spirit, and in the effectiveness of the means of grace."
And now the heart of the pastor began to beat warm and strong for the millions in heathendom, especially in Africa, who had never as .yet heard of the love of that Saviour who had died for them. Upon this he began to speak to his people. Sometimes the subject gave him wakeful hours at night; sometimes he made it the theme of a dis- course on the Sabbath, and often was it the chief topic of remark in his visits from house to house among his people. They soon caught his spirit, and began to talk of the work among themselves and with their pastor, and some of them began to give. Their first contribution was a silver penny from a child, sixpence from a poor laborer, and six shillings from a widow. Little did these humble givers think what" a soaring pillar of fire" was to come from these trifling sparks, by means of which many a benighted soul on the Dark Continent would yet be guided and cheered in the way of life. And now this enthusiastic pastor begins to urge his church and parish to give themselves, personally and practically, to the work, be- {Jome responsible for a portion of the heathen world, form a society, choose a. field, and go in person, or help send others of their own number to man the field. 'rwelve came forward and offered to go, one of whom gave his farm as well as himself. With the avails of the farm a training school was established, where the twelve put . themselves under their pastor's teaching for two or three years, by way of preparation for mission work. Then the people began to study and plan with their pastor how they should send their brethl·en, when they should be ready, and provide for their support. Meantime, others offered themseives and came into the training school for instruction, and among them a number of newly converted sailors from the German fleet. Then some of the peasants expressed a wish to go as farmers, and some of the villagers as tradesmen or mechanics. In this way a new element was infused into the scheme, emigrants or ()olonists being now associated with the missionaries, and the hope cherished that the mission might eventually become self-supporting. And here the pastor himself is not only greatly encouraged, but set forward and furnished with a new idea; for, says he, "Without these sailors we should never have become colonists; for we, honest but somewhat stupid, heath-people, should never have dreampt of sending out any but real missionaries." And then, too, out of these sailors, they got the idea of building and having a ship of their own for mission purposes. Putting their minds and hands together, by faith, work and prayer, the ship was built, and the much-loved pioneer pastor, with some hundreds of his parishioners, took a special train to Hamburg to see the new ship, christen it Candace, and dedicate it to the work of carrying the gospel to the Ethiopians. Eight of the twelve candidates for appointment as missionaries being accepted, together with eight colonists, on the 21st of October, 1853, the Candace took them joyfully aboard, weighed anchor, and spread her sails for Mombas and the Galla country, via the Cape and Port Natal.
And now it was, on reaching their desired haven, that their faith and zeal were put to the first and severest test. The Mohammedan powers at Mombas, subject as they were to the Imaum of Zanzibar, jealous of all foreign influence, and especially opposed to the· incoming of Christian missionaries, set themselves firm against the proposed enterprise, and compelled the missionaries to depart. "The Arabians themselves towed the ship, with wild cries, out of the harbor of Mombas, as if they had gained ·ha1£ a world by getting rid of the Christians." The Candace now put back to Natal, where she had called on her way up the coast a few months before. Here they had a glad reception by some of their own countrymen, by missionaries from other lands, and by the Government of the colony. Without renouncing the hope of yet reaching the Gallas, on which their hearts are deeply set, they settle down to begin work where they are. Consulting with others' as to the best way and place to begin, on the 19th of September, 1854, with five ox-teams, after the Dutch Boer fashion, they reach the seat of their first and central station, which they call by the dear homeland name of " Hermannsburg," on a large farm of six thousand acres, called" Perseverance," and situated on the Iuhlimbiti, one of the inland branches of the U mvoti, their purpose being to strike out, eventl].ally, from this in different directions, especially into Zululand and the regions beyond, even to the Gallas, as the field should open and their forces increase. Already had they entered on their work by making tours of observation and by studying the language of the people with other missionaries, and aiding them in their work as best they could.
Having fixed upon a station, their next work, like that of other enterprising missionaries in the same or any similar wild and barbarous region, was to build themselves a house in which to live and a place in which to worship. To this they devote themselves at once in right good earnest, and yet keep up their study of the language,. and let pass no good opportunity to teach the people in whatever would be helpful to them, both in this life and the next. The carpenter, with the best workers in wood, went to·" the bush" for timber. The smith made ready a smithy for work in iron. The farmer gathered a native force to care for the teams and help him in his husbandry. The mason, with a few good helpers, began to make brick. The thatcher worked in the garden till he was wanted on the roof. The cook, as yet without a kitchen, had" a laborious business to feed so many hungry people." They planned to build a house· 120 feet by 40, with eight dwelling-rooms and twelve bedrooms, a large dining alld sitting-room, a large kitchen, and a long hall running through the centre from end to end. The writer, bEing there on a visit at a later date, after the house had been finished, and the mission enlarged by the incoming of other members, found this house the abode of thirteen families, who took their meals all at one table in the large central dining-room. Here, too, they all met,. morning. and evening, for family worship; and everything, as the visitor was atl>ured by the superintendent and his lady, went on,. from day to day, in the most orderly and harmonious manner. Less than half a mile away there was another band of seven families, living in a similar manner in one house.
Nor was it long, considering the missionaries' imperfect knowledge of the language, before they began to get from God "an earnest of an extended blessing on their religious labors, and to be thus encouraged to persevere." Ere three months had expired four natives, a married couple and two others, who had been under instruction, came to their teachers with a wish to be baptized and make a public profession of their faith in the Saviour of whom they had been told. After some weeks of further instruction, on the first Sabbath of the new year, they were examined before the congregation, accepted, baptized, and made the nucleus of a church among the Zulus. Forthwith, upon this, say the missionaries, "Satan broke loose, and did all in his power to hinder and destroy their work; but, thanks and praise to God, his grace gained the victory." Writing home, they entreat their patrons and friends to help them in their prayers, that the Lord may give them true humility and a self-sacrificing faithfulness in their calling, that they may not look for soft beds, luxurious sofas and good eating and drinking, but look to the I.ord Jesus and the extension of His kingdom. Nor was it long ere they felt that they had still further evidence of God's readiness to bless them in the ~oming of many natives to be taught to know and read the gospel. Some of the natives ask the missionaries to come and teach them at their homes, in their kraals, and some bring their children to the station to be taught. "Are not these fair prospects 't 0, Lord Jesus, the seed sprouts already. Preserve it from the hail! "
:Meantime, the full and frequent reports and familiar communications which these missionaries and colonists make to their friends and patrons in their fatherland, and especially to their beloved pastor, who, in turn, from time to time, talks it all over with his people, or has much of it published in his missionary magazine, help to keep the stream of mission interest ever full and rising. The training school was kept full, usually numbering about fifty. In 1856, a second company, chiefly farmers and maids, was found ready to go out; in 1857, still another company, numbering forty-six, of whom twelve were missionaries, was sent out; and then, in 1860, still another, numbering twenty-nine, of whom four were missionaries, the l'est colonists. On one occasion more than a hundred stood ready to go at one time. All this led to the frequent founding of 'a new station, so that in 1860, six years from the beginning of their work at Hermannsburg, they had ten stations, four in Natal, three in Zululand; and, at the united request of the chief Sechele and the Dutch, they had sent and formed three stations among the Bechuana, which were proving prosperous, the schools large, the attendan~e upon Sabbath worship good, and baptisms many.
At the end of the first decade of this mission, 1864, they had founded 24 stations and started two more, and baptized 190 converts. How well founded, planned and managed was Pastor Harms' mission enterprise, is seen in the fact that it went on to live and prosper marvelously after his death, which occurred Nov. 14, 1866. The annual Christmas festival, at which the pastor and his devoted charge of peasants and villagers were accustomed to review their year's mission work, was still kept up; and at that held in 1870, they reported their work greatly enlarged. The number of stations in Africa was now said to be 37, of which 7 were in North Zululand, 5 in South Zululand, 8 in Natal, 2 in Alfredsland, 10 in Bechuanaland, and 5 in Little Mosika District. At these stations 200 persons re- ceived baptism during the previous year. They had also 5 stations in India and 1 in Australia. Two brethren were about to leave for California to labor there in behalf of the Chinese in that State. The moneys received for the support of the Hermaunsburg Mi1!sions the previous year amounted to 50,311 thalers. The expenditures were 44,590; the balance, therefore, in favor of the treasury was 5,721 thalers. Their South African missions continued to grow till they numbered 50 stations and 5,000 converts, when some 12 or 15 of these stations were swept away by war; since which, however, it is under- stood that some of these devastated 8tations have been rebuilt.
In 1886 the income of the Society was $48,500, its missionaries and native helpers numbered 219, of whom 40 were ordained Euro- peans, 50 laymen and 42 women, likewise Europeans. The native communicants numbered 4,680, and baptized persons, 12,120. The gain of the year was 260 communicants. Rev. Egmont Harms was secretary of the Society in place of his father, now deceased. Aside from South Africa, the Society was doing mission work in India, Australia and New Zealand.
At an early stage of his Zulu Mission, Pastor Harms began to look for some suitable person to have the general superintendence of the work, and made choice of Rev. Mr. Hardelalld, D.D. arid Ph., who for many years had been a missionary among the Dyaks in Borneo. Dr. Hardeland would take this charge on condition that the Mission' .should be brought, in some measure, into connection with the Lutheran Church of Hanover, so far, at least, as to require that Church to examine and ordain all missionaries who might be sent by the Hermannsburg Society to this field. To this Mr. Harms assE:llted. Dr. Hardeland reached the field in 1859, after which the mission was subject to his oversight and direction.
Nor should we fail to notice that Pastor Harms and his enterprising people seemed all the more interested and active in their homework becaustJ of. their interest in the foreign field. In addition to other charitable efforts, they established a refuge for discharged convicts, about whom there hung a taint of disgrace, whose sympathies were perverted, whose sensibilities had been hardened by crime, and whose career had alienated common confidence. Moved to pity and helpfulness toward this neglected class, the warm-hearted Hermannsburgers bought a farm and built an asylum on it to be a home for the helpless and the hopeless, and yet a means of self-help for those who ·could labor. And then, again, as a means of imparting information
THE RELIGIOUS WORK AMONG THE IMMIGRANTS
and promoting mutual sympathy among themselves, as also between themselves and their brethren in a distant land, they started a live missionary magazine. This gave employment, for a portion of their time, to some in the training school, and thus helped to prepare them for the handling of type and a preBs, in a land where press and type had never been known. Beginning in this humble way, this department of the work went on to unfold and grow, till, eventually, they had" a Parish Publishing House~ issuing catechisms, tracts, and the literature of the Gospel, yielding an annual profit of six hundred pounds sterling."
In the narrative before us, what pastor, missionary, or missionary society, church or individual, can fail to find instruction and inspiration? In the Hermannsburg pastor and people, what an example for us to study and be encouraged! In it we see what an earnest, devoted pastor, who has God and a responsive, united people to help him, can do in face of great obstacles. Pastor Harms was a man of faith. He made his work, whether at home or abroad, a work of faith. He had faith in God, and faith in his people. He was a man of prayer. Of God he asked-in faith-the help he needed from God; of his people he asked-in faith-the help he needed from them. Putting·and keeping his work before his people, making it their work, consulting with them, informing, cheering them, he had their confidence, their hand and their heart, and found that as the work grew upon them, the means to carry it on grew also. Pastor Harms was a man of great spirituality, and yet a man of affnirs, a great worker, intensely active, a great organizer and manager, eminently original, progressive, trustful, hopeful, faithful, successful. His ways and means of securing a mutually helpful interest .between the church at home and his missions abroad-his way of promoting a loving, personal sympathy and attachment between the laborers in the field and their patrons at home, are worthy of consideration in this day of diverse thought and study as to the best me~hods of mission work. Indeed, in all the union of individuality, fres~ess, freedom and fitness in his beneficent plans and labors, never running in the ruts of lifeless uniformity or imita– tion, always finding some good place or use for everybody and everything, and especially in his great simplicity of purpose, his Christly spirit, his consecrated life, there is much for the whole Christian world to admire and emulate to-day.
']'HE RELIGIOUS WORK A~fONG THE IMMIGRANTS.
BY REV. PROFESSOR GEORGE H. SCHODDE, PH. D., COLUMBUS, OHIO.- It is only within the last decade or two that the immigrant problem has assumed in the public mind a moral and religious phase, in a. measure crowding into the background the purely economic feature of the question. The number of strangers entering at our gates. average each year more than half a million. The new factor and fer- ment introduced into the thought and life of the nation by the advent of millions grown up' in environments and surroundings often radi- cally at variance with the ideas and ideals of American traditions, make the inquiry as to what is being done for the intellectual and religious education of these masses one of direct home interest, in which every citizen and Christian must look with personal concern and solicitude. This modern migration of nations is also a mjgration of national peculiarities; and the number of new comers is so great, that it is a question as to how far they will assimilate to American life, and how far they will attempt to impress the stamp of their own individuality upon our people. Experience has shown that the efforts made in the latter direction are far from being welcome innovations and transformations.
Naturally the State can do nothing for the religious wants of these strangers; and what is done in the way of establishing schools, is practically of. .little benefit on account of the language difficulty and the age of most of the immigrants. Only the second generation can hope to make use of the opportunities offered for intellectual improvement by the State. Accordingly, the whole work in this direction must be of a voluntary character, carried on by those whose interest in it prompts them to this labor of love. The immigrant, himself cannot be expected to do much for himself in this respect. As a rule they are poor, and are intent, above everything else, upon the establishment of a house and home. Then, the majority of them have grown up in State churches and have never learned the lesson of self-help in regard to church and school, which is the condition of success in America. They are helpless as regards both ways and means. Often, too, they are but little concerned about their highest and deepest interests-those of their souls and hearts-the religious life in the State churches being but poorly adapted for the develop- – ment of personal piety and a clear appreciation of;he individual's religious needs and duties.
The work has then been left for those religious organizatio;ns in our country which, from a national or confessional point of view, must evince the deepest concern for the spiritual welfare of the immigrant. Nearly all of these strangers who come from southern Europe and from Austria and Ireland are Roman ·Catholics, as are also, perhaps, one-third from Germany and Switzerland; while the great majority of the rest of the Germans, as also all the Scandinavians, Swedes, Danes, Norwegians, Finns, Icelanders, and a small per cent. from Austria are members of the Lutheran State Churches, the Reformed Church being represented by a small German and Swiss contingent. From a l'eligious point of view, at least twotlJi",]R of tIle immigrants are P,'otestants, or, at any rate, non-Roman Catholics. The new immigration spirit which has in the last three or more years taken hold of the Roman Catholic Latin nations in Europe, and has made the number of emigrants from those States almost equal to that from the Anglo-Saxon and Teutonic nations of northern Europe, has not changed this proportion, to any perceptible extent, in favor of the Church of Rome, because the great majority of the Latin wanderers go to South America and not to the United States.
The work of the Roman Catholics for housing their portion of the immigrants is carried on more systematically than can be done by any of the Protestant denominations. The magnificent organization of the Church of Rome enables it to do effective work in this direction. Of the more than five hundred thousand children in Roman Catholic parochial schools, one-half or more are taught in languages other than the English. 'That Church claims no fewer than two million German members in the United States, divided into thirteen church provinees. Seminaries and ins,titutions for the education of priests and teachers multiply with great rapidity, and, in general, every effort is made to take care of their people and to keep them faithful members of the church. Just in how far this is to be regarded as consistent with the best American citizenship, is a mooted question. It is quite clear, that Roman Catholic ideas and methods in this regard are not yet in agreement with the public thought and conscience of the country.
The provision for the spiritual wants of the Protestant contingent naturally falls to the lot of that church to which it chiefly owes at least a formal allegiance, namely, the Lutheran. Unfortunately, the Lutheran Church of America, with its communicant membership of considerably more than one million, is a divided household of faith, the lines of separation being along a more or less rigid confessionalism, aided to some degree by linguistic and national divergencies; but, notwithstanding its divisions, the whole church is a unit inrecognizing in the home mission work among their newly arrived brethren in the great Woest and Northwest, the task above all other tasks for them to engage in. Accordingly, the Lutheran Church of this land has. bent all its energies upon the accomplishment of this one end, and of the four large general bodies and the independent Synods, numbering, in all, more than fifty Synodical organizations, there is scarcely one which does not take active part in this work. It is for this reason, chiefly, that this church has been able to take but a small part of the evangelization of the heathen world upon their shoulders. The large bodies of the General Synod and the General Council, indeed, carryon work in India and Africa, and the Southern I~utherans are beginning in Japan; but the largest complex of Synods, the Synodical Conference, as well as the independent Synods, engage in foreign mission work only in so far as they contribute to the missionary societies of Germany and the Scandinavian lands. Other denominations are not idle in this important field, but quite naturally cannot, and do not, accomplish what is being done by the Lutherans. The Methodists have a German membership of more than fifty thousand; the Presbyterians of nearly ten thousand; the Baptists are working among the Germans, while the Congregationalists have devoted their energies chiefly to the Scandinavians. The United Synod, a German body, representing the standpoint of the Prussian State church, in which the Lutheran and the Reformed confession are of equal authority, have a membership of about one hundred and twenty-five thousand; and the Reformed church, a German membership of fifty thousand. Of the more than a million Lutherans in America, at least two-thirds are non-English, she being the most polyglot church in the United States, no less than nine or ten languages being preached from her pulpits.
The care for the spiritual interests of the immigrant begins even before he leaves the fatherland. Small pamphlets have been published containing the address of every Lutheran or United Synod pastor in America, and these are scattered throughout the districts of Germany, informiug the immigrant where he can find a church home in America of his faith and confession. In Hamburg, Bremen, and <>ther seaport towns, immigrant missionaries have been stationed, who provide the people with good advice, and help 1;hem in general to get into Christian hands upon landing in America. In New York there are three Lutheran immigrant missionaries and two missionary houses, in which annually more than fifteen thousand strangers are housed and sent on their way. The Roman Catholics, too, have their mission house in New York, and the Methodists did have, but its discontinuance has been agitated amid the protests of the German brethren. In Baltimore there is also an immigrant missionary. These men and concerns are supported by the church at large, as the immigrants are charged only a nominal price for lodging and board, and the needy receive these free. The missionaries have large correspondence with the pastors throllghout the West.
The work of hunting up the new settlers and inaugurating the religious movement among them is the special task of the missionaries in the employ of the various Synods, who have scores of men engaged in this work. The ordinary method is to learn where there is a sufficient number of Germans or Scandinavians, or others, in a certain locality, and then to send a man there who is familiar with the language of the people. As a rule, no attempt is made at a church organization at once, even if the people were all nominally members of a State church in Europe. The most solid foundation for a congregation has, by experience, been found to be the establishment of parochial schools, in which the instruction of the young in the truths of Sacred Writ formfl the ellief feature. To this is added regular preaching, until the people are ripe for an organization, and with the assist- ance of the church building funds, if necessary, a house of worship is erected. But the parochial school system has been the backbone of the success of the Luther~lll church in the West. No less than 150,000 children are being educated in these schools at present, while the United Synod has more than twenty thousand in their schools. :More than two thousand teachers, nearly all males, are engaged in these schools, for the education of whom special' seminaries have been established at Addison, Ill., Woodville, Ohio, and elsewhere, or special courses have been arranged for this end in connection with the colleges and academies under the control of the church. The po- sition of the Lutheran church in the parochial school question differs radically from that of the Roman Catholics. While the latter are loud in th,,:ir denunciation of the public schools as "godless," the former establish their schools chiefly for the purpose of securing a religious education for their children, which, in the nature of the case, the State, because separated from the Church, cannot furnish; and besides, offering an education to those who are not acquainted suffi- ciently with the English language to make use of the public schools, the establishment of which is recognized by the Church as a duty of the State. The Lutheran church does not antagonize the public- school system; but for her own members she seeks to supplement it by supplying what, in her estimation, is the chief element of a true education, namely, the. religious.
It is from this standpoint that we can understand the opposition of the friends of the parochial schools in the Northwest to the re- cently enacted laws, particularly of Wisconsin and Illinois. There is no dissatisfaction with the demands of these enactments that pre- scribe that certain branches shall be taught in English, nor with their compulsory features, for in nearly all the parochial schools English is, in a greater or less extent, the medium of instruction in certain branches, and no one is more in favor of a thorough education than are the Germans and the Scandinavians. But those features of the new laws which virtually deprive these schools of their independence or of congregational control, by putting them under the supervision of county officials and non-religious authorities, have induced the tens of thou- sands of Protestants in Wisconsin and other States to inaugurate 'an agitation looking to a modification of the laws. The Protestants have steadily refused to go with the Roman Catholics in their opposition to the public schools, for the simple reason that they occupy an en- tirely different position over against these. On principle, the friends of Protestant parochial schools do not at all antagonize the school , system of the country; on the contrary, as a rule, their children for a certain number of years attend these schools, going to the parochial only for their religious training, especially for their preparation for confirmation. From these data it is plain why these church schools, established at so great a cost by the struggling non-English Chris- tians of the Northwest, have been one of the greatest features in the religious education of these people, doing a work which the State neither could nor would do.
In the line of higher education-the establishment of seminaries, 'Colleges, and other institutions for the special or partial benefit of the immigrant-immense strides have been made in the last half century. Then scarcely one concern of this kind existed; now, several of them are scattered over the whole land. The Lutherans maintain no fewer than twenty such establishments for the Germans alone, with an at- tendance of more than two thousand students. The capital invested in buildings reaches the millions, and the annual running expenses are fully $150,000. The returns for all this outlay and work can be seen in the progress of the church; for, on an average, one new Lu- theran church is dedicated each day of the year, and four-fifths of these are among the new citizens in the West. The Reformed Church has two chiefly Gennan colleges; the United Synod has a seminary .and two colleges; the Methodists have five small colleges of this {lharacter; the Presbyterians have two German seminaries, o~e in Bloomfield, N. J., the other in Dubuque, Iowa; the Baptists have a German department in Rochester, N. Y.. A similar work is being done among the Scandinavians and other Protestant strangers. Swedish institutions like that at Rock Island, Ill., are prominent educational forces; while fully a dozen smaller college~ and academies are maintained among the Scandinavian Lutherans. The Methodists have a Scandinavian theological school at Evanston, Ill.; the Baptists a Danish department at Morgan Park, Ill., and the Congregationalillts have one in connectiqn with their seminary in Chicago, Not a small agent in this religious education of the immigrant is the press. The polyglot newspaperdom of the West is almost entirely in the hands of the church, with the exception of a number of German papers in the larger cities. It is extremely interesting in this connection, to note the fact that all work of this kind undertaken by other agencies than the church, or from another standpoint than the Christian, has signally failed. The Milwaukee teachers's seminary, established on a "liberal" basis. has been a dismal failure.
Taking all these data into consideration, it is evident that the religious interests of the immigrant are receiving probably more marked attention and are treated with greater success than is the calile with" the native churchless masses of America.
PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS IN BRAZIL
PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS IN BRAZIL.
BY CHARLES E. KNdiIK:, D.D., BLOOMFIELD, N. J.
(Concluded from page 348, May number.) 3. We were much impressed with the personnel of our missionary force, and with the missionary's opportunity. The men and women in the service, the churches and stations, the centres of missionary power, all inspired us. The Southern Methodist Church was under strong guidance in the person of Bishop Granberry, and his missionaries seemed able and zealous men, intelligent and devoted women. They were strengthening efficient centres at Rio and Piracicaba. Frequent visits from their bishop, who returned with us on the steamer, and who left his daughter as a teacher at Rio, gave them all courage and animation. An earnest preacher and teacher was prosecuting a mission under Bishop Taylor's self-supporting plan, in Para. The Baptists, who 'had come late, had made a beginning in Rio and Pernambuco, although still without a church edifice. Maranhao, Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio, Sao Paulo, Campinas, all Brazilian centres, were occupied as centres of our own missions. The Southern men and the Northern men from our own church were men of ability, strong in character, prudent in action, harmonious in purpose, versatile in pastoral and evangelistic service. The native ministry and elders, so far as we could judge, were men of excellent qualities of mind and of heart, and foretoken a large body of worthy preachers and rulers. The evangelistic work opened everywhere and greatly outran the missionary force. In any new place the traveling preacher could have a congregation on a half-day's notice. With common prudence and loving endurance of the priest's opposition, and with perhaps a little cool courage under a shower of stones, he could in a short time establish a permanent congregation. Two missionaries, one a Bible society agent, joined our steamer at Pernambuco, who had come 1200 miles down the San Francisco river. They had started from the farthest interior station in the south, inland from Sao Paulo and Campinas, crossed from the head-waters which flow to Buenos Ayres, to the head-waters of the San Francisco, and canoed to its mouth. Through two of the larger provinces, Minos Geraes and Bahia, a full thousand miles northward on high land parallel to the coast, then on the borders of the smaller provinces of Pernambuco, Alagoas and Sergipe, eastward to the coast, they followed the stream second only to the Amazon. Everywhere they had met with kindly reception. The Bibles distributed may be expected to repeat the work of Dr. Kidder's Bibles distributed in 1839, developing into inquiring souls and into groups of inquirers ready for the future missionary; but the long journey revealed the universal plaint of the desolate heart, ready now to turn its cry of need to a song of joy at the message of love. In the Sao Paulo region the excellent evangelistic service of Mr. Chamberlain and of others has dev~oped a vast region ready for the detail work of a large missionary force. At one place was a school, whose origin was from a Bible in a Masonic lodge, purchased as a sacred book on which to take oaths. The planter whose curiosity led him to read it, vowed to furnish a building whenever anyone would come preaching the doctrines of that book. After the preaching he established the school, and then vowed that as soon as a white teacher would come to take charge of the school, he would put an endowment in his will. The last steamer of this present year brings the news from the college-bred lady teacher who has just located there, that the endowment is already in his will. At another place was a saintly member of a church, himself at one time full of hatred, who was con- verted by another whose heart and life had been full of ugly violence a few years before. At another place, where our Philadelphia engine stopped, was a flourishing church, where twenty years before Mr. Chamberlain and his assistant were stoned for explaining to the people the gospel of St. Mark. In rural plantations, in hamlets, in villages, in larger towns, notwithstanding the priests' protestation!;, the people will listen to the pure and loving story. An ebullition of emotional hostility may send off hot steam, but the prudent missionary stands one side, and soon the same emotion pushes the piston of a well-ordered life. The sub-stations and preaching places with one accord, in fourteen out of the sixteen sea-coast provinces, give the same testimony to the accessibility of the people.
One hundred new men, our missionaries said, could be at once profitably employed, as soon as they could learn the language, and another hundred could follow them at once.
The subject of lay colonies of Christians, in default of clerical missionaries, was discussed in our missionary company on the steamer. Most of the missionaries considered such colonies desirable, if practicable, and most of them thought something of the kind practicable under careful conditions. The oldest missionary, whose judgment was entitled to special weight, did not consider colonization from the United States practicable, and would not like to enconrage it. "The United States people," he said," do not colonize-they emigratethey will not remain together." General Magalhaes, who had personally explored the Amazon, said, at Sao Paulo, in answer to the question-Would colonies on the Amazon, from the United States, be practicable? "It would not do to bring people whose condition of life is too far above the conditions on the Amazon. The colonists must be of a class something like the conditions there-common ·laborers-not too cultivated." As the country becomes develop-ed and rises in intelligence and in civilizing institutions, such colonies will undoubtedly succeed, and it may be that colonies, like the colonies from the Southern States, if founded on Christian principles, may help to develop the civilization a.a Christianization of the country.
The Southern colony on the Amazon went to pieces. The Southern colony at Santa Barbara, in the more favorable conditions of Sao Paulo province, through many changes remains the same substantial unit, and has Presbyterian and Methodist churches. If such a colony founded on disaffection arising out of our civil war and on worldly ambitions has maintained its life for a quarter of a century, a Christian colony, founded on nobler motives, might wield a powerful influence under the new Republic.
4. The native and immigrant population impressed us as presenting certain characteristics which are specially hopeful. Three aspects are full of interest. In the first place, the Portuguese and the Brazilian are an amiable people. They are not intense and vindictive, like the Spanish. They are affectionate among themselves and hospitable to strangers. The.y may be aroused to sharp encounter, but their pre- vailing mood is placid. The history of their former revolutions shows this, and the present bloodless revolution exhibits the same trait. Religious animosity, therefore, inspired by selfish priests, is not likely to be persistive, as under the Spanish type of character. Never was there a better opportunity to introduce the high principles of Christi- anity, than among a people who have a strong social nature, who have ardent desires for a pure religious love, whose confidence in their false religious teachers has been broken, and whose present revolution points them towards civil and religious liberty.
In the second place, the color line is unknown. Prejudice in a. race caste does not exist. The ebony black, the Corinthian bronze, the Indian copper, the Caucassian white, and all the shades, statures, features, dress and manners of all these classes, sit side by side in the congregation and mix in common society. Grades of social distinction do not depend on color. Our brethren from our Southern States said , to us again and again: " We have no difficulty here in respect to the color line." "The old idea at home does not disturb us here." "We hardly know ourselves in the changed condition." This condition of the Brazilian community· arises out of the long intermixture of blood, the consequent impracticability of applying any race distinction, and the continued adjustment of social relations and customs to such a historic fact.
In the third place, the immigrant population has already become a powerful factor in the nation. The German people in the extreme South, especially in Rio Grande de SuI, have been recognized as a possible foundation for a separate republic. They occupy districts. and towns and cities. In Sao Paulo, also, their numbers are increasing. " We have a contract to bring in ten thousand faJllilies from W ur- temburg," said General Magalhaes to us. "The German emigra tion to US has been resisted in Germany, but the obstacle is now removed." The Italian constitute/the principal immigrant for mul- tiplication of "arms." They were not regarded formerly as m~king good citizens, but recently a better class from the farms of Italy has come. They do a large amount of work and consume little food. 'The Portuguese immigrants, principally from the Canary and Azores Islands, are less numerous. They are chiefly in the cities.
The great demand of the Empire has been for" arms," or, as we say, for" hands," to develop the acres, to open the mineral depths, to lay the railroads and build the mills. National laws and provincial laws have therefore offered a premium for the introduction of labor. The province of Sao Paulo has been the most enterprising. Large buildings were pointed out to us in the city of Sao Paulo) built for the temporary accommodation of these multitudes in transit. " We are bringing five thousand a month into this province," said General Magalhaes. "We have a contract by the province for this purpose." "More immigrants have come into the country since October last (about eleven months) than during the preceding history of the Empire."
By far the greater part of all this immigration is Roman Catholic. But from the old life of Europe they are coming into a new condition which is in rapid transit towards free ideas and private judgment. Met with a pure gospel in their own tongue, they may be converted to Christ and made a mighty force in the Christianization of that imperial nation.
5. We were very greatly impressed with the opportunities for Christian education. We heard t,he clamor of children in high voice, as we passed the common schools of the towns. In Pernambuco, our (lompany found its way into a girls' school-house at the edge of the dty. The voices were in full concert-the pitch was high-the action forte, the chorus without solo or duet. About fifty little girls and two little boys filled the room. Behind the desk sat a young lady <>f twenty-six or t~enty-eight. Her face was bronze, her eyes black, her jet black hair went down her back in a praid. With happy features, abounding spirits, a ready affability and overflowing pleasure 'in her work, she went freely on in the gu~dance of the school. She called up a girl to read. While hearing and correcting her, she gave attention to another, who came with an example in arithmetic; and then to another who came with her sewing, and sent another still for the tin scissors-and-tape box. When the little bronzes and blacks of all shades grew quiet from looking at their visitors, her vigorous itnd (lheery voice shot out the word" study," and off they all started in loud chorus again. We were reminded of what we had read of Mohammedan schools. The course of instruction was reading, writing, arithmetic, Christian doctrine (a Catholic shrine was in the corner) and sewing. One or two little ones recited in simple geometrical "form." They all seemed delighted with their cheery teacher. The same mode of education we saw in a school for boys of older age in Maranhao. From our Protestant Church school in Rio, we l~arned that the national habit was to train the memory, but that· the child was instantly lost if the teacher put his question outside the page of the text-book. Memory, obedience, emotion-these were to be cultivated among the people as a foundation for a blind church life. We were never more impressed with the value of a healthy logic in popular and in high education-to teach the child, the family, the community, the nation, to think for itself, and to exercise a private judgment in civil and in religious life.
There are professional schools of high character in leading cen- tres, law schools with large attendance in Sao Paulo and Pernambuco, medical schools in Bahia and Rio, a theological school with small attendance in each of the twelve dioceses. For these high institu- tions there are private and Governmental preparatory schools. And the "collegio," which is either a private school or an ordinary high school, is to be seen here and there in every city. There is, however, no university nor college of high degree in all Brazil. A few of the leading statesmen were educated in former years at the University of Coimbra, in Portugal, or in othe~ European universities. A few of th~ young men now go abroad. A bright young man on .our steamer was receiving his education in the Polytechnic. Institute at Worcester, Mass., where others of his nation had been. A polytechnic institution on the plains of Ypiranga, just outside Sao Paulo, is expected to grow out of its incipiency, if it escapes political complications. One considerable institution in the interior is founded on the doctrines of Augustus Compte. Independent of the missionary school and of pulpit instruction, the common people of the towns have the meagre education of the Catholic church, and the reflective mind tends towards materialism.
In several places Protestant schools had been begun. In four places they already assumed significant character. Under the Southern Methodists in Rio and in Pericacaba; under the Southern Presbyterians in Campinas; under the Northern Presbyterians in SaO" Paulo. The Methodist school property at Rio is on a noble site, commanding the city and the harbor. The school was in its early beginnings, the prosperous school at Pericacaba having been established some years, but we expect to see at the capital an institution of wide influence as an outgrowth at no distant day. The Campinas school had attained a high order of excellence and had gathered numbers and older students in spite of the rival Compte institution in the same town. The Sao Paulo school was, however, the leading missionary institution. Beginning as a little school for the missionaries' children, it had grown into a system of Kindergarten-Prjmary, Intermediate and Grammar departments-with a class for instruction in teaching and an advanced class ready for collegiate or theological education. There were 244 pupils present in the main hall on the day we were there. The number has since in- creased to about 400, the accessions again outgrowing the walls. The buildings adjoining the church should be at once assigned to one or two departments, and new apartments sought elsewhere for the other classes. The young men's dormitory, on the edge of the town, was an attractive building of yellow brick, one story in height, with dwelling-rooms for the Director. It stands on an elevated site, overlooking the city, and has ample grounds for a" future college. The teaching force, composed chiefly of intelligent ladies, Southern and Northern, under the excellent guidance of Dr.
H. M. Lane, was of high order. In our company we brought to them a New England teacher to take charge of a normal class of teachers.
Education had here advanced up to the line of the college system. The Sao Paulo school was ready at that time to present seven or eight, and the Campinas school five or six students for a" freshman class, as soon as a curriculum and the first professors could be provided. The opportunity is ripe for the completion of the educational system. Superior Protestant education would at once command wide attention. Its high morality would appeal to the deepest desires of parents who have fared ill under the Romish training. This highest complement of the system should be at once expressed in a college which should develop into a genuine university.
Roman Catholic education is unequal to the crisis. It is insufficient for the mind and morals of the masses. So long as the leading minds of the nation are under Catholic education, the people will not rise to high moral and religious convictions. The alliance of Protestant principles with professional edncation will at once give external and internal support to true Christian life. The State needs Protestant principles in its conception and administration. Such an education is the speediest way to produce the ministry which Brazil needs. The existence of a body of learned men at such a high institution is a constant educational force through all grades of political and domestic society and through all ranks of instructors.
Teachers of an elevated common school system, educated Christian fathers and mothers, communities which shall demand a" higher popular education for both girls and boys, leading Protestant minds in common society, in common commercial and in common agricultural life, educated church officers, native ministers to fill the countless opportunities, Christian men in the professions, leaders in the State Chambers in the new chambers of the Nation-these are within the speedy reach of such an institution. Next to the proclamation of the gospel-this is for Brazil the all-important thing. An opportunity for so broad a work, so world-wide an influence, is seldom presented to the Protestant Church.
HOW SHALL MOHAMMEDANS BE EVANGELIZED
HOW SHALL MOHAMMEDANS BE EVANGELIZED. [We are not at liberty to give the name of the writer of this article. Sui- nce to say, that it is from the pen of one who has lived forty years in the Turk- ish empire and is thoroughly conversant with the subject. Like the masterly paper we gave in the August number (1889), on "Islam and 9hristian Missions," it merits careful reading.-J. M. S.] This article does not discuss the general subject of Mohammedan- ism, giving an abstract of its tenets; nor does it propose to give a history of its progress and a statement of its present extent and power; nor does it compare this religion with Christianity, presenting the similarities and the contrasts between the two religions. It aims simply to treat of the best mode of presenting the gospel to Moslems, so that it may meet with their acceptl!-nce-treating the subject in view of the obstacles which hinder the success of the gospel in the Turkish empire. Is the inquiry presumptuous ?-The fact is not ignored that some persons regard this subject as not properly one of human discussion and inquiry. They say that the opening of the Mohammedan world to the gospel is a work so entirely dependent upon divine interposi- tion.and Almighty power, that it is presumption on our part to spec- ulate and plan, or do otherwise than" stand still and see the salva- tion of God." They say that it becomes us to acknowledge that the evangelization of Moslems in the Turkish empire is a sheer impossibility to human endeavor, that God has purposed it, and in his own time will indicate the means to be used for its accomplishment, as he did when the Egyptian bondage was to be broken and Canaan possessed; that we now stand before a closed door wl!-itingfor the providence of .God to open it, and that such an inquiry as this is as uncalled for and ill-timed as if J oahua had presented a paper on the best mode of delivering Israel at the time when they were hemmed in by the Red Sea and Pharaoh's ~rmy, or as if Eleazar had prepared a similar paper on the speediest mode of reducing Jericho before God had revealed anything about the blowing of the ra~'s horn and the seven times encompassing the city. They say, and they say this truly, that when the allotted period of 430 years was passed and the iniquity of the Amorites was full, all the walled cities of Canaan were powerless to resist the Israelites, and not before; that when the 70 years of the Babylonish captivity were fulfilled, heathen kings were inspired of God to further the return of the Jewish captives; that "in the fullness of time" Christ came; that forty days after his ascension the wonders of Pentecost were revealed; and so, when the Holy Spirit moves upon the darkness and bigotry of Mohammedanism then will begin the dawn of a new creation for its followers, for the decree still stands in regard to all the religious movements of the world: they are to be accomplished" not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." But, while we reverently acknowledge the divine decrees and pa- tiently wait for their unfolding, we should never fall back upon them as an excuse for our supineness.
Is the inquiry skeptical.j>-Braving the charge of presumption in proposing this inquiry, we expose ourselves to the charge of skepti- cism. Weare asked, Has it not been revealed from heaven that the gospel is the divinely-appointed remedy for the whole race of man? Has not the command been given us, "Go, preach my gospel," trust- ing to the power of the Spirit to make that preaching effectual to the evangelization of all men without exception, whether Jews, Moham- medans or heathen? And is not the raising of this question with reference to the evangelization of this one class an implication that the divinely-appointed remedy is inadequate to the peculiar difficul- ties of this case, and that it must be supplemented by means which human wisdom must devise; that the naked sword of the Spirit is in- sufficient to pierce the armor of this Goliath? Are we not preparing ourselves for a rebuke from our ~Iaster, similar to that which those nine disciples received from him when, having received from him a commission and power to cast out evil spirits, they failed in the case of the child in Cesarea Philippi and learned the cause: "Because of your unbelief, you could not cast him out?"
Or, at the least, we are told that there is, in instituting such an inquiry, a reflection on former and present laborers in behalf of the Moslems, and on the agencies used by them, and an ignoring of these long, faithful and prayerful efforts, and an assumption that the want of success which has attended these labors was a consequence of their having overlooked or neglected measures which they ought to have discovered and used, of which we are now on the track and ,repared soon to reveal.
If there is seeming ground for this objection, the writer of this article would hasten to disclaim all disposition to ignore the zeal and activity of these laborers, or to imply that they had shown a want of wisdom or courage, and that their efforts had been failures; or to counsel the abandoning of their plans and the adoption of others. On the contrary, he recommends the gathering up the results of their experience, the marking of their footprints for future guidance, and the imitation of their faithfulness.
The peculiar difficulties in the case.-That there are peculiar difficulties attending the efforts to evangelize Mohammedans everywhere, and that these difficulties are aggravated in the Turkish empire, is conceded by all. A cursory survey of these difficulties is a necessary preparation for surmounting them, as a knowledge of an enemy's defences is of prime importance to the general who intends to break through by assault.
1. The first of these difficulties is that of finding means of accesS' to Mohammedans, in order to teach them the gospel. Rarely do they {lome to our churches to hear our preaching. They do not visit us in our houses nor invite us to visit them. We have hardly any oppor- tunities for contact with them, so as to be able to explain our religion to them, and to urge them to accept it. The constitution of Moham- medan homes, with thejealousy and seclusion of the harems, creates a serious bar to the evangelization of the Mohammedans. The leaven has no access to the lump in order to leaven it. The salt cannot reach that which it is desired should be preserved by it. The patient knows not the remedy, therefore cannot apply it, to feel its power. Places of business in the daytime, and coffee-houses in the evening, where all listen to a story or a poem, are not favorable places for relig- ions discussions, and yet there are few other places for meeting Mos- lems.
2. A second obstacle to their evangelization is their pride and arrogance of opinion. They consider themselves the favorites of heaven, the depositaries of the truth, the elect, true believers, saved. They despise Christians, and couple their names with those of the lowest animals. This pride, this feeling of superiority, this lofty dis- dain, is an effective obstacle to their being influenced by Christian teachers. It increases their contempt of Christianity, that it is the religion of those whom they have been accustomed to regard as their subjects-their slaves. Shall the conquerors adopt the religion of the {lonquered? Shall they bow down to that. which they were commissioned of God to root out and destroy?
3. A third obstacle is the strength of the fortress 'Which Mohammedanism occupies. Heathenism has no such defences. The natives of Borneo, Java and Sumatra, while they are yet heathen, are far more easily reached by the gospel than after they become Moslems. This is the case also with the heathen of Central Africa. One reason of this is that there is so much of truth mingled with error in this religion-truth derived from God's own word. As the Moslems have taken possession of some of the fairest Christian churches and made them mosques, so they have stolen some of the most sacred'truths of Christianity and used them as buttresses to their fortress of error.
Another strong bulwark of this delusion is its harmony with the self-righteousness of the human heart. It offers a salvation by works, which it is possible for man to perform, such as prayers, fasting, pilgrimages, ablutions and alms-giving; and the performance of these acts gives the Moslem an assured title to Paradise.
This religion is stron~ again with sensual man, in that it allows and sanctions immorality and licentiousness, which Christianity forbids. It allows a man to act like a beast, and to account himself, at the same time, a saint. It lets him indulge his lusts without a bridle. and think that he has a special license from heaven for so doing and an illustrious example of such conduct in the person of his prophet. Being thus strong, it surrenders few captives to Christianity from its own ranks, and it gains many captives from heathenism, and holds them with a firm grasp.
4. Political complications give Mohammedanism greater power to oppose Christianity in the Turkish empire. The religion of Moham- med is the State religion. Defence of the faith of Islam is regarded as essential to the integrity of the empire. To sustain the tottering throne of the sultan, religious fanaticism has been invoked and fos- tered; during the last few years schools for teaching the Koran have been multiplied in all parts of the land; even among the Bedouin tribes have apostles of the revived faith been sent; new mosques have been built and old mosques repaired, and praying places opened, where religious devotees may shout the name of Allah till they become voiceless and nerveless with their frenzied effort. Bigotry and patriotism have become synonymous terms. And, since Moslems only are drafted into the army, the government dreads that they should become Christians, lest they should found thereupon a claim from exemption from military service. Moreover, they fear that such conversions may be made by foreign powers a pretext for their interference in the affairs of the empire, and a ground for demanding new concessions and national dismemberments.
5. Another obstacle is the fact that in the Turkish empire at this time the death penalty hangs over every Moslem who becomes a Chris- .tian.
The Koran authorizes this. Religious liberty is a doctrine inconsistent with the spirit of Islam. It is almost certain that a Mohammedan who professes faith in Christ must leave the country, ifhe can,or be impressed into the army, or be arrested and imprisoned on false pretences, and all traces of him be speedily lost. This terror, so imminent, hinders Moslems from indulging any disposition to examine carefully the Christian religion and to balance properly the claims in its favor. To be known to be an attendant upon the religious services of Christians subjects a Moslem at once to a warning from the heads of the sect; and if he perseveres, he soon feels the weight of their power to compel him to separate himself from such associations. As long as civil power remains in the hands of :Mohammedan rulers, it is difficult to see how it can be otherwise than it is now. If the sultan should declare that every Moslem was free to adopt what religion he chose, he would be regarded as a traitor and an infidel, and be in danger of deposition and. assassination.
While the pope was king of Rome he repressed Protestantism with an iron hand; and while Abd-il-Hamid or any other Moslem holds sway in Western Asia, we must expect that he will do all in his power to prevent his Moslem subjects from becoming Christians. From the very nature of things, the religion propagated by the sword must be sustained by the sword; the same means which were employed to make disciples will be used to keep disciples. The death penalty incurred by Moslems renouncing their religion stands as a. powerful obstacle to hinder their evangelization.
6. Moslems have imbibed a prejudice against Christianity from the false reprel!entations of its character and its effect as given in the worship and conduct of nominal Ohristians, with whom they live. As the superstitions and idolatrous worship of these Christians brought the wrath of God upon them centuries ago, and caused him to deliver them over to their Mohammedan conquerors, so their clinging to their errors has kept them under the yoke of their oppressors, and they have during all these centuries been bearing false witness against the holy doctrine which they profess, and making their conquerors hate, scorn and detest a religion so idolatrous in form and bringing forth such fruit of unholy lives and conversation. Can we blame men for rejecting Christianity when it has been so misrepresented and profaned by the so-called Christians of the East?
7. Another obstacle exists in the misconception by the Moslems of the cardinal truths of Ohristianity, without opportunity being sought or found to correct those misapprehensions. They totally misunderstand what we mean by calling God "our Father," and Christ "the Son of God," being misled by hearing Mary called by Christians "the mother of God." They misunderstand the doctrine of the Trinity, thinking that we worship three gods, and they miss entirely what we mean by calling God "a Spirit," thinking that we thus rank him with angels and souls of men, which ar~ spirits. They have been taught. always that the Scriptures, though originally from the hand of God, have been changed and corrupted by Christians, into whose hands they have fallen, and therefore these holy writings have no power over' them. Apostate Syrian Christians, educated in Protestant schools, taught foreign languages in order that they might be more efficient helpers in evangelizing their countrymen, have gleaned among infidel books in England, France and Germany to find every objection that has ever been raised against Christianity, no matter how absurd or how many thousand times refuted, and hav;e translated the accumulated mass of objections into the languages of the East, and published them as the u:iJ.challenged and irrefutable proofs that the Scriptures of the, Christians have been corrupted on every page, and that Christianity itself is an imposture. Let anyone who would see proof of this statement read the book" Izhar-il-Hok," prepared by Fares Shidiak, once an employee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and a translator of the New Testament into Arabic, under their direction, now a devoted adherent and strong ally of Mohammedanism in Constantinople,. and a bitter foe to Christianity, in whose folds he was born. 8. Another obstacle is that there is no liberty ofthe press in Western .Asia, nor lioerty of public iliscussion, by which the fallacies of Mohammedanism migh! be exposed and the slanders against Christianity refuted. Islamism enters the lists, free, untrammeled, permitted to strike as hard and as foul a blow as it will, while Christianity stands manacled, not allowed to raise a finger even to ward off a blow. Customhouse officers and public censors watch jealously to prevent foreign importations of books exposing J'Iohammedan errors; a printing press which printed a word against Mohammed and his religion would instantly be stopped; and if the missionaries braved all personal risks and denounced openly in their pulpits the prophet of Mecca, not only would they fail to reach Mohammedans with their message, but speedily their churches would be closed, and all other work done by them in the land would be stopped.
I will only hint at other obstacles, such as the indifference of many native Protestants of the East in this work, their want of faith and of zeal and of prayer in its behalf, while they have facilities vastly exceeding those which foreigners possess of reaching the minds and the hearts of their countrymen of a different creed; and again, that so many Protestant officials, representing Christian nations, men of the highest positions in civil life and in the army, should ignore their faith and their convictions and their customs when among Moslems, and for political reasons pay the most profound respect to their superstitions and their vain worship.
Has Christianity any allies ?-Leaving a further consideration of these difficulties, let us inquire if Christianity has any allies in this contest upon which she can rely. The answer is yes, and the most prominent of these are three: 1. The first of these allies is the progress of human thought. As surely as the fervid sun and the warm tides of the temperate zone melt the icebergs drifting down from the frozen North, so surely will this relic of the seventh century feel the influence of the second and third decade of centuries, and grow powerless before them. Mohammedanism represents the feebler intelligence and narrower range of thought of the world twelve centuries ago. It cannot adapt itself to the advance of the world in knowledge, like Christianity, which indeed leads the van of all human progress; but being of human origin, the product of a mind which could not look beyond the horizon of the age in which it was born and the region of its birth, it is out of sympathy with the present current of ideas and contradictory to the later teachings of science. Every new discovery is a protest against the errors imbedded in Mohammedanism. All advances in science expose the fallacies of that system, and prepare its followers to perceive these and make the necessary deductions from them as to its earthly origin. 2. The second of these allies is the human soul awa/Cened to a consdousness of wants which Mohammedanism fails to meet, and which Ohristianity meets fully. When man. awakes, as he must sooner or later, to the consciousness that he is a sinner and that his own self-righteousness will not suffice to justify him before God, then he looks in vain into the Koran to learn of a mediator and an aton- ing sacrifice and an effectual intercessor. Mohammedanism knows nothing of a "Father in heaven" to comfort the soul in its hours of loneliness and sorrow. It knows nothing of the Holy Spirit to change the heart and aid it in overcoming sin and temptation. But Christi- anity meeting these and other wants of the soul, for which Moham- medanism has no help, possesses in man's soul itself a powerful witness to its divine origin.
3. The third auxiliary is that course of divine providence which is weakening the political power of Islamism over the peoples and count?·~es now held in its grasp. The dismemberment of the Turkish empire is preparing the way, in its gradual progress, for the triumph of Christianity. The frequent conversion of Mohammedans in India, where English rule prevents the death penalty from being visited upon the converts, and in Egypt, where partial religious liberty now exists, show what we have reason to expect in Turkey when there is free2-om of inquiry, freedom of· discussion, freedom of the press and pulpit, freedom of profe~sion of faith in Christ.
To these elements of hope might be added the fact that there is much buried seed in Turkey of past labors, of Bible truth which has been sown-and what God has sown shall not return to Him void- so many unanswered prayers for Moslems yet in the golden censer.
The next question to be considered is: What agencies have proved most successful hitherto in commending Ohristianity to Moslems, and what may still be accounted the most hopeful means to be used in seeking their evangelization? .
1. The first and foremost of these is. the circulation of the Word of God. Bibles can enter homes whence preachers are excluded.
Bibles can be read where there is no fear of jealous witnesses and cl:uel betrayers. The Holy Spirit can apply that word with resistless power to the conscience and heart.' There is no doubt that immense good has been done by this agency alone, and that many Moslem men and women thus taught have lived and died, clinging to Christ and His cI:oss for salvation, of whom we have no record. We have cer- tain testimony of some who have been savingly enlightened by this means alone. Let us not despair of our influence in evangelizing Moslems while this agency is left to us. Let us rejoice in the oppor- tunity of circulating the Word of God with so few restrictions. Let us rejoice in possessing the Scriptures in the languages of Moham- medan peoples, and particularly in their sacred tongue, the Arabic, and in vowelled form, fitted to compare so favorably with the form in which the Koran is possessed by them. Let us use all available efforts to place the -Bible in the hands of Moslems, and to induce them to read it. Let us show ever in our conversation with them our assurance of its divine origin and our certainty of its being 'un- corrupted, and our belief in its saving power. Let us multiply colporteurs, wherever we can, to circulate and explain the word of light and life.
2. A second means, justified most amply by experience, is the edu- cation of Moslem children and youth of both sexes in our common schools, higher schools, boarding schools and colleges, and giving them both scientific and religious instruction. All science refutes in some form Mohammedan teaching. The schools which have been ()pened iu Turkey by American and English Christians, and in a lesser degree by Germaps, have brought in a flood of light which has been crowdin'g back into narrower confines the ancient night of Mos- lem delusion. School teachers are the sappers and miners who are undermining this gigantic fortress of error. Moslems perceive this, and hence their new zeal for opening schools of their own to coun- teract Christian schools, and hence that wonder of wonders, that Mohammedans should open schools to teach girls to read. It is to be regretted that so few Moslem youth attend our institution,s of learning. We should double our efforts to pring them in and to re- tain our hold upon them. While the children are yet young they carry home and teach to their parents by means of the hymns which they have learned to sing, and the verses of Scripture they have been taught to repeat, lessons which we could not otherwise introduce into those homes, and which may be the means of making the parents wise unto salvation, while these children themselves, sooner or later in life, may find their way to the gate of heaven by means of what they have learned in these schools. Boarding schools for Moslem girls have been wonderfully blest as means of good. May they be sustained as they deserve, and may they be multiplied!
3. Bible 'Women can do immense good by visiting Moslem harems, teaching the women to read, and reading the Bible to them. Some most interesting cases of hopeful conversions have occurred in connection with such labors. Women are thus' reached by the gospel who would otherwise never have heard it. There is less jealousy of female laborers thau of men. Where suitable Bible women can be found there is large encouragement for their employment.
4. Another object to be striven after is the cultivation of the acquaintance of Mohammedans. If we meet their coldness with coldness and their seclusiou with a corresponding non-intercourse, when can we expect that the barriers between us will be broken down? Personal influence, the world over, is the strongest influence. Men will not listen profitably to teachers who have not their confidence. Conviction is a matter of the heart as well as of the reason. A word from a friend influences more than a hundred words from a stranger. Difficult of acquisition as this way of influence may seem, yet it should not be slighted. If it is set before us as an end to be reached~ it can be compassed. On their fast days some rooms of Moslem houses are open. We can show an interest in their joys and sorrows" attend their weddings and their fuuerals, invite them to join literary coteries. When once an acquaintance is formed with a few Moslems it is easy to extend it by their means. Neither should the wives of missionaries limit their acquaintance to the poorest class of Moslem women, whom they teach to sew and to whom they give charity, but should cultivate the society of the better classes, and seek to gain an influence over these, doubly secluded as they are and wholly debarred from learning of Christ. Lady teachers in female seminaries have rare opportunities of making such acquaintances by visiting the mothers of their Moslem pupils. As matters now stand, women have better opportunities than men in evangelizing Moslems. In the nine- teenth century crusade women can have the honor of planting the ,standard of the cross where men are powerless, and this will not be the first time that the softest hand has proved the strongest.
5. Another important point is that those who expect to influence Mohammedans should make their religious belief a study / they should know what the Koran teaches, its truths and its errors; they shollld study also the commentaries upon it, and they should do this not second-hand, through translations and comments by foreigners, bllt should be acquainted with native modes of thought' and expression. Moslem literature, secular and religiolls, its philosophy, history, poetry and books of proverbs, which are now almost a terra incognita to scholars in other branches of science, should be carefully studied by those who hope to benefit them. Without such a knowledge we can no more hope to prevail over Mohammedans in discussion than Indians with bows and arrows could cope with Europeans armed with rifles.
6. Medical 'Work, and especially hospital 'Work, affords rare vantage ground for evangelical teaching of Moslems. A doctor among them is a privileged character. His life is safe where others would be in peril. He can enter within doors barred to others. His words carry weight which 'another man's do not. He meets men under the most favorable circumstances to influence them for good, when their hearts are made tender by sickness 01' bereavement, and when the nearness of another world makes the conscience alert and the soul susceptible to religious impression. The gentlfl ministries of Christian men and women in hospitals have, again and again, softened the hearts of bigoted Moslems, and the daily listening to the name of .Jesus and receiving care and healing in his name, have prepared them to accept the Christian's faith and Saviour.
From the agencies thus enumerated, as sanctioned by experience, it is plain that indirect, unobstrusive, unostentatious efforts are those upon which most reliance must be placed in this stage of the work.
An organized, avowed, aggressive mission to the Mohammedans, which proclaimed its designs and its results, would defeat itself and imperil those it sought to benefit. While the servants of the church are faithfully using all the means in their power to find an entrance for the gospel, the church must be content to allow the kingdom of God to come in Turkey without human observation, and to accept it that God's spiritual work here should move on as silently as the great processes of nature.
The vast importance of the theme.-In concluding this paper it is worthy of being set forth in words, although it is doubtless already the burden of the thoughts of many hearts, that the evangelization of the Mohammedans is a theme of great importance; it should be the subject of our careful consideration, strong faith and earnest prayers. It deserves to be made prominent as the subject of united, special, importunate and persevering prayer.
The vast number of the Mohammedans makes a strong appeal to our interest in their behalf, they constituting at least one-tenth, and perhaps one-eighth, of the human race. Their influence in the world commends them to our notice. That influence is not negative, like that of the Brahmins, and of the followers of Confucius, but positive, aggressive and visibly effective and ascendant in some parts of the world, and destructive always; but, if turned into right channels, promising to be as conducive to the triumph of the Lord as it now is influential to hinder it. They need the gospel as much as others to enable them to bear the woes of life and to light them through the dark valley. The gospel is as well adapted to their needs as to those of others. The commission, " Go teach all nations," extends to them. The success which has attended labors for them in individual cases shows that no impassable barriers lie in the way of their enlightenment and conversion.
The difficulties in the way of reaching them do not relieve us of the responsibility of laboring in their behalf. The dangers which may threaten us should not make us hesitate. It would be hard to prove that the difficulties and dangers attendant upon preaching the gospel to Mohammedans now in the Turkish empire are greater than those which faced the apostles and martyrs and early teachers of Christianity in the Roman empire in the first three centuries of the history of the Christian church. They preached to proud Romans, as well as to bigoted Jews and sensual Greeks, in spite of threatenings, scourgings, stonings, imprisonments and cruel deaths, and as a result pagan Rome was Christianized. So, with like faith and prayer and courage and perseverance and effort, in due season, and it may be after a hard struggle, the gospel will a second time triumph on its old battleground where its first victories were won; exiled Christianity will return to the home of its birth, the Bible will supplant the Koran, the prophet of Nazareth will t::tke the place of the prophet of Mecca in the heart of Moslems, the Son of God the place of the son of Abdullah, to the glory of God and the salvation of immortal sEmIs.
~S8 THE DRUID CELTS
THE DRUID CELTS-THE EARLY MISSIONARY RACE OF WESTERN EUROPE.
BY F. F. ELLINWOOD, D.D., NEW YORK•• The first wave of Aryan migration into Northern Europe was that of the Celts. They were the first column in that grand westward march which has wrought the highest civilizations. and filled the world with great achievements. In France they were first known to the Romans as Galli or Gauls. In Britain as Cimbri, or, more generic- ally, Britons.
But there were successive waves of migration: In the fourth cen- tury, B. C., one of these broke over the Alps and made a victorious entry into the city of Rome. In the year 279, B. C., another horde of Celts entered Macedonia, Thessaly and Greece, but were repulsed in the gorges of Delphi, whence passing through Thrace and turning eastward, they crossed the Hellesponte into Asia Minor. But having been conquered by the armies of Augustus, 25, B. C., they were con- fined thenceforth to the province that bore their name-Galatia. It was these brave adventurers whom nearly a century later Paul found it difficult to bring under the curbs and restraints of the gospel of peace, and to whom he found it necessary to write a very plain and outspoken epistle. And yet we get the impression even from Paul that they were a manly race.
During the Punic wars of Rome, large bodies of the Celts or Galli were found aiding the Carthagenians, and on many a well-contested field the Roman legions found them worthy of their arms. These alliances prompted R~me to crush their power, if possible, on their own soil, and Julius Cresar, with the Greek colony of Marsailes as a base of operations, began that series of resistless invasions which pursued the Celts over the whole area of France, and even to the British Isles. During fourteen years of conquests he is said to have sacrificed two millions of men. He respected his foes, however, and at last even cultivated their friendship; for in his further ambitious schemes he led the brave Gauls under his standards even to the gates of Rome.
The conquest of the Britons was a more difficult and protracted undertaking. The tribes who took their stand in the mouutains of Wales and of Scotland, as well as the inhabitants of Ireland, were never conquered by their Roman invaders, and on more than one occasion these vigorous mountaineers pressed upon the Roman colonies so fiercely as almost to extirpate their power in Britain. They seem to have been reserved for a great purpose. "Their forefathers," says McClear, "had formed the vanguard of the western portion of the great Aryan migration; they were to form the vanguard of the missionary history of Europe. While the Roman world was more and more decaying, and the great Teutonic movement was as yet in its infancy, they were destined to train and send forth some of the earliest and bravest pioneers of Christian missions in Switzerland and Germany."
Before entering upon the study of the Christian conquest of Britain, first by the Romans and at a later day by missionaries from Iona, one should first understand, if possible, the ancient religion of these brave and stalwart tribes. Enthusiastic writers have not hesi- tated to declare that the religion of the Celtic priesthood, known as Druidism, was the primitive religion of mankind. Discounting, how- ever, this extreme statement, it is enough to say that the faith of the Druids could not have been the faith of a savage race, for never has uninspired man attained to nobler conceptions of his own being or his relations to Deity than some of those which were taught by the Druids. Hume, the historian, declared that" no religion has ever swayed the minds of man like the Druidic," and in Cresar's Commen- taries are found brief references which show his profound respect for the faith of the vanquished Celts. "The Druids," he says, "make the immortality of the soul the basis of all their teaching, holding it to be the principal incentive and reasoll for a virtuous life." Again, in the fifth book: "The Druids discuss many things concerning the stars and their evolutions, the magnitude of the globe and its various divisions, the nature of the universe, and the energy and power of the immortal gods." Again in the same book: "The Druids teach that in no other way than by ransoming man's life by the life of man is reconciliation with the divine justice of the immortal gods possible."
It is easy to see that abuses of this last strong doctrine may have led the Druids to justify human sacrifice, of which in fact they were guilty; but we certainly have here presented, on the testimony of a Roman warrior and historian, some of the grandest conceptions of religious truth that have ever been assigned to any people. And in the last clause quoted, many have found what they believed to be an enunciation of that great principle of vicarious atonement which underlies the Christian faith.
The proverbs of the Druids, which are generally found in triads, are indicative of very noble qualities of race. Thus:" Three duties of every man-Worship God, be just to all, die for your country." How much nobler is this than the vaunted Buddhist triad: "Trust in the Buddha, trust in the Law, trust in the Sangha" (of Monks). It would be almost Christian if it had in it the element of love, for, like Christianity, it begins with the supreme claims of God, and is at leastjust to one's neighbor as to himself, and it adds the most exalted patriotism that a man can cherish. Yet its falls far short of the Christlike spirit, which loves all men even better than self, and is ready to spend and be spent in their service. Here is another terse triad: "Three things came into being at the same moment-light, man, and moral choice." Another: "There are three men whom all should love-he that loves the face of his mother nature, he that loves rational works of art, he that looks lovingly on the faces of little children." Again:" Three things only God can do-endure the eternities of infinity, participate in all being without changing, re- new everything without annihilating it." Another: "The three necessary essentials of God-infinite in himself, finite to the finite, co-unity with every mode of existence in happiness." These are noble utterances, one and all. How clear and just is the discrimina- tion which makes God infinite in Himself, and yet finite to the finite. Unlike many a heathen religion, this exalts God to infinitude; unlike many a cold philosopy, it brings him down to our finiteness, and recognizes the necessity for a Goa with us. 'l'hese triads set forth a the sublime responsibility of moral choice in man, and yet the ten- der grace that looks lovingly on the faces of little children. In word, the faith of the Druids differed entirely from the dark pessim- isms of the cotemporary philosophies of India and Egypt. It was a bright and hopeful system. "Three things," says still another triad, "decrease continually-darkness, evil, and death. Three things increase continually-light, truth, and life. These will finally prevail over all, then probation will end." 'l'his idea of the gradual and eternal progress of man and of the universe, stands apart from the teachings of most heathen systems.
A summary of the doctrines held by the Druids may be given as follows: There is one supreme God, and His nature is spiritual and invisible. The universe is pervaded by Him as His body, and He rules it as the human mind rules the human body. To human apprehension, though not in Himself, he appears in a triple aspect in relation to the past, the present and the future; the Oreator as to the past, the Saviour or Preserver as to the present, the Recreator as to the future. In the Recreator the idea of destroyer was also involved. This trinity strangely corresponds to the Hindu Trimurti, in which Brahma is the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Siva both destroyer and renovator. Of the Druid trinity the names were Belis, Taran, and Esu or J esu, and when Ohristianity was proclaimed in Britain, J esu was retained, and it is still retained as the name of the second person of the Ohristian Trinity.
The Druids held that man was created at once in his full strength, and that all matter was both created and arranged in the order of the universe in one and the same act. Nature is the action of God through matter. There is no such thing as the annihilation of matter. Every particle is capable of passing through all possible forms, and every form has its own laws of existence and action. They also believed that there had been a fall of once pure and happy beings into sin and condemnation, and that it was brought about by an attempt on their part to rival God in sustaining and governing the universe. In so doing they brought themselves to the lowest degree of unmiti- gated evil (annwn). For the redemption of these fallen beings God granted a period of probation (abred). By this means, after a long disciplinary course, they might again attain to the lost purity and happiness (gwynfyd).
The essence of the soul, according to Druidism, is the will, and the essence of religion is willinghood. The first essential of manhood, as distinguished from the nature of beasts, is the ·power of free choice. No other system of belief has ever more fully emphasized man's freedom and responsibility. Every man, ere he can be immovably settled in the bliss of heaven, must have passed through every experience of good and evil. Memory of evil endured is the only safeguard against yielding to temptation. Heaven then cannot be a place hedged against wrong. In an intense and sublime degree it is character reinforced by the remembrance of all evil suffered and mastered.
With the Druids the life hereafter was to be one of eternal progress and growth. No such conception as that of future rest occurred to them. Suffering might be willingly endured, either for one's own good or for that of another. In the one case it might expiate his own sin, and this, accompanied by confession, might absolve him. In the other case his suffering might atone for another's sin.
It cannot be successfully maintained that Druidism was free from polytheistic tendencies. At least, subordinate gods were regarded with something akin to worship. But the above outlines are sufficient to show that the Druidic faith was at once the product, the expression, and the perpetual source of great moral power. No wonder that the Celtic race produeed such characters as those of the exiled Caractacus, or the sublime heroism of a Boadacea. And it is not strange that the armies of Rome found it well nigh impossible to conquer Britain, and, in fact, never did conquer her remoter tribes.
Weare told that about five centuries before the Christian era the civil laws of the Druids were codified by Dunwal Moelmud, and that since that time they have remained the common unwritten or native laws of the island, as distinguished from the Roman, the Canon, and other codes of foreign introduction. "These Druidic laws," says Rev. R. W. Morgan, "have always been justly regarded as the foundation and bulwark of British liberties," and he refers to the testimony of Sir John Fortesque and of Coke, to that effect.* So, far from savagery, the Druids were possessed of a high degree of civilization. They studied science with a truly religious fervor, since the laws of nature were regarded as the modes of divine activity. Theya-re said to have supported sixty colleges, and the * St. Paul in Britain, p. 64. •1.umber of students from Britain and from Gaul sometimes rose to sixty thousand. These institutions were generally located in the, fortified capitals of the tribes known as Caers, Castras, and finally,. Chesters. Very many of the old names still remain, as Doncaster,. Leicester and Winchester. The pride of learning in these institutions was very great. The only prophets recognized were those who had penetrated all nature's laws. Only the highest social classes were eligible to the Druid order, and each applicant must prove his descent from nine successive generations of free forefathers. In the Druid order centered all knowledge, human and divine. They were the hierarchy and the parliament. They never bore arms. Expulsion from the order rendered the culprit an outcast, whom none might. fellowship or assist or pity.
The conversion of the Britons to .Christianity was facilitated by two favoring influences. The first was the fact that their own system of belief had so many high and noble elements in common with the religion of the Bible. They claimed identity as to the unity of God, in three manifestations, of whom "Jesu "was one. They recognized also the principle of vicarious expiation for sin, and the doctrine of repentance and confession. Like the Christian doctrines, their creed_ emphasized the freedom and responsibility of the human will and the moral influence of discipline, as a blessing in the government or God. Said Taliesin, a Druid bard, with some exaggeration: "Christ" the Word from the beginning, was from the beginning our teacher, and we never lost His teaching. Christianity was a new thing in Asia, but there never was a time when the Druids of Britain held. not His doctrines."
The second special influence which opened the hearts of Britons, to the gospel was a fellow feeling with the Christians under the cruer wrongs of the Roman power. The Christian church was persecuted,. and Druidism soon shared its trials. It became so evident that the_ strong religious faith of the Celts was the real secret of their invincible bravery, that orders were given to the commanders of the legions to extirpate Druidism at all cost. Thus by a common sympathy ilL suffering were the hearts of the Druids opened to the gospel. The family of the royal exile, Caractacus, became prominent among. the Christians of Rome. Many memorable names, like that of Pelagius, appeared in the history of the British churches.
In our common habit of lauding the Anglo Saxon, have we not, unduly overlooked the Celtic element in the civilization and moral power of Britain? From the Picts of Scotland, and the brave and hardy sons of Wales, who even yet speak the original tongue of the Britolls,and the secluded Irish, whom Patrick won to the truth, we~ trace very many of those early influences which have leavened the ooaracter of the nation. That enthusiastic youth, who, from having
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY MAGAZINES
been a captive and a swineherd, became, in the fifth century, A. D., the apostle of Ireland, belonged to this Celtic race. Before the con- quests of Saxon and Dane, which waged a war of extermination against Roman and Briton alike, he had established Christianity in Ireland. From Ireland a refluent tide of Christian influence returned to Wales. In both countries monasteries sprang up, which were really missionary trai~ing schools. Northward to Iona this monastic enthusiasm spread. Thence, men of heroic faith and endurance carried the gospel to Scotland and to N orthumbria. From the Ban- . gors of Ireland and Wales missionaries passed into Burgundy, Switzer- land, Germany, and even Italy. It was an evangelical faith which they proclaimed. Patrick had studied with Martin of Tours, who, sur- rounded by Celtic monks of Gaul, had followed the culture of Poly- carp rather than that of the Popes. It was an age of moral earnest- ness, and the faith of Britain was exceptionally free from the hair- splitting doctrinal speculations which prevailed in the East. It was free from ecclesiastical ambition and intrigue; from the accumulations of human traditions; from the worship of pictures, im'hges and relics. .
Religion was the great interest of life. Mo,nastic devotion and missionary effort, far and near, were considered nobler and more desirable than money getting, or fame, or earthly pleasure. It was then that the foundations were laid for the political and religious liberty and power of Western Europe.
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY MAGAZINES.
BY REV. CHARLES C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
-The following from the Macedonier is a fair specime,n of what" secular instruction" means when carried out logically. The writer is speaking of Dutch Government schools in the East Indies: " This was the first fault (the denationalization of young teachers), but the second was not lessgrave. It was the principle of neutrality. 'There might not be any religion ill the Government schools!' This measure roused an unnecessary aversion in the parents towards the Government schools. Among a population where but one church was known, the name of God or of Jesus might not be named; nay, even proverbs, like that of Solomon, ' Go to the ant, thou sluggard,' were objected to as injurious because they stood in the Bible." Are we going to yield to Antichrist in that fashion?
-The same writer, after remarking that the Government schools do not deserve to be called people's schools, inasmuch as for the great majority of the youth who are not looking for Government appointments, the little knowledge they give is of a kind to spoil them for their actual life, pronounces the missionary schools to be true people's schools, because (1) They use, as a rule, the vernacular tongue, although in the Minahassa (the northern arm of Celebes) they still use the Malay too much. (2) They keep in view, in their instruction, the development of the understanding and the forming of the heart agreeably to the stage of development on which the popUlation stands, and the occupation and course of life which lie before by far the greater proportion of the school-going youth. (3) They limit themselves to giving instruction in read- ing, writing, ciphering, geography and singing. Point 2 is, in the writer's judgment, of great importance. His conclusion is that the East Indies require, not the Government school, but the free, subsidized private school.
-The following from the Dansk Missionsblad gives an impression of how, where there is still a zeal for Hinduism, the gospel is weakening its defences in more cultivated Ininds, and how fierce a reaction of heathen bigotry is still possible even against Hindus, whose greater enlightment compels them to make certain concessions to Christianity: " As we were returning from church, we came by a great company of people that had flocked around a speaker, who, with enthusiastic words, was extolling the excellence of Hinduism at the expense of Christianity. My companion knew the speaker, a young Hindu from Madras, who had seized on this festal occasion to make an essay to strengthen the tottering thrones of his gods. We stopped and listened; and our native preacher having undertaken to answer him with somewhat dubious success, Herman Jensen entered the circle. He extended his hand to the abashed Hindu, and kindly inquired after his health, which for an instant stayed the flow of his eloquence and drew the hearers' attention. Jensen availed himself of this moment, and, without entering upon the interrupted discussion as to the trustworthiness of the Bible, he began to speak to the people of' Him who is not far from anyone of us.' . . • Having ended, he at once took leave, that the impression left might not be effaced by aimless disputes. We afterwards learned that some of the crowd had begun to make sport of the Christians and their religion, but were checked by the young Hindu, who reminded them that although as Hindus they were antjl.gonistsof Christianity, yet they could not refuse it their respect, as it was in reality a good religion. At the same time he let fall a hint that the Hindu zeal to drag their gods about the streets was of doubtful value.
"The next day we heard that the young Hindu had been obliged to leave the town early in the morning. For as soon !,S it became known in Tricalore that he had permitted Herman Jensen to speak, and had even expressed himself favorably as to Christianity, no one in the whole town would sell him rice or anything else. The Brahmins in particular began to assume so threatening a demeanor toward him that he judged it prudent to leave Tricalore as quickly as possible."
-Kaiser-Wilhelms-Land, the German part of New Guinea, the northeastern part of this great island, is about ten times as large as the kingdom of Wurtemberg, but has only about one-twentieth as large a population. We are glad to see that the German Company which controls it forbid the importation of either spirits or gunpowder. The people are not, like many Papuans, cannibals. They are of strict morals, and of a reasonable disposition. The Inissionaries say: "If only they would wash themselves now and then !"
-'fhe Missions-Blatt of the Moravian brethren for JanuarY,1890, opens with the words: "Thy Kingdom come. Praying thus we enter upon the New Year. We utter it with universal Christendom over the broad earth. But above.all it should be the watchword for the missionary church of the Unitas Fratrum. The Kingdom of the Lord our God, as yet invisible in its .full depth, power and glory, by us as yet uncomprehended, but in faith apprehended as the Kingdom gained by the conflict unto blood and death, of the Son of God, wrested from the devil and formed by the communion of the redeemed, ought in this year also to gain ground afresh and to make a victorious advance. There should be assured to it victory upon victory, as well among ourselves as also abroad, in the far distance where light and darkness are wrestling together, or where the yet unbroken darkness rests in thick masses upon the nations. This is the tenor of our prayer. And if we pray thus believingly and confidently, with a 'heart full of love for this kingdom, into which we know ourselves to have been translated, then we all labor together for the coming of the same, then are its victories also our victories, then something of the glory of the Kingdom is likewise reflected into our own life, and purifies our faithfulness, our labor, our patience, so that they put on some value in the eyes of its King." -The Moravian brethren remark that the past year has been marked by liberal gifts for their modest but model missions. In a peculiar sense, what- ever is given to the Brethren's Church is given to the Church universal, and has, therefore, a double value, immediate and exemplary. In 1889 the extra outlays of 1887 were fully covered. And large giving soon showed itself, as commonly, to be the parent of larger giving. For the church at Dornburg, Surinam, costing more than 20,000 marks, the costs are assured. 6,500 marks have been paid and subscribed for opening a work in the island of Trinidad. .a Mr. McNiece, in Ireland, has left the Moravian Church the equivalent of 115,000 marks for their missions in Africa and .asia. Mrs. Disney Robinson having given in 1888 the sum of 20,000 marks, and 20,000 marks in 1889, has bequeathed 40,000 marks.
" But with the chords of thanksgiving and joy there mingles also a subdued strain of sadness in looking over the past year. We trust it does not lessen gratitude, but in a measure it troubles joy. It has pleased the Lord to, visit our missionary brethren and sisters the past year in a very extraordinary degree with sickness. This has occasioned many withdrawals from the service, and has diminished the strength of many who remain. It has also made it necessary to decline many overtures of service. Finally, this year has seen a, larger number called to the heavenly home than many others. Five brethren and sisters have been called away out of a fruithful activity-five in Surinam alone.
" In the past year a special consecration was imparted to our missionary' work by the meeting in Herrnhut of the General Synod of the Brethrens' Unity. In this the missionary work of our church, in all its aspects, was thoroughly tested, unfolded and weighed. And this was done with so comprehensive an interest, and with so hearty an affection, that we were thereby mightily strengthened and filled with the consciousness that we were acting in the commission not only of an important but also of a praying missionary church, and could take up our work afresh in the refreshment of such a. consciousness.
"Thus, then, may the Lord go with us into the new year, and His blessing accompany all we do! May His spirit rule without in the field, as well as at. home in the church. May He build up His kingdom in our midst, and, through us, ever wider and wider out into lands remote! The experiences that we may have gathered in the past year, painful as well as consoling, all this should firmly conjoin itself for us'into piers and arches of a bridge, on which Hope shall advance, boldly and securely, from time unto eternity. To the Lord, the victorious king of his kingdom, be glory and praise and honor, .amen!"
-The Brethren's missionaries in the little Mosquito State complain that the Catholic State of Nicaragua is constantly nibbling at the eastern boundary, and, unless restrained by England and America, the guaranteeing powers, bids fair to devour it altogether. The two governments ought to be stirred up to look into the matter.
-The Berlin Missionary Society gives its present statistics as follows: In South Africa, 6 superintendencies, 47 stations, 83 out-stations, 143 preaching places, 53 ordained missionaries, 4 candidates for ordination, 6 colonial brethren, 93 paid and 323 unpaid colored assistants, 20,000' baptized Christians now living, 8,000 deceased, and 3,500 scholars. In China, 4 ordained European missionaries, 2 European candidates for ordination, 28 native helpers, 4 of them ordained, 9 stations, 7 out-stations, 23 preaching places, 736 baptized Ch..istians, living in 135 localities, and 116 scholars. In tbe Mission house in Berlin there are some 25 or 30 pupils under training (after the Continental metbod) for work abroad. The almost entire talk of University men is a deep drawback in Continental Protestant Missions.
The Society, now 66 years old, is assisted by 300 auxiliary associations. -Director Wangemann says, with considerable humor, that the effectiveness of the system of auxiliaries is by some set much too high. " My dear friend, Professor Flash, once remarked, that the Director of Berlin I. (for there is another Berlin Society) has a good position; he sits like a telegraph director before 300 wires, at whose ends are to be found 300 auxiliaries. He only needs to press on the buttons, and movement ensues in the whole system. Now, whether a Berlin Misfionary Director has ever been in this happy situation or not, I do not know; but, as concerns myself, I h~ve never enjoyed it, and even less to-day than when I took up my office 26 years ago. I may press on the buttons as much as I will, the great majority give no answer whatever. Some wires are rusted; some quite broken asunder; the system as a whole no longer works. For years, 60, 70, perhaps 90 answers, has been all that my pressing on the',00 buttons has brought to pass, and of these more than half not at all thorou:,;lly entering into my questions." So it seems that even German thqroughness has its provoking limitations in the missionary cause.
– " As Paul, with good right, was honored with the title of ' Apostle of the Gentile~,' so our time, above others, is the period of the world·mission, whose business it is to be thoroughly in earnest with the commission of the King of the kingdom of heaven: 'Go ye into all the world,' , Make all nations my disciples.' But in this great mission field the Supreme Missionary Direc· tion has distinctly designated certain fields of labor, above other8, as those whichju8t now need our especial faithfulness and energy, for the very reason that here more than elsewhere' a great door and effectual, offerinli:' abundant fruit, is opened unto us, and there are many adversaries.' As in a hattie a wise general sends the main reinforcement to those points where the crisis is imminent, and the enemy most vigorously unfolds his force, so ahro in the combat for the world's conquest, which missions have to wage, the most decisive and energetically assailed points must be occupied with the most numerous and the best troops. The greatness of the duty, which the present opening of the world imposes on Christain missions, has an almost bewildering effect, and involves the danger of an inauspicious scattering of forces. It often misleads Christians to an unreasonably rapid succession of new enterprises, not seldom at the cost of such elder fields of labor as afford fruit already ripe for the harvest. The opening of new doors should certainly not be left unregarded, but be an incitement to multiply our exertions; but they ought neither to afford nourishment to a certain missionary romanticism, which is only intent on 'either seeing or hearing some new thing,' nor to infringe on due fidelity towards elder fields, nor to come in conflict with the wisdom which demands the fullest outlay of strength where, at a particular juncture, the opportunity is most distinctly given by God for wide·reaching decisiveness of result." -Dr. Warneek in Allgemeine Missions·ZeitBchri/t, January, 1890.
-" The great missionary decisions do not, in the first instance, impend in the newly·dis· covered regions, especially of Central Africa; but in older fields, where access to human throngs is conjoined with an entrance of the gospel message into human hearts, and the enemy is organizing a resistance to the gospel. There, as in Madagascar, in India, in Japan, where the situation already draws near to a final issue, the missionary forces should receive the greatest possible concentration."-Ibidem.
-" We can but lament that so many in our day account as insufficient the only means that is given to Christian missionaries, namely, the Gospel, and, therefore, meditate how they may rel!der it effective by additions of their own devising. Their unbelief arises out of the just observation, that the missionary with the Gospel has to attack, not only an individual, but a world that, in its manifold political, social, ethical, religious relations, is fortified against the truth. For this the Word appears to have too isolated an operation. But the Word finds not only one individual, but then a second and a third; there arises a Christian community, which is the legitimate means of warfare against the heathen community. The greater this community becomes, so much the greater is the capital with which missions work. Every mission· ary society which founds a second station, which has a fiourishing neighbor-mission, experiences that the first helps to bear up the second, the neighbor to support its own work. It appears to me that this source of efficiency is at present overlooked, when in Africa so many entrenched camps are broken up, and the war almost wholil. carried on by skirmishes. Especially is this a tactical mistake in a land where one has to do Wlth Islam, which works by its compact masses; in a land that intelleCtually, morally, religiously, is so little prepared for Christianity as Africa, where all the spiritual capital, all the instruments with which we labor, for instance, in most places the very alphabet, have first to be created. What is natural, appears also here to be reasonable. Why should one carryon the war some hundreds of miles away from the nearest of our country's troops, and not rather advance shoulder to shoulder into a stronglyfortified enemy's land."-F. M. Zahn in Allgemeine Zeit8chrijt, January, 1890.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
n.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions.
The organization of the Student academic students; 200 (4.%) grammar Volunteer Movement is not perfect as and common school students; 500 yet; nor are its methods infallible in (10%) who are not students, and 500 aim, however its representatives are (10.%) who are out of school on account united, for they are striving in single of health or lack of means. Besides hearted endeavor to evangelize the these, about 275 (5~ Yo) have completed world in this generation. And be- their course of study (125 of whom are cause they are honestly and earnestly not likely to go), while neady 250 (5%) and prayerfully striving to enfolce have departed to their foreign work.
our Master's last command, they wel- About 250 (5.%) have renounced their come, and most gladly, criticism from decision; and 50 (1.%) have been re- friends-criticism in the broad signifi- jected on account of ill health and cation of that much abused term. other reasons.
Now and then statements like the In the following estimate the same following reach us, and because these persons are considered with reference statements are typical of criticisms to the time required to complete their which come from various quarters, we courses of study which they have laid give this sample: "We have heard out: The number who have completed of some thousands of students in our education and gone. to their work, colleges 'pledged to foreign missions,' about 250; number who have finished but, somehow, they do not material- their education and are still in this ize. We would be willing to hear less country, about 150; that expect to com- about their enthusiastic pledges if we plete studies in 1890, 400; about 550 might see more proof of the enthusi- will complete their studies each year asm." Lookers on think it a little for the next four years; while 1200 will strange that out of so large a number have more than four years of study be- {)f volunteers so few appear to be fore them. About 500 are uncertain as ready to embark in the work. An ex- to time required to finish, on account of amination of the latest statistics very health and means. To complete total recently compiled will show results of 5,000, there must be added 50 who encouraging to all who are anxious have been rejected by the Boards, and for the extension of Christ's kingdom, 250 who have reversed their decision.
and will reveal some of the reasons There are between 90 and 100 mis- why even a greater number of volun- sion boards organized in colleges' for teers have not already sailed for for- promulgating the missionary spirit in eign shores. their respective localities; but volun- The American Board sent out last teers are reported from 300 insti- year 52 missionaries, the largest num- tutions. There has been pledged for ber for any year in over half a century, the support of missionaries through and has as many more.applications on the influence of the movement: by nle. This Board has sent out 30 vol- colleges, $19,450; seminaries $9,850; unteers in the last three years. churches, $13,000; miscellaneous Dod- Five thousand persons have signed ies, $3,400. These figures include the pledge. single contributions and permanent The most accurate estimate gives annual pledges, but omit all work the numbers and proportions of the done in 1890, and much done previous- volunteers in the various grades of ly and not reported.
educational institutions as follows: Mr. John N. Forman will be remem- 1750 (35.%) college students; 125 (21 Yo) bered as the person who was associa- medical students; 450 (9%) theological ted with Mr. Robert P. Wilder at the stUdents; 650 (13%) preparatory and date of the inception of the movement, in 1886. Mr. Formanis now in In another part of the REVlEw* may India, and is supported by the students of Princeton college. He writes from be found an appeal from the Kolhapur Datia, Central India: Mission for 16 new workers. It will " Datia Is a city of 28,()()() souls, a fine specimen of an eastern city, surrounded by a strong be remembered that the founder of wall which is pierced by five gates and three 'windows.' The people are independent, with this magazine, the Rev. R. G. Wilder, a king of their own, who is responsible to the English government." established this mission, and that his Since Mr. Forman's arrival at Datia wife and daughter, Miss Grace E.
he has been endeavoring to establish Wilder, are carrying on the work an independent native church, and he there now. has adopted, in a measure, the mode of living of the natives. He does not There are at present only 18 work- yet feel convinced that this latter plan el'S in Kolhapur. How needy the is altogether wise; but of two points he is convinced: first, no man should field is will be seen by examining the live in this country without a com- apportionment of workers to other panion; and second, it is not best to countries. Mexico has a population work among natives as poor men. of 10,OOO,OOO–two and one half times "We certainly must have," he writes, "all that Is necessary to health and efficient service, that to be reached by the Kolhapur and must not go in for asceticism. The preaching is sometimes quiet, and sometimes stormy. missionaries. Mexico has 48 ordained our Evening before last a young man came, intent missionaries, 44 lay missionaries, and on breaking up preaching. He tlrst tried 43 female missio!J.aries. Total, 135. to get me into an argument, but finding that would not work he talked away, pretty loud, If Kolhapur wen to have an equal to those about, and at the same time another man preached to another part of the audience. proportion, it shoull be furnished with I had to preach pretty loud to make myself heard, even by a small part of the audience, 54 missionaries. Japan has 15G orfor, in addition to my two rivals, there was all the ordinary noise of a public square.". . . dained missionaries, 161 lay, 113 fe- male, and 14 medical. Total, 443. If Kolhapur were to have as many in proportion, she should be equipped with 48. Even" in dark, benighted"
Africa, there are proportionately more missionaries at work than in Kolha- pur. MAX WOOD MOORHEAD.
* See page 456.-EDs.
Aftlca.-The British Missions Zambesi for navigation was being- and the Portuguese. On Livingstone's sounded, and a new and direct com- return to England in 1856, after 16 munication from the sea discovered. years of self-inflicted banishment in The Shire was then unknown to Por- the heart of the "Lost Continent," he tuguese voyagers except in its lower said: " I have opened the door, and I reaches and near the Zambesi. Dr. leave it with you to see that no one Livingstone and Sir John Kirk traced closes it after me." This door was not it to the Falls; proceeding on foot be- to be shut, either by the murderous yond them to Lake Shire, until their' Arab or the Portuguese filibuster. discovery of Nyassa. On this explor- Thirty-two years ago a well equipped ation Dr. Livingstone had proof that expedition was placed by the English the Portuguese encouraged slavery. government at the disposal of living- stone to extend geographical knowl- Next in chronological order came edge, and to assist the people in land the Universities' Mission. Livingstone cultivation and production of raw ma- chose a site for it which had many terial, for which the latter might be natural advantages. At this point exchanged for English manufactures. gang after gang of miserable slaves By this form of legitimate trade the were met, being led away to Portu- terrible slave traffic might be mitigat- guese settlements. Native villages. ed. Concurrently, the capacity of the likewise were commonly fired. At Chi- bisas a colony was formed, which had. continued to grow, and which to-day al experience, Portugal had all but was claimed as a birthright by Portu- strangled the life out of commerce, and gal. During the intervening 32 years the soul out of freedom; while on the Livingstone's old friends and servants East, the story was one and the same." had been peacefullysettled, save under The personal experience of Captain attacks from the Angoni and Machin- Lugard and Commander Cameron ga tribes. The Universities' Miss!on should not be forgotten. It was W. in Nyassaland had cost £43,000. In H. Stanley who wro~, in 1856: "If 1874 it was followed by the mission of you deliver these people into the hands the Free Church of Scotland, stationed of the Portuguese, the past as well as on the shores of Lake Nyassa, or the the present teaches you what to ex- Lake of the Stars. Its missionaries pect. You deliver them body and had explored the country surrounding soul into slavery." Effectively, it had Nyassa, attached the natives, and as- been said by the Rev. Dr. Symington, certained the natural resources. A an acknowledged authority on Af- sum of £50,000 had been expended on rica's regeneration, "that the only this powerful and successful enter- thing which can give any right in the prise, for whose enlargement four new highest sense to go in and occupy the missionaries had just gone out. The soil of Africa, is an honest, open desire Church of Scotland beginning in 1875 to restore to the' natives the first birth- at Blantyre, its retained headquarters right of mankind, their personal free- had enjoyed much prosperity. Blan- dom, and then to bring them into re- tyre lay equi-distant from the lake lations with our knowledge and our northward and the southerly Chibisas. commerce, which shall make them On the shores of Lake Tanganyika, sharers of our privileges."-Our En- 420 miles long, the London Missionary glish Correspondent. Society's gallant workers had battled against the combined forces of heath- -German Protestant Missionaries enism and slave rading. The African on the Cameroons River -The noble Lakes Company, formed in 1878, to achievements of the Baptist Missiondevelop the resources of this region, ary Society in the Cameroons district, i.e., Nyassa, and to act as carriers for with which the name of the Rev.'Althe mission stations, had been a large fred Saker is imperishably associated, and prosperous undertaking, with have not failed to receive admirable twelve trading depots and a capital devotion from the German Mission of £170,000. Stringently prohibiting since the territories were ceded to Gerany commerce with the liquor traffic, many. Eight European missionaries it has introduced' new sources of are engaged in the German Colony of wealth into the country. Throughits the Cameroons. For the training of expansion and the presence of other teachers and catechists, a small school Scotch traders, a British Consnl had was founded at Bethel, in January, been appointed. Until about five 1889. On its roll are the names of years ago Portugal had done nothing nine pupils. Native assistants have for the advance of scientific explor- also been appointed, partly in connecation. Her tracks along the lower tion with the mission work, and likeand upper banks of the Zambesi were wise to give independent courses of marked by slave marauding and an- instruction. The Mission in the Protagonism to the enlightenment and tectorate is making progress. Bethel, civilization of the natives. the main station, serves as the centre for other stations further up and down Mr. James Irvine, of Liverpool, to the Cameroons River, some of which whom the writer is indebted for some were taken over from the English of the foregoing details, said, that "on Baptists. South of Bell Town stands the West coast, he knew from person- the lately founded settlement of the Christians in Tokoto village. The pull down th!J teacher's house raised by the Baptists at Banjongo and re- -chapel here is utilized as a school. At build it at Bwea. To effect the Chris- tianization of these native cannibals, Hickory, on the right bank, the old the Baptist Society sacrificed a few heroic lives and expended over a sum Baptist mission house is being rebuilt, of £100,000 in holding forth the word of life upwards of forty years. Pray where one or two European mission- for their consecrated German mission- ary successors!-Our English Correaries will soon be stationed. The old spondent.
school-house has been repaired and – A Pathetic Story. The Free Church of Scotland has just issued a fitted up as a chapel. Towards the tract treating of 300 captured slave children in their Nyassa Mission. For overhauling, the little community of five years past the mission at the north end of Lake Nyassa has been seriously 27 souls, all counted, contributed about threatened by the man-stealing Arabs. These surround a village at early dawn 100 francs. In several villages, as far and fire into the houses, and ~hen the terrified men rush for their lives as Bakundu, on the Upper Mungo, the they are shot down, and the women and children captured. This is no mission undertakes both teaching and new tale. In this case the Arabs ~ent south to these villages with the bark preaching. rope made ready for their captives, to a village seven or eight days' journey At the end of 1888 the number of from Bwana, and there sold their cap- tives for powder. A second band atnative converts in the Protectorate tacked the village of Kapiyira, thirty miles south of Karonga, shooting down was registered at 160, not including the men as usual and capturing the women and children. These were 88 persons who were receiving instruc- surprised by some Christian natives, when every Arab bolted. The women tion with a view to baptism. The they had captured, being bound, could not escape. Six women and children number of children under the influ- had still the ropes on their necks. One little girl in the fight had received a ence of the mission is estimated at 300. bullet wound in the back of the head. One poor, old, helpless woman was led The Bille Missionary Society accepted into the stockade with the gore (slave stick) still on her neck, who had been the mission at Christmas, 1886, and of found by some Wankonde in the woods, and was brought to us. Her the 12 missionaries employed, four story was very sad. She was one of the women stolen lately, and was, have died. To fill the vacancies three with five other women and five chil- dren, put into the slave-sticks. By more will shortly depart for the Guinea night the end of the sticks-young trees, indeed-were tied to the roofs coast. . of the houses; but by day they were allowed to crawl about the verandas The Mission has advanced from Vic- toria, on the Ambas Bay, to the moun- tains peopled by the Bakwiri tribe.
In attempting the conquest inland, a native Christian was sent as a teacher to Banjongo, and the missionaries, Scholten and Aulenrieth,went to Ober- Bwea, a place some two thousand five hundred metres above the level of the sea. On this site they were permitted to stay, after lengthy nego- tiations with the chief and his pe~ple.
A hut was next purchased and re- moved to a suitable locality. The missionaries stripped a delightful hil- lock of its trees, and then laid an un- derstructure on which the hut was erected. Here the teacher lives, and Bwea is a mission station with a promising spiritual outlook. The neighborhood, which is healthy and populous, is weIl adapted for the cru- sade. Already a Iargerhouse is need- ed, and, in the absence of building materials, and the difficulty of their .transport, the missionaries propose to of the houses, always dragging the Among these is Lieut. Stairs' account tree behind. The morning of her es- of an attempt and failure, in June cape she crawled outside the village last, to reach the snow – crowned gate and got into ihe grass. Soon a summit of Ruwenzori, which Mr. cry was raised, and although they Stanley claims to be the ancient searched everywhere, and even set fire " Mountains of the Moon." The to the grass, she eluded their inhuman Lieutenant, after reaching a height of vigilance and got off, being only ten thousand feet, found his progress slightly scorched. All day and all arrested by three deep ravines, on the night she crawled along on hands and farthest side of which tlie nearest knees, and in the morning was found peak rose to an additional height of by the Wankonde in the woods. six thousand feet. Beyond this were other peaks rising still higher, and to Dr. Cross has a school composed of an altitude of at least eighteen thouchildren that have been thus rescued. sand feet! While there were many Three hundred of tbem are enrolled on indications of life within the ten his books; 250 have been present at thousand feet passed over by Lieut. one . time. There are six classes, Stairs, there were no evidences that taught under six giant trees. The this upper region was the regular Sabbath meeting is sometimes very habitat of animals. The lower mounlargely attended, 600 to 1,000 people at tain sides were overgrown with bamtimes being present, the whole serv- boos, above which.was found a dense ice being in the Ikimwamba dialect. growth of heaths, some of which rose The little scholars are of the Wankonde to· a height of twenty feet. The villages, the children the Arabs fought whole Ruwenzori range is evidently for and longed to enslave. They are one of extinct volcanoes. Of course, ~very one naked and helpless. But even with a registry of sixty degrees what touches us tenderly is that these by the thermometer, t;he night spent "naked, helpless" African children, on the mountain-side was felt to be instead of being in the slave pens of uncomfortably cold. Mr. Stanley rethe cruel slave hunters, are in Dr. ports that the debris brought from Cross' stockade, and all sing most these mountains, by the Semliki river, .sweetly: is rapidly filling the southern end of Lake Albert Nyanza. The lower eight .. Ut&ndeke Yesu wangu thousand feet of these mountain- Pilika UD~. sides were found inhabit;Qd by a people who had retreated up them before Wangi ukubiIikiIa hostile invaders, and who assumed Ut&ndeke we." the retreating business so promptly before Lieut. Stairs and his party as This is the first verse of "Pass me to quite escape their observation. not, 0 gentle Saviour." It is a very touching cry from helpless ones in the The discovery of this great mounheart of Africa, and the mute a,ppeal tain-the Mont Blanc of Africa-is hut of the prayer is to us as well as to the one of the geograpical results of this great Father of us all. expedition. Other discoveries solve perplexing questions in African geog- J. T. GRACEY, D.D. raphy. The real discoverer of the Congo has now discovered a source of -Ascent of Ruwenzori in Africa. the Nile in Lake Albert, and the Any attempt to detail to the public water-parting between those two the important results of Stanley's last rivers. From the Yambusa country African expedition must prove very to the Albert Nyanza, and thence inadequate until some map-maker onward to Msalalala, he discloses what gives to the public a full map of the vast regions traversed by the explorer. And yet some things that will prove interesting, without the aid of a new map, may be said just now. is really a new country, gives to the surface, we find that the mischief world its_physical features, and more under which we, Hindus, at present.
accurate information than it has ever labor is owing chiefly to the influence had before about the tribes of people of Christianity, brought steadily and who inhabit it.-The Evangelist. constantly to bear on our national China.-From Wei-Hien, China, mind for nearly a century and a half.
comes the intelligence that an Ameri- Raja Ram Mohun Roy, of happymem- can missionary lady, Mrs. Mateer, ory, felt its influence with the deepest who had been engaged in famine concern, so far back as 1821, and did relief work, had the high honor all he could to check its progress.
lately shown her of being taken Since his time, it is to be regretted, no through the city by an escort of literary Bengali gentleman (with one or two· men of high degree. They presented honorable exceptions) have done so her with a beautiful banner and much as to send a serious thought.
other tokens of esteem, and their escort after this matter, which is of such was a very brilliant one. Such honor vital importance to our Society.
shown to a woman, and a foreign " The result of this national apathy woman, too, and by China's proudest is, as might be expected, that the men! This was a marvelous spectacle, countless Christian missions at work in and it evidences how men who are this country, especially in Bengal, are hardest of all to reach and influence in a fair way of achieving their object, in any other way, may be moved to not so much, however, by carrying'
admiration and esteem by deeds of conviction to our hearts about the su- charity and mercy and loving personal periority of their religion as by slowly service to the unfortunate and the and imperceptibly changing our ideas.
suffering. Mrs. Mateer said that with regard to our moral, social, and while she was being thus honored, she domestic life. The unflagging energy tried to observe a fitting humility, and the systematic efforts with which as she remembered times when she these bodies are working at the foun- had suffered quite different treat- dation of our Society, will, unless coun- ment at the hands of the prejudiced teracted in time, surely cause a mighty and unfriendly literati and gentry of collapse of it at no distant date. Any China. family man who lives in town will, on India.-An Extraordinary Pamph- examining his household, discover un- let. We find in the Ohronicle of the mistakable evidence of the absence of London Society an extended quotation that domestic simplicity and spiritual from a pamphlet entitled, "Are We integrity that marked the ways of our Really Awake,! An Appeal to the Hin- women only a decade or two back."
du Oommunity," which has been re- The appeal proceeds to speak of the cently published in Calcutta. Vve can entrance of Bible-women into the give but part of the appeal here. It homes of the Hindus, and of the mis- is significant in many ways as showing sion schools to which the children are the attitude of the Hindus in the midst sent without hesitation, because there of the influences which are brought to are no Hindu schools for them, and it bear upon them. If those people who affirms that unless ihey arouse them- are asserting that missions are a fail- selves speedily to guard against the in- ure would candidly read this statement sidious progress of Christianity their of the Hindus themselves, they would society" will surely be turned topsy- find how wide of the truth are their turvy in a few generations hence." As assertions. The appeal says: a result of this appeal some Bengali " The life-blood of our Society is fast gentlemen established two or three ebbing away, and irreligion is eating schools close to the schools of the Lon- into its vitals. Looking beneath the don Society, but no appreciable difference was seen in the attendance at the in all Jewish learning, and one who latter.-Missionary Herald. will very soon qualify himself to be a JewS.-Free Church of Scotland valuable laborer in the ~ion field, MissIOns. There are many and striking indications that that" day of for which he has already discovered visitation" has at length begun to aptitude, and to which his whole soul dawn. Within the last twenty-five years there has been a remarkable tends. His baptism has produced a change in the attitude of the Jew towards Christ, and in various parts very deep and widespread impression. of the Jewish field we hear of a singular openness to listen to and consider The way has been opened up for the the great facts and truths of the gospel. The conversion and testi- permanent extension of the Sea of mony and work of Joseph Rabinowitz in South Russia, and of Rabbi lich- Galilee Mission to Safed, the traditenstein in Hungary, have produced a profound impression, and may be tional "city set on a hill " of Matthew taken as the forerunners of what is coming. The Jewish missions of our v: 14. The town contains about own Church are occupying an important . place in this interesting 15,000 Jews and 5,000 Moslems, and movement. Our mission schools are doing a great work in the way of vigorous operations-medical mission, leavening the young and impressible Jewish mind and heart with Christian and, it is hoped, educational-will be knowledge and sentiment. It is preparatory work, but we believe in begun among these this season. We sowing, and can wait for the harvest. Already the first fruits are being welcome this opening hopefully and gathered in, some of them rich and beautiful in no 'ordinary degree. joyfully. It cannot but stir the heart The school work has been resumed of the Church. to think of carrying on for the Winter at Budapest, Constantinople, and Tiberias with undiminished the work of healing and evangelizing numbers and with unabated zeal and hopefulness on the part of our devoted among those of His own nation, on teachers. At these three stations the Medical lIission continues in vigorous the very spot where our Lord carried operation. Every door may be said to be open, and in the case of the on His personal ministry in the days thousands of patients treated at the dispensary or visited in their homes, of His flesh, where He taught the our missionaries are not mere physicians, but avowedly preachers of people and wrought so many of His Christ. This arm of the service is growing in power from day to day. deeds of mercy. The first of the mis- From Breslau Mr. Edward has just sionaries' houses at Tiberias is nearly reported the baptism of a young Jew, to which he attaches unusual import- ready for being roofed in. Dr. Moody ance. He speaks of this young convert, who was preparing to be a Stuart writes regarding this: "It Jewish rabbi, as thoroughly at home brightens all our hopes to know that in. the great goodness of the God of Israel we have now taken a permanent position in the land of Israel."
Portugal.-Under the well- known initials of R. N. C., the Rock offers the following note of warning with regard to the claims of Portugal, which is well worth the consideration of all who wish to form a just judg- ment in the matter.
The subjectseems at the first glance, to be far removed from that of Chris- tian missions, but when we examine it closely we tip-d that these two are intimately connected, and it is as well that this should be understood: If the claims of Portugal are admitted the Protestant missions will be hampered or totally extinguished. Behind Portu gal is a greater power-the Church of Rome-and the reason why this little inert State is put forward to arrest the progress of civilization is because it is felt that wherever British influence prevails, there is toleration, and mis- sions of all denominations have a free hand. In the Mission Catholiques,
MISSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE FROM ALL PARTS
published weekly at Lyons, in France, It is, therefore, expedient that the no secret is made that Cardinal Lavi- religious organs, especially those gerie ha.tmade arrangements with the which look ypon Christian missions as King of Portugal to occupy what he one of the chief duties of a Christian, is good enough to call the Portuguese Provinces of the Shire and Nyassa. to support the present Government in The Romish missionaries would be the bold front which they have prearmed with power and privileges, sented to the ridiculous Portuguese partly from Rome, partly from Lisbon. claims. For three hundred years they We should hear of principal chiefs be- had the field open to them, and had ing received, like Mwangaof Uganda, they annexed the whole of South into the Church of Rome, and the door Africa from Mozambique on the east closed to the commercial activity and to Angola on the west, no one could have called out; but it is an admitted missionary enthusiasm of Great Brit- fact that Livingstone discovered Nyain. The crafty Cardinal knows well assa Lake and the River Shire, and all enough that under British rule or pro- that remains of the Portuguese mediretectorate no let or hindrance will be val power is but a dream. made to his missioJ:Y3. but he requires not toleration, but exclusion of the We have long thought that the osapostles of error, as he calls Protest- tentatious anti-slavery demonstrations ants. It may be taken as an axiom of Cardinal Lavigerie had but one obthat when a Romish Cardinal preaches ject-the advancement of the Romish an anti-slavery crusade, or asserts the church. At the same time we most rights of a weak and effete monarchy earnestly hope that the war spirit and nation like the Portuguese, he has may be kept under, and that the misbut one object, the advancement of the sionaries whose work is threatened Roman Catholic religion by force or fraud, by violence or chicanery, or, if may put their trust neither in this necessary, by bloodshed. government nor that, but only in the living God, who rules and overrules in the affairs of men.
I1I.-MISSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE FROM ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD-FIELD.
Ohins.. a revision of the Tien·tsin treaty with Great Britain, so as to exclude the legalized importa- GOD AND THE OPIUM TRAFFIC. tion of opium into China, may be embraced, signed by about 750 foreign missionaries, 1,200 [The following letter from an native pastors, evangelists, etc., and 5,000 American missionary at Shanghai, other Christians in India, as well as a goodly and the Petition of the Christian number in England and America, along with a Churches at China, we are sure will similar memorial from Scotland containing get an attentive reading and incite to nearly,7,000 signatures. Another object is to earnest prayer that the dreadful see and hear what we may on the spot, and curse to which it relates may be supply the religious newspaper press of Great abated, and in due time removed. Britain and elsewhere with some new and While the petition is addressed to the additional material for arousing the Christian Christian churches of England, the churches and people on the subject of the churches of America are 'not innocent opium curse-which we doubt not the Lord is in the matter, as the letter of our cor- going very soon to overthrow. respondent and missionary will show. The facts to which he alludes have The accompanying is an address, with its faded from the public mind, but they translation, from the Chinese Christians of are none the less true, and are written Canton to their brethren in Great Britain, but in God's book of remembrance.-:J. it has occurred to me, since visiting that M. S.] ancient and populous city, that it would serve a good purpose in stimulating Christians in As ambassadors of Christ, with the burden my own land, who, as well as our English of the Lord upon us, my friend, Mr. A. S. cousins, have a duty to perform in putting Dyer, of the Bombay Guardian, and myself down this iniquitous traffic; for though the left Bombay, on the 3d ultimo, on a special United States, in the final treaty with China, mission to China. The object of the mission wiped their hands of it, they have not yet is to present to the Court of Pekinga memorial, entirely wiped out the stain of their former praying that tbe opportunity now afforded for complicity with it. Because, as I have found on the spot, it was not merely the American eagle swooping down over the field, ready to pounce upon the prey as soon as the paw of the British lion might strike it down, and thus craft deteriorates, business suffers and time is reaping the fruits of the two unrighteous squandered. There is no worse evil than this, opium wars, but rather an actual participation and its curse appears again-in the gradual of American vessels, with their officers and destruction of the industries and trade of the others, in the nefarions work of smuggling country. the contraband drug into China up to the time of those wars. Our people originally are comparatively strong and healthy, but when once they At least, it is our dnty to unite in prayer to acquire the opium habit they become mere God to pnt a stop now to the wicked traffic, weak skeletons and can neither eat nor sleep and to avert the cnrse which is coming home with comfort. This physical deterioration to us in the shape of opium dens in America, is transmitted to their children and grandnot only for the Chinese, but for our own children, and the curse of opium is seen in the countrymen. injury it inflicts upon the very life of the people. 'With this hope and prayer, I am sending copies of this address for publication in When a man has enough to eat and to wear America, trusting that Christians generally he observes the proper regulations and cusmay soon be able to rejoice together in the toms of society, but when once he takes to removal of this great barrier to the progress opium he loses all self-respect, and as money of the Gospel in this land. becomes each day harder to obtain, he resorts to dishonest, means to gain a livelihood and W. E. RoBBINS, becomesutterly debased; so the curse of opium Missionary to India. appears again' in destroying the character and Shanghai, Feb. 21, 1890. manners of the people. The Christian Chnrches of Canton respectfully address the Christian Churches of Eng· While these evils are preying upon the land: people of China, the.obstacles they present to This year, when holding our Annual New Christian work are not a few. Your people Year's Meetings, we were 'favored with a come to preach the doctrines of the Gospel, visit from a Western Evangelist (Alfred S. which are indeed the truth, and your real Dyer), who told us how the Christians in India, desire is to lead many to believe; but those to the number of several thousand, had iP-l- who hear them say that opium and the Gospel proved the opportunity afforded this year, have come together from England, and the before the time fixed for t,he revision of the doubt arises and tinds expression in words Commercial treaty in reference to opium ex· that the Gospel is false. Your missionaries pires, to appeal to the Executive Council and come with the real desire to benetit the people, the Emperor of China to co-operate with your but those who see them maliciously declare Government in abolishing the opium traffic. that opium IOnd missionaries are alike English Having been told this, we were incited thereby productions, and they suspect the missionaries to prepare this letter, signed by representa- of secretly doing evil. Moreover, the Church tives of all our Churches, beseeching your oppns free schools, and although they are Churches, pastors and teachers to combine meant to benetit the youth, yet it is impossible your strength in devising some efficient means to stop the mouths of those who are not to remove this curse of opium. Years ago, taught, while opium remains unfprbidden. Mr. Turner, besides other good works, pre- The Church has opened hospitals; but, sented an appeal to your Parliament to pro- although they are saving men from disease, hibit the importation (by British merchants) it is impossible to iutluence the hearts of those of opium into China. who have not been healed while opium remains Although the object sought has not been unforbidden. Your Christians, with siqgleattained, the agitation of the matter should ness of heart, are zealous in many good not be -allowed to flag, for the calamities works, but while opium remains they are all which opium brings are numberless. like so much water poured out. Per~it us to set forth briefly a few of the .more conspicuous forms. It is said by some that the Ghinese are fond The introduction and sale of opium extends of opium, and the calamities they suffer are of to all the cities and villages of the land, the tbeir own making, and the English have noth- Chinese expending upon it more than $50,000.- ing to do with it. The New Testament says: 000 (about 10,000,000 pounds sterling) every "Have no fellowship with evil." Now, when year. By this means the rich are made poor, your Government plants and sells opium to and the poor led to sell their children, and its minister to the evil propensities of the curse appears in the dissipation of the wealth Chinese, you are partskers with them, and of the land. Scholars, agriculturists, artisans what can you say in excuse thereof? and merchants represent the constant and productive employments of the people. When An opportunity having now been provionce they acquire the opium habit they dentially afforded by our friends in India to become weak, inefficient and indolent in every renew the agitation of the matter in the department of labor; every form of handi- memorial they have presented to the throne of China for consultation and prohibition, our hope is that your Christians will, with one heart, exert themselves, without regard to time has come when as a .mission we must profit or loss, and be enabled to abolish opium, divest ourselves of this modesty and make that the Chinese may be released from this known, in part, at least, our desire and the yoke of bondage and the obstacles to the claims of the field committed to our charge. preaching of the Gospel be removed. Wehave Such is the object of this appeal. but litt.le strength, but night and day we pray the Lord above to reveal Himself, and help Our mission-field embraces a population of England and China to abolish this great evil. four million souls, contained in the native May this exceeding blessing come to us and to states of Kohlapur, SaugJi, Miraj, and parts of China. For this we reverently wait. other states in the Deccan and Rutnagiri col- lectorate in the Koukan. (Signed) LEUNG To, AN FUNG-SHI, YEUNG WING Cm. With our present staff of missionaries, in- In behalf of the London Mission (which has cluding ladies, we have only one worker to every 235,000 of the population. Three of the aoo native communicants). above missionaries are now in America for health, and two others will probably follow CHAU HOK-SHUE, MAK RANG NIN. within three months. This leaves us with an actual force of only one worker to 330,000 In behalf of the English Wesleyan Mission souls. (which has 700 native communicants). In Kohlapur state alone there are 1097 vil- U PIN-OM, WONG KWONG-FUK. lages, many of which have a population of several thousand. Preaching thrice daily In behalf of the Berlin Mission (wbich bas 350 in three different villages, it would take a native communicants). missionary a whole year to· proclaim the Gos- pel to the villages of that single state, to say FUNG, FuNG TaUN-TAK, CH'AN SUN-MAN. nothing of the thousands of villages within the bonnds of our field. Kohlapur City could In behalf of the Baptist Mission (which has easily occupy 12 more missionaries. Miraj, 470 native communicants). another city of 24,000, is without even a native resident worker, while two of our stations are KWANHIN-SHAlII, UEMUNG-LING Tao TAU-SHAN. now without missionaries, viz., Pauhala and Rutnagiri. The collectorate of Rutnagiri con- In behalf of the Presbyterian Mission (which tains a population of at least a million, and all has 600 native communicants). without a single missionary. Apportion one to every 50,000 souls, and this field would re- NG UEN-LI. quire twenty missionaries.
In behalf of the American Scandinavian In Miraj, Sangli, and adjoining states, we Mission (which has 10 native communicants). have 2,500,000 people, humanly speaking, de- pendent upon three missionary families for India. the .. Bread of Life." Within a ten-mile [We gladly give place to this earnest radius of SangJi there are 125 villages. Here and affecting appeal in behalf of this alone is work for six missionaries. Within the mission, first, because the mission limits of our field there are five large towns needs immediate reinforcement, and (capitals of native states), with a population the field is an inviting one; and, varying from 8,000 to 24,000 each, and all as second, because the appeal comes yet unoccupied by any missionary. from the mission in the establishing of which the founder of this REVIEW As to work among women, Eastern women spent the best years of his life, and must necessarily be reached in their individual whichhis widow and daughterarenow homes. The demands of school work are such rendering efficient aid in sustaining. that our present ladies give but a fraction of We recognize the appeal as coming their time to evangelistic work, so to say that from the pen of the devoted and ac- each could be responsible for a parish of 2,000 complished Miss Grace E. Wilder.- heathen women would be to give each a large J. M. S.] average. Provided we could work at this rate, we need now 1,000 lady workers to reach AN APPEAL FROM THE B:OHLAPUR MISSION. the women of our field. In Kohlapur state there are 1,000 girls attending Government Mission work in the Kohlapur field has been carried on for nearly forty years, and with a schools. Last year aoo passed the standard measure of success that certainly justifies its continuance and extension. Many years have examination. Eight are preparing to be been spent in arduous preparatory toil, the teachers. Probably not a dozen of these girls fruits of which can never be estimated by hu- own each a single Christian book. Is anyalaman reckoning. The little band of half a baster box of ointment too precious to be dozen missionaries and their devoted wives broken for the honor of our King and the salhave for years labored earnestly to plant the vation of these souls ? precious seed of the gOspel among these four millions of immortal souls. There is a crisis upon us now. At least twelve important towns should be occupied at once.. In their modesty, and the consideration of the urgent needs of other fields, they have never asked for more than a mere fraction of the required number of workers. But the Never before were all classes so accessible. soulsare passing into eternity every day; dy- We must seize this opportunity. Scores of ing without Christ and without hope! villages are wanting schools. The ouly native Biblewoman in Bangli was laid to rest recently, Who will come "to the help of the Lord and the heathen women are now asking, "Are against the mighty?" That this appeal may you not going to send some one to teach us ?" be a call to some who from their hearts will Such are the open doors. Shall we enter and respond, "Here am I, send me," and that it possess this land for Christ? Can we do it at may lead those who cannot Come personally the present rate ? to provide the support of a substitute, is the earnest prayer of every missionary of the To forsake our stations to occupy others, KoIhapur mission. would be to bring discredit upon the cause of Christ. To open new stations and at the same "If thou forbear t{) deliver them that are time maintain present work is impossible. No drawn unto death, and those that are ready to one of us is giving more than a few days of be sIain; if thou sayest 'Behold we knew it each year to touring; hence the great mass of not,' doeth not he that pondereth the heart ·our village population is left without a wit- consider it? And he that keepeth thy soul, ness for Christ most of the year. In the face doth he not know it? And shall he not ren- of such need shall we not have the few mis- der to every man according to his works ?" ·sionaries we are asking for? We call for 16 new workers for the whole Kohlapur field. On behalf of the mis8ion, Eight of the 16 to be ordained, one a physician, one a consecrated layman to superintend the ! GRACE E. WILDER, English High School in Kohlapur. (One of ·our missionaries ofi'ers $200 towards the sup- W. J. W.u.'LESS, rCommittee. port of this layman.) One is to be a devoted J. P. GRAHAM, ·and intelligent mechanic, to take charge of We, the undersigned, heartily endorse this mission building and teach Christian boys in- appeal, and would urge that the new mission- dustrial work. The ordained missionariesare aries be sent at once, needed to occupy new centres, and so Eliza J. Wilder, G. W. Seiler, M. F. Seiler, ,strengthen the present force at existing sta- J. H. Sherman, A. M. Goheen, M. L. Ewalt, tions, that preaching may be systematically A. M. Hull, M. E. Wanless, S. M. Tedford and ·carried on in the surrounding districts without L. B. Tedford. neglecting regular work at the stations. Japan. Five of the 16 should be single ladies. Well might it be asked: "Why this request for five THE MODERN MARTYR OF THE ORIENT. workers, where 125 are needed for Kolhapur :statealone?" This is not the measure of what [This brief paper will be read with we want or what we need, but five we must mingled tears and thanksgiving.-J. have now. So urgent is our case that two of M. S.] ·our lady missionaries have each ofi'ered half her salary to any Christian sister who will OUYAMA, March 1, 1890. -come out and share it with her. Japan never witnessed an auto-da-fe. A pale martyr in his shirt of fire, could not be One of the five is needed to take charge of a written of her old-time Christian heroes. The girls' school in KoJhapur City; one to be a martyr was there in generous numbers, hut physician; two others are wanted for evan- never the paleness, the shirt, nor the fire. gelistic work in and about Kolhapur. One is Sword and sea took the place of wood and needed for school and evangelistic work in flame. Thousands died for the faith in those Bangli. In order to continue the Christian stern days 260 years ago. boys' boarding-school, which should be in Aud now the word comes to the front once charge of a married missionary, one of our more. A man dies peacefully in his bed, sur- ,.single ladies must, until help comes from rounded by loving friends. Everything pos- home, give up the greater part of her evan- sible has heen done to save his life. The best gelistic work. physicians at the capital summoned by tele- graph. Also a faithful nurse and many attend- We are asking for two physicians when our ants. A leading statesman of the land telefield could furnish immediate work for 25. graphs to his bed-side, "Make him live at all The present and only medical missionary, hazards." Thousands of Christians all over though he has been in Sangli but two months, Japan were pleading in prayer for his life. has more patients than he can possihly attend Can such a man be called a martyr? And yet to. Many have to be turned away. This medical the word is used repeatedly in speaking of work is disarming prejudice and preparing the him. Hiscountrymen delight to call him one. ·way for direct evangelistic work. Through The sermon at his funeral was from the text, the dispensary or hospital many from distant "Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth villages will be brought to us. Shall not two and die." … and its leading thought was be sent to engage in this Christ-like work of martyrdom. .11ealing and preaching? Some 150 precious How explain this seeming contradiction? Some one-was it Napoleon-has said, "It is the cause, and not the death, that makes the martyr." Yes, Joseph Neesima was a martyr. Hehad
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
the martyr spirit. He sacrificed himself for earth." He feared no man. When ordered by church and school and country. High office Prince Iwakurayears ago to go from Andover was within his reach. He spurned it for the to Washington, to act as interpreter, he re- higher one of teacher and preacher. Duty plied, "I acknowledge no lord save God Al- with him was a law of love. He never thought mighty." When traveling through Europe of self, but always of others. with the embassy, he insisted on keeping the Sabbath, and often remained alone from Sat- No wonder his students loved him so much urday till Monday. He felt as clearly in his· 'that they were eager to play the part of cool- soul as did John the Baptist, that he was ies and carry the body of theirlamented presi- called of God to do a definite work. He felt dent through the streets of wondering Kyoto. himself to be a "child of Providence." His· More than once he had risen from a sick bed, plans for his beloved school, with its 700 stu- and gone with aching head but pitying heart dents, and his equally loved churches, always. to hunt up some wayward boy, or to urge some kept ahead of their fulfillment. He was the departing student to take a Christian stand in prophet leader of Japan's Christian hosts. On life. There were times when no doctor could January 1st he wrote a brief poem for his own hold him hack, and he was ready to take any consolation. He died on the 23<1. The thought. risk to life or health for the sake of school or was, "Though weak in body and every way un- people. Whatever we may think of his judg- worthy, yet with large aspirations I greet the ment, there can be no impeaching the loftiness opening year." of his motive, or the loyalty of his spul. As iIlustrntive of his daily anxiety over his. He was dying all his days in behalf of great Kyoto College, just budding into a University, causes, and that the end should come in mid- he frequently quoted a heautifullittle stanza dle life, while his mother still Iives-a mere ex- in Japanese: istence, at the age of 84-was as fitting as it was expected. He loved life. He was the es- "Every morning we look anxiously to see sence of humility, and never strained after ef- if the white clouds have lifted which shut out· fect; and yet he was always overdoing, and the blossoms on the mountain of Yoshi." his life and early death stand out in the mind of every Christian Japanese a clean-cut, strik- Now $50,000 are needed at once to open the· ingly impressive lesson. University in accord4nce with Mr_ Neesima's· final request. Will not some American admirer- Worn by his wearying winter-work in behalf of this sincere man, who in his short life did of the Kyoto school, he runs away to Oiso, a more than anyone else has done to link the' watering-place near Yokohama, for needed best of two lands together, send on the money? change. Even there he will not rest, bnt writes a hundred letters, many of them sixfeet Free schools and a working church were' long, to individuals, mainly in regard to evan- what he aimed at for Japan. He ever worked gelistiC work in Japan; begging men to give for both, practically sacrificed his life in their themselves more unreservedly to the blessed behalf, and died, as it were, with one hand of service, to seize strategic centres, to send blessing on his college at Kyoto, and the other' preachers to the needy places, to occupy all on the churches scatteredover the land. Budd- Japan for Christ and make a forward move- hists are reporting that the head of Christianmentall along the line. ity being dead, Japan will soon see the last of the Western religion. When he was too weak to write he began to dictate to another, and spent a large part of But Christian Japan-and that means now the day before his death sending last mes- 38,000 strong in the Protestant ranks-is· sages, burning with love and earnest appeal, aroused to renewed activity. to friends far and near. He loved everyone, once punishing himself severely before his Neesima dead is even more powerful thall. school, that the law might be upheld, and yet Neesima living. All Japan rings with his- 'his students escape. praise and emulates his spirit. God give her hundreds of Neesimas-men full of faith and Some of hislastwords were, "So far as I know the Holy Ghost-to carry on to its final tri- I have not an enemy in the world;" and again, umph this wide and waiting work. "I envy not heaven and I blame no one on JAMES·H. PETTEE.
Missionary of A. B. O. F. M.
IV.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
COND~CTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
Let Us Expect Great Things. thought which is of great significance.
The times we live in afford topics It is an old observation that an earth- of great interest to the Christian stu- quake in the Andes has an answering dent of the movements of Providence. earth-wave in the Himalaya Moun- We glance only at a few of these fac- tains; and that a hurricane in the tors of the present times. 1. There is West Indies is most likely accom- a wide-spread disturbance of religious panied by a cyclone in the Indian Ocean. It is something like this ma- Revolution were all in that religious terial simultaneous perturbation to and social revolution which has long which we call attention in the relig- been characterized as " The Reforma- ious world. Archdeacon Hardwicke tion." But at this same period the pointed out years ago the fact of Thibetan form of Buddhism, now the great periodic perturbations in the re- purest Buddhism perhaps extant, ligious thought of mankind, occun-ing came into existence under the mould- simultaneously among peoples widely ing hand of that new incarnation, the separated from each other. Great Lama of Thibet. The import- When the Jews were in Babylon, ance of this movement can best be the Orphic brotherhood were diffus- appreciated by the student who has.
ing in all quarters in the West their seen the mongrel Buddhism of Bur- thirst for an objective revelation. At mah and China, or even the better the same time that Confucianism was preserved Ceylonese branch of this being re-formulated by its great vast nightmare of thought. But author, thus rehabilitating the State while Protestantism was being born, religion of China in a mode it was to and Thibetan Buddhism, with its vast· .maintain for many succeeding cen- literature, was taking form, Baba turies, every village in Persia was Nanak, the Luther of the Panjab, quickening under the Zoroastrian doc- was reasserting the absolute unity of trine of Dualism; and simultaneously God, and endeavoring to blend Hindu with both, Buddhism began to be dis- and Moslem by a new fusion of seminated, and to exert its wondrous thought, which resulted in the foun- witchery on the millions of the East. dation of the Seikh religion.
It is doubtful if the masses of man- It is to illustrate the widespread un- kind have ever been to such an extent, settling of the religious opinions of our in anyone period, agitated by religious own time that we have cited these reform on SO large a scale as at that instances of simultaneous disturbance time. The well nigh simultaneous of the religious convictions and notions.
origin of three systems destined to in- of men. The importance of giving fluence the world on so stupendous a attention to the recasting of religious scale as Confucianism, Zoroastrian- thought is seen in the fact of the long ism and Buddhism, marks a most ex- continuance of the forms in which the traordinary epoch in the destiny of faith of mankind were cast, in the our race. Centuries passed, and there case of these religions to which we occurred another of those periodic in- have made reference. Confucianism, tellectual and religious movements, Buddhism and Parsiism, the last two affecting communities which did not modified, to be sure, in localities, touch each other, and which had remain practically the same as when nothing in common, and each must simultaneously erected. Ifsomething have been but little acquainted with like this is occurring now, it will the fact that such perturbations other therefore appear to be of vast import- than its own were taking place. ance that the Christian church appre- Martin Luther, "with a little book ciate the situation, and lay her utmost and a beating heart," was upheaving moulding force upon the phenomena all Europe, and with his compeers, of the times. We need hardly point Melancthon, Calvin and others, were out the tendency in the Christian laying the foundations not only of world to-day to re-examine the entire doctrinal reform, but of that vital dis- foundations of its faith, and to re- tinction between ecclesiastical and state and reformulate its doctrinal civil authority as has resulted widely basis. Perhaps there never was a more in the separation between Church searching investigation made by the and State. The seeds of the American friends and allies of any body of religious teaching than is being frankly ing farther and farther into antiquity, made by the Christian scholars of the and are being found to be less and less world to-day. They shrink at no dis- satisfactory. Back they must go to closures, are disheartened by no diffi- Menu and the Vedas, and the more -culties, and are fearless of ultimate these are made the standard of morals, -consequences. They have flung their or of social or political order, the more faith into a crucible of their own and more they are found to be vague -erection, and push boldly toward the and unadapted to the times. Hinduism last analysis. Foes have sometimes is thus experiencing this profound perset a religious community on their turbation. defence, but it is the truest and best friends of the Christian religion that It is needless to pursue the Japanese to-day are thoroughly testing every through his athletic reforms and revopart of it that will submit to the lutions. Nationally it is without a -<lrdeal. They are quite' ready to dis- faith at this hour, and the very hearts credit -what cannot be thus satisfac- of the people might wear the placard, torily put into the furnace. The "Wanted, a Religion!" Its perturba- Christian religion was never more tion is like that of an earthquake. thoroughly an agitator of society than it is at this hour. We believe it to be It is not our purpose to more than in preparation to be a far mightier point out the fact of this widespread, factor than ever it has been in human diverse and yet simultaneous religious affairs. disturbance of our times, and to press upon the Church the consideration of India is unsettled religiously. It is its importance relative to the future. in a ferment. The Brahmo move- It will not remain in this agitated ment is a sort of Lutheran reforma- condition. What phases it may pass tion in~ the community. But deeper through before it finally settle!:; down and broader than that is the profound into forms which it will accept, one disturbance which is compelling it to cannot guess, but this period of unrest, answer, not to the foreigner, but to of remoulding of thought. of restating itself about itself. It is being forced faiths, will not last. Large communito open the question, now vital to its ties will settle down in some forms of €xistence, as to what it really is. faith which will probably be accepted What it really ought to be it may take for centuries. It is the duty of the up later, but for the present its rela- Christian Church not the less to investions to the courts of a gigantic con- tigate its own faith, but to instantly querer, which concedes its right to be, set itself to guiding other disturbed is obliging it to answer in court as to communities to reformulate theirs. what it really is. The British Government, acting on the principle of relig- 2. There are pre-intimations that ious neutrality, and assuming to be demand thought. It is with no little ready to adjust itself to authoritative interest that a careful student of his- Hinduism, asks it to show from its tory observes that great political and {)wn standards what it really is. To do religious epochs have frequently been this it is obliged to acknowledge the prefaced by a general pre-intimation accumulation of a vast debris of in the public mind of some great Rabbinism; and the farther it pushes change. The country of the Aztecs its investigation into its own acknow- enjoyed a golden age, under "the god ledged law the less satisfactory it finds of the air." He had long departed the it to be. Hinduism in the presence of land, but the people were ever eager for British authority and Christian his return. When Cortez and his felthought is compelled to search for its low-Spaniards proved invincible, the {)wu foundations, and they are reced- Indian became possessed of the idea, either from his arms or his art, that he must be "the god of the air," returning from the sun-rise, a'ld at the stead of his customary answer, he said thought of contending with Deity, he "The truth is the Messiah is come, quailed, and the Spaniard conquered. and if you will show me a place of The legend and its application un- safety from the scimiter of the Mos- locked an empire, while the physical lem, I will show you ten thousand force and courage of the people were Jews ready to say that the Messiah not yet half spent. Popular impres- is come, and that Jesus of Nazareth is sions are great factors of history-and that Messiah." that, whether formed on principle, prejudice or mytb. There are other instances in which such impressions are testified to on all When the trouble in Herzegovinia hands. In the Zenanas even of Cal-· and Bosnia arose some years since, it cutta, Mrs. Page says, that one day a was found that the insurgents were woman said to her: "Only have a lit- animated by an old prophecy, found tle patience, and all the Hindus will. in a work on Bosnia, published fifteen become Christians." A little woman years before, which stated that in the in the seclusion of the Zenanas of Cal- fifth century after the taking of the cutta expressed a similar sentiment. last Bosnian king by the Turks, the She said to Miss Britain, "Don't take· rising of the Christian Slavs in Turkey so much trouble, our folks will all would be victorious. Stephen Thom- soon become Christians even if left to· aserce, the last Bosnian king, was ex- themselves." The Lucknow WitnesS" ecuted on the 30th of June, 1463, on some years ago said on this topic~ the plain of Blagaj, and the insurrec- "We believe we speak the simple truth. tion alluded to commenced on the an- when we say, that millions of natives. niversaryof that event. are firmly convinced of this. We have· found it an accepted belief in the most It is said the Mohammedans in the remote mountain hamlets, where no- valley of the Euphrates were greatly European had ever penetrated, and we disturbed when they saw an iron find it received as an inevitable event· steamer floating on the Euphrates. of the near future in every city and There was an old proverb that "when town of the plains." Rev. Dr. Waugh iron floats on the Phrat (Euphrates), said: "A deep and wide-spread con- Mohammedanism will come to an viction prevails, not only in the cities, end." That was meant by a simile of but also in the country places among one impossible occurrence to assert the villagers, and indeed throughout. the impossibility of the occurrence of all classes, that a day of overthrowing another. All the laws of nature would of the old religions and effete faiths, of have, as they fancied, to be reversed, the breaking up of old forms, is at. before iron could be made to float, and hand. The common people speak of it was just as impossible that the Mos- the coming day of overturning, and lem faith should fail. But, 101 here seem not dismayed at its approach, before their very eyes iron was float- but announce themselves as ready toing, and that on the Phrat. This im- join in the van-indeed, are only waitpossible thing had occurred: might the ing its coming to break away from other impossible thing occur? It was their present thraldom and bonds of an ominous event, and that floating caste." iron steamer was a depressing circumstance. Indian Evangelization.* A missionary iiL Constantinople, The North American Indians are, some years ago, said he was in the ethnologically one people from the habit of meeting a pious Jew, and asking him " When will the Messiah * "By Canoe and Dog-Train Among the Cree come?" His usual reply was," The Messiah cometh." But one day, in- and SaJteaux Indians." By J;tev. Edgerton R_ Young. Eskimo of the North to the Aztec and ilized world, having mail communica- Peruvian in the centre, and the Fue- tion but once in six months, and regean on the extreme south. They duced much of the time to the food have ever been an independent people. resources of the country; living, on They have conducted a war of in- occasion for six months at a time, on dependence protracted through cen- fish, possibly varied by small contrituries. They have gradually perished, butions of wild meat. Mankind have but, except in Mexico, they have not always shown an appreciation of the in North America been conquered. heroic element, and Mr. Young and They have seen their heritage gradu- his wife have found a wide apprecia- ,ally wrested from their possessions, tion of their self-denial and devotion and have laid themselves down to die among a, very large circle of symwithin an ever-narrowing area. But pathizers with missionary work, in they remain the same dignified, seri- Europe as well as in America. ous and proud people. Mr. Young has been called to nar- They have a natural element of rate his experience before audiences poetry in their character. Among varying from a few scores to many no other of what are styled nature thousands, and always with the same peoples could the equivalent of the peculiar result. At the annual meetscenes of Hiawatha have been laid, ings of the International Missionary nor could any other have afforded Union at Niagara Falls and at the ,such simple and natural material for Thousand Islands, before the vast asromance. We have wronged them semblies at Ocean Grove, at Chautau- -often and grieviously; not always qua, and at other gatherings over the with intent; often' from ignorance of United States and the Canadas, he them and their necessities. We have has told of the trials and the triumphs misgoverned them, or rather failed to of his missionary career. There was govern them at all. and then cruelly always the same fascination about the ,shot them down because of our blun- story told so artlessly, and with an ders. The ill-acquaintance with their eloquence fresh as the breeze in the temper and their force has often been tops of the fir-balsams of the great ,costly. General Grant is reported to North land. Mr. Young has spent two have said that in one of our Indian winters in the British Isles telling of wars, "we spent six millions of dol- these stirring scenes in the same simlars and killed six Indians." The ple and charming way as hearth-stone Christian sentiment of the country tales are told, and as the world's folk- ,still forces the Government to take a lore has grown. paternal interest in them; and we are pressed to one more and final expedi- Naturally enough those who have ent of admitting them to citizenship listened to these tender or humorous and to individual instead of tribal stories, these traits of the red man and holding of lands. these triumphs of divine grace, begged Mr. Young to put these narra- Weare moved to write of their tives into a more permanent form. evangelization at this moment because We take the liberty in advance of the we are favored with the advance issue of the book in America to make sheets of a deeply interesting book by some extracts. We have alluded to Rev. Edgerton R. Young, relating his the natural eloquence of these rude personal experiences as a missionary races, whose oratory has on occasion among the Cree and Salteaux Indians risen to the highest level. Mr. Young of the extreme North land. Mr. had gone to a tribe which had never Young, with his estimable wife, heard the gospel, and summoned them spent nine years among them in a to a council to seE' if they were disposed state of practical exile from the civ- to become Christians. The principal chief, according to their unwritten " Missionary, once my hair was laws of precedence, spoke first. His black as a crow's; now it is getting voice was good and fuIl of pathos. He said: white. Gray hairs here, and grand- children in the wigwam, tell that I am " Missionary, I have long lost faith getting to be an old man, and yet I in our old paganism." Then pointing never heard such things as you have cdown to the outer edge of the audi- told us to-day. I am so glad I did not ence, where some old conjurers and die before I heard this wonderful medicine-men were seated, he said: story. Yet I am getting old. Gray " They know I have not cared for our hairs here, and grandchildren yonder, .old religion. I have neglected it. tell the story. Stay as long as you And I will tell you, missionary, why I can, missionary; tell us much of these have not believed our old paganism things, and when you have to go for a long time. I hear God in the away, come back soon, for I have thunder, in the tempest, and in the grandchildren, and I have gray hairs, .storm; I see His power in the light- and I may not live many winters ning that shivers the tree to kindling more. Do come back soon. Mission- wood; I see His goodness in giving us ary, may I say more?" the moose, the reindeer, the beaver and the bear; I see His loving kind- " Talk on. I am here to listen," said ness in giving us, when the South the missionary. "You said just now winds blow, the ducks and geese; and 'No tawenan' (our Father)." "Yes, I when the sno~ and ice melt away, did say our Father." "That is very cand our lakes and rivers are open new and very sweet to us. We never again, I see how He fills them with thought of the Great Spirit as our fish. I have watched these things for Father. We heard Him in the years, and I see how during every thunder, and saw Him in the lightmoon of the year He gives us some- ning and tempest and blizzard, and we thing; and so He has arranged it, that were afraid. So when you tell us of if we are only industrious and careful, the Great Spirit as Father, that is very we can always have something to eat. beautiful to us." Lifting up his eyes, So, thinking about these things which after a moment, to the missionary, he I had observed, I made up my mind said: "May I say more?" " Yes," he years ago that this Great Spirit, so answered, "say on." " You say , No kind and so watchfuI and so loving, tawenan' (Our Father). He is your did not care for the beating of the Father? " "Yes," said the missionary, conjurer's drum, or the shaking of the "He is my Father." Then he said, rattle of the medicine-man. So I for while his eyes and voice yearned for years have had no religion." Then, 'the answer, "Does it mean He is my turning to the missionary, he said: Father-poor Indian's Father?" "Yes, "Missionary, what you have said to-' oh yes, He is your Father, too." said day fills up my heart and satisfies all the missionary. "Your Father-misits ~ongings. It is just what I have sionary's Father and Indian's Father, been expecting to hear about the too? " " Yea," said the missionary. Great Spirit. I am so glad you have "Then we are brothers," he shouted. come with this wonderful story. Stay "Yes, we are brothers," said the misas long as you can, and when you sionary. have to go away, do not forget us, but .come again as soon as you can." The excitement in the audience became wonderful. But the old man Many more responded. The last to had not yet finished. He said: speak wasanold man withgrizzly hair. He was a queer, savage-looking man, "May I say more?" "Yes, say on; and spoke in an excited way. He said: all that is in your heart," was the reply. "Well," the Indian resumed, " I do not want to be rude, but it does seem to me that you, my white and beaver, and other things to exbrother, have been a long time in coming with that great book and its change for :flour and tea." wonderful story, to tell it to your red brothers in the woods." "What have you got, pOCl>r woman?" "I have got a couple of fish nets." Among the many incidents recorded "What do you do when it is too in this volume is a thrilling one of stormy to visit the nets?" Christian Indians volunteering to "Sometimes some of the men from carry food relief to some white settlers the other houses visit them for me, far" in the north, shut away from sup- and bring me fish. Then we some-" plies by the prevalence of the small- times get some by fishing through the pox. It was a long and perilous ice." journey, with risk of contagion. ~he " What about when it is too stormy expedition was well conducted by an for anyone to go?" Indian named Samuel, but thoug-h he She quietly said, "If we have nothbrought back all his force in good con- ing left we go without." dition, the strain had been too much The missionary hurried out of the for him, and, nervously prostrated, he room to stifle his emotion, but the soon died. His death, however, was a woman, suspecting the feelings of his happy one. His widow and children heart, followed him out and said: were cared for, but after a time re- "Ayumeaoke (Praying master), I do moved to a distant settlement, where not want you to feel so badly for me; it. Mr. Young subsequently found them is true I am very poor; it is true, since in great need. Looking at their ex- Samuel died we have often been very treme poverty the following colloquy hungry, and have often suffered from ensued: the bitter cold; but, missionary, you have heard me say that Samuel gave. "Nancy, you seem to be very his heart to God, so have I given my poor; you don't seem to have any- heart to God, and He who comforted thing to make you happy and com- Samuel and helped him, so that hefo$ble. " died happily, is my Saviour; and where Samuel has gone, by-and-by I Very quickly came the response, in am going too, and that thought makes much more cheerful strains than those me happy all the day long." of the missionary. Of course, her necessities were re- lieved by the care and thought of the "I have not got much, but I am not mISSIOnary. We have no room for unhappy, missionary." extracts showing the cost at which this missionary work was done, the· "You poor creature," he said, "you long privations, exposure to severe don't seem to have anything to make weather, and danger from vindictive you comfortable." heathen tribes; nor can we quote the" fascinating stories for young people "I have but little" she said quietly. about the canoe and dog-sled adven- "Have you any venison?" "Nol" tures. "Have you any flour?" "Nol" "Have you any tea 1" "No!" The Worship of Words. "Have you any potatoes?" When this last question was uttered A brother wrote us recently ask-" the poor woman looked up, and said, ing the meaning of the words, Om, " I have no potatoes, for don't you re- Manee Padme, Hom, found in Armember, at the time of the potato nold's •• Light of Asia. " We replied planting, Samuel took charge of the that we doubted if anybody on earth brigade, that went up with provisions knows. One authority renders the to save the poor white people. And meaning as "Oh, the Jewel on the· Samuel is not here to shoot deer, that I may have venison; and Samuel is not here to. catch mink and marten Lotus I" and Dr. Hooker translates it, forth, becomes forever the means of "Hail to him of the Lotus alid the the worsliip and knowledge of Brah- Jewel." Cheeboo Lama says the six rna." syllables represent the six states of future existence. The first represent- Once the idea of sacredness starled ing Lha, or the state of the gods; the in relation to words, and there is no second, Mee, or the state of human existence; the third, Lhamayin, or end to the coinage of such, whether the state of neutral and mischievous in the sacred incantations of the spirits, to which men who die in war Egypti:'m Book of the Dead, the Hindu are regenerated; the fourth, Tendo or Ram Ram, or the Roman Catholic Ave Dado, the state of beasts in which lazy and indifferent Buddhists are born Maria, or the unspeakable but not unagain; the fifth, Yedag, or the state of thinkable words of the Ancient Parsee wretched demons in a condition of suf- sacred books. fering; the sixth, Myalwur, or the state of punishment. Those born in Ohurch Dis-establishment in Brazil that state are exposed to tortures, heat, cold, thirst; those sent there for abus- The following is the text of the de- . ing the priesthood are born with long tongues, perpetually lacerated with cree with regard to the Church estabploughshares. The constant repetition of these six syllables closes the en- lishment in Brazil: trance of the six states of metempsychosis, and procures Nirvana. "Article 1. The Federal authorities, as well. as the different Confederate States, are pro- But a writer in the East has re- hibited from making laws, rules, regulations, cently pointed out the tendency in or any administrative acts establishing a human nature to worship sound or religion. speech, independent altogether of the meaning it conveys, and because of its "Article 2. To all people is given the privimysteriousness. The thunder and lege of exercising their religious cults in acstorm have been thus worshipped, and cordance with thetr belief, and they are not to speech has been deified under the be interrupted or disturbed in such devotions, name of voice (vach, vox), and Hindu either private or public, which belong to this tunes have. been deified as gods and privilege. goddesses. Words have been singled out because of oddness or potency as "Article 3. This liberty not only embraces divine or demoniacal. The East is full individuals in their individual acts, but also of them, and the West has them churches, associations, and institutions in buried in its folk-lore. Scott's "Lay which they are employed, all having full right of the Last Minstrel" beautifully illus- to unite themselves and live in accordance with trates this in the wonl,s which he dare their creed without interference from. the pubnot utter lest the Abbey be wrecked lic powers. about him. Thus the syllable" Om," or in Sanskrit form, "Aum," has been "Article 4. Patronage, resources, and pre- rogatives of all religious institutions are heremade to stand for "A," "U," and "M," by extinguished.
representing the triad, Brahma,Vishnu "Article 5. The right is recoguized of ali' and Siva. churches and religious orders to acquire and administer estates under limits made by the "Om" is especially a word of power. laws concerning corporations, grantingto each Meditating on it or muttering it, one one the right to ownership in property, as well becomes Brahma. "By the Om, the as the use of buildings for worship. supreme light of the ether, which is within the heart, starts, rises, breathes "Article 6. The Federal Government will continue to furnish ecclesiastical revenue and support for the actual personnel of the Catho- lic Church, and in other institutions will sub- sidize for one year the professorships in the seminaries, it being at the option of each State to recognize in the future the ministers of this or any other religion where they do not run contrary to the preceding articles in this de- cree.
"Article 7. All acts to the contrary are here- by revoked."-Brazilian Missions.
The International Missionary Union.
The International Missionary Union will hold its Seventh Annual Meeting at Clifton Springs, New York, June 11th to 18th, inclu- sive, 1890. Free entertainment will be pro-
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
vided for all foreign missionaries, or persons lator of the Scriptures at Bangkok. The Ex- who have heen foreign missionaries, of what- ecutive Committee are: Dr. J. L. Phillips, Rev. ever evangelical society, or board, or field. :l1essrs. M. B. Comfort, C. W. Park, Benj. Memhership in the Union is open to all such Helm, and J. A. Davis; Miss C. H. Daniells, persons and includes no others. Candidates M. D., and Mrs. M. E. Ranney. Treasurer, Prof. under actual appointment to the foreign field M. N. Wyckoff; Librarian, Rev. James Mudge. of any evangelical organization are earnestly invited to attend, and will also be freely en- It was resolved at the Binghamton Meeting tertained, as far as provision can be made. It to establish a Circulating MiSSionary Library will not be practicable to provide for the at- for the benefit of the memhers of the Union. tendance of children of missionaries. The following volumes were contributed as a nucleus of what it was thought might grow to A special rate offare (one fare and one-third) be a very useful and valuable collection: " over certain railroads (' 'Trunk Line" territory, and perhaps the Southern Passenger Associ- :rhe Great. V'!-lue and Success of Foreign ation and others), can he obtained at any im- )fISSIOns. Llggms. portant station on the conceding roads, and must be certified by the agent selling it, and Roport of the London MiSSionary Confer- on retnrn by the Secretary of the Union. The ence. 2 vols. ticket must be bought not earlier than June 8th, and not later than June 13th, and on re- Report of the Calcutta Missionary Confer- turn not aft"r June 21st,and must be a through ence. ticket on the conceding lines only; no stop- over. There must he at least 50 ticket·holders The Missionary Year-Book. Vol. I., 1889. at the meeting, to secure the deduction of two- Letters from India. Rev. H. J. Bruce. thirds return fare. The Natural History of the Marathi Bible. Rev. H. J. Bruce. The programme of this meeting cannot yet Among the Turks. Dr. Cyrus Hamlin. be furnished. The papers and discussions are Ann H. Judson. Dr. W. N. Wyeth. always on topics of special practical concern SarahB. Judson. Dr. W. N. Wyeth. to missionaries; but numerous addresses will India. Dr. J. T. Gracey. be made of a character interesting to the gen- China. Dr. J. T. Gracey. eral public, who are always cordially wel- Open Doors. Dr. J. T. Gracey. comed. Missionaries are requested "to com- Woman's )fedical Work in Foreign Lands. municate with either the President or the 1I1rs. J. T. Gracey. Secretary, to obtain further particulars, as Africa in a Nutshell. Rev. G. Thompson. well as to make suggestions as to topics, Memorial Papers of the American Marathi -papers, or addresses. If any would like to -discuss some particular subject themselves, Mis~ion. :provided suitable arrangements can be made, ·or if they know of any missionaries specially Further donations to the Library from ,qualified to present papers before the Union, members of the Union and other friends are or to address popular meetings, the President respectfully solicited. Will not all authors -will be glad of such information. among the members see that a copy of their works is sent as soon as possible to the Libra- The roll of the Union (organized in 1884) now rian? It is hoped that during the coming year 'includes 179 names, representing 18 different a beginning may be made of circulating these denominations and societies, Canadian, Ameri- volumes through the mail to such of the memcan and British, and at least 23 distinct fields. bers as may wish them. The plan is for the Its Vice-Presidents are: Cyrus Hamlin, D. D., person desiring to read any volume to send to founder of Rohert College, Constantinople; the Librarian the amount of postage required S. L. Baldwin, D. D., one of the Mission-Secre· to dispatch it by mail, and then in a month to taries of the American Methodists; and William Dean, D. D., the veteran Baptist trans- return it, postpaid, by the same channel. The Librarian is Rev. James Mudge, of East Pep. perell, Mass.
Inquiries concerning the approaching meet ing at Clifton Springs, or on any subject con- cerning the International Missionary Union, will he answered with pleasure by J. T. GRACEY, D. D., President, 183 Greenwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York WILLIAM H. BELDEN, Secretary, Bridgeton, New Jersey, V.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY REV. F. F. ELLINWOOD, D.D.
The Great Afrioan Mission Field. once and a half that of the United No other country is attracting so States from New York to San Franmuch attention as Africa. For many cisco. If it were divided by an east generations most of it has been con- and west line, running a little north sidered an unknown land, and even of the equator, the northern portion yet there is generally but a slight ap- would receive all North America, and prehension of its vast extent. Its the southern would embrace all Eugreatest width from east to west is rope, including Russia. The population is estimated by Mr. Stanley at of eastern Soudan. It bears north- 250,000,000. This is not to be compared in density with India or China, ward that annual tribute which for but it is far greater than has been supposed. Six hundred languages and ages has made Egypt the granary of dialects are spoken, of which not more than one in six is a vehicle of the word the East. ·of God. The fourth great river, theZambesi, The coast line of Africa throughout nearly its whole extent is low and gen- receiving the waters of the Nyassa erally insalubrious, but the interior is, for the ]Lost part, a vast table-land, and the Shire, passes over the great with mountain ranges which, in one {)r two instances, rise nearly two thou- cataracts to which it has given its .sand feet. name, and flows eastward into the No river in the world, unless it be the Amazon, equals the Congo in Indian Ocean. It is a remarkable volume. It is said to be thirty times as great as that of the Mississippi. It fact that the Congo, Nile, and Zambesi has no such breadth as the Amazon at its mouth, and instead of emptying find their sources all within a limited through the channels of a great delta .like the Ganges or the Niger which area of high table-lands, though they ·embraces three hundred miles of coast, it pours over a long succession of discharge their waters into widely disfalls and rapi~, and thence rushes to the sea through a deep-cut channel, tant seas. with a current well nigh resistless. Through its lower stretch it has Since the discoveries of Krapf and scooped the bottom of its channel till it is said to measure miles in depth; On Rebman, and the wonderful achievethe Upper Congo, including branches, there are five thousand miles of navi- ments of Livingstone and Stanley, all ,gable waters opening up in all directions a great interior basin of almost Europe has been enkindled with the unequalled fertility, and inhabited by not less than fifty millions of people. spirit of African discovery. For a Besides the Congo, three other great rivers and many smaller ones drain century previous there had been octhe great interior table-lands and -empty their waters into the sea. casional expeditions, but the explora- The Niger, rising in the country tions of the last two decades have back of Liberia, makes a circuit northward and eastward, draining the probably been equal to all that had western Soudan, and joined at length by the Benue, which flows westward previously been made. from the region south of Lake Tchad. It proceeds southwar4i to the Gulf of The following list of discoveries, for Guinea. which I am largely indebted to Rev. Dr. R. R. Booth, presents the principal The Nile, which has never been ex- African explorations down to Stanley's plored in its sources until within the discovery of the Congo: last twenty years, is the outlet of the great Equatorial Lakes and the waters Bruce, in 1768, explored the Blue Nile and Abyssinia.
Horneman, in 1798, reached Fezzan by way of Cairo.
Burkhardt, in 1812, visited Suakim and Dondola.
Captain Luckey, in 1816, explored the Congo for 200 miles.
Denham and Clapperton, in 1822, penetrated the desert from Tripoli to Lake Tchad. In 1825, they. passed from Guinea to Socotoo.
1I:1ajor Laing, in 1826, marched from Tripoli to Timbuctoo.
Clapperton and Lander, in 1827, ex- plored the south shore of Lake Tchad.
11:1. Cailli, in 1827, passed from Mo- rocco to Samagambia.
The Lander Brothers, jn 1830, ex- plored the Niger.
Laird and Oldfield, in 1833, also visited the Niger.
Engliflh Niger Expedition, in 1841, attended by missionaries.
Barth, Richardson, and Overweg, in 1849, passed from Tripoli to Lake Tchad.
Livingstone, in 1849, visited the Makalolos from the south. Egyptian Expedition, about 1850, up tended by the murder of Bishop Harthe Nile to 4° N. L. rington; the new conquests of Samadu, and of Islam in Western Soudan; the Krapf and Rebman, 1850, entered discoveries and.telTitorial occupations by Mombas and discovered Mount Kili- of DeBrazza on the Ogovie; the manjaro, and heard of the Lake Coun- strange fortunes of Emin Pasha; the try. founding of the Congo Free State; and the very latest achievements and dis- Anderson, 1850-54, explored South coveries of Henry M. Stanley. Africa from Cape Town, and discovered Lake N'gami, S. Lat. 21°. The Congo Free State demands fuller consideration. The king of the Bel- Livingstone, in 1852, discovered the gians, supported by the Geographical Falls of the Zambesi. Societies of Europe and the admiring sympathy of the civilized world, has Edward Vogel, in 1853, joined Barth interested himself in the opening up at Lake Tchad. of Central Africa to the interests of Livingstone, 1853, crossed Africa, and in 1858 discovered Lake Nyassa commerce and Christian mISSIOns· and the Shire Valley. and all the elements of a humane and Christian civilization. Burton and Speke, 1857-59, discovered Lake Tanganika. In the prosecution of this great en- terprise the leadership of Mr. Stanley Speke and Grant, 1859, discovered has been engaged, and the co-opera- Lake Victoria, Nyanza. tion of the different European powers has been enlisted. Agreements were Samuel Baker, 1861, discovered entered into exempting a vast terri- Albert Nyanza. tory from encroachment, and enabl- ing King Leopold to make and enforce Livingstone, in 1866, discovered treaties with the native tribes for the Lakes Moero and Bangweola. preservation of a general peace and harmony. The King is now virtually Schweinfurth, 1869-71, explored the the sovereign of the Congo Free State, Nyam-Nyam country, and discovered and is expending annually hundreds the Wells River. of thonsands of dollars from his private resources in the prosecution Stanley, in 1870, found Livingstone of his noble plans. at Ujiji, on Lake Tanganika. The Christian churchesof the world Muncie and Petherick, about 1870, explored the Upper Nile and the Bah- have been welcomed to the mission rel-Ghazil. fields of the Congo, and several socie- Gordon and Long, about 1870, ex- ties have established their stations plored the two great branches of the upon its waters. There are now said Nile. to be thirty small steamers plying above the falls, of which several are Livingstone, in 1874, died near Lake connected with missionary work. Bangweola. Of the different missionary organi- Stanley, in 1875, visited Mtesa's zations, the English Baptists, among kingdom, having advanced to the east the first, if not the very first, to ocside of Lake Albert, and in 1876 he cupy the country, is perhaps the passed westward into the interior. strongest. The American Baptist Union having received the mission Gamerou, 1874-76, crossed Africa to which was established by Dr. H. Benguela. Grattan Guinness and others, and known as the Congo Inland Mission, Stanley, August, 1877, arrived at now employs 29 missionaries, and Emboma, on the Lower Congo.
Since the discovery of the Congo more than forty expeditions have been sen~ into Africa by different na- tions, and many thrilling events have occulTed;-such as the overthrow of Arabi Pasha and the occupation of Egypt by Great Britain; the ill-fated mission of Gordon to Khartoom, and the bootless expedition up the Nile; the tragic career of El Mahdi; the varied and desperate encounters with Osman Digma; the Italian campaigns about Massowa; the struggles of British arms in South Africa, and the tragedy of the French Prince Im- perial; the death of Mtesa and the cruel persecutions of Mwanga, atits work is prosperous. The Metho- nificent government road, with tele- dist Congo Mission, under the direc- graphic communication and military tion of Bishop Taylorl has made a stations along the line. In the equa- vigorous beginning, and quite recently torial regions also, including Gaboon the Southern Presbyterian Church of and the Ogovie, with a territorial the United, States has sent a devoted claim extending along the northern young man with a colored assistant to bank of the Upper Congo, she holds lay the foundations of a mission some- a territory numbering 240,000 square where in the great valley. His ex- miles. The aggregate of these three ample in leaving high social at- protectorates is three times the size of tractions in the South to devote France.
himself to the colored races of Cen- 3. Germany hasannexed West Cam- tral Africa, is a proof that whatever aroons, and a vast territory in south- ground may be taken in the Southern western Africa, embracing Demerara churches in regard to the color line, and Namaqualand, whose united coast there are not wanting those who line extends 900 miles. Besides this, cherish the Christlike spirit of love Germany holds a vast territory in East toward the African. Africa, lying between Zanzibar and There has within the last few years Lakes Tanganiyka and Victoria Ny- been great rivalry on the part of anza.
European powers in gaining posses- 4. Great Britain has held permanent sion of Africa. In the words of Dr. possession of the Cape of Good Hope Guinness, to whom I am indebted for since 1795, and her various possessions many facts, "the whole coast has of Cape Colony, Cafraria, Natal, and been literally besieged by protector- last of all Zambesia, have been added.
ates." A railroad is now being projected two The following is the present situa- thousand miles from the Cape to the tion: Zambesi River. England also claims 1. Portugal holds large territories as large territory extending from on the west coast below the mouth of Mombas on the east coast above Zanzi- the Congo, besides its claim to Mozam- bar to the lake Victoria Nyanza, in- bique and territories extending west- . cluding the beautiful mountain region ward till they meet those of the west Kilimanjaro. She also holds a coast <coast. These claims are being seri- line of 400 miles in the Somali country, ously challenged, and important con- opposite Aden. She holds a virtual cessions have of late been made to protectorate of Egypt, besides posses- Great Britain in the region of the sions on the west coast at Sierra Leone.
Zambesi and Lake Nyassa. 5. The Italian Government, by pursu- 2. The French have held possession ing a vigorous policy on the west coast Df Algeria since their conflict with the of the Red Sea, has gained a strong- Riff pirates in 1831. Algeria is larger hold at Magada, and seems likely to than France, and has cost her some exert a dominant influence over Abys- hundreds of thousands of men and sinia.
$1,200,000,000 in money. It is a strong Two great questions, affecting the colony and is i~habited by a manly moral and religious future of Africa, race. A French protectorate, which are of such vast import as well nigh to looks towards annexation, is also ex- baffle the wisdom and the faith of tended over Tunis. France also claims Christian men: The Slave Trade and two hundred thousand square miles in the Liquor Traffic.
the region of the Senegal and the The fornler has been the topic of dis- Gambia. This large territory extends cussion in the great International Con- €astward to the waters of the Niger, ference recently convened in Brus- and is connected therewith by a mag- sels. That the problem of its suppression is notan easy one, a single example to suppress the introduction of liquor will show. and fire-arms into certain groups of the Pacific Isles, where terrible havoc It is said that Tippoo Tib, whose pow- was being produced, the State Depart- er is yet unchallenged on the Upper ment at Washington refused to join. Congo, commands 2,000 men, armed Public sentiment in Europe has not. with Winchester rifles. It is their credited our Government with the business to raid the villages through- highest and purest motives for this re- out a wide range of country for the fusal, nor has it hesitated to declare acquisition of slaves. Pillage, slaugh- that the responsibility of failure rests. ter, fire and devastation are merely with the United States and Germany. incidents in the work of capture. The terrible journey to the coasts is a What the Conference at Brussels has. sequel, and the business must be ex- accomplished in reference to the liquor tensive enough to cover a large per traffic, is to affect an agreement that cent. of deaths by the way, and an oc- beyond the present coast belt-rather casional loss by rescue. How shall a broad one unfortunately-the liquor this evil be reached at its source? importations shall not extend. This is something to be thankful for, and 'Ve understand that the Conference it points to the interior as the most. has agreed: First. That where it is pos- hopeful mission field. It affords an sible, the tribes concerned in the raid- answer also to those-some of them ing shall be held responsible. Second. Christian men-who have been ready Any tribe through whose territory a to conclude that Mohammedanism, slave caravan passes shall be held to with its strong prohibition of all inaccount. Third. The chief in whose toxicants, would, for the present at territory on the coasts the shipment least, offer a better evangel to Cenof slaves occurs shall also be dealt tral Africa than our Christian faith with. Fourth. The police of the sea coupled with the vices of Christendom. shall be maintained by the joint effort of the European powers. In any view, the outlook of Africa. is mixed with light and shade. Its It may confidently be hoped that problems are too great for human these measures will greatly curtail wisdom; too great for the Conference the desolations of this horrible traffic of the Powers. in flesh and blood. More than this cannot be expected till European Unfortunately, the Mohammedan philanthropy can draw the ligatures slave traders of Africa have two of repression more closely and strangle words which they may hurl back the hydra in its inmost retreats. with terrible force in the face of Chris- tian nations: "Opium!" "Rum! " And In regard to the liquor traffic, the they are not careful to discriminate problem is still more difficult. In this between Christianity and Christencase it is the civilized powers them- dom. They take ~o account of any selves that are the offenders. The difference between the counsels and dark tide of poison that deluges the prayers of the missionary societies. the coasts of Africa flows from so- in Boston and the agnosticism and called Christian lands. The Govern- whiskey of the distilleries not far away ments of Great Britain, France, and which are under contract to supplyfor' Germany.are ready to capture slave the African trade 3,000 gallons per day ships on the Red Sea-are they pre- for seven years. pared to confront the liquor interests of their own realms? Is there any way then for the Chris- tian church but to look away to the The attitude of the United States is hills whence cometh her help? It is still more doubtful. In 1885, when the time for a concert of prayer for Great Britain, France, Italy, and Aus- Africa. A greater burden was never tria were ready to unite in an effort brought to the mercy seat.
E;DITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPIQS
VI.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
Comparative Destitution in Christian American missionary in Sweden, and Pagan Lands. writes us: The venerable Dr. McCosh remarks "I am astonished at reading one that in the contempl~tion bf the waste sentence in a letter which you pub- of resources by want of church union, lished in the liarch number (page 214) while not only in heathen countries of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE but in our own great cities there are WORLD, and am very sorry that you multitudes who have not had the gos- should allow it to go out to your pel preached to them, he fears that thousands of readers without com- the judgment of Heaven may descend ment. The writer, in speaking of the upon the churches. He counsels the drink curse in Africa, says: 'The forming of a Federation in America amazing thing is that all this traffic to see that the whole country be di- [the rum trade in Old Calabar, West vided into parishes or districts, each Africa,] is conducted, in the main, by to be provided with a gospel minister not over a dozen firms, the members of and a lay agency put under obliga- which are most excellent men, many tions to have the gospel preached to of them, I believe, sincere Christians.'
every creature, young and old. He " Do, I beg of you, say to your read- will be glad to correspond with those ers, that you do not endorse such a who are ready to carry out this view. sentiment. It is high time to protest This is a suggestion in the right di- a against the doctrine of some of our rection. There is everywhere a mani- English friends-that man can be a fest disproportion between the differ- Christian and at the same time deal ent local fields. In Africa, at least out death and damnation to his fellow- 150,000,000 of people are entirely men!"
destitute of all knowledge of the gos- It is scarcely necessary to say that pel. The Soudan districts and the an editor is not to be held personally Congo Free State are absolutely with- responsible for all the sentiments ex- out the gospel. In Siam 13 Presby- pressed by his correspondents. In this terian missionaries, including women, instance we felt that our highly re- are the sole force for evangelizing the spected correspondent stretched his native Siamese and Laos population! charity beyond proper bounds. We These are two instances of the im- are not willing to believe that the man mense vacancies in heathen fields. I who traffics in liquor, asa drink, in this spoke in a village of Scotland having enlightened age, is a "sincere Chris- a population of about 1,200-800 of tian," or a Christian in any sense.
which are of a church-going age, and And the sin is the greater, incompar- there are five churches and as many ably, when a British or an American ministers! One, or, at most, two merchant holds out the temptation ministers could care for the entire and inflicts the ruin coollyand deliber- population and leave the others free ately upon the poor benighted African, to go to these vast vacancies of hea- in his heathen ignorance and degra- thendom, and leave the money that dation. The slave traffic and the rum those other church edifices cost free to traffic are twin curses, and no really be expended in foreign fields. God good man can have anything to do will surely hold us accountable for with either, save to pray and strive the immense waste of resources im- for their overthrow. J. M. S.
plied in maintaining so many -There are two pictures Stanley loves to draw. The first is Mohamchurches simply in the interests of medanism overrunning North Africa from Guardafui to Cape Juby, where sectarianism! A. T. P.
-An indignant correspondeut, an the gospel of force is triumphant and the standard of the crescent is planted. [On the 12th of May 1889, four men He pictures the followers of Mahomet met to hold a consecration prayer- advancing on their fleet dromedaries, meeting in my study, at Philadelphia. coursers of Yeman, and white asses of One of them was George S. Fisher, Arabia, against Paganism, with the the Y. M. C. A. Secretary of Kansas; fierce cry of "Death to the Unbeliev- one was Mr. Nash, who filled a like er-there is no God but God, and post in Nebraska; another was Rev. Mahomet is His prophet." He graph- T. C. Horton, of St. Paul Y. M. C. A., ically describes how terror precedes and the fourth was the writer. God them, death accompanies them, deso- laid his hand in a marked manner on lation follows them, and disease marks each of the four from that day on. their course. The Libyan desert and Those three men from the Northwest the Sahara are traversed by these in- returned to their respective fields, and vincible and dauntless Arabs until the in each of those fields there began a Equator is reached, when they have mighty movement in the direction of to succumb to the mysterious changes pioneer missions to the regions beyond. of nature and retire baffled, leaving The same answerer of prayer disthe southern half of Africa to other lodged one from my church in Philaand higher influences. delphia to undertake a crusade for missions among the churches, and The other picture is of a more mod- made the other three the pioneers of ern period. From the Cape of Good missions in the great States of the Hope advances a meek and humble Northwest. From Topeka, Kan., follower of the Cross, who penetrates February 3, 1890, there has gone forth towards the untraveled wilds of Southern Africa to seek the heathen in his the following communication. Let home. He hails him as a brother. every reader ponder well this signal He tells him of a loving Father in of the moving of God's pillar of cloud heaven, and of redemption through and fire.-A. T. P.] Christ. He repeats the song of Bethlehem: "Peace on earth and good All our readers will be interested in hearing will towards men." He travels over something about the three young men, Messrs. 30,000 miles, and dUling his thirty- Mails, Helmick and Kingman, who have left two years' labor discloses to Christen- the Association work of Kansas to give their dom one million square miles of inner lives to the work of spreading the joyful Aftica. All on whom he gazed, with tidings in the dark Soudan districts of Africa those eyes radiant with loving fellowship, he blessed with the view of a Since the "great meeting," at Topeka, good man made perfect by trial in the October 16-20, 1889, they have spent the time wilderness. At last he surrenders his in traveling, and have conducted missionary life at Bangweolo, loving and loved, meetings in nearly all the larger cities and blessing and blessed. There was colleges of Kansas, besides having spent about pomp and majesty in the proud ad- six weeks in work outside of the State, visitvance of Mahomet north of the Equa- ing, among other places, the following cities: tor, but the picture of the lone Chris- Chicago; St. Louis; St. Paul and Minneapolis, tia~ wandering in these untrodden 'in Minnesota; Eau Claire and Milwaukee, in wilds of Southern Africa is almost Wisconsin; South Bend, Indianapolis and divine. Stanley then adds:" I was Greencastle, in Indiana; Fayettville and Fort the last of David Livingstone's race Smith, in Arkansas. It has pleased the Lord and color who talked with him, and to own, in a wonderful manner, the labors of my desire is to take up his work with these brethren during these weeks, and many the view of redeeming Africa from its have been led to the Lord Jesus Christ in the forlornness and squalid poverty-in- meetings conducted by them, while the hearts itiating true missionary enterprise." of not a few of God's children have been deeply stirred.
Speaking from a human standpoint, it is truly marvelous how these brethren have been provided "ith all things needful as they have gone about from city to city, and from State to State. Of course, they had no means of their own with -:hich to cover the expenses of their tour, and so, during the first week or two, collections for their benefit were taken they have word from Kingman, after his in the meetings conducted; but it was very arrival in Africa. ,evident that this only tended to detract from the spiritual power of the meetings, and the [I was present at the farewell meeting of the taking of collections was dropped. Since Wilmot-Brooke party in Exeter Hall. and was then they have traveled almost continually, called on to offer the consecrating prayer.- asking nothing whatever of men, depending A.T.P.] alone upon the Lord to supply all their needs, and never yet have they lacked for any of the Messrs. Mails and Helmick will still continue "good things" of this life, nor have they been their tour around the country, conducting delayed a single hour for want of money with missionary meetings, and already dates have which to meet railway expenses. Often, how- been arranged for until during March, cover- ever, the Lord has permitted them to go to ing appointments in Arkansas, Ohio, Pennsyl- the depot without a cent in their pockets, but vania and Maine. On the 14th inst. they will always, before the train pulled out, although be joined by Mr. Frank M. Gates, for some sometimes at the very last moment, the neces- time past gymnasium superintendent and sary money has been provided. (phil. 4:19.) acting secretary of the Topeka Association, In addition to supplying the needs of these who will leave for the Soudan with them. It men as they have journeyed about the country, is also probable that Mr. Roy Codding, of York, the Lord has used their words to touch the Neb., will join the party at the same time. hearts of His people; one man in Kansas offered $125 towards the passage of one man Two of the young men from the Y. M. C. A. for the Soudan, and, in St. Louis, the ladies of at St. Paul will sail for Africa with the Kansas one of the churches offer to become responsible men, and intend going to the Upper Congo for the support of two of the Soudan mission- country, to prepare the way for" The Upper aries. We could add many other testimonies Congo Missionary Colony, " which has recently along this line to show that the King has set been ~rganized at St. Paul, as a direct result His seal of approval on the efforts of these of the interest in missionary matters awakened His servants, as they have tried to present the in the Association work there. . " world-wide Gospel." The Lord has seemed to make it plain to the Word was received a few weeks since, that Kansas missionaries for the Soudan, that it was Mr. Graham Wilmot-Brooke, of England, a His will that they should sever their connec- 'young man who has traveled a great deal in tion in this movement with Dr. Guinness. the Soudan, was about to leave again for that Some of the reasons for this are : "country, and he kindly invited the Kansas missionaries for the Soudan to have one of 1. That while in a certain sense, Dr. Guin- their number meet him in England before he ness' missionary work is undenominational, sailed, and, if possible, set sail with him. yet it was found that the men who were at ,After much waiting before the Lord, it seemed the head of his training institutes, both in this to be His will that one of the men should go, country and in England, were all members of as a forerunner in this movement; thus it was the same denomination, and the doctor him- that on Wednesday, January 29, Mr. E. self stated, that while the Boston institute is Kingman set sail from New York for the undenominational, yet its main object is the Soudan, going by way of England. 'trainil',g of missionaries for one of the denomi- national missions on the Congo. 2. It was The following telegram was received from found, that while Dr. Guinness has been the agent of the steamship company by whose wonderfully used of the Lord in the caus..,f line Mr. Kingman sailed: missions, yet, so far as the e:;perience of t'Le Kansas young men went, he did not seem to " To-day has seen, in the departure of King- be able to handle the details of this movement, man for the Soudan, the beginning of what is which seemed to them a matter of great going to be the greatest missionary movement Importance. 3. After conference with persons of this century. God bless it, and the West in other parts of the country, the doctor con- where it started. Keep believing." cluded that he could not aceept, for the Soudan mission, money contributed by the missien And SO the Soudan missionary movement is bands of our State. no longer something talked of, but is now something real. Praise the Lordi Mr. King- These points, among others, led to a sepa- man will join the Wilmot-Brooke party at ration, which, however, was brought about Liverpool, and take ship with them for Africa. with the kindest feeling on both sides, and Mr. During the voyage out he will have ample Guinness yet shows a deep IIfnterest in the opportunity for conference with Mr. Brooke, work which the Kansas men hdtJe to do, and is, and other members of the party, and by the from time to time, giving such information time of arrival on the coast of Africa, he will as he can. have gained much valuable information in regard to the Soudan country, and will at once And now, may we not ask that every reader 'communicate with the othe~Kansas mission- will be much in prayer, that the Lord Himself :aries in regard to what to bring, etc., etc. will guide very clearly these of our brethren "They, of course, do not expect to set sail until whose hearts He has touched and filled with a desire to carry the Gospel to the neglected Soudan, the" regions beyond."
Yours, for" the uttermost part of the earth, " E. S. WALTON. Bedford, England.-A memorial and devour, now combine to rescue statue to John Howard-the great prison philanthropist and missionary and protect." A. T. P. to the criminal classes and the inmates of hospitals-is next year to be China.-The literary teacher in erected, at a cost of $15,000. The money is fast coming in. It will be China is called" The First-born," and borne in mind that one of the last requests of this disinterested man was is almost worshipped. Books written that no such memorial should be erected to him. And, in our judg- in the literary character may be read ment, that request should be sacredly regarded. If any monument should in every province of China, and even be built to his memory, would it not be better far to construct a model hos- in Japan, Korea and Mongolia. pital, and call it the "Howard Home?" Why waste money on a statue? Hence the vast power of a Christian Prohibition. – Prohibition Kansas literature in the Chinese tongue. Mishas 100,000 more population than Texas, which is under license. Kansas sionary work proper began with the has one penitentiary, with 966 prisoners, while Texas has two, with more cession of Hong Kong in 1843. Now ~han three times as many convicts. Is there any connection between the doors are open everywhere. The pubdrink traffic and the excess of crime? If prohibition does not prohibit drink, lic mind is getting free from prejudoes it lessen criminality? A judge with whom I stayed at Greenock, dices and dislikes of foreigners, and a Scotland, explained the absence of every form of liquors at his table, by truer notion prevails as to the characsaying that he used wines until he became a civil officer. When he ob- ter and unselfish aim of missionaries. served in court that nearly every case of offence against law was traceable Now, the law protects a man in the Ijp drink, he gave up the use of all trquors, fermented or distilled, and espousal of Christian faith. had since been a total abstainer. That man is ex-Provost Dugald Campbell. In Manchuria, William Burns was Captain H. B. Kennedy, Ballater, the pioneer, and now there is abundtold Rev. Wm. Robertson, who had been speaking on Missions in the Es- ant opening for 1,000 laborers. There tablished Church of Scotland: " I was the captain of the Ruby that took are 23,000,000 of people, and only 900 Bishop Sterling to Terra del Fuego, when he gathered the facts that over- converts, so far. Medical Missionswhelmed with surprise the mind of Charles Darwin, and led to his re- have especial promise in China, markable confession as to the success of Christian Missions. Those very where Benevolence is so prominently Terra del Fuegoes have now formed a , society for the rescue of shipwrecked taught as a leading principle of Conmariners.' Those who would a half century since have united to plunder fucianism.
Recently a prominent Chinese liter- ati came to the Missionaries and said: "I want a Saviour! Confucianism provides none; neither does Bud- dhism, or Taoism." In Christ he found the very Saviour he wanted.
Anti-Ohinese Legislation.
The enemies of the Chinese in this country seem determined to fill up the measure of their iniquity. Not con- tent with securing the passage of the "Scott Law," by which a solemn treaty between the governments of the United States and China was nul- lified, and 20,000 certificates entitling absent Chinamen to return to this country and to which the faith of this government was pledged, were repudi- ated, they delibeFately framed another "outra~eous and barbarous" scheme, as the Herald justly characterized it, and the House passed it without op- position. The object of this Enumer- ation Bill was to exclude absolutely all
PROGRESS OF MISSIONS-MONTHLY BULLETIN
Chinamen from this country; without moralized the Senate. And it was not regard to rank, character, occupation or the purpose of their coming. Mer- in vain. The Independent, of New chants, tourists, students, all, in fact, would be prohtbited from setting foot York, which, from the first, unsparin the United States. We had penned an indignant protest against such a ingly condemned the measure, thus shameless abomination, but before the cold type had put it in permanent voices the feeling and sentiment of the shape the welcome news came that the Senate had killed.the bill by so amend- nation, outside of a narrow circle of ing and eliminating its most offensive features, that its friends were politicians: willing to let it die. " The final result is a victory for the God be praised that the country has Christian sentiment of this country. been saved the shame and wrong of We rejoice in it. '];he Senate did not such an infamous measure. One can- dare to disregard this sentiment. And not read the provisions of this bill and for the present, at least, the tide of conceive how it was possible that the legislative persecution, as we may call popular bFanch of this nation could it, of the Chinese has been stopped. propose such a wanton violation of We trust that it will never come to a our treaties with China, and offersuch flood again. We hope to see it turned a flagrant insult to that great nation. and to see our National Legislature That the passage of the bill would engaged in undoing the wrong that have been followed by retaliatory has been committed in the Exclusi.on measures on the part of China, imperil- acts. ing the lives of our missionaries there and interrupting their work, and re- " What is needed now is an earnest· coiling on American commerce, is be- champion for the Chinese in each yond a doubt. House; some strong man gifted with the courage and perseverance of No more earnest protest was made Senator Blair, who would introduce a against the passage of the bill than repeal bill at every session and keep the that sent up by the New York Cham- subject constantly before Congress and ber of Commerce; and even the secu- the country. Wearesure that the Chrislar press, with few exceptions, spoke tian sentiment which has just shown out against it at the last. Likewise, its power so signally would express our leading Missionary Societies, the itself as openly and emphatically in American Bible Society, the Evangeli- favor of this repeal as it has expressed cal Alliance, and the Society of itself against the Deportation bill. It Friends, as well as several Confer- would, we are confident, rally to the ences of the M. E. Church, vigorously support of such a measure. protested and warned, and also me- The Exclusion acts are directly opposed to the whole policy of this nation from the time of the adoption of our Constitution down to the present. The sentiment of our Christian people does not object to the regulation of the immigration of the Chinese any more than it does to t~e regulation of the immigration from any other quarter; but it is opposed to the absolute exclusion of the natives of any country on the face of the earth. As our Government must sooner or later return to this sound policy, now is a good time to begin to agitate for the repeal of the Exclusion acts."-J. M. S.
VII.-PROGRESS OF MISSIONS: MONTHLY BULLETIN.
ACrlca.-An English Missionary among couraging, after one's dismal thoughts, to perthe Balolo tribes, on the Upper Congo, says: ceive the readiness with which the people " The people here are a very fine-looking race; listened to what was said to them, and their tall and well made, with intelligent counte- appreciation of it. We have certainly been nances, some of their features being far IIlQre guided as to settling in this place, by far the Enropean than negro. There are five native most populous district we have seen, and huts on the ground which have been bought. utterly untouched by the gospel. To-day, for We have also on the land some plantain trees, the first time in their lives, many of them a few pepper bushes and some maize, the be- have heard the good news." ginning of our future garden. It was qnite en- -" The end of the geographical feat is the beginning of the missionary enterprise." So wiII need the constant intercession of God's said Livingstone in reference to his own plans, people on their behalf. At Matadi there are and so it has proved in connection with the no less than three steamers for the Upper discoveries of Mr. Stanley. His first expedi- Congo besides the Pioneer, two of these are tion resulted in the opening of Uganda to the for the State, and one for the French house. Church Missionary Society, and of Lake One of the State steamers will be the largest Tanganyika to the London Society, and subse- on the Upper Congo.-Mis8. Notes from the quently his passage of the Congo prepared Congo. the way for not less than half a dozen mission- ary societies to enter into that formerly -The grant ofan immense territory along unknown region. Shall not his last crossing the Zambesi River in Africa has been made to of the continent start some new missionary the Duke of Fife and some English colleagues. expedition for the redemption of Africa?- The region embraces nearly three hundred Missionary Herald. thousand square miles, and is very rich, both as to soil and mines. Tile company has power -Lieut. Werner, recently returned from to abolish slavery and restrict the liquor traf- the Congo, said that when he was at Stanley fic in its domains. Missionary work will be as Falls, just before Major Barttelot was killed, free here as in India.-The Helping Hand. Tippoo Tib had a large quantity of ivory, which he would not dispose of for anything -The Basle Mission Magazine gives a ~but gunpowder, and this he could not get then. compreheusive statement as to South African Eventually he sold it to a trader, and Lieut. missions: These missions deserve notice as Werner afterwards met hundreds of barrels of exceptionally strong, and ere the century powder being taken up to pay for the ivory. closes it is probable that Christianity will hold This powder would no doubt be used in raids the predominant position south of the Zam- upon the natives. As to the liquor trade, it besi. We give some of the statistics of tbe was one of the greatest curses under which missions: Rhenish, 30 missionaries, 6,384 com- Africa was at present laboring. This question municants. Berlin, 53 missionaries, 9,763 com- could be much more easily dealt with than municants. Hermanusburg, 52 missionaries, that of arms, as the importation of intoxicat- no statistics of communicants. Paris Evan- ing liquor could be prohibited or put under gelical Mission, 23 missionaries, 6,534 commu- high duties-the more so, as there were few nicants. Free Church of Scotland, 13mission- articles of African commerce which would aries, 3,779 communicants. United Presby- bear taxation. terian, 12 missionaries, 2,307 communicants. American Board, 14 missionaries, 979 com- -Upper Congo Steamers belonging to the municants. To these there are to be added State: "Stanley," "A. I. A.," "En Avant.," three missions of high importance, but which " Ville de Bruxelles," "Ville dQ Gand, " the Basle Resume does not notice, as their "Ville de Liege," "Ville de Charleroi" (the missionary and colonial statistics are not .last is coming); to the Baptist Missions: readily distinguished. These are, first, the S. " Peace, " "Henry Reed;" to the French P. G., which is carrying on with great zeal and House: "France;" to the' Dutch House: euergy a work not second to any. The Wesley- "Holland;" to the French State: "Olima;" an Missions are also most importaut and sucto the Belgian Company: "'Roi des Belges," cessful. To these is to be added the Dutch "General Sanford," HBaron 'Veber,H "¥lori- Reformed Church, which, under leaders such {la," "New York "-17 in all. On the lower as Andrew Murrayand others, is peuetrated by river are, belonging to the State: "Heron," an evangelical and evangelistic spirit, and is "Prince Baudouin," "Belgique," "Esper- doing a great native work. There are also the ance," "Camille Janssen " (the last is a steam Norwegian and Swedish missions inZululand; launch); to the English House: "Itumba;" long oppressed, now with larger promise. to the Dutch House: "Morian;" to the Portu- There is also the Finuish Lutheran Mission, guese House: "Luso."-African News. now under the German protectorate.-Ohurch Miss. Intelligencer. -Bishop Taylor's steamer will be put to- -The Swedish Missionary Society will gether and run on the Lower Congo. shortly send eleven new missionaries into the field, of whom seven are going to the Congo -A steamer of over a thousand tons is and four to Chiua. Good progress is being about to be placed on the Lower Congo to run made on the Congo. Mr. Nilson writes from between Banana and Matadi, in connection Kibunzi that they have had the great joy of with the Congo Railway. baptizing lately three pupils iu their school. The candidates confessed before all their -Messrs. G. D. Adamson, R. Cole, and J. people that they believed in the Lord Jesus Luff, of the Congo-Balolo Mission, arrived Cilrist, aud wished to live in future for His safely at Mpalabala from England, February glory and for the salvation of their fellow-men. 4th. They bring with them a new steam It was a beautiful scene. The congregations launch, the Pioneer,which already has reached are increasing rapidly, as also the confidence Mamdi, the higbest point on the lower river. of the people in their missionaries; so that They hope that this new steam launch wiII they now send their children freely to School. greatly facilitate the preaching of the gospel among the Balolo tribes of the Upper Congo. They have an arduous task before them, and The seven who are going out shortly will raise planted the papal standard four days farther the number of the Swedish missionaries in the inland than the advance Protestant posts. Congo field to twenty. The prosperous and hopeful effort is one of the offshoots of our old "Cheering news comes from the new Congo- Livingstone Inland Mission, which has now be- Balolo Mission, on the Lu Ponga River. They come three bands: this one, the A. B. M. U., have all had fever, but were well and hopeful and the new Congo Balolo. at last writing.
-The Royal Niger Company has, accord- "Out of the small band of missionaries labor- ing to the London Times, reduced the import ing on the Upper Congo, five have had to re- of spirits on the Niger to one-fourth of what it turn home recently. was, prohibiting the trade absolutely in one- third of its territories, with the intention to do "Our daily cry to the Lord of the harvest is, so in another third, and being ready, as regards , sendforth laborers.' " the remaining third, to welcome any definite arrangement on the subject agreed to by -The British South Africa Company is, England, France and (krmany. The total pledged by its charter to labor for the extinc- importation of spirits into these widely-ex- tion of slavery and the slave trade, and to pre- tended territories last year amonnted to vent the sale of intoxicating liquors to the 70,000 gallons. The-complaint made by Ger- natives. In connection with the African Lakes man merchants as to tbe neglect of their in- Company, it proposes to establish regular terests on the Niger has not yet been finally postal and passenger service on the Zambesi disposed of by the British and German gov- and Shiril. ernments; but, from an official reply in the Reichstag, the main question is not the im- ChloD.-Dr. Peck, on retuming from position ofcustoms by the Niger Company, but China, after nine years of service, finds that, their excessive rate. This applies specially to he has a record of 70,000 cases which he has intoxicants. treated, including those who have come more than once, and that fully 45,000 persons, -Bishop Taylor arrived in New York in have thus been brought under his influence. Aprilin good health. He says: "Our missions in Africa, in spite of all sorts of discourage- IodID.-It is reported from India that ments, are developing most encouragingly. two women commissioners are to be appointed This year will exceed any in the past in pre- by the Nizams' government to take the testiparing mission-houses. We have just com- mony of the residents of zenanas who are not pleted the repairs of the Monrovia Seminary suffered by usage to appear in court to testify. building, and will, by July, complete the repairs of Cape Palmas Seminary. They are -Out of 900 foreign missionaries at present large, stone buildings, erected by our Mission- in India, representing various lands and peoary Society many years ago, but for years ples, the oldest is an American, the Rev. John abandoned to the wastes of decay. We will Newton (of the Presbyterian Church), the this year (D. V.) rebuild the seminary at veteran missionary of Lahore, who at the age White Plains, twenty-three miles from Mon- of 78 is still a happy worker in his chosen rovia, up St. Paul's River-the old battle- field. Mr. Newton landed in Calcutta in Febground of Ann Wilkins-also, repair our ruary, 1835, almost 54 years ago; he has, church in Cape Palmas, and build two mission- labored since in connection with the wellhouses for new missions in North Liberia. All known Lodiana Mission. Four sons born here this belongs properly to the old Liberia mis- and educated in America, returned to this sion work of our Society, and they are fur- country 'as missionaries; one of these, Dr. J. nishing the fnnds for the improvements Newton, died in India after 22 years' service; named, except forthe Cape Palmas Seminary. the others are still in, the ranks; the five We expect, by the will of God, to find the men laborers have given 125 years of service to and the money for passage, and have all these India. A daughter returned to India as a manned in this year, 1890. About a dozen missionary, and afterward married Rev. Dr. houses for chapel and for school purposes, Forman, of Lahore, whose two sons and commenced in our Cavalla River and Kru daughter have recently returued to India as Coast Missions last year, are to be completed missionaries, the first representatives of the this year. Further, the builders of our steamer third generation in this grand missionary on the Congo have gone on at the time ap- family. pointed, and will (D. V.) construct and launch her during the coming summer. " -The Cambridge Mission to Delhi, estab- lished twelve years ago, is earnestly com- -Our correspondent at the Equator Station mended to the sympathy and support of CA. B. M. U.) writes us: Cambridge men by Dr. B. F. Westcott, as chairman of the Cambridge committee, in a "The Leo XIII, Catholic mission steamer, letter to the Times. At the present time the has just returned from Bangola, where the Mission is building a new college at the sug- Jesuits have been to complete arrangements gestion of the Indian Government, who have' for opening a new station. Thus they have given the site, the higher education of the Southern Punjaub having, "by a series of most unexpected events," been entrusted to the Mission.
-Seventeen Kohls were baptized by Rev. E. Petrick, in Assam, January 5. Thousands ous churches and vigorous schools established of these people are laboring in the tea-gar- under their care, over a territory nearly as dens of Assam, and they offer one of the large as the State of Massachusetts. But there finest fields for missionary labor. is one large part of this interesting field, in and around Konia, the Iconium of Paul's epistles, -Darjeeling. Baptisms in 1889. There have where schools and church work are almost at been 118 baptisms in the three missions dur- a stand still because the station cannot pro- ing the last year, viz. : 72 in Darjeeling, 45 in vide for the slight additional expenditure Kalimpong, and 1 in Sikkim Mission. Since which is needed. With $675 more at command Jauuary 1, in Darjeeling Division, 13; Kalim- each year for the purpose, this part of their pong Division, 36; Sikkim Division, 1; total, 50. field, as open and promising as any other part, There are now 1,182 baptized Christians in the could be well manned and a noble evangelical three missions, viz.: 562 in Darjeeling, 566 in work inaugurated. Who will come forward Kalimpong, and 54 in Sikkim Mission. with special gifts to aid in re-establishing the Christian Church on these apostolic found- Japan -A telephone has been estab- ations?-Missionary Herald. lished between Yokohama and Strizuoka, a rustance of 100 miles, in Japan, by order of B1Bc:ellaneou8.–Moravian Missions. the Mikado. It is the first in the country and works finely.-Electrical Review. TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF BAPTIZED ADULTS IN THE VARIOUS MORAVIAN MISSION -The Osaka fre-{)ity and surrounding dis- trict-in its last annual statement, gave the FIELDS IN 1790 AND IN 1890. number of Christian church buildings in the jre on Dec. 31, 1889, as 25, and of rented chap- As the first column, taken from the first els, 19; total, 44. This is the first Japanese issue of the Periodical Accounts, 1790, ex- official recognition in annual statistics of the cludes the catechumens and baptized chil- status of the visible Christian Church in the dren, the second, showing the present number land. of converts, must do the same.
-Rev. J. L. Dearing says the eagerness of 11S.
the Japanese for Christianity is overstated. I~ They are eager for education, but Christianity is a stumbling-block to many. 1~210,,§co"l~ 0:p:~ ::j"..'3q ~q~ ~O;"I~ g ~ "'I!' !I:: -A New York publisher has been shipping ..",,,, IIR ~.; I~., l""'I ~ .$ 50,000 American school books a year to Japan. "~8'"~.8…!.:: ~ I I w. .""~ . -The Roman Catholics have organized in .Japan, with four bishops, at Tokyo, Kyoto, ""0<'"l : Nagasaki, and Bendai. ~=~.~~;:~~:: .. < .. :" S """"<~'"l .";::: "S'l ':.~- ':-Z.~,' Korea.-The Korean Alphabet is pho- :ai ~5: 8~.,.;~s::~.r…; ; CIS netic and so simple that anyone can learn to §~ 0 read in a day. Nearly all thewomen in Korea '<l iw. : ~ -can read. 0 .. " : :.S "~'" ~S:!';':~ Ne'W Zealand.-The last census in I ' : : ~ ~ ~1: .S "<'"l New Zealand reveals the interesting fact of a • •:"<'"l profession of religion on the part of no less 'I " :s~ ~ than 95 per cent. of the whole population. .01-1 •• ? ~ ~""'~ II.UBBla.-Aside from the idolaters of : :.~ Siberia there are thirty million subjects of ! ~ Russia whose religion is foreign, namely: 'S~~"""''Sl~;.~g ~ ~t.,w:o .S 1,500,000 Armenians, 5-6,000,000 Lutherans, I"'"~'"~"=~1"!=a';<:5:l.jECIS ~'" 9-10,000,000 Catholics, 3-4,000,000 Jews, and ""~'" O.S"'l§8 ? about 10,000,000 Mohammedans. Buddhists " ;.J;48~~:"d~,!::I:dI abound in Siberia, and extend even to the borders of the Volga. ~","1"'0lO"=i="S<-"il'll Thlbet.-A Roman Catholic missionary, liHHH2E §lei ~~~~CX~l~OH~¢~OO~~ the Abb6 Desgodius, has been for thirty years trying to gain access to Thibet. He has been ..=&, all that time living on the southern and easternJ'rontiers, and has compiled a compendious ~~ Thibetan dictionary. l""'I'P"'I..-t,….,….
Turke;y.-Probably no mission station Including baptized children and converts for in the Turkish Empire can give a better ac- baptism, the total at present under the care of count of the work attempted and the results our missionaries is 85,806.-Periodical Acaccomplished in"evangelistic labor and tour- count•. ing among the out-stations than Cesarea, in the Western Turkey Mission. Dr. Farnsworth -The chief religions of the world may be and his associates there have a noble memorial classified according to the number of adherof their enterprise and fidelity in the numer- ents as follows: Christianity, 450,000,000; Confucianism, 390,000,000; Hinduism, 190,000,- 000; Mohammedism, 18,000,000; Fetishism, 150,000,000; Buddhism,I00,OOO,OOO; Spirit Worship, 50,000,000; Shintoism, 20,000,000; Jews, and abroad, for publications, loan libraries, 8,000,000; Parsees, 1,000,000. Total, 1,449,000,- expenses, etc., amounted to $30,241.41. 000. $491.85 has been expended for the aid of the shipwrecked and destitute. -The following shows the distribution of missionaries in the chief missionary fields: -A popular edition of the Bible in Portu- China has one ordained missionary to each gese is to be issued in numbers on the same '733,000 of population; Siam, one to each 600,- plan that has been so sucoessful in Italy. 000; Corea, one to each 500,000; India, one to each 850,000; Africa, one to each 300,000; -Medical Missions: Facts and Testimo- Japan, one to each 215,000; Burma, one to nies to their Success. Compiled by W. J. each 200,000. Nearly all the missionaries in Wanleas, M. D., and published by the Mission- Africa are around the coast. In Oentral ary Echo Publishing Co., Toronto, Oanada. Africa and the Soudan there is as yet only It is a small, convenient, and admirably ar- one missionary to each 5,000,000 people.- ranged manual. Price 6 cents; 30 cents a Baptist Mission. dozen.
-Heathen at Home. The Rev. J. S. Stone, -Rev. F. T.Whitman, of the Brighton Ave. formerly of Bombay, now engaged in mission Church, Boston, Mass, has sailed for Rangoon, work in this city, testifies that the moral deg- Burmah, where he is to become pastor of the radation of New York city equals the worst English-speaking Baptist church in that city. pht>nomena of the Black Holes of sin in Cal- cutta and Bombay, where the depravity of -Bishop Thoburn of India expects to be the Orient shows its darkest sides. At times, in this country in July for a brief visit. he says, it is appalling even to an Indian mis- sionary. -Mr. Joseph Thomson's article on "The Results of European Intercourse with the -Chinese Evangelist. We deeply regret to African," in the March Contemporary Review, note that our friend, Mr. Rapper, has been will strengthen the hands of thA British repre- obliged to discontinue the issue of this excellent sentatives at the International Oonference now missionary magazine for want of support. It sitting in Brussels. The importation of ardent is a pity; for just such a periodical is needed to spirits is producing results even more appall- awaken a deeper and wider interest in our ing than many philanthropists have pictured. Chinese population. We earnestly hope it Our own merchants, says Mr. Thomson. may be revived. Is there not some liberal through the trade of gin and rum, are spread- ,soul who will furnish the means necessary? ing ravages of demoralization that ought to Would it not be well for some of our mission- clothe us in sackcloth and ashes. European ary societies to consider the matter? Such a intercourse along the West Ooast, and over the promising agency ought not to be left to die. whole of East Central Africa, spite of mission- -J.M.S. ary efforts, has been an unmitigated curse. The warehouses along the coast are filled with -American Seamen's Friend Society. gin; the air seems to reek with it, and every Dr. Meredith, of the Tompkins Avenue Oon- hut is redolent with its fumes. To walk gregational Ohurch, Brooklyn, preached the through the squalor and vice of a village is annual sermon in his own church to a large like a horrible nightmare. Women and chilaudience on Sunday evening, May 4. dren even are calling out for gin, and all is be- sotment and fiendish debauch. This awful The report of the secretary of the society, witness is from one who has seen it all, and the Rev. Dr. W. O. Stitt, was read, giving par- ought profo'undly to affect the Church of God. ticulars in regard to the society's work that cannot fail to be gratifying evidence of suc- -A Missing Missionary Steamer. A telecess in its sixty-second year. The feature of gram from Victoria, BrItish Oolumbia, anthe work for seamen that was most empha- nounces that the missing missionary steamer, sized by both Dr. Meredith and Dr. Stitt was Glad Tidings, concerning whose safety considthe "loan library" scheme. These libraries erable apprehensions have been entertained, are selected by experts and placed upon ships has arrived safely at Port Simpson. ·on their outward voyages. -The American Baptist Year Book for During the year ending March 31, 1890, the 1890 gives large figures for the Regular Baptists BQCiety had sent out 490 of these loan libraries. in tlie United States. They have 21,175 or- 'The total number of volumes in these libraries dained ministers, 33,588 churches, and 3,070,047 'is 21,070, and of new books 6,665, available members. These figures include white and during the year to 7,026 seamen. The United colored, Northern and Southern Baptists. states naval vessels and the hospitals, as well The number of baptisms last year was 144,575. as the life-saving stations, have also all been They' have 17,096 Sunday·schools, with 1,158,665 provided with these libraries. pupIls; the value of their church property is $53,568,502, and the aggregate of their contri- The cash receipts of the society from lega- butions last year was $9,363,S77. ·cies, donations, loan library contributions, and ·other sources amounted to $38,5l!O.35. The -American Colonization Society. Receipts ·disbursements for missionary work at the during the past year, $17,144; expenses, $13,- 'Cherry street home and elsewhere at home 508: balance in t.he treasury, $3,636. Sixty emigrants were sent out during the year, making a total of 21.858 persons to whom the Society has given homes III Africa. Liberia is in a flourishin~ condition. It is America's gift to Africa. It 1B a comprehensive missionary station. It is a ~rand basis from which to in- troduce civilizatlOn and Ohristianity into all that region of the Western Ooast.
INDEX OF CONTENTS OF THE JUNE NUMBER. [June-
INDEX OF CONTENTS OF THE JUNE NUMBER.
PAGE China, 474; Anti·Chinese Legislation, I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS..•••••• 401-446 474; Dr. Peck's Nine Years' Service, 477; n.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLI' Chinese Evangelist……. . …………. 479" Colonization Society, American, last re- GENCE ……………………. +17-454 port……………………………….. 479 m.-MIsSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE••• 454-458 Comparative Destitution in Christian and IV.-INTERNATIONAI.. DEPARTMlllNT.••. 458-466 Pagan Lands…. ………… ……. .••. 471 V.-MoNTHLY CONClllRT OF MISSIONS 466-470 Consecration Prayer Meeting, A, and What VI.-EDITORIAI.. NOTES ON CuRRENT Came out of It……………………… 472 Druid Celts, The-The Early Missionary TOPICS. '•••.•.•……. " …… 471-475 Race of Western Europe, Dr. Ellinwood 438 VIT.-PROGRESS OF MISSIONS: MONTHLY GREAT BRITAIN.-Dr. Pierson's Mis· sion Tour of Britain, 401; Memorial BULLETIN •••••••••••••••••••• , 475-479 Statue to John Howard …………….. 474 Heathen at Home ……………………. 479 Authors. How Shall Mohammedans be Evangelized 428· INDIA.-An Extraordinary Pamphlet, Anonymous, How Shall Mohammedans be ~52; Appeal from the Kohlapur Mission, 456; The Gospel Weakening the Defences Evangelized••••••••••<.. ,……… •.••.• 428 of Hinduism, 444; The oldest Foreign Missionary out of 900 in India is an EDlTORS.-A. T. Pierson, The lIlission Tour American, Rev John Newton, 477; The of Britain .•••••…•…•.••…. , •. , .•…• 401 Cambridge Mission to Delhi, 477; Darjeel. ing Mission ………………………… 478' Editorial Notes, J. M. Sherwood………. 471 Indian Evangelization, J. T. Gracey, D.D .. 461 Ellinwood, Dr. F. F., The Druid Celts-The International Missionary Union, Seventh Annual Meet.ing……. . …………… 465, Early Missionary Race of Western Eu· JAPAN.-The Modern Martyr of the rope, 438; The Great African Mission Orient, Joseph Neesima, Letter from Field ………………. ,' …………. 466 Rev. JamesH. Pettee, 456; Various items Gracey, J. T., D.D.; International Papers. 458 of interest. '" ……… '" …………… 478 Grout, Rev. Lewis, Pastor Harms and His JEWS.-Free Church of Scotland Mis· Mission Work ……………………… 410 sions …………………………….. 453 Knox, Charles E., D.D., Personal Observa- KOREA.-The Korean Alphabet.. ……•. 478 tions in Brazil…………. . ……… 422 Let Us Expect Great Things, Dr. J. T. Moorehead, Max'Vood, The Student Vol· Gracey …………………………… 458 unteer Movement ……. , …………… +17 Medical Missions, Facts and Testimonies Schodde, Rev. George H., Ph. D., The to their Success. … ….. .. ………… 479 Religious Work Among the Immigrants 416 Missionaries-the distribution of, in the Starbuck, Rev. Charles C., Translations world…………………………… 479 from Foreign l1issionary Magazines .. " 443 Mohammedans, How Shall They be Evan· gelized …………………………… 428 Countries and Subjects. Moravian Missions …………………… 445 Moravian llnssions, table of statistics in AFRICA.-British Missions and the Por· 1790 and 1890. .. . . .. .. … • .•• ………… 478. tuguese,448; German Protestant Missions NEW ZEALAND.-Ninety·five percent. on the Cameroons River, +19; A Pathetic of the population professing Christians.. 478 Story, 450; Ascent of Ruwenzori in Opium Traffic in China; Powerful Appeal Africa, 451; The Great African Mission Against it from the Native Churches..•• 454 Field, by Dr. F. F. Ellinwood, 466; Afri·· Pastor Harms and His Mission Work, Rev. can ExPlorations, 467; "Sincere Chris· Lewis Grout ……………………….. 410 tians" and the Liquor Traffic in Africa, PORTUGAL.-Its Claims to Afrlcan Ter- 471; Two favorite Pictures of Stanley, ritory, a Note of Warning from R. N. C. 453 471; The Balolo tnbes on the Upper Religions of the world classified. . •• . . •. . .. 478 Congo, 475; Geographical Discovery and Results of European Intercourse with the Missions, 476; Lieut. Werner and Tippoo African ………………….. '" …….. 479 Tib, 476; Congo Steamers, 476; Mission. RUSSIA.-Foreign religions in the em. ary Notes rom the Congo, 476; South pire ……………………………… 478 African Missions, 476; Swedish Mis. Seaman's Friend Society, American, an· sionaries to the Congo and China, 476; nual report. . … .. ….. .. .•.• • .. .•. …… 479 Royal Niger Co., 476; Bishop Taylor and Secular Instruction……… : …………. 443 hl"African Missions, 477; From our Cor· Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign respondent at the Equator Station, 477; Missions ………………………….. 447 British South Africa Co.,……………. 477 THIBET.-Thibetan Dictionary ……… 478 UNITED STATES.-Religious Work Baptist Year Book for 1890, the American 479 Among the Immigrants…………….. 41& Berlin Missionary Society, Statistics of, ••• 458 Worship of Words, The ………………. 464, RRAZIL.-Dr. Knox's Personal Observa.
tions in, 422; Church Disestablishment.. 465 CHINA. – High Honor shown to an American Missionary, 452; God and the at Opium Traffic, Letter from an Ameri.
can Missionary Shanghai and an Appeal from the Christian Churches of Canton to the (''hristian Churches of England, 454; The Literary Teacher in
The Missionary Review of the World — March 1890
MISSIONS IN OLD SCOTLAND
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XIII. No.3.-0ld Series.—MARCH.–,-VoL. m. No. S.-New Series.
I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS. MISSIONS IN OLD SCOTLAND. No.' II.
BY A. T. PIERSON, D.D.
The old year died in a pathetically becoming way. December 31 beheld a funeral cortege in Westminster Abbey, when an illustrious poet was laid to rest among the great dead that there find a shrine and throne. The latest of the sons was given a tomb close by the father 9f English poesy, and Ohaucer and Browning lie side by side in the" Poets' Corner."
Notwithstanding fog and frost, crowds lined the avenues along which the bier was borne, and when, at 11 :30, the doors were opened, the Abbey was at once filled, and when the tolling bell was pealing out its weird monotone at twelve, there was not a vacant place save those reserved for clergy, choir and mourners. It was a brilliant as- semblage-lords and ladies, dukes and earls, ambassadors and minis- ters, bishops, deans and canons; all were there to do honor to the pure and reverent poet, whose lines have been an honor to humanity and to God. Mrs. Browning's exquisite lyre was sung, " He giveth His beloved sleep," set to music by Dr. Bridges; and the first part of the ceremony closed with Wesley's anthem, " All go to one place." During the whole service there lay on the coffin Tennyson's floral wreath, and Miss Browning's cross and wreath of palma violets. We have said that it seemed a most fitting closing ceremony for the dying year. And those two musical selections, how they seemed to present the two sides of humanity's solemn history! The eschatology of missions! On the one hand the Christian's death and burial; "He giveth His beloved sleep ;" resting awhile until the resurrection. asleep in Jesus. And, on the other hand, unredeemed humanity, sweeping on promiscuously, a generation together, all going to one place, and that place a grave without hope-a grave of unbroken gloom. And to think how easily, if the Church would obey the Lord, and resolutely preach. the gospel among all the nations, that hopeless and indiscriminate, . sweeping of human beings into the rayless pit of sheol might be transmuted with a. peaceful, hopeful composing of saintly forms for' a sleep that looks forward to its rapturous waking! With December 31 the mission tour of Scottish churches, which has engaged my attention for more than a month, closed for the time, to be resumed in February. It is purposed to give .Tanuary to London and the great centers of population in England, and then, if God will, to give two months uninterruptedly to Scotland, until at least all the main body of the population has been overtaken.
This is a natural point of retrospect; and it may be generally said that the results every way, so far as they can be now estimated, abundantly repay all the cost in time and toil. On Monday evening, at Airdrie, I gave the fifty-seventh address on missions since the. Etruria l~nded her human cargo on the 16th of November. First, I spent between three and four days in Liverpool, of which some account was given in a previous letter. Then, on November 20th, a welcome meeting was held in the Church of Scotland Assembly Hall, in Edinburgh; and from that day the meetings were held almost daily until the year closed.
The very efficient committee at Edinburgh, with Rev. .Tohn Lowe, M.D., as chairman, supported by a committee in the west of Scotland, of which Rev. John Pagan, D D., is the energetic chairman, have arranged the entire tour, at my request, so that all I have had to <1.0 has been to go where I have been sent, thus relieving me from all needless correspondence and perplexity. The arrangements have all :been singularly complete. We have been met at trains and escorted to hospitable homes; welcomed with a genuine cordiality; we have found everywhere warm hearts and excepti<;>nally generous co-operation.. The whole tour reminds me of Paul's testimony to the Galatians, who" received him as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus," "and would have plucked out their own eyes and given them to him." We have met abundant hospitality and Christian generosity elsewhere; but never any experience of loving kindness that on the whole quite equals this.
A word further ought to be added as to the way in which the meetings have been planned and conducted. The resident clergy and leading laymen and laywomen, too, have been enlisted in the movement in advance, and their cordial support secured. Then their preference for the time, hour and place of meeting has as far as possible been consulted. The meetings have followed each other in so well ordered a sc~eme that there has been neither loss of time nor retracing of steps. During these past thirty days there have been large and enthusiastic gatherings at Leith, Peebles, Innerleithen, Dalkeith, Haddington, Glasgow, Port Glasgow, Dumbarton, HcIcnsbnrgh, Kilmarnock, Paisley, Irvine, Ayr, Greenock, Gourock, Stl'athaven, Bothwell, Hamilton, Wishaw, Lanark, Motherwell, Airdrie, etc., a.nd in all cases the audiences have been large and the attention earnest .and absorbed.
The plan has been connected with a. few features of marked value, which might be well imitated elsewhere. Afternoon meetings have neen held for women especially, and addressed ordinarily by some . .man and woman who have been on the foreign field and were at home on a furlough-as, for instance, Rev. Mr. Rice of India, Ross of Manchuria, Alexander of Jamaica, Christie, M. D., likewise of Manchuria, and Mrs. Edge of China, and Mrs. Armstrong of Burmah. Then in the evenings, general meetings, held in the largest available church or hall, addressed generally by one of thesQ returned missionaries and myself, and sometimes briefly by some one of the local clergy. Some man or woman has been called to preside at the respective meetings, whose name and known interest in missions gave added power to the gatherings; and the common custom of voting thanks to the speakers, which often diverts attention from the subject matter to the person bearing the message, has been happily omitted. We see no reason why similar campaigns may not be planned in our own land, so that without needless cost of time or money, such men as Dr. Gordon of Boston, Dr. Barrows of Chicago, Dr. McVickar of Montreal, Dr. Goodwin of Chicago, Dr. Chamberlain of Brooklyn, Dr. Taylor of New York, Dr. Gracey of Buffalo, and such women as Mrs. Bottome, Mrs. Gordon; Mrs. Bainbridge, Mrs. Rhea, Mrs. Douglass, Mrs. Capron, Mrs. Harvie, Mrs. Hoge, Mrs. Moses Smith and Mrs. Barakat, may be brought into living contact with large congregations throughout the United States and Canada.
Scotland is a land of martyrs and missionaries, and the two naturaIiy go together. The martyr spirit has survived the martyr fires, and so the vital energy that onco made martyrs now runs into the channels of missionary enthusiasm. We go nowhere without feeling ·ourselves to be on holy ground. Hallowed associations make every spot sacred. At Bothwell we had to walk but a few steps along the Clyde to find ourselves confronting the mills where David Living- Jltone worked, and the humble home of Blantyre, where that "adventurous laddie" first saw the light. At Strathaven we were but .seven miles from the battle-field of Drum Clog, where Douglass led a little band of Covenanters against Graham, of Claverhouse, with the royalist troopers; and from that little town where the hand looms still produce their beautiful products, wentfrom one house, William and Gavin Martin to India, and James Martin to Jamaica, and James Martin's son to India, and now Miss Martin, the sister, to Jamaica. What an outcome of one consecrated home! Five missionaries almost from one cradle! No marvel Scotland is interested in missions! With a view to touching as many centers as was practicable, I have generally had three services on each Lord's Day, but so aided by resident ministers as that no part of the service but the address and a short prayer just before it fell to me. The large attendance at all these services, especially those held in the evenings, has been a matter of congratulation and surprise. At Paisley, the large town hall" erected as a memorial to George Clark, Esq., of spool-cotton-thread' fame, and holding 2,500, was literally packed; and at Glasgow, St. Andrews, holding from five thousand to six thousand, was similarly crowded. Instead of coming across the sea to kindle a missionarT revival, the flame was found already burning, and needing only the fuel' of facts, and the fanning of the breath of the Spirit of God, to become a consuming fire. Could all this intelligent and aroused enthusiasm be effectually applied to action, the whole machinery of missions' would move with greatly increased rapidity and efficiency.
We think we see some signs of greatly increased giving. These meetings have not been with immediate reference to raising money" and no collections have been taken except for current local expenses. But from time to time voluntary offerings have been sent in to me, by those whose hearts the Lord has touched, and some of them have' been very significant, because the fruit of evident self-sacrifice. In some instances the facts attending such gifts have become known to me. One lady sold a bracelet and sent the proceeds to be applied to. mISSIons. One young man took off a solid gold vest chain, and another a diamond scarf-ring, and enclosed them to me. Others sent· the price of a pair of kid gloves, or a box of cigars, or a concert ticket, or a package of Christmas cards, or various other gratifications and indulgences foregone for the sake of the perishing. What· would be the result were only John Howard's maxim followed, that our "luxuries should give way to the conveniences of the poor; OUF conveniences to their necessities; and even our necessities to their extremities!" The nakedness of the indigent world might be clothed from the superfluous trimmings of the vain. That will be a new era and epoch in missions, when even our luxuries are sacrificed for the· sake of supplying the gospel to the world.
With this last day of the year we enter upon the closing decade of this century. Dr. George Smith, of Edinburgh, the accomplished biographer of Cary, Duff and Wilson, reckons the first century or modern missions from 1788. He divides the century into three periods: First, the period of preparation, when the ground was' being broken up and made ready for the seed, from 1788 to 1838. Secondly, the period of sowing, when the seed was being scattered,. from 1838 to 1858. Thirdly, the period of ingathering, when the harvest began, from 1858 till now. I have often thought of a somewhat similar division into periods of seven years each: 1. From 1788 to 1837, seven periods of seven years, the times of organization when the great missionary agencies were forming. 2. The times of aggres. sive activity, when the Church was pushing rapidly forward into new nelds, three periods of seven years, from 1837 to 1858. And 3. The times of realization of results, when both aggressive movement and great success marked missions, the plowman and reaper going side by side.
However this be, we are now in the nrst years of a second century of modern missions. Never since Christ arose from the dead has there been at once such magnificent opportunity and such inspiring encouragement. No previous generation has had suoh facilities .and applianoes for giving the gospel to mankind as have we. Divine Providence has furnished us weapons for our warfare such as men in .apostolic ages never imagined. The marvelous f:.bles of the Arabian Nights are eclipsed by the realities of printing press, steam engine, ·electric telegraph, postal system, and all the other helps which are now challenging the church to use air, earth and water in her great mission to the race of man. No man can show a sensible reason why within the next ten years the Word of God should not be published throughout the world. Thirty millions of Protestant disciples can .evangelize the world if each one will become responsible for fifty <>ther souls. If one missionary will go to the field out of every 300 Protestant church members, we shall have 100,000 missionaries in t~e foreign work, besides native helpers that now outnumber the missionary band five to one. If every such church member could be led to consecrate habitually and systematically to missions,jive cents a day, it would yield the enormous sum of about 550,000,000 dollars yearly, 01' one and a half million dollars a day! Think what could be done in evangelizing the world if there were a band of 100,000 missionaries -sent out by Christian churches, with the grand sum of $550,000,000 a year to provide for their support!
This decade ought to be the most glorious of all history in the progress of the gospel. But there must be new giving and new liv- .ing, more men and women sent t.o the front, and more money and means furnished for the work. Dr. McAll writes that for sheer laok .of money he has to close thirteen of his stations, at a time when every door is open and every demand i5 for expansion rather than retrenohment. The Churoh of God does not respond to the providence of God as she ought. The very air is vocal with the calls of God, the very horizon is blazing with signal lights. Who will come forward .and say, "Here am I, send me?" Who will bring their silver and gold with them and lay on God's altars their abundance? Who will go into that holy of holies, where wrestling Jacobs become prevailing Israels, and learn the secret of that mighty prayer which brings down ..showers of blessing upon earth's dry ,and barren wastes?
EDINBURGH, Dec. 31.
THE BOERS AND MISSIONS
THE BOERS AND MISSIONS.
BY REV. LEWIS GROUT, WEST BRATTLEBORO, VT.
Among the many new and interesting missionary developments of the present day, that which is revealing itself among the Dutch farmers, or "Boers/' as they are often called in South Africa,is oneof the most remarkable and cheering. Their two hundred years of life in that land have been years of a most unique commingling of the romantic with the real,-a life characterized for domestic simplicity,. wild adventure, independence, and a high regard for at least th~ forms and observances of a sound Christian faith. They have everhad a great love of liberty, been vigorously tenacious of their own rights; and yet have had ll- firm helief, at least many of them, that, the natives, the black people, were divinely appointed to be the servants of the white race. Out of all this have come many border' wars, repeated collisions and conflicts with the English, and sometimes a hostile feeling towards Christian Missions, all which has led many of them to a most unsettled, migratory way of living. But, now, at length, their ideas of liberty are taking on a more intelligent, scriptural aspect; their formalism giving place to spirituality, and theirfeelings and conduct towards the natives beginning to undergo a happy" beneficent change. The spirit of that true and living faith which their' pioneer fathers carried to that land, is beginning to be revived, and one of the most important reasons they originally assigned for going there and taking up their abode among or by the side of the natives -to aid them in their religious well-being-is beginning to be honored: in the mission work they have already entered upon in their behalf.. During the two centuries of their abode there, the Boers have had much to do towards developing and utilizing the secular l'~sources of the country, and in giving shape to the social and political affairs of all South Africa. Their molding influence was never greater than it is to-day, nor will it fail to increase and extend as the years go on. Their past career is fraught with instruction, if not also with admoni– tion; their present trend with encouragement to all true friends of law and religion. To all who are interested in the ever-changing fortunes of men, the different phases of social life, and especially in' knowing something of the many mighty forces now at work for thespeedy redemption of that long neglected and much wronged land of the sun, which has come to be called the- "Dark Continent," a brief sketch of the early life, general character, and present promise of the' Dutch Boers in South Africa can hardly fail to be instructive and encouraging.
When Diaz discovered the southern angle of Africa, 1486, andproposed to his royal patron, John II., of Portugal, to call it "the stormy cape," the King said: "No; call it 'the Cape of Good Hope," because of the promise it gives of my finding in it a good way to. India." So, through the moral and political storms that have raged in that region, the eye of faith sees a "Good Hope" for yet making • that cape as a stepping-stone and means of reaching a realm larger than India with the gospel of God's love. It was about the middle of the seventeenth century, 1652, that the Dutch East India Company, seeing what a good replenishing station the cape would make for ships plying between Europe and the East, sent a colony of soldiers and others there to build a fort and plant a garden, hoping, withal, as they said, that the religious interests of the aborigines might be thus promoted,-that the formation of said fort and garden may not only tend to the advantage of the East India Company, but, what is of more consequence, may also be the means of preserving many souls to the praise of God's most holy name, and for the propagation of his holy gospel,-that, by living on good terms with the natives, their children may become useful servants, and, if educated in the Christian faith, should the Almighty grant.his blessing, many souls may be brought to a knowledge of religion and saved to God. But these ends, if ever practil,lally sought in those early days, were soon forgotten, and for two centuries left virtually out of account, though they are now beginning to come to the front.
The infant colony went on to prosper. The natives brought them cattle and sheep, their gardens gave them vegetables, the plains gave them game, and the sea gave them fish, but for some years they were subject to many trials. At first, it is said, they had to ~ontend with their fears, lest the wild men by day or the wild beasts by night should attack them and their fort, and carryall by storm. They had to contend with want; and one poor soldier was sentenced to many blows from the butt of his gun for wishing the purser at the devil for, serving out penguins instead of beef and pork. They suffered from thieves, and one poor fellow was sentenced to be flogged and put in irons for stealing a cabbage. At times a Hottentot would walk off with some of the cattle, or the leopards and lions would take them for their own use. They had the scandal-monger among them, and one of them was sentenced to ask pardon on his knees, be bored through the tongue, and be banished three years for words spoken against ladies of rank. The colonists were sometimes chided by the Home Directors for want of enterprise and self-support, and told that a country which could not grow its own corn did not deserve to be called a colony_ Then the Home Company sent out fifty young farmers, and an equal number of maidens to aid them and others in their new home. Next came three hundred Huguenots, men, women and children, the salt of the earth: – – " Pilgrim fathers, noblest blood of sunny France, Broad-browed men of free-born spirit, lighted with the eagle glance."
Robbed of " freedom to worship God" in the land of their birth: " To this far nook the Christian exiles fled, Each fettering tie of earthly texture breaking; Wealth, country, kindred, cheerfully forsaking For that good cause in which their fathers bled."
To these may be traced some of the most valuable elements of the white race in South Africa; though, for a long time, the illiberal policy of the Home Company was far from giving such scope to the enterprise, industry, and influence they were prepared to exert, as the highest welfare of all parties, both immediate and future, required.
The sturdy Hollanders and Huguenots of those early days, the real Pilgrims and Puritans of South Africa, glorying, as they did, in being" free-born" and" liberty-loving," were, nevertheless, remark- ably patient under the many frivolous and discriminating laws and customs to which they were subject, touching private, social and civil life. Some of the good-hearted rulers, such as "Father Tulbagh," who lived .about :the middle of the last century, men of great simplicity of life and never lacking in rigid discipline, evidently failed to see what was really the great opportunity and object of their office, and yet were diligent enough in prescribing such laws and forms of social and official etiquette as they thought the people should observe. They had full faith in ranks and grades of society, and eschewed the doctrine that all men, even the white, were made or designed to be equal. The low vehicles of that age were admirably adapted to the fashion, made imperative by law, that every person should stop his carriage and get out when he should see the Governor approach, and should likewise give the members of the" Court of Policy" a clear pass for their carriages. The exact amount of velvet which gentlemen of different ranks might wear, the amount of ornamentation for their carriages, the number of servants each rank might boast, the particular costume of the footman, the dress of brides and their friends at weddings, the cloth and cut of dresses for the wives of men .of different ranks, as the junior merchant or the senior merchant, the wearing of diamonds, mantles, hoops, and dresses with a train, as the chronicles of thos.e days tell us, were all determined by laws made, not by the modistes of Paris, but by the Governor and his grave Council in the castle of Good Hope. And yet there was evidently much of good feeling and genuine enjoyment among that people. If they went to one extreme in the respect and deference they paid to age, rank and office, it is worth considering whether the people of this day have not gone to the other.
The religious character and observances of the Boers at that early period were not less marked and molding than their civil code and social life. Their means of education, teachers, ministers, books, except the Bible, outside of official ranks, were few. But the attachment of the scattered people to all the sacred institutions of religion was then, as now, remarkable; and evidently the guiding and re- straining influence of these simple ordinances and teachings of the gos- pel, during all the years, have done much to prevent the nomadic dasses from lapsing utterly into the heathenism of the native tribes with which they have ever been in contact. Even now, in those who lead a migratory life, rouch as the greater number of their fathers were wont to lead, " While on from plain to plain they led their flocks, In search of clearer springs and fresher field,"
-both the spirit and the forms of religion are everywhere far from rare. They hold the Calvinistic doctrines, and, in many respects, are not unlike the sturdy Scotch of three centuries ago. Rough and un- couth as the" trek Boers" (nomadic farmers) often are, they have, at least many of them, a habit of saluting their Maker at break of day with supplication and song. Nor is it any uncommon thing for the patriarch of the family to bring his household together, morning and -evening, read a chapter from the well-worn family Bible and offer prayer. They still retain tha.t resolute, republican spirit of freedom for which their ancestors were distinguished in the Netherlands many generations ago. From their religion and their politics together, it is -easy to see how they should be often thought a stubborn, sometimes a bigoted, if not also a proud race, of an independent spirit, a posi- tive purpose, and ever ready to fight and die for their rights and their liberties.
In their general appearance, domestic life and common pursuits, the Boers are tall, stout, strong, hospitable and kind, frank and cour- teous, sometimes surly and phlegmatic. Their farms and their fami- -lies are large, the former numbering from six. to ten thousand acres of land, the latter from six to a dozen children, to say nothing of serv- ants. Their wealth consists of their lands, cattle, sheep and horses. Where they have been able to settle down to live undisturbed for a few generations, they are not unlike the average New England farmer "in the general ordering of their affairs. When they are given or driven to constant change, the wide open field is their home, and the large tented wagon, usually drawn by twelve or fourteen oxen, is their house, where they sleep at night, and in which the women and chil- -dren ride by day, while the men, in their saddles, are out with their rifles for the game they need for the larder. If one thinks his stay in a place may be for a few months or years, he builds a cheap -" wattle and dab" house and covers it with thatch for himself and family, a hovel for his horses, and a pen for his cattle; encloses a few _.acres of land for a garden, and plants out a few fruit trees, and, even- .tually, if not too much annoyed by the natives, or forcibly ousted by ~the English, he comes to find he has a permanent home.
But the civil and political career and experiences of the Boers have been full of variety and trial. The original settlement went on to grow till it came to number fifty thousand souls and embrace a hundred thousand square miles of territory, when, in 1795, the English came' in and took possession, held it till 1806, then gave it back, but recov- ered it again in 1815; since which time it has continued to be an, English colony, much to the disgust and grief of the Dutch. The peculiar views of the Boers in respect to the natural rights of the na,..' tives, the frequent encroachments of the former upon the territory of the latter, and the consequent strife between the two races, all went, to make the life of each for many years one of almost constant fear' and unrest. The Boers could neVer forgive the English for taking from them what they claimed as their own country; and, being accus- tomed to take and hold many of the natives as slaves, or, a'S the Dutch said, as "apprentices," when, in 1833-7, the English abolished the system, the already disgusted Dutch became highly indignant. But the more considerate still remained in the colony and made the, best of it, while great numbers of them withdrew for good. Not less than five or six thousand of them, heads of families, gave up their big farms, gathered up their more valuable and portable effects, took, their families, cattle, sheep and horses, their Bibles and their guns, inspanned their big wagons, called the ugliest ox in the team by the opprobrious name of "England," set their faces toward the North Pole, and journeyed on till they crossed the Orange River, the northern limit of English rule, and there took up an abode wherever they could find green grass and good water. From this, in a year or two, 1837, a thousand of them inspanned their wagons again, took their families, cattle and other effects, followed up the Orange River and came down into Natal, hoping to make that beautiful country a new Netherlands, and there find rest and peace. But after two years of" war with the Zulus, and then two more of war with the English, the, land of their delight became a British colony. Again, a few of the more considerate of them remained and tried to make the best of it;, but great numbers of them withdrew, went back over the mountain, rejoined their fellows, and established the Orange River Free State and the Transvaal Republic, with an alleged promise from the English that they should not be disturbed. But, under the so-called "jingo policy" of the British Government a few years since, this promise, which the Dutch declare to have been plain' and positive,. seems to have been forgotten; and an attempt was made, or at least conceived, t.o deprive the Dutch of their independence and establish a grand Anglo-African Confedracy which should embrace all South Africa. This led to a war between the English and the Dutch, and also with the ZuIUjl. But in this the Dutch had the best of it, and are still preserving their independence.
The Free State embraces about 50,000 square miles, and has a population of about 130,000, of whom the whites number about 60,000.. The Transvaal, now called the South African Republic, embraces about 80,000 square miles and has a population of about 300,000, of whom about one-sixth are white, and of these about three-fourths are- Dutch. The eastern frontier of this State is about forty miles from Delogoa Bay. A railway to connect the capital, Pretoria, with the bay is nearly completed. Between this State and St. Lucia Bay the· Boers have formed what they call the" New Republic," of about. 16,000 square miles. This new State has already negotiated a treaty with the Transvaal, by the terms of which the two are to form them- selves into one State, to be incorporated under the name of the Dis- trict of Vryheid. Many of the English, both at home and in South Africa, especially in Natal, have been urging and hoping that British rule might be pushed northward, so as to take in Zululand, and what. was otherwise soon likely to be known as the" New Republic;" or even that the scheme of a grand Anglo-African Republic might yet be realized at an early date. But the latest utterance and phase of the Imperial policy on these points are that Mr. Gladstone emphati- cally repudiates any intention to interfere in Zulu affairs; that the Home Government is not prepared to adopt toward the Boer settlers in the New Republic district a hostil~ or aggressive attitude; and that· England especially desires to maintain friendly and cordial relations. with the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. The more considerate and humane course of the Boer towards the native is taking away one considerable pretext of the British Government in former years for interfering with Dutch rule.
From interesting addresses at the World's Missionary Conference last year in London, and from other fresh and valuable sources of information, it is clear that a great change is coming over the Dutch in their feelings towards the natives and in their attitude towards mission work among them. For many reasons, probably few men are ableto give more correct; valuable testimony on this point than the Rev. John McKenrie, of the London Missionary Society. In a recent speech of his, having referred to the opposition which mission work had to· encounter from the Dutch in former years, he goes on to say that, in the course of time, such work has come not only to have their high approval, but to find their own sons and daughters engaged in it;. that the Dutch Reformed Church of Cape Colony" has its own missionary society now, and if, in any village throughout the colony, there· should be a community of black people not ministered to by a European society, there you will find the Dutch Reformed Church at. work." The superintendent of the Berlin Missionary Society, Rev•. A. Merensky, having referred to the fact that, in former years, the- Boers of the Transvaal had refused to allow any mission work to becarried on in that State, goes on to say: "Our missionaries now have· in the Transvaal alone twenty-three stations, with five thousand mem- bel's; and altogether there are now about twenty-five thousand native Christians in the 'fransvaal." The Swiss have a flourishing mission in that State. Nor is the changing of sentiment and bearing on the part .of the Dutch towards the Zulus in N atalless marked. Some two years -ago there was a religious movement of great power among both races in the upper part of that colony, in the Greytown region. Several na- tive evangelists, being employed to hold meetings among their own people, often held them, by invitation, at the houses of the Dutch, .and many of both races were hopefully converted. The pastor of the Dutch church in Greytown gave the work every possible encourage- ment. Many of the farmers not only gave it their hearty approval .and shared in it, but contributed much of their own time and personal -effort to carry it forward. Rev. James Scott, a missionary of the .scotch Free Church, was called in and" assisted at the baptizing of -about a hundred natives who had been converted by those Boers who .destroyed the station of Livingstone, and interfered with the work of .our French brethren. Having received an outpouring of the Spirit of .God two or three years ago, these Dutch farmers are now gathering . their Zulu servants together and are themselves preaching to them the .gospel of Christ."
The veteran American missionary, Rev. David Rood, for forty years a faithful laborer among the Zulus in Natal, bears similar testi- mony to the interest the Dutch are now taking in mission work among the aboriginal races in all parts of Soutlt Africa. And, as among some of the more important causes, or agencies, that have wrought .and are still working this cheering change,-a revival of religious and missionary zeal among the Dutch,-he mentions the labors and prayers ~f the many devoted teachers that have been going out, for some years, from New England, and especially from Mt. Holyoke Seminary, under the call and direction of P-astor Murray, of Wellington, superintendent .of the Dutch churches in South Africa, to establish schools of the South Hadley order and spirit among the Dutch in different parts of .all that broad field. Nor is their influence limited to the sections in which the schools are set, but" reaching Dutch families far away."
At the annual meeting of "The Natal Missionary Conference," held in Durban last July, Rev. James Turnbull, V. D., of Grey- town, read an interesting paper on "The Boer Farm Mission, or the Introduction of Christian Life into the Kraals of the Kafirs," which .serves to prove and illustrate the real practical interest the Boers .are taking in the religious well-being of the nations around them. The Boer's farm is generally large, comprising from five to ten thousand acres. On it may often be found a goodly number of Zulu Kraals; and the aim of "The Boer Farm Mission" is to fur- .nish religious instruction for these natives by providing a native
MORAVIAN MISSIONS AMONG THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 17~
evangelist from some regular mission station to labor for them~ The evangelist thus employed is to have a hut of his own on the farm, together with a field for planting and pasturage for his cows; also a small salary, part of which is to be paid by the Farm Mission and part by the farmer for whose people he labors. This evangelist is to teach and preach also on the neighboring farms, and the owners of these shall be expected to help make up the salary of the minister whose services his people may share. The enterprise promises to be attended with much success. The members of the church have increased from 45 to 96 during the last year, and some 50 candidates are now waiting for baptism.
MORAVIAN ~IISSIONS AMONG THE AMERICAN INDIANSr BY REV. D. L. LEONARD, BELLEVUE, OHIO.
It is much to the shame of American Christendom that so little is known of the character and doings in general of the Moravian Church, and in particular of her efforts to evangelize and civilize the' aborigines of this country. For not only does the story constitute one of the most thrilling and pathetic portions of our early annals~ but a number of her representatives rank high for distinguished public services among our pioneers and founders. This church was the first to cross the Atlantic upon an errand purely evangelistic. For the better part of a century she stood in the very forefront of the fearful strife with the wilderness and with savagery in New York. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Canada West. Nor did any heralds of the cross ever surpass, while few were able to equal, for patient endurance of hardships, or for length and energy of effort, such truly apostolic men as Heckewelder, for forty years a missionary among the Delawares, and Zeisberger, who for upwards of sixty years, bestowed most lavishly upon the same people the wealth of his wisdom and zeal, and died when past eighty-seven with the armor still on, and so, even more than Eliot, fairly earned the honorable title of Apostle to the Indians.
Already Dober and Nitschman had been despatched to the negroes of the West Indies, and the Stachs, with Christian David, to the Greenland Eskimos, and now in 1734, when the renewed church had been in existence scarcely more than a decade, a company of Moravians made their advent into Georgia to tell to the Creeks the story of redemption. But various troubles ensued and the mission was transferred to the more genial atmosphere of Quaker territory, and to the Forks of the Delaware. Here in 1741 a permanent settlement was made, destined to be a sort of second Herrnhut, a centre of gospel power for the New W orId, and named Bethlehem, Zinzendorf himself being present. A considerable accession soon followed of <settlers from Europe, and several tours of exploration through the forests to the north and west.
Meantime in Herrnliut Christian Henry Rauch h~d been set apart .as the first missionary to the Indians, and had landed alone and a ~tranger in New York. Only discouragements met him. But hearing that a delegation of Mohicans was in the city, he sought them out, and, sad prophecy of woe, found them in beastly intoxication. They had learned the Dutch language from their neighbors, and taking advantage of a few rational moments, he offered to return with them as a religious teacher, and in due season set out for Shekomeko, in Dutchess County, and near the Connecticut line. For a time his message was heard with interest, but when the novelty was gone his hearers fell away, rebuffs and insults became his daily portion, and he was bidden to be off' by the way he came. However, additional helpers were sent, and at the end of a year the seemingly barren soil suddenly began to whiten with a harvest. Tschoop (Job) and Shabash, the debauched wretches he had followed to their homes, through ,deepest penitence entered thoroughly into the kingdom, though one of them before had been "the greatest drunkard and most outrageous villain" in all that region. Savages came twenty and thirty .miles to listen to the" great words," a church of 70 was gathered, a ,-second station was opened further east upon the Housatonic (Pachgatgoch), and five missionaries were kept busy preaching, teaching and visiting from lodge to lodge. But those were troublous times. Evil doers found their gains from the vices of the Indians sadly les- ,1lened by the success of the Moravians, much sectarian bigotry and jealousy were abroad, and, worse, there was constant peril from the French. So from these combined sources fierce opposition arose, and their arrest followed upon the charge of being" Jesuits.in disguise," and finally in New York an act was passed which ordered" the sev- -eral Moravian and vagrant teachers to desist from further teaching .and preaching, and to depart the province." Thus expelled and the mission broken up, teachers and converts were presently transferred to Bethlehem. This was the first forced exodus in a long and lament- .able series.
In 1745 a Delaware chief and his wife were baptized, the first converts from that tribe upon which the bulk of Moravian fervor was henceforth to be expended. But just now great things were planned in behalf of the Iroquois to subdue their haughtiness by the power of the Cross, and inspire their hearts with the pity of Christ. .A mission board was formed. Young men were to be chosen and trained for the task by years of study and familiar intercourse. David Zeisberger was one of the first appointed (destin irter Heidenbote), and was sent to the Mohawk Valley to study the language. Arrested as a French .8P'!I and sent ba<?k, and little later with Bishop Spangenberg he made .a trying and most perilous trip to Onondaga to secure from the Grand Council permission for teachers to reside among the Six Nations. This was followed by several other visits of similar character, <and by two periods of residence, by which he gained such great ad- miration and affection from those redoubtable warriors that by the ·Onondagas he was with great ceremony adopted into the tribe of the "Turtle. As another means of reaching and winning the Iroquois, a mission was opened at Shamokin upon the Susquehanna, a great gathering place, with a blacksmith shop to sharpen their tools and weapons, and Zeisberger as an assistant. For some reason nothing flubstantial came of all this planning and labor. The French war <lompelled suspension, and after twenty years' continuance the attempt nnally ceased (1766).
But the work was vigorously pushed in the Wyoming Valley and <at other points. With <what heroic spirit is shown in a resolution adopted by the Mission Board " to carryon the evangelization of the Indians in an apostolic manner, and with resistless energy, to the glory of God, and to deem fit for this service such men and women only as are willing to lose their lives for Christ's sake." And, verily, it soon appeared that only such faith and fervor could meet the demands of the case. The Delawares were found comparatively docile and easy to be reached by such simple, earnest and loving presentation of the truth as the humble-hearted Moravians gave. So that by the end of 1749, 300 converts could be counted in Eastern Pennsylvania. But Braddock's defeat was the beginning of protracted disturbance and disaster. The entire frontier was exposed to bloody forays, morbid fear of tomahawk and scalping knife was universal, and the baseless suspicion spread that the Christian Indians and their teachers were in league~ith the French. Then, as if in cruel irony, a troop of Monseys, who were hostile to the English, made midnight assault with wholesale slaughter upon a Moravian settlement only a few miles from Bethlehem.
The mission came forth from the French war sadly scourged and a decimated, and then, when only a brief breathing space had been en- joyed, the Pontiac Conspiracy followed, with similar train of evils. The old charge against the converts was revived, but was proved to be a calumny by the meekness and resignation with which they endured severe and manifold trial and affliction ensuing. In part, at least out of kindness, they were ordered by the civil authorities to give up their arms and gather at Philadelphia, but, obeying, were met by a howling mob with insults and threats. In spite of all orders from their officers, the soldiers refused them a refuge in the barracks. Transported next to Province Island, a few weeks later they were packed off to New York, but on the border of the province were met ·with a command not to cross. Back then they tramped through a snow storm, and durance followed in all of sixteen months. Most of the time the missionaries were with them giving protection, council and good cheer. And the poor creatures were marvellously patient and steadfast through the whole. But during the summer smallpox and dysentery broke out, and almost half of the entire number died•. When finally released less than 100 remained, and so inveterate was– the prejudice against them that this remnant must needs at once re- move westward. So that presently we behold the afflicted flock and their loved shepherds, forsaking homes and worldly goods, plunging into the pathless forests, climbing Broad Mountain, crossing' the. Great Swamp, often able to advance but few miles a day, and, after' five weeks of hardship, fixing themselves upon the Susquehanna and. laying the foundations of a Second Friedenshutten (Tents of Peace).
This was in 1765. And now a few years of respite were vouch- safed. Comfortable homes were soon built, as well as a chapel and school-house, while a post-and-rail fence was constructed about the~ -entire cluster of cabins. The streets and yards were kept scrupu- lously clean. To every family was a garden, an orchard and a canal" while 250 acres were given to meadows and grain fields and cattle;, . hogs and poultry were abundant. To crown all a rich spiritual bless- ing also came, bringing a large increase of converts, while the gospel sounded out among the Mohawks, the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Tuscaroras, Wampanoags, Tutelas and N anticokes.
In 1767 intelligence was brought to Bethlehem that the Delawares .of the upper Allegheny desired to hear the glad tidings, and Zeisber- ger was deputed to journey thither. He found a very den of heathen- ism at Goschgoschunk, with debauchery and all manner of depraved doing rife. But, nothing daunted, he was on hand again the year following with Gottlob Senseman and three families of Christian Indians.. to begin the first Protestant mission beyond the mountains in the vast Mississippi Valley. For a while life was well nigh intolerable> so furious was the opposition. The settlement was removed a few miles. to a spot now in the midst of the oil region of Venango County, but at le~gth, by gentle bearing, coupled with zealous teaching and fervid appeal, such a turning to the Lord began that the heathen party lost control. In 1770 a call came to introduce the gospel still further west upon the Beaver, and a number of families journeyed thither iu canoes by way of the Allegheny and Ohio, and built Languntoutenunk, or Friedenstadt (City of Peace). Among the trophies of a revival,. which soon ensued, was Glikkikan, a famous chieftain and warrior,. who from henceforth threw the whole might of his influence in favor' of Christian civilization.
But serious trouble was brewing in the Susquehanna region. The bitter strife beween Yankee and Pennanite for the possession of . Wyoming was in progress. By the treaty of Fort Stanwix the territory in which Friedenshutten stood was sold to Pennsylvania, and the whites were crowding in upon the red inhabitants. Hence, re- moval, sooner or later, became necessary. And just then an invitation came from the Grand Council of the Delaware nation upon the Tus- carawas anG Walhonding, streams which unite to form the Musk- ingum, to remove, with tile promise of an aml)le tract of most fertile river bottom covered with magnificent forests full of berries, vi deer, turkeys and other game, while the stream was fairly alive with fish. And all hard by Gekelemukpechunk, the capital. Therefore, on every account it seemed best to transfer the mission from the Susquehanna. to the Muskingum, and in the spring of 1772 upwards of 200 crossed the diviaing ridge and made the long pilgrimage.
Zeisberger chose a spot upon the bluff nellr to a large rivulet which leaped forth from under ground, and called it Schonbrunn (Beautiful Spring). At a later time, to accommodate the growing numbers, he located two other settlements distant each a few miles, Gnadenhutten (Tents of Grace) and Lichtenau (Pasture of Light). These solid be- ginnings of religion and settled order were made by the Moravians, be it known, about half a generation before the Ordinance of 1787 and the founding of Marietta. And now followed in this far-off Arcadia what on the whole were the halcyon days in the career of the mISSIOn. Of material prosperity there was no lack, so that the heathen came from far to behold and wonder. Several sachems of high degree openly espoused the truth, among them Netawatwas and White Eyes. The chapel, though holding 500, could not contain the . audiences which gathered to hear the" great words." Baptisms, too, were frequent, and some of the shrewdest of the chiefs judged that a few years would suffice to give the victory to the gospel.
But, alas, sorest tribulation was in store. The Revolution was hastening on apace, with all its terrible moral strain and waste. When open collision came, it was neither from cowardice nor lack of patriotism that the missionaries decided to stand neutral. It was $ matter of conscience. They were non-combatants from principle. But this fact was the direct cause of continued embarrassment, though it is impossible to see how their case would have been bettered by choosing either for Congress or the King. But here, as also before and at a later time, upon them fell the" frequent penalty of peace- makers, the distrust of both sides." Certainly their course was ad- vantageous to the Colonies, since, though the Delawares finally went over to the British, it was not until after the surrender of Burgoyne and the alliance with France, and so for years 10,000 warriors were held back from their bloody forays by Zeisberger, Heckewelder and the rest, as in New York were many more by missionary Kirkland. The situation on the Muskingum was most trying and critical. The Christian Indians occupied the border between the English settlements and the savages of the 'Vest, and so were between two fires. War fury was rampant, and it required the utmost of sagacity and watehfulness to keep the hands of the young Delaware braves from seizing the hatchet. War parties frequently went back and fortb and all were entertained with strictest impartiality.
At length, to the British commander at Detroit, the attitude of this influential tribe became intolerable. And well k!lowing that the missionaries were tbe cbief obstacles in h.is way, be determined to strike at them a telling blow. It was when the long and weary strife was well nigh over, only four weeks before Cornwallis surrendered, that a few hundreds of Wyandots, lVlingoes, Shawanese, etc., with Elliott, an English captain, among them, suddenly appeared at Schonbrunn and the other towns, and by force compelled an exodus of the entire Christian population, Zeisberger and the four. other lVloravians included, and a long journey to Upper Sandusky, involving a wholesale destruction of property; and at the approach of winter, destitute of food and robbed of nearly all their clothing, were left by their captors in the wilderness. A little later the missionaries were ordered to Detroit to remain, and their followers to separate and find a home where they could.
But, meantime, the climax of horrors had come-the crushing (latastrophe. In a starving condition small companies had begun to return to the lVluskingum to gather some of their corll, which by the thousand bushels had been left unharvested. Toward the end of winter a larger party had gone upon the same errand. Theil' presence became known to the borderers of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and an <expedition was planned to cut them off. Under the lead of one Col. Williamson, while scattered through the fields, they- were suddenly set upon and made prisoners. A few hours were given in which to prepare for death, and then they were taken to two "slaughter houses," and one by one butchered and scalped. Ninety.six victims, wholly innocent of evil, of whom some thirty were women, thirty-five children and twelve babes. And this" not in the flush of victory, but in cold blood, leisurely as animals for the shambles." After the slaughter every building was burned.· Can American history match this woful and altogether sickening narration?
The residue of the dolorous story, though extending yet over the better part of a half century, need not long detain us. Permission was soon given to Zeisberger and his white associates to remain in Detroit, or to retire to Bethlehem. But the thought of forsaking the souls they had gathered at such cost could not be cherished for an instant, and a·re-establishment of the mission was determined upon. By consent of the Chippewas, a location was selected a few miles to the west of Lake St. Clair and upon the Huron (now Clinton) River, and a call was sent to the Christian Indians to gather at New Gnadenhutten. Not strangely, the response was so meagre that a start was made with but nineteen, and fifty-three was the sum total at the end of a year. A long succession of troubles, repeated removals with great loss of property, set upon and harried alike by British and American, and fihally the ruthless and unprovoked slaughter of scores of their brethren, whom could they trust, and what ground was there for hope and courage? In the almost insanity of despair they were haunted with the suspicion that the massacre was instigated by their teachers! Though others returned later, and not a few relig- iously alone and unhelped from henceforth lived and died true dis- ciples, yet too many made utter shipwreck of faith and relapsed into paganism, counting the gospel a cheat and snare.
Nearly four years was passed in the forests of Eastern Michigan in :severest toil and with slight encouragement, and then since the Chip- pewas broadly hinted that their presence was no longer welcome, the future ownership and government of the Northwest was uncertain, ;and since Congress had taken steps towards ceding to them the lands they had occupied on the Muskingum, in 1786 their steps were turned in that direction. Crossing Lake Erie they were driven ashore by tlevere storms, and were compelled to continue their journey on foot. .At length the Cuyahoga was reached, and upon its banks, some miles :south of where Cleveland now stands, a halt was made upon the site <>f a former Ottawa village, and the work of building and planting was at once commenced. This was their Pilgerruh (Pilgrims' Rest). It soon became apparent that though Congress stood ready to bestow titles and gifts of corn, blankets, etc., yet, on account of the deter:: mined opposition of the neighboring Indian tribes to a return to the Muskingum, the project must be postponed.
A more favorable location for a settlement was sought for and found some sixty miles to the west on the Huron river, and near to the Milan of this day. New Salem 'was the name which expressed their hope, and four years followed of rest and peace, and consequent prosperity. A grateful calm it was after a protracted season of dis- astrous storms. Or, as the event proved, it was a brief period of sun- shine succeeded by the gloom of a tempestuous night, and so its beauty . was but a bright sunset glow. A thriving town sprang up as if by magic, cattle increased and large harvests were gathered. Three .schools were opened and a hundred dusky pupils filled them. The chapel was thronged with Delawares, Chippewas, Ottawas, and even Wyandots, inquiring after the better way, and an old time revival began, which, with overwhelming power, laid hold of such as Gelele- mand, a head chief, and Gegeshamind, a notorious sorcerer,' and the membership of the church rose to 212.
·But evil days were oJ?ce more at hand. An Indian war broke out and raged with fury over the Northwest, with the crushing defeat of St. Clair and the brilliant victory of Wayne as chief incidents. Again missionary work was rudely brought to a Fltl).ndstill, and~ finally, lest a second massacre befall, a flight for safety to Canada was planned and executed. Some fifty appiicants for church membership declined to go, but the residue, in thirty large canoes, crossed the lake, located upon the Thames, founded Fairfield and received from the Government a large grant of land. After six years, or in 1798, a fraction numbering thirty-three formed a colony and set out for the Muskingum to rebuild the waste places and occupy the 12,00(} acres set apart for their use. Sixteen years had wrought great changes. The ruins of the former settlement could be traced.. Heaps of bones mingled with the ashes showed where the slaughter had occurred. But the fields were again wild with briars and underbrush. For some reason no attempt to restore and rehabilitate prospered. The missionaries and early converts were aged, and one after another- ;were passing away. Zeisberger, the chief leader and inspirer from the beginning, the center and soul of every movement for fifty years,. in 1808 went to his reward. The whites were crowding in from every direction, bringing the demoralization of their vices. And, finally, the migration of the Indian tribes across the Mississippi had set in. So in 1824 the lands were receded to the United States and the work came to an end. Unsuccessful attempts were made to open missions upon the Wabash and in Georgia among the Cherokees. Fairfield was burned by Gen. Harrison after the battle of the Thames, upon the false report that the Moravian Indians had fought with the British. That mission, however, still survives, and two stations are maintained in the Indian Territory. And this is all that remains after the utmost of wise, and earnest, and consecrated endeavor continued through one hundred and fifty years.
And what shall we say to this most painful narrative of hope deferred, of toil unstinted, and in His name, but constantly beset with appalling difficulties and doomed to failure at last?· Well, this at least: The work undertaken was a sublime one, and in the truest sense Christian, Christlike-of a piece with that done by the same church for the degraded African, and Australian, and Eskimo. Preaching of the gospel to the Indians was the thing to do, and th~t regardless of results, great or small. It was in obedience to the Divine call. Nor can we accurately reckon up returns in such high matters. It is no slight thing that some 1,400 or 1,500 souls were converted and trained for glory, and that christianizing and civilizing influence~ were carried to many hundreds more. Then Moravian missions to the aborigines of this country have but shared the sad lot of all similar undertakings. What is there to show for all that Eliot did, and Edwards, and the Mayhews, and many others in later times? In every case the obstacles were overwhelming, and the tribes have
THE JEW IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
well nigh vanished from the earth. Therefore, it was not their fault that they failed. There was a true Providence in the matter. They .did all that mortals could do. " Were strenuous ~xertions, indefatigable labor, patient perseverance, constant self-denial, and devoted zeal sufficient to secure success," then no sort of failure would have resulted. Best of all, such godly doing is never to be accounted "waste." In the spectacle I have been endeavoring to portray, as in so many bright passages from the history of Moravian missions, the gospel ideal is held up to the gaze of Christendom as seldom elsewhere. How blind and reckless, how unquestioning and resolute was their faith! At the divine bidding, like others of God's heroes, they gladly and with fine enthasiasm 'dared to attempt the impossible. And so in all centuries to come, and to thousands, what such as Zeisberger, and Heckewelder, and Senseman, and Rauch, and Buttner, and J ung did and assayed to do, will prove a mighty inspiration and ' impelling force to similar heroic efforts for the redemption of lost men.
THE JEW IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
BY J. T. GRACEY, D.D., BUFFALO, N. Y.
Seven millions of people are an inconsiderable numerical proportion of the fourteen hundred millions of people on the globe. But this number of Hebrews have managed to secure a large share of attention from the rest of mankind in our time, as for centuries preceding. We say seven millions, but this is probably under rather than beyond the real number, which has been estimated as low as five millions, while Herzog reckons, on the ground of information derived from many quarters, that at the lowest they number twelve millions. If the Jewish population of Europe be correctly estimated at five millions-and the statistics are doubtless more trustworthy here than ,elsewhere-then we strongly incline to the very high figures of Herzog, rather than to the extremely low aggregate of two millions in all the world outside of Europe. But Herzog says two millions is too 10w for Europe. This would be one Jew for every forty-five of the entire population. In Amsterdam alone there are thirty-six thousand Jews; in Poland no one estimates the Jew population at less than one million; and in Russia, including Poland,> at three millions. Germany has upwards of half a million, and the United States probably three-quarters of a million of Jews; European Turkey contains about 350,000, mostly about Constantinop~e; Roumania, 250,000, and North Africa, 100,000.
We will not now classify the Jewish communities only to say, there are J ews-and Jews. The Falashas in Abyssinia, the Black J'ews on the Malabar coast, Loango Jews in Africa, and the Karaites in Russia, Crimea and Damascus, are not Jews by lineage. The last named claim to be descended from a leader of their own who lived twenty-two centuries ago. They are not Talmudists. They number about 100,000. They disclaimed being Jews to escape the Russian outbreak of the anti-Jewish riots of 1881.
Nor can we stop to say more than a word about their language. In Europe they speak J udeo-Spanish and J udeo-German. The one is the corrupted Spanish and Hebrew they carried with them when expelled from Spain; and the other has Hebrew roots and German flexions. Over Asia 'and Africa they speak a peculia~ jargon, yet generally, besides, the vernacular of the country where they live.
But the change in the position of the Jew within the last half century is one of the most remarkable character. Fifty years ago the Jew was inert and imbecile. Now he exercises a power greater than in the days of David or Solomon. The Jews to-day influence more people, control more bullion, and exercise more legislative power than they did when they had their temple, their land ati.d their scepter. They have been stationary for eighteen centuries and hunted into obscurity. To-day they attract wider attention than ever before in tbeir bistory.
They are "ministers of finance, ministers of education, peers of the realm, mayors of great cities, senators in the assembly, close counsellors of kings." Painters, philosophers, poets, professors, physicians, editors, lawyers, members of parliament, bankers,-none of them could name those who have attained eminence amongst them without naming a modern Jew. In all countries of western Europe> except Russia, they enjoy Civil Equality and all the rights of citizens. It is estimated by those who claim to see the drift of things, that in a brief period all the seats of justice will be in their bands. Out of twelve hundred students at .Jaw iu Berliu, six hundred were Jews. The Berlin and other Councils are ruled by a Jewish majority, and aU offices are in the gift of Jews. The German tradesman sinks to a. secondary position alongside his Jew competitor, the best squares are filled with Jew shops, the best estates have passed into their hands;. in Germany they have ousted the best families from their patrimonial possessions. This is true of Holland also.
One Jew at least has reached the Senate of France, and another the Chamber of Deputies. Lord Beaconsfield achieved undying notoriety as the Prime Minister of Great Britain; and M. Simon the French Premier, and Gambetta the leader of the opposition, were both descendants of Jewish families. One of the best minds of the Southern councils during the rebellion was that of Judah P. Benjamin, a Jew; and in the North, a Jew, August Belmont, was Chairman ~f the National Democratic Committee in 1878. The Jew is the world's chief banker to-day. No existing civilized nation has failed to f~el his influence in monetary matters. National loans in Europe have long been dependent on Jewish coffers, and it is doubtful if any nation would dare to declare war until they knew if Jew bankers would float the loan necessary for the conduct of the campaign. Almost the whole Cif the liberal press of Germany is in their hands. The two leading papers of Rome, Italy, were, and possibly still are, edited by Jews. The power of the Jewish press of the continent of Europe is very great in ID'ltters political, scientific and theological. The learned Rabbis publish many journals.
At the bar the Jew has achieved great eminence within thirty years of opportunity. It is fifty-six years since the Jews were admit- ted to the freedom of the city of London. The first Jew sheriff of England was elected in 1835, and a little earlier the first Jew was ad- mitted to the English bar. It was as late as 1847 that Baron Roths- child was returned for the city of London, and eleven years later (1858) the first Jew was admitted to the House of Commons. There were but twelve Jew brokers in London at the beginning of this cen- tury. ~he number was limited to twelve. The rare privilege to be- come one of these twelve brokers was conveyed by title deed, and as late' as 1826, when a vacancy occurred, over seven thousand dollars was paid by a Jew for the privilege of its occupancy.
The children of Jews are being educated in a ratio disproportioned to those of Gentiles in many countries, especially in Germany, Austria, and even Russia. This finds an illustration in the Grand Duchy of Baden, where the number of the population being a trifle over a million and a half, one million were Romanists, a half million Protestants, aud twenty-eight thousand Jews. But in the grammar schools the Romanists and Protestants counted two thousand each, and the Jews over five hundred, or the Romanists 41 per cent., the Protestants 47 per cent., and the Jews 11 per cent" or, more roughly and roundly, the Romanists had one pupil in these schools for every five hundred of their number, the Protestants one for every two hundred and sixty, and the Jews one for every fifty-seven. In what are known as the commercial schools the proportion is about the same.
The Jews in Turkey are reported as taking a great interest in education. There is said to be a class of educated Jews, liberal minded and prosperous, untiring in their efforts to develop education among the native Jews by establishing schools.
The increased prosperity and power of the Jew was a foremost occasion of the anti-Semitic riots in Russia in 1881. It was alleged that they had increased in population and wealth until they exercised an undue preponderating influence in affairs of State. It was said that their presence in such numbers and their power endangered national unity and the Christian faith; that they could never be true patriots, and as a money-lending people they exerted a corrupting influence on commerce. It is charged against the modern Jew that he carries out no mission for the good of the human family, and that he seriously interferes with brotherly unity and love. As a class, it is true, they originate no organization of their own looking to practical beneficence beyond their own race lines. But the mercantile Jew of our country has been a generous contributor towards relief of national calamities by fire, flood and pestilence. That his motive may be mixed in his subscription to the relief of sections whence he finds his patronage, even if established, would, we fear, not prove that he occupied a lower level than many Gentiles by his side.
As the Jew has entered into the civilization of the age and become a part of it, Rabbinical Judaism has necessarily undergone considerable modification.' The public schools and other educational establishments give them their curriculum of study, and the study of the Talmud has so far declined that German Jews have to imp~rt their Rabbis from among Polish and Russian youths. The catechism learned by the Jew children in Germany teaches rationalism, not Biblicism, and many have first learned the Bible through the Christian missionary. Amongst multitudes of them in Germany, the hope of a Messiah has totally disappeared. Dr. Philippson, editor of the Allgemeine Zitung des Indenthens, acknowledges that a spirit of skepticism has laid hold of the yonnger generation, so that conviction has disappeared; that there is truth, and that man can obtain it; all idealism is gone, and nothing is considered to be useful and worth while anyeffor.t but that which promises material advantage-wealth, honor, power and enjoyment. Hence this mad spirit of speculation, this ef~ fort and anxiety to get rich quickly, and at the expense of others. A writer in that same periodical said a few years ago: "I see that among the educated classes the religious indifference has so much grown that they do not take the least interest in Jewish literature. I cannot get rid of the doubt whether Judaism, which rests on an historical foundation and is built up with historical stones, can stand and continue when those stones are loosened, and that foundation is forsaken."
The Jewish Chronicle and Jewish World are full of lament that the privileges granted by the Russian government to educated Jews, and the drafts of Jewish youths fOl' ten years into the army, with other causes, are rapidly resulting in the same decline of faith among the Russian Jewish community, and the younger generation is acknowledgedly skeptical, though often secretly so at home. The Is~ raelitish Alliance of Paris is rapidly planting the same forces-schools, etc., among the Jews in Turkey, Asia and Africa. Of two thousand shops kept by Jews in the city of Paris, not over a hundred are closed on Saturday. Of the seventy thousand Jews in New York City, not over twenty-five hundred are attached to the synagogue. Rev. Theodore J. Meyer has therefore pertinently said that the " consequence of this new spirit is that the synagogal service, which for centuries had existed without any change, can no more attract and ,satisfy people whose mental horizon has been enlarged by the study of history, science and philosophy, and whose tastes and modes of living have been revolutionized by the contact and intercourse with civilized society. The disorderly, noisy service of the synagogue could not but be repulsive to such men. A reform of it was therefore generally de- manded. Under great opposition, not only from the still poweI"ful orthodox party, but in many cases also from the political authorities, a. change was at length effected. Everywhere in the principal syna- gogues of the Continent and Great Britain more order and decorum prevail, choral singing, regular or occasional sermons in the vernacu- lar were introduced, although with a very few exceptions the language ·of the prayers remaiI).ed Hebrew. For a time that succeeded in at- tracting again to the synagogues those who had turned away in dis- gust from the old unresthetic service; but it could not satisfy them for any length of time. The cold decorum of the new service left them cold, too; and moreover they discovered that the spirit of the prayers of the synagogue was more in opposition with their views than even the old form of service had been with their new 1abits and tastes.
" The writings of Zunz, Geiger, Holdheim, Furst and others had rudely shaken the belief in the authority of the Talmud and in the .institutions of the prayers and service of the synagogue by Ezra .and the great men of the Sanhedrim. These men, and the leaders of this movement generally, had been all more or less imbued with ration- alism and pantheism, which at that time prevailed in German litera- ture and society generally. What sympathy could they have with a liturgy which on every page gives expression to its hope for the com- ing of the promised Messiah, prays for his appearance, for the gather- ing of scattered Israel, and their return to their own land; for the re- building of the temple and the restoration of the sacrificial service? After the charm of novelty had worn off, the synagogue again stood :empty, notwithstanding their reformed services. Greater, more thorough-going reforms were required-reforms which introduced into the synagogue not only better decorum, music and singing, which e., did not merely lop the liturgy a little here and there, but would bring it into harmony with the spirit of the age, both internally-i. doc- trinally-and externally."
The Jewish World is a weekly penny paper, published in London, which week by week has reproduced in popular form the subtlest and boldest infidel thought of Strauss and Bauer. There is little room to ,doubt but that where Judaism has come in contact with Christian civ- ilization it has resulted in a death-blow to Rabbinical Judaism. A re- turn to simple Mosaic Judaism has proven to be an impossibility.
Even in other countries Rabbinism has been undermined.
The question of their conversion to Christianity would require a ,separate article. A few statements, however, may be presented.
Seven or eight years ago it was said the number of Hebrew Christians in Berlin alone was upwards of fifteen hundred. In 1876 the Irish . Presbyterian Mission Board estimated that there were twenty thousand converted and baptized Jews then living in the communion of Christian churches, and the Missionary News estimates that at the present day at least a thousand. Jews annually are converted to Chris- tianity, who join the churches in about the following proportion: Greek Church 450; Romish 270 ; Evangelical 250 ; and that during this century at least a htlnarea tliousana have been baptized, among whom are many eminent persons. Professor Paulus Cassell, D. D., a member of the German Parliament, is a convert from Judaism. The Irish Presbyterian Missionary report" of thirteen years ago, said that not less than three hundred and twenty converted Jews were known at that time to be occupying high and influential p08itions as ministers" theological professors, and teachers in the Christian church. The Church of England alone had one hundred and ten converted Jews ministering as priests at her altars, and amongst the most eminent di- vines of the Presbyterian and dissenting bodies were many of the chil- dren of Jacob. Christian Jews have won for themselves a world-widereputation as commentators and expounders of the Christian Scriptures,. and some of the brightest centers of Evangelical light on the continent of Europe are universities whe'reJewish Christian doctors occupy the chairs. There are indications among the Jews of Persia of a large movement'towards Christianity. Among the sixty thousand Jews of London there is said to be an increasing approximation of many J eWI> to the Christian church. Some well-to-do Jews say that many would any day become members o~ the Christian church if there was an important movement that way from the synagogues. Many Christians. found in London have Jewish names, and have had for at least one generation. Sixty Jews have applied for membership cards in our' Young Men's Christian Associations. Forty years ago there were not fifty Jewish Christian converts in Gteat Britian ; now the missions. count three thousand, and it is estimated that fifteen hundred Jews. leave the synagogue every year; whether they become Christians or infidels, we are not told. Europe has nineteen, possibly more, Jewish societfes. In this country it was thought twenty-five years ago that there was no room nor need for a mission to the Jews, but we now have several, and through them many have been brought to Christ.
An able Jewish authority says: "The majority of Jews are more familial' with the doctrines and sayings of the New Testament than they are with the Talmud and the Pentateuch." Rev. Rudolph Koenig of Pesth says of Professor Delitzch's translation of the New Testament into Hebrew, which has gone through several editions, that the J ewe are its readers, and a considerable movement among them has been the result. He also speaJ-:s of the Jewish Missionary Association formed among the theological students of Leipsic, called" Institutum Judaicum," holding prayer-meetings for the conversion of the Jews. The methods of appeal to the Jews which experience discloses,
ROMAN CATHOLIC LAY CONGRESS OF 1889
are often curious and instructive. There is, for instance, the appeal to the Jewish character of the New Testament. It is affirmed to bemore Jewish than the Old Testament, containing not a' particle of Gentile element within its pages, whereas the Old Testament containsprophecies communicated through Gentiles like Jethro and an idolatrous priest, and a pseudo-prpphet like Balaam.
We have no room so much as to outline the independent Jewish Christian movements, like that under Rabinowitz, the learned Jewish lawyer, who teaches the Jews" Jesus is our brother," and" The key to the Holy Land lieslin the hands of our brother Jesus." We forbear reference now to the oft-repeated suggestion that the conversion of the people would provide not a missionary agency but a missionary people, and an indigenous evangelistic force.
They are sleeping under all stars, trading in all marts, sailing overall seas, scaling all mountains, tracking all deserts, wearing all garbs,. speaking all tongues, familiar with all customs and codes, "the source of all the monotheism of the world," holding in their hands the prophecies of their own peeled, scorned, and scattered: condition; at once no people and the mightiest of people; steeped in prejudice and often in poverty; without prophet to inspire, or priest to rally, or' prince to rule, or standard for rendezvous; without country that they may call their own, without shekel or shield, without miracle or sacrifice, without urim and thummim or cloud pillar, they remain, defying all influences that have worked the extinction of other peoples from the days of the Czar of Egypt to those of the Czar of Russia; and they remain to accomplish so high and holy mission as witnesses to Jesus Christ in another and a better sense than in that of the terrible, "rrarry thou till I come," whIch has made the monumental through centuries of the judgment of God.
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC I~AY CONGRESS OF 1889.
BY F. F. ELLINWOOD, D. D., NEW YORK.
The significance of the Roman Catholic Centennial, which was· held in Baltimore in November last, is admitted by all. A review of a hundred years of progress was presented with skill and enthusiasm. The advances made both intrinsically and relatively, and the promise which those advances give to the future of Roman Catholocism in this country, were received with manifest pride, and with an apparent assurance of faith for the time to come. This was the first of a probable series of conventions designed to represent the laity. Very apparent was the desire to show the people a little ostentatiously that the Church is not bound hand and foot by priestly authority, but in the influence of and powers of its laymen is abreast with Protestantism. The speeches and papers were presented by laymen, mostly young or in their prime, and supposed to represent the, wide-awake spirit of our country and our generation. It is under- stood, however, that all the papers had passed under the eye of the Bishops, and that the Convention as a whole was held firmly in hand.
The general plan was well conceived and executed. The whole {lase of the Roman Catholic Church in this country could scarcely have been presented, in its beginnings, progress, and attainments, more adroitly. According to programme, two days were spent at Baltimore, and a third day at Washington in the dedication of the National Catholic University.
The Convention was dignified by the presence of a special repre- sentative of the Pope, and by Cardinal Tascheraeu of Canada. Car- dinal Gibbons was supported by about a dozen American Arch- bishops, eighty Bishops, and nearly a thousand priests, .while the attendance of Catholics upon the different sessions is supposed to have numbered tens of thousands.
The address of welcome given by Cardinal Gibbons, as reported, seems rather.disappointing. Much was doubtless expected from him, {lonsidering his acknowledged ability, his progressive spirit, and ad- mirable tact. He stated that he had not at first been favorable to the idea of holding this Congress, as the time seemed too short. His reference to the fact that the business proceedings "would have to be dovetailed between the religious festivities of Baltimore and 1Vashington," and his facetious sympathy for a body thus "sandwiched," as he said, "between two other corpulent bodies, which is always so much the worse for the individual sandwiched, rendering it difficult for him to breathe, and-still more difficult to speak," would seem to lack the dignity deml.nded from so august a personage upon so great and historic an occasion. He expressed, however, a desire long felt, to see the clergy and the laity drawn more closely together, believing that while the clergy are divinely constituted channels for instruction in faith and morals, they may learn much from the laity in practical wisdom and worldly common sense. He expressed his earnest prayer that the deliberations of the Congress might be marked by the "freedom and independence which becometh patriots,' by the wisdom and discretion which becometh enlightened {litizens, and, above all, by the charity which becometh Christians, sons of the same Father, brothers of the same Christ, members of the same family, having one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all."
Important papers were read by Dr. J. G. Shea of Newark, N. J., who gave a history of the Roman Catholic Church in this country, .and emphasized with much pride the fact that its growth had been achieved without any appliances of home or foreign missionary agen- {lies; and by Hon. H. T. Brownson of Detroit, who urged that "the ,Church should adopt all that is good in modern civilization, and not try to return to oldconditions,"-that more should be made of the lay element in all practical work, that "politics and religion should not be separated, if purity in politics is to be looked for," that the cause of temperance and every means of purifying the politics of the country should be encouraged.
The most eloquent speech of th~ Convention was delivered by Daniel Dougherty, Esq., of New York, who regarded the opportunity of the hour" as the great honor of his life." For peculiar glow of imagination, brilliancy of utterance, broad and rapid sweep of history, and skilful arrangement of facts for the purpose in view, the speech has rarely been excelled. The fact that America was discovered by a Catholic navigator under royal Catholic patronage, that a Roman Catholic Christian service was the first to consecrate the Western hemisphere so far as .history records, that one great aim of Catholic discovery was the establishment of the religion of Christ, that Catho- lics had been the first to stain our fair land with their martyr blood, that although" they had been spurned with suspicion, disenfranchised, hunted as criminals," yet a Catholic was among the signers of the Dec- laration of Independence, and Catholic powers of Europe aided us in our struggles against the Protestant powers that denied us liberty, that the blood of Catholic patriots was freely shed for the Colonial cause-all this was shown forth with consummate tact. He maintained that in spite of "constant abuse heaped upon Catholics in later times, in newspapers, books and periodicals, speeches and sermons, by sectarian assemblies and political conventions, and even on the .floor of Congress," yet, Catholic volunteers had been among the first to consecrate their lives to the Republic on every field of battle. He did not allude to the New York Catholic riots to resist the draft: still we would not detract from the worthy service rendered by Catholic soldiers in the support of the Government. " From 40,000" said :Mr. Dougherty, "the Roman Catholics in this country have become 10,000,000. From a despised people they are a mighty power. In every avenue of industry and intellect they are the peers of their fellow men. Their schools and colleges, libraries, asylums and hospitals are scattered far and near. In every village, a steeple or tower tipped with the cross tells where Catholics pray. In every metropolis a cathedral lifts its massive walls high above all surrounding piles, or with its stately dome crowns the city's brow. Our grand old Church," he continued, "rescued the jewels of classic lore from the ruins of the Roman Empire, and preserved them through the convulsions of a thousand years. She was the pioneer of civilization, the founder of States, the conservator of order, the champion of the people against the encroachments of tyrants."
Now, there is a large per cent. of truth in all this, but it is ereparte. The almost total destruction of civilization in Spain is not mentioned. And as to Catholic resistance to tyrants, Charles V. and Phillip II. are passed in silence, as well as the fact that Pope Paul IV. remonstrated with the Spanish Sovereign for his leniency and tardi- ness in crushing the Protestants, and even withdrew from him the >subsidies of the Church.
At the inauguration of the Catholic University at Washington, Father Fidelis, in an eloquent sermon, treated history in the same eclec- tic manner. Those events which we all admit to have been sublime he thus set forth: "She [the Church] has waited in the wilderness and 'crouched in the catacombs, and from her throne of honor she has ruled the world with more than regal sway. She met the barbarian and curbed his rage; she organized a new civilization on the wide ruin of the old; she cleared the forest, and drained the marsh, and built the town' >she covered Europe with her cathedrals and colleges; she was the foster mother of learning and the patroness of art; and all the while ,she forgot not that which was ready to perish, but in meekness and voluntary poverty she went her ceaseless rounds of mercy."
Evidently the leaders of the Church are using the immense prestige of their past history to the best possible account. The masses of the people will be made more intellige~t and more enthusiastic. They will not be carefully instructed in regard to the Inquisition or the wrongs of Albigenses, Lowlanders and Huguenots. They will know -only the brighter side: possibly we have dwelt too exclusively upon the dark side. If the late Congress has really struck a new key-note of advancement,-if, as Father Fidelis claims, "the Catholic Church is capable of infinite adaptability,"-is "constantly shaking off and casting from her that which is outwo:n and worthless,?' candid Protestants will rejoice in every slich change.
The declarations contained in the Platform are as follows: First. That there is no antagonism between the claims of the Church and those of the country, and that if the freedom of our .country should ever be in peril, its Catholic citizens will be found ready as one man to pledge anew:' their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor." Second. A regretful reference to the social and political dangers which threaten the laId in pauperism and discontent. Third. A recognitl:>ll of the importance to society as well as the individual, of Christian education, and since religion in the public schools is denied, the indispensable necessity of parochial education for the children of all Catholics. Fourth. A declaration of the sacredness of the home, coupled with a denunciation of Mormonism, and" the facility for divorce which has gained such alarming currency under the auspices of Protestant sentiment and legislation." Fifth. A warning against the danger of political or industrial guilds, and an earnest recommendation of Oatholic societies only, since in a religious basis, and not in a race or national basis, lies true safety.
. Sixth. The conflict of capital and labor, and the associational tendencies connected t4erewith ar~ looked upon with regret. Nihil- ism, socialism and communism are pointedly condemned, and equal condemnation is visited upon the heartless greed of capital.
Seventh. Strong ground is taken against intemperance and Sabbath desecration. "Without going over to the Judaic Sabbath," says the Platform, "we can bring the masses over to moderation of the Christian ::;unday, and to effect this we must set our faces sternly .against the sale of intoxicating beverages on Sunday. Let us resolve that drunkenness shall be made odious, and give practical encouragement and support to Catholic temperance societies." All Catholics are urged to join their influence, with that of other enemies of intemperance, against the corrupting influence of the saloon in politics.
Eighth. The importance of disseminating Catholic reading matter, not only in books and tracts setting forth Christian doctrines, but in acquainting the people with Catholic teaching and opinion on the important questions of the day. Circulating libraries and Catholic reading circles are recommended, but not a word is said about reading the Word of God in any version.
Perhaps the most difficult plank in this platform, yet the most crucial and important, considering the present status of the Church, is that relating to the freedom of the Pope. The Oatholic Mirror, the supposed organ of Cardinal Gibbons, published a week before the Congress, an article declaring that" American Catholics do not desire that the temporal power of the Pope shall be restored) they only demand that the independence of the Pope in spiritual matters shall be guaranteed to him by the Catholic powers of Europe." This utterance, which was not challenged by the Convention, gives a somewhat enigmatical significance to this plank in the platform, viz.: "The absolute freedom of the Holy See is necessary to the peace of the Church and the welfare of mankind. We demand in the name of humanity and justice that this freedom be scrupulously respected by all secular governments. We protest against the assumption by any such government of a right to affect the interests or control the action of our Holy Father by any form of legislation or other public act to which his full approbation has not been previously given; and we pledge to Leo XIII., the Worthy Pontiff, the loyal sympathy and unstinted aid of all his spiritual children in vindicating that perfect liberty which he justly claims as his sacred and inalienable right."
The question which it is difficult to decide is, to what particular rights does this freedom apply? This protest against the rights of any government "to affect the interest or control the action of the Holy Father by any form of legislation to which his full approbation has not previously been given" may admit of an immense latitude of interpretation. The language, if it is to hinge upon a Pope'<i own decision;;;, wodd open the way for all shades of sentiment, from the mild and patriotic utterances of Cardina! GlObons to the preposterous.
assumptions of a Hildebrand. .
Our perplexity is still furtner increased by the fact that since the- rising of the Convention, viz., on December 30th, the Pope, in con- sistory, gave his interpretation of the issue in question by declaring that his liberty required nothing short of· a recovery of temporal power.
Weare inclined to accord a real sincerity to the intelligent Catholic: laymen of this country in the avowal of their loyalty and patriotism, but they may believe that the best thing that could happen to thi~ country would be to bring it under Sl)iritual control of the Vatican.
We, on the other hand, desire a prevailing Protestantism because we are afraid of the Vatican. There need be no question of motives,-it.
is a matter of principles and of history. Protestants profess an al- legiance to this realm, and to no other. It does not meet the case to say that we also owe a supreme allegiance to God. We gladly ac- cord that to Catholics, but we protest against an earthly vice-regency which is supreme. And when we suggest possible conflicts between the Government of the United States and the Government at Rome, we are talking of no idle dreams. The history of the past is full of _ concrete and terrible realities on this subject. When we remember that only twenty-five years ago Pope and Cardinals and Bishops were in league with the French Emperor in trying to overthrow the repub- lic of Mexico; when we hear that not many months ago large sums were contributed by Catholics in this country to aid Boulanger in overthrowing the republic of France; when we learn that only a few days ago the Catholic priests of Toronto successfully resisted a free ballot in a special election of trustees of the schools,-we think we have some reason to fear the influence of a two-fold, and, perhaps, conflicting allegiance. It is just here that the chief issue with Ameri- can Catholics lies.
When we settle down into our most charitable and hopeful mood~ some ungarded utterance is sure to appear which dispels our hopes.
We are not permitted to draw our conclusions from the Centennial Congress alone. We cannot forget an encyclical of the Pope in which he distinctly says (Art. XLII.): "In case of conflict between the ecclesiastical and the civil powers, the ecclesiastical powers ought to prevail. "
We cannot forget those words of Cardinal Manning while he was Archbishop: "I acknowledge no civil power; I am the subject of no prince! I claim to be the Supreme Judge and Dictator of the con- sciences of men; of the peasant that tills the fields and of the prince that sits upon the throne; of the household that sits in the shade of privacy and the legislator that makes laws for kingdoms." We have a declaration of the late Cardinal McCloskey, that the Catholics of the ITnited States are as strongly devoted to the maintenance of the temporal power as those of any other country. We have a prophecy of Father Hecker, made in 1870, that "there will yet be a State religion in this country, and that that State religion will be Roman Catholic." It may be said that these are only the vaporings of fanati- cal Ecclesiastics, but Prince Bismarck, judging from actual experience in statesmanship, said in 1875: "This Pope, this foreigner, this Italian, is more powerful in thIS country [Germany] than any other person, not excepting the king." In view, therefore, of many conflicting indications, our Catholic friends must not think us bigoted if we receive the enthusiastic utterances of their Congress with some measure of abatements.
But what is the outlook of the Catholic Church in this country? The question is largely one of comparative numbers.
It is to be borne iI1. mind, of course, that the Roman Catholic body now claiming at least 9,000,000, is reckoned by a different principle from that which obtains among Protestants. All baptized persons are considered full members of the Church, and it is customary to count families and circles of kindred. By the same method, the total number of Protestants, whose communicants number say twelve and a half millions, would reach forty-five or forty-six millions, or about five times the number of Roman Catholics. But, in considering relative power in the State, it would not be safe to count upon such a ratio as this. There is no such political unity in the Protestant body as among Catholics, and in some matters of a social and religious nature there is a serious lack of co-operation. Were the Protestant Churches as thoroughly united as are Romanists, in demanding this or that claim from the municipal, the state, or the national, authorities, their demands would be irresistible; but politicians are accustomed to judge that from their standpoint Protestant political unity is a rope of sand, while-Romanism is a strong-stranded, hard- "twisted, agency which they cannot afford to ignore.
The members of Protestant bodies are indep!Jndent citizens, thinking for themselves, differing in their views on many questions, and voting according to their political opinions. But in the main the Roman Catholic body is a solid mass which can be hurled on either side of any political issue with great effect, and it is not so much the numbers as the compact organization which enables the Catholic in- :fIuence to tip the balance of power between parties, and thus secure: its ends. Even aside from the ratio of numbers, therefore, the· Roman Catholic Church must always possess an advantage as a mctOl" in popular government. In reference to numbers and increase, it should be said, in the first place, that the great Catholic gain in this country has been due mainly to the constant tide of immigration. This is not likely to cease so long as the populations of Europe throw off a surplus, and this alone will constantly affect the comparative ratios of Romanism in this country. In the second place, there is a greater increase of Catholic population by natural generation. The influence of wealth upon our native-born citizens of the Anglo-American stock, ·and the increased extravagance which widely prevails, operate unfavorably upon the number of marriages and the natural increase of population. This check exerts a far greater influence upon the native American element, which is largely Protestant, than upon the immigrant population which is mainly Catholic.
Some suggestive statistics are furnished by Dr. Josiah Strong, showing the comparative increase of Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches in different periods of the past. Thus, from 1800 .to 1850, the population of the country increased 9 fold; the membership of all evangelistic churches 27 fold; the Roman Catholic 63 fold. From 1850 to 1880 the population increased 116 per cent., the communicants of Protestant churches 185 per cent., and the Roman Catholics 294 per cent. Or, to take another line of comparison, in 1850 the Catholics equalled 45 per cent. of the total Protestant church membership, and in 1880, 63 per cent.
In looking forward to the future of this important question, there are various considerations, lying some OJ}. the one side, some on the other. When we consider the boldness and assurance of infidelity, I think that every true friend of the cause of Christ must rejoice in the alliance of the Roman Catholic Church in this country. That it is a Christian church in its great body of believers, and aside from its hierarchial assumptions, I, for one, have no doubt. That there are tens and hundreds of thousands of real Christians in its communion, I am confident. That its strong faith and its unflinching maintenance of its principles will help to interpose an important barrier against the flippant infidelity of the day, there is good reason to believe. Cardinal Gibbons' able book, recently published, is a strong defense of 1lhe common Christian faith.
In Italy there is danger from extravagant and infidel legislation in the Chamber of Deputies, as well as from the reactionary schemes of the Cardinals. That the temporal power of the Pope shall ever be restored, is impossible. The whole trend of sentiment among the Latin races is against it, and when Archbishop Corrigan said recently that the Catholics of this diocese "long for the day when the Sovereign Pontiff shall be restored to the fullness of his timehonored and necessary rights," he only did injury to the Papal cause at Rome. The constant utterances of this sentiment by Catholics in
A PLEA FOR ENTHUSIASM IN MISSIONS
3011 lands, and the extravagant demands which the Pope is thus encouraged to make, can only add fuel to the flame Qf indignant radicalism in Italy, and so strengthen that resistance and repression with which the Papacy cannot continue to cope. .
That the Roman Catholic Church in this country will become a. great power, we have no doubt: That it will exert a disproportionate influence in our politics, seems probable. That it will ever gain such power as to overthrow our liberties, I do not believe. The American people are long suffering under the encroachments of particular sections or classes, but when the evil is ripe for retribution, they rise up and sweep it away as with the resistless power of the tides. Meanwhile, let us hope that American Catholics themselves will become so broadened that they will lose their interest in the dead chrysalis of Italian supremacy, and will seek to enthrone here the true "Head ()ver All," who is confined to no country or hemisphere.
A PLEA FOR ENTHUSIASM IN MISSIONS.
[EDITORIAL.-A. T. P.] Among the most startlingly rapid movements of the present day are the" Societies of Christian Endeavor." Though but a few years old, already they are spreading over the earth.
" Christian endeavor" is too sacred and meaningful a phrase to be <larelessly used and applied. "Endeavor" is from the French, compounded of en and devoir, and means exertion in the line of duty, labor directed to some specific end, guided by a supreme aim. "Christian endeavor" is, therefore, the highest expression for holy €xertion along the lines of Christian duty, activity, set to the music Qf love and loyalty to Christ and souls. We must beware that it <lomes not to be a meaningless phrase or the mere motto of a formal, superficial, external, mechanical stirring about-a noisy, bustling activity that makes up for devoutness and devotion by" mouthing" and motion!
"Christian endeavor" is the soul of missions, and there are a few indispensable requisites to its exercise.
First of all, a holy enthusiasm. That word has been thought by some to be derived from the Greek .E'V and eEO~, meaning entheism, or God-indwelling. Certainly, in its highest use and application, it means nothing less than a divine passion burning in the human soul and yearning for the accomplishment of high results. And so understood, enthusiasm is the soul and source of all Christian endeavor. Without it there cannot be the heroic, self-sacrificing worker for God. Without it in any sphere there is no high achievement. All successful men in every department have been enthusiasts, and sometimes ~onsidered as fanatics.. Michael Angelo, attacking with hammer and chisel an old dingy, yellow block of marble, declaring that within it was imprisoned an angel, and as a sculptor seeking to set the angel free, was a poetic example of artistic enthusiasm. So also was Da Vinci, who wrought for ten years upon his master picture of the "Last Supper," in the refectory of the Convent of the Madonna della Grazea at Milan. Often for whole days he was so absorbed in his work that he forgot to eat. Again, for days he would only come and stand in silence before it, as if devoutly studying his great theme and criticising his own work. Again, in the heat of noon, he would leave the cathedral where he was modelling his colossal "horse," and, hurrying to the convent, add a line or a touch of color to the picture and return. Who does not remember the story of Palissy, the potter? In 1539, having seen in Italy some decorated pottery, he determined to discover the secret of enamelling. For sixteen years he tried experiment after experiment. He put his whole life into his work, regardless of cost, of toil, of hardship, from each new failure and disappointment rising to another endeavor, and rejoicing even in failures because they narrowed down the circle within which lay the secret of success. He reduced himself and his family to poverty and the verge of starvation, and, with almost insane persistency, broke up even his household furniture to feed the fires of his glazing furnace when other fuel failed!
Christopher Columbus was an enthusiast or he would never have discovered the New W orId beyond the Atlantic. There are few sublimer scenes in all history than that on which the Southern Cross shone, when, on the early morning of October 12, 1492, the great Genoese navigator sleeplessly walked the deck of the Santa Maria watching for land. His three ships had been 71 days at sea. He had met every disappointment and obstacle undismayed. He had encountered storms 150 violent that his crews insisted he was tempting Providence. The cry of " Land !" had set the ships echoing with the Gloria in Excelsis, only to have it change to the minor strain of .De Profundis, when the next day it was found that the supposed point of land was only" Cape Cloud." The crews had been not only turbulent and despondent, but mutinous, and had plotted to throw overboard the pertinacious Admiral. But Columbus never swerved or faltered. He dared everything and kept on his course. He peered into the heavens to catch sight of birds of short flight, which by their nature never wander far from land; and he watched the waters to detect drift wood, branches of shrubs and floating seaweed, .whick might indicate the proximity of shore. And now, at 2 O'clock, A. M., Rodrigo Triana, on the Pinta, first caught a glimpse of the New WorId, and Columbus was awaked from his reverie by the boom of a signal gun. The great discoverer's enthusiasm was rewarded. J ames Watt was an enthusiast. As a boy, he sat for hours ex- perimenting with the tea-ke~tle, holding a saucer over the spout, studying the expansive, expulsive and explosive force of steam, the laws of vaporization and condensation; while his aunt, Mrs. Muirhead, warned him that no lad would ever make much of a man who wasted his time on a tea-kettle. That was sublime enthusiasm that led Agassiz to turn away from the tempting offers of gain, answering, "I have no time to make money," and going on a lonely pilgrimage to the Pacific to gather new fauna and flora for the museums of science. Sir .James Young Simpson conducted experiments in amesthesia, making trial of chloroform upon himself, and nearly losing his life, a martyr to science, before he perfected his discovery. And who has ever read the story of Francis Xavier, without wishing that the example of his sacred, even though misguided, enthusiasm might move us all to simi- lar devotion! Follow him, in Bologna, preaching, visiting hospitals and prisons; embarking, in April, 1541, for the Indies, and when scurvy raged among the crew, himself cleaning the sores and cleansing their soiled clothes. At Goa, ringing his bell in the streets to call to- gether the people, eager to teach children and even slaves; going to the coast of Cormorin and the island of Ceylon; visiting Japan, and just about to enter China, when, at forty-six years of age, fever burned up his very life in its terrible furnace. During ten years this s, Apostle of the Indies" had planted his faith in 52 different king- .doms, preached the gospel over 9,000 miles of territory, and baptized over 1,000,000.of persons. Where is our enthusiasm for the truth, for Christ, for the souls of men, for the Kingdom of God? If merchants and manufacturers, discoverers and inventors, scientific men and artists exhibit such passion for their calling, how shall we account for the apathy, lethargy, listlessness, inactivity of God's children? What an example he set us, of whom it is said that the" zeal of God's House ,consumed him."
Enthusiasm comes not unsought. It has its purchase price, like every other hid treasure or precious pearl of the Kingdom. Its basis is sincerity, without which, as Carlyle says, there is no truly heroic ,character. To be genuine in spirit, and honest in conviction, to believe ()ur.ti>eliefs, and act upon them, that is the actual basis of enthusiasm. A deep experience of Christ's power and love-that is what makes disciples genuine, for it enables them to speak what they know. When Morse sought to get from Congress an appropriation of $30,000 to build the first telegraph line from Baltimore to Washington, a committee of five was appointed to consider and report. There was a tie-vote. The chairman left the room with Mr. Morse, and by and by came back and said: "Now, gentlemen, I am prepared to give the ,casting vote for the appropriation, for I have myself sent and received a message over the wires." Well may he have an enthusiasm for God who has been in personal communication by prayer with the throne ()f God, has sent and received messages from above. Such holy enthusiasm 'comes not without that intimate touch of God, that is the reward of absolute self-surrender. To find out God's plan in our generation, as Prince Albert said, and our place in it, and then fall into that place,-to take our work as from God,-a little segment of His own eternal work which lies over against us and bears our name,-to undertake for God all tpat begets a holy frenzy,-we become co-laborers with the Father, co-sufferers with the Son, co- witnesses with the Holy Spirit. Back of our feeble Chr.istian En- deavor lies the whole power of the Godhead. What wonder if such enthusiasm makes foreign missionaries mighty to the pulling down of strongholds!
Enterprise is the natural handmaid of enthusiasm. Alexander the Great, referring to his indebtedness to the teaching of the great phil- osopher, said: "Philip of Macedon, my father, gave me life; but Aristotle taught me how to make the most of life."
This is a time for enterprise, for the combination of "dash" and " push," which the word suggests. This nineteenth century easily leads all the centuries of human history. During the last fifty years more:o£ Nature's secrets have been unlocked and her resources utilized than during all the centuries preceding. Railways, ocean steamers,. telegraphs, telephones, electric lights and electric motors, spectroscopes and spectral analysis, steam presses and sewing machines, giant explQsives and anresthetics-what have not these fifty years brought forth? Now is the time, ripe in the providence of God, for the greatest of all enterprises,-a world's evangelization, to be pressed and hastened forward with every appliance of modern civilization. And this great uprising of young disciples in the" Students' Crusade," and the "Young 'Men's" -and" Young Women's Christian Associations,'~ and in the" Societies of Christian Endeavor," may yet become the signs of the dawning of the millennial morning.
I want to live long enough to see this world mapped out for God,. to see a definite o;rganized movement for the occupation of the whole world for Christ. When Christ fed the five tho~sand, he showed to. all of us the value of systematic, o.rganized methods. The mul~tude were made to sit down in ranks, by fifties. Then distribution bedame possible o.n systematic principles. In a miscellaneous crowd or mob,. some would selfishly press toward the front, and others would be pushed toward the rear, overlooked, unsupplied. But when the whole mob became reduced to the subjection of order, and classified like a military encampment, it became easy to snpervise the disbursement of supplies, so that none should be neglected.
At least a thousand millions of people are to day perishing for lack of the bread of life. We are commanded to" give them to eat. ,~ We have an ample supply, and the most wonderful thing about that supply is, that as we divide it, it multiplies; the more we distribute
NICARAGUA AS A MISSIONARY FIELD
the more we have to distribute. Let the unevangelized world be di- vided into companies, set off into definite districts, and the thirty mil- lion of Protestant church members may easily reach every living soul within the life~time of a generation. For it is obvious that a thousand million divided by thirty million leaves but thirty-three to each disciple, i. e., if each Protestant church member shall take 33 human'souls as his share, and undertake to reach one new soul every year during the average life-time of a generation, the whole world would be evangelized within that time. Or, to present again in another form the entire feasibility of doing this work in our generation, Ahasuerus may once more be referred to, who sent out his royal decree over his 127 provinces, reaching two thousand miles east and west, and twelve thousand miles north and south, within nine months, and had no help from any of those modern appliances and inventions which make possible for us a thousand-fold success. The unevangelized world covers, perhaps, thirteen times as much territory as the old Persian Empire. If he could reach all his subjects in nine months, surely we can reach all mankind in thirteen years!
The fact is that were our Christian Endeavor simply inspired by holy enthusiasm and directed by consecrated enterprise, more would be accomplished within the next quarter century than during the past thousand years toward the pervading of the world with the gospel. In this matter the Church is doing nothing worthy of herself, her Master, or the cause of missions. Satan himself puts us to blush by the promptness and eagerness with which he pours his agents inte? every open door. His pre-occupation often prevents our occupation of the field, or seriously and effectually delays all our missionary operations. "It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing." Oh, for some potent influence from above to make God's people zealous to push the occupation of a world for Christ, and to do it in our own generation!
NICARAGUA AS A MISSIONARY FIELD BY REV. S. D. FULTON, AZTEC, NEW MEXICO.
The actual commencement of work on the interoceanic ship canal across Nicaragua and bordering on Costa Rica, calls attention to that point as the most important Qentre for mission work in the world. The commerce of all nations will transit there; men of every language will be among the sailors and passengers on the vessels. The gospel message can be planted by word of mouth and printed page in the hearts, heads and hands of representatives of every people, tongue and color on the globe. Central America itself, and South America and Mexico can be reached and evangelized from this mission centre. It is evident that the coast lines of vessels running down the Pacific and Atlantic from Pana~a and Aspinwall will extend their routes to Nicaragua, or be supplanted by new lines starting from there, thus affording the most comprehensive and far-reaching medium of carrying gospel ideas in printed page, and by the simple story of the Cross, told daily, wherever passengers to or from South American ports could be reached in their transit or stay at Nicaragua.
A method of work which might grow out of this would be to have an ocean colportage on these coast lines of vessels. The writer was impressed by these thoughts from travel in South America, and from seeing the numerous passengers arriving and departing at Panama some years ago.
If consecrated Christian money could ~. e brought to bear upon this work, no greater highway for the message of the King will exist in the world than the Nicaragua route and its connections will afford.
It is not too soon to plant our mission and begin our preparatory work along these lines. A printing press ought to form part of the mission plant from the first, from which leaflets and tracts, in Spanish, of simple, striking gospel thoughts, and translations of current gospel literature, could be issued and used gratis, as in our similar work in New Mexico and Colorado. Mission schools should be planted at once, in which native Nicaraguans and Costa Ricans, both Indian and Spanish, could be educated and begin to form an evangelistic force such as we now have in the Presbytery of Santa Fe.
A glance at the map of the world will show what a marvelously .cosmopolitan centre Nicaragua will become. Lines of vessels will run to the West Indies and New Orleans; to New York, Boston and Halifax; to Liverpool, London, Hamburg and North European ports; to the Mediterranean and the nations, ancient and modern, that border on that great commercial ocean; to all the Atlantic ports of South America. and to the West Coast of Africa; while on the Pacific, side lines will run along the Mexican coast, to San Francisco, Portland, British Columbia and Alaska; to all Pacific ports in South America; to China, Japan and Korea; India, Persia, Arabia, Madagascar and the Eastern Coast of Africa; to Australia and islands of the South Pacific; with vessels passing through the canal from all these countries, bringing the world to our very doors. And when the canal is finished and people of every tongue can be reached, there should be a large depository of Scripture literature in every language, so that, as on the day of Pentecost, every man may have the gospel in the language wherein he was born.
In view of this, surely no such centre for Christian missions exists at present on earth as Nicaragua can be made-a citadel for Christ, a very Gibraltar of missions.
The Scientific American, February 16, 1889, said on this subject from a business standpoint: "The effect upon the world's commerce, and upon that of the United States in particular, of the opening of the Nicaragua Canal route, is a matter in which even the most careful calculations are almost certain to be far below the reality. The canal itself will certainly have advantages over one at Panama, in being in a healthy climate, and in the heart of the northeast trade winds, where it offers especial convenience to all sailing craft, both in the Atlantic and Pacific. . . In the 49 engineers and 150 men in the employ of the com- pany during the last survey there was not a single case of serious sickness, .although most of the members were; from the nature of their occupation, almost .daily exposed to constant wetting."
As it is now quite certain that there is to be no Panama canal, the importance of the Nicaraguan one is the greater.
The Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions ought to enter the -field at once; its work is the most successful in Mexico and New Mexico, and it has the best trained force to start with; but when lately approached on the subject, though appreciating the magnitude <'If the opportunity, it responded that lack of funds prevented its as- .suming any new work, only one man being added to the force in Guatemala, and none to that in Mexico!
What an opportunity Nicaragua presents to a Christian man or woman of wealth to say to our Board of Foreign Missions: "Go ahead; I will pay all expenses of the work in Nicaragua; devise lib- ·eral things for Christ's kingdom there, and draw on me." Or, better yet, to settle a sum sufficient to prosecute the work for at least ten years in the hands of the wise, responsible Board. No amount of wealth left to heirs can afford a millionth part of the joy and eternal reward that such a step will bring to the person taking it.
Let me quote a few words from Dr. Josiah Strong's notable work, ," Our Country" (page 219): "Says a New York daily paper: A gentleman died at his residence in one of our up-town fashionable streets, leaving eleven millions of dollars. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, in excellent standing, a good husband and father, and a thrifty citizen. On his death bed he suffered great agony of mind, .and gave continual expression to his remorse for what his conscience told him had been an ill-spent life. ' Oh I' he exclaimed, ' if I could only live my years <Jver again! Oh! if I could only be spared for a few years, I would give all the wealth I have amassed in a lifetime. It is a life devoted to money-getting that I regret. It is this which weighs me down and makes me despair of the life hereafter.' "
And Dr. Strong adds: "Suppose so unfaithful a steward is permitted to enter the many mansions, when, with clarified vision, he perceives the true meaning of life, and sees that he has lost the one opportunity in an endless existence to set in motion infiu- ·ences which, by leading sinners to repentance, would cause heaven to thrill with new joy, it seems to me he would gladly give a hundred years of Paradise for a single day on earth in possession of the money once entrusted to himtime enough to turn that power into the channels of Christian work." Nicaragua affords one of the rarest, choicest opportunities in the -world to-day for the investment of large means in Christ's work. A
THE STUDE~7 VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT
most reliable medium exists in our Foreign Board. Trained men and women clfl. be placed in the field at once, who have learned theil"" calling in self-denying toil in similar work; and only the round world itself bounds the wide-reaching influence which would emanate from this great centre.
THE STUDENT VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT.
The annual meeting of the Executive Committee and Agents.pf the Student, Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions met at Cleveland, oTrio, Dec. 21-23. There were present, Miss Nettie Dunn, representing the Y. W. C. A.; Mr. J. R. Mott, the College Y. M. C. A.; Mr. R. P. Wilder, the Theological Seminaries;, Mr. R. E. Speer, the Traveling Secretary; Messrs. W. H. Hammon and W. J .• Clark, Corresponding and Recording Secretaries, and E. W. Rand, Editorial Secretary. The entire meeting was one in which the unity of the Spirit was, manifest, and each one present was conscious that the Spirit of God was in the movement. The questions under discussion were all of importance. They consisted in a full and open discussion of what should be the financial policy of the movement, how the States can be better organized, what makes a model band, the work in theological seminaries, the volunteer pledge, how to put volunteers to work, missionary literature and periodicals, and the relation of the student movement to the press. Full reports of all de- partments of the Movement were presented. Respecting the progress of the- movement at present, the report of Mr. Speer showed that the cry is still " for- ward." He commenced speaking Sept. 6, at Minneapolis, Minnesota. Since that date, he has delivered 150 addresses, an average of two a day, address-, ing 43 colleges and seminaries, 4 theological seminaries, 3 Y. M. C. A. and Y.W. C. A. conventions. 23 churches, besides other miscellaneous organizations. He has traveled about 9,000 miles, his route embracing 12 States. There were 550 new volunteers, some of whom are ready to go at once, and the entire number represents some of the finest Christian students to be found in our Western Universities; $4,000 was pledged by colleges and $1,000 by individuals" to support missionaries in the field, and '&elp to swell the fund for a Y. M. C. A. building in Tokio.
On January 11, Mr. Speer will again start out, and visit the principal colleges of New England, such as Harvard, Yale, Amherst, Williams, Brown, and then the colleges of New York; after which he will go South, stopping over Sunday at Princeton, his alma mater. Only the principal colleges of the South will be touched, after which he will go to Canada, and from thence to Michigan and Pennsylvania, where the tour will end.
Some very interesting statistics were presented by the recording secretary at this meeting. There are now 4,752 volunteers. Up to December 10, there were 4,632, of whom 194 have been sent out as missionaries, to be found principally in China, Japan, India and Africa, all scattered in 21 different fields and representing 25 different organizations; 10 volunteers are under appointment to sail, 25 deceased, and only 18 withdrawn, so far as can be known at, present. There are still remaining in this country 4,385 volunteers. In sex, 78 per cent. are males and 22 per cent. females; 35 per cent. are graduates from college, and 31 per cent. are still in college. In special training 16 per cent. are, graduates of theological seminaries, and 2~ per cent. medical graduates, 10! per cent. are in course in seminaries, and 1! per cent. in medical schools. Last June about 3,500 circulars were sent out asking confidential questions of volunteers respecting their names, age, time of going to the foreign field~
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
denomination, whether they were weaker or stronger in their determination to go. Thus far 800 have responded. On the basis of this 800 the following statistics have been prepared: Ready to go, 24 per cent.; in professional train- ing, 12 per cent.; in college, 31 per cent.; academy, 5 per cent.; out of school, 9!
per cent.; withdrawn, only 2! per cent. Denominational preferences: Pres- byterian,27! per cent.; Congregational, 18 per cent.; Methodist, 14 per cent.;.
Baptist, 11! per cent.; in all 40 denominations represented 65 per cent. are stronger in their determination, and 10 per cent. weaker.
In the r;sing of money, the movement has been very aggressive. Thus far there has been raised among churches $11,500; colleges, $17,350; seminaries, $8,500; miscellaneous, $3,011; R. E. Speers, $5,OOO,-making a total of $45,406.
REPORTS FROM THREE STATES.
Ohio.-Mr. Haskell, the corresponding member for Ohio, has been able to, give his whole time to the work, and hence shows a very cheering report. He has held 40 meetings, visiting in all 23 institutions; 100 volunteered, 63 in meet- ings, but 37 were the result of personal work; 12 colleges and seminaries give annually about $4,800. Virginia reports 54 new volunteers, making 107 the whole number of vol- unteers in the State; three can go this year. Only one volunteer has renounced his decision; $1,000 was raised. Kansas reports 13 new volunteers. There are 150 volunteers in this State, of whom 19 are young ladies ready to go at once. Four colleges contribute to the support of missionaries; three volunteers have sailed; one renounced de- cision, and $4,260 raised in money. Reports of other States will be given from time to time. E. W. R.
n.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
[The initials to this article, which we copy eration is the brightest jewel of from The Christian, London, indicate that it empire. Such is the fixed policy of' comes from a source which entitles it to the the Government of British India; and most serions attention. Its statements will manifold blessings of every kind, macause painful surprise and indignation.-Ens.] Aftica.-The Royal Niger Com- terial and spiritual, have attended it pany.-It is no longer a secret, close during the last half century. But the or open, that this newly chartered rulers of the Niger Valley, to whom company has made treaties with the the Imperial Parliment has dele– several Negro Mohammedan Powers gated their foreign powers, propose in the Soudan of Africa, east of the Ni- to do something more. They promise ger, promising that they will not only their treaty-allies to obstruct the do nothing through their own em- Christian missionary, to deny him ployees to attempt the conversion of passages in their steamers, succor the Mohammedans, but will do all that from their stores, and to erase his lies in their power to obstruct others name from the list of British sub- who come under their influence. This jects, entitled by the custom of Great amounts to open war of 8<Klalled Britain to succor in case of need, Christian men with the Gospel. rescue in case of captivity, and retri-, Let us think it out. The company bution by the nearest British authori- gives a free hand for the conversion ties in case of murder.
of the Pagans. It is very proper and The true-hearted missionary asks.
expedient that the rulers of a country not these things for himself. His.
should do nothing directly or indi- friends raise no voice in the country, rectly to influence their subjects in calling for vengeance for the slaugh- their religious views. Their king- tered Hannington. That particular- dom is of this world, and entire tol- crime has, however, been avenged by a higher Power; the assassin-sovereign were there long before this company has been deposed, and is now an exile came into existence, and will outlive from his country. Whether the Royal it. The Mohammedans of the Soudan, Niger Companylikes itornot-whether whether Fulah or Negro, are pigmies it will affect their dividends or their in strength, culture, power, and popu- {)ommerce with the Soudan or not-it lation in comparison to the fifty mil- is well that these gentlemen should lions of British India.
reflect on the policy which they are The gentlemen of the Niger Com- inaugurating, and consider what the pany talk with bated breath of the House of Commons will say, when it fanatical Mohammedan, in his turban, comes to hear of it. cloak, and trousers. The phenome- It is true that the East India Com- non is new to them, butAnglo-Indianii pany previous to the year 1815 adopted have lived all their lives in the midst this same policy. They did so in of noble, though fanatical, Mohamme- iimidity, in ignorance, and in ma- dans. Some as fair in color as our- terial weakness. They had to face selves, and many much more learned mighty empires, and armies of sol- and polished; some of gigantic stat- diers, supplied with cannon, trained by ure, and hereditary warriors. Yet the Frenchmen; they had to fight for their gospel has its free course amidst the hold of India, and regarded matters Baluchi and the Afghan, the Patan, from the point of view of a mercantile and the converted Mohammedan Raj- -company. India was too far off for put, and the Empire of the Empress its affairs to be influenced by public of India flourishes, because it is -opinion at home. Public opinion at founded upon righteousness.
home had not been formed; it was the We doubt whether treaties with day of small things; and the individ- such clauses should not be denounced ual missionaries, who appeared and as derogatory to the dignity of Great were rejected, though saints of God, Britain, as if we were ashamed of the like Carey and Judson, had not the religion which has brought us such prestige of the associated strength of blessings. The thing is doubly offen- the great middle classes of Great sive when we are kindly told that we Britain behind them. Moreover, it is are allowed full leave to convert the admitted that the East India Com- Pagan; but must not address the pany did wrong; we palliate their Negro who has got himself up with {)ffence, we do not excuse it; we can- the veneer of Mohammedanism, for it is not justify it. no more. Their knowledge of Arabic Things have changed now. The and the Koran is scant; all the bad, thoughts of men have become "wider salient features of Mohammedanism with the process of the suns." A great are asserted,-intolerance, polygamy, majority of the British people recog- slavery, unnatural crime, contempt of nize that the mighty power and vigor human life, and overweening pride- vouchsafed to them were not conceded while the better things to be found by the Most High for the purpose of in the Koran, and the learning and exporting liquor (of which sin we refinement of the polished Moham- gladly acquit the Royal Niger Com- medan of India, Persia, and Turkey, pany), or making dividends of profit; are totally absent.
but to benefit, in every possible way, At any rate, the public notice has the subject people, and to give them been dispatched, and January 1, 1890, the free opportunity of accepting fixed as the date of the new policy.
Christianity, should they see fit to do We must recollect that when a so. The Niger Valley is not far from British subject is killed or imprisoned, Great Britain. Public opinion will something more than his life and lib.
nave its sway there. The missionaries erty are lost to his country, viz., the prestige of our nation. The represen- leaf, had recalled his edict against Christians, and had welcomed the tative of the British Government in English missionaries with honors un- precedented. It is said that his over- China remarked in 1873 that there was throw last year was due to the discov- ery by his gtards of a plot he had a necessity to protect the missionary formed to destroy them. At all events, his exile was followed by Arab· sufrom actualviolence, but nothing more. premacy, the burning of the English and the French missions, and the The present foreign secretary two years flight of the missionaries. To the lat- ter, Mwanga wrote recently, predictago told a deputation of missionaries ing the triumph he has now accom- plished, and promising them welcome that the Great Powers of Europe as- should it occur; so that his restoration must be added to the stock of good serted the right to deport an alien, news which has come after so long a. story of disasters in East and Central without cause shown, from their terri- Africa.
tories, but they would shrink from the As to Bushiri, he certainly did not make war on all white men, but upon charge of ordering his death, or im- the Germans; and the native uprising which he headed was largely provoked prisonment, without the form of a by their overbearing ways. He was a. chief of great influence, and stories are regular trial. Mr. Jones, of the told of his personal protection of Brit- ish missionaries and others, during the L.M.S., was expelled by the French revolt against the indiscriminate fury of his followers. The outbreak swept Government from the Loyalty Islands; over the whole coast region, but Wiss- mann had weapons which mere force and, for the sake of argument, we of numbers could not resist, and also the money with which to enlist and may concede that the Mohammedan arm native auxiliaries. Bushiri, who would have been called a patriot had potentates of the Soudan might deport he succeeded, suffered the ignominious fate which has been meted out to many a British missionary; but, when they another unsuccessful leader, both in civilized and savage lands. hear that there is no risk, they will Now, accordingly, the way seems certainly kill him. R. N. C. open for resuming the march of civil- ization from the Zanzibar coast East ACrican Coast. – The toward the great lakes. It is evident that this will be one of the main routes hanging of Bushiri practically com- for the African commerce of the fu- ture. First, however, a clear underpletes the immediate work for which standing of British and German rights in that region would seem to be neces- Capt. Wissmann was sent to Zanzibar, sary. Up to half a dozen years ago England had matters pretty much her and clears the way for the resumption own way there, and then, the energy of Peters and his associates threatened of German schemes of conquest and to carry all before it for the Germans. colonization. The pleasure which this news creates at Berlin may have been a little qualified by the evidence that Dr. Karl Peters and his party were massacred by the Somalis; but as Dr. Peters, though the most promi- nent of the founders of German colo- rues in East Africa, had in his Tana River expedition defied Bismarck and irritated the British, his fate will be less lamented at London, and will in- crease the Chancellor's prestige at Ber- lin. Emin's progress toward recovery is a subject of universal congratula- tion, while another promising piece of news is that King Mwanga, who was driven from Uganda, his brother be- ing made ruler in his stead, has marched back in triumph. Mwanga was infamous a few years ago for his horrible persecution of the Christian converts among his subjects, and the murderof BishopHanningtoncrowned his atrocities. Yet, before his de- thronement, he had turned over a new Of late,the British have been greatly under Major Serpa Pinto, and sancstrengthening themselves, aided by tioned by the Portuguese Govern- the strained relations between the ment, against the Makololo in the high-· Germans and the Sultan. The latter lands of the Shire, a river running thinks the Germans do not pay him from Lake Nyassa to the Zambesi the revenue agreed upon, and that river. The object was to esta1;>1ish the they try to shift on him losses arising authorityof Portugal over'the territory from disturbances caused by their by force of arms. This Major Pinto, want of tact. Lately he has given to after entering those Highlands by deihe British Company the administra- ceiving the British Consul, attacked tion of the ports of Lamu, Kismayu, the unoffending Makololo, slaughter- Brava, Magadisho, and so on, so that ing hundreds of them with his Gattits government now stretches along ling guns; when, believing themselves 700 miles of coast line from Warsheikh abandoned byEngland,whoseflag they in the north to the Umba river in the carried, the poor people felt compelled south. The Germans contended for to submit to Portuguese authority; the possession of Lamu, the third port whereupon the bloody soldier avowed ()f importance in East Africa, commanding the trade of the Tana river; his intention to extend the Portuguese but it really belonged to the British, who controlled most of the trade of dominion as far northward as Nyassa, the port. Mr. Stanley, on reaching Zan- and to include the Lake shores; and zibar this time, found British interests warned all missionaries and others rematerially improved from their con- siding on the river and on the shores dition at his previous visit, when or- of the Nyassa, to submit to Portuguese ganizing his Emin relief expedition. But there is no reason to think that rule! The request was as modest as Germany and England will come into conflict in this region. Count Herbert it was just. How far he would have Bismarck recently declared that Ger- carried his victorious career, ifhe had many's policy there would go hand in not been sent to the right about by the hand with England's. " We will ne- prompt action of England, cannot be gotiate with the East Africa Com- told. pany," hesaid, " in order to arrange for further action." The next ten years These Makololo, who have suffered will be remarkable for the develop- from this cruel raid of the Portuguese, ment of that coast and its communi- are a very interesting people. We cation with the lakes.-New York were first introduced to them about Times. thirty years ago by the publication of Livingstone's narrative of his great -England and Portugal in Africa. journey across Africa. It taught us Every friend of Africa will rejoice to admire the Makololo for their simthat England has taken up the dispute plicity of character, their incorruptible with Portugal with a determined en- honesty, their loyal devotion to that ergy that has brought matters to a great explorer, their grief when he crisis; and that Portugal. has escaped left them for a season, their long and further humiliation by a prompt sur- confident waiting for his promised rerender. Nothing was ever more im- turn to lead them back to their homes, pudent than the pretensions of the and their rejoicing when at last he aplatter to the country in dispute, and peared to fulfill his promise. A large nothing more high-handed than the majority of them, however, had formcourse of her representative. It makes ed a liking for the beautiful country one's blood boil to read of the savage on the right bank of the Shire, where atrocities perpetrated by the forces they settled at the request of its peo- ple, who needed their protection, and laid the foundation for what is now a really prosperous State in Nyassaland, and one which has always refused to allow slavery 0'/' slave-trading within the same purpose, the empire has be- its bounds. It is this State which the come a republic. A century ago, be- Portuguese attacked under a disputed fore God's time, there was an attempt claim. to establish a republic in Brazil, and since that time the spirit of the repub- Other and still more important in- lic has been nourished. -terests would have suffered by this Portuguese raid upon the Makololos, A Portuguese college was founded in 'and would probably have been destroy- 1554, and around it has grown up the ed by their permanent occupation of city of San Paulo, with 50,000 inhabit- the country. We allude to the won- ants, and the largest law school on the derfully successful missions of the Es- western hemisphere. Through this -tablished and Free Churches of Scot- school Brazil has disciplined the life land. The former has for twelve Cif her people, and some of the fruits, years been at work in these beautiful of it have been seen in the last month's Shire Highlands, on the eastern shore peaceful revolution. It was not the ,of Lake Nyassa, its head station being sword that made the republic in Bra- Blantyre, a name derived from Liv- zil, but the pen. It was not the small ingstone's birthplace. At one station army that overthrew the empire. it boards eighty children, and at anoth- There was a newspaper that advocated er has a school of one hundred pupils. the republic in Rio, openly, for three It has expended $200,000 in its work; or four years. There is wonderfnl it has introduced the successful culti- ability in Brazil to carry out the re- vation of coffee, tea, wheat, and other pUblican idea. and there is little danger products, and if allowed to proSecute of faction fights. The future of Brazil its work, will soon make the Shire is in the hands of the school teacher. Highlands a civilized and prosperous ;section of Africa. Cbina.-The New York Chamber of Commerce has done itself credit by The Free Church mission has been adopting a paper urging the re-open- at work on the west shore of the Lake ing of negotiations with China for the for 14 years. It has a Medical De- friendly adjustment of all questions partment, which treats about 10,000 between the two Governments. The ])atients annually. Its headquarters New York Observer says: "This coun- are at Bandawe, where 1,300children try would do itself credit, and would are in its schools. It has a prospero~ only do what is right to China, by station among the Zulus, who rule seeking to put our relations with that the country west of the Shire; .and country upon a basis of justice and three other prosperous stations in dif- community of interest. But justice ferent parts of the country. This mis- is the more important consideration. 13ion has already expended $225,000 in Lest it should be supposed that the its work, and its annual expenses are Chamber of Commerce is acting from about $20,000. any extraordinary or sudden twinges of conscience in China's behalf, it is Br32;i1.-Rev. Dr. Chamberlain, only proper to say that it views the of the American Presbyterian Mission necessity for action from a financial m Brazil, lectured recently before the standpoint. The subject was brought American Geographical Society at to the attention of the Chamber by Chickering Hall on the condition and C. P. Huntington, who in a letter to 'prospects of Brazil, illustrating his re- its ex-President, A. A. Low, speaks of marks withstereopticonviews. Hesaid the injury to our commerce, caused that it was God's purpose that Portugal by the action of Congress and the dip- .should hold Brazil, with its 4,000 miles lomatic treatment of China. ' It ·Qf Atlantic coast, until the present seems,' writes Mr. Huntington, 'that century, until the time came for the without uttering a word or lifting a ,empire, and now, in furtherance of finger, the Chinese are enabled to re- with an endowment of Rs. 18,000 per- taliate effectively against our com- annum, contributed by the State rev- merce, so that we have not only af- enues." That idolatry is endowed by forded them a wanton affront, but the British Government in India. and also injured ourselves in a twofold that high functionaries consider it, way, by excluding a tractable and proper for the heir presumptive to the- cheap labor, which we very much throne to visit idol temples in state, is need to built up desolate places, and no doubt news for which many read- by the loss of valuable trade, which ers of the Bombay Guardian in Eng- we might have kept to the exclusion land will not be prepared.
of our rivals.' It is to be regretted -Sir William Hunter, K. C. S. I., that the trade basis should be the only who is so often quoted as the highest, one on which justice toward the Chi- authority on civil and political mat- nese can be urged with any hope of ters in India, has recently added t() success; but whichever way it comes, his testimony in reference to the work we trUst that justice may at last be of missions in the Indian Empire. In done. Hitherto We have been unjust an address before the British Baptist in our attitude towards China." Missionary Society he speaks as a lay- -According to Imperial decree the man, whose work in India has been 200 picked scholars of Hanlin College altogether of a secular sort; but he- are to revise the great " Encyclopre- affirms that the missionary work is ilia" of China, which was compiled a one of the greatest and best move- century ago, and which contains the ments which at the present moment Chinese classics, the history of China is going on in India. " It has been for 3,000 years. and embraces all rich in results in the past, and it is knowledge under heaven. New and fraught with incalculable blessings in strange doctrines have been intro- the future." In enlarging upon this duced in late years, and the whole- statement Sir William dwells upon some truths of Confucius and Mencius the fact that the Christian work in are in danger of being set aside by India has passed the stage when it Western ideas. Hence the revision. was wholly dependent upon foreign This vast work, which requires four- mlssIOnaries. "The Indian native'
teen volumes to contain its index Protestant Christians have nowgrown alone, is expected to roll back the tide llP into an Indian native Protestant of Western learning, and hold China church. They have their own pas- securely to its old traditions. This tors, numbering 575, men ordained in shows how Christianity is making it- one body or another of the ministry.
self felt in that ancient and conserva- They have also a body of 2,856 quali- tive empire.-Exchange. fied lay preachers, natives born in the India.-Govemment maintaining country, educated in the country, idolatry.-A writer in the Bombay working in the country for the wel- Guardian speaks of the visit of Prince fare of their own countrymen. The AlbertVictor in state to the idol tem- native Protestant church in India has ples of Parvati, near Poona. He was ceased to be an exotic, and if the Eng- accompanied by the Governor of Bom- lish were driven out to-morrow they bay, the Duke of Connaught, Com- would leave a Protestant native mander-in-Chief of the Bombay army, church behind them. While the and other high officials. Before en- Protestant Christians in India num- tering the temples, the Prince was bered about half a million, there were presented with an address, giving an nearly 200,000 pupils in Protestant account of the idols contained therein, mission schools. This is an immensely and stating that" the temples are at sigruficant fact; significant of mis- present ma,intained by Government, sionary zeal in the present, but still more significant of Christian influ- been lately completed from Batavia to ence in the future."-Miss'y Herald. Bekassi. Other brancfl roads are be- ing constructed. 6. In Sumatra a line Korea.-Among the members of has been built by a private company a single Congregational church in to connect several tobacco plantations, Tokio are a judge of the supreme and a branch is beinglaid to Babougan. court of Japan, a professor in the Im- And other lines of tramway are oper- perial university, three Government ated. 7. Turkey in Asia is also lay- secretaries, and members of at least ingrailroads. .The one from Ischmidt two noble families. Two influential to Angora, 375 miles, is to be laid members of the legislature of Tokio, this year by an Anglo-German-French one of them the editor of the Keizai syndicate, who have taken the job off Zasshi, the ablest financial journal in the hands of the Ottoman government~ Japan, are also members of another Congregational church. Eighty kilometers of the road run- ning into Constantinople have already Turkey.-The influence brought been constructed, and the road is in to bear by foreign ambassadors at operation. From' Ischmidt for 150 Constantinople to induce the Turkish kilometers the roadbed has been congovernment to visit upon Mousa Bey, structed but no rails have been laid, the Koordish chieftain, some punish- and then from that point on is where ment for his crimes, has resulted in the American bridges will be put in. the exile of this ruffian and his fam- The road continues to Sivas, which is ily to Syria. The Porte has agreed to in the middle of the Angoran country, increase the police force in Armenia 600 kilometers from Ischmidt. Eventwith a view to the checking of Koor- ually the whole system will take in dish outrages. Mousa Bey in Syria some 3,000 or 3,500 kilometers, runwill be about as near the site of his atrocities as he is at Constantinople, like ning to Bagdad and the Persian Gulf. yet with the sentence of exile against him representatives of foreign gov- The total cost will be something ernments will be able to see that he $75,000,000. It will be completed does not return to his old home. This within 31-2 ,ears. A branch line certainly is again.-Miss'y Herald. will be run to the Holy Land, Jerusa- lem,andSmyrna.-J. T. Gracey,D.D. -Miscellaneous. -Java has its railroads. The system of railroads -The Anti-Slavery Congress of in Netherlands, India, dates from Brussels has had its counterpart in the year 1862, when a concession was the Anti-Rum Congress at Khartoum. granted to the Netherlands India While Christians are earnestly con- Railway Co. to build a road from Sa- sidering how they can crush out slavmarang to the independent States of ery, Moslems are considering how Djokjokarta and Sourakalta, with a they can preserve slavery and crush branch line to Cembarawa or Fort Wil- out intemperance. The means sug_· liam I., which was completed in 1873. gested are curiously similar, if we 2. In 1871-87 the Government built may trust the somewhat vague rea west linefrom Djokjokartato Tjilat- ports that come from the Mahdi's jap. 3. Another runs east from Djok- camp. Europe on the one hand is jokarta to Pasarouan with several to draw a cordon of her ships of war . branches. 4. There is a railroad al!>o around Africa, and capture every from Batavia to Buitenzorg. It is in- Arab dhow that can be found, release tended that this shall be extended to its prisoners, and scuttle the ship it~ form a junction with line No. 2, so as to self. The slave traders on their part; reach the only port on the south coast· are also to draw a cordon of dhows: of Java. It is to be completed in around the continent, and capture· three years. 5. A branch line has every vessel that contains the abomin-· 8ble firewater that is eating away tha strength of the natives, and thus de- but it consecrates men and women to priving them of the material for their the cause of God. Wheresoever there trade. Boston rum, English gin, and is that spirit..of consecration which German schnapps were doubtless not says, 'I give my money, I give my represented at Brussels, as the purvey- sons and daughters,' there Christ will ers for Eastern harems were at Khar- be glorified. When that spiritof con- toum, so that the pai:all.el is not quite secration reaches the great heart of complete. There isenough of truth in humanity, then the missionary work it, however, to set us to thinking.- will go forward with a velocity that Rev. E. M. Bliss. we have never dreamed of. Thework is'in its infancy to-day. What will it -Intelligence comes this month be one hundred,-two hundred years from all our mission fields. We hear hence? The promises to women are of missionary meeting in Jamaica, vital of celestial blessing, which give and specially of one little country to them the powers that men somecongregation that by its gifts for mis- times lack. It is a woman's hand that sions puts many a larger home Church is scattering subtle poison through the to shame; of the 'arrival of Mr. Por- delicate pages of books such as ' Robteous in Old Calabar, and of a suc- ert Elsmere,' and in many other ways; cessful conflict with cruel heathen but the height of Christian purpose custom at Okoyon on the part of two can never be attained until all womanof our agents. From Kaffraria we kind have given their hearts to hear of a most cheering revival at Christ and Christian work."-Home EmgwaIi–of which Miss Hope's letter Missionary. told us something last month. No fewer thaD. 150 young persons, all pro- -The good that one woman, singlefessing conversion to God, have been handed, can do, is interestingly illus- ~urolled in the condidates' class. trated in the case of Miss Arnott, of Surely there is ground here for thanks- Edinburg, in her work in Palestine. giving and continued intercession. Some of the details of what she has We hear also of the arrival at East accomplished are given by Dr. Mutch- London of Mr. Hunter, our mission- more thus: ary to the Xesi.be country. Mr. Davidson sends us from Japan a deeply " Miss Amott went to visit the East interesting record of a recent visit to and was induced, temporarily, to take Hokkaido, with notes of the progress the place of an absent teacher. The of Christian work there. From Raj- condition of the people and their exputana Mr. Gray sends a most in- treme wretchedness awoke her pity, structive account of the history and and she conceived theidea of applying tenets of the Arya Samaj, and Mr. moral leverage where all true eleva- Bounar continues his "Notes of a tion begins, at the individual, and so Tour through Bundi and Kotah." elevating the home. She began alone, From Manchuria we have brief drawing on her own resources, obsketches of three native agents.- tained ground on moderate terms and The Mission Record Of the United began a school. She taught such poor Presb. Ohurch. girls as she could persuade to come. Her curriculum was very simple; its -Woman and Missions.-Dr. Storrs two great lessons were how to live and said in a recent address: "The intro- how to die. God stood by her, and duction of the feminine life and heart soon she had a building and as many intothis missionary work brings in the scholars as she could care for. force that fires and intensifies its onward progress. This intensity of the "Her work (by some) was looked purpose in women does not work only upon as visionary, until its manifest in the direction of filling up treasuries, success brought offers of abundant help and even management. One of
MISSIONAlI.Y CORRESPONDENCE FROM ALL PAlI.TS
the finest school properties now in the very little to begin with. Twenty-five Levant-worth, probably, $75,OOO-is years she has been in the field, during a part of the result of ~r work of which time she has had wonderful Iaith and love, and all the outcome of tokens of the divine favor in guidance, her own indomitable spirit, for she had help and results."
lII.-MISSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE FROM ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD-FIELD.
Africa. Arabs, from Morocco to TrIpoli; and, indeed, desires to include the Europeans, French, IIRIEII' LBT'l'ER PRO. REV. JAIIES SCOTT. Spanish, Italians, Maltese, as well.
Impolweire, Natal, Dec. 4, 1889. Weare.here on the fringe of this great African DEAR DR. PIERSON: We got back to our work Continent, In countries bounded on the north here In September, and, although we have by the Mediterranean Sea, now the great high- found some coldand lndi1ferent who once gave way of the East. So far from verifying the promise of better things, and Satan at work In thoughts of our chIldhood-ofvast Satldypla.lns many ways, yet we have rea.son to thank God peopled by blacks-it is here, on the contrary, .and take courage. The times of blessing have a lovely, fertile, mountainous country, and our DOt quite gone from us. In the last three Berbers and Arabs are white, and many with months I have baptized fifty-eight, and expect noble, manly traits. However, as to their reli- ;in the next three months to have as many gion, they are Mohammedans. Yon, dear breth- more, as I have not yet had time to visit all ren of the United States, have long been occu- .my out-stations, some of them being far away pied with these adherents of the false prophet, .and the season unsuitable for traveling. but here In Algeriawe have the immenseadvan- Amongst those whom I baptized last Sabbath tage of proselytizing In a landruied by equitable 'was an old woman who had first heard the laws, and where the acceptance of the religion gospel from a native evangelist sent out by my of Christ does not entail the danger, if not the predecessor-this was some thirty years ago. penalty, of death. We hear from our Brother 'The good seed, watered by the Spirit, has at Baldwin of persecution by the authorities In ;length brought forth good fruit. Another, a Morocco, and it may be so if the Truth prospers younger woman, had resided on the station of In Tripoli, still barbarous States. We circulate .my dear old friend, the Rev. C. Possett of the the Arabic Scriptures prepared by the Ameri- Berlin Society, who was called to his rest some can brethren at Beyrut, and we spread them yearsago,andshehad received herfirst impres- abroad everywhere around us. 'SIons from him; so it is, "one soweth and another reapeth," but may the glory be to the Lord Kabylia itself is a most romantic region, en- .and Master. Although we have our troubles closed by the range of the Jur-Jura mountains, with backsliders and others who have fallen from which spurs are projected enclosing ferinto sin, yet the Zulu who has once professed tile valleys, richly cultivated, and bounded on {)hristianity and been admitted to the church, the north by the hills of Beni-Djennad, where .and then gone back to heathenism, has not as two American brethren have entered a village yet been met by me; though I have heard a and run up a mud-hut and have begun their good deal of such, and read about them In work, braving all the discouraging circum· newspaper articles and books by travelers. stances connected with their position.
AiIectlonately, The people have built their villages on the JAMES SCOTT. summits of their mountains for protection against the Arabs who Invade the country, NORTH AFRICA AS A MISSION FIELD. but they cultivate their slopes In every avail- Algiers, November, 1889. able spot. Some of the tribes take their flocks In summer to the higher valleys of the moun- DEAR EnITORS: Your valuable MISSIONARY REvIEw has not hitherto dwelt on the move- are tains, which, In the winter seasons, covered ments In Northem Africa; and as I have been ,some ten years seeking, with the blessing of with snow, where they find delicious pasturage. .Qod, as an Independent Missionary Pioneer, to Its summit, the Lalla-Kadidja, is 8,000 feet 'OCCUpy myself with the spiritual Interests of high. Every village has its Djemaa, or ParJia.. its various populations, I have no doubt that a ment House, where the affairs of the village few brief notes will be acceptable' to your and the Tribe are discussed, and where every readers. We (that is, myself and my earnest man capable of carrying a rifle, or keeping the and zealous wife) first directed our attention Ramadan fast, is a member; Indeed, the Kuto the Kabyles, an interesting'people located in byles have presented what many have aimed the mountainous regions of Kabylia. 'The at-the purest and most economical Republic "North Africa Mission" has since extended its the world has ever known. It is true, before -operatiOIllr to all the Berber races and the the French invasion, the tribes were often at loggerheads, owing to their self-assertion and jealousy. Happily, that is all at an end, through poli also, the Arabic. The range of Berber in the wise and firm rule of the French regime. Algeria is. cOllsiderable, taking in the whcle Theyare a fine race, with manynoble qualities, country, from Dellys southeast to the borders. very susceptible to kindness, and systematic- of Tunis, havi~ its boundary on the east at, ally hospitable; the more they are known the the River Kebir, but extending to Constantine more they are loved. Their women are un- and the region north of the city. Many dis- veiled, and when young, many are extremely tricts to the northwest of Algeria contain handsome; but like all Mohammedan women, Berber-speaking people, but they are speedily are a subjected, if not an enslaved, class. becoming Arabized. The whole of this district. from the river Sapil, which has its embouch- As far as they know it, they observe the re- ure at Boagie right up to Tunis, is unevangel- ligious prescriptions of the Koran, though it is ized, except a few sisters at Constantine and likely that some tribes do not possess a copy. Bone. These extend to circumcision, the response to the call to prayer, fasts and feasts, etc., but Here is a sphere of missionary labor for- they do not observe its prescriptions as to in- some of your noble young men who are conse- heritance. They have no written language, crating themselves to foreigu mission work. and we have only at present the Gospel of Arabic would be the language most necessary John translated into Kabyle in Roman char- to study, and which might be partiallyacquired acters, and Mr. Mackintosh has' translated the in the United States. It opens the way to mil- Gospel of Matthew into Refllan in Arabic char- lions of Mohammedans. French also would be. acters. Happily there are now many French necessary in Algeria. We have here a most schools throughout Algeria, and an interpreter healthful climate, and have spent several may generally be found in most villages, and summers without inconvenience. The tempera- by this means we have been enabled to preach ture. Farenheit, would be about 82 in August. in various places. and 48 in winter months, December and Janu- ary. The North Africa Mission has upwards We have in most of the towns a peculiar race of forty missionaries, including ladies, and. of Berbers, known by their varied colored there are at least forty more independent, or coats, and keeping grocery and other shops- conn'!Cted with other societies; but there is the Mzabs from the Sahara. They are Mo- room for eighty more, and we want American hammedan dissenters, and very accessible, re- zeal and push to overcome, with the help of ceiving our Arabic Testaments very gladly. the Spirit of God, the tremendous difllcultie~ Our butcher here tells us he reads his Testa- of mission work among Mohammedans. ment to three or four listeners of an evening. Yours truly in the Lord, The Arabs are mostly a nomadic race, GEORGE PEARSE. though many get settled in towns, and are be- coming agriculturists. We have seen cara- Ohina. vans moving after wheat harvest down into the Sahara to reap their dates. Three hundred HIGHLY INTERESTING LETTER FROM DR. RAPPER., villages of French colonists without a single evangelist'cry:aloud for workers in that tongue. Canton, Dec. 3, 1889. The physical features of the country are ex- DEAR REVIEW: Last evening was" Mission- traordinary. We have first, the Tell, a strip of ary Concert" night-the old concert of prayer territory varying from fifty to one hundred for the conversion of the world. It has been miles, bounded by the Mediterranean on the kept up at this station from the days of north-hilly, mountainous, romantic, very di- Bridgeman and Abeel, the first Americanmis- versified. Next, the High Plateau-vast plains sionaries to China. They arrived at Canton in separated by parallel ranges of mountains and Feb. 1830. I cannot say positively whether subject to alternationsof intensecold and great Dr. Morrison held such meetings before the heat, devoid of trees and very little inhabited, arrival of their brethren or not. I infer he though affording in many parts pasturage for had not, for want of men of like mind to meet cattle. Beyond these lies the Sahara, diversi- with him ; but I feel assured that he rejoiced fied by vast plains of sand with rocky plateaus. to unite with them after their arrival, in this. The French have their military stations far concert of prayer. They were sent in answel' down in the south; and again beyond this lies to his long continued prayer to God, and after oft ;repeated and urgent requests sent by him the Soudan. to the American Board of Foreigu Missions, to The Atlas mountains commence at Agader, send men to China. The meetiug has been continued down through their successors to, near the coast, to the south of Mogador, and this pre..«ent day. It is 45 years since I first extend in a northwesterly direction through met with it. It was then attended by Drs. Morocco and Algeria, and terminating at Cape Bridgeman, Ball, Parker, Brown and Dean Bon. In Tunis there are no navigable rivers. Williams, Rev. Messrs. Sheeck, Roberts, Devan, M. D., Waltel' M. Lowrie, myself, and some With respect to the languages spoken: In others. These all have finished their course, Morocco it is a corrupt form of Arabic, but the and gone to their reward. Their places are Shelluhs and Rifi's speak Berber, and, perhaps, occupied by worthy representatives of the comprise two-thirds of the population. In ,Algeria and Tunis, and we may include Tri- 1l8JIle societies, and of other societies not then rying lighted torches. When asked why thoy represented. did so, they stated they carried the torches to frighten away the tigers. The necessity of The meeting last night was one of "/musual doing so was made clear by the statement, interest from several circumstances. There that a few days before, a woman, who was out was a very large attendanceo-in all some 35 cutting grass on the mountain, was carried missionaries were present. Of these, there away by a tiger and eaten. were new missionaries from the church of " The United Brethren in Christ" in the It has been widely known that the Chinese United States, just arrived to commence a people of this city, some 16 years ago, organ- mission at Canton. This is their first mission ized a society to counteract and hinder the in China. .All the brethren welcome their new spread of Christianity, by the use of the same brethrenand sisters to the fellowship of labors means which missionaries use to spread the for Christ among this numerous people. The gospel. That society established a large dls- Rev. E. P. Thwing, Ph. D., was also present, pensary for giving medical advice and pre- -as a visitor. The great interest of the meet- scriptions gratis to all applicants. They also ing, however, in connection with the prayers give cOWns to all the poor who apply for offered, was the information communicated of them. They also opened halls, and employed some few of the results of work done. speakers to preach Confucianism. They opened schools in which the children of all The Rev. C. Bone, of the Wesleyan Mig.. those who wished to send them should be -sion, gave some details of his recent visit to taught the Confucian classics. the stations of that mission up the north "river from this city. During this visit he had The same has been done at the manufactur- baptized some fifty persons on profession of ing town of Fatchan, 12 miles from this city. their faith. When visitmg these same stations The Wesleyan Mission commenced a mission- last spring, he had baptized about the same ary hospital there some' six years ago. It is a number, making over 100 baptisms during the town of some 600,000 inhabitants. There had year. In one case, he went 12 miles from the been Christian churches and preaching halls 13tation to baptize an old man, who could not there long before that; but after the hospital <lome to the place of worship by reason of age was opened the people took measures to preand inflrmities ; but the son, through whose vent their people being led away by it. They instruction the old man had come to the collected funds to build and maintain a dispensknowledge of the gospel, sent two horses for ary and hospital, and sustain the preaching Mr. Bone and his companion to make the of Confucianism in halls for that purpose. journey. All the other stations on the moun- They have expended about $42,000 in building tains Mr. Bone had to reach by walking; in the dispensary and hospital. The dispensary >(lne case walking 25 miles in one day, over is quite numerously attended. The hospital mountain roads. At one mountain village he has 100 rooms for the accommodation of pabaptized nine, in another seven, and in an- tients; but for some reason they have not other three. The baptism of these last three been occupied to any extent by resident pawas performed in a stable, as that was the tients. The conditions on which they can be only .place which the very few members in occupied are said to be unsatisfactory. These that village could get to meet in. We may efforts of the Chinese to counteract the efforts feel assured that He who "was born in a stable of missionaries testify to two things, Viz.: to and laid in a manger" met with those who the efficiency and wisdom of the means which met to engage in His worship, and in the cele- missionaries are using for the dissemination of bration of the ordinances of his appointment the gospel, and of the desire and purpose of in such humble surroundings. the people to adhere to and support their own system. A little company also gathered in a village where there is a large Buddhist Monastery, Other items of intelligence were communiand the inhahitants of which are largely de- cated by Dr. A. P. Happer from a letter revoted to Buddhism; hut a little company have ceived from Rev. Dr. Corbett, of the Shanprofessed Christ, and we may hope that the tung Mission, in which he gave a statement of number may increase yet more and more, for his work on a recent itinerary. He had just "the entrance of God's word giveth light." returned (Oct. 28th) from a trip of 49 days among the churches, stations, and schools un- I cannot _relate all the personal incidents der his supervision. During this time he bap. which give such special interest to "viva tized 58 persons on profession of their faith, voce" statement by one who saw and experi- making 100 baptizyd since March, 1889. He enced what he related. One may be given: says "God is greatly blessing the schools in Theyhad to cross a swollen stream by wad- the country. Not ouly teachers and pupils are ing it ; his companion had to hold his watch finding Christ; but not a few of the parents upon his hand above his head to keep it from have come out on the Lord's side. At one getting wet. Another most interesting scene place where we have three schools, 19 were redescribed: the appearance, as seen from the ceived, every one of whom said that their first chapel door, of the groups of people coming serious interest in the Truth dated from hearto the evening service, many of the men caring their children or grandchildren singhymns kind of information I want, and I wish to tell or repea.t scripture which had been learned you how much I appreciate it. .
in school. So important has this work grown At each meeting of the Society two boys are that now we have 84 schools in different cen- appointed to prepare papers for reading at the tres. A Normal school has been opened for next meeting. The countries for discussion.
the special purpose of training school teach- are appointed, and during the month follow- ers and lay preachers. We have now 15young ingthe boys come to me for their information.
men who have been in native schools from 8 They write down roughly the facts, statistics,.
to 12 years, taking & special three years' etc., whlch I have prepared for them, and then.
course. Pray for this work. Rejoice with us at their leisure go over this carefully, and pre- that Shantung Mission is to be re-inforced pare their papers, which are usually very this autumn with 17 missionaries; six have al- good, and sometimes written in such high ready arrived, and the others are on the way. .. wen Ie," or book ljmguage, that I gasp, and.
We have been praying and waiting for years wonder how they manage to change the ma- for more help." terial I have given them in such common.
These items of information adaed interest to . words and broken sentences, into such lluent, our .. monthly concert." They are communi- high sounding sentences, some of which I can- cated in the hope and belief that they willln- not underStand at all. The spoken and writ- terest many readers of your REviEw, and draw ten language of the Chinese are so different.
forth prayer from many hearts for yet more They have one good rule, which would be- abundant outpouring of the spirit in every well If followed by our home societies.
part of the world. Each boy appointed to prepare a paper, who- A. P. ILu>PEK, fails to do it without a very good excuse,' is Editorial CoITe8pondent. 1lned, and the money put in the treasury. At Tungclu:nd Fao, Sept. Zl, 1889. the close of each meeting the roll is called,. My DEAB DB. SHERWOOD: I have read with interest your article in the August number of and the members answer by stating thethe REvIEW, entitled, .. Have we too many missionary periodicals ,.. Without express- amount they have for contribution. Thirty ing an opinion of other missionary periodicals, allow me to say that I regard THE MII!SION- cash, or three cents, is a large sum for one boy ABY REVIEW OJ!' THE WORLD as excellent. to give at anyone time, and if a member says: Please give us more of it. There is a large and 1l0urishing Missionary he has four or llve cents to give, a murmur of Society here in the College. They have eft!.- cient oft!.cers chosen from the more advanced astonishment goes through the room, and th&' students and native teachers. They have excellent rules, good attendance, and 1lrst-rate smaller boys give vent to a prolonged .. Oh-h,.. order at their meetings, and all the members seem interested and wide-awake. The chief which they fondly imagine is whispered, but diftlculty in their way is in getting information on Missionary topics, 88 they can read no in that they are mistaken. How good a thing. English, and can 1lnd nothing suitable in their native books. It is necessary for one of the It is that God regardeth notthe amount given, missionaries to hunt up all avallable material, but the spirit In which it is given. With best wishes for the success of your magazine, I am, Very truly, FANNY COBBETT HAys.
P. S.-Perhaps you are acquainted with my father, Dr. Corbett, of Chefoo' He is now visiting his country stations, from which he- writes good news of addition to the church, and more interest shown by the common peo- ple. F. C. H ..
and translate it to them. While Mrs. Mateer Engla.nd. was here, she was translator, general advisor, and an .. Encyclopedia of Missions" in living A BUSINESS LAYMAN'S VIEWS. form, and the interest was largely kept up [We gladly give space to the follow- among the boys by her contributions of inter- ing letter from a leading merchant of esting and suitable material. Since she left I Liverpool. Not only is his citation have been trying to take her place as translator, and apprecIate all the diftI.~·1it from Palgrave to the point and of great; 1lnding suitable material, and of giving theSe value, but also his personal observation boys, who have no other source of informa- from fifteen years' residence in Olll tion, a real wide outlook on the Mission lleld. Calabar, West Africa, is important. I do not want to con1lne myself to our own Here ,he struggled nobly to carryon church work-what couid I ten them ot trade without dealing in liquor, but. Egypt, for instance, lf I did' I cannot incnr the expense ot taking each church's particUlar was obliged to give in and relinquish.
organ, and even if I could, would have no time business. Andhesays: "Theamazing to hunt through them all and select what is thing is that all this traffic is conductsuitable. Your bright, readable magazine is ed in the main by not over a dozen ;just what one in my position needs. You select, and arrange, and put in order, just the firms, the members of which are most; excellent men, many of them I be- whatever weakens QI' distorts them more in.
lieve sincere Christians." Mr. 'Irvine jurious. Hence, a Malay :Mohammedan is a. is a. Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian cont~ction, an anomaly, a failure, much as Church, and says: "I hope to be one a Hindoo Christian, or a European Buddhist to welcome Dr. Pierson in a. day or might be. The system does not suit him, nOl"
he the system. Not 80 the Malay of the Philip.
two."-J. M.S.] pino-Christian type. His family, as tbat of DBAB BIllS: Although somewhat late, it may his Chinese or Japanese cousins, moderate not yet be out of place in the controversy polytheists like himself, is a pleasing sight: raised by Canon Taylor regardiug the compar- much subordination and little constraint, uni. ative merits of Christianity and Islamism in so~ in gradation, liberty not license; orderly Africa, to give you a quotation which I came children, respected parents,womensubject but 8Cr01!8 lately in .. Ulysses, or Scenes and not suppressed, men ruling but not despotic Studies in Many Lands," by .the ,late ,accom. reverence with kindness, obedience in aiIe:. plished W. G. Palgrave. tion-these form a lovable picture, not byany At page 153, in an article on Malay life in the means a rare one in the villages of the Eastern Philippines, Mr. Palgrave says: .. Tb&t the Isles. "
adoption of Islam may be, and,in fact is, a real It is no secret that at one time in his life the benefit and an uplifting to savage tribes, genial Gift'ord Palgrave sympathized to such amongst whom the lowest and most brutaliz- an extent with Mohammedanism tbat current ing forms of fetichism would else predominate, report, though without foundation, stated he does not admitof doubt. Anthropopbagy, hu- had actually become one, and therefore such man sacrifices, and other kindred horrors, bave testimony as tbat given in this extract carries thus heen banished by Mohammedan teach- additional weight. ing from whole tracts of Africa, and, 80 far, la I bave not seen it quoted elseWhere, and I welL But not less does experience show that trust you will consider the extract of suf/lcient sooneror later, the tribe, the nation, tbat casta importance to give it a place In your REvIEw.
in its lot ,with Islam, is strioken as by a blight; Perhaps I may also add, tbat long before Canon Taylor shocked the sense of Christian its freshness,.its plasticity,disappear first, then England, Professor Blyden of Monrovia, who has been repeatedly a guest of mine, and its vigor, then its reparative and reproductive whose writings on thla subject formed the power, and it petrifies and perishes. With the ground work of Canon Taylor's views, had dis-' abstract and theoretical merits of Monothe- cussed the matter with me, and I do not hesl· lam or Polythelam, Islam or Christianity, I tate to say tbat the Canon injected views have nothing to do; but thla much la certain, and ideas into Dr. Blyden's writings which tbat within the circle of the l'hillippine Archi- were far from those Intended to be conveyed. pelago itself-not to seek examples further away-the contrastbetween the Mohammedan That Islamlam is better than Fetichism, no viIIages of the southernmost lalands and the one will deny, nor will anyone who knows the Christian ones elsewhere, is very remarkable, country refuse to acknowledge that the follownor by any means favorable to the former. ers of the Prophet are spreading rapidly over the centre of Africa; but to plead that tbe sys· .. For a satisfactory explanation of the prob- tem is better for the Negro than Christianity, lem before us, there isno need for recurring to and to raise it for one moment to the level of a. causes, if such there be, hid in the extra-mun· favorable comparison, and that by the mouth dane and unknown. The reason is near to of a Christian minister, is sad in the extreme. seek. Family life, family ties, family aiIectiona, these form the only true, stable, and at I respect the Canon for his courage, and if the same time expansive basis for communi- he would only allowit to take him to any of the ties, states, empires even; and tbat these may, mission stations on the west coast of Africa, and actually do, co-exist after a fashion with a and witness, as I have often done there, the vigorous profession of Mohammedanism, no beauty of simple, consistent Christian life onewho has experimental knowledge of Turk- among the hundreds of native converts, he ish orArab population can possibly deny. They would, I am sure, if he lived to return, not be exist, but even when at their best and strong- slow to acknowledge that Christianity had est are always cramped, stunted, and hindered lost none of its powers. from their full growth and development by theforced demarcation between the sexes, the Yours most truly, sanctioned polygamy, the over·facility for di· J.ums mvnnll, F. R. G. S.
vorce, and the other social mistakes inter. India. woven-whether by the hand of the prophet himself, or, rather, as with Sprongel I incline [Our readers may remember that after the death of her father, the to believe, by that of ,the narrow-minded and Rev. Royal G. Wilder-the founder and editor for ten years of THE MIsascetic Omar-into the very texture of Islam. SIONARY REVIEW-his gifted daughter Nowherearefamilybondscloserdrawn,tamily aiIections more enduring, t1I#In among the Malay races, and nowhere, in consequence, is Grace, with her aged mother, re. can count! The memory of these children is turned to India, as missionaries, and remarkable. Why shouldn't we take advan- tage of this to store Christian truth in their are laboring among the same people minds? These Government schools are sending out hundreds of good readers every year. where he and they had formerly lived What are these boys to read? and wrought. Miss Grace is ~ sister of Mr. R. P. Wilder, who has done This month mother and I have made a short so gran(i a work among the students tour of thirteen towns near us. In only one of in the United States and Canada, and these we found a Cbristian home. At one tlie who expects soon to join his mother women acted wildly curious. They sat down on the temple steps, and listened eagerly. As and sister in Indian missionary work we took out our lunch, some head men of the in that vast and inviting field. This village tried in vain to drive away our audishort letter from Miss Wilder we are ence-the women especially were so anxious sure will be read with great interest, to see us eat. Even at this village-reached by a rough cart road-we found a boys'
knowing these facts.-J. M. S.] school. I distributed some leafiets, asking the Kolhapur, Dec. 4, 1889. boys to commit the Lord's Prayer. We had My DEAR DR. SHERWOOD: I fear you think driven out quite a distance from the village, I have not been very good in carrying out when across the fields, running and panting, the request you made me shortly before we came a boy to tell us one boy had failed to get sailed. I little realized then what a pressure a paper.
we find out here to do rather than to write At Miraj, a town of 24,000, we visited a Gov- about it. ernment school of over 200 pupils-one of I want to thank you for the regular coming eight similar schools. There are also private of the REVIEW. I cannot but wish that dear schools, and a girls' school, with a roll of 105, father might know how God is using it to and an average of some 75 girls. Miraj is at carry, with such zeal and rapidity, the news the junction of our new Kolhapur Railway of His workings in every part of the world. It with the. Southern Marathi Railway. It is a seems to me that the prayers of father's last trade centre, rapidly increasing in population year were prophetic of the REVIEW'S future, and importance. Yet in this large place, only and I feel that I could ask for it no greater 35 miles from us, there is no missionary or na- gift than that God will raise up hearts to pray tive preacher, no chapel or Sunday school.
for it, as dear father did. The same can be said of lnchalkarangi, with I cannot but take it for granted that you a population of 11,0001 Here I found two have a very special interest in our Kolhapur girls' schools. • field, and so would like to know of our pur- All this Government education awakens poses and needs. feelings of fear, as well as hope. All this One subject lies very much upon my heart training means power, but power which just now, and that is, our present opportunity can be used for evil. Enough miserable of reaching the children of India. Mother novels and infidel books are circulated to and I have been much together in our work, alarm us.
and in spite of other calls, our attention has We have from our mission bungalow dur- been drawn to work among children. We find ing the past few weeks, sold some 30 rupees that aiming at children is a good way to get worth of books. Mr. Seiler is now getting village audiences, so we have started Sunday from Boston, for English students, some of schools in two near villages. Our greatest op- Mr. Hastings' tracts. We hope soon to have a position comes from Government school sale room for books in our city-Christian teachers. We hear that one boy's hand was books, story books, and school books, would swollen from the beating he received because be very acceptable for this. I am now loan- he committed the Lord's Prayer. Another ing Christie's" Old Organ," as I have but one teacher burned some of the papers we had copy.
given the boys. One of our brightest boys Our great need just now is workers. One told me that the teacher refused to take him earnest Christian at a centre like Miraj could into school until he gave up the books he had carry on Sunday-school work in many large received from us. Satan is not going to let us villages. Three of the five Sunday schools infiuence these bright children if he can help which mother and I atten,! are held on week it. This is not to be wondered at, but a great days. One under a tree, one on the verandah wonder will it be if we fail to see and seize of a school house, and the third in a "chow- this, our present chance. die. " or inn.
These little ones are not all the rough, wild, Will you, Dr. Sherwood, especislly remem- ignorant creatures which we at home label as ber us, asking that God wlll raise up workers " heathen." Many have trained minds-are for this field? We are greatly rejoicing to- beautiful readers; boys who can recite the day in the thought that Dr. and Mrs. Wanless multiplication table up to thirty as fast as we and Miss Sherman are probably in Bombay;
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
yet the unoccupied stations, Pawlialla and seek subscriptions to a Vedic school, where Rutnagerri, leave little hope of our taking Pantheism is to be taught. One native judge new places unless more workers come soon. gives 50 Rs., and other prominent ·educated men are contributing! I wish friends at home might realize our present chance in India. This week men have May God richly blessyou in yourgreat work. iJome up to KolbaI!ur from Southern India, to GRACE E. WILDER.
IV.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
'The United States and the Congo Free the President phrased it, wherewe had State. no interests or control.
From time to time a good deal of 3. The Convention of Delegates, public criticism filters through the however, drew up a formal act of the nature of an international convention, press, and emanates from platform which laid down certain obligations and pulpit, because the United States to Government does not actively inter- purporting to be binding on the signa- -fere to stay sundry wrongs and inju- tories, subject ratification within ries being inflicted on the simple one year. inhabitants of the Congo Valley, 4. Notwithstanding the reservation €minently by the introduction of rum into that region by foreign and so- of our Government on its delegates, 1:alIed Christian nations. It seems as their signatures were attached to the if the naming of the evil beingfos- general act in the same manner as -tered by the commerce which Europe those of other plenipotentiaries, makand America are cultivating in that ing the United States to appear withquarter of the globe, would be suffi- out reservation or qualification to eudent to secure the intervention of our tel' into this joint international en- Republic to stop it. We earnestly gagement. wish that our Government could do :something, but we have to judge of its 5. But the President of the United power and the propriety of its course States, in reporting the matter to Con- -of non-interference in the light of the gress in his annual message, distinctly repudiated the comp~ct, regarding the act of the delegates as in no sense -attitude it has assumed toward the impairing the original reservation Convention of Powers in the case of made in the premises by which its the Congo State, and of the funda- delegates were sent merely to take mental principle underlying its course part in a deliberative body. And so ()f procedure. profound was his personal convic- tion that the Government ought not 1. The United States Government to enter into a compact for the" consent delegates to the conference at Ber- lin held by the representatives of some servation of the territorial integrity of fifteen of the most powerful nations distant regions where we have no es- -of the world to discuss methods tablished interests or control," and so whereby the Congo Basin might be sure was he that the country would kept open to the world's trade. not support a policy of possible "ezi.- 2. The definite understanding of our tangling alliances" abroad, that he -Government was that the proceedings said to the Senate in concluding the were to be only deliberative, without traversing of the case in his message: imparting to the result any binding " I al:iJstain from asking the sanction <character so far as the United States of the Senate to that general act." were concerned. This was grounded We are not aware of any public act '<In the old policy of this Government not to share in "jurisdictional ques- of the Government or of its representa- -tions in remote foreign territories," as tives since, that has modified that position. Our Government and our people, as a people, stand wholly out- political or moral, to hold back thi~ side of that convention, and of all cup of the sorcerer from those poor other political relations, so far as the degraded races. Politically, so far as… writer now thinks of, to the so-called the powers and proceedings of the in- "Congo Free State." Of course, the ternational convention that seeks t()- action of the country's delegates was controIthe imaginary Free State go. of no effect without the sanction of our Government can no more interthe Senate, and that should have been fere than it can with Home Rule in had within a year of the date of the Ireland, or the imposition of customs. signatures. The rather mythical dutiesin Liverpool or Berlin. It would "Free State" is, therefore, the busi- be told to mind its own business if it. ness of the people and nations who did. chose to create it. Itis not a political power, nor probably soon to become What we desire is, to have our such. It will probably furnish the people see that- whatever we do 1;() occasion of disputes between the suppress the rum traffic on the Cong()- nations who entered into this danger- is to be done in our individual ca-· ous alliance; and we will rejoice that pacity, or through our churches' and. we are not involved in a broil for the other voluntary organizations. We. preservation of "territorial integrity as Christians, 88 philanthropists, or' of distant regions where we have no through our missionary evangelistic established interests or control." force, may protest, appeal, create· sentiruentin anyway, and the respon- It is fitting, therefore, to consider sibility is on us to do with our might. whether any attempt on the part of what our hands find to do. There is. our Government to interfere with that some better way for Christian rule 1;() of the signatory powers in the Congo be established in Africa than by mawould be anything short of an imper- nuring the soil with the graves of its. tinence. How could we, having re- people, first ruined and rotted witlL fused to enter into that convention, rum. 88k to be permitted to dictate its policy? The Native Languages of Mmco.
Let it be borne in mind that we are BY REV. WK. P. F. FERGUSON, B. D. no party to that contract; and, among our national sins and shortcomings, Because of its vast architectural reis not to be enumerated the sanction mains, Mexico is often called "the by our Government of the introduc- Egypt of America." In view of the· tion free of duty amongst the low great number of .languages which races of.the Congo, with their feeble have been spoken among its moun-· force of resistance, that which tains and valleys, it might also bethreatens to decimate them as surely called the India of the New W orId. and 88 speedily 88 slavery has done It may be supposed that the common the central belt of the continent. expression, "the Land of the .Aztecs," is an adequate expression of the an- We do not desire to soften the sense tiquity of Mexico; but before it cameof indignation against the signatories, under the sway of that great but uno. whose very self-interest, or whose hu- fortunate people, it.had been the land manitarianism of the lowest grade, of the Chichimecas, the Toltecs, the one would think would have induced Zapotecas, the Mayas, the Otomies, them to restrict the agency which the Xicalancas, the Quinames, and of" threatens the destructioil of the very perhaps as many other peoples, some population with which they seek to of whose very names are lost to hisbuild up a market. We do not seek tory. Nor are these the names of to excuse our Government from every mere tribes, rather of nations, and legitimate exercise of its power, some of them of races distinct in cus- toms, langua~es and blood. .. PopulOils realms in its sounds, but to the writer it d~ Swept by tbe torrent see tbeir ancient tribes not seem to be particularly so. As a. people the Otomis are of special inter- Engulfed and lost." est, from the fact that they are proba– bly the oldest race now extant in. To-day there survive of these peoples Mexico. only remnants, hiding, as it were, among the mountains that once The Mayas, in the far south and formed the ramparts of the empires southeast, number about 400,000. of their fathers. While those of them who live along' the coast have been visited by many It is the object of this article to pre- travelers, the deadly climate andtheir' sent some facts with regard to these supposed hostility have almost com- peoplesand their languages, and to of- pletely isolated those who iDhabit the' fer some suggestions as to giving them interior. These, it is generally be- the Gospel in their' own tongues. lieved, still retain almost intact their ancient civilization. Whether the be- Omitting any mention of a number lief is well founded or not, remains of minor languages, each spoken by for the explorer to show. Their lan- from a few hundred to a hundred guage was anciently one of the most thousand people, we will notice five of cultivated, and has received a consid- the most important, namely: the erable study from modem scholars. Otomi, the Maya, the Zapotaca, the The results of this study are, how- Tarasca, and 'the Nahuatl, or Mexi- cano. These must not be thought of ever, difficult of access.* as simple dialects; they are rather distinct languages, with differences The Tarasca is the language ofas great as those that exist between about 250,000, chiefly inhabitants of any of the tongues of the Aryan fam- the State of Michoacan, on the Pa- ily, if, indeed, some of them have cific coast. They are to-day all that even a remote connection. All of remains of the once powerful kingthem, with the exception of the dom of Michoacan, which success- Otomi, were expressed in picture fully resisted the Aztecs even in the writing, which was, especially among height of their power. Tradition con– the Mexicans, or Aztecs, developing nects them closely with the Mexicanos ; toward an alphabet. The use of this but their language does not seem tohas ceased, and they are now all writ- me to warrant it, bearing in its roots. ten by means of alphabets given to and formations only a very small rethem by the Spanish conquerors. semblance to the more cultured Nahuatl. It is not, however, with- In detail: The Otomis are one of the out elements of strength and force, most widely distributed of the native and must have been well suited to the· races, being found in five States of the neeas of a hardy, warlike people. Republic, and in a ward of the national capital. They seem to be The Zapoteca may be taken as the· among the most intelligent, and cer- representative of a family of dialects. tainly are among the most industri- sometimes classed as the Mixteco-Za– ous inhabitants of the country. They poteca. As a refined language, this number about 700,000, of whom many would doubtless be ranked as next to. of course have more or less knowledge the Nahuatl, though the two seem aI– of the Spanish language; but the most entirely distinct. A very consid- .greater number still retain and con- erable literature, comparatively speakstantly use their own. This is one of ing, has been formed by translations. the most complicated of the so-called Indian languages. Unlike most of • There are some excellent monographs the others, it abounds in vocals hav- worthy of study, such as Brenton's, on ing no less than sixteen vowels. It is tbe Mayas, in tbe south, and their language. usually spoken of as harsh and rude -J.T.G. and a few original compositions. This soldier and the Roman priest h.as been was the native language of Mexico's to destroy all that, in the old ciziliza- most illustrious statesman, Benito tion, was worthy of preservation, and .Juarez. to make the entrance of the tr:ue The Nahuatl, or Mexicano, was the ,Gospel ten fold harder now than it language of the Aztecs, and, as well, . would have been four hundred years of their predecessors, the Toltecs. It ago.
is the most cultured and elaborate of Protestantism has as yet attempted .all these ancient tongues, as the peoples very little toward the evangelization who used it were the most refined and of the native races. A few who are progressive. In no sense is it a bar- able!' to be reached through the Span- barous dialect, but rather a worthy ish language have been gained. In a ·compeer of any ancient classic speech, few points work is conducted among furnished with all the elements re- them by means of native workers who quired by a people great in arms, state- are able to speak the Indian languages.
craft and literature. To-day it is But I do not think there is in the Re- :spoken by about 1,750,000, dwelling in public a single American missionary .sixteen States of the Republic, and able to preach in any indigenous forming nearly one-sixth of the whole tongue, nor more than one or two even population. Its extant literature far able to converse in it.
exceeds that of any of the other native During the year 1889, the press of languages. the Methodist Episcopal Mission in the The number of people in Mexico to- City of Mexico has issued the Gospel day who still speak some one of the in- by Luke in the Nahuatl, the necessary digenous languages, is very little less funds being furnished by gentlemen than 4,000,000, out of a total popUlation in the United States. The work is a ·()fless than 12,000,000.* reprint of an older edition that had Toward the Christianization of these almost wholly been destroyed. It millions, there has been done by the seems to have been partly revised, Roman Catholic Church-not any- though a very slight knowledge of the thing. True, very few among them language shows one that it still lacks are unfamiliar with the cross and much of being a faIthful translation.
rosary, and very few have never heard This one Gospel is the only portion of the names Jesus and Maria, but these the Holy Scriptures, excepting a few .are to them only the symbols of a blind verses, as the Lord's Prayer, available fetichism. Certain branches of the in any of the native languages.* old paganism have been lopped off The Roman Church, with all her and replaced by shoots of a pseudo- boasted learning, never has attempted 'Christianity. Planted in Mexico by this first duty of missionary labor-to . men whose hands were foul with every give the Holy Scriptures to the people.
·crime of blood and lust, the Roman These, from among many facts of Church has wrought nothing other interest, must suffice. Upon them I ihan the works of its fathers. " The base the following suggestions: Mexican Church," says one, "fills no These peoples should not, alone mission of virtue, no mission of mo- among the nations of the world, be rality, no mission of mercy, no mission forbidden to hear of "the wonderful ()f charity. Virtue cannot exist in works of God" in their "own lan- its pestiferous atmosphere. The code guages." This is emphasized by the of morality; does not come within its fact that they are living and dying practice." The work of the Spanish * There is in existence a MS. copy of the * The 1lgi.res of this article are based upon Four Gospels in Nahuatl. The writer saw it several times in Mexico city. It is now somethe "Cuadro Geografico" of Sr. Antonio where in the United States. -Garcia Cubas. within a few hours of our very doors. The character of mission work But the missions already established among these peoples must be from the in Mexico have already fields de- foundation. The priest has scarce manding all that they can expend of placed a stone upon which it will be money or labor, while the unap- safe to build. The same is true with proached Spanish-speaking popula-, regard to literary work. The alpha- tion offers room for the expansion of bets given to these languages by the many years. Thus, it seems that the padres are without exception faulty, establishment of special missions to and their grammars attempt to force the Mexican indigenes offers a favor- into the moulds of the Latin and able field for some missionary society Spanish languages that have scarce not already engaged in that Republic. a trace of likeness to them. This Such a step would, of course, meet work is of value now only to the stu- the opposition of some, as did even dent who is able to detect and reject the publication of the Nahuatl Gospel. their mistakes.
It will be urged-as it has been urged The limits of this article forbid more -that the keeping alive of any sparks than the briefest suggestion of the of the old civilization, as such an ef- possible results. The indigenes are, I· fort implies, would be disintegrating believe, equal in mental and physical in its effect upon the Republic, and endowment and vastly superior in would be so looked upon by the Gov- morals to the Spanish-speaking popu- ernment. This objection is of no lation. Upon them must, in a great weight with anyone who has noticed measure, depend the solution of some the growing native-Mexican spirit in of the problems of Mexico's state and both the literature and politics of the social life. Experience, such as has country. It is also objected that any been had, shows that they are not such effort is unnecessary, as the pres- more difficult to reach than their ent generation of Indians can be neighbors. The" everlasting gospel"
reached by the employment of native does the same work in the heart of an workers in connection with Spanish Aztec that it does in the heart of a missions, while succeeding genera- Saxon. It is only a question of effort, tions will have ceased to use the native and light can at last shine in this tongues. I doubt if the history of ancient darkness, and these long op- Christian missions. furnished an ex- pressed peoples can be endowed with ample of equally great peoples evan- the" heavenly citizenship."
gelized without the direct use of their REV. DR. HAMLIN'S VIEWS.
language and the creation of a Chris- When the subject of the use of the tian literature. And I do not believe, vernaculars of Mexico for missionary judging from the history of the past purposes, and the propriety of pub- three and a half centuries, that the lishing the Gospels in one or more of Spanishcan ever supplant the stronger these tongues, was under discussion three or four of the :Mexican verna- at the International Missionary Union culars. Meeting at Bridgeton, N. J., the Rev.
The initial step of such an effort Cyrus Hamlin, D. D., gave utterance should be an exploration to determine to his views and experiences on the the dependence of the various sec- general subject, and especially on the tions of the country upon the native application of the principle advo- languages, the dialectic changes, the cated, and, as these views of the ven- customs and many other questions erable and vigorous founder of Robert concerning which there is not now College are of value, and the facts al- sufficient information. Such an ex- luded to concerning the Armenian ploration might be so conducted with- language are of force and fitness in out financial loss. this discussion, we present now a .summary of ·Dr. Hamlin's address at waYs follow every translation, sooner the time referred to. He said : or later. It reconstructs its language " I regard the subject of the trans- by bringing it into new use. It re-.
.lation of the Bible into any unevan- constructs it by reconstructing the .gelized language, as one of prime im- mind and heart, and new meanings j)Ortance. If Mexico is to be evangel- come into old words. Let the Bible ized, it will be done through the native enter among those Mexican tribes en- languages of the people, Spaniards, forced by the love of missionaries, and Aztecs, Zapotacas, or what not. We it will make all things new. They have had a somewhat parallel condi- w1ll never be evangelized through the tion of things in Turkey. The Turk- Spanish.
ish language is the language of the Missionary Education in China. Empire, as much as the Spanish is of Mexico; but there are fragments of Now that the subject of higher edu- nations conserving more or less their cation as a missionary agency is beown languages, and we have used ing debated, it is well to note the those languages as the channels of the gospel to them. The translation of angle of vision of some persons on the Bible has been life from the dead, the field, who might claim to be unnot only to the people, but to their prejudiced because outside the circle languages. Fifty or sixty years ago the modern Armenian was a gross of participants. The Ohinese Times is and vulgar language, ungrammatical, an independent secular weekly paper full of foreign idioms and words of published at Tientsin, in North China. ¥i1eness and blasphemy, and it was The Methodist Episcopal Mission has regarded by the people as a desecra- for some time past had an education to translate the Word of God into it, and it must be confessed the first tional institution at that place known translation was very imperfect. It as the "Wiley Institute," named >could not be otherwise, for the instru- for the late Bishop Wiley, once an ment itself was very imperfect; but efficient missionary of this church in the most imperfect language can express the Sermon on the Mount, and China. The Ohinese Times had a 'some of the most beautiful Psalms leading editorial a little while ago on .and the gospel narratives, with clear- the relation of this institution, which ness. The first Armenian translation was immediately attacked and ridi- has now become incorporated as -culed by Jesuit missionaries and >others. Replies were made to them; "The Peking University," to the gen- -criticisms, friendly and unfriendly, eral situation at present in China. were noticed. Altercation sprang The editorial referred to says: up. The language grew. It began to drop off incongruous elements. Af- " The prospectus of t~s institution "ter ten or fifteen years a new transla- shows it to be the natural develoption was demanded and made, greatly ment of the Methodist Episcopal improved upon the first, because the Mission in Pekin~, which grew first language was undergoing a transfor- into 'Wiley Instltute,' and is now mation. Since then a third revision about to pass into the more advanced has been made. The language has stage of the Peking University. The become a cultivated language, and ca- title is apt to strike those who hear it pable of expressing, with great clear- for the first time as ambitious, and ness, the truths, the facts, and the sen- even audacious, but when calmly timents of the Bible. This will al- considered it is scarcely out of keep- ing with the general tone which the outer nations assume towards China.
" The assumption not only of un- doubted superiority, but of the right to impose that superiority on the Chinese, has a substantial basis of fact to rest upon, and whether it can be altogether justified on the princi- ple of non-interferenpe or not makes no practical difference. Facts come before theories, and if no formula yet exists to explain the fitness of the .domination which the foreign spirit is a brief history of the present' Wiley resolved to exercise on the Chinese Institute,' and a report by the princi- mind, such a fonnula will in time be pal, Rev. L. W. Pilcher, for the year ·.discovered. Meantime the aggressive 1887-88. These well-written papers movement is in full play and the show what a very good foundation forces behind the movement are ap- has been already laid in Peking for parently too potent to be seriously the new university, and what oppor- hindered in their operation by anr tunities of teaching the future literati obstacles whatever. The Peking Um- and official class, the teaching of the versify, under the auspices of an new sciences would give them. These American Mission Board, is an apt papers are backed up by a stirring ar- expression of the whole attitude of ticle by Bishop Fowler, who is Cllan- enlightened foreigners towards the cellor of the new university." ()hiriese Empire. .As such it deserves the best consideration which we can The International 14isaionary Union. give it. The Seventh Annual Meeting of the " The idea of this university seems International Missionary Union will be to have been flashed into the mind of held at Clifton Springs, N. Y., the lat- Bishop Fowler, during a recent visit to ter part of June next. Peking, by the ImJ?6rial Edict which .allowed Western SCIence to share with The invitation from Dr. Henry Fos- Chinese learning in the honors of the ter, the founder of the famed Sani- tarium at Clifton Springs, to the Union .competitive examinations. ' Here,' to hold a session at that place, has thought the Bishop, ' is our oppor- been a standing one for three years tunity. The Chinese Government past, but not till now has it seemed provides the motive for study in the practicable to accept the generous of- reward it offers for success, but it fer. The Sanitarium is so widely <does not furnish the means of study. known as a local point of missionary We will supply the want, and with interests, that it needs no introduction the teaching of science we will mingle to missionaries. We do not know the teaching of Christianity in such a what number of hundreds of mission- way as to spread the :principles among aries have received the advantages of the literati of China. treatment and of a home in this insti- tution while invalids or semi-invalids. " The missionary spirit is as much The spiritual atmosphere of the place a. living force in the world as the has always been spiritually hygienic, greed of gain or the passion for and if it is possible for sectarianism to knowledge, and the China field is so lose caste and color more thoroughly large and attractive that we may anywhere else in the land than here, reckon on substantial and perhaps we can not name the place. The ofstartling results of its operations in ficers of the Union have never urged the course of a generation or two. It missionaries to attend the annual is probably the most potent factor of meetings. It has been enough just to the coming invasion of China, and, as announce where it was to be held, and ,such, challenges attention to its all returned missionaries-men and methods. And if by discussion and women-who could possibly command free comparison these methods could the time and money and had the be in any degree divested of error, strength, gravitated thither, like .and their success assured without the "doves to their windows." But if it drawbacks which are apt to mar all were necessary to appeal to the brethgreat enterprises, then public benefit ren and sisters to be courteous to an will be certain to result from the ven- invitation, it would not be easy to tilation of missionary work outside over-emphasize the claims of Dr. Fosthe professional sphere. It is, on this ter and the Sanitarium to the compliaccount at any rate, that we consider ment of a largeattendance. Of course, it our duty to direct attention from time to time to what the missionary body is doing, and the new Peking University marks a most important :stage in that work.
" The appeal of the Methodist Epis- ·copal Mission to the liberality of the United States is for the round sum of half a million dollars to build and endow the university, of which a copy ·of the design is given in the prospectus. The appeal is accompanied by the physical advantages and charms evangelistic work effected by the often. of Clifton Springs are second to no maligned Christian College at Madras. health resort in the land. Missionaries of which he is a professor. Soneed not feel unwelcome in a place stro~gly was it felt that missionary which for a third of a century has education is a branch of evangelisticbeen dedicated to their physical up- work, that a protest was entered building. against the proposal, now favored in. many quarters, to substitute laymen We make this early announcement for missionaries in charge of educaof the next meeting, that all returned tional institutions. This approval of missionaries in the country may be educational· work did not involve. able to make their summer plans to in- however, any undervaluing of agenclude this meeting. Also, we wish to cies more obviously evangelistic. urge upon every member of the Union Preaching to low castes and nonnow abroad, to send some communi- castes has of recent years been prosecation, longer or shorter, to this meet- cuted with increased energy in seving. They are all members of the "Out- eral of the fields occupied by the Weslook Committee," and are expected to 1eyan Society, which has thus anticireport· on the situation in their part of pated the clamor that has recently the world. Either the President, arisen for the evangelization of the Rev. J. T. Gracey, D. D., 183 Glen- masses. This work will still hold a wood Avenue, Buffalo, N. Y., or the foremost place in the policy and oper- Secretary, Rev. W. H. Belden, Bridge- ations of Wesleyan missionaries; but ton, New Jersey, will receive these at the same time they are not inclined papers. to abandon those means of presenting the Gospel to higher, yet more be- India Wesleyans on Recent Criti- nighted, classes which their educacisms.-The Fifth General Confer- tional institutions afford. ence of Wesleyan Missionaries in India assembled at Bangalore at the -The questionof the employmentof' close of 1889, and sat for eleven days. a cheaper Europeanagencythan the or- Since they held a similar meeting dinarymissionary, is one that has lately three years ago, the work in Ceylon been prominently before the Weshas so far developed as to demand a 1eyan Society, as it has been beforeseparate organization and an inde- others. Experiments have been made pendent Conference for that Island. on some of the stations of the Society There were 24 ministers present from in South India; but the results so far every part of India and Burmah. have not been very encouraging. The Conference considered the ques- The Indian Methodist Times says: tion with much carefulness and in " On the subject of higher education great detail, and while it expressed as a missionary agency, the' Confer- its willingness to give the system a. ence showed that its views had not fair trial, it did not express much been at all affected by recent noisy hope that a permanent relief forcontroversies. It affirmed the im- straitened funds or a large multipliportance of maintaUring all the exist- cation of missionary resources could ing educational institutions of the So- be looked for in this direction. The· ciety, and the desirability, in some qualifications which must be required places, of adding to them. It heartily of European lay agents, the minimum encouraged the brethren in Calcutta rates of stipend at which their health to support and co-operate in the and efficiency could be maintained, scheme for a united Christian College and the kind of service in which they in that city, and the Rev. Gao. Pat- could be most effectively employed,. terson testified, in a remarkable speech, to the powerful and extensive
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF'MISSIONS
were all duly considered and reported ized in the removal of all hinderances on to the Home Committee. to the settlement of herself and fellow- workers among the women of Kash- -The death is announced of Dr. mir. She was thoroughly qualified Fanny J.'Butler of Srinagar Kashmir. for her work, and was a most compe- She went out in 1880 as the representa- tent physician and a most earnest tive of the Church of England Ze- and devoted missionary. "Our sisters nana Missionary Society, and was sta- have had to mourn over the removal of tioned at Jabalpur, and about a year several of their most honored workers ago was transferred to her present lo- in the last three or four years, but cation, and passed away just as the no loss is greater than this," says the great desire of her heart had been real- Missionary Intelligencer.
V.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY REV. F. F. ELLINWOOD, D.D.
Mexico. murder, and a slavery which was al- Before the year 1519. heathenism most worse than murder, are not edi- bore unquestioned sway in the Valley fying topics. Disgrace, rather than of Mexico. It was not without some glory, was reflected upon the Christian redeeming qualities. It was attended name. So grievous did the general by an advanced civilization; it was system of peonage become in the first presided over by a mild and humane twenty-five years, that in 1642 an op- sovereign, whose laws promoted the pressed people rose in a formidable re- general welfare of the people; yet in bellion against the Spaniards, and it its prevailing religious rites it was one proved so far successful that Charles of the bloodiest and most cruel of all V. of Spain issued an edict abolishing systems. Under the Aztec rule it the enslavement of the Indians, and had taken on cruel observances as a whatever forms of oppression tended war measure. The Aztecs, in con- to degrade them. But the planters quering the Toltecs, substituted for were not to be foiled, if "money, in- their gentle and grateful offerings of fluence, false,4ood and intrigue" could fruits and flowers, the awful rites of prevent it. A strong delegation sent human sacrifice. Cowardice dictated to Spain caused the edict to be re- this method of disposing of prisoners voked. In 1550, Velasquez, as vice- taken in war-at the same time that roy, made another effort in behalf of the fostering of a bloodthirsty spirit the peons, but Phillip II. had come to was supposed to give new valor to the the throne, and he was not a man to Aztec soldiery. appreciate humane measures. The THE SPANISH PROPAGANDA. people sank even lower into that deg- In the full noontide of this Aztec pow- radation from which three centuries er, the Spaniard appeared on the east- have not been sufficient to raise them.
ern coast, and the mysterious symbol In 1572 another and peculiar mis- of a cross was borne before his daunt- sionary agency was established in less troops. This was ostensibly a re- Mexico in the form of the Spanish In- ligious crusade-a missionary enter- quisition. If this could secure purity prise. Paganism was to be done of faith in one hemisphere, why not away, and the beneficent reign of in another? Out of its dark history Christi!l-nity was to take its place. an occasional flash of lurid light ap- But over the opening scenes of this pears, only to reveal the blackness of Spanish Propaganda de Fide it were the night. One or two illustrations.
charitable to draw a veil. Perfidy, will suffice. At a single auto-da-fe cruelty, robbery, bloodshed, wholesale in 1659, fifty persons were burned alive, the viceroy presiding on the oc- the Mexican people had a heavy score casion. .As late as 1872 or 1873, when to settle with the Papacy, and they the Methodist Missionaries were re- proceeded with the business right modeling an old mOI).astery at Pueblo earnestly. Every trace of the Em- for a church and school, they found pire was obliterated, the Jesuits were the skeletons of heretics walled into again expelled from the country, the its subterranean dungeons. In 1776 rich estates of the Church-the fruits the Jesuits were expelled from Mexico of centuries of extortion-were largely by a concerted movement of the chief confiscated; the monasteries were cities. thrown open, religious liberty was proclaimed; the Bible, hitherto ex- THE RISE OF THE REPUBLIC. cluded, was granted free course, and Protestant enlightenment was wel- In 1808 Napoleon I. usurped the comed. throne of Spain, and led on to great results in America. Two years after The First Napoleon, by his blunderthat usurpation and the crowning of a ing ambition, had sprung that move- Bonaparte in place of Ferdinand VII., ment for civil liberty which extended Guadaloupe Hidalgo, a cure of Guan- not only over Mexico, but over all the axato, raised the standard of inde- Spanish-American States in the short pendence. The cause of Liberty was space of twenty years, and now the finally won in 1821, and the Republic Second Napoleon, while also attemptwas established in 1824. A year ing to dispense thrones and sceptres, later the Mexican Congress framed becomes the unconscious instrument a constitution, which declared the in securing religious liberty. Roman Catholic religion to be the faith of the country forever, and it From 1519 till 1867, or through the forbade the exercise of any other form entire period of 348 years, the Roman ()f worship. Catholic Church of Spain had been engaged in <Jivilizing and Christianiz- In 1835 President Santa Anna abol- ing Mexico. Waiving the question, ished the State Governments, and in whether any advance had been made -consequence Texas and Yucatan de- in civilization, whether the welfare of ~lared their independence. the whole people was in any degree better cared for before the arrival of In 1846 Texas was a~mitted into the Maximillian than before the landing United States, and the Mexican war of Cortez-what had been done in the followed, which resulted two years way of spiritual enlightenment as the later in the accession of Arizona, New result of a propaganda of 300 years? Mexico, California and a part of Nevada, to the United States. A FRENCH-CATHOLIC ESTIlIIATE OF THE MEXICAN CHURCH. THE ACHIEVEMENT OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. The testimony of a French-Catholic priest, who visited Mexico at the time, In 1864, Maximillian, an archduke and resided for some time in the ()f Austria, was placed on the so- country, will be accepted as unbiased. called throne of Mexico by Napoleon Emanuel Domenech was a chaplain III., and the Republic was declared to in the invading army of Napoleon be at an end. Three years later, Na- III., and he became director of the poleon III. having withdrawn his press in the Empire of Maximillian. troops through fear of the armies of His observations were published in the United States-now released from Paris in 1867, under the title, "Le duu"y by the close of the War of the Mexique Tell Qu'il Est." First he Rebellion-Maximillian was arrested speaks of the clergy, as follows : "The and shot by order of President Juarez. clergy are in general very poorly edu- At the close of this effort-in which cated. They have the most errone- Pope, Cardinals and Mexican Bishops had joined-to destroy the Republic, <Qus and absurd ideas of morals and of the devil with God, the absence of in- ternal exercises of pietr, have killed Catholic dogma. • • . They traffic the faith in Mexico. It IS vain to seek in the sacraments, make money out any good fruit from this worthless 'of every religious ceremony, undis- tree, which makes the Mexican relig- ion an assemblage of heartless devoturbed by the fact that they become tion, shameful ignorance, insane su- perstition, and hideous vice. • . In guilty of simony, and liable to the vain you seek in this country, called Catholic, houses of refuge for the aged censure of the church. If the laws and indigent, for 'penitents fallen through betrayal and misery, or for of Rome were to be enforced in Mexico, works of benevolence and mercy. • • In Mexico, faith inspires nothing, inthe majority of the Mexican clergy vents nothing; it does not even imi- tate-it is a fossil. . • • The idolwould be excommunicated. Mr. Biart atrous character of Mexican Catholi- has said that 'the priests are forcing cism is a fact well known to all trav- the people to live in Qoncubinage, by elers. The worship of saints and ma- donnas so absorbs the devotion of the -exacting from them for the marriage people that there is little time left to think of God. . . . For want of {)eremony a sum which the Mexican serious instruction, you find in the Catholicism of the Indians numerous laborer, in view of the low scale of remains of the old Aztec paganism."
wages, could not accumulate in five REASONS FOR CARRYING ON PROTEST- years of the strictest economy.' There ANT MISSIONS IN MEXICO.
is little exaggeration in this. The ac- We are often asked, "Why send {)ounts which Abbe Domenech gives missionaries to Roman Catholic coun- of the scandalous lives of the priests tries?" The above extract must sup- have never been surpassed by any ply the answer. The virtual pagan- which were published by Protestants. ism of the priests and the moral cor- As to the rapacity and the consequent ruption of the people are admitted.
wealth of the Church, the Abbe de- Last summer an intelligent American dares that three-fifths of the cities priest said: ' , We send missionaries to were in 1867 occupied by convents Mexico and South America to convert and churches. "I do not speak," he our priests." A distinguished Mexi- says, "of the fabulous riches of these can general, whom we had the honor churches. I think it right that the to meet on a steamer from New York temples of God should be better adorn- to Vera Cruz, expressed a hope that ed than the apartments of a stock- Protestant churches would be multi- broker; but is it not a lie in a man to plied in Mexico, as a means of elevat- make a profession of poverty, and ing, by their influence, the Mexican then live in possession of abundance Ohurch itself, and making it more like and comfort, as the ecclesiastics of the Oatholic Ohurch in the United Spanish America do?" States. If even the priests need con- Of the people, the Abbe says: "The verting, and if intelligent statesmen Mexican is not a Catholic. He is a Christian, simply because he has been and army officers welcome, and even baptized. I speak of the masses, and not of numerous exceptions in all desire, the influence of Protestantism, classes of society. I say that Mexico is not a Catholic country. First, be- there would surely seem to be an open cause a majority of the native population are semi-idolaters. Second, be- door. It would be a criminal indiffercause the majority of the Mexicans carry ignorance of religion to such a ence and neglect not to heed the call. point that they have no other worship than that of forms; it is materialism With regard to sending priests to without a doubt. Third, because the clergy themselves in general have lit- convert priests, they are in fact sent tle education, know very little of theology, and are ignorant of the canoni- from Spain and Italy, and not from cal laws and of the decrees of councils. . . • Mexican faith is a the United States. It is whispered in dead faith. The abuses of external ceremonies, the facility of reconciling Mexico that the real design is not so much to convert the Mexican priesthood to Christianity, as to Ultramon- the city. In 1872 the Presbyterian tanism-to overcome dangerous tend- Church (North) established missions encies toward independent republican- in Mexico City and in Zacatecas. The ism and a national spirit, and to bring Methodist Church (North) soon fol- them under the more thorough con- lowed ; also the Southern Methodists, trol of the Vatican. If this be so, the Southern Baptists; the Southern there is not less, but greater reason, Presbyterians, and the Congregation- for extending the free and enlightened alists. spirit of American Protestantism, lest the last state of the Church be worse The work of these various Christian than the first. And it must be Ameri- bodies has prospered along all the can Protestantism, if any, that shall usual lines of missionary labor. accomplish this work. Our geographi- Churches, schools of various grades, cal position is such that other Protest- printing presses and colportages have ant nations will naturally assign the been established, and many religious task to us. Weare only separated books have been translated into the from Mexico by a river. Great rail- Spanish, and several able religious road lines have already crossed the papers are now published. We shall border at different points, and the two not deal with statistics here, except to countries are bound together by a state that the membership of the thousand commercial bonds. Mexico churches now number many thous- and Central America are in sympathy ands; but there are some special feat- with our institutions. They have ures of the work which may be specadopted them, in fact, and their states- ially noticed. men have more than once expressed the desire that their countrymen may 1. It has never been free from perenjoy the same liberty of thought and secution. In one case, an American the same general enlightenment which missionary fell a victim to the hatred we possess. of the priesthood, and at least two others narrowly escaped. Of native WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED. ministers and people, many have fallen, and a still larger number have Even before the collapse of the been maimed. Even within a month Maximillian Empire and the procla- stones have been thrown at the winmation of religious freedom by the re- dows of a newly dedicated church. stored Republic, good seed had been These acts of violence have invariaplanted, and was only waiting for the bly been instigated by the priesthood proper conditions for growth. With -never by the Government officials. the American army, under General It is greatly to the credit of the au- Scott, many Bibles found their way thorities, from the President down, into Mexico. Here and there little that they have, as a rule, striven to bands assembled together to read the carry out the guarantees of religious Book, which was almost as new and freedom, and to punish their violation. strange as if it had just descended out One of the most fanatical States of of heaven. Its messages were re- the Republic is Guerrero, and it is ceived with joy by many hearts, and only the determined spirit of its Govlittle churches – the "ecclesire" of ernor, Arce, that has prevented the apostolic days were formed in private extirpation of the Protestant cause. houses. Somewhere about 1870, Father Aguas and other priests in the 2. The work of the various societies capital began to proclaim a free and has in the main been well organized. blessed gospel of faith and of power. It has wisely considered permanence Aided by the Rev. Mr. (afterwards and self-reliance in the churches. It Bishop) Riley, Protestant congrega- has fostered a national spirit, and has tions were organized in and around studiously avoided all appearance of a desire to hold Mexican Protestantism_ by any American leash, or in any way not extend to the smaller States on its (as has often enough been hinted) to southern border. Nevertheless, at open the way for anriexation. Belize and along .he Mosquito Coast, Great attention has been paid to the there has been a limited missionary training ofa native ministry. In few work for several years, and there have mission fields is the work so largely been times of remarkable refreshing done by native preachers, or done so in the Wesleyan Missions of that field.
well. Whether Methodists or Pres- Altogether, the most progressive of byterians, these men are true" itin- the Central American States is Gua- erants." Mounted on Mexican ponies, temala, and yet until within the last they ride over mountain roads where six years, there was no such thing as a no vehicle could be used, and often Protestant religious service in the en- long distances, to villages where be- tire State, with its million and a half lievers from half a dozen hamlets as- inhabitants.
semble to hear the Word with glad- The history of the establishment of ness. It has been our privilege to the Mission of the Presbyterian Board hear from some of them truly elo- in its capital is full of interest. In ,quent appeals. 1884 President Barrios, of Guatemala, 3. For the most part there is an and Minister Romero, of Mexico, were admirable spirit of harmony and co- at Washington, seeking the arbitra- operation between the different Mis- tion of President Arthur in a bound- sionary Boards and Societies. Rules ary question between their respective <>f comity, which had been agreed States. Their relations personally 'upon have, with few exceptions, been seemed to be friendly, and other mat- ,observed. Rivalries in the price of- ters than the question in dispute were fered to native laborers are avoided, discussed. While President Barrios and it is rare that efforts have been and his staff were stopping for a time made to convert to the tenets of a in New York, Senor Romero wrote a particular sect those who have al- note to a gentleman in the city, inti- ready been converted to Evangelical mating that the President of Guate- truth. Conferences of a friendly char- mala would gladly welcome the estab- acter are held from time to time, and lishment of a Protestant mission steps. have been taken to economize among his countrymen, and he sugges- missionary resources by the establish- ted that the fact be communicated to ment of a Union Protestant College. some of the missionary societies. The There is great reason and great en- contents of the note were made known couragement to unite in a "Concert to a secretary of the Presbyterian of Prayer" for the one missionary Board, who sought an interview with work of Mexico as a whole. the President, which proved to be of the most cordial and satisfactory char- Guatemala. acter. Full protection and every fa- The Central American States have cility were promised, and even the not been the theatre of extended Prot- traveling expenses of the missionary estant Missions. Insalubrity of cli- to the field, though this was not ac- . mate has doubtless been one obstacle cepted. A missionary family was ,supposed, and the unsettled state of sent out promptly, and in fact they the country, as well as the general accompanied the President on the fanaticism of the people, has also had steamer from San Francisco to Gua- its influence. The impulse communi- temala. A few months later two cated to Mexico twenty-five years ago young ladies were sent to establish a by the re-establishment of the Repub- girls' school.
lic, and the general awakening of the The proInises of the President were 13pirit of liberty among its people, did generously fulfilled, and several American and British residents lent try furnishes such varying degrees of their influence to the work. Upon altitude as to secure healthful condi- the death of President Barrios, it was tions-and such is the obvious need feared that serious reaction might fol- of enlightenment that there is reason low under the administration of his to believe that the authorities every- successor; but, fortunately, the new where, in spite of the bigotry of the, President, Senor Barrillos, has also ex- priesthood, will guarantee liberty and tended full protection to the Protest- protection. Whatever may be the is- ants in all their rights. A change in sue of the schemes now discussed for- the missionary force, which left the transit from the Atlantic to the Pa- work of the little church for a time cific, the geographical position which without a head, seriously retarded these small States hold in the commu- the work; but it is again in a flour- nity of nations will rapidly increase ishing condition. Two ordained mis- their commercial importance and sionaries and two unmarried ladies bring them into contact on all sides, are at present engaged. Suitable and with the active forces of the age.
commodious buildings have been The status of the Roman Catholic purchased during the year, and the Church in Central America is that of mission is regarded as now estab- the Middle Ages. The period of Lu- lished on a solid foundation. The ther and Zwingle has not yet come.
church membership is pot large, nor but it will be hastened; the country is there a long list of pupils in the has waited long. Yet not exactly a.
schools ; but the right to exist in the Luther is needed-the times require a face of Catholic prejudice, the tried somewhat different method. An fidelity of the Government in the equal earnestness, but more of con- maintenance of every right, and the ciliation is demanded. It has been general sympathy of the foreign com- fully demonstrated in the efforts made'
munity, as well as of many natives- in Roman Catholic countries in this all these are assured. hemisphere, that not denunciation is.
The climate is salubrious, and the needed, but the 'plain, kind, and per- country beautiful. The people are sistent presentation of a more excel- impressible, and the Romish priest- lent way. The Government of Gua- hood are at least incapable of serious temala, while extending complete· harm. The Indian tribes of the in- protection, and giving every facility terior, not very firmly held by -the to Protestant missionary effort, has.
Catholic padres, are peculiarly recep- made known its want of sympathy tive. Unlike the Indians ofthe United with anything like an assailment States and Canada, whose roaming of the errors or corruptions of the ancestors have lived for generations Roman Catholic Church; and this we by the chase, the aborigines of Guate- believe to be the sentiment of those'
mala are industrious, for so warm a liberal minded statesmen in all the latitude, and for the most part thrifty. Spanish-American Republics who are They present a most promising field most ready to extend a welcome to.
for missionary labor. Protestant effort and influence. There The signfiCance of this young mis- is scarcely one of these States in which sion is much broader than the meas- instances of this enlightened spirit_ ure of its present results would show. have not been shown. If President, It is a demonstration of feasibility and Juarez was ready to welcome and success. It is an encouragement for protect Protestant missions; if the- other organizations to establish mis- noble minded General Esquibedo,_ sions in the Central American States. though a sincere Catholic, could wish The existence of mountain ranges for the organization of Protestant through the whole extent of the COUll- churches in Mexico; if Minister Ro-
EDITORIAL NOTES ON ClJRRENT TOPICS
mero could intercede for the extension and simply do the work of earnest, of the same work into Guatemala, and Christlike evangelists-simply show her own President could invite mis- the purity and beauty of a true gossionaries into his capital,-are not the pel; or to change from the standpoint sentiments of these broad minded and of statesmanship to that of the New noble men worthy of being heeded? Testament, shall they not show the Shall not missiontlries take counsel spirit of Christ at the well of Samaria, from their moderation and charity, and the tact of Paul at Athens ?
VI.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
The Oonference at Brussels. into slave trade territories, the estab- At the Anti-Slavery Congress, which lishment of stronglyoccupied stations, opened in November, delegates were and the placing of efficient cruisers present from the United States, Great upon the waters of the interior. The Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Powers having territorial interests in Belgium, Russia, Denmark, Spain, Africa are to assist each other, and Italy, Norway, Sweden, the Congo may commit their work to chartered Free Statel and even from Turkey and companies, and also protect private Persia. Its task is a difficult one, and companies whose object may be to it is compelled to move slowly. It had crush the slave trade. Among these been much easier if the death of Gor- proposals there are also particular don and the fall of Khartoum had not stipulations for the punishment of extinguished the germs ot civilization slave traders and their accomplices, which had been introduced into the for the just disposal of fugitive and valley of the Upper Nile. Although liberated slaves, and for negotiations the work of the Conference progresses with such African States as have not slowly, it is none the less likely to give signed the General Act of the Confer- a decided impetus to effort for the sup- ence, with a view to obtaining their pression of the evil. The Powers have adhesion to its action. and to the in- assembled through their representa- terdiction of fire-arms and munitions tives for the purpose of entering upon of war.
a united and determined crusade The fact that these propositions are against this great outrage upon hu- said to be generally regarded with manity, and their determination will favor by the members of the Confer- be opportunely stimulated by recent ence, leads us to hope that the work occurrences in Africa. Two commit- of that body will not disappoint the tees have been appointed; one to re- earnest expectations of the civilized port upon the most available measures world. To the latter the recent cable for the suppression of the traffic by despatch from Rome makes the sur- sea, the other by land; to the former prising announcement that the Pope of which the English representatives was not invited to send a delegate to have proposed the right of searching this Congress. If this be true, the vessels over a zone comprising the managers of that Congress have openly whole East African coast, from the slighted one who has manifested more Persian Gulf to Madagascar. sympathy with the purpose for which The Belgian Plenipotentiaries have it was called-to take measures to submitted proposals providing for the break up the slavetrade-and agreater necessary action in territories ruled or willingness to promote it, than several protected by civilized nations, for the ot its members, and a good cause may construction of highways and rail- suffer from the folly of its professed roads, the discontinuance of negro friends. But if, as reported. the Pope carriers, the prohibition of the impor- has been ignored in this indecorous tation of fire-arms and ammunition way at the instigation of the Italian Gove=ent, that Government has which has for ages ravished and deso- been guilty of an act which can lated African soil. J. M. S.
scarcely be excused by any degree of provocations to which it may have A Grand Farewell Meeting.
been subjected. A great meeting was held at Exeter Portugal is not represented at the Hall, London, Monday evening, Jan. 20.
Conference, and her position and prac- It was called by the Church Missionary tical policy are hostile to its object. Society, to take leave of the Rt. Rev.
Here may be found the explanation of Bishop Crowther, D. D., and the fol- the virtual failure of the combined lowing missionaries, about to depart English and German forces on the East far the Delta and Lower Niger Mis- African coast to suppress the infamous sion: The Rev. F. N. Eden, M. A., the slave trade. That trade has not been Rev. H. H. Dobinson, B. A., and Mr.
materially diminished in extent, and P. A. Bennett; for the Soudan and its cruelties seem to have been aggra- Upper Niger Mission: Mr. Graham vated, rather ·than alleviated, by the Wilmot Brooke and Mrs. Wilmot presence and possessions of the three Brooke, Rev. Eric Lewis, B. A., and European powers. If Portugal does not Miss L. W. Lewis, and Mr. C. F. Har- openly favor the old-fashioned slave ford-Battersby, B.A., M.B., M.R.C.S., trade, she certainly manifests no real the Rev. J. A. Robinson, 11. A., having and active sympathy with any efficient sailed on Jan. 15; for the Eastern Equa- efforts for its suppression. Among torial Africa Mission: Mr. Douglas the first, if not the first, of nominally A. L. Hooper, B. A., and Mrs. Hooper, Christian nations to engage in that Mr. G. L. Pilkington, B.A., Mr. G. A.
trade, she seems determined to be the Baskerville, B. A., and Mr. J. D. 1'1.
last to abandQn it. So far as she has Cotter, B. A., and for the Yoruba been able to do so, she has persistently Mission: Rev. H. Tugwell, B. A., and thwarted such efforts as England and Miss Aimee Wright. A goodly com- Germany combined, or singly, have pany of 16-12 of them men and 4 made for its suppression; and what women-and, what is very noticeable, she has done in the past, she may be mostly college graduates, and people expected- to do in the future. Only that represent the very flower of En- upon compulsion will she co-operate glish civilization and culture. Not with England and Germany, or with often does a sight so impressive and either, or with any other nation or inspiring greet our eyes.
nations, for the suppression of the Sir John Kennaway, M. P., pre- African slave trade, so long as that sided-a man who values far more trade can be made profitable to her- than all his titles and honors, the self. privilege of being President of the In view of this fact, the civilized Church Missionary Society. With a world has reason to rejoice at the bold few well chosen words, the meeting stand which the English Government was opened. Rev. Mr. R. Lang, Sec- has just taken in reference to the ab- retary for Africa, explained the na- surd claim of Portugal to territorial ture of the work to be undertaken.
rights in Africa. Not only is the action Two of the departing missionaries are of the English Government just in it- to go to the old Yoruba Mission, and self, but it is manifestly in the interest a large band are destined for the Niger of humanity and Africa's welfare. It field, under Bishop Crowther. Mr.
is quite time Portugal was made to see Lang remarked that an important and to realize that she can no longer question has been, whether that small defy the sentiment of the whole civ- church now existing on the west coast ilized world, and, for the sake of gain, can be expected to furnish needed h~lp to sustain the accursed traffic laborers for the evangelistic work demanded. And, as it seems unjust to which to address the vast assembly, -expect it, the C. M. S. has invited and never have we heard so many ad- these qualified workmen to go and dresses where there was nothing that live in Africa beside these people, and could have been left unsaid. Wilmot Brooke referred to the new ~onditions lead in evangelism.
The Niger Mission is not only to be under which the mission band goes Teinforced, but reorganized. 1. The forth. In Mohammedan lands, the upper portion is to be the scene of missionary, ordinarily being under labors comparatively new, or at least the regis of a nation feared by the extended on a new scale, on methods people, is put in the anomalous po- that will enable the native population sition of urging converts to brave dan- to realize the purpose of Evangelizing ger which he himself is not called to Agencies, and the missionaries will face. This band goes out, claiming live, as far as may be, on the level of no such governmental protection, and the natives-identified with them. venturing to dare the same perils -There will go out with Wilmot that the converts must face. Mr.
Brooke, a doctor for Medical Mission Lewis asked that prayer may be of- work at the base of this northern mis- fered _for "spirit-taught converts,"
sion, ladies also working with them who inay become winners' of souis side by side. 2. The Lower Niger themselves. Mr. Battersby said that Mission among the pagans, southward he had often said, that he " would not of the confluence of the two rivers-a be a doctor, and would not go to Af- vicar and his curate have left their rica," but found himself doing both.
parish at home to go abroad. On the Mr. Eden, of West Hartlepool, is East African side, Douglas Hooper the vicar, and Mr. Dobinson, the cu- leads a band, and in that band go rate, who leave their parishes for the "three of his own university friends. foreign field, believing that successors The principal of Ridley Hall, Rev. may be more easily found for them -G. Hundley Moule, who had trained than substitutes for them, as intending ,several of the missionaries, suggested workers in the African field. Mr.
that.those who stay at home should at Dobinson beautifully spoke of the least promise to pray for the depart- high level of preaching the gospel ing band, and keep the promise, re- to the nations, inasmuch as in Luke membering especially how, in the xxiv:_ 46-48, Christ puts this on the _,stifling atmosphere of Mohammedan- same plane as his own sufferings and ism and paganism, they need to be di- death.
vinely kept in the fresh air of God's In course of these addresses many own presence. Reference was also stirring and suggestive thoughts were made to the "African Prayer Union," presented, that the "good done by which meets on every Thursday for leaving home is often more than by specific supplication. staying," is often illustrated in the ef- The Bishop of the Niger, Crowther, fect of such consecrated examples.
then referred to the establishment of The resignation of two curates em- the Niger Mission in 1837, and the dif- braced in this party has already im- ficulties met and the obstacles sur- pressed some of their congregation, mounted during these fifty years. hitherto seemingly uninfluenced by The pioneering stage has passed, and their preaching. The long waiting the era of development begun. Pagan time was referred to as one of especial -chiefs see the folly of idolatry, and temptation, while the missionaries are -even Moslem leaders begin to ask for getting ready to go to work.
the knowledge of Christ. The motto of this out-going band is : Then the various men of the band "AFRICA FOR CHRIST,"
-were each given a few moments in "HIMSELF FOR ME." And on the reverse side of the more dread than overstatements.
printed motto is the verse: They are sure to be found out, and " Every step of the way, Lord! then they lead to an increasing skep- Yes, every step of the way, ticism." We gladly publish this re- Thine all is Mine, mark, both in order to correct the And I am Thine, overstatements, and to show the ani- For every step of the way."
In course of the addresses, Mr. mus of such men as Mr. Stock, in Mackay's words were quoted: "We seeking to avoid any romantic rose- have stolen Africans from .Africa, and colored presentation of the facts of now a process is going forward which missions. We were misinformed as is very much like stealing Africa from to the real intention and influence of the Africans;" and again it was aptly this institution, and are glad to correct said that the "civilization and com- any wrong impression.
merce which the natives are pressing The Statistical and Comparative upon the Dark Continent are but the Tables in the December number of the names for fire-arms and fire-water." REVIEW are regarded here as of such The evening abounded in appropri- value, that at a meeting held Jan. 22, atereferences to HolyScripture, among at Rochdale, Canon McClure, in re- which two impressed me as both very ferring to them, declared his intention striking and suggestive: II. Chroni- to have a copy of them placed in the cles xiii: 12-" And, behold God him- hands of every church member in self is with us for our Captain ;" John Rochdale. And Dr. R. W. Dale, the viii: 29-" He that sent me is with eloquent preacher and WI'iter, of Bir- me; the Father hath not left me mingham, publicly, and of his own alone." impulse, called the attention of the From these indications. our readers audience the previous evening to the'
may gather how deeply devotional in MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD, character, and how stimulating to pronouncing it "incomparably the heroic endeaver and endurance for best and most stimulating and help- Christ's sake, was this whole meeting. ful periodical on Missions to be found The Church Missionary Society is do- in the world." The compliment was, ing a most noble work, and deservedly as grateful as it was unexpected.
takes rank among the noblest socie- .A. T. P.
ties in the world in its furtherance of foreign missions. How far its great Medical Missions.-The Edinburgh leading men are from any disposition Medical Missionary Society will keep· to place the work of missions in any its Jubilee year in 1891. Rev. G. D.
deceptive light, may be inferred from Cullen, the venerable vice-president, the following note from my friend, is still living, though his name ap- Eugene Stock, Esq., one of its secre- pears in the first list of Directors in taries. Referring to an erroneous 1842. It is a Home and Foreign Mis- statement, which, by some inadver- sion .Agency, and abroad has Medical tence, crept into the article on Bishop Missionary Training Institutions in In- Crowther, he says: "In one sentence dia, Medical Missions in Nazareth and about the Preparandi Institution, I Damascus, a band of 28 students fit- cannot think whence came the idea ting for foreign service, and enrolls that it' is a 'centre of light for the from 60 to 70 fully qualified Medical whole coast.' It was only intended missionaries, formerly students of the for the Upper Niger. [It ought to be a Society.
centre of light for the whole coast, but The home work is centralized at the it is not, said Mr. Stock, to me.] Cer- Livingstone Memorial Training Insti- tainly, we have never published any- tution and Dispensary. The total thing of the sort. There is nothing I number of ministries to patients during the year 1889 was 10,089, an in- necessity for an appropriate special crease of 553 over the year before. education for missionaries is almost as This number includes only patients obvious as the necessity for having registered at their first visit. Includ- them; that if the demand for Mis- ing all visits, even where repeated, the sionaries be reasonable, so is the de- number rises to about 23,000. mand for their suitable preparation." After indicating the lines upon which Evangelistic work is carried on by a new departure in the education of the students in Cowgate and else- missionaries should be inaugurated, where. The famous Magdalen Chapel, such as a less rigidly fixed Arts cur- where John Knox preached, the birth- riculum, which would provide for the place of Scotch Presbyterianism, is student making himself faIniliar with the chapel of the Institute. The at- those subjects which would be of the tendance is so crowded that enlarge- greatest service to him in his future ment of premises is imperatively work-especially anthropology, and needed. Sometimes nightly services the science and history of religions- are held, and every effort is made to departments of knowledge with which serve the people-body and soul. missionaries ought certainly be ac- quainted, and instruction in which Since 1880, 44 students have left for Universities should certainly supply, service abroad, and 11 more are pre- Professor Flint proceeded to say: paring to graduate this year. " There is still to be desired, it seems to me, the directly practical training of Medical Missions have developed a ~tficiently equipped Evangelistic with amazing rapidity. When Dr. and Missionary Institution, placed in John Lowe went to India in 1861, the midst of a suitable training only 14 medical missionaries, with ground, such as the east end of Glas- British qualifications, were in the for- gow would furnish. Our Scottish eign field. Now there are 125, and Churches would do a very useful one-tenth of .these are ladies, and thing if they were to unite in setting nearly one-half of the whole number up and supporting such an Institu- from this Edinburgh Society. Besides, tion; they have been tried, and found there are some 140 from America. highly beneficial by other Churches in This goodwork is owing to Dr. Parker, other countries." who was the pioneer in the movement, and an American; but now the Edin- Mrs. Dr. Ohristlieb. burgh school is ahead of the American. Of the 280 now in the field, about Among other great privileges of the 37 are ladies. In the Edinburgh In- mission tour in Boetain, not least has: stitution about £40, or $200 a year, been the joy of personally meeting, at pay for board of students, and but for Mrs. Watsou's in London, the widow lack of funds, the number of students of my friend and that lamented adwould be indefinitely increased. vocate of missions, Professor Theodor Christlieb, of Bonn. In course of con- A. T. P. versation I find that Mrs. Christlieb is living at No. 22 Konigstrasse, Bonn, In his opening lecture, in Divinity and is proposing to make her house a Hall of the Edinburgh University, at home for a few young men who are the commencement of the last session, proposing to sojourn abroad for pur- Professor Flint took for his subject poses of study, etc. She has issued a "Christian Missions." Speaking of little circular, as follows: the special training needed for Missionary work, he said: "We may .. Mrs. Christlieb, widow of the late Professor· now naturally pass on to consider Christlieb, D. D., of the Bonn.University, offers what is, for us here in Scotland, a comfortable Christian home to the sons of' one of the most practical of ques- gentlemen coming to Germany for education. tions. It seems to me that the 'The number of pupils received is limited to six. that great river whose COU'l'Se was Special motherly care bestowed on junior pu- first made known to the world by pils, and every attention paid to health and Livingstone. The powers and duties comfort, as well as to the studies of the pupils. of the new company seem to be dis- It is Mrs. Christlieb's special aim to train the creetly guarded for the protection and young people committed to her charge in the promotion of the best interests both fear and love of God. The language spoken in of the natives within the territorial the family is German. concession and of the supervising British Government. While its gen- "The house is situated in the best part of eral sphere of operations lies between Bonn, and has a good garden; and the beauti- the Lower and Central Zambesi on ful country around Bonn affords plentiful op- the north. the Transvaal boundary on portunity for walks and excursions, with first the south, and westward to the twen- rate Rhine swimming baths and gynmastic tieth degree of east longitude, its more .sports, if desired. special sphere will be north of British Bechuanaland, north and west of the "As a university town, Bonn offers special Transvaal Republic, and to the west ,educational advantages. The Latin schools, border of the Portuguese dominions. or the University lectures, can be attended as The more important legislative acts of soon as young gentlemen have sufficient the company are to be approved by knowledge of German. Mrs. Christlieb's son the British Secretary of State before .will act as private tutor, if desired. " they can become valid.
Parties proposing a temporary stay Among the powers granted to this ,abroad would do well to correspond new company are those of abolishing, with Mrs. Christlieb, especially intend- by degrees, any systems of the slave ing missionaries and sons of mission- trade, or of domestic servitude, that .aries who wish to fit themselves for may exist in the ceded territory, and :service. Mrs. Christlieb's home will of so regulating the traffic in intoxi- be found full of a pure, evangelical cating drinks, as to effectually pre- .and missionary atmosphere, and free vent their sale to the natives. The from the rationalistic influences found company is also required to maintain in many households of Bonn, a careful regard to the customs and laws of the natives of the country in A.T.P. all its dealings with them, so far as such customs and laws are consistent Hope for the Dark Continent. with an impartial administration of Our readers will excuse our fre- justice. That these humane injunc- 'quent reference to events occurring in tions will be followed, we have suffi- Central and Southern Africa, for they cient guarantee in the persons to are Providential heralds of a brighter whom the charter has been granted. day for Africa. The recent grant by Among these are the Dukes of Fife the British Government of a royal and of Abercorn, Lord Gifford, George charter to the new South African Cawston, and though last, not least, company is assuming large propor- Cecil John Rhodes, who is really the tions in the estimation of the English leading person in this great and prompeople. The newspapers express the ising enterprise, and whose past his- {)pinion that it may mean the estab- tory in Africa and. elsewhere is well lishment of another British Empire known. like that in India, opening up another vast area to British enterprise, coloni- To speak of this new and important zation and capital. The territory in- concession as embracing Bechuanacludes the whole region lying between land, the whole of what is known as the Transvaal and the great lakes. Khamin country, to the Zambesi, the By the organization of this company, whole of Matabeleland, and several to be known as the South African 'Company, with a liberal charter and a large concession of territory, and in the hands of trustworthy men, Great Britain has recently extended her ter- :ritory to the banks of the Zambesi,
ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK AND STATISTICS
large outstretches, is to speak of what gold, which may prove its curse until appears from the map an insignificant portion of Africa. Yet in doing this, the supply is exhausted, and for some we have included a country of 400,000 square miles-an area equal to the time afterwards. Under judicious, combined areas of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, management, this new concessionmay Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana become a grand radiating centre for' and Illinois. This large territory has far-stretching plains and high moun- the civilization and Christianization tains; it has a rich and rare 'variety of climate and soil. The country has of South Africa, if not of the entire'
continent. But if such a result is to be secured, England must avoid the serious and patent errors she has for- merly made in that quarter of the world. She is, we believe, now wise enough to do so. J. M. S.
VII.-ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK AND ST A TISTICS.
Methodist New Oonneotion Missionary and a Christian community of 3.634; about Sooiety. 1.700 scholars in the day and Sunday-schools.
Secretary: REV. W. J. TOWNSEND, Richmond Young Men's Association in Aid of Hill. Ashton-under-Lyne. England. the Baptist Missionary Society. REPORT FOR YEAR ENDING MAY. 1889. Secretary: MR. C. HOLLIDAY. Baptist Mis- General Mission Fund ………………£4.409 sion House. Furnival St., Holborn. London. Special Foreign expenses……………. 2.751 E. C.• England. REPoRT FOR YEAR ENDING APRIL 26, 1889. A considerable portion of the General Fund is still used for the more strictly Home Mission Receipts …. .. ….. .. …. .. .. .. .. . £193 13 10 work. in the Isle of Man and in England. the Expenses ………….. ……….. 1931310 Home Mission Fund not yet being large enough to meet all wants. The only foreign work The work of the Society seems to be in the is in North China. where there are 6 ordained way of furnishing lectures and imparting gen· -1 medical. and 5 female missionaries; 25 na- eral information on Mission topics. rather than tive ordained ministers. 18 other helpers. S in the actualemploymentof Missionaries. As stations. and 48 out stations. 4 churches. with such it does good work. 1.495 members. of whom 26 were added during the year. Striot Baptist Mission.
General Baptist Missionary Sooiety. Secretary: JOSIAH BRISCO. 58 Grosvenor Road, Secretary: REv. WILLIAM HILL. Mission Highbury, New Park. London, N.. En- House. 60 Wilson St.. Derby. England. REPORT FOR YEAR ENDING MAY 31, 1889. gland. £634 Receipts. REPORT FOR YEAR 1888.
GeneralPurposes……. : ………. £4.842 10 0 Receipts…. …. .. ……………. Special Funds.. .. …. …. …. •• …. 265 7 :I In India………….. : …………. 2.61010 6 The whole of this goes to the Mission ex- In Rome………………………. 184 13 3 Balance… …………………… 20 12 11 penses, except a small sum for stationery and £7.923 14 11 printing. The Mission in Madras numbers: Expenditures. Balance….. .. •.. … .. .. …. …… £ 887 10 10 6 ordained. and 8 female missionaries (some Orissa Mission….. ….. …. …… 2.858 10 5 In India (see above)…. …. …… 2,610 10 6 of them natives). 22 helpers. It occupies 22 Rome…. …… .. •… .. … …….. 484 13 3 Annuities. expenses. etc…. …… 1,082 9 11 stations and out-stations, with 15 churches and Total…………………… £7.923 14 11 890 members, of whom 38 were added during The Orissa Mission in India numbers: 9 ordained missionaries. 7 female missionaries. 20 thayear. native helpers. There are 19 places occupied as stations or sub-stations. provided with 17 Baptist Missionary Sooiety. chapels. There are 1.401 church members, Secretary: ALFRED H. BAYNES, Baptist Mis· sion House. Furnival St.• Holborn. London, E.C. REPORT FOR YEAR ENDING MARCH 31. 1889. Receipts.
Balance. Special Fund………. .. £26113 a Receipts…………………… .. 80.818 94 Balance drawn on General Fund. 2,862 3 G £83.942 61 Receipts at stations.. .. .. ….. .. 9.096 0 () TotaL. . .. .. .. …….. .. .. .. . £03.038 6 1 Expenditures. £5,859 97 Ladies' Committee……………… 40 0 0 Balance Debt …..•••••••••.. , . 73,188 19 Balance from old account. .. ……. 1 1 2 Expenses •••.•••••••••••••••••• 4,894 14 9 Balance Special Fund……… . Total. ……………………. £346 7 6 ExpenditnresinMissions………… 343 15 1 £88,942 61 Balance…. . .. . .. … ……………. 2 12 5 Expenses at stations (see above) 9,096 00 Total. … ……………….. £93,038 6 1 Total. ……………………. £346 7 6 The work, carried on by a single mission- Statistics. 118 ary and his wife, since 1877, has increased far Missionaries…. ………………. beyond the possibility of meeting its demands.
partly supported…….. 11 Pastors of self·supporting churches 62 Ohristian Vernacruar Education Society for India. Evangelists…. ……………….. 581 Secretary: REv. JAMES JOHNSTON, 7 Adam St., Stations and sub-stations. .. . . . . . . •• 496 Strand, London, W. C., England.
Baptized………… …. …… ••••••. 2,871 REPORT FOR YEAR ENDING MARCH 31, 1889. Receipt•. Members…… …………. ……… 47,133 Subscriptions, etc., England …••• £3,361 16 0 Day-school teachers .. _………… 371 Contributions, India. ………… '" 841 18 9 Scholars…… ……… ……. ……. 16,381 Sale of Publications, India.•••••• " 4,611 6 3 Sabbath·school teachers…… …… 2,225 Grants…………. … .. •……… •• 692 4 0 scholars…………. 26,870 The Missions of the Society are in India (Bengal and northwest provinces), Ceylon, China, Japan, Palestine, Europe (Brittany, Total…………………… £9,507 50 Norway and Italy), the West Indies, and Payment•. Schools, India………………… £!,968 9 6 Africa (Congo River). Publications………………….. 4,894 16 6 London Society for Promoting Christi- Colportage .. .. ……….. _…. " 75 18 9 anity among the Jews. Administrative expenses, etc., The Secretaries: LONDON SOCIETY'S HOUSE, England.. .. ……… … . …. .. .. 1,050 13 4 No. 16 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W. C., Total …………………… £8,989 18 1 Repayment to working capital. . . • 142 12 5 England. Balance ……………. ……….. 374 14 6 REPORT FOR YEAR ENDING lIlARCH 31, 1889.
Receipts……… …… ……….. £34,814 11 7 Total. … ………………. £9,507 5 0 Expenditures ….. _………….. 34,561 15 1 The Society has a working capital fund of MisSion stations …………… . • 37 £1,000, and a special fund for publications of Ordained missionaries………… 27 over £3,000.
Unordained" and lay agents. 26 Children under instruction. ………. 8,900 Colporteurs, etc………….. …. 44 Students in training institutions…… 98 School teachers. .. . . . . . . .. .. …. .. 41 Copies of publications printed……… 690,5SS Christian Israelites…………… 84 Of the stations: 6 are in England, 20 in Con· British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews. tinental Europe, 2 in Turkey, 4 in Syria and Secretary: REV. JOHN DUNLOP, 96 Great Rus· Palestine, 1 in Persia, 3 in North Africa, and 1 sel! St., Bloomsbury, W. C., London, Eng. REpoRT FOR THE YEAR ENDING MAY, 1889. in Abyssinia. Receipts……………………. £8,926 0 0 Sunday-school Union Cont'l Mission. Expenditures…. ……………. 8,911 19 10 Missionaries employed…………………. 31 (Branch of the Stmday-school Union.) Voluntary workers …………………… 90 Secretary: MR. WM. H. MILLAR, 56 Old Bailey, Complaint is made of the disproportionate London, E. C., England. cost of admintstration, but it should be reo REPORT FOR YEAR ENDING MARCH 30, 1889. membered that it costs no more to administer an income of £18,000 than one of £8,000. Out- Receipts . …………. ……. £1,860 13 4 side of England the work of the Society is car- Expenditures. ….. ………… 1,729 110 ried on principally in Germany and Austria, though there is a station at Jaffa, and one at The work of the Society includes cash grants, Adrianopie, in European Turkey. and grants of costs and publications to Sunday-schools in France, Germany, Hoiland, British and Foreign Sailors' Society. Italy, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. Secretary: REV. EDW. W. MATTHEWS, Sailors' Young Men's Foreign Mission Society of Institute, Shadwell, London, E., Eng. Birmingham. REPORT FOR YEAR ENDING MARCH 31, 1889. Secretary: A. H. KNOTT, Y. M. C. A., Needless Receipts. Alley, New st., Birmingham, England. REPORT FOR YEAR ENDING MARCH 31, 1889. Snbscriptions and collections … £14,138 19 9 Receipts at Missions in Natal, Africa. Legacies. . . . . . … •• .. .. ……… 348 7 4 Donations …………………….. £225 16 4 Y. M. F. M., Birmingham…. ••••••• 59 10 0 Y. M. C. A., Shrewsbury…. …. •… 20 0 0
PROGRESS OF MISSIONS-MONTHLY BULLETIN
Dividends, sales of books. etc… 488 15 3 Scripture portions distributed. .••• •••• 18,821 Balance, March 3f, 1888………. 1,811 14 6 Tracts, magazines, etc. •……. 592,394 Total………………… £16,787 16 10 Free beds (London), 6,764. Meals ..•• 39,781 Expenditures. The work of the Society covers almost the 'Chaplains, Missionaries, etc …. £3,315 12 10 whole world, and is in most cordial relations Provincial and Foreign stations. 8,879 4 11 with the American Seamen's Friend Society.
.sailors' Institute……………. . 782 9 4 German Evangelical Synod.
Deputation expenses………. .. 357 2 8 Secretary: REv.PAUL A.MENZEL,Annapolis,Md. REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDING HAY 31, 1839. General …………… . 788 7 4 Income. . .. •••• •…………………. £9,510 Statistics of Missions among the Sutnaml, .Special Funds…………….. .. 396 10 11 Birvampore. India: 1 station, 3 out-stations, 4 ordained missi0lli!ries, 4 teachers, 5 cathe- Total payments•••.••••••• £14,519 8 0 chists, 3 schools, 2 churches, 200 communi· Investments…………. …….. 545 2 0 cants. Balance, March 31, 1839……… 1,722 6 10 There is a printing press employing 40 men. This Society worked through the Basel and Total .. . …… £16,786 16 10 Barmen Societies for many years, but since 1883 has had the care of this.work committed Summary of work for the year: to it by the Missionary Society of New York, composed of members of several Lutheran and Meetings on board ship 1,661, on shore. 4,818 Presbyterian churches.
Attendance 91,477," 491,427 Visits to ship lodging houses, etc.. …. 51,563 .. the sick and families.. .•• ….. 8,535 Bibles and Testaments sold (English and Foreign)…. …….. …… …… 8,768 VIII.-PROGRESS OF MISSIONS: MONTHLY BULLETIN.
""f'rlca.-Lieut. Taunt, of the United Africa. The Missionary Gleaner gives tidings of the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Cole, of Mpwap• :states Navy, is the commercial agent of this wa, at Zanzibar, while Mr. Price and Mr. Wood, being bachelors, remained at their per· .country on the Congo. His experience of the ilous post. It seems that Bushiri, the Arab leader, arrived at Mpwapwa with 250 armed country dates back several years. • men on July 5. He assured Mr. Price that he had nothing to fear, but on the eighth of July Lieut. Taunt has spent a suftlcient time on the a Christian native warned the missionaries that they were in danger, and they left by Congo to know the country and people fairly moonlight for Kisokwe. six miles distant. The next morning Bushiri's men broke into the well, and we give an extract from his report mission house, and cleared out all that was of any use to them, and set fire to the place. Tecently received at Washington, given by the The natives assure Mr. Price that he shall not be disturbed, aud though the perils are great, correspondent of the Boston Journal: he and his associates will remain. Though there are said to be letters from Mr. Mackay •• The Protestant missions on the Congo are and others on the Lake Victoria, the Gleaner contains no definite tidings concerning the the American Baptist, American Methodist situation of affairs either at Msalala, or at Rubaga. (Bishop Taylor's), American Faith Cure (Dr. -The Royal Niger Co. has been so suc· Simpson's), the English Baptist, the Balolo cessful in suppressing the liquor traftlc in its territory in Africathat very little liquor is sold Mission (English), and the Swedish Mission. in the interior. Cannibalism is also declining.
'The Roman Catholic are the Belgian and the -The first convert in the Upper Congo Valley was recently baptized at Equator Sta· French Missions. The American Baptist Mis· tion. The valley contains 30,000,000 people.
sion, formerly Livingstone (English), is doing -Miss Sharp, the well·known teacher in Africa, has ten students from the Dark Con· excellent work, and is in a flourishing condi· tinent, who are prepared for a better educa· tion than her school proposes. She wants to tion. It is under the control of and supported send them to England to have them prepared for missionaries in Africa. by the Baptist Mission Board of Boston. Its five -Rev. David A. Day, a missionary stawell equipped stations extend to the Equator tioned near Monrovia, in Liberia, writes thus: "I sat on board a boat at one of the promi- 'on the upper river. Palabala, on the lower river, is the headquarters. The steam launch, Henry Reed, on the Upper Congo, belongs to this mission. The majority of the members are English, formerly of the Livingstone In· land, but now almost every steamer brings out American missionaries. The other two American missions are in anything but a lIourishing state."-Missionary Herald.
But our correspondent on the Congo, Rev.
Wm. Clark, of the A. B. M. U., writes us: .. Lieut. Taunt's published statement that the .A. B. M. U. is the only successful mission on the Congo, is not true. Both the B. M. S. and the S. M. S. have prosperous churches and 1!Chools. " J. M. S.
-English Church Missionaries in East nent African ports, and saw landed on a single Six or seven years ago, when Mr. Mozoomdar. Sunday from two steamers, about 50,000 casks of gin. Think of one missionary and 00,000 the second minis~r of the "Church of the' casks of gin coming into Africa at once I" New Dispensation," was in this country, and -The natves of Swaziland, South Africa, have agreed upon a triumvirate to govern published "The Oriental Christ," fresh hopes, their country. It will consist of two British members and one resident of the Transvaal. were raised as to what might be the grand is- The chiefs of SwazUand have also joined in a petition for the abolition of the liquor trafll.c sue of the movement. The Brahmo Soma;;, in their country. has since then suffered eclipse, and Mr. Mo- -Mr. Stanley has written a letter to Mr. Bruce, the son-in-law of Dr. Livingstone, de- zoomdar now writes sadly of it, but he adds: scribing the expulsion from his kingdom of Mwanga by a revolt of the combined native " Christ is a tremendous reality. The destiny Christians and Mohammedans, and the subse- quent conversion of Mwanga himself to Chris- of India hangs upon the solution of his nature· tianity. This Mwanga was the persecutor who murdered Bishop Hannington. Mr. Stan- and function and our relation to him. Let us. ley says that the fact that the native Chris- tians had grown strong enough to make a not hide in darkness, and rest contented with revolution in one of the most powerful of the African kingdoms, is one that if Livingstone random streaks; but place ourselves in open could have known it would have filled his dy- ing moments with content and love. The most light, and solve the problem, 'Who and what deadly persecutions-the stake, the knife, and the bullet-had failed to shake the staunch is Christ?' " fidelity of these African converts. -The Indian Witness states that secret be- -After all our explorations and discoveries, the future of Africa seems very dark. lievers in Christ are rapidly multiplying. For Our trust must be that ull;der the guidance of a divine Providence, there may soon come a every convert who openly avows his faith, league of our most powerful Christian and civilized nations, which, making the African there are hundreds who withhold such declaraslave trade more criminal than piracy, shall move promptly to its suppression at whatev.er tions for fear of their own households and cost. Such a league might conclude to begin its work by the construction and operation of caste circles. Thousands are being made' transcontinental African railways, bisecting the slave trade regions of Africa. and so ex- readyfor public avowal and loyal service when tinguishing the inhuman and infamous traffic. the break shall come. Harmah.-Sir Charles Bernard recently stated that the Christian Karens number .Japan. – In the course of his journey 200,000, or fully one-third of the Karen people. About 500 congregations are practically self- around the world, with the design of arousing supporting. They tithe the produce of their land for the support of their pastors. They interest in Christianity among the colleges of also send missionaries to Siam, and furnish all their support. the Orient, i:lecretary L. D. Wishard has Cbfna~China has 82 medical mission- reached Ceylon and India, where he is meetaries, a majority of whom are from the United States and mission hospitals and dispensaries ing with happy results. His nine months" in severa.! cities. A large part of the expenses of these hospitals is borne by the better classes stay in Japan afforded him opportunity to of Chinese, who highly appreciate the work. visit eighteen leading cities, and twenty-nine :J;;ngland.-The Church ofEngland has nearly 360,000 members in India. Government and eighteen Christian colleges -£1,334,491 is estimated as being the aggre- and schools. He conducted over 200 meetings gate amount of the year's British contributions for foreigu missions. This is $105,000 attended by thousands of students and busimore than the previous year's total. ness men. Over 140 students united with the Indta.-A few years ago Keshub Chundel' Sen and his Brahmo Somaj, in India, at- church connected with the Doshisha School at tracted wide att~ntion. The new religious movement was hailed as one full of promise. Kyoto, and large accessions to other churches followed his labors elsewhere. He writes strongly of the need and demand for special work for young men in Japan, on a basis similar to that OIl which our Y. M. C. Asso- ciations rests in this country. In his inter- views with more than 100 missionaries, he says that not one raised an objection to such an ex- tension of missionary work.
.Java.-Java is the most fertile, the most productive, and the most populous tropical island in the world. The Dutch have had pos- session of it many years, and have derived great revenues, especially from the coffee plantations, but have done little for the re- ligious elevation of the people, who are 1110- hammedans.
ltJadagascar.-The missionaries of the London Society in Madagascar affirm that their hold upon the people is as strong as it ever was, while the French influence is much less than it was feared would be the case.
Just now an event of much political import- ance is taking place. An attempt is being made to establish the authOrity of the Hovas over the Sakalavas, near Saint Augustine Bay.
A strong military expedition has been sent for this purpose, and if it succeeds, that portion of Madagascar wm be open to missionary ef- fort; it it should fail, the central government.
will be seriously Crippled. J. M. S.